Inescapable Fate (AU,CC,TEEN) Ch 13 12-29 [WIP]

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kj4ever
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Inescapable Fate (AU,CC,TEEN) Ch 13 12-29 [WIP]

Post by kj4ever »

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Title- Inescapable Fate

Thanks for the banner Rosdude!

Disclaimer- I don't own Roswell, and mean no infringement. It is owned by Melinda Metz, Jason Katims, UPN, WB, etc.

Category- CC, AU with Aliens

Rating- Teen for now..............It could change.

Summary: Kyle has visions of different lifetimes while on the road after graduation. What happens if he goes back before the shooting, and wakes up in his 16 year old body with all the knowledge of those lifetimes?

A/N - Inquiring Minds is winding down, and now this popped into my head!

Prologue

The man quickly walked through the long, winding tunnel, barely noticing the glowing blue Grandium behind the glass that usually held everyone's interest. As he neared the conference room he quickened his pace, breaking into a fast jog.

The door flew open as six very worried faces looked up expectantly.

"Michael has made contact, we've got him," Jim Valenti said as a sigh of relief could be heard around the room.

Maria Deluca burst into tears. "Thank God, oh thank God," she said as Isabel put her arms around her and Alex came from behind, hugging them both.

"Did they have him?" Max asked in a quiet voice as a small, supportive hand squeezed his shoulder.

"Yes," Jim said quietly.

"Where did they have him?" Kyle asked impatiently. "How did he escape?"

"I don't know the details yet," Jim said, "but it seems someone who was working in the lab helped him escape. Michael has brought her with him." Jim opened his mouth to say something else, scratched his chin, and thought about how to break the news.

Six pairs of eyes looked up at Jim expectantly, waiting for him to continue.

"It was Liz Parker who helped him," Jim said. He knew what a blow and relief this would be to many in the room. It had tore Maria and Alex apart, living double lives, hiding things from their best friend all these years.

Then there was his son, his son who had come back from another time to stop the bad things from happening, to save the world. While he had tried to keep everyone out of the alien abyss, it seems that fate is inescapable. First Alex found out, then Maria joined the fold.

And now Liz.

Jim snuck a peak to see how Max was taking this. Max was a natural born leader who had rallied the minute Kyle had come back and explained who he was. Even though Kyle tried not to go into details about those other timelines, Jim knew that Max and the others would sometimes receive flashes from Kyle, flashes of those other times, and Max knew exactly how much love was shared between himself and Liz.

He had a look of dread mixed with hope. Jim imagined that's how he felt. He knew Max had hoped for a alien free life for Liz, he hoped for it just as much as he was scared to death she would lead an alien free life.

The small hand was quickly snatched from Max's shoulder, and Serena was the first to break the silence.

"I better get back to the lab," she said in a small voice, her eyes filling with tears as she quickly left the room.

Jim started to get up, but Kyle placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll go," he said simply and followed Serena out of the door.
Last edited by kj4ever on Thu Mar 11, 2010 5:04 am, edited 19 times in total.
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Re: Inescapable Fate (AU W Aliens CC Teen) Prologue 6-21

Post by kj4ever »

Thanks for all the fb everyone! I'm glad to see some of my favorite feedbackers reading this! The Max/Serena relationship will be covered more here.........

Chapter 1

Kyle sighed as he walked towards the lab. He knew how Serena felt. In one of the timelines he had the whole unrequited love for a certain Miss Parker, and he knew how crushing it could be. Kyle had tried to warn Serena about falling for Max, but sometimes you just can't help who you love.

It could get confusing, having all these memories in your head. This was the last time anyone would go through this though. In the last timeline they had learned that the enemy had gotten a hold of the Granilith and they were the ones who had come back in time, not future Michael, not future Isabel, and not like the last time, future Max.

When they were on the road after graduation Kyle started receiving memories from all the timelines, and it had about killed Liz and Maria when they learned that they and Alex had been manipulated three different times by three different impostors. Even though the enemies were always one step ahead of them, they could never get that grand prize: the seal from Max that would secure Kivar's place on the throne. That is the only reason Kyle could come up with on why they kept changing things.

But they had learned their lesson, managed to find Serena, get the Granolith back, and send Kyle. Liz, and Maria had died a "mysterious" death on the road, and Michael had already perished in the Great War. Max and Isabel were inconsolable, and the option of not going back never occurred to them. They would fix this. Serena also thought that because Kyle was virtually stuck between the timelines, he may not show up as Future Kyle, but as plain old Kyle with a whole bunch of information.

Serena's assumption had been right. When Kyle went back, he kept all his memories, all his powers. It must be a human thing. Kyle had landed back in his 16 year old body at the age of 30, a full month before Liz Parker would be shot. His Father had agreed that he wanted in on the Alien Abyss in that last timeline, but the decision was made that Alex, Maria, and Liz would be kept in the dark unless danger had presented itself or they were needed for some reason. None of them were alive to object, so after Kyle had demonstrated proof that this was very real to his Father, he informed Max, Isabel, and Michael of their true origin.

He found Serena fiddling with the computer console of the Granilith. Recently she had been reassigned from working with Max on the deadly air borne virus Kivar would release to changing the Granilith so that it could never be used for time travel again. Serena didn't like this, not one bit, since she wouldn't be working with Max anymore.

It was a good idea, but Kyle knew part of her reassignment had something to do with that last conversation about Liz a few weeks ago. Serena vehemently disagreed with anyone who wanted to bring Liz into the fold, and the group had a pretty big fight over it.

*flashback*

"But Liz knows this stuff, she just graduated from Harvard for Christ's sake!" Maria exclaimed.

Max sat rubbing his temples. "I know Maria, but do we really want to drag her into this unless it's a last resort?"

"Look where last resorts got us last time?" Alex asked and Max looked down at the ground. He really wanted Liz to be safe, to live a happy life, one not entangled in inter galactic war.

They were working on rendering the air borne disease harmless. Max and Serena had made some progress, but they were stuck.

"It does seem like she figured out a lot of stuff in the last timelines," Michael said, looking to Kyle who nodded. "and she didn't go to college, didn't have the higher education. Maybe that's the missing piece."

"So I can't figure it out, but Liz can?" Serena asked.

"Of course that's not what they are saying Ser," Max defended.

Serena breathed an exasperated sigh. "We've been through this a million times. I know it's hard for you Maria and Alex, keeping this from her. I know that in past timelines that I was good friends with her too. But do we really want to do this to her? Drag her into this mess when she is living such a great life? Maybe if it is to hard the time has come to cut ties with her."

Maria's eyes flashed fire as she stood up to face Serena. "That's not going to happen. I think we are all missing a key point here. Liz will be a part of this, no matter WHO of us don't want her around," she said pointedly to Serena. Serena started to protest, but Maria cut her off, holding up her hand.

"Don't even go there, because I'm pretty sure you don't want to hear my opinion on THAT" she said, holding her hand up. Maria was fiercely protective of Liz, and in her own subconscious she would always see Max as Liz's soul mate. She knew exactly why Serena didn't want her around.

"I think we've all realized that no matter what we are meant to be together and this is our last chance. What happens if one of our enemies learns of her importance? What happens if we alienate her only to need her later. One thing we should all remember is anything we do before Liz joins us will have consequences once she actually joins us," she said looking at Max.

*end flashback*

That was one thing Kyle loved about Maria. She sure knew how to get to the heart of the matter, and the truth was nothing had happened between Max and Serena. Yes, to the outside it might look like they were together since they were the odd couple out, but even though they were both lonely Max had never crossed that line, much to the disappointment of Serena.

Kyle also thought that Max had finally opened his eyes thanks to Ms. Deluca. He hadn't realized the dept of Serena's feelings, and Maria's speech was a big wake up call. What if Liz were to join them and he was with Serena? Kyle knew the answer to that one, and he was pretty sure Max did too. Serena would be left in the dust.

Kyle opened the door to the big lab that held the Granilith.

"Did you come to say 'I told you so'?" Serena asked, not looking up from the console.

"Of course not," Kyle said, thinking back to the conversation they had after the group fight.

*flashback*

"If I've learned anything," Kyle said, "it's that no matter how hard our enemies try to keep Max and Liz apart, it doesn't work."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Serena said. "This has nothing to do with Max and Liz being together. It's about keeping Liz safe."

Kyle truly thought that Serena thought that was true. He knew different though, and he knew her subconscious had a different agenda.

"Come on Serena, it's me. I know what it's like, I know how hard it is living in the shadow of someone else," Kyle said. He had lived in the shadow of Max Evans for three short lifetimes before he was able to come to terms with it.

In a way, Serena had replaced Liz in the group. She was the science geek, the one they went to for answers. Max and Serena were the best of friends, but it was time Serena wake up and realize she could never take the place of Liz in Max's heart. If she did convince him to become something more, she would only get destroyed once Liz was in the picture.

It all felt funny to Kyle, after living three lifetimes with Liz absorbed in the alien abyss. He knew a puzzle piece was missing. They needed Liz, but it was just a matter of when to bring her in.

"She will be brought in, I believe Maria is right," Kyle continued. "It's just a matter of when. I've seen them together, seen them up against all odds, all obstacles, and still their love wins out, every time."

*end flashback*

"I just wanted to make sure you were ok," Kyle said, looking at Serena with concern. He really did like Serena. He knew none of her objections were meant to be mean spirited. Serena was a good girl, a kid really, who had fell in love with her King.

"I'm fine Kyle," she said without looking up from the console.

"Ok then," Kyle said. "If you need to talk or anything let me know, alright?"

Serena nodded in acknowledgment and went back to her work. It wasn't until Kyle left that she let the tears fall down her face. 'Oh what's the point,' Serena thought as she slammed the control panel shut. She wouldn't be getting any work done today.

She plopped down on the steps next to the granilith and held her head in her hands. How could she let this happen? Hearing that Liz knew everything was a jolt to her system, and it made her realize something she really didn't want to admit.

Serena was hopelessly in love with Zan. She shook her head, no he was Max Evans, not the King she was raised to adore. Max Evans was pretty great too.

She heard the door open again and before she could clean herself up she looked into Courtney's empathetic eyes.

"Hey Ser, are you ok?" Courtney asked softly.

"Yes," Serena said. "No, I don't know. I feel like such a fool."

If there was anyone that Serena could feel comfortable around, it was Courtney. Her family had fled Antar back in the early 90's, and the leaders of the resistance had sensed their entrance to Earth and taken her in. Her parents had not survived the trip, and Courtney had become an almost surrogate Mother for Serena, and as Serena grew up it turned into a wonderful friendship.

"Don't. Don't do that," Courtney said. "What girl wouldn't fall for Max?" she asked.

"Great, so everybody knows?" Serena said dejectedly.

"Only those who know you well," Courtney said. "I heard what happened with Michael, that Liz was with him, so I figured you might be upset."

"Oh God, Michael!" Serena said. "I've got to be the most selfish person in the world! Here Michael's been going through God knows what, and I'm all involved with myself."

"Give yourself a break," Courtney said. "I know what it's like to have feelings for someone and them not to be returned. You are up against some pretty powerful memories, memories I know he has seen through Kyle."

Serena looked up hopefully. "It is different this time. Max didn't save her. They won't have the connection they always had before. Maybe...Maybe...."

Courtney smiled a sad little smile and put her arm around Serena's shoulders. "Liz was my roommate for four years at Harvard. Do you know how many serious relationships she's had? Zero. Hell Kyle is probably the biggest romance she has had in her life. Yes, she dated, but it's like she knew there was something bigger waiting for her."

She took a deep breath and continued. Serena needed to hear this. "And Max, well Max has felt something for her since they were children. You know that Ser." she said gently. "They are soul mates, whether she knows it or not."

Serena sighed and leaned into Courtney's shoulder. "I know, but it's just...just she didn't seem all that interested in him whenever she came home from school. After Ria and Alex came into the fold she would hang out with all of us sometimes. She barely talked to Max."

Courtney gave a throaty laugh. "Oh, she noticed him, always did. In Liz's mind Max Evans is way out of her league, and besides, every time she came home there was this gorgeous brunette with him," she said, nudging Serena.

"Maria was quick to always point out that we were just friends," Serena said.

"Yes, but it's not Liz's style to make the first move. She'd never do that. Sometimes I think she doesn't realize how great she really is," Courtney said.

"Is she as wonderful as they all say?" Serena asked.

Courtney stroked Serena's long brown hair. "That and more Serena, that and more. I think once you realize this is all for the best, and if you can find it in your heart to give her a chance, you'll really love her."

"I hope so," Serena said quietly. "I really do."

______________________________________________________________________

"Are you alright?" Max asked Maria, who had been uncharacteristically calm after the announcement that Michael and Liz were ok.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Maria said, "well, no really I'm not...not fine. Liz is about to find out that Alex and I have been hiding all this...this stuff for years from her." Max then noticed that Maria wasn't calm, she was worried.

The others had left to go back to work until the debriefing about Michael and Liz. Max had stayed behind when he noticed a very silent Maria.

Maria thought about all the lies they had told Liz. Well, they really didn't lie as much as leave out information, but even she knew that was just a technicality. Liz had never asked, "Hey, are you hanging out with Aliens and trying to save the Earth?" Maria's thoughts were interrupted when she her a laugh bubbling in Max's throat.

She looked at him quizzically. "Remember when you found out?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"Oh, GOD, that was horrible!" Maria laughed. Maria was in a very bad place when she found out about the alien abyss. Liz had just left for Harvard, and she was still stuck in Roswell since she didn't have the money or grades to get into any school in Boston. Even though Liz emailed and called constantly, it wasn't the same as having her best friend around.

At least Alex had stayed behind with her, but he was wrapped up in some girl named LeAnna. Sure, he still hung out with her, but it wasn't the same. He had been acting really strange since that summer, and Maria for the life of her couldn't figure out what had changed in her best guy friend. Nothing was the same, and for a girl who longed for something better then Roswell, going back to the same seemed like heaven.

She had been working late one night, closing the Crashdown along with Michael. Oh how Michael Guerin had been the bane of her existence then! Kyle and Max were sitting in their usual booth, plotting the fate of the world, or so her and Liz liked to joke. They always seemed so serious, and it was shocking when Kyle suddenly became great friends with Max and Michael after he broke up with Liz.

She was just about to ask Kyle and Max if they were going to wait for Michael, as they were the only ones left in the restaurant, when Isabel came in practically carrying a half dead looking Sheriff Valenti.

Maria turned helplessly to look for Michael, but he was already out on the floor, his hand out in front of him. The blinds on the windows closed and the door locked, without anyone touching them. Max jumped up and ran to the Sheriff, held his hands over him, and a light glow emitted from them and Boom! the Sheriff was all better.

"What happened?" Max asked.

"Wayward skin," Isabel answered.

"Eliminated," said the Sheriff.

"God, they are like cockroaches, just when you think you got them all another one pops up," Kyle said.

"Michael, do you sense anything?" Max asked, helping the Sheriff up. "Michae..." he stopped in mid sentence when he realized Maria was there.

"Listen Deluca, we can explain everything," Michael was saying, slowly approaching Maria while she backed away.

"You did...eh," she said feebily as she pointed to the blinds, "and he did something to the Sheriff, and umm I'm just going to go home now."

She went to turn and bolt out the back door, but Michael was faster then her. Her caught her by her wrist, and as he spun her around Maria let out an ear piercing scream.

"Stop it!" Michael said.

Maria stopped screaming. "Don't tell me what to do Michael whatever...whatever you are Guerin." She was just about to let out another whopper when Michael pulled her to him and kissed her hard, right on the mouth.

He let her go, and Maria's hand flew to her mouth. She looked at Michael, looked at Max, Isabel, Kyle and the Sheriff, opened her mouth to say something, and promptly started to faint. Michael was quick, and caught her.

"We are going to need Alex," Isabel said with a sigh.

Max was still laughing as Maria playfully swatted him.

"I thought we were going to have to learn how to wipe memories or something," Max said, still chuckling.

"Oh you have no idea. Alex helped a lot," Maria said, her laughter slowing down.

"Yes he did, and you weren't mad at him," Max pointed out.

"Like hell I wasn't!" Maria said. "Here he had been traipsing about with Aliens, with all this dangerous stuff, and he kept us in the dark to protect us. The fact that Isabel saved his life helped to...to accept all this I guess. I never did think you were bad, it was just scary."

"I know," Max said. "and from what I know of Liz she will be fine. She'll probably have a million questions, but she'll deal with it fine. It seems like she helped Michael get free, so she has to of accepted it on some level."

"Which means I was right, that cutting her out of our lives and making her think something weird was going on would have been counter productive," Maria said.

"Not this again Maria. Serena was only trying to protect Liz," he said. "She knows what this life means, what toll it takes on you," he said very seriously.

"Oh girlfriend, you are so blind," Maria said, tousling Max's hair as he smacked her hand away. "She may not realize it, but she was more worried about competition then protection."

"Maria, I've never given her any reason to think anything would happen between us," Max started to say..

"I know, and you can't help it if you are so darn cute," Maria said pinching his cheek as he swatted her hand away again. "Seriously Max, things are about to change forever. I mean, this is LIZ, Liz your soul mate."

Max sighed. "That was another lifetime ago Maria, well three actually."

"Yes, and funny how all three times you just happened to be married," Maria pointed out. "Soul mates are soul mates, no matter the circumstances."

Max nodded numbly, lost in thought. All three of those times he had saved her, they had shared a unique connection. What if this Liz didn't feel that way? Oh sure, Max had a crush on her since the third grade. Max had watched her from afar, Max had kept his distance.

Max had also felt those wonderful feelings when Kyle gave off an accidental flash. He needed to keep reminding himself that this time it was different, and because of the changes made to this timeline things just might be different between himself and Liz.

He looked up at Maria, his eyes full of vulnerability. "I hope you are right," he said softly.
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kj4ever
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Re: Inescapable Fate (AU W Aliens CC Teen) Ch 1 6-23

Post by kj4ever »

chanks_girl said:
Great new part. At least now we know what is going on with Max and Serena.though I kind of feel sorry for Serena.
So there were different attempts in changing the past but all failed until Kyle was chosen to do it...great
begonia9508 said:
Wonderful part!.... Serena is in love with Max? Who wouldn't!
Loved what's happened in this timeline and til now, no TESS!!!! but I'm waiting bc the bitch can suddenly appears!
Maria fainted? certainly she did it like the little diva she is! and I loved how she analyzed the situation.....
tequathisy said:
Great part. Poor Serena, I do feel sorry for her, it's go to suck to be in the shadow of somebody everybody like Liz. Especially when all her friends talk about Liz like she's the second coming.
The visitors from the future were their enemies, Future Max wasn't really Future Max, and there was also a timeline with a Future Isabel and a Future Michael. Kyle finally traveled back in time, keeping all the memories. Soon the reason why he has those memories will be revealed :)

Tess is dead and won't be in this story, unless they are talking about the things she does in other timelines. One of these days I'm going to get to writing a story where she is the heroine, because I love her character, but she just didn't "fit" in this one. She'll be treated much better in Inquiring Minds :)

Yes, poor Serena is right, but her friends are protective of Liz for a reason. Serena has grown up worshipping her King as the second coming, and you'll see in flashbacks how her intentions towards her weren't always exactly nobel, kind of like when she wanted Alex and Maria to cut all ties with her. The real question is she in love with Max Evans, or the idea of Zan, her King, and will she realize it in time?

Also, Max and Liz barely know each other, but Max has accepted that Liz is his...wait for it....Destiny. The real question of the day is how is Liz, who knows barely anything about the alien abyss and hasn't made that connection with Max after being shot, will react to being told that Max is to be her husband, when she doesn't know much about him. :twisted:

Ahh yes, Maria fainted and that reason is also coming up :)

nibbles2 said:
It's the Liz appreciation Society here. Poor Michael, is he feeling the unlove? Apart from Serena, none of them have even mentioned that he's coming back and what he might have been through.

I just love this twist and can't wait for more.
I promise there is much love for Michael, it just wasn't shown here yet. Michael has assured them he is alright, so they have moved to the next crisis, which is Liz knowing. They are used to having the benefit of information from the future, and now that Liz is in the mix it's like they are at a blank slate, not knowing what's going to happen. Since things are so different this time no one knows how she's going to react. They've come to a realization that certain things always happen in each timeline, and Liz being in the "I know an alien" club was the last piece.

Ok, so here's the question of the day for all you reading. I have an incredibly easy time writing Michael/Liz/Maria, so whenever they are heavily featured in a part it just flows so fast. The next couple of parts should come really quickly, and I can post them pretty fast.

Would you rather I wait so that I have a new update each week, or have them as I finish them and take getting parts a little bit slower down the line?

Also, would any of you talented artists out there like to take a crack at making a banner for this story? I put a request in the media thread!



Chapter 2

Courtney returned to the conference room for the debriefing on Michael. "Is Michael alright? How is Liz?" she asked panicked. "They didn't hurt them, did they?"

"We don't know much yet," Maria said, "but they are both fine." Maria went over to comfort her good friend. Kyle couldn't help but smirk at how things could be so different. He just couldn't imagine Maria comforting Courtney in the LAST timeline. More like hurting her...Hurting her bad....

The first thing Kyle did after informing his shocked Father about who he was was to head to Copper Summit. They never knew what hit them. The "gas leak" explosion that rocked the small ghost town barely made a blip on Earth's radar, but Kyle knew he had eliminated a huge threat. He waited patiently for the rebel skins to investigate, and they were all shocked to find all their husks had been perfectly preserved. Kyle had a talent for fire, making it go where he wanted, making it destroy what he wanted.

When Liz went off to Harvard, Courtney was sent with her as a protector of sorts. The group made sure they covered all their bases, and Courtney and Liz became fast friends, rooming together the entire time they were in college.

Kyle tried to focus on that instead of what happened at Copper Summit. Even when you travel back in time, even when you know things, you don't know everything. As he watched the burning skins emerge from their houses, as he watched the husks blow to bits, he saw something he would never forget, something that would haunt him until the day he died.

Tess. The dupes. Nasedo. All of them were in Copper Summit. All of them were eliminated.

No matter how many times he tried to tell himself that Tess was this evil creature who killed Alex, he had a hard time convincing himself. Her presence at Copper Summit only proved that she truly was working with the other side, that her plan all along had been to take Max and Co. back to Antar for execution. In his mind Kyle could understand this, but his heart was a different matter. In his heart he remembered the Tess who made sure they had a nice Christmas.

This had accelerated Kyle's preemptive strike plan by years. First he was going to eliminate the skins, then find Tess and Nasedo, deal with the dupes. He was glad that he had more knowledge of Ava then her short visit to Roswell, or he would have felt even worse for the surprise that had awaited him in Copper Summit. She wasn't any better then Tess and had just helped Liz save Max because she knew once Tess was gone she was next in line to be Queen. They weren't on the road long before Ava showed up, and it took them quite awhile to figure out that she was the one who killed Maria and Liz.

Kyle shook his head away from these thoughts. These things didn't happen this time. They had stopped it.

"What we need to do is figure out who took him," Max said with determination. "And then they are going to pay," he added under clenched teeth.

It wasn't until Michael turned up missing that the group had suspected that the Government knew about them, or that there were some unseen enemies on Earth. While their resources weren't vast, they had a lot more then they had any other time around since they had convinced the rebel skins to work with them even if Michael didn't become King. By this point all they wanted was Kivar off the throne.

"Hopefully Michael will have some answers, or Liz," Kyle said. It didn't miss his attention that the corner of Max's mouth quirked up into a half smile just at the mention of her name.

Michael had been brief but short in his communication. He was imprisoned in a lab, Liz worked there, had somehow gotten him out, and they were headed back to the underground bunker, and would arrive in a couple of hours.


"Oh dear lord," Maria said out loud, looking pale.

"What's wrong Maria?" Max asked with concern.

"I love Michael, I really, really love Michael and am so relieved that he is alright, but I just thought of something," she said as they all looked on with curiosity.

"Liz is going to be in a car with him for hours, and he's going to be the one to explain all this to her," Maria said as realization set in on everyone in the room. Michael was a great Second to Max, a true friend, and loyal to the end, but someone who would explain a delicate situation delicately, well that was not his forte.

__________________________________________________________________


Liz sat staring out the windshield as Michael tore down US 70 towards Roswell. She had a million questions, but she just couldn't seem to form words. She quickly snuck a look at her best friend's fiance and looked back out the window. The silence didn't seem to bother him at all, as he stared straight ahead like a man on a mission. Well, she did suppose he had a mission. A mission to get them as far away from those... whatever they were.

'Get it together Parker, or this is going to seem a lot longer then a 3 hour drive' she thought to herself.

This is what she knew so far. In her first week working as a scientist, abeit against her will, she not only discovered her best friend's fiance was an alien, but a different group of aliens who were posing as government agents had captured him and wanted to experiment on him. She was now traveling down a dark highway in a stolen car with said best friend's fiance.

It wasn't long into the first day when she was told she could not leave the compound that hosted this venture, due to "National Security". She also found it odd that they seemed to all be listening to a child that they called Nicholas. No military person would put up with a bratty kid like that.

*Two Days Earlier*

After her new employers introduced themselves to her she realized their uniforms were all wrong. They said they were Army Generals but they should have Army green dress, not dark blue. Liz had learned the ins and outs of the military when her roommate Courtney was in this whole self defense mode and they joined all these crazy self defense classes, several of them taught by ex military personnel.

By the time they came to her with the news that she was to be the one to be the one to inject the subject with the serum that rendered the alien powerless, Liz knew something was very, very wrong, but she kept her mouth shut.

The other surprising thing was they didn't seem all that worried about her. She snooped around the compound without much notice, like they didn't think she was smart enough to figure anything out.

She had just graduated from Harvard for Heaven's sake! How could they just dismiss her like that? It was then that she noticed the little boy barking orders. Sure, when they saw her he acted like a kid, but now he definitely was not acting like a kid.

Liz's mind reeled. No one would notice she was missing, she was supposed to be moving. Courtney wasn't supposed to be back until next week. If Maria or her parents called and she didn't answer they would just think she was busy with this orientation thing she had signed up for, causing her to stay at school a month after she graduated.

She knew something was wrong when she woke up in a strange place, and the Army informed her that they needed her help with a top secret project, a project to help all of mankind. Aliens had landed on Earth.

At first she thought this was some kind of graduation joke, as when people found out she was from Roswell they teased her relentlessly. She slowly found out that this was very real, and she was scared as hell.

Liz snapped back from her thoughts when Major Jackson entered the room. "It's time for the prisoners serum," he said.

"What exactly do you want from me?" she asked. "I'm a scientist, not a doctor, not a nurse."

"But you know how to give injections, do you not?" he asked.

"Of course I do," Liz asked, confused.

"Good," Major Jackson replied. "Get yourself together and meet us at the main lab in 20 minutes," he said leaving her in her small bunk.

It didn't take her 20 minutes as she threw on her lab coat and quietly walked to the area that had been pointed out to her when she first arrived. Her footsteps slowed as she heard some people arguing.

"Why are you having her do it?" she heard Major Jackson ask.

"I told you," an unfamiliar voice said, "that we have went through to many of us just getting him here. We didn't expect him to be so powerful at this stage. Timing that serum is going to be tricky, so we might as well use the girl in case it doesn't stay in his system as long as we think it will."

"But what if he hurts her and we need her later?" Jackson asked.

"She's irrelevant. Of course there are benefits because of her associations, but we need all the manpower we can get," the strange voice answered.

Liz waited a beat and then began stomping down the hallway, announcing her arrival.

"Ah, here she is," the unfamiliar voice said. Liz looked up and saw a man who was about 6 foot tall with wide shoulders and salt and pepper hair. She felt like a small little child in his presence.

"I am General Smith," he said extending his hand. Liz tentatively reached out and shook his hand. "I want to welcome you to this project and thank you again for the contributions you are about to make to your country."

"Why me?" Liz demanded, regaining her confidence.

"Why you? Well my dear you graduated at the top of your class at Harvard," the man chuckled while he put his arm around Liz and squeezed her shoulder. It took all of Liz's resolve not to pull away from his touch. "There are also other reasons that will come to light very shortly. We are hoping that you might be able to shed some light on the personal aspects of the prisoner," Smith said, steering Liz into a viewing room.

Liz gasped as she saw Michael Guerin strapped to a table in a room made of white tile.

"That's....that's...." she said feebly.

"Your best friend's fiance," Smith finished for her. "I doubt Maria Deluca knows anything about this, or at least I hope she doesn't. Michael is from a dangerous race of aliens hell bent on taking over the Earth. Do not let him fool you," Smith said, looking her straight in the eye, "He will kill in a heartbeat, and your friend is in grave danger if she ever finds out. After much thought we believe she is simply a cover to hide his true identity. You can help protect her."

Liz nodded numbly as she looked at Michael Guerin strapped to the stainless steel table.

"If he is allowed to mature, he will be able to wipe out an entire Army with the flick of his wrist. Luckily we invented a serum that stunts their powers, leaving them defenseless. A lot of good men died in the 40's before they got it right," Smith said.

Liz looked at him like he was crazy. "The 40's? You mean the crash in '47? It was real?" she questioned.

"It was very real, and Michael was on that ship." he said.

"But he's 22 years old," Liz shot back.

"Ahh, so it would seem. They age differently then us Ms. Parker. We haven't figured that part out yet, but we think they can shapeshift, so they pretended to be children for a number of years," Smith said.

Liz started to open her mouth to object but closed it. What alien would chose to live with someone like Hank? If he had all those powers, why did he wait until he was 16 to be emancipated from him? She had worked with Michael for years at the Crashdown, as he became a cook there after his emancipation.

She didn't know Michael well, but she did respect him. Sure, he could be rough and rude at times, but he also did things like play Santa for disadvantaged children. Maria and him argued endlessly, and Liz always joked that it was their own version of four play. She wasn't shocked when she came home her freshman year for Christmas and Maria and Michael were a steady couple.

"What do you want from me?" Liz asked. "Why am I here, and why wasn't I at least asked?" All Liz remembered was going to sleep one night and waking up here. She didn't think the government would do something like that, and as she studied the soldiers in the room she noticed that half of their uniforms were just wrong.

"Liz, you know him, he's engaged to your best friend. We couldn't just tell you about it in case you told anyone back in Roswell. It is a matter of National Security, and it was for the greater good that we simply took you," Jackson said, coming from behind the General. "You are also a gifted scientist. We need a way to understand their chemistry, their basic make up. They heal incredibly fast. We are hoping that you can get us answers like how many of them there are."

Liz nodded and took the syringe Jackson held out to her. "You just need to inject this directly into his blood stream. We will be watching from here, and if there are any problems we will be in there in a heartbeat," he said with a sly smile that Liz knew meant there was no way in hell they would go in there.

She was escorted to a large heavy door, and she took a deep breath as she watched them all go back to the safety of their viewing room.

Everything about this was screaming that it was wrong. They were lying to her, and they certainly weren't the government. If they would do this to Michael, what would they do to her for not participating?

Opening the door slowly, she almost needed to shield her eyes at how bright the room was to her sensitive eyes. She stopped half way to the stainless steel table, and looked up to where the observatory window was, seeing nothing but mirrors.

Michael still stared straight ahead, like he wasn't going to give his captors the satisfaction of looking at them. Liz walked up to the table, and when she was in plain view she heard Michael gasp.

"I'm so sorry Liz," he whispered. "You need to get yourself out of here," he said with a mixture of fear and regret in his eyes. Liz was quite sure that fear and regret was for her and not himself, and she made a decision, right there and then.

With her back to the mirrors she mouthed, "I'm not leaving you" and started to prepare his arm for the serum. Michael braced himself for the fire that was about to burn in his veins, but was shocked when all he felt was wetness under his arm. He then felt the prick, but nothing came. Understanding what she was doing, he howled like he did the first time they had injected him, and Liz stumbled into the cart, spilling the alcohol on him. She grabbed some towels and mopped up the mess, along with the abandoned serum, and much to Michael's surprise, slapped him right across the face.

"How dare you date my best friend! You worked for my parents! You put us all in danger! God, I worked with you for years Michael," she yelled. "Remember our joke Michael? Remember how Maria would ask you when her order would be ready and you would give some absurd number? Well Michael, how long until the order is ready?"

Michael had to use every ounce of his energy not to smirk. He didn't know what these damn skins had told Liz, but she had saw right through it. "Twelve hours," he said sarcastically, knowing she wanted to know how long until the serum was totally out of his system.

"It was probably all a joke, huh? Playing with the humans," Liz said and turned to face the mirrors. "We'll be the ones with the last laugh," she said and she threw the syringe at the cart and stomped off to the door.

Nicholas laughed in the observation room. "They are just so easy to manipulate, it almost makes me feel sorry for them," Nicholas chuckled. He quickly slid out of view as they heard Liz approaching the observatory.

"Great job Liz," Smith said as she entered the room. "You are an incredibly brave girl."

"Let's get one thing straight," Liz demanded. "I am no girl, I'm a woman, and if you think I'm just here to be a nurse you've got another thing coming. If you want me in, I'm in, but I need all the information."

Smith and Jackson looked at the Parker girl in shock. "Of course," Smith said slowly. "We'll see what we can share with you that won't pose a threat to national security."

"I just walked into a room with a vile alien, knowing the serum might not work, knowing that I'd be in danger, and you are questioning how trustworthy I am?" Liz said. "Look, I need the information on that serum, because I don't think it is totally working," she said, studying their expressions.

"What do you mean, it's not working?" Jackson said, almost panicked.

Liz thought carefully. They had said he could take out an entire Army at full maturity, whatever that meant. "I could feel something in the air, something like an energy? It was very uncomfortable, almost like a pressure on me."

As Liz noticed the recognition on their face she fought the urge to breathe a sigh of relief. "You felt that, but still you slapped him?" Smith questioned.

"Well if he was going to take me out I at least was going to get in one good hit," Liz said, looking him straight in the eye.

She watched the smile spread across Smith's face. "Caleb!" he bellowed and a young soldier came running. "Take Ms. Parker to the other lab that houses the serum. Maybe she can find a way to make it more potent," he explained.

Liz followed the soldier out of the room. "Damn, she'd make a fine soldier if she wasn't a pathetic human," Nicholas said, coming out of his hiding place. "Humans invented that serum, maybe she will be able to make it better. In any case, no one goes in that room until she says he's powerless."

It had been that easy. Liz had free reign and they really didn't pay any attention to her other then to get reports about Michael's condition. Liz was even allowed to make the injections herself, which she now filled with glucose to give Michael energy. She hadn't slept at all, with all this information going on in her mind. She read and re-read the reports from '47. She didn't understand, as the pictures showed what had become the universal symbol of an alien, large eyes, abnormally big head, small bodies. Michael looked human. How could that be?

She gave Michael his injections every four hours, and using their restaurant codes she passed information on to him. There were 9 tables (men) that needed to be served. What Liz couldn't understand was after the 12 hour mark he kept insisting that the order wasn't ready.

Finally, 18 hours into her venture Michael confirmed that the order was ready. She walked out of the white room and into the observatory. "He's totally helpless," she announced.

Nicholas came out of the shadows and started barking orders. "Jackson, Smith, and you two, go in there and find out where the King is hiding, but whatever means necessary," he said with a smirk.

Liz held her breath as the walked towards the room, wondering what was going to happen. Nicholas sneered at her. "Who knew humans could be so useful?" he said and laughed as her composure crumpled.

The four men surrounded Michael's table, and the next thing Liz knew there was nothing but skin flakes floating in the room.

"You BITCH!" Nicholas screamed, turning to a very frightened Liz. One of the soldiers grabbed her, but between the adrenaline and all that self defense training Courtney had made her endure she managed to flip the guy. Remembering something Michael said about his back being sore and it would kill him if someone hit it she delivered a strong, roundhouse kick to his back, gasping when the soldier became a snow shower of flakes.

"That's ok," Nicholas sneered at the still shocked Liz. "I'm going to enjoy killing you myself," he said. He approached her and Liz reached blindly for anything that could protect herself. Suddenly the mirrored windows shattered as Michael came canon balling through.

"I don't think so you little twerp," Michael said. He advanced on the small alien and Liz felt a huge build up of power, coming from both men. Two "soldiers" grabbed Liz and Michael turned his attention to her, freeing her from her captors.

Nicholas laughed as he ran out of the room. "Your affection for these humans will always be your greatest weakness," he called as he raced away.

"Are you alright?" Michael said as he grabbed her hand and started running.

"Michael, wait! I need my notes!" Liz said.

"Not now Liz, we have to get out of here in case there is back-up," he argued.

"No, you don't understand! I found some stuff that I think we need, something about a virus?" she said.

So Nicholas had gotten away, they collected all the information they could, and after a couple of battles had escaped and were now on their way back to Roswell.

Liz looked out at the rapidly moving landscape, trying to take this all in. If Michael was an alien, and he was always around Max, Isabel, and Kyle growing up.....

"So your an alien," Liz said, finally breaking the silence.

"Yep," was all Michael said.

"And if your an alien, then Max and Isabel?" she said, letting the question hang in the air.

"Aliens," Michael said as Liz nodded and processed the information.

"And Kyle?" Liz asked.

"Oh no, Kyle's not an alien, he's from the future," Michael stated like she was asking what kind of coffee he liked at Starbucks.

"The future?" Liz said weakly as Michael sighed and punched the gas. It was going to be a long ride.
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kj4ever
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Re: Inescapable Fate (AU W Aliens CC Teen) Ch 2 6-27

Post by kj4ever »

Begonia said:
Aliens are stupid too, thinking that Liz did not know the Us army uniform!
and I loved her way of communicate with Michael through normal talking....
It's helped having worked together at the Crashdown anyway!...
One of my Mom's favorite sayings is "When people underestimate you, you automatically have the upper hand". I think all the aliens underestimated the humans in the show, and I wanted to show that here too!
Thanks for the FB everyone! I love it!
Nibbles2 said:
I actually think that Michael is the best person to tell Liz right now. He won't sugar coat it or try to protect her. He'll give her the straight facts. (Why is he driving them? After what happened, shouldn't Liz be driving?)
I think so too. She can deal with facts, and I think Maria or Alex, or even Isabel or Max would have thrown in to much emotion, to many what ifs...

Michael has been helpless for awhile. I actually thought about having Liz drive, but I knew Michael would want to feel like he was in control after being so out of control and at the mercy of others.

Alright, since nibbles is one of my favorite feedbackers evah, here is the next part!

Chapter 3

"And furthermore, most Physicists whole heartily agree that travel back in time is not possible. I mean, there is the theory of special relativity but most people dismiss it," Liz said.

Michael realized Liz had stop talking. He glanced over and realized she was looking at him intently, waiting for his input.

"You lost me somewhere between the Grandfather Paradox and Space-Time Intervals," Michael said, scratching his head.

"Michael," Liz said sternly, "I started out with the Grandfather Paradox."

Michael sighed, "No, you started out with telling me that while most scientist agree that traveling to the future is a possibility, traveling back in time was virtually impossible, and have spent the last fifteen minutes explaining why. I would have stopped you, but talking about all the science stuff seemed to calm you down, so I let you continue, even though I know first hand that it IS possible to travel back in time."


Liz knew he was right. Trying to put reason behind the unreasonable had calmed her down. God, she was such a geek.

"So I dated a guy from the future?" Liz asked.

"No, he was just plain old Kyle then. He dumped you when he became future Kyle," Michael said, and seeing her mouth drop open he said "sorry" under his breath.

Liz thought back to the beginning of her sophomore year. That summer was really the last time she had just cut loose. She had a blast with Kyle. Oh she knew he wasn't the love of her life or anything, but it was good to just have fun, to not worry about GPA's and extracurricular activities that would get her into Harvard.

She knew it was just a summer thing, and wasn't really surprised when one day Kyle announced that it was in fact, just a summer thing. Even though she understood and knew it was for the best, it had stung a little. Kyle told her he really wanted to be her friend, which at the time Liz thought everyone said that, but they had become really good friends. That summer with Kyle would always hold a special place in Liz's heart, and she now cherished her friendship with him.

If she really thought about it, Kyle had changed a lot from the beer bonging, party boy she spent the summer with. Almost overnight he became mature, stopped playing sports, and got a whole new group of friends.........He was even so incredibly sweet when her Grandmother died, was there for her the entire time even though they were broken up.

"Alright, let's just assume that Time Travel is possible, for argument's sake," Liz said. "Why did he travel back from the future?"

"You know, I'm probably not the right person for this job," Michael said reluctantly. "Can't you wait until we are back in Roswell and Maria can tell you over a gallon of ice cream or something?"

"Maria....so Maria knows, knows everything?" Liz asked.

"Yes," Michael said.

"For how long?" Liz asked and not waiting for an answer continues, "since the fall when I left for Harvard, right?" She had always felt that something was different with Maria when she had came back from school that Christmas. She was a little more reserved, like she was afraid to say the wrong thing. Liz had brushed it off as being paranoid, but the thought still lingered in the back of her mind all this time.

"Yep," Michael said.

Liz sighed in exasperation at Michael's one word answers. "Look Michael, I know you aren't exactly a talker, but you really can't expect me to sit here for the next two and a half hours without asking, oh I don't know, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"

"Alright, alright," Michael said. "I'll answer your questions as best as I can," he said, worried that Liz was going into Maria territory. He could handle Maria in Maria territory, but he wasn't sure he could handle Liz in Maria territory.

Liz pulled out her notebook. "What's that for?" Michael asked.

"I started writing the questions I wanted to ask when we were back at the lab," Liz said.

"Oh, ok," Michael said, not liking this one bit.

"Ok, first question. Where do you come from?" she asked.

"Antar." Michael replied.

He felt her eyes boring into him. "Alright, alright, we come from a planet named Antar. They had a Monarchy system of government, and they were overthrown by a man named Kivar. He murdered them all. The scientists took material from the dead royalty and mixed it with human DNA, put them in pods, and sent them to Earth for safe keeping until they could come back and free the planet."

"Makes sense," Liz said, catching the 'are you crazy look' Michael was giving her. "I mean, we have cloned animals, imagine what we can do in a few thousand years. Your people have obviously learned to travel great amounts of space in little time so their society must be incredibly more advanced then ours."

"Right," Michael said, wondering how she could question time travel for fifteen minutes but accept the fact that an alien/human hybrid was created in a matter of seconds.

"So where are the alien royalty?" Liz asked.

"Well one of them is driving you to Roswell right now," he said, almost enjoying the shocked look on her face. "And we prefer the word 'hybrid' to describe our, situtation. I was the second in command to the King. Max and Isabel, well Max was the King and Isabel was his sister, a Princess. The last member was Ava, or Tess as she was known on Earth. She was married to Max, but she was a traitor, back on Antar, and here on Earth."

"And you all are meant to go back and save your planet?" Liz asked.

"Well here's where it gets complicated," Michael said. "First of all, the people that....created....us thought we would awake from our pods as adults, with all our memories in tact. Instead we came out of the pods as children, and remember nothing about our planet. All we know is Earth."

"So where is this Tess? The traitor?" Liz questioned.

"She's dead. Kyle killed her back in his sophomore year of high school," Michael said.

"He...killed her?" Liz asked

"Yep, he blew up a whole town in Arizona," Michael said and as Liz started to protest he continued. "It was a town full of aliens that would reek more havoc then you can know. Humans meant nothing to them. God only knows what they did to take over an entire town."

"So since he was from the future Kyle knew they were there and they were evil?" Liz asked.

"Sort of, it was a mixture of all the timelines," Michael explained.

Liz cleared her throat. "Excuse me?"

Michael let out a frustrated sigh. "This is technically our forth go-round," he said. "In the past our enemies came back, pretending to be one of us. In the first timeline, which seemed to be the best for us, Future Me came back and convinced everyone that the world was going to end unless you and Max split up."

"Me and Max? As in Max Evans?" Liz asked.

"Well yeah, you were married with a couple of kids," Michael said, not realizing the shock that went through Liz. "It seems like Future Me went to everyone, except me, one by one trying to convince them. It didn't work, Max would never leave you and his kids. That's all Kyle remembers, so we're assuming that's when time started over again."

Liz's head was spinning. She was married to Max Evans? The Max Evans who was her gorgeous lab partner in high school? The Max Evans that Maria swore was always looking at her even though she didn't believe it for a minute?

"Michael," Liz said, trying to be patient. "I find it hard to belive that Max Evans and I were married," she said with a nervous laugh.

"Then it'll probably really blow your mind that you were married in two of the timelines, but in the second one you were to young to be married," Michael said.

"He hasn't said more words to me then 'pass the beaker' Michael," Liz said, rolling her eyes.

"Just humor me, alright?" Michael said, getting frustrated. "I'm probably doing this all wrong, I'm not good at this kind of thing!" he said, his voice rising with each word.

Liz looked at a very agitated Michael. "Ok, look, here's what we'll do. I'm comfortable with facts, things that can be measured," she said. "You were like a Military person in your...your last life?" she asked as Michael nodded. "I imagine with all that is going on you have resumed that roll now?"

"Yes," Michael said, wondering what she was getting at.

"So you are probably comfortable with debriefings?" she questioned.

"You have no idea. Max has debriefings for the debriefings," he said.

"Well then, why don't we treat this like a debriefing. I will take down the facts, and I won't argue with you about what you are saying," she said. "Well, until I have all the facts but then I'll probably have a million questions."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Michael said, hoping to GOD they would be in Roswell by that time.

So for the next hour and a half Michael debriefed Liz on what had been going on right under her nose. She tried to not question him and only ask pertinent questions, and he relaxed, telling her the facts of 3 1/2 timelines.

First he started with the "Future Max" timeline. The shooting. Tess. Dupes. Nasedo. Future Max. The Skins. Alex's death. Baby Zan. Graduation. Her and Maria's death. Michael's death. Max's breakdowns. Serena. Imminent release of the air borne virus. Kyle traveling back to change it all. It was by far the most destructive timeline of the three.

The "Future Isabel" timeline was much shorter, as time seemed to be reset when they were just Juniors in high school. Kyle was fuzzier on the details because he wasn't brought into the alien abyss until right before time reset.

It seems Liz, Maria and Alex knew about the aliens earlier, and Liz didn't get shot until she was a Junior and was killed. Kyle was sketchy on how they found out about it, but he did know that Max had healed her somehow, like from a childhood accident or something. He went crazy after that, searching for any and all aliens to kill.

It wasn't until Kyle accidentally landed in the cross fire that he healed him, and the last thing Kyle remembers is that Isabel and Max were killed while on a kamikaze mission to Copper Summit.

The first timeline, the "Future Michael" timeline was the happiest. Liz had been playing with Isabel and Maria at the park in 5th grade when she spotted a butterfly that would be perfect for her science project. She climbed a tree to get it, and the butterfly kept flying higher.

Not one to take her eye from the prize Liz climbed higher and higher, but the higher she got, the more unstable the branches became. When she stepped on a half rotten branch she fell to the ground, blood pouring from her head.

Isabel and Maria both screamed, bringing Michael, Alex, and Max to the scene. Wordlessly they gave Max permission to heal Liz.

There was another shocking revelation, that Max and Liz had become teenage parents their senior year, and even though it was difficult, they both finished college and even had their second child right around the time that "Future Michael" started
paying his little visits.

Kyle came into the picture his senior year of high school, when his car crashed into Michael's car. Maria and Michael had been arguing, and Max and Liz were in the backseat. Michael couldn't live with the fact that his carelessness might take a life, so Max healed him.

Max had been at work and Liz was playing in the yard with the children when a car playing loud music came down the road. The driver pulled a gun out and shot Liz, then sped away. No one knew if their children would inherit their capabilities, but five year old Zachary Evans proved he was his Father's child as he healed his Mother.


The last thing Kyle remembers from that timeline is everyone packing up and fleeing as the neighbors had seen Liz's blood soaked shirt and knew she should be at least fatally wounded.

"Michael, I think you need to take a look at this," Liz said holding her notebook out to him.

Michael looked over to the pie chart Liz had drawn, the corner of his mouth turning up into a smirk. "No matter how many visitors we get from the future, you certainly don't change," he said.

"Michael, I'm serious. You do realize this doesn't make sense?" Liz said.

Michael blew out a long breath of air. "Liz, I thought we were sticking to the facts," he said.

"I am Michael," Liz said, annoyed. "Could you just pull over for a minute?"

Michael took in Liz's serious expression and pulled into a truck stop up the road.

He turned on the light in the overhead console of the car, and Liz handed him the notebook.

"It seems that some things happen, each time, no matter who comes back and changes things," she said, pointing to her getting shot, Kyle getting fatally wounded, Alex and Maria being brought into the alien abyss.

"Inescapable fate," Michael mumbles.

"What?" Liz asked.

"That's what Sheriff Valenti is always saying, that some things are meant to happen, like you guys being brought in, like you and Kyle being hurt." Michael said.

Liz nodded. "That's not exactly based on science, but I'll go with it." She turned the page. "Now if you refer to my death chart," she said as Michael looked at her like she was crazy, "none of us died in every timeline, but we all died once, except for,"

"Kyle," Michael finished for her.

"Exactly," she said. "Maybe that is part of the reason why he remembers everything. Add to the fact that Max had healed him every time, so maybe he gave him some special ability."

"Serena was pretty sure he'd keep his memories when he came back here," Michael said.

Liz nodded, and scrunched up her face. "But that's not the puzzling part," she said, flipping the page again to a graph.

Michael looked at it and noticed she had all four timelines drawn, with significant events on each one.

"How much has Kyle told you about the other timelines?" she asked.

"Just what we needed to know, and sometimes we get flashes from him," Michael said. Liz looked at him curiously. "When things are intense, we get these pictures, flashes of things that have happened and we know how that person felt, what they were thinking."

"Ok then," Liz said, moving her arm away from Michael. He bit his lip to keep from laughing. "So you never talked about the early timelines, never hypothesized about it?"

"We were a little concerned with the roaming skins and the damn Grandium. The last timeline has kept us pretty busy," Michael explained. In fact, some of the things he had told Liz about the first two timelines were things he had totally forgot about. They rarely discussed them, not seeing them as important.

"But look at them Michael," she said, pointing to her graph. "They don't match up, and they sure as hell don't make any sense."

He studied the graph and his eyes grew wide, as realization set in.

"I mean really Michael, in the first two timelines we knew, I mean knew about all this since we were just kids," Liz said. "I know I don't know you all very well, but I know I never played with Isabel Evans as a child, and you and Max always kept to yourself. If "Future Max" didn't show up until we were sophomores in the third timeline, and Kyle didn't show up until our sophomore year in this timeline, then why weren't we all friends?"

Michael stared at the paper with his mouth open. They never really talked about anything before the "Future" people showed up in the timeline. In fact, they really only focused on the last one since they had lived a lot longer and they had more information.

"What did you say when you talked about Max and me splitting in the first timeline?" Liz asked.

"That he'd never leave you and his kids," Michael said, his mouth dry because he knew exactly where she was going.

"And when did I get pregnant?" Liz said softly.

"Your junior year," he said, bile rising in his throat.

"And when did I get shot and killed in the second timeline?" she pushed.

"Probably right before you knew you were pregnant," Michael said, closing his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"So we have four timelines, with pairs that seem to start out the same way. The first two you guys seem more open, less afraid, and the second two you are hiding in plain site, afraid to get close to anyone until it is forced on you," Liz says.

"Which means in the Future Max timeline it wasn't changed when he showed up, but when we were kids, probably when we came out of the pods," Michael said in shock.

Liz nodded. "So maybe, just maybe when Kyle reset time in this timeline, the damage had already been done, changed in the third timeline."

Michael turned to look Liz straight in the eye. "How many gang bangers have you seen driving around Roswell?"

"None," Liz said. "How did you stop me from being shot in the Crashdown this time?"

"The Sheriff was there all morning," he said. "We figured it would keep any seedy characters away, and it did."

"Or the seedy character didn't have a reason to shoot me, since it was already agreed upon that I would not be brought in," Liz thought out loud.

"Liz, maybe Kyle being alive in all three timelines has nothing to do with him keeping his memories. Sure, he was getting flashes off them at the end of the third timeline, but maybe he kept his memories because HE was the one who traveled back." Michael thought out loud.

"Which would mean that whoever went back the first three times would know what happened before, at least in the first two," she pointed out. "And if they were your enemy, why wouldn't they just go and destroy your pods? If they saw me as an obstacle in all this why not take me out when I was a defenseless baby?" she questioned.

"Because they are not a cold blooded killer, and only killed when it seemed like there was no choice," Michael punched the steering wheel hard, making Liz jump. "When I first started working at the Crash, I didn't need to learn the menu, because I knew it by heart. Max dragged me there every chance he got."

"So the time traveler got nervous, and decided he needed to take me out in case Max was getting any ideas about me. Either he didn't expect you and Max to be there, or he thought Max would never do something so public like healing me," Liz said. "Michael, the time traveler isn't your enemy, they just want you to embrace your alien side and save Antar."

"And they see you as a big obstacle in that," Michael said slowly, "which means...do you have any change?" he asked, switching gears.

Liz set down the notebook and pulled out her purse. "Well they took my cell phone and my keys, but my wallet is still there," she said pulling it out of her purse. Michael took it from her and counted some coins in his hand.

Without a word he got out of the car and walked around to Liz's door, opening it. "Get out," he said simply as a confused Liz did what she was told.

Before she knew it he was walking as fast as he could to a group of payphones across the parking lot, gripping Liz tightly around the shoulders, dragging her along.

"Michael, Michael!" Liz yelled. "I am only 5'2 and you are tall!" she said as she struggled to keep up with him without falling. Then next thing she knew she spun around, was hoisted up, and was thrown over Michael's shoulder.

"Are you insane?" Liz asked as he put her down in front of the payphones. "You need to just calm ooomph" she said as Michael barricaded her between him and the phone.

Michael hurriedly pumped the coins into the phone and dialed a number.

"Maxwell, quarry, scooby only, half an hour," Michael said as he slammed the phone down.

Michael started to turn and as Liz started to move too he backed up pinning her again.

"What are you doing Michael?" Liz asked, pushing against his back.

"Just give me a minute to concentrate dammit!" he said. Liz felt an almost tingly sensation, like a build up of energy.

Michael turned around. "It's safe, right now anyway," he said leading Liz back to the car. "I didn't sense any Antarians."

He walked her quickly back to the car, trying not to make her stumble this time. Much to her surprise, he opened the driver's door and motioned for her to get in. 'He must want me to drive' she thought until he got in right behind her, pushing her into the passenger seat.

Michael started the car, backed up, and headed back onto the highway. "Listen to me carefully Liz, from this moment on, you are on lock down. You will be with me or Max at all times, got it?" he said. He may not be good at talking, but he was damn good at protecting.

"Got it," Liz said quietly, for the first time realizing the amount of danger she was facing. She had been pretty calm going over all the facts, and even when the facts added up to the fact that someone was probably plotting now that she was back in the picture. Plotting her death. Now that it was sinking in, Liz wished she was back at her apartment in Boston and that this was all a horrible nightmare.

_______________________________________________________________

"I understand," Max said, trying to keep his face neutral. "We'll see you in a few hours," he said, shutting the cell phone. He looked up at the expectant faces.

"That was Michael," he explained. "They thought a police officer was following them, so they changed course. It'll take a few more hours to get here," he explained. "Oh, and Courtney, he asked if you could see if any signals were sent from the Northern part of the state, right away."

Courtney nodded and left the room. "You three, we are going to need extra security at the back entrance, that's where they are coming in. Could you please go check it out, just to be safe?" The three men bowed and left the room.

Max watched them leave, and when he was sure it was just Alex, Isabel, Maria, Kyle, and the Sheriff he breathed out a frustrated sigh.

"Max, what's wrong?" Isabel asked, surprised by Max's change in demeanor.

"What Michael really said was 'quarry, scooby only, half an hour' which only means one thing," he said quietly.

"They've figured something out, it's bad, and someone in our camp can't be trusted," Kyle stated.

"Oh boy," Alex said as Isabel wrapped her arms tightly around him.
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kj4ever
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Re: Inescapable Fate (AU W Aliens CC Teen) Ch 4 7-2

Post by kj4ever »

I'm glad my cliff notes helped everyone! Thanks for the FB!


Chapter 4

The closer they got to the quarry, the more nervous Liz felt. It was like her insides were twisting in knots. The car had been quiet once Michael declared her on lock down, and both had been lost in their own thoughts.

Liz was glad she was with Michael, because he understood she just needed to think. He didn't try to make her feel better, didn't tell her it'd be alright, didn't ask her what she was thinking.

Maria, God bless her, would be pumping her for information to see if she was ok, which was one of the reasons why Liz loved Maria so much, but was not what she needed right now.

There was something that was nagging Liz. "Michael?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," he said, almost like he forgot she was there. He had been busy plotting and planning how they were going to find the original time traveler.

"What does 'scooby' mean," she asked.

"Well in the last timeline we all took off in a van after graduation when the FBI was after us," Michael said. "One of the occupants of that van decided it was funny to call it the Mystery Machine and that we were the 'scooby' gang, so we've always used that as code for the originals. You know, Max, Isabel, me, Maria, Alex, Kyle, Valenti, and now you."

"Kyle?" she asked.

"Who else would come up with that?" he said as they both started laughing.

Michael's laughter died down and he suddenly became serious. "Thank you Liz," he said earnestly.

"For what?" Liz said.

"I was on a scouting mission when they took me. Hell it must have been almost a week ago. I never even felt them, and all of a sudden, I was surrounded. I managed to blast quite a few of them, but then they hit me with a tranquilizer dart. I had just woken up when you came in," he said. "I don't think they realized how drugs affect us. Anyway, when I saw you I knew everything would be ok, even before you pretended to give me the injection, even if you did slap the hell out of me," he said, mock rubbing his jaw.

"You're welcome," she said, "and I thought it was a pretty convincing performance. I had to take drama in my sophomore year of college as an elective. I thought it added a special flare, don't you?" she laughed.

Michael just rolled his eyes and turned down the dirt road leading to the quarry.

Liz's laughter died down as she saw a fire burning and Alex, Isabel, Maria, Kyle, Valenti, and Max standing around it.

"Michael?" she asked again.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Do you believe in soul mates?" she asked as Max Evans came into view, a face full of worry, his jaw set in quiet determination.

Michael sighed as he put the car in park. "I have to Liz, otherwise Maria will kill me in my sleep," he said and they both just cracked up.

They were laughing as Michael's door flung open and Maria promptly climbed in on Michael's lap.

"Oh my God Michael I was so worried," she said, grabbing him by the back of the head and kissing him all over his face. "Oh my God are you crying??" she asked when she felt the wetness on his face.

This just made Liz and Michael laugh harder. Michael wiped away a tear. "No, I was just enjoying a joke with my good friend Liz," he said, smiling at her.

Maria looked to Liz, who was desperately trying not to laugh, and like most moments when you are trying not to laugh it just makes you want to laugh more.

"What did you do to her Michael?" Maria demanded. This just made it worse.

Liz was wiping her own tears away when she noticed that the others had moved to the car also.

"Uh, is everything ok in there?" she heard Alex say.

"Oh it's just peachy," Maria called. "We are having a grand old time!"

"Maria, if I don't laugh I just might start crying," Liz said as Maria's face softened. Maria reached out and touched her friends cheek.

"Come on, everyone is dying to see you guys, and find out what's wrong," Maria said softly, and as she turned to get out of the car, Liz gave Michael a quick wink.

'Oh yes, having Liz Parker involved was going to be very helpful,' Michael thought. She had a ton more Maria experience and knew just how to diffuse the Deluca Bomb that he loved so much.

What Michael didn't know was even though Liz knew that would diffuse the Deluca Bomb, it was very close to the truth.

Liz slowly got out of the car as Alex scooped her up in a big bear hug.

"God Liz, are you alright?" Alex asked, hugging her tightly.

Liz didn't think she had ever felt anything so wonderful in all her life. It took all her resolve to not burst into tears.

"Yes," Liz said softly as she shook her head no. "Aww," Alex said as he put her arm around her shoulder, steering her towards the others who were making a fuss over Michael.

Questions were being fired from all directions."What happened?" "What did you find out?" "Who took you?" "How'd you get out?" "Are you ok?"

"Alright, alright, alright!" Michael said, putting his hands in the air after Isabel gave him a big hug. "We aren't going to get anywhere this way, and we don't have a lot of time before we go back to the bunker."

Kyle went over to Liz and gave her a big hug. "It's all pretty unreal, don't you think?" he asked.

"Yeah, understatement Kyle," she said giving him a small smile. She looked over Kyle's shoulder as she hugged him again and saw Max, standing in the headlights, his hands stuffed deep in his pockets, looking right at her with an expression that she couldn't read.

It never ceased to amaze her how he just seemed to get more good looking each time she saw him. His hair was longer then the last time she saw him, and it gave him a bit of a bad boy air when teamed with the slight five o'clock shadow that graced his face.

Liz involuntarily shivered. "Are you cold Liz?" Alex asked. "Come on, I've got a blanket in the trunk," he said leading her to the black SUV.

They were going to walk pass Max. Dear God, what do you say to someone that was your husband before? To someone who knows that you know things you shouldn't? 'Think Parker, think!' she said to herself.

"Hey," she said softly as she passed by Max.

"Hey," he said, giving her a small, shy smile.

'Hey?' thought Liz. 'Hey?'.........She had just graduated in the top of her class at Harvard and all she could think of was hey?

'God,' thought Max, 'hey? all I can think of to say is hey? you are just as hopeless as you were at 16'..........Max looked at her retreating figure. She looked tired and frazzled, but oh so beautiful. He briefly wondered if he could just kidnap her and take her to Vegas and do what they, well he was hoping they would do in the future anyway.

Max shook his head from these thoughts. They had to take care of business right now, and he didn't think he was going to like what Michael had to say.

They all went and sat by the fire, Liz wrapped up tight in a blanket and sandwiched between Alex and Maria. She sipped on a bottle of water Maria had given her, and Kyle reached into his pocket and pulled out some licorice.

"Are you hungry Liz?" Kyle asked.

"Not that hungry Kyle," Liz said.

"Michael?" he asked.

Michael shrugged his shoulders like why not and took the licorice from Kyle, ignorning the 'you've got to be kidding me' look on Maria's face.

Maria opened her purse and handed Liz a granola bar. She smiled her thanks and opened the wrapper as she saw Maria give one to Michael.

"Who took you Michael?" Max asked, staring him dead in the eye.

There were those shivers again. Liz remembered Max as a sweet, shy, if not somewhat weird kid in school. This Max was none of those things. He was powerful.

Michael launched into the story of how he was taken, how Liz was taken, and how they got out while everyone listened quietly.

"Thank you Liz," Isabel said with more emotion in her eyes than Liz every would have guessed she possessed. "Thank you for getting him back to us," she said as she reached across Alex and squeezed Liz's hand.

"It was nothing," Liz said modestly, looking into the fire.

"Nothing? It sounds like you kicked some skin ass!" Kyle said. "Oh believe me Liz, I've seen you kick some ass before, but you had powers then. It is pretty impressive for a human to take out a skin," he said proudly.

"It sounds like sending Courtney to college with you was a good idea," Maria said.

"C-C-Courtney?" Liz said weakly.

"Oh shit, I left that part out Liz," Michael said.

"So Courtney's an...an..." Liz tried to spit out.

"Alien," Max said, looking right at Liz. "We sent her for your protection Liz, in case anything were to happen."

Liz nodded her head and looked down at the ground. She really, really didn't know how much more of this she could take.

Maria saw the hurt look in Max's eyes and could hear her friend's shallow breathing. "Look, Liz and Michael have been through a lot, maybe we should just go back to the bunker," she said. "We'll fill you in on the missing blanks tomorrow, but for now I think you need to get some rest."

"We aren't going anywhere," Michael said. "Not until we have a plan.'

"A plan for what Michael? Look, I know long, meaningful conversations aren't your thing, but Liz needs to know everything, not be surprised anymore," Maria said, feeling for her friend.

"Michael did fine Maria," Liz said, sticking up for Michael.

Maria squeezed her friends hand. "I'm just worried about you Liz, this is a lot to take in."

"Liz and I had a system, ok?" Michael said, scowling at Maria. "I gave facts and she did her nerd thing and made charts owwwww," he said as Maria jabbed him in the ribs.

"What did you discover?" Max asked, leaning in, listening intently.

"I have one question I've never asked, and I don't think any of you ever have either," Michael said. "Kyle, how were the beginning of the first two timelines different from the last two? What haven't you told us?"

Kyle shifted uncomfortably as six eyes turned to look at him. "Well I...What do you mean?" Kyle said weakly.

"What I mean is what was so different that none of us would have a problem with Max healing Liz in fifth grade when we wouldn't even let him ask her to a homecoming dance this time around?" Michael said, not noticing the blush that spread over Max and Liz's cheeks.

Kyle swallowed. "Well, the first two times you were all taken in by the Evans, and they knew about you pretty much from the get-go," Kyle said.

"Kyle!" Isabel exclaimed. "Why wouldn't you tell us that?!?!"

"I didn't want Michael to know what a raw deal he got!" Kyle shot back. "You were all so much different then. Well, your basic personalities were the same, but you weren't so lonely, and Michael, he was happy," he finished softly.

"It doesn't matter Kyle, I don't remember that," Michael assured him.

"Well it matters to me!" Kyle said. "You were my best friend man. We played on the basketball team together, we did everything together! When I got in that accident, you didn't get Max to heal me because you felt guilty, you did it because we were like brothers."

Everyone was quiet when Kyle spoke again. "I wanted to protect you from what you lost."

"Thanks Kyle," Michael said, taken back by this revelation. Truth be told he could see being that close to Kyle. "I do appreciate that, but we missed something big by not ever talking about those early timelines."

"Why would the beginnings be different if the enemy from the future always came later than that?" Max thought out loud, kicking himself for never thinking about it before.

Kyle closed his eyes. He knew then and there he had made a huge mistake. He always just glossed over the first two timelines, trying to protect Michael, acting like they really didn't contain any useful information.

"Will we ever learn?" Kyle said, almost to himself then laughed. "My God, me especially, I've been through this what, four times? When will we learn that withholding information to protect each other only leads to destruction?"

"Nothings destructed yet Kyle," Liz said, feeling for her friend. "I'm still alive."

"What?" Maria exclaimed.

"Liz, break out the death chart," Michael said and when he noticed the weird looks he was getting from the others he elaborated. "Liz made a pie chart with the timelines and our deaths. The timeline graph really tells the story though."

Liz didn't even realize she was still clutching her notebook, and they passed it around the fire while Michael explained what Liz and him thought it meant.

"My God we sent you off to Harvard not knowing anything, and someone, who's probably acting like they are on our side, could have got spooked at any moment and...and..." Maria said, a small tear slipping from her eye.

"and it would have been my fault," Kyle said. "I'm so sorry Liz, I...I didn't think of it."

"No blame Kyle," Max said, even though he wanted to thoroughly throttle him right now. "We agreed to that. No blame, no judging."

Kyle nodded, even though it didn't stop him from blaming himself.

"Son," the Sheriff said, "you might as well face the fact that you can't cover everything. Look at how far we have come. We've taken out most of Kivar's troops. We can handle this," he said, squeezing his son's shoulder.

"Now we just got to find the bastard," Alex said.

"They all pretended to be us, so they have to be shifters, so that narrows it down," Max said.

Liz sat back and listened to the group talk about the five shape shifters that had come to Earth as stowaways on Nicholas's ship.

"What about the other one?" Liz asked. She reached over Maria to Michael and pointed to the last timeline. "Kal Langley?"

"Liz, there is no way in hell Kal would want Max or anyone for that matter to go back to Antar. He hates it there," Kyle said. "Max told me that Kal told him the more he embraced his alien side, the more he was going to lose. It also sounded like he had a huge case of human envy."

"But he was in the crash, he was around in 1959 when they were shooting that movie," Isabel added. "He was with Nasedo for awhile, and maybe he'll know something about when we were born, about how we got separated."

"That's a great point Isabel," Max said smiling at his sister. "I think if I approach him differently, not all I-am-your-king-and-you-must-do-what-I-say we might get a different outcome. Maybe if I just ask him for help he'll do it. Kyle, you did say that he kept up with everything we were doing because it was his job, right?"

"Yep." Kyle said. "You seemed to think that because you were a total ass as King is why Langley stayed away, so maybe if he sees you are different he won't be so scared that you are just going to order him around. In all honesty, we have zero information about the pods, how they worked, anything."

"I think Liz and I should leave tomorrow," Max said.

Liz's head shot up. "I....we...what?"

"You are not leaving my side until we find out who views you as a threat," Max stated firmly, leaving no room for argument.

"Alright," Liz agreed.

"You should lock down the Granilith before you leave Max, probably tonight," Maria said. "whoever this person is they know that Kyle came back too, and they just might decide to just change things right now if you take off on a little vacation together."

Michael's mouth perked up into a half smile. "Good point Deluca," he said, kissing the top of her head.

"I have my uses," she said giving Michael an exaggerated wink.

"Well maybe," Isabel said, "maybe Max could just act like he can't stand Liz. Then we wouldn't worry and Liz would be safe."

"No," Max said forcefully. "I mean, I don't think it's a good idea to go that route. They shot her in the last timeline because I was going to the Crashdown a lot. What if they interpret something wrong, what if they see through it. I'm not willing to take that chance."

Isabel sighed. "You're right."

Liz's eyes were getting heavier and heavier, as she listened to the plans developing. She would stay with Max tonight, which she was alright with since he had a couch in his room. She yawned, half listening, half trying to stay awake, and before she knew it, she was sound asleep on Alex's shoulder.

"She's out like a light," Alex whispered.

"I bet she hasn't slept in two days," Michael said.

Alex shifted so that he could try to somehow hold Liz and stand up, but before he had a chance to try that magic trick he felt Liz being lifted off of him.

Max.

He had crossed over to Liz in two long strides and gently lifted her up in her arms, and without a word, started walking over to the Alex's black SUV.

"Well I guess we are going back now," Maria said with a little amusement in her voice. She knew that Max tried really hard not to be "King" like, not to be the one to have the last word, and he was really careful not to order anyone around. Maria knew the last timeline, how he was after Alex was killed, haunted Max.

As he used his powers to open the door and he started to slide into the back seat, Liz started to stir.

"Wha?" she started to say.

"Shhhh, go back to sleep, I've got you," Max said softly, soothingly.

Liz cuddled back into Max's chest. "Ok Max," she said sleepily, nestling her head into the crook of his neck and wrapping her arms around it. "Hhhmmmm," she said as her body relaxed against his, sounding like a cross between a sigh and a purr.

Max felt an electricity like he had never known shoot through his body at the sound of that sigh like he had never felt before. His heart was hammering, his stomach doing flip flops. He knew at that point all the decisions he had made, all the hard choices, had been worth it.

In truth he had been incredibly lonely all these years. Watching Isabel and Alex, then later Michael and Maria being so in love, so perfect for each other had been hard. Even though the joke had been that it was Max and Liz that had that look into your eyes soul mate thing in the past timelines, Max knew that the other two couples loved each other just as much. They just weren't as sappy as he knew he could be if he was with the right person.

He had companionship with Serena, and yes, she was very beautiful. The last six months she seemed to want something more than friendship. She never did anything outright like make a play for him, but she had definitely stuck her toe in to test the water.

Max had just acted clueless, ignoring her subtle advances. Sure, he thought about it. Serena was beautiful and brave and smart. Any guy would be lucky to have her, and he was half human after all. He had hormones.

The thing was he remembered the trouble those hormones had gotten him in the last time. The funny thing about their past timeline flashes were they weren't from Kyle's point of view, they were from their point of view. Even though Tess was an enemy, Max still knew it wasn't right what he did at the observatory. He didn't get a flash of the exact act, but he did know how he felt, and he had just wanted to feel like someone believed in him, wanted him. He was also painfully aware that he had absolutely no feelings for Tess and had just used her.

When Serena had finally outright said that they should cut all ties with Liz, and Maria's careful insinuations, Max's eyes had been opened.

All the playful flirting Serena had tried on him might be something more than just someone who was lonely. Max had the sinking suspicion that anything physical that might happen between them would be just a release for him, but something much more to her. What good was it, having all this information from Kyle, if they didn't learn from it?

He knew he needed to do something, and he also knew he had never, ever given Serena a reason to think they could ever be...more. So he had reassigned her to working on the Granilith, and didn't do as many of the "couple" things anymore. When Alex, Isabel, Michael, and Maria did things like go to the movies or out to dinner it was a given that Max and Serena would go with, but he had put a stop to that this last month.

Max only hoped it was long enough to spare Serena's feelings because he obviously could not hide how he felt about Liz. When Isabel had suggested that he act like he didn't like Liz, he knew it would never work, that everyone would be able to tell. Even though he had never led Serena on and had always acted like he didn't know she was coming on to him, he still felt guilty that he could hurt her.

He would be leaving with Liz in the morning, and he really hoped that they would not have to stay in the bunker when he got back. It was an expansive underground headquarters, built on many afternoons and weekends during high school with Michael's fire power and their new allies abilities. In all truth he hated it down there.

He didn't mind working there, but whenever danger was present they did have rooms where they could sleep. They had spent all their nights at the bunker after Michael was taken. They should be safe enough to go home after tonight, as even Nicholas wasn't stupid enough to step foot in Roswell.

Max's room was lined completely in Depleted Uranium. It wasn't put there so much to keep the shapeshifters out that worked with them, but more because there was one shapeshifter out there who didn't particularly care for Max in the last timeline, the one they would now count on for answers. That room would now keep Liz safe, but Max really didn't want to keep her locked in a room until they figured this mess out.

They pulled into the main entrance, which was located on a farm owned by one of the shifters. The main gateway was hidden in the barn. The only other way out of the bunker was the pod chamber, and only the royal four could open that door. It had been the way they had used to sneak out, to meet Michael and Liz.

Liz heard car doors opening, and saw Michael and Maria up ahead going into a large barn. Max slowly opened the door. "Liz, if it will be easier for you just pretend to be asleep. I'm sure you've had enough excitement for one day."

She pulled back a little to look at Max. He looked so concerned for her, his voice so tender, it was hard to not just melt. "Are...are you sure?" Liz asked. "I mean, how far will you have to carry me? I don't want to hurt you."

Much to Liz's surprise Max's head flew back as he whole heartily laughed. This was a side she had never seen from the mysterious Max Evans, who always walked around school deep in thought, like the fate of the world rested on his shoulders.

"Liz, I could carry you to Dexter without breaking a sweat," he chuckled.

"Well I didn't mean you aren't in shape, because you obviously are in shape, really good shape," she blushed. "uuh I'm just going to go back to sleep now," she said, hiding her blushing face back in the crook of his neck.

Isabel opened Max's door. "Come on Romeo, time to face the music," she smirked as Max shot her daggers.

Michael and Maria were immediately surrounded upon entering the compound.

"Michael!" Courtney exclaimed. "What happened? Are you alright?" she said giving him a quick hug.

"Nicholas," Michael said like it was the dirtiest word in the world. "We are all really tired, been through a lot. Liz is asleep, so why don't we break this up until the morning? Nicholas is long gone by now."

"When did you guys leave?" Serena asked, confused.

"Max and I were to impatient to wait to see Michael and Liz, so we went to meet up with them, knowing which way they'd be coming in," Maria explained.

"And there was no way in hell they were going without us," Alex said as him, Isabel, and the Valenti boys came through the door.

"Oh," said Serena, feeling a little left out. They always went everywhere together.

"Michael," Jacob, one of the shifters who worked with them spoke up. "I know you have probably been through a lot, but we really need to know what happened to develop a plan of action."

Michael knew he was right, but he was damn tired and also wanted to get Liz and Max into his room. "You're right Jacob," he said. "Alex, Kyle, can you fill them in? Between the two of you you should be able to give them most of the information. Liz also has a lot of files she found that could be very useful."

"Speaking of which, they should be along any second now and Max will go ballistic if anyone wakes up Liz, she's been through so much," Maria said.

Max stood on the other side of the door, still holding Liz, waiting for his cue. "You ready?" he asked Liz.

"Hey, I'm just along for the ride," she said smiling as she laid back down in his arms.

Max's face broke out into a wide smile, and that is how the others saw him as he came through the door.

Serena's heart sunk when she saw how happy Max was. She really thought she would be ready for this, but seeing the small brunette in Max's arms was almost more then she could bare. He walked past everyone there like they didn't exist, adoringly looking at Liz, only stopping to motion for Michael to follow him.

"Almost there," Max whispered as he shifted Liz to get the key that always hung around his neck. Even though it was awkward, he managed to open the door without dropping Liz.

Michael followed Max through the door, and shut and locked it behind him. It had been more tense then he expected. Sure, Michael had plans going through his head to get her out of captivity once his powers came back, and the biggest thought in his mind had been that Maria, Alex, Kyle, and of course Max would be destroyed if something happened to her, especially if it was alien involved.

Now that he had spent some time with her, he knew he wanted to keep her safe for him too, because he wanted someone like Liz Parker in his life, to be his friend. Just thinking she was being carried through a group of people when one of them would be more then willing to do her harm had caused every sense in Michael to be heightened.

"You can probably put me down now Max," Liz said softly as Max continued to hold her.

"Oh! I'm sorry," Max apologized as Liz bit her lip and looked away.

Michael just smirked.

"I'm just gonna go...I'm going to go lock the Granilith," Max said. "Stay here while I'm gone?" he asked Michael.

"Of course," Michael replied. "Kyle's going to tell them that Nicholas was insisting on the Granilith so you are going to keep it locked unless it's being worked on from now on," he explained.

Max nodded and went to another door across the room, using the key around his neck to unlock it and left the room.

"So," Liz said, looking around. It was a plain room, with a bookshelf stuffed with books and a nice couch to one side, a very comfortable bed on the other.

"Here's your stuff," Michael said, setting a duffle bag on the bed. When the "military" had taken Liz they had hastily packed up some of her stuff and thrown it in the bag.

"Thanks," she said. She pulled out the files they had snagged and started looking through her bag. "You know Michael, I would kill for a shower."

"Oh, right through there," Michael said. As Liz picked up her bag and started to walk he stopped her. "Wait one second," he said as he walked through the door into the large bathroom. He looked around, reached out with his senses. "It's ok," he said.

Liz looked confused. "I thought they couldn't get in here?" she asked.

"They can't, but it's better safe then sorry," Michael shrugged. Liz said thanks and went into the bathroom, grateful to have a hot shower after two days.

Michael went over to the couch and collapsed on it. He would get all their people together first thing in the morning, giving Max and Liz a chance to leave without anyone following them. They had all agreed that they would tell the others that Max and Liz were headed for Texas, following a clue in the notes Liz found.

He thought about this room. Perhaps Kal would be able to help them. It did seem like the other shifters did not want him anywhere near Kal Langley. Or maybe it was just some of them, Michael didn't know, he was to tired to think. He was sure they would think of a million things now that they were thinking about those earlier timelines.

Michael knew that Kal Langley couldn't hurt Max, and he wasn't worried about Nicholas as from what he could tell there were only a few skins left on Earth now. No, after years of confrontations with the little bastard Michael knew him, and he would be off somewhere licking his wounds. One thing was sure though, he was getting desperate to pull the crap he had pulled this last week.

The door to the Granilith chamber opened, and Michael saw Max come in. "Where's Liz?" Max asked.

"Where are you going tomorrow?" Michael asked.

"California Michael, what are you talking about?" Max asked back.

"Just making sure...." he said as Max nodded in recognition. "We need to be more careful now, now that we know one of them is an enemy, or kind of an enemy, and Liz is in the shower."

"I'm going to bed Maxwell," he said standing up. Much to his surprise Max gave him a great big hug.

"I'm glad your alright Michael," he said. Michael patted him on the back. "Me to bro, me too."

Michael left and Max listened for the shower. It was still running, so he went over to his small dresser and pulled out a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt. In a small closet he found a couple of blankets and proceeded to make a bed on the couch, turning around when he heard the bathroom door open.

She looked so much better after her small cat nap and the shower. Max lost the capability to breathe for a second as he saw Liz in her plaid pajama pants that sat low on her hips and red tank top, with her long, luscious hair all slicked back and wet.

Liz looked up shyly at Max. "It's all yours," she said. "Oh thank you," she said, motioning to the couch that was made into a bed.

"You are taking the bed," he said and when she started to protest he raised his hand. "I insist, and you won't get me to back down."

"Well thank you," she said with a smile.

"No, thank you," Max said softly as he grabbed his stuff and headed towards the bathroom.

Liz smiled when she saw the bed, how he had turned down the covers for her. Max seemed like he couldn't be real, couldn't be this perfect. Not knowing what else to do, she climbed into bed. She was feeling a little better but was incredibly tired, oh so tired. She even had a good cry in the shower. Wanting to be brave, she didn't want anyone to see how this was effecting her, but it had been so much.

There were aliens on Earth. One of those aliens may or may not want her dead. She had lived with an alien for her entire stay at Harvard, and all her good friends knew about it. Time Travel, being taken in the middle of the night without her knowledge, Max Evans was her husband in previous timelines....

Even with so much going through her head, and even though she wanted to talk to Max about their trip tomorrow, she still fell fast asleep as soon as she laid down. The human body could only go so long without sleep, and Liz had reached her limit.

When Max came out of the bathroom he found her like that, like she had fallen asleep without completely getting into bed, He gently scooted her under the covers and tucked her in. Her hair was still wet, so he used a little alien juice to dry it, taking care not to touch it to much and wake her up.

What he really wanted to do was crawl into that bed with her, but Max had waited all these years for her, he could wait a little while longer. Not being able to resist, he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. He shut off the light and made himself comfortable on the couch, willing himself to get some sleep because they had a long drive ahead of them tomorrow.

____________________________________________________________

Maria laid curled up in Michael's arms, surprised he wasn't asleep yet. If the ordeal he had just been through hadn't made him exhausted, the bedroom acrobatics they had just performed should have. They had been laying there quietly for about 15 minutes when Maria finally spoke.

"What are you thinking about Michael?" she questioned.

"Future Max," he said.

"You are the very best at pillow talk you know," she joked, but then got serious. "Me too," she said, seeing his surprise.

They both knew that only Max and the Royal Shapeshifters could lock and unlock the Granilith. "We had two timelines before this. Who had programmed the Granilith before Kyle came back? Serena is the only one who could do it in the last timeline," he said, running his hands frustratedly through his hair. "Who did it before then, to let the person go back in time?"

Maria knew what Michael was getting at, and part of her didn't want to think of the answer. She respected Serena. They weren't best buds or anything, but she always had been a true friend to them, and even if she did seem to want Liz out of the picture, Maria knew it wasn't Serena doing it on purpose, or so she thought.

She knew things could have easily been different in the first two timelines if they had never met her. After all, "Future Max" had said Serena had changed the Granilith. Those first two timelines, when Liz had been gunned down in front of her children and then at school in the second, well Serena could have been a participant, and no matter how much they liked her now, they had to keep that in mind.

Serena been born on a ship heading towards Earth. Her parents had her engineered from the remains of their daughter who had died in what would have been the 70's in Earth time. Her pod grew a lot faster then the four square, and they had fled Antar in the early 80's, Serena's pod in tow. Her parent's husks had not survived when they crashed into the mountains. It seemed that Antarians were incredibly bad drivers Michael thought, not for the first time.

She was a hybrid like them, so she couldn't shift, but she very well could have sent that first time traveler back in time to shoot an innocent and recently pregnant Liz Parker. He didn't want to think of that now, he just wanted to hold Maria and finally fall asleep.

"If you all didn't really know much about your alien heritage the first two times, how was the Granilith opened?" Maria asked.

"I'll talk to Kyle tomorrow," Michael said. He did know they had not met Serena those first two times around, and that nightmare of a timeline they had met her while on the road.

"Mmmmkay," Maria said sleepily. "I love you Michael,"

Michael dropped a kiss on Maria's forehead. "back at ya," he said as Maria smiled into his chest. She had long ago learned that Michael wouldn't be the gushing, poem spouting boyfriend, but she didn't need that. He showed her plenty just how much he loved her.

She knew that most people would want to talk about their experience if they had been held captive, but Michael was not like that. He may go through it in his own head, but he wouldn't speak about his feelings unless he really needed to. Maria knew Michael would come to her when he was ready, he always did.
_____________________________________________________________________

After tossing and turning half the night Serena punched her pillow, trying to get comfortable. She finally gave up, looking over at the clock on her small nightstand. 3:00 am. It was no use, she wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight.

Work would keep her mind off things. She got up, threw a sweatshirt and jeans on, and headed towards the Granilith. She almost laughed at the pains she had taken these last six months to look good at all times. It felt kind of nice to just be herself, a jeans and t-shirt girl. No matter what happened with Max Evans, she still had a job to do.

Finding the room that now housed the Granilith Serena flipped on the light and walked over to the control panel. Even as a child traveling to Earth she had studied the mechanics of the Granilith, a powerful ship that could speed back and forth faster then anything ever created in their solar system. A regular ship took at least a decade to go between Antar and Earth, but the Granilith could do it in days.

She knew if she could just slow it down a bit no one would ever be able to time travel again. It was traveling so much faster then the speed of light that had made it possible to begin with, and of course finding the right path to take. It certainly wasn't an exact science, but Serena was sure she could do it now if she had to.

As she tried to open the panel that housed the main computer, she jumped back at the little shock she got. "Ouch," she said in reflex. It was locked? It hadn't been locked since she started working on it a month ago.

Then she remembered what Kyle and Alex had said about Nicholas actively searching for the Granilith and that Max was going to keep it locked unless someone was working on it. He must have come down here from his room, before him and Liz...did whatever they were doing. She looked to the second door that led to Max's room. No, it was better not to think about what was going on in there.

"Is it locked?" she heard a voice say.

"Yeah," she said sadly as she looked at the shifter.

The shifter sighed. "Does he not trust us?"

"What do you mean?" Serena asked. "Kyle told us he was going to keep it locked."

"Yes he did, that he was going to keep it locked unless someone was working on it. Is that not your assignment?" he asked.

"You know Max, he's always so careful," Serena said, knowing it was true.

"I guess I don't know him as well as I thought," the shifter said quietly. "I'm sorry for that Serena," he said sincerely.

"It's not your fault," Serena said, wishing they had never had that conversation. She had a crush on Max for years, but never tried to be more, she knew better. Six months ago he had come to her with suspicions that Max felt more for her, but was to shy to act on them.

Hope can be a powerful thing, and Serena had been filled with hope that Max felt the same as she felt about him. She had tried to flirt, give subtle signs that she was interested in more then friendship, and sometimes she thought Max was giving her subtle signs back. Now that she thought about it, he wasn't. He was just a gentleman, always had been.

She even had fantasies of being Queen of Antar, going back with her husband and saving their people together. They would live in the grand palace that had been described to her as a child, ruling over their people in a fair and just manor. These fantasies were crushed now. She knew it as soon as she saw the way Max was looking at Liz when he was carrying her to his....bedroom.

"I feel like it is," the shifter said, "and I'm sorry. You would have made such a great Queen."

Serena gave a sad smile. "It's ok," she said, and as she felt the tears threatening to fall again she headed towards the door. "I'm just going to try to get some sleep. Goodnight," she said quickly, leaving before anyone else could catch her in tears.

The shifter walked over to the control panel and punched it, taking the pain from the shock that he knew he deserved.

This was about as bad as it could get. If only he had been stronger. If only he had been able to push that little three year old Liz Parker out in front of that car when he had the chance all those years ago. This was war. There would be collateral damage.

He knew this, his mind told him this over and over again, but the time when he had gunned down a beaming Liz Parker in front of her children haunted him, even though he hadn't technically done it now that things were changed.

What is one life compared to millions? Why should one person be spared and millions left to die?

He had let himself be fooled that this time would be different since Liz was kept out of the loop and had went away to college. He was sure that she would find herself a nice husband and never come back to a little backwards town like Roswell.

And now he had manipulated Serena into thinking that Max was falling for her. He really had believed it, and was thrilled. You would think that after being through this so many times he would stop under estimating Max's feelings for Liz, but no, he continued to be stupid.

That last timeline, when he thought a female hybrid would somehow change Max's feelings for Liz couldn't have been more wrong. The pure destruction of all the people he cared about in that timeline just killed him. He still hadn't figured out how Kyle had met Serena, how they got the Granilith back, and how he had talked her into sending him back, but a small part of him was glad, glad that they had never lived that life.

Why he had thought that Serena could do what Tess couldn't, truly win Max's heart from Liz Parker, was just naive. He always thought it was the whole destiny thing that was the problem, that Max didn't like being told that he was supposed to be with Tess.

Serena was purposely kept from Max until an older age once he had learned that Max was planning on staying as far away from Liz as possible, and when she went off to Harvard she was brought in to help with the "air borne virus".

He still couldn't bring himself to admit that his King, their savior, would always prefer a human to one of their own kind.

He just didn't know what to do now. He had no allies left to help him on his mission to get Max back to Antar. The other shifters seemed happy with life on Earth, and the fact that they had all but forgot about the suffering on their plant enraged him.

Going back in time would be difficult now that they were all worried about Nicholas, and he didn't know if he'd be able to talk Serena into it this time. He could try to take out Liz again, make sure Max was no where around, but he had learned that Max couldn't handle it.

If he could just get Liz alone, explain how millions would die because of Max's love for her he might be able to sway her. Liz did always come through when it came to being a martyr, as did Max. He knew that once they had children there was no hope in getting either of them to throw theirself on the sword, so he needed a plan, and by the looks of things, with Max taking Liz to his bedroom, he needed a plan fast.
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kj4ever
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Re: Inescapable Fate (AU W Aliens CC Teen) Ch 4 7-2

Post by kj4ever »

Well it's only been one day but I have the next chapter ready. Thanks for all the FB, and Inquiring Minds should be updated either tonight or tomorrow.

Is there a talented media artist out there that would like to make a banner for this one?

Chapter 5

After the exhaustion had finally wore off, Liz found herself in a fitful sleep, and the nightmares started to creep into her mind. She could see the military advancing on her while she laid in her bed in Boston, the syringe filled with the liquid that would knock her out for hours. She laid there frozen, tried to move, to get out of bed and run, but she was paralyzed. Liz kept telling herself to move, but she couldn't. If she could just scream, maybe it would get some attention and they would go away.

"Nnnnnnnoooooooooooooooo!" Liz screamed and she shot up in bed. "Noooooooooooo!" she wailed again, trying to get up quickly but something was holding her down. Terrified that the man had her pinned, she fought as hard as she could.

"Liz, Liz, look at me," Max said frantically as Liz's fists battered him. "It's me, Max...It's Max!" He had felt her terror before she had ever screamed, and was at her side at once. Max had a hard time sleeping, waking at every little noise, every sound. For a split second he thought that maybe he shouldn't have said it was Max, because maybe that's who the co-star was in her nightmare.

She stopped fighting as she slowly realized it was a dream and where she was. Her eyes focused in on a very worried Max, who let go of her wrists. She remembered making contact his face several times and felt terrible.

Instantly her hand reached out and touched it gently. "Oh my God Max I'm so sorry," she cried. He covered his hand over hers, reveling in the feeling of her touching his face.

"Sshhh, it's ok," he said sweetly as she crumbled into his arms, still shaking from her dream. "You just had a nightmare, it's alright, it's not real," he said, even though he knew nightmares could be very real. He gently stroked her hair while he slowly rocked her back and forth, soothing her.

"It was terrible Max," Liz said. "It felt so real. They were coming for me again, and I couldn't move, couldn't do anything to stop it," she said as her voice wavered.

"I'm here Liz, I won't let anything happen to you," he said with conviction. "I won't ever let anything happen to you, I promise."

Liz relaxed a little in his arms and her sobs quieted down. "Come on Liz, lets lie down, you still need to sleep," he said soothingly as Liz obeyed and laid down with Max, him spooning her from behind. He reached down and covered them both up, then pulled Liz closer, his head resting by her ear.

"You must think I'm a huge baby," Liz sighed.

"Quite the opposite," he said softly in her ear. "With everything you have learned today, and how well you have taken it, you are probably the strongest out of all of us."

"Thanks for saying that," she said.

"It's the whole truth Liz," he said, getting that weird sense of Déjà vu he would sometimes feel.

"I don't know if I'm going to be able to go back to sleep," she yawned. They had slept for 6 hours, but Max knew it wasn't nearly enough.

"I could do something to make you feel safer, but it does involve a little alien powers," Max said. "Would that scare you?"

Liz felt Max's body tense as he said these words. He was afraid that she was afraid of him. Even though she wasn't sure about everything, really hadn't had time to process it, there was one thing she was sure of, and she wasn't afraid of Max Evans.

"No, it won't scare me," Liz said.

Smiling, Max closed his eyes and concentrated on his shield. Jacob has taught him this use, how to surround himself with his shield while he slept. Back on Antar the King always slept with his protective shield.

Within seconds a shimmering shield was encompassing them as Liz looked on with wonder. "Can I touch it?" she asked. He chuckled and said yes.

Tentatively she reached out and touched the bright green shield, surprised that it was hard when it looked so alive, so pliable.

"I think it would take an atomic bomb to get through this thing," Max murmured into Liz's ears. "Believe me, Michael has tested it," he chuckled, thinking of Michael trying to blow his shield up time and time again.

Liz yawned again, and finally relaxed, she started drifting back to sleep. Max, who hadn't slept well at all, finally felt Liz was safe enough to just let go, and soon both were in a very deep sleep, their bodies tangled together.

It seemed like seconds, but it was actually hours that went by when Liz felt like she was being sucked into a vacuum. It wasn't scary or terrifying, just like she was spiraling to somewhere....else.

Liz opened her eyes to see her parents smiling brightly with pride and she adjusted her graduation cap.

"Is it straight Max?" she asked as she got ready for their picture.

"I don't know, let me see Mrs. Evans," he said as he moved closer, acting like he was going to adjust it, but swept her up in his arms, kissing her instead. Liz threw her head back laughing, her cap falling to the ground, but the laughing abruptly stopped when she saw her sister-in-laws face.

"How are we supposed to get a decent picture if you continue to act like this Max?" she asked, tapping her foot impatiently as she held the camera. "I mean really, how many times do you think you are going to graduate from college?"

"You people never let me have any fun," Max said with a wicked gleam in his eye as he reached up to straighten his own graduation hat.

"Mommy me picture meeeeeeee!" little Zachary Evans squealed while holding on to his Mom's graduation gown. Oh how he loved getting his picture taken!

Liz smiled a hundred watt smile and reached down to pick up her three year old son. Max wrapped his arms around Liz's waist and planted a kiss on his son's forehead. Both Max and Liz beamed at the camera as Zachary snuggled into his Mom's chest. Isabel snapped the picture, happy because she was sure this was just the perfect thing to document this day.

Liz looked up at Max. "We did it sweetheart," she said as she gave him a quick kiss. "No one thought we would get this far, but we did it."

As Max looked down at his smiling son and his beautiful wife, he was filled with such love. "And I wouldn't do it any other way," he smiled, kissing her back.

Liz bolted upright and felt something hard hit her head.

"OOooow," she said, looking around for her son.

Max quickly took down the protective shield. "Liz, Liz, are you alright?" he asked, trying to shake off the feelings of the flash he just had. "Did you have another nightmare?"

"I....no, not a nightmare," she said, shaking her head. "My son, Zachary my son......He's so beautiful Max. We graduated from college. Isabel was taking our picture..."

"It was a flash Liz," Max said, dreading what he had just done to her. This was a recent one he had gotten from Kyle. It was very rare when they happened, but they punched an emotional wallop, especially those from the first timeline, when they were all so happy.

Max hadn't seen his kids until recently, getting this flash when he bumped into Kyle after escaping Serena. He was sure she was going to ask if he wanted something...more with her, and he had gotten out of there before she could say something that would make things awkward between them.

The time he saw his baby girl Serena had come in looking particularly good, and even though Max knew he wouldn't act on it, he had definitely been attracted to her and noticed. Kyle had handed him a piece of paper, and all of a sudden he was holding his daughter for the first time, tears pouring down his face as he realized she had Liz's eyes.

"I didn't know I could love someone that much," Liz said, putting her hand over her heart, trying to concentrate on slowing her breathing down.

"I know. You felt what I felt, so I know how hard that is," Max said. The first time he had seen it he just wanted to crawl up in that flash and live forever. It was almost like a death to realize what had been taken away from him.

"What you felt? No, it was what I felt," Liz said, confused. "What I felt for Zachary, what I felt for you," she said quietly. "I was so happy that my parents were proud. I knew they worried about us, being parents so young, but we had done it. We had succeeded."

"Liz, that doesn't make sense," Max said. He knew this had happened to Maria and Alex, but they had been around them a lot longer. Kyle had said that Maria had started the develop powers once they were on the road. They always chalked it up to being around the aliens all the time, and that Liz and Kyle had gotten their powers faster because of the healing.

"But it makes sense that I saw my past life with your feelings?" Liz asked as Max smiled sheepishly.

"That's not what I mean," he said, realizing Liz was looking at him intently. "You see, our flashes we get from Kyle aren't from his point of view, but from ours. Sometimes he's not even there, like that one where we graduate," he said trying not to grimace as he remembered some of the flashes he had gotten that starred Tess. "Maria and Alex get them from him, but not from Isabel and Michael. We've never had a flash from a flash from a flash is what I'm trying to say I guess?" Max finished weakly.

"Well there's a first time for everything they say," Liz said, still looking intently at Max. She couldn't help but wonder if it would feel that good to kiss him now as it did then.

Max felt his breathing hitch as he saw the way Liz was looking at him. "It's hard to live with sometimes," he said huskily. "Always wondering what if..."

"Wondering if it could be the same now?" Liz finished for him, their lips moving closer together.

"Exactly," Max said, and losing all sense of reason, his lips crashed into Liz's, kissing the daylights of out her. They laid back down on the bed and lips, hands and limbs were everywhere. Max pulled back and looked at Liz, her eyes full of desire but also shock.

"Oh God," he groaned as he flipped himself off Liz. This was all.wrong. "Liz, we have to stop before I can't....stop"

"I'm...I'm sorry Max, I don't know what got into me," Liz said, feeling like a complete tart.

"Don't apologize Liz, in fact, you are free to do that whenever you want in the future, as long as it's me from now and not me from then," he said, looking into her eyes.

"I might just offer you the same invitation, after we get to know each other better," Liz said, knowing what he meant. That passion, that love, it had been from the previous life. They needed to get to know each other better.

Max was about to open his mouth to speak when Liz's stomach growled loudly.

"Well that was just embarrassing," she said.

Max smiled and got out of bed, willing his body to calm down. "Come on Liz Parker," he said. "Let's get you some breakfast."

Liz grabbed Max's hand and shivered a bit at the warm feeling that spread from her hand to the rest of her body. "I'll just go find something to wear," she said.

"Here, just put this on," he said, grabbing a robe that was draped over a chair.

It was way to big for her as she rolled up the sleeves, and it skimmed the ground at her feet while it hit Max just below the knees. It looked a little ridiculous, and downright adorable to Max.

She pointed to a swirly-type symbol on the chest. "What's this?"

"That's the symbol of our galaxy, the Whirlwind," he said. "My friend made it for my birthday last year." Max looked hesitantly at the door. He wished they could just stay in this room forever, stay where it was safe.

Liz walked up to him and grabbed his hand. "It's ok," she said squeezing it. "They won't do anything now. Anyone who would travel back in time to change things is a planner, so I'm sure they'll be planning what to do before they make a move."

Max relaxed a little bit, knowing she was right. There might not even be an attempt on Liz if they remembered what happened when she was killed in the past. He could be no one's King without her. He would just have to make sure that everyone in that compound realized how gone over her he already was, after one night together.

As they walked out into the hallway Liz, who was filled with uncertainty was certain of one thing. If there was a chance that she could achieve even a part of the happiness she had felt in that flash with Max, she would take that chance.

As they walked into the kitchen of the compound they saw Courtney, Serena, Maria, Kyle, and Isabel sitting at the table. Alex and Michael were busy cooking breakfast.

"That smells wonderful," Liz said as the group looked up, noticing their arrival.

Serena, who didn't think her heart could break anymore then it already had, realized what true heartbreak was when she saw Liz enter the kitchen, Max's arm around her shoulders, wearing the robe she had made for him with her own two hands. She didn't use any powers at all because she wanted it to be special.

Courtney was torn, seeing her good friend come in with Max. She was so relieved that she could finally be honest with her, so relieved that she was ok, but she knew all the time Serena put into that robe, and she knew it had to be like a slap in the face.

Oh sure, Max, being a man, hadn't thought anything of it. In fact, Courtney wasn't even sure if Max realized that Serena had feelings, strong feelings for him, but she would have to have a little talk to him about being a little sensitive until the stung had worn off. She reached under the table and squeezed Serena's hand, and was happy when she saw the dejected look replaced with a fake smile.

"What happened to your head?" Maria asked.

Liz unconsciously touched her forehead and felt the little bump. It had been so dark in Max's room neither of them had noticed it.

"Oh, I hit my head on Max's protective....thing?" she said.

"Is that what the kid's are calling it these days?" Kyle asked with a grin as Maria and Isabel, who were both sitting next to Kyle, simultaneously whacked him one.

"What?" he said innocently. "I'm Kyle. Saying inappropriate things when people leave themselves wide open like that is totally my job!"

"And it's like a reflex for us to play whack-a-Kyle!" Maria laughed, whacking him again for good measure.

"It was my shield Kyle," Max said, already ignoring the next quip about to come out of his mouth as he took Liz's head in his hands, examining her forehead. He leaned down and kissed it, ever so gently, and a soft glow appeared beneath his lips.

"It's gone," he said as his finger traced down the side of her face.

"Thanks," she said softly.

"Aren't we creative this morning," Michael smirked.

Maria's eyes narrowed. Sure, she always thought that Max and Liz would get together, but not THIS fast. They were either moving really fast, or were damn good actors, putting on a show for the shifters. She supposed it could be a little of both. Her and Liz needed a gallon of ice cream, stat.

"Well Liz, you are in for a treat this morning," Alex smiled widely, holding up a spatula, wiping his other hand on his 'kiss the cook' apron. "You are about to taste the delicacy that is a Whitman and Guerin breakfast."

Max steered Liz to the table and Courtney stood up.

"So," Courtney said.

"So," Liz said.

Courtney quickly walked around the table and gave her friend a great big hug. "I'm so glad you are alright," she said sincerely. "If anything would have happened to you....I don't think I could take it," she said softly.

Courtney and Liz had a blast at Harvard. Liz was always working so hard to keep her scholarships that she didn't really have time to make a lot of friends, but her and Courtney were tight, almost as tight as her and Maria. With the exception of going to classes, it had been the best time Courtney had experienced on Earth. She had almost felt, well, human.

Liz hugged Courtney back and smiled. "Thank you for looking out for me all those years," she said. "I always knew you were from another planet," Liz joked as she sat down at the table.

Max came to the table and a cup of coffee down and a glass of orange juice with a dash of cherry juice. "Mmmm," Liz said as she took a sip. "How did you...oh, from a flash?" Liz had loved that drink since she was a little girl.

"No, that bit of knowledge came from good old fashioned stalking," Max said with a wicked grin. He looked up and saw Serena staring at them.

"Hey Ser, you remember Liz?" he said.

"Of course, how could anyone forget?" she said light heartily but did not mean it light heartily, not at all.

Liz smiled uneasily at the girl and said hi. She always got the distinct impression that this girl did not like her, not one bit, and whenever she came home for holiday breaks at school Serena always gave her these bad vibes. Liz couldn't figure out what she had done, and in all honesty she was always a little jealous of Serena. She had a major crush on Max in high school, but he never seemed to pay her any attention other then being polite. This Serena seemed like she was always attached to Max, and he didn't seem to mind.

When she did come home she spent a lot of time with Maria and Alex, but sometimes Michael, Isabel, Max and Serena would be around. Serena always sat really close to Max, or linked her arm with Max's, or told secret jokes in Max's ear when Liz was around. Whenever she asked Maria about the two of them she always insisted that they would never be more then friends, that Serena might have a thing for Max but he felt nothing for her.

Serena might have a thing for Max but he didn't feel anything for her is what Maria had said..... Recognition crossed Liz's face, and her expression turned from puzzled to empathetic.

Serena, always the quick one, noticed the change immediately. She was horrified to think that maybe they had been talking about her on their little drive home last night, talking about her pathetic little crush she had on Max. That was the expression on Liz's face right now. Pity.

She was about to get up when she felt Courtney's hand on her lower arm under the table, willing her to stay. She was right, and Serena had been through much worse then this, or so she told herself.

Michael and Alex started putting dishes of food on the table. Liz was pretty amazed when Max passed her all her favorite things. He must have been a damn good stalker.

They joked about high school, Liz and Courtney told stories about Harvard, and Serena was feeling totally left out. Everyone seemed to be totally avoiding the subject of aliens altogether, which meant any conversation in which she could participate.

That was fine with her. She didn't think she could get a civil word out to Liz Parker. Somewhere deep inside she told herself it wasn't this girl's fault, but she just wanted to wallow a little, she deserved to wallow a little.

When she finally had enough she spoke up. "Max, last night I went to work on the Granilith but it was locked," she said. "Why did you lock it?"

Max finished chewing his food. "Oh, that. Did Michael tell you about Nicholas?" he asked and continued as Serena nodded. "Well, I think it needs to stay locked unless we are working on it and I'm there. It's to dangerous right now. We should probably keep it locked until Liz and I are back from our trip."

"Trip?" Courtney asked, her eyebrow raising. Alright, this was getting downright strange. Courtney had been shocked when Liz went to Max's bedroom to begin with, no matter what had gone on between them in previous lives, but her going on a trip with someone she barely knew? That was not Liz Parker.

Courtney narrowed her eyes. Something was wrong, and she was going to find out what.

"Yeah, we think there might be a lead in Texas about the virus," Max explained. "Liz found some notes on it where they were holding Michael."

"That's my main project Max, what am I supposed to do until you get back?" Serena asked impatiently.

"Well you keep whining about wanting to work on your geology project for your thesis," Max said good naturedly. "You can finally scout out that one part of the desert you've been dying to dissect," he said with a warm smile.

"That's true," Serena said, not having an argument for that unless she said 'But Max, that was all a ruse to get you out in the desert alone with me'. She had been bugging him a couple of months ago to take some time off because she wanted to go exploring, but that had quieted down after she was removed from the virus project and he had pulled away from her.

There was an uncomfortable silence at the table, and Isabel Evans would have none of that at her table. "So Liz, Maria and I got some things together for your trip. We figured you probably didn't have a lot with you since, well you didn't exactly pack for yourself," she finished lamely. "We put some of my stuff together with some of Maria's stuff, and that should last you until we get your things from Boston."

"Well thank you Isabel, but me wearing anything of Maria's is a stretch, but me wearing any of your clothes?" Liz said uncertainly.

"They'll fit Liz, I'm a good tailor," she said, waving her fingers in the air.

"Oh...OH!" Liz said, feeling foolish. She wondered if she would ever get used to this whole powers thing. She really didn't even know what they could do, just bits and pieces. She would have to find out from Max once they got on the road.

They finished up eating and started to clear the table. Liz watched in wonder as Isabel used her powers to clean the dishes and Alex put them away.

"Listen, Max, you need to let me and Liz in your room so that I can help her pack," Maria said, emphasizing the me and Liz part. He knew they'd be safe in there, but it still bothered him.

He thought for a second. "Alright Maria," he finally said, not wanting to get into this in front of Courtney and Serena. Michael had been watching Courtney the whole breakfast. She was on to them already. He got up with Max and the girls. "I'll save you from the girl talk Max," he said, slapping him on the back.

They said their goodbyes in case they didn't see everyone before they left on their trip, and Serena quietly made a quick exit, going to her room and packing her things.

The shifter came out of the wall in the kitchen to the hallway, and followed Serena to her room.

"How you holding up kid," he asked from her doorway.

"Oh I'm just peachy," she said with mock sarcasm. "What am I supposed to do for the next couple of days? At least I had my work before, now...now I don't know what I'm going to do. Max is taking Liz on a 'trip' so he's keeping the Granilth locked while he's gone."

The shifter sighed. "I don't know Serena, I really don't, but I have a feeling we all better be getting our acts together on Earth, because this is probably our home now. I don't see The King leaving now that he has his old wife back, so our planet...our planet...it doesn't look good, that's all," he said sadly.

Serena looked at the shifter in shock. "Surely he wouldn't just leave Antar to rot?" she asked.

"Who knows?" the shifter said. "Think about it, has he ever really said anything about going back? Look, I don't even want to think about this right now. I have a meeting with Michael in a half an hour and I need to get ready. Hang in there kid, all we have is each other now."

The shifter walked away feeling slightly guilty, but he knew what he needed to do. He had thought he wouldn't be able to manipulate Serena since she was so close this time, but the fact that she was so close might just help matters. The pod squad and their Earth counterparts, well they had always been easily separated, now he would just have to use good old fashioned human emotions to do it.

Serena plopped on her bed, racking her brain for a time when Max showed any concern for Antar. She came up with nothing. The few times that it had been brought up, he had always said that he was worried about what was going to happen on Earth, that it needed to be stopped.

She always just figured it was his sense of duty and that self depreciation he was so known for that made him feel responsible for what was going on here. I mean, after all they had done to help him and his friends, would he really just leave Antar to a madman?

Max and Michael checked out the room one last time as Maria stood, tapping her foot, waiting for them to leave. "It's all clear," Michael said, "but I think we have a situation, or we will soon."

"Great," Maria mumbled as she sat on the couch.

"Courtney knows something is wrong," Michael said. No one looked shocked. Courtney was the very best of all of them. She had lived on this Earth a long time, since the late 50's, and she could tell when things didn't add up.

"Well we should tell her," Maria said simply.

Max ran a frustrated hand through his hair. He could never imagine Courtney hurting Liz. Courtney loved Liz.

"I don't know Maria," Max said.

"Courtney would never hurt me, I know she wouldn't," Liz said with conviction, "and if this person that did these things to me before wants me away from you, it can't be Courtney. She was always talking to me about soul mates and waiting for someone special...No, it's not her."

"Then there's Serena," Michael said as he sighed in exasperation. "Courtney might tell her, and I don't think we want that."

"Well you and I agree on that one," Maria snorted. "I don't trust that girl, not one bit."

"Now Maria," Max protested, but Maria held up her hand.

"It's the rules Max, we are allowed to say suspicions about aliens without you taking it personally, like we mean ALL aliens or that it's your fault," she said. "I've seen some of those flashes from the last timeline, the one with Tess. I know what a female scorned can be like, and throw in some alien juice and it's a disaster."

"Nothing ever happened between Serena and I," Max pointed out carefully. "We were just friends."

"And so were you and Tess, until they all started messing with our minds Max," Maria pointed out. "Need I remind you that not even a month ago Serena wanted Alex and I to cut all ties with Liz??"

"What?!?!" Liz said, astounded.

"Oh babe, you don't even know. I bet the bitch even has her crown picked out, what jewels will be in it," Maria said.

"We don't have time to argue about this," Michael said, looking at his watch. He had to meet the shifters in twenty minutes. "If we tell Courtney not to say anything to ANYONE, she won't."

They all nodded, Liz's mind reeling from the fact that this Serena person wanted her best friends to cut ties with her.

Max, knowing that Maria wanted a little private time with Liz, felt he owed both of them that much. "Come on Michael, let's go to your room, I want to take the book and some stuff with me," he said.

As they rounded the corner of the hallway, Max and Michael stopped when a very annoyed Courtney blocked their way, her arms folded across her chest.

"I want to know what's going on," she demanded.

Michael looked to Max and he nodded. They led her into Michael's room.

Max stood there with his eyes closed, concentrating, while Michael quickly filled Courtney in. He could sense shifters, was the only one that could. Nasedo and Kal had been programmed to listen to him, so he assumed he was programmed to know them. The strange thing was this group of shifters didn't have to listen to him because they weren't his personal guards. He wasn't sure quite how it worked ranking wise, but he did know they couldn't hurt him. They just didn't have to listen to everything that he said.

Michael launched into the story of the early timelines, Liz's deaths, where Max and Liz were really going. "You can't tell anyone about this Courtney, not even Serena until we figure this out," Michael finished.

Courtney's face was set in quiet determination. "Don't worry, I won't, and once we find the bastard, I'll kill him myself," Courtney said, and Max and Michael knew she meant it.

"Maria, how long do you think I'm going to be gone?" Liz asked. They had been quietly packing the things that Maria had brought, and Liz was going through her own stuff in the large duffel bag.

"Well it doesn't hurt to be prepared," she said. "It's California, you have to be ready for anything," she said, holding up a white string bikini.

Liz just nodded and kept packing.

"Are you mad Liz?" Maria finally asked.

"Mad?" Liz asked back.

"Yeah, mad. At Alex and I for keeping this from you. I wanted to tell you Liz, really I did, but believe me, you are about to find out that this life is so hard," she said.

"Is it worth it Maria?" Liz asked.

"You know, sometimes I wonder, think about what I could have been doing, how my life would be different," she said carefully. "Then I wake up with Michael and I don't know, I just know it is worth it. It's where I'm supposed to be."

Liz walked over and hugged Maria. "I'm not mad Maria, I probably would have done the same thing."

"I know you would have," Maria smiled. "So was it worth it to you, you know, when you woke up with MAX?" she questioned, giving her a devilish smile.

"It wasn't like THAT Maria," Liz said and explained the situation with the nightmare.

Maria plopped down on the bed. "Wow, you got a flash already. I always knew you were an over achiever babe but wow!"

Liz sat down next to Maria. "It was really intense," she said. "I...I saw my child."

Maria looked at Liz empathetically . She remembered how she felt the first time she saw her son with the crazy hair and bright green eyes. It was tough to feel that much love and then realize it's not real anymore.

"Those are the worst, and the best," Maria said sighing. "I just think to myself that maybe some day...Do you think there might be a someday for you and Max?"

"Maybe," Liz said. "We need to get to know each other first, you know, how we are now."

"That's my Liz, always has a plan, always responsible," Maria said, feeling a little bit better now. It had been a hard road between her and Michael. They jumped feet first into their relationship without taking the time to distinguish between what was then and what was now.

They heard the lock turning and both looked up to the door. Max walked in, and Maria jumped up in front of Liz. "How did Liz get the small scar above her eye?" Maria demanded.

"She was hit with a swing in the third grade," Max answered easily. "You about ready? Michael has all the shifters and soldiers in the conference room. He's going to give us a two or three hour head start. I just need to stop by my house and pick up a few things."

Liz closed the suitcase and nodded. "I'm ready as I'll ever be," she smiled. Maria gave Liz a great big hug. "Be careful," she said. She turned to Max, "you too girlfriend," she said as she gave him a bear hug.

As they walked down the corridor Liz could hear Michael's voice, They passed by a large room, and as she looked in the large windows she almost gasped at what she saw.

Courtney and Serena were there with Kyle, Isabel, and Jim, sitting with some people she didn't know, and on the other side of the room sat five people, the shifters.

Jose from the restaurant, who she had known forever. Jacob who owned the farm that contained the entrance to the bunker. Keith, the guy who owned the local hardware store. Tom, a trucker who frequented the Crashdown between stops. David, the local crazy guy.

She knew them all, had come in contact with them at one time or another. Liz couldn't help but wonder which one of them wanted her dead.

_________________________________________________________________________

"They left about two hours ago," Jacob said into his cell phone, looking over his expansive farm.

"And they said they went to Texas?" the man on the other side said.

"Yes, they were checking out some lead from the things the Parker girl gathered from Nicholas's camp," Jacob replied.

"But they stayed in the same room last night?" the man questioned.

"Yeah," Jacob said.

"They aren't checking anything out. They went somewhere to hump like bunnies. You know how that hybrid sex drive is," the man said, rolling his eyes. He knew his King had pined for the Parker girl a good majority of his life. Typical. He didn't want to be King anymore in this life than when he was Zan.

"Is there anything else?" Jacob asked wearily.

"Just let me know when they are back in town, and keep your eyes open. This is a whole new ballgame now that Parker is involved," he said as he hung up.

Jacob sighed. He may have to listen to him, but he didn't have to tell him everything unless he asked.

Kal Langley threw the cell phone on his antique desk. "Yes, humping like bunnies, just like I wanted," he said with a twisted grin.
Last edited by kj4ever on Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Inescapable Fate (AU W Aliens CC Teen) Ch 6 July 4th

Post by kj4ever »

So yeah, three parts in three days! It is really rolling for me now.

For my writing, I'm not into the whole angsty stuff relationship wise if you haven't noticed. I love reading it, but when I write, I guess I like to try and prove that they did not have to do all the things they did with our beloved couples to make the show interesting, so I've been really excited to get to the next couple of parts I suppose.

Let me tell you, I just cannot wait for Max and Liz to get to California!

As always, thanks for all the feedback. You guys are the best and I'm really glad you are enjoying my story!

Chapter 6

Max and Liz sped down I40 west, heading towards California. At the rate they were going, they should pull up to Beverly Hills around midnight. Max had thought about just getting a flight instead of the 14 hour drive, but they didn't want to do anything that could be traced. He had even switched cars at his house, putting his Chevelle in the garage of his home and taking the old jeep from high school. It just seemed fitting.

He was glad he kept it all these years, and really glad he had fixed it up to have more comfortable seats and a much more reliable engine. The hard top kept them cool as they traveled across the deserts of Arizona, air conditioning going full blast. They had been trading questions back and forth, learning more and more about each other.

"So how you managed not to get snagged up by some guy at Harvard is beyond me," Max said. "I always thought for sure we'd get a report from Courtney that you were engaged," he tried to say lightly but it came out as anything but. Liz noticed how he gripped the steering wheel a little tighter.

Liz sighed. "I never had much time for that. If it gives you a picture of how my love life has been, Kyle has been the great love of my life so far," she said rolling her eyes. "I mean, I love the guy like a brother now, really, I do, but watching him do beer bongs and playing Playstation 3 weren't exactly my cup of tea."

"So why didn't you have time?" Max asked.

"A combination of things really," Liz said as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail and tucked her feet under herself, getting comfortable. "Harvard was a lot harder then I thought it would be. In Roswell I was a big fish in a small pond, but Harvard, I had no idea how hard I would have to work to keep my grades up. My parents, well they were going to sacrifice everything for my dream. They have enough, but they aren't independently wealthy or anything. If I didn't keep my scholarships going they would have had to work until they were in their 70's, and I couldn't have that."

Max nodded. It was one of the things he knew he loved about her...before.

"Then there was my Grandma Claudia," Liz said, a little sadness entering her voice. "She came to visit right before she died, and I spent every minute with her."

"I know," Max said softly.

Recognition showed on Liz's face. Kyle had known it would happen.

"Oh my God, Kyle," Liz said.

"Don't be mad at him Liz, he couldn't tell you," Max said gently.

"No, no I'm not mad," Liz said. "I'm going to have to thank him. You see, the day before she arrived, Kyle and I were having one of our first 'we are friends' now conversations. He told me about his Grandpa, and how he wished he was coherent enough to be able to talk to him. He convinced me to take off school and take advantage of the time with my Grandma. I'll...I'll have to thank him for that."

"Kyle is always full of surprises," Max said with a smile.

"That he is," she said. "Ok, so anyway, I spent a lot of time with her, we talked about everything and anything. Mostly we talked about love. She was glad that Kyle and I had broken up since he didn't seem to be the one for me, and she told me about my Grandfather, who had died before I was born, how he was the love of her life. I guess I always wanted something special like that, she told me I was worth that."

"You are Liz," Max said tenderly.

"We talked about you," she blurted out.

"What?" Max asked, surprised and delighted.

"Well we were in the restaurant, eating a sundae when you and Michael came in," Liz explained. "Grandma noticed you right away and pointed you out. So Michael picked up his check and you guys left. Grandma Claudia kept asking who you were and finally I broke down and told her about my massive crush on you," Liz said, blushing to the roots of her hair.

"You had a massive crush on me?" Max asked, enjoying every minute of this.

Liz smacked his arm. "You're such a jerk, don't make fun of me," she laughed. "God is it wrong to be embarrassed to admit I had this whole unrequited love for you in high school after I saw what our children would look like?"

"Liz, I totally understand. I don't know what made me more scared, the fact that the government might know about us or the fact that you finally knew I had the whole 'unrequited' love for you since 3rd grade," he admitted.

Liz smiled a sexy smile at that, and Max cleared his throat. "Ok, so right, I had confessed, but told her you had no interest in me whatsoever. She just laughed and told me I was blind, that she had saw the way you looked at me when you walked past us. She told me "He's special that one, don't count him out just yet". It was the last thing she said to me," Liz said, feeling sad again.

Max reached over and squeezed her hand. "That always stuck with me, the fact that she thought you were special. I thought so too," Liz said quietly and sighed. "Then it didn't seem like you, you know, had any interest in me, and then I went off to Harvard and whenever I was back home you were always with Serena so I thought..."

"Nothings ever happened between Serena and I," Max was quick to point out. "I suppose it could have," he finally admitted at Liz's raised eyebrows, "but I didn't have those kinds of feelings for her. Anything that would happen between us would have been just physical, and that wouldn't be right. Not right for me, and certainly not right for her when I think that maybe she does have some feelings for me."

"Talk about blind," Liz said, relaxing again. "I realized it five minutes into breakfast. This must be really hard for her," Liz said.

"Yeah," Max agreed.

"We weren't exactly sensitive this morning I suppose," Liz said, feeling a bit guilty.

"Liz, we didn't have a choice. There was a shifter spying on us. I could feel him. Unfortunately I can't tell them apart, but he was there, somewhere," Max said. "Besides that, I'm not really good at faking emotional things," he said quietly. "It wouldn't have mattered if you were 20 feet away from me, especially since we had just relived that flash."

"I know," Liz sighed. "I still feel bad."

"She'll be alright," Max said. "I think she is more in love with the idea of her King then of me. She'll realize that, and you need to stop feeling guilty, it's against the rules."

"What are these rules you speak of?" Liz asked. She had heard several "rules" being spouted in her short amount of time she was with the group.

"After Alex and Maria knew, Kyle thought it was important for us all to sit down and make a list of rules," Max said. "He knew we tended to make bad decisions when we thought it was for the good of others, and since we had all experienced some past timeline flashes we set to work on how to make this time better."

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He carefully steered with one hand while he flipped it open. He removed a card, folded the wallet back up and stuffed it back into his pocket. "Here," he said as he handed it to Liz.

Liz looked at the card.

"IKAAC Rules?" she asked, reading the top line of the laminated card.

"I know an alien club," Max said as he rolled his eyes.

Liz looked at the card and read out loud:

1. No Blame, everyone makes mistakes.
2. No guilt over things we cannot change or things when we have no choice.
3. Just because they have chez DNA does not mean they are telling the truth.
4. Humans have opinions too.
5. Giving a theory about a chez doesn't mean that all chezs are to blame and chez's are not to take it personally.
6. NO Martyrs!
7. No secrets
8. No holding past timeline mistakes over each other's head.

"The last one was Michael's," Max said smiling. "Maria wasn't too keen on it until she got the flash where she left him high and dry and moved to New York City," he said chuckling.

"She did?" Liz asked.

"Yep," Max said. "She had a recording contract but it was all wrong, they wanted her to be Britany Spears or something."

"Wow," Liz said, not believing Maria would leave Michael for a minute. They had been inseparable since they started going out over four years ago. Yes, there relationship could be a tidal waves of emotions, but it worked for them, and it worked well.

"We all did things, things that we can't imagine now because we haven't lived that life," Max said quietly.

"Are you thinking about Tess?" Liz asked. She had the rundown from Michael, and she couldn't imagine Max acting that way, not for one minute. He had treated everyone pretty crappy, herself included it seems.

"Yeah," Max said. "I have a hard time with those flashes. It...it feels so alien, so unlike me. I'm glad it technically didn't happen now, and I struggle with the no guilt rule over it quite a bit."

"Well it sounds like I got a visit from the future and didn't tell anyone," Liz said. "It sounds like that whole timeline would have been different if I wouldn't have fallen for the shifter or had just told someone at least. That was really stupid of me."

Max breathed a sigh of relief. She understood. "I guess that's why we made the rules Liz. We decided since we had this chance, this chance to do things right, that we would learn from our mistakes, use them to make us better."

Liz nodded, thinking not for the first time how wise they all seemed. "Did Kyle really make laminated cards?" Liz asked.

"No, that would be Isabel, and I'm sure you'll be getting yours when we get back home," he said with a grin.

_____________________________________________________________


Kyle passed the basketball to Michael. He lined the ball up, took his aim, and missed.

"You shoot like a girl!" Kyle said, as Michael bounced the ball back over to him.

"Whatever, I have a lot on my mind," Michael grumbled. He hated losing.

They had done this a lot, gone to the basketball court in the park when they needed to talk things through, think things out. Even though they appreciated the shifters and rebel skins help, they would never fully trust them, and it seems they were right in their thinking. To many times in the past they had been fooled by aliens consumed with their own agendas, and they only truly trusted people in the "Scooby" club.

Kyle took his shot and in the basket it went. He passed the ball back to Michael, and he smirked when he made the shot.

"Kyle, how well do you know Serena?" Michael asked as Kyle missed his shot.

"As much as anyone I suppose," he winced as Michael made his.

"That's an H," Michael said, grinning.

"I'm shaking Guerin, considering you are at H-O-R-S," Kyle pointed out. "Why are you asking about Serena?"

"We didn't know her in the first timeline. Everything was peachy, everyone was happily unaware of our planet. The shifter went back in time to change things, to basically kill Liz. Who modified the Granilith Kyle?" Michael asked.

Kyle stopped bouncing the basketball as he took in Michael's words.

"I don't know, I guess I never thought about it" Kyle said and he closed his eyes. "More then likely it was her."

"Are you sure?" Michael asked.

"Well, she is probably the only one on Earth that knows the technology so well," Kyle said. "She told me as a little girl on the ship here they went over the blueprints for the Granilith over and over with her. It's the only way she knew how to modify it. Those blueprints burned when their ship crashed. I...I just don't know if anyone has the knowledge that she has."

"So in the first timeline she was an active participant in sending someone back through time to gun down a young Mother of two children," Michael said.

"We don't know that," Kyle said. "Who knows what the shifter said to her. Hell, she didn't even know us!"

"You're right," Michael said. He remembered that flash he had when he got the seal and went crazy, insinuating that they should have killed of Maria and the others when they found out about them. He sure as hell didn't want to be held responsible for that now.

"But here's the thing Kyle," Michael said in all seriousness. "I know some of the things that I did before. Now I can act all high and mighty and say I would never do that, but I realize something. Those things I did, I am capable of it if put in the right situation. I have that rage in me. I keep it in mind every time I feel like I'm going to lose it. Does Serena know what she might be capable of?"

"No, I guess not," Kyle said. "What did Courtney say?" Out of all of the aliens they had met, the group trusted Courtney the most.

"We didn't get a lot of time to talk, but she picked up on the who-sent-the person-back angle right away. She said she wasn't going to say anything to Serena, and if I know Courtney she will be feeling her out, seeing where her mind is," Michael said.

Kyle nodded, still holding the basketball. "I hate this. I hate feeling like we need to spy on our friends," he said.

"I know," Michael said. "You probably know her better than any of us, except Max. She never really got close to any of us, even Maria and Isabel. I hate to say it Kyle, but it reminds me of another female hybrid a little."

"Yeah," Kyle said absentmindedly. "We need to look at it from all angles, for our own safety."

"For what it's worth, I hope I'm wrong," Michael said, looking at Kyle's dejected face.

"Me too," Kyle said as he threw the ball back to Michael.

Michael went for the shot, made it, and the crowd lost their minds.

Everyone was pouring from the bleachers as Kyle jumped on his back. "State champions, Yeah!" he shouted, pumping his fist in the air. Michael brushed him off as they high fived.

"Not bad for someone who shoots like a girl," Kyle said laughing.

Michael was scanning the crowd and his smile grew even bigger as he saw Maria pushing her way through the throngs of people wearing a t-shirt that said "Team Michael".

She threw her arms around him and wrapped her legs around his waist. "Nice job Spaceboy," she yelled above the crowd and leaned down and gave him a big kiss.

"Where's Liz and Max?" Michael asked concerned as hell broke lose around them. Liz could get hurt being pushed around by this mobbing crowd.

"Don't worry," Maria yelled above the crowd. "Max got her out of here when everyone started running. Your future nephew is safe," she said with a smile. It was to damn adorable how protective he had become of Liz since he found out she was pregnant.

People were slapping him on the back and high fiving him as he searched the crowd. He saw Isabel blow him a kiss as Alex picked her up, swinging her around. Then he saw them.

His Dad came up, grabbing him in a big bear hug. "I'm so proud of you son," he said, giving him an exaggerated kiss on the forehead.

"Oh my little boy!" Dianne Evans said as she hugged her son. "You were so great out there!"

Michael smiled and hugged his Mom back.

"Michael?" Kyle said. "Michael!"

Kyle suddenly came into focus. "Look I know you hate losing, but that's an E biiiatch."

"Oh, I... oh ok," Michael said, overwhelmed by the flash. He stumbled to the nearest bench and sat down.

Kyle jogged over to the bench and stared at his friend. "Michael, are you alright," he asked with concern.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Michael said, pulling himself together. Years of hiding his emotions came in handy sometimes. "I just had a flash."

"Oh," Kyle said. He could tell that Michael was upset, even if he was trying to hide it. Michael could never hide it from him. "Was it of your son again?"

Michael looked down at the ground. "Yeah."

Kyle sat down on the bench and took a swig of his water, saying nothing. He knew those were the hardest for Michael. Little James Guerin had only been 6 months old when time reset, but it was still hard for him and Maria to know he was erased from existence. Kyle hated that he did this to his friends sometimes. At least it didn't happen very often.

It wasn't until later that night, when he was safe in Maria's arms, that he let himself mourn, let himself feel the loss of something he had never experienced. A Father's pride. A Mother's love. He was loved and accepted for exactly who and what he was, and for the first time ever, Michael knew what it was like to feel safe, carefree, and happy - loved unconditionally.

He knew exactly why Kyle had hidden it from him, keeping it a secret, and he knew, without a doubt, that Kyle Valenti was the best friend he could ever have.

________________________________________________________________________

Courtney was busy packing a bag as Serena sat on the guest room bed. She always stayed with Serena when she came in town.

"I wish you didn't have to go," Serena said.

"I know," Courtney said. "I'll be back in a few days. I just got to get all the stuff out of our apartment," she said. Liz and Courtney had graduated a month before, but they kept their lease until July. Liz was going to participate in an orientation program for a month, and was planning on moving back to Roswell while she muddled through her job offers or decided on graduate school. She had graduated at the top of her class and offers had poured in from all over the country.

Courtney had told Liz that she would come with her to Roswell, saying she just had to see this little town so focused on aliens. In a way Courtney was relieved to not have to pretend to know the Roswell group. She hated lying to Liz, and was always afraid that Liz would never forgive her if she found out.

She should have known better, and was happy that Liz was taking everything in stride. It shouldn't have surprised her, as Liz always took the knowledge that there were aliens on Earth much better then the others. Alex had always needed time to himself, to think it over, Maria had always freaked out, and Liz had always wanted to know more. She assumed it was Liz's love of science that helped her accept it better.

"I just don't see why you have to go do it," Serena said, frustrated. "People are already acting like she's the Queen, and you are but her humble servant," she spit out bitterly.

Courtney stopped mid-pack, turning to look at Serena. "Is that what you think?" she said, raising her eyebrows. "I'm doing this because Liz is my friend," she said, emphasis on 'friend'. This whole conversation was making Serena uneasy after what she had discussed with Michael earlier.

"So as your friend she goes off on vacation while she leaves you to do all the dirty work," Serena asked, a smirk on her pretty features. Courtney started to say something but Serena interrupted her.

"Then there's Max, who just takes off after Michael has been held captive," Serena said. "Where's his sense of duty? I mean, I'm really starting to think he doesn't care about Antar at all. As long as he has his precious Liz and his precious Earth is safe nothing else matters to him."

Courtney's stomach dropped to the souls of her feet. She knelt in front of Serena and took her face in both her hands. "Serena, listen to me, do you trust me?" she asked while Serena slowly nodded. "You can't let this eat you up, It's going to hurt like hell, but you have to accept it. Max and Liz had good reason to leave, and it's not for a vacation."

"Or so they say," Serena snorted as she pushed Courtney's hands away.

"It was a good reason," Courtney said forcefully, letting Serena believe it was to research the virus. "I believe that with all my heart," she said looking Serena right in the eye.

"It just doesn't make sense!" Serena practically screamed. "Why would he chose a human over one of his own kind? Why would he prefer her to me when it seemed like he was...he was having feelings for me? If she wouldn't have been dragged into this things could be so much different."

Courtney stood up and grabbed Serena by the shoulders frantically. "Listen to me Serena! You have to stop this! Max never had feelings for you, ever! I know it's hard to hear, but it's the truth! Do you want to be the Tess of this timeline?"

This snapped Serena out of her pity party. "I would never do the things Tess did! How can you say that?" she said as she broke down into sobs.

Courtney put her arms around her, holding her tightly. "Because I know what can happen when you let that bitterness overwhelm you. I know what it can do to you. You have to let this go," she said, holding her tighter now that Serena was crying uncontrollably.

It was then that the flash hit her.

Serena was sitting at the counter of the Crashdown, dreamily staring into space with her chin propped up in her hand.

Jose came from the kitchen and sat a drink down in front of Serena. "Don't you look happy," he said with a smile.

"Oh, I, uh," Serena stumbled, then smiled. "I just spent most of the day with Max," she said as she dreamily sighed.

"I see," Jose said, his eyes sparkling. "Does this mean you are finally starting to believe me?"

"Maybe," Serena said mischievously. "It's just, he's so great Jose! He's so good to me, but I can't help but think about Liz, and what she meant to him before," she said, a small frown marring her pretty features.

"Listen to me Serena, he knows nothing about Liz now, and if you think about it, he knew nothing of you before he met Liz those other times. Do you want to know what I think?" he asked.

"What?" Serena asked curiously.

"I think in those other timelines, if he would have met you first, Liz would have meant nothing to him," he said sincerely. "I think the way things have turned out, the way things have been allowed to change, well it's fate. You are meant to be the love of his life Serena, you are meant to be our Queen."

"I...I really want to believe that, but I'm afraid to, afraid it's not true," she said, a hint of sadness tainting her voice.

"Look at me Serena, I've been around a long time. I have seen the way that Max looks at Liz when they were in high school, and I've seen the way he looks at you," Jose said. "There is no comparison. He is completely, totally over the moon for you little girl," he said giving her a wide smile. "He's just so shy, and has all those humans reminding him about the past with Liz. He'll come around, love always does. I mean really, can you see Liz, a human being Queen of Antar? Can you imagine our people accepting her?"

"I guess not," Serena said as hope and love filled her chest.

Courtney drew a deep breath, stumbling backwards as she shook the feelings she had felt as Serena. She had gotten small flashes from her before, but nothing like this.

"What's wrong," Serena asked, her concern for Courtney overcoming her own emotional turmoil.

"God, oh God," Courtney said. She always wondered why they created Serena when they knew the huge problem that had happened with Max, Michael, Isabel, and Tess's creation. The problem that had thrown the original Royal Shapeshifters for a loop, the problem that most assuredly meant their mission would be a failure.

She knew exactly why Serena had been created in the first place.
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kj4ever
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Re: Inescapable Fate (AU W Aliens CC Teen) Ch 7 July 5th

Post by kj4ever »

Thanks for all the FB everyone! I know, 4 chapters in 4 days! I don't know how long I'll be able to keep this up, as I go back to work tomorrow, but as I spit 'em out I'll post them.
xmag said:
Huh, "Was it of your son again"? I didn't understand that part, Michael didn't have a flash of his son, but of Maria and his parents from the first timeline, so was it meant to be "was if of your parents?"
Kyle has never given Michael a flash from the first timeline. Since Michael seemed upset he assumed it was of his child, and Michael, emotional and raw, didn't correct him.
RhondaAnn said:
I know he's speaking of a family, but that last part seems a bit harsh to Maria. Then again, I'm just overly sensitive where my M&M are concerned.
I am too, but poor Michael has never known the unconditional love of parents, to have them be proud of you, to have them accept you. Yes, he has great love with Maria, but the two cannot be compared, especially when he knows he grew up scared and abused and could have grown up in such a loving environment.
begonia said:
It's really something I never thought would happen!.... bc FMax told once Liz that Serena would be once her friend!..... a friend with a knife to broach Liz's back!
Ahh but FMax wasn't really Max. It was an enemy. Serena and Liz were friends in the last timeline, but we haven't got to that part yet :wink:

Chapter 7

"So did you always want to teach elementary school?" Liz asked Max after she swallowed another delicious bite of Lobster.

They had stopped about three hours outside of Los Angeles, in a quaint little town with a wonderful view of the valley filled with grape fields. After finding a bed and breakfast, the owners had pointed them to this little restaurant, raving about the food and music.

After some discussion they decided they should face Kal fresh, not tired and sore from driving fourteen hours straight. Liz and Max were about the only couple still eating, as it was almost 10 pm, but they smiled as they watched the other couples swaying to the string quartet on the outside terrace, dancing under twinkling lights.

He swallowed and wiped his face with his napkin. "Yeah," Max said. "Ever since fifth grade. Mr. Hanson really left an impact on me I guess," he said smiling.

"Mr. Hanson was the best!" Liz said, smiling back. He was that teacher that every kid loved. He just had that ability to make kids believe they could do anything.

"That he was," Max said. "When Isabel and I first started school, in 3rd grade, well Mrs. Thomas didn't know what to expect. I mean, she knew how we were found, I think all the teachers knew. She just kind of ignored me I suppose, not wanting to frighten me by calling on me in class or pointing me out."

Liz nodded. She remembered that shy boy, sitting in the back of the room. Every once in awhile she'd turn around and sneak a peak at him, and would usually get caught by Maria who would make faces at her.

"Then there was Mrs. Smith in 4th grade, who seemed determined to drag me kicking and screaming out of my shell, calling on me constantly, asking me to assist her in front of the class," he shuddered. "It was a nightmare."

"I remember," Liz said. "I felt so bad for you because you seemed so uncomfortable that first part of the year."

"Oh you have no idea," Max said. "Isabel finally told my parents and they put a stop to it. Fifth grade, fifth grade was different though. Mr. Hanson seemed to understand. He didn't ignore me, but he didn't make a spectacle of me either. Even if it was just something written at the top of my paper he could make me feel special. I'd love to be able to do that for a child."

Liz reached across the table and held Max's hand. "I'm sure you will Max," she said, squeezing his hand. "One day you'll be a wonderful teacher," she said with a smile.

"I hope I get the chance to try anyway," Max said quietly. Liz had learned that Max and Isabel had finished college, mostly by online courses and the satellite campus from U of M. Ironically enough, he had done his student teaching under Mrs. Smith, and she was convinced that Max had wanted to become a teacher because of her. Max, who always tried to be kind, let her believe it.

Michael had gone into carpentry, and he now built hand made furniture for his "Earthly" living. Liz had seen some of his pieces during various visits to Roswell, and they were gorgeous. Maria took classes here and there, but she concentrated on writing songs, and hoped to sell her songs to a record label. While she still performed on occasion at local bars, she had no desire to become famous.

Isabel was going to law school, wanting to follow in her parent's footsteps. After getting a degree in Information Technology, Alex had started his own business offering technical solutions to companies. Kyle had opened a small garage, and spent his spare time tinkering with engines.

How they accomplished all this while fighting a band of roaming skins was beyond Liz.

Max volunteered tutoring at various local boys and girls clubs, but until he felt safe, really safe, he refused to get a job as a teacher. He was scared to death that he might lead something dangerous into a class full of kids.

None of them needed to work, not really. In the last timeline they had found an area of the pod chamber that held many valuables. It had been naive of them to think the Antarians would have come to Earth with nothing, especially since it seemed they had visited before. Mr. and Mrs. Evans helped to legally disburse the money after they had discreetly sold the artifacts, and Max had insisted it be split between everyone, not just himself, Michael and Isabel, so the shifters, the rebel skins, Maria and Alex all got a share.

It wasn't like any of them could own their own private plane or anything, but with proper planning they all could live a very comfortable life and not work.

"What about you?" Max asked. "I heard you have offers from all over the place, and you were coming home next month to figure out what to do next."

Liz smiled. "That was the plan," she said. "There are lots of really great places I could go, and they kind of expect you to work for these huge companies when you graduate from Harvard. But lately, and especially now...."

"Liz," Max said, looking at her seriously. "We'll figure this out. You don't have to be stuck here."

"No, that's not what I mean," Liz said. "It's just I've always worked so hard, put my life on hold for this dream of mine. Most of the offers that I've received, well they are research jobs that will require me spending at least 12 hours a day at the lab. Sure, they are high profile projects, but there was one job that I've really wanted to take this fall. It's at Meta-Chem," she said, knowing the person from the last timeline wasn't involved with the lab since Max hadn't exposed himself this time.

"Why Meta-Chem then?" Max asked.

"Well, they are doing really exciting things with antibiotic resistance markers," Liz said. "They are making better and better medicines based on this research, medicines that are doing a lot of good for people with conditions like Multiple Sclerosis and other auto-immune diseases. I got into science because I like the mystery, like figuring things out, but I'd also like to help people, not just work in my field to win accolades and awards."

"That is very noble of you Miss Parker," Max said. "I have to admit that decision would make me a happy, happy man," he said, almost shyly.

Liz smiled. "I'm glad," she said almost as shyly as Max. "I really miss Maria and Alex too. Courtney is great, and I don't know if I would have made it without her, but no one could ever replace Maria and Alex. A lot of people don't have that, life long friends. It really deserves to be cherished. I realized how much I took them for granted while I was at Harvard. A lot of people barely have the same friends for years, but I know both of them will be there for me, always."

"Would you miss being in a big city if you came back here?" Max asked.

"God no," Liz said. "It took me forever to get to sleep there, so noisy, so busy, especially when Courtney and I moved off campus and got an apartment. Pollution, crime...I always felt like someone was following me."

Max laughed out loud. "It was probably Courtney," he chuckled. He knew what she meant though. Whenever their alien adventures took them to the bigger cities, he hated it.

Liz smiled and shook her head. "Probably," she laughed with him. "I guess I was just meant to be the smallest of small town girls," she said. "Even though we only drove through town for a minute today, I was surprised at how much I missed it."

The server came to the table and began clearing their dishes. Liz was pleasantly full and she looked out at the terrace and smiled.

"Do you see that Max?" she asked as he looked at the terrace too. "The elderly couple?"

"Yes," said Max, curious.

"Isn't it beautiful?" she said as she sighed. "The way they dance together I mean. The other people look great too, but there is just nothing more beautiful than seeing people dance that have been dancing together for decades."

"Hmmm," Max replied. "Would you like to dance Liz?" he asked.

She nodded her head yes with a big smile and he led her out to the dance floor.

Max was an incredible dancer, and as she swayed slowly in his arms to the heartbreakingly beautiful music she couldn't help but feel that this is where she belonged. More than once in the last couple of days her head was screaming at her to run, run far away from this mess and hide, but her heart, oh her heart was telling her that she should stay right where she was, right with this man.

She had made a promise a long time ago that she would always follow her heart, and she intended to keep it. During the nine hour drive out here and the day before, she had learned a whole lot about Max Evans, and he was everything she could ever want.

"Max?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah?" he said softly in her ear.

She leaned back a little to look him in the eye. "In a lot of ways these last few days have been the worst in my life, but I'm also the happiest I have ever been. How can that be?"

"I think that's what being in love is," Max whispered.

"I think so too," she said as she reached up and kissed Max lightly on the lips. "I want to try Max, I want, no I need to see this leads."

A huge smile broke out over Max's face as he cupped her chin, looking into her brightly shining eyes. "Me too Liz," he said as his lips descended towards her, kissing her with a sweet passion she had never known.

________________________________________________________________________

"Five out of nine," Michael demanded.

"Nope," Maria said.

"Come on Maria," he said.

"No Michael, No no no no," she said. "Admit it, you just suck at rock paper scissors. I beat you the first time, let you talk me into three out of five, and then I smoked you again."

"Maria," he said, his voice getting impatient. "Sweetheart," he said sarcastically. "You know I am not good at being the good cop."

"I'm always the good cop Michael, always," she said. "It's so much more fun being the bad cop. Me, I want to be the bad cop Michael."

Michael thought for a moment. They were on their way to visit Jacob, the shifter that owned the farm. By the process of elimination they were down to Jacob and Jose. The other three had not been anywhere near the area until Kyle had shown up, and he knew they had lived all the way across the country in the last timeline.

No, the likely suspects were Jacob and Jose. Both had said they moved to the area figuring the hybrids were close. Jacob bought a farm to cover his identity, and Jose took the job at the Crashdown.

Both explanations were reasonable, but one of them were lying.

"Alright, yep, you are right," he said. "You can be the bad cop."

"What's the catch?" she asked slowly.

"There's no catch," he said, trying to hide his smile. "I mean, we are going to try and out someone that wants to go back to Antar at all costs, and so the good cop would be for that point."

"How DO you do that?" she asked as she stopped walking on the trail that led to the house.

"It's a gift," he said.

"Fine," she said and started walking again.

"Are you mad?" he asked.

"Yes," she said.

"Good," Michael smirked. "You are so much better at this when you are mad," he said kissing the top of her head before she could move away.

Maria turned and gave him a sexy smile. "Guess what though?" she purred. "I get to be the bad cop....tonight," she said and with a wicked grin and a wink, she walked up the steps to knock on the door.

"Evil, she's so evil," Michael said to no one in particular and then in his head thought 'down boy'.

"Hi Jacob," Maria said cheerily when he opened the door. Jacob was a non descript middle aged man like most of the other shifters. His base character was a little older, which would serve him well as he could stay in Roswell longer that way.

Jacob smiled widely at Maria. "Hello Miss Maria," he said, taking her hand and kissing it gently. "Hi Michael," he said looking over Maria's shoulder. "Come in, come in." Jacob really liked these two, and since they had started visiting the farm to plan their wedding reception he had learned one thing. It was never boring when Michael and Maria were around.

They sat around Jacob's big table and Maria talked about some of the things she wanted for the wedding, asking which field would be free at what time, when certain flowers would be in bloom, things like that.

"That's really all we have to do now," Maria said. "You know, pick the date."

Jacob was refilling their iced tea and smiled. "Do you have an idea of when you'd like to have it?"

"Well I'd love a fall wedding, you know, because it would be cooler outside. The summer is to hot here," she said, wrinkling her nose. "Michael here, well he thinks we might want to wait until spring because of all the.... well all the recent events," she said giving Michael the death glare.

"Maria," he said with a stern look. "Let's not get into this again. Almost all our enemies are gone. Nicholas and the few others that remain may have been given more robust husks, but they won't last much longer."

"All the more reason to celebrate!" Jacob said, then curbed his enthusiasm a bit when he saw Michael's face. "I mean, with the intelligence we have from the rebel skins, I bet they will be gone by the fall, sooner if we find them first."

When they had met up with Courtney and the others they had learned that Nicholas had given himself and some of his favorite cronies more robust husks. They would last longer than the typical 50 years, but not forever. They were nearing their expiration date, which is probably why they took the chance and grabbed Michael.

"That's exactly my point," Michael said. "Look, we really haven't discussed this, since we have been worried about what is going on here, but soon we will need to think about what we are going to do about Antar."

"Antar! Antar?" Maria said sarcastically. "Michael, we don't even know what is going on there. There hasn't been communication in years. Then there's the little problem that oh I don't know, you all don't remember anything from then? How can anyone expect you to go back and save a planet you know nothing about? I mean really, if they can't do it, knowing what they know, how can you?"

"She's right," Jacob said quietly.

"What?" Michael said.

"I said she's right Michael. We aren't ever going back there, and I for one am glad. Plan your wedding Michael, live your life," he said with conviction, an emotion Michael couldn't quite read in his eyes.

Michael nodded and Jacob and Maria started talking dates.

The rest of the visit was Antar conversation free, with Jacob smiling and waving as Maria and Michael got in the car.

"What just happened there?" Michael asked as he backed out of the driveway.

"What do you mean what happened?" Maria said. "What happened was we ruled Jacob out, because he sure as hell doesn't want to go back to Antar."

"No, I mean it sure feels like you got to be the fun cop," he said, "and we set our wedding date."

"You're not the only one with gifts Spaceboy," Maria said, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. Annoyed, he wiped it off and Maria punched him one in the shoulder.

Their relationship might not be conventional, but for them, it worked perfectly.

_________________________________________________________________________

Jacob watched out his window as the two of them drove away. He really hoped that he could help them have a great wedding, as he truly felt he owed Michael that much and more.

In all honesty Jacob didn't know how bad Michael had it growing up. He had food and shelter, which was much more then some beings had back on Antar, and a nurturing parent? Well that was something that was just not possible for most.

He didn't realize his mistake until Kyle came back in time. Humans needed that nurturing environment, and their former Royalty had a whole lot of human running through them.

Kal would kill him if he ever found out. He had been his eyes and ears in Roswell, watching them grow, watching for Nasedo.

When they had stowed away on the Nicholas's ships they tried to learn what they could about Earth, but Jacob had never been as good at shifting as the others. The others caught on much quicker as they could blend with the walls when the skins were learning their Earth lessons, and when one of the ships crashed, they had all been split up.

Kal had found him roaming in Arizona, causing disturbances since he didn't know anything of Earth's culture. He taught him the language, how to read English, and later, after the children emerged from their pods, bought him this ranch so he could stay close to them.

No one was to know he was in contact with Kal, that had been a direct order.

One thing he did know, those kids were fishing for something this afternoon. Oh, they were good, those two, but they were trying to get information from him.

He wondered if they were finally on to what he had suspected for a very long time. He sure hoped so.
__________________________________________________________________________

Alex heard the front door open and heard the whirlwind that was Isabel enter. "Alex, I'm home," she called.

"I'm in here," Alex called back, squinting at the computer screen. He was looking up Kal Langley for Max and Liz, trying to see where he might be in the morning.

Alex heard books hitting the counter, the refrigerator open, the microwave being turned on. Isabel came into the room and bent down and gave Alex a kiss.

"Did you have a good day?" Alex asked.

"Sort of," Isabel said. "It was hard to concentrate at school with everything that's going on."

"I'll bet," Alex said. "I'm looking up the Kal person for Max and Liz. He just called. They stopped a couple of hours outside of LA so they'd be at 100% when they find him."

"Good," said Isabel when she heard the microwave beep. "Want a refill?" she asked, picking up Alex's glass.

"Thanks," he smiled as she went to the kitchen, gathered her late dinner, and brought back drinks for the two of them. She settled into the big comfortable chair after she gave Alex his drink.

She took a nice long drink of her Tabasco and sweet tea. "Mmmm," she said. "So did Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boy figure anything else monumental out while on the road?"

"Not that he said, but I do think they figured out they like each other," Alex said, amusement in his eyes.

"Duh," Isabel said, taking a bite of her food. "That doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist."

Alex shut the computer off and went over to Isabel, who lifted up her plate and drink so that Alex could slide in next to her in the big, overstuffed chair. He put his arm around the back of the chair and she leaned into his chest.

"I know that Isabel," he said, rolling his eyes. "He just sounded happy, really happy. You know how he always wanted to avoid Langley like the plague after he saw how he treated him last time around. I figured he'd sound like classic brooding Max, but he wasn't Isabel. He was over the moon."

"That's Max for ya," she said, offering Alex a bite of her food. He shook his head saying no, he had learned a long time ago not to eat anything on Isabel's plate unless he had a huge glass of water handy. "I hope it works out for them, he's been so lonely," Isabel said.

"I know it will," Alex said confidently.

Isabel laughed. "You don't know that Alex."

"Oh yes I most certainly do," he said.

"Why is that?" she asked curiously.

Alex rested his head on the top of Isabel's. "Because I'm really starting to come around to Valenti's way of thinking. That cone thing may have allowed people to change time, but they can't change the things that were supposed to happen. Maybe this time around is how it was all supposed to go down. Maybe the last timelines were just a warm up for the main event."

"So God let us do this, but certain things still will happen, no matter what?" Isabel asked.

"That's my story, and I'm sticking to it," Alex smiled. Out of everyone, Isabel and Alex were the most spiritual. Alex's first flash was of himself as a ghost, talking to Isabel after his death. It had made believers out of both of them. Max had asked him one time how he could believe in God with all that they knew, and Alex always replied with 'how could i not?'

"In a lot of ways I think you may be right," Isabel said. "The last timeline, the way you all found out, everyone dealing with such intense love while so young and alien catastrophes all at the same time, well we were doomed from the start. I don't think we were meant to be doomed Alex."

"I don't either Isabel, I don't either," he said, kissing the top of her head. "I also don't think that NOT dealing with it all was the answer either," he contemplated. "I mean, yes, everyone was blissfully happy the first time around, but how long would that have lasted? Sticking our heads in the sand and not dealing with all the alien problems might have just left our children to deal with that, and I sure wouldn't want that," he said, gently rubbing Isabel's stomach.

"Me either Alex," she said, concentrating on the brand new life growing inside of her. She still couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl. It was the first time she had been pregnant in any timeline, so she really wanted to believe that this was it. They would fix this, fix this for their children's futures.

"When are we going to tell everyone?" Alex asked.

"I kind of like keeping it between us for now Alex, maybe after I'm a couple more months along," she said.

"Alright, but only if you don't blame me if it slips. You know how bad my secret-keeping skills are," he laughed.

It was their own private joke. Back in high school, Alex had a huge crush on Isabel, and sometimes she would flirt with him. The last day of school Alex was driving home, and he noticed Isabel was behind him. He kept glancing in his rear view mirror, trying to get a peak at her. Seeing how this was dangerous, he turned down a not often traveled country road, surprised when she followed at a discreet distance.

If he wouldn't have been checking his rear view mirror every five seconds he probably would have seen the horse that ran out into the road, but unfortunately he was and his car went careening into the forest, hitting a tree.

He hit his head, but other than that he was fine. He was a bit dizzy, and he was cursing that he had spilled his V8 Splash all over himself when he heard Isabel calling his name, and the next thing he knew she was doing something....different...to him.

The bump on his head was gone and she was ripping his shirt open. She then realized that he was not fatally wounded, and also that she had exposed herself.

They sat there a long time, Isabel telling him a wild tale of aliens and visitors from the future. It was starting to get dark when Sheriff Valenti stumbled on them, and Isabel asked Alex to keep it to himself for awhile. She wasn't ready to tell them all what she had done.

As the Sheriff walked up and asked what happened Alex said, "I got in an accident and Isabel healed me."

Isabel just shook her head and told Alex he was the worst secret-keeper ever.

__________________________________________________________________________

Courtney looked over at Serena, who had calmed down quite a bit. She had talked her into going to Boston with her. All she had to do was finish packing and wait for the movers, and they could hop right back on a plane to Roswell in the morning. If she knew Liz at all, everything was already packed and she had just kept out the things she needed.

She was right off course, when they entered the small two bedroom apartment. Courtney saw all the boxes, some with her name, some with Liz's, neatly stacked around the apartment. Serena followed her in, taking a look around.

"Well I guess she didn't leave you to do all the work," Serena begrudgingly admitted.

"I knew she wouldn't Ser," Courtney said carefully. She was treating her with kid gloves right now. After the flash, she told her she couldn't tell her what is was, but that she would in all good time. She was going to tell Michael about it, but him and Maria were already on their way to Jacob's place. She was pretty sure they'd figure it out on their own.

Maybe it was for the best, because Courtney would have all night and tomorrow to help Serena see the truth. She knew it was going to be a blow to her, finding out that she had been manipulated by someone she trusted.

Courtney didn't want any of the others to hear Serena hysterically talk about Antar and being Queen the way she had heard earlier in the day. With all this stuff with Liz, with them knowing an enemy was in their camp, she couldn't risk the stigma that would haunt Serena, even after what had been done to her came out.

They would never trust her again, and she would be alone. She knew it wasn't fair, but after the memories of Tess, she knew some were wary of her, namely Maria.

She couldn't blame her, as Serena did seem to get more obstinate about Liz as the years went by. Courtney cursed herself. She should have saw it instead of writing it off as a harmless school girl crush. Maybe if she wouldn't have been away for so long at Harvard, maybe if she didn't have to hide whenever Liz was in Roswell and had seen the way Serena was acting, well maybe it would be different.

That was neither here nor there, and hopefully they would not relive this again. Serena didn't have a regular childhood, hell she had no childhood at all. She was born on a ship and didn't set foot on land until she was ten years old. Her parents had died, and Courtney had taken her to the small town an hour from Roswell where a bunch of the rebel skins and Jose lived.

Come to think of it, Jose is the one who made contact, who knew they were coming. God only knows what would have happened if they weren't there. She didn't think Serena would have faired as well as the pod squad since there would be no one to clean up the wreckage.

Courtney knew about being alone. She spent nearly 50 years alone until Serena came into her life. Sure, there were the other rebel skins, but it wasn't like family, more like work. Then there was the explosion in Copper Summit and the meeting with Kyle, which brought her even more family.

They had decided to keep Serena separate from the others at first. It seemed like any past timeline flashes the group first received were of Tess, and Jose didn't think bringing in another female hybrid at that time would be wise. It had made sense to Courtney, but she didn't know Jose had a hidden agenda.

Serena and Courtney had been positioned in the northern part of the state, watching and researching for any signs of the elite skins whose husks were still in tact. Max and co. knew about Serena, but they didn't meet her until Liz and Courtney were at Harvard.

Even though she had a new husk, she wasn't naive. People from her world's life spans weren't as short as humans, but they weren't that much longer. Her new husk may last 50 more years, but her alien body inside wouldn't make it another 35. After all she was almost 30 years old when she signed up to come to Earth, so she was 75 by her planets standards. Only her fresh husks veiled the signs of old age.

Serena would be all alone after she was gone, far to young to be all alone. She had to fix this. She knew in her heart that even if Serena had something to do with going back in time before, she wouldn't have done it if she knew what would happen to an innocent girl. She knew it with all her heart.

Courtney opened the door to Liz's room. "Oh my God," she whispered as she took in the condition of the room. Serena walked in behind her and let out a low whistle.

Boxes had been over turned, the lamp was smashed, and a syringe had been tossed to the floor. Courtney picked it up, her hands shaking. "Bastards," she said, still shaking.

Serena felt a wave of sympathy for Courtney. No matter how upset she was right now, she knew that what they had done to Liz, taking her in the night, scared Courtney to death, and seeing this scene, well it just reinforced it for her.

She quietly began to pick up boxes, putting their contents back in them. They worked quietly together, getting everything put back in place, fixing holes in walls, making the room look as it was.

They were almost done, Courtney putting the drawers back in the dresser and Serena packing the last of the overturned boxes when Serena noticed a picture had fallen under the bed. She reached down to retrieve it, and was shocked at what she saw.

It was a picture of Max and Liz, who had to of been around 8 years old. There was a group behind them, but the picture focused in on a little Max and Liz, him dressed in a suit and Liz in a red and green desk, her hair in ponytails and ribbons. They were holding hands, Liz smiling with all her might and Max, well Max was looking at Liz like she was the only thing in the world.

Courtney noticed that Serena had stopped packing, and that she was looking at something. She came up behind her and took a look over her shoulder.

"Ahh, the Christmas Concert picture," she said softly.

"She kept this all these years?" Serena asked, turning around to face Courtney.

"Yes, yes she did. It was their third grade Christmas Pagent. Liz kept it in her journal," Courtney explained. "She said she could tell Max was scared, and she knew he was shy and new, so when they walked up to the stage she grabbed his hand, and held it through the whole concert. Mrs. Evans took this picture and thought it was so cute that she gave one to the Parkers."

Serena nodded and sat on the bed, still holding the picture. "He never looked at me like that, with that much emotion, and he's only in 3rd grade here," she said almost in a whisper. "How could I have been so stupid?"

"We are all stupid over a man one time or another Ser," Courtney said, sitting beside her friend.

Serena snorted. "You, you would never be stupid over a man."

Courtney laughed. "Oh yes I would," she said.

"Who?!" Serena demanded, her eyes narrowing.

"Rath," she said, a small, sad smile on her face. "And I guess Michael in association."

"You mean back on Antar?" Courtney said, her eyes growing wide. "Wasn't he engaged to Vilandra?"

"Not at first," Courtney said. "We were from two different worlds back there, but when we were young we had a passionate affair. I was certain that we were meant to be together, but then Zan's Father announced that Rath was to marry Vilandra and that was that. He cut all ties, he did his duty. I know he didn't love her, but Rath wouldn't do that to her, wouldn't hurt her honor."

"Wow," was all Serena could say.

"Yeah, wow," Courtney said softly. "I was pretty high up on the military food chain, so I constantly had to see him and Vilandra at different functions. She was so beautiful, so perfect. I didn't think I would ever be able to compare to her, but it didn't matter. Rath had to do what he was told."

"Did it get any easier?" Serena asked.

"It was starting to, but then war broke out. Kivar came from my world, and most people supported what he was doing, why he was doing it. He easily took over our own Monarchy with the support of the people," Courtney explained. "I started hearing of a resistance, a resistance that supported Rath being in charge. The more I found out, the more I needed to join."

"Because you loved him?" Serena questioned.

"No, because they were right," Courtney said. "Kivar had passion behind him, a cause that meant a great deal to him, but he was destroying everything in his path for that cause. Zan, well I really believe that Zan didn't have what it takes to be King, and he knew it. He didn't want it, but he did try. Trying is no match for one with such a passion as Kivar. Rath was the only one that had a sense of duty, a sense of what was good for all the people."

"But now you swear your allegiance to Zan?" Serena asked confused.

"No, I work with Max Evans to make this planet safe again. Serena, it's time you heard the truth about our solar system," Courtney said to a silent Serena.
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Re: Inescapable Fate (AU W Aliens CC Teen) Ch 7 July 5th

Post by kj4ever »

Thanks for all the FB everyone!


Chapter 8

"Oh God Liiiiiiiz," Max said as quietly as he could behind his clenched teeth as he felt the release, and he leaned his body against the shower wall while he tried to get back in control after the mind numbing orgasm.

Last night, hands down, had been the best but hardest (pun intended) night of his life. They had walked hand in hand back to the hotel, and they had sat on their balcony, Liz enjoying a glass of wine, Max enjoying a glass of sparkling grape juice with his secret stash of Tabasco, and it really was a night straight from both of their dreams.

After they had talked for awhile she somehow had ended up on his lap and they made out like teenagers. The problem was they weren't teenagers.

Max was a grown man, with grown man needs, a man who had flashes and knew exactly what it felt like to make love to Liz Parker if you will.

They had calmed down, and talked, really talked. Both knew it was going to fast, both of them knowing there were past timeline influences involved. Even though his heart, no his very soul was screaming that she! was! his! he knew that this was the wrong way to go. He would have the rest of his life to be with her, and he wanted the meeting with Kal out of the way, wanted all of the information before taking that next step.

Liz seemed relieved. Her body was screaming from every pore also, but she had just been through so much in the last couple of days. A kidnapping, breaking out not only herself but her best friend's fiance, finding about time travel, finding out about aliens, finding out one of those aliens will probably want her dead now......

Did she really need to add losing her virginity to that list, all in a couple of days?

That resolution to behave almost gave way as they got ready for bed. Max hadn't tried to be chivalrous and get two rooms, he meant it when he said Liz wasn't leaving his sight until they figured this all out, but sleeping in the same bed, under his protective shield, after everything that had happened, was difficult at best.

Silently he cursed Isabel or Maria or both of them for the sight he saw when Liz took off the plush hotel room robe. It wasn't like it was something sleazy, it was classy, and white, and long, but slitted up to there, and it came down, way down to there. He was pretty sure some lacy was involved in all that silk, but Liz was obviously cursing them also as she got under the covers as quickly as she could.

Not quickly enough. He had seen enough. More then enough.

They both laid there, staring at the glowing shield, each as far away from the other as they could possibly get. Max didn't know when it happened, but finally he heard Liz fall asleep and a bit after that he had managed to get his body to calm down enough to follow her.

Now if they had stayed that way he wouldn't be in this position, having to leave Liz for a shower that took more then a couple of minutes, but he couldn't help it. It was do this, or do something else, period. He had woken up to find them both in the middle of the bed, his strong thigh thrown over her, his hand inside her nightgown, cupping her breast, feeling her heartbeat.

That shield came down and he practically ran to the bathroom, announcing to a half coherent Liz that he needed to take a shower, even though they had both taken showers last night so they could head out early.

Liz had brushed her teeth and washed her face in the small half bath, and got dressed. She threw on a little mascara, a little blush, a little perfume. After applying some pink gloss to her lips she seemed satisfied with her looks and went and sat down on the large chaise lounge to brush her hair.

The door to the larger bathroom opened, and Liz's mouth almost fell open at the sight of a semi-dripping Max who was wearing only a towel.

"I forgot my clothes," he shrugged as he reached for his bag.

"Good morning," Liz said with a smile. She was wearing a cute white sundress that showed off her olive skin and collar bone. Max just loved her collar bones.

"Morning," he said as he walked over to her and gave her a light kiss on the lips. She could tell he was reaching out with his senses, trying to feel anything alien in the room.

"I'll just be a minute...I'm going to...You know...Get dressed," he said as he backed up to the bathroom door.

"Ok," Liz smiled, and as he turned and fumbled with the door, disappearing behind it, she bit her lip to keep from laughing. She may be a virgin, but she had dated guys. She knew exactly why Max had run to take a shower.

A few hours later he was on the phone with Alex while Liz looked at the map.

"You're getting into L.A. a little later then you thought, huh?" Alex said on the other line, not even trying to hide his amusement.

"Something like that," Max said. "Did you find anything out? Hold on I'm going to put you on speaker," Max loved his brother-in-law dearly, but he really didn't want to be relentlessly teased right now.

Max slid the cell into the cradle on the dash board. "Hi Alex," Liz said warmly.

"Hey Liz!" Alex said enthusiastically. "Right, so anyway there is very little information on Kal. You can try to go to his house like last time, but I know you don't want to barge in so I used my super surfing skills and finally drudged up an interesting fact. He likes to make deals at this little Mexican joint outside of town, and he eats lunch there almost every day."

He told Max the address and Liz found it on the map. They were only ten minutes away.

"Thanks Alex, you are the best," Max said sincerely.

"I do what I can to make up for my lack of alien juice," he said. "Seriously though, be careful, and call as soon as you know anything. Isabel has been calling every fifteen minutes, and she really doesn't need any extra stress on her body right now."

"Why wouldn't she need any extra stress on her body right now?" Max asked.

Liz got it though, and she also heard Alex silently say 'shit' in the background.

"Maybe you never got those kinds of flashes from me Max, but there are certain times for women, certain times that come, oh every month, where stress is not a good idea," she finished, hoping he would buy it.

"Oh," Max said. He really didn't want to hear about this, not at all.

"Ok!" Alex spoke up. "You be careful, and I love you guys."

"You too," Max and Liz said together.

Kal felt him before he ever entered the restaurant. He hadn't felt his signature come to life in so many years, it almost seemed foreign, like it should belong to someone else.

He wondered what the chances were that while they were off humping like bunnies they had managed to wander all the way to California, stop for a bite to eat, and it happened to be the restaurant he frequented.

'Pretty fucking small,' he thought.

The doors opened up and he saw him enter, his arm protectively around the cute brunette he knew was Liz Parker. He would have known him anywhere, because of his encoding, but those eyes, those damn hazel eyes that showed every thought and feeling in his soul were the same.

There were many emotions in those eyes that Kal could see. He was determined, very determined, but he was also scared. That protective instinct in Kal kicked in high gear even while he tried to calm it down. What was he afraid of?

Kal had no idea how he even knew about him. Sure, they had learned their identity when some kid in their high school class discovered them and they found the other shifters. It was actually pretty impressive how they had dealt with the skins. The little bastard Nicholas would soon be gone, and everyone could just go back to living their lives.

The Parker girl completed the equation, and when Kal had learned that she knew of the secret, that she had spent the night with the King, that he would never want to complete his destiny. So why was he here? How in the hell did he find him to begin with?

Kal could have just went and asked him as Max and Liz were directed to a booth across the room from him. Curiously he watched the Parker girl slide into the booth, and instead of Max going to the other side, he sat right next to her. He watched him casually put his arm around her and feel the wall.

This baffled Kal. They weren't sitting together because of romantic interest, Max was protecting her. What exactly did he think he needed to protect her from? The way he was feeling that wall he was making sure it was solid. Max was a smart kid, he wouldn't have brought her here, straight into his line of fire, if he thought Kal would hurt her.

Oh he was smart, this Max, as they ordered drinks and chips and payed for them in advance. There would be no waiting for a check if Kal got up and left. Whatever reason he was here, Kal had a feeling it was bad, and that he would not like it.

He saw the Parker girl reach over and squeeze his hand, giving him a reassuring smile. He could tell she was trying to be brave, and she hid her fear very well. They both did. He couldn't decide if Max was nervous or afraid, or a mixture of both.

As if Max could sense him watching, he turned to look at Kal and their eyes met directly for the first time.

Kal sucked in his breath and ignored his assistant as he asked if he was alright. He had seen that look in those eyes before, many, many years ago. They clearly said "Help me!"

*flashback*

"Zan! Zan!" he said. "Stop that!"

Zan looked up at his protector with his big hazel eyes. "I'm sorry, it was hurt," he said, hanging his head.

The King did not like his only son to heal unless it was going to benefit the Kingdom. His Father would be furious if he knew he had healed this small bird.

"Why don't you have your lenses in?" he asked, knowing the answer. They itched, and if worn long enough, they started to hurt.

Zan looked at the ground. "I've had them in all day," he said. "They were really starting to hurt. Father isn't around."

The King hated Zan's eyes. They weren't pure black like Antarians eyes. He had ordered the lenses made when Zan was just a baby, and due to the insistent crying he didn't wear them until he became a toddler, and only in his Father's presence.

Now that he was getting older, the King wanted him to wear them all the time in case the wrong people saw those eyes. He didn't want people to see his Crowned Prince as weak.

"Zan, you know why he wants you to wear them. The scientists are working on a better pair for you," he breathed out in frustration. It was the damn King's fault his eyes were so hazel to begin with.

"Alright, I will go put them in," he said, looking sad.

"Then we need to go to court, there are some people that need healed," Kal said.

"Nnnoo, please," Zan said. "I just healed yesterday."

He closed his eyes. It was hard for little Zan, who was really just a small child, to heal the type of people his Father would let him heal. They had done horrible things, horrible things no child should ever have to see. The fact that he could see what they had done, what secrets they knew, was exactly why his Father had him heal them.

"Please, please help me," Zan whispered. "Please Z'chrie, please take me away from here!"

It was not only his eyes that were different, Zan was different. He was sensitive and had feelings. It about killed him to make him go there, to watch the little boy sit there catatonic like afterwards while his Father questioned him about what he saw.

"I can't Zan, you must listen to your Father," he said sternly. He wished he could tell him that he wished he could, but he could not undermine the King, ever.

*end flashback*

Kal had to bite back the wave of emotion that overcame him, so deep, something he hadn't felt in decades. Even though he wanted to run, to call Jacob and get him to tell them never to come back here, it was to late. His protector instincts were screaming at him, and he was helpless to their call.

He threw some money on the table and told his puzzled assistant that he would not be returning to set that day. He slowly pushed his chair out and headed toward the young couple's table.

"Let's go," was all he said and he turned and walked out the door, Max and Liz scrambling after him.

Max and Liz stepped out into the bright California sunshine and saw a man opening a door for Kal. He motioned for them to join him.

"Wait," Max said and didn't notice the way Kal halted, the look of frustration on his face at not being able to move.

"I'm only going to do this once," Max said quietly as he caught up to Kal. "You will not hurt Liz, and you will not knowingly lead her to danger."

Kal curtly nodded and they all climbed into the limo. They sat, facing each other, sizing each other up. "How'd you find me?" Kal finally asked.

"The Internet," Max explained. Kal cursed the damn Internet. It was going to cut his Hollywood life by a decade. As a producer he could move as a ghost in this town, but with the Internet and the gossip rags people might notice a lot sooner his lack of aging.

"Figures," Kal said. "I assume you know who I am?"

Max nodded. "Our Protector from Antar," he said.

"Mind if I ask who told you?" Kal asked.

"Technically I found you before, but I guess it was Kyle," Max said.

"Kyle Valeni?" Kal asked, and as the two in front of him looked surprised he went on. "Kyle Valenti, all around high school jock who one day found out you were aliens and took to destroying everyone who was your enemy. Kyle, who never had anything to do with any of you except that he was dating the girl of your dreams."

"No, Kyle Valenti who used the Granilith to come back from the future to warn us about all the mistakes we were making," Max said, confused. If Kal knew everything about them, how could he not know this?

Kal swallowed hard. The Granilith. Obviously Jacob hadn't told him everything.

Not that he could blame him.

It was a couple hours later, they were all sitting on Kal's gorgeous veranda, and Kal was absolutely spellbound, listening to the tale of three lifetimes. His mind was mentally counting off the aliens. He believed how all of them could be there, stowing away on Nicholas's ship.

All but one.

Jose.

He had been on his ship, and was believed to be dead.

"So the first timeline, everything was normal?" Kal asked, "Well as normal as it could be?"

"Yes," Max said. "We were married, had a couple of kids," he said smiling at the thought.

"Our son Zachary was really beautiful," Liz said smiling.

"Zachary?" Kal said slowly.

"Yeah. There is one ally we had that became like family," Max said. "He's never turned up since then. We can only assume that since time was changed something happened to him," he said sadly. "We named our son after him."

"Do you remember him?" Kal asked, watching their expressions. "Get flashes of him?"

Max shook his head. "No, never. Kyle said he wasn't around everybody a lot. He spent a lot of time with Liz, the kids and I, but he wasn't really a group person. He showed up in Roswell right before Liz gave birth. He explained things to us, but not all the King business we know of now."

Liz spoke up. "Did you know him Kal?" she asked. "We had to of loved him a great deal. We named our son after him, we made him his Godfather. Mr. Langley, did you now Z'crie?"

Kal closed his eyes. Of course he would have shown up right before the birth of the Crowned Prince, he wouldn't have been able to stay away if he tried. What he couldn't believe was they had named their son after him. They had made him his Godfather.

"Yes, I knew him," Kal said quietly. "Max, Liz, it's about time you learned the truth."
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Re: Inescapable Fate (AU W Aliens CC Teen) Ch 8 July 7th

Post by kj4ever »

Thanks for the FB!


Chapter 9

Kal kicked back with his lemon aide and wondered where to start. Even after three and a half timelines, the two sitting in front of him didn't have the whole picture, not even close. Of course it was because everyone they came in contact with over all that time always had their own agenda. Information was given or omitted depending on what they wanted from Max.

"I guess I should start with a little history," Kal said. "Our planet has been very interested in humans for hundreds of years." He picked up a lighter and lit it, putting his hand directly in the line of fire. "As you can see, I don't feel things. If I left it long enough it would burn me, but it could take hours."

Liz and Max nodded. Max knew from a flash that he had discovered that Kal couldn't feel things, and that only after decades of not shifting he had begun to get his sense of smell and taste, if only for very strong things.

"When the first Antarians began visiting Earth, they were amused by these 'feelings' the humans seemed to have, but they also saw them as dangerous. Wars were started because of feelings, people were torn apart because of feelings. Mostly we were interested in the human respiratory system," Kal said. "We have five worlds in our solar system, but they all have different atmospheres."

"So the life on those planets need suits like the skins if they visited other planets?" Liz asked.

"They did. Antar was always far ahead with science. We were more of a curious race than the other planets, and when the first ship came back from Earth, 50 years after it had left, well we began studying humans because the Earth's atmosphere is made up of Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide, and Argon. What made humans lungs so special was that they could separate and take what it needed. Our respiratory systems can't do that," Kal said.

"So they began trying to build faster and faster ships to get to Earth. After a hundred years they could make it in 10 years, 20 round trip. They started gene therapy with the DNA from humans, and that's where the current race of Antarians come from. All Antarians were 'upgraded' if you will, and every once in awhile a baby would be born that could shift, and that is where the shapeshifters came into play," Kal said. "It made people nervous, nervous that someone could look like anyone or anything, so programming was invented so that someone would have control over us."

Max leaned forward. "Like how you have to listen to the King?"

"Some, yes, some were programmed to listen to the King's commands. Other's were programmed to listen to military commanders. More then likely our kind would be programmed to listen to someone. We would always be fated to follow orders from another," he said sadly.

"That's terrible," Liz said.

"I used to think so," Kal said, "but when I saw Nasedo you call him?" he asked as they shook their head yes. "Nasedo with no one to answer to, well I could almost see why."

"But it isn't right to view a whole race of people as a threat," Max said.

Kal smiled. "No, and it was very, very rare that one of us was born. I don't even know if there are any left other than what is on Earth right now. You see, Antar had found a solution to the problem, and that was by engineering their children instead of going the natural way, hence the pods. If an embryo showed signs that it would be a shifter, they would terminate it."

"Around that time was when powers started showing up in our people, most just had the ability to manipulate the molecular structure of things," Kal said, "and Royals seemed to get a specialized talent, like how you can heal. This started to divide the people into classes, which was non-existent back then. Yes, we had a King and Queen that ruled, but everyone else was the same. Once powers came into play things changed dramatically."

"Anyway, to make a long story longer, the other planets had a lot of catching up to do, and they started to get resentful of Antar. Our planet became the leader of all other planets under your great, great Granfather, if only to share in our technology. Many became bitter because of this," Kal explained. "On top of that, the other world's beings didn't seem to develop powers like we did. Some did, but most didn't. After several generations of genetic therapy, almost all Antarians could do some kind of molecular manipulation."

Max and Liz sat spellbound, listening to the real history of Antar. Max had never heard any of this, He had always been told that he was mixed with human just to bring him back and because the human brain was powerful, nothing about how the rest of Antar had this genetic therapy.

"Then your Father became King," Kal said, spitting out the word Father. "He decided to push the envelop when it came to your conception. They used more human genetic material in the embryos, and you and your sister were born." He explained the situation with Zan's eyes, and how his Father would make him heal less then stellar of characters.

Liz's hand flew to her mouth. "How could someone do that to a small child? Not only making him feel less because of the color of his eyes, but also the terrible things he must have saw by healing those criminals?"

Max couldn't imagine how terrible that must have been for little Zan. He had healed people before, like the Sheriff when he was attacked by the skins. It was a very invasive process. He could see so much. The Sheriff was a good man, but he had still seen things and felt things he didn't want to see.

"It was tough for Zan to deal with, yes," Kal said sadly. "The beings of the Whirlwind Galaxy, they don't have feelings, not like humans. Sure, there was an inherent sense of right and wrong, and strict rules to follow, but when the human genetics came into play, people started getting a small sense of feelings, like love and hate. Zan felt more then most, and he never felt like he fit in, like he didn't belong even though he was to become the High King of five worlds."

Max swallowed hard, hearing this and felt Liz squeeze his hand. Even as Zan he hadn't felt like he fit in. He had spent his whole life feeling like he was split between two worlds, and it was surprising to hear that he had felt that way the last time too, that he wasn't the glorious King everyone had told him about.

"So anyway, your sister and you, you were really close. Vilandra could hide it better than you, not only because of her black eyes, but because she could fake not feeling better. Then again, she didn't have to heal murderers and rapists. People were tracked carefully, and when Rath was a small child it was found that he had tremendous fire power. He was brought to the castle to be raised with you, to be groomed to be your second and also the next King if you didn't produce an heir," Kal said.

"Then a girl named Ava was discovered. She was in the lower class and it was amazing that she had these mental gifts. Your Father, knowing how you were, coached her well, coached her on how to play on your feelings. When you first met her at a party she was sweet and nice, something very rare in our worlds. You didn't put up a fight when your Father suggested her as a bride," Kal said, not able to hide his disgust.

"In the last timeline I remembered some of what happened on Antar, but not much," Max said. "I haven't seen any of those things, not even from flashes from Kyle, but he had said that we met at a party," Max said.

Kal nodded. "Being around Tess probably did bring out more of your alien side," he said. "but I doubt they were your memories though, they were probably hers. She had a lot more alien in her than you."

"How was she more alien if they were all hybrids?" asked Liz.

"I'm getting to that," Kal chuckled. "It was because her alien side had less human DNA. She was only pretending to be a sweet, nice being. She was just as cold and hard as the other beings in our world, and Zan didn't learn of this until after the marriage. Ava was disgusted by Zan's eyes as much as his Father. She thought he was weak. It was a train wreck of a marriage."

"Tess didn't seem to think so," Max said. "She thought that we had this romance to last all times."

"Oh, she knew I'm sure, if she had her memories. Depending on how much she remembered, I'm sure Nasedo could have manipulated her. You see, it wasn't Vilandra's fault that Kivar 'stormed the castle' or so they say," Kal said. "We learned through intelligence from Antar that Ava had been coaching Kivar on how to get to Vilandra, but instead of seeing Kivar when they had their clandestine meetings she was seeing a different high nobleman. She never knew it was Kivar until it was to late, Ava was mindwarping her."

"So when Vilandra let down the defenses she didn't know it was Kivar," Max said.

"No, she thought it was someone else. She wanted to marry this man, a man you had never heard of before. Things were so unstable, with Kivar causing trouble all over the place, people demanding the genetic testings stopped, people demanding more genetic testings. You wouldn't let her marry until things calmed down, until you could get more information," Kal said. "Kivar told Vilandra if he could just meet you, if he could just talk to you he could change your mind. Add to the fact that his Father had already betrothed you to Rath, well it was a mess. Vi didn't think you'd make her go through with it, but because things were so unstable she started to get afraid."

"Why would Ava want Kivar to take over if she was already Queen?" Liz asked.

"Because she wouldn't need Zan to make the next King," Kal said. "Our technology was so far advanced that they could just use his genetic material combined with Ava's to make a child. I don't think she ever thought Kivar would totally take over, but that she would become the ruler under her heir apparent."

"But then she was killed," Max said.

"Yes, and we had also successfully competed a new technology, where if we took the brain cells from someone who had died, their genetic material, and the genetic material of a human they could be reborn as an adult and remember everything. It was hailed as a way to live forever," Kal explained.

"And that's what they did with Max and the others," Liz said.

"No, that was set up before they were ever killed, when things became unstable. Zan had overseen the process. That is why I know things turned out the way he wanted, the way he dreamed," Kal said sadly.

"I don't know what you mean?" Max asked.

"Max, Zan didn't want you to remember that life, he didn't want you to live that life. If anything happened the two head Shapeshifters were to take you to Earth with a powerful ship that had just been invented, the Granilith, to grow safely," Kal said. "To grow to full maturity should have only taken 18 years, but something wasn't right."

Kal took a deep breath. "Max, you were not supposed to look human. I think, no I know that Zan purposely added more human genetic material so that you would never go back there, never live that life."

Max was speechless. After all of this, after all the fighting, after all the time traveling, he was not meant to go back there?

"But then why would a shifter want Max to go back?" Liz asked. "If they knew he wouldn't be accepted by those on Antar why would they keep changing things to get him to go back?"

"I don't think they ever wanted him to go back, Liz," Kal said. "When Nasedo and I got to Earth, we had realized the problem then. They were developing as human children, and developing slowly. We didn't know what we were going to do, and I couldn't bring myself to terminate the pods. Neither could Nasedo, but he had a different agenda."

"We had agreed to split the care of the children," Kal explained. "I could care less what happened to Ava. I insisted on Zan, Vilandra, and Rath being under my care. He agreed to take Ava. As head Protector he had no choice."

"Then why didn't you raise us?" Max asked softly. He had spent so many years wondering who, what he was. He loved the Evan's with all his heart, but things would have been so much less confusing to deal with if he had been raised or at least knew someone that could tell him what he was.

"I couldn't. I couldn't raise you and not expose you. Imagine you, as a six year old, telling me you didn't want to go to school, or anything like that. I would have to listen to you. You could order me around in front of anyone and I would have to listen," he said. "Without your memories, without knowing the dangers, and being a small child, how could I have raised you without drawing suspicion?"

Max nodded in understanding. He could just imagine what problems that would cause, a small child bossing their parent around. It would be noticed, and could be dangerous.

"When it became clear that you three were about to be born, Ava was developing slower, probably because you didn't take the care with creating her like you did the three of you, I began to make plans," Kal said. "I found the Evan's. I studied them. I learned everything I could about them. They couldn't have children, and they fought for people's rights as lawyers. I knew they would take you all in, and I knew if they found out about how you were "special" they would protect you."

"But Michael didn't end up with us," Max said, his brow wrinkling. "At least not after the first two timelines."

"I had it all planned down to the minute. I..I couldn't be to close in case you would try to speak telepathically to me. I didn't think you would remember anything of your previous life, but even if you had an instinct to reach out to me, I couldn't take that chance," Kal said. "There is another shifter that was programmed to listen to me on Earth, Jacob," he explained, noting Max's shocked face. Jacob had never told.

"He was ordered not to tell that he was in contact with me," Kal said. "I found him wandering in the desert when he stowed away on Nicholas's ship. He slit the pods and then came to me. We knew instinct would have you walk towards the road. I also knew that the Evan's traveled that road every Thursday, as they went to a fertility clinic in Clovis for treatments every Thursday after work. They were like clock work. Jacob and I were a few miles down the road, but when the Evan's finally drove past us, Michael was not with you."

"Michael said he was afraid to trust us, to go with us," Max said. "but he wasn't the first time. Jose must have done something to make him fear us."

Kal nodded sadly. "I did regret that, but Jacob always assured me that Michael was getting the care he needed and that his foster parent would never discover that he was an alien. I felt a lot better when I learned that you three had found each other after a year."

Max snorted. "The care he needed? Michael grew up with a drunk that abused him and Michael never said anything because he was afraid it would expose us!"

All the color drained from Kal's face. "What?" he asked weakly.

"You heard me. Sure, he had a roof over his head and food sometimes, but he lived with a monster," Max said angrily.

"So that's why he was emancipated?" Kal asked, closing his eyes.

"Yes. Kyle told us he did it in the last timeline, so we did it right away when we found out what was going on with Hank," Max spit out.

"I didn't...I really didn't know," Kal said. He could feel his Kings anger, and he knew he deserved it.

The room grew into an uncomfortable silence. Liz looked between the two men, both upset for various reasons. "Max," she said, bringing his hand to her lips as she kissed it. "I know this is hard, really hard, but maybe Jacob didn't realize how bad it was."

"He SHOULD have!" Kal practically shouted.

Max closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "None of this is going to be resolved here," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Let's just get back to where we were. So I would not be accepted, but there's a shifter out there that wants me to go back, wants Liz dead, and do you realize this doesn't make sense?"

"Think Max," Kal said, trying to forget the fiasco that happened to Michael for the moment. "Can a child have blue eyes if one parent has brown and one has blue?"

"Of course," he said, "if the brown eyed parent has the genes for blue eyes."

"Oh my God," Liz whispered and turned to look at Max. She saw the realization slowly spread across his features.

"They never wanted me, they thought if I had a child with a hybrid it might turn out alien," Max said.

Kal just closed his eyes and nodded.

"But Tess is dead, and Jose knew we were going to kill her," Max said, puzzled.

"Can I ask you a question Max?" Kal asked. "What does this Serena look like?"

Max shrugged. "She's a brunnette, small, has brown eyes..........."

"Kind of like Liz?" Kal asked.

"No, she's nowhere close to being as beautiful as Liz," Max said as Liz gave an embarrassed smile.

"But she has a lot of the same attributes, right?" Kal asked.

"Max!" Liz said. "Serena was created because they thought you'd be attracted to her!"

"So she probably didn't even exist in the first two timelines," Kal said. "They created her thinking she could replace Liz. I'm not sure why all the Tess stuff came about, but I know how we'll find out," Kal said.

"How?" Max asked.

Kal leaned forward. "Because Jose is programmed to obey ME."
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