High and Dry - AU/Adult/CC - Ch 34 - 8/3/15

Fics using the characters from Roswell, but where the plot does not have anything to do with aliens, nor are any of the characters "not of this Earth."

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HIS-&-HERS
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Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2012 11:11 am

High and Dry - AU/Adult/CC - Ch 34 - 8/3/15

Post by HIS-&-HERS »

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HIGH and DRY

Authors: HIS-&-HERS

Couples: M&L; M&M, K&T; A&I

Disclaimer: We don’t own anything but the idea for the fic.

Rating: Adult

Summary: Most people have high expectations and great plans after graduating high school. But what if your dreams are never fulfilled or they turn out to be not enough? Sometimes a simple trip with old and new friends can lead to a lot of chaos, fun, anger, hurt and last but not least… unexpected love.




Prologue

Liz Parker walked through the semi-dark hallway of the luxurious 4 bedroom domicile located in the Fisherman’s Wharf district in San Francisco. The house was ridiculously large, the property way too over the top for the two people who lived in it. The sounds of her slow steps on the tiling echoed loudly, increasing her feeling of loneliness even more.

Candlelight illuminated the room she stepped into and her gaze roamed sadly over the romantically set table. “Should I warm up the chicken, Ms. Parker?” Elenore Sanders, the housekeeper asked carefully while she exchanged the too-warm bottle of red wine with a newer, chilled one from the refrigerator.

“No, Elenore, thank you,” Liz said quietly and lifted one foot up to rip the pump from it, then repeating the same move with the other. “I think you can call it a day now.”

The older woman looked at her in surprise but nodded, glad to go home earlier than expected. “I’ll wrap dinner up and set it in the refrigerator before I leave,” she said and went to do that.

“Sure,” the brunette nodded and sat down on one of the two chairs at the table. She leaned back against the rest, while her perfectly manicured fingernails drummed against the dark wood surface of the table in a rhythmic and slightly aggressive manner.

Her eyes wandered through the large glass doors, which lead out onto the terrace and garden, but all she could see was her own lonely reflection and the dark night. She straightened up when the headlights of a car could be seen from the street near the house, but a moment later she realized that it had stopped in the driveway that belonged to their neighbor. Where the hell was he? she thought bitterly and stood up again, walking towards the windows and pulling on the curtains furiously. She was suddenly feeling observed from outside, like she was some trophy fish in a glass aquarium for all to look and gawk at.

“Asshole,” she muttered and went back to sit again, grabbing the wine glass and emptying half of it at once. The effect of the alcohol could be felt after only a few seconds, a good sign that she hadn’t eaten anything for a while. Yeah, she thought and snorted, I would have if he had been here on time for once.

The sound of another car had her listening up, but she didn’t go look this time. Past 9pm, she thought and leaned back in the chair, picking at the hem of the tight black dress she was wearing before crossing her arms over her chest.

She listened to the heavy iron gate outside as it opened and closed automatically, the sound of the engine of the car turning off, and the key being inserted into the lock on the huge double doors at the front of the house. “Honey?” he called, his voice echoing through the hallway. “I'm home.”

“Honey, I'm home,” she mocked quietly and rolled her eyes, not giving him a sign to let him know where she was.

“Honey?” he called again and walked further down the hallway, while ridding himself of his coat. “Liz, honey, where are you?” A moment later he passed the entrance to the dining room and stopped in the doorway when he saw her sitting in the room that was only illuminated by candlelight.

“Liz… what?” he asked right at the same moment that realization hit him. “Our anniversary,” Dean groaned and rushed to her side. “I’m sorry, honey. I had this huge meeting today about the Nelson project and it took longer than expected.”

She didn’t so much move an inch or blink while he rambled off his excuse for forgetting their third anniversary. Three years ago today they had been out for the first time and somehow those happy days seemed like a lifetime away. Her gaze lowered to her hand when he took it in his. The engagement ring he had given her fourteen months ago was sitting there comfortably, blinking in the candle light and still holding his promise of marriage. Will he ever find the time to marry me anyway? Hell, would he even show up on time for our WEDDING?

“How about we have dinner now?” he asked gently and ran his fingers over the soft skin of the back of her hand. “I haven’t really eaten anything and…”

She ripped her hand away from him. “I’m not hungry anymore.”

“Liz,” he tried. “I am sorry. I just had a very busy day at work.”

Her eyes narrowed on him and she couldn’t hold her anger back any longer. “It's nice to know where I rank amongst your priorities, Dean. You see I also work hard, but unlike you I am able to have a private life and care about the people around me.”

He got up and ran his hands through his hair. “Are you saying I don’t care about you?”

She stood as well, hands on her slim hips, and Dean couldn’t other but to think how sexy she looked in her black dress. “You certainly aren’t showing it.”

“I would’ve been home earlier, if…”

“This isn’t only about today,” Lit said through gritted teeth. “On my birthday you were on a business trip,” she enumerated. “On my mother’s birthday I had to drive alone because you had an oh-so-important meeting that couldn’t be postponed, and then today you forgot our anniversary.” With each new fact her voice rose higher. “Last week I told you I might get the position as the floorwalker in the lab, but you didn’t even ask me once what came out of it.”

“Well, uh…” he stuttered, “did you get the job?” he asked lamely.

She rolled her eyes while she got rid of her heavy earrings and slammed them on the table. “It’s too late for that now,” Liz told him, disappointed.

“Honey,” Dean tried again and reached for her, but she flinched out of his reach.

“Good night,” she growled. “I am not sharing a bed with you tonight.”

“What?” he asked, offended when she started to leave him. “Hey, this’s my house.”

“U-huh, then I guess you know you have plenty other beds to sleep in tonight,” Liz said coldly, proud of herself for not giving in to his apologies this time. It wasn’t that she didn’t love him anymore, not at all, but he was just so wrapped up in his job all the time that it was hard to get his private and loveable side out.

****

Liz glanced into the mirror, looking at herself and the slight puffy eyes from spilling a few tears as soon as she had gotten away from her fiancé. She leaned forward and spit the rest of the toothpaste in her mouth into the sink, rinsing it with water and wiping her mouth on a towel.

“Fantastic,” she muttered when she noticed the white foamy spots on her black satin nightie. She wiped them off with her hand, only to spread them further over the fabric.

She walked back into the large bedroom she usually shared with Dean and pulled the heavy violet curtains closed to block the sunlight the next morning would bring.

“Liz?” She heard his muffled voice through the door in addition to the soft knock. “Can I come in?”

For a moment she really considered it. There had never been a time she had slept alone in this bed and it sure as hell would be weird, but would it change anything if she gave in so soon?

“No,” she decided and spoke it out loud at the same time. She heard him sighing, but a moment later the sound of a door being opened could be heard and she was positive that he had taken the bedroom across the hall from hers.

“What a day,” she sighed and opened her walk-in closet to find a book she had bought a while ago. “Where the hell are you?”

It wasn’t like she had much time to read most days. Her job was usually very busy and it would only get busier now that her boss had told her she would be getting the new and better paying position of floorwalker in the lab soon. Sure it would mean even more hours at work, but considering that Dean was never home before 7 pm anyway it didn’t bother her and she could finally contribute more money to their relationship as well.

Liz stood on her tiptoes and reached out for a carton high on the shelf over the closet door. “Come on,” she panted and stretched higher, jumping up slightly to get it. Sometimes it sure did suck to be short.

“Shit,” she squeaked and jumped to the side when her uncontrolled movement knocked off a few other things from the shelf as well and they all fell on the ground with a loud shattering sound. “Great, Parker.”

A few batteries from a flashlight rolled across the floor, coming to a stop when they bumped noisily against a small metallic box. Liz frowned when the thing looked familiar to her and a moment later her face lit up when she remembered it. “Oh my god,” she breathed and bent down to pick it up.

She walked over to her bed, leaving the rest of the mess on the closet floor where it had fallen. “How could I have forgotten about you,” Liz whispered to herself, looking at the small box in her hands as she crawled up on the soft mattress. She threw a few pillows against the headboard and snuggled against them, the little box on her thighs.

For a few minutes she just looked at it, lost in the memory of a distant but happy time. She lifted it up and shook it, not surprised that she couldn’t hear anything at all. The little combination lock, which prevented anyone else from discovering the content of the box was heavy and showed four small dials with numbers from 0 to 9.

Easily, Liz remembered the combination of the correct numbers to unlock it. 6 – 6 – 0 – 7.

It stood for June, 6th 2007 – Graduation day….
Last edited by HIS-&-HERS on Mon Aug 03, 2015 11:13 am, edited 35 times in total.
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HIS-&-HERS
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Chapter 1

Post by HIS-&-HERS »

keepsmiling7: Hope and plans… that’s a good way to describe the content of the box as well. ;) We will find out today.

Dean is really not the fiancé Liz is looking for in the end!

mary mary: The fic will be funny and light in the most parts. We got a few ups and downs planned, but nothing that won’t be fixed.

Thanks!

CandyliciousLovah: We will meet all other important characters today (all but Max, lol), although they are all their younger selves.

Well, we are not new by all meanings, just new as a writing team. ;)

begonia9508: Thanks, no she really shouldn’t, he’s not right for her (could he be for any woman? Lol)
What she found will be revealed today.

Natalie36: Thanks!

Alien_Friend: Whatever is in the box, will be the key for the rest of the story. And we will find out about that content today.

xilaj: Thanks, we will get a clue about the content of the box today.

We are planning to update weekly, let’s hope we are able to. ;)

HypnotiqBlueEyes: Thanks and on with more…

lizzy_koh: Thanks, we will take a look at the box’ content today.

sarammlover: Thanks, we will hopefully go with a (for the most parts) funny fic.

jake17: We are back. ;) Plus we will look at the content of the box today.



Chapter 1

Five years earlier….
June, 6th 2007 – Graduation day


Laughter could be heard through the darkness along with the loud beat of the music from the party every senior at West Roswell High had shown up at to celebrate their graduation.

“This is totally childish, Liz,” someone complained when a small group of people walked through the landscape until they reached a small fire one of them had built a while ago.

“It’s not childish,” the brunette girl denied and sat down on one of the blankets around the fire. “It’s epic!”

“Yeah…epically childish,” Isabel Evans snorted and took a seat next to her friend.

“It is stupid, we should be at the party down there,” Tess Harding stalked around them in a circle before sitting down as well. For a moment she pretended to sulk, but her friends knew her way too well to really believe it. She was a girl who saw life easy and pretty un-dramatic most of the time and it was hardly possible to see her not having any fun when they were out.

“Suck it up, girls. We knew this was coming, she’s been planning it for years,” Maria was the last of their group to join them. She winked at Liz and sat down next to Tess, giving her a slight shove when she stuck her tongue out at her. “Keep your tongue where it belongs, Harding.”

“You mean in Jack McKency’s mouth?” Isabel teased.

“Shut up, Evans.”

“Oh, come on, we could see the two of you were getting into it.”

“Probably the reason why she looks so unsatisfied,” Maria teased and laughed when that comment earned her Tess’ middle finger. “Hey, where’s Michael?”

Tess shrugged. “I am not my stepbrother’s nanny. You’re his girlfriend so you should know better than me.”

“I saw him heading to the restrooms,” Liz said. “Anyway,” she declared with a louder voice, “you know what’s coming, girls.” Everyone could easily see her excitement over this. “Who wants to start?”

The others stayed silent as they looked at each other with big eyes, the fire flickering over the bare skin of their arms and faces. “You know the moment is kinda epic,” Maria suddenly agreed. “Who knows if we’ll ever REALLY get together like this again?!”

“Ah, shut up, we will,” Isabel insisted.

“Since this whole thing is your idea, I think you should start, Liz,” Tess suggested.

“Sure,” the brunette agreed without hesitation and wiggled around slightly to pull a tiny paper out of her bag. She unrolled it slightly and read out loud:

I, Liz Parker, swear to meet Maria DeLuca, Tess Harding and Isabel Evans exactly five years from now.

Until then…

I want to be a microbiologist.
I want to have a good looking boyfriend, who has a decent job as well.
I want to have a nice decent apartment in San Francisco.


“That’s all?” Isabel asked, surprised when the other girl rolled the paper back up and stuck it into the tiny metal box in front of her.

“Well…yes.”

“That isn’t much to dream about.”

“I think I’d rather not stick my goals not too high, this way I won’t be too hurt if it comes out differently,” Liz defended herself. “Why don’t you read yours?”

“Fine,” Isabel came up on her knees and held her paper out, rolling her eyes before starting:

I, Isabel Evans, swear to meet Maria DeLuca, Tess Harding and Liz Parker exactly five years from now.

Until then…

I want to be a supermodel.
I want to be booked for Fashion Week in New York.
I want to have some hot sexy guys calling me every day to get a date with me and I can choose a different one every night.


“Slut,” Tess muttered loudly with a smirk.

“I bet you wrote down the same and if not you’re a liar,” Isabel shrugged and put the paper into the box as well.

“Sure as hell not,” the curly blonde said and took her paper.

I, Tess Harding, swear to meet Liz Parker, Maria DeLuca and Isabel Evans exactly five years from now.

Until then…

I want to be a fitness trainer.
I want to have my own fitness studio.
I want to be the personal trainer of someone really famous.


She threw the paper at Liz and laughed when the girl grabbed for it in a panic before it could land in the fire. A moment later it disappeared into the box as well. “So last but not least….” All eyes wandered to Maria.

“I want to be a singer,” Isabel mocked in Maria’s tone.

“I want to be married to Michael Guerin,” Tess joined.

“You two, shut up,” Maria said and grabbed her paper, straightening up to read out.

I, Maria DeLuca, swear to meet Liz Parker, Tess Harding and Isabel Evans exactly four years from now.

Until then…

I want to be a singer.


Isabel fisted the air when she was proven right.

I want to own a nice penthouse in New York.
I want to be married to Michael Guerin.


Tess groaned. “See. I knew it.”

“So?” Maria shrugged. “That’s not really a surprise, sue me.” She glanced around for her boyfriend but it was too dark to see anything at all.

“Give the paper to me,” Liz said and leaned forward. She looked at the others meaningfully when she placed the last paper inside before closing it slowly.

“Somehow I think it’ll be cool to open this up in a few years,” Isabel had to agree with a slight smirk. They had always been totally different characters, but still they had stuck together their whole lives. It would be weird to go on to a foreign place without them.

“Man, watch were you’re going,” Michael’s voice was heard and a moment later he came into sight, trying to dodge a couple of partygoers as they carried another keg to the party.

“Hey,” Maria said gently when he joined them. He had been weird all day, but she was pretty sure it was just because of all the changes they would go through soon. After the two years they had been together now, she knew him pretty well and there were times when he was weird, especially when something included a lot of people. “You okay?”

“Huh?” Michael sat down behind her and pulled her closer against his body. “Yeah, sure. Just talked to a few of the guys.” He buried his face against her shoulder and inhaled her scent deeply. I’m gonna miss her, he thought but quickly pushed the thought aside.

“Hey guys,” a quiet voice came from behind the group.

The gang turned in unison to find Kyle Valenti standing there on the outskirts of the group, trying…..and the main word here is TRYING…. his very best to look cool. Tess groaned loudly while Liz smiled and everyone else in the group let out a small chuckle.

Kyle wasn’t just the class nerd, like every year had one, no he was THE nerd king, had been for the last four years of high school. He epitomized all common knowledge of nerdism.

Over weight? - Check.

Dressed like a blind rodeo clown? – Check.

Overjoyed at anything to do with Star Trek or Star Wars? - Check.


“Kyle!” Liz got up to walk over to him and gave him a hug. “Congrats on your diploma.”

“Thanks,” he returned the hug with a smile. “To you, too.”

“So I hear you're going to be in San Francisco, too? For college I mean.”

“Yeah, I got into the San Jose St. Good business school there,” Kyle nodded.

“Well, I'll be at Berkeley! It’ll be good to have a friend so close by!”

Kyle’s face lit up when she called him a friend. “Yeah.”

“Yo, Valenti,” someone called, “are you coming?”

“Hold on just a sec, would you?” Kyle shouted back at the voice before turning to Liz. “I need to go,” his eyes wandered from her to the other girls around the fire, his gaze holding for a few moments on Tess before turning back to Liz. “See you, I guess.”

“Okay,” she nodded and went back to the girls.

“I don’t know why you always talk to that loser, Liz,” Tess made a face of disgust while looking at Kyle’s departing back.

“He was my chem. lab partner,” Liz told her with an eye roll. “And he's not a loser. He’s a very nice guy once you get to know him. And he’s pretty funny, too.”

“Funny LOOKING, maybe,” the blonde muttered. “He freaking stalked me all through high school, Liz. I couldn’t walk down the hall or go to the library or go anywhere else without turning around to find him there! Hell, half the time I was too scared to open my locker for fear he was going to jump out of it! I don’t know what his deal was!”

Isabel snickered into her drink at her friend’s cluelessness. How could someone who had graduated under the honours program not see what was so clear to everyone else?

Michael snorted at his sister’s comment, making Maria giggle. “Don’t do that against my skin.”

“What the hell is so funny?” Tess glared at the group

“Well stepsister of mine, the reason Valenti has been stalking you is pretty simple. Should even occur to a blonde.”

“Hey!” He earned an elbow check from his girlfriend.

He ignored her and went on. “He wants to take a trip and visit your Promised Land.”

Maria smacked Michael on the back of the head causing him to grunt a bit in pain. “Violent much today, aren’t ya?”

“That was so crude, Michael!” She shook her head at her boyfriend’s lack of tact.

Still seeing the look of confusion on Tess’s face, Isabel took pity on her friend. “What he’s trying to tell you Tess, is that Kyle has had a crush on you ever since our freshman year.”

“No way!”

“Yes way,” Maria smiled “Last year I heard him talking to some of his AV buddies. He’s had a thing for you ever since the first day he saw you walking across the quad wearing that red top you love so much.”

“No way!” Tess repeated and shook her head vigorously in denial, but her friends just nodded knowingly. "Ohhh god, that is so gross!"

“Why?” Liz asked.

“Because....because...he’s fat…and geeky as hell…and so.........” Tess looked so upset “...well, I don’t think I need to say any more than that!”

“Relax,” Liz said, rolling her eyes. She loved her friend, but sometimes Tess could be a bit heartless and mean, thinking the whole world revolved around her and her alone. “You never know, Tess,” Liz grinned, “if you gave him a chance I think Kyle would turn out to be a nice guy to date.”

A look of disgust crossed Tess’s face. “Pigs will sprout wings out of their butts and fly to the sky before I would EVER want to date Kyle Freaking Valenti!!”

“Whatever, girl,” Liz waved her off and changed the topic, grabbing the box again and holding it up for the others to see. “Okay, what code do we use for the lock?”

“What about our birthdays?” Tess suggested.

“There are only four numbers, Einstein,” Isabel rolled her eyes. “Use today’s date. That’ll be easy enough to remember.”

“Alright,” Liz agreed and fumbled around a moment before she held up the now locked metal box. “It’s done.” Her face glistened from the flickering of the fire when she looked at the other girls with a wide smile on her face. “I can’t wait to find out what the future holds for us, girls.”
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Re: High and Dry - AU/Adult/CC - Ch 2- 11/10/12

Post by HIS-&-HERS »

tabata: Thanks, we are starting to roll out the stories of the others soon…

keepsmiling7: Yep, this meeting should definitely be interesting, don’t ya think?

Liz was successful in most of the things, she should think about the man on her side, though.

CandyliciousLovah: Yeah, it would definitely be fun to open up something like this a few years after… well maybe not fun for everyone, lol.

mary mary: It seems like Liz’ wishes mostly come true (well beside the man), but what about the others… we will find out during the next few chapters.

HypnotiqBlueEyes: We will get an insight about the other girl’s past during the next chapters.
It would be really mean, if we left Max outta this, huh? ;)

xilaj: Liz probably has to come up with some more satisfying dreams :) while the others might still working on their old ones, lol.

Max will make his appearance soon. You are right, he was not in the picture, back in good old Roswell-times.

begonia9508: A lot could happen in 5 years, they girls will have to learn that soon.

Lol, Kyle’s high school years weren’t the best, but he could he up for a surprise.

Let’s see if Liz comes up with a plan for a meeting… maybe a situation will present itself just today. ;)

Alien_Friend: We will have a look at the other girls soon. ;)

itsme69: Lol, well the girls stuck together in high school but kinda lost contact over the time they spent apart from each other… let’s see how they will find back together.

Max… he will be here soon!

sarammlover: Lol, Kyle’s up for a good surprise, huh? We will see!

Max will be entering this fic soon.



nitpick: Sorry, we can’t answer PM’s yet (we have a new account and the option to send them is not open yet).

Thanks for the note!




Chapter 2

August 21, 2012

The clanking of dishes woke Liz from her light sleep again. The night had been painfully long and thoughts about the past, the present, and last but not least, her possible future had kept her awake more than half of it.

The small rim of light on the floor next to the window told her that she had finally made it to the next morning and she didn’t think twice about getting up. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, accidentally kicking the small, still-locked metal box out of it as well. “Oops,” she muttered and lifted it up, placing it on the nightstand carefully. Her feet carried her over to the curtains to pull them open and she made a face when the sunlight hit her eyes directly. “Owww,” Liz grumbled and walked around the room, almost blind for a few moments.

It was shortly past 8 am, but she was in no hurry. Her first meeting this morning was set for 10:30 am, so there was lots of time to have breakfast and a shower. “Where are you?” Liz muttered to herself while she crouched down on the floor to look for her sweat pants. She smiled when her hands came in contact with the soft long hair carpet they had just gotten a few weeks ago. It was a bitch when it came to cleaning, but since Elenore handled every challenge in the household she hadn’t thought twice when she had seen it in the store.

Finally she saw her black Adidas sweat pants half way under the bed and grabbed them, getting rid of her light nightshirt and slipping into them, combined with a black tank top from her closet. She changed direction to go into the bathroom and stopped to check herself out in the mirror.

Wow, talk about a bad hair day, she thought and grimaced at her reflection. Like a cross between a lion and Medusa.

After a quick brushing she grabbed a black scrunchy and bound it up into a high ponytail before she bent over the sink to splash some water into her face. Her stomach grumbled loudly when she dried off, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten much in the past 24 hours. “Yeah and who’s fault is that?” she spoke to herself angrily and left her room to see if Elenore had already made breakfast. “Mr.-I’m-so-busy-I-can’t-even-take-one-night-off-to-celebrate-my-anniversary-with-my-fiancé-asshole.”

Her bare feet made barely a sound when she walked down the hallway towards the luxurious and large kitchen. Liz smiled to herself when she could already smell the fresh brewed coffee and pancakes. At first she had argued with Dean about having a housekeeper. She had been used to doing things on her own and it had felt weird to have other people taking care of pretty much everything, but she had quickly learned that it was impossible to keep this huge house clean when she also had a job and hobbies. After a few months in the house she had gotten used to it and now it was really nerve-wracking when Elenore had a day off.

Liz stopped in her tracks when she saw a dark haired person sitting at the table in front of the large glass doors that lead into the garden. He was hiding behind an unfolded newspaper and didn’t seem to even notice that she had entered the room “Have you forgotten the time? It’s past 8 am so shouldn’t you already be at work?” she asked Dean instead of greeting him first.

He suddenly tensed and looked up behind the newspaper, folding it together immediately when he saw her. “Lizzie, honey,” he started and got up to come towards her. “I took the early morning off.”

“Why?” she asked, pretending not to know why. Of course he was feeling guilty for his stunt last night and now he was trying to make up for it.

“Well, because I wanted to have a nice no-stress breakfast with my fiancé for once,” he said gently and stopped in front of her.

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him. “It’s just a pity-breakfast for last night. Don’t think I don’t know that, Dean.”

He sighed. “Okay, maybe it is, but doesn’t it count? I cancelled two meetings this morning.”

“Then they weren’t important anyway,” she said stubbornly and walked around him to take a seat in her usual chair.

Elenore hurried to fill her mug with fresh coffee. “Good morning, Ms. Parker.”

Liz nodded with a forced smile and grumbled a good morning as well while she tried to make sense of the situation. She hadn’t expected him to be here since it had never really happened in the past year that they had breakfast together other than rare moments on the weekends.

“Liz…” Dean said and walked back to his chair next to her. “I am sorry, okay? What else can I say to make it better again? I am tryin’ here…”

“Maybe you should try to make things right the first time and not always try to make up for it afterwards,” she suggested and took a pancake from the stack, pouring vanilla sauce and then maple syrup over it.

He smiled at her odd habit, but didn’t say anything about it. “Honey, I love you and if it was just me I would spend every second of the day with you, but you know my job. People are depending on me and what I do, so I can’t just do what I want. The important thing is that I do these things for us… so we can have this nice life we have.”

“If keeping this house and all the other luxurious things you have means working every waking minute of your whole life, then I’d rather have a smaller house,” she told him dryly.

“So you don’t like what we have here?” Dean frowned.

“No, I do like all these things and the house… but I’m alone here most of the time.” Her gaze lifted to his. “Some days I wonder if we even know each other anymore. When was the last time we went out for something and it turned out to be a business meeting with your friends? Or when was the last time we got away from work for a few days?”

He suddenly gave her a superior smile and lifted one hand up to the table right over an envelope there. Slowly he pushed it over to her and pulled his hand away again.

“What’s this?” she asked, frowning at it.

“Open it up,” he told her secretively.

Liz bit her lip while she considered just ignoring it, but her curiosity was finally bigger than her wish to pay him back, so she placed her mug aside and grabbed the envelope, pulling her bare feet up on the chair under her. Her slim fingers framed the envelope in her hand a few times before she finally opened it up. “What is this?” she mumbled quietly to herself, reading the card in it. “A vacation resort in the Maldives?” she asked, holding the little prospect up to him with a curious expression. “Why are you showing me this?”

“It’s a private resort owned by my company,” he said with a smile. “Pretty far from the other islands there. The island isn’t much bigger than our property here and the resort has only a few bungalows built directly over the water…”

“And?” she asked and tried to control her sudden excitement. He wasn’t suggesting going there, was he?

“Well, I talked to my boss earlier and thanks to his still tired and dazed mind he agreed to give me the next week off and also to let us use the company-owned resort. So the only question is: Will you come with me, Liz Parker?”

She looked at him, still trying to maintain the pissed off look, but the corners of her lips were already jerking uncontrollably before a wide smile on her face broke out.

Strolling down hand-in-hand on a white sandy beach. Romantic candlelit dinners for two.
Moonlight streaming down as they kissed on the porch and under them the soft waves of water.


Many more romantic images flooded Liz’s mind as she dropped from her chair and hugged him tightly. “Yes, yes, yes!!”

He laughed and pulled her into his lap. “A week in paradise sounds good, huh? And they’ll even let us use the company’s private jet, so we practically don’t need to worry about anything.”

“This is so exciting and I’ve got the next week off anyway.”

“I know,” he said.

She looked at him, surprised. “You do?”

“Um-hmm,” Dean kissed her briefly. “Despite your assumptions I do listen to the things you say, honey.”

“Not always,” she disagreed, but rested her side against him and looked over the prospect again. “It looks really nice.”

“Oh, it is nice and the staff who works there is really attentive,” he started and explained further when he noticed her confused look. “We went there a few years ago, shortly before I met you. It was for a business meeting, but hell, who would complain about working at a place like this, right?”

“True,” Liz nodded and was already packing her luggage in her mind, trying to decide which bikini would be the best for the Maldives.

“We could ask Theresa and Josh and Carry and Will to join us?”

Liz’s heart sank at that comment as she made a face. “I knew there was a catch.”

“A catch?” he asked with a frown and held her still when she wanted to slip out of his lap again.

“Josh… Will…your co-workers….” she said bitterly “you’re planning on turning this vacation into a stupid working trip where I’ll be stranded alone with their beautiful vapid wives, who only want to spend their days at the spa. No, sorry, Dean. I’m not interested in something like that.”

“Hey,” he hurried to say, “it was just a suggestion okay? If you’d rather go alone, then we will.” Okay, spending a whole week alone at the Maldives would probably be torture for him with all the work stuff he had to leave to the others. The Johnson merger was just heating up and there was still a lot to do with that…… “What?” he asked when her expression suddenly went from sad to excited in mere seconds.

“Oh, I just had this idea,” she started and got up to walk through the kitchen while her mind was running over the options. “You know last night I found something in my closet that reminded me of a promise I made to a few girls from high school. They were my best friends in Roswell.”

“Uh-huh…” he didn’t know if he liked the direction of this conversation. “What kinda promise?”

“That we’d all meet again five years after graduation. We kinda missed the date we picked years ago, but it’s still five years back so what would you think if I invited them for the trip?”

“I didn’t know you stayed in contact with anyone from your high school.” He frowned, trying to remember if she had ever mentioned them.

“Well, not much to be honest. We were still calling each other a lot in our first years at college, but it kinda got less and less with the time.” To be honest, she hadn’t heard from any of the girls for pretty much a year or more now and it was just as much her fault as it was theirs, but wouldn’t it be great to reunite with all of them finally?

“So how do you know you’ll even get along with them anymore? Different surroundings change people, Lizzie.”

“I know that,” she snapped when he spoke to her like she was a kid. “But it would be a great opportunity to meet again and I could tell them to bring their boyfriends. That way we’d also have time to ourselves plus I’d get to meet the girls again.”

“I don’t even know them.”

“They’re cool, Dean. And it’s just a week.”

He stayed silent, not liking the idea. A whole week with strangers and probably some weird high school friends from a small hick town. Okay, Liz came from Roswell as well, but she had grown on him over the years. On the other hand though, he would never hear the end of it if he disagreed and the only reason he was doing this trip anyway was to get back on her good side. “Fine,” he agreed with a sigh, “but don’t call me a killjoy if I don’t like them and don’t want to play stupid drinking games or whatever.”

She rolled her eyes, but was happy with his agreement and walked around the table to hug him from behind. “You’ll like them,” she told him matter-of-factly and kissed his cheek.

“We’ll leave Sunday,” he grumbled.

“Okay,” she let go of him and took her own seat again, taking a huge bite of her now cold pancake and chewing on it with excitement. “Gosh, this is an awful short time to set everything up,” she finally realized. “I need to contact the girls first thing when I get home tonight.”

Dean nodded and emptied his coffee before he got up. Maybe luck was on his side and the short timeframe would do all the magic to prevent him from a week with some crazy ex-small town girls. “Do that, honey.” He bent down to kiss her again. “I’ll see you tonight. Have a nice day at work.”
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Chapter 3

Post by HIS-&-HERS »

keepsmiling7: We’ve all been there, lol.

Well, it’s his door, but who cares? ;) She really deserves better, maybe the little reunion will help?

HypnotiqBlueEyes: Thanks. Dean might got back on her good side for now, but how long will it last, right?

Lol, all four gils together? Ya know it will be drama!

sarammlover: Yeah, he’s a real piece of work!

CandyliciousLovah: Lol, that was somehow expected. ;)

Liz had the upper hand and now she’s going after her plans for a reunion…

mary mary: Yeah, not much romance there with either option, huh? But at least Liz could prevent herself from another boring business trip.

They will realize sooner or later, that going separate ways would be the much better option for both of them.

Alien_Friend: Yeah, meetings like that have a tendency to really open your eyes to the truth.
We are starting to throw the others in today. ;)

begonia9508: Hm, interesting question and we will find out at some point.

She won’t go back to Roswell anytime soon, but maybe the reunion with old friends will help to open her eyes.

xilaj: The story of the other girls will just start to unfold in this part. ;)

Lol yep, who would turn down a free trip to the Maldives, huh?

Kyle… we’ll have to wait for his appearance, but you know we need him for this, too. ;)

Michelle in LA: Agreed, Dean’s and Liz’ relationship is far from being romantic and perfect. They are used to each other by now and just live next to each other instead of together.

Hm, not sure of how much of Maria’s dreams really come true…

Kyle… he will definitely earn some “Ah’s” and “Oh’s” form a certain blonde, lol.

Alex will be included and Max is making an’ appearance just today. Sorry… no pool boy though, lol.





Chapter 3

“You're late Ms. Parker,” Elenore greeted her when she walked into the dining room at 9pm that night, still wearing her work outfit. There had been a problem in the lab that had to be fixed and now she was running late for her plans of contacting her old high school friends.

“Yeah, I know, I’m sorry. You can go home if you want.”

The housekeeper placed the warmed-up dinner on the table in front of the brunette. “Thank you. Enjoy your meal.”

Liz nodded absentmindedly and pulled her cell out of her bag. She used her free hand to shove the fork into the hot food in front of her and lifted it up to her mouth while her eyes were focused on the little lit screen in front of her. With her left hand she pushed a few buttons to scroll down the phone menu until she reached her contacts.

I should call Maria first, she thought. If the girl was still in New York then it was already pretty late at the other end. “Alright,” she mumbled around a mouthful of food and swallowed before she lifted the cell to her ear. The nervousness was undeniable, but if she wanted to realize the trip with her old friend, she’d better suck it up.

“Come on,” she muttered impatiently when it kept ringing without anyone picking up. Lost in thought and without hope that someone would answer, she shoved another bite of the chicken into her mouth.

“Hello?”

She almost choked on the food when she heard the voice at the other end. A voice that definitely didn’t belong to her friend....a deep male voice “Um hi,” she mumbled and squeezed her eyes shut when she swallowed a large piece. “Sorry, I’m a bit confused, I thought I was call – “

“Maria I guess,” the person said. “She’s not home yet and forgot her cell.”

“Oh,” Liz said, glad that she had the right number. “How long before she gets home?”

“Could be an hour or two,” he answered.

He had a nice voice, she thought with a smirk and poked the chicken with the fork carelessly a few times. “Could you tell her I called and that she should check her email when she gets home?”

“Sure, Rowell babe 1,” he said, amusement in his tone.

“Excuse me?” she asked, shocked when a stranger called her names, but then she realized that it was probably still her screen name on Maria’s cell. “Oh right, well it’s Liz, just for the record.”

He chuckled. “Alright, I’ll tell her you called, Liz. Anything else?”

“Um no, guess not. Just tell her it’s important so she should read it soon. Oh, and is her email address still the same?”

“Depends on what you’ve got.”

She looked at the note she had scribbled down during her lunch break and rambled off the email address.

“Yeah, that’s correct.”

“Cool. Alright then… thanks.” She frowned when she didn’t know what else to say.

“No problem, goodbye Liz,” he hung up and took the decision out of her hands.

****

It was already after 2 am when Maria DeLuca kicked the door to her apartment open while she balanced two bags of groceries in her hands. "Fuck a duck," she yelled when two oranges fell out and rolled over the wood floor until they bumped against a pair of feet. She lifted her eyes to meet the amused face of her roommate. “What’s so funny, Evans?”

He shrugged and took the bags from her, kicking one orange towards her like a soccer ball.

“Hey! Do you know how expensive they are?” she asked and bent down to pick them up.

“What the hell made you go grocery shopping after work this late?” He placed the things she had bought on the kitchen table and started to pull them out. “Fruit Loops? Seriously?”

“You know I like them,” she rolled her eyes and kicked her pumps off. They landed in a corner next to the door without a second look. “And I did the shopping because otherwise you would’ve done it tomorrow morning and you would’ve bought all the boring bland stuff that only you like.”

Which was true. The last time she had trusted Max with the grocery shopping he had come back with bags full of all that organic crap! Which meant no sugar, no butter, no salt and most importantly, no taste!

“You mean things like normal healthy food instead of either expensive fruits and childish cereals?”

“They’re not childish," she denied and ripped the pack out of his hand to put it on the top of the refrigerator "And just for the record my cereal is ten times better than that tasteless high fiber wheat crap you like to eat “

Max had to smile at that one. One of his favorite memories of their first weeks as roommates was when a still half-asleep Maria had stumbled into their kitchen, grabbed his cereal box by mistake, and sat down at the table to eat. To this day he was still impressed at how far she had spat out the mouthful she had taken while cussing about cereal only a horse would want to eat.

"And if I remember right, four years ago you were eating 'my cereal' even for lunch since you were too shy to go out for dinner in New York City.”

Max snorted and carried a few bottles of milk to the counter. “I was not shy.”

“No,” she snorted, “just totally introverted, boring and friendless. You are so lucky you met me.”

“You’re so generous. What would I have done without the fabulous Maria Deluca at my side?” he asked in an ironic way.

“Yeah, I wonder.”

Okay, she was probably partly right about that, he thought. His life in New York had been pretty boring and the fact that she had answered his request for a roommate on a pin wall in a supermarket had probably been the best turn in his life. Their first weeks together had been hardly bearable. They were as different as day and night. He was a morning person up at dawn for a long run. She on the other hand kept vampire hours and normally didn’t even roll out of bed till damn near noon! While he was pretty ordinary and tidy, she had been a total slob. Though over time they had found a compromise - he had stated to loosen up, while she had learned to not be so loud and messy all the time. It had turned out to work well and it had only taken a year for them to be best friends.

“How was your shift?”

“You mean, was there another jerk who suggested I should lose my shirt?” Maria asked with a snort. “No there wasn’t, but my boss cancelled the one song I was allowed to sing on stage tonight.”

“Sucks,” Max said honestly. He knew she only took the waitress job at that strip club because they allowed her to sing one song on stage twice a week. Though he thought that the audience in that kind of bar didn’t really pay attention to it anyway. They were all waiting for her to lose clothes and booed afterwards when she left the stage fully dressed. She had a great voice, but somehow people’s minds were just too wrapped up with other stuff to recognize it.

“I really need to find a club that actually pays attention to my music,” she sighed. Yeah, how often have you tried and got turned down?

“It’ll happen.”

Maria looked at him and smiled sadly. “Eventually, right?”

He nodded and gave her an encouraging bump. “Oh, hey, before I forget. Someone called you earlier on your cell.”

“Really? Who?”

“Roswell babe 1,” he said with a laugh.

“Liz?” Maria’s eyes grew wide. “Did she say what she wanted?” She hadn’t heard from any of the girls in more than a year.

“No, but she said she’s sending an email and you should check soon because it’s urgent or whatever.”

What could be urgent after all this time? she wondered, but walked to the coffee table in front of the couch to turn her laptop on. “Weird. I was just thinking about the old times last night.”

“Old times, huh?” He smirked, when she said it at if she was already a granny. “The girls? Or Michael?” Though his best friend was the chattiest person he had ever met, she had never shared a lot about her ex. The only thing he knew was that she was still hurting from a break up that had happened several years ago.

“Both I guess,” she admitted.

“Any idea what she could’ve wanted?”

“No,” Maria muttered and sat down to open up her email program. “But I’m about to find out.”

Max left the rest of the groceries on the table and walked into the living area to stand behind the couch, arms resting on the backrest while he looked at the screen as well.

“Hey,” she turned and smacked his arm. “This’s private.”

"Like you can keep a secret," he snorted. “We both know it’ll only take you about two seconds after reading before you tell me every detail anyway, so I might as well read it with you.”

“Fine,” she gave in, knowing everything he said was absolutely true.

Hi Maria,

how are you doing? I just tried to call you, but I was told you aren’t home. I hope you get this message in time – I told the guy on the phone to tell you to check the mail soon, but ya know men and them remembering details…


“Wait a minute,” Max said, “I don’t think I deserve to be compared with men you girls obviously date… assholes…”

“Suck it up Evans, or go away.” She waved him off.

It’s been a long time since we heard from each other, so I guess this might be a bit surprising. Guess what I found last night? Uh-huh…. Remember that tiny metallic box from graduation day? ;)

Anyway… My fiancé’s company owns this little holiday resort on a small island in the Maldives and it just so happens that it’s free for a whole week. So I was thinking that maybe us girls could go there to hang out. It’s been so long since we saw each other and it could be fun, don’t ya think?

I’m not sure yet if the other girls are in, since you’re the first I’m contacting. And there’s one catch: It would have to start next Sunday.

I know that’s really short notice to plan and squeeze it in, but maybe…. I’m really hoping that we find a way to make it work, ‘cause I really miss you!

Of course it’d be all for free. My fiancé’s company will cover the plane as well as the nights there at the island, plus food and drinks. I’m sure I can even convince them to make a stop in New York to pick you up so you don’t have to come to San Francisco.

Oh, and bring someone if ya want! I know you’re not with Michael anymore, but the guy who picked up your cell… ;) A boyfriend maybe? Anyway, he’s invited as well of course!

Give me a quick call or write me back to let me know if there’s a chance you can make it, okay?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Hugs,

Liz (aka Roswell babe 1 ;) )


“We’re going to the Maldives,” Max said in a sing-song voice and danced through the living room. “We’re going to –“

“Shut up, we’re not going anywhere,” Maria said and crossed her arms over her chest.

“What?” He stopped and looked at her, puzzled. “Why not?”

“Because this’s insane,” she exploded. “We can’t just go to the Maldives after all this time, not to mention that it’s way too short notice.”

“Please,” he snorted. “We’ve got nothing to do anyway. College won’t start anytime soon and we both know your boss is so not caring if you take a few days off or not. She said it was free – means you can’t play the money card either! Ha! I say we go!”

“Fine, then go!”

Max made a face. “We both know I can’t go if you don’t.”

“Sucks to be you then,” she said with a slight smirk.

“Seriously, MD,” he sat next to her on the couch. “Why don’t ya wanna go?”

Maria fell back against the backrest and sighed. “Because it’s so embarrassing.”

“What? To travel with me? I swear I'll shower! I'll even use Right Guard.....”

“No, goofy! My whole situation I mean. You know what’s in the box she mentioned? We wrote down our wishes and goals for the future five years from graduation, what would be now… As for my part, I didn’t reach any of it, while I know the other girls probably did.”

“How would you know that?”

“I don’t, but I expect them to.”

Max hugged one arm around her shoulders. “Deluca, I don’t think you have anything to be ashamed of. What could possibly be on that list what was realistic anyway? High school dreams never come true mostly.”

She just shrugged stubbornly.

“Is this about your ex?” he asked and saw the small nervous movement she made with her hands. “So you probably wrote something like: I’ll be married to Michael, right?” He nodded when she just stared at her hands. “Man, what’d this guy do to break your heart that bad, huh?”

“He was pretty silent on that part,” she suddenly said.

Max waited and to see if she would share more since he knew that it was a thorny thing for her to talk about.

“We had planned to spend the summer after graduation here in New York. You know, get settled in an’ all before college started. But somehow last minute he decided that he wanted to spend the summer with his dad. He lived in Seattle at the time and he hadn’t seen him for a long time since he had been with his stepmother in Roswell to finish school there. At first I thought it was really about him wanting to see his dad for a while until he moved to the other side of the country…”

“But it wasn’t,” Max guessed.

“No, a few weeks turned into month, then the whole summer, and in the end… he never came back.” She wiped a tear away at the memory and snuggled closer against her best friend when he hugged her. “I was waiting for him here in New York, but he never came. At first he called me at least daily, then only a few times a week and later I was happy if it was once a week.”

“I’m sorry, Maria.”

“At some point he just stopped calling at all. He didn’t answer my calls or texts either and his cell was turned off.”

“What an ass.”

“He was always so sidetracked on the cell, ya know… so weird.”

“He probably just got cold feet about the whole New York and moving in together thing.”

She shook her head. “I don’t believe that. The whole thing… it wasn’t Michael.”

“Maybe it was and he was just good at hiding that side of him from you.” He wanted to tell her that there was a logical reason why the guy did what he did, but he probably hadn’t been man enough to end things with her the right way – honestly.

“Maybe,” she said, not really convinced, but she didn’t have a better explanation either.

Max used his hands to push her far enough away from him to look at her. “Don’t let this old story overrule the present, girl. I mean… the Maldives, your old high school friends… and all totally free. You’ll regret it if you don’t go.”

He’s right, she realized, suddenly finding some new strength. “Okay, we’ll go, but I have one condition.”

“Spill it,” he said, excited about her agreement. Anything to go on a free vacation!

“Since Liz believes it already… You’re gonna to pretend to be my boyfriend.”

“What?” He dropped his hands. “Hell, no!”

“Why not?”

“Because.....well, there's.....not to mention.... it’s just wrong! In so many ways!”

“Come on, you pussy. I don’t wanna be the only one there to show up with a best friend instead of a boyfriend. You can be happy I’m not making you my fiancé,”

“M’ria,” he complained.

“I’ll do the dishes for a whole month, if you agree.”

“That includes all pots and flatware, right?”

"Yep," nodded Maria.

"And if you use the dishwasher you'll pre-wash them before putting them in?"

She laughed. “Sure.”

“Alright. But I'm making one stipulation."

"Name it."

"A peck on the cheek in pretend will be fine, but don’t even try sticking your tongue in my mouth, Deluca.” He shuddered at the thought.

"Please, it would be the most action you’ve had in three years!"
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Re: High and Dry - AU/Adult/CC - Ch 3 - 11/19/12

Post by HIS-&-HERS »

keepsmiling7: Thanks! We try to make it back weekly, if that helps?

Maria and Max will be a lot of fun in the future, we can promise that much!

CandyliciousLovah: No, it definitely wasn’t nice to leave her hanging like this and we will learn about his reasons later in this fic.

HypnotiqBlueEyes: Lol, yep Mr. Evans can’t miss all the fun, can he?

“After-high-school-plans” rarely become true, our girls had to learn that. Hm, you gotta wait and see what happens at the first M&L meeting…

begonia9508: Lol, yeah we suppose Max and Maria came up with the perfect chaos community.

We will learn bit by bit about the others too.

Alien_Friend: You are right, Michael had reasons for his behavior and we will learn them eventually.

Max and Isabel do share the same last name like in the show, but in this fic they are not

sarammlover: Yeah they tend to backfire, lol. Yep, Michael’s reasons will be explained later.

mary mary: Cool, thx. They are all up for some trouble. ;)

tabata: Welcome back! They make a great team as roommates. ;)

lizzy_koh: Welcome back! ;)

Maria and Max are hilarious together and make great roommates in this fic.

Lol, no good thoughts about Dean? We will see if you are right or not…

xilaj: Maria and Max are totally different, but that’s what’s make them so good as roommates. ;)

Why Michael did what he did will be explained during the fic. We can’t lust leave him out for this trip, can we?

We will meet new characters in this part, that’s all we say. ;)

It’s going to be a mixture of honesty and pretending plus denial but in the end, truth tends to come out anyway.

nitpick23: Yeah, sadly it happens a lot. “Out of sight, out of mind.”
Max and Maria work good together as roommates, as a couple… well this will be another story, lol.

Dean comes across pretty superficial, right? Let’s see if he really is or not.

The story behind Michael will be revealed sooner or later as well.




Chapter 4

Dean smiled when he walked into the living room that night and found his fiancé snuggled up on the huge couch with a tea in her left hand while she balanced her laptop on her thighs. She wore sweatpants and one of his shirts and while she wouldn’t believe it, he thought she looked really cute that way. “Hey, Honey, how was your day?” He walked up behind her to kiss her cheek before he glanced at the computer screen.

“Good, good,” she said absentmindedly and frowned while her free hand traced along her ponytail.

“What’re you doin’?”

She didn’t answer immediately after his question, typing in a few letter with her left index finger. Only when she hit the enter button did she realize he had asked something. “Huh? Oh, I was trying to contact the girls, but it’s really harder than I thought it would be. You’re home late again.” Not that it was anything new, but today she had been too occupied to really notice before now.

“No luck?” he asked and nodded at the screen, almost a bit hopeful since he still wasn’t looking forward to spending a week with strangers.

“Not much. I tried to call Maria, but only talked to her boyfriend or whoever he was. I told him to tell her she should check her email, so I’ll see what comes of that. Tess isn’t answering her cell yet and I don’t have an email for her. I left a message on her answering machine, but if that girl’s still the same procrastinating slob I knew then it'll be another month from now before she'll even think about checking her messages. Not to mention that I had to start twice when the thing just beeped in the middle of my rambling.” Liz rolled her eyes, but smiled at the memory. “Isabel’s the hardest case to crack though. No email for her and her former cell number’s obviously no longer working.” She glanced at her watch. “It’s probably too late to call her parents in Roswell, huh?”

Dean chuckled. “Yes, if you don’t wanna scare them to death you should probably wait until morning, honey.” And it would also let a few more hours pass and chances would fade that they would all be able to make a trip this far that quick.

Liz nodded and placed the empty mug into his hand before her fingers danced over the keyboard again. “Ha,” she suddenly shouted in triumph.

“What?” He walked over to the dining table and set her mug aside, sure that Elenore would take care of it the next morning.

“I tracked her down.”

He frowned. “Isabel? How?”

“She’s the one I didn’t talk with for the longest time, but I remembered that she was dating a lawyer from LA and his first name was Jessie. So then I went through several homepages of law companies based in Los Angeles and ta-daaa…” she pointed at the screen. “That’s him: Jessie Ramirez. And obviously she married him because I found an Isabel Ramirez in the online phone book.”

“What if it’s not her?”

“It has to be,” she mumbled and took her cell.

“Liz,” he held her wrist with his hand in a loose grip. “You really wanna call her at this hour?”

She made a face. “I probably shouldn’t, huh?”

“No,” he chuckled. His fiancé could be stubborn when she had set her mind on something. “I guess tomorrow morning would be more appreciated. Plus you could call her parents first and make sure you’ve got the right number.”

“Okay,” she agreed and let him remove the computer to pull her up.

“Come on, let’s go upstairs and take a bath together. I’ve got a feeling you need to relax.”

She nodded, but grabbed her cell and grinned at him. “Just in case Tess calls back.”

****

The beat of the music in the club drowned every other sound and thought; it made the floor under her feet vibrate in the same rhythm. The air was sticky and hot, but she was used to it. With a slight jump she avoided bumping into any dancing guests and made her way towards the section she was serving tonight. “What can I get you guys?” she asked when she reached a table full of men who were probably on her first night out as adults. With one hand on the table while she balanced a tray full of empty glasses and bottles with the other, she leaned in so she could hear the orders over the music.

“How about Sex on the Beach?” one of them asked and the others laughed.

Great, she thought, again drunken idiots who thought they were funny using the names of cocktails to make sexual innuendo.

“I think I’ll take an Orgasm,” the other one said and at the same time a hand grabbed her ass right at the edge of her jean shorts and squeezed it.

She shot a glare at him and straightened up to grab his wrist in a tight grip. “Listen buddy, if you don’t keep your hands to yourself you’ll never be able to jerk off on your own again – and we both know you do that a lot – because I’ll snap every damn finger in half.”

When he tried to pull away and failed, she grinned at him. Sometimes it was definitely a plus to be a lot stronger than she looked. “Understood?” She let go of him and the guy almost fell back in his chair when he pulled again right at the same moment.

“Man, that chick busted your ass, Brad,” she heard one of his friends saying with uncontrollable laugher when she walked away, satisfied. “I hate this fuckin’ job,” she complained when she arrived at the bar and shoved the orders to Mandy – the woman behind the counter.

“But the tips are good,” the other girl said knowingly.

“Only reason why I haven’t quit yet,” Tess yelled over the music.

"Hey, Harding," one of the other waitresses approached her. "It's your break. Leave them to me," she pointed at the group of asses.

"No complaints from me," the curly blonde agreed and walked around the counter and in the employees’ only room. She had needed to pee for hours anyway and there wasn’t gonna be much in the way of tips from those jackasses anyway.

"Thought you had the night off," someone said and turned away from his locker to face her.

"Hey," she smiled and walked over to give him a hug. "Becca called in sick, so they asked me and we both know I need the money."

He snorted. "What you need is a better job, sis."

"You work here as well, Michael," she rolled her eyes at her stepbrother. "Matter of fact, you helped me get this job."

"But I’m a man, plus I work as a barkeeper, AND you begged me for this job."

"I don't wanna live forever on the couch in your apartment, so I’ll take every cent I get and let perverts grab my ass if necessary." She made a face.

Michael got a serious look on his face. "Did someone touch you?! Do I need to go out there and kill someone?"

"No!" Tess said quickly, somewhat touched by her brother's overprotective ways but on the other hand worried about their jobs "It's nothing I can't handle. Besides remember what Lester said to you the last time you cracked the head of someone who groped me."

"It was only eight stitches... and his nose probably healed back to normal in no time..." Michael muttered under his breath, not caring what their boss might have to say about him cracking the heads of their customers if any of them had the nerve to touch his sister.

Laughing, Tess wrapped her arms around Michael for a hug. "Don't worry, big bro. Soon I'll have enough money to quit this job and be off your sofa."

He grinned. "As long as you keep cooking for me, I’ll let you stay on my couch." It had been a few months since his sister had showed up at his door. Heartbroken, homeless, jobless, and pretty much hopeless. The years after high school had bound them together and he really didn't mind having her around. Hell, she paid half of the rent, so he could save up more for college – and rent in Seattle wasn’t cheap. Not to mention she had done a lot for him in the past years as well...

"You’re so generous," she grinned as she broke their hug and opened her locker next to him.

"Right?" He flashed a smile in her direction and left through the door she had come through to start his shift.

Tess rummaged around in her locker in search for her deodorant spray and frowned when she saw her blinking cell, indicating a missed call. "Parker?" she muttered, surprised when she read the caller ID. She hadn't heard from her in over a year. What could she want?

Kicking her locker closed, she walked out of the building into the small alley where the back entrance was located. The loud music was totally blocked out here, so she lifted her cell to her ear to see what Liz had said on her voicemail.

"Hey Tess, it's Liz. I know we haven't talked in a while, but anyway... I’m not sure how long the message on a cell can be before it ends automatically, so I’d better make it quick... Um, I’m planning a trip for us girls so we can all see each other. We can go to the Maldives for a week, but it has to be next Su-"

- BEEP –

Tess rolled her eyes when the message ended at that point because it wasn't made for long talks, but there was a second and she pressed a few numbers to get it started.

"- me again. So where was I? Right, it has to start next Sunday. Nobody has to worry about money, food or drinks, it's all taken care of. Contacting the other girls as well, so call me for more information and of course you can bring someone..." Silence could be heard and she smirked when she could literally see Liz thinking about what else to say. "I guess that's it for now! Call me!"

A trip to the Maldives?
For the first few seconds Tess was excited about it but then realization hit her. How humiliating would it be to meet the girls again and she was the one who had failed to achieve all her dreams and goals for the future? If her plan had worked out she’d have her own fitness center now, a hot boyfriend and enough money for a decent life, but instead she was sleeping on her stepbrother’s couch with a crappy waitress job and no boyfriend at all.

Although, it would be nice to see everyone again and from what she knew, at least Maria hadn't fulfilled her dreams either. At least she wasn’t the famous singer she had wanted to be and she knew for sure she wasn’t married to Michael. Well, that was more his fault though, she thought sadly.

Maybe she could convince Michael to come with her to finally give up the truth for his behavior five years back? She knew he refused to contact his ex again, but it was probably because he still had feelings for her and neither of them knew if Maria had moved on by now. At least that was what she believed. He would never agree to go on a trip that included Maria, but he didn't need to know about it until it was too late to back out, right?

Tess smiled to herself. Yeah, she would go. If not for her owns sake, then at least for Michael's. Things seemed to be working out on their own for the first time in years again since they both had the next week off because the club was closed for renovation anyway and she was positive she would be able to convince the boss at his second job to let him go as well since it was his father.
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HIS-&-HERS
Enthusiastic Roswellian
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Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2012 11:11 am

Chapter 5

Post by HIS-&-HERS »

begonia9508: Lol, yep you are so right! ;)

Nope, Tess is not the only one who failed with her dreams… and she won’t be the last also…

CandyliciousLovah: Michael isn’t that bad, we will see later! ;)

Tess still needs a wake up call, but it will reach her in time, lol.

HypnotiqBlueEyes: Tess almost had a grasp of her dreams, but lost it before she could reach it…

It will be explained later, what was on Michael’s mind in the past.

We get a glimpse of Isabel today.

xilaj: Thanks! Hm, we will see about Tess and her honesty, lol.

Michael’s reason for leaving Maria will be explained later.

Yep, Isabel is next. ;)

sarammlover: You still gotta wait a bit for his’ excuse, lol.

keepsmiling7: Reunions like this can be very uncomfortable lol, but they are also a lot of fun, especially for our Roswell girls.

mary mary: Lol, could be! ;)

jake17: Thank you!

Max and Maria are gonna be fun in future parts, they work good together – as friends.

Alien_Friend: You found it in time, lol

Michael and Tess stick together as stepsiblings and they supported each other a lot in the past. We will learn about it more.

Lol, Lz has her own ways. ;)





Chapter 5

August, 22nd

Liz stretched her arms out and yawned widely when she woke up early the next morning. A small smile slipped over her lips when she remembered the night before. Dean had carried her into the bathroom for a long hot, relaxing bath before they had made it to bed naked. The smile faded as soon as she noticed that the other half of the bed was already empty – the curtains on the huge window half way open to illuminate the parts of the room where Dean had placed his stuff last night. “Typical,” she grumbled and rolled over to bury her face against the pillow. Only then did she notice the small note on her nightstand.

Honey,

I needed to get to work early.
Have a nice day.

Dean


“Yeah, that’s something new,” she snorted and crumbled the paper up to throw it in the trashcan next to the window. It hit the rim of the metallic can and then fell to the ground, but she didn’t bother to go after it.

Was this ever going to change? Only last night they had talked about the possibility of having kids, but were they ready for that? They both had a job they loved and while she was willing to make sacrifices, she was sure he wouldn’t give an inch if the question about who was taking care of the kids came up. No, right now they weren’t ready for that, she decided and grabbed her cell.

Liz wanted to check her email, but noticed a text message first. The dark thoughts were suddenly forgotten when she noticed Tess’ ID.

Hey Parker! Hell, I’m in! ;) Will call ya later for details.

Liz sat up quickly, the mattress bouncing up and down from the movement while she grinned happily. “One down and two to go,” she mumbled to herself and finally went to the inbox of her email. Maybe there was an answer from Maria as well?

Impatiently, she waited until the program scanned for new mails. Taking longer than normal? she wondered while she looked at the screen. A few messages were flying on, one after another quickly and more than half of it was spam crap.

She swiped her thumb over the surface to scroll down and bit her lip when she recognized an unread message from her friend in New York.

Hey, Roswell Babe 1! :)

Well, there’s really a shortage of time to plan this trip out, huh? But since you offered to take us (I’d like to bring my boyfriend :)), I say: HELL YES, let’s go to the Maldives.


Liz rolled her eyes, amused when Maria almost used the same words as Tess.

I can’t wait to see you guys again! Let’s talk on the phone tonight so we can set the details.

Maria

P.S: Are Tess and Isabel coming too?


“We’ll find out soon enough,” Liz mumbled and kicked the blanket away with both feet to get up. Now, she just needed to convince Isabel and their original Roswell gang would be complete. How cool was that?

****

Isabel crouched down, ignoring the pain in her toes when the move caused them to squeeze together in the uncomfortable pumps she wore and used a baby wipe to clean the little girl’s sticky face after she had eaten a muffin on their way. “Hold still,” she demanded gently and rubbed the chocolate from her mouth.

“Ewww,” Maya complained and tried to turn her face away in another direction.

“You can’t go looking like a grubby kid, hun.” She tossed the used wipe into a nearby trashcan and checked her daughter’s clothes for any spots. “Okay, I think you’re good to go.”
She pressed a kiss to the little two-year-old girl’s cheek and smiled when she wrapped her tiny arms around her for a hug. “Mommy needs to go now,” Isabel told her quietly and rubbed her back before she peeled herself free from the tightly clinging embrace.

“No,” Maya shook her head sadly and had tears in her big brown eyes that dared to spill over.

“We’ll see you tonight, okay?” her mother said patiently and glanced up to look at the nanny waiting nearby. She nodded slightly and waited until the other woman came over to take Maya into her arms. “I’ll pick her up around six tonight.”

“Okay,” Daria said and looked at the little girl, smiling brightly to keep her in a good mood. “What about we go to the zoo, huh?”

“Monteys?!” the little girl’s eyes were full of glee.

“Yes, if you're a good girl for Daria you can see the monkeys. Sounds good, doesn’t it?” Isabel tried to encourage her before she looked back at the older woman. “Thanks, I know this came as a bit of a surprise, but half of her kindergarten class caught a stomach virus, so they asked everyone to keep the kids home today.”

“No problem,” Daria assured her. “Say bye bye to your mommy, Maya.”

The little girl turned her head and waved her hand slightly. “Ba…”

Isabel smiled and watched them leave. She straightened her clothes and sighed deeply before she turned around and looked at the huge white marble monolithic looking court building in front of her. This was going to be a life-changing day, she could already feel it.

With mixed feelings she took the first steps towards the house, feeling her nerves already stretching. There was still a bit of time before the trial started but she wished it was already over by now.

The ringing of her cell made her stop again and she opened her bag to look for it. “Damn thing is just too big,” she muttered under her breath, already expecting the caller to hang up by the time she was finished rummaging around, but obviously this was either an emergency or the other person was pretty stubborn.

Who’s that? she wondered when there was just a cell number appearing on the screen. Obviously the caller wasn’t saved up in her contacts. “Hello?” she answered the call finally.

“Isabel?” a female voice asked.

“Who is this?” she asked without admitting anything.

“It’s Liz Parker from Roswell. I hope I’ve got the right number.”

“Liz! Oh my God,” Isabel gasped in surprise. “I really wasn’t expecting you to call.”

The woman on the other end laughed. “I know. It’s been a while, huh?”

“You can say that again,” she agreed and felt bad for never really keeping contact with her high school friend, even though they had all sworn to each other they would stay close. “I’m sorry, I know, I should’ve called…”

“Ah, don’t worry about it, Iz. Cell’s work in both directions, ya know, so if anyone’s to blame, then we’re all guilty.”

“I guess that’s true. So why’re you calling?” She looked at the huge building in front of her and tried to push the thought about the upcoming trial away while she listened to what her old friend had to say.

“Well, do you remember that little box we filled on graduation day?”

Isabel laughed. “Oh my God, I hadn’t thought about that until you just mentioned it. But yeah, I do remember that little thing.”

“Yeah, I found it by accident the other day and you know we said back then that we’d meet again in five years. Actually it’s a bit past that date now, but I was wondering if you were willing to meet me and the other girls.”

“When?” she asked before she thought about it. Was she really ready to face her high school friends again? Her life was just about to become a roller coaster, how much would this fit in right now?

“Pretty soon, actually,” Liz started, hoping that somehow the last of the four girls could make it as well. “My fiancé’s company has a little vacation place in the Maldives and it’s free for the next week, starting Sunday. We could all go there totally for free and have a good time. What do you say?” She didn’t wait for an answer when she continued. “I know, it’s really last-minute, sorry about that.”

“Well, it is,” Isabel said, feeling totally jumped at the moment considering what was going on in her life. “I… Liz, I can’t give you an answer right now.” Her senses were telling her to just tell her no and hang up, but somehow she just couldn’t shake it off like nothing. A week away from everything with the girls around sounded good and bad at the same time.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to disturb you,” Liz hurried to say. Maybe she had called at an inconvenient time?

“No, it’s okay, but I’ve got an appointment right now and it needs a little focus, so… what if I call you back tonight?” Hell, tell her no, her mind screamed at her, you know you can’t make it anyway. You’ve got a little kid to take care of.

“Sounds good,” Liz agreed, happy that she was at least considering it. “I’ll talk to you later then.

“Yeah, later,” she hung up and shoved her cell back into her bag after turning the ringer off. “Okay focus,” she mumbled to herself and shoved the call of Liz aside to concentrate on the present first.

****

Isabel stared down at her cold hands in her lap, while she waited in the long hallway with high walls in the court building. The trial had been interrupted for over an hour now and it was getting harder and harder to wait with each passing minute. “What’s taking so long?” she hissed at Stella, her lawyer.

“Patience,” the middle-aged woman said calmly and kept looking at some files in her hands.

She snorted at that comment and swung one leg over the other for what felt like the hundredth time. She had never really been a patient person, but this was the worst she had ever lived through. How could it be so damn complicated to finally –

Her thoughts were interrupted when one of the huge wooden double doors was opened and the bailiff nodded at them to enter to room.

Stella got up first and squeezed her shoulder. “Come on, waiting is over now, Mrs. Ramirez.”

“Yeah,” Isabel breathed deeply and got up to walk back into the room where she had spent all morning trapped with that asshole. She sat down in the left chair in front of a table, which faced the judge and their opponent.

Her eyes met with Jessie’s and she didn’t feel anything but hate in that moment, wanting to go over to him and wipe that frigging ugly smirk from his lips with a big fat slap.

They all stood when the judge came into the room and took a seat behind her huge desk at the head of the room. “I am now passing the sentence,” she started and looked down at the paper in her old hands. “The custody of Maya Helena Ramirez will be divided between Isabel Ramirez and Jessie Ramirez, evenly. Cycles will be one week with each parent, starting and ending on Sundays and beginning this week – the hour is up to the parents. Both parents may change the schedule by mutual agreement – but no longer than a two week period in the same household.”

Isabel’s heart sank when the judge read out the dates from an existing schedule of when she would be able to see her daughter.

“This verdict is not up for appeal any longer. Therewith, court is adjourned.”

As soon as the last word was spoken, people started to pack their stuff up and left the room while they talked to each other. Isabel was the only one who sat there, frozen while she tried to make sense of it. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Jessie and his lawyer smiling and congratulating each other with slaps on the backs.

“Isabel,” Stella nudged her.

“I’m the fuckin’ mother,” she burst out quietly and looked at her lawyer. “Maya is only two, how can they take her away from her mother for a week every other week?” She shook her head sadly and forced the tears back.

Stella sat down next to her and placed one hand over hers. “Isabel, considering who your husband-”

“Don’t call that man whore of a bastard my husband!"

“Well, dear, he still is, if only on paper.” She waited for a moment before she spoke again. “Considering who Jessie is and how the people he works for own most of this town we can be very satisfied with this verdict.”

“Satisfied?” Isabel echoed in disbelief and shook her head sadly. Jessie wasn’t a bad father – just a bad husband. The man hadn’t kept it in his pants the entire time they had been married. It was only later, from a disgruntled ex-employee that she had learned that her husband had slept his way through most of the secretarial pool at his lawfirm. As far as Jesse was concerned, monogamy was a type of a tree from South America! But still she couldn’t stand the fact that Maya was going to live with him half of her still young life. How could they be so cruel and do that to them?

“Come on,” Stella said and guided her towards the exit. “You’ll get used to the thought eventually. And maybe you can think of something to distract yourself during the time your daughter won’t be with you. Especially at the beginning it can help.”

Isabel didn’t really listen. All she could think about was how she was going to leave her daughter to the person she hated most in this world for a week on Sunday. This was going to be the hardest moment of her life.
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HIS-&-HERS
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Chapter 6

Post by HIS-&-HERS »

IceQueenMay: Yep agreed. The trip will help her to forget all this shit happening in her life right now.

CandyliciousLovah: What’s happening to Isabel right now it really tough, maybe a trip to the Maldives can distract her mind? :)

Kyle? Nope! Not yet! ;)

sarammlover: So far we haven’t seen anyone, who’s really doing fine huh? Hm, maybe we will find someone later. ;)

Michelle in LA: No sympathy for Dean? Lol, not a surprise at all. Yes, he is a lawyer!

You will see a lot more of Max today. He’s not a lawyer, but maybe someone else could help Isabel to get rid of Jessie and his claim on their daughter? ;)

keepsmiling7: No, Jessie is everything but decent and good for a child. We need to get rid of him! *evil grin*

More Max and Maria in this uppy..

Alien_Friend: Yep, neither of them has really reached their goals – at least that’s the common ground they have, lol.

begonia9508: True, sometimes it takes a while before you see the true face of a person.

xilaj: Being trapped with an horrible man like Jessie, who is just ripping their daughter away from her to hurt her… yep Isabel’s live is anything but good at this point.

The reunion will be good and helpful for all of them in the end.

mary mary: Agreed, the little girl will be the one hurting the most over this situation. Sadly, often money and influence wins over common knowledge and sense.

HypnotiqBlueEyes: Very ugly, yes! Poor Maya is going to suffer from it and this will hurt Isabel the most, but maybe she can reconnect to some friend, who will help her? ;)




Chapter 06

“Okay, we have cheese nachos, onion rings,barbeque chips....and something kind of green that I don't think started out kind of green.” Maria stuck her head into the cupboard in the kitchen and then lifted her head to look over the counter towards her roommate, sprawled out on the couch. “What do ya want?”

“Cheese nachos, I guess,” Max mumbled, not really paying much attention to what she was saying since his eyes were following a hot little brunette on the TV screen "But save that kind of green thing for later. Knowing your cooking skills we might be able to use it for penicillin and save our lives."

“Yeah, whatever,” she rolled her eyes and grabbed them as well as the other stuff she had already placed on the counter for their TV night. Loaded down, she wandered over to the couch and used her foot to shove his leg aside so she could drop everything in the middle of the furniture and crawl up into her favourite corner.

"We so seriously need to do some grocery shopping soon. We're damn near out of everything."

"Yeah, like money," Max snorted.

Sighing, Maria knew Max's statement was hitting close to home. Their financial budget was a little lean this week.With a pout on her lips Maria turned to Max. "Why can't you get a rich sugar mama? That would solve all our problems! "

Max looked up from the advertisement with a smirk. "I thought that was what you were in this relationship. "

"Oh, please, I'm nowhere near rich and damn well not old enough to be anyone's mama! "

Max chuckled but then noticed the things she had brought with her, his eyes focusing on a little red candy bag. “I know I wasn’t listening to you at all, but I’d remember if you’d said anything about peanut butter M&Ms.”

“Don’t you dare,” she hissed and leaned forward quickly to snatch them out of his hands before he could rip the package open. “These are mine. And mine only.”

Max frowned at her and tried to get them back, but she refused to let go. “Why?”

“Well, because last time you read out to me how many calories they have and pointed out how totally unhealthy they are and then you went on some long lecture about the dangers of the sugar industry…”

“Yeah, see, I just want to spare you a few extra pounds shortly before you’re gonna show off in a bikini.” He grinned and wiggled his eyes "You know what they say.....a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips."

“Apropos,” she started and got comfortable, ripping the candy wrapping open and starting to eat them with delight. “We should come up with OUR story.”

“OUR story?” He asked, not sure if he liked the way she was stretching the word, and held out his open palm to her.

She deliberately misunderstood his gesture and placed her bare foot in it. “Yeah, I mean the girls might ask how we got together, when our first kiss was, where we went for our first date… stuff like that. We should at least agree in the basic stuff or the bluff will be totally obvious.”

"Ok," Max appeared deep in thought for a second "It was a dark and stormy night....."

"Dark a stormy night?" Maria snorted "Who are you? Snoopy? "

"Hey!" Max looked offended "This is my story so I'd appreciate no interruptions from the peanut gallary!"

"Geez, sorry," Maria said as she chunked a few of the M&Ms in her mouth.

"Good," Max said. "Now where was I?"

"It was a dark and stormy night," Maria mumbled around a mouthful.

"Right," he nodded. "Anyway, like I was saying... it was a dark and stormy night. Our eyes met across a crowded room."

"So cliché."

Max let the interruption go and continued with his story. "...... I could tell from the start you were lusting after my hot bod. You were doing your best to suppress the carnal desires flowing through your veins, but soon you were unable to hold back anymore so you ripped off all my clothes and than proceeded to ravish my body?"

Maria started choking on her mouthful of M&M's. Max made a face and dropped her foot to the couch again to pat her on the back a few times quickly.

“No!” Maria shouted once her coughing spell was over and she could breathe normally again "...no, we are so NOT telling them that! "

"Fine, be boring about it then," Max sighed as he once again started eying Maria's candy, but her eyes narrowed as she tightened her grip on the small bag of candy.

“DeLuca,” he said warningly. “Either you share, or I’m totally busting your ass in front of your friends.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You won’t do that,” she said with certainty.

He shrugged. “Watch an’ see, babe.”

“Max!” she complained and shoved his thigh with her foot. “Don’t be an ass!”

His hand came up wordlessly again while he stared at the tv screen.

She rolled her eyes at his stubborn attitude. “But you know I love them and it’s just a tiny little bag….” she tried but he didn’t move or show any reaction. “Fine! But I’m gonna complain all night when they’re all gone too soon.” Carefully, she dropped a few in her hand first to make sure he didn’t get to many before she handed the M&Ms over.

“Thanks,” he grumbled and shoved them into his mouth all at once.

“So now about the trip…”

He groaned and rolled his head against the backrest to look at her. “Let’s just keep it simple, okay. Bringing in too many details would just cause confusion and we’ll bust ourselves in no time.”

Maria nodded in agreement. “Sure, simple is good and the girls know I’m not the type who wants a lot of romance and fancy-schmancy anyway.”

“Let’s just stick with the truth for the most part. You moved in with me four years ago, just the way it happened in reality. We became best friends first and last New Years’ we kissed each other at midnight.” He made a rolling move with his hand and looked at her. “Kiss was meant to be friendly, started out to be more and that was the start of our real relationship. Next day I confessed my feelings for you, we had a real first date at our apartment, where I cooked spaghetti for you on the Scooby Doo plates and you decided to give us a chance. End of story.”

“You’ve got a lot of fantasies, Evans,” she said with a forced smirk, but her mind had automatically gone to a night shortly before they had all left Roswell, where Michael had cooked the exact same thing for her using the mentioned plates. She shook the memory off and nodded. “I think that wraps it up nicely and it’s easy to remember. If anyone asks for details, just let me to the talking, okay?”

“Sure, but if you come up with anything embarrassing for me, I swear I’m gonna let my creative mind wander as well, MD.”

“I’m gonna behave,” she agreed and moved around to turn in her seat until she was able to rest her side against his. “I still need a new bikini.”

“What’s wrong with the few you have?” And when he said few he meant two dozen crammed in one of her drawers.

“You wouldn’t understand,” she waved him off and poured a few more M&Ms into his hand without even realizing it. Her gaze wandered to the clock on the microwave in the kitchen. It was still early in San Francisco, so she would wait a little bit before she called Liz for the details.

****

It smelled like gasoline combined with fumes and men’s sweat when Tess entered the auto repair shop that belonged to Jason Guerin at 6pm Wednesday evening. She glanced around and found the owner bent over the hood of a black Dodge Ram with blinking alloy wheels and black tinted windows. He wore dark blue washed-out overalls with a black tee shirt tucked in, his short brown hair was messy, his cheeks greasy and dirty, but yet he looked sexy for a man his age. She could definitely see why her mother had married him when she and Michael had been a kids and although they had divorced a few years ago, she liked the man and didn’t hold anything against him just because of that. “Hey, Jay,” she greeted him like she used to, since she had never called him Dad.

He looked up and placed the wrench aside when he noticed his company. “Tess, wow, you finally found your way back here,” he teased and grinned at her – the same grin that could be found in Michael’s face all the damn time.

“I know, it’s been a while,” she admitted and tried to find a not too dirty spot on his scratchy face to kiss. “Is Michael still here?”

Her stepbrother loved the job at his dad’s shop. Here he could do the things he loved… listening to Metallica and working on big pumped muscle cars.

“He is,” Jason nodded and gestured at a little office in the back. “He just got the Challenger ready and he’s calling its owner.”

“Bet he’s not happy about giving the car back, huh?”

“No, but knowing old Barry, he’ll leave a decent tip for my son. He really worked hard on the car to fulfil all the wishes Barry had for it – and they were pretty specific.”

“So he’s all done with it you said?” She bit her lip and stared at the car in question. It sure as hell did look good and she could easily see why the men enjoyed working here.

Jayson nodded. “Why’re you asking?” She was up to something, he could tell that much.

“I was wondering if he could get next week off maybe?” Tess asked sweetly.

“Um-hmm, he hasn’t said anything about that.”

“That’s because he doesn’t know yet.”

“Then hit me with it. What’s your plan?”

“Okay,” she agreed, knowing that he could be trusted. “A friend invited me on a totally free week to the Maldives. Everything is inclusive; we just need to go to the airport on Sunday.”

“A friend?” he asked suspiciously.

Tess rolled her eyes at his nosiness. “Liz Parker.”

“From Roswell?” He believed he knew the girl from past times.

“Yeah. She’s planning a meeting for us and since her fiancé’s company has this resort over there, we’re getting the chance for a great trip and everyone can bring someone.”

Jason lifted one eyebrow. “Maria wouldn’t happen to be planning to be there too, would she?”

She shot a glance at the door to the office to make sure her brother wasn’t close enough to overhear the conversation. “I think she’ll be there.”

“You’ll never get him to go, you know that, right?”

“Well,” Tess smiled cheekily, “he doesn’t need to know about her being there, does he?”

He shook his head. “My son will take your head off when he finds out, Tess.” Michael wouldn’t just swallow that one when he found out she had led him there on purpose and had been well aware of the fact that his ex was joining them.

“He might,” she agreed and lowered her voice. “But you know they never talked about that summer after graduation. There’s so much unsaid between them and he’s still suffering from it, don’t you think?”

There was no doubt his son still thought about Maria DeLuca a lot. Just last week he had found a photo of her in his wallet when he had been looking for ten dollars for the pizza they had ordered for lunch. He had tried to get him to talk to her more than once, but it was like talking to a wall when it came to her.

“Even though they won’t get back together, they could at least finally talk things out. I don’t know about Maria now since we haven’t had contact in a long while, but I think it’d help him to get on with his life.” One of the reasons why she had lost contact with one of her best friends from Roswell was the fact that she had promised Michael she would never tell her why he had left her hanging. She knew there was no way to be a good friend to her and hide the truth, so over time, she had stopped calling her. As sad as it was – at that point it had been necessary.

“He can have the week off,” Jason agreed and lifted his hands. “But I don’t wanna have anything to do with this trip. Be bad enough if he hates you afterwards.”

“You’re so generous, Jay,” she teased, but nodded. “Okay, I won’t tell him you know anything about it. Let me just talk him into this and the rest will fall in place.”

“Uh-huh,” he said doubtfully and gestured to the office. “Why don’t ya just ask him right now?”

“Good idea,” she agreed and winked at him before she made her way around several cars to get to her stepbrother.

Michael glanced up from the computer in front of him, chewing on a few M&M’s with peanut butter filling and expecting to see his father at the door. “Tess,” he mumbled around a mouthful. “What’re you doin’ here?”

“Remember how you’re always making fun of me for taking part in those quiz shows?” she asked, liking how easily her mind was coming up with a cover story. She walked over to give him a quick hug, using the opportunity to snatch a few M&Ms out of the bag as well.

“Uh-huh,” he lifted one eyebrow and Tess almost laughed when he had just the same look on his face like his father a few minutes earlier. “Who said you could eat my candy, jacker?”

She rolled her eyes. “Come on, it’s an extra large bag and knowing you, you still have at least ten saved up at home.”

“Not the point. I told you, those are MINE.”

“Whatever,” she waved him off since she didn’t understand his addiction to the things. Sure it was tasty, but he was so selfish when it came to them! “About that quiz...”

“You waste your money on those calls,” he dismissed her.

“Well, now let me put you right. Those quiz shows are not fake and they DO actually have some winners in the end, because I WON, baby,” she cheered happily.

He chuckled, amused, and swallowed down the last bite of his donut, covered with white chocolate. “And what’d you win? A yoga DVD maybe? Or now wait… it’s a Blu-Ray, right?”

“Make fun all you want, dear brother,” she shrugged. “I could still invite someone else to the beach, you know?”

“To the beach?” he asked slowly and also doubtfully.

“Yep, one week on the beaches of Hawaii, what do you think?” she lied, knowing he wouldn’t believe it if she said the Maldives. But this way he would at least pack the right clothes.

“I think it’s fake,” he said and crossed his arms over his chest, “no one pays for a week in Hawaii.”

Why did he always have to be so damn rational about things like this, she wondered, annoyed, but didn’t give up. “I’m telling you it’s true, Michael. They’ve already sent me an email with some facts, I called the hotel to make sure there’s really a booking for the company and I googled it. It’s a safe bet.”

“I still don’t believe it,” he said stubbornly, but she tell he was considering it.

“I’m going, Michael. With or without you.” Tess crossed her arms as well, knowing she had him where she wanted him. He would never let her go alone if he didn’t think it was safe for her. “It’s perfect. The trip is set up from Sunday to Sunday and we’ve got the next week off anyway.”

“Hello?” He pointed at the door. “I’ve got a second job in case it slipped your notice.” He really wasn’t looking forward to spending a whole week in some creepy cheap motel in the middle of nowhere, listening to people, who wanted to sell something, just because his stepsister believed in fairytales.

“I already talked to Jay, he’s willing to give you the week off.”

“You already talked to…” he fell silent and almost smirked at her. Yeah, he should know her by now, shouldn’t he? Of course she would’ve already arranged everything before asking him.

“So, what do you say? Will you join me?”

He stared out the window while he thought about it. It had been a long while since he had gotten away from his everyday life between his two jobs, so a trip out of town didn’t sound bad at all. Plus, he couldn’t just let her go alone – who knew where she would end up in the end all alone. “If this is going to be some stupid trip where they drive you from one discounter to another, I’m gonna kill you.”

“It’s not!” she assured him. “Come on, a bit of relaxing on the beach will do us both good.” The expression in her eyes turned into one puppies always had. “We both deserve it after the last few years.”

Michael sighed. There was no way to say no to the look on her face. “Fine! I’m coming with you.”

Tess grinned and jumped up and down with delight before she went to hug him. “We’re gonna have so much fun!”
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HIS-&-HERS
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Chapter 7

Post by HIS-&-HERS »

mary mary: Well, the rid won’t go without a few bumps. ;)

CandyliciousLovah: Hm, not yet, but we are almost there. No worries. ;) Once he makes an appearance he will stay. :)

HypnotiqBlueEyes: Max and Maria make good friends, they have great dynamics and can push each other just in the right moments.

Oh yeah, Tess is up for trouble.

keepsmiling7: You will learn when time is ready. ;)

Thank you for the compliment!

xilaj: Things will strange and awkward, so much for sure. ;)

There are still a few characters to introduce, but we gonna stay with the “old” ones today.

lizzy_koh: Lol, she’s up for some trouble!

begonia9508: Yeah why? You could wonder that, but funny thing about high school reunions is that they tend to be a show off of “my house”, “my car”, “my husband”, lol.

Maybe they drop that mask once they figured out that no one’s perfect in that group.

Michelle in LA: To be honest, we are not sure what makes you think that?! We said the story is CC and that’s what it is. Not a candy story – not a dreamer story either. It’s an all-CC-couple-featuring story like we said in the header. There will be parts which will only include one couple based on the storyline, but that doesn’t make a story a one-couple-only story.

Though, if ya can’t bare Candy at all, then this story is nothing you wanna follow.

Cardinal: The story is an all-CC-couple-featuring story like we said in the header. It happens that at different times you will see more candy or more dreamer or whatever, but it’s necessary this way to build up their storyline.

Alien_Friend: Lol, she better keeps it a secret as long as possible or she could risk a U-turn on the highway. ;)

Thanks!

sarammlover: It’s gonna be a reunion full of surprises, so much for sure. ;)



Chapter 7

Liz picked at the chicken on her plate without any enthusiasm and glanced at the empty chair on the opposite side of the table. It was already after 8 pm and of course Dean wasn't home yet. Why do I even hope to have dinner together anymore, she thought bitterly and placed the fork aside.

“Is something wrong with the chicken?” Elenore asked, horrified when she noticed that the woman hadn’t eaten more than a few bites.

“Oh no, it’s delicious as usual,” she hurried to say and almost laughed when the housekeeper made a face expressing disbelief. Elenore was the hardest person to offend that Liz had ever met. The older woman normally let everything slide off her back without thinking twice about it, but if you let her think you didn't like her cooking then the normally easy going woman would be mad as hell and sulk for days.

“I’m just not hungry and have too much one my mind, that’s all.” She knew Elenore always worried about her. It was kind of sweet and made Liz feel like she had a grandmother close by again. "I’ll eat it later," she promised, although she doubted she would.

Liz got up from her seat and took her plate to the kitchen. "Feel free to go for today," she told the other woman and then went upstairs to change into something more comfortable. She reached her bedroom and pulled the white shirt she was wearing out of the high tight black skirt, opening the first few buttons and then pulling it over her head. Her hands wandered down to open the zipper of the skirt, but she hesitated when some melody caught her ear. Holding her breath, she tried to figure out what it was and only after another few seconds she realized it was her cell. Back in high school she’d had a different ringtone for the three girls, but since it had been a felt lifetime since any of them had called her, she had almost forgotten about it.

- Girls just wanna have fun,.... ohhhohhhh, girls just wanna have fun! –

In a hurry she ran down the stairs again and grabbed her bag, which was lying next to the wardrobe in the hallway. A big grin spread on her face when she recognized the name on the caller ID. "Maria," she answered the call happily.

"Hey, Roswell Babe 1," the other girl greeted, amused. "You sound a little breathless. Did I interrupt you with something or... someone?"

"Oh no," Liz chuckled, "I just ran downstairs to get my cell. How’s it going in New York?"

"It's going good," Maria replied and relaxed on her couch. "Love the city."

"You always did," Liz remembered and sighed. "We should talk more often."

"Yeah," the other girl agreed, wondering why they didn't. "But at least we are now, right?"

"True." She wandered along the hallway and into the living room, the cell squeezed between cheek and shoulder to bind her long brown hair up into a ponytail. "Is it like you imagined it?" As soon as the question was out, she bit her lip. Damn, of course it wasn't! She and Michael had broken up!

"I’m happy with the way things are." Maria looked around the apartment and wondered if it was true. Sure, most of the time she was, but there was always something missing from her life.....okay not something.... make that SOMEONE ...."Well, not completely, but things never turn out the way you wish, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose that's true," Liz agreed.

"An' you, are you happy, girl?"

The brunette's gaze lowered to the tiny metal box that sat on the coffee table next to her laptop. To be honest, everything she had written on the little paper had come true to a certain degree, but was she happy?

"Hell, of course you are. You have a fiancé and he's obviously wealthy, because what company sponsors a trip to the Maldives if not a totally rich one?"

"Things are going good," Liz agreed. There was no need to talk about the not so good things so soon.

Maria frowned at her less than enthusiastic answer but shook in off for now. "So, about the trip..."

"You're coming, right?"

"Yeah, me an' my boyfriend, that's it." She rolled her eyes when Max passed her and stopped to mimic a romantic kissing couple in front of her. He might have pulled the look off better if he wasn't wearing a cleaning apron and carrying around a bucket full of cleaning supplies on his way to the bathroom.

Max took the toilet brush out of the bucket he was carrying and looked at Maria "Tell her I'm your knight in shining armor, who rescued you from the big bad dangerous city." He began jabbing the brush around as if it was a sword.

Maria slapped her hand over the end of the phone so Liz couldn't hear her snickering. "Get in there and clean that bathroom Sir Prance A Lot!"

"Your wish is my command, my lady!"

Goofball, she mouthed and shook her head, amused as Max bounced his way to the bathroom, acting as if he was riding a tall steed.

"Cool. Is it the guy I talked with the other night?" Liz's voice came through the phone, drawing Maria's attention back to the conversation

"Um-hmm, his name's Max. I think you’ll like him." To be honest, he would probably fit a lot better to her friend than to her. "He's looking forward to meeting you all. Have you heard from the other girls?"

"Yeah, I did," Liz nodded although no one could see her. She wondered how well Dean would fit in this group in the end. "Tess agreed to come already. I think she wanted to call me tonight as well, so I’ll know more soon."

"Is she bringing someone?"

"I don't know. Think she got her fitness guru?" Liz joked.

"Could be," Maria smirked. "And if she's the same ol’ Tess we all knew, he'll be tall, dark and eye candy, but probably won't have two brain cells to rub together!"

As she listened to Liz's laughter over the phone a somber thought hit Maria Would the other blonde still be in contact with Michael? Maybe she knew more about his reason for letting her down a few years ago? She was his stepsister and although their parents weren't together anymore they had been close afterwards. "What about Isabel?" She shoved thoughts of her ex aside.

"I called her this morning, but I think she was busy and distracted at the time. She said she’d call later as well, so we’ll see."

"It’d be nice if we could all make it."

"Working on it," Liz promised.

"Oh hey, before I forget. New York’s anything but cheap, so do you think you could somehow pick us up from here?"

"I’m sure that's possible. We’ll find a way."

"Cool." Maria was relieved. A flight to San Francisco wouldn’t have been affordable right now and she didn't want to ask her mom for money.

Liz almost dropped her cell when someone reached around her from behind to palm her breast over the white bra she was wearing. Dean smirked at her when she turned her head to look at him and kissed her lips briefly. "I... will you call later about it again, okay? To give you the details."

"Sure, later," the other girl said and wondered what was going on at the other end when they hung up.

"Wandering around naked in front of the windows a lot when I’m not home," teased and kissed her bare shoulder, while his hands were still where he had placed them a few minutes ago.

"Jealous?"

"A bit."

"Well," she turned in her seat and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Come home earlier then."

His hands – now at her back – wandered further down to grab her ass in the tight skirt to bring her closer to his body. "We got the whole next week together..."

"Yeah, about that..." Liz started. She knew what he was up to but there was still so much to plan. "Maria asked if there’s a way to pick her and her boyfriend up from New York when we go."

It took all his strength to not roll his eyes at that. How had this turned into a Rowell-chick-trip? "Well, I suppose we can take a little detour to get them." He knew better than to mess with his fiancé’s mood right now and telling her no would really be his own death.

"Cool," she grinned and was about to kiss him when the cell in her hand started to buzz again and a moment later the same melody as earlier played. "It's Tess," Liz shrieked, making Dean wince. She wiggled around to free herself from him before she answered the call. "Hey..."

"Hey, Parker, how’s it going?" Tess greeted with amusement in her voice.

"Good. I just talked to Maria a few seconds ago."

"Yeah? And? She coming?"

"She is, yep."

"Alone?"

Liz laughed. "No she’s bringing her boyfriend, Max."

Damn it, Tess thought. How well would her plan work if Maria brought a new man into the picture? Michael would totally kill her if she was responsible for making him watch his ex with someone else for a whole week. But on the other hand, they could still use the time to talk and maybe he would finally be able to move on if he saw that she had too.

"What about you?" Liz asked when the other girl remained silent.

"What about me?"

"Will you come alone or bring someone else too?"

"Oh, I’m bringing someone," Tess hurried to say and plopped down on the couch in her stepbrother's living room. He was in the shower right now, so this had been the perfect time to call Liz. "You’ll like him."

Liz watched Dean when he came back into the living room carrying leftovers from dinner. So Tess had someone too, that was good for her. "Cool. Will you be able to come to the Frisco airport?"

"Sure," she agreed. "I don’t think that'll be a problem."

"Well, Isabel hasn't said yes or no, but maybe if she comes as well, you could travel together."

If I was still living in Los Angeles maybe, Tess thought. "Oh, I’m in Seattle right now, so I’ll go from here."

"Seattle?" Liz frowned. "Isn't Michael living there?"

Of course she would remember that! "Yeah, I thought it’d be nice to visit him an' Jason." It wasn't a total lie, she told herself. She was kinda visiting him, even though it was a long visit already.

"How’re they doing?"

"Oh, they’re good. Still the Guerin boys, ya know?"

"Uh-huh... Tess? You're not brining Michael, are you?"

The curly blonde girl had to smirk. Parker was just too smart for her own good. “So what if I am?”

“Then I’d say we’re in for some drama,” Liz rolled her eyes. Harding really hadn’t changed at all; she was still playing games even though it was always meant in a helpful way. “Maria, Michael, and a new boyfriend… How’d you get him to agree to this anyway?”

“Well, he thinks I won a trip to Hawaii.”

“Tess!”

“What? You know he’d never agree to come if he knew the truth.”

“Uh-huh, that alone should tell you something!”

“Come on, it won’t be that bad. If Maria’s really moved on then the only thing that could happen is Michael will be a bit moody... okay he'll be a bit MORE moody than normal while we're all there. Believe me, Liz, he HAS to see her again one way or another.”

“And you’re sure he won’t run as soon as he sees one of us?” Liz knew she couldn’t talk her out of this and as much as she hated the thought of drama and stress during this trip, she wanted them all to be there.

“I still have to think about how to get him onto the plane,” Tess hissed into her cell when Michael opened the bathroom door after showering and walked into his room.

“Maybe it’ll help that Maria and her boyfriend won’t be here in San Francisco. We’ll pick them up from New York later.”

“See! There’s a start.”

“Come on an’ eat something with me, honey,” Dean interrupted their talk. He really didn’t like what he had heard because it really seemed like this was going to be a nightmare trip with a lots of old high school drama.

She rolled her eyes, but felt her appetite rising at the mention of food. “So I’ll give you the details during the week, okay, Tess?”

“Sure,” the other girl grinned. “Oh Sunday, come on,” she sang into the cell. “I’ll talk to ya soon.”

“Who was that?” Michael asked when he came into the room wearing an old pair of jeans.

“Just a friend from LA,” she lied. “Told her about my luck and the super cool trip we’re gonna go on.”

“You mean the one where we’re gonna end up in a cheap motel with no more than what we have on our backs? With our money and luggage probably already on it’s way to Mexico?”

Tess snorted at her brother's outlook on life. “Gotta love you optimism, bro.”

Michael shrugged. "It's harder to get disappointed or hurt if you never expect anything good to come out of life."


MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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HIS-&-HERS
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Chapter 8

Post by HIS-&-HERS »

mary mary: Lol, maybe you are right. ;)

It still takes a while before we send Dean away.

CandyliciousLovah: Well, we are late for an uppy again, but we don’t give up on the fic. Holidays kept us busy.

Hm, you might have to wait again for your “boyfriend”, lol.

HypnotiqBlueEyes: Thanks, yeah Max and Maria are up for some comedy. ;)

Alien_Friend: It will bring him a lot of things, lol.

Was there ever a time where girl met and there wasn’t drama? ;)

Thanks, now lets bring in someone else today.

begonia9508: Seychelles? Well she will definitely be alone there, because the rest will go to the Maldives. LOL

We will see soon if you are right about Dean….

Cardinal: It’s definitely getting interesting when they’re getting all together. ;)

Michelle in LA: Well, it was a Candy chapter! Today’s uppy will feature a lot of Isabel. Fearing a stargazer fic now? :P

Hm…. pool boy? Nope! Boy-toy…. Hell yes!

xilaj: You wish is our command, ;).

Alex and Kyle will get there well deserved roll in this fic… soon!

The girl definitely need their old friendships back to have a hard look on their lives!

somewhere87: Thanks! We will try to keep the fic as balanced as it is right now!

sarammlover: Lol, we will find out about Isabel just today!

keepsmiling7: Thanks, we will bring them back together soon!



BELATED HAPPY NEW YEAR!





Chapter 8

“Don’t run up the steps, sweetie,” Isabel called after Maya when they entered their apartment and the little girl took off to the living room, which was separated from the hallway by three steps.

“No, mommy,” she denied and slowed down as she was asked.

“And the TV stays off for now.” Isabel kicked her shoes off and rubbed both of her feet for a moment, trying to get rid of the stiff feeling after a busy day in her pumps. It was only shortly after 6pm, but she felt like it was close to midnight. What a day, she thought in frustration and glanced at herself in the mirror next to the wardrobe. Her skin was paler than normal and over the last few weeks she had lost a few pounds, which showed off in her face as well. A sad smile played over her lips when she heard happy giggling sounds from the other room. How was she supposed to live without that for a whole week from now on? A week! Right now she couldn’t even imagine it and she didn’t want to.

Disgust washed over her when she remembered the little encounter with her so called husband or what she preferred – asshole – after the trial had been over.

"How are you even going to look after Maya for a whole week?! You're always at your office and never home till after nine!" Gosh, she was so mad at the outcome of this trial it was hard to think straight.

"Me? Who said I was going to look after her? That's what I pay personal assistants for."

A look of horror crossed Isabel's face. "Personal assistant? You'd actually get some stranger from your job to take care of our daughter because you're too busy to spend time with her?"
Okay, she had Daria too, but the woman had already spent a lot of time with Maya, she wasn’t permanently around.

Jesse rolled his eyes. "Well, that is what a hired babysitter’s for Isabel."

"No, I won't let you, you bastard," Isabel shook her head violently. "There is no way in hell some stranger will look after my daughter for a whole fucking week!"

"You won't let me?" Jesse sighed. "Didn’t you hear the judge? Maya is mine every other week. I’ll do with her what I want.”

Both Isabel's frustration and anger soared to astronomical levels.

"But....you know...." a slow smirk started to spread across Jesse's face, "...maybe we can work out a small compromise here? What do you say, Isabel?"

"What kind of compromise," she asked. She knew better than to trust the bastard, but for her daughter's sake she would hear him out.

"Well....we may be getting divorced, but that doesn't mean you have to stop performing your womanly duties for me... or should I say to me?"

Isabel felt her jaw drop. Surely this jackass couldn't be talking about what she thought he was talking about.

"I mean, don't get me wrong, you were like a cold dead fish in bed, but you do have some nice...." Jesse let his eyes roam over Isabel's body, stopping at her breasts for a few seconds before once again looking at her face, "... attributes, that I wouldn't mind seeing again."

"You perverted ass," Isabel seethed and wanted to smack that smug look off his face but she knew that doing so could hurt her custody rights.

"Just think about it, Isabel," Jesse said as he turned to go. "A quick romp in the hay with me every time we swap and I MIGHT think of having my lawyer talk to the judge to let you have more custody rights."



She’d do almost anything for her daughter, but letting that jackass touch her again wasn’t one of those things. No – although she had considered it for just a second for Maya’s sake – there was no way she could bear Jesse’s hands on her ever again since the day the whole truth had come out…

Isabel stood in the doorway of her husband’s home office, watching as he spent yet another night on paperwork. He had come home even later this time, smelling of expensive alcohol and cheap perfume.

He had given her some lame excuse about a last minute super important meeting and hadn’t even bothered to ask how her day had been or more importantly how their daughter was.

No, a quick kiss on the cheek was all she had gotten before he had gone into his office after a short stop at the fridge for one of his stupid imported beers. He wouldn’t come out for hours, fleeing from everything in his private life.

She didn’t know why she hadn't seen the clues before, they had been so obvious. Maybe the truth was she hadn't wanted to see them. What woman wanted to believe that the man she had pledged to spend the rest of her life with was having an affair? All the signs had been there - the phony I-have-to-work-late-tonight phone calls should have been the flashing red light over his head and when he had finally gotten home he had smelled freshly showered and clean like he had tried to hide something from her.

Now he didn’t even seem to bother with a shower anymore. He didn’t even seem to care anymore whether or not she could smell the other woman's perfume on him. She was disgusted by it and also by herself. No! That wasn’t her! She wasn’t a woman who would just sit back and wait for her life to take a bitter nosedive. She was responsible not only for her own, but also for Maya’s happiness.

For that reason she had finally gotten herself together and had followed him one day when he left his office. She had felt pretty stupid playing Sherlock Holmes, but the moment she had seen him leaving the large law firm with one of his new giggly young female interns plastered on his arm, she had known that her fears were right and founded. She had followed them from a safe distance and had watched as they had several drinks in some upscale bar and then headed to a nearby swanky hotel.

Shaking herself from the memory Isabel let one word slip between her lips.

"Why?"

Looking up from his paperwork Jesse had a startled look on his face before that arrogant smirk she had come to hate slid into place. "Why what, babe?"

“Why do you even bother to come home to us anymore?” She glared at him angrily. “You know I always thought that being cheated on secretly would be the worst, but I’ve come to the realization that obvious cheating with no effort to hide it is the cruellest thing you can do to someone.”

He placed his pencil on the desk and leaned back in his chair slowly with an amused look. “Babe, you’re looking at this all wrong. This is MY house, so the real question should be: Why haven I kicked you out yet?”

She stared at him in disbelief, unable to say anything. When had he turned out to be a cruel bastard?

Jesse could easily see the devastation in her eyes and ignored the tiny part of him that made him feel sorry. No, nobody would get feelings of pity out of him, not even her. “An’ I will honestly answer that question. In spite of your expectations, I love Maya and would hate to not be able to see her.”

Get it together, she forced herself and tried to shake off the shock. “Well, newsflash then: You’d better spend as much time as possible with her because we’ll be gone by tomorrow.”

He snorted, not believing her words. “You have nowhere else to go and we both know you’re way too vain to ask your parents for help.”


Sadly, he had been almost right about that. Almost! Indeed, she hadn’t dared to ask her parents or even contacted them at the time, but thank God she had never given up her independence.

Jesse had protected himself with a pre-nup right from the start so that she wouldn’t get out of their marriage in case of divorce, but she had always had a job and had been able to save up a bit of money in a private account.

The next day she had carried out her threat and as soon as he had left for work that morning, she had called in sick, packed the necessities together and moved into a hotel with Maya until she had found an apartment. Those first weeks alone had been tough and she had been more that grateful when Maya’s nanny Daria had quit her job with Jesse’s family in favour of working for her, earning less money. “I’d rather earn half than have to bear that son of a bitch all day,” she had told her with a shrug.

“Mommy,” Maya called from the living room.

Isabel turned from the mirror to look at her daughter. “What is it, hun?”

The girl stood on the highest step, tugging on the seam of her shirt and sticking it into her mouth. “Hungry.”

“I’ll start dinner in a minute, okay?”

“Otay,” she agreed and walked back to sit on the fluffy carpet in front of the couch to start playing with her blocks again.

“Alright,” Isabel talked to herself and went to her bedroom to change into something more comfortable. As hard as it was, she had to go on with her every day life, even though it seemed almost impossible right now.

****

“Daddy?” Maya asked tiredly when Isabel placed the storybook aside, her voice already hoarse from reading aloud so much.

She asked about him almost every night and it still hurt to hear it. “Remember what we talked about earlier today?”

The baby girl’s nod was hardly visible as her eyes drifted to sleep. “You’ll be with him next week, sweetie.” Isabel kissed her daughter’s head lightly and moved out of the bed very slowly to not disturb her. Some days it was easier to settle her down than others and she really hoped today was one of the good days because she really needed some time alone to think about the newest happenings.

As quietly as possible she made it out of Maya’s room after she had switched the little night light on. She left the bedroom door open just a bit and walked back into the living room, which was bathed in a warm comfortably dim light.

“My messy girl,” Isabel muttered with slight amusement and picked several things up from the floor on her way back to the couch. How could humans so little leave so much chaos, she wondered.

After putting everything aside she sank down on the couch in exhaustion and grabbed the glass of red wine from the coffee table next to her to sip on it. What was she supposed to do a whole week without the little wild girl around? No one who would make her laugh, no one she could cook for, and last but not least no one who would give her the feeling of being important.

For the last few years her life had focused around being a wife and a mother with a job and now all she would have was her job. Eight hours out of 24 to be distracted, but what would she do with the rest?

Why had she given up all her friends for that arrogant jackass? Back then it hadn’t seemed to be possible to keep her old friendships alive in the busy life she had lived, but now she regretted it. Her gaze met the cell on the coffee table and only now remembered the call from Liz earlier.

What had she said? She tried to remember. Her focus had been on the trial at that moment, so it was hard to remember the details, but it had been about a trip with the other girls from Roswell.

Roswell… she thought and leaned back with the glass in her hand, but her eyes stayed on the cell. It seemed like it was a lifetime ago… almost as if it had been another life....a much happier life. How would it be to meet Maria, Tess, and Liz again?

On the one hand, she was positive that it would turn into something fun, but then again… what if they had all changed too much to even get along anymore? They had always been pretty different, but they had spent every day together and now they hadn’t seen each other in years!

Isabel shook her head – I will never find out. She had a family to take care of and spontaneous trips like this just weren’t possible. But your daughter will be gone all week, her conscience taunted, and you were looking for some distraction, so why not go with the girls and have a little fun?

She bit her lip, torn between giving this any further thoughts and just letting it go. Her thoughts were interrupted when the cell started to buzz on over the table. Quickly, she picked it up and rolled her eyes when she saw the text message was from her ex.

I’ll pick her up Sunday, 8am. Bring her back the following Sunday after dinner.

Yeah, just remind me that you and your family will go on a trip to San Diego this week and take my daughter with you, she thought in frustration and was about to throw the phone at the couch, but she caught herself at the last minute and without thinking about it again she dialled the number that had called her this morning.

“Hello, Isabel.”

Liz’ happy voice almost startled her when she answered the call. “Hey…”

“So, had you time to think about what I told you this morning?” Sounds of rattling dishes could be heard in the background.

“Am I interrupting dinner? I could call later.”

“Oh, no,” Liz waved her off although the other girl couldn’t see her. “Already finished. Elenore’s just putting some plates away.”

Elenore? Isabel wondered, but didn’t ask – maybe because she really didn’t want to know in that moment. “So… yeah, I thought about the trip. You did say Sunday, right?”

“Yep, that’s right. Sorry, I know it’s really, really short notice.”

“It is,” the blonde agreed with a small smile and sipped on her wine. “What time Sunday?”

“Oh, I don’t know yet. We’ll have a time difference of 13 hours plus. And I’m not sure, but I guess the flight will take about 19 hours or so.”

“I’ve got an appointment Sunday morning, so I can’t leave here before 9 am.”

“Takes about six hours to get to San Francisco,” Liz muttered while she counted in her head.

“Yeah… if it’s too late it’s okay, Liz. You really don’t have to wait for me…”

“Oh, no, no, it’s all good, Isabel. We’ll figure it out. I’ll get this to work. Maybe we could all fly from LA, that way you could be there earlier and we could come down. Or if that doesn’t work we’ll just wait for you.”

“Uh-huh. And when would we be back?”

“I was thinking about Sunday morning. We won’t lose a lot of time since we’re going back in time then and leaving the Maldives in the morning would put us back to the US around lunch time. This way we’ll all have enough time to get home, since I suppose everyone needs to be back at work the Monday after.”

“Right.” It could work, Isabel thought. She’d have to hurry on both Sundays to be there in time again, but it was possible.

“Well, if you can keep that time frame, I’m in. I just can’t leave before 9am and I have to be back in the early evening the Sunday after.”

“Really?” Liz shrieked happily, making the other girl wince. “Sorry, just excited that we’ll all go together. I hadn’t really thought it would happen until now. I promise you I’ll work it out, so it’ll fit into your time frame.”

“Yeah?” Isabel smiled. “It sounds like a lot of fun.”

“It will be,” the brunette promised.
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HIS-&-HERS
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Chapter 9

Post by HIS-&-HERS »

CandyliciousLovah: Okay, only one more part before he enters…. Promised!

keepsmiling7: Yes, he is! You don’t want an husband like that…. And not an ex-husband either.

sarammlover: Agreed! Hm, we will find a way to “hurt” him.

Alien_Friend: Walking away was definitely the best decision she could have made after marrying him! Her concern for her daughter is totally understandable considering of what an idiot he is.

Hm, there will be some awkward feelings for sure, not only on Liz’ side though.

HypnotiqBlueEyes: And he is, lol. Yep, the reunion can’t happen without her.

Michelle in LA: Well, Max is eye-candy as well, just in a different way than Kyle will be.

Jesse is a piece of work, we will make sure he gets what he deserves in the end.

Some of them are already hitting the road by now. Well Tess has her evil ways to get Michael in that plane… you will see, lol. For now he’s in this for totally different reasons.

begonia9508: Lol well, they are both in the Indian ocean, right?

Isabel definitely needs some time with friends!

mary mary: Lol, we are glad Jesse works for you as a villain, because he won’t turn out nice.

Nice advice, maybe Isabel will do that in the future. ;)

xilaj: Can’t leave Isabel out. :) And we will make sure Jesse gets what he deserves.

No sympathy for Dean, huh? We have a feeling this won’t change after this part. ;)



Chapter 9

August 25th

“Why does a radio station contest set in Seattle have its flight departure set in LA?” Michael's still suspicious mind complained when he slipped back behind the steering wheel of his dark blue Ford F150 – FX4 – a car he had bought just a few months ago after saving up money for several years. They had just stopped in the small city of Morrow Bay to have a quiet early dinner at the sea in favor of avoiding the way-too-expensive hotel food in LA. “Another sign that this’s total bullshit.”

“Michael,” Tess rolled her head along the seat’s backrest, “can’t you just get over your glass half empty pessimism for once and actually enjoy the thought of a nice holiday at the beach?”

“I could… if this didn’t smell like trouble. And fake.”

“Whatever,” she shook her head, tempted to tell him the truth about their trip so he would finally believe it, but chances were good that as soon as Maria’s name came out of her mouth her big brave macho brother would make a quick u-turn on the freeway and head back to Seattle with speed a NASCAR driver would be jealous of.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “Alright fine,” he put on a fake grin and fist-pumped in the air “Yay, we’re going to Hawaii.”

“Gosh, that sounded so convincing, Michael.” She rolled her eyes at his faked enthusiasm.

“I know,” he laughed and leaned forward to grab the water bottle out of the cup holder to take a sip. “What ya wanna do tonight in LA?”

“You wanna go out?” she asked, surprised, knowing for a few years now that her brother wasn’t known as the life of the party. Usually his nights off included their sofa with a six pack of beer, a take out pizza, and ESPN on the TV.

He shrugged. “Well, it’s LA and we don’t have to get up that early, right? You lived there for several years so I’d be surprised if you didn’t know any good places to go.”

“I’ll think of something,” she agreed and bit her lip. “Well, we could go to the Santa Barbara Beach club and kill Lance.” Tess referred to her former boyfriend who owned a fitness studio in LA and had promised her the world until he had met an 18-year-old slut who was looking for a job in his studio.

“The asshole’s probably not worth either one of us going to jail for.” Michael knew how much the breakup had not only broken her heart, but also destroyed all her future plans, but at least she was dealing better with her breakup than he had with his own.

“Yeah, probably not. Although I am wondering if he’s still with that chick.”

“He’s probably realized by now that wasn’t the smartest idea he ever had,” he replied. “Things like that don’t last.”

“Does anything?” She turned her head to look at him.

Michael shot a quick glance at her before he focused on the road again. “I don’t know. They say nothing’s forever, but ya gotta think positive.”

“Yeah…” she agreed thoughtfully. Sometimes she wondered where he got all his strength, but she didn’t question it – it helped her to see things a bit lighter as well most of the time. “We could go to a bar near Venice beach. It’s small and cozy and maybe my friend Josie still works there.”

“Josie, huh?” He teased, wiggling his eyebrows. “How old?”

Tess groaned, but then grinned. After Maria he hadn’t had another girlfriend – the few dates he’d had didn’t really count. Hell, she didn't even think they classified as dates – they had been more of the ever so nice wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am-type of deals. “She’d be just right for you, bro. Totally your type with nice boobs, a slim waist, long blonde hair, and a total case of commitment phobia.”

Though not all of the description fit a flash of Maria wandered through his mind, but he quickly shook it off. “Sounds okay.”

“Yep,” she agreed, but knew her brother wouldn’t start anything with her anyway.

****

Liz sighed and fell back on the couch, resting her feet on the low table in front of it. The day had been super busy for a Saturday. First she had gone to work again to make sure everything was prepared for her week of absence. After that she had driven to the mall to buy the things they needed for the Maldives: Sun lotion, sun oil, sun hat, after the sun milk, a new bikini…

It had already been after five in the evening when she had gotten back home. Of course Dean had still been at work and was even now. The whole rest of the week he had gotten home around midnight, but she guessed it was because of all the work he needed to do to get the next week off. He wasn't the type who trusted other people to make things right so he tended to do most of the work alone.

The last few hours she had spent packing their stuff for the trip and now she was ready for a hot bath, but other than that she was happy. Only one more night and then the Roswell gang would finally be back together. Excitement washed over her and she grinned at the little metal box in her hand, already imagining how they would open it up together. Maybe they could sit around a small fire just like they had when they had locked their dreams up that night in the past...

She leaned forward and placed the box on the table before she got comfortable on the couch again with the laptop on her thighs. Opening up a list she went through it to check and see if she had missed anything to organize or pack.

No, it all looked good. If everything worked out as planned then Dean and she would be on the road at four in the morning to go to LA. He hadn't been all that excited to hear that they would take off from there because it meant a six-hour drive, but this way Isabel could join them a lot sooner and they could leave a few hours earlier. Liz had suggested they just leave today and spend a night in one of LAs hotels near the airport, so they wouldn't have to get up in the middle of the night, but he had told her it was impossible for him to manage work so soon. Of course!

Michael and Tess would already be there when they arrived... well if Michael didn’t run away screaming as soon as he realized what was going on. Liz rolled her eyes. This situation was bound to cause trouble.

Isabel had left it open as to whether she was bringing someone or not, but she expected her husband to be with her. Why would he stay at home? Well, okay, there was still the possibility that he had to work.

“Hey, honey.”

Her head whipped around when she heard her fiancé’s voice. He was leaning in the doorframe watching her, his features tired.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be home already,” Liz said, surprised, but smiling. If he was already home than it would mean they got a few decent hours of sleep before leaving. Perfect!

“The week’s been busy,” he said and pushed himself from the wall to walk up to her. “My boss had tons of extra work for me.” Okay, it had probably been his own fault as well…

“Come in,” he said and glanced up over a stack of files on his desk, detecting his boss in the doorway.

“Hello, Dean,” Brian O’Donnell greeted him with a small friendly smile and stepped inside.

“What’s up, Brian?” He hit the enter button on his computer to send the Email he had been working on before he focused on the man in front of him.

“Well, I know you’re gonna be off next week, but I didn’t just want to overlook you since you’ve befriended our client McKensy Enterprises.”

Dean frowned. “What’ve you got?”

“They assigned us a new case. Some problems with the neighbors next to the new mall they want to build Downtown. Something about them claiming the area should be an historic district and not a place for a new state-of-the-art mall.”

Dean chewed on his lip while he glanced at the stack of files on his desk. “When would they need this worked on?”

“Well, they need the problem resolved soon so they can hold the termination plan for construction. We’d need to have you start now and have the results by next Friday.”

Damn it! Things like that took forever! And there's no way in hell he could finish this task before Liz's stupid trip…

“It’s okay. You don’t have to take this one, Dean. Marty just closed up his last case so I’ll let him handle it.”

“NO, I’ve got this,” he disagreed before he could think about it, but just the mention of his biggest opponent in the firm working on the case dealing with their biggest client made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up in spikes.

“You sure?” Brian lifted one eyebrow. “You ordered the firm jet for a trip to the Maldives and this project could run into that time...”

“I’m sure,” Dean agreed, determined. He’d rather work all day and night than let Marty do this job! “You’ll get the results in time.”

“Well, okay,” his boss agreed, knowing he could always count on the other man. “I’ll send Sandra in with the files you’ll need.”

“Yeah, do that.” He watched him leave and leaned back in his chair with a sigh while his eyes wandered over the stacks of paper on his desk and on the floor. How was he going to get this all done before Saturday?


Liz didn’t know if she liked the expression on her fiancé’s face. He wasn’t just tired, there was something else. “You hungry? Elenore made pasta for dinner.”

“No, I had something at the office,” he denied and sat down next to her, trying to come up with the right words for what he had to tell her.

“You look like you’ve got something on your mind…” she said slowly when he was too quiet. “Did something happen at work?”

“Liz,” he straightened up and turned in his seat to look at her, taking her hands in his. “What would you say if we had to delay our trip for another week?” He already knew her answer, but there was really no way to open this topic differently.

“WHAT?” She pulled her hands away from him furiously. “Why?”

“We had some cases come up at work and they need to be ready by next week. There’s just no way I can go on vacation right now without finishing it first.” Okay, that wasn’t the whole truth, but she wouldn’t understand that he couldn’t give a case to Marty willingly.

“But you knew our plans, why didn’t you transfer it to someone else this week?” Liz got up from the couch, already seeing the trip and her excitement going down the drain.

“We were all busy, honey.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “No, Dean, we’re going! I’ve got everyone in and Michael an’ Tess are already on their way to LA. We CAN’T quit now.” Her heart was hammering madly against her ribs at that moment.

“Sorry, I wish it was possible, but it’s not. We have to stay here. Maybe next weekend…”

“Next weekend MY ASS,” she shouted at him angrily. “All my friends are coming and I’m not gonna tell them that we’re quitting. I was lucky enough to get them all to go this time!”

“Liz…”

“We’re going!” She didn’t give a shit about logical right now.

“Fine, then go alone,” Dean snapped back, irritated by her stubbornness.

“Oh, I so will,” she told him matter-of-factly.

His head snapped up when she agreed. Okay, that wasn’t expected. “You will?” he asked stupidly.

“I’ll go and I’ll leave at 4am with or without you.” She glared at him.

Dean looked at her stonily. Was she giving him an ultimatum? “I’m not going,” he shook his head.

Her heart sank at his decision, but she held her strength in front of him. “Alright. Guess I’ll see you next Sunday then,” she told him coldly and walked out of the room.

“That went well,” he muttered to himself and slouched down on the couch, frowning when he heard jingling keys in the hallway. He got up again to look and see what she was doing, surprised to find her stepping into some pumps. “Where’re you goin’?”

“Out,” Liz growled, slamming the door behind her.

The sound of her car revving to life and then speeding out of the driveway reached Dean's ears. Sighing, he headed to the kitchen to eat the leftover pasta.

She'll get over it and realize it was for the best, Dean thought as he opened the cabinet to grab a plate. When she finds out how much money and prestige working this new project will bring us she'll forgive me and than I can take her on a real vacation! Somewhere like Rome or Paris! Just her and me... she'll get over it.
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