Revelations (ML / Adult) (Complete)

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EmilyluvsRoswell
Enthusiastic Roswellian
Posts: 56
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm

Revelations - Part 10

Post by EmilyluvsRoswell »

Hi everyone! I see there are a few new readers - welcome! So glad you found your way over. As always, I appreciate everyone's feedback and comments.

I have noticed a lot of questions and assumptions based on what happened on the show during this time period. All I can say is, don't assume things are happening the same way in this story unless I spell it out. On the one hand, I'm trying to alter only what I believe would change due to Liz's absence from Roswell and her pregnancy, but that doesn't mean those ramifications aren't pretty far reaching. Of course, because this is Liz's POV, things might be happening that she hasn't heard about yet... ;) You'll all just have to wait and see.

Anyway, without further ado, here's the next part. Posted in two sections due to length.

:)
Em

*******

Part 10

***

The junkyard opened early, yet Liz was already waiting when the caretaker came down to unlock the gates. If he thought she made a strange sight, a pregnant teenager standing there by herself at the crack of dawn, he gave no indication. He merely snapped open the padlock and swung the gate wide, then ambled back toward the shack that was his office.

Liz walked slowly down the aisles of scrap metal and old appliances until she found the area assigned to demolished or abandoned cars. She knew Alex's car would have been taken to the Sheriff's impound lot immediately following the accident, but after a day or two it would have been transferred here. Most of the vehicles were in terrible shape - hoods smashed, windows broken, doors missing - but they were still identifiable and none were Alex's. Finally she spied a flat bed truck parked by the rear fence, a tarp covering its load. She headed over and tugged at the corner of the plastic, peering underneath to see what it hid. Sure enough, Alex's car - or at least what remained of it - was parked on the back of the truck.

It took several hard pulls to uncover the car, the tarp catching repeatedly on the jagged edges of the metal and forcing Liz to move around the truck to free each side. Once she had a clear view of the wreck, she almost wished she hadn't found it. The roof of the car had been crushed and the front windshield was shattered. On the driver's side, the door had been forced off its hinges and propped casually near the back of the car. It suddenly dawned on Liz that they had pulled the door off to get Alex out. The realization made her light headed and she grabbed at the side of the truck to steady herself.

"You can't fall apart," she scolded. Taking a few deep breaths, she tried to clear her mind of anything but her purpose. She needed to see inside that car. Once she was feeling calmer, she climbed up onto the bed of the truck so she could get a better view. Pieces of glass were strewn over the upholstery and the driver's seat was stained dark with blood.

Liz refused to dwell on it. She blocked the images from her mind and leaned further into the car, holding onto the steering wheel for leverage. Down between the front seats, she could see what seemed to be a piece of paper, wedged nearly under the emergency brake. She hadn't expected to find anything beyond the wreck itself. The Sheriff's department should have removed everything from the car and returned it to the Whitmans. Frowning, she snaked a hand down into the narrow space and caught the paper with her fingers, then drew it slowly upward.

Instead of a piece of paper, she found herself holding a photograph of two people: a blonde girl who looked vaguely familiar and another person who appeared to be Alex; it was impossible to tell for sure, since his head had been cut out of the photo. A shudder ran through her. Why would someone have destroyed a picture this way? And what was it doing in Alex's car?

She tucked the photo into her jacket pocket and got back to her task. A quick search revealed nothing further out of the ordinary. Feeling unnerved, Liz climbed out of the car and sat down on the edge of the flat bed, legs dangling. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. The place was getting to her, as was what she was doing. After a sleepless night spent trying to unravel the puzzle of the skid marks at the crash site, the last thing she needed was to be playing detective in the middle of a junkyard. She still couldn't imagine how Max had managed the morgue. Just the thought of it made her stomach churn. But she couldn't get past the fact that things did not add up. She had spent too long embroiled in an alien conspiracy to just let the situation slide. There was something suspicious about the way Alex had died.

Pulling the photo out of her pocket again, Liz stared hard at the blonde girl. Where had she seen her before? Switching her focus to the unfamiliar background, she tried to find a clue in the landscape behind them, but she didn't recognize that at all. How did this girl know Alex, and where were they standing?

Suddenly she remembered. Alex had sent her a series of e-mails with pictures from his trip to Sweden, declaring that she couldn't escape his travel slides simply by running off to Florida. This was one of those pictures, and the girl was someone he had met on his trip. Was she the daughter from his host family or that girl he had liked briefly? Lena or something like that. Liz couldn't remember, but it would be easy enough to check. Frowning, she traced the girl's features, thinking she looked a little like Isabel. Then she ran her finger over the edges of the picture where Alex's face had been cut out, and her frown grew deeper.

"What does this mean?" she murmured.

Liz caught the photo between her palms, pressing her hands together with a frustrated sigh. She was about to put the picture away when she felt a rapid tingling sensation shoot through her fingers and her vision flickered before going black.

"Leanna is not Leanna. Leanna is not Leanna! Everything is all wrong." Alex shook his head back and forth, as if trying to dislodge something, all the while, carefully snipping his face from the photograph. "Leanna is not Leanna."

The photo fluttered from Liz's fingers and landed on the ground a second before she herself dropped to her hands and knees. She was breathing hard, perspiration dampening her forehead, and the baby had begun to kick restlessly. For a moment she thought she would be sick, the rush of adrenaline so potent it made her head spin, but as she continued to kneel there the world slowly righted itself and she was able to regain a bit of her equilibrium.

Clutching one hand to her stomach and moving gingerly, she sat back on her heels to try and catch her breath. "What was that?" she muttered. "Did you do that?" she asked, rubbing gently over the spot where the baby kept kicking. "What is it with you guys and flashes, huh?"

She closed her eyes and again she could see Alex's hand holding the scissors, feel his sense of confusion and despair. Her eyes snapped back open. "Oh Alex. What happened to you?" she asked. "And what is happening to me?"

***

Liz waited in the car until she saw both Kyle and Tess leave for school, then made her way up the path to the Valentis' door and rang the bell. The photograph she'd found was tucked safely in her pocket and it was all she could do to keep from running her fingers over it. Her need to know more, however, was overshadowed by her own fear and confusion. She had never gotten a flash without Max.

The door swung open and Jim Valenti appeared. He wore jeans and a worn white T-shirt, and it looked as if he had yet to brush his hair that morning. There were faint lines around his eyes that she didn't recall being there before. Clearly unemployment was wearing on him.

"Liz?" he asked, eyes wide.

"Hi, Mr. Valenti," she said. "Can I come in?"

"Of course." He stepped back so she could pass, then led her into the den. "You know, Kyle and Tess just left." When she continued into the room, his brows rose slightly and he gave her a little nod. "Right. So, have a seat. Can I get you anything? Coffee? Or juice?" he added hastily, his eyes dropping briefly to her stomach.

"I'm fine," she told him, easing down on the couch. "I really just wanted to talk to you. About Alex."

"Oh, I see." He exhaled sharply and dropped down across from her. "I can't say I'm surprised."

Liz looked down at her hands where she was twisting them in her lap. "I went out to see where the accident was. Last night."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "I needed to be there. Even after the funeral, none of it felt… real."

"I suppose I can understand that," he agreed.

Liz raised her eyes to meet his. "The skid marks make it look like Alex turned his car into the oncoming traffic," she said slowly, watching for his reaction. When he didn't blink, she let out a soft sigh. "You knew."

Valenti nodded. "I've been going over everything with Sheriff Hanson."

"But you didn't say anything."

He sat back and shook his head. "There wasn't any point."

"No point? How can you say that? It wasn't just an accident. You can't keep something like that quiet."

"Liz, what exactly do you think happened out there?" he asked gently.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," she replied. "I understand not wanting to tell the Whitmans, but why not the rest of us?"

"Because you're all upset enough as it is. Maria's been a zombie since Sunday night, Max is blaming himself for not being able to do anything, Isabel's crying every time I see her." He ran his hand through his hair, pinning her with piercing blue eyes. "And you, Liz, my God. The last thing you need is something else to think about."

"That's not your decision," she told him flatly. "This is not about me, it's about Alex."

"I've been all over town with Hanson the last two days. Talked to the truck driver, Alex's teachers, kids at school," he said. "All the signs point to the same place."

Liz frowned. Something wasn't making sense. "What do you mean? What do teachers and kids at school have to do with anything?"

"We were looking to ascertain Alex's state of mind the last few months, and pretty much everyone said the same thing."

"His state of mind?" she asked. "What are you talking about?"

Valenti's eyes narrowed. "What do you think I'm talking about? Liz, you saw the skid marks. Everyone says Alex has been moody and withdrawn since he got back from Sweden. His grades have plummeted, he's been-"

"Stop," Liz said, shaking her head. "Don't even say it. Alex did not do this to himself," she bit out.

"I don't want to believe it either, but there's no getting around the facts," he said softly.

"The facts? No. No, see, I know Alex, and he would never, ever kill himself," Liz said, her voice rising. "He loved his life."

"Liz, you've been out of town for months. You-"

"What difference does that make? He was my best friend! He called me that day to tell me about prom and how well everything was going with Isabel. I knew him, and I'm telling you that he wouldn't do it."

"Shhh, you're getting all upset-"

"Of course I am!"

"Liz, this is precisely why I didn't want to say anything."

"No." She shook her head again, lips pressed into a tight line. Groping in her pocket, she pulled out the photograph and thrust it at Valenti. "See this? I found it in Alex's car."

"You went out to the junkyard?" he sputtered as he took the picture.

"I'm pregnant, not some damn fragile flower," she snapped at him. "Just look at it, all right? It was wedged between the seats."

He turned the photo around and looked at it carefully, his forehead furrowed. With one finger he traced the cut edges, much in the way Liz had earlier, then looked up. His eyes were sad.

"Don't you see? This just adds more evidence," he told her. "He defaced his own image, Liz."

"He cut himself out of that picture," Liz agreed with a nod, "but it had nothing to do with defacing his own image. It had something to do with her," she continued, jabbing a finger at the girl. "Leanna. He met her in Sweden."

"What about her?"

"I'm not sure. It's like he didn't want to be in the same picture with her anymore," she said, frowning at the memory of Alex's voice echoing through her mind.

"Most people cut the other person out of the photo," Valenti suggested gently.

"He said Leanna wasn't Leanna."

"When he called you?"

"No, when he was cutting up the picture."

There was a long pause. "Liz, what are you telling me?" His voice was low, almost dangerous. She got the distinct impression that he was afraid of her answer.

"I… I got a flash off the photo," she admitted softly. "I heard Alex saying over and over, 'Leanna is not Leanna.'"

"You got a flash," he repeated slowly. "Like Max and Michael and… You got a flash." He let out a low whistle, his gaze shifting to her stomach again. "Liz, why don't you tell me what's really going on here," he suggested. "Kyle said Max isn't your child's father," he continued, nodding toward her. "I'll admit I was hard pressed to believe him, but I figured it wasn't my business one way or the other. Now you're sitting here telling me you're developing alien powers. Something has to give," he said, one brow quirking up.

Liz shook her head. "I've been… changing. Since Max healed me. When Max was in New York at the Summit, Isabel helped me to… project myself. So I could warn him he was in danger. I guess the flashes are just one more side effect."

"You mean none of this has anything to do with that baby you're carrying?" he asked. His tone was skeptical.

"Nothing," she replied firmly. "But it has everything to do with Alex," she went on. "I know that he didn't kill himself, and that it wasn't a regular accident. Someone, or something, caused it."

Valenti took a deep breath and let it out very slowly. "Okay," he agreed. "Say I go along with this. Are you going to tell the others?"

"Not yet. I need proof." She paused, lifting one shoulder in a helpless gesture. "You were right that they've enough to worry about," she agreed. "Max is beating himself up, and I'm willing to bet Isabel is, too. Besides, I'm not exactly their favorite person right now."

"They'd still want to be included. Hell, if this is alien related, you could be putting them all in more danger by not warning them."

"I know, but if I go to them with just a picture and some tire tracks, they'll never believe me," Liz sighed.

"So what do you propose?"

"I just need a couple of days. I want to see if the Whitmans will let me go through Alex's things. Hopefully I can find something there." Liz saw the concern shimmering in Valenti's eyes. "If it makes you feel better, I'll talk to Kyle and Maria," she relented.

"It would. And just so we're clear, the minute something weird happens, I'm calling Max. " He glanced at her stomach again, then met her gaze. "I mean this, Liz. No crazy risks. You need to be very careful."

"I will," she promised, meeting his piercing gaze. "And you need to keep the Sheriff's department from declaring Alex's death a suicide."

Valenti nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

***

Alex's room looked the way it always had - tidy, with the bedspread pulled up and his bass guitar propped in the corner, books stacked neatly on the desk and the screensaver running on his laptop. If she didn't know better, Liz might have expected him to come bounding through the door behind her, ready to catch her up on everything she had missed the last few months. Instead she turned to find Mr. Whitman standing in the doorway, his expression melancholy.

"We haven't really been in here since… Well, everything is just where he left it," he said quietly. "You spend as much time as you need, Liz. Alex would have wanted…" He shook his head and forced a small smile. "I'll be in the den if you need anything."

"Thanks, Mr. Whitman," she replied, her voice sounding somehow younger and very small.

She waited until he had gone, closing the door behind him, before turning to survey the room once again. It was hard to keep a critical eye; so many of the things she saw brought memories flooding back. In truth, she had no idea where to start. She picked up the bass and sat on the edge of the bed, strumming softly as she allowed her gaze to wander. Poetry books. A little cup full of guitar picks. Pens in an old West Roswell High mug. An empty picture frame caught her eye and she set aside the bass to go take a closer look. If she remembered correctly from her flash, it was the frame that held the photo of Alex and Leanna.

Liz picked up the frame gingerly, almost afraid of what she would see, but nothing happened. Remembering her reaction earlier at the junkyard, she pulled out the chair and sat down, then placed the frame on the desk in front of her. How did Max do this? Placing her hands flat over the frame, she took deep breaths and tried to let her mind go blank. Her fingers began to tingle almost immediately and her vision blurred.

"Why?" Alex shouted at the picture in his hands. "Why? How could I be so stupid?"

Releasing the frame, Liz sat back until her head stopped spinning. Did Max and the others feel this way every time they had a flash? she wondered. She pressed her fingers to her temples in an attempt to thwart the throbbing that had started.

"Well, that was pretty useless," she murmured, staring at the frame. She sighed and set it back where she'd found it, then turned to the pile of books on the desk. "T.S. Eliot, Elizabeth Bishop, Hart Crane, Countee Cullen, Robert Frost," she listed off. The Frost volume had a page marked and she flipped the book open.

"Beth Orton," she whispered, pulling out two tickets for the previous night's concert. Liz felt her eyes tearing up. "Did you even get a chance to ask Isabel? Was that why you were driving so fast that night? Because you were excited? Oh Alex," she sniffed. Carefully tucking the tickets back in place, she shut the book and returned it to the pile.

The computer was next. Liz slid it to the center of the desk and hit the spacebar to wake up the system. She ran a quick search for anything having to do with Leanna or Sweden and found the folders Alex used to organize everything from his trip. "Photos, E-mail… A ha. Journal," she mumbled, clicking on the final folder. The journal was a series of text files, each labeled by month and year. Liz chose the file for the previous December, knowing that was when Alex had left for Sweden.

"Damn. Password protected." Frowning, Liz worked her way through the rest of the folders, but everything she thought might give her a clue seemed to be locked. Not expecting much, she searched through a sheaf of papers and sticky notes, and even checked the bottom side of the desktop, but as she suspected, there was no sign of Alex's password anywhere.

Liz sighed, realizing she wasn't going to get any further. She put Alex's things back carefully, making sure to place them exactly where he had left them. It was difficult not to think about the fact that he would never move them again.

*****

continued in next post
User avatar
EmilyluvsRoswell
Enthusiastic Roswellian
Posts: 56
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm

Revelations - Part 10 continued

Post by EmilyluvsRoswell »

continued from previous post

*****

Liz felt like she had spent the better part of her day waiting for people to come or go. Maria had sworn she would be home right after school, but Liz had been sitting on her front steps for over half an hour now and it was pretty obvious that something had held her up. She toyed with the idea of calling, but decided against it, knowing if Maria was speaking to a teacher her cell phone would be a most unwelcome interruption. Then she considered calling Kyle, since she had promised Valenti she would include him. However, Maria would kill her if she talked to Kyle first, which left Liz precisely where she had started. Waiting.

The harsh rattle of a muffler had her looking up in time to see a battered VW Beetle pull into the driveway. Liz started to frown at the strange car, only to shake her head as the driver's door opened and Sean DeLuca emerged. He was wearing a white dress shirt with a tie hanging loose around his neck, and the dark blue slacks of a suit. Liz watched as he reached into the passenger seat and pulled out a duffle bag and a dark blue jacket. He tried twice to shut the door, but it refused to catch until he kicked it soundly. Liz couldn't help but laugh.

Sean started toward the house, one eyebrow cocked. "That you, Parker? Something funny?"

Liz smiled. "It's just your car doesn't really fit your new image as… An investment banker, is it?" she asked, nodding at his suit.

"Oh, the clothes." He shrugged. "I had to go to court in Albuquerque."

"Right. Maria told me."

Sean stopped in front of Liz, his gaze assessing. "Looks like M shared a lot more with you than with me. Perfect Parker pregnant. Who'd have thought?"

"I don't really want to talk about it," she said, feeling her cheeks flush.

"I'll bet," he declared. He glanced toward the front door. "You scared to go in or something?"

"No one's home," she told him with a mocking smile. "I was supposed to meet Maria, but she's late."

"Well, I'm here now. Those steps must be cold." Sean extended a hand and hauled her to her feet.

Liz followed him into the house and sank down on the couch. She had been feeling the chill, sitting outside for so long, but she wasn't sure it was entirely from the steps.

"I'm just gonna change," Sean called from the other room.

"Okay," she said. She wasn't sure she was up to Sean's company; he had always been a worthy sparring partner on a good day, but she was hardly up for a verbal fighting match. On the other hand, an argument with Sean would keep her mind from wandering idly, and that might be a very good thing.

"This look more familiar?" Sean appeared in the doorway dressed in worn jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt.

Liz smiled in spite of herself. "Much better."

Sean dropped down on the couch next to her, his expression suddenly serious. "Listen, I heard about Alex. I'm really sorry."

Sympathy was the last think Liz expected from Sean DeLuca. Teasing and taunting had always been more his style. Her eyes teared up instantly. "Thanks, Sean."

"He was a good kid. I know I gave him a lot of shit when we were younger. I mean, the guy's best friends were two girls, how could I not? But he was a good guy."

"Yeah, he was," she agreed, her voice trembling with emotion.

As if sensing how close Liz was to losing it, Sean changed the subject. "So how've you been doing? M said you were in Florida."

Liz managed a wry smile. "I've been staying with my aunt. It seemed the best thing to do under the circumstances."

"To avoid people talking?" When Liz raised an eyebrow, he shrugged. "This is a small town. I haven't forgotten."

"So what are you up to now that you're home?" Liz asked, anxious to turn the spotlight away from herself.

"You mean now that I'm a free man?" Sean let out a laugh. "No clue. I've been trying to find a job around here, but there's nothing for someone like me. Aunt Amy's been great, but I'm going to have to move on soon."

"Are you allowed to?"

"That's partly what this court date was about. Nothing's sure yet, but I'm trying to get permission."

Liz found herself staring at Sean, taking in all the changes in him. He was more mature than the last time she had seen him, his face slimmer, his hair cropped short. And there was a measure of sadness in his eyes that tugged at her heart, reminding her how much he had been through. She wondered if he could see the same thing in her.

"When you were little, where did you see yourself going as an adult? What were your dreams?" she asked.

Sean shook his head. "Who remembers. That was a long time ago. Too many wrong turns ago," he added ruefully. "What about you?" he threw back. "Don't tell me this is what you expected."

Liz ran a hand over her swollen stomach. "Some days I look in the mirror and wonder who I am. Who is this person staring back at me?"

"I don't get it. I mean, with me it was pretty obvious from the start. I was in trouble from birth. But you? You were always the girl with the plans. Good in school, fun to hang around with, liked by kids and grown ups alike. How did you get from there to here?"

Liz shook her head. "I'm not sure I have the answer to that one," she whispered.

The door opened and Maria bustled in, two large tote bags over one shoulder causing her to list to the side. "Liz, I am so sorry," she began, then paused, glaring at her cousin. "Sean, so help me, if you are bothering her I will skin you alive."

"No, Maria, it's fine," Liz told her, standing awkwardly. "Sean was great. He let me in and he's been keeping me company."

"You're sure?"

"Positive. Let's just go back to your room." Liz shot Sean a grateful smile. "Thanks for hanging out with me."

"No problem, Parker. You need anything at all, just give a yell."

Maria grabbed Liz by the arm and dragged her toward the back of the house. "Don't hold your breath," she shot back at Sean.

"Maria, he was just trying to be nice," Liz admonished as her friend shut the bedroom door with her hip.

"He was born trying to work the angles, Liz. Juvie didn't change that," Maria snapped. She dumped her bags on the floor and collapsed onto the bed. "I'm sorry. My nerves are shot."

"Bad day?"

"Hell," Maria replied. "Everyone's walking around school like they're in mourning," she said. "People who didn't even know Alex. It's disgusting."

"You know that always happens," Liz said, taking a seat next to her. "Don't let it get to you."

"It's not just that," Maria sighed. "I feel like everyone's coming at me. The reason I'm late is I got dragged into the yearbook meeting. They want a two page memorial layout for Alex, and I said I'd do it." She turned pleading eyes toward Liz. "Say you'll help me. Please, Liz? I can't do it all alone and you're going to be here for a few more days at least, right?"

Liz chewed on her bottom lip. "Yeah," she said slowly. "I'm staying for a while longer."

"Thank you," Maria sighed, not seeming to notice that Liz hadn't agreed to help.

"Who else is coming at you?"

Maria shrugged. "Just people. With stuff."

"Maria?"

"Fine. You're the latest topic on the rumor mill. Everyone's talking about you being pregnant and taking bets on who the father is. Max and Kyle seem to be neck and neck."

"That was fast," Liz commented.

"Three guesses who started the rumors."

"Oh, I don't need three. Tess was the one who told everyone I'd slept with Kyle last fall. She must be loving this."

"You don't seem that upset."

"I was expecting it," she said with a shrug.

"I'm not sure you understand, Liz. Max and Kyle have to listen to this all day," Maria admonished. "And it's not just kids at school. So far the general consensus among our parents seems to be that Max is responsible, while our friends all figure Kyle's the father."

Liz groaned and flopped back on the bed. "What do you want me to do, Maria? This is why I left Roswell in the first place."

"I know coming back wasn't ideal, Liz, but now that you're here, you have to do some kind of damage control."

Liz pushed herself up on her elbows and looked her friend in the eye. "There are more important things to worry about right now. Maria, I need to tell you something and I need you to stay calm."

Maria's eyes narrowed. "Why do I get the feeling I don't want to hear this?"

"It's about Alex. I went to see Valenti today because there were some things about the accident that didn't make sense."

"What kind of things?"

"Alex turned his car toward the oncoming traffic, not away from it," Liz said slowly.

"What? What are you talking about? Why would he do that?"

"Sheriff Hanson wants to rule Alex's death a suicide."

Maria sat bolt upright. "No! Alex would never do something like that!"

"I know, I know," Liz assured her quickly. "That's what I told Valenti. And then I told him what I thought really happened. Maria, I don't believe Alex's death was an accident. I think someone killed him."

Maria's eyes filled with tears. "Liz, stop. What are you saying? Why would anyone want to kill Alex?"

Liz shook her head. "I'm not sure, but I have a few theories. I think this whole thing is alien related."

"How?" Maria breathed.

"I don't know, Maria," she admitted. "But I'm going to find out. Will you help me?"

"Liz, this is crazy. Do you even have any proof?"

Taking a deep breath, Liz began to explain everything that had happened since her visit to the junkyard. By the time she was finished, Maria was shaking.

"I can't believe this is happening. If you're right, that means none of us are safe. Are you sure? I mean really sure that it couldn't be an accident?"

Liz felt her heart tighten at her friend's pleading tone. "Maria, I wish it was, but there's no way. You've got to see that."

Maria nodded slowly. "I guess I do," she admitted. "I just… God, I hate this."

"So do I," Liz agreed, feeling the lump in her throat shift threateningly. It seemed like each hour brought her that much closer to losing control of her emotions.

Maria took a deep breath. "So want do you want me to do?"

"I need to get into Alex's computer. Do you have any idea what his security code is?"

"I might. He's let me into his e-mail a couple of times. It's probably the same for everything."

"Oh, Maria, I love you!" Liz declared, pulling her into an awkward hug.

"What do you expect to find?"

"I have no idea, but I don't know where else to look. It seems like whatever happened is linked to that trip to Sweden. Maybe he wrote something down."

"Are you really going to tell Kyle what's happening?"

Liz nodded. "He deserves to know everything. Besides, I promised Valenti."

"What about Max and the others? Liz, I don't feel right keeping this from them."

"It's temporary. How do you think they'll feel if I just come out and tell them I think an alien killed Alex?"

Maria sighed and shut her eyes briefly. "They'll go ballistic," she agreed.

"Max already feels responsible because he couldn't heal Alex. And Isabel looked like a wreck yesterday."

"You don't know the half of it," Maria said. "Apparently Isabel's graduating early. She told Max she wants to leave Roswell for college and he just about lost his mind. Told her she couldn't leave town. Now they're not speaking at all."

"When did this happen?"

"It started a couple of days ago. I think Isabel just wants to get as far from the alien abyss as she can."

Liz shook her head. "I bet she's blaming herself for pulling Alex into this mess. It sounds like her."

"Aren't you doing the same thing?" Maria asked shrewdly. "What about all that crap you gave me about changing the timeline?"

"It's still true," Liz said. "But I can't play what if games. There's nothing I can do about it now," she admitted quietly. "I just wish I knew what happened in that original timeline that was so different. I mean, why did Alex get killed now? What was so different that made someone want to get rid of him?"

"Future Max didn't tell you anything that might help?"

"No."

"What about those dreams you keep having? Those are really just his memories from the future, right?"

"Yeah, but I can't control those," Liz sighed with frustration. "You're right that the memories are probably somewhere in my head, but I have no way to access them."

"So we do this the old fashioned way, huh?"

Liz nodded. "I don't think we have any choice. It could be anyone. Nicholas or Kivar or some alien we've never even heard of."

Maria groaned as she lay back on the bed again. "Some days I wish I'd never heard of aliens."

"Even Michael?"

She turned her head and pinned Liz with a piercing look. "Do you wish you'd never heard of Max?"

"I'd be dead without Max."

"Assuming no one ever shot you at the Crashdown," Maria amended. "You just went on your merry way, living your life thinking that weather balloons landed in Roswell."

Liz thought of all the things she had endured over the past two years, the fear and heartache, lying to her parents, running from the law. She thought of Alex playing his bass, grinning at her in chemistry class, sitting at the counter drinking a root beer. Then she thought of the look in Max's eyes when she told him she didn't care that they were different, how it felt for him to hold her and kiss her, the way he made her heart soar with the simplest gesture. She thought of the baby growing inside her and all the trouble it would cause. Then she met Maria's eyes and slowly shook her head.

"I can't regret knowing Max," she whispered. "Maybe I should, but I can't. I'm always going to love him."

Maria smiled sadly. "Somehow I knew that's what you would say."

*****

TBC
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EmilyluvsRoswell
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Revelations - Part 11

Post by EmilyluvsRoswell »

Hello everyone! Hope you had a good holiday/weekend. I'm all pink and sunburnt, right through my SPF 30, but I had fun, so it was worth it. Sorry this is a little late, but I was away from my computer for a couple of days and just couldn't muster the energy for writing it out longhand. ;)

:)
Em

******

Part 11

******

Liz perched uncomfortably at her desk, the swell of her stomach keeping her from pulling the chair all the way in, and stared at her computer screen. She had spent the morning going through every photo Alex had sent her from his trip to Sweden, and she was starting to get bleary-eyed. It felt like he'd e-mailed every shot he took; if there were still more photos at his house, Liz thought it likely she would be blind before dark.

A soft tapping sounded at her door. "Come in," she called without turning around.

"Hey Lizzie," her father said. "You feel like some lunch?"

Liz frowned at the photo filling the screen in front of her. Alex was standing with Leanna in front of a building. It seemed a perfectly boring glass office building and she couldn't understand why anyone would want to take a picture there, but even so, something about it was bothering her. Something elusive that tugged at the corner of her mind, frustrating the daylights out of her.

"Liz?"

She looked up and caught her father watching her. "Sorry," she said, smiling a little sheepishly.

"Catching up on some school work?"

"No. Actually it's for the yearbook. I told Maria I'd help her with the memorial spread," she said quietly. "She's coming over with Kyle after school and we're going over to Alex's house. Mr. Whitman said we could look through everything for more pictures and stuff," she added with a small shrug.

"Sounds like a big job," he commented, his eyes soft with compassion.

"Yeah, kind of," she agreed, looking back at the screen.

"I just came up to see if you wanted something to eat."

"Right." Liz turned to find her father still hovering. "I'll grab something in a while," she assured him. "You don't have to fuss, Dad."

"Fussing is still part of my job description," he reminded her. "Look, Liz, your mother and I would like to sit down with you at some point in the next day or two. To discuss… things."

Liz fought the urge to sigh. It wasn't as if she hadn't been expecting this, and she couldn't deny her parents' right to be concerned. "I know," she told him.

"This isn't some sort of lecture we're talking about," her father continued. "We realize you're practically an adult, but while we still support you we think we have the right to be part of your decision process. I understand why you left for Florida without telling us about your pregnancy," he said slowly. "I don't necessarily agree with that choice, and I won't pretend it didn't hurt that you felt you couldn't trust us…"

"Daddy, don't," she interrupted. "It wasn't that I didn't trust you, I just didn't know what to say. I needed time."

Her father nodded, his lips pressed tightly together. Liz could see that he didn't quite believe her and felt a pang of guilt. How ironic that after all the lies she had told in the past two years, the truth seemed to give everyone so much more trouble.

"Whatever your reasons, Liz, you made your decision. I'm just saying your mother and I expect to be included from here on out. I think you'll agree that you owe us that much." The skin across his cheekbones was tightly drawn from tension, and his eyes were sad.

"What did you want to know, Dad?" she asked, before she had time to think twice.

Her father shook his head. "Just what you intend to do next. If you want to continue school in Florida, we'll need to book your flight back. Your mother and I would rather you stay, of course, but it's up to you. How about the three of us sit down over breakfast tomorrow?"

"Sure," Liz agreed.

"Okay then. I'll let you get back to work. Let me know if I can fix you anything to eat. I'll be on the grill until four."

Liz watched him go, relieved that he hadn't pressed her for an answer right then and there. The truth was she had no intention of returning to Florida. She was no closer to discovering what had happened to Alex than she had been the day before, and she wasn't going anywhere until she had all the answers. However, she could hardly tell her parents that. At least now she had time to come up something reasonable that would account for her sudden need to remain in Roswell. Fortunately they wanted her to stay. She just had to make them believe it was what she wanted as well.

***

"Dad, I ate already!" Liz called when the knock came at her door. It was the third time in as many hours, and she was getting tired of her father's constant interruptions. He had checked in on her when he took his break, bringing a grilled cheese sandwich, carrot sticks, and a thick vanilla milkshake. She had been grateful for the meal at the time, too engrossed in her study of Alex's pictures to bother with finding anything herself, but her father was out of excuses for visiting and she was on her last nerve.

"Not your dad," Maria sang out, coming into the room.

"Thank God," Liz muttered, spinning to face the door. "He's been driving me nuts all afternoon. I'm so glad to see you." She wrinkled her nose, her gaze darting past Maria. "Where's Kyle? I thought he was coming with you."

Maria rolled her eyes. "Oh, he's here. He's just being a chicken-shit," she declared in the direction of the hallway, her voice pitched to carry.

"What? I'm coming," Kyle grumbled. A moment later he appeared in the doorway, his head down. "Happy? Hey, Liz," he said, not looking up.

Liz waited until both of her friends had come into the room and Kyle had shut the door behind them. She looked from one to the other and back again. "Okay, what gives?"

"Nothing," Kyle said.

Liz turned to Maria, one eyebrow raised in question.

Maria sighed. "Kyle, just show her and get it over with. It's no big deal and you're just making things worse."

Kyle raised his head and Liz gasped. He had the beginnings of a black eye that would no doubt be a real shiner by the next morning, and his lip was cut. "What happened?"

He shrugged. "Baseball. Got hit in the eye."

Liz frowned. "And your mouth?"

"Er, I bit my lip when the ball hit me."

Liz stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to look her in the eye. When he never did, she glanced toward Maria. "What really happened?"

Maria sat down on the foot of the bed and shrugged. "I wasn't there. I can only go by what he says."

"And I'm Mother Theresa," Liz declared with a snort. "The rumor mill at West Roswell is nothing if not speedy, as I am well aware. So, let's have it. How'd he get the black eye?"

"Excuse me?" Kyle interjected. "Still in the room. Can you stop talking about me like I'm a picture on the wall?"

"Fine. Then you tell me," Liz said, snapping her head back in his direction.

"She's going to hear about it eventually," Maria pointed out.

Kyle threw his hands up in the air, a look of disgust twisting his features. "You try to do a good thing and this is the thanks you get. Whatever," he told Liz. "I'm done being noble, because it sure as hell isn't getting me anywhere. You want to know how I got this?" he demanded, pointing at his face. "You. I got it because of you. Happy now?"

"Because of me? How?"

"Tommy Flanagan was shooting his mouth off before third period," Kyle replied, then snapped his own mouth shut and turned away.

Liz began to get a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Yet again, Kyle was paying for her mistakes. "What did he say?" she asked.

Kyle just shook his head. "It's not important. He spent third period at the nurse's office, though. I only got the shiner cuz he took a sucker punch after Ms. Hardy came into the hall to break us up."

"Maria?" Liz pressed.

Her best friend looked vaguely uncomfortable. "I heard he asked Kyle how many times he… nailed you. Before it took." She nodded toward Liz's stomach.

"Kyle, I'm so sorry," Liz whispered. "I never meant for you to get any flack over me."

"Whatever," he said again.

"Did you get into trouble for fighting?"

"Detention for a week, starting Monday."

Liz sighed and pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes. Things just kept getting worse. She was tired of the fall out from her mistakes affecting all of her friends, but she saw no way to end it. If she could, she would hop on the next plane to Florida, but that just wasn't an option. She owed it to Alex to find out who killed him, and until she had the answers she sought, she wasn't going anywhere.

"Please sit down, Kyle," she said softly. "There's something I need to tell you."

Kyle stared at her. "You know what, Liz? Don't. Whatever it is, I don't want to know. I want out of the alien chaos, got it? I'm done here." He started for the door.

"Kyle, wait."

"Why should I?" he demanded, but he had stopped moving.

"Because you're in danger," Liz whispered. "I think we all are."

Some of Kyle's anger seemed to drain away. "What is it now?" he sighed.

Liz looked at Maria, who nodded encouragingly, her green eyes dark with emotion. Liz turned back to Kyle. "Alex's death wasn't an accident. Someone killed him."

"What? What are you talking about? That's crazy. Why would anyone want to kill Alex?" he asked, his earlier anger vanished in the wake of his shock.

"I don't know yet," she admitted. "But we're investigating, and I need your help."

Kyle took a couple of steps and dropped down on the bed next to Maria. "What makes you think Alex was killed? And what does it have to do with the rest of us?"

"Liz is getting flashes," Maria volunteered. "You know, like Max gets? Visions from touching things."

"You're turning into one of them?" Kyle yelped.

"Shh! No," Liz told him, shooting Maria a look. "It's not like that. I just seem to be getting some of Max's abilities, that's all. From him healing me."

"So it's going to happen to me, too?" he asked, his volume barely under control.

"Kyle, please, we'll talk about that later. Look, I found this picture in Alex's car," she continued, pulling it from beneath her blotter and handing it to him. "When I held it I could hear Alex speaking. See him cutting up the photo. He kept saying Leanna wasn't Leanna," she told him, pointing at the girl in the picture.

Kyle took the photo and frowned at it. "Did you tell my dad?"

"Yesterday. He said that Hanson was about to declare Alex's death a suicide, because a bunch of things at the accident scene weren't adding up, but I told him Alex would never have done that."

Kyle sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "So, you're thinking alien mojo, right? Someone sending a message to the pod squad or something like that?"

Liz nodded. "We don't know what happened to Nicholas after Max saw him in New York in November. And then there's Kivar, who was supposedly in love with Isabel in their past life. Maybe he did something to Alex to get to her."

"You're saying it might be open season on humans," Kyle concluded.

"We don't know," Liz said. "And we won't until we figure out for sure who killed Alex. It could be Skins or some new alien. We're completely in the dark."

Kyle turned to Maria, then back to Liz. "What about the others? Do they know already?"

"I don't want to tell them yet," Liz replied. "Not until I have something concrete to show them. Otherwise it'll seem like I'm blaming them."

Kyle's eyes drifted down to Liz's stomach. "And things are bad enough as it is, right?"

"Leave her alone," Maria told him, smacking him in the arm. "This isn't about Liz being pregnant, okay? Max already feels guilty for not being able to save Alex, and Isabel's a mess. Plus they're fighting among themselves," she added. "They don't need this on top of everything else. Not until it's necessary."

"And Liz does?" Kyle countered.

"Okay, stop," Liz demanded. "This is counter productive."

"What about Michael?" Kyle asked.

"What about him?" Maria asked in return.

"I mean, why not fill him in about this? He's their general or whatever, right? He's supposed to handle this stuff."

"You've got to be kidding. Tell Spaceboy? He'd go off half-cocked and get himself into trouble and then we'd have no choice but to tell Max and Isabel so they could go save his sorry ass," Maria grumbled.

Liz frowned. "Actually, it's not that bad of an idea," she said slowly.

"What? Liz, those pregnancy hormones are affecting your brain," Maria declared.

"No, just listen for a minute. He won't tell Max or Isabel, because they're all fighting. And he won't take it as some sort of personal accusation, because we'd be going to him for protection," Liz said. "He'll understand we're not blaming any of them. He's not as emotionally involved with the situation as Max and Isabel."

"You're forgetting the going off half-cocked part," Maria reminded her.

"I thought you said he's been a lot calmer since Vegas," Liz said. "And I've seen for myself how he's been taking care of you this week," she added gently.

Maria had the grace to look guilty. "You're right. I'm being too hard on him. He has been great lately."

"God, I can't believe I actually suggested Guerin for this assignment. Is it too late to take it back?" Kyle groaned.

"I'm afraid not," Liz said. "But I still want to go through Alex's room first. The three of us. Then tomorrow we can go to Michael with whatever we find." She shifted in the chair as the baby moved within her, dropping a hand to rub her stomach.

Maria's eyes followed her movement and her expression softened. "Baby kicking?"

"What? Oh, yeah," Liz said, glancing down. "He's getting really active."

"He?" Maria pounced.

"I don't know anything yet," Liz said, holding up a hand to stop her friend's excited ramble before it could start. "I just feel funny saying 'it' all the time." She smiled. "And maybe I think it might be a boy," she admitted.

"Could I?" Maria held out a hand shyly.

"Of course." Liz eased out of her chair and went to sit on the bed, surprised when Kyle shifted to make room between himself and Maria. "Here," she said, taking Maria's hand and pressing the palm to where she had felt the baby moving moments earlier. "Just wait."

The baby had stilled, as if sensing the presence of a stranger, but then Liz felt a gentle flutter of movement. Maria looked up, eyes wide. "Wow," she breathed. "That's just so…" She trailed off, eyes filling with tears. "God, it makes it so much more real. Liz, you're actually going to be a mother," she whispered.

Liz nodded, unable to hold back her grin. Somehow, that was the only fact that kept her going through all the insanity surrounding them. No matter how unintended, no matter how many problems her child was going to cause, she couldn't help but be thrilled at the prospect of motherhood. A tiny life was growing inside of her, one that was part of her and Max - if only biologically. That was a miracle by any standpoint.

"Whoa," Kyle muttered, staring at Liz's stomach, then glancing up to meet her questioning gaze. "You think I could…" He jerked his head toward Maria's hand where it rested over Liz's abdomen. "Would it be okay?"

"You want to feel the baby kicking?" Liz asked him gently. When he gave a sheepish nod, she reached out for his hand, then placed it next to Maria's. The baby shifted obligingly.

"Holy cow," Kyle said, staring at his hand.

The baby kicked some more, causing Maria to laugh. "Now he's just showing off," she said.

Liz laughed, too. "Could be. Though given his parentage, I find it unlikely."

"So, Dad's the shy, retiring type, huh?" Kyle said. "Gee, wonder who that could be."

"Kyle, please don't go there," Liz warned.

"Hey, you brought it up."

"Right," Liz sighed. She gently pulled her friends' hands away from her stomach. "We should get a move on. There's a lot of stuff to go through at Alex's and I'd rather not be camped out there all night."

"Okay," Maria agreed, standing up. "I'm parked out front," she said, as Liz went to gather up her things from her desk.

"What exactly are we looking for at Alex's house?" Kyle asked.

"Anything that might give us an idea of what really happened," Liz said. "He's got a bunch of password protected files on his computer, and Maria has the security code. We're hoping that will work."

They headed down the stairs and into the back room of the Crashdown. Liz poked her head into the kitchen. "We're taking off, Dad. I'll call if I'm going to be late."

Her father waved over his shoulder as he flipped a row of sizzling burgers. "Don't work too hard," he advised.

"I won't," she assured him with a slight roll of the eyes. "Let's go, guys."

"Can I get a soda on the way?" Kyle asked as Liz pushed backwards into the café.

"Sure." She grabbed a take-out cup off the shelf to her left, then turned to head behind the counter. "Maria, you want anything?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Um, no," Maria replied. "I'm… good."

Liz frowned and turned to her friend. "What's wrong?" She swiveled back in the opposite direction, toward where Maria and Kyle were staring. And froze. Max Evans was seated at the counter, with Tess right beside him.

Max sat silently and held Liz's gaze for a long, awkward moment. Tess, however, appeared not to share his inability to speak. "Liz, hi!" she said. "How are you? I didn't get a chance to talk to you at the funeral the other day."

Liz had to force herself to look away from Max. "I'm fine, Tess," she replied. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm great. I wanted to congratulate you. You know, on the baby." Her blue eyes seemed to beam at Liz, who finally turned back to the soda dispenser.

"Thanks," she replied. She quickly finished filling the plastic cup and slapped the lid on it. "Here you go, Kyle," she said, coming back around the end of the counter.

"Great, thanks," he said quickly.

"We should get going," Maria chimed in.

"Yeah," Liz agreed. "See you later," she added, her eyes darting past Tess to where Max still sat like a statue, his gaze fixed on her. He was frowning slightly, as if something was bothering him.

Suddenly the baby kicked hard, and Liz winced, pressing her palm against her stomach. He wasn't generally so energetic and he had taken her by surprise.

"Oh, is the baby moving?" Tess crowed. "Can I feel?" She slid off her stool and took a step toward Liz.

"No!" Liz bit out, backing up into Maria, who caught her by the shoulders. Tess stared at Liz as if she'd been smacked. "I mean, I'm sorry but it's bad enough waddling around like this without people wanting to pet me, too, you know?" Liz said, managing a smile of apology.

"Oh, sure, I understand," Tess said, returning to her stool. "Well, have a good afternoon. Hope you're doing something fun."

If the baby hadn't still been kicking, Liz might have come back with a appropriate retort, but as it was, all she did was nod.

"Let's go," she told the others.

"Sure thing," Maria agreed, a supportive hand on Liz's back.

"I'll get the door," Kyle volunteered, moving purposefully ahead, so that Liz was sandwiched between him and Maria.

Liz could feel Max's eyes on her all the way across the café. Once they got outside, she rounded the corner and leaned against the building for a moment to regain her composure.

"Liz, babe, I'm sure it's not what it looked like," Maria said hastily.

"I know," she breathed. "Max only sits at the counter when he's here alone. Tess must have shown up and joined him. But it doesn't matter. They're supposed to be together."

"Yeah, right," Kyle snorted.

"What does that mean?" Liz asked.

"Just that Evans doesn't seem too keen on Tess. If you thought leaving town was going to change things, you were wrong."

"I can't believe he just sat there," Maria grumbled. "Asshole. He could have at least said something. I'm going to have to seriously consider revoking his girlfriend status."

Liz sighed. "I can't deal with this right now." She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. "God, I hate her," she muttered. "I try not to, but I can't seem to help it." She opened her eyes to find Maria and Kyle staring worriedly at her. "I'm okay. Really. Let's get going. We've got a lot of work ahead of us."

Kyle and Maria exchanged looks. "Are you sure you're up to this?" Maria asked.

"Yes," Liz declared adamantly. "Come on. Alex is depending on us." Without another word, she strode off toward the Jetta, secure in the fact that her friends were behind her. She had no intention of looking back.

******

TBC
Last edited by EmilyluvsRoswell on Tue Jul 08, 2003 6:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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EmilyluvsRoswell
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Posts: 56
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm

Revelations - Part 12

Post by EmilyluvsRoswell »

"Okay," Liz said as she stood just inside the door and surveyed Alex's room. "Kyle, why don't you look go through the closet. Maria and I can get started on the computer."

Kyle shot her a confused look. "What the hell's gonna be in the closet?"

"I don't know," she replied, making her way to the desk. "But we won't know until we look."

"Fine," he grumbled, sliding the door open.

With a flick of the wrist, Liz brought Alex's laptop out of sleep mode and clicked on the folder containing his journal. "What was that password, Maria?"

"Try 'I THE STUD'," Maria told her.

Liz glanced at her, eyebrows raised. "You're kidding me."

"Hey, this is Alex we're talking about," she reminded her.

"Right," Liz said softly. Turning back to the screen, she typed in the words. "Let's see if this works," she mumbled, holding her breath as she hit the enter key. The machine churned for a few seconds and the password box disappeared. "Got it!"

Maria leaned over her shoulder. "Liz, this isn't right. We shouldn't be reading Alex's private thoughts."

"I'm just going to skim. I won't really read anything unless it looks like some sort of clue," she promised. "We owe it to him to find out what happened." Liz clicked on the file for December and waited for the document to open. "Huh?"

"What?" Maria leaned forward so she could see better. "There's nothing there."

Liz scrolled down, but the entire document was empty. "Okay, that's just weird," she muttered. Clicking on January, she found the same blank file, only this time when she scrolled, she found there were journal entries beginning at the end of the month. "January 20th? He was home by then," she said, scanning the text briefly.

By this time Kyle was hanging over her other shoulder. "Why leave blank space in the file for the days he didn't write anything?"

"Maybe he just deleted them?" Maria suggested.

Liz shook her head. "You know it doesn't work that way. When you delete paragraphs, the program closes up the space. It's really difficult to remove the text and leave the blank pages. Besides, like Kyle said, why would he want to?"

"If this was handwritten, I'd say he'd used invisible ink," Kyle joked.

"Oh my God, you're brilliant!" Liz told him.

"I am?"

Going back to the first empty file, Liz positioned the cursor at the top of the page and ran it down to the bottom, highlighting the space between. Then going up to the menu, she set the text color for black. "He didn't have to write by hand in order to use invisible ink," she said. "He just changed the font to white. See?" She hit the return and the page was suddenly filled with words.

"Liz?" Maria said, her tone panicky.

The journal entries were each identical, and ran the length of the file: the date followed by the words Nothing Is As It Seems.

"That's just plain freaky," Kyle said.

"But what does it mean?" Liz sighed with frustration.

"What was it Alex said in your flash?" Maria asked.

"Leanna is not Leanna. I guess this kind of goes along the same lines. Maybe he meant she was an alien? Even a shapeshifter?" Liz said, staring at the screen.

"What else is on the computer?" Kyle asked.

Liz ran through several more folders, but all she found were copies of the photos Alex had taken on his trip. "I have all of these," she said as she closed the third folder of pictures.

"There's one more," Maria pointed out.

"He sure was camera happy," Kyle muttered. "How long was he gone, anyway?"

"Like six weeks," Maria replied.

"I always thought it was a weird time of year for a study abroad program," Kyle continued. "What kind of school sets up a trip like that over Christmas? And didn't he get back right before exams?"

"Right after," Liz corrected. "He took make-ups. That's part of the reason his grades were so lousy last semester. As soon as he got home, he had to take mid-terms on everything he'd missed while he was away. But do his teachers take that into consideration? No. They write him off as suicidal," she whispered bitterly. She clicked open the final folder with an angry sniff.

The folder held more photos, but these made Liz gasp. "I don't believe it," she murmured.

There on the screen were the makings of every photo Alex had e-mailed her, but as separate components. The majority were images of scenery and buildings, while the rest were shots of Alex and Leanna that had been taken separately and in other locations. Someone had copied their bodies from the photos and then pasted them onto the new backgrounds to make it look as if they were standing together in front of a variety of Swedish landscapes. Alex and Leanna didn't appear in a single of the original photos together.

"So Whitman made up his Swedish girlfriend, huh? You know, you gotta hand it to him," Kyle said with a low whistle. "It sure brought Isabel around."

"That's not what this is," Liz said, shaking her head.

"Sure it is. Look, he did a little graphic magic and presto - instant long-distance dating," Kyle said.

"No, Kyle, look," Liz said, quickly opening one of the files with the completed composite photos. "It's not just Leanna who's been pasted into these pictures. It's Alex. Even the ones where he's alone in the photo. See?" she said, highlighting a shot of Alex standing on a snowy street.

"But why not just have someone take the picture with him in it?" Maria asked.

"Maybe he couldn't," Liz said slowly.

"Why not? It's not like he was shy," Kyle said.

Liz's hands fell away from the keyboard. "What if he wasn't actually there?"

"What if he wasn't where?" Maria asked.

"Sweden," Liz replied. "What if Alex never really went to Sweden?"

"Liz, that's crazy," Maria told her. "I mean, where else would he have been?"

"I don't know. But what proof do we have that he actually was there? We know the pictures were fake. What else?"

"He wrote about his trip for the school paper," Maria said. "They ran the article a couple of months ago. It's probably still around here somewhere," she added, starting to rummage through the desk.

"Maria, he could have gotten the information from the internet or a travel book," Liz said. "It doesn't prove anything."

Slamming the drawer shut, Maria glared at her. "Stop it, Liz. Just stop. He was there. We know he was. He e-mailed both of us while he was gone and told us all about what he was doing."

It broke Liz's heart to see her friend gasping at straws. "Maria, he told us where he was. He didn't actually say much about what he was doing," she corrected gently.

"Okay, hold on," Kyle broke in. "Did you save the e-mails?"

Liz and Maria both nodded.

"So then can't we somehow trace them? To see where they came from?" he pressed.

"It's possible," Liz agreed. "But it's way beyond my hacking abilities."

"Alex could have done it, no problem," Maria said softly. Her knees gave out and she sank onto the foot of the bed. "God, I can't believe this is happening."

"What about that guy from Alex's A.P. Computer tutorial last year," Liz said. "What was his name? Danny?"

"Derek," Maria said listlessly. "Yeah, he's a techie nerdy type. He could probably handle it."

Liz rose from the desk and went to sit next to Maria. "You have to pull it together," she told her seriously. "I can't do this without you, and we need to do this. You know that. We have no way of knowing how far-reaching this is. Everything could be starting up already."

"Don't give me that," Maria said. "I don't want to hear that this is the beginning of Armageddon, Liz. I'm just not up to it."

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Kyle demanded.

Liz looked up with a jolt to find him glaring at them. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "There's a lot more to this than Alex getting killed."

"You don't know that, Liz," Maria snapped.

"I do," she bit out, slanting her friend an icy look. "I know what I know. Alex wasn't supposed to die, Maria. Deny it all you want, but I did this."

"You did what?" Kyle broke in, his voice rising.

Liz met his confused gaze and let out a sigh. "I changed the future."

***

"Let me see if I've got this straight," Kyle said slowly.

Liz let out a sigh of relief. It had taken more than half an hour to finish explaining the whole Future Max episode to Kyle, but only because Maria kept interrupting to offer her two cents. Kyle had remained stock still through the entire story, his blue eyes unreadable. "Shoot," she told him.

"Max came back from the future last fall and convinced you that in order to save the world, he had to be with Tess, and that you had to help that happen by making present day Max Evans fall out of love with you. So you staged that whole thing with me to get Max to turn away from you, figuring he'd end up with Tess by default?"

"Basically," Liz confirmed with a sigh.

"And after I left that night, you slept with the Max from the future, so he's the father of that baby," Kyle continued, leveling her stomach with a look.

Liz nodded.

"Which means, technically, this Max is also the baby's father. At least genetically," he added, turning to look at Maria.

"Right," Maria agreed. That fact had been one of her contributions.

"But you have no intention of telling him that," Kyle went on, looking at Liz again.

Liz shook her head. "It'll only hurt him more. This is my mess," she said quietly.

Kyle frowned. "How does this fit in with Alex again? That's the part that has me a little confused."

"Liz thinks that by changing the timeline, she did something to cause Alex to be killed," Maria said. "She's blaming herself."

"This isn't about blame," Liz told her. "Kyle, I know Alex didn't die in that other timeline. Future Max told me that when he and I eloped to Vegas-"

"Hold on, you what?" Kyle blurted out.

"Max and I were married in the future," she said in a small voice. "We eloped at nineteen."

"Geez. No wonder he thought he had the right to one last roll in the hay before he went poof," Kyle muttered.

"Kyle!" Maria shouted, smacking him on the arm.

"What?" he bit back. "I mean, what the hell was he thinking? All those years of marriage and he still doesn't know about the birds and the bees?" he sneered. "Aren't there any condoms in the future?"

"I'm the one who wanted to," Liz said firmly. "He knew it was a bad idea, but he did it for me."

"Right," Kyle said. "For you. Cuz guys really need you to force them to have sex."

"Stop it," Liz said wearily. "Please stop."

"I just hate to see you putting all the blame on your own shoulders," he said. "You've got enough of a load as it is."

Liz sighed. "Can we get back to the point? Please?" When Kyle nodded, she continued. "In the future, after Max and I got married, Alex was one of the people we called to meet us in Phoenix to celebrate. He was alive at nineteen in that version of the future. So, something we changed affected Alex. That's all I'm saying. And if he was killed by an alien- "

"Which it looks like he was," Kyle broke in.

"Which it looks like he was," Liz agreed, "then there's a chance that something we did also affected that portion of the future. What if instead of taking over the planet in fourteen years, Max's enemies are already here? We need to find out who killed Alex, and why. This isn't just about wanting to know the truth, or retribution, or even us being in danger."

Kyle leaned over, elbows resting on his knees, and scrubbed his hands over his face, threading his fingers through his hair. "I think my head might explode," he murmured.

"How do you think I feel?" Liz replied.

Shifting his palms so he could peer up at her from between them, Kyle met her tired gaze. "Liz, how do you really expect to pull this off?" he questioned softly. "You're pregnant with an alien baby. You think you can just run around playing detective, putting yourself at risk, then pop out the kid and live happily ever after with no one ever noticing when Junior's hands start to glow?" he hissed. "What's going through your head?"

She shook her head. "I'll worry about it when I get there," she told him. "One day at a time. That's the only way I know to get through this, Kyle. Right now I have to focus on Alex. Once we know who killed him, then-"

"You don't know how long this is going to take," he cut her off. "Ask my dad. Sometimes murder investigations go unsolved forever," he pointed out.

"This is different," she protested stubbornly. "We're really getting somewhere with all of this," she said, indicating the computer. "I know we'll figure it all out."

Kyle turned to Maria who shrugged. "I've given up trying to talk sense to her," she told him.

"Thanks so much for humoring me," Liz said wryly.

"Fine. So where does this leave us?" Kyle asked.

"Maria, will you see if Derek can decrypt the origin point of Alex's e-mails to us?" Liz asked.

"Sure," she agreed. "When I drop you home, we can print out the ones he sent to you, and then I can track down Derek in the morning."

"We still planning on visiting Guerin?" Kyle asked.

"Tomorrow afternoon?" Liz suggested.

""It'll have to be early," Maria said. "Your dad has the two of us scheduled to work closing."

"I'm supposed to have breakfast with my parents to discuss my situation," Liz groaned. "Hopefully it won't take too long."

"Yeah, I'm sure your dad's thrilled with the idea of being a grandpa," Kyle snorted.

"You're not helping," Liz informed him.

"Sorry. Er, what's my assignment?" he asked.

"Could you fill your dad in on everything we've found out?" Liz asked. "I already told him about the flashes and finding the picture in Alex's car, but he doesn't know the rest."

"Can do."

"And Kyle, nothing about the Future Max stuff, all right? That can't go any further than the three of us," Liz warned.

"I've got it."

"And for now, don't tell anyone else about our investigating Alex. The fewer people who know the better."

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Alien conspiracy in reverse," he said. "For once, we're the ones in the know."

"I never thought of it like that," Maria said with a smile. "It kind of makes for a nice change. At least until you consider what we're dealing with," she added, her smile fading. "Knowledge is overrated," she concluded.

"I still wish I could control those memories," Liz muttered.

"What memories?" Kyle asked.

"I got a series of flashes from Future Max. Things that happened in his timeline. I don't really remember all of them, but most nights I have these dreams-"

"You mean nightmares," Maria interrupted.

"Yeah, well," Liz hedged. "Anyway, they're essentially Max's memories. If I could control them, maybe I'd be able to see what happened during this period of time before. I mean, Alex didn't die, but what was going on with him? What else is different that might have led to him getting killed?"

"Too bad you can't go to Tess," Kyle said.

"What?" Maria sputtered. "Why the hell would she want to talk to that blonde midget?"

"Maria," Liz sighed. "Kyle, what are you talking about?"

He shrugged. "Just that she claims to have some memories from their past life. She and Max were working on it for a while. I guess she was helping him to access his memories."

Liz felt her lungs constrict sharply, all the air rushing out of them. "Did… did it work?"

"I don't know. They only got together a couple of times," Kyle said, avoiding Liz's gaze. "It started after that thing at the UFO Center, when Brody flipped out. I guess he said some stuff - or that alien dude, Larek, did - and it got Max thinking. He asked Tess to help him. Mostly they got together at his house, but one day they were over at my place when I got home from practice and they didn't know I was there. I kinda overheard-"

"You mean eavesdropped," Maria said.

"Whatever," Kyle said, shooting her an evil look. "Anyway, Tess was coming onto Max and I could tell he was pretty uncomfortable about it," he continued. "He told her that just because he wasn't with you," he said, his eyes darting to Liz, "didn't mean he suddenly had feelings for her. And that whatever was between them on that other planet happened to two different people. Then he left and I don't think they've done any more memory retrieval stuff. But whatever they did, I bet it would work for you, too," he told Liz.

"Maybe. But as you said, asking Tess just isn't an option," she replied quietly, still feeling as if she'd had the stuffing knocked out of her. Part of her was thrilled that Max was still reluctant to follow his destiny, but the rest of her was terrified. What would it mean for the future if Max continued to push Tess away?

"You could go to Max," Maria said.

"No, Maria, I couldn't."

"I don't mean tell him everything," she added hastily. "Just ask him about what he did with Tess, see if he'll tell you how it works. Act like you're curious," she said with a snort.

"Maria, stop. It's not going to happen," Liz told her. "He'd just wonder what was up and start asking questions again, and I'm not willing to…" She trailed off at the sound of footsteps in the hallway. A moment later there was a knock on the door and Mr. Whitman poked his head into the room.

"Hey, kids," he said quietly. "How's it coming?"

"Really good, Mr. Whitman," Maria told him. "Thank you so much for letting us go through all of Alex's things. We really appreciate it."

"You're welcome," he replied. "Alex loved you guys," he added with a sad smile. "You going to be a while longer? I thought I'd order a pizza."

"No, thank you," Liz said. "We're all expected home."

"You sure? It's no trouble."

"We're sure," Maria said. "But thank you so much."

"Okay, well. Let me know if you need anything." He nodded to them and left, closing the door behind him.

Liz realized there were tears pricking at her eyes and rubbed at them with the back of her hand. "He shouldn't have to go through this," she whispered harshly.

Maria slipped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick hug. "None of us should," she whispered. "Come on. Let's pack it in for today."

***

After dropping Kyle back at the school to pick up his car, Maria drove Liz home. They parked behind the Crashdown and slipped up the back stairs, bypassing the dinner crowd in the café.

"It should just take a few minutes to print out the origination coding for those e-mails," Liz said, closing her bedroom door to insure a measure of privacy.

"No hurry," Maria told her, flopping on the bed. "Mom's having dinner with Valenti," she added, her nose wrinkling with disgust.

"I thought she ended that?"

"She did, but since Thanksgiving they've been talking. Just friends, or so she claims. It's been a lot more frequent since he lost his job."

Liz reached a hand behind her desk, fishing for the printer cable and then plugging it into the back of her laptop. "Has he tried to appeal the decision?"

"I don't know. I don't think so, though. Kyle says he spends a lot of time just hanging around the house."

"At least he's helping Hanson investigate Alex's death," Liz said. She sat down at her desk and pressed the power button on the computer. "Maybe that'll help him motivate."

"Yeah, sure. Because after getting fired over one alien misadventure, he should really go leaping into another one."

Liz turned at her friend's bitter tone. "You okay?" she asked quietly.

Maria pinned her with an incredulous look. "What do you think? Alex is dead, for God only knows what reason. You're off on some sort of quest to solve his murder, ignoring the fact that you're pregnant and that your health could be at risk, never mind the danger involved with gunning for enemy aliens. There's this huge rift between our friends. So, no, I'm sorry, but I am not okay," she hissed.

"I'm sorry."

Maria let out a frustrated sigh. "It's not your fault. At least not most of it. Are you ever going to go see Isabel? I'd feel a lot better if we at least knew you were all right."

"I will, I promise," Liz told her. "I just want to give her a couple of days. It doesn't seem like the best timing, you know? Not with her fighting with Max, and everything with Alex."

"I guess you're right. She's staying pretty clear of all of us these days."

Liz opened her e-mail program and quickly scanned back to the messages Alex had sent from Sweden. "Hold on a sec," she told Maria. She clicked each message in turn, setting the format to reveal the source information, then turned on her printer. When the e-mails were churning out, one after another, she rose and went to join Maria on the bed.

"What exactly happened between Max and Isabel?" she asked quietly, curling on her side to get more comfortable. "I know you said Iz wants to go away to school."

"I actually overheard part of the fight," Maria admitted. "Max was really upset. He told Isabel she was being irrational, that she shouldn't be making such major decisions so soon after Alex's death. That she was just running away, and what happened to their agreement that they'd always stick together."

"And how did Isabel react?"

"She called him controlling. Told him it was her life and she'd do what she wanted," Maria sighed. "The thing is, I think Max was right. But if he'd just backed off and let her be, she would have realized it by herself. Instead he pushed. Accused her of being selfish." Maria paused, her eyes meeting Liz's. "She stomped off and left him standing there in the hallway."

"What else? I know there's more," Liz coaxed, seeing the hesitant look in her friend's gaze.

"When she was walking away, Max's expression was… He kind of crumpled, Liz. I heard him ask why everyone was so anxious to get away from him."

"Oh, Maria," Liz whispered.

"I don't think he knew I was there. He was just talking to himself. But he's hurting, Liz."

"God, Maria. I don't know what to do anymore," Liz whimpered, rolling onto her back and staring up at the ceiling. "I'm scared. So scared that I've done all the wrong things already. What if I just make things worse? I feel like I spend every second weighing my choices, trying to figure out how to minimize the damage. I go to sleep dreading what I'll see - what I'll dream - and I wake up paralyzed, so afraid my days'll start resembling my nights," she whispered.

"Liz…" Maria took her hand and squeezed it. "You can't keep doing this. Not everything is your responsibility."

"I messed up so badly," Liz went on. She rested a hand on the swell of her stomach. "What the hell was I thinking? How could I believe that sleeping with him wouldn't come back to haunt me?" She turned to look at Maria. "I think Max can feel the baby," she said.

"What?"

"The baby senses Max. He gets really active whenever Max is nearby. And I've caught Max staring at me with this strange look on his face. Like he's connecting with the baby but can't figure out what he's feeling. I've gone over and over it in my head, and I'm pretty sure that's how Max realized I was pregnant. He didn't get a flash from me; it was the baby reaching out to him."

"Oh, Liz. What are you going to do?"

Liz shook her head and looked up at the ceiling again. Tears slid down her cheeks with the movement, dampening her hairline. She sniffed, but didn't bother to brush them away. "I don't know," she said. "Kyle was right. And my mother. She said the baby is going to look like someone. Once he's born, everyone will know - or think they know. And Max. God, how am I ever going to explain this to him?"

"You'll tell him the truth. He'll understand."

"He'll hate me. God, I've put him through so much."

"It's not like you did it for fun, Liz. This has been hell on you, too, and you were just doing what you thought was right."

"It still might be right. I just don't know anymore. I can't trust myself to know what to do."

"I wish I could tell you." Maria sat up and grabbed the tissue box off the nightstand, then passed it to Liz. "Let it out," she advised. "Have you even cried at all since Alex died?"

"Not really." She took a tissue and dried her cheeks, then blew her nose. "I haven't wanted to stop long enough to think about it. I guess I'm kind of afraid that once I get going, I won't be able to stop."

"You will," Maria said softly. "I did. And you'll feel better."

"There's too much going on. I need to stay focused." The printer had stopped, and Liz levered herself up awkwardly and went to retrieve the e-mails.

"Liz, when are you going to stop and think about yourself? For once, just think about you. Please!"

"I thought about myself for one hour of one night," Liz replied. "Look what it got me. I can't afford to think of myself, Maria. I'm not very important in the overall scheme of things."

"How can you say that? Of course you're important."

"No," Liz bit out. "The world's a very big place. What I want doesn't matter much when you weigh it against the lives of millions of people." She tapped the print-outs into a neat pile and held them out to her friend.

Maria sat on the bed and stared at her for a moment, then stood and took the e-mails. "I can't talk to you when you're like this," she stated. "Call me when you're ready to go to Michael's tomorrow."

"Okay," Liz agreed. Seeing the steely look in the other girl's eyes, she sighed. "Don't be mad at me. I know you think I'm being impossible. Please, just try and understand."

"I do understand," Maria said, her expression softening. "But I'm worried about you. I need my best friend. My heart can't stand losing someone else."

"You won't lose me," Liz assured her.

Maria shook her head. "You can't promise that."

"I love you," Liz told her, pulling her into an awkward hug.

"Love you, too," Maria whispered. "I'll see you tomorrow." She tucked the print-outs into her bag and left.

***

TBC
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EmilyluvsRoswell
Enthusiastic Roswellian
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Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm

Revelations - Part 13

Post by EmilyluvsRoswell »

In two posts, due to length

******

Part 13

******

…no survivors… no survivors… no survivors…

Liz sat up with a gasp, drenched in sweat, Jim Valenti's voice echoing in her head. She pushed back the sheet and stumbled into the bathroom, acrid smoke still stinging her nostrils. Her heart was pounding so hard, she could barely catch her breath. Leaning against the sink, she turned on the cold water and let it run until it was icy before she splashed her face. The frigid temperature was a relief against her flushed cheeks, but nothing could erase the images etched on her mind. Of all the nightmares, this was one of the worst: her parents dying in the flames that engulfed the Crashdown. She knew from bitter experience that no matter how hard she tried to relax, there would be no getting back to sleep tonight.

Adrenaline still pumping, she stripped out of her damp night clothes and pulled on a pair of loose shorts and a T-shirt. It took a few minutes to find her sneakers, which had somehow worked their way under the bed, and Liz cursed as she eased herself back up from the floor, her stomach making the maneuver more difficult than normal. Sneakers finally on, hair pulled back in a ponytail, Liz scribbled a quick note to her parents and tacked it to the refrigerator on her way out of the apartment.

Back in Florida, she had walked off her nightmares along the peaceful stretch of beach. The deserted streets of Roswell were hardly an equal substitute, but they would have to do. It was just past five, too early even for the milk delivery, so she slipped unnoticed through the back door of the Crashdown and out into the faint morning light. The air was chilly and she debated going back for a sweatshirt, but decided against it, not wanting to delay her walk and risk the streets growing more populated.

Main Street was deserted as Liz made her way past the front of the café and down toward the bakery at the end of the block, her nose twitching at the aroma of bread that wafted toward her. She took brisk, long strides, conscious of having spent the bulk of the previous day curled up in front of computers. Her back was stiff and ached slightly, and she had to make a conscious effort not to sway backward to support her stomach.

Citrus was just as quiet as Main had been, and Liz turned, grateful to get out of sight of the restaurant. Her nightmare was still clinging to the fringes of her mind and it was better to escape things that reminded her of the horrific imagery. The early morning solitude in front of the Crashdown was too similar to the scene in her dream, despite the absence of fire trucks and rescue personnel. She needed to get past it before she sat down to breakfast with her parents. There was no way she could have a calm, reasonable discussion with them if she was suffering flashbacks from her nightmares. She would simply fall apart and agree to whatever they asked, and something told her that was not the best plan of action.

Liz let out a long, heart-felt sigh. It seemed like forever since she had actually had a plan. She thought she had one when she went to Florida, but now that she was back, she had to admit that it was more running than planning that had made her leave Roswell. It certainly wasn't as if she had thought things through any further than getting out from under Max's watchful eye and maybe, hopefully, escaping from the effects of small-town gossip. Both of those ideas were pretty well shot, however, and now it was more a matter of dealing with everyone's questions than anything else. Particularly her parents'. What was it Maria had called it? Damage control. She laughed quietly. The title seemed rather inappropriate, given how much damage was already done.

The sound of fast-approaching footsteps interrupted Liz's thoughts, and she looked up just in time to narrowly escape being knocked over by Isabel Evans as she came running around the corner. Liz back stepped and Isabel grabbed at her arms, her momentum spinning them around in a tight circle so they each stopped facing the opposite direction from where they had been heading.

"Liz!" Isabel cried out, clutching her shoulders and bracing herself. "I am so sorry. Are you okay? I didn't see you."

"I'm fine. No harm done," Liz assured her, taking another step back so Isabel's hands dropped. She smiled at the sight of Max's sister dripping sweat, her chest heaving. It was somehow reassuring to know that even alien princesses had to work for their looks.

Isabel leaned over, bracing her hands on her knees, still breathing hard. "God," she puffed. "You scared the bejesus out of me. I'm usually the only one out at this time." She swung her ponytail over her shoulder and blew upwards, sending wisps of hair flying.

"It does seem a bit early," Liz agreed.

"What about you?" Isabel asked, one perfect eyebrow arching. "How come you're out here instead of snug in bed?"

"Couldn't sleep."

Isabel nodded, her eyes narrowing all too perceptively for Liz's comfort. "I know what you mean," she said. She stood straight and turned so she was staring off into the distance. "I love it at this hour. No one around. Nothing forcing me to think. I can just run. It's mindless."

"Yeah," Liz agreed.

"How are you doing?" Isabel asked, still not looking at her.

Somehow the lack of direct scrutiny made the question easier to answer. "I feel like I'm drowning," she whispered.

"And you can't seem to move your arms or legs. And you're not sure you want to." Isabel glanced over, her eyes dark with comprehension. They stared at each other for a long moment, in perfect accord, before she broke the silence. "You heading back toward the Crashdown?"

Liz nodded.

"Want company?"

"I can't exactly keep up with you," Liz pointed out wryly.

"I'm done. I just need to cool down. Come on." Isabel started off in the direction of the café, setting an easy walking pace that took Liz's shorter legs into account. Liz smiled slightly and fell in beside her. She recognized that Isabel was maintaining a strict control over her emotions and she was grateful for the effort, even if she suspected it wouldn't last.

"So, how about you? How are you doing?" she asked.

"I try not to think about it too much. Because when I do, I fall apart," came the quiet reply. "I'm sorry I haven't been by to see you. You've been back nearly a week and I only saw you at the funeral, and even then we didn't talk."

Liz shrugged. "It's okay, Isabel. It's not like we ever really hung out or anything."

"It was still wrong of me. You were Alex's best friend, Liz. I should have come by."

"I understand."

"Do you? Because I don't," she said. "I don't think I understand any of..." Isabel stopped suddenly, catching Liz by the elbow. "That's a lie. I stayed away because I was furious at you for hurting Max, and I didn't have it in me to be sympathetic," she admitted. "I still don't, really. I… I want to see it from your side, but damn it, Liz, he's my brother. For all our fighting, I love him and it kills me to see him so broken. And it's your fault."

"That's not exactly a news flash," Liz sighed.

"How could you?" Isabel asked in a hushed voice, her gaze darting toward her stomach. "When Max told me you were pregnant, I didn't believe him. And then I couldn't believe that he wasn't the father. I screamed at him," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "You know what he told me? That he wished it was his, because at least then something in his life would be going the way it was supposed to."

"Isabel, I-"

"You know what I don't get? I really thought you still loved him. When he was in New York and you realized his life was in danger… Liz, the look on your face. I could see how scared you were for him. But you were already pregnant then, weren't you? How could you hurt Max like that? Walking away from him was one thing, but this is so..." She shook her head, sending tears careening down her face. "God, Liz, it's cruel," she whispered. "What happened to you?"

Liz knew she was crying, could feel the tears streaming down her cheeks, but the rest of her was just numb. She blinked, her vision blurring, then turned away from Isabel so she wouldn't have to face the accusation in her eyes. "The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt Max," she said, choking the words out past the lump in her throat. "I left town so he wouldn't have to see me like this. I tried, Isabel, really," she whispered.

"Oh God, Liz, I'm sorry," Isabel told her. "I know you did. I do. And I know things were already terrible for you, and now Alex and…" She tugged at her shoulder, and Liz turned. Isabel's face was streaked with tears and her eyes held all the pain of the past week. "I know you didn't do any of this out of spite, that it really wasn't about Max, because you would never... I didn't mean to make it sound like…" She shook her head, then swiped at her cheeks with the backs of her hands. "You must think I'm the biggest bitch, standing in the middle of the street yelling at you."

"No," Liz said. "I don't." She dried her own tears and tried to smile. "How about we just change the subject?"

"Good idea," Isabel agreed, letting out a hiccuppy laugh.

They started walking again, neither speaking. Every time Liz opened her mouth to say something, she thought better of it, not particularly anxious to start a new fight. Finally they were within view of the Crashdown.

"You coming in?" Liz asked.

Isabel squinted toward the café. "Isn't it too early?"

"Well, we're not officially open, but you know I've got a certain amount of pull."

Isabel smiled. "Maybe I could just get some water?"

"Sure."

They headed down the alley and Liz let them in through the rear entrance. She could hear her parents upstairs, getting ready to start the day. Beckoning Isabel to follow her, she went into the kitchen and pulled a jug of water from the fridge. She poured them each a glass, putting Isabel's in a to-go cup.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Liz chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, debating whether to risk broaching the subject of Max again, pausing only when she noticed Isabel watching her with a smirk on her face.

"What?"

"Just spit it out, Liz."

Liz rolled her eyes. "Fine. Look, I heard about the fight you and Max had. Over your going away to school."

"Really." The ice princess demeanor was back full force.

"I'm not taking sides," Liz said hurriedly. "I know Max can be controlling and high-handed, and that he has a hard time trusting people, even the ones close to him."

"You can say that again," Isabel said with a very unladylike snort.

"But," Liz continued, "I also know he's that way because he cares so much that he can't bear the idea of anything happening to someone he loves. He feels responsible for you, Isabel. You're his sister."

"I know," she sighed, her expression softening. "I do. But I can take care of myself."

"He knows that, too, but he's afraid. Afraid of being left alone. Of not being needed. The two of you have been together since the beginning and it never occurred to him that one of you might move on. He's been keeping everything together for as long as he can remember, Iz. He never stopped to figure out who he is, other than the leader."

Isabel nodded. "You're right. I… I'll talk to him." She looked up, and something in her gaze made Liz squirm like a child caught red-handed. "You know Max to the bottom of his heart, Liz," she said pointedly. "Somehow you can always really see him."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Liz asked slowly

"I don't know," Isabel replied. "Everything, I suspect." She glanced at the clock. "I should get going. Thanks for the water. I'll see you later." And with that, she headed through the break room and out the back door, leaving Liz in the kitchen with her head spinning.

***

By the time Liz sat down to breakfast with her parents, she had let herself off the hook. It wasn't necessary to have all the answers, or the perfect plan for her future. All she needed was to give her mother and father the impression that she knew what she was doing, and that was a task she knew she could handle. After all, she'd been faking it for nearly the past two years.

Her father had made pancakes. Liz nibbled at the food, aware of her parents' eyes on her, all the while wishing she could somehow douse her plate with Tabasco sauce. The sweet, sticky syrup coated her lips, clawed at her tongue, practically begging for something to break up the taste. She made due with the herbal tea her mother had prepared in lieu of coffee, and made a mental note to avoid eating too many meals with her parents. Hopefully her cravings were strictly hormone-induced, and would fade once she had given birth.

The thought proved a sharp reminder of the purpose of this little family get-together. She set her fork down with a sigh.

"Something wrong, honey?" her father asked.

Liz shook her head. "I just thought we should get started."

"Finish your breakfast," her mother told her. "There's plenty of time."

"Actually, I'm supposed to meet up with Maria after this to work some more on the yearbook tribute. She's got closing shift, so I'd kind of like to make this quick."

"Liz," her father said sternly, "this isn't a conversation we should rush."

"It's not like we need to settle everything this morning," Liz said. She took a deep breath. "Since it seems to be all right with you, I'm not going to go back to Florida."

"Honey, of course it's all right with us," her mother said swiftly. "We've wanted you home since the minute we learned you were pregnant, but you were so adamant about staying away and we understood how uncomfortable things might be here for you."

"Well, everyone knows now," Liz said. "So there's really not much of a reason to run and hide. Plus I felt bad about putting Aunt Rachel in that position, making her responsible for me."

"That was never an issue," her mother said. "You know Rachel loves you. She was glad to help."

"What about school?" her father asked. "The semester's nearly over. Much as I want you here, Lizzie, what is it going to mean for your classes?"

"I'll call Dr. Rinaldi on Monday and see what he suggests," Liz said. "There has to be some way I can finish my assignments on my own, and then hopefully he can arrange to have my exams administered here."

Her father frowned. "That's asking an awful lot, Liz."

She shrugged. "My leaving averts a few problems for him," she said. "I bet he'll be willing to help. It'll be okay. And I also want to get back to work. Can you fit me into the schedule starting next week, Dad?"

"Why don't we wait and see what the doctor says," her mother suggested. "I don't want you doing anything too strenuous. We'll need to get your records transferred up here and-"

"I'm perfectly healthy," Liz balked. "There's absolutely no reason for me to just sit around. Not when I know you're short-handed, and I need the money."

"Your mother's just concerned about you. We both are."

Liz glared at her father. "Last year, Karen waitressed until the day before she had her baby."

He sighed. "Fine. Let me just look and see what shifts are open."

"Jeff!"

"Nancy, she's right. She's young and healthy and used to working. There's no reason to coddle her. She's not sick, she's pregnant."

"Thanks, Dad," Liz said. She also planned to talk to him about his paying her full wages, instead of depositing a portion into her college fund. The way things were going, it was safe to say that Harvard was not in her future - at least not for her undergraduate degree. UNM was far more practical, both geographically and financially. She was going to need her salary for other expenses now. But that was a discussion best left for another time, preferably after her name was written back onto the schedule.

"Well, we still need to get you in to see the doctor," her mother maintained. "I can call my-"

"Uh, Mom? I think I'd be more comfortable finding my own doctor," Liz said quickly.

"Why? Dr. Chow is a lovely man."

"And he delivered me, Mom." Liz shuddered. "It would be too weird. I'll look into it this week and take care of getting my records, okay?" When her mother didn't reply, Liz leaned in a little closer. "Please, Mom? I need to do this myself."

Her mother graced her with a helpless smile. "You're really all grown up, aren't you?"

Liz didn't have an easy answer to that question. The truth was that she felt grown up long before got pregnant; a second chance at life will do that to you, especially when it comes laden with intrigue. But that wasn't exactly something she could tell her parents. Even if she could, it wouldn't have been particularly reassuring.

"All right," her father said. "You're going to stay here, finish school, and work in the café." He nodded. "So, what happens after the baby is born?"

Somewhat startled by his brusque question, Liz took a sip of tea to buy a bit of time.

"Jeff, give her a chance," her mother admonished.

Her father's eyebrows rose. "I think we've given her plenty of chances. Every opportunity we could afford, in fact, and one or two we couldn't. As far as I can see, she has thrown them all away with both hands."

Liz swallowed hard and set her cup down with a clink. "I'll be eighteen in September," she said, her voice sounding tight. "I can find an apartment then if you want me to move out."

"Liz!" her mother gasped. "No! Jeff, tell her that's not what you're saying," she demanded.

"Of course that's not what I'm saying," he sighed. He turned to Liz and she saw how tired he suddenly seemed. Older. "You have a home with us as long as you want or need one," he assured her. "And your mother and I will help in whatever way we can. But once the baby comes, things are going to be very different around here," he said. "You need to understand that up front. This is your child and, ultimately, your responsibility."

"When have I ever not been responsible?" Liz demanded, then quickly bit her tongue, realizing the answer was glaringly obvious. She exhaled slowly. "I can handle this," she said.

"You've never even had a pet," her father pointed out.

"Dad!"

"I'm just saying you still have options," he told her. "I have no doubt you can handle a baby, Liz, but the question is do you want to? It means giving up a lot of things. Not just big ones, but all the daily things you take for granted. You still have a few months to think about it. There's always adoption."

"Jeff, you're talking about our grandchild," Liz's mother chastised him.

"And Liz is our daughter," he said firmly. "Don't you want what's best for her?"

"Of course!"

"Okay, enough," Liz said. "I know that adoption is one answer, but it's just not possible," she said, her hands curling protectively around her stomach. "I am keeping this child."

Her father nodded. "Then perhaps you'd like to reconsider your stance on the mystery father."

"No, I wouldn't," she said shortly.

"Why won't you involve him?" her father asked. "Doesn't he have a right to be part of his child's life? And what about the baby? It deserves a father. I know I reacted badly when you first told me you were pregnant, but I was upset, Liz. I promise not to take it out on the boy. Is it Max's? You can tell us, sweetheart."

"Dad, cut it out," Liz said. "The father is out of my life. He's… gone. That's all there is to it. It was one night," she whispered. "And I know I was stupid and careless, but I can't be sorry, okay? So stop asking about it, because I'm not going to answer. You'll just have to deal with it."

"Honey, you weren't… taken advantage of, were you?" her mother questioned hesitantly.

"No, Mom. I would have told you if it was something like that," Liz replied with a sigh. "Look," she said, rubbing at her temples. "I appreciate all the help you're offering me. Really, I do. But you're right when you say things are going to have to be different. I won't deny that I need your support. It would be stupid of me to stomp off and try to handle all of this on my own," she admitted. "I'm willing to work hard and give up everything I need to in order to take responsibility for my child. All I'm asking is that you respect my privacy regarding this one thing. If you feel you can't do that, well then, I'll just have to take my chances going it alone."

"You think you can blackmail us?" her father sputtered.

"No, Dad," Liz said quietly, looking him in the eyes. "I'm simply asking you to accept that I'm nearly an adult and that not every aspect of my life is open to you." She pushed back from the table. "You guys go ahead and discuss this. I'm going to call Maria. Just let me know what you decide." With that, she turned and headed toward her room, leaving her parents at the table, utterly speechless.

*****

continued below
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EmilyluvsRoswell
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Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm

Revelations - Part 13 continued

Post by EmilyluvsRoswell »

continued from previous post

*****

"I can't believe you told your parents that," Maria said as they pulled into a spot in front of Michael's apartment. "And they just took it from you? No screaming or trying to ground you for life?"

Liz shrugged as she unfastened her seatbelt. "What could they say? I pretty much gave them an ultimatum and told them to consider it before they gave me their answer. Frankly, I don't think I'm being unreasonable."

"You don't?" Maria climbed out of the car, shaking her head. "Liz, they're your parents. You live in their house, eat their food, drive their car, and you think it's reasonable to announce that they aren't allowed to know who fathered their grandchild?"

"Whose side are you on?" Liz growled, slamming her door.

"I'm just saying, from their point of view, you're being completely irrational. I know why you're doing what you're doing, okay? But they don't."

"Fine. Can we please change the subject now?" Liz sighed as they walked around to the entrance. "Did you track down that Derek guy?"

Maria grinned. "Mission accomplished. He was a little hesitant to help at first. Muttered something about it being illegal to hack into encrypted thingamabobs. But he's on board now."

Liz slanted her friend a suspicious glance. "What exactly did you say to get him to do it?"

"I just appealed to his deeply ingrained sense of geekdom."

"In English."

"I bet him he couldn't do it," Maria chuckled. "He said it'll take some time, but he'll call me as soon as he has something."

"Let's hope he's as good as he thinks he is," Liz said, turning to stare at Michael's door. "Does he know we're coming?" she asked, suddenly nervous.

"Nah. Never a good idea to give him advance notice." She rapped on the door. "He's awake though. I called before I came to get you."

"I suppose that's something."

Maria rolled her eyes and knocked again. "Michael!"

"I'm coming!" came the muffled reply. A moment later the door flew open. "What?" Michael's eyes darted from Maria to Liz, taking in their expectant expressions. "Did I miss something?"

"Hi, Michael, thanks, we'd love to," Maria told him, pushing her way into the apartment.

Michael allowed himself to be jostled aside, his questioning gaze on Liz. She simply shrugged and followed Maria.

"Don't we have work in a couple of hours?" he asked gruffly, closing the door behind them.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Maria asked. She folded the empty pizza box that had been sitting on the coffee table, then scooped up several old newspapers from the couch and carried the entire mess into the kitchen. "Don't you ever clean?" she grumbled, depositing the lot in the trash can.

"It's not like I was expecting company," he said pointedly. "One of you feel like letting me know what's going on?"

"Liz has something to tell you," Maria replied, coming back into the living room.

"Maria!" Liz cried.

"What? You do, don't you?"

Liz groaned. "Yes, I do, but…"

"So, the floor's yours, babe. Go for it," Maria told her. She flopped down on the couch and patted the adjoining cushion.

Michael stood watching them, his arms crossed over his chest. He cocked an eyebrow skyward. "Liz?"

"All right," she said. "Just… sit down," she told him as she took the place beside Maria. "It's about Alex."

Michael's expectant expression turned into a frown. He came around and sat on the coffee table, facing the two of them. "What about him?"

"Well, you know how I helped Isabel contact Max in New York last fall?"

"Yeah? What's that got to do with Alex?"

Liz shook her head. "It's about how I'm changing," she said. "Since Max healed me."

Michael looked worried. "You mean more stuff's happening to you? Like what? Have you said anything to Max?"

"Michael, if you keep asking questions, we'll never finish," Liz told him. When he nodded reluctantly, she continued. "No, I haven't said anything to Max. But I've started getting flashes off of things."

"Like you and Max would get when you… You know?" he asked.

Liz nodded. "Only, now I don't need Max."

"How did you find this out?"

"I… I went out to where Alex had his accident," she said slowly. "After the funeral. I just wanted some closure, you know?" She looked past Michael, needing to focus on something ordinary, like the wall. "There was something strange about the skid marks on the ground. It looked like Alex turned his car into the oncoming traffic."

"That doesn't make any sense," Michael said.

"Shhh," Maria told him, her voice husky with emotion. "Let her talk."

"The next morning I went out to the junkyard and found the wreck of his car. Inside, there was this photo. And I got flashes from it."

"Whoa," Michael said, sitting back. "That's… What did you see?"

Liz shook her head. "Alex saying stuff about Leanna not being Leanna."

"That chick from Sweden?" When Liz gaped in surprise, he shrugged. "What? Isabel might have mentioned her. A couple of dozen times," he muttered.

"Michael, there's more," Liz said. "We did some digging in Alex's computer. It looks like he might never have been in Sweden at all."

"What? Then where was he?" Michael frowned. "And why say he was there?"

"We don't know. But one thing is pretty obvious," Liz said, staring Michael in the eyes. "Alex's death wasn't an accident. Someone killed him. And we're pretty sure it was some kind of alien."

"What the hell?" he demanded, surging to his feet.

"Michael," Maria chimed in, jumping up and grabbing his arm. For the first time, Liz realized there were tears streaming down her friend's face. "Michael, wait," Maria said.

He pulled away, staring at her as if she had just betrayed him. "You agree with her? You think someone killed Alex and it's our fault?" he bit out.

"No!" Maria said. "No one said it was your fault, Michael!"

"Then what is this?" he asked, looking from Maria to Liz and back. "What are you saying?'

"That we need your help!" Liz cried. "Michael, if someone's trying to get to you guys through us… don't you see? We could all be in danger here!"

Her words seemed to break through Michael's anger. "Shit," he murmured, beginning to deflate. He slowly sat back down, his hand groping for Maria's, even as his eyes darted back to Liz's. "What makes you think it was an alien?" he asked slowly, clearly struggling to regain control over his temper.

"Valenti said that all signs pointed toward Alex having committed suicide," Liz told him, "but there's no way Alex would have done that. I talked to him that day and he was all excited about how things were going with Isabel. I found tickets to the Beth Orton concert in his room. He was planning for stuff. You don't do that if you don't intend to be around."

"Okay, so that rules out suicide," Michael agreed. "But murder?"

"If he didn't kill himself, why was his car pointed at the oncoming truck?" Liz asked softly. "Plus there are all these files in his computer. He faked those photos of him in Sweden, including the ones of him with Leanna. And the flashes I get of him," Liz paused, swallowing hard. "He's really upset. Like something's incredibly wrong and he can't seem to get a handle on it."

Michael let out a slow sigh. "And no one has a motive to kill Alex unless it's something to do with us."

Liz shrugged apologetically. "Alex is just an ordinary high school kid until you factor in his membership in this little alien conspiracy. You've got to admit, Michael, it looks suspicious," she said in a small voice. "What better way to get to you guys? It's not like we've never considered the possibility."

"But you don't have any real proof." His tone indicated that it was a moot point, however. Liz could tell he believed her.

"You all thought Tess killed Nicholas when he was here with the other Skins, but then he showed up in New York. He might still be around. And then there's Kivar. Wasn't he obsessed with Isabel in your last life?" she asked hesitantly. "Hurting Alex would be a good way to get her attention."

Michael jerked his head in Liz's direction. "So that's why you didn't go to her with this," he said. Liz nodded, noting he didn't bother to question her not telling Max. "I think you better start again," he said. "From the beginning. And don't leave anything out."

Liz nodded again, curling into the corner of the couch. She waited until Maria had settled as well, then began to relate everything they had learned in the past couple of days.

***

Michael pulled the Jetta into a spot behind the Crashdown minutes before his and Maria's shift was scheduled to start. "I still don't like leaving Max out of this," he groused as the three of them climbed out of the car. "He's going to be pissed."

"That's not a good enough reason to tell him," Liz said. "Think about how you reacted when I told you, and then imagine how Max will take it. He's already blaming himself for not being able to bring Alex back."

"He's what?" Michael asked.

"He feels guilty that he couldn't heal him," Maria supplied. "Which you'd know if the two of you would start talking to each other again," she snapped.

"Hell," he muttered.

"Look, let's see wait and see what Derek can get off those e-mails," Liz said quietly as they filed in the back door to the café. "Then we can reassess. Max and Isabel both have enough emotional baggage over Alex as it is. The least we can do is soften the blow by having some of the answers."

"All right," Michael agreed. He pulled open his locker and grabbed his apron.

"What about Tess?" Maria asked cautiously.

"What about her?" Michael asked. "No way we can say anything and expect her to keep her mouth shut. She lives for reasons to go running to Max."

"He's right," Liz agreed. "I mean, under different circumstances I'd be all for including her. She may not be my favorite person, but the more fire power the better. But we can't risk her telling Max."

Maria nodded. "You've got a point. It's not like she's Miss Subtlety."

Michael snorted. "I'll say. That's way too human a train for Nasedo to have passed it along. I better hit the grill," he said.

Maria smiled, and Liz fought the urge to laugh. Michael wasn't exactly brimming over with subtlety himself. They watched him disappear into the kitchen.

"I should let you go, too," Liz said. "I'm gonna let my parents know I'm home."

"Do you think they'll have an answer to your little ultimatum?"

She shrugged. "I doubt it. They'll milk it for a day or two, either way."

"You think they're going to agree, don't you?" Maria asked in surprise.

"Yeah. Because of what my mom said before. About the baby looking like someone," she whispered. "If she figures it's just a matter of time before they get their answers, then why make a big deal over it now?"

"Liz, what if she's right? Have you thought what you'll do if that baby's born with Max's eyes or ears? Forget about the hocus pocus aspect."

"I know," Liz said, meeting her friend's worried gaze. "Believe me, I've thought about it. I don't have any answers yet. I can't deal with it right now, Maria. It's all I can do to get through this thing with Alex."

Maria took her by the shoulders and looked hard into her eyes. "I know you're upset over Alex, and that you want to get to the bottom of things. But Liz, he wouldn't have wanted you to use his death as an excuse to hide from your own problems," she said seriously. She pulled her into a quick hug. "I have to get to work. Just think about it, okay?"

"I will," Liz promised.

"All right." Maria tucked her cell phone into her apron pocket, smirking at Liz's raised eyebrows. "Yeah, yeah. No phones on the floor, blah, blah, blah. What your dad doesn't know won't hurt him. I'm not missing this call."

"Keep me posted."

***

As predicted, Liz's parents said nothing about their breakfast discussion. Her mother inquired about the progress on the yearbook spread, and her father asked if she had eaten lunch, but beyond that they left her alone. She retreated to her room, grateful for yet another reprieve, and tried to ignore the nagging sensation that she was a cat running out of lives.

Around six o'clock, she headed back down to the café. She knew Maria would have let her know if there had been word on the origin of Alex's e-mails, but her nerves were frayed and she could no longer stand sitting upstairs by herself, just wondering. Michael was busy at the grill, the Saturday dinner crowd keeping him hopping, and Maria had her hands full with her customers, but somehow Liz felt better just being there with them. She wrote up a to-go ticket for a burger and a vanilla shake and slipped it into the queue, then flipped on the tiny TV in the break room and curled up on the couch.

She must have dozed off, because the next thing she knew, Michael was nudging her. "Liz," he murmured. "Liz, your dinner's ready."

"Hmm? Wow," she said, shaking herself awake. "Sorry about that."

"No problem," he said, setting down her plate. "Maria's making your shake."

"Thanks." She rubbed her eyes and sat up a little straighter, surprised to find him still standing there. "Is something wrong? Derek didn't call, did he?"

"No," he said, his eyes unreadable. "Listen, you need ketchup or anything?"

"Um, actually… could I get some Tabasco?" She smiled ruefully at his expression. "Yet another fringe benefit of Dr. Max's magic hands."

"Sure."

He turned and started toward the kitchen, pulling up short when the swinging door flew open and Maria appeared. Her face was flushed and she had her cell phone pressed to her ear. Michael froze.

Liz sat stock still, watching as a myriad of emotions flit over Maria's face. Her green eyes were wide.

"Thanks, Derek," she said, glancing up to meet Liz's gaze. "I'm sorry I ever doubted your abilities," she added with forced joviality. "You're the best… Come by the Crashdown some time this week and I'll treat you to a Will Smith. Thanks again." She flipped the phone shut with a click and leaned back against the wall. The color had drained from her face and she was suddenly as pale as milk.

"You all right?" Michael asked.

"Maria, what did he say?" Liz pressed. "Did he figure out where Alex was?"

Maria nodded slowly. "We were right. Alex never went to Sweden," she whispered. "He never even left New Mexico."

Liz got up and went over to stand next to Maria. "Where was he?" she asked gently.

"Las Cruces. All the e-mails came from the same place," Maria replied.

"Las Cruces? What the hell's in Las Cruces?" Michael asked.

"The University of New Mexico," Maria said. "Derek traced the ISP to one of the dorms. He's e-mailing me the details."

The three of them stood staring at each other for a moment until a beeping sound from the kitchen alerted Michael to the fact that his burgers were on fire.

"Shit!" He dove for the grill and slapped down the grease, then hit the smoke detector, silencing it.

Liz leaned against the side of the doorway, glancing from Maria to Michael. "It's about two and a half hours to Las Cruces," she said.

"Neither of us are working tomorrow," Maria volunteered.

Michael scraped the burnt hamburger patties into the trash and threw some new ones down. Wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, he turned and stared at them. "You two are serious, aren't you?"

Liz nodded. He looked less than pleased. She waited for him to bring up telling Max, but he seemed to have forgotten their earlier conversation. His expression gradually morphed from apprehensive to resigned.

Michael sighed. "Okay, then. We better leave early. Six okay?"

"Fine with me," Liz replied.

Maria made a little groaning noise. "Yeah, all right." She glanced at Liz. "Do we tell Kyle?"

"I'll call him," she said. "See if he's up for a road trip."

Maria rolled her eyes. "We haven't done one of these in a long time."

Liz laughed, but it came out sounding forced. The last road trip she had participated in had been to Copper Summit, and the memories alone made her blood run cold. "Can't say that I've missed them," she admitted softly. "Not one bit."

*****

TBC
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EmilyluvsRoswell
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Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm

Revelations - Part 14

Post by EmilyluvsRoswell »

***

It was nearly nine a.m. by the time they arrived in Las Cruces, with Michael driving and Liz riding shotgun. She peered closely at the campus map she'd printed off the UNM website the night before, then up at the mass of buildings in front of them. "What was the name of the dorm again?" she asked.

"Dona Ana," Maria replied. "We want quad four."

"I don't suppose we have time to take a tour?" Kyle quipped.

"Not unless you feel like going alone," Michael shot back.

"I thought you were bucking for school in Texas?" Liz asked, catching his eye in the rearview mirror.

Kyle shrugged. "With my dad spending his days on the couch, I'll be lucky to meet in-state tuition," he said, his tone deceptively casual.

Liz shot him a sympathetic smile that was cut short when she realized they'd missed their turn. "No, Michael, go right here," she instructed.

"Well, pay attention," he snapped, jamming on the brakes. "It's not like I know where I'm going."

"Relax," Maria soothed. "Just go around the block."

They circled back around and Michael pulled into the visitor's parking lot, finding a spot almost immediately. Everyone climbed out of the Jetta and stretched their cramped legs.

"All right," Liz said, studying her map again. "That path should lead to the dorms," she told them, pointing off to the left.

"What exactly are we hoping to find?" Kyle asked as they fell into step. "I mean, so what if Alex was here? That was months ago."

"It's a place to start," Liz said. "You have any better ideas?"

"Not me," he said, holding his hands up in surrender.

Five minutes later they were standing in front of the Dona Ana dormitory. The front door required a pass key, but Michael waved his hand over the lock and it clicked open obligingly. "Everyone in," he said, glancing at the wide open quadrangle behind them.

"I think we would have noticed if we were being followed," Liz pointed out gently. "Come on."

They filed up the stairs to the second floor and down a long hallway. Most all of the doors were closed, their surfaces decorated with message boards and various student memorabilia. Occasionally one of them would be propped open, quiet music spilling into the halls, the occasional chatter from a television audible, but it was clearly too early for the majority of the student body to be functioning.

"Here it is," Maria said, coming to a stop at the end of the hall. She stared at the door, which was noticeably bare of decorations. "Should we knock?"

"Might as well," Liz said, reaching out and rapping on the door. When there was no answer, she knocked again. "Hello?" she called.

"No one home," Michael pronounced, leaning in and working his magic on the lock. He turned the knob and gave a push.

"I'll say there's no one home," Kyle remarked, sticking his head through the open doorway.

Liz gave him a shove into the room, then followed.

"Hey!" he complained.

"Shh," she said.

"I guess no one moved in after Alex left," Maria said, walking slowly around the empty room.

Michael closed the door behind him. "So that's good, right? I mean, if he left anything behind it should still be here."

"Maybe," Liz agreed. "Assuming they didn't have a cleaning crew come through. We should split up. You guys look in here. Maria, let's check out the kitchen."

For several minutes they opened and closed drawers and cabinets, peered under loose bits of tile, and tapped along the baseboards. Kyle flipped the bare mattress and box spring and Michael checked the upper shelves and anywhere else the others couldn't reach.

"Nothing," Maria said, her frustration apparent. "Not even a piece of paper with his name on it."

"Cuz that would be so useful," Kyle muttered.

"Shut up, Valenti."

"Guys, cut it out," Liz said. "This can't be the only place he was. We should see if he registered for any classes."

"How do you propose we do that?" Michael asked. "It's Sunday. Even if the registrar would tell us, they've got to be closed."

She pressed her palms to her eyes, feeling the beginning of a headache. "I don't know," she moaned. "I just can't believe this was a dead end."

"Hello?" A soft tap came at the door just before it swung open. "Can I help you with something?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Liz saw Michael raise his hand in a defensive posture. She reached out and swatted his arm, glaring at him before she turned back to the young man standing in the doorway.

"Hi," she said. "My brother was staying in this room for awhile and we were hoping to figure out where he went. He just up and took off and our parents are starting to worry," she told him, pinning on a pleading smile.

"You mean Ray?" the guy asked.

"Yeah, Ray," Liz replied quickly, before the others had time to comment. "Did you know him?"

"No one knew Ray," the guy said. "No offense, but your brother was kind of weird. Never left the room the whole time he was here. He only ever opened the door for his take-out food."

"That's it?" Maria sputtered. "What did he do all day?"

"Beats me," he said with a shrug.

"Please," Liz said. "Can you think of anything that might help us find him?"

"Well…"

"Yes?" she asked hopefully.

"I did bump into him down by the Litvack building one night. It was real late and I was heading home from a kegger. Practically ran into him, but he just kept going."

"The Litvack building?" Michael echoed. "What's that?"

"Computer stuff, dude," the guy replied. "I didn't even know you could get in that late, but he just sailed through the door, mumbling to himself. Like I said, weird."

"Thanks a lot, buddy," Kyle told him. "We'll check it out."

"Yeah, sure. No problem. Good luck finding him. I guess he's gonna be an uncle soon, huh?" he asked, nodding at Liz.

"Right, yeah," she said. "Well, thanks again for all your help," she continued, walking toward him. "We'll get out of here now."

The guy started to back toward the door as Liz approached, finally turning and heading out. "So long," he said.

"Bye!" Liz called, waving after him. As soon as he cleared the corner, she turned back to the others. "Well? What are you waiting for? Let's go."

***

"So Alex was doing something with computers," Michael commented as they made their way across the quad. "Why does that not surprise me?"

"Yeah, but why?" Maria asked.

Liz shook her head. "Only one way to find out. We need to know what he was working on. There it is," she said, pointing at a squat modern building with green tinted windows.

"Check it out. An alien building," Kyle said.

"Funny," Michael grumbled. "Let's go."

"Wait," Liz said. "I don't think we should all just charge in. Let me go."

"No way," Michael said. "What if whoever killed Alex is in there?" he hissed.

"Michael, no one's going to talk to a group of four high school kids snooping around a computer lab," she pointed out. "I can handle this. Computer science geeks are only one step removed from bio geeks."

"It's not safe," he reiterated.

Liz looked at the stubborn set of his jaw and sighed. "Fine. You come with me then, but keep your mouth shut. Can you manage that much?"

"Hey, what about us?" Kyle asked.

"We'll keep look out," Maria said, sounding resigned. "Be careful," she told Liz.

"I will."

"And you," Maria continued, poking Michael in the side. "Take care of her."

"Can we just do this?" Liz asked. Without waiting for a reply, she stalked off down the path.

"Hold up a sec," Michael said, catching up with her after only a few strides. He matched his pace to hers. "Give me your hand," he told her as they continued to walk.

"What?" Liz asked. "Michael?"

He had grabbed her left hand and was holding it between his palms. She felt a momentary warmth and then he released her. Glancing down, she found she was wearing a wide, silver band on her ring finger. "What the…?"

"You want to be taken seriously, don't you?" he asked. "You'll avoid pointless questions this way."

Liz smiled, touched by his protectiveness. "Thanks."

"Just don't let me forget to change it back before we see Maria again," he told her. "I don't feel like hearing about it all the way back to Roswell."

"I'll remember," she promised, as they entered the large, quiet building.

Fortunately, there were still people working, despite it being Sunday. A woman in the office suggested they consult with Doug, a graduate student currently working on the super computer. She assured them that he was familiar with all of the undergraduate projects. Having nothing else to go on, they thanked her and headed upstairs. When they emerged on the third floor, they found it divided by glass partitions. They worked their way through a series of doors until they reached the corner room, which was filled with computer equipment. A single man sat at the work station, his back to them.

"I'll be right with you," he said, typing something and then hitting the return. In front of him, the screen was flooded with Cyrillic letters.

"Are you Doug?" Liz asked.

"That's me," he replied, spinning his chair to face them. "How can I help you?"

"We're trying to track down my brother, Ray," she said. "He was doing some work here a few months ago? Probably at night? We were told you might be able to give us some information about him."

Doug shrugged. "I can try. What did you need to know?"

Liz glanced at Michael, then eased further into the room. "What exactly was he working on?"

Doug frowned at her, then at Michael. "Why? I mean, why do you need to know?"

"He's missing," Liz said. "We thought it might have something to do with his research here."

Doug's forehead smoothed and he began to laugh. "I doubt that."

"Why?" Michael asked. "What kind of stuff do you do on this thing, anyway?"

"Right now it's more an expensive toy than anything, but the most practical use is quantum theory, cryptology, that sort of thing. But students use it mostly for advanced class work. Comp. Sci., physics. Thesis stuff."

"Is there any reason why we can't know what Ray was doing?" Liz pressed.

Doug sighed. "None that I know of," he said. "Assuming it's still in here somewhere."

"I thought you could never really erase data from a hard drive," she said.

A slow smile spread over Doug's face. "Well, you can. But it's damn hard. Let's take a look, shall we?"

"Please," Liz agreed.

"This may take a while," he warned.

"That's okay." She turned to Michael. "Maybe you want to run down and tell the others so they're not just standing around?"

"I don't know," he hedged. "I mean, I'd rather…"

"Don't worry, Dad," Doug teased. "I promise not to let anything happen to the little missus."

Liz watched as Michael flushed to the roots of his hair. He met her gaze, as if daring her to say anything, but she wisely kept her mouth shut. "I'll be back in five minutes," he stated.

"Okay," she told him.

Doug began to type, clearing the screen of his own work and bringing up a series of command boxes that seemed to flash and vanish at lightning speed. Liz tried to follow what he was doing but gave up after a few minutes.

True to his word, Michael reappeared in record time. "They're going to meet us at the library," he told her.

"Good," Liz said, and settled back to watch Doug manipulate the large computer.

"Oh, now what's this?" he mumbled finally.

"Did you find it?" she asked.

"I found something," he said, frowning at the terminal. "Hold on." He typed a few more commands, then sat back. "It's Ray's source material. He was definitely trying to decrypt something."

Liz sat up straighter as the screen filled with a series of familiar looking symbols. She could feel Michael leaning in behind her.

"What is that?" he asked slowly.

Doug shook his head. "Looks like it might be Native American."

"And he was trying to do what?" Michael asked.

"Translate it," Doug replied.

"Into English?" Michael murmured. "Did he?"

"It looks like," Doug said, letting out a low whistle of admiration. "He created a huge text file his last day here, but it's been deleted from the system." He hit a few more keys, shaking his head. "He knew what he was doing. I'm not even getting trace code."

"What did he do with the text file?" Liz asked. "Print it? Send it to someone?"

Doug continued to type, frowning intently at the screen. "He uploaded it. Looks like he used an FTP, but there's no url here."

"What does that mean?" Michael asked.

Liz waved at him to be quiet. "So that's it?" she asked.

"Sorry," Doug told her. "Best I can do. Maybe if I had a few days to work on it, but exams are coming up and I'm a TA this semester," he apologized.

"No, we understand," Liz told him. "Could we maybe get a copy of the source file?"

"Sure, no problem," Doug told her. He punched a couple of keys and the adjoining printer began to hum softly. A moment later he handed her a sheaf of papers. "There you go."

"Thanks, Doug," Liz said.

"Hey, good luck finding Ray. If I were you, I'd check out wherever he found those symbols. Maybe one of the reservations?"

"We'll do that," Liz told him, standing up. "Thanks again."

"Yeah, thanks," Michael added, taking Liz's elbow and steering her toward the door. "What was all that about uploading the translation?" he asked, once they were in the stairwell.

"It sounds like he loaded the file onto a website, but a text file wouldn't show up as anything unless it had been coded," Liz said. "If the file was big enough, he might have just needed a place to store it. He could have accessed it later from anywhere, with the right web address and password."

"Or someone else could have accessed it," Michael said grimly.

"Yeah," she said, sounding discouraged even to herself. "I just wish we knew where he got these from," she said, waving the stack of papers. She paused on the landing. "Do they match the symbols from River Dog's cave?"

Michael took them and began leafing through them, his frown deepening. "There's too many here," he said. "Listen, let me hold onto these, okay? I need to check something out."

"Sure," she said.

"All right." He folded them in thirds and shoved them into his back pocket.

"You better take this, too," Liz added, slipping the ring off.

"Thanks," Michael said. His hand glowed briefly and the ring reappeared on his own finger.

***

They rejoined Maria and Kyle, then stopped at a coffee shop for a quick lunch and to review what they'd learned. After their meal, they headed back to the library so Liz could attempt to hack into the university's registration records.

"I'm not getting anywhere," she sighed after nearly an hour. "I just don't have the expertise for this kind of thing."

Kyle looked up from the current issue of Sports Illustrated. "Do you need to be here to access the files?" he asked quietly.

"Not technically," she admitted. "If I knew what I was doing, I could get in from anywhere."

"Then forget about it," Maria told her. "I'll go hit Derek up again once we're home."

She agreed reluctantly, frustrated with her inability to make more progress.

Michael glanced at his watch. "You still want to hit the student union?"

"Yeah," Liz said. "Let's go."

They made several more stops around the campus, but Alex seemed to have been as much of a mystery to the students as his trip was to his friends. None of the clerks at the bookstore recognized his photo, and there was no box for him in the mail room.

"I don't think he was ever registered," Liz finally decided. "Not under either name."

"So how did he get access to that computer?" Maria asked.

Liz shook her head. "I don't know. The best I can figure is that whomever had him working on the translation project somehow organized it." She fingered the course catalog she had picked up at the student union. "There's a list of faculty in this. We can split up the likely names and try to track them down?" she suggested.

"We go as a group or not at all," Michael told her.

"It's getting late," Maria pointed out. "We won't get far tonight. Not if we're planning on heading back to Roswell."

Liz sighed, her frustration mounting. "You guys have school tomorrow. Besides, my parents think we're shopping in Santa Fe. If I don't go home, they'll freak."

"Why don't we grab some dinner and head back," Kyle said. "We can research those names online and if anyone seems suspicious we can make another trip. I mean, those professor types are always publishing articles or discovering things, right? We should be able to at least narrow them down."

"Yeah," Michael agreed. "I'm all for getting out of here. This situation is getting way too dangerous. We've got proof this is alien related," he said quietly. "That was the reason for coming, right?"

Liz met his pointed glare and nodded slowly. "Right," she agreed. "Yeah."

"Liz?" Maria prodded. "What is it?"

She turned with a shrug. "It's time to tell Max what's going on."

"Buddha, it's a miracle," Kyle muttered.

But Michael was still watching Liz. "You want me to?"

"No, I'll do it," she replied. "It was my decision to keep it from him this long. I owe him an explanation." Her eyes narrowed. "Which doesn't mean you don't have your own axes to bury," she told him.

Michael nodded.

"So, dinner and then we hit the road?" Maria asked.

"It's a plan," Liz agreed.

***

It was dark by the time they started home. Kyle took the first shift driving and Michael commandeered control of the radio. Liz and Maria curled up in the back seat, too tired to argue.

"So what are you going to tell your mom when she wants to know why you didn't buy anything on this all-day shopping expedition?" Maria asked with a yawn.

"I've got enough maternity clothes. I'll just say it was too depressing to imagine myself having a waist again," she grumbled.

"You could have bought baby things," Maria suggested softly.

Liz glanced over at her. "It's still early. Besides," she continued, turning away and staring out the window, "I've heard it's bad luck to buy stuff too far ahead. Like daring something to go wrong," she whispered.

"Right. Well, you certainly wouldn't want to bring down the wrath of the gods along with everything else," came the sleepy reply.

Liz didn't say anything and soon she heard Maria's breathing even out. She shifted to get more comfortable, letting her head rest on the back of the seat. They had left Las Cruces behind and were just getting on the interstate. Soon the scenery was reduced to street light and the occasional rest stop, and Liz allowed herself to be lulled to sleep as well.

When she woke, her neck was stiff and her right foot had fallen asleep. She winced and sat up, her back creaking in protest. After spending most of the day walking around, her muscles were clearly taking exception to being forced to sit in one position for so long. Liz peered out the window, trying to determine where they were, but it was too dark to tell.

"Hey."

Liz turned to find Michael watching her through the rearview mirror. He was now in the driver's seat and Kyle was slumped beside him, his head bobbing up and down rhythmically.

"Hi," she said quietly, so as not to wake the others. "Where are we?"

"Passed Hondo about ten minutes ago."

"Really?" she asked. "Wow. We're almost home."

"Yeah. You've been out cold the whole ride."

"What about Maria?"

"She woke up when Kyle and I switched off about an hour ago," he said. "We were going to see if you wanted to stretch your legs, but Maria said you needed the sleep."

"Thanks," Liz replied.

Michael's eye flickered back to the road for a few minutes, but then Liz could feel him watching her again. Something about his assessing gaze made her uncomfortable.

"Is something wrong?" she asked finally.

"You tell me," he replied, one eyebrow arching.

"I don't know what you mean."

He sighed and looked down again. "I've been trying to figure something out. You told me that baby's not Max's. And clearly he believes it, otherwise he'd never allow you to keep up this wall between the two of you."

"Michael…" she began.

"Hear me out," he said. "Anyway. You claim it's not Max's. And it's obviously not Kyle's. I've heard the rumors around school, same as everyone, but there's no way."

"Why not?" she asked, curious to hear his reasoning.

Michael let out a quiet snort. "I've seen you and Kyle together. No way are you guys doing it."

"What?"

He shook his head. "Liz, I know you all think I'm some sort of retarded life form when it comes to this stuff, but I've got eyes. I know how you acted when you and Max were a couple, and I've seen how you are around Kyle. There's no comparison. Besides, I've read your journal, remember? I know how you feel about Max," he said quietly. "You might want everyone to believe that's changed, but it hasn't. He just can't see it because he's too close to the situation and he's insecure about it."

Liz let out a weary sigh. When exactly had she become fodder for all of her friends' amateur psychoanalysis? "What are you getting at, Michael?"

"Kyle's not the father, and there's no one else around who seems a likely candidate."

"How would you know?" she demanded.

"Please. Roswell's a small town and I work downstairs from your bedroom.," he said pointedly. "I'd have noticed. Anyhow, it's not Kyle or some mystery guy, which means it has to be Max."

"You think you've got it all figured out, do you?" she asked, her voice eerily calm.

"Except for a couple of small details," he replied, once again watching her through the rearview mirror. "Why are you telling Max he's not the father, and why does Max persist in believing you?"

Liz smiled wryly. "The answer to both questions is the same," she told him. "Unlike all the rest of you, Max can believe he's not the father because Max knows that he never had sex with me."

Michael frowned. "You've got to be shitting me."

"'fraid not. Now, are you done prying into my private life, Michael? Because frankly, you're not very good at it," she said, aware that she was being harsh, but frightened to the core by the logic of his reasoning and the look in his eyes.

"There's something not right here," he mumbled.

"You're only just noticing that?" she asked. "Just leave it alone."

His frown deepened, but he didn't ask anymore questions. Liz exhaled the breath she was barely aware of holding, and went back to staring out the window.

*****

TBC
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EmilyluvsRoswell
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Revelations - Part 15

Post by EmilyluvsRoswell »

***

When Michael finally pulled the Jetta into a space in front of his building, it was just past ten o'clock. Maria climbed out of the car and made a face as she arched her back. "Okay, that's just too many hours on the road in one day," she declared.

"How do you think I feel?" Liz muttered. "I'm out of practice." She had swung her legs through the open door and was staring at the pavement over the swell of her stomach. "Among other things," she grumbled.

"Need some help?" Kyle asked with a smirk.

Liz resisted the urge to make a smart come back and held out her hands. "Yes, please."

He grabbed hold and gave her a good tug. She rocked forward out of the car and landed neatly on her feet. "There you go," he said. "That wasn't so hard."

"Speak for yourself," she sighed, rubbing the small of her back. The baby had shifted and it felt like he was sitting directly on her spine.

They gathered around the front of the Jetta, under the street light. "All right," Michael said. "I've got some stuff to do tomorrow afternoon, so what do you say to meeting back here around six?"

"Works for me," Maria agreed.

"Yeah, me too," Kyle said.

"Right," Liz said absently, her gaze drifting toward Michael's apartment building. She jumped when Michael snapped his fingers twice in front of her face. "What?"

"Liz, you're going to track down Max after school and fill him in, right? That should give you enough time to bring him up to speed."

"Um, you know, I'm not sure we'll have to wait that long," she said with a quiet sigh.

"What are you talking about?" Michael asked.

Liz nodded at the building and everyone turned. A dark shape separated itself from the shadows and began to move toward them. Michael tensed beside her, and Liz was about to tell him to relax when the figure stepped into the light and Max's face became visible.

"Great, now he's lurking in alleys," Kyle mumbled.

Liz watched Max as he approached. He had his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans - a sure sign he was uncomfortable with the situation - but his face was a mask. His gaze rested on her and one eyebrow rose questioningly.

"Get a lot of shopping done?" he asked lightly.

"Did I what?" she said, caught off guard.

"Your mother said you and Maria went shopping in Santa Fe," Max replied. He glanced briefly at the others. "Though she seems to have been short a few of the details."

Liz was having a hard time processing what he was saying. It didn't help that the baby had chosen that moment to move from her spine to her right kidney. "You spoke to my mother?" she asked stupidly, knowing she was focusing on the wrong part of the conversation but unable to get past the mental image that accompanied his revelation. Had he gone by the Crashdown or just called? Did her mother give him the third degree?

Max gave her a funny look. "Isabel and I had a long talk last night, and she told me what you'd said to her. I just wanted to thank you."

"So then what brings you here, Maxwell?" Michael broke in.

"Well," Max said, shifting his attention, "I came by earlier, figuring maybe we could clear the air," he told him. "But you seemed to have vanished. After work I bumped into Tess and she mentioned that Valenti here had taken off at dawn, too. Forgive me if I was a little concerned," he said wryly.

"Max…" Liz began, trailing off when he turned back to her and she saw his eyes. He was actually angry, she realized.

"So, what was this? A double date?" he asked, the words snapping off his lips as he glared in Kyle's direction.

"Where the hell do you get off?" Kyle replied, stepping forward.

"Okay," Liz broke in, putting out an arm to separate them. "Enough with the displays of testosterone, all right?" she said. "Max, we weren't shopping in Santa Fe, and we certainly weren't on a date," she informed him. "Not, I might add, that it's any of your business."

"I was worried," he shot back.

"I appreciate that," she said, "but it's not like we disappeared for a week. We've only been gone since this morning." She dropped her arm and sighed. "Look, I am too tired for this shit," she told them. "Kyle, Maria, go home. Michael, I'll see you tomorrow." She turned to Max. "Do you have the Jeep?"

"Uh, yeah," he said, clearly confused by her sudden about face.

"Great. Give me a lift and I'll explain everything."

Max's jaw dropped in surprise.

"Liz," Maria said, her tone laced with concern.

Liz waved her away. "I was going to talk to him tomorrow, anyway," she told her friend. "If he wants to give up beauty sleep for answers, it's his decision. I can sleep in." She gave Maria a quick hug. "Talk to you later."

"I'm parked around the corner," Max said when she turned to him expectantly.

"Lead the way."

Max had the top off the Jeep, so they made the trip in silence, Liz unwilling to shout over the whir of the wind in her ears. They parked in front of the Crashdown and he ran around to help her climb out of her seat. It occurred to Liz as his warm hand closed over hers that he had probably seen Kyle pulling her out of the Jetta; but then Max had never needed a reason to be a gentleman.

"Why don't you just meet me on my balcony?" she suggested after he'd walked her to her door. "I'm not sure if my parents are still awake."

"Right," he said.

Liz climbed the stairs slowly, her body protesting, and let herself into the apartment. There was a soft light on in the hall - the one her parents always left burning when she was out at night - and another crack of light from under their bedroom door. She stopped and knocked softly. "I'm home," she called.

"Liz?" The door opened and her father was standing there in just his jeans. Beyond him, she could see her mother at her dressing table, brushing out her hair. "Did you have a good time, honey?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied with a tired smile. "It was good to spend the day with Maria."

"Did you buy anything?" her mother asked.

"Not really. Everything I liked was too expensive," she fibbed.

"Well, it's good that you're being realistic about your expenditures," her father told her.

"Right," Liz agreed with a nod. "Listen, I'm beat, so I'm just going to turn in."

"Good night," her mother said.

"'night, Liz," her father told her, reaching out and ruffling her hair.

She continued down the hall to her own room and shut the door behind her. Outside, she could see Max pacing back and forth. He glanced up as she approached the window and came over to help her climb through.

"Thanks," she said as she maneuvered her bulky middle over the sill. "This isn't getting any easier."

"I take it your parents are still up?"

"They're just getting ready for bed," she told him. "We'll be okay as long as we keep our voices down."

"Of course," he agreed.

Liz nodding, knowing that was probably easier said than done. She lowered herself awkwardly onto her deck chair and let out a tiny sigh. How it could feel good to sit when she had been sitting for hours in the car was beyond her, but somehow it did. Max perched on the edge of the folding chair opposite, his eyes glued to her face.

"What's going on, Liz?"

"It's about Alex," she said. "Well, and me. And… it's complicated, so just hear me out, all right?"

"Okay," he said slowly.

"I, um… I'm still changing. You know how I was able to help Isabel contact you in New York?"

Max frowned and nodded.

"Well, I've started getting flashes off of things."

"Really?" Despite his concerned expression, Liz thought she saw something in his eyes ease slightly.

"Yeah. Like, when things are emotional."

"Liz, I am so sorry-"

"No, Max, I'm not telling you this to make you feel bad," she said. "I just need you to understand. I… I went out to the junkyard the other day to see Alex's car."

"You what? Liz, why would you put yourself through that?"

"I had questions," she said. "I had been to the accident scene the day before - the night of the funeral - and the skid marks from Alex's car indicated he'd driven straight for the truck. I had to figure out why. So I went and looked at the wreck and I found this picture and I…" She trailed off, pressing hands over her eyes for a moment.

"That's when you got the flashes?" he asked softly.

She nodded. "Yeah," she said, dropping her hands. "After that I went to see Valenti. He said the Sheriff's department was getting ready to rule Alex's death a suicide, based on the skid marks and a couple of other things."

"Suicide? That doesn't sound like Alex. What other things? And what did you see from the picture?"

"Valenti said Alex's grades had been dropping since he got home from Sweden, and his teachers thought he was moody or something," she said dismissively. "I told him it wasn't possible. Alex loved life too much to do something so stupid. So, I showed him the photo and told him about the flashes. It was a picture of Alex with that girl, Leanna, only someone had cut Alex's face out of the shot. The flashes I got were of Alex with a pair of scissors, cutting up the photo, and he kept saying that Leanna wasn't Leanna."

"Leanna's not Leanna? What does that mean?"

Liz shrugged. "I didn't know. But the one thing I was sure of was that Alex couldn't have committed suicide. And that if it wasn't an accident, it meant someone had killed him," she said slowly.

Max sat back in his chair and ran his hands over his face. "Killed him? Liz, why would anyone want to kill Alex?"

"I don't know. But it sure looks like someone did."

"Why? How?"

"Maria and I have been all through Alex's stuff, his computer files, everything. We found that all those pictures he showed us from his trip to Sweden were faked using Photoshop. He had just pasted himself into a bunch of travel shots he got off the internet."

"He what? Why would he do that?"

"To make us think he'd been to Sweden. Max, he never went. He was down in Las Cruces at the university the entire time he was gone."

Comprehension dawned in Max's eyes. "That's where you were today."

"Yeah. He spent six weeks cooped up in a dorm room under an assumed name, and he only came out at night."

"Did you find out what he was doing?"

"UNM Las Cruces has a quantum computer, used primarily for cryptology. Alex was using it to translate a bunch of alien symbols into English."

Max sat very still, his eyes boring into hers. "When you say alien symbols, you mean…"

"Like the ones out in the cave. The one Nasedo left in Frasier Woods, the one Michael lit up outside the library, the one on the orbs… Alien symbols," she repeated.

Max stood up and began pacing again. He went back and forth several times before he jerked to a stop and stared at her. "Did he do it?"

"Apparently, but the file was gone. He'd uploaded it to a server somewhere, then deleted it. All that was left was the source material."

"What source material?"

"The file with the symbols. That's how we knew what he was doing. Michael has the print out. I think he might have an idea where they came from, but he wasn't being very forthcoming."

"Yeah, well, there's a lot of that going around, isn't there?" Max replied.

"Max, don't you see? This is what Alex was killed over."

"You think someone found out he was translating our language and killed him? But why? And why didn't Alex ever tell us what he was doing?"

"No, I think whomever killed him is the one that forced him to do the translation," Liz replied. "Earlier we thought it might have been someone in Las Cruces - somebody with access to the super computer - but that doesn't make any sense. Anyone on faculty with access to the computer could have done the work themselves. Why involve Alex? I think it was someone else - one of your enemies - who used Alex because they couldn't get close to the computer on their own."

"But who?" Max muttered, sinking back into his chair and bracing his elbows on his knees.

"You never really knew what happened to Nicholas after New York," Liz suggested quietly. "Or it could be someone else. Someone new working for Kivar."

"I can't believe this." Glancing up, his eyes narrowed. "What the hell were you thinking, tackling this on your own? Why didn't you come tell me as soon as you suspected?"

She shook her head. "I wasn't sure. And I was afraid you wouldn't believe me," she whispered.

"Not believe you?" he sputtered. "What made you think that?"

"You didn't believe me when I warned you about the Granilith," she reminded him.

"The Granilith! Liz, you came at me with some cryptic warning about an alien device you'd never even seen, and you refused to tell me why. How did you expect me to react?"

"Exactly," she replied. "So this time I went looking for answers on my own," she said, lifting her chin.

"Jesus, Liz, you could have gotten hurt… killed, even. This is dangerous! What kind of game are you playing?"

"Oh, come on, Max. Less than a week ago, you were standing here practically in tears, beating yourself up because you couldn't bring Alex back," she said. "I was supposed to pull you aside and say, 'oh, by the way, I think aliens killed him'? You were riding a big enough guilt trip without me throwing a little more fuel on the fire. It's the same reason I haven't told Isabel. God, could you see her reaction? What if this is Kivar's way of getting her attention, huh?" She watched the color drain from Max's face. "See what I mean? So pardon me if I wanted to wait until I had a little proof."

"It doesn't matter," he said. "You should have come to me anyway. What if something had happened to you?"

"Up until today, I was pretty much sitting in front of the computer, trying to find out what Alex was really up to," she said. "Once we figured out that he probably hadn't been to Sweden, we told Michael."

"I guess you weren't worried about him feeling guilty, huh?" Max shot back.

Liz's eyes narrowed. "Actually no, I wasn't. He took it pretty well, all things considered. And for the record, he wanted to tell you, but I talked him into waiting until we got back from Las Cruces."

"Why? What did I do to you that you trust Michael over me?" he demanded, springing up from his seat again.

"It had nothing to do with trust, Max. I already explained why I waited to tell you. And if all that was really bothering you was my safety, you wouldn't care that I chose to tell Michael."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," she said, not wanting things to escalate to an argument.

"No, go ahead," he told her. "You obviously think I have some hidden agenda. Let's hear it."

"I'd hardly call it hidden," she told him. "It's about being in control, Max. You can't stand not being the one to call the shots."

"You said yourself this is alien related. I had a right to know."

"And now you do. It's only been a couple of days."

"Control," he muttered, pacing across the length of the balcony and leaning against the wall. "When have I ever had any control when it comes to you?"

"Excuse me?" She struggled to her feet, trying to see his face, but he was staring out over the town.

"Nothing's ever in control when I'm around you. Not my head, my heart, nothing," he ground out. "I tried to keep you at arm's length, tried to keep you safe, but I couldn't. I finally stopped running and you picked up where I left off. The only thing making my life bearable the last nine months was the knowledge, deep down, that you were better off without me." He turned, his expression hard. "And you tell me there's some alien out there picking off our friends, and you think the only reason I'd want to know about it is because I want to be in charge?"

"That's not what I said."

"You're right that I feel guilty," he told her. "I can't bear the idea that Alex is dead because of us, that just knowing us got him killed," he said, closing the distance between them and grabbing her by the arms.

"Max…"

"Liz, you have to stay out of this. Promise me. If anything ever happened to you, because of me, I… I wouldn't survive it. You have to let me handle this."

She shook her head slowly, tears blurring her vision. "I can't," she whispered.

"Don't you even have that much faith in me?"

"God, Max, stop. You know that's not it."

"Do I?" he asked. Suddenly he seemed aware of his hands gripping her. He let go abruptly, as if her skin burned him, and took a step back.

"Max, I have to do this. I owe it to Alex."

"Alex wouldn't want you in danger, any more than I do. What about your child?" he shot out, eyeing her stomach. "If you're too stubborn to take care of yourself, what about the baby you're carrying?"

"I'm not taking any unnecessary risks," she insisted.

"Bullshit! God, what happened to wanting out, huh Liz? What was it you told me? You wanted your children to be safe. You didn't want to die for me. That's what I seem to remember you saying," he sneered, his voice rising. "Was it all just a line to get rid of me so you could get home to Kyle? Death and danger's fine, just so long as I'm not the one waiting on the other side? Or did you just change your mind, decide you need a little excitement?"

Max's emotions were bombarding her, taking her right to the edge, and she could feel her own fragile control weakening. The air between them seemed to vibrate, and their combined agitation was affecting the baby, who was all but pummeling her insides. She clutched the wall of the balcony, trying to steady herself. "This isn't about us," she whispered through a veil of tears.

"Like hell it's not. It all comes down to you and me," he snapped. "It always does. Every choice, every bend in the road, they all lead me back to you. Don't you get it? You have the control, Liz. I relinquished it to you a long time ago," he said bitterly.

"How can you say that?" she sputtered. "When did I ever have any control in this relationship? It wasn't me taking steps back or making out with Tess in the rain. And it sure as hell wasn't a hologram of my mother on the wall of that goddamn cave, issuing edicts about brides and destiny!"

"I didn't want any of that! You knew that!"

"And I was supposed to what? Just ignore that you were this king, with a whole planet depending on you? Let all those deaths rest on my shoulders and not even blink?"

"What deaths? How could our being together affect anything on another planet?"

Liz took a shaky breath and swiped at the tears streaming down her face. They were entering dangerous territory and she was feeling too vulnerable to risk the argument continuing. "Max, please. I don't want to do this with you."

"Well that's too bad, because I do," he said, stepping closer so that Liz couldn't help but back away. "You were right. This isn't about you and me, it's about what happened to Alex. Go back to Florida, Liz."

"What?"

"You heard me. Go. Get out of Roswell, somewhere you'll be safe. You think Alex had any idea what was in store for him? You think you can call what you do being careful and nothing bad will happen? Running from me was the smartest thing you ever did."

The shattered look in his eyes made her heart clench. "How can you say that?" she breathed.

"Because it's the truth!" he shouted. "Ultimately, we want the exact same things, Liz, because I don't want you to die for me, either."

"Stop," she begged. "Stop throwing my words in my face."

"Why? Didn't you mean them?"

"No, I didn't!" Her voice seemed to resonate, bouncing off the brick walls behind him.

Max pulled up short, the anger draining from his face. "What did you say?"

"I lied," she sobbed, unable to hold back her tears any longer. "God, Max… I die a little every day for you," she cried, hiding her face in her hands. She couldn't bear to meet his gaze, to see the confusion reflected there. "I'm sorry you're hurting," she choked out, her shoulders shaking, "but I am too, and if you can't see that…" She took a shuddering breath that turned into hiccups.

"Liz, I-"

"What the hell's going on out here?"

Liz jumped at the sound of her father's voice, turning to find him glaring at them through the window. Max continued to stare at her, seemingly oblivious to his presence.

"Liz, are you all right?" her father demanded as he climbed out onto the balcony. "Max, what are you doing here? Do you have any idea what time it is? I want you out of here, now."

The sharp tone seemed to break through Max's haze. "I, um… Sorry, Mr. Parker," he said quietly.

"Max was just leaving, Dad."

"Liz, we-" he began.

"Good night, Max," she said, though her hiccups were making it difficult to sound firm.

He stared at her for a long moment, until her father began to move as if to escort him off the balcony. "I'll talk to you tomorrow," he said finally, his voice low. "Good night, Mr. Parker," he added, then walked over to the window and disappeared into the apartment.

When Liz's father began to follow him, she grabbed him by the wrist. "Leave him alone, Dad."

"Liz, what was he doing up here this late? Were you fighting? Did he do something to you?" He brushed her hair back and gazed down at her tear-stained face. "If he hurt you…"

"Dad, it was just an argument, okay? It's nothing for you to worry about. I'm just sorry we woke you up." She sighed when he appeared unconvinced. "Daddy, I'm fine. Go back to bed."

He wrapped his arms around her and gave her an awkward hug. "He made you cry," he said, stroking her hair. "Was it about the baby?"

Liz stiffened in her father's arms, then gently pulled away to look him in the eyes. "Good night, Dad."

Her father sighed and nodded. "Good night. Give a yell if you need anything."

"I will." She watched him climb back into her room and disappear into the hall, noticing that he left her door open. For a long time she just stood there, taking deep, calming breaths, staring down at the warmly lit bedroom and all of the familiar things that made it hers. It had always been her haven, but suddenly it felt remote and impersonal.

Sleep held little appeal. She eased herself back down on her deck chair, her palms resting over her abdomen as she hummed softly. Above her the sky was vast and dark, the stars just beginning to blink into view. She stared up at the heavens, watching the night transform them, revealing their true nature. "That's what's there all the time…" she whispered. It was strange to think that a world someplace out there had set all of this chaos in motion, simply by sending a space ship to Earth.

*****

TBC
Last edited by EmilyluvsRoswell on Tue Jul 29, 2003 8:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Revelations - Part 16

Post by EmilyluvsRoswell »

I just want to take a few lines to thank you all for the simply outstanding feedback on this. You guys amaze me with the detail of your conjectures and opinions. I know this is a bit of a rollercoaster ride, even compared to my previous work, so I'm glad you've found it worth hanging in. I'm flattered by the faith you keep espousing in my writing, and I hope I don't let you down. I never claimed this was going to be an easy trip.

Anyway, here's the next part, in two posts due to length. Enjoy.

:)
Em

******

Part 16

******

Liz woke early the next morning, despite having spent the night tossing and turning. She wandered out to the kitchen for some juice, only to be confronted by the sight of her frazzled father pacing back and forth as he spoke on the phone. His eyes lit up when he saw her.

"Honey, could you do me a favor?" he asked, cupping a palm over the receiver.

"Uh, I guess. What's up?"

"I'm down a waitress this morning, and now Karen's running late. Some sort of problem with daycare. Could you cover the counter until she gets here?"

Liz relaxed, somewhat amused at the simplicity of the dilemma. "Sure, Dad. Let me just go find something to wear."

He beamed at her gratefully, then returned to his conversation. "Okay, Karen, we're fine until you make it in."

Ten minutes later, Liz headed down to the café. She'd settled on her maternity jeans with a loose blue top that nearly matched the color of the Crashdown uniforms. In lieu of the antennae, she'd pulled her hair back with a silver clip. It was nice not to have to don the regulation dress and apron, and she found herself wondering if her father might go for a more updated look. All the waitresses hated their uniforms.

The truth was that Liz was glad for the opportunity to ease back into working. She was a little nervous about facing a floor-full of customers in her pregnant state. It was one thing for word to have traveled around school, but half the town filtered through the café in any given week and she felt a little pang knowing she was going to be the latest fodder for their gossip. This was a far cry from giving her their opinions about a hair cut. Fortunately, it was generally quiet on a Monday morning, and she'd only be working for an hour or two - just enough to get her feet wet.

Liz set a pot of coffee to brew, then wiped down the counter with a damp towel. By the time her father unlocked the door, she had everything organized to her liking. Still, she was glad when the first couple of customers chose to sit at tables, even if it left her with little to do. Normally she would have had a book behind the counter with her, but she hadn't thought of it in the confusion of rummaging through her clothes. Regardless, there was plenty to think about after the events of the previous day; she had no fear of growing bored.

Then the bell rang out above the door and Tess sauntered into the café. Suddenly, Liz wished she was anywhere else but stuck behind that counter. Tess looked around for a moment, then caught sight of Liz and made a beeline for her.

"Liz, I didn't know you were still here," she cooed. "I would have thought you'd gone back to Florida by now. Don't you have classes?" she asked as she slid onto a stool.

"No, I'm still here," Liz replied, with a little nod. "What can I get you, Tess? Coffee?"

"That's good for a start. And a menu. I'm meeting Max for breakfast. I don't suppose you've seen him yet?"

Liz felt the air rush out of her lungs. "Um, no, not this morning," she replied. She set a cup on the counter and filled it with coffee, concentrating on not letting her hand shake as she poured.

Tess's nose wrinkled. "He said to be here at opening. Otherwise we'll be late for school."

"Well, you know, maybe he overslept." Liz slapped a menu down in front of Tess and forced a smile. "I'll be back in a minute for your order." Then she spun on the heel of her sneaker and all but ran for the break room.

Safely out of view, she leaned against the lockers and exhaled slowly. What the hell was she thinking? Nothing had changed. Max still had a destiny, the world was still in danger. A few moments of weakness on the balcony the night before and she'd been acting as if Max was hers. She pressed a trembling hand to her forehead and closed her eyes. Why had she thought she could stay in Roswell? She had no control when it came to Max; she knew this. It was the reason she had gone to Florida in the first place - because she knew she'd never be able to hold up to him constantly pleading for answers. God, she should have never come home.

Letting her head fall back, Liz sighed. That wasn't quite true. She had come for Alex, and he was the reason she had stayed. Until she found out who killed him - and why - nothing else mattered, including her own discomfort. Once she had answers, however, she was gone. She would return to Florida and leave Max with Tess… where he belonged.

But that didn't mean she had to like it. Steeling herself, she headed back into the café to take Tess's order.

***

Max never showed up, and finally Tess was forced to leave in order to make it to school on time. Liz couldn't help but take a small satisfaction in the look on the other girl's face as she headed out of the café, and she was even mean enough to wonder if Max had ever intended on meeting Tess at all. She set the thought aside, however, feeling mildly guilty, and was relieved when Karen showed up soon after to take over her shift.

After a quick shower and a change of clothes, Liz went over to Alex's house. She had a nagging feeling that she had missed something on her earlier visits, and she had no intention of ignoring her gut instincts until they could all discuss the situation in committee. The others had school and she did not, it was as simple as that. She planned on taking advantage of the extra time at her disposal.

Mr. Whitman had returned to work, but Alex's mother was home and more than happy to let Liz in. "I can't tell you how touched we are by everything you kids are doing," she said. "You've put in so much work already."

"It's the least we can do," Liz told her, realizing as she spoke just how true her words were. The fact was, neither she nor Maria had done anything concrete for the yearbook tribute all week; they'd been far more focused on finding Alex's killer. She made a mental note to take some things for the layout when she left today.

"I'll just leave you to it, then," Mrs. Whitman said, hovering just outside the doorway to Alex's bedroom. "Let me know if you need anything."

"Thank you, I will."

Once Alex's mother had gone, Liz sat on the edge of the bed and looked around, hoping something would strike her. Logically, she knew the answers to her questions were most likely locked within Alex's computer, but she needed a fresh approach. She'd already been all through his files and she hadn't found anything that resembled a top secret translation of the alien symbols. Knowing what she was looking for wouldn't make it magically appear. Wherever Alex had uploaded that file, he had failed to retrieve it. Which left Liz nearly as clueless as when she had begun.

Inspiration seemed to be spending the morning elsewhere, however. Sighing, Liz moved to the desk and decided to concentrate on gathering material for the yearbook. She brought the laptop out of sleep mode and started sifting through the photo file, looking for shots that depicted Alex at his truest moments. There were several pictures of him playing at the Blind Date concert with the Whits that she had particularly liked. She wondered if she should include one of the doctored photos of him on the trip to Sweden, then decided against it. Even if she couldn't tell the world the truth, she couldn't bring herself to help reinforce the lie.

Liz created a folder on the desktop and began copying pictures to it. Once she collected everything she wanted, she would just burn the entire thing to a disk. "Or I would if I had thought to bring one with me," she grumbled, annoyed at herself for not planning ahead. She rummaged through Alex's desk, checking each drawer for his stash of blank CDs. He was always burning copies of the Whits' latest songs, so she knew he had to have a supply somewhere.

"There we go," she mumbled, finding a stack of disks under some loose sheet music. She pulled one out and checked the label to verify that it hadn't been used, then tossed it onto an empty corner of the desk. As she reached down to shut the drawer, another CD caught her eye. This one had clearly been burned because Alex had printed a cover for the case. She picked it up and turned it around so she could see the art work.

The CD was yet another volume of the band's current songs, but that wasn't what interested Liz. Alex had morphed a series of photos of the band members so that their heads, arms and legs were sticking out of their instruments. It was by far the most creative cover he had ever done. The album itself had no title, but in tiny print down in the right hand corner was a web address: http://www.thewhitsonline.com.

"Oh my God," she whispered. "He was building a site for the band."

Fingers trembling, Liz set down the CD and turned back to the computer. It only took her a moment to get online and key in the url, however all that came up was an "Under Construction" page. Frowning, Liz opened Alex's e-mail program and began skimming though the contents of his inbox. If he had used the site as a storage place for the alien file, it would have been established before he came back from Los Cruces. She held her breath as she traced back through the months, finally finding what she was looking for at the beginning of January - a confirmation message from a web hosting company.

"Bingo," she breathed, as she clicked open the e-mail. It held everything she needed: the url for the site, the FTP information, and most importantly, the password. "Now if only he didn't change it," she murmured.

Liz logged into the FTP and waited as the browser churned endlessly. She had never hated the little hourglass cursor more. But finally the page began to load. She was in.

"Please, please, please." She scanned the folders, settling on the one labeled Miscellaneous. With a click of the mouse, it opened, revealing a single text file, entitled simply Czechs. "Oh Alex…" She chewed at her bottom lip for a long moment, staring at the screen. And then she opened the document.

The words scrolled out before her. Liz scanned over the first couple of sentences and then shut the document again. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, unable to believe she had really found it. Her heart was racing and she felt about to jump out of her skin.

Not wanting to waste any more time, she quickly dragged the text file to the folder she'd made on the desktop and waited impatiently for it to copy. Then she popped the blank CD into the burner and began to transfer the contents of the folder to the disk. Minutes later she was erasing the history on Alex's browser - eliminating the trail to the Whits' web site - and deleting the text file from the desktop. She could only hope that no one with computer expertise would come looking for the information, because she didn't know how to clean off the laptop's memory more permanently.

Then she slipped both the disk with the data and the one with the web address into her purse, and left.

***

Safe at home, her bedroom door closed, Liz sat at her own computer and put the newly-burned disk into her CD drive. She opened the translation file and, taking a deep breath, began to read. After the first paragraph, she knew she had no choice but to take it to the others immediately.

Flipping on her printer, she waited as it churned to life. Unable to sit still, she rose and began pacing. Her back had been aching all day - payback, no doubt, for sitting so many hours the day before - and part of her wanted nothing more than to lie down, despite her restlessness. Instead, she keyed in the print command and watched impatiently as page after page slipped through the feeder.

A sharp knock came at the door, making Liz jump. She quickly minimized the window on the computer screen. "Come in," she called.

The door burst open and Maria spilled into the room. "Liz, have you seen Max today?"

"What? No. Why? Did something happen?" she demanded, fear clutching at her heart.

"No, no, nothing like that," Maria replied, her tone anxious nevertheless. "He and Michael had this big blow out on the quads at lunch. They took off and neither of them came back to class."

Liz frowned, glancing at her watch. School was in session for another two hours. "Are you skipping?"

"Just history," she said, waving a hand in dismissal. "Liz, what did you say to Max last night? He was like a thunder cloud all morning, and then the way he lit into Michael…" She shook her head.

"Just what I said I would - everything about Alex. He probably wanted Michael to show him the print out of the symbols." Suddenly recalling what she had been in the middle of doing, Liz turned and pulled the sheaf of paper off the printer. "Maria, I found it," she said, unable to contain her excitement.

"You found it," Maria repeated, her expression blank. She glanced at the pile of papers Liz handed to her and her eyes grew wide. "You found it? Oh my God, Liz, where was it?"

She shrugged. "Alex was starting a web site for the Whits. He'd uploaded the file to the host's server."

Maria glanced up and stared at her. "How did you ever… No, you know what? Never mind. I don't even want to know." She looked back down at the papers in her hand. "Have you read it yet?" she asked hesitantly.

"Just the beginning. Go ahead."

Clearing her throat, Maria began. "'You are the royal four: Zan, the king; Ava, his queen; Vilandra, his sister; Rath, his counselor. You were created from the genetic material of your alien predecessors and human subjects. You were given human form so that you could live safely on the planet undetected until the time comes for your return." She paused to peer up at Liz. "This isn't anything we didn't know before.'"

"Keep going," Liz told her.

"Okay, if you say so. 'You have been given the granilith, a transport between this planet… and Antar.' Oh my God." She shook her head and shoved the papers back at Liz. "You have got to be kidding me."

"I know."

"You're actually going to give this to them?"

"Of course I am! It's everything they've been looking for."

"I don't know. They haven't been that interested lately. I mean, after that whole mess with the gandarium, everyone seemed pretty happy to let sleeping dogs lie, or whatever."

"Maria, just because they have this, doesn't mean they'll actually leave," Liz said gently.

"Liz, what does it mean that Alex was translating this?"

Liz shook her head and turned her attention to the print out. She scanned quickly, frowning as she got deeper into the document. "There's a pretty complicated explanation about timing interstellar journeys. Other than that, it seems to be mostly about operating the granilith. You need some sort of a key. A crystal, it says."

"Do they have that?"

"I don't think so. Not that I remember," Liz replied. She looked up from the translation. "Maria, this is all about how to get them home."

"Why would their enemies want them to go back? Wouldn't that Kivar guy want to keep them here, out of the way?"

"But they want the granilith. Maybe they were hoping to discover the location in here."

"Liz, Alex knew where the granilith is. If someone was using him to translate this, they could have just as easily have gotten the location from him."

"Alex couldn't have gotten into the pod chamber, though. It says here, only the royal four had access," Liz said. "But you're right. They could have learned that without going to the trouble of translating all of this." She let out a long sigh and sat on the edge of the bed. "My head hurts."

"So I guess we wait until later and see what Max and Michael say."

"I suppose. I hate to just sit around, though. There has to be an answer here somewhere. I feel like we're missing something."

"Give yourself a break. One discovery per day. You found the translation, right? That's great, Liz."

"Yeah. Great."

Maria turned, eyes narrowing. "What's with that face? What really happened last night with Max?"

Liz rolled her eyes. "I wish you'd leave your radar at home, just once."

"Spill, chica. Was it ugly?" she asked sympathetically.

"Sort of." Liz shook her head. "Not really. Just… sad. And so hard. God, Maria, I came so close to telling him everything. But then my dad showed up and ran him off." She let out a nervous giggle. "I was never happier to see him pulling his irate father face."

"But you did almost tell Max? Liz, maybe you should."

"I was actually considering it. But then I saw Tess this morning. She was in for breakfast, and Max was supposed to meet her, and all I kept thinking was that nothing has really changed. The only reason I came home was because of Alex. I can't let myself forget that."

"Blast reason. What do you feel, Liz?"

"Don't ask stupid questions," she said, feeling testy. Her backache seemed to be getting worse, and she lay back, trying to ease the pressure. "My feelings aren't the point."

"Liz, do you remember that movie, 'Peggy Sue Got Married'?"

She frowned. "The one where the woman goes back in time to high school?"

"Yeah, that's it." Maria lay down next to her and curled onto her side. "In the present she has these grown kids and her husband's having some sort of middle age crisis with a bimbo, so when she goes to the past she tries to change things. Hangs out with the town bad boy, ignores the husband who was just her boyfriend then. She's determined to change her future."

"Maria, it's a movie," Liz said pointedly.

"Hear me out. The main thing she wants to avoid is seeing her boyfriend on the night of her birthday, because the first time around they made love and she got pregnant. They had to get married and she kind of thinks that if she goes another route this time, things will be better. So on her birthday she leaves town, so she won't see the boyfriend."

"Only he follows her and they make love anyway and everything's back the way it was the first time. I know, Maria. I've seen it. But this isn't the same at all."

"Says who?"

Liz closed her eyes, not quite believing she was having this conversation. "Maria, do I have to point out the difference between fiction and real life?"

"Liz, our real life includes aliens and time travel. I see precious little difference between that and fiction," Maria snapped.

"Fine. We'll use your example. I'm not trying to fix a broken marriage here, Maria. The fate of the entire world is at stake."

"That doesn't mean you can change anything," Maria said softly.

"What do you mean? Of course I can. I have. Future Max disappeared, Alex is dead, I'm almost seven months pregnant. I'd say I changed a hell of a lot," she snapped.

"But what if that's all it is? Changing a few of the details along the way. Liz, maybe you can alter when things happen by a few years, or make small things different, but the big stuff - the things that historians would look back at and consider real events - maybe those things happen anyway."

"You mean the world's going to end no matter what I do?" she asked. "Maria, I can't believe that. I won't. All of this… hell… has to be good for something," she whispered. Staring up at the ceiling, she could feel the tears start to slide down her face.

"Liz, sweetie, I'm not trying to upset you," Maria said quickly. "Maybe you're right, and everything will be fine. I just… I find it really hard to believe that one person can make such a huge difference. Maybe some things are just meant to be."

"Chaos theory," Liz whispered. "One small action here prompts ripples all over the world. Cause and effect. Like a chain reaction. It's physics."

Maria sighed and flopped onto her back. "Just once I wish you weren't so damn smart. Is there anything you don't know?" she grumbled.

"Yeah. I don't know who killed Alex. I don't know who the hell wanted a translation of those stupid alien symbols. I don't know who wanted instructions on how to work the granilith," she muttered. "Especially since all it seems good for is a one-way trip back to…" She trailed off and struggled to sit up.

Maria had rolled back onto her side and was staring at her. "Liz, what?"

"I can't believe I was so stupid." She scrambled to her feet.

"Liz?" Maria pressed, shoving herself off the bed. "What's going on?"

"What classes do Tess and Kyle have last period?"

Maria blinked. "Um, Kyle's got gym. I think Tess has English. Why?"

"We've got to get over to the Valentis' right now. Can you drive me?" Liz had already grabbed her bag and was shoving the translation into it.

"Sure, but… Liz, what the hell did you just figure out?"

"Maria, who wants to go back to the home planet more than anything else?" Liz asked. "Who has never fit in here? Who considers Earth and humans a waste of time? Who would do just about anything to get the hell out of here?"

Maria shook her head slowly. "Michael, but he's…"

"No, not Michael. Think, Maria," she pushed.

Maria just stood there a moment, staring at her blankly. Then she let out a gasp. "Oh my God. Tess. Liz, you don't think…"

Liz simply held her gaze until the other girl nodded. "We have to go. Now."

Maria grabbed her keys and followed Liz out the door.

*****

Continued below
Last edited by EmilyluvsRoswell on Sun Aug 03, 2003 9:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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EmilyluvsRoswell
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Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm

Revelations - Part 16 continued

Post by EmilyluvsRoswell »

Continued from previous post

***

"You do realize this is breaking and entering, right?" Maria hissed as they let themselves into the Valentis' house.

"Just entering," Liz corrected, waving the key she had taken from beneath the front mat. "Close the door."

"For a former Sheriff, Valenti doesn't take home security very seriously, does he?"

"Will you come on?" Liz mumbled, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her down the hall. "The idea is to be gone before anyone gets home."

They paused at the entrance to what had once been Kyle's room. Liz had only been over once since Tess had taken it over, and she hadn't gotten further than the den. It was strange to see the wood paneling devoid of Kyle's collection of sports posters, the bed covered with a pastel-toned quilt that she recognized from the Pottery Barn catalog. The closet door was partly open, revealing a decidedly feminine wardrobe. Liz had never really given much thought to Tess as a person, with likes and interests. It had always felt safer to think of her as… alien. She realized now that her opinion of her had never really changed in all the time the girl had been in Roswell. In Liz's mind, Tess would always be different in a way that Max and the others were not.

"You okay?" Maria asked softly.

Liz shook off her thoughts. "Yeah. Just stay here and keep an ear out."

"Sure, but do you even know what you're looking for?"

"Not really. But that hasn't held me back yet."

She started with the closet, rummaging through a number of shoe boxes and bags, but finding nothing. Dropping to her knees, she searched under the bed, only to discover that Kyle had not entirely abandoned the room. She chuckled as she shoved the stack of girly magazines back into place, along with a copy of Buddha for Beginners.

Standing up again proved more difficult that kneeling had been. Grumbling, she used the bed to lever herself back to her feet.

"Anything?" Maria asked.

"Not yet. I haven't tried the dresser though." She sighed as she crossed the room and began going through the drawers. The last thing she wanted was to be rifling through Tess's underwear.

"We should have brought tongs," Maria said with a snort.

"And rubber gloves," Liz added. She moved on to the middle drawer, but found nothing. With a half-hearted groan, she gripped the top of the dresser and knelt to go through the bottom of the dresser. "I'm treating myself to a bubble bath after this."

"You mean after the meeting at Michael's," Maria reminded her.

"That's not 'til six. I have plenty of time. Damnit, not a thing," she said, shutting the last drawer with a light smack.

When she continued to kneel there, Maria smiled. "Need help getting up?"

"No," Liz sighed. "I can do it." She put both hands palm down on the carpet so she could shift her feet out from under her, and froze.

The flash raced through her, chilling her blood and causing her heart to pound. "You can't mind warp me again. There's nothing left. You forced me to translate that book and now there's nothing left to my mind…" Tess dodged his flailing hands with no difficulty. Making soothing sounds, she pressed her hands to his temples and the next instant, Alex cried out and fell to the floor.

Liz gasped, the image of Alex breaking down before her so terribly real she almost felt she could touch him. She wrenched her hands from the carpet and fell back, trembling.

"Liz? Liz, what is it?"

She looked up to find Maria kneeling in front of her.

"Liz?" Maria pressed, taking her hand. "God, what the hell happened? You look like you just saw a ghost."

Tears filled Liz's eyes. "I did," she whispered. "Get me out of here, Maria. Please, just get me out of here."

Maria eyed her worriedly. "Okay, come on," she said, slipping an arm around her to help her off the floor. "Easy does it."

Standing only made her shaking worse. She could still hear Alex's pleas echoing in her ears. He had begged - begged Tess to leave him alone - but she hadn't. She had used him and then she had killed him. Another tremor ran through her and she clutched at Maria's hand.

"Liz, you're scaring me. What is it? Did you get a flash?"

"Just... help me outside," Liz whispered. "I can't. Not here."

They half-lurched through the house and out to the car, where Maria helped her into the passenger seat. "I'll be right back," she told her. "I'm just going to put back the key. Will you be okay?"

Liz nodded. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to still her shaking. The pain in her back was throbbing now and a faint chill had begun to creep through her. She just couldn't believe it. For all that she had always hated Tess - always been suspicious of her - she never would have thought her capable of this. Of cold blooded murder. She shuddered again and closed her eyes, then snapped them open. With her eyes closed, all she saw was Alex.

Maria climbed into the car beside her and swiveled toward her. "Now tell me. What happened back there? Liz, what did you see?"

"It was Tess," she said helplessly, shaking her head. "She made Alex translate the book, then she mind warped him - I guess to make him forget. And it killed him."

"Liz, you saw that?"

"I saw enough," she whispered.

"Ohmygod, ohmygod," Maria said, bracing her head against the headrest. "I can't believe it. That bitch. I just can't believe that she… poor Alex. I'm going to kill her," she swore, pounding her fist against the steering wheel.

Liz winced as the ache in her back intensified, wrapping around her and making her vision blur.

"Liz? Are you okay?" Maria demanded. "You're so pale. God, what am I saying, of course you're not okay," she muttered, jamming the key into the ignition. "I'm going to get you home and then we're going to track down Max and Michael and Isabel."

"No, not my house," Liz said. "I can't face my parents right now. Is your mom home?"

"She's working, but Sean'll be there," Maria replied. "We could just go straight to Michael's?" She started the Jetta and carefully backed out of the driveway.

"That'll work." Liz relaxed slightly as the pain in her back lessened. "And once we're there, I think we should call Isabel."

"Isabel? Oh, to fill her in, you mean. I guess Max wasn't planning on telling her everything last night, huh?"

"No, this has nothing to do with Alex," Liz said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. The last thing she needed was for Maria to start freaking out on her.

"Then what?" Maria asked, her nose wrinkling. "Liz, she's going to want to know this. Hell, she's probably going to fight me for dibs on killing that murdering blonde bimbo," she added, frowning at the idea.

"Maria, I need to see Isabel because I need her to check me out."

"Well, it's about time. But really, Liz, you've waited this long. Don't you think you could go another day or so?" she asked, turning the corner onto Michael's street.

"Not really," Liz murmured. "I think I'm having contractions."

"You're what!" Maria squeaked. "Liz Parker, don't you dare tell me you are having that baby now!"

"Relax," Liz told her. "I'm sure it's nothing. Probably false labor. I've read all about it. They call them Braxton Hicks contractions."

"Okay, right," Maria said, her voice still a little too high. "False labor. Okay. And you just want Isabel to make sure everything's fine."

"Precisely. It's way too early for me to have the baby," she soothed, though she wasn't exactly sure which of them she was trying to calm. "I'm not even seven months along."

"But Liz, this isn't a normal pregnancy. We don't know how long alien pregnancies are."

"Everything's been progressing according to human gestation the whole time. And everyone keeps saying how small I am. My mom told me I didn't look nearly big enough for this far along."

"Okay, we're here," Maria said. "Let me just find the key to the apartment." She started rummaging through her purse. "Damn. Where is that thing?"

"Maria. Keys. Ignition."

Her head snapped up and she wrenched the keys out of the car. "Right. I knew that." She turned panicky eyes toward Liz. "Stay there and I'll come around to help you."

"That would be good," Liz said, managing a weak smile.

Maria came around and jerked open the door. Liz swiveled so her feet were on the ground and let Maria pull her to her feet. It wasn't quite as smooth as when Kyle had helped her, but it did the trick. Together they headed slowly up the walkway, Maria's arm securely around Liz's back.

"I'm okay," Liz insisted. "Really. Maria, calm down."

"I'm calm. Don't I seem calm?" she fluttered.

"Well, you're a little better than when I told you Max was an alien, but not much," Liz muttered.

Just as they reached the front door, Liz felt a rush of warmth down her leg. "Shit."

Maria was fumbling with the key. "What? What is it? Come on, let's go inside," she said, opening the door.

"Yeah. That's a good idea. And then you're going to call Isabel. We um… have a problem."

"Another problem?" Maria asked slowly.

Liz nodded. "My water just broke."

"And that means?" she asked, though her tone indicated she knew quite well.

"It means that I'm in labor."

*****

TBC
Last edited by EmilyluvsRoswell on Sun Aug 03, 2003 9:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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