A/N Just wanted to thank everyone for their feedback and for sticking with me through this story...I appreciate you all so much. So this is the end. I'm putting up chapter 11 and the Epilogue tonight.
A Month of Sundays
Chapter 11
Antar, January, 1945
"There has been a breach, My Lord." the Ancient one told him, her eyes skittering to and fro between him and the Queen Mother.. "Our enemies know the Granolith has been transported to Earth."
He was instantly on alert. He watched as his Mother's eyes dropped. But not before he had seen the anguish in them. "Vilondra?" he asked, praying it was not so; but knowing deep in his bones that his sister had betrayed them. He was furious.
"Where is she?" his voice thundered. "I wish to see her."
"She has chosen to stand with Khivar, Your Majesty." the old crone replied. "Her whereabouts are unknown."
"How much does he know? he asked,. "How much did she tell him?"
His Mother raised her eyes to his and his heart broke. "He knows the Guardian is on Earth-and that her essence is to be placed in the Granolith." she told him in a hushed voice. "But he does not know the location of the artifact or the name of the Earth woman who was chosen."
He paced restlessly in front of the two women trying to control his anger, desperately searching for a way to resolve the betrayal that had now changed everything.
"What can be done?" he asked, dreading the answer.
"It is no longer feasible for the Guardian's essence to be placed inside the Granolith." the Ancient told him, her tone guarded. "Her soul must be hidden and the artifact must lay dormant. Were her spirit to be transferred at this time, it would create a beacon to it's location for our enemies to follow."
"Tell me what I must do." he sighed in resignation. The dye had been cast and he trembled as the old woman revealed her plan to salvage the hopes that had been torn asunder by Vilondra's betrayal.
"First, Your Majesty,..." the old woman began,.."you must wed Ava. There must be a show of unity between your house and Khivar's. That will succeed in quelling the factions that threaten the throne. For a time. And upon your return to Earth for the last time...you must..--"her tone changed dramatically. He sensed then she knew of his attempt to heal Elizabeth. He locked his eyes to hers as she spoke. On the balance sheet of his life, only two things remained.
One asset: Her soul. It would be saved and hidden away.
One debt: His transgression. Payment due.
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"Sheriff Valenti?" Claudia stared at him dumbly as he stood in the doorway. His eyes were downcast as he twirled the the stetson slowly in his hands.
"Claudia.." he said. He hated being the bearer of bad news.
"Where? Where is she? Is she...?" Claudia sobbed.
"She's gone, Claudia." the Sheriff said. "We found her this morning out by Pohlman Ranch."
Claudia nodded her head, wiping the tears with back of her hand. "That's what she wanted, you know. To be in the desert..beneath the stars she loved."
"I have to ask you something," Claudia. the Sheriff said, offering his handkerchief to the distraught woman. "When did Eliazbeth get a tatoo?"
"A tatoo?" Claudia questioned. "I have no idea. Where is it?"
"On her neck." the Sheriff answered. "It's silver..shaped like a perfect V."
"I need to see her." Claudia said. "Will you take me to her?"
"Of course." the Sheriff replied. "We took her to the funeral home. I'm sure you'll need to make arrangements and all.." his voice trailed off.
"Just let me get my purse," Claudia answered. "and..wait...I need to find the instructions."
"Instructions?" Valenti asked.
"Yes, Elizabeth left me a letter." Claudia said, her voice shaking. "I can open it now...now that she's gone."
Sheriff Valenti waited patiently while Claudia gathered her things. He held her a moment as she cried before he took her outside to the patrol car and headed for the funeral home.
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He had never been to Roswell. Everyone who worked at the USO had heard of Elizabeth's passing and had attended her service the previous Thursday. Dupree had been kind enough to drive him into town so he could pay his respects as well.
"Are you sure you don't want me to wait for you?" Dupree had asked as he dropped him off at the edge of town. "It's a long walk back to the Base."
"No thanks." he had declined. "I'll be fine."
He walked the dirt road that led to the cemetery. She had told him once where to find her when the time came. In his large hand, a tiny flower lay nestled in his palm. Plucked from a bush he had come upon while making his journey. It held the fragrance of her. Roses. That's what she had called them. He would have to remember about roses. She would like that.
Claudia drove slowly down the dirt road still trying to process what Elizabeth's letter had revealed. It wasn't that she didn't want to believe her sister's story about the man she loved. But it was a fantasy. Something that Liz had invented
in her last days to help her cope with the knowledge of her impending death. There was no such things as aliens.
Claudia had followed Liz's wishes to the letter. The funeral, the inscription on the stone, to be buried in the dress she had sewn from the parachute. It was her wedding dress, she had said. And her shroud. Now she was doing the last thing that Liz had asked of her. The postscript still burned in her mind.
P.S. On the Sunday following my funeral, at sunset, go to my grave. He'll be there. Help him, please.
Love,
Elizabeth
Claudia shaded her eyes against the setting sun as she exited the car. She was heavy with child now and she made her way carefully past the stones that marked the resting places of the dearly departed. She saw him then. Elizabeth's young soldier. He was kneeling beside the newly dug plot where her sister lay, finally at peace. A small white rose dangled from the fingers of his left hand, while his right traced the inscription on the stone.
Elizabeth Ann Miller
May 29, 1923-January 15, 1945
I am never far away. To find me follow your heart.
He stood as Claudia approached, placing the rose atop the marble stone and bending his head in a nod to acknowledge her presence. She moved closer to the man her sister had loved and suddenly she knew how much this stranger had loved her back.
It was his eyes that were so compelling.So full of emotion. He was trying desperately to hide it, but she could see the pain in them. The sorrow of a lover who had been deeply wounded by the loss of her sister. She watched as his pupils expanded--the gold flecked irises circling in the moisture that threatened to spill from the depths of his bruised and broken heart.
"Hello, Claudia." he said in greeting. "I wish we could have met under different circumstances."
His voice was rich and soothing. Claudia began to understand her sister's fascination with this man. He was tall, very handsome. Everything that Elizabeth had ever dreamed about as a young girl longing for her first and only love.
"You loved her very much, didn't you?" Claudia asked.
"More than life itself. She is my soulmate." he answered gently.
"She left me a letter, you know." Claudia said, reaching into her purse to withdraw the envelope. "She said you were an..an.."
"Alien?" he smiled, trying to relieve the tension he could feel building inside her.
"Yes." Claudia laughed nervously. "Elizabeth was blessed with a vivid imagination."
He reached out and touched her hand and the letter fell to the ground. "And were I to tell you it's true..would you believe me?" he asked.
Claudia felt the tingle as it crept up her arm to her shoulder. She felt his fingers brush across her heart and when she raised her eyes and really, really looked at him-she knew-just as her sister had known before her. He was not human. Oh, the body was...but the soul was alien.
He made the connection quickly before she had a chance to pull away. In that moment she saw everything. She lived Elizabeth's life. She lived his life as well. Through the flashes she finally understood why he so desperately needed her help.
Pulling her close he placed his hand on her swollen belly. "Because her essence cannot be placed in the Granolith, I am leaving her soul in your keeping." he whispered in her ear. "And the son you will bear shall continue to keep her safe until I find her again. Do you understand?"
Claudia could only nod, staring in wonder as his hand began to glow. Like a mist..tiny tendrils of silver began to seep inside her skin, inside her womb, to where her unborn child lay. A peaceful warmth engulfed her when it was over. He wrapped his arms around her and she held him while he sobbed. This stranger...this extraordinary being from another world who loved her sister so deeply that not even death would keep them apart.
When his tears began to subside she released him and he kissed her lightly on the cheek. "I have to wipe your memory now." he said. "I cannot leave you in danger with the knowledge of the Granolith or it's Guardian. And the letter. It has to be destroyed." She followed his hand as he waved it over the envelope and it's contents, gasping as it burst into flames and was gone before her very eyes.
He then placed his hand on her forehead to complete the cleansing. He was stopped short as her hand shot up and grabbed his wrist. "How will I know what to do..." she asked, ..if you don't leave me some sort of clue?"
"Elizabeth has already left me a clue." he said, pointing to the grey marble stone. "I shall follow my heart."
"Then do what you have to do." Claudia told him. "For yourself and for my sister."
She felt the prickle as he tilted her head up...small sparks from his palm fluttered across her brow. "What was that?" she asked.
"Just a memory. We will meet again, Claudia Parker." he replied as he began the process that would make her forget what had transpired between them. She slumped against him and he lay her gently beside Elizabeth's grave.
Claudia woke up just before dark. It had really been a sad week. She remembered coming out to the cemetery at sunset and crying herself to sleep. Odd, though, she didn't remember bringing the single white rose that lay resting on Elizabeth's marker.
The End
A Month of Sundays
Epilogue
Antar June, 1947
The old woman began the final transfer. After Khivar had stormed the Palace, killing everyone who oppossed him, the bodies of her King, his young bride, his sister and his second in command had been brought to her to prepare them for their final burial.
She lay her hand across the heart of the King, pulling his soul from inside as she had done with the other three before him. With great tenderness she released his essence into the pod, watching as it entered the clone. She had balked about recreating Ava at first, but the Queen Mother had pointed out that a Foursquare had to be sent and prepared should their enemies discover the Royals had been cloned.
She said a prayer as the shapeshifters carried the small pods into the waiting ship. She felt a shiver of trepadition as the last of the four protectors saluted her--then smiled as he shut the cargo door of the small vessel.
Shapeshifters did not smile. Unless..unless they were about to betray you. She sank to the floor on her knees utterly devestated, wondering just how much Khivar really had known before he killed them all. Including his own sister. Something was terribly wrong. She had to get to the Queen.
The ship rose silently. And just as silently the assassin plunged the knife into her back.
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Earth May, 1983
Claudia Parker sat in the waiting room of the hospital watching her son Jeff pace the floor. Nancy was about to give birth to their first child and he was estatic. Nervous as hell, but estatic none the less. She thought back to the day of his birth. February 21, 1945. Right after her sister had passed away. Elizabeth. She still missed her after all these years. Her bright smile, her love of life, her unwavering faith in love.
It had been after her sister's death that her love for the desert and all living things had shaped her descision to become an archeologist. She was deep in thought until Jeffrey's voice brought her back to the present.
"Mom, Mom, we have a girl. We have a girl!" he hollered, his eyes shining with tears. He lifted her off the ground and twirled around in a circle. "You're a Grandma now. You know that. Right?"
"Of course I do." Claudia replied as he set her down. "Have you decided on a name yet? And when do I get to see her?"
Jeff took her hand. "Mom, Nancy and I were talking and we were wondering if it would be alright to name her Elizabeth..you know...after your sister." he said.
Claudia smiled at her son. "That's wonderful, Jeff. I think that's a perfect name." she whispered.
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October, 1999
Max Evans wasn't sure what he should do. He'd already had a run in with Kyle Valenti at the hospital, and he didn't want to draw more attention to himself after having been knocked around by Kyle's buddies.
Liz's Grandmother was ill. And even though he had saved Liz's life that day in the Crashdown by manipulating the bullet's molecules he didn't think his other worldly status qualified him to heal someone from a stroke. Liz had come to him for help--and he had told her he wasn't God.
Well, maybe he wasn't God. But if there was any way at all to ease the pain that Liz was going through, he had to help her. He loved Liz. He knew it with every beat of his heart, with every smile she gave him. And he trusted her above all others. Even if they could never be together because of their..differences.. he was determined to help her say goodbye to her Grandma Claudia.
Now, as he sat down by the woman as Liz watched and waited, he took her hand in his own....and the world went black.
Together they stood in the cemetery. It was Sunday at sunset, and the rose lay undisturbed atop the marble stone.
"It's you." she murmered. "You've come back."
"Yes, Claudia, I'm here." Zan said. "I told you I'd see you again."
"So you've found her, then?" Claudia asked.
"I have, thanks to you. But we have many obstacles that stand in our way before we can finally be together." he replied sadly.
"Does she know who you are?" Claudia questioned him.
"We've barely begun our journey in this lifetime." Zan said. "But I've come to help you end yours and to say good bye to Elizabeth. For the second time, it seems."
"Then let me go to her." Claudia said. "Let me tell her about you."
"That is not possible, Claudia." Zan replied. "Even I won't remember this moment once I take away the memory I gave you those many years ago."
"What shall I say to her then?' Claudia asked.
Zan pointed to the headstone. "Tell her to follow her heart." he said gently as he touched her forehead with his own and took the memory for both of them away.
Liz watched as Max struggled to bring her Grandmother back for her sake. He had come to help her say good-bye, but it seemed even his powers weren't enough to bring her back. Liz closed her eyes.
"Honey Bear." She was here...her Grandma was talking to her. Liz's eyes flew open at the sound of her voice. But she was also on the bed still and unmoving as Max somehow found the strength to hold the connection open long enough for them to say a final farewell. And then she was gone.
Max held Liz in his arms. He was so very tired. He had blacked out at the hospital and he didn't know why. Healing always drained him somewhat, but he'd never not remembered when a connection was made.
Something was different now. He could feel it as he ran his fingers through her hair. Maybe..just maybe..they could be together. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to hope.
Words etched in stone flashed across his mind. And just as quickly as they had come, they disappeared. But he remembered them.
I am never far away. To find me follow your heart.
A Month Of Sundays (AU,M/L,MATURE) [COMPLETE]
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