Til We Meet Again (CC, Mature) - Chapter 84 - Completed - 09/01/2022

[Superman86]

Come back soon, this is getting good... what will Liz do next... Dun Dun Duuuuunnnnn

[Parker1947]

Maria was standing outside on the other end of the door. Once it was apparent the knock did not work Liz is probably upstairs, finishing getting ready she could not help but think. So, she went with a ring of the doorbell as Michael was parking the car, away from the house because the street was already getting busy. Which was not expected on a night like this. So, she was waiting for him to join her at the door as she was ready to party and see that the year leaves them in the dust.

I am counting down the hours she muttered as she went for another ring of the doorbell, when the first one did not get any traction. But tonight, is not about me she muttered because she knew her friend had more reason to want to see the end of the year than she even did. My life is pretty golden in comparison. She might have a rebellious fifteen-year-old, wanting to blur the lines in incredible foolish ways. So, like his father but then Michael knew what was foolish she thought of the fact Michael knew what line not to cross, although at times he tended to blur that line. Although she knew all too well that everything could have been different if for the fact her husband had the influence of Max and Isabel in his life, as they were notorious at being able to keep his rash tendencies in check, mostly before she had come into his life, and even in those early years after she had found him. Although she knew her own son had a different life than his father had at this stage in his life. Michael could have gone a different path because he did not have structure she thought. Only two best friends who wanted him to be better than his raising had told him he could be.

And now she was looking at Michael in their son. So, she wanted to use the night to ignore the implications of her son growing up and wanting to blur the lines in ways she and her husband could not ignore or control. “Okay, Petunia open up,” she called through the door. “The party is about to get started,” she said with laughter in her voice. “I am sure you are already your pretty little self.”

Still nothing, as she did a pestering of double ring of the door as Michael chose to this time to walk up behind his wife. “What, no one home?” Michael asked although they both saw Liz’s car. And knew Mariah would have gotten a ride to the party.

So, there was a car in the driveway.

“Which makes no sense since she was expecting us, and I do have this sense she is home,” Maria muttered even though she could not see the spirit that was now behind her egging her to go into the house as her husband decided to do what he did best and investigate as he went to the window and he stood speechless as he did look through the window and saw that Liz laid collapsed on the floor in the front hallway. And once she glanced over and saw her husband’s expression, she quickly moved over, and she was terrified to see what she saw. “Open the door now,” she demanded of her husband as she lost the party mood.

Michael did just that as he found the door to be locked, and Maria knew with it being just her and Mariah at home these days, Liz often left the door locked.

So, Michael went to his backup, not picking the lock she thought. Something else, something more immediate as he used his powers, and got through the lock.

And they moved into the house.

As Maria rushed to her fallen friend. “Liz, wake up” she said as she checked for a pulse, and found her to have.

Michael made his own assessment. And while he was not a healer by power like his best friend, still he had enough to get by especially as he had grown into more of his powers since high school. Not that he had any special ones like Michael or Isabel. Still, he had the ability if he chose to accept it, and he usually did.

You had to have some protectionhe thought. Why else would you be an alien? Michael muttered to himself. Especially in this day and age. “She is in no danger, she probably just fainted.”

“Why?” Maria asked as she thought of any of the ways and knew her friend was under a lot of stress since Brady’s death but still her friend was healthy as far as she knew.

“Who knows,” Michael said as he did not stay for chitchat as he picked Liz and carried her to the couch in the living room. While a baffled Maria tried to figure what would make her friend faint as she also looked around to make sure everything was okay or that there were no intruders in the house. But all was clear. Good, now about that fainting part Turning her attention back to the living room. She spotted a bunch of envelopes on the floor but what was most interesting was that there was a piece of paper that had been where her friend had fallen. Walking to the pile, she picked up the one page, and found it to be a letter…

Its contents she could not help but read, and even she wanted to fall to the floor in utter shock as she understood the implications of what was on the printed page. “Holy Shit” she muttered as she read the letter. It made no sense, so she did not know what to think about what was written on the page. As she walked back into the living room in a daze and joined her husband who was standing above the fallen women on the couch. “I think I know what made Liz react the way she did,” Maria muttered as she stopped next to her husband and saw that her friend was still out like a light and had not even woken up with the movement.

“What?” Michael asked as he could sense that his wife had found something.

“This,” Maria said as she handed the piece of paper to her husband. Who did not have any wish to read the contents of the letter because he was under the assumption that it was probably from the insurance company playing games said as much “Probably from the insurance company, and the bastards wanting to fight over the accident,” he asked as he did not have any love for the industry after their own battle with the company over the car which thankfully, they had settled, and it was almost over. So, he was not in the mood to read of someone else’s woe with their company.

“Read it,” Maria insisted of her husband as she was aware that it was not the insurance company playing games over who was to blame for the accident and whether they should they pay off on the accident.

“Fine,” Michael muttered as he grabbed the letter and beamed down his hard stare down on the page. As he was not sure why his wife was so adamant for him to read the letter. After all, it was some else’s personal property. And it was not like he was that knowledgeable about Liz’s life not even close he thought. My wife might be, but not me…

But he had not anticipated the letter or the contents.

“Crap,” Michael muttered although he wanted to say something stronger and more violent but kept it within him as he read the letter once more. “How the hell would this be even possible,” he asked of his wife.

“You are asking me that question?” Maria asked as she stared at her husband as if he were insane, because why should I know anything? She cursed to herself. She is my best friend, but she obviously had a life she did not tell me about, and so did I. We never told each other, everything she told herself.

“You are her best friend Maria,” Michael accused of his wife as if his wife should have known of the bombshell. “How could you have not known?”

“Jerk,” Maria muttered as she grabbed the letter back and read it for like the third time to confirm the contents, and what it was actually saying.

Just as Liz was coming around…

“Um, what?” Liz was saying as she shook her head as she came out of the state of unconsciousness and was not grasping what was her current circumstances. But then she came fully back, and she did see she was now on the couch, and that she had company, and it was her best friend and her husband who were now staring at her.

“Are you feeling, okay?” Maria asked with sympathy as she watched as her friend regained consciousness and sit up on the couch while clearly grasping for what was going on, and why she and her husband were there. “We were showing up for gathering tonight, when we saw you had collapsed, and I made Space boy here force himself in, and we could not help but see that you were on the floor.”

“Right,” Liz nodded as she sat up fully now on the couch unsure of what was happening, and then a flash came to her of her standing, opening a piece of mail, and a particular letter scaring the daylights out of her. “Oh god,” she whispered as Maria showed the opening letter to her… “You have read it?”

“It was on the ground, which made it fair game.” Maria said with an encouraging smile. “It is alright, you know.”

“Is it,” Liz asked. “Or has my life completely changed?”

Which is something she did not know if she wanted to know the answer too.

*

Back out by the desert, Max was not caring that in the city, someone he used to love and still did if he was honest with himself, and he rarely was honest with himself because it hurt too much to do so but still it did not take a genius not to know that Liz had never left his heart, and he had forever tortured himself over that fact. But regardless of that. He was currently unaware that she was coming into a life altering development that had the capacity to change several lives by the end of this including his. With the television on, and a beer in his hand, he was watching something on some streaming channel that was connected to his television. Not that he was very vested in what he was watching it was only something to get him through the night so the holidays could come to an end, and they could go back to it being any ordinary day.

Nothing would ever be an ordinary day now that Liz was back Max muttered to him. So, yeah good luck with that…

Because he was unaware that this wish was unlikely to be granted anytime soon without major alterations to the life he was presently living. Still, he watched the program on his television although his mind was on his son back in town. Celebrating the coming new year with his friends. And he wondered if tonight could come and go without drama because he was not feeling like going out and dealing with the world when a gorgeous woman who had been the one right thing I my life at eighteen was constantly on his mind.

After all no one was standing in his way of dreaming of Liz.

Liz never left his mind even during the years she was away from this town. Marrying and having children. And he could remember how devastated he was when word came of Liz marrying someone else. Six months after their own short-lived engagement. Did I mean anything to you? He wondered, and still did on those nights where the alcohol was plentiful. “Come on, we meant something to each other, did we not?” Max asked. “If not for Tess,” he muttered. “We would have married ourselves.”

And those children would be mine.

But Tess did happen and nothing he could do to change that fact.

Because he had evidence of that mistake in his home.

But he knew he had taken it out on River, and he was sorry for it and wondered if the new year would bring chances to rectify it because he did not have too many more months before his son would be leaving this town, and his life. Because unlike me he knew, he had the sense River could leave this town, and branch out on his own.

And never come back. Except to maybe bury me one day, if I do not descend into a pile of ash he thought.

So, tonight was the ending of a year that currently was as he knew it. He did not want to blame his son anymore for preventing him from having the life he wanted. Because he was the one who chose the life, he was making for himself, and it was not his son’s fault. So, he was hoping River was having a good time and enjoying himself as he continued to drink the beer and watch the television but still Liz would not leave his mind.

Which was his lot in life.

And he was used to that feeling, and he did not want it to be leaving him anytime soon…

*

While at the same time at Glowing Lights, the party was in full swing as the dancing was being encouraged and all the teenagers were finding ways to enjoy the evening in different ways as River watched the cheers. Since arriving at the party not long before this moment. River had been keeping a low profile. Talking to his friends. Even dancing with his cousin Jessica as Jaime kept it some guys from her own grade. Everyone was milling around each other, and he could see Mac was on the out skirts of the night, and River knew that meant that trouble was in the offering, not that he wanted to think of that because all he wanted to do tonight was have some fun.

And not think of trouble.

Then the brunette he had spotted on the night that had already changed so many lives danced his way, and it made him curious about Mariah was handling things because he could see the brunette was clearly making friends with classmates that would officially be hers once she started classes officially the following week, once their holiday break was officially over. Jessica was now dancing with her boyfriend, Alan.

Unlike his best friend Mac, River did not have anything bad to say about the guy who was dating his cousin. Sure, he was not the type he assumed Jessica would go for, but they seemed to be happy, and they were in their glory on the night like this. Celebrating the closing of the year and praying for a good one starting in a few hours.

Not that River had someone to dance with as music changed to something fast and Jessica found Mariah, now they were talking. And River was watching it all unfold. Because relationships were foreign to him. Unlike Mac, who wanted to be fancy free. River concentrated on his first goal, my education he thought because I want out of this town.

It was more than the dysfunction he had going with his family, and especially his father. River wanted to know that there was more out there in the world than staying in this town. I want to be the one to get out of this town. Because he knew his father had stuck around this town since he landed in it. So did his aunt and Mac’s father. Not had wanted to leave. And because he had not, River knew his father was worse for it.

So, River did not want that for himself.

Because he had such a goal. Romance was never going to be on the front burner for him. And he did not know if it was changing anytime soon as a blonde came towards him, smiling. And it caught her attention. Hmm.

She is new River thought because this was indeed a small town. I know all the teenagers, whether to go to my school or not. But he did not know this one. “And you are?” River wondered as it was someone new in town. Why is this town suddenly bringing new people into its midst he wondered?

“Sierra,” came the teenager.

“You are new?” River asked.

“Sure, you would think that” Sierra Cruise smiled as she saw the fellow blonde in the corner and walked over. “You want to dance,” she asked as she showed no hesitancy. Even though he rarely said yes to those offers. River thought why not as both Jessica and Mariah who were together, talking were taking note of the change. “Who is that?” Mariah asked as if her radar went off, as if she should know the woman.

Why, she had no idea.

“I cannot say as I never seen her before,” Jessica said softly as she knew that her cousin had not been dating and she was also unnerved by someone new in this drama of theirs because they already had someone new in this town. And they were just getting used to Mariah, and now they were someone else new.

“Interesting,” Mariah murmured as Mac came their way, and Jessica could not say she liked the way he was looking at Mariah. Until this point, her friend had stayed away, but that had obviously changed just like there could be another female in their circle as they now spotted River on the dance floor.

“Mac,” Jessica said neutrally to her friend.

Not acknowledging the concern on her friend’s face. Mac barreled onward. “Hey Mariah, do you want to dance?” Mac asked.

The offer surprised both girls. Although it should not have at least for Jessica. She knew something was going to happen. For Mariah, it was shocking. Especially since it was Mac who was doing the asking. What is going on? Mariah wondered as this invitation had surprised her as she was easily talking to Jessica and did not expect this invitation to come her way. Mac had been off in his own corner.

Not doing much and now he was showing up and making his play. And Mariah did not know what his intention was towards her, because it was not like they knew each other despite their family closeness. “Why me?”

“It is a party, is it not?” Mac asked as Jessica showed her disapproval for Mac’s shenanigans by walking away. Which left Mac and Mariah to their own devices. “It’s a free country is it not, you did say you want to have some fun, do you now?” he asked. “So, do you want that dance?” Mac asked.

“I guess I do,” Mariah said softly because she was unaware of where this was going. Or what was Mac’s angle. Although that feeling was a sentiment that was prevalent all around their family No one knows where this is going.

“This is going to be trouble,” Jessica muttered to herself as she was approached by her boyfriend and she dragged him on the dance floor, as she could not help but watch Mac and Mariah dance. “Big trouble.”

And the dancing also could not help but catch River’s attention and his blood pressure was beginning to get boiling, despite dancing with the new girl Sierra.

*

Dear Elizabeth Anthony,

It has come to our attention that you have been ignoring our efforts to contact you. We understand the difficult time you and your children are in. But it is the greatest importance that this reaches you, and you come to understand something that we discovered in the testing of your daughter, Mariah Christina Anthony, age 15 at the present time.

While testing your daughter. We have come to learn that there have been some discrepancies within your daughter’s paperwork as her file that we were forwarded from your family physician in Chicago where we know you lived until you moved here to Roswell. Well, we found that there was no blood type listed for your daughter.

Although we know that she has required no medical treatment since her birth, still it is of great importance for there to be a blood type on file so while we assumed it was just an unintentional error. It forced us to run her blood during the testing we did on your daughter so that there could a record if there is any instance in the future where she needs the information for her treatment.

Anyways, the testing did come back. And it was discovered that your daughter has an extremely rare blood type (AB) which is rare, but not exceptionally on its own but it is the RH factor that is the cause for concern. Because it matches no one that is currently in any of the known systems. That means if anything medical does come up in the future regarding Mariah. It might be hard to treat her with a blood transfusion. Unless there is someone in her family that matches her…

And unfortunately, that does hold true for your family as neither you nor your late husband matches. Your son matches his father. But your daughter does not match either of you…

And brother and sister have quite different blood types, that would pose tough compatibility.

The chances of your daughter matching someone in the system is like one in a billion. There are rare blood types out there, but your daughter seemed to be exceeding all, and is a special young woman.

If you would like to consult with one of our specialists, you can contact us…

*

No, not one in a billion, Liz thought as the letter sat on the table. If any of what she had just read was true than her daughter would match an extremely select gene pool. She was like one in six, or more if Isabel’s daughter was like her mother. I know River is she thought. Although I have not seen his powers in action So, if Mac and Jessica are like River… She did not have any way of knowing how many or if any of them had abilities. She knew Mac did to some extent at this time, but still… And now the letter was telling her that her daughter was going to be part of this select group. I should have known Liz thought as she was not touching the letter even though it was sinking in. But to Liz it did not make a lot of sense to her. Because she had always known the father of her little girl, now a big girl she moaned. She never had any doubts despite how quickly she had gone from Max’s bed to Brady’s bed. Because there were countless men in between those points. And the timing did not make it possible for most of them to be the father. And especially not Max she muttered to herself. Come on, how can it be Max? Despite how fast she had found Brady and married him. Impossible she thought but it was here on the printed page. And she now had medical professionals who were telling her this and they do not lie. They often test endlessly but once it is confirmed.

Well, it is confirmed. And there are no false positives in paternity cases because you either match or you do not.

There are no in-betweens.

“Are you okay?” Maria wondered as she saw her friend stare into the dark skies outside. Any thoughts of a party were going by the wayside. As this discovery had upended any plans, as none of them knew what to think or say. Maria could not understand it. How can it be possible because she knew what the letter was implying? It is incredible she thought. That Mariah could be a member of a very limited pool of people. She read behind the lines and could put two and two together when she read the listed blood type. So, it was easy to come to this conclusion. So, if the medical professionals were serving up a hoax well Then, she knew Mariah would be able to be treated but by someone the teenager did not know. But Maria knew him well. Okay, Mariah did currently know himMaria thought of her namesake, but she presently has an extremely dim view of him.

“How can I be?” Liz muttered as she glanced over at her friend. “I never imagined this. I never had any doubts so what does it say about me that I did not know,” she sighed. “All these years I believed Brady was her father. It is why we got married as quickly as we did. Brady never had any doubts. And most of all. I never had any doubts,” she said softly as she walked over to the alcohol and poured herself a stiff one as she looked over at Michael who was stewing about something, and obviously he wanted to her off for her falsehood that she had perpetuated all these years.

It is not my fault she told herself None of this makes sense. Except I was intimate with Max before our engagement was called off. Sure, it had only been once or twice before things were called off. But she could count.

Now I can…

But then there were others she thought. A past she had not been happy with because it had been contrary to what kind of life she had been leading, and how intense it had been with Max Maybe that is why I did it? she thought. Because it was so intense, she wondered. She needed to collapse, and she had used sex for that release.

Then she found Brady and found happiness.

And now she was grateful that her husband was not alive to know this because this might break his heart because she had known how close of a father he and his daughter had been. Which is why Mariah was at a crossroads in her life. And did not like knowing that her mother had a past that did not include her father.

Because she knew how close Brady had been to Mariah. She might look like me she thought Me she stopped. And thought of her daughter. And how proud she had been for years that her daughter was the same color of hair as she had been all her life. And that they had taken after each other. Because she had been different that her mother because the red did not follow to her daughter. So, naturally she would assume she took after her father.

So, she was thrilled to have a daughter who looked like her. Because yes, Lex looked like Brady, and had done since he had been a baby, and it had been becoming more apparent with age. And yet now she was seeing something else entirely as she thought of her daughter, who was bravely out there in the world on this night.

… She did look like Max.

Shit she told herself, and if this were to be true than it might not be completely blood that they shared. Still, it did not make sense. How is this possible? Liz asked herself clearly still somewhat in denial. There is no way Max could be Mariah’s father she told herself as she said the last part out loud as she came out of her trance and found both of her friends looking at her with…

Compassion from Maria.

But with judgment coming from Michael.

Oh god she murmured to herself as tried to make sense of it. “I did not know,” Liz said first in a whisper, and then deeper for what was like the millionth time but this time she directed the statement at Michael because the judgement in the eyes of Max’s best friend was glaring at her “I swear Michael, if I had known, I would never have kept it a secret all these years. Even if I liked the life I had, which I did but come on there was no reason to know…”

“Are you sure?” Michael asked.

My husband is a jerk Maria stewed and said as much “Why are you being such a jerk?” Maria muttered calling out her husband. “So, what if she knew. We all have a right to some secrets in our lives,” she muttered. Okay maybe this is a biggie she thought. “But in this case, we all in this room know Liz is not one of those women to have knowingly kept it a secret,” she sighed as she looked at the torment on her friend’s face. “I believe her Michael because we both know that she would have told Max if she had known,” she muttered. There is no way she could have kept Max from his daughter. Now whether would have stayed with Brady, that is another story, Maria mused to herself. But Max would have known, which probably would have made moving on for either of them, impossible.

“Would she have?” Michael demanded as he was fully aware of how his best friend’s life had been defined by actions of so long ago. Actions Max is fully responsible for, but if Max knew So much could have been different for his friend. So much… “We all know what happened back then. Max chose to keep River, and Liz walked away from their engagement and left town in a flash. And was married six months later. “So, tell me Liz, how could you not have known?”

Yeah how, Liz told herself.

She had always hated how Tess had Max’s baby, and she did not.

And now?

Now.

*

And that baby was dancing with someone who knew her family. But thanks to the decisions of their parents, they did not know each other. Not even a tiny bit. They knew of each other’s existence, sure, but the families rarely had gotten together because it was rare that her mother had come back to this town. Most of the time, it had been Mac’s mother who would head to see her best friend. But those instances were little less than you would think and for Mariah’s mother. It usually took a big emergency to bring her mother to this town. And if she did come back here, it was a quick visit, and he did not get a chance to see his mother’s best friend much.

And he did not know Mariah.

Until she showed up in town and attracted his best friend. And now he was playing with fire by dancing with her, even though they both saw River on the dance floor with a fellow blonde. Someone new, someone he swore he had not known before which is weird that two complete strangers would show up in town at the same time. Like Jessica, he definitely found it weird and off putting but given his current motto was to blur lines and find trouble if possible.

He was not going to question it.

Because contentment with life was asking for trouble. Which he was. So, he would rather continue on sowing his oats so when he settled down decades from now, which he knew he would, but once he did, he planned on not regretting any of his choices that he made when he was young and should have known better. So, yes, he knew that he was definitely playing with fire as they danced multiple dances. Even though he knew River had been looking at Mariah and Mariah has been looking right back.

And here he was swooping right in and making trouble. Jessica did not want to be watching it anymore, so she dragged Alan back onto the dance floor, as she tried to ignore the display and coming fireworks. Why was Mariah putting up with this you might want to ask? I want to have some fun she thought. She did not care if Mac was the opposite of the guy, she should be looking at because steady wins in end. Nope, I am looking for fun.

It was New Year’s Eve, and she was fifteen. She was young and she had already lost so much, and she did not know everything. But on this night, she did not care. If Mac could show her some fun. She was not going to turn it down.

She instead was going to seek it out.

Unlike what her mother thought. She was not that much of a bookworm. She had been out with guys. One guy named Josh back home had been a good time, but that ended with her move to this town. So, if she was going to be here, she might as well have some fun so that she did not always think of her father.

Or the unknown in this town, or if her brother was inflicted by their father’s bad heart. So, this is what people call fun?” Mariah asked.

“It is probably as out there as you are going to get these days,” Mac muttered as they both thought back to their earlier discussion on Christmas. “Each generation has its own take on letting loose and our parents are not as loose as they might have been in an earlier time,” he said as he knew why his parents came down on was because of what they had been through when they were his age.

Which he felt was probably fair.

It did not mean he did not want follow his parent’s directive to be careful, and not to ruffle any feathers. What good would be living if I did not do my own growing. Stupid mistakes and all that…

“Because I could use some fun,” Mariah murmured. “If you know what I meant…”

Oh, I do Mac thought. And but he would not have thought it was possible with Mariah, although his inner side was saying she was probably crying out because of everything that was going on in her life, but he was not going to be one to psychoanalyze a fellow teenager because then they were prone to do it to him, and he already had enough friends who were trying to find out what made him tick, and why he had this need for trouble.

“Are you sure?” Mac asked.

“Yes,” Mariah murmured as she pulled him back onto the dance floor and into an extremely passionate kiss that stunned many onlookers, and especially one who had been talking to his new friend Sierra when he caught win of the display on the floor. Shit he thought as he noticed the display. That blood pressure was indeed spiking, and Jessica did notice, and elected to come over to where her cousin was with Sierra.

“You cannot approve of that, can you?” River asked Jessie pointedly once his cousin had stopped with her approach. “He is going to hurt her…”

“I do not run his love life as he made sure to point out to me,” came an annoyed Jessica as they watched the display which ended when Mariah who was being very forward and unlike the girl, she and River thought they knew which is the point, they did not know the girl as Mariah pulled Mac to the door, and soon they had vanished from the premises.

Jessica and River were at a loss, fuck they both thought once again.

'I am going to do something about that,” came an annoyed River, as he raced after his friend, and Jessica knew this was a disaster in the making.

“Why does River even care?” Sierra asked.

“Hell, if I know,” Jessica murmured After all they barely knew each other But she was coming to more of a sense with every moment she spent with Mariah, and she did not like the sense she was indeed getting.

*

A few hours later,

A car sat outside of town, by the desert. The person inside the car did not know why she was here. After the disastrous night that was supposed to be a gathering with Maria and Michael to celebrate the end of the year and welcoming the new one. Well, that did not go as expected ad it ended before it really begun. It was still too early to expect that her daughter would come home. She really did not want to sit home and thinking of what could be happening given this was New Year’s Eve after all, or now that it was the early hours of the new year. A year that was beginning as disastrously as the last one ended. Which was unfortunate because she knew this could be going anywhere, and she did not have a clue as to what she wanted. After all, she was still stunned by the letter that had upended her world.

So, why did I come here? Am I a masochist she wanted to know of herself This place upended my world she muttered as she got out of the car and started to walk towards a place that had incredible meaning to her past?

Why she muttered. I had a good life going.

Or so she thought she did.

Now she was rethinking a lot and she could not imagine how she was going to tell her daughter such a life altering change to her life If the last few weeks had already been bad, imagine what the next whatever how long she sighed as she walked.

Needing the night and the silence to think and she figured it was the early hours of the new year and people would be drunk and passed out. And not paying attention to the wandering musings of a grieving widow whose world had just gotten twisted once again.

So, she was not concentrating on where she was walking because she suddenly heard the astonishment of a familiar voice “Liz,” came one word and she did not to twist around to know who it was.

“Max,” was all she could say as they viewed each other in the night sky. Neither knowing what the other was doing here, especially on a night like this.

All they knew was the caves were in the background and here they were, and Liz could only think was how suddenly they were back in the same orbit, and he did not even know half of it.

Or how they implausibly now shared a child.

A fifteen-year-old child.

Oh god, she muttered to herself. How am I going to get out of this one? She asked herself as she and Max could only look at each other, with so many years between them and what they once had together,

As she thought back to the conversation, she had with Michael earlier before she decided to get in her car and come out for a drive.

“I promise you that I did not know, and why would I have kept it from Max if I know,” Liz asked clearly still in shock from the disclosure. “I was with Brady. I love Brady Michael. I had no reason to think that Mariah’s father could be anyone other than Brady. The timing did not support it, and you know it. I left in May. Mariah as born the following March, on the 28th of the month. Yes, Max and I were together briefly before I left town, but the dates did not support even if Mariah was late, and she probably was but she was not that late…”

“Still,” Michael grumbled with the strong glare of his wife coming back at him.

“I hate to say it but there were others between Max and before Brady,” Liz muttered. “If I did not have the hospital saying my daughter had an extremely abnormal blood type than I would have pinned the Daddy label on any of the others, even if most of them were unlikely to have taken due, to, yes, timing. At no time would I have thought it could have been Max.”

“We are different,” Michael muttered.

“Are you really that different?” Liz asked as she looked at Maria.

“Do not look at me like that, When the only time I was pregnant is with our son and I was with Michael, and we were very active, and I probably could pinpoint a specific date and time, but there was no need too,” Maria said with a smirk. “And the pregnancy did not seem that long to be honest with you, but it has been fifteen years.

“Yes, it has been,” Liz said. “Fifteen years and I remember it still and it did not seem that different from my pregnancy later on with my son.”

“Yeah,” Michael asked.

“Yes,” Liz said. “I know I was not here, so you have to trust my word also here Michael. If I had even one ounce of suspicion, I would have told Max. I do not know what it might have meant for us, but I would have told him.”

“He kept his son,” Michael muttered.

“Yes, he did” Liz bristled still at the memory and Maria glared at her husband for forcing her friend to remember that time in their lives. “Still, he has a right to know if he was going to be a father. I might have been with Brady, but I would have told him. Once again, I never had any ground to believe it could be Max.”

“I guess I believe you,” Michael muttered.

“Gee thanks” Liz muttered.

“So, are you going to tell now that he has a daughter?” Michael asked as the question seared into her brain.

And that was what drove Liz out to the desert. As she was needing to think, and after Maria forced herself and unfeeling husband to leave, and head home. Liz got in her car and came out here, time…

And needing the space.

Not even thinking for a minute about how she was coming to Max’s turf and now he was there, staring at her like she was his salvation.

No matter the pain, and the distance that had come between them.

[keepsmiling7]

Why did you have to stop at this point????
Can't wait to see how Liz explains this........to Max........and later to Mariah.
Liz must have gone off the deep end after Max decided to keep Zan/River.

[keepsmiling7]

Why did you have to stop at this point????
Can't wait to see how Liz explains this........to Max........and later to Mariah.
Liz must have gone off the deep end after Max decided to keep Zan/River.

[Parker1947]

Max was drifting. As usual but this time, the movie he had been watching was now over. Having not cared to witness the counting down of the clock, therefore, he ignored all that and given that he was a little more than mildly curious to see what time his son would make it home because he was not convinced that the sleepover would come to a fruition. I am acting like a father. And given River was still out, it made for the conditions that he was unable to sleep. So, he was looking out the window. And because ordinary he would not see anyone in the vicinity and especially not during a night this dark, and that had always been a comfort which is why he found this place for his home.

And that was then, this was now.

He could swear he had seen a figure in the distance. It was dark. So, how he would know it was someone he should care to pay attention too he did not know. But he saw the figure in the distance. And then even though he should not have but still he saw a car nearby, and he wondered if the person needed assistance. Wondering if they had drunk too much or had car problems on this night. What the hell, I am still up regardless, so I might as well care about the person out there. But it was only once he was out of the door and having walked a bit that he realized who it was, and he was godsmack by the chance to see the woman he loved.

Since third grade, or once he knew what love meant, and most importantly ever since that day when she took a chance on him. Now, years later, it was the early hours of a new year, and he had especially known how rough the last one had turned out for the woman he loved even if she does not love me anymore, he thought. I can provide all the love to make up for that… And at least he has gotten a chance to see her, and maybe even talk to her, yeah in some circles. I might be a stalker but this time, I did not knowingly leave my house with it being Liz I was seeing.

Some rational there.

But he would take it if it were a chance to see the woman he loved. Not past tense, present tense because his life was the way it, because he loved a woman.

“Liz, what are you doing here?” Max wondered to know because this was not a place, he would have expected to see the only woman he could ever love. Because of the memories and because of what I cost her, he thought.

“Driving,” Liz said honestly. “Needing time to think,” she said. “I have not been back here long, and so I thought why not, but I did not intend to stop here. Why I am I doing this? She asked herself. Knowing what I know.

And knowing what Max does not know she muttered to herself.

Max nodded as if he understood but how can he understand, Liz muttered. When I do not even understand what she now knew.

“I am sorry if I was intruding?” Max asked as she felt the oddity of the situation. “I saw a car, and I guess it was you although at the time, I did not have a face, so I thought maybe car trouble or something because rarely do people stop out here,” he said softly. “Even on a night like this, especially so close to these specific caves, I mean.”

“Yeah,” Liz nodded as she understood because only four people had the right to be able to go into the caves or to know that there was a chamber within them. As they both looked around and saw the dead of the night, and knew they had a unique history.

For good and for bad.

“Why are you here?” Liz wondered.

“I live down there,” Max said as he showed the house that was not far away, and that was lit up so they could recognize it.

“Oh,” Liz said feeling slightly guilty because clearly there was a lot she did not know of her ex-boyfriend, and or where he lived although she had been warned enough to know he lived out this way.

But she did not know where, and now knew she had a secret she did not know how to tell her ex-boyfriend, but she knew she did have to tell him. I am not Tess. I do not keep things from Max.

Which is why I walked away because I could not in good conscious marry him when I had doubts. But maybe I should have than Mariah would have been raised to know her true heritage, she shuttered to think as now she knew the full weight if Mariah was indeed Max’s than that opened a whole new world for her daughter.

And for Liz.

Was she ready to grab it?

She did not know.

“If you want to go, I will understand” Max asked as he did not think this was the true intention of her night. And that she would not want to be anywhere near me, which is why she moved on in the first place, right? he asked himself.

“No, I do not want to go” Liz muttered I do not know why the hell I not she told herself my husband has only been dead for a few weeks, she thought. This is the last place I should be she told herself. But we share Mariah.

Mariah Christina Anthony. Named for her best friend, and paternal grandmother and of course given her married name. Now she knew it was all a lie. Shit she told herself as the full weight of what she had not known was falling fully on her.

With the knowledge that Max did not know.

Holy crap, what am I going to do? Liz asked herself as she saw Max’s face and saw his understanding face and felt incredibly guilty.

“Do you want something to drink, like water or something before driving back?” Max asked with the knowledge that the desert heat did make people thirsty, even after midnight he laughed at himself.

“Maybe,” Liz said stopping. “That might actually be kind of nice,” she said as she had no idea what she was doing or what she wanted to be doing except she knew one of these hours. Max needed to know the truth.

Mariah needed to know the truth.

Liz had no idea of how she was going to tell her daughter, or whether her daughter would believe she had not known How can you not have known? She imagined her daughter would be yelling at her. Rightfully…

Although, how on earth should I have known that I had an abnormally long pregnancy that no mortal should have experienced she thought Of course I am going to figure it was Brady’s baby if I did not want to recognize any of those other men, I had sex with after Max, and before Brady.

But still she walked and followed Max to his house.

Stopping outside the beautifully crafted house. “This was not here when I last lived here,” Liz asked as she grabbed onto something different than that she needed to be telling her ex. And she remembered well the route they would take out here to the caves. And she knew this house was not here back then, back when she left this town behind.

“No, it was not” Max confirmed. “I built it.”

“You did,” Liz asked, looking surprised. “That… that…”

“What is that?” Max asked with almost a laugh. “You do not think I could build a house?”

“No, I guess not” Liz confirmed in a display of honestly. “I am sure you could do almost anything you put your mind on,” she said softly because it was the truth. Max could do more than the average person. “But I guess, I never imagined you would…”

“It gave me a challenge,” Max allowed as they looked at the house. “And it got me and River out of my parent’s place,” he said softly.

“How long did you stay?” Liz asked as she knew he had moved back in with his parents in the wake of the baby coming back to the planet with Tess, and he was still there, and when everything went down the way it did between the two of them.

“Too long,” Max muttered. “River probably would have been better off if we had stayed longer…”

Liz nodded and Max could tell she had been probably hearing some stories of his lack of parenting. “Do you want to come in for that drink before you head home, or go wherever you intend to go?”

“Probably,” Liz said softly. “I cannot stay too much later because Mariah will be home before too long or so I hope…”

“Roswell nightlife does eventually have a shelf life,” Max smiled. “Even on New Year’s Eve.”

“But my daughter was raised in Chicago, so she has not acclimatized yet to the ways of Roswell. And she also is a little annoyed with me these days, so she is liable to do almost anything on a night like this,” Liz muttered because she knew her daughter too well. Even when Mariah thought her mother did not know, well, Liz did know and still she knew she could not have put the kybosh on this night like this without it starting open warfare between mother and daughter and therefore Liz was trying to keep that from happening until she had turned sixteen, at least.

If not longer but given the knowledge she now did have. She suspected the next months would be turbulent.

Max nodded.

“This place is beautiful,” Liz said as they walked into the house. “Wow, you did some great work here Max.”

“Thank you,” Max nodded. “Although I cannot take sole credit. Michael and Kyle did help me out and you know my abilities were a great assist, as it kept the costs down.”

Liz laughed.

It felt golden for Max to hear her laughter again. I did not know how much I missed that… Even if most of our courtship was not a laughing matter.

But for a minute there. It was almost like it was back in high school.

“I will get you that drink,” Max said softly as he walked into the kitchen and Liz was looking around and saw a bachelor’s home almost how it was for Jim and Kyle before Amy moved in, she thought. Still, it was a remarkable home. Max has some real gifts, she thought.

“Here,” Max said as he brought her some lemonade. “I did not think you would want water?” he admitted.

“Perfect, although I wish for something stiffer,” Liz muttered, and Max heard it. “But I cannot when I am on the road, because I have to set a good precedent for my daughter.”

Max nodded.

“You have a lovely home here Max,” Liz said softly.

“It’s probably a mess because I was not expecting guests, and you know it’s just River and me…” Max murmured because he did know that it was indeed a mess How was I supposed to know my dream girl was going to be here tonight. Unless I was sleeping…”

“Yes, I know” Liz said softly. “But my house is not much better because it was still so disorganized, and she knew she had to do something about that one of these days. Maybe it will get my mind off my battles.

“Liz,” Max said trying to say something, but Liz was not going to allow him to say those words that evoked the past. Because it seemed inappropriate given current circumstances. Circumstances of which Max was not even apprised of the true meaning of them.

“Max, it is alright,” Liz said softly as she took a sip of the drink that he had offered her, and they could only stare at each other. Neither knowing what to do or say, and Liz was feeling guilty for keeping what she did know.

“I wish things could have been different,” Max said softly. Because for some reason he could not let the subject go.

Unprepared to listen any comment on the past. When so much was now different. “Max, please do not say anything more,” Liz said softly because while she wished it could be different. But facts remain that everything was different. And nothing can fix what did go down. You cannot travel back in time. Sighing as she saw the compassion on the face of Max and kicked herself because she should not have come here, until she knew what she was going to be doing with the information she now had. This was a mistake.

After all, she always operated with a battle plan, and it rarely worked to go free range, because now she was existing in a life that did not have one. And that did not exactly mesh with the kind of life she strived to be a part of.

Max nodded.

As Liz saw the clock ticking down and she took that as a sign that she would have to leave. So, she did turn to leave but a sudden compulsion for her made her stay and say something. This is crazy. I need to tell him. “Max, I need to say something…”

“What is it?” Max asked unaware of what it could be. How can it be something important?” he thought.

“Um,” Liz asked unsure of how to say it or to even frame the words to start the conversation.

Not comprehending the true meaning of her words, Max braced the impact “It’s okay, I understand” Max murmured as if she understood.

He did not.

“How can you understand when I have not said anything yet,” Liz muttered. “I appreciate your effort to be there for me. But there is really something I need to tell you…” she said finally she knew how to say the words, and so she was preparing to land the bombshell, but unfortunately before she could utter the words…

As if it was a sign. They got interrupted by the dual rings of both her cellphone in her pocket, and by the landline in Max’s house.

Max went to answer it, and Liz answered her cellphone. “Yes,” they both said in unison.

And their faces dropped.

“Fuck,” they both muttered in almost exact unison.

*

One hour later,

A trio of outraged parents arrived within second of each other. The first arrivals were loaded to explode because they also had gotten stunning phone call. And unlike Max and Liz they were closer to the town, but it was by some good fortune or serendipity that they all arrived within 1-2-3 fashion at the Sheriff’s Department.

Because yes, the call had been from the cops, informing of where to find their kids. And none of them were happy to have to collect their kids. Although they were happy to be told they were all in one piece. Still, this was not what they wanted to be doing was bailing their teenagers and most of all, Maria wanted to throttle her son because she felt he was going to be the one to blame when they got the true version of the facts. It is always Mackenzie she thought of her son. While she was seething. She was willing to let Michael to be the face of their parental unit. She was prepared to deal later, and at home.

While on the other side of it. Max and Liz could not understand how they ended up here, or why they had been called. Still though they arrived in separate cars and within seconds of the Guerin car. And they arrived inside the department to the not very dulcet sounds of an exploding Michael Guerin. “What the hell do we have here?” came an aggravated Michael looking at his son.

This was a day they all knew was coming down the pipeline, and he was not happy to be here, and having to deal with this when finally, they gave their son the freedom of enjoying New Year’s Eve with his friends. Really Mac he wanted to mutter. But he chose to stoke a harder tone. “Jesus Mac…”

Although as they saw the kids, all three parental units gasped to see that both Mac and River had evidence of clear-cut bruises, with ice packs on their face, given to them by the deputies on duty on this night. It was traditionally quiet by most town’s standards for New Year’s Eve. Roswell did not get a lot of trouble even on a night prone to drinking and having fun, but now it looks like it was getting some business as it looked like they had been in a fight, oh great both Max and Michael would say as they got a look at their sons.

All the while Mariah looked like she was finally coming back to reality with the knowledge of having to deal with her mother, who did not like how her daughter looked. As she stood there, not talking, but groaning when she saw her mother, and giving Max the evil eye.

Which made Liz now wince. Oh god, she whispered to herself but knowledge of new facts in relation to her daughter was overridden by anxiety because the dress that had looked shiny earlier in the evening now looked wrinkled, and she did not like what it looked like now as a mother of a fifteen-year girl, and now to have two teenage boys with bruises on their faces. And when you have a female in the middle of two guys.

You got trouble. Big trouble. Like Jessica so subtly warned.

“Yeah,” Liz said following in Michael’s train of thought. But more lady like even thought she was wanting to erupt but she was saving it for a moment, “What is going on here?” she asked of the night’s activity. “Why did we have to come here to collect you,” she asked first of her daughter, but her daughter was silent. Which annoyed her, so she focused her questioning on Jim. “Sorry we had to be a burden for you tonight. So, what can you tell us that our own children will not?”

“It was an altercation in the park,” Sheriff James Valenti, Jr.. said coming into the room and surveying the three teenagers. And he also winced at the bruises of his grandson’s face. Family because of his marriage to Mackenzie’s grandmother. Jim treated the collection of grandkids in his family, whether they were blood or not as family. On the other hand, he was town Sheriff, and usually called when there was drama. But most nights, it was rare to get called. Which had been fortunate for his marriage. But this was obviously not one of them and because of the participants. He had come running. Amy had understood. Although once he had been briefed on the events of the park, he felt it was teen drama which was manageable to contain. With the knowledge he could stay in his professional role as his stepdaughter, Maria looked like she wanted to kill her son. Which was a natural feeling because they were all aware how thin the line Mac had been walking of late.

“How bad?” Max said as he said softly as he responded to the Sheriff’s words, as he did see the bruises and knew the boys could easily heal it but for appearances sake. The bruises had to stay, and they did look painful. Boys knew how to fight. As he also remembered only too well growing up and having to put on appearances.

“Damage to the gazebo and a park bench,” came the deputy who handed his boss the report that was still coming in and was being refreshed with each minute it seemed.

“Jesus Mac,” Maria cried, finally burst from the seams of her self-controlled anger.

“It was not me,” was all Mac would mutter before cracking slightly “You cannot blame me because it was not me who started it,” he said as his glare went straight at the older teen in the equation, and Max was surprised by the finger being pointed at his son because he was like Michael and Maria in thinking that it was Mac who had started it. Because it was not like his son to start something that had the potation to be bad news for their group “At least not in the beginning,” he muttered. “And then I was only defending myself.”

“Oh, really?” Maria asked. Clearly not believing that her son was not to be blamed.

“Yes,” Mac said softly as he turned from his parents, and the glares that were being shot at his direction and instead focused on the man who held his fate in his hands. His grandfather, the town Sheriff. “Look Grandpa, I am sorry for the damage, and even if I takes me until I graduate, I can pay for it?”

“That is nice of you to offer,” Maria muttered as she did not understand how the blame could be on River when it was her son who had the track record of the two. Yet still, her son was willing to pay part of whatever damage was done in the park. And given his son was unwilling to take the blame, it made her suspicion of what did go down in the park.

“River, what do you have to say about tonight’s events?” Max asked as he could see his son was stewing, and Mariah was looking guilty and like Liz, he could see how that was a recipe for disaster. Thankfully, that had not something he had to deal with when he was growing up and falling in love with Liz. But unfortunately, there came a time when two girls were throwing themselves at him.

And he had only wanted one of them to be.

And he did not like the impression he also had of Mariah’s dress. Not that he had seen it when the night started, but he now knew what the impression was of it, and his son was being way too quiet. Stewing, and not was not a good combination.

Given he already know his son was jealous of the time Mariah had spent with Mac already, and now he had word of a fight in the park. “What happened?” he asked of his son.

River did not speak up.

“Mariah,” Liz asked. As neither of the boys were being that expansive on what had gone down in the park and she knew it was because they were probably trying to protect her daughter, and while she was supportive of that desire, but still, she needed to know what had happened.

“It’s overblown,” Mariah muttered as her mind was going over the events of the last hour, and the last thing she wanted to do was deal with her mother, because she knew what her mother would be thinking, but then her mother did not know everything about what happened in the park. No one does she thought. As her mind was still coming to terms with it, and she was liable to even be more irritating if she said something now, so she kept it quiet.

She did not anticipate the Sheriff having something to say. A man who she did not know well because after all she had been a resident of this town for a month, but the little she knew of the man told her that he was a friend of her mother, and if any of what was in her mother’s journal was true, and now she was wondering, still she knew there was a reason why the Sheriff was in their corner.

This all blows, Mariah would stew.

But still he was a town Sheriff and bound to be stickler for the laws of his town to be followed, and only certain exceptions would be allowed. “How overblown is it, that a gazebo in the park has damage to it. And same could be said about a nearby park bench and how it was destroyed,” Jim asked of the teens. “I understand there is a need for some privacy here, given the participants we have in this crime, but witnesses do corroborate Mac’s contention that it did not start with him, or at least in terms of the actual fight. But the events did have the three of you in the middle of them…”

Mariah was not willing to answer Jim’s direct questioning.

Thrilled at least a little to know it had not started with their son. Maria and Michael still could not understand how it would have started. River is not the type.

Fingered as being the primary responsible for the fight. River had been stewing in private. Unable to speak up in his own defense. But finally, he knew he had to say something, to try to contain this. “It is private,” River said softly as he was willing to take the anger from his father if it meant that Mariah’s privacy would continue to be observed, as he could see his father’s suspicion of the situation. Although he was thanking god that he was not eighteen year old yet, than he might be dealing this long term. But thankfully, he still had a half of year to go. But it was not something he wanted to replay but it was something that was known to happen when he got too angry, it is rare, but it is known to happen. But this time it had erupted, and damage was a result.

And now he had to try to tamp down the speculation. Although who was responsible was not what was sitting in both of their minds, because what was, was something more shocking, as the three of them were like in a silent pact to keep the true events of the night in check.

The minutes ticked down, and nothing was being said to further indicate what might have happened. Wanting to get home and knowing this could be dealt with another time or day. “Okay, given we are not going to get anything more from you,” Jim said softly and given he had nearly two decades of dealing with this clan. Sheesh almost two decades, time flies. It did not take a genius to know something was going on. And with this bunch you had to keep your lips zipped. So, there was a lot of latitude he was having to give the clan. “I will let you go to your homes, but we will be discussing the damages in the near future, and who will be paying for it.”

Still in the dark about why the mayhem in the park had taken place. We will find out they thought. “They all will be paying for it,” came the three parental units together. As the three teenagers were united in the solution. If their kids had stepped in it than all three of them would pay for it.

“Very well,” Jim said. “We can discuss it tomorrow,” he said of the families in question. “You are free to go home…”

“Thank you, Jim,” Liz said as she glanced at her daughter and reminded once more that her daughter was still growing up, and still had a lot of time to go, and that was going to be painful for the two of them. Even if you ignored the paternity subplot going on in her life. “Let us get home because we have something to discuss…” she murmured even though she would rather discuss anything else than what they had talk about, almost she thought because she knew what else they did have to discuss.

“Whatever,” Mariah muttered as she followed her mother in leaving the office. “Later,” she said the boys.

Both nodded.

“Yes, let’s go,” Max muttered as he had been staying back and accessing the situation, and he was keenly aware of what likely happened, and knew the makings of a three way silent pact when he saw one, because I was the master of them he mused to himself and it was obvious that the three teenagers were under one of their own making and whatever had taken place was not going to be revealed in Sheriff’s office even one that had a code of silence to it so he was game at getting his son home so that he could get some answers in peace and quiet of their home.

Behind closed doors.

Sighing, River knew his father had questions, and he did not want to have to answer them. But at least it meant getting out of this place. So, he nodded, and they both did not say anything more as they also walked out of the Sheriff’s Department and walked down the steps, and they could not help but see that Liz and Mariah as they were standing at the curb. As the two women were steps from their own car. Guided by his desire for his ex. Max could not bear to leave without saying something, given how their night had gotten interrupted. As he was aware that Liz was going to tell him something, it really could have been anything “Happy New Year’s to the both of you,” he said to Liz, who only nodded as she was reminded of the craziness in her life, and how the evening had started.

“Happy New Year’s Max,” Liz said softly.

“Can we go?” Mariah whined and was not willing to have her mother have another moment with this man. She was already reeling from the events of the night and wanted to get home and to go to sleep and try to forget.

“Yes, we can go,” Liz said softly. “River…”

“Mrs. Anthony,” River said softly.

Liz nodded and the way River and Mariah looked at each other, and then the way they exchanged the look with Mac as he came out of the Department. Something went down the parents were left to think.

And unfortunately, Liz had more worries than that… “Get in the car,” was all Liz could say to her daughter as moments later, they were on the way back to the house as Max could only look at his son, “Are you going to tell me what happened?”

“No,” River said.

Not when everything has changed.

[keepsmiling7]

This is tense.......when will Liz get to tell Max???
I can't wait, but guess I'll have to wait longer.....

[Parker1947]

Hours later,

Max was still searching for answers. None of the parents knew the true events of the evening. They were all searching for something to explain the oddity of the previous night. But it did seem like whatever code of silence was over the events of the night. It continued. And once in their individual homes. The three teenagers bristled at the questioning coming from their parents. And refused to give answers. Until finally their parents gave in and allowed their children to turn in for the night.

And now it was hours after the showdown at the station, and the first ones to wake up were standing in the kitchen of his home and dealing with a parent who wanted answers.

And he was unwilling to give them.

And suddenly Max was remembering back to those years where he was under questioning from his own parents about his activities, and criminal behavior and how he was unwilling to answer those questions because he feared his parents knowing too much. But I am not my parents which is something every parent says in some form in ones live if they are able to have children, no I am not he thought because I am me.

I have gifts Max thought. “Why will you not tell me what happened?”

“It’s nothing,” River muttered as he was now realizing how much he had it good when his father was not paying attention to me. Boy, I wish I had that part of my life about now he muttered to himself. No, unfortunately, my father is paying attention to me.

River hated the feeling of interrogation. Which had never before been a feature in his relationship with his father. But now it was, and it was unnerving.

How unlucky am I? River muttered to himself. Six weeks ago, I would not have gotten a peep out of him he sighed, but then six weeks ago, I would not know or have a suspicion of what I do now.

Max saw the silence, and knew his son was keeping something under wrap. He could imagine what could have started the nightmare in the park. It did not take a genius to guess, but it was hard to get anything from his son. Of course, his son was too good at keeping things under wraps. “What happened?”

“It’s not important,” River said. “Mac is right, I will help pay for the damage.”

“How are you going to afford it?” Max muttered as he felt it was funny to think that his son and Mac was now both in a solidary pact given things were, the way they were before, and they both had ended up with significant bruises as River showed it by going to the fridge and going for more ice for the ice pact. “I hope you do not expect to get the money from me?”

“I will get a job,” River muttered as he had been helping out his grandfather at the firm. But it’s not like it is a real job he thought. Now I have to find one. “It was probably about time I found a job that does not have nepotism attached to it. After all, you were working when you were my age, were you not?”

“Yes, I was.” Max said softly at the UFO museum he thought and only shook his head at the obvious diversion his son was serving up for him when all he wanted was answers. “Did you walk into something with Mac and Mariah, and fists flew, and things got out of control.”

“It really does not matter at the end of the day,” River said as he sat down and put the ice pack against his face and ribs. “What happened, happened. We are sorry for the damage. Things escalated, and we were not thinking, and so we deserve the fallout.”

“You are hiding something?” Max asked.

“Not really,” River muttered but yeah, I am he thought but his father would not know that. Although he did sense something was off and was onto the scent. “At least it was not all Mac this time…”

“You should not be so proud of that,” Max muttered and knew his son really was not. “But if you keep it up, you might not be able to go off to university or whatever you desire to do once you graduate.”

“I am not eighteen yet,” River said softly. “It really does not matter.”

“It does matter,” Max said. “The last thing you should do is mess up your future. Universities look at this stuff. Consequences can be unexpected, and they come from places you would not expect.”

“You really have no idea,” River muttered as he was not in the mood to hear his father laminating on his potential to throw his future away, how are you one to talk when you did not even go to university he thought. Of course, Max could tell his son that the reason he could not go, even if I wanted too were because of my actions he thought, and universities were not going to show a happiness with them, unless I have remorse for what I did he thought. The only remorse I have is that Liz got dragged into it, but I do not have anything regarding what we did during those years he thought. River did not know any of this, because he only had a different guide to his father’s growing up and did not know all that had gone down. But now, he was dealing with his own level of secrecy, yeah, Dad, you really have no idea as he took the ice pack back to his bedroom, and slammed the door behind him, and Max was at a loss at exactly what was happening now, and he was beginning to realize what happens when you live in oblivion. You wake up, and you really do know what is going on.

That is the feeling when you are in the heat of it, I know it well he thought. But he was not used to be on the other foot, being clueless about his own son and what he was up too…

Maybe Michael and Maria can get something out of their son.

*

Think again. Because Michael and Maria were also hitting a brick wall because Mac was as evasive as ever, and it was truly annoying, and his parents were also not looking fondly at being on the other side of the stone wall. Both knew something was going on but were getting nothing to indicate what had happened hours before This is too much Maria muttered as she and her husband were sharing the breakfast table with their son. Because of the events of the previous night. They all had slept in, and now they were trying to have some breakfast and she had been hopeful that she and her husband could get some straight answers out of their son. Think again she thought.

Unfortunately, no insight was coming. But still they were still trying to draw out some of the details. “Who showed the first fist?” Maria asked

“You heard it yourself. That it was not me,” Mac muttered as he was not willing to answer any of his parents’ questions because it was all a mess. Jessica was right, I was indeed playing with fire he thought of the party and ensuing nightmare.

At the park, it all went south. Stupid he thought. Still though, Boy were we surprised by what happened.

Knowing the kids in question. She knew the character of both her son and River and knew how hard to get Max’s son going. Sure, it was known to happen. But not in public she muttered. Especially given the unwritten rules in our clan. Leave it for behind closed doors she thought. A rule she and Michael had long lived by. Especially given how complicated life had been for them in high school. Still, things were tame by those comparisons but unfortunately, they now had a child who wanted to play by the wild side. “It’s hard to provoke River unless you did something he did not like,” Maria muttered.

“Why does it have to be River?” Mac asked.

Totally mystifying his parents.

“You said it yourself, it was not you…” Michael muttered as he was as unhappy as his wife and best friend at getting a quick education on what it means to clueless. And to know your child was keeping his actions a secret, and the true purpose of what may have happened when out and about.

“Well…” Mac muttered with a flourish.

Trying to narrow down the details. “Did something happened between you and Mariah, and River take exception?” Maria asked as she trying to put the pieces together, and she could not help but see how grown up her namesake was these days, and coming from Chicago, and experiencing the big loss that was her father, Brady.

She’s going to be looking for trouble Maria knew. And she does not even know half of it, Maria muttered to herself. And just wait until she does.

“It does not matter,” Mac muttered as he got up. Because he was going to take the next best way to get out of saying anything more, getting lost “As I said, I will be paying for the damages.”

“Yes, you will be but how, you are already volunteering at the Sheriff Department. Which will not be stopping anytime soon,” Maria muttered. “Especially not after last night’s display, so how are you going to pay off the damages?”

“I’ll find a job,” Mac suggested. “One that pays money.”

“Good luck with that,” Michael muttered because he was not convinced his son was going to be such a thing. Mac did not say anything more before vanishing with his own version of an ice pack for his face. While leaving his frustrated parents in search of answers. As they continued to sit in the kitchen and stew. “What do you think happened?” Michael could not help but ask of his wife. After all he might have his suspicions. But he could be off target.

Which he often was…

“What do you think?” Maria muttered as she thought of her son and Mariah. Knowing how the two were now fifteen and attractive. Being a parent sucks “He and Mariah did something, and River got jealous. And of course, if he did, then that is problematic,” I would think so she muttered to herself. “Given what we know of the situation, but they do not know what we know,” she sighed as the whole paternity puzzle was going to be a whole new wrinkle to the story, and one that was going to be unwelcome by the teenagers, once they did find out. Because she could only imagine the angst when that news hit the fan. “That is the easy part of the story, because what happened to get the punches to fly is another part of the story, I have no idea what could have happened, because the boys are usually incredibly careful about what they do, and how they show it, in public.”

“Anywhere else is fair game, usually” Maria muttered.

Unsure of how being cautious was how they could describe their son. “Can you say that about our son?” Michael asked as he stewed over his wife’s theory of what happened. Michael could not help but stew because he knew the game field. And if River were jealous That is what you get when siblings are raised away from each other. “The last thing our son is, is careful.”

I know, Maria muttered. “Michael, he is you,” Maria muttered as he was not finding the fact her husband or son shared the same personality endearing. “But you knew what to keep private, and the same can be said about our son. Sure, he is blurring the line regularly these days, but all the kids have been raised to be sensitive, and to be careful. So, it would have to take a lot for them to get going, especially in park.”

“Sometimes when adrenaline is a factor, all bets are off” Michael muttered.

“Very true,” Maria sighed as she got up and puttered around the sink as she did some dishes and tried to keep her mind of her foolish son. And unfortunately, she could not help but think of her best friend, and what she was going through, because the last thing Liz needed to be doing was thinking of something involving her daughter because Mariah was growing up and was prone to be making choices that might rival ones they had made when they were her age.

We barely made it out of that time Maria muttered.

*

Liz would agree that she did not need more to worry about. Because one would think she had enough on her plate because she was already dealing with a dead husband, and a son who was recovering in a hospital. So, the very last thing she needed was for Mariah to be added to the list. Especially when her daughter was already top of the list because of something that she had done sixteen years before and was not conscious of until now.

I hate my life Liz muttered.

Because being called into the Sheriff’s department to deal with her fifteen-year-old daughter was something she did not need to be dealing with, as she woke up after a lot of tossing and turning. Checking on her daughter to only find her daughter passed out and sleeping like she had no worries in the world.

When her mother had too many. Why she wanted to ask her daughter. Why deal me this…

She knew Mariah was growing up and bound to make decisions that would carry consequences. I did enough of them of my own, so of course she is going to do the same thing but getting brought into the Sheriff Department was making things serious. If we did not have the Sheriff as a family friend… she might be up on criminal mischief if that is even a crime in this town she thought.

Given their luck, it would be.

But now after the second cup of coffee once she dragged herself into the kitchen. She was thinking of her daughter back in Chicago, and while she liked the image of the bookworm daughter, who was only interested in academically like I was before the alien invasion in ’99 she thought. But she knew her daughter was not me she thought.

She was her own person.

And she now remembered how while she had been present for a lot of her children’s childhood. But there were nights she was working, and Brady had taken the lion share of the parental duty, which is why she knew Brady and their daughter was so tight, because of the times she had not been able to be there.

And it had become even worse as the kids were growing up, and she had the latitude to take more shifts at the hospital she was working, in lieu of colleagues who had to be with the younger children.

She had Brady picking the slack up at home, which is why she took this change to be something that the family needed. Roswell was a small town, and therefore, the duty at the hospital would not be as time consuming as a big city like Chicago.

And now she was forced to be a single mother, when she wanted Brady to be here with her. Life is unfair she thought as she heard the steps of her daughter coming down the stairs because they were only two in the house at the present time, so it was not going to be her son, so there was one other choice. “Morning,” she said to her daughter.

‘Is it?” Mariah asked as she checked the clock.

“Close the end of it, but yes,” Liz said as her daughter sat down, while she was the one who got up, and went to the stove and put some eggs on the table, along with a bottle of tabasco sauce as two plus two hit paydirt and the stunning realization that she should have long realized that she and her ex had shared the same DNA. I should have known she thought as Mariah did not say anything and kept quiet so not to force her mother into any questioning.

But she was unhappy to learn, that would be coming anyways as her mother sat down. “I do not want to talk about it,” she muttered.

“Well, I want to talk about it,” muttered a dissatisfied Liz. “What on the earth got into you, last night?”

“I wanted to have some fun, and I did” Mariah muttered.

“God, fun does not mean you get pulled into the Sheriff’s department,” Liz said with a groan.

“Doesn’t it?” Mariah muttered. “I know you had some run ins with the local authorities in your day,” she said with a smirk.

That damn book she thought of her journal. “I was innocent.”

“Were you?” Mariah asked. “With everything you did back then?”

“You would not know if I was or not,” Liz thought as she knew she had not put a lot of the nitty gritty stuff in those pages, for fear of being found out. She was protecting Max. For fear of what would be done to him, since they would learn there was a branch of the authorities who would want nothing more to investigate, and to prod.

And maybe even her because I was saved by him.

“Well believe when I say it was all very innocent,” Mariah muttered even though it was not, by a long shot she thought but kept it to herself.

“Honey, when we grow up” Liz sighed as she did not want to have this discussion, but her daughter was almost sixteen.

“Not this,” Mariah groaned. “Save the lecture. If this is about the about the birds and the bees if you will than I already know it all, okay” Mariah muttered. “I learned enough about it in school.”

“While I am glad the education system is still teaching it to you guys, but still, you are growing up and you need to be hearing from me because it’s important,” Liz said as a headache was forming. “Sex can be intense…”

“Mom…” Mariah muttered as she was squirming because clearly, she was not in the mood for this kind of lecture. It is too early for this talk.

“Honey,” Liz said. “This is important…”

“I am not a virgin,” Mariah said bluntly, which shocked her mother as the migraine was coming on strong. As she qualified that statement. “No, not last night, so put that out of your mind, but from before, so it is probably a waste of time to give me this lecture. I know to be safe. I know to be cautious, and that one mistake can last a lifetime, so, you do not have to say it because I have gotten the lecture…”

“Your father,” Liz said as she was thinking that there were many things, she was learning for the first time in recent days, and even weeks but this might top them, okay maybe now, the other one is pretty much of a doozy she thought. A bombshell that she not prepared for, still.

“Yes, he knew” Mariah muttered. “He was not very happy to find out about Josh and me, but well, that is life.”

“And now I know why he was so interested in that job offer here in New Mexico,” Liz muttered, and Mariah smirked. As Liz remembered back that it was Brady who broached the idea of coming back to the state and returning to her hometown. After years of her bristling and outright statements about staying away. Brady was usually fine with it. Until he was not, and he was the one who had come to her about the job offer. Making it sound like they had come to him, not the other way around. Still, she was reluctant given the circumstances, but Brady thought it would be a better atmosphere for the kids to grow up in, the small town and everything. So, slowly he had won her over.

Despite her best judgement.

Of course, Liz had reasons to be apprehensive about returning to her hometown, and it was not the smalltown life they could allow their kids to grow up in, not really, she thought. Although it was a bonus she thought, and now she knew why Brady was into it, because it got their daughter away from her boyfriend. You could have told me Brady she muttered. “So, you had quite the social life that I missed out on huh?”

“It helped that you would work nights,” Mariah muttered as she thought of the many nights her mother would work. “I know why you did it because it allowed you to be home with me and Lex as we grew up, but well, it had some advantages because I got to go out with friends, and then you know, Josh came on the scene…”

“Honey,” Liz muttered.

“Yes, I know, I should be careful. We were. Josh was great, and we only broke up because we moved here, not because we brought sex into the relationship,” Mariah muttered, and Liz shook her head. “It was great for a time, like really intense but then those things all die eventually, so we might have gotten a head start because you forced me to move here to your hometown.”

“Oh honey,” Liz muttered.

“You think I should have waited?” Mariah asked.

“Sex at any age can be emotionally charged and yes, intense, and when you are young and inexperienced. It can set you up for a lot of ups and downs,” Liz muttered “You are only fifteen. So, you should have waited until you were older, and you and Josh knew if you were more than a short-time relationship,” she sighed.

“We only ended because of you and Dad,” Mariah muttered. “And we mutually decided that the chances of a long-term thing succeeding was like one in a million, and I did not want to weigh him down when I knew I was not going to be there, and the same was said by him. You said I should have waited, and maybe I should have, but I do not regret it. Even if Josh and I are over, and never come back together,” she sighed. “Can you say you waited?”

“As much it might surprise you, I did wait” Liz sighed. “I was older. I was eighteen when I had my first time…”

“Dad?” Mariah asked.

“No,” Liz said softly.

“River’s father?” Mariah asked with annoyance on her face. “I guess I should not be surprised,” she sighed.

“My first time was when we became engaged, but then it ended, and I do not regret it. We might have chances earlier on in our relationship, but it was not the right time” Liz tried saying even though in her heart, she knew if it had happened, earlier, a lot might not have happened. Tess would not have happened. “We were right to wait,” she sighed as she now looked at her daughter with different eyes, in the knowledge that she was something that resulted from that time, but it was not like I can tell her that…

“You still ended?” Mariah said softly.

“Yes,” Liz said. “We were believing we were going to spend our life together, but it did not work out well, but as I said, I do not regret it,” she sighed. “But with you, you are young Mariah. You should not be intimate with every boy…”

“Geeze,” Mariah erupted. “I am not a slut.”

“I did not say you are,” Liz muttered and knew this was going badly. “But you and Mac,” she sighed as she knew there was no way that her daughter and River had done anything, because it sounded like River came onto the scene.”

“Nothing happened with Mac and me,” Mariah sighed. “I do not sleep with every guy I meet Mom,” she sighed. “I wanted to have fun last night, and Mac wanted to spend it with me, and should not have done the stuff we did, but we did not go all the way…”

“I guess that is something,” Liz sighed.

“I am out of here,” Mariah sighed as she got up from the table and stormed out of the kitchen and Liz knew she had a lot to deal with regarding her daughter, and she did not know how to approach it, and knew she was already off to a bad start. How can I say she should wait, when I did what I did she thought because she knew she waited with Max? And she did not regret going to the next stage with him even though their engagement was short-lived but still, it was hell of a picture to be giving to her daughter when she was trying to get her to wait.

Happy New Year’s to me Liz thought as Day One was not going well, not by a long shot she thought. And she had three hundred and sixty-four more days to go as she got up from the table, and she heard the slam of the door upstairs.

God, Liz thought. I was a believer. But you have it out for me, do you not…

*

As upstairs Mariah was stewing. She knew her mother was worried about her. What mother would not worry when their daughter gets pulled into the Sheriff’s Department because of the debacle in the park. Something that was not intended, and it was a huge mistake. And now the three of them were forced to figure out how to go on from here…

Having yes, developed a silent pact of sorts to keep quiet about the events of the night as her brain was stewing over the events of the night, and she wanted the memories to go away, as she sat down at her computer, and put her earphones on, to try to escape the suspicions she had…

But the flashes of the night before could completely leave her as much as she wanted them to, why she told himself. It is this town she thought. Why did Dad want to bust me and Josh up so much when it only brought Mom back in the proximity of that other guy, she muttered, and she was almost glad her dad had not survived to know what being back in this town meant for both her mother and for her.

As her brain could not turn off flashes, and unfortunately, they could not help but take over as she heard the cries…

“Oh my god” a girl’s frantic whisper uttered as she stood in paralyzed silence and spotted the wreckage, and two boys on the ground, unconscious before her...

“What have I have done?”

Or what has she unleashed? was more like it.

[keepsmiling7]

This is developing into a big mess........and Liz hasn't talked to Max yet.
The younger generation is repeating many of the older generations mistakes......why does this continue to happen?
Still waiting for that "big conversations" between Max and Liz.

[RoswellFan68]

A terrible way for Mariah to find out she is different. Is Liz going to tell Mariah before she asked Liz about her differences. Is River going to spill the beans to his father before Liz does? Looking forward to more.

[Parker1947]

Hours earlier,

“Get away from her,” came the agitated jealousy of a boy as he followed those he was following to the park. After the display at the party, the older boy had come after Mac and Mariah, and found them in the park. Which he did not understand why they would come here, but still, it was a place, and he wanted to keep Mariah away from his friend because he knew his reputation and did not want him singeing the girl he wanted to know more.

Sure, it was complicated because of who his parents were, and the torch his father still clearly had for his ex. And he did not know even if he wanted it to be anything, but he knew he had this sense of protective over Mariah, and he did not like the reputation that his friend already had at fifteen. And he did not want him messing with Mariah and causing her pain.

“This is none of your business,” Mac muttered as he and Mariah stopped kissing and looked at a miffed River.

“You are going to hurt her,” River muttered.

“Is it any business of yours?” Mariah asked. “My private life is mine. River, you are a cute guy and all, but given that our parents have a history. The last thing you should be is jealous of what I do, and my private life is mine.”

“Yes, it is, but I know how Mac treats the girls in his life,” River said. “Daphne, Peggy, Kim before that…”

“So, what?” Mac asked. “Not everyone is built for long term, or to be committed. Maybe someday I will be, but right now, all I want to have fun, and if Mariah wants to have some fun, why not allow us to do what we want to do. Right Mariah,” he asked knowing if it was complicated between River and Mariah, then it would even more so because their mothers were best friends.

“Do you want to be used?” River muttered as she turned back to Mariah, and that only made her irate.

“All I want is fun, and River I just got out of a relationship because I moved here, and I am not looking for commitment, I mean, we are only fifteen, right. No one is looking at the long term at our age. Maybe you are, but I am not, so if I want to have some fun with Mac… “

“The girl wants what she wants,” Mac muttered although he had some doubts that Mariah really was the girl she was portraying on this night. But the girl had a big loss and was clearly grieving….

“I just want to help you,” came River.

“Well don’t okay. Because I do not need the help, or the big brother routine because we are not siblings. We only know each other because one night we talked, and then the worst thing happened to my father, and now we know our parents used to date, and even bigger than that if it was not for you…” Mariah spoke as she stopped when she spoke the words, and then she backed up and yet she continued… “Yeah, that is right, if it was not for you. Our parents would have gotten married, so stop getting in my way.”

“Whoa,” Mac murmured as the comment about River getting in their parent’s way dug into his friend because Mac had been known to say some thoughtless things, but this might be a topper because he knew River’s buttons, and they were all related to the relationship he had his father, and the reputation his birth mother had within their clan.

Which currently had no one willing to be on her side.

“Well, you told me,” River muttered stepping back as clearly Mariah was reeling.

“I did, so are you going to leave us alone?” Mariah asked. As she knew she was playing with the exact same fire that Mac was standing in, but all she wanted was not to feel the pain that existed in her, and to know that life was unfair. Or that she was in a different town than she had been raised in, and it is all completely different.

She was not missing Josh. She was surprised by that because he was so consuming in her life when she was in Chicago, but still this town was completely different vibe and she felt like she was changing, and she hated it.

She wanted to be the same person she was two months before. Or at the start of the school year when Roswell had not even come up yet.

River saw the pain in her eyes, because often he felt the same because of the relationship he had with his father that had gotten messy over the years, and he felt for her because it was not easy to want something that was not coming, “acceptance” and hatred of the life that was given to you, which was not one of their own choosing.

They were forced to deal with the life their parents were giving them. He felt for her, as he approached. “I am sorry,” River said softly as he touched his arm, but she flinched like she felt on fire, and the reaction surprised both River and Mac who witnessed it.

“I am trying to make amends here,” River murmured but Mariah seemed to far inside and did not seem to understand what was happening, as she moved truly flinched, and it was like she was crackling energy she never knew she had, and she yanked back from River’s subtle grab of her arm and push back at him, and he fell back and it destroyed the bench with his fall to the ground.

But in the ensuing craziness of it, it seemed to set off both River and Mac who thought the other had been the one who to start the fight, and they went at each other, and she stood frozen and unable to comprehend what had happened.

Until she stood there, and both guys had fallen to the ground.

And she woke up from her trance, and she saw the damage done. And the understanding that she was the “one” to start it.

Not the boys, but Mariah.

And when Mac and River woke up and became conscious, they looked at her, and saw her hands radiating green energy because she was so much out of balance with her emotions.

“Uh oh”, the three would think in their own way as they took in the full weight of the events actions which drew the authorities, and would lead River and Mac in different ways to take the blame for the bench etc…

And now River woke up after falling asleep at the slamming of his bedroom door. Knowing it would not be his father, because the tentativeness of their relationship made his bedroom a no-go area for his father, and he trusted his father not to come in, and mostly it had held over the years. And now he was waking up the fact the night’s activities had moved along the gossip circles, and his cousin had obviously heard because it was Jessica who stormed into his bedroom.

“What the hell,” Jessica Ramirez Evans asked as she looked down at her cousin with his busted lip, and bruised face, because she had woken up not to a call from either of her cousin or best friend but to the hot gossip coming over their social media accounts about how her cousin, Mac and Mariah had been dragged into the Sheriff’s office. It was making the rounds, but thankfully no video had surfaced yet, and the information was sketchy, but from what she could make it, that River and Mac had destroyed and caused some damage in the park. Which did not make sense to her, and she needed to come and get some answers “I mean what the hell River,” she sputtered. “I am amazed Grandpa did not arrest you two?”

“It was probably a close call,” River muttered as his memories of the night was not something he wanted to have, because it meant that the situation among the clan was much more serious than it had been twenty-four hours ago, as he remembered everything, and almost wanted to think he and Mac had caused the damage to protect Mariah he wondered.

“What possessed you River, you know how Mac gets when he’s interested in someone” Jessie asked as she looked at the bruises and winced. “Do you need some a refill of the ice pack?” because she knew full well that he could not suddenly heal because too many people already knew of what had happened. Therefore, he had to wear it.

“Did you see Mac?” River asked.

“No,” Jessica admitted. “I came after I heard about it from multiple texts, and you know Mom and Kyle.”

“How did they know?” River asked if he did not know. The parents had their own gossip vine when it involved their children.

“A fight in our main park gets noticed River,” Jessica muttered. “And especially once you get hauled into the department.”

“Yeah, I guess” River muttered. “You had to be there, to really understand it,” as he prayed, they could keep it in their little circle because he did not like how they were in a new century, and how social media had exploded. Little secrets can have major ramifications, especially if you expose yourself at the wrong time, in the wrong place.

“Well, I was not there, but I know what happened at the dance club” Jessica muttered. “Are you insane to go after them and play the jealousy card.”

“I am not jealous,” River muttered. If I was before, I cannot be now he told himself. That would be kind of immoral he told himself.

Because if what he and Mac had seen the night before was true, that meant only one way for that to happen he thought. Only one way he told himself.

“Where are you?” Jessica demanded of her cousin.

“The past,” River muttered. And not my past he thought. My father’s past, and the time where I came into my father’s world and changed it and prevented him from marrying the love of his life and preventing him from being there for his daughter.

Because yeah, he knew how Mariah was his father’s daughter.

And therefore, my half-sister.

*

And across town Mariah Christina Anthony was ruminating the same thing but alone in her room, as she thought of the father she had only just lost. Death she thought. How about now, to know what I know, or have a real strong suspicion she thought because she would not know until she talked to her mother.

But she did not want to go there.

Not yet, and maybe never. She wanted to believe Brady Anthony had been her father, and someone her mother had loved enough to want to have children. But she also knew she counted the dates and knew the parents who she believed were her parents had gotten married because of her, and now all her beliefs were vanishing, and she was left with an understanding of life that had major holes in it.

I was raised an Anthony, but I am not a blood Anthony, right? she wondered to herself as she tried to block out here thoughts, but she could not because they were coming whether she wanted them to or not, and she could not block them out.

Damn it Mom she told herself.

And then she heard a knock on her door, “Honey.”

“Yeah,” she said in her misery. Because the last thing she wanted to do was talk. Especially not to her mother, who according to her, she caused my misery she muttered to herself as she sunk deep down in the depth of the despair surrounding her. And she especially did not want to discuss what happened in the park, and what she now knew. “I do not want to talk about last night…”

“That is not what I wanted to say,” Liz said from the other side of the door. Prepared to leave her daughter alone. Because she felt Mariah needed the moment alone. “All I was going to say is I am going to go out, because I am running an errand, and I will be back later. If you are hungry. There are brownies in the fridge if you want one, and I will call if I will be later than I think,” she muttered as she had some place to be, and it could not wait.

“Yeah, go ahead” Mariah thought as she did not want to see her mother now. Even though she did not know where her mother could be going on an official holiday, but she was not in the mood to think or to fight with her.

“Please stay in the house will you,” was Liz’s parting though and Mariah did not take well too, but she did not retort back, because she wanted to sit in her room, and stew in her misery and not go anywhere.

“Whatever,” Mariah muttered as she heard the front door slam shut, and the car leaving the driveway a few minutes later as she went back to obsessing about how cruelly her life had turned.

She would be sixteen in only weeks, and she hated her life.

She did not know what was happening, or what could be happening. As she saw her phone pinging a call from Mac, but she refused to answer. Because the last thing she wanted to remember was her mistake the previous night.

Why am I doing this to myself. As she turned off her phone and got immersed into a computer game and tried to forget how everything about her life was now different.

*

“She will not speak to me,” Mac sat outside on his porch and looked at both River and Jessica who had come calling. Mac was not allowed to go anywhere, but River had a more lenient parent, although it helped that River knew that his father was off on some errand or something, and so he was the only one home when Jessica had come calling, looking for some answers and so to give him a diversion he elected to drive his cousin back after she had taken a taxi out his way because she was not yet a license driver.

And they had ended up at the Guerin household, and the three teenagers were now spending some time together.

“I would not either,” Jessica muttered. Because she had yet to get the unvarnished truth out of the guys, and she was annoyed by how the silent pact seemed to include her, when she should be allowed to be in on whatever did happen. So, she knew something there and while she knew the rumors that had come through on their social media accounts. Still, she knew there had to be more than a jealous River ending up in a fist fight with Mac because after all it was not the first time River and Mac had come to blows, but there was no chance that it would be in public. And especially not in a park that held witnesses, or anyone to film it.

Especially in this age of smart phones.

Which had their uses, but it was a much safer time for secrets back in Mom and Kyle’s generation she thought. Not that she did not like her phone that had everything at her fingertips, but you had to be extra careful, so it did not show up on Youtube.

So, there was extra pressure on her, River and Mac. And the three knew it.

“You do not know what happened,” Mac muttered because it was obvious River had not filled in Jessica.

Jessica obviously did not know the story, she could not help but operate under the assumptions of the story so far because she figured there was a reason their parents would not know the truth because you do want to keep some level of privacy in your lives so, yes, you do have to keep a few secrets she thought, up to a point she muttered because once you are led into the Sheriff department in handcuffs. You do force the hands of your parents. And they stop being clueless, and they begin to ask questions, and many of them were warranted. Although it was far to say the boys had gotten a slap on the wrist so far. So, her grandfather must have allowed a lot to slide. “I do not know because neither of you have told me what happened. So, obviously, I am going to have to assume that you got fresh with River’s dream girl, and fists flew, consequences be damned…” she murmured. “Am I close?”

“She’s not my dream girl,” River muttered as he took exception.

But did not stop to correct his cousin’s assumptions.

I would think not Mac thought also but did not say anything more because both he and River could not help but remember the events of the previous night, and the massive complications it will bring to their world. So, if we have to paying some damages, well, that will be much easier…

“Since when?” Jessica wondered because it was a head spinner to think that River was now backtracking on his recent flirtation with Mariah.

Last night both River and Mac thought but did not say it out loud.

“Then you idiots better tell me what happened. Because I know something did happen” came an annoyed but also an amused Jessica. “This silent pact of yours is grating my nerves. I think I have proven that you tell me anything, you know. After all, I am a member of this little fraternity of ours. There is no one else who can share that same badge with me. We are the only three teenagers of our generation who know what it is like to be different from any human being out there. So, why are you keeping me in the dark?”

Feeling chastened about keeping secrets from Jessica. She’s right. She knows what it means to be one of us, and she needs to know “She’s right,” Mac muttered as he turned to his friend. “We might as well tell her?”

“Tell me what?” Jessica asked as she was now on the scent, and she demanded to know what the guys were keeping from her. “I cannot help without being told the truth?” she wondered as she did not care for the fact her assumption was that Mac had gotten intimate with Mariah. After all, she like River did not like how their friend treated the females in his life and did not want Mariah to be on the casualty list.

“You might want to add another member of the new generation, of the alien human hybrid kind” Mac muttered because he was the one to step up because River was not one who was willing too.

“What are you talking about?” Jessica asked as she was not comprehending the words that her friends were saying, because they did not compute. After all, she was a member of a select group. One that not even her stepsister was part of, and if there were any new members, it would be obvious to her. “It’s only you, me and River here because Jaime is too human for our liking,” she said with a laugh because she liked the fact her stepsister-to-be was normal and human because someone had to be, and she was not that liberated even though she loved her life, most of the time she thought.

“It means what I meant it to mean, there is one more…” River said, finally stepped up.

“How the hell could there be one more?” Jessica wondered. Because it did not even compute. How in the hell is there one more?

“Simple, my father went and had a kid with a human” River said softly.

Holy hell Jessica blurted with her eyebrows rising. “What the hell are you talking about?” Jessica asked as she glanced at her friends dumbfounded because she might be relatively young, but she knew enough to know her uncle. We are not close. But you cannot be in this family and not know the story of how my uncle came to be who he is. She thought back to all she knew. “Mom is basically Uncle Max’s twin,” she muttered. Not really, but in many ways, they were two in the same pod she muttered. “Mom would know. “I do not understand…”

River felt burdened by the knowledge that his father went and had another kid, one that would probably be accepted in ways he had had not been. Because it was like fate was finally giving his father something to celebrate so yeah, he wanted it to be a hoax. But it cannot be a hoax. “It is simple. My dear old dad has a secret kid,” River muttered. “Someone who he did not know of, and probably will like a hell of a lot more than he likes me most of the time,” he said mourning the truth of the situation because he knew his father would go crazy to know he and the love of his life had a child together, and that Elizabeth Parker, now Anthony had not completely move on without a lasting piece of him.

“Holy crap,” Jessica whispered as the words were starting to sink in, ever so slowly. “You cannot be serious.”

“Completely,” both boys said as Mac knew full well what River was thinking and he could not blame him. After all, all his life until now he was forced to live a life that had only had his father and him in it, and with the knowledge that there was someone else. And now it was plainly obvious to the both of them that River’s father now had a link to his past. And one that his father was not going to turn down, once apprised of the truth.

And it had to sting River, it has got to Mac thought. It would me he thought. But then I have a mom and dad, who love each other, and would not have been that foolish.

“Are you telling me, it’s Mariah?” Jessica said, putting two and two together because there were only two females in their lives in the recent days, and for some reason she did not point the finger at Sierra. Because that would not make sense.

“Yes,” Mac confirmed because River would not say it.

“You are talking crazy,” Jessica asked because even though it was slowly sinking in. Still, the thought that it could be true was something she could not believe in.

“Not even close,” Mac muttered.

*

“Any clue as it what possessed the boys to get into trouble in the park?” Isabel was asking as she was meeting with her brother at the home she was sharing with the girls, and Kyle. Kyle was spending some time with his father, so it was just her at home and Max surprised her by showing up, but she was going to take the fact that her brother was showing the initiative by coming into town and seeking her out. This is brand new she felt. So much of the last decade, and more has been him staying away and her trudging out to desert to see her brother. Now recent weeks had changed it. For however it went with Liz, and what the future would bring. She would be grateful to see her brother opening up, and being drawn out, and not staying the hermit back at home. Of course, in this case. Max had to rescue his car from the park and take it home. Because his son had been unable to drive it back home after the funny business. So, after taking an Uber to the park, he had picked up his car, and decided to stop by his sister’s place on the way home.

Isabel had been home.

She did not care because it meant something to her to her that he would come and seek her out. Jessica was out. She did know that her daughter had ended up visiting River, and Jaime was with friends. So, it was just her spending some time at home cleaning up from the night she had with her husband the previous night. Still, the fact her nephew had ended up in the Sheriff Department, along with the boy that was as close to family as one can get without having blood associated to them, also being dragged in. It led some worry especially once they knew Mariah was also involved.

It was strange. Because it would not have felt it if it had been Mac.

Because I know the kid she thought. But for it to also be River, that was surprising, and she was now hearing it from her brother. Who still did not know any answers? A secret pact I know what that is Max thought as he was trying to figure it out.

Thankfully, the encounter had not turned up on social media as of, yet he thought. As he could not count that out.

He was hopeful that because it was New Year’s Eve, there would not have been many people in the park. It is not July 4th he muttered. People want to get drunk on New Year’s Eve and they will crowd into the bars and other such establishments.

“It’s still a mystery,” Max muttered. “The easy theory is simple,” he muttered. “But it’s the wall of silence they are staying behind,” he sighed because it was so reminiscent of their own teen years, and not being able to speak up.

“River will not speak up?” Isabel asked.

“At least not to me, which is not that strange since we have made no communication the basis of our relationship until now, and it has mostly worked out well enough,” Max said as he was not that happy admit it.

“You should be improving it?” Isabel muttered. “Because not talking only makes things worse.”

“Sometimes it works better not to talk,” Max sighed. “But yes, I know I should have been a better father to River, but that is the past, and I am trying to make up for it now, but I cannot help it if he will not speak to me of the events of last night.”

“Yeah, I know” Isabel said softly because even to her, it reminded her just like it did for Max of their inability to talk to their own parents she thought. She had always wanted to speak up, but Max egged on by Michael had been too scared for fear of judgment and bringing two more people into the secret. And as high school would teach them, sometimes being in on the secret was no protection.

Sorry Alex she now would say and mean it.

“It has to be something big, right?” Isabel asked as they continued to talk.

*

As Liz was taking a drive. She needed to get out of the house. Since her mother/daughter talk went badly, she needed time to figure out the next step. She already had an angry and distrustful daughter. When you add this news, what will I get when I put this other thing on her, she wondered as she drove and found that she was out in the desert once again. She had not even planned it, but it was where the car was taking her as she was in her mind, I will not blame her if she hates me.

Even though I did not know.

But I should have known she thought. As she lambasted herself. But how can I have because she remembered when she left Roswell, and when Mariah was born.

How was I supposed to know? Liz’s mind cried.

But she had been in love with an alien. So, it was not like she was leaving a normal life.

Why cannot it be all so simple, she wondered as she recognized where she was head. Yet she continued to drive, finally stopping when she saw Max’s house and slowed her car and stopped. Getting out of the car, she looked around, and saw the car that had been there the night before, was now gone.

Of course, he would not be home.

Unable to get back into her car and head home. She instead, walked the fifteen minutes to the chamber, from the house. Looking at it with different eyes than she would have had at fifteen, or even eighteen when she left this town. And she found herself walking around and just looking at the place that had not been in her viewpoint in more than sixteen years.

Taking the time to think.

And it was a half hour later as she walked back to the car because she was determined to go home and figure out her life before she came back and told Max her life changing news. But she stopped in her tracks because she saw a car that was oh so familiar.

Oh my god she whispered because she remembered the car, from when she was not even eighteen years old. How can he still have it?

She did not know how it could not have run its course years before.

Just like we did.

*

Max had not spent too much time with his sister. Just a quick visit because he was in town. And yes, he now had the car. And was driving home. Ready to deal with his son, assuming he was home, which he was not but he would not know that because their restoring of their communicative relationship did not come with texting his father to say he was driving Jessica home. So, Max was mulling over what to do with his son, and whether he would ever find out what happened during that fight in the park.

Because it had to be more than what he knew of right now.

But his mind became shot when he saw her.

Saw how Liz was walking towards him, as he slowed down the car to a crawl, but eventually made it to his home.

Stopping, and immediately getting out of the car Two days in a row, what is going on here. I have not been this lucky in more than sixteen years.

“Liz, what are you doing here?” Max asked as he approached his former girlfriend. Taking in the beauty of the woman he loved.

“Can we talk?” Liz asked as they stopped within a few feet of each other. “I did not see a car here, so I assumed you were not home, and, I guess, well, I was right.”

“Well one was here when I left,” Max muttered as he spotted the missing car. “I guess my son had something to say about his plans for this afternoon,” he said softly. “Which sounds about right, for River and me and how I am usually the last to know anything.”

Liz nodded as his choice of words made her grow uncomfortable if she were ever that comfortable to begin with, nope, but she could not help but look at the car.

And remember as flashes bombarded her mind.

Because it had been Max’s car. But it was something they had found together, once upon a time she thought. As she thought back to that time. When life was so young, and they had just gotten back together after a very long break because she had not been ready for his life. So, she had stepped away, and then allowed the future to muck up the chance for a reunion. Only unbeknownst to herself, she had laid the ground for the worst thing in their lives to happen, in more ways than simply to lose someone who should have died. It had been hell of a time, and ultimately it was enough to end them later, even though they had tried to patch things up and believed they had made it. We were wrong she thought. But were we? Anyways, the car had come in the wake of reuniting and in the middle of a mission that would cause them angst. Simply, Max had to replace his car. But the new car ended up meaning so much more.

Max could see how she responded with the car. As he looked at it, and the flashes flooded his own mind. “Yes, I kept it.”

“All these years?” Liz asked.

“Stored it in the garage and did not drive it much until I leant it to my son last night, but because of how the night ended. I needed to go rescue it,” Max said softly as he saw how surprised Liz had been to see that the car was sitting there, by the park, not touched. Until it was. “So, do you have any clue as to what happened last night besides the obvious?”

“No,” Liz said shaking her head. “Mariah said nothing happened between her and Mac. Okay, maybe something happened, but not that” she muttered although she did not like knowing how her daughter had gone to that level with someone else, even though she had liked Josh. But she never imagined that it had led to anything.

She was wrong.

I am wrong a lot she thought.

“Oh,” Max said unsure of what to say given the oddity of the night, and the situation between the two of them, and their children.

“Yeah,” Liz nodded as it was still amazing to her that he still had the car. But the walked towards the house. And he unlocked the door, and they walked in. “You wanted to talk about what…” he asked. “You did not say?”

“Something has come up?” Liz sighed, as she had no idea of how to say the words she had to say as he saw a note hastily written. “Ah, seems that River decided to drive my niece Jessica home, because she came visiting.”

“Isabel’s daughter?” Liz asked.

“Yes,” Max nodded, “She and Kyle are incredibly happy together, and Jessica is growing up to be a wonderful girl even though I have not been much of presence over the years, so I cannot comment but know Kyle had been able to give Isabel and Jessica a good life which I am glad about, and I know Jesse would be too.”

Liz acknowledged the hard situation that existed it is hard to move on she thought. But sometimes you are forced to. “Unfortunately, life forces us in directions we might not have wanted for ourselves at on time.”

“It definitely does,” Max nodded. “How is Mariah?”

“Not wanting to speak to me because of course I handled everything badly. And so, we needed time apart. Because of everything, you know it is hard for the both of us are the only ones at home, so it is difficult to be in a space that is brand new for the both of us,” Liz muttered.

“Again, I am sorry.”

“I know you are,” Liz said softly.

“How is your son?” Max asked as he remembered seeing the boy at the funeral service, and burial. It was such a rotten deal that Liz has been given.

“Lex,” Liz said. “Growing stronger every day, but I figured the rehab facility would be better than dealing with it in new environment, at home” she said softly. “You must wonder about his name?”

“After Alex, right?” Max asked softly even though the name was a sore point because of what could have been avoided, so much he thought.

“Yes,” Liz murmured. “Although he wants to go by Lex.”

“A unique name,” Max said with a smile. “Although I am not one to talk given my own choice of a name.”

“Right,” Liz said with a smile. “Maria said you wanted to get away from the memories for your son?”

“In many ways,” Max said softly. “Tess named him, and I did not want to associate with her anymore, and so I found a way to start anew, although my son probably thinks I never restarted my life,” he acknowledged. “But when I was picking a name. I remembered how River Dog was so good to us, at the start of everything, and it seemed like a start over, and something my son could use given the weight of the cloud that he had started his life under, but unfortunately I have gotten in the way of our relationship over the years.”

Liz nodded, unsure of what to say. “It was a hard time,” she muttered of that time in their lives. When everything was bright and should have been happy. But instead, it ended in a lot of pain, and hurt feelings.

“Do you want something to drink?” Max asked.

“Maybe in a few minutes, but there is something we have to discuss…” Liz muttered because while she took solace in the diversion of the last minutes but still, she had to tell Max the truth, which is why she had come here because Max needed to know the truth because so much time had been wasted already.

“What is it?” Max asked.

“It is something I did not know until recent days, but I should have known” Liz said.

“What is it?” Max once again.

“It’s about Mariah,” Liz said softly.

“Why would you need to tell me anything about your daughter?” Max asked because he could tell that she had something on his mind. And given they had already discussed the vagueness of the previous night. Still, it did not seem to register that there could be more.

“Because she is not just my daughter,” Liz said softly. “She’s yours Max…”

And with that she threw them both in a completely changed landscape, and one neither could predict the end of as she saw his eyes wide, and his face going blank as if he could not comprehend what she had just said.

I wish it did not make sense she thought. But it is the truth as she allowed the words to sink in for Max. As she said one once with more force, “Mariah is our daughter.”