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

[keepsmiling7]

Thanks for another great part, and thanks for continuing the Roswell story.

[Parker1947]

One hour later,

“Are you sure?” Max was asking as Liz was standing across from him, as they were now by the caves. After all, he had been wondering because he knew his son was in his home with his girlfriend and Max did not want to be thinking of what they were doing and given his skills as a father were seriously in question, he was not going to be the bad parent who put a stop to it because his son was seventeen, eighteen in a few months he thought. When did so much time elapse?

So, he had been taking the time to wander and thinking about what came next. What could possibility come next.

Not that he knew, none of us know, but then he had seen the car pull up, and seen the brunette beauty in the front seat, and he knew all his dreams were coming true. It did not matter what this adventure would end up being, but it would be enough to have Liz back in his life.

But he had not expected to hear what Liz had to say, although he probably should have been expecting because down deep it was something he had been dreading since he first learned she had moved back to Roswell.

She was leaving Max thought. She is leaving me again.

She has decided Max also thought.

She had; I have to do this she told herself. As she looked at the disappointment in Max’s face. And knew it brought back nightmares for him, and memories for both of them, and she was sorry for it but if it brought some semblance of normalcy to her son, she needed to do this. I have to do this because I am a mother.

And my children come first even before what my heart wants Liz thought.

“You are sure?” Max was asking in a loop.

“It is not forever,” Liz was saying. “But it for now,” she was saying. “Mariah is not coming with us, so I will be coming back. But while we are gone, she will be staying with my parents.”

“She could stay with me, and River” Max offered, and got a smile from Liz. “What?”

“You do not have the room, and too much is still tentative for you and our daughter. The last thing you need to do is be a parent to our child,” Liz said with a smile. “It is too stressful, and she will be better off at the Crashdown. Where she will be working, which is why she is not going to be coming with us, because she needs some balance in her life. She needs to understand this town, and what her life is, and she has the job working for my parents, and maybe the time apart will aide our relationship.”

“I thought things were better?” Max asked.

“Barely,” Liz said. “I need to do this for my son. It’s almost like they have done a switch of their souls,” she said softly. “Lex is starting to act out, and so I think taking him back to Chicago to visit where we used to live, will do him a world of good.”

Max nodded, unsure of what to say.

“School?” Max asked finally.

“He’s being homeschooled or at least doing his classes on-line until September, and so he can do his classes from Chicago, and I figure he can see his grandparents, and see his old friends, and maybe we can figure out where to go from here, and he and Mariah could use the time apart.”

“It is never easy to know what we know,” Max murmured as Liz had confessed that her son now knew, and he did not hesitate to say it was fine, because he knew they were too far into this to be able to keep a secret, and being in that kind of life meant that Lex needed to know, at least something, and he did not envy his former girlfriend for her present situation. But leaving he thought.

That was very different he thought. What if she does not come back?

Even if Mariah is here, does not mean that she has to come back, right. Mariah is now sixteen.

“Work?” Max asked, thinking of any other reason for Liz to stay here. “I thought you were working?”

“I am, but I have a few remaining projects connected to my old job that I can check on,” Liz said, as she and Max started walking the distance towards his house, and where her car was, “I need to do this.”

“I understand,” Max said softly.

“Do you?” Liz asked.

“No, but I know you think you need to do this, and maybe you do” Max said softly.

“Maybe the time away will bring some prospective to all of us?” Liz asked as they continued to walk, which is something we all need she thought. To let this, settle down, and to find some ending in it.

Max did not say anything, as he knew he feared that she would never come back.

“I am coming back,” Liz asked as if she could sense what he was thinking. “This will not be forever.”

“Are you sure?” Max asked.

“Of course,” Liz said. “But right now, it is about my son, and I need to be thinking of him, and not what I want in all this.”

“What do you want?” Max asked.

“To be happy,” Liz murmured. “To have both of my kids happy,” she said softly as she did not want to leave him with the impression her children were not what was important when it was the most important thing, for all of us.

And almost as she was thinking that she saw the door open and Sierra coming out of the house, as she pulled up her top, and smooth it, out and she saw Max and Liz coming at her, and they immediately remembered when they were both young, and in love.

“Mr. Evans,” Sierra said softly.

“Sierra,” Max smiled. “Have a safe drive home,” was all he said, and Sierra nodded and walked off, and got into her car.

“That was a good of you,” Liz said softly.

“As I have often said, my parenting style is very wanting,” Max said softly. “All I can hope for right now is my son to be happy…”

“Which is why I am doing this, so I hope you understand.”

“I do, I just do not like it.”

“I will be back Max,” Liz promised.

“I hope so,” was all Max could say as Liz only smiled and walked to her own car and headed off as she left Max pondering what would happen if she did not come back.

Or what might happen when she did come back?

*

“You are not my mother,” Roxy muttered as she stood in the living room of the Valenti home and was having it out with Isabel who was hoping that being in the house will allow Roxy to see the value of having a roof over her head, and to stay in for the night. “You cannot force me to stay here,” she sighed. “I am sticking because the alternative is worse than this place, but it is only for tonight, but for now, I am going out.”

“You should stay here,” Isabel muttered. She was not used to be someone who was trying to handle a trouble teenager because of the two teenagers who should be staying in the house at the moment were the opposite of troubled and were not looking for trouble on a daily basis. She knew she was close to losing her daughter if this did not work out, and Jaime was also spending the night at her best friend Emma’s house, out of desire to spend the night with friends not out of any attempt to stay away she thought.

“Be home by 11,” Isabel muttered.

“You are not even my foster parent, so you cannot tell me what to do” Roxy muttered once more and grabbed her coat, and walked out, and all Isabel could do was look at her fiancé. “I know you want to say, I told you so…”

“No, I do not” Kyle said with love in eyes. “I understand what you are doing, or what you are trying to do, but you have to expect there will be push back,” he said. “It’s not going to be easy.”

“I know,” Isabel muttered. “I wish it were.”

“She is not going to take in something she has never had,” Kyle said softly. “I know how hard that can be, from when you know who lived with me and my father” he said of the girl who had changed so much for them, once upon a time.

Tess Isabel thought. Which is why I am doing this she thought so that we can get to her in time.

To prevent mayhem from breaking out she thought. Because as she grows, she is going to see how useful her abilities are, and what she can do with them, and that is only going to cause havoc if it as not already she thought. But it’s only been child’s play so far, she thought. But as she grows up, she could move up to the big time.

Kyle knew it, but it was not easy to witness the potential for havoc playing out in their own home.

“Do you want to talk about that wedding?” Isabel asked with a smile, of the event that they should be concentrating on but was slowly moving into the background.

Kyle could only laugh.

*

“Where is our son?” Maria asked as she finally walked back into her home after being outside for the longest of times. After all she had spent some time thinking deeply about her life once her friends had gone off, and then she also stopped by her mother’s home on the way back inside because she needed to talk to her mother about a business decision she needed with the store. As she also could not help but think of the changes her best friend was confronting in her life. As she was making some drastic decisions.

Although unlike Max who feared Liz would not come home, Maria knew Liz could not stay away. She will be back.

Chicago is her old life. Going back will only make that apparent Maria thought. It does not have Max in it she thought.

But Lex needed time to come to terms, and Liz had to see what the future will hold because going back to Chicago will only make it known that Brady was gone.

And the future was now.

And Maria had to think of her own present, and her now as she walked into the kitchen and found her husband now home and toying with a light switch that needed fixing, and Michael was using the old fashion way in solving that malfunction. Which is refreshing she thought. This is my life she thought. She was so used to the abilities that came from her husband and son. “Mac?” she asked of her husband.

“Who knows,” Michael muttered. “I have not heard a peep out of him all night.”

“He should have been finished work by now, right?” Maria asked as she looked at the calendar. “He should have been done hours ago.”

“Probably with one of his friends,” Michael muttered.

“Maybe we should be paying closer attention to our son?” Maria asked. As she looked around and she saw the house she had made with her husband, and the family. “Our son is at a critical age.”

“He’s fine Maria,” Michael grunted. “I would know if he was not.”

“Would you?” Maria asked, wearily.

“Of course,” Michael muttered. “Our son knows what lines to cross, and yes he has been pushing his luck lately, but I am sure we would have heard if something had gone down” he said softly as his phone rang, indicating a text message. “Ah, speaking of the devil.”

“What is it?” Maria asked.

“He’s going to be spending the night at River’s,” Michael said. “He told us not to worry…”

“I guess he does not know us,” Maria muttered I am always going to worry.

“He’s fine Maria,” Michael muttered. “So, what happened with Liz?”

“She’s not fine,” Maria muttered

“Anyone could have told you that,” Michael asked as he finished with the light switch, and turned it on, and it was working. Such a statement to who they were as a couple. We were not working, and then we were she thought.

“She’s going back to Chicago,” Maria muttered.

“Really?” Michael asked as he stopped scouting out more work to be done in the house. Work was dry, which made him pick up odd jobs at home, and now he was concentrating on his wife. “What brought that on?”

“Lex is having a meltdown,” Maria observed.

“Really?” Michael asked once more.

“Yes,” Maria nodded. “Lex knows the skeletons in our clan, and it’s caused him to have a nutty,” she said. “So, Liz feels getting him out of town for a while will let him calm down, and see that life is not so bad, and because he knows what is going on with sister, well, distance might help”

“Mariah is not going with them?” Michael asked.

“Nope, staying with Jeff and Nancy, and she has her job she’s supposed to be starting at the Crashdown, so she’s intending to come back but she does not know how long she will be gone for…”

“Whoa,” Michael muttered I wonder if Max knows he could not help but think.

“I am sure Liz told Max,” Maria smiled as if she knew what her husband was thinking. You did not have to have abilities to have a six sense about your spouse, she thought. Sixteen years will do that to a wife.

“Which means he might join Lex in that meltdown,” Michael feared.

“Maybe he has grown up,” Maria muttered but she knew the truth. When Liz is involved. One could not be too sure.

*

Max was trying not to meltdown. I am stronger than this he thought as he walked into the house and saw his son going for a snack. Neither wanted to be talk about what Max could have witnessed in Sierra leaving, so Max leaned on something easier, “How are you feeling?”

“Stronger, with the headache is gone” was all River wanted to say because he knew his father wanted to say something but was trying to be good, and River appreciated it, because the last thing he needed was a concerned father, when so much of their relationship was anything but. “I am feeling better,” not that I was ever that out of it.

“Was it Sierra’s visit?” Max asked as he was wondering if it was time to give his son the talk he thought. Which was something I had to do before now or wished too for that matter he told himself. I am a crummy father, he thought.

I accept that, and it was going to be hard to overcome now, when my son is seventeen. A few months from eighteen.

“Dad,” River muttered. “This is not something I want to be talking to you about,” he said. “It is a subject you have refrained from, so why start now?” he asked of his father, who nodded. “Please, leave it alone.”

“Sex is intense,” Max muttered as he did not relish having to have this talk. I wish it could be anything else “I know I have not been a role model you should have been having during your life, but I know how much you care for Sierra, and I like her, so this is not about any kind of disapproval.”

“Dad,” River muttered. “Sierra and I are good.”

“I know you are, and I am sure you are being safe and protecting her in every way you can, because you never know what might come from taking your relationship to the next level. Because surprises are known to happen.”

“Of course, I know that Dad,” River muttered. “I was a surprise, remember” he muttered. “And plus, I was not exactly wanted by you at least,” he sighed. But because if not for my dear old Mom who engineered my creation he thought. “But I am a fact of life because my biological mother wanted to get with you, and to get her claws into you,” he muttered. Not the most ideal birth story I have here he thought.

“River,” Max muttered. I hate this for River. “I am sorry.”

“For what,” River asked. “You can tell me sex is intense all you want, and that is true, and you can tell me to protect ourselves which we are, but it does not change the fact that I am here because of certain events my biological mother engineered, and you were pinned down by that…”

I was pinned by my own foolish desires, weakened by fighting with the love of my life because events that was becoming too much for us both.

“I wish things were different for you,” Max muttered. “That I could have been a better parent for you, but I did want you once we knew you, and once it was clear you were going to be born.”

“Yeah, you wish things could have different so you could have been there for Mariah,” River muttered. “You know it, I know it, and it is a part of my life Dad, and I am trying to make peace with it so, yes, you can tell me all you want that I should wait, and that sex is intense and to be sure I am with the right person…”

“That does not always happen, so I was not going to tell you,” Max said softly because it only was once or twice that was the right thing he thought. With Liz he though. Still, I went there with Tess. “I like Sierra, I hope that the both of you are happy. But when you take this step, you need to be ready for whatever the ramifications are,” Max said. “That is all I can say. Because I cannot exactly say you should wait because I did not…”

“No, you did not because you obviously ended up with me,” River muttered.

“Yes,” Max said softly. “And because it now looks like I ended up with two kids before marriage,” he muttered. “So, I am not exactly able to preach on waiting, but all I want for you is to be certain that it is right for you and Sierra. You do not know your future with her, but then none of us really knows our future with someone. I did not exactly see myself with your mother in any kind of the future,” he said. “I know that has to be hard for you to hear?”

“It's the truth, is it not?” River asked.

“Yes, it is” Max said.

“Then own it and let us move on. Mom is dead, and I do not know what kind of person she was before her death, so I only have yours or the family’s word for how she is, and if any of it was true than I might not have wanted to know her, but the two of you are my parents. At the end of the day, that is where we are, and you should be happy because you cannot dwell on what happened in the past, or what did not happen.”

“No, we cannot.” Max acknowledged.

“I like Sierra, I mean I really like her,” River muttered. “She surprised me. Because I had a countdown clock to my departure from this town, and I did not see anyone or anything getting in the way of that, and she came into my life, and she surprised me,” he sighed. “We do not know our futures. She might be the right person for me, or we might end one day, I do not know for certain but for right now I want to see where it goes,” he sighed as he thought of the blonde beauty that had surprised him. “I know you probably will say I should say away from complicated?”

“You can only go by what your heart wants,” Max murmured. “That is how it was for me and Mariah’s mother. Liz and I were intense, and complicated. So, was your mother and me, and I am not happy with how it went, and you have a chance to have a different life. One that was not afforded to me, because I chose to go a different route. All I want is for you to be happy, to pick the road you want, without traveling down the bumps and the obstacles that we did in our day.”

“Thank you, Dad,” River murmured.

“You are welcome,” Max murmured as he knew once upon a time, only three short months ago, that sentiment would not have been given to him, or wished for, and all he could do now was move on, because the past was in the past, and they will never be able to get back what was lost.

For any of us.

And just like that there was a knock on the door. And prepared to expect anything, he was surprised to find his godson, although they did not have much of a relationship because of how out of it he had been most of the boy’s life. “Mac, what are you doing here?”

“I need a place to lay low,” Mac asked. “Can I spend the night?”

“Sure,” Max said as he allowed his godson into the house. “You can keep my son company,” Max said softly. “I am going out for a walk.”

“Again?” River asked, slightly amused.

“Again,” was all Max was going to be willing to say as he closed the door behind him, and it left the two teenagers in the house, alone.

“What is going on?” River asked his best friend.

“A lot,” Mac conceded as he had no desire to head home, and so he had sent the text to his parents without a firm plan of where he wanted to go. All he knew he could not be at home. And he could not be at his grandparent’s home, so he came out to find a friend. And from the sounds of it, his best friend had just had a in important talk with his father. “Can I stay here?” he asked as needed some place that was now about what he was feeling.

“Sure,” River nodded. Because from the look of it, his friend had a lot on his mind. And given the nature of the life he had lived with his father; Mac rarely had come here for a sleep over. River had mostly gone there, and now the reverse was happening. It was a signal that was a lot was changing. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Maybe I do,” Mac muttered. Although he was unsure if he truly did.

“What is going on?” River asked.

[keepsmiling7]

Glad Max finally had this talk with River.
Are you taking bets on how long Liz stays away from Roswell.......I'm guessing not long.
It appears Mac really needs to talk to River......can't wait to hear about this conversation.

[Parker1947]

A lot was going on, and it was as they sat to watch a late-night basketball game, and River threw a can of pop his friend’s way, “Got anything stronger?” Mac wondered and River only shook his head. “We are not driving,” he muttered when he was getting the stern glance from his best friend. There might be more than two years might be between them in age, but they were tighter than most friends with such a difference in age. They were able to talk about anything. Almost anything he thought. Given Jessica is River’s cousin, maybe there was a limit. “And it is not like your father even cares if one or two beers go missing,” came Mackenzie as he knew he did not often come to this place. But he had needed something different. And he did not want to be home where anyone could interrupt, and especially have one of his parents get on his case about his choices in life.

One of the problems when you have two parents he thought. Who were invested in your future he told himself so he came to the friend that had the sticky home life even though he knew that River’s father was trying, but still, you had chance to get away with a lot more than you would by going to any other home of a friend?

Especially when you were thinking of yet another friend, and thoughts that were shocking and intimate, and were definitely not something he had fathom thinking until recent times No way, no how he thought as he tried to banish Jessica from his mind. And he needed alcohol to do it. “I need something stronger.”

“Nope,” River muttered. “Things are finally going halfway decent with my father, so I am not going to upset the balance that has been underway,” he sighed. “Peacetime is way better than the wartime that we have been under,” he said. “You are definitely underage, and so I am not going to get caught because my father could be back anytime. And you probably should have learned that lesson.”

“I know,” Mac muttered. Yes, I have learned it but still… “So, things with your father?”

“Are calm and we are in a period of peace,” River muttered. “I do not know how long it can last but I am not going to disrupt things now,” he sighed. “Everything about my life is finally hitting at all cylinders. Sierra and I are perfect.”

“Yeah, whatever” Mac muttered. Because he was still unsure of Sierra.

“Please deal with whatever you are feeling Mac, and do not bring it around me” River sighed. “I know you do not trust Sierra, but she has been nothing but truthful with us, and I believe her, and I like her, and I do not want to have to pick you or her, okay so do not make me.”

“She told the truth, after…” Mac muttered. “Months into the two of you…”

“Still, she has done nothing to screw with us,” River muttered. Others have, but not Sierra. “I do not know what the future will be, but I want to try to make it work,” he sighed. “This is the first time in my life that I want someone this much, and I want it to work. Too much of my life has been missing out, and I need to see where this goes?”

“Yeah,” Mac asked.

“Yeah,” River muttered as they watched the basketball game. “So, what is going on with you and Jessica?” he asked because he was not stupid as he could sense that there was tension recently within their group. As lifelong friends, there had often been tension or little tiffs between friends, but lately, things have started to become bigger, and more intense, and of course River was in the dark.

Like most of the other family members, not named Jaime or even Mariah.

“It is nothing,” Mac muttered it is definitely something, but he was not ready to admit it.

“Are you sure,” as both boys groaned that the local team, they were sort of hoping for to do well was losing big,

“I am sure,” Mac muttered.

“You know you can talk to me,” River muttered. “You have in the past,” he sighed. As he was seeing that was something was bugging his friend. It was unusual that Mac was not talking to him, because his friend was known to spill about anything and everything, whether River approved or not.

“Leave my love life alone,” Mac muttered. As he was not ready to talk about it.

“Are you serious?” River asked as he finally hit on something. “Are you telling me Jessica is part of your love life?” he asked of his cousin. “She is seeing Alan?”

“Well Alan went and cheated with Lena; you know Roxy’s friend” Mac muttered as River’s mouth dropped open and chuckled “You have been out of the loop I guess?” he said with a smile, because he was not usually the one telling his friend these things.

I am out of the loop River thought. What is going on here? “I guess that what happens when you are forced to be in the hospital because of a potential head injury and then you know the whole pretending to recover,” River asked as he thought of his forced convalescent here at the house and therefore, he had not been that present all day now, and he was sure he was missing out on some stuff, but he never imagined any of this, as he remained stuck on one little tidbit. “Hold up, you and Jessica?”

“You catch on pretty quick,” Mac muttered.

“Alan?” River asked going back to the first mystery in this whole conversation that was beginning to not make any sense to those who were uninitiated. “What the hell?” he asked of his cousin’s boyfriend. “I thought they were tight?”

“Who knows,” Mac muttered. “I did not witness the fight, but there was one and therefore Jessica is not a happy camper,” he sighed I only engineered the situation here she would see it for herself he thought. She has a reason to be pissed at me for that he told himself.

“What in the hell happened?” River asked.

“I wish I knew,” Mac muttered.

“I know a lot has been happening,” River managed. “But I thought the two of you were friends, and only friends,” he asked as he was trying to figure out what it all meant. Does everything in our worlds have to change he muttered to himself. “Now you like Jessica?”

“I did not say I liked her, liked her” Mac muttered. “We are only friends.”

“But you want it to be more?” River asked.

“No, yes, no, I do not know what I mean” Mac muttered. “We are friends. Nothing has changed that but recent days, things have been changing for all of us, and I am still of the mantra that we should not settle down, because it only brings you heartache” he sighed I still believe it, right he thought. Love gets you nowhere.

So says the teenage boy who had two parents who were high school sweethearts, and still together to this day with no signs of any trouble on the horizon River thought.

While he had a barely decent relationship with his father, and a biological mother who was dead and probably rolling around in her grave because his father was wanting someone who he lost once upon a time and whose said birth mother engineered the split of that relationship... Yet here was Mac of the opinion that love does not get you anywhere “You really think that?” River asked.

“Your father could not have the one he wanted?” Mac muttered.

“Because of me,” River muttered.

Because the fates would not allow it,” Mac muttered. “If they really loved each other, could they not have worked it out?” he asked. “My parents did.”

“Everyone is different, and it was not like I was Mariah’s mother’s kid” River muttered because he could see why Mariah’s mother was not so high on accepting responsibility for him, and why she had decided to walk away from his father. “It is not like your father got another woman pregnant,” he sighed of the somewhat easier road that Mackenzie’s parents did have. “And plus, my birth mother was someone who caused a lot of pain if we believe any of the stories that have travelled our way.”

“Still, by the end, she was dead” Mac muttered. Could they not make it work, if they truly did love each other? “Sorry…” he sighed as he knew his best friend had a lot of issues stemming from how he was born.

“Why?” River asked. “It’s a fact of life. She’s dead. I did not know the woman, and according to legend, I probably would not have wanted to know if anything she did even by half is true. I have to deal with it, and my father lost out on the woman he wanted because of me. Because she could not handle being my mother.”

“And now it’s come full circle?” Mac asked.

“Yes,” River muttered. “I have come to believe that my dad did love Mariah’s mother much more than my mother, and life did not allow them to get their way, and as a result he could not have had the woman he loved, and has paid for it all these years, and if he has a chance to take it now, maybe he should. Because chances do not come around so often. As we saw with Mariah’s other father is that life is short, and even my mother who did not make it past age 18. So, yes, life is short.”

“Yes, it is” Mac muttered.

“So, your notion that love gets you nowhere does not stand up to scrutiny, because sometime life does suck, and things do happen, but sometimes love gets you through the day, and I am sure your parents feel that way, and if you and Jessica…”

“We are only friends,” Mac muttered. “If Alan could not stay faithful, then love gets you nowhere.

“You are only fifteen,” River smiled. “Anything is known to happen but still, it is a chance you should take because love makes sometimes the harder parts of life worthwhile,” he said softly as he thought of a certain blonde. “Because Sierra makes it easier for me to get through the days with my father, when we do not exactly see eye to eye.”

“So, you love Sierra now?” Mac muttered.

“I do not know what I feel for Sierra,” River said honestly. “I mean I care for her, and it is good between us, really good”

“I do not need to hear about you sex life,” Mac muttered.

“You wanted too before,” River said with a laugh as he glanced over at his best friend. “Seriously, what is going on with you and Jessica?”

“I told you, I do not know” Mac muttered as they did not know their conversation was being observed. As it was Max who had taken a long walk, and sat out by the caves, but had come home, and had seen the television was on, and he could not hear what the boys were saying, and he was stunned to think of Mac and his niece, Jessica.

Once upon a time it could have been my sister and Michael, but the gods on this planet did not allow it. So, is it bleeding into the newest generation? Max could not help but think. “My sister and Michael will probably not like it.”

Instead of taking to either of them or talking it over with the boy, he chose to go to bed and closed the door behind him and not long after with the local team losing badly, River and Mac turned in, with Mackenzie turning down a sleeping bag in a fashion that was not unlike his father nearly two decades before.

As they tried to fall asleep, and Mac could only think of Jessica.

And River thought of Sierra, but also how everything was changing.

*

Meanwhile, after ignoring all attempts from Isabel to be a part of a family. Which is something Roxy resisted, and Kyle had to keep Isabel from saying something that would drive Roxy out of the house, which was Roxy’s plan anyways as she closed the door behind her, she took off the sweatshirt, and just wore the tank top that beneath it, and she folded it up, and left it on the bed with a note attached to it.

And slid out of the window, and down the tree and scurried off…

*

Next morning,

Unaware of what was going on at home Jessica was dragging herself tired into the Crashdown because she had been unable to sleep. What else is new. Even though she might not have been in the same house as Roxy, so you would think she would be able to sleep more soundly but there had been a lot of things milling around in her head. And she needed coffee blast, and because she did not want to head home because she feared who might be there, and she felt like she needed some calories too, but did not bargain for her cousin sitting and waiting at a booth, perking up when he saw her. “What are you doing here?” she would ask of her cousin.

“What do you think?” River asked, surprised to see how tired his cousin was looking. “Have you ever found meaningful food at my place?” he asked with a smile, because while he and his father had been known to do the easy meals, still there was never a decent supply of carbs, and so it naturally Crashdown for him once more. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“Sure, super” Jessica muttered even though she knew she was dragging. “Why?” she could not help but ask.

“Because you look like Mac feels,” River mused as their friend’s name got Jessica’s attention, I thought so he murmured to himself but kept any comment to himself. “Are you okay?”

“Sure, I am fine, just tired and hungry” Jessica muttered as she turned her head to check to find out if her friend was also here. “Is Mac here with you?”

“No,” River shook his head. “Mac needed to get out of the house last night, so he slept over at my place, but I drove him home on the way here, because I am meeting Sierra for breakfast. You know having to lay low yesterday made me start to become stir crazy, and I needed something that was not my father’s cooking, or even mine” he said with a smile. “So, I thought we would come here and eat,” he said softly. “You can join us, you know?”

“No, that is fine” Jessica muttered. “You and Sierra deserve some peace and quiet because I am not in any mood to be company.”

“And you did not want to go home?” River asked.

“Nope,” Jessica shook her head as she thought of her home. It was something she was not used to thinking or even wishing, not to go home. “Not if she is there.”

“Roxy?” River asked.

“Sure, you heard my mother decided to take the troublemaker in and give her shelter,” Jessica muttered. “She refused to believe me that it was a foolish decision. And it will only end in disaster,” she sighed. Why could she not listen to me.

“I heard something about it,” River muttered. And so much more, and it is mindblowing he thought to think Roxy was another one like us. “It probably is a good decision you know” he would concede knowing what he knew now.

“Why would you say something like that?” Jessica asked. “After what she did to you?” and Mac she thought but would not say, and River saw the frustration and even anger on her face, and that she probably wanted to say Mac’s name, but did not. Hmm…

“Now that we know there is more to her, we cannot have her out there unprotected” River muttered as he thought of the troublemaker. “I think she’s a user, and she’s more trouble than she is worth, but she is someone we have to keep an eye on because we have to know what is going on with those who are like us.”

“She is not like us,” Jessica muttered.

“But she is, and we have to deal with it. Now that we know a lot more of her situation, well, I do not think she will be causing much more trouble,” River muttered. Or I hope not he thought because he did not know. “She will know she cannot get to us, that we are now armed”

“She can get to Mac,” Jessica muttered.

River could not help but burst out laughing.

“What?” Jessica asked.

“Jesus, you are jealous,” River said with a lot of amusement in his voice. “I could not believe it when Mac commented about how things might have changed between the two of you along because I was in the dark about it all, even though he also had a lot of denial of just what, but now that I see it, well, I think he is right, and you are jealous of Mac and Roxy?”

“Like hell I am,” Jessica muttered.

“But you are,” River batted back. “Jessica, I can firmly tell you that Mac does not want Roxy, nor does Roxy want Mac.”

“Why do you say that?” Jessica asked as she spotted Sierra coming through the doors and knew their discussion would probably cut short.

“She probably sensed that something was going on between the two of you, and she probably wanted to use Mac to get at you,” River muttered because he fully knew that it seemed Roxy’s goal in life was to get Jessica pissed and usually it would work. “You know that she loves to goad you, and you usually fall for it. So, she was using Mac to get to you.”

“That did not stop him from you know what before,” Jessica muttered.

“Well Mac was never one to make the best of decisions, but usually he sticks if he does learn a lesson, and I think after what happened last summer that he did learn from it and was not going to go back in the direction, so, no, he was not looking for it to happen.

“You give him too much faith,” Jessica muttered.

“And you give him too little,” River batted back. “Which tells me that you are jealous…” he said of his cousin, “So what are you going to do about it?” he asked as Sierra approached, and he got up from the booth he was sitting in and exchanged a kiss with Sierra, and in that moment, Jessica was feeling a bit like Mac, and looking down on love.

What was she going to whatever she was feeling?

*

She had an answer, she was not willing to give it because while all this was happening, back at her family home. Isabel checked the spare room that she had set up for Roxy, and found that it was empty, and the bed obviously had not been slept in, because Roxy was not the type to have made it before getting lost and it was still too early for a teenager who was the type of Roxy who was used to having freedom to be still asleep. “Damn,” she muttered.

“What is it?” Kyle asked as he walked past the spare room. He was on the way to pick his daughter up from her slumber party. Neither he or Isabel so far had been apprised of where Jessica could be, and that was troubling because they did know she was no longer at Linda’s house because Isabel had called to check in and found her daughter had vanished from the premises.

Typical Kyle thought but saw the dismay on his fiancé’s face, “Is it Jessica?”

“No, it’s Roxy, she did not sleep here last night. The bed was made, and it did not look like it was slept in.”

“Where could she have gone?” Kyle asked.

“I was going to ask you,” Isabel muttered. “You might need to call in your father.”

“She is used to be on her own, right?” Kyle asked as he looked as they opened the door again and walked and saw the sweatshirt that had caused Jessica’s ire the day before, and why the girl had not spent any time at the house since vacating it, and they saw the note attached.

“That is considerate of her,” Kyle murmured. Just barely.

“Maybe,” Isabel muttered.

That was until she read the note and saw she might have more issues to consider than a runaway that no one had terribly found feelings for...

[keepsmiling7]

Mac and River are lucky to have each other to discuss "everything".
River is realizing he was the reason Max and Liz didn't get together years ago.
Good part!

[Parker1947]

And Isabel was still reeling from the letter even though she did not even know if she should believe it, or not, and Kyle tried to talk her down, and now she was walking into the Crashdown to meet her breakfast for a breakfast, and she saw that her daughter was sitting and talking with River and Sierra.

Mac was not around, although she did not know if that would stay this way because she knew the Crashdown was one of the two jobs that the boy was juggling, and that her daughter, and nephew River often could be found here due to that fact, Jamie too for that matter she thought. Once upon a time this was our hangout, she thought of the restaurant that she would often find her brother because of his infatuation with Liz Parker she thought. The waitress that for some reason had captivated her brother’s interest all through high school until the day when it all changed for the two of them.

She and Michael had been miffed at the time her brother was wasting in his useless pursuit, and even when Liz did give her brother the time of day. She and Michael knew it was not going to go over well long term, because how could it? She and Max were super close, almost like twins but she was older than her brother by a year, although those ages were ones we came up once we came to this planet she thought when our parents’ needed information, and so we made up birthdates to go with the ages that were assigned to us she thought. It is not like we could do much talking she thought of the time when they were silent because we did not know the language or have the ability to talk.

A new life was begun, and eventually we would begin all American lives she told herself. No one would know who we were, and Max was risking it all when he jumped into the fire to protect Liz. Isabel told herself. Not that I actually wanted to her to die, but it was risky, and my brother did not know what he was asking for she told herself.

We did not know what we were starting that day.

But eventually it led to her brother and Liz and a whole complicated journey that ended almost as soon as it begun, and unbeknownst to them it would lead to Mariah she thought.

But this was the place where it all started, she thought. It all seems so normal.

Jessica was talking to River and his girlfriend Sierra and were leading normal lives despite how odd they truly were.

This was what she wanted for this generation. We walked the fires so that our children could have a better life she thought.

As she was in her own head, thinking of what kind of life her daughter was leading, and what could be coming. Across the restaurant floor, Jessica had not noticed her mother coming into the café until she caught the glimpse of her mother out of the corner of her eye, and she sighed. “Oh, great Mom is here.”

“You know you could talk to her; you know?” River asked. The distance between his aunt and his cousin was not something he was used too, and so he was all into finding a way to bridge that gap.

“I would if I wanted too,” Jessica muttered.

“Go, okay” Sierra muttered. “If your mother is someone you like than you should not let anything get in the middle of it,” she sighed. “Not everyone has that kind of relationship with their parent.”

Jessica nodded, and sighed, and knew that she had to be the bigger person. “Fine, I will go and say hello, but I make no promises” she said as she got up from the table and started the walk over to her mother.

“You would think she would have the relationship I do with my father,” River muttered. “But she does it because she was doted on by her mother all her life. She has the relationship every teenager wished they have with their parent, and she is screwing it up.”

“All of us rebel once in a while,” Sierra smiled. “Sometimes it is a nice feeling to go against the grain,” she said softly, and River could only smile. As everything was just fine with the two of them, and it was constantly surprising him because he had never known this feeling he had for Sierra, and the same could be said about Sierra who was taking everything with stride and glad it was working out.

While across the restaurant, Jessica stopped inches from her mother. “You are here?” Jessica asked.

Not the most nicest of welcomes Isabel thought silently but did not say anything. “Good morning?”

“Good morning, yeah,” Jessica sighed. “What are you doing here?”

“Meeting your uncle for breakfast,” Isabel murmured. “How was your night with Linda?”

“It went fine,” Jessica sighed. “We watched a movie.”

Isabel murmured and wished things were better, and maybe they would be now that Roxy had vanished from their shores. Kyle had called in his father, and Jim was still on the lookout, but they all knew that the teenager knew had to keep off the grid, and that could mean almost anything. “Are you willing to come home?”

“Is she there?”

“And if she were?” Isabel asked, even though she knew the answer. She had known Roxy had been a troublemaker, of course I did and knew the girls had a rivalry, and there were reasons for Jessica’s grievances, but she now had to wonder, but it did not mean she would wonder and ask her daughter, not yet.

“Then I will make other plans to spend tonight,” Jessica muttered. “Maybe Grandma and Grandpa will not have plans tonight.”

“Can we sit down?” Isabel asked as she checked her text, and saw Max was running late, and she had time. “Your uncle has been delayed. Maybe we can talk?”

“I was talking with River and Sierra,” Jessica muttered.

“I think they are happy to spend time together,” Isabel murmured as she saw the glow of a first serious love that was between her nephew and Sierra. She did not know if it would last, because the glow always fades because she could not help but remember that once when she had it when she was her nephew’s age and falling in love with Jesse. It was all so new, and exciting she thought. Little did I know how it would go.

But her nephew and Sierra were a different case than she and Jesse, but at least she and Jesse had a link and that link stood in front of her, as their daughter was looking at her wearily like she was going to give a bait and switch on her, and Isabel knew she could easily end the stalemate with telling her daughter that Roxy had vanished, but still, she could not do it.

“Fine,” Jessica murmured as they took one of the remaining tables of the morning. “What did you want to say?”

“Look I know you and Roxy distrust each other, and you have a reason to be upset with her, but you have to know we have to be on the lookout for someone like her, and to help her because you know full well what it means it might be unprotected,” Isabel muttered. “You have me, and you have Kyle and Jaime, and you have a big and complex family, of every kind of make. Not everyone has that, and we wanted to help Roxy.”

“You wanted to help her, no one else did.” Jessica muttered.

“That might be true,” Isabel murmured.

“Although River seems to think it was the only way to do it,” Jessica admitted. “Still, I think she is only asking for trouble, and makes it her mission to get into trouble, which is counter to how we approach life.”

“We are all different,” Isabel murmured.

“Yes, we are…” Jessica conceded.

“So, is Mac working today?” Isabel asked. She did not know Mac’s schedule, but her daughter often did, and she was only casually asking, because she was not looking to get into any difficulties when she already had so many with her daughter.

“How would I know?” Jessica muttered. Why is everyone asking me about Mac. Mac this, Mac that, Mac, Mac, Mac…

It is so annoying.

Surprised only mildly by her daughter’s reaction. I might have felt differently if I did not read that note. She knew that her daughter, River, and Mackenzie had been the three musketeers since she and Mac in particular were babies, because of course River was older, but still three had meshed quite well, and it had been one of the blessings, and why she was hesitant to take her daughter away from this town. After Jesse died, and she had to decide.

Would she stay. Especially once Jesse’s mother, and Isabel’s former mother-in-law although the divorce was never officially completed, so she and Jesse were still married in the view of God. Anyways, her mother-in-law moved because of the despair she felt for her only child’s death, and despite the promise of a grandchild, Jesse’s mother had elected to move on.

But it did not stop her from being a part of her only grandchild’s life. And Isabel was happy for it because it allowed her daughter to have a model in many ways, although it was complicated as Jessica grew up, and started to exhibit abilities, and therefore the girl had to be told to keep it quiet from her grandmother on visits to her home in Arizona.

Jessica adapted to the changes quite well.

But back to her original thinking, she knew how close her daughter was to her cousin and her friend in Mac.

“You always seem to know what is going on,” Isabel asked of her daughter.

“Well, I do not know whether he’s working or not” Jessica said softly. “He leads his own life, and I lead mine. I see Uncle Max,” she muttered as she saw her uncle come into the restaurant, alone. “Life has really changed, has it not?” she said in a murmur. “I mean Uncle Max is fully engage with life again and coming and joining you for breakfast here of all places. You do not have to go and negotiate to get him out of his house?”

“It definitely is a different time,” Isabel sighed. “Although in the case of your uncle. I will take whatever got him to have this change,” she sighed even though she knew it was not about her, or Michael. It was about Liz Parker she thought. If she had not come back to town…

“Anyway, I am out of here” Jessica muttered. “Uncle Max.”

“Jessica,” Max said softly as he walked up to table and he could fully see how much his niece was like her mother before here, with obvious differences thanks to what Jesse brought to the pairing, “You are not joining your mother and me?”

“No, I need time on my own” Jessica said. Too much on my mind.

Unsure of what was going on with her daughter. Isabel wished she did, as she saw her daughter get out from the table and try to walk away. “Roxy is gone, she is no longer at home. If you can come home again, we might discuss it.”

“Then I will see you at home,” Jessica muttered. Not wishing to stay and discuss why Roxy had vanished. “Later.”

“Later,” said the adults and both Isabel and Max could not help but think of how things were so different from their time on this planet, as teenagers. “What is going on with Jessica?”

“I have no idea,” Isabel muttered although I have a sense. “And I wonder if I want to know?”

“Denial is a good state of mind to be in,” Max said softly. “But from hearing my son and Mac talk, I think there is problem with her and Alan.”

“What did you hear?” Isabel asked.

“Too much,” Max said honestly.

“Do I want to even know?” Isabel asked.

“That is up to you,” Max murmured.

*

Meanwhile Mac did not have to work on this day at either of his jobs because he had the day off and he had dropped into bed once home from River’s place. And did get out bed before noon, and now was up, and coming downstairs, and his mother was in the kitchen. “You slept late?” Maria asked as she spotted her son coming into the kitchen. “You did not get any sleep at River’s place last night, should I worry?” she asked with a worry. Although she knew with River just out of the hospital, chances are there was little that could have done to cause trouble for her son, but still rarely did her son head to bed after coming home from a sleepover.

“I did not have to work, and no, you did not have to worry,” Mac muttered. “I just wanted a change of pace.”

“You did,” Maria asked. “You are always on the go.”

“Sometimes you just want something different, and River was at home” Mac sighed. “Everything is alright Mom,” he muttered as he went to the fridge and got out the orange juice and made eggs for himself.

“I hope so,” Maria said as she was putting her jacket on. “Your father is out doing errands, and I am headed over to the Anthony house, so I will be back.”

“Is it true that she is going back to Chicago?” Mac asked. “And leaving Mariah here?”

“Only on a trip, because Lex is having a hard time adjusting,” Maria murmured. “She will be back.”

Mac nodded, as he watched as his mother left. “A lot has changed. Nothing can stay the same, can it?”

“What do you want to stay the same?” Maria asked as she turned around and saw that her son was in a quandary, maybe I should be sticking close to home? “Do you want me to stay and help with whatever is troubling you?” she asked. “You know you can tell your father and me anything you know.”

“I know,” Mac muttered. “Neither of you can help me with it,” he allowed. “I have to live it for myself.”

Maria nodded, “We are here if you need us,” she said.

Mac watched as his mother disappear. Although I am not sure how happy either of you will be if I act on whatever I am feeling.

After all he knew how things could have gone for his father and Jessica’s mother.

And now it was coming into his generation, Why? he muttered.

Why indeed? Was it engrained in them, or did they genuinely want to follow wherever it would lead but then Mac was willing to ignore it some more?

*

“Should you head over there?” Isabel was asking her brother as they sat and had lunch at the Crashdown. She fully knew how much had changed. She did not know her daughter comment on it, as she sat and had lunch with her brother instead of driving out of town and forcing her brother into spending time with her, and usually it was about staying at the house instead of coming out and going somewhere to eat. Coming here would never have been in question she thought. Since my brother banned himself from coming in here, until recent days.

“Why would I not?” Max asked. Although I know why she thinks that he thought. “It is a risk, but she’s leaving some time, I do not know, and I want to see her before she leaves.”

“She is leaving because her son is having trouble with it all,” Isabel muttered. “You do not have to compound it for the boy to know how much things have changed for him and his sister here in this town, if you go over and showcase how much you love his mother. When Lex is not ready for it. Mariah probably would not be either, but she’s older.”

“I just want to see her, because I do not know when she will be back again.”

“She’s leaving Mariah here is she not?” Isabel asked. Only slightly in the know, because word is known to come down their gossipvine she murmured to herself.

“Sure, but you never know what might happen” Max murmured. I am not going to take any chances he thought. And plus, I just want to see her again.

Not that he had not seen with great regularly in recent days.

“It’s your funeral,” Isabel said smiling with every word. “Go at it. Just know you are taking a risk.”

“It has always been risky,” Max murmured. “That goes with any relationship,” he said softly. “Which is why I wish the kids would stay single for a while yet.”

“And yet we did not,” Isabel muttered. “Although I gave it a good shot, but neither of you nor Michael could wait.”

“Not when it was Liz,” Max muttered.

Isabel smiled.

“So, Roxy has vanished?” Max asked. “I heard you telling Jessica that, but I did not know if that was more of a way to lure her home or was it really the truth?” he asked of his sister’s little charity project which was to give Roxy a home. “So, what happened?”

“I do not think my daughter would have believed me unless it was the truth, and unfortunately, Roxy did make a run for it last night,” Isabel muttered. It is not we could always be watching. “Jim is trying but we do not know where she went.”

“And knowing her, she could be anywhere?” Max observed.

“Unfortunately,” Isabel sighed. “But I beginning to think my daughter was right and she was only trying to meddle with my family, and our little family as a whole?”

“What gives you that feeling?” Max asked of his sister.

[keepsmiling7]

Good question........and maybe a few other questions too.

[Parker1947]

Isabel was not sure what gave her that feeling. She did not know Roxy. Not really. So, she did not know if she was right or wrong. But the feeling was nagging and would not go away, and it was telling her this was all a plan or it was teenage foolishness, and she did not know which was which as she and her brother continued to talk, and ignoring the topic of her temporary houseguest, and soon it was over and Max was on his way, and Isabel hoped that her brother did not sink back to his former state now that Liz was leaving town again.

Mariah was staying, but it was not like she was viewing my brother as her father Isabel thought. So, she did not know what would happen if Liz was indeed gone for sizable amount of time. Anyway, Isabel was choosing to have hope that he would not slide backwards and now she was going off to conduct some errands.

While Max at the same time was driving over to Liz’s place. And he arrived almost at the same time as Maria. “Oh,” Max said softly. “I think we both had the same idea?”

“Probably we did,” Maria sighed as she knew Max was a glutton for punishment because this was the last place he should be. As she went to knock on the door.

“Come in,” came the voice as it came to the door. As Liz was the one to open the door, as she was clearly expecting someone and since this was a spur of the moment visit practically, he muttered to himself, well it was obvious that his former girlfriend was expecting her best friend as opposed to him. “I am on the phone,” Liz muttered and then she stopped. “Oh,” she said as she saw Max.

“You did not expect me?” Max asked.

“No,” Liz admitted. “Come in, as I am on hold because I am trying to change some billing information and make reservations to stay at a hotel in Chicago,” she murmured. “And postponing my son’s upcoming medical appointments until we are back.”

“Do you know when you will be back?” Maria asked so that Max would not, because she knew that was on Max’s mind, even though she of course knew the answer.

“Eventually,” Liz said. “Yes, hello, I need to make some corrections to an account,” she said as she walked off, and it left Maria and Max to be alone to talk although once they walked into the living room, they saw that Jaime was with Lex as they were playing a video game.

Although there was no tutoring session, Jaime had come over and she and Lex had gotten into a competitive game.

Until Lex looked up and saw Max, and he frowned.

Jaime acknowledged her uncle. Lex only ignored them and went back to his game. And Maria only sighed. “Let us go into the kitchen?”

Max nodded as they walked past the teens, and into the back and both adults could hear Lex sighing, and both knew this was not a good situation. But Max could not stay away, and Maria knew it was hopeless to even think that Max was going to stay away, until her friend was no longer in this town.

Once in the kitchen, “Did you have to come?” was all Maria could say to her friend. “You did not have to come over here…”

“I wanted to make sure everything was alright,” Max muttered.

“I am sure you did, but you know how complicated this is all for Liz, and you knew full well Lex is having issues, and Mariah is only beginning to understand. You could have stayed away?”

“She’s leaving,” Max muttered.

“But it is not forever,” Maria muttered. “She will back you know.”

“I did not think she would be gone forever when she left the first time,” Max muttered. “So, I am not taking any chances.”

“Whatever,” Maria sighed. Why cannot this be easier?

“It is alright, you can stay” came a voice and they turned and saw Liz entering the kitchen. “You are welcome to stay.”

See, I was right to come was almost what Max wanted to say to Maria and Maria knew it and quieted down, “When are you headed out?” she asked her best friend.

“Tomorrow,” Liz said softly. “Just making the final arrangements.”

“How did Mariah deal with it?” Max asked as he was still searching for a common bond with their daughter. A girl he barely knew, and only was now getting used too. “Did she want to go with you and her brother?”

“No, she is fine with staying” Liz said simply. Not that I gave her a choice she told herself.

And it was the truth. Although truthfully she had not known how her daughter would handle her intention to leave her here in Roswell when her daughter had a love/hate relationship thus far with the town, but surprisingly Mariah seemed okay with it, “She understands my need to spend time with her brother, and I think she is coming to some acceptance with this town, and she loves her grandparents so she is fine with staying them even if she is not fully on board with having to work at the restaurant.”

“She will soon find herself loving it,” Maria promised.

“I hope so,” Liz said simply.

“You loved it, and so she will she…” Max said unsure of what to say because he knew how much Liz being a waitress was important to who they had become and their relationship. So much was started by her working at the restaurant.

“Although it was the Crashdown that was important to me,” Liz murmured even before the shooting she thought. “My daughter does not have that same fondness, but at least she understands my need.”

“Your boss?” Max asked.

“Is more reluctant, but he is accepting” Liz said. “He understands, and I will still be doing some work, but it will be a merging of the two worlds,” she muttered. “Although truthfully I do not know how I will handle being back in that world again.”

“I am sure you will be fine,” Maria murmured.

“I hope so,” Liz said softly.

*

Upstairs,

Mariah was packing her suitcase. She did not know how long she was going to be gone for, because she mother was ever evasive on that subject. All she knew was that her brother had to get out of this town and take a breather. She did not want to think that maybe he wanted to get away from her, because he knew more on who she was, and as she was selecting outfits to take with her, I suppose I could always break back in here if I need distance from the grandparents she thought. Thank you, Mom, for leaving me behind she smiled as she thought of the benefits of being alone in a town she did not know.

Anyways she heard commotion in the hallway. Unsure of who it was because she knew her mother was busy making the final reservations and arrangements. So, she turned and saw her brother and Jaime in the hallway. “What is going on?”

“I dropped my crutch,” was all Lex said.

“Are you okay?” Mariah asked a little tentatively because she knew how much there was tension in this house over the last twenty-four hours now it is not me being the problem child she thought. It is weird to think it is my brother she thought. “Jaime, nice to see you.”

“You too Mariah,” Jaime said, and it felt like Mariah had turned a corner, now her brother is another subject.

“Are you okay?” Mariah asked as she turned back to her brother.

“I am fine,” Lex said simply as he was not wanting to look at his sister. And only picked up his crutch and walked to his room.

Jaime stayed back for a moment. “It’s a lot for him.”

“Has he told you anything about it?” Mariah asked. Because she knew her brother had to talk to someone, and if it is not going to be me, then it better that it is Jaime.

“A bit,” Jaime admitted. “But I have been trying to keep his mind off it,” she sighed. “I know how complicated it is, because I know so much more than he does, and he knows it, so I am just happy to have him still talking to me.”

“Thank you for being a friend,” was all Mariah could say.

“You are welcome, but know, even though I am a mere mortal in this drama. Still, I am in this because how much my father loves Isabel,” she said with a smile. “Who I guess is your aunt. Small world, huh?” she said softly.

“Yes, it is” Mariah murmured.

“You know Max is downstairs,” Jaime asked of the fact they both knew Max was Mariah’s biological father. “It is why your brother is moody once again, because he saw Max arrive to talk to your mother.”

“I bet he loved that,” Mariah muttered.

“You can guess the answer,” Jaime murmured. “I guess I will go and check to see your brother is okay,” she sighed as she walked away.

“Leave the door open,” Mariah called after with amusement in her voice.

“I do not think you have to worry about anything happening,” Jaime said with a smile as she turned back.

“I know I do not,” Mariah said with a laugh. “Just being the big sister that he does not want right at the moment. I know we can trust you, because you know too many of our secrets so of course we can trust you.”

“Thank you for that sentiment,” Jaime said with a smile. “This clan has always been mystifying, so adding more only adds to the fun.”

“For you,” Mariah sighed.For those who are uninitiated well the adjustment is quite the thing, and my brother might not look at me the same way. “You a normal are you not?”

“You will find yourself getting used to it, and so will your brother” Jaime murmured “And yes, I am normal, so having Lex around is good company,” she murmured softly as she knocked on Lex’s bedroom, and walked in… “

Leaving the door open.

Mariah could only laugh as she thought of the situation. It is too crazy. You have to laugh, right? she wondered. It is better than yelling as she closed her own bedroom door and walked downstairs and saw her birth father making gaga eyes at her mother, and she could tell her mother if she did not know better, might be returning the favor.

So, she stood and watched.

*

Maria after having developed a sixth sense about being watched over nearly two decades of being in this life. She knew when she was being watched, and so, she twisted around while Max and Liz were staring at each other and being sickening sweet she thought, and she spotted Mariah staring at the scene that was unfolding. Which of course was watching her mother and biological father and once again Maria was reminded about how unbelievably complicated it was becoming as there was now a link to the intense past that Max and Liz had once shared.

“Are you okay?” Maria was asking of her goddaughter. A girl she had not spent much time since everything went down. Because Mariah had not wanted to talk anyone who had an ear to the situation, and that meant me she thought. And of course, Maria had not known how to deal with it herself, so how was I to make sure a teenage girl understood how genuinely unusual her situation was. And of course, Maria also knew there was also the belief that I was always going to be on her mother’s side, which is of course warranted.

But I am not always partisan she thought. Still, it was a messy situation.

“Sure, why would I not be?” Mariah asked of her honorary aunt. Who was her namesake? “Jaime told me Max was down here, and I thought I would take a look,” she murmured as she glanced over to her mother. “She’s hopeless is she not?” she asked of her mother, as they both looked and could see how intimate it all looked between Max and Liz and it was only talking, that they were doing.

For so long this was not possible.

“He changed her life,” Maria commented as she looked at the bond that her best friend shared with the man who had shook everything up for them. “And I guess mine too, because he allowed me to meet my husband.”

“Was it not, all too much?” Mariah asked.

“What do you mean?” Maria asked.

“I mean everything,” Mariah murmured. “You know what I mean, all that happened back then?” she could not help but ask as they walked into the kitchen, and away from the display. “You and my mother were leading different lives before that day,” she asked of the life before that day. “You know the day when it all changed for my mother. And what, you came along for the ride?” she murmured. “I can almost understand why my mother could not walk away, until she did. Because after all Max was the one who saved her life, but you, why did you stick it out?”

“I loved my Space boy,” Maria smiled. “He wormed his way into my heart,” she sighed. “Or I wormed into his gruff ways, and we found a way to make it work,” she said with a smile, “I could have walk away. Because it is a lot on a good day, and there are bad days. Even all these years later. No life is pain free,” she admitted. “But I chose love. I chose to make a life with him and weather the storms because I could not imagine my life without him. I could have chosen a different life, and I tried that path,” she conceded. I did not want to make the compromises she thought. But I was willing within my personal life. “It was always more complicated for your mother. It was always a lot more intense for her, and life did not go the same way for her, although she has never regretted the path she went down. Even if…”

“Even if it meant I was raised away from here,” Mariah asked. “Or given a different life?”

“A life that made your mother sane,” Maria murmured. “She loved your father, Brady. Because Brady was a good man. The best. He might not be who she loved at fifteen, but he was someone she grew to love in a different light after a very intense time. She was able to live a life that gave you and eventually your brother a normal life. You would have lived a different life if you had stayed here, and sure you should have grown up knowing Max, and knowing your brother in River but you would not have Lex, or he might have been born under a different form, but it did give you a chance at having a normal life without the crisis that develops on a regular basis. But then at the end of the day, you need to be happy with your life, and your choices. Your mother is who she is and the same with Max. There will always be a part of Max that will fascinate no matter what has transpired,” she sighed. “It is hopeless to think it is going to change now.”

“Why does Mom want to complicate her life?” Mariah asked.

“When your life is already complicated. Why not embrace it, and control the chaos?” Maria smiled. “Of course, I have never been able to tell your mother what to do, nor was she able too with me, but I have always known that she will decide what is best for her, even if I chose to go a different route, but of course, she will also be thinking of what it means for you and your brother.”

“Which is why she is taking Lex on this road trip?” Mariah asked. “To get him away from all this?”

“Yes,” Maria said. “She loves you and your brother, and she will take what is best for the both of you into consideration, and with the most importance…”

“Over what and maybe who would be best for her?” Mariah asked.

“Yes,” Maria muttered.

[Superman86]

So glad to see your back, those few days seemed forever. Anyway great update as usual. I hope Liz don't stay gone for long

[keepsmiling7]

I'm taking bets on how long Liz stays away.......
But I do realize Lex is going through a difficult time.
The younger generation is going through complicated times themselves.
Very interesting!