Feedback time... This is where I take the time to respond to your thoughts and questions...and thank-you for them.
Creative Nickname: Its’ not going to be so easy to get rid of her? You don’t think so?
Are you thinking that everyone will take part in it??
Roswellluver: Yes, Max did come around and came to his senses. He really didn’t have a choice.
Trude: I had fun with the reactions, as you well know.
You have seen this chapter, as my tester, How many times now??? (I lost count..
)
My dear readers… if you only knew how hard I worked at each scene and the descriptions in it, that bring it to life.. ( I am an auditory person, not a visual person. I have to “feel” things out, because I truly cannot “see” them. Description is so not my gifting..)
{can you say headache??} I rely on this dear girl to let me know how I am doing. Thanks girl, I need you.
And we continue,
The reactions were necessary though. In a situation such as this, everyone is going to respond differently, and we needed to see it all.
Thank-you for bringing the Philip/Jim talk into the open. I like the way it came out.
And you did realize that Isabel truly isn’t the only one affected by all of this, The whole family is going through it. (Good job)
SarahWhitman: I will be moving back to the relationships but with a little twist. (One of many twists you have been forewarned about) Happy ending, Hmmm….???
CzechyslovakianSlayer: First off I shall refer to you as
slayer from now on, because writing the other word will “slay” me.
So when is your birthday exactly? And happy birthday, I hope it was good. :new-bday:
The pod burning was essential, I needed “real” reactions from the characters. What would they have done on the show???
I had you actually feeling bad for Max…? You are the second person who told me this. Stay tuned! And welcome to the story
or out of lurker status
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In this chapter both the flashback scene and the dream scenes are in bold italics to distinguish them from the music.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays... This is my gift you you,
-mas: I think this chapter will answer some of those long seated questions.
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Shifting Realities
Chapter Nine:
Making it Work
…Max sat vigil as his sister slept that night…. He was concerned that she seemed to sleep fitfully, but after recent events he was happy to see her get any rest at all.
Isabel slept restlessly. She was reliving earlier dreams of when she and Liz were in search of clues in Alex’s death. At the same time her subconscious mind was engaged in a battle with an uninvited guest…
The silent observer saw Isabel leaning against a tree sitting between Alex’s legs and crying as she leaned on him for support, explaining his death as she was beginning to understand it. The lurker, thinking silently, ‘Ain’t that sweet! I see ya’ know how he was killed, I will never understand your obsession with this Opie; he ain’t got nothin’ going on,’ disgustedly pulled at the recesses of Isabel’s mind trying to detect what she came for.
‘What else is in here?’ The visitor to Isabel’s mind manipulated her dreams into revealing more of the secrets that were buried inside. Isabel was dreaming of the encounter with Leanna, and all the things she knew concerning Alex. Isabel also dreamed of getting the crystal and the translation of the destiny book.
‘So I sees you have the book as well, did he finish it?’…The observer did one more forceful entry into Isabel’s mind and demanded her dreams to reveal where the crystal and book were. Isabel was seen putting the book into her attaché case and Liz Parker was the keeper of the crystal. “Thank-you Princess,” the visitor sneered.
Wherever you are tonight
I’ll see you in my dreams
The visitor to Isabel’s dreams then journeyed into Liz Parker’s subconscious and demanded the whereabouts of the crystal, receiving an image of Liz Parker putting it into a small slot in her wall, on top of her diary, and then resealing the opening with a brick. To the outside observer, it looks like a normal brick wall, no one would guess it is the undisclosed hiding place of all of the alien’s secrets. ‘ Oh how easily I can access that, thank-you. Now the plan will commence’…a wicked laugh emanating in the recesses of Liz’s mind from her uninvited nighttime visitor.
Isabel awoke the next morning in Max’s bed and looked around, she was momentarily confused with her surroundings... How long had she slept? The last thing she could recall was the pod chamber meeting. ‘That must have been the day before. That means I slept since yesterday afternoon, I guess skipping sleep caught up to me.’ She sighed, everything weighing heavily on her heart and she wondered how she was going to make it through another day. “I really hope there aren’t any more life-shattering things to learn today, I don’t think I can handle any more.” ‘I’m only awake because my body is, I’m drained, emotionally as well as physically.’
After her shower and getting dressed for the day, she made her way downstairs and found her mother was preparing breakfast for her and no one else seemed to be around.
“Hi sweetie,” Diane said as she noticed her standing in the doorway. “Sleep ok?”
“I don’t know,” she moaned out. “I’m so exhausted, and I have a minor headache, what time is it anyway?” She questioned, because she was at a loss for words.
“9:00 in the morning.” Diane returned to the stove to stir the food.
Isabel let out a short, punctuated laugh. “Wasn’t it like 5:00 or 6:00 when I fell asleep yesterday?”
“Yeah it was.” Diane softly stated. “ You’re Dad and I decided that since you have finished your exams, you should stay home from school. With everything that has happened lately you needed your sleep. I stayed home to be with you, so that you wouldn’t wake to an empty house.” She paused, “We didn’t want a repeat of a few days ago,” she paused again. “You were pretty sick then and I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up. I just had to run something over to your Dad’s Memorial Day Company Picnic. You were so out of it, I figured you’d just stay in bed. Apparently you found your way downstairs when we were all gone. I’m so sorry honey.” Diane mentioned apologetically.
“Not a problem Mom.” She nodded and smiled slightly. ‘Thanks Alex.’ She thought to herself.
“How are you doing Isabel?” Diane’s eyes shone with concern. “The last two days have been hell for you.”
Isabel nodded in response, mumbling softly, “Yeah they were.” Looking at her mom she answered out loud, “I’m awake.” She then deeply sighed, “And I really can’t answer beyond that.” She paused to think. “After I eat, I’m going to go to school. I need to pick up my grades and put in an appearance. It might get my mind off of everything.” She ruffled her hair in an Alex like manner, and then shook her hands out in frustration. “I gotta do something, if I stay here all day I’ll go crazy.” Then in front of her mother, she used her powers to repair the damage she had just done. She smiled at how safe she now felt.
“Sure sweetie, I understand.” Diane reassuringly patted her daughter’s hand and led her to the table. They sat down to breakfast and ate in silence; Isabel just didn’t have anything to converse about. After a few minutes of rearranging the pattern of food on her plate repeatedly, Isabel took her plate to the kitchen, the food was uneaten. She came back out and sat on the chair facing Diane.
“In answer to your question of how I am doing?” She sighed deeply, “I am still having a very hard time coping with Alex’s death, and with everything I’ve learned,” she deeply sighed, again. “I think it is going to take quite awhile to get myself back together.” She stood to give her mother a hug and stated,” Right now I really just need to go to school. I need to surround myself with my friends. We can all support each other through this hard time.” She kissed her mother on the cheek, uttered a goodbye and headed out.
***************
Isabel arrived late to school by a few hours and acclimated herself to her surroundings. She felt like it had been forever since she had last been in these halls, but it hadn’t been that long really since Alex’s death. Once he had passed on though, her attendance became sporadic at best. On days she could barely function, she had just skipped attending. Alex was not in the halls of the school as he should be, no playful banter as he dodged Maria about something. Everything was just another heartbreaking reminder of Alex. Her life had been turned upside down and she really just wished there was a way to be free of all the pain.
But today, she thought school was her best course of action to take her mind off of all the things that had transpired in the past couple of days.
She and Liz Parker shared lunch together sitting beside each other. Isabel was perched on the top of the table and Liz sat on the bench. Isabel seemed to be on an alert status and was watching everything. They decided to meet after school to discuss the translation of the book and to figure out just what exactly the use of the crystal was. They still were deciding on where they wanted to meet however.
Liz told her, “I have an idea what the crystal might be used for, because I had a visitor from the future last year.”
“What?” Isabel was surprised, “from the future, how is that possible?” She quietly asked.
Liz continued to tell of her life-shattering experience, “Max visited me from fourteen years hence. He told me that I had to make him fall out of love with me in the present time, or else the world would be destroyed in the future. No matter what I said to your brother, Max, he stayed loyal to me. I finally had to pretend to sleep with Kyle, it was the only thing I could do.” She looked at Isabel imploringly.
“Wait!?…Pretended?” Isabel looked at Liz questioningly as she straightened up. “You are telling me that never happened?” She looked down at her in puzzlement.
“Yes, and I thought it worked.” Liz went on to explain everything about Future Max’s visit, and the subsequent turn of events.
Isabel placed a soft hand on her friend’s shoulder and asked a hard question, “How could it have worked when it hurt so bad? My brother was so destroyed; apparently you were too. There is no way all this pain can be right… There is just no way…” Isabel trailed off, shaking her head sadly; too much of her own pain was resurfacing.
Liz continued to tell of what had happened, as she sat there crying softly about forcing herself to break both of their hearts for the good of mankind, for the future of the world. “And I thought it was okay, that is until Alex died, but I now know there is something terribly wrong with the whole thing, but I don’t know what.” Liz looked at Isabel and sighed as she shook her head sadly.
Isabel knew there must be more to the revelation and a reason Liz had come to that conclusion, she slid to the bench beside her friend, “Go on Liz, you can tell me…” And she bit her lip while she listened.
“Alex wasn’t supposed to die,” Liz placed her hand on Isabel’s forearm and looked her directly in the eyes. “He and you were supposed to be at Max and mine’s wedding. That’s what future Max told me. I don’t know what went wrong Isabel.” Her eyes were brimming with tears.
Isabel instantly clasped her hand over her mouth and as her eyes went wide she gasped in understanding, “Oh My God!!!” She swallowed hard and then she sat there with Liz comforting her, and thinking to herself that something was terribly wrong with the whole set-up, and not just the death of Alex. ‘So something has screwed up the future from what it was supposed to be?’ Isabel reasoned to herself, the whole thing seemed so very amiss. “Liz, do you remember what you discovered at his wake?” She tentatively asked her friend…very quietly. “Think back on it… Remember it with me please.” Isabel’s sad voice was barely above a whisper.
Together the two girls sat and recalled the meeting that took place in Alex’s bedroom after they had laid him to rest. It was the meeting that had nearly effectively destroyed all of their friendships, and it had definitely drawn a dividing line between the aliens and the humans.
…. Michael was frustrated with what he was hearing but he said…. “We know Alex, we know what kind of guy he is”… Isabel had her fingers pressed to her temples to stave off an impending headache and she nodded softly at Michael’s statement… “and we know he’d never kill himself. So as far as the people in this room are concerned, it was an accident, nothin’ more.”
Liz countered with, “It wasn’t an accident, he was murdered.”
Kyle was stunned at her revelation, “Murdered?” Isabel who was sitting next to Kyle turned her head sharply towards Liz.
Max got upset with the theory, “Would you listen to yourself? Who could possibly want to murder Alex?” It sounded preposterous to him.
Liz undaunted by any of the disbelief said, “I don't know yet. Maybe, somebody with a grudge against him.” … She paused…. “Or, maybe an alien.”
Max could not believe what he was hearing and stood up crossly, “That is not what happened here.”
Liz continued to plead her argument, “Would you just think about it for a minute? If there is anything any of us should have learned over the last year and a half, it's that nothing is ever what it seems….” After some heated arguments from some of the others she continued as she pointed her finger directly at Isabel who was standing facing her off, …“You cannot deny the fact that a key member of this conspiracy just died under very suspicious circumstances.” Isabel was panting her breath coming in gasps, her anger visible.
As Kyle stood to his feet to join the already standing group of Liz, Tess, Max and Isabel, he stated, “I'm with Liz. There's somethin' not right about this.”
Max was shocked, could they not see what was before them, he answered, “It was a traffic accident. There's nothing otherworldly about that,” he said indignantly.
Michael joined in the disbelief that there was an alien cause for his death, “What possible reason would an alien have to kill Alex?”
Liz then plowed ahead not stopping for a breath, “Isabel, for one. We know that there's an alien named Khivar who wants to bring Isabel back to your world….”
Isabel was standing facing Liz and she shook her head, “No!….”
Liz continued to race her revelation, …“If Khivar discovered that you and Alex were back together…” She trailed off as Isabel overrode her.
Isabel was in pain and denial as this was too much for her to take, she couldn’t tolerate the thought that Alex was killed deliberately because of her… “NO! NO! You're just making this up!” She shouted out.
Max crossed in front of her sister and faced off with Liz as he angrily defended all of the aliens, “You don't know what the hell you’re talking about! You don't know anything about Khivar, or our world.”
Liz, knowing that there was no way Alex died without a reason, faced him back, her words coming in a rush, “You don't want to think that Alex was killed by an alien because that would mean *you* are responsible.” Max stood stock still staring angrily at Liz for a few moments.
It was the last thing any of the aliens heard, after a forced, “Lets go,” issued by Max, they all followed him out. They never heard Kyle utter, “Well, I guess its us versus them.” The group was severed.
The girls came out of their reverie and looked at each other. Neither knew what to say, but the things they had learned the past few days had proven that Liz was right in assuming he was murdered, the why was still a mystery.
Isabel placed her hands in Liz’s as she squeezed them, biting her lip to keep back a cry. “You were right.” She silently remarked.
“Isabel?” Questioned Liz softly as she look into her friend’s stricken face… “Did you want to say something?”
Isabel still biting her lip looked at Liz and slowly nodded. Taking in a deep breath she spoke, “Yeah! This might come as a shock to you, but I know he wasn’t supposed to die either,”…. She swallowed to hold her composure … "I was supposed to have his kids; I think twins, and they are important kids, somehow. I only came to realize you were likely right about his murder when I remembered that, the night before I came to visit you, you know a few days ago?”
Liz nodded. She was reading the pain in her friend’s eyes, “Are you ok Isabel?” She asked very softly, placing her hand on Isabel’s shoulder.
Isabel swallowed again, “The chance of ever having them died with him of course. And believe it or not, I feel empty.“ She took in a quivering breath as she fought to maintain a hold on her emotions. “And I don’t think I’ll ever feel fully right again.” Shaking her head she finished, “Remember the alien thing kind of makes things more pronounced or whatever.”
“Wow! I’d be willing to bet there is some conspiracy behind this.” Liz mumbled out matter-of-factly. Isabel with a confused and saddened look on her face nodded in agreement.
Liz then stated what Isabel wasn’t expecting to hear… “Anyways I think that crystal is used in the granolith to change time, or it could be….”
Isabel stared at her in surprised shock, “What do you know about the granolith? Because it actually sounds like you know more about it than any of us. We just know its there, and that the skins really want it for some reason. And we know that Max didn’t give it to them at the summit, thanks to you, and what you told him right before he left.” Isabel smiled at Liz and thanked her genuinely for saving his life. “You probably saved all our lives with that bit of knowledge.”
Liz nodded and continued… “So anyways we definitely need to talk when school is out…”Their conversation was cut short by the bell signaling it was the time for classes to resume.
Isabel was happy that her parents knew everything and she would be granted whatever freedoms she was needed to work on it. So wherever she needed to go or whatever she needed to do, she would be allowed.
***************
Just before the last class started, Isabel was looking for Liz to work out the location for their meeting when she spotted Tess leaving school early and heading out of the parking lot.
“I don’t like this,” she said to herself. ‘Too many weird things have happened lately to trust anything she does…. Now where would she be heading? …I wonder if I should have followed her? Yeah… if I did that without back-up and Sheriff Valenti, I can see my mother’s reaction now…’ These thoughts were the only things that held her attention during the last class of the day.
When school ended Isabel worked a deal out with her brother for the use of the jeep. She would give it to him tomorrow if he let her have it today. They agreed and she had the transport she needed for the next part of their mission.
Liz saw Isabel’s smile and headed over to her side.
“Come on Liz, jump in.” Isabel said to her. “I figured it would be quicker if I got the jeep from Max. Should I drop you at your home first?”
“Yea, I’m going to go get the crystal, and if you could pick me up in a half hour maybe we could go to the pod chamber to finish our discussion.”
“I have this very strange feeling that I need to get there soon, very soon.” Isabel said in a rush. “I can’t explain it, but thanks for confirming it. I need to go check in. After everything that has happened and my current state of mind, my mother is extremely worried about me and she will want to make sure that I am ok. So, I’ll see you in a half hour then.”
Isabel dropped Liz off and headed for home unaware of how much would change in the next few minutes and how it would ultimately alter everything they knew.
***************
As Isabel got into the door her mother embraced her in a huge hug. ‘Ok that’s weird; even for how much I’m going through.’ She thought to herself.
“Are you ok, honey?” her mother asked staring at her curiously. “More specifically, are you feeling alright?” Diane asked rather cryptically. Isabel pulled out of the embrace, holding her mother’s hands, only because Diane was not going to let her leave and grabbed them before she could. She stared at her mother in extreme confusion.
Diane, ever the protective mother, could not stop worrying about her daughter. Alex’s death most certainly had taken its toll, she had noticed, but maybe there was more. So she gathered her strength and just asked Isabel the question that had been aggravating her for the past couple of days. “Isabel, the men aren’t here and I’m going to spring a question on you that has been bothering me since we talked about the kids you need to have. You were rubbing your stomach rather protectively when we spoke, and I couldn’t help but notice how happy you were the morning after the prom… I doubt I’ve ever seen you happier.” Her mother smiled in reminiscence. “So let me just say this…Isabel?” She took a pause, “Is there any chance that you might be pregnant?” She let out a slow breath, she had asked it, hard as it was to bring up. “I am so worried about you right now, with everything that is going on.” As she continued to hold Isabel captive with one hand she stroked her daughter’s cheek with her other. “If you answer me this; I might be able to understand the weird phone call you got today.” Diane looked extremely concerned, which troubled Isabel. Seeing her daughter’s worry she held her hands securely again.
“What? What’s going on Mom? What phone call?” Isabel looked distressed. “I am in such a hurry, I don’t even have time for this, Liz and I have something we have to do. And we have to do it now!!!” She tried to tug her hands free.
“Ok Izzy,” Diane said looking directly into her daughter’s eyes as if she could convey the importance of it through a mere look. “You might care to respond to it before you leave though, the caller was pretty adamant.” Shaking her head and sighing deeply she proceeded to tell Isabel all about the strange phone call and the surprising things that had been discussed. She ended with saying, “He also said that he has answers for you …concerning everything… and it’s, and I quote here, vitally important that you plan a meeting with him.” Diane looked absolutely bewildered as she relayed what had to be the strangest phone call that she had ever received.
‘Current condition of Alex? Our Future? What is going on?’ Isabel felt a little nervous with her message and subconsciously bit her lip as her mother relayed it. “I don’t even know him; I mean I might’ve talked to him once. But I have no idea what he could possibly be talking about. Mom!!! It really makes no sense.” …Isabel shook her head to get her hair out of her face, she was starting to feel panicked inside and she wanted to be free of her mother’s grasp.
Diane, feeling Isabel’s tension mounting, released her hold on her daughter’s hands and went to the note pad. “Honey, it didn’t make any sense to me either. That’s why I had to ask if you might be pregnant, how else would you have a future?” Slowly turning to face her, she looked firmly at her daughter, “And you still haven’t answered that question….” Diane intoned, as she pressed her daughter for an answer.
‘Hmm? I wonder if…’ Isabel paused a moment in thought, as she absent-mindedly tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. ‘I think it would be rather impossible.’ She decidedly concluded to herself. Isabel looked over at her mother while a look of shock was registering upon her perfect features. She was dumbfounded by the fact that they were even having this discussion. And then she found herself doing something she hadn’t done for awhile, she laughed. A deep laugh emanated from within. “Absolutely not Mom! We haven’t done anything physical. Honest!”
Diane sighed with relief at her daughter’s news. At least they weren’t dealing with a teenage pregnancy. She smiled at Isabel and apologized for even asking it and asked her again if she were feeling alright.
“Yeah, fine…Liz and I are heading out to the pod chamber to work on more of the Alex mystery. Thanks for your support in all of this because I think I might have found a way to make it work.” Isabel smiled softly at Diane.
Diane looked surprised. “You did?” Her face bore a mask of shock. “You mean there is a way?” She sighed, “I really didn’t know what to think the other morning, but then learning my kids were aliens just kind of threw the impossibility of it all right out the window. You really have an idea?” Diane cautiously asked.
“I might have, I’ll tell you more tonight. I’m really in a hurry though, I’m grabbing a bite and leaving,” she said as she headed for the kitchen.
“Got a number I can call him at?” She was referring to the mysterious phone call from earlier. “All I have is Alex’s personal number.” Isabel called out from the kitchen.
“Here it is.” Diane tore it off the message pad and walked into the kitchen to give it to her daughter.
As Isabel was distractedly reaching for the kitchen phone with her right hand, and reaching out to grab the number her mother was handing over with her left, the phone rang in her hand startling her a little, and causing her to jump subconsciously in response.
***************
“Hello.” She answered in a startled tone.
“Isabel its Liz.” She did not even seem to notice the manner in which Isabel had answered as she plowed ahead. “We’ve got a big problem, HUGE!! The crystal is gone!!! Whoever took it left my diary; they weren’t interested in the alien knowledge. They went strait for the crystal. And they knew where to get it, I haven’t told anyone.” She said her voice bordering on panic…
Isabel flew out the kitchen when she heard that, “Tess left school early Liz.” Isabel was ready to take the next course of action.
In unison the girls came to one conclusion… “The Pod Chamber.”
“I’m on my way!” said Isabel, while shoving the phone into her mother’s hand, and telling her mom to get Max and Michael over to the pod chamber as quickly as possible. Then to call Sheriff Valenti if she chose to…. “Mom, I’m leaving now, Tess is up to something. Liz and I gotta go, we’ll be at the pod chamber. Bye!” She yelled as she raced out the front door.
“Isabel”… her mother called out after her, ” you’re not going where she,,,” Diane looked at the phone in her hand and frantically started dialing …
***************
Isabel squealed the tires of the jeep around the corners as she flew through Roswell, not even coming to a complete stop as she arrived at the Crashdown. Liz had to jump in and hold on for the ride because the minute she was in, Isabel sped off. The jeep was once again careening around corners as the tires squealed in protest. She made her way out of town, heading into the desert where the aliens had been born. They were going to go confront Tess at the pod chamber, not knowing what exactly was going on.
The tension was mounting and the adrenaline was coursing throughout their veins as they drove the short distance to the desert. Apprehension growing steadily with every second that passed, they pondered over whatever was happening.
***************
"We haven’t even had a chance to check out the book even to understand what this may be about, yet here we are in the middle of the alien abyss, AGAIN!!!" Liz stated as they pulled up next to Tess’ silver SUV, and the person who was apparently waiting for them, leaning casually against it.
Isabel threw the gear into park and rushed over, “Alex, what’s going on, I got a weird call from your dad, and now you’re here?”
“There’s no time Isabel, and don’t worry about the call. Liz get over here.” Liz rushed over because Alex was using a tone of authority. Then he started to speak, but it more likely could only be described as babbling. “Isabel,” he grabbed her shoulders, “there is no way to stop it; it has already begun. It’s going to happen, you need to get in there and get Tess out! NOW!!” Turning to Liz… "Do whatever it takes!” …. he said as he looked directly at her.
Isabel rarely saw Alex in this much authority and she had no idea what he was talking about so she matched his intensity and asked the only thing that came to mind… "WHAT!? What are you talking about?”
“Just do it Iz, trust me here.” Alex insisted.
Grabbing a startled Liz by the shoulders he said, “You’re going to need to run a diversion for Izzy. This is more important than anything, ever. Liz do you remember all the times you made me trust you as a friend while you were unable to answer my questions?” She nodded dumbly while Isabel leaned in to listen…”Well if nearly 6 1/2 years of friendship have meant anything to you, I’m asking you to return the favor, and trust me now. Liz I need you to do whatever it takes, and I do mean WHATEVER, to get Tess out of there. Get her all the way out, and Isabel will follow you in. We don’t have a lot of time, this needs to go fast, so are you guys ready?”
“Yes, not sure exactly what we are doing, but yes,” the girls replied in unison.
"Ok go."
***************
Isabel reached up and waved her hand across the rock face, her energy revealing the silver handprint, which she pressed and opened the door for Liz. It ground open as rock rubbed against rock, alerting Tess to the presence of whoever was about to walk through the door.
Tess appeared to be leaning over a console that was imbedded against the lower base of a black inverted cone shaped object that imposingly sat in the center of another room; a room that Liz hadn’t seen the last time she had been out to the pod chamber. She crawled through the open hole where the bottom left pod had been a day earlier, and she entered the room where Tess was.
Tess was inputting some codes and pressing panels as Liz appeared. She was first surprised that someone had turned up so quickly, and she looked up as Liz entered the room because she was even more startled by who had appeared.
“Liz, what are you doing? How the Hell did you get in here, and how did you figure out what I was doing?” She demanded. “Someone is obviously here with you, because you can’t get in on your own, you’re human.” she said sneeringly.
Liz answered her, “We need to have a talk, why don’t you come over here?”
Tess snorted in disdain, “Nope, this is too important,” while she continued to run her hand over the control panel, as she inserted completely the crystal that they had found a couple of days prior. The granolith responded by roaring to life. Its steady hum changed in frequency and Liz could tell she had activated it somehow.
Liz was angry, “I think the fact that you killed my best friend is important too. But not only that you’ve put the moves on my boyfriend from the moment you first stepped into Roswell. I want to settle both scores. But first we’ll deal with Alex!” Liz crawled back out into the other room… in hopes that Tess would follow her. She didn’t…
At the mention of his name Alex had materialized into the center of the pod chamber, having slid through the outer walls. “Yeah, Tess,” he spat out her name, “surprised to see me?” he asked contemptuously. She looked out through the pods at the sound of his voice, as she faltered in her steps a little. “Hey the girls see me as real, maybe you didn’t really kill me after all.” He quirked a raised eyebrow in her direction. “You know? Maybe I just let you think I was dead so that you could finish up your evil, dastardly plan. But I think the only way you are going to figure that out is if you come check it out for yourself.” His voice was tinged with rage. “I mean you just killed me, right? You watched them bury me, so why am I here? And here’s the thing, maybe aliens can see me, you know, and I am dead, but Liz is a human and she can physically touch me. Right Liz?”
Liz took that as her cue, and a silently agreed upon signal for Isabel to begin to sneak into the granolith, as she reached out to grab Alex’s hand. And if that weren’t convincing enough, with Isabel’s prior permission, she leaned in to kiss Alex. Enough to show Tess that he was real, and they weren’t using any mind tricks.
Tess was overcome with dread that she hadn’t succeeded in her mission, and as she stared at Alex it was as if he was reading her mind, “That’s right Ava… Who were you working for?” He glared at her in contempt. “You probably want to come over here to finish the job. So do it!” Alex seethingly hissed out.. “ With that she abandoned everything she was doing in the granolith chamber and came out to deal with Alex…
Isabel snuck in behind her and entered the granolith chamber. Alex coached her in the use of the control panel. He shouted to her, “Ok Baby, Press that bottom panel and just hold your hand there… Ok now that should reveal some very small buttons that you can barely see. You see them?”
“Yeah,” she shouted back out… before her was a nearly invisible keypad, with strange alien symbols on the buttons.
See the small button by your right hand, it looks like it has a swirl on it, press your thumb on it and hold it there. Ok now it is registering that you are the one in control of the granolith and Tess is not. Isabel kept her thumb on it, awaiting further instructions.
Tess was pissed. She started to swear in her frustration, as she turned away from Alex, not yet touching him, “Damn you! Get your hands off of those buttons, you don’t know what you are doing…” She continued to throw out obscenities
Alex continued to guide Isabel while ignoring Tess’s ranting. “Ok Izzy,” he called out. “Push on the panel. Now start pressing that bluish button in the upper left hand corner repeatedly, it’s the one that looks like 4 dots in the shape of a diamond… ” He continued to give out very exact instructions… “Right below it looks like a triangle with feet, hit that a couple of times with your thumb while still working the other one.. “
…. And Tess knew that she had to stop Isabel, so rather than dealing with Alex she headed back in... Liz’s eyes grew wide as she watched the scene.
“….And with your other hand work the small button to your right, it’s the one with the two upright parallel lines… keep doing that…” Liz gasped and Alex shouted out a warning, “Izzy she’s on her way back in…”
***************
Isabel felt Tess’s hands trying to yank hers off the controls. “You Bitch!” Tess physically slapped Isabel before she removed her hand and started to gather energy into the palm of it…She stood facing her off, both of them gathering energy into their palms. “You have absolutely no idea what you are doing, but you are not supposed to be doing it…and your little “boyfriend” is too smart. If it weren’t for him, you would have no idea what you were doing just now.” She circled Isabel like a cat about to strike; Isabel held her stance, waiting, her eyes narrowed….
Alex realizing that Tess’s hands were off of Isabel, and vice versa, and neither of them were touching the wall of the granolith, yelled to her, “Push on the wall, NOW!!! Izzy…” Isabel did as commanded and found herself absorbed into the core of the granolith, sealing her inside and keeping out any other occupants.
Tess was angry, was she supposed to deal with Alex, and how? He was messing up everything. She started to crawl back out…
Alex smiled at Tess and waved as he vanished from her sight and went to join a slightly hysterical Isabel in the granolith, materializing right in front of her. The granolith had begun to glow an amethyst hue while it sent an energy pulse throughout the chamber, which could be felt physically coursing through her body in time to the frequency of the granolith’s pulsing.
Hearing the granolith seal and seeing Isabel and Alex absorbed inside of it, Tess was outraged. Swearing even more furiously, “DAMN!! How‘d he get in there? Shit!!! Where does she think she is going? She doesn’t even know how to work it!!!” She ran over to watch Isabel struggle with the walls, pressing to see if there was any way out…. “You Fucking Bitch!!! she screamed at Isabel, you have no idea who you are messing with, nor do you know what you are doing. But I’ll deal with your friend here. Come on Liz let’s take your little grudge-match outside.” She was not in a mood to lose and so Perfect Parker would have to pay the price of her wrath, since Isabel had just sealed the granolith.
Liz said haughtily, taking advantage of the moment to rub salt in a wound, “Max will never love you, you see, here on earth I’ve taken your place. He chose me as his queen, not YOU!! I will not leave him alone again, especially not to the likes of you. You want to fight me? … Bring it on!!!! Lets take this outside… I’m ready to rumble…”
****************
Alex had to calm Isabel down, “Alex she’s going to kill Liz,” she pushed against the wall of the granolith again seeing if there was anyway she could get out, “I’m stuck in this thing and I can’t get out…I can’t even help her.” She started to wring her hands, “Alex another person is in danger. She’s going to hurt her. Liz is no match against Tess; Hell, none of us are, and we are aliens. Alex do something!!!” She gripped his arms in fear as she pleaded with him to make things better, tears misting her terrified eyes, panic overwhelming her every thought.
“I am Isabel.” Alex calmly stated, “Now trust me and do exactly as I say. I’m in control of every thing right now.” She shot him a look of extreme confusion.
“Remember the button your thumb pressed?” She nodded, “Well, you are in total control of the granolith now!!! That’s good you need to be the one in control.” He smiled reassuringly. “And remember those other buttons that you had to press repeatedly until she forced your hands off?” Biting her lip, Isabel nodded quietly again…. “Well, that’s it,” he pulled her in close for a hug, “We can’t do any more, it’s already set and you did the best you could… Once you entered inside, the controls couldn’t be altered…. I can only hope we altered it far enough back to change everything.” Alex sounded concerned, ‘there really is no way of knowing…’ “It’s just going to have to work.” He nodded conclusively, “Now…”
“Wait Alex, what’s set?” Isabel interrupted him, “What has to work? Why can’t I get out of this thing?” Isabel’s voice was taking on a hysterical quality, rising higher with each question. She was also extremely worried for the safety of her friend.
“Ok Isabel, I need you not to panic here!” He said forcefully, as he grabbed her arms. “Try to remain calm ok?” He looked into her eyes as he gently stated, “I know you didn’t want any more life-shattering things to happen today, but you are about to travel back in time, hopefully far enough to repair things. You just kept setting it back further with the repeated pressing of the buttons, because she wasn’t going back far enough for *You* to change things. And now, well I’m not going to leave you, but at the same time you’re going to have to do this alone…”
And though we are a world apart
I know you’ll never be that far
“You’re not coming with me Alex?” She looked distraught, “I need you. I don’t even know what I’m doing…”
“I really wish I could Isabel,” he replied. “But the granolith only responds to the four-square. I don’t think it would work on me, especially not in my current state.” He said laughing, “What would you want me to do, go back in time as a ghost and haunt myself?” He grinned as only Alex could do. “But seriously, remember when dealing with time travel that quantum timelines don’t necessarily remain continuous.”
Raising her eyebrows in question, “Less geek speak, more English please,“ she said teasingly to get him back for his haunt myself comment from a moment prior.
“Things might not be exactly the same as you remember them.” Alex informed her.
“Ok.” Isabel was skeptical.
***************
They heard a loud scream of agony and a blast was ricocheted off of the outer wall of the cave.
“NO! Not Liz!!!…NO!!! I can’t lose anyone else…. What did Tess just do to her?” Isabel started to get frantic, adding to that the fact that the granolith started to hum at a higher frequency. A white light haloed around the edges of the granolith, While the main core shone intense violet light and was growing ever brighter with the passing seconds.
Alex grabbed her shoulders, “Look at me!’ he said very authoritatively. “That wasn’t Tess, it’s been Ava for quite some time. Ava is the one who killed me, but I don’t even have time to go into it. In 10 minutes it will all be over and if you’ve gone back far enough I will be there and alive. It’s going to be ok Isabel, you need to do this and I know you can.”
“This is in the Destiny Book as a failsafe to assure that you succeed in your destiny… Your work is too important to fail… This is obscure alien knowledge, but there are a very few with it, and some who want it, badly… and it, like you guys is a last ditch effort to save the planet… You have to do this, it’s the only way.”
Isabel stared at him in dubious shock. And then she started in, “But I don’t want destiny…. I rejected it already and it messed all of us up… I don’t want to have to follow it….”
“Isabel, its ok.” He held her soothingly as the tears streamed down her cheeks; she felt that she was destroying herself and her chance at happiness by continuing.
“Isabel?” he asked her quietly, “will you believe what I tell you?”
She nodded dumbly, the tears still flowing…
“Ok Honey, I’m going to say this…. Your Destiny may surprise you.”
“I don’t get anything else, just that?” She was more confused than ever.
“Yeah…” he answered quietly…
“Is that why we were sent the granolith, is that what they expected us to do with it…. Alex?? … her confusion evident, “how do you know this stuff, Alex…?”
“I don’t have all the answers Izzy. God I wish I did, but I know someone who has a lot of them.” He nodded. “I don’t think anyone expected a 40-year delay before you were born and the granolith can only go back so many years.”
The granolith continued its charging up. The hum had crescendoed into a steady high pitch and the energy vibrations were coursing through her body just as rapidly. She felt as if she was plugged into an electrical current, because her body was vibrating at an intense frequency matching the energy in the granolith.
Alex stopped her thoughts from wherever they were and said, “Connect to me now, I need to let you know something. I need to show you the book.” They placed their foreheads together, and he placed his hands on the sides of her face and sent in images of the pages of the book and the translation of them. “You are the Royal four…you were given human form…. you have been given the granolith as a transport…. and also communications technology”…. He shared it all with her in a rush but had to abruptly finish as he was sending in the last of it.
The granolith sounded as if it were about to take off.
“Isabel, we don’t have much more time…I need to tell you a few things…”
“This is very important…don’t change anything that you don’t have to. We don’t know if anyone has the knowledge of what you’ve done. (What you’re about to do.) Keep it a secret, as much as you can, even if you have to do the same things the same way. I know with your super memory that you have the ability to recall every conversation and instance in your life. You’ll need to rely on those; they just might keep you alive or safe from the enemy. Isabel, he is an insidious enemy that I have already dealt with and I don’t want to see you hurt.” He said very insistently
“Who? How have you dealt with him? Alex I’m confused.” Isabel tried to question him.
He just shook his head to let her know that, no; he would not be dealing with those questions.
“Find my younger self and connect as soon as you can, you need him. Don’t worry about making him fall in love with you, I’ve loved you from the first time I ever saw you, and I’m sure he’ll be the same. Thanks for doing this, even though you didn’t get a lot of choices in the matter. You are doing this for US!” Alex reassured her that this was the right course of action to be taking.
Cause here in my heart
There’s a picture of us
Together forever
Unfaded and unbroken
“And now this, promise me… that you will love him the way you wanted to love me…don’t be scared this time…” He looked at her lovingly.
“Have the time we never got to have, its ok to love him Isabel. And finally, this is very important…in the right timing, promise me that even if it feels all-confusing, you will have our children, I saw them too in our very first kiss.” He admitted proudly as he knew she was stunned by that bit of knowledge.
With tears streaming down her cheeks she whispered, “I promise Alex.” Promising to reconnect to Alex as soon as she could, and that she would have their children when the time was right, she owed it to him. She was unable to speak the tears were flowing so rapidly.
Wherever you are
Your love covers me
Forever more you’ll be
Here in my heart
He raised his eyebrows and winked at her. “Remember this is not goodbye, its goodnight and I’ll see you in the morning.” He held her tightly as she processed everything that was about to occur, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Wherever you are tonight
I’ll see you in my dreams
Noticing it hadn’t yet discharged the energy pulse that would send his beloved back to his younger self; he asked her if she would kiss him. He wanted her to be in his arms as this time-line ceased to exist.
“Goodnight,” she replied. “I’ll see you in the morning.” So with tears streaming down her cheeks she leaned in for the very last kiss she would ever share with this Alex…
Wherever I go tomorrow
You’ll be here next to me
The energy pulse of the granolith reached its peak, sending out blinding white and amethyst colored lights, which converged together and shot through the chambers. Simultaneously, the pulse that was released shot through her like an electric current, hurtling her right out of her current plane of existence.
Your kiss and your touch
I’ll never forget
Cause you as close
As my very next breath
Music: Here In My Heart by Plus One
SURPRISED????
I'll see you again in January, have a wonderful Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, or any other holiday you might celebrate.
Happy Holidays.
-mas:
Mt Gazer
Credit where credit is due: I would like to thank the following people 
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