Part Ten
Dead.
Maria stared down at the surface of her vanity, her eyes not seeing anything before them. It was inconceivable that Tess Harding was dead, and had been dead for the last ten years. It was even harder to believe that Max Evans had killed her and her unborn child.
But there hadn’t been a child, had there? Wasn’t that what Liz had said? Maria grimaced and rubbed her forehead. She wished she’d reacted better when Liz had told her Max had murdered Tess – Maria had been so shocked that she hadn’t taken in much after that. Something about the pod chamber and the granilith and an explosion…or something. Now that she was over the initial shock, she wanted Liz to tell her slowly, like she was a four-year-old, all that had taken place on that day so many years ago.
Of course, part of the shock was due to the fact that Maria realized how useless her hatred of Tess had been. How many hours, days, weeks had she spent mentally enacting the day that she’d see Tess again? Oh, how she’d had plans to take her hatred out on that little bitch! Sometimes thoughts of slapping the crap out of Tess had kept Maria awake at night, anger and anticipating creating an unsettling vibe within her. Now she knew that while she’d been fantasizing about revenge, Tess Harding was more dead than dead. What a waste…
Nice ring.
The words still echoed inside of Maria’s head, were bouncing around in there for what seemed an eternity. It wasn’t so much the words but the way they were spoken - with spite, sure, but also with something else. That something else had been in his eyes as well. Pain? Loss? Remorse? For a brief moment, it touched her that he was sad she’d moved on.
But that moment was fleeting and was quickly replaced with anger. What did he expect? He’d pretty much lied to her for ten years, acted like he was either off the planet or dead. Did he think she’d sit around and pine for him anyway?
But she had, hadn’t see? She looked up and met her own gaze in the mirror. There was no hiding from the truth. While fantasizing about harming Tess had kept her up, so had fantasies of reuniting with Michael. She’d dated a few guys here and there and while she’d kicked up the commitment a notch with Jesse, somewhere in the back of her mind she was waiting. Waiting for a day like today.
Her eyes fell back to the ring on her finger and slowly she slid it off, held it between her thumb and forefinger. The light danced off it, oblivious to her gloom.
“I hope you’re not reconsidering.”
The words were said lightly, but Maria could detect the uncertainty underlying them. She turned to find Jesse standing in the doorway, his hands shoved into the pockets of his Hugo Boss suit pants. She offered him the best smile she could muster at the moment.
“How long have you been standing there?” she asked.
“Long enough,” he said gently, then entered the room and came to stand before her. “I don’t know why you’ve been sad. I can’t even pretend to venture a guess. I know it can’t be the thing with Liz’s aunt – you barely knew her.”
Maria looked down at her hands, slid the ring back into place. Her actions were only a means to avoid his eyes.
“If you ever need to talk,” he continued. “About anything – even if it’s something I don’t want to hear – you know you can, right?”
She nodded without looking up.
“Good.” He paused a moment, then moved for his closet. “Since you seem glum, let’s do something to cheer you up.”
Her brow furrowed as she looked at him questioningly.
“Get changed,” he grinned. “Wear something casual.”
*~*~*~*~*
Liz finished emptying her suitcase and stood back to survey the two piles of laundry she’d created. It never ceased to amaze her that when she when to visit Max, the “dirty” pile was always shorter than the “clean” pile. Then again, when she went to visit Max she really didn’t spend much time in her clothes.
She sighed as she remembered that it could be a very long time before she would see Max again. She knew as soon as Michael and Isabel were gone from the apartment, he would have packed up his belongings and headed for a new place to roost. It was uncertain whether he would have stayed local or would have gone to an extreme. Maybe tonight, after she went to sleep, she’d dreamwalk him and find out where he went. It was her only consolation.
As she moved to put away her clean clothes, she heard a rap on the window. Startled, she jerked her head that way and nearly dropped her laundry. Outside of the window, she found Isabel looking expectant. For some reason, that really irritated her. Depositing the clothes on top of her dresser, Liz walked to the window and hoisted it open.
“Can I come in?” Isabel asked, her voice tinged with uncertainty.
“I have a door,” Liz said, trying to hide the irritation in her voice and failing.
Isabel glanced around the spacious bedroom. “Oh.”
“Unless you want to climb in through the window?”
“Um, no, I’ll go around front.”
Liz slid the window shut without reply, then looked to the floor and counted to ten before going to open the front door of her apartment for her guest. When they were teenagers, they never used doors, preferring windows so as maybe not to be seen coming or going. But now they were adults, Liz had her own place, what was the point? But she knew old habits died hard and being hostile wasn’t going to help matters.
When she opened the front door, she found Isabel looking sheepish.
“Sorry about that,” Isabel said, her cheeks flushed slightly. “Force of habit.”
“It’s okay,” Liz said in resignation, stepping out of Isabel’s way so she could enter.
The alien looked around the large living room. “Wow, this is a nice place, Liz.”
“Thanks.” Did she want something?
Isabel shifted her weight, worked her hands together. “Look, I’ll just get right to the point. I need to see Kyle.”
At that, Liz gave a burst of laughter. “Um, no.”
Isabel’s brow furrowed. “Why not?”
“Because he doesn’t want to see you, Isabel. You guys just about wrecked him. He doesn’t want to see any of you.”
“I didn’t say I wanted to see him, Liz. I said I needed to see him.”
Now Liz looked confused. “Why?”
“At the airport Maria said he was sick again. Sick as in how?”
Liz paused for a moment, then frowned slightly. “I don’t think Kyle would want me to share his business with you. Would you like something to drink?”
She started to move toward the kitchen, more as a means to rid herself of the conversation than to be hospitable, when Isabel reached out and took her by the arm. Liz looked down at the other woman’s hand, then met her eyes with waning patience.
“I need to know what happened before we went to the pod chamber,” Isabel said. “I need to know if Tess did anything to Kyle.”
Most of the animosity rushed out of Liz’s body and Isabel slowly released her grip.
“Why?” Liz asked.
“Just tell me. I really don’t know what you and Maria found out during the time when we were preparing to leave.”
Liz hesitated, then let out a sigh. “From what Kyle told us, Tess mindwarped him into carrying Alex’s body to his car the night she killed him.”
Isabel paled. “Liz, has he been having headaches?”
“Yeah. How did you know?”
The blonde alien rubbed her forehead. “Did you and Max ever talk or did you spend all of your time in bed?” she said in exhaustion.
Liz recoiled. “Isabel –that’s none of your business.”
Isabel dropped her hand and regarded Liz steadily. “Tess mindwarped Alex to death, Liz. And now I’m worried that she harmed Kyle as well.”
*~*~*~*~*
“Mmmm, I think I’ll have a rocket launcher,” Jesse said, slapping his menu shut and giving the waitress a toothy smile.
She wasn’t impressed. “And you?” she said to Maria.
“The low fat frozen yogurt with a side of fresh fruit,” Maria said, then caught Jesse’s disapproving look. “Scratch that. Hot fudge sundae with extra whipped cream.”
The waitress moved away and Jesse beamed at his fiancé.
“See?” he said. “This place always makes you fell better.”
She pasted on a grin and glanced around the Crashdown, which hadn’t changed much over the years. The place didn’t necessarily make her feel “better”, but it did bring back old memories. Like right over there for instance – that was the spot where Michael kissed her for the first time, just to calm her down…
“And so does ice cream,” she said to Jesse as a means to quell the other memories threatening to resurface. “Listen, I was thinking.”
“Yeah?” He pushed their menus back into their spot behind the napkin dispenser.
“Maybe we should look into Boston. I mean, maybe it’s time for a change.”
Jesse watched her warily. “What brought this on?”
“Nothing. I’m just starting to realize that you’re right. We’re still young. We should be out roaming the world before we get too old or before we have kids or something. Meet new people, make new friends…” Her voice trailed off because she knew in her heart that she would never really be able to erase everything and everyone in Roswell from her life.
“Is this why you’ve been sad? Because you’ve been thinking of this?”
“I wouldn’t say sad,” she said quietly. “I’ve just been thinking a lot.”
He folded his napkin into his lap and with sad realization, Maria noted that Jesse had become so polished and successful that even in jeans and a T-shirt he looked distinguished. There was no “casual” for him anymore.
“Tell you what,” he began. “Why don’t we take a trip there? I’ll show you around the area, you can see what east coast life is like. And if you like it, we can go. If not, we come back and continue as we are.”
She started to smile, but that dropped away quickly as her eyes fell on the front door. Immediately her heart jerked in her chest and her blood started to boil. Nice ring.
Jesse caught her expression and looked over his shoulder. “Who’s that, honey?”
She was about to say that it was nobody in hopes that Michael had the sense to keep moving, but instead he started walking toward them. As he reached the end of the table, Maria explained and introduced at the same time.
“This is Michael,” she said, keeping her temper in check. “We went to school together.”
Michael’s eyes shifted to Jesse, then back to Maria.
“That’s Jesse. My fiancé.” She put a little extra stress on the last word, one that didn’t get past either man.
Michael held out his hand to Jesse. “Michael Guerin.”
Jesse took it and shook, though Maria could see confusion beneath the surface. “Jesse Ramirez.”
Maria was suddenly glad that Jesse looked expensive. In fact, it was all she could do not to gloat. Look how well I’ve done, Michael. Without you. She folded her arms on the table.
“Honey, guess who Michael is married to.”
Jesse shot her a confused look, tinged with just a little embarrassment at her behavior. “I wouldn’t know.”
Michael’s look was a little more desperate, a little bit pleading. “Maria, don’t.”
“Why not? Shouldn’t all of Roswell know? How long has is been? Nine, ten years?”
“I’m asking you,” he said in a strained voice. “Please don’t go any farther.”
Victory shined in Maria’s eyes as she looked to Jesse. “Seems like Michael here has eloped with – ”
She let out a squeak as Michael grabbed her by the arm and nearly dragged her from the booth. She tried to act indignant, but it was hard to do when she could feel his touch so firm and hot on her arm.
“Excuse us,” Michael mumbled to Jesse, then proceeded to drag Maria into the back room of the Crashdown. Just like old times.
Halfway there, indignation did indeed set in, probably because people were starting to stare at them. Not to mention that Jesse had to be baffled beyond belief.
“Let me go!” she protested.
“In a minute,” Michael said, pushing her through the swinging doors. When he released her, she spun on him.
“How dare you –”
“Shut up, Maria. I’ve only got a few seconds before Captain Incredible comes in to rescue you. You can’t tell people Isabel and I are married.”
“Why not?” she demanded.
“Because,” he said, “we’re not married. It’s only cover.”
And with that he gave her a look that spoke a thousand words, but a few rather prominently – How could you have doubted me?
tbc
