I want to say WOW!!! to dreamer19 AKA Kristin for her amazing banner...such a wonderfully creative person. Even though I already have a banner for this fic, I thought I'd show this one off too. I like them both so I'll just use 'em both.
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Thank you to everyone for the feedback and especially the bumps. The past month has just been so crazy. Things are finally starting to resume back to normal and I am slowly updating my stories. I apologize for making you all wait.
Chapter 12
Max stretched his legs out in front of him. Dusk was settling in and he looked up at the sky. The kids had gone in hours earlier, he wasn’t sure what time it was but he knew it was getting late.
Going back into the house, he sought out his mom who was busy on the computer.
“What’s that you’re doing there mom?”
Diane looked up to her son and smiled
“This here is what I call paying bills” She told him
“On the computer?” he asked
Nodding she continued… “Mmmhhhmm, Liz showed me a couple of years ago how to go online and pay the bills, this way I save stamps and gas money.”
“Wow..that’s…that’s great, real convenient. Times have really changed huh?”
“Yes they have son, yes they have. I wasn’t always this good at it. I swear it took Liz a couple of hours to help me set up all the accounts and figure out how to maneuver through the sites, but now I’m pretty good, even showed a few of my friends.” Diane told him, beaming with pride over her own accomplishment.
“So you and Liz huh? You’re pretty close?”
Diane studied her son, even before he had left he had been somewhat closed off, of course she now knew why but she wondered just what exactly he was getting at. Deciding that the best thing to do would be was to just be honest.
“Yes, yes we are Max. Why?”
Max looking slightly sheepish reached up and rubbed the back of his neck.
“I…I was just wondering how close you guys were really to her and well how exactly did you find out about…. us?”
“We are as close to Liz as we are to Isabel. I meant it when I said she was like a daughter to us. She is our daughter.”
Diane’s voice had taken on a slightly awed tone as she continued.
“We found about your alien status, by accident..” Diane looked intently at her son, “actually, she sort of had to tell us, it was about 4 months after you left and well one night I heard a strange noise coming from Liz’s room, your old room, the door was closed but I could see a faint glow from underneath the door. I opened the door and she was sleeping….about 3 feet off of her bed, levitating in mid air and there was a green glow surrounding her body. Well I sort of freaked. I ran down the hall to grab dad and brought him down the hall and showed him. She never knew we saw her, we just closed the door and speculated on our own. She never mentioned it, days went by and we noticed she was withdrawn and spending more and more time in her room. One Saturday we were all in the kitchen and she just zapped the tv, she blew it right up. We were all a little shaken up and after we calmed down she called Isabel out and then called Michael over and they sat us down and told us about that day at the Crashdown when she was shot and everything else.”
“What was going on with Liz?”
“We didn’t know it at the time, but she was coming into her powers. Green sparks would shoot out of her, they tried everything they could, she was blowing things up, melting stuff. She hadn’t even known she was levitating in her sleep. She was in a lot of pain and for awhile and we thought we were going to lose her..”
Diane’s voice cracked and her eyes misted over.
“We didn’t know what to do…Isabel and Michael they tried the stones, but it only seemed to make it worse..we thought she was… Liz remembered something Ava said about her being changed and that’s when we decided we needed Ava. Your dad called in a few favors and we were able to track her down in California. Isabel and your dad flew out to California and then brought her back. Ava was able to help Liz, turns out Liz was changing her body was digesting the alien cells or something like that, for details there you’re going to have to check with one of the aliens..I never quite understood it. All I cared about was, Liz was going to be fine, and she was. Ava showed her how to control her powers and a couple of days later Liz was as good as new. Even better because now she had alien powers and apparently more than Isabel and Michael.”
Max soaked up everything his mom was telling him, wincing at the thought of Liz being in pain.
Diane felt that she had given him a lot to digest for one evening and so she decided to change the subject.
Turning she tried to pull herself together and she began to power down her computer and spoke up to Max again after a few minutes.
“I have to go to a friend’s house for a couple of hours, before going to Liz’s tonight. Isabel’s apartment is on the way, would you like for me to drop you off and pick you back up?”
Max thought of Tess in her cage and of all the unanswered questions he still had.
“That would be great mom.” He replied.
*****************************************************************************************************************************
Knocking, he wondered briefly if he should have called first.
The door swung open ….too late now he thought.
“Max, hey man, come on in” Jessie Ramirez told his newly acquainted brother in law.
“Honey …guess who’s here?” Jessie yelled out.
Max looked around the tastefully decorated living room…definitely Isabel.. he thought.
“Sweetheart, who is… Max! Hey, what’s up?” concern shadowed her face. “Is everything Ok?”
Max was quick to calm her fears “Everything’s fine….I just wanted to come over and catch up, without everyone around.” He looked uncertainly at his sister.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’m just going to go and check on something in the kitchen.” Jessie interrupted.
Max and Isabel watched him walk away, both turning back to each other as Jessie’s back disappeared around the corner.
“I’m sorry Isabel, I should have called first”
“Max. It’s fine. You’re my brother, there’s no reason for you to have to call first. Now come in and have a seat.” Motioning to the couches, Isabel made her way over to one of them. Max followed her, not knowing where to begin.
“I just wanted to see you, see how everything was.” He began
“Oh Max, I’m fine, everything’s great. Let’s see….after graduation we all went to UNM. I received my degree in business. A few years later Maria and I opened up our very own event planning company.”
Max studied Isabel closely. Her hair was shorter and darker. Small wrinkle lines formed around her eyes and mouth and she was a little thinner than she had been, but all in all she still looked the same. Her eyes, still bright with concern, met his.
Smiling he asked “You and Maria huh? I bet that’s fun.”
Laughing she told him “you don’t know the half of it, if it wasn’t for Liz’s refereeing Maria and I would have killed each other by now, especially when we first started out….talk about a difference in opinions.”
“How did you two end up in business together? Seems like an odd match, when I left, you two barely talked and now..” Max trailed off.
Smiling Isabel told him “Things change Max…you left and we all sort of…bonded over our grief, over Liz, over our circumstances. Teenage Liz was pregnant with alien hybrid twins, as far as we knew, the first of our kind, we were all a little confused, scared. All we had was each other.” She ended softly.
“I’m sorry I..” Max tried to apologize, feeling once again the guilt of what he had left behind.
“Max don’t. It’s okay. We got through it. I wouldn’t change a thing. We had some tough times, some sad times, some really bad times, but we got through them together and because of those times, we’re stronger than ever and I have a wonderfully large family. Every one of them is considered family and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Max silently thought over what Isabel had said, it was true, this group did seem stronger. Isabel had gotten everything she wanted, she was successful, married had a very large family and their parents knew about them.
“Mom told me about Liz coming into her powers…was is bad?”
Isabel stared at her brother’s anxious face.
“Do you really want to know Max?” she asked him.
Max nodded slowly, never taking his eyes off her. “You know I do, Iz.”
Isabel nodded affirmatively and her mouth thinned, turning her head to the fireplace lined with framed pictures.
“She was very nearly close to death. Her powers were out of control, the pregnancy heightened her emotions, she blew up, melted and fried just about everything. We didn’t know it at the time but the babies were trying to heal her from inside the womb, only it’s not something that needs to be healed, so it would just cause her more pain.” Isabel’s eyes glazed over as she told Max everything about that time.
“I don’t understand? How come nobody knows what’s wrong with her?” Phillip looked around the room, packed with teenagers and his wife, all of whom were crowded around Liz now laying on the bed, green electricity shooting through her body.
“We don’t know what’s wrong, this has never happened before...to any of us.” Michael answered, his eyes never leaving Liz’s painfully frail body
“We can’t just leave her like this, we have to do something.” Kyle spoke up just as Liz’s body began to convulse, green sparks zipping up and down her arms, her mouth opened and she let out a gut wrenching scream
Maria dropped on her knees next to the bed and placed her hand on Liz’s extremely swollen stomach
“Maybe it’s the babies…you know…maybe ‘cause they’re….” she didn’t finish, Liz reached out and weakly grasped at Maria’s hand, her eyelids slowly opened just a little.
“Liz..you need to rest…we’re working on this…we’re work..”
“A..Ava…find..her…she said… AAAHHHH” Liz suddenly screamed out then her body fell limp.
“Liz! Liz!”
“I need to check on dinner.” Jumping up off the couch, Isabel made a mad dash towards the kitchen. Max wasn’t oblivious; he had seen the tears starting to form in her eyes. She didn’t really need to check on dinner; she needed time to recompose herself.
Leaning back onto the couch he thought about everything she had just told him. A lot had changed. He had figured that once he left, Isabel and Michael wouldn’t keep up the friendship with the other humans, after all what did they have in common? But in reality it was the complete opposite. The aliens had grown much closer to the humans, and thinking of Jesse, Ava and Serena, they had even let in a few more. Remembering this morning’s kitchen incident, they were all now one big happy family.
Jesse joined him in the living room, taking a seat opposite his.
“Isabel is finishing up a few things with dinner and then we’ll be ready to eat. You’re welcome to stay for dinner.” Jesse, seeing that Max would refuse, quickly added “I insist. You’re Isabel’s brother and there’s so much more, I’m sure you and Isabel need to catch up on.”
Max merely nodded and quickly surmised that he liked Jesse. Jesse seemed like a good guy for Isabel.
“You’re right Jesse, I would love to stay for dinner. Thank you for having me.”
“No problem…you are family, and my brother in law, whom I’ve never met. I am sure there are some things that we can talk about.”
Nodding in agreement, Max figured he should ask about him and Isabel. “How long have you two been married?”
“About six years now.”
“How did you and Isabel meet?” Max wondered.
Jesse chuckled “We met about nine years ago, about a year after you left, actually.” Jesse told him, his mouth lifting into a small smile.
“Nine years..wow, that’s long. So you guys dated for three years before getting married?” Max wasn’t exactly sure but he was certain three years dating was lengthy.
“No we dated for two years before we got married, I asked her to marry me after the first year and we spent another year planning the wedding.”
“Did you know…about us when you married her?”
Jesse sighed, “Sadly no, but when I finally found out, everything seemed to make sense, even with Liz.”
Liz?
“What do you mean ‘with Liz’?
Jesse glanced quickly around before he answered Max
“I’m sorry about that, I forgot you weren’t here and don’t know…” Jesse held Max’s questioning gaze. “I dated Liz first.”
Max felt like he had been punched in the stomach. Jesse no longer seemed like a good guy, in fact Jesse was seriously close to becoming the enemy.
The thought of Liz being with anyone other than himself, made his body quake with anger. You are mine. Yesss
He forced the feelings aside and tried to concentrate on what Jesse was saying.
“I met them at the Company summer picnic. I had just recently transferred here and I was, at the time working with your dad.”
Jesse began his story;
“Would it be okay if I sat here? Jesse Ramirez looked down at the two girls, one blonde and one brunette.”
The blonde girls’ hand stopped mid air and she glanced icily up at him
“No. Can’t you see we’re busy.” She had told him.
The brunette gasped out.
“Isabel”
Jesse studied the two and wondered briefly who they were. They were completely different, one tall, blonde and curvy and one petite, brunette and feminine. They both seemed to be in possession of a baby each.
Identical baby girls, to be exact. He was about ready to turn and leave when the brunette spoke to him.
“Sorry about that, please have a seat; it is a get to know you picnic.”
Looking down into her warm brown eyes and bright smile he decided then and there he liked this girl and so he sat.
“I’m Jesse Ramirez. I just moved here about a month ago.”
“So nice to meet you Jesse, I’m Liz, she’s Isabel and these two are Zariah and Zierra.”
“Are you all sisters?” they didn’t look like sisters, but you could never tell.
Isabel snorted.
Liz frowned slightly and threw Isabel a look
“No we’re friends, good friends.”
Waving to the two babies he asked “Are they your sisters?”
Isabel snorted again
Liz looked at him and down to the girls “Nope these two are my daughters.”
“And my nieces.” Isabel told him then.
Feeling slightly embarrassed, Jesse tried to apologize but Liz stopped him.
“It’s okay, I’m young, I know. It happens.”
He had spent the rest of the afternoon talking with Liz, and finally after a long while, Isabel also. He knew
they were young, both of them just finishing high school and getting ready for College. They were both eighteen going on nineteen and despite their ages Jesse had found himself enjoying their company. They were both very mature and responsible it seemed, especially for their apparent young ages.
With Liz, he found himself talking about life, politics and her favorite, science.
With Isabel he found they shared the same views on Law and even loss.
Both girls, he could tell had dealt with life experiences that seemed to make them stronger as individuals and had began to shape them into strong, compassionate women.
Deciding he would take the chance, he shifted a sleeping Zierra in his arms and leaned towards Liz.
“Liz, do you think it would be okay if I called you for a date?” he’d softly asked her.
Shocked Liz stared at him.
“Yes” Isabel answered for from Liz’s side.
Isabel had noticed Jesse’s actions all afternoon. He genuinely like the girls and he shared a lot of interests with Liz. Isabel knew it was time for Liz to get out, to start dating. Liz hadn’t dated at all. It didn’t help that she had been pregnant, but even then, out of the few that had asked her out, one, while she had been pregnant and a few more, after the girls had arrived, well Michael had scared them off. One boy, Jake, had seemed to make it past Michael had been turned down by Liz herself.
“Isabel!” Liz exclaimed.
Isabel just smiled to the girl who she had gotten so close to over the past year. The girl, who was now like a sister to her.
“Liz, he’s funny, he’s cute, he likes the girls and he has a job. What’s the problem?” Isabel exasperatedly waited for Liz’s reply.
“You do realize I’m sitting right here, don’t you.” Jesse jokingly asked, taking note, once again, as the two girls seemed to silently communicate.
“You know what? She’s right Jesse. You seem like a great guy and I would be crazy not to at least give it a try.” Liz cheerily responded.
“That was the beginning of our year long relationship.” Jesse told him
Max sat back, completely surprised. Liz had dated Jesse? For a year? She had only dated Kyle a few months and Sean a few weeks, even he himself, had only technically dated Liz for a few months. Here she had dated Jesse a whole year.
“Why did you two break up? You and Liz?” Hadn’t they dated a whole year, why would they break up?
Jesse studied Max briefly, how much should he say. How much shouldn’t he say? He chose his next answers carefully.
“At the time I felt that she wasn’t ready for such a serious relationship. She would disappear sometimes for days. I could tell she wasn’t always honest with me in regards to her whereabouts and I felt that she wasn’t committing completely into our relationship. I knew that I wasn’t first in her life or even second, she had the girls, the others, school and I could honestly be okay with being third or fourth or even fifth, but I felt I wasn’t, I felt like I was last. I always told her that her heart wasn’t into it.”
Jesse blinked and turned towards the wall, blinking several more times, he met Max’s eyes and continued.
“It wasn’t until later, after I had known about your Czech status that I realized what had been going on with Liz during our relationship. As for her heart, how can you give something you don’t have?” Jesse then decided he was tired of inflating Max’s ego and also the needing to somehow protect Liz he switched gears with his conversation with Max.
“If I hadn’t let her go, she wouldn’t be so happy with Troy right now, and I wouldn’t be so happy with Isabel. In the end we all win.”
Max had to know, he knew he shouldn’t but he couldn’t stop himself.
“Who’s Troy?”
Jesse grinned inside. Serves him right he thought. Let him feel a little jealous; make him see that if he wanted Liz, he was going to have to fight for her.
“Troy is Liz’s boyfriend.”
tbc..........
Not too well.
Liz is dating someone! I hope we get to see this Troy sometime soon. I feel a little bad for Max but Jesse's right though he needs to fight for Liz.