Author: Island Breeze
Rating: TEEN or YTEEN (about like the show)
Forum: Lamptrimmer, CC
Pairings: K/T, M/L, M/M, A/I
Melinda Metz and the creators of Roswell, the TV series, Jason Katims, et al, deserve the credit for the characters from the TV series and for events that occurred during the TV series. For better or worse, all other characters and storylines are mine.
Goodbye was supposed to be a short piece of Lamptrimmer fluff. But here I go trying to solve all the show’s problems again and set everything right!
<center>Goodbye</center>
“Liz, wake up…”
Tess kneeled by the arm of the couch and whispered to Liz, trying not to awaken anyone else.
“What is it, Tess?”
“Why didn’t you vote against me?”
Liz groaned. “I’m not a killer, Tess.”
“I need a favor… I need you to drive me somewhere,” Tess said after a moment.
Liz rolled over just a bit and looked at her longtime nemesis curiously.
“To Rogers… Air Force Base… to take care of a problem.”
“Like you took care of things before?”
“No.” Tess shook her head slowly, and Liz swallowed, as Maria’s words came back to her… It was something Maria had said to the effect that if they turned Tess over to the army, the army would have its alien and would leave them alone.
“You’re turning yourself in?”
Tess blinked and looked down momentarily.
“Tess… are… are you… do you know what they’ll do to you?”
Tess nodded. “I’ve thought about everything. I just need you to drive me there…”
Liz seemed to consider it, and Tess became insistent… “Come on, Liz! I’m the reason those soldiers are swarming all over out there… and the helicopters. Is this what you want to live with the rest of your life? Do you want them to find Max and drag him back into the white room again?”
“Get whatever you need together,” Liz said, rolling off the sofa, “Meet me in the car.”
Five minutes later, Liz, with Tess in the seat beside her, pulled onto the road leading to Rogers Air Force Base…
“I just don’t understand why you killed all those people when you returned, Tess. The army isn’t just going to let that go away like nothing happened.”
Tess shook her head silently then looked at Liz. “It wasn’t something I planned out or thought about first, Liz. A plane collided with my ship… and my ship crashed. I was knocked out. When I came to, the first thing I saw was these guys taking my baby… taking Zan… out of the ship. I didn’t intentionally kill them, it just happened. They were taking my baby. My powers took over, and I just reacted… to save Zan. You remember what they did to Max? What do you think they would do to Zan in the white room, Liz… a baby who can’t even protect himself? Can you understand?”
Liz grimaced and looked away… “I… I don’t know, Tess… I don’t want to…”
Tess looked at Liz again and knew that Liz did understand… far better than she liked to admit… even to herself… or maybe especially to herself.
“But you killed Alex. I can never forgive that, Tess. How could you hurt Alex?”
Tess closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the seat momentarily, as she thought about Alex. “If I could bring Alex back… any way at all… I would do it. I never meant to hurt him, much less kill him.”
“Well, you did.”
“Yeah…” Tess nodded, “I did.”
“It just doesn’t matter that you may not have intended to hurt him,” Liz said after a few moments, “It won’t bring Alex back.”
“I know,” Tess said quietly. “I made mistakes. I wish I could take them back, but I can’t. After I made them, I thought I could just move on… but I can’t. And then I thought that I had to survive… to protect Zan… but I can’t. Max will have to protect Zan for me now. Help him, will you, Liz?”
Liz’s hand seemed to twitch on the steering wheel, and she appeared momentarily distracted, then she nodded quietly. A moment later, she pulled to the side of the road and stopped the car. They could see a series of lights past the fence that protected the base. Both of them knew that one of those lights was the white room.
Tess opened her door and stepped out of the car. “You know, Liz… Max loves you. Every time we were together… every time we kissed… he was thinking of you. He had these flashes… that I saw… and… they were always of you. And you know what was so ironic is that I wasn’t thinking of him either. Funny, isn’t it? I sacrificed my happiness for destiny… because I was told that’s who I was. And I didn’t even really want it. I guess I did in the beginning… but not anymore… not since…” Tess sighed and looked away for a moment then continued, “I just needed to follow my heart… where it led. But it’s too late for that now.”
“You’re not going to let them put you in the white room, are you,” Liz said, more as a statement… or a sudden realization… than a question.
“No.” Tess shook her head, then she held up her hand and blasted a hole in the fence. A moment later, she walked onto the base and away from Liz in the direction of the lights. Liz watched until Tess had disappeared. She wanted to leave, but though the minutes passed, something wouldn’t let her. Then she heard sounds coming from the base… sirens… loudspeakers… shouts… followed by automatic gunfire and an explosion… then a much, much larger explosion, one that shook the ground under the whole base and even under Liz’s car.
“Goodbye,” Liz mouthed silently, closing her eyes just for a moment. Then she turned the ignition key and quickly turned the car around… and headed back towards town.
<center> <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>> </center>
“Tess is… gone then?” Kyle asked, his eyes reflecting a hurt that Liz couldn’t readily identify. Perhaps it was betrayal… or anger, Liz thought. Certainly Kyle had more than sufficient cause to feel betrayed by Tess. He and his father, Sheriff Jim Valenti, had taken Tess in like a sister and a daughter… maybe even something more… to Kyle; and she had repaid them by betraying their trust. Ironically, when it had come down to the vote on her life, Kyle had voted not to turn Tess over… even though he had seemed to favor it initially. Kyle seemed to be torn between his emotions. Time would heal that, Liz told herself. But would it also help her to forget?
Graduation came and went, and the group discovered they had more serious problems to worry about. They were forced to leave Roswell, parents, and friends… maybe forever. Liz and Max were married in a small church in a secluded mountain town. Six months later, Michael and Maria walked down the same aisle together. Kyle and Isabel were usually together and seemed to enjoy each other’s company, but neither one seemed to want to take it past that. Isabel had left Jesse behind… for his own good, but her dreams were rarely about Jesse, they were about Alex. Kyle had been a lifeline to Isabel, talking her through the guilt that she felt for not dreaming about Jesse more often. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about Jesse. She did. Kyle explained to Isabel that Alex occupied a place in her heart and soul that could never be filled by anyone else… and that it was not, therefore, surprising that Alex would be in her dreams… even, maybe, more often than Jesse.
As for Kyle, he never admitted to having dreams. But Isabel knew that he did. She had thought about dreamwalking him but could never bring herself to do it. It seemed like such a violation of his privacy… even if it was to help him find and deal with his ghosts. Kyle was surviving, but the spark seemed to have gone out of his life. Even the little Buddha he had purchased after leaving Roswell had long ago been stashed away, and he never talked about karma or threw out little bits of Buddhist wisdom anymore. Life was just for surviving… and he would survive… Isabel had no doubt of that… but as what… and at what cost… emotionally?
After two and a half years, the close-knit group was still together, but they had moved many times. They had already been through twenty-two states in the west and midwest and a couple on the east coast. One thing they never did was stay in one place too long. Now they found themselves moving again… this time north… much further north… to Alaska. It was late spring, so it wasn’t as cold as they had feared it might be. In fact, they were surprised to see that a lot of Alaska is anything but a big sheet of ice. There are trees and birds and green grass… and even springtime!
“I’m gonna run down to that little grocery store I saw on the way into town,” Kyle said, “Can I pick up anything for anyone?”
“See if they have any Tabasco sauce,” Michael said, “Any kind will do!”
“Pick up an Enquirer if they have one,” Isabel said.
Max smiled. “What? Is your life not weird enough, Iz?”
Isabel wrinkled her nose at Max.
“She wants to find out what’s happening with your family, Max,” Maria said with a grin… “You know… back home.”
Max groaned. “Funny, Maria!”
“Anybody else? Last chance,” Kyle announced. “Okay, then, I’ll be back in a jiff.”
Kyle walked out the door of the large house that they had rented from a hunter who only came to Alaska for one month of each year, and closed the door behind him. Looking around and seeing that the weather was pretty nice, even if a bit on the cool side –Kyle could see his breath- he decided to walk to the store. It wasn’t that far away really… maybe a mile. The walk would do him good.
A short while later, Kyle walked into the store and looked around. It looked fairly… well, normal… except for a few extra things that he hadn’t seen in other grocery stores before. But a lot of the things he was accustomed to seeing were there… bread, Pepsi’s, HO-HO’s! They had Ho-Ho’s! And Tabasco; Michael would be pleased.
“I don’t suppose you have an Enquirer,” Kyle said to the girl behind the counter, who had her back turned to him, as she inventoried their small stock of cosmetics.
“By the door… as you come in,” the petite brunette with red highlights in her hair responded without turning around.
“Oh! So you do!” Kyle walked over to the door and picked up an Enquirer from the rack… then he laughed…
“’Martians Buy Alaska.’ Cool! I knew the government needed money!”
Reading through the article quickly, Kyle shook his head and smiled… “In a top secret meeting with President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney today, a special Martian envoy granted Halliburton exclusive rights to all oil reserves on Mars… in exchange for being granted, in return, a deed to the state of Alaska. The Martians plan to break Alaska up into chunks of ice that will be transported back to Mars and used to rehydrate the Martian canals, said Enquirer source, Michael Moore. The Enquirer has verified this shocking information with top officials in the Democratic party, who wish to remain anonymous…”
The girl behind the counter chuckled and turned around, as Kyle laid some money and the items he was purchasing on the counter. She rang up the items and counted out his money and put it in the drawer of the cash register, then she handed him his change… for the first time, looking at his face…
Kyle gasped, and the cashier stepped backwards, momentarily in shock.
“I’m… I’m sorry,” Kyle said apologetically, studying the girl’s face… “For a moment, you reminded me of someone, but I see you’re not…” Kyle looked closer. She had ice blue eyes… or were they green? No, they were definitely true blue… but in a certain light, they looked almost emerald. It was eerie. Except for that singular coincidence, though, she didn’t look much like Tess, really. The hair was totally wrong… the face was somehow different… Her height… well, he remembered Tess being just a little shorter, but only a little. But the ice blue/emerald green eyes… and it wasn’t just the color; there was something else about them… something much deeper. Kyle shivered, unsure if it was from the cool air or the shock.
“Will there be anything else, sir,” the girl asked in a shaky voice, fumbling the Tabasco sauce and nearly dropping it as she placed it in the bag.
Kyle shook his head. “No… thank you.” He turned to walk out the door but then turned around and looked at the girl again…
“Listen… I’m new in town, and I don’t really know anyone here yet… Do you think… maybe… you might like to go see a movie or something? Oh, geez! I don’t even know if you have a theater here.”
“We do,” the girl said, regaining her composure. “Yeah… that would… that would be nice. What did you have in mind?”
“I don’t know. What’s showing around here?”
“Well… I’ve been wanting to see ‘Cocoon…’ again. I know! It’s an oldie, oldie, oldie, and it’s been on DVD’s forever! But I have a sort of special feeling for that movie in my heart… and it’s showing at the Plex… at 8:45.”
Kyle smiled. “Tonight then… six o’clock?”
The girl nodded and smiled back. “Six o’clock. You can pick me up here.”
Kyle walked into the house whistling and tossed the bag onto the sofa. “Come and get it! Santa’s back!”
“Well, someone looks uncharacteristically happy,” Maria said to Liz. “How long has it been since you’ve seen him whistle or smile… like this, I mean?”
Liz nodded. “Either the Alaskan air agrees with him or he’s been nipping the Tabasco. You’d better check the bottle, Michael!”
Isabel pulled the Enquirer out of the bag and smiled. “You did find one!”
“I did,” Kyle replied, “Just like you wanted.”
Isabel grinned. “Martians Buy Alaska… George Bush transfers deed in exchange for rights to Martian oil fields. Where do they get this stuff?”
“From unimpeachable sources,” Kyle replied, “A well-known film maker and top Democratic officials… who wished to remain anonymous.”
“Naturally,” Isabel said, nodding. “You should take walks more often, Kyle. You look happier than I’ve seen you in a long, long time!”
“Well… I am, I guess,” Kyle replied with a grin, “I’ve got a date.”
Max and Michael both turned and looked at Kyle.
“Damn, Kyle,” Max said, “Even I never worked that fast! We just got into town!”
“Yeah, well… it’s the Valenti charm,” Kyle retorted, “It knocks the girls out.”
“No, that’s your socks,” Michael said.
“Watch it, Guerin,” Kyle admonished, holding Michael’s bottle of Tabasco in a quarterback grip and aiming it toward the window.”
“Oh! Charm! You said charm!” Michael amended, edging toward his Tabasco, as Kyle maneuvered to keep it out of his reach. “Yeah, okay, well, I guess you’ve got that… Gimme the Tabasco!”
“What about my socks?” Kyle reached back with his arm and aimed for the window…
“Nothing! Socks… smell like roses! Don’t throw it, Kyle! I swear you’ll regret it!”
Kyle seemed to think about it, then he tossed the bottle to Michael, who caught it in both hands, protectively, as Max looked on with a worried look.
“We’re going to see a movie at 8:45,” Kyle said, “I’m picking her up at six. I figured we could have dinner first.”
“Ooh! What’s her name?” Maria asked.
Kyle flushed as he thought about it… “I don’t know.”
Liz and Maria looked at each other then at Isabel and started to laugh. “You don’t know? Kyle, you asked a girl out to dinner and a movie, and you don’t even know her name?” Maria exclaimed.
Kyle shrugged. “She reminded me of somebody.”
“Oh? Who?”
Kyle sighed. “Never mind. She works at the little grocery store where I bought the stuff.”
“Wow! Kyle’s got a hot date!” Isabel exclaimed with a grin, “I can’t get over it!”
“Yeah, yeah… just be glad I’m in a good mood,” Kyle retorted.
“Is she pretty, Kyle,” Liz asked.
Kyle turned around with a surprised-looking grin… “Liz! You? The superficial one? I never thought I’d see it!”
Liz rolled her eyes. “I used to date you, Kyle… remember?”
“Touché!” Michael said, wearing a big grin, “I love it!”
“Where’s that Tabasco,” Kyle asked.
“Where it’s safe,” Michael replied… “Where you won’t find it.”
Kyle nodded. “Have your childish fun, my little ones. I’ve got a date to get ready for.”
With that, Kyle walked out of the room, leaving everyone looking at each other.
<center> <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>> </center>
A figure stood next to the window of the little grocery store. As Kyle drove up in front, she smiled and pulled the blinds back down so that he wouldn’t see her watching… and waiting. With a smile on his face, Kyle opened the door and walked in then looked around the room.
“Hi!” a soft voice said from nearby.
Kyle turned around and held out his hand… and a small bouquet… “Sorry it’s not bigger… It was all I could find on short notice.”
“Oh! It’s beautiful,” The girl exulted, taking the small bouquet in her hands as though it were the most valuable thing she had ever been given. “I’ll put them in a vase! Can you wait?”
Kyle nodded. “Sure.”
The girl ran into the back of the store and found a vase that the flowers fit perfectly into, then she filled it with water and set it in a prominent place on the counter where everyone could see it.
“You know,” Kyle said, flushing a little bit, “I’m kind of embarrassed to admit it, but I forgot to get your name.”
The girl smiled. “Cheri… Cheri Mikkelsen. I never got yours either.”
Kyle nodded. “So you didn’t. It’s Kyle… Kyle Va… Vaccaro.”
“Kyle. I like that name.”
“I thought we could find a good place to grab a bite before the movie,” Kyle said, “What do you think?”
“I’d love to. I haven’t eaten since noon.”
Kyle flashed his endearing trademark grin… “It looks like I’m caught in the position of having to ask for recommendations again. I’m… new here, you know.”
The girl nodded understandingly. “There’s a BK two blocks away.”
“I think I can manage a little better than the weird king,” Kyle said with a smile, “Is there anything… a little more… I don’t know… upscale? Something that you like! That’s what I’m looking for!”
“Well… I like the weird king… but I like the Pink Halibut better.”
“The Pink Halibut?”
“It’s a seafood place… a bit like Red Lobster, I guess, only not a chain. There’s only the one. They have really good food… and decent prices.”
“The Pink Halibut sounds really great,” Kyle said, nodding. “Show me the way.” Kyle opened the door and escorted Cheri out, and she locked the door behind her. Then Kyle escorted her to his car and opened the door. Cheri smiled and climbed in.
Back at the house, meanwhile, discussions abounded about Kyle’s new-found enthusiasm and apparent new love interest…
“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call her a ‘love interest,’ Liz protested.
“I would,” Isabel said.
“Maybe he’s just trying to get out a little bit,” Liz said. “We’ve been pretty locked up together for a very long time. Max and I have each other, and Maria and Michael have each other, so we don’t feel the effects like you and Kyle must feel them. You two don’t have anybody.”
Isabel nodded. “Thanks for reminding me, Liz.”
“Oh, Izzie! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean…”
Isabel waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. I know what you meant. And you’re right. It is kind of… inhibiting. Maybe you’re right. Maybe Kyle does just want to get out of the pressure cooker for a change… and feel normal.”
“I don’t know,” Michael said, “I think it’s more than that. Kyle said she reminded him of someone. And did you see the look on his face? He’s totally taken with this girl… whoever she is.”
Max nodded. “I agree. We need to keep an eye on Kyle… not that I don’t trust him, but it’s easy to slip up and say too much when you’re… in love.”
“Oh for…!” Liz exclaimed, “In love? Aren’t we moving a little fast here guys? Next you’ll have them getting married… They’re just on their first date! Give them a little room to breathe! Do it for Kyle! He’s been a devoted friend for a very long time. He wouldn’t betray us.”
“You’re right,” Max said, “Okay. We’ll give him some breathing room. But we keep our ears and eyes open.”
Michael nodded.
<center> <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>> </center>
Kyle and Cheri arrived at the Pink Halibut and requested a table on the patio, overlooking the bay. The Pink Halibut was an upscale restaurant, just a bit on the bordering-expensive side, but Kyle was not complaining. With its rustic upscale décor and cozy, romantic atmosphere, it was exactly what he wanted. The sun was setting, and the lights on the bay were beautiful… so was the candlelight on the table. And though it was somewhat cool outside, it was not uncomfortable on the patio, because the patio was partially covered and heated. The two looked over the menu together, and when the waiter returned, they were ready. Cheri chose the Pacific Halibut with Béarnaise sauce, and Kyle decided to try something called the “swamp platter,” a combination of catfish, shrimp, snow crab legs, frog legs, and alligator tail tidbits.
“I always wondered what that was like,” Cheri said, “I guess you have to be adventurous.”
Kyle held up his fork with a small piece of alligator tail and offered it to Cheri to taste. Cheri opened her mouth and placed it over the fork… then she looked at Kyle and smiled, as she slowly slid her lips back off of the fork. At that moment, Kyle was glad he had used an antiperspirant, because he definitely felt a heat wave pass through him.
“Not bad! But alligator isn’t an Alaskan food,” Cheri said, stabbing a small piece of Pacific Halibut on her plate and holding it up for Kyle to taste. Kyle tasted it and nodded…
“Pretty good! What kind of fish is a halibut anyway?”
“I think it’s like a flounder… only much bigger. They can weigh a thousand pounds.”
“Well, I guess if you’re very hungry that would be the fish to catch… if you’ve got a really big skillet,” Kyle mused. Cheri smiled and giggled.
After dinner, Kyle drove Cheri to the local theater, where, just as she had said, “Cocoon” was showing.
Kyle put his arm around Cheri… and she smiled and laid her head against his shoulder, at the same time pulling her legs up under her on the seat… “I love this movie! I’ve seen it… well, a bunch of times… but not recently. I saw the sequel a bunch of times, too.”
Kyle nodded. “Me, too. Do you believe in aliens and all that stuff?”
Cheri was silent for a moment, then she replied thoughtfully, “I think it’s a big universe. Why wouldn’t there be others out there? Do you believe in aliens, Kyle?”
Kyle thought for a moment then shrugged… “Like you said, it’s a big universe out there. There must be something out there… right?”
Cheri nodded and smiled, making herself comfortable against Kyle’s chest, as Kyle pulled her closer to him and took a deep, satisfied breath. It was going to be a great night!
<center> <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>> </center>
“Well, look who’s back! It’s lover boy! And it’s only 3 AM! What happened Kyle, she get a whiff of the socks?”
Kyle flipped the light on. “You can’t get under my skin tonight, Michael. Tonight was the night I should have been having for the last three years… if Max hadn’t changed me into a pod creature and abducted me.”
“Abducted? Looked like you came along willingly to me!”
“Yeah, well… I didn’t have much choice, did I? I could have stayed in Roswell and let them call me Sparky when I started to glow all over or I could get the Hell out of there before I became one of you and the F.B.I. started to track me with bloodhounds and helicopters.”
“Is that Kyle?” Isabel asked, cracking her bedroom door and peeking out.
“No, it’s someone who says his name is Sparky,” Michael replied.
“Hey, Kyle,” Isabel said, opening her door all the way, “How was your date?”
“Good! We had a great time! Ate dinner at a place called the Pink Halibut… real upscale… then we went and watched ‘Cocoon.’”
“Cocoon? That’s old… It’s on videotape… and DVD. I thought you were going to the movies.”
“We did. They were showing ‘Cocoon.’ Cherie said she’s seen it a lot of times before, too, but she likes it, so… she wanted to see it again.”
“Cocoon… That was about aliens that hatch out of pods, wasn’t it?” Michael asked.
Kyle nodded. “Yep. Real, way-out, unbelievable sci-fi stuff… but romantic.”
“Why would your girlfriend be so interested in aliens that hatch out of pods?”
Isabel threw a pillow at Michael. “Come on, Michael! You’re being paranoid! It’s just a movie… lots of people liked it! It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Maybe,” Michael muttered, “But I don’t believe in coincidences. What’s this girl like, Kyle?”
“She’s nice, lovable, smart, witty, romantic… pretty much your exact opposite, Guerin.”
Michael grinned. “Ooh! Somebody’s pissed!”
“Naw. You can’t get to me tonight, Michael. I told you… tonight is a great night. I’m not letting anything bother me tonight.”
Michael seemed to think about it for a moment. “Still… it seems odd that she just said yes right off the bat when you asked her to go out with you.”
“Not so odd. I know when you were single, girls probably screamed and pulled out pepper spray when you asked them out, but we don’t all get that reaction. Some of us have charm.”
“Maria didn’t run from me!”
Isabel and Kyle both looked at Michael.
“Okay, she did… but only at first… until she got to know me.”
“Until you sucked her brains out and zombied her,” Kyle chuckled, adding a little Twilight Zone musical effect.
“Oh, very funny!” Michael groaned, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “But Maria stayed with me. Now that this girl knows you, she’ll run the other way… if she’s smart.”
“She is smart,” Kyle said with a satisfied grin, “That’s why she’s going out with me again tomorrow night.”
“Way to go, Kyle,” Isabel said, smiling.
“Hmm… She’s brain dead, huh! Too bad,” Michael muttered.
“Oh, stop it you two!” Isabel said, hitting Michael again with the pillow. “Michael, you know you’re happy for Kyle. Michael’s just teasing, Kyle.”
Kyle smiled. “It’s alright. Michael and I understand each other. It’s who we are. We don’t let it get to us.”
“That’s right,” Michael agreed.
Kyle turned and walked into his bedroom. As he started to shut his bedroom door, Michael called out, “Hey, Kyle…” and raised his thumb. Kyle smiled then closed the door.
<center> <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>> </center>
As the weeks passed, Kyle and Cheri only seemed to grow closer, which alarmed Max and Michael, in spite of the fact that, on some level, they really were happy for him. So they decided to meet Cheri.
“Who’s gonna go,” Michael asked.
“We’ll both go,” Max said. “We don’t mention Kyle. We’re just buying groceries.”
“That’s cool.”
Max and Michael walked into the little grocery store and looked around, choosing several items that they would buy “just to make it look good.” Then Michael noticed the Tabasco shelf…
“Omigod, Ma… uh, Matt, look at this!”
Max walked over and looked.
“Whod’ve guessed they’d be so fond of Tabasco in Alaska, huh?”
Max picked up several different bottles of Tabasco sauces. “She must have everything McIlhenny makes… and then some. Curious.”
Max took several different flavors then noticed that they also had Cherry Coke and Snapples. He pointed them out to Michael, and Michael grabbed several of each, then the two guys carried their stash to the counter.
“Somebody’s having a cookout,” Cheri said, pulling the items over and starting to ring them up… “And they like it spicy.”
Michael nodded. “Yeah… a cookout! A barbeque. You gotta have lots of stuff to make good barbeque sauce… lots of Tabasco.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Cheri said. “Hope you enjoy your barbeque!”
“Thanks,” Max replied, “We will.”
Max and Michael left the store, and Max looked at Michael… “She doesn’t look like an agent.”
Michael shook his head. “No… she doesn’t… although you can’t ever really tell, Max. Remember Topolsky?”
“I didn’t get any kind of feeling like this girl was an agent, though,” Max said. “She may just be what Kyle said… a girl who likes him.”
“Likes him… a lot,” Michael corrected.
“A lot,” Max agreed.
Later that evening, as Kyle was getting ready to go out, the conversation turned again to Cheri…
“Oh, by the way,” Max said nonchalantly, “Michael and I met your girlfriend today.”
Kyle whirled around, and his face flushed. “You had no right to go spying on her! Stay away from her!”
“Whoa! Whoa!” Max said, trying to defuse the situation before it spiraled out of control… “We weren’t spying on her, Kyle. We were just… we needed some Tabasco. Michael drank it all, and we didn’t have any more. We knew you found some there, so we went to get some more. That’s all. We didn’t even mention that we knew you.”
Well, not everything Max had said was untrue, but just to cover his bases, he did have his fingers crossed behind his back, because not everything he had said was perfectly true either.
“She looks like a nice girl,” Max added, “Pretty brown hair and brown eyes…”
“And the auburn highlights are kind of nice,” Michael added, “Kind of classy.”
“And you’d know that how,” Kyle asked. “Besides, she has blue eyes… clear aqua blue.”
“Brown,” Michael said, agreeing with Max. “Her eyes and hair are the same color.”
“Blue!” Kyle insisted.
“Alright, wait,” Max said, holding up his hand, “Maybe she was wearing some kind of brown contacts or something. Maybe they’re blue.”
“They are blue,” Kyle said with absolute certainty, “I should know.”
“Yeah, we… we probably didn’t get that good a look,” Michael agreed, “We didn’t want to stare at her you know.”
“Yeah, well… just leave her alone! I mean it! If I find out you guys have been harassing Cheri, there’ll be Hell to pay… That’s a promise… and don’t think I can’t make good on it!”
Michael held up his hands in a part-conciliatory, part-defensive gesture… “No problem.”
Kyle walked out the door, and Max looked at Michael. “Her eyes were brown.”
Michael nodded. “Definitely brown.”
<center> <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>> </center>
“I never knew they liked bowling in Alaska.”
“Oh, sure! When spring comes, we come out of the igloos and put our kayaks in storage and head for the bowling allies,” Cheri said, with an endearing smile. Kyle knew he was being jostled, and he knew that it was deserved. He smiled and wrapped his arms around Cheri, giving her a kiss… “I guess you need to teach me some more stuff.”
Cheri smiled, patting Kyle on the cheek affectionately, “I don’t think you need to learn anything. You’ve got it down pat.”
“I meant about Alaska.”
Cheri grinned and picked up her bowling ball then stepped forward and rolled it briskly. Both of them watched as the ball traveled straight down the middle of the aisle… “Woohoo! A strike!”
Kyle picked up his own bowling ball… “You know, two of my roommates were in your store today.”
“Really?”
“Yeah… and those idiots couldn’t even remember the color of your eyes right!”
Cheri laughed. “Do you like my eyes, Kyle?”
Kyle set his bowling ball down and turned Cheri around, looking into her eyes… they were blue as a summer sky. He kissed her again. “I love your eyes, Cheri… I love everything about you! You have gorgeous eyes!”
Cheri grinned. “I love your eyes, too, Kyle! I was afraid that you might not like brown eyes.”
“Why wouldn’t…” Kyle stopped suddenly and stared at Cheri.
“Is something wrong, Kyle?”
“Wrong? No! No, no… I, uh… I was just… Are your eyes naturally… you know…”
Cheri looked puzzled. “Brown? Yeah. What else would they be?”
“Well, sometimes people change the color of their eyes with colored contacts. I don’t mean that you do, I was just… I was… wondering. That’s all.”
Cheri handed Kyle his bowling ball. “It’s your turn, Kyle. And nope, no contacts. What you see is what you get. I hope you’re not too disappointed.”
“Disa- NO! NO! Definitely not disappointed. I was actually thinking that I’m… uh… that is… I think… I’m falling in love with you, Cheri… actually.”
Cheri stopped and looked at Kyle, then she broke into a huge grin. “Kyle! Omigosh!” She put both arms around Kyle and kissed him, which did manage to put a smile back on his face again.
“Kyle, that’s so amazing… so sweet! I’ve been feeling the same way; but I was afraid to say it. I was afraid I might scare you away.”
“No chance of that,” Kyle said with total certainty. He gazed at Cheri’s eyes… they were clear blue. Kyle shook his head and blinked… they were still as blue as a cloudless summer sky or a deep Alpine lake. Could it be? Was he so unable to get Tess out of his mind that he now saw her eyes in every girl he looked at? No… he never saw Tess’ eyes in Maria or Isabel… or Liz… or in any other girl he met… only Cheri. But Cheri had brown eyes. Max and Michael said they were brown. Cheri said they were brown. But Kyle saw only blue… sometimes with a hint of emerald, but blue all the same. Why did everybody else see brown eyes when he could see only blue eyes… Tess’ blue eyes?
Kyle picked up his bowling ball and rolled it down the lane…
“Strike!” Cheri yelled for him. Kyle smiled… “You inspired me. Now you’ll have to kiss me every time before I roll… We wouldn’t want my bowling reputation to suffer!”
“No, we wouldn’t want that,” Cheri agreed, smiling.
Kyle decided to put the question of Cheri’s eyes out of mind… until he could get his own eyes checked… and maybe his mind. In any case, he did not want it to affect his relationship with Cheri. Since Tess died, Cheri was the first girl… the ONLY girl… he had even remotely been interested in. He had never even realized that he was that attached to Tess. He hadn’t thought that he was. But he found himself comparing every other girl he saw to Tess… and they all failed. Cheri was somehow different, though. Cheri was a warm spring day filled with flowers and joy after a cold, hard winter of pain. No! Whatever else happened, he did not want to lose Cheri.
<center> <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>> </center>
“You have to do this, Isabel. It’s for the greater good.”
“Whose greater good, Max? Kyle’s… or yours?”
“Ours. All of us! You have to dreamwalk her.”
“I don’t like it, Max. I don’t even know her. It feels like… rape!”
“You’re both girls… How can it be rape?”
“That’s not the point, Max. I’ll be violating her privacy. It’s just not right.”
Michael huffed. “Well, if you can explain to us why Kyle is so sure this girl has blue eyes… when Max and I saw them, and they’re brown, go ahead. Something’s not right here, Iz! She could be a plant!”
“Oh come on, Michael! A plant? By whom?”
“Kivar… or Nicholas. She has the power to make different people see different things.”
“Maybe you two just need to have your eyes checked… both of you,” Isabel exclaimed, but then she sighed… “Alright… Alright… Did you get a picture?”
“Kyle had one in his wallet,” Michael said, handing Isabel a small picture of Cheri and Kyle together that had probably been taken at a restaurant or other place that had a photographer on hand.
Isabel looked at Michael… “You went through his wallet?”
“Come on, Isabel!” Michael said, flustered, “We don’t have all night! We have to do this before he wakes up.”
“If he finds out, I’m rolling over on you guys. This is not right.”
“Okay, we understand, now do it,” Michael said.
Isabel looked at the picture. Cheri did have brown eyes. Curling up on the seat, Isabel held the picture in her hand and concentrated on Cheri. For the first five minutes, nothing happened, but then Isabel drifted off to sleep, and in front of her, she saw a mist. It was the mist of dreams; she was accustomed to it. It was like an in-between land, a no-man’s land between her own dreams and someone else’s. A moment later, the mist swirled upward and disappeared.
Isabel stepped into a room. There was a nightlight on, and someone was writing in a book… maybe a diary. No, it was a financial ledger… probably from the store Cheri owned and ran. But it couldn’t be Cheri. This girl was blonde.
Suddenly, seeming to feel someone behind her, the girl jumped up and turned to face her intruder… and both of them stood there… speechless… as though struck by lightning.
“Tess! Oh… My… God!” Isabel said after a very long and pregnant pause.
“Isabel! What are you doing here? You can’t be here! Are you… dreamwalking me? That’s an invasion of my privacy!”
Isabel thought for a moment and nodded. “I told Max and Michael that… but…”
“Isabel… listen… you can’t tell Kyle you saw me… You can’t tell him who I am… You can’t tell Max and Michael, either!”
“Why not, Tess? Is it right to string Kyle along like this?”
“You just can’t, Isabel. I’m begging you! Please!”
Tess dropped onto her knees in front of Isabel. “Please! He’ll hate me. I couldn’t bear that.”
“What do you care what Kyle thinks, Tess… unless…
Tess! Are you… in love with Kyle?”
Tess put her hands over her eyes and began to shake. “I’ve loved Kyle since… even when I was living at his and his dad’s house. Didn’t you know that, Isabel?”
“Actually… No. What I saw was you chasing Max… and using Kyle. That’s a strange kind of love, Tess.”
“Isabel… I’m pleading! Please! He’ll hate me if he knows! He’ll never speak to me again! Haven’t you ever loved someone so much that you just couldn’t bear to lose them?”
“Yeah… I did… once. You killed him!”
Tess closed her eyes and swallowed a lump in her throat. This was going to be all but impossible. She had forgotten about Alex. Not exactly a small matter.
“Listen, Isabel, there are things that you don’t know… things… I didn’t know. I didn’t kill Alex.”
“Oh, come on, Tess!” Isabel exclaimed, becoming angry, “Don’t tell me now that you’re going to blame somebody else for killing Alex… or claim that it was an accident again. You confessed before. It’s the one half decent thing you ever did in your life. Don’t blow that, too!”
Tess shook her head. “I thought I killed Alex, but I didn’t. I know that now. I was used, too.”
“No… NO! No more excuses, Tess. Alex is dead, and none of this ‘I was a victim, too’ whining is going to bring him back! So spare me the crap!”
“It’s true,” a familiar voice said behind Isabel. Isabel turned white and spun around…
“A… Alex… Omigod, Alex?”
“Yeah… well, actually, I think this is a dream or something,” Alex said.
“Are you real, though… or just a dream, Alex? Tess! If this is a mind warp!”
“It’s not,” Tess said emphatically… “He’s as real as I am. You’re dreamwalking us both.”
Alex approached Isabel and took her hands in his. “Tess mindwarped me and got me to translate the Destiny Book for her.”
“I know… That’s what killed you.”
Alex shook his head. “No, it didn’t. Tess wasn’t the only one who wanted to know what was in the Destiny Book; Kivar wanted it, too… he wanted the information that was in it. And I had that information in my head. So he made it look like Tess killed me, then he abducted me. I was never dead. I was never in an accident. That was all a big mindwarp… courtesy of Kivar.”
“And he made me believe that I had killed Alex,” Tess said, “It gave his cover credibility. And I fell for it. I was so absorbed with mindwarping others, I never realized I had been mindwarped myself… by the master.”
Isabel looked at Alex. She was shaking. “But… if you’re alive… and here… you must have escaped from Kivar, right? Why didn’t you let me know you were okay? “WHY DID YOU LET ME THINK YOU WERE DEAD! My God, Alex! Do you know what that did to me? I… I loved you.”
“I know,” Alex said sadly, “I loved you, too, Isabel… more than you can imagine. I still do. But Kivar is looking for us. Tess and I had to drop out of sight and live under assumed identities. So that’s what we’ve done. We’ve changed our identities and moved far away from Roswell. Maybe some day… if Kivar is defeated and it’s ever safe… for you… and for the others… I will return.”
“I don’t care about Kivar, Alex! We’ll fight him together with Max and Michael’s help! I just want you there with me again!”
“It can’t happen, Iz… not as long as Kivar is in power.”
“Then we’ll both change our identities! If Tess can go out with Kyle under an assumed identity, why can’t you do the same thing, Alex?”
“I advised her against it… but she wouldn’t listen. Tess can be a bit… rash.”
“It’s not rash… it’s love,” Tess interjected adamantly, “I’m in love with Kyle.”
“There! You hear that, Alex? It’s not rash… it’s love! I don’t care what Kivar tries to do! We’ll deal with that when it comes… if it comes. But without you… I’m already dead… inside.”
Alex closed his eyes for a moment then he put both arms around Isabel, and Isabel heard music.
“Where’s that coming from?”
“My mind. Dance, milady?”
Isabel smiled and put her arms around Alex, then they began to sway to the music together, and Alex looked into Isabel’s eyes… “Go back to Max and the others, Isabel. Watch for me… with an open mind. I may not look like you remember… but if your love is true… you will recognize me.”
Alex disappeared, and nothing Isabel could do could hold him there. But now she had something that she had not felt in a very long time… hope… wonderful hope! Isabel looked at Tess… and suddenly understood…
“Omigosh! Kyle recognized you, and he doesn’t even know it yet. He was the only one who saw your eyes as they really are… They’re blue. Everybody else sees them brown. But Kyle… he sees through the cover… He sees YOU, Tess… He sees the heart that he yearns for. I understand now. I won’t tell him… but I think you should. He has to know.”
Tess shook her head. “He’ll hate me!”
“No… he won’t,” Isabel said with total certainty, “Kyle loves you… whoever you claim to be. He saw something that the rest of us couldn’t see. He will not hate you, Tess. Trust me on this! Tell him!”
Having said that, Isabel faded out of the room, leaving Tess alone, still on her knees.
When Isabel opened her eyes, she found Max and Michael standing over her… waiting.
“Did you see her,” Michael asked.
“What did you find out?” Max immediately wanted to know.
Isabel looked at both of them and smiled… “She loves Kyle. She’s genuine. She’s not an agent or a plant.”
Max looked puzzled. “You’re sure?”
“Very.”
<center> <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>> </center>
The next morning, early, before any of the others woke up, Kyle was already awake… and thinking. He paced the floor in his room and then noticed an ornate vase in the corner. It wasn’t very expensive. It was something Liz had found somewhere they had been… he didn’t remember where now. She had paid four or five dollars for it. But it looked expensive… and old. It was probably a knock off or a replica of an antique style. Kyle picked it up and looked at it, then he slipped it into a bag and quietly let himself out of the house while the others slept.
When he arrived at the little grocery store that Cheri owned and ran he let himself in. Cheri turned to look at him and smiled…
“Hi, Kyle! What do you have there?”
“A vase. It was my Great Grandmother’s. It’s the only thing I have left from… before… of hers. It’s an heirloom. I was wondering if you could tell me anywhere I could take it to have it appraised. I would never sell it. It means too much to me. I just want to know if it was made by someone famous or something and what it might be worth.”
Kyle reached in the bag to retrieve the vase, but as it came out of the bag, he fumbled it, and it fell to the floor, smashing into a hundred pieces. For a moment, he stood transfixed, with a look on his face of utter mortification.
“Oh, Kyle! I’m so sorry! Omigod, let me help you,” Cheri said, rushing to gather up the pieces.
Kyle stared at the broken shards on the floor, looking sadder than a whipped puppy. “It’s ruined. I broke my Great Grandma’s vase.”
“Kyle… I… I think I know somebody who can fix it,” Cheri said, “Leave it with me, okay?”
“But it’s ruined,” Kyle repeated sadly.”
“This person can do miracles sometimes, Kyle. Let her try. Okay?”
Kyle nodded. “I have to go some places today, Cheri. Can I see you tonight?”
Cheri smiled and nodded. “You’d better give me a couple of days on the vase. My, uh, art contact will need a little time to fix it. I’ll see you tonight, Kyle. Six o’clock?”
Kyle nodded. “Six o’clock. Thanks, Cheri. I don’t know what I’d do without you. I really hope they can fix it. It looks so hopeless.”
He turned and walked out the door, still looking disheartened. Cheri gathered the pieces up and placed them on the counter, then she went about her work for the next ten or fifteen minutes, long enough for Kyle to be gone. After peeking out the window, and seeing no one around, she pushed the pieces into a small pile… then she held her hand over the shards, and they began to swirl upward, as though caught in a tiny whirlwind on top of the counter… and as they swirled, the vase became whole again. Cheri picked the vase up and examined it. It was perfect. There was no evidence whatsoever that it had ever been broken. Cheri smiled, but when she looked up again, she saw Kyle standing in the door.
“Kyle, I… I can explain.”
Kyle shook his head. “Don’t bother… Tess.” Kyle turned and ran back toward the house. As he walked in, the others were just waking up and getting dressed and ready for breakfast.
“Where did you go so early, Kyle?” Isabel asked.
“To unmask a traitor,” Kyle replied simply.
Isabel gazed at Kyle, and she knew that he knew the truth. “Kyle… she loves you. You know that, don’t you?”
Kyle looked distraught. “I don’t know what to think, Iz. She’s alive, and she let me think she was dead all this time… and now she’s… pretending to be someone else. What does she want from me, Iz?”
Isabel smiled and turned Kyle around toward the door. Cheri was standing in the door, tears running down her face.
“I think what she wants is to give you her heart, Kyle… if you’ll give her a chance. Let her explain why she did what she did.”
By this time, Max, Michael, Maria, and Liz had made their way into the living room and were watching Kyle to see what was going on, still unaware that Cheri was Tess.
“Kyle… I love you,” Cheri said, her voice breaking and tears flowing down her cheeks faster than ever. “Please let me explain.”
Kyle looked at Cheri, and without a word being said, he knew what he had to do. He knew…
“I don’t know what your reasons were, Cheri, but I do know this… I love you more than I’ve ever loved anybody in my life. I need you more than I’ve ever needed anybody in my life. Whatever your reasons were, they’re good enough for me. You can tell me later… in private.”
Kyle wrapped Cheri in his arms, wiping away her tears, then he kissed her; and as he did, the others grinned and applauded, each one knowing only that they were seeing something beautiful happening in Kyle and Cheri’s lives.
<center> <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>> </center>
That evening, after Cheri had closed up the store, she and Kyle went for a walk near the harbor… and, coincidentally, near the Pink Halibut. While they walked, she told Kyle all the reasons why she had stayed away… and a few other things that he had not known before.
“Liz said you sacrificed yourself to save us…” Kyle said softly, “She said that you were killed on the base.”
Tess smiled. “That should have made Max and Michael happy… Maria, too. I wasn’t sure about you, Kyle. I always hoped…”
“I couldn’t be happy about you getting killed, Tess. None of us were, really. We were stunned. I was hurting… really hurting. Deep inside, I loved you. I didn’t know it at the time, of course… well, not for sure. But when you died, something huge disappeared out of my life.”
“The aggravation?”
Kyle smiled. “No… the joy. It was like… after that, when I woke up every day, it was just a gray day… no birds singing… no summer breezes… no music… no… joy. I just couldn’t believe that you had sacrificed your life in order to save us.”
“I never intended to get blown up, Kyle. I just had to let everyone think that… so it would be believable… for the F.B.I.… for the soldiers… and especially for Kivar. I set off the explosions on the base then used a mindwarp to make them think I died in it. It was really not that hard. That took some of the pressure off of the rest of you… for awhile.”
Kyle nodded. “Yeah, it did… for awhile, but they came after Max and the others again… on graduation day.”
“I heard. I couldn’t come back. Kivar has a price on my head. When he found out I wasn’t really dead… let’s just say he wasn’t amused at having been played the fool.”
Kyle nodded understandingly. “And Alex? Isabel told me that Alex is alive… She said Kivar had him abducted and made it look like you had killed him, Tess.”
“Yeah. He made me believe it, too. After Alex escaped, Kivar found me. He had me marked for extermination. Alex came to save me before Kivar’s henchmen got to me.”
Tess stopped momentarily and turned to look at Kyle…
“I’ve got to tell you, Kyle, waking up in the middle of the night and looking up into the face of someone you thought you had killed… It’ll make you pee the bed and go straight forever! When Alex told me what had really happened to him and that I was marked for death by Kivar, we fled together. Both of us have been living with aliases ever since. I use a simple mindwarp to make us look different to others whenever we’re out anywhere. I taught Alex to do it, too, but he can’t maintain it… so we made some other… alterations… to protect him when I’m not with him.
“Where is Alex now?”
“Taking care of the baby.”
Kyle stopped suddenly and stared at Tess, with a stunned look on his face. “Baby? As in… you and Alex?”
“No!” Tess said, laughing… “Of course not! I mean the baby… Zan.”
Kyle gasped. “Max’s baby, Zan? I thought he was placed for adoption by Max’s dad.”
Tess shook her head. “Yeah, well, he was, but something happened and the adoption people and child welfare took Zan away from the couple he had been placed with. There was some kind of brouhaha about the couple Mister Evans chose having gotten preferential treatment or something because of who they were.”
“I wonder who started that.”
“Who do you think? Kivar! He found out what state Zan was in but couldn’t find out who had him, so he let the state do his work for him. Alex and I spirited Zan away just in time… right under Kivar’s nose…”
“I thought Kivar wasn’t interested in Zan, because Zan was all human.”
“Kivar isn’t interested in Zan… he’s interested in catching Max. Zan is the bait. He think’s…”
There was a sudden silence, then Tess said, “You do know that Zan is not Max’s baby, don’t you, Kyle?”
This brought Kyle to a screeching stop again, and he turned to look at Tess… “He’s not? Tess… if you had others besides Max… I don’t think I want to hear about it.”
“I didn’t have others, Kyle… and I didn’t have Max, either. That was a mindwarp that I created to try to get Max to leave Liz… when I thought destiny was more important than… real love. I know better now.”
“Well, I know Zan wasn’t created by immaculate conception, Tess. He has to be somebody’s.”
Tess looked into Kyle’s eyes. “He is somebody’s, Kyle. He’s yours. I always thought you knew. Think about it, Kyle! Remember?”
Kyle gasped. “I… I didn’t know. I always thought he was Max’s… You told everybody…”
“I’m sorry I never told you. I just thought that you knew, Kyle. You were the only one, so I thought you knew.”
“Zan is mine,” Kyle mused, rolling the words over on his tongue as though trying them out… “Zan is… ours! Tess, Zan is our baby!”
Tess smiled and nodded. “Zan Ka’yl. But Alex and I just use his second name. It seems… more appropriate.”
“Zan is our baby… yours and mine,” Kyle said again, smiling from ear to ear. “Tess, do you know what this means?”
Tess looked at him, puzzled.
“We have to be together… you, me, and Zan… I mean, Ka’yl.”
Tess smiled, and her eyes began to dance with an indefinable joy that Kyle understood only too well. He felt it, too. They were family.
<center> <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>> </center>
Kyle stood facing Max, Michael, Liz, and Maria, with Ka’yl in his arms. Tess stood at his side, her arms around her new husband and a smile bigger than a New York sunrise on her face.
“It’s your decision, Kyle,” Max said, “Yours and Tess’… You can stay with us if you want.”
Kyle grinned. “Thanks, Max, but we need some time to ourselves. We’ve got a honeymoon to go on.”
Max nodded. “Canada, huh? Well, they won’t be looking for you there. But Kivar won’t take long to track you and Tess down if you don’t keep moving. Neither will the F.B.I. They haven’t forgotten about us, you know.”
“I know. But the F.B.I. still thinks Tess is dead… and they aren’t interested in me yet… so our main worry is just Kivar. We won’t be staying in one place long enough for him to track us, though.”
“Where will you go after the honeymoon,” Liz asked.
Kyle shrugged. “We may come back here. Tess -I mean Cheri- still has her store… and the people here already know Cheri, so…”
“I’m happy for you, Kyle,” Isabel said, giving Kyle a hug. “You, too, uh… Cheri,” she added, giving Tess a hug, too. “And this little guy…” Isabel gave Ka’yl a kiss on the forehead… “One thing you’ve never been, Tess, is boring. Wherever you go, we can always count on surprises.”
Tess smiled sheepishly. “I hope you’re not too upset, Max.”
Max shrugged. “It was kind of a let down at first… knowing he’s not mine. I felt a loss. I guess I still do. But there’s also a kind of relief. I know that Ka’yl will have the very best father…” Max looked at Tess for a moment, as though thinking, then added, “And mother. And Liz and I have a fresh slate.”
Liz smiled and held onto Max’s arm tightly.
“And so do we,” Isabel said, threading her arm under the arm of a tall man with wavy blond hair and blue eyes. But they did not look blue to Isabel.
<center>~ The End ~</center>