The Fate of Destiny Part 158
Kathy yawned as she set her files down on the conference table. "Are they here yet?"
"Not yet." Serena shook her head. "When Lauren took her on, I figured they would want corroborating statements but I didn't think it would be this long after."
"Lauren says the Burkhardt lawyers are trying to appeal the decision. Getting an outsider to debunk your scientific findings is paramount, so getting an outsider to confirm your findings is crucial for Lauren's chances."
"I understand that but I'm still nervous. Hard facts and motives don't usually mesh."
"You are only obligated to state the facts."
"Your man is pacing outside."
"He's been acting weird." Kathy eyed the door. Through the small window, she could see Will’s pacing shadow coming in and out of view. "He was in a rush to get going this morning. He said he had a lot of arrangements to make. I don't know what for…"
"I never understood men."
"Been dating them since I was 14 and I don't understand them any better."
--
Lauren sat in on the meeting and just observed from the far chair. She wasn't paying attention to the details, which probably suited everyone else just fine. Who knew teachers were so political at work. Liz seemed right at home, manipulating all the faculty members to further her agenda with the principal. "If Ecology and Sociology cannot be taken concurrently, then I propose we offer both in one class."
"I thought that was what your Environmental Science was about."
"My class deals with Ecology which is fine but the texts are geared toward Botany and Zoological aspects. Incorporating Sociology will give the students a greater understanding about the impact of humans in the environment."
"Trial basis. One semester. Sociologically geared curriculum for the honors class only." The principal sighed and moved on.
Lauren grinned to herself. She knew Liz had a sample curriculum in her briefcase if need be. When the meeting cleared, Liz rounded the table to walk Lauren out. "Boring, huh."
"Fun, actually. I wonder if my father had to do the same thing for his classes. He was always telling me how important it was to have the right texts in the classroom."
"You're well read?"
"I guess. As much as I could be when I was 11. Anymore… unless it's assigned."
"I see. You're like my husband." They made their way to Liz's class where the kids were sitting on tables and talking. As soon as they saw her, they began heading for their seats. "What did your mother teach?"
"History."
--
Beth yawned and laid her head down. Whenever her mother passed by, she smacked her head with a folder. But she could only keep her eyes open for five minutes at a time. When the lecture was over and the assignment given, Liz pulled a chair up to the table. "Is this because of the gossiping all night with Lauren?"
"No." Beth shrugged.
"Are you that bored?"
"Maybe."
"I can't change the curriculum for you. It's not fair to everyone else."
"I know."
"Do you want to see if the college will let you do correspondence classes next semester?"
"Mom, I'm going away for college."
"We don't know that yet."
"I do. I'm leaving Roswell for college."
"Well, maybe you take the classes anyway and then you transfer them to wherever."
"Maybe."
"I'll talk to the board. We'll arrange something but you can't just sleep in class because it's boring. I know you're not challenged. I know the work is a breeze but keep up until we can do something about it."
"Okay."
--
Berty climbed into the car and turned up the AC. "Mom busy?"
"No, I wanted to talk to you alone." Jesse turned the car onto the road. They had twenty minutes before football practice let out for Kyle down at the field.
"Is something wrong?"
"Sebastien called me yesterday."
"Oh." She frozen and waited but she didn’t dare let any sort of emotion cross her face.
"He wants to come home to Thanksgiving but we don't do separate meals anymore. We just do the one big one with your family." He pulled into a spot near to the field and watched the guys run their plays. "So, I need to know if you're okay with it or if I should tell him not to come."
"Jesse, I…" Berty took a deep breath.
"I'm not going to pretend I know what happened but I do know that something happened. It bothers me more than I have words for and… even though I love my son. If he did something that horrible, I won't have him around."
"What does Mom say?"
"I just wish that it could be left alone. I'm tired of going over and over it. I have the facts. The facts don't help how I feel. Knowing what precipitated motives doesn't make it right."
"What happened?" He prodded gently. “Will you tell me?”
"I accidentally got drunk. That's not his fault. He was already drunk. That is his fault." She shrugged. "I had already known that he couldn't love me. He told me so, before. I couldn't remember at first because of the alcohol. I didn't know and he… made things worse. I don't know if I'm ready to see him." She couldn't stop talking. "If we were older, it probably wouldn't be a big deal. Things happen but…"
"Berty, it's not your fault."
"I feel like something inside of me died."
"Why do you feel that way?"
"I don't know. I can't explain it. There just… Even after I used my powers to go back and find out what happened… There's just something about the whole thing that seems off to me. Aside from the alien-alcohol allergy and Sebastien's dubious character flaws…" She took a deep breath. "I just… I don't understand it and I appreciate you not telling my mother anything I tell you."
"You know that makes me uncomfortable and yet… I understand your motives."
She turned to face him fully. "Look. I know I put you in an awkward position with my mom over this whole thing. I'm really grateful that I can come to you with this stuff. If you were my real dad… I don't know who I'd be talking to now." She watched him stare straight ahead. "And I know… because of Sebastien, it's even worse."
"I talked to his priest today. Maybe it helps us both to know that Sebastien is miserable. I'm not proud of the things he's done, even aside from whatever happened that night with you. I am proud of the progress he's made with his vices. He's controlling his alcohol cravings and he's off pot. He's got a sponsor who doesn't take any shit. He's been going to confession weekly and he just started volunteering at a church run center for um… I forget. It's some weekend program. Hopefully, he can keep this up. He's got over a year of sobriety under his belt."
"Yeah…" She nodded. "But… maybe you could go see him for Christmas… instead of him coming for Thanksgiving."
"Maybe."
"Is this why you haven't moved in completely, yet?"
"One reason, maybe. My mother can't live on her own and Lynnette is getting married in the spring." Jesse shrugged. "I'm not sure how much your mother wants that."
"She wants it. She wants the ring too but she's not going to make you uncomfortable about it."
"You're a snitch."
"Maybe."
--
"I'm heading to New York to do a spread for someone or another." She stretched out. "A month in New York. Mostly break but some work. It's gonna be awesome."
"A month in New York City?" Max clarified with a frown.
"The very one. I only wish I wasn't going alone. Kal's not going but he's going to give me an expense account."
"He's a generous man." Beth snorted.
"Right, I know." Lauren laughed. "Have you ever been?"
"No, I rarely go East." Max shook his head. "I've been to L.A. a couple of times but mostly to Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Chicago for lectures."
"Honey, phone." Liz walked in with the cordless. "It's Berty."
Beth took the phone into the next room. Lauren watched Max dish out some ice cream. It was non-fat frozen yogurt to be exact. He topped it with some Italian peppers and a chocolate sauce that boasted a non-caloric but satisfying flavor. "How's that diet working?"
Max grinned and struck a pose. "Not quite my peak but my belly is gone."
"Nearly gone." Liz winked at him. "But if I have to start beating up your patients, then I'll let you off the diet."
"Is that all it takes?" He laughed and kissed her neck. "I'm all yours."
"Can I tattoo it on your forehead?"
"It's not already?"
Liz wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Lauren, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but I wish you a slightly less handsome husband."
"Dad! Do you have paper in your desk?" the call came from the mini-office.
"Check the third drawer." Max called back then turned back to the young woman across from him. "I'm glad you're getting the hang of things with Kal. I don't trust him all that much but I can't make him any money."
"If it weren't for that, I wouldn't stick around. But… I saw the door marked opportunity and I dove through it." She took a spoon to her ice cream and waved off any of the dieter's toppings offered to her. "I'm having fun though. It's a lot of work but I love it. What I hate are the meetings that I have to sit in on while I'm dead tired."
"I hear you." Max nodded and kissed his wife's lips. "Liz likes it better when they don't have to fly me out for a lecture or a class or surgery. I like it better too."
"Don't be gross in front of Lauren!" Beth called into the kitchen. She hung up the phone and finished scribbling the assignments Berty had given her for their government class. She was just going to toss the rest of the paper back in the drawer when a manila folder caught her attention. Brushing random objects aside, she pulled the folder out and opened it. She had to swallow down some bile when she realized what was inside. The images held her captivated; she couldn't take her eyes off them. At the bottom of the stack was a copy of a report from Will to some detective where the murders had happened. Her father's hand had scribbled some notes on top of it. Alien? Motive? Time of death? Beth? Doesn't remember…
"Honey! Are you going to get some ice cream before Davey finishes his homework and decides he wants some too?" Her mother's voice called out.
"Um… yeah. Just a minute." Beth hurriedly put the file back together and back underneath all the junk.
Max took half of Liz's stack of papers and an extra pen. "Got an extra key?"
"You're gonna wish you hadn't." Liz handed him an 'A' paper she'd already graded. "How about you?" She gestured to Lauren.
"Uh-uh. No way." She smiled around her spoon.
"I'm nice and wired. I need something to put me to sleep." Max glanced over the first page, then the second and on to the next paper. "What's wrong with these kids? Is this a remedial class?"
"No… these are my regular kids." Liz cleared her throat. "I'm thinking about testing the water or looking for radiation leaks. It's a really tough call where I should start."
"All their brains should be washed with industrial strength soap."
"Against school policy." Liz shrugged.
"Are they really that bad?" Lauren took the paper from Max and laughed out loud. "Geez. Kids are creeps."
--
Michael paced the room with Laurie on his shoulder. She was fussy for no reason. His wife and boys were eating dinner just fine in the next room. She was getting so big though. Usually she'd be walking around the dinner table with a spoon, whacking everyone. The front door opened and admitted the oldest of Laurie's brothers into the house. Michael didn't say a word and Chuck didn't offer an explanation. The boy just walked in, took his seat at the table and started eating. Oriel glanced down the hallway at her husband but didn't say a word.
"How was school?" Oriel asked softly when she passed a dish his way.
"School. The Chemistry teacher is out to get me."
"Are you doing poorly already?"
"I don’t know… but the tennis coach suspended me for the remainder of the six weeks."
"Maybe you could ask Mrs. Evans to tutor you."
"Maybe you could stay out of my business."
"I was just trying to help." Oriel whispered and looked to the other boys at the table. Stephen and Matthew stared around the table, wondering what was going to happen next. Sam stared at his plate and picked at his food. Finally, she set down her fork. "Michael, I'll take the baby. Come eat."
--
Kathy collapsed into bed. She wouldn't have picked up her head at all except for the smell. "Will? Did you leave the stove on?"
"Shit…" She heard him running through the house.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing, apparently." He called back. "I didn't hear you come in."
"I thought Billy was asleep."
"She's staying at her boyfriend's."
"Okay…" Kathy shoved herself off the bed and had to investigate the banging and clanging coming from her kitchen. It was a complete disaster. "Call the fire department before you try to cook again."
Will's shoulders sagged as he tossed the entire pan in the trash. "It's been a while."
"Yeah, I know. Why on earth were you trying to cook?"
"Thought it'd be a nice change." He felt better when she wrapped her arms around him. "You hungry? We can go out to eat."
"Not hungry. Sleepy. My eyes are crossing from staring through the microscope all day. Come to bed." She eyed him carefully. "Seriously, you never cook… why?"
"Maybe I'll get a tutor before I try it again. I wanted to do something nice for you."
"Well, I could always be a little more exhausted before I sleep." She ran a hand up his chest. "I know you're good at that."
"There's my minx."
"We can take advantage of the lack of roommate."
Will cursed inwardly. He'd have to arrange the whole thing for another night and somehow warn Billy that the event had not taken placed yet. Still, he wanted it to be perfect.
TBC
The Fate of Destiny Part 181E CC/UC ADULT 09/02/10 COMPLETE
Moderators: Anniepoo98, Itzstacie, truelovepooh, Erina, Forum Moderators
159
The Fate of Destiny Part 159
Beth ran out of the house and into the car. Her breakfast forgotten, she was just trying to make it through the day. She had slept fitfully with images of mutilated bodies and ashy autopsies in her brain. What had her father's notes meant?
--
Max glanced at the line forming to get into the waiting area. "Just remember that New York is not as friendly as L.A."
"But you've never been."
"I have been to Chicago and let me tell you, there is just as much crime there. Keep your money close to you. Don't let your purse dangle. Don't keep your money in your pocket either. It sounds trashy but your bra is a good place."
"I'm not going to be pulling money out of my shirt." Lauren laughed at him. "You're being overprotective. I probably won’t explore that much. I'm a big chicken."
"Make sure you have an escort if you do go wandering and I don't want you sitting in your hotel room the whole time. It's okay to have fun and go out but be careful."
"Okay, Dad." Lauren snorted and picked up her bag.
"Make fun but things happen." Max had a laugh himself.
"I have my fancy new phone. See." She showed it to him. "GPS and it's got a chip in it. If I go missing, you or Kal can have it activated and voila! You've found me."
“Me or Kal, huh?” He narrowed his eyes at her.
“I didn’t dare put Serena on the list cause she freaks out all the time.”
--
David held the ladder steady while the cheerleaders hung banners in the hallway. He was in the requisite jailbird outfit as the Tuesday theme dictated. Keeping his eyes on the ladder was the hardest part of the job. Any requests made of him, made him miserable. Looking up was just not an option if he wanted to continue to breathe.
He’d been pinched and had his cheeks smushed. He had never thought he’d enjoy such torture but at the hands of the upper-class-women, it was okay with him. He thought he was coming along okay. He was just as tall as Beth and he was getting taller, he could feel it. Still, there was a cheerleader or two who towered over him by four or five inches.
“Davey, think you could hand me another roll of tape?”
“He is so adorable.” Another cheerleader pinched his cheek in passing. “I love freshmen.”
David tried not to blush. He leaned down to pick up the roll of tape and passed it up to Donna Jo without looking up. Girl wore skirts to torture guys. It was the way of things but didn’t they think about ladders? A few blessed minutes later, she climbed down and handed him her supplies. “I think we’re done here, Davey.”
“What’s tomorrow?”
“Inside out day.”
“Butthead.” Beth called out. “Let’s go.”
“Mom gone?”
“Yeah, I dropped her at the house. C’mon.” Beth winked at Donna Jo and they both raced him out the door, leaving the younger cheerleaders to clean up the mess. Donna Jo climbed into the backseat and Beth ran around to the passenger door.
David froze. “Wait. Dad said I couldn’t.”
“Dad’s on shift.” Beth tossed him the keys. “We’re not leaving the parking lot and if you tell Dad, I’ll kill you.”
He didn’t have to be told again. He climbed behind the wheel and shoved the key into the ignition. He followed every instruction, absorbing the feel of the rumbling engine, the way the car turned at every end of the parking lot. The shock of rolling over the speed bumps. Any time he attempted to bust through the 15 mph cap, Beth smacked him upside the head and then chided him for not hitting the brake when she smacked him.
“Make it your gut reaction. I don’t care what Dad says. If someone attacks you in the car, hit the brake. Threaten not to move an inch until they stop or get out of the car. As the operator, you are responsible for the behavior of everyone else in the car.”
“Geez… drill sergeant Evans.” Donna Jo snorted.
Beth looked her brother dead in the eye. “What happens when the passenger isn’t buckled in and the driver hits the brake without warning?”
“Passenger gets thrown forward. Adults against the windshield. Kids under the dash.” David answered, with only a little twitch in his eye.
“Yeah.” She nodded to his fears fighting his knowledge. “Your passengers get out of control, you hit the brake. Simple as that. You tell them to stop. You make your voice strong. If that doesn’t work, you tell them to get out of the car. They can walk home.”
“Got it.”
“If Dad takes you out and he gets paranoid and makes you stop fifteen feet before the stop sign, you tell him the same thing. Shut up or get out of the car. You have to be in control of the machine.”
“Absolutely.” David put the car back in drive and turned it around on the lot. He saw her hand moving to smack him and he slammed on the brake.
“Good job.”
--
Will opened the door for the catering service. He had the table ready. He ushered Billy out the door after she helped him set out the meal. She laughed at him but told him about the dessert she’d made in the fridge, as her boyfriend called to her from the street. Will had to take a deep breath before he made the phone call. “Kat, I’ve got a surprise. Come on home.”
“Right now?”
“Yeah, right now.”
“Okay um… twenty minutes?”
“How’s ten?”
“I’ll try.” She laughed.
--
Max checked the phone before he sat down to dinner. The kids were sullen, as usual. “What’s going on?”
“David was staring up cheerleader skirts all afternoon.” Beth offered.
“No, I wasn’t.” David spoke up immediately, defending himself. “I had plenty of opportunity but I didn’t.”
“Homecoming stuff?” Liz asked, as she took her seat.
“Yeah. Tomorrow’s inside out day.”
“I’ll make sure you have clean jeans but you gotta help me out and separate right after dinner.”
“Kay, Mom.”
“So, making a lot of new friends?” Beth asked softly.
“I guess. All the guys want to know how I got a senior for Homecoming.” David shrugged.
“Don’t tell them you’re my brother.”
“Beth.” Liz scoffed.
“It’s for his own sake.” She lifted sad eyes to her mother’s and then to her father’s. “Being connected to me makes him a target for maliciousness.”
“It’s not that bad.” David protested.
Max kept his daughter’s gaze for a long moment and nodded. “If it’s bad, you tell someone.”
“I will.” {Right, you will.} Beth shook her head to clear the fuzziness and focused on her dinner.
--
Kat stared at her kitchenette. It had been transformed since she had been at work. For once, he wasn’t wearing a suit. Casual-wear on her own personal MiB. “What’s going on?”
“Just thought I’d try something different, tonight.”
“This was the emergency?”
“Yeah.” He nodded and held her chair out for her. He continued to be cryptic all through dinner. Through dessert, she stared at him but he didn’t give anything away.
Finally, Kat had had enough. She sipped her water and stared at him. “Will, is something wrong?”
“No. Nothing is wrong.” He smiled and took a deep breath. “There’s something that I’ve been wanting to do for a while. I didn’t know how to do it. I’ve messed it up a couple of times but…” He rose from his seat and walked around to kneel in front of her. “You’ve always come as a surprise to me. Every morning when you roll over and those eyes open to see me, my breath is taken away.” He pulled the box out of his pocket. “I want to make sure that I get that great pleasure every morning for the rest of my life. Kathleen Evans. Will you marry me?”
A shaking hand reached out to touch his face, to cup it between hers. His open eyes waiting for her answer… but all she could do was nod and try not to cry. Her voice was years in coming. “Yes… Yes.”
Relief flooded his face and his eyes shut as she continued to whisper. “Yes, I will marry you.”
TBC
Beth ran out of the house and into the car. Her breakfast forgotten, she was just trying to make it through the day. She had slept fitfully with images of mutilated bodies and ashy autopsies in her brain. What had her father's notes meant?
--
Max glanced at the line forming to get into the waiting area. "Just remember that New York is not as friendly as L.A."
"But you've never been."
"I have been to Chicago and let me tell you, there is just as much crime there. Keep your money close to you. Don't let your purse dangle. Don't keep your money in your pocket either. It sounds trashy but your bra is a good place."
"I'm not going to be pulling money out of my shirt." Lauren laughed at him. "You're being overprotective. I probably won’t explore that much. I'm a big chicken."
"Make sure you have an escort if you do go wandering and I don't want you sitting in your hotel room the whole time. It's okay to have fun and go out but be careful."
"Okay, Dad." Lauren snorted and picked up her bag.
"Make fun but things happen." Max had a laugh himself.
"I have my fancy new phone. See." She showed it to him. "GPS and it's got a chip in it. If I go missing, you or Kal can have it activated and voila! You've found me."
“Me or Kal, huh?” He narrowed his eyes at her.
“I didn’t dare put Serena on the list cause she freaks out all the time.”
--
David held the ladder steady while the cheerleaders hung banners in the hallway. He was in the requisite jailbird outfit as the Tuesday theme dictated. Keeping his eyes on the ladder was the hardest part of the job. Any requests made of him, made him miserable. Looking up was just not an option if he wanted to continue to breathe.
He’d been pinched and had his cheeks smushed. He had never thought he’d enjoy such torture but at the hands of the upper-class-women, it was okay with him. He thought he was coming along okay. He was just as tall as Beth and he was getting taller, he could feel it. Still, there was a cheerleader or two who towered over him by four or five inches.
“Davey, think you could hand me another roll of tape?”
“He is so adorable.” Another cheerleader pinched his cheek in passing. “I love freshmen.”
David tried not to blush. He leaned down to pick up the roll of tape and passed it up to Donna Jo without looking up. Girl wore skirts to torture guys. It was the way of things but didn’t they think about ladders? A few blessed minutes later, she climbed down and handed him her supplies. “I think we’re done here, Davey.”
“What’s tomorrow?”
“Inside out day.”
“Butthead.” Beth called out. “Let’s go.”
“Mom gone?”
“Yeah, I dropped her at the house. C’mon.” Beth winked at Donna Jo and they both raced him out the door, leaving the younger cheerleaders to clean up the mess. Donna Jo climbed into the backseat and Beth ran around to the passenger door.
David froze. “Wait. Dad said I couldn’t.”
“Dad’s on shift.” Beth tossed him the keys. “We’re not leaving the parking lot and if you tell Dad, I’ll kill you.”
He didn’t have to be told again. He climbed behind the wheel and shoved the key into the ignition. He followed every instruction, absorbing the feel of the rumbling engine, the way the car turned at every end of the parking lot. The shock of rolling over the speed bumps. Any time he attempted to bust through the 15 mph cap, Beth smacked him upside the head and then chided him for not hitting the brake when she smacked him.
“Make it your gut reaction. I don’t care what Dad says. If someone attacks you in the car, hit the brake. Threaten not to move an inch until they stop or get out of the car. As the operator, you are responsible for the behavior of everyone else in the car.”
“Geez… drill sergeant Evans.” Donna Jo snorted.
Beth looked her brother dead in the eye. “What happens when the passenger isn’t buckled in and the driver hits the brake without warning?”
“Passenger gets thrown forward. Adults against the windshield. Kids under the dash.” David answered, with only a little twitch in his eye.
“Yeah.” She nodded to his fears fighting his knowledge. “Your passengers get out of control, you hit the brake. Simple as that. You tell them to stop. You make your voice strong. If that doesn’t work, you tell them to get out of the car. They can walk home.”
“Got it.”
“If Dad takes you out and he gets paranoid and makes you stop fifteen feet before the stop sign, you tell him the same thing. Shut up or get out of the car. You have to be in control of the machine.”
“Absolutely.” David put the car back in drive and turned it around on the lot. He saw her hand moving to smack him and he slammed on the brake.
“Good job.”
--
Will opened the door for the catering service. He had the table ready. He ushered Billy out the door after she helped him set out the meal. She laughed at him but told him about the dessert she’d made in the fridge, as her boyfriend called to her from the street. Will had to take a deep breath before he made the phone call. “Kat, I’ve got a surprise. Come on home.”
“Right now?”
“Yeah, right now.”
“Okay um… twenty minutes?”
“How’s ten?”
“I’ll try.” She laughed.
--
Max checked the phone before he sat down to dinner. The kids were sullen, as usual. “What’s going on?”
“David was staring up cheerleader skirts all afternoon.” Beth offered.
“No, I wasn’t.” David spoke up immediately, defending himself. “I had plenty of opportunity but I didn’t.”
“Homecoming stuff?” Liz asked, as she took her seat.
“Yeah. Tomorrow’s inside out day.”
“I’ll make sure you have clean jeans but you gotta help me out and separate right after dinner.”
“Kay, Mom.”
“So, making a lot of new friends?” Beth asked softly.
“I guess. All the guys want to know how I got a senior for Homecoming.” David shrugged.
“Don’t tell them you’re my brother.”
“Beth.” Liz scoffed.
“It’s for his own sake.” She lifted sad eyes to her mother’s and then to her father’s. “Being connected to me makes him a target for maliciousness.”
“It’s not that bad.” David protested.
Max kept his daughter’s gaze for a long moment and nodded. “If it’s bad, you tell someone.”
“I will.” {Right, you will.} Beth shook her head to clear the fuzziness and focused on her dinner.
--
Kat stared at her kitchenette. It had been transformed since she had been at work. For once, he wasn’t wearing a suit. Casual-wear on her own personal MiB. “What’s going on?”
“Just thought I’d try something different, tonight.”
“This was the emergency?”
“Yeah.” He nodded and held her chair out for her. He continued to be cryptic all through dinner. Through dessert, she stared at him but he didn’t give anything away.
Finally, Kat had had enough. She sipped her water and stared at him. “Will, is something wrong?”
“No. Nothing is wrong.” He smiled and took a deep breath. “There’s something that I’ve been wanting to do for a while. I didn’t know how to do it. I’ve messed it up a couple of times but…” He rose from his seat and walked around to kneel in front of her. “You’ve always come as a surprise to me. Every morning when you roll over and those eyes open to see me, my breath is taken away.” He pulled the box out of his pocket. “I want to make sure that I get that great pleasure every morning for the rest of my life. Kathleen Evans. Will you marry me?”
A shaking hand reached out to touch his face, to cup it between hers. His open eyes waiting for her answer… but all she could do was nod and try not to cry. Her voice was years in coming. “Yes… Yes.”
Relief flooded his face and his eyes shut as she continued to whisper. “Yes, I will marry you.”
TBC
The Fate of Destiny Part 160
Lauren explored the city with her new GPS phone. It took her two days to get the courage to venture into the subway but she finally did it. She rode the train everywhere between shots.
That's where she saw him. He was riding the subway, checking his watch. He got off and she followed at a distance. He walked five blocks to a market. He slipped a day's worth of food into his bag without anyone catching on. He knocked over a crate and while its owner scrambled to rescue his fare, he slipped many bills from the till. She followed him down dark streets and creepy alleyways.
Then she lost him. It was dark and the shadows were thick. Sighing, she used her phone to get her back on track. If Max had been in the city, he would have given her a call. It was probably just a lookalike but just barely.
--
Liz bit her lip as she listened to the gushing on the other end of the line. Tears flooded her eyes and she was given the details on the proposal. “Kat, I am so happy for you.”
“Is that Kat?” Max spun around where he was getting ready for bed. His wife nodded. “Did he ask her?”
“You knew?” Liz screeched and threw a pillow at her husband.
“Dad knew?” Kat repeated.
“She said yes, right?” Max clutched the pillow.
“Of course she did.” Liz wiped at her eyes and pulled him down next to her. “When did he ask?”
“Last night but we were too busy until now to spread the news.” Kat laughed.
“Congratulations, sweetie.” Max called into the phone.
“We aren’t ready to discuss the whens and wheres. We’ll come up with that after Alex’s wedding.”
“Okay, sweetie.” Liz nodded to the phone. “We’ll talk later.” Liz said her goodbyes and hung up the phone before smacking her husband with the other pillow on the bed. “How could you not tell me?”
“Will made me promise.” He stared at his wife. “He asked for my blessing.”
“He did?” She sank down on the edge of the bed. “Max… oh… my babies are growing up too fast.”
“No, they’re not. They’re right on schedule. I promise.” He pulled her into her arms. “We’re paying for this one, aren’t we.”
“Yes.” Liz laughed at his pained expression. “It is our duty as the family of the bride to do much of the work… Max… Will doesn’t have family.”
“He has us.”
--
Beth stared out her window. The rain hadn’t let up all night. One more day until she could see Gabriel. One more night without him and then she could see him. He would make the whispers in her head go away. He would silence the nightmares of people being murdered. He would wrap his arms around her and make her forget she was an alien.
{Sensations are just that. They are fleeting and then what? The weekend will end and then there’s the waiting through classes and homework and five long days until Friday.} Not even her own mind agreed with her these days. “I just need someone to be on my side.”
She leaned her head against the window and touched the raindrops on the window. Each drop flew out vertically and bounced off the roof. She sighed deeply and let the rain fall on the window once more. Her finger touched the glass and it cracked in a wide spider web. She lifted her finger and the glow from her hands heated the glass, soothing the cracks and setting them back into place. It was easy. Almost effortless, barely a thought to put it into motion. {Like pie, nothing to it.} “Nothing to it.”
--
Lovely day. Liz rubbed her arms as she stared out the window of her empty classroom. The students would be in any minute to disrupt the quiet. The storm had seemed to blow in out of nowhere. When they started filing in, it felt more normal but Liz didn’t like the feel of the day.
--
Lauren frowned when she saw the side of his face in the subway car. He ducked out and she moved forward. "Dr. Evans?" Lauren called out and nearly ran over six people to be sure. "Dr. Evans!"
The dark head of hair continued farther through the crowds. She struggled up the stairwell onto the street in her high heels. Stupid shoot and cute shoes. She caught the side profile again when he darted between cars to cross the busy street. Skirting the cars and leaping precariously onto the curb, Lauren grabbed his arm. "Max!"
The face that greeted her was not that of her beloved 'uncle' Max but it might have been if Max had ever seen war or been severely injured somehow and been unable to heal himself. "I'm sorry… sorry, I thought you were someone else." She stammered as she backed away. "Sorry."
The corner of his misshapen mouth turned up. "Not ev’ry day I get a hot young thang chasin’ me down six blocks in a bad neighborhood."
Her eyes went wide as she took a good look at her immediate atmosphere. She had followed him much further than she thought she had.
"From the look a’you, you got off the train ‘bout five stops too early and for this mug? I'm flattered." His good eye winked. "I’m told that from this side, I look like Tom Cruise but I bet you don't know who that is. This side, they say looks like a spider web." He grabbed her and yanked her into an alley, gripping her head between his hands. "Tell me you saw a Tom Cruise-lookin’ motherfucker? Where s’he?"
"No, I just…"
“Where the fuck is he?”
“I just thought you looked like someone I knew. I made a mistake.” She tried to twist out of his grasp but he only lifted her up until her feet didn’t touch the ground anymore.
“I sin-cerely doubt you just made a mistake. Try again.”
“I swear it. I swear it. It was a mistake.”
“Tell me who he is. This guy you thought I looked like from my photagenic side.”
Her face hurt, her throat burned but Lauren knew she had to do what she could to protect what she wasn’t supposed to know. “My dad.”
“How old’re you? 19?”
“22”
“Not one a’mine.” He sneered at her, lowering her slightly to get a good look into her face. “But I don’t always remember this shit.”
“You’re not my dad. My dad’s dead.” She gasped out, tears starting to slip down her face. “I swear it. I was chasing a ghost. I promise.”
“You call your dad by his name?” He laughed lowly. “The last one they sent after me… I told ‘im to fuck off pretty hard. Do you know how hard?” She shook her head as much as she could with his grip so firm on her face. “He’s just bones in the sewer now.”
“It was a mistake. I promise. Please, let me go.” She felt relief wash through her when he released one hand but it settled over her throat, holding her up with the one hand while the other began to glow and hovered over her eyes. “Please. I’m just an actress. I don’t know anything.”
“An actress, huh. Figures. Pretty lil thing like you.” He tilted his head at her. "Close your eyes sweetheart. I've got some diggin’ to do."
"Torture me." She whispered, her body relaxed, her eyes resigned. "I won't say." She felt the stone coming over her. The hardness that had helped her survive those six years in hell. "There's nothing you can do to me that hasn't already been done."
"Well, I can come up with somethin’ you ain't seen." His glowing hand settled over her eyes.
--
Beth’s jaw hurt. But in a good way. Sore from too much kissing. Her fingers hurt from gripping too hard. Her leg was nearly asleep from bearing the weight of a grinding pelvis. Sliding her hands beneath his shirt, she paused in her exploration. His dad was home.
Gabe’s mouth wandered away from her mouth, seeking the tender flesh of her throat. His hips bucked against her but his hands never slipped underneath her blouse. The threat of an opening door was just enough to keep them from going too far. It could happen at any moment. There were pervy teenage boys and a too naïve little girl.
The rap on the door made them put some space between their overheating bodies just a moment or two before the door opened. “Gabe, Dad wants to know if you want ice cream with the rest of us.”
“Not now, brat.” Gabriel griped and buried his face in the pillow.
“He said ‘no’ Dad!” Eva called back to her father.
“Tell him we’ll be back in an hour.” The voice called back.
“I heard you!” Gabriel called out before his sister could relay the message.
“Maybe less!” Agustin called out. “Eva! Let’s go.”
When Eva bounded away to absorb all the attention she craved from her father, Gabe turned to his girlfriend. She raised an eyebrow at him and shrugged. He only shook his head at her and waited for the sound of the front door shutting. “We don’t have time for what I want to do to you.”
“Tomorrow. I’m all yours.”
“Maybe. The boys are going to the dance… Dad’s taking Eva to a movie.”
“You see.” She pulled him down to her. “My plan is unfolding before us. No interruptions… just you and me and a little time.”
--
David watched the guys collide on the field. He was slightly envious. He wanted to fit in. He wanted to be popular. He wanted to be normal. He didn’t want to be the kid that guy kidnapped anymore. He didn’t want to be the brother of that crazy girl anymore. But he loved his family, he loved his sister. He had a few friends but most people steered clear. Was it too much to ask to be able to have a normal life?
The football team was getting creamed, and on Homecoming of all games. Davey didn’t honestly know if he had any football talent but he wanted to be able to try. Not to be the butt of jokes in the locker room because his family belonged to a cult or something stupid or because he wasn’t allowed physicals the way everyone else was.
“Hey cutie!” Donna Jo called up from the railing.
“Hey.” David nodded.
“Do me a huge favor. The ladies are thirsty.” She held out her hand when he stood to hear what she had to say. “Four diet cokes, two sprites, three waters.” She dropped a handful of bills and change into his hands.
“No problem.”
“Thanks a bunch, cutie. We really appreciate it.” She pinched his cheek before dropping back to the asphalt to rejoin the rest of the cheerleaders.
That was why he liked her so much. Donna Jo didn’t treat him like a freak. She never had, not even when she wasn’t friends with Beth anymore. David nodded to a few people while he waited in line. They nodded back but they turned to their friends with a Look. Donna Jo had never done that to him.
--
Beth stared at her parents where they were cuddled on the couch watching the news about how the team had done. Her father was muttering about quarterbacks and halfbacks. {None of that even matters.} She leaned in the doorway and stared at him. He acted like he loved her. There was nothing she could point to that would suggest otherwise but then, why would he suspect that she had murdered someone? She had tried to remember but nothing was there. A big blank. Emptiness where time should be. {Then again, time is relative.}
“Beth?” He looked up and frowned at her. “Everything okay?”
“Fine. I’m tired.”
“Are you driving Davey to the dance tomorrow?” Liz turned to face her daughter.
“I’m not going to the dance.” She shook her head and moved through the room to the kitchen. She was pulling out a bottle of water when her father appeared behind her. “I’m going over to Gabriel’s tomorrow.”
“Why aren’t you going to your senior homecoming?” He crossed his arms.
“Because.”
“Beth.”
“Look. I’m this big freak at school. It doesn’t bother me what they think about me. I honestly don’t care… but they’re gonna find out that Davey is my brother and they’re gonna give him hell and it’ll be because of me.” She lifted her eyes to her father. “I didn’t mean to do any of those things I did but I did and now he’ll suffer because I’m the freak in the freaky family.”
Max reached out and pulled her close. “Don’t worry about them. It’s… noble to take care of your family but… Davey is not ashamed to be your brother.”
“Davey’s thoughts aren’t exactly about his sister, anyway.” She forced out a laugh.
“I can hope and pray that he’s being a gentleman, right?”
“He’s still the big V, Dad.” She mock-punched him in the gut.
“Are you?” Max narrowed his eyes at his daughter.
“Please, have some faith, man.” {Liar.}
He squeezed her shoulders. “Promise me that Kat and Dan’s kids will be older than yours.”
“Ugh. Dad.” She started to go but he pulled her back. “What?”
“You’re not a freak. Certainly not the freakiest one in the family.” He murmured into her hair.
“Oh no?” She tilted her head back to look at him. “Then who is? You?”
He lowered his voice. “Mom.”
“Yeah, right. She’s the most normal person in this family.”
“Which makes her the freak.”
“I heard that!” Liz called into the kitchen.
“You’re right. She’s a total Marilyn.” Beth giggled.
“But that’s her charm. She’s also the strongest in this family. We’d fall apart without her.” Max kissed his daughter’s head.
“You’re probably right.”
“Go to bed.”
“Night, Dad.”
--
“You are so helpful. I really appreciate it.” Donna Jo called over as she rounded up the garbage from the post-game celebration. Loss or not, it was still homecoming. “We’re heading over to Mitch’s for the party, you coming?”
“Ah… I…” David lowered his eyes to the trash bag in his hands. “Maybe not.”
“Come on. Beth used to go, I think.” Donna Jo had to think about it and she couldn’t remember if Beth had ever been to any of the parties.
“It’s just… My dad has his rules and I can’t drive yet, so…”
“Okay. Well, I will pick you up tomorrow. So look pretty for me.”
--
Lauren stared into the darkness, she could barely make out his form but she knew he was there. He had done something to her. What, she had no clue but something that had left her head throbbing and her body weak. She could hear him moving sometimes but she didn’t dare call out.
“You didn’t eat your dinner, sweetheart.”
“I’m not hungry.” She bit out, softly.
“Aw, you’re not one a’ them anorexics, are ya? I hate it when I find out those pretty girls are empty inside.”
“Someone will come for me.”
“Yeah, someone will but not ‘til I say so.” He stepped over her body and examined her face in the dark. “You could pass for one a’mine. You could. You’re too old, though. I spent too many years with my kind, too many years healin’ from my kind before I started leavin’ kids up and down the seaboard.” He laid a hand against her forehead and then stroked her cheek. “You said your daddy’s dead and I believe you. You’re not one a’my kind. You were lookin’ for one of my kind. I always thought maybe there was more of us. It’s been hard trackin’ them down. Should’ve been easy. They were sittin’ right there, actin’ normal all this time… and now I have a bargainin’ chip.”
TBC
Lauren explored the city with her new GPS phone. It took her two days to get the courage to venture into the subway but she finally did it. She rode the train everywhere between shots.
That's where she saw him. He was riding the subway, checking his watch. He got off and she followed at a distance. He walked five blocks to a market. He slipped a day's worth of food into his bag without anyone catching on. He knocked over a crate and while its owner scrambled to rescue his fare, he slipped many bills from the till. She followed him down dark streets and creepy alleyways.
Then she lost him. It was dark and the shadows were thick. Sighing, she used her phone to get her back on track. If Max had been in the city, he would have given her a call. It was probably just a lookalike but just barely.
--
Liz bit her lip as she listened to the gushing on the other end of the line. Tears flooded her eyes and she was given the details on the proposal. “Kat, I am so happy for you.”
“Is that Kat?” Max spun around where he was getting ready for bed. His wife nodded. “Did he ask her?”
“You knew?” Liz screeched and threw a pillow at her husband.
“Dad knew?” Kat repeated.
“She said yes, right?” Max clutched the pillow.
“Of course she did.” Liz wiped at her eyes and pulled him down next to her. “When did he ask?”
“Last night but we were too busy until now to spread the news.” Kat laughed.
“Congratulations, sweetie.” Max called into the phone.
“We aren’t ready to discuss the whens and wheres. We’ll come up with that after Alex’s wedding.”
“Okay, sweetie.” Liz nodded to the phone. “We’ll talk later.” Liz said her goodbyes and hung up the phone before smacking her husband with the other pillow on the bed. “How could you not tell me?”
“Will made me promise.” He stared at his wife. “He asked for my blessing.”
“He did?” She sank down on the edge of the bed. “Max… oh… my babies are growing up too fast.”
“No, they’re not. They’re right on schedule. I promise.” He pulled her into her arms. “We’re paying for this one, aren’t we.”
“Yes.” Liz laughed at his pained expression. “It is our duty as the family of the bride to do much of the work… Max… Will doesn’t have family.”
“He has us.”
--
Beth stared out her window. The rain hadn’t let up all night. One more day until she could see Gabriel. One more night without him and then she could see him. He would make the whispers in her head go away. He would silence the nightmares of people being murdered. He would wrap his arms around her and make her forget she was an alien.
{Sensations are just that. They are fleeting and then what? The weekend will end and then there’s the waiting through classes and homework and five long days until Friday.} Not even her own mind agreed with her these days. “I just need someone to be on my side.”
She leaned her head against the window and touched the raindrops on the window. Each drop flew out vertically and bounced off the roof. She sighed deeply and let the rain fall on the window once more. Her finger touched the glass and it cracked in a wide spider web. She lifted her finger and the glow from her hands heated the glass, soothing the cracks and setting them back into place. It was easy. Almost effortless, barely a thought to put it into motion. {Like pie, nothing to it.} “Nothing to it.”
--
Lovely day. Liz rubbed her arms as she stared out the window of her empty classroom. The students would be in any minute to disrupt the quiet. The storm had seemed to blow in out of nowhere. When they started filing in, it felt more normal but Liz didn’t like the feel of the day.
--
Lauren frowned when she saw the side of his face in the subway car. He ducked out and she moved forward. "Dr. Evans?" Lauren called out and nearly ran over six people to be sure. "Dr. Evans!"
The dark head of hair continued farther through the crowds. She struggled up the stairwell onto the street in her high heels. Stupid shoot and cute shoes. She caught the side profile again when he darted between cars to cross the busy street. Skirting the cars and leaping precariously onto the curb, Lauren grabbed his arm. "Max!"
The face that greeted her was not that of her beloved 'uncle' Max but it might have been if Max had ever seen war or been severely injured somehow and been unable to heal himself. "I'm sorry… sorry, I thought you were someone else." She stammered as she backed away. "Sorry."
The corner of his misshapen mouth turned up. "Not ev’ry day I get a hot young thang chasin’ me down six blocks in a bad neighborhood."
Her eyes went wide as she took a good look at her immediate atmosphere. She had followed him much further than she thought she had.
"From the look a’you, you got off the train ‘bout five stops too early and for this mug? I'm flattered." His good eye winked. "I’m told that from this side, I look like Tom Cruise but I bet you don't know who that is. This side, they say looks like a spider web." He grabbed her and yanked her into an alley, gripping her head between his hands. "Tell me you saw a Tom Cruise-lookin’ motherfucker? Where s’he?"
"No, I just…"
“Where the fuck is he?”
“I just thought you looked like someone I knew. I made a mistake.” She tried to twist out of his grasp but he only lifted her up until her feet didn’t touch the ground anymore.
“I sin-cerely doubt you just made a mistake. Try again.”
“I swear it. I swear it. It was a mistake.”
“Tell me who he is. This guy you thought I looked like from my photagenic side.”
Her face hurt, her throat burned but Lauren knew she had to do what she could to protect what she wasn’t supposed to know. “My dad.”
“How old’re you? 19?”
“22”
“Not one a’mine.” He sneered at her, lowering her slightly to get a good look into her face. “But I don’t always remember this shit.”
“You’re not my dad. My dad’s dead.” She gasped out, tears starting to slip down her face. “I swear it. I was chasing a ghost. I promise.”
“You call your dad by his name?” He laughed lowly. “The last one they sent after me… I told ‘im to fuck off pretty hard. Do you know how hard?” She shook her head as much as she could with his grip so firm on her face. “He’s just bones in the sewer now.”
“It was a mistake. I promise. Please, let me go.” She felt relief wash through her when he released one hand but it settled over her throat, holding her up with the one hand while the other began to glow and hovered over her eyes. “Please. I’m just an actress. I don’t know anything.”
“An actress, huh. Figures. Pretty lil thing like you.” He tilted his head at her. "Close your eyes sweetheart. I've got some diggin’ to do."
"Torture me." She whispered, her body relaxed, her eyes resigned. "I won't say." She felt the stone coming over her. The hardness that had helped her survive those six years in hell. "There's nothing you can do to me that hasn't already been done."
"Well, I can come up with somethin’ you ain't seen." His glowing hand settled over her eyes.
--
Beth’s jaw hurt. But in a good way. Sore from too much kissing. Her fingers hurt from gripping too hard. Her leg was nearly asleep from bearing the weight of a grinding pelvis. Sliding her hands beneath his shirt, she paused in her exploration. His dad was home.
Gabe’s mouth wandered away from her mouth, seeking the tender flesh of her throat. His hips bucked against her but his hands never slipped underneath her blouse. The threat of an opening door was just enough to keep them from going too far. It could happen at any moment. There were pervy teenage boys and a too naïve little girl.
The rap on the door made them put some space between their overheating bodies just a moment or two before the door opened. “Gabe, Dad wants to know if you want ice cream with the rest of us.”
“Not now, brat.” Gabriel griped and buried his face in the pillow.
“He said ‘no’ Dad!” Eva called back to her father.
“Tell him we’ll be back in an hour.” The voice called back.
“I heard you!” Gabriel called out before his sister could relay the message.
“Maybe less!” Agustin called out. “Eva! Let’s go.”
When Eva bounded away to absorb all the attention she craved from her father, Gabe turned to his girlfriend. She raised an eyebrow at him and shrugged. He only shook his head at her and waited for the sound of the front door shutting. “We don’t have time for what I want to do to you.”
“Tomorrow. I’m all yours.”
“Maybe. The boys are going to the dance… Dad’s taking Eva to a movie.”
“You see.” She pulled him down to her. “My plan is unfolding before us. No interruptions… just you and me and a little time.”
--
David watched the guys collide on the field. He was slightly envious. He wanted to fit in. He wanted to be popular. He wanted to be normal. He didn’t want to be the kid that guy kidnapped anymore. He didn’t want to be the brother of that crazy girl anymore. But he loved his family, he loved his sister. He had a few friends but most people steered clear. Was it too much to ask to be able to have a normal life?
The football team was getting creamed, and on Homecoming of all games. Davey didn’t honestly know if he had any football talent but he wanted to be able to try. Not to be the butt of jokes in the locker room because his family belonged to a cult or something stupid or because he wasn’t allowed physicals the way everyone else was.
“Hey cutie!” Donna Jo called up from the railing.
“Hey.” David nodded.
“Do me a huge favor. The ladies are thirsty.” She held out her hand when he stood to hear what she had to say. “Four diet cokes, two sprites, three waters.” She dropped a handful of bills and change into his hands.
“No problem.”
“Thanks a bunch, cutie. We really appreciate it.” She pinched his cheek before dropping back to the asphalt to rejoin the rest of the cheerleaders.
That was why he liked her so much. Donna Jo didn’t treat him like a freak. She never had, not even when she wasn’t friends with Beth anymore. David nodded to a few people while he waited in line. They nodded back but they turned to their friends with a Look. Donna Jo had never done that to him.
--
Beth stared at her parents where they were cuddled on the couch watching the news about how the team had done. Her father was muttering about quarterbacks and halfbacks. {None of that even matters.} She leaned in the doorway and stared at him. He acted like he loved her. There was nothing she could point to that would suggest otherwise but then, why would he suspect that she had murdered someone? She had tried to remember but nothing was there. A big blank. Emptiness where time should be. {Then again, time is relative.}
“Beth?” He looked up and frowned at her. “Everything okay?”
“Fine. I’m tired.”
“Are you driving Davey to the dance tomorrow?” Liz turned to face her daughter.
“I’m not going to the dance.” She shook her head and moved through the room to the kitchen. She was pulling out a bottle of water when her father appeared behind her. “I’m going over to Gabriel’s tomorrow.”
“Why aren’t you going to your senior homecoming?” He crossed his arms.
“Because.”
“Beth.”
“Look. I’m this big freak at school. It doesn’t bother me what they think about me. I honestly don’t care… but they’re gonna find out that Davey is my brother and they’re gonna give him hell and it’ll be because of me.” She lifted her eyes to her father. “I didn’t mean to do any of those things I did but I did and now he’ll suffer because I’m the freak in the freaky family.”
Max reached out and pulled her close. “Don’t worry about them. It’s… noble to take care of your family but… Davey is not ashamed to be your brother.”
“Davey’s thoughts aren’t exactly about his sister, anyway.” She forced out a laugh.
“I can hope and pray that he’s being a gentleman, right?”
“He’s still the big V, Dad.” She mock-punched him in the gut.
“Are you?” Max narrowed his eyes at his daughter.
“Please, have some faith, man.” {Liar.}
He squeezed her shoulders. “Promise me that Kat and Dan’s kids will be older than yours.”
“Ugh. Dad.” She started to go but he pulled her back. “What?”
“You’re not a freak. Certainly not the freakiest one in the family.” He murmured into her hair.
“Oh no?” She tilted her head back to look at him. “Then who is? You?”
He lowered his voice. “Mom.”
“Yeah, right. She’s the most normal person in this family.”
“Which makes her the freak.”
“I heard that!” Liz called into the kitchen.
“You’re right. She’s a total Marilyn.” Beth giggled.
“But that’s her charm. She’s also the strongest in this family. We’d fall apart without her.” Max kissed his daughter’s head.
“You’re probably right.”
“Go to bed.”
“Night, Dad.”
--
“You are so helpful. I really appreciate it.” Donna Jo called over as she rounded up the garbage from the post-game celebration. Loss or not, it was still homecoming. “We’re heading over to Mitch’s for the party, you coming?”
“Ah… I…” David lowered his eyes to the trash bag in his hands. “Maybe not.”
“Come on. Beth used to go, I think.” Donna Jo had to think about it and she couldn’t remember if Beth had ever been to any of the parties.
“It’s just… My dad has his rules and I can’t drive yet, so…”
“Okay. Well, I will pick you up tomorrow. So look pretty for me.”
--
Lauren stared into the darkness, she could barely make out his form but she knew he was there. He had done something to her. What, she had no clue but something that had left her head throbbing and her body weak. She could hear him moving sometimes but she didn’t dare call out.
“You didn’t eat your dinner, sweetheart.”
“I’m not hungry.” She bit out, softly.
“Aw, you’re not one a’ them anorexics, are ya? I hate it when I find out those pretty girls are empty inside.”
“Someone will come for me.”
“Yeah, someone will but not ‘til I say so.” He stepped over her body and examined her face in the dark. “You could pass for one a’mine. You could. You’re too old, though. I spent too many years with my kind, too many years healin’ from my kind before I started leavin’ kids up and down the seaboard.” He laid a hand against her forehead and then stroked her cheek. “You said your daddy’s dead and I believe you. You’re not one a’my kind. You were lookin’ for one of my kind. I always thought maybe there was more of us. It’s been hard trackin’ them down. Should’ve been easy. They were sittin’ right there, actin’ normal all this time… and now I have a bargainin’ chip.”
TBC
The Fate of Destiny Part 161
Beth grinned to herself as the buzz of her fading orgasm faded into the near quiet buzz of silence in her head. Gabriel rested heavily on top of her. She was ready to fall asleep but that wasn’t an option. His dad and sister would be back within the hour. Gabe took a deep breath, kissed her neck and shoved himself up on his elbows. When he slipped from inside her body, he frowned suddenly. Then his eyes went wide. “Gabriel?”
“Shit.” He cursed and shoved himself away from her. His hand slid down the length of his sticky penis and then he glanced around frantically. “Shit.”
“Gabriel,” She started to sit up but he raised his hands and motioned her to lie back down. “What is it?”
“Just… lay still. I lost the condom.”
“Lost the--”
“It’s… um… still…” Gabriel took a deep breath and laid his hand between her legs. “I’m sure I can just… reach in and get it…”
“Wait! Reach in and get it?” She repeated after him and sat up. “It came off?”
“I mean… We can go… to the emergency room, right?”
“No!” Beth’s eyes flew wide. “We cannot go to the emergency room. My dad is on-call tonight.”
“Just relax and let me try to get it.”
She shut her eyes and covered her face with her hands. “If my next meeting with a speculum comes earlier than scheduled, I swear that I will kill you.”
--
Michael scratched at his eyebrow. He could go yank Chuck out of the hotel but technically the kid owned it. He shifted his gaze to the guard manning the security feed. “Just call me if he tries to leave and he looks plastered.”
“You gotta be firm with boys.”
“This boy is richer than me and his parents names are on a plaque in the lobby. It’s a miracle he’s still living under my roof.” He took a deep breath. “But you’re right… I need to talk to him.”
“Listen, boss… I got three grown boys and six grown daughters… The girls are hell on earth but I don’t gotta tell you that. The boys… will listen… given incentive. When they hit 12, they start mouthing off but being firm is the key to keeping them near.”
“I’ll let him have tonight.”
“Homecoming?”
“Yeah.”
--
Max ate his salad, stabbing it viciously while the nurses hacked into a cake in the break room. One of his favorite nurses held a plate out to him. “Dr. Evans, join us.”
“Can’t.” He stuffed a forkful of romaine and spinach into his mouth. “Yum. Salad.”
“Come on. One piece.” She laughed as he shook his head. “Why not?”
“I like sex. I like it with my wife.” He stabbed at his salad. “I don’t get to have it when she’s pissed off at me for dumping my diet.”
“You aren’t allowed rewards?” Another nurse asked, nudging the male nurse next to her.
“Sure, as dispensed by my wife. My loving wife. She gave birth to my children and doesn’t kill them when they do bad things… I think I can stay away from cake for a while.” Max tossed his salad in the trash can when his beeper went off, saving him from the sight of things he couldn’t have.
“How old is the youngest?”
“14 and I pray is exactly where he said he’d be tonight.” Max shook his head and pushed through the doors. He had work to do.
--
David felt like such a dweeb. He was being invited to an after-party at the Roswell Imperial and he was turning it down. “I… can’t… go.”
“Aw, come on.” Donna Jo slid an arm beneath his arm to rub his back. “I’ll take care of you.”
“It’s just…” Davey cursed to himself. “My dad’s best friend is the head of security. He will narc me out.”
“It’s okay. We’ll get some fun in before the night’s over.” She promised and kissed his cheek. “Now… time to dance, my puppet.”
--
Liz stroked Sterling’s fur where he lay across her lap… engulfing her lap in heavy dog and fur. Her book wasn’t that interesting and she couldn’t keep her focus on it. When Oriel bustled in, Liz knew there was no way she’d be able to get up from under the dozing dog. Oriel just waved her off and set the baby’s carrier on the other couch and went about changing the dirty diaper. “Don’t get up. I don’t know how you manage that creature. He would eat me.”
“Stressed?” Liz asked, hearing her friend’s voice laced with heavy French undertones.
“That boy, he drives me crazy. I don’t know where he is. Maybe he’s at the dance, maybe he’s in a bar. I don’t know. Michael lets him run wild and I don’t want to yell at him or he may run away altogether.” Oriel picked up the little girl to set on the floor and looked to her friend. “Any advice?”
“I don’t know. Chuck’s pretty angry. His grades are good, not perfect but okay. He’s just adjusting badly. Maybe he’ll come around.”
“I don’t think we can wait around for maybe. He’s just… I don’t know.”
“His entire life has been uprooted in the last two years. He’s going to find himself and then he’ll be fine. Don’t be afraid to be firm with him or he’ll walk all over you.”
“I think we’re passed that.” Oriel hefted the much happier girl into her arms. “Need me to move the dog?”
“No, he’s fine. I talked to Amelia downtown.” Liz scratched the furry head. “He’s not a pure breed but she’s got something similar and she wants to breed him. I told her just once and we’re going to have him fixed. When the neighborhood dogs are in heat, even Davey can’t control him and we have to lock him in the dog run. And Sterling is usually such a good dog.”
“He’s been good to Davey.” Oriel nodded and kissed Laurie’s face when the girl patted her cheek. “The boys have been begging Michael for a dog for months but Laurie is too little. Maybe when she’s a little older. I wouldn’t want a dog as big as Sterling.” On cue, Laurie fought for the floor to toddle her wobbly way to Liz so she could pet the snoozing dog. When she tugged too hard on his fur, Sterling started but Liz’s hand on his head kept him still. “I don’t know how you do that. Keep him under control that way.”
“That was all Davey. Max told him that he had to be responsible for the dog and any incident could have him gone. So… Davey trained him well. I think it helped him gain control of his powers. It feels like they even hit their growth spurts together.” Liz sighed. “You should have seen him all dressed up for the dance. I’m afraid he’s going to get his heart broken tonight.”
“It happens to us all.”
--
Beth toweled off her hair, then put her clothes back on. She felt a little awkward as she joined Gabriel in the living room where he still wore that expression on his face. Apology. His aura bloomed before her eyes and it was interwoven with worry and embarrassment. “Feel better?” She only shrugged at his question. “Beth, I’m sorry… hopefully, this is the worst thing that can happen.”
She shoved her hands into her pockets and tried to force out all the extra voices that had crept in. He wasn’t keeping them away. She needed to get home and take a dose of her medication. [I don’t want to be all doped up!] “I think I should just go home.”
“Beth, come on.” Gabriel reached for her but she flinched at his touch.
When his hand came in contact with her arm, it was like nails on a chalkboard. The static hit a fever pitch. “I’ll call you when I get home. I just… need to get home.” She pushed passed him and rushed out the door but the voices and static grew louder. She stomped her way through town until she reached the cemetery. Careful not to be seen, she slipped over the fence and sat between two trees. The outside noise had never been so loud before. Had never been so constant. Folding her hands into the dying grass, she focused on the ground beneath her. Pressing her face against a tree, she willed it all to stop.
--
David laughed while he kept an arm around Donna Jo to steady her while they stomped in the line with everyone else. When the song ended, the dance began to break apart and David found himself dragged along to the parking lot where the Varsity guys were rehashing the sorrier parts of the game. David nodded to somebody who greeted him in passing. Then Donna Jo was under his arm once more, whispering her plan in his ear. They could get him to the party without letting him be seen by security. It worked.
The party ended up being him sitting in a chair while everyone milled around laughing at each other while drinking out of plastic cups. He lost track of Donna Jo, first thing inside the room. Suddenly she was back and sitting on his lap. “Cutie, we’re escaping the party of boredom and heading over to Campo’s house. His folks are gone and we don’t have to deal with the losers who crashed tonight.”
Davey only nodded. She was his ride and he’d rather be bored and hanging out with her, than bored and hanging out with his mom. The party had only been in the kitchen at Campo’s house. Beer and liquor and guys wrestling in the backyard. The house itself had been full of people making out, or other, in the bedrooms. When he had a drink tossed in his face by a drunken cheerleader, David excused himself to wash up. Maybe he didn’t want to be normal after all.
Escaping the party altogether, he slipped himself into Donna Jo’s backseat. She was blocked in by three other cars. He loosened his tie and shut his eyes. The music thumped through his bones, even outside, and just filled him up. His shirt was damp and his hair was sticky with alcohol. He’d love to explain that when he got home.
“David?” Donna Jo peered into the car. “You okay? You didn’t get wasted, did you?”
“I didn’t drink.” He shrugged and straightened up so she could join him in the too small backseat.
“Damn, cutie… I promised that you would have a good time and you aren’t…” She sighed heavily as she took a seat. It would be hours before she could get her car out of the driveway. “Well, I wasn’t either.”
“No?”
“I haven’t had fun at these things in a long while.” She busied herself with adjusting her skirts for comfort. Hiking them up around her knees, she propped her bare feet up on the front seats. “It’s a game. It really is. Say the right thing in the right tone with the right attitude and you become the king of high school… Lord knows you already got the looks, cutie.”
“Is that what you do?”
“With everyone except my real friends.” She shook her head when she laughed. “Beth doesn’t give a crap about this stuff and even though she hates cheerleaders, she likes me. I always wonder about that.”
“Beth doesn’t like a whole lot of people… so if she likes you… don’t question it.”
“Speaking from experience?”
“Yeah. I think she likes me.” He laughed to himself. “As much as she likes anyone.”
“No wonder. You’re a cool dude… razor even.”
David had wanted to ask all week but he still didn’t dare ask her why she asked him to homecoming over all the guys he’d watched flirt with her all week. “Did you see Greg do the keg stand?”
“Yes, what a moron.” She stared up at the ceiling for several long moments. “You know, they used to have this tradition… pretty much everywhere. They still might in some places but when a freshman joined a club or a sport or something… a senior would sort of mentor that freshman. Show him or her the ropes of that road, I guess.” She shrugged. “My mom says that when she was in high school, it had been subverted and turned into an excuse to torture each other through hazing and initiations. It was all meant to bond you together and create good memories and instill discipline and then it was turned into boozing and humiliation.”
“Doesn’t sound like fun.”
“No, it doesn’t… I like my mom’s first definition. Maybe that’s what I’m trying to do with you. I know that high school is crappy enough. I took some heat for what happened with Beth when we were kids. I want to help but it’s not like I feel sorry for you… I just… maybe want to make it easier.”
“It helps.” He reassured her. “It’s bad enough being me… I have to be her brother, too.”
“I forget sometimes.” Donna Jo admitted. “Was it ten years ago?”
“Yeah… I try not to think about it and sometimes people look at me and I know that they’re thinking about it.”
“How bad does that suck?”
“I dunno.” He shrugged. “Pretty bad.” Then he laughed. “Thanks for not making it a big deal.”
“I knew that it had happened but I was eight… it didn’t seem like a big deal to me when it did… I heard you were safe and that was the important part to me.” She shrugged and slid over to nudge his arm. “So, the party sucked, huh.”
“I don’t drink… I don’t get stupid…”
“We all get stupid… if we didn’t, we wouldn’t learn anything… and then what’s the point of being on Earth, huh?”
“Maybe.” He gave her a small smile. “Define stupid.”
“Stupid is me losing my virginity without telling the guy that I was a virgin… and not doing a thorough background check on the bastard first… not that the event sucked but the regret after the event sucked.”
“What about first kiss?”
“Awesome. No regrets. Jason Daniel Pruitt… moved away a week later but… wow.”
“Do you always talk this much when you drink?”
“I might.” They shared a laugh.
Then came the silence and the looks… then David did something stupid. He kissed her.
--
Beth woke in the cemetery. Silence. Her body felt weary. Her head throbbed but it was silent. At last. Shoving herself to her feet, she glanced around. The trees that had encircled her and kept her from being seen by the dumb ass cops… were dead. Petrified. The grass she had been laying on… blew away like dust on the breeze. Backing out of the little grove, she leaned on a tree… it turned to stone under her hand, at which point her headache vanished. She yanked her hands off it. She stumbled backward and her grace failed her when her heel caught in a divot. She landed against a headstone, knocking its flowers all over her. They withered and disintegrated into dust, taking away all weariness.
[Get up darlin’.] It seemed like her own thought. It felt familiar but something about the flavor was wrong. [I’ve somethin’ of yours. Find me and you get it back. Call out the dogs… and maybe what I got a’yours ain’t so much breathin’ when you get it back.]
--
David tried not to laugh when he walked in the door. He lightly stepped over and accepted the lick from Sterling. “Get up, go to bed. Good boy.” Sterling did as ordered and got off the couch and trotted to the stairs to wait for David. Then, lightly, David shook his mother awake. “Mom. Mom.”
“Hmm?”
“You’re free. Your bed is probably more comfortable.”
“Sweetie.” She smiled sleepily and took a deep breath. “How was the dance?”
“Fun.” He pulled her up and half-carried her to her room. “You need to command him not to lay on you like that.”
“It’s okay. He kept me company.”
“Mom, no more waiting up for us. You’re never going to get a good night’s sleep on that couch.”
“I’m fine.”
“Mom.” David threw back the sheets and laid her down on her side of the bed. “Dad gets off in three more hours. I know you’re going to want to get up but… he’s going to fall right asleep.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“So, don’t wake up for him.”
“Okay.”
“Mom?”
“Hmm?”
“Love you.”
“Love you, sweetie… go to bed… you missed your curfew.” Liz murmured though she had never opened her eyes further.
“So you noticed that?”
“I am all knowing. Go to bed.”
--
Max pulled his shirt over his head, then kicked off his shoes. His eyes were falling shut even as he was tossing his pants toward the closet. He crawled onto the bed next to Liz. She rolled over so their bellies touched, then slid her hands up his back. “You’re home.”
“Yeah, let’s go to sleep.” He buried his head in her hair, took a deep breath and jerked back. “You smell like dog.”
“Shut up. Go to sleep.”
Max’s breathing had just fallen into a deep rhythm when the phone rang.
--
Gabriel checked the time for the hundredth time. He hated going behind her back but she had said she was going to call him when she got home but the call had never come. Unable to sit on his hands anymore, he dialed the Evans and prayed that she had just forgotten or just been mad and that she was safe in her bed.
TBC
Beth grinned to herself as the buzz of her fading orgasm faded into the near quiet buzz of silence in her head. Gabriel rested heavily on top of her. She was ready to fall asleep but that wasn’t an option. His dad and sister would be back within the hour. Gabe took a deep breath, kissed her neck and shoved himself up on his elbows. When he slipped from inside her body, he frowned suddenly. Then his eyes went wide. “Gabriel?”
“Shit.” He cursed and shoved himself away from her. His hand slid down the length of his sticky penis and then he glanced around frantically. “Shit.”
“Gabriel,” She started to sit up but he raised his hands and motioned her to lie back down. “What is it?”
“Just… lay still. I lost the condom.”
“Lost the--”
“It’s… um… still…” Gabriel took a deep breath and laid his hand between her legs. “I’m sure I can just… reach in and get it…”
“Wait! Reach in and get it?” She repeated after him and sat up. “It came off?”
“I mean… We can go… to the emergency room, right?”
“No!” Beth’s eyes flew wide. “We cannot go to the emergency room. My dad is on-call tonight.”
“Just relax and let me try to get it.”
She shut her eyes and covered her face with her hands. “If my next meeting with a speculum comes earlier than scheduled, I swear that I will kill you.”
--
Michael scratched at his eyebrow. He could go yank Chuck out of the hotel but technically the kid owned it. He shifted his gaze to the guard manning the security feed. “Just call me if he tries to leave and he looks plastered.”
“You gotta be firm with boys.”
“This boy is richer than me and his parents names are on a plaque in the lobby. It’s a miracle he’s still living under my roof.” He took a deep breath. “But you’re right… I need to talk to him.”
“Listen, boss… I got three grown boys and six grown daughters… The girls are hell on earth but I don’t gotta tell you that. The boys… will listen… given incentive. When they hit 12, they start mouthing off but being firm is the key to keeping them near.”
“I’ll let him have tonight.”
“Homecoming?”
“Yeah.”
--
Max ate his salad, stabbing it viciously while the nurses hacked into a cake in the break room. One of his favorite nurses held a plate out to him. “Dr. Evans, join us.”
“Can’t.” He stuffed a forkful of romaine and spinach into his mouth. “Yum. Salad.”
“Come on. One piece.” She laughed as he shook his head. “Why not?”
“I like sex. I like it with my wife.” He stabbed at his salad. “I don’t get to have it when she’s pissed off at me for dumping my diet.”
“You aren’t allowed rewards?” Another nurse asked, nudging the male nurse next to her.
“Sure, as dispensed by my wife. My loving wife. She gave birth to my children and doesn’t kill them when they do bad things… I think I can stay away from cake for a while.” Max tossed his salad in the trash can when his beeper went off, saving him from the sight of things he couldn’t have.
“How old is the youngest?”
“14 and I pray is exactly where he said he’d be tonight.” Max shook his head and pushed through the doors. He had work to do.
--
David felt like such a dweeb. He was being invited to an after-party at the Roswell Imperial and he was turning it down. “I… can’t… go.”
“Aw, come on.” Donna Jo slid an arm beneath his arm to rub his back. “I’ll take care of you.”
“It’s just…” Davey cursed to himself. “My dad’s best friend is the head of security. He will narc me out.”
“It’s okay. We’ll get some fun in before the night’s over.” She promised and kissed his cheek. “Now… time to dance, my puppet.”
--
Liz stroked Sterling’s fur where he lay across her lap… engulfing her lap in heavy dog and fur. Her book wasn’t that interesting and she couldn’t keep her focus on it. When Oriel bustled in, Liz knew there was no way she’d be able to get up from under the dozing dog. Oriel just waved her off and set the baby’s carrier on the other couch and went about changing the dirty diaper. “Don’t get up. I don’t know how you manage that creature. He would eat me.”
“Stressed?” Liz asked, hearing her friend’s voice laced with heavy French undertones.
“That boy, he drives me crazy. I don’t know where he is. Maybe he’s at the dance, maybe he’s in a bar. I don’t know. Michael lets him run wild and I don’t want to yell at him or he may run away altogether.” Oriel picked up the little girl to set on the floor and looked to her friend. “Any advice?”
“I don’t know. Chuck’s pretty angry. His grades are good, not perfect but okay. He’s just adjusting badly. Maybe he’ll come around.”
“I don’t think we can wait around for maybe. He’s just… I don’t know.”
“His entire life has been uprooted in the last two years. He’s going to find himself and then he’ll be fine. Don’t be afraid to be firm with him or he’ll walk all over you.”
“I think we’re passed that.” Oriel hefted the much happier girl into her arms. “Need me to move the dog?”
“No, he’s fine. I talked to Amelia downtown.” Liz scratched the furry head. “He’s not a pure breed but she’s got something similar and she wants to breed him. I told her just once and we’re going to have him fixed. When the neighborhood dogs are in heat, even Davey can’t control him and we have to lock him in the dog run. And Sterling is usually such a good dog.”
“He’s been good to Davey.” Oriel nodded and kissed Laurie’s face when the girl patted her cheek. “The boys have been begging Michael for a dog for months but Laurie is too little. Maybe when she’s a little older. I wouldn’t want a dog as big as Sterling.” On cue, Laurie fought for the floor to toddle her wobbly way to Liz so she could pet the snoozing dog. When she tugged too hard on his fur, Sterling started but Liz’s hand on his head kept him still. “I don’t know how you do that. Keep him under control that way.”
“That was all Davey. Max told him that he had to be responsible for the dog and any incident could have him gone. So… Davey trained him well. I think it helped him gain control of his powers. It feels like they even hit their growth spurts together.” Liz sighed. “You should have seen him all dressed up for the dance. I’m afraid he’s going to get his heart broken tonight.”
“It happens to us all.”
--
Beth toweled off her hair, then put her clothes back on. She felt a little awkward as she joined Gabriel in the living room where he still wore that expression on his face. Apology. His aura bloomed before her eyes and it was interwoven with worry and embarrassment. “Feel better?” She only shrugged at his question. “Beth, I’m sorry… hopefully, this is the worst thing that can happen.”
She shoved her hands into her pockets and tried to force out all the extra voices that had crept in. He wasn’t keeping them away. She needed to get home and take a dose of her medication. [I don’t want to be all doped up!] “I think I should just go home.”
“Beth, come on.” Gabriel reached for her but she flinched at his touch.
When his hand came in contact with her arm, it was like nails on a chalkboard. The static hit a fever pitch. “I’ll call you when I get home. I just… need to get home.” She pushed passed him and rushed out the door but the voices and static grew louder. She stomped her way through town until she reached the cemetery. Careful not to be seen, she slipped over the fence and sat between two trees. The outside noise had never been so loud before. Had never been so constant. Folding her hands into the dying grass, she focused on the ground beneath her. Pressing her face against a tree, she willed it all to stop.
--
David laughed while he kept an arm around Donna Jo to steady her while they stomped in the line with everyone else. When the song ended, the dance began to break apart and David found himself dragged along to the parking lot where the Varsity guys were rehashing the sorrier parts of the game. David nodded to somebody who greeted him in passing. Then Donna Jo was under his arm once more, whispering her plan in his ear. They could get him to the party without letting him be seen by security. It worked.
The party ended up being him sitting in a chair while everyone milled around laughing at each other while drinking out of plastic cups. He lost track of Donna Jo, first thing inside the room. Suddenly she was back and sitting on his lap. “Cutie, we’re escaping the party of boredom and heading over to Campo’s house. His folks are gone and we don’t have to deal with the losers who crashed tonight.”
Davey only nodded. She was his ride and he’d rather be bored and hanging out with her, than bored and hanging out with his mom. The party had only been in the kitchen at Campo’s house. Beer and liquor and guys wrestling in the backyard. The house itself had been full of people making out, or other, in the bedrooms. When he had a drink tossed in his face by a drunken cheerleader, David excused himself to wash up. Maybe he didn’t want to be normal after all.
Escaping the party altogether, he slipped himself into Donna Jo’s backseat. She was blocked in by three other cars. He loosened his tie and shut his eyes. The music thumped through his bones, even outside, and just filled him up. His shirt was damp and his hair was sticky with alcohol. He’d love to explain that when he got home.
“David?” Donna Jo peered into the car. “You okay? You didn’t get wasted, did you?”
“I didn’t drink.” He shrugged and straightened up so she could join him in the too small backseat.
“Damn, cutie… I promised that you would have a good time and you aren’t…” She sighed heavily as she took a seat. It would be hours before she could get her car out of the driveway. “Well, I wasn’t either.”
“No?”
“I haven’t had fun at these things in a long while.” She busied herself with adjusting her skirts for comfort. Hiking them up around her knees, she propped her bare feet up on the front seats. “It’s a game. It really is. Say the right thing in the right tone with the right attitude and you become the king of high school… Lord knows you already got the looks, cutie.”
“Is that what you do?”
“With everyone except my real friends.” She shook her head when she laughed. “Beth doesn’t give a crap about this stuff and even though she hates cheerleaders, she likes me. I always wonder about that.”
“Beth doesn’t like a whole lot of people… so if she likes you… don’t question it.”
“Speaking from experience?”
“Yeah. I think she likes me.” He laughed to himself. “As much as she likes anyone.”
“No wonder. You’re a cool dude… razor even.”
David had wanted to ask all week but he still didn’t dare ask her why she asked him to homecoming over all the guys he’d watched flirt with her all week. “Did you see Greg do the keg stand?”
“Yes, what a moron.” She stared up at the ceiling for several long moments. “You know, they used to have this tradition… pretty much everywhere. They still might in some places but when a freshman joined a club or a sport or something… a senior would sort of mentor that freshman. Show him or her the ropes of that road, I guess.” She shrugged. “My mom says that when she was in high school, it had been subverted and turned into an excuse to torture each other through hazing and initiations. It was all meant to bond you together and create good memories and instill discipline and then it was turned into boozing and humiliation.”
“Doesn’t sound like fun.”
“No, it doesn’t… I like my mom’s first definition. Maybe that’s what I’m trying to do with you. I know that high school is crappy enough. I took some heat for what happened with Beth when we were kids. I want to help but it’s not like I feel sorry for you… I just… maybe want to make it easier.”
“It helps.” He reassured her. “It’s bad enough being me… I have to be her brother, too.”
“I forget sometimes.” Donna Jo admitted. “Was it ten years ago?”
“Yeah… I try not to think about it and sometimes people look at me and I know that they’re thinking about it.”
“How bad does that suck?”
“I dunno.” He shrugged. “Pretty bad.” Then he laughed. “Thanks for not making it a big deal.”
“I knew that it had happened but I was eight… it didn’t seem like a big deal to me when it did… I heard you were safe and that was the important part to me.” She shrugged and slid over to nudge his arm. “So, the party sucked, huh.”
“I don’t drink… I don’t get stupid…”
“We all get stupid… if we didn’t, we wouldn’t learn anything… and then what’s the point of being on Earth, huh?”
“Maybe.” He gave her a small smile. “Define stupid.”
“Stupid is me losing my virginity without telling the guy that I was a virgin… and not doing a thorough background check on the bastard first… not that the event sucked but the regret after the event sucked.”
“What about first kiss?”
“Awesome. No regrets. Jason Daniel Pruitt… moved away a week later but… wow.”
“Do you always talk this much when you drink?”
“I might.” They shared a laugh.
Then came the silence and the looks… then David did something stupid. He kissed her.
--
Beth woke in the cemetery. Silence. Her body felt weary. Her head throbbed but it was silent. At last. Shoving herself to her feet, she glanced around. The trees that had encircled her and kept her from being seen by the dumb ass cops… were dead. Petrified. The grass she had been laying on… blew away like dust on the breeze. Backing out of the little grove, she leaned on a tree… it turned to stone under her hand, at which point her headache vanished. She yanked her hands off it. She stumbled backward and her grace failed her when her heel caught in a divot. She landed against a headstone, knocking its flowers all over her. They withered and disintegrated into dust, taking away all weariness.
[Get up darlin’.] It seemed like her own thought. It felt familiar but something about the flavor was wrong. [I’ve somethin’ of yours. Find me and you get it back. Call out the dogs… and maybe what I got a’yours ain’t so much breathin’ when you get it back.]
--
David tried not to laugh when he walked in the door. He lightly stepped over and accepted the lick from Sterling. “Get up, go to bed. Good boy.” Sterling did as ordered and got off the couch and trotted to the stairs to wait for David. Then, lightly, David shook his mother awake. “Mom. Mom.”
“Hmm?”
“You’re free. Your bed is probably more comfortable.”
“Sweetie.” She smiled sleepily and took a deep breath. “How was the dance?”
“Fun.” He pulled her up and half-carried her to her room. “You need to command him not to lay on you like that.”
“It’s okay. He kept me company.”
“Mom, no more waiting up for us. You’re never going to get a good night’s sleep on that couch.”
“I’m fine.”
“Mom.” David threw back the sheets and laid her down on her side of the bed. “Dad gets off in three more hours. I know you’re going to want to get up but… he’s going to fall right asleep.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“So, don’t wake up for him.”
“Okay.”
“Mom?”
“Hmm?”
“Love you.”
“Love you, sweetie… go to bed… you missed your curfew.” Liz murmured though she had never opened her eyes further.
“So you noticed that?”
“I am all knowing. Go to bed.”
--
Max pulled his shirt over his head, then kicked off his shoes. His eyes were falling shut even as he was tossing his pants toward the closet. He crawled onto the bed next to Liz. She rolled over so their bellies touched, then slid her hands up his back. “You’re home.”
“Yeah, let’s go to sleep.” He buried his head in her hair, took a deep breath and jerked back. “You smell like dog.”
“Shut up. Go to sleep.”
Max’s breathing had just fallen into a deep rhythm when the phone rang.
--
Gabriel checked the time for the hundredth time. He hated going behind her back but she had said she was going to call him when she got home but the call had never come. Unable to sit on his hands anymore, he dialed the Evans and prayed that she had just forgotten or just been mad and that she was safe in her bed.
TBC
Re: The Fate of Destiny Part 162 CC/UC ADULT 05/07/09
The Fate of Destiny Part 162
Max sipped his coffee and stared through the windows but didn't see anything on the other side. He had tried focusing on her but he didn't sense her. Liz was trying, reaching for whatever had allowed her to contact Davey when he'd been kidnapped. Liz sagged against the kitchen table. "There's nothing."
"She's probably blocking us out."
"Where would she go?" Liz wiped at her eyes. "Why would she go? I thought she was doing so well, now."
David walked into the kitchen, scratching his head and Sterling trailing along behind him. The dog held the leash in his mouth and sat next to Liz, laying his head in her lap. "What's going on?"
"Nothing." Max lied. "Walk the dog."
"I was just getting some water." He pulled open the refrigerator to retrieve said item.
"We'll talk about you being grounded later." Liz told him softly.
"Okay." David rolled his eyes and clapped his hands. Sterling obediently ran to his side to have his leash put on. "Good boy."
Max waited until after the front door had shut. "What time did he get home?"
"Late." Liz sighed. It seemed trivial to punish him when his sister was MIA but she couldn't think of anything else to do. "She never came home last night. Gabriel said that they fought?"
"Not exactly. It was like pulling teeth to get him to admit to his part in anything." He slid into a seat and set his cup down. "He just said they had some awkward moments and she shut down on him. Said she'd call him when she got home but she never called."
"Max, do you think she's been sensing something? I mean, she'd never just take off. Right?"
--
Beth rode in the truck across Texas. She had been convincing in needing a ride to Dallas. It would be easier to catch a plane from there than from anywhere near Roswell. She would manipulate a terminal to get herself a ticket once she got to the airport… then she was a few hours from her destination.
--
David frowned as he sat down to lunch. "Did Beth take off already?"
Liz nearly burst into tears. She turned away from them to collect herself.
"She's at Gabriel's right?" The blood slowly drained from his face. "She left a note, right?"
--
Max cursed as he got Lauren's voicemail again. "Lauren, it's Max, again. I know you're out having a blast but… I… I need to know if Beth has talked to you at all lately. She's… Well, she didn't come home last night and… please call me when you get this message."
--
David tossed the ball at the fence and caught it before Sterling could drool all over it. He was so not in the mood for Donna Jo when she strolled her way into the yard. "Hey cutie."
"Hey." He muttered and caught Sterling before he stuck his nose somewhere it didn't belong. "Be still, Sterling."
"It's okay. He's so big." She knelt to lavish the dog with a belly rub. "I remember when you first got him, I could carry him around. I'll bet he could carry me around now." When David didn't smile, she sighed. "Are you mad at me?"
"Why would I be mad at you?"
"For last night." She looked up at him. "Look, Davey, it's not about you or the kiss."
"I'm not mad."
"You sound mad."
"God, my crappy mood is not about you!" He exploded at her. "I took the opportunity! I know you didn't like me that way. I wanted my first real kiss from you. That's all it was." He calmed himself down and took a deep breath. She shifted on her feet uneasily and so, David couldn't hold it in any longer. "Beth ran away."
"She what?"
--
Max lit the candles and tried to focus. If he could tap into the abilities, he could find his daughter. He thought about the power he'd felt when she had first emerged from the chamber. How it had washed over him in waves of unadulterated power… that he had been ultimately been unable to hold on to. Focusing on the candle, he remembered how he had felt the day that Beth had guided him to his former self's memories. He held on to the feeling. Then he thought about the day she had come out of the chamber and he had been so in tune with her, had known what she needed even though she was unconscious.
--
Power. Like she'd never felt before. Alien and pure; A flavor like her father's but much stronger and confident. She followed the trail of power. She had hours yet before her plane landed but already her blood was humming in her veins.
--
Kathy held herself when her fiancé stormed out of the room to do his job. She wondered if it was because of his assignment or his attachment to her little sister. It was a rare thing that pulled this kind of aggression out of her mild-mannered G-man.
--
Donna Jo listened to Dr. Evans. Answered all of his questions to the best of her ability and it kind of killed her to see her favorite adult in such a distraught manner. She loved her parents and she was sure that they loved her but she never got to see this kind of demonstration of that love. Her family was very repressed and internal with their affection… which probably said loads about the way she handled herself in relationships but she was not going to think about that right now. Not with her best friend run off to who knows where having told no one. Not her best friend, not her boyfriend, not her favorite new cousin. Not a soul. When she saw Bethany Evans again, she was going to slap her for putting her family through all this after everything that had happened their whole lives.
--
In the shadows, Beth could see her. Used her powers to release her from the wall. Used her mind to guide Lauren up to the street and erased the last few days from her mind. It was the least she could do, spare her the horror of something she shouldn't know anything about. She scanned the shadows. He was here. Waiting.
Then he appeared, almost out of thin air. Eyebrow cocked and energy swimming in his aura. He was confident but the longer she looked at him, the more agitated his aura became. He looked like her father but only in that genetic way. Like her father looked like his predecessors and their kids looked like them. Of course, the scarring had something to do with that. Then his aura began roiling in anger.
Beth continued to stare at him, studying his differences from her father. "Don't fucking stare at my face! Don't think I won't kill you!"
"I'm not staring at your face." Beth tilted her head. "I'm reading your aura."
She stepped closer, her eyes finally running over his scarred face. Then her fingers traced the scar tissue along the left side of his face. Dark specks beneath the skin in pillowy pockets of tissue. He swallowed down a lump in his throat. "Your mom's a beautiful lady?"
"Is that a comment on me?" She followed the spider web of white lines with her fingertips closing her eyes and tracing them by feel. She didn't flinch when she felt his rough hands on her face, tracing her lips and her cheekbones.
"You pretty on the outside but on the inside…"
"Dad thinks she's damn near perfect."
"So she's beautiful in here." He placed a hand on each of her temples. "If she captured the interest of an Antarian."
"He says from the first day he saw her."
"That's the way it happens."
"In the third grade."
"That's new to me. Weirdo."
"Are you coming on to me or something?"
"No. I got kids, too. Nine of 'em."
"Where are they?"
"Wanna see?"
He took her head in his hands and suddenly she couldn't see him standing right in front of her. The colors whirled by. Then she saw a boy. Older than her. Maybe 20, lifting a box in a warehouse, his name tag read Nat Baker. The colors whirled again. Another boy. 18, tossing a ball through a hoop. Then a girl roughly the same age, making out with another girl. Boy, 16, climbing out of his girl's bed. Girl, 14, taking care of her younger siblings. Boy, 13, in detention. Girl, 10, in class. Boy, 8, getting picked on in the schoolyard. Boy, 5, unlocking his apartment door and letting himself in. Baby girl, sucking on her thumb in a crib.
"There's 10." Beth blinked and she was back again.
"Just found out about the baby." He released her and clenched his fists at his sides. "I'll get those punks for screwing with my kid."
"Kind of twisted. They don't know you but you go beating up their bullies for them… and what a ho… all those kids with different mothers."
"So. Your dad ain't no saint. I've seen your sister. In the blood, darling. Old man was a ho, too. Nicotine habit. Dad smoke?"
"What's your point?"
"Some things can't be changed. Daddy can't change his spots no matter how hard he tries." He took a drag on his cigarette and handed it to her.
Beth held it between her fingers. She'd never picked up his cigarettes before. Dad had never left them where the kids could find them. Had never once encouraged it or made excuses for his choice. None of the kids had ever smoked. Mom forbade it and Mom was law.
"You don't want to inhale the first time. You might choke anyway but it's the obligation of a veteran smoker to warn the newbie."
Clumsily, she grasped the filter, then put it to her lips. The puff was short and she had to react quickly to keep the smoke from shooting down her throat. She coughed and gasped, which made her inhale and choke further.
"Funny how it always happens that way." Zan mused. "Some goes in and you try to stop it and you end up taking it all down and hacking for days afterward."
"You think it's funny?" Beth tossed the cigarette away, ignoring his annoyance.
"Didn't like it?"
"I think my mom is right. Filthy, disgusting habit."
"Aw… Do you miss your Mommy? Always telling you what to do. Always on your back. Hates your clothes. Hates your music. Hates your boyfriend. I don't give a fuck who you fuck so long as the bad guys don't kill me."
"Is that all you really care about? The big bad leaving you alone? Seriously. No one even knows you're still alive. My dad thinks that you're dead. Non-issue… the whole lot of you."
"Well. They are." He rubbed his belly and pulled out another cigarette. "I mean, I could only let them get away with killing me for so long. You can't let your loved ones get away with shit like that cause then they think that they can get away with it all the time."
"Can they kill you more than once?"
"Don't give me lip. She killed me twice. Maybe she'll learn she shouldn't try to take what is mine."
"And what's that? A throne that's not yours? It's my dad's now. Are you going to kill him? Cause I can't let you do that."
"Do you know who you are?" Zan circled the teen, taking in all the nuances of her aura. The bits from her fathers, the bits from her mother. All the possibilities roiling together to create the one perfect Antarian. "We've waited eons for you to be born."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you. Born of a king with the powers of the Four. With all the powers of the world. The power to make or break the universe. Mother used to put me to bed with stories of the Sleeper. She said the Sleeper would come through me but she always thought you'd be a boy. Kind of sexist, huh. Gotta love her though. She is my mother."
"Like you feel love."
"You think I can't?"
"No. Look at all the brats you have. You think I think you loved any of their mothers?"
"That's right. You're young. First love is all you know. I'm over it. Lust is good for a while but I love my kids. That's where the real stuff is. Not with the opposite sex, pining and whining cause it hurts so good or whatever shit people tell each other when the sweat dries. It's about devotion. It's about something bigger than yourself. Teen love is about hormones and getting rocks off."
"My parents love each other."
"Right." He rolled his eyes at her.
"They do."
"Uh-huh. Your mom. She's hot. Enough said."
"So why is my dad so fetching for my mom?"
"Alien sex. Nothing beats it when the hormones are raging."
"You're disgusting."
"I tell it like it is." He leaned in. "Anyway, you wouldn't know. All you have are second hand thoughts and the fantasies of a virgin."
"You don't know that."
"Don't I? You broadcast enough. Fast and furious gropin's of the inexperienced." He gripped her by the neck. "Didn't you like my presents?"
"Presents?"
"I did them all while I could. Sliced up the old man good. Fucked up the pervs. I was working on the boy when they knocked me out. I think I got the girl, too. You didn't want that baby born, huh."
"You did that?" All her bravado faded as all the pieces started to come together.
"Yeah. I did it. Peace offering."
"I didn't do it."
"No. You don't know how. Yet." He pulled her close against him. "You have a lot to learn about yourself but we got time. I'll teach you what your daddy was too scared to remember. I got you, now."
Beth nodded and moved with him to a worn couch hidden deep in the darkest corner of the room. She could use a rest. She'd been on the go for two days now. She curled up in his arms and let the night seep in. Sleeping as sound as she never had before in her life. Quiet as that time she was in the box. Warmth surrounding her as she hadn't had since she was a child asleep in her father's arms. A lullaby in a tongue she didn't know.
Zan lulled her to sleep. Child like to his but stronger. None of his ten were so strong. So aware. Didn't know what they were. She sighed deeply and fell into the deepest sleep. He laid his head down against hers and shut out the world, his powers keeping them warm. Just a few moments of energy over a year ago but it was all he had needed to track her down and begin his search. To find a way to get her to him. Now, he could begin.
TBC
Max sipped his coffee and stared through the windows but didn't see anything on the other side. He had tried focusing on her but he didn't sense her. Liz was trying, reaching for whatever had allowed her to contact Davey when he'd been kidnapped. Liz sagged against the kitchen table. "There's nothing."
"She's probably blocking us out."
"Where would she go?" Liz wiped at her eyes. "Why would she go? I thought she was doing so well, now."
David walked into the kitchen, scratching his head and Sterling trailing along behind him. The dog held the leash in his mouth and sat next to Liz, laying his head in her lap. "What's going on?"
"Nothing." Max lied. "Walk the dog."
"I was just getting some water." He pulled open the refrigerator to retrieve said item.
"We'll talk about you being grounded later." Liz told him softly.
"Okay." David rolled his eyes and clapped his hands. Sterling obediently ran to his side to have his leash put on. "Good boy."
Max waited until after the front door had shut. "What time did he get home?"
"Late." Liz sighed. It seemed trivial to punish him when his sister was MIA but she couldn't think of anything else to do. "She never came home last night. Gabriel said that they fought?"
"Not exactly. It was like pulling teeth to get him to admit to his part in anything." He slid into a seat and set his cup down. "He just said they had some awkward moments and she shut down on him. Said she'd call him when she got home but she never called."
"Max, do you think she's been sensing something? I mean, she'd never just take off. Right?"
--
Beth rode in the truck across Texas. She had been convincing in needing a ride to Dallas. It would be easier to catch a plane from there than from anywhere near Roswell. She would manipulate a terminal to get herself a ticket once she got to the airport… then she was a few hours from her destination.
--
David frowned as he sat down to lunch. "Did Beth take off already?"
Liz nearly burst into tears. She turned away from them to collect herself.
"She's at Gabriel's right?" The blood slowly drained from his face. "She left a note, right?"
--
Max cursed as he got Lauren's voicemail again. "Lauren, it's Max, again. I know you're out having a blast but… I… I need to know if Beth has talked to you at all lately. She's… Well, she didn't come home last night and… please call me when you get this message."
--
David tossed the ball at the fence and caught it before Sterling could drool all over it. He was so not in the mood for Donna Jo when she strolled her way into the yard. "Hey cutie."
"Hey." He muttered and caught Sterling before he stuck his nose somewhere it didn't belong. "Be still, Sterling."
"It's okay. He's so big." She knelt to lavish the dog with a belly rub. "I remember when you first got him, I could carry him around. I'll bet he could carry me around now." When David didn't smile, she sighed. "Are you mad at me?"
"Why would I be mad at you?"
"For last night." She looked up at him. "Look, Davey, it's not about you or the kiss."
"I'm not mad."
"You sound mad."
"God, my crappy mood is not about you!" He exploded at her. "I took the opportunity! I know you didn't like me that way. I wanted my first real kiss from you. That's all it was." He calmed himself down and took a deep breath. She shifted on her feet uneasily and so, David couldn't hold it in any longer. "Beth ran away."
"She what?"
--
Max lit the candles and tried to focus. If he could tap into the abilities, he could find his daughter. He thought about the power he'd felt when she had first emerged from the chamber. How it had washed over him in waves of unadulterated power… that he had been ultimately been unable to hold on to. Focusing on the candle, he remembered how he had felt the day that Beth had guided him to his former self's memories. He held on to the feeling. Then he thought about the day she had come out of the chamber and he had been so in tune with her, had known what she needed even though she was unconscious.
--
Power. Like she'd never felt before. Alien and pure; A flavor like her father's but much stronger and confident. She followed the trail of power. She had hours yet before her plane landed but already her blood was humming in her veins.
--
Kathy held herself when her fiancé stormed out of the room to do his job. She wondered if it was because of his assignment or his attachment to her little sister. It was a rare thing that pulled this kind of aggression out of her mild-mannered G-man.
--
Donna Jo listened to Dr. Evans. Answered all of his questions to the best of her ability and it kind of killed her to see her favorite adult in such a distraught manner. She loved her parents and she was sure that they loved her but she never got to see this kind of demonstration of that love. Her family was very repressed and internal with their affection… which probably said loads about the way she handled herself in relationships but she was not going to think about that right now. Not with her best friend run off to who knows where having told no one. Not her best friend, not her boyfriend, not her favorite new cousin. Not a soul. When she saw Bethany Evans again, she was going to slap her for putting her family through all this after everything that had happened their whole lives.
--
In the shadows, Beth could see her. Used her powers to release her from the wall. Used her mind to guide Lauren up to the street and erased the last few days from her mind. It was the least she could do, spare her the horror of something she shouldn't know anything about. She scanned the shadows. He was here. Waiting.
Then he appeared, almost out of thin air. Eyebrow cocked and energy swimming in his aura. He was confident but the longer she looked at him, the more agitated his aura became. He looked like her father but only in that genetic way. Like her father looked like his predecessors and their kids looked like them. Of course, the scarring had something to do with that. Then his aura began roiling in anger.
Beth continued to stare at him, studying his differences from her father. "Don't fucking stare at my face! Don't think I won't kill you!"
"I'm not staring at your face." Beth tilted her head. "I'm reading your aura."
She stepped closer, her eyes finally running over his scarred face. Then her fingers traced the scar tissue along the left side of his face. Dark specks beneath the skin in pillowy pockets of tissue. He swallowed down a lump in his throat. "Your mom's a beautiful lady?"
"Is that a comment on me?" She followed the spider web of white lines with her fingertips closing her eyes and tracing them by feel. She didn't flinch when she felt his rough hands on her face, tracing her lips and her cheekbones.
"You pretty on the outside but on the inside…"
"Dad thinks she's damn near perfect."
"So she's beautiful in here." He placed a hand on each of her temples. "If she captured the interest of an Antarian."
"He says from the first day he saw her."
"That's the way it happens."
"In the third grade."
"That's new to me. Weirdo."
"Are you coming on to me or something?"
"No. I got kids, too. Nine of 'em."
"Where are they?"
"Wanna see?"
He took her head in his hands and suddenly she couldn't see him standing right in front of her. The colors whirled by. Then she saw a boy. Older than her. Maybe 20, lifting a box in a warehouse, his name tag read Nat Baker. The colors whirled again. Another boy. 18, tossing a ball through a hoop. Then a girl roughly the same age, making out with another girl. Boy, 16, climbing out of his girl's bed. Girl, 14, taking care of her younger siblings. Boy, 13, in detention. Girl, 10, in class. Boy, 8, getting picked on in the schoolyard. Boy, 5, unlocking his apartment door and letting himself in. Baby girl, sucking on her thumb in a crib.
"There's 10." Beth blinked and she was back again.
"Just found out about the baby." He released her and clenched his fists at his sides. "I'll get those punks for screwing with my kid."
"Kind of twisted. They don't know you but you go beating up their bullies for them… and what a ho… all those kids with different mothers."
"So. Your dad ain't no saint. I've seen your sister. In the blood, darling. Old man was a ho, too. Nicotine habit. Dad smoke?"
"What's your point?"
"Some things can't be changed. Daddy can't change his spots no matter how hard he tries." He took a drag on his cigarette and handed it to her.
Beth held it between her fingers. She'd never picked up his cigarettes before. Dad had never left them where the kids could find them. Had never once encouraged it or made excuses for his choice. None of the kids had ever smoked. Mom forbade it and Mom was law.
"You don't want to inhale the first time. You might choke anyway but it's the obligation of a veteran smoker to warn the newbie."
Clumsily, she grasped the filter, then put it to her lips. The puff was short and she had to react quickly to keep the smoke from shooting down her throat. She coughed and gasped, which made her inhale and choke further.
"Funny how it always happens that way." Zan mused. "Some goes in and you try to stop it and you end up taking it all down and hacking for days afterward."
"You think it's funny?" Beth tossed the cigarette away, ignoring his annoyance.
"Didn't like it?"
"I think my mom is right. Filthy, disgusting habit."
"Aw… Do you miss your Mommy? Always telling you what to do. Always on your back. Hates your clothes. Hates your music. Hates your boyfriend. I don't give a fuck who you fuck so long as the bad guys don't kill me."
"Is that all you really care about? The big bad leaving you alone? Seriously. No one even knows you're still alive. My dad thinks that you're dead. Non-issue… the whole lot of you."
"Well. They are." He rubbed his belly and pulled out another cigarette. "I mean, I could only let them get away with killing me for so long. You can't let your loved ones get away with shit like that cause then they think that they can get away with it all the time."
"Can they kill you more than once?"
"Don't give me lip. She killed me twice. Maybe she'll learn she shouldn't try to take what is mine."
"And what's that? A throne that's not yours? It's my dad's now. Are you going to kill him? Cause I can't let you do that."
"Do you know who you are?" Zan circled the teen, taking in all the nuances of her aura. The bits from her fathers, the bits from her mother. All the possibilities roiling together to create the one perfect Antarian. "We've waited eons for you to be born."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you. Born of a king with the powers of the Four. With all the powers of the world. The power to make or break the universe. Mother used to put me to bed with stories of the Sleeper. She said the Sleeper would come through me but she always thought you'd be a boy. Kind of sexist, huh. Gotta love her though. She is my mother."
"Like you feel love."
"You think I can't?"
"No. Look at all the brats you have. You think I think you loved any of their mothers?"
"That's right. You're young. First love is all you know. I'm over it. Lust is good for a while but I love my kids. That's where the real stuff is. Not with the opposite sex, pining and whining cause it hurts so good or whatever shit people tell each other when the sweat dries. It's about devotion. It's about something bigger than yourself. Teen love is about hormones and getting rocks off."
"My parents love each other."
"Right." He rolled his eyes at her.
"They do."
"Uh-huh. Your mom. She's hot. Enough said."
"So why is my dad so fetching for my mom?"
"Alien sex. Nothing beats it when the hormones are raging."
"You're disgusting."
"I tell it like it is." He leaned in. "Anyway, you wouldn't know. All you have are second hand thoughts and the fantasies of a virgin."
"You don't know that."
"Don't I? You broadcast enough. Fast and furious gropin's of the inexperienced." He gripped her by the neck. "Didn't you like my presents?"
"Presents?"
"I did them all while I could. Sliced up the old man good. Fucked up the pervs. I was working on the boy when they knocked me out. I think I got the girl, too. You didn't want that baby born, huh."
"You did that?" All her bravado faded as all the pieces started to come together.
"Yeah. I did it. Peace offering."
"I didn't do it."
"No. You don't know how. Yet." He pulled her close against him. "You have a lot to learn about yourself but we got time. I'll teach you what your daddy was too scared to remember. I got you, now."
Beth nodded and moved with him to a worn couch hidden deep in the darkest corner of the room. She could use a rest. She'd been on the go for two days now. She curled up in his arms and let the night seep in. Sleeping as sound as she never had before in her life. Quiet as that time she was in the box. Warmth surrounding her as she hadn't had since she was a child asleep in her father's arms. A lullaby in a tongue she didn't know.
Zan lulled her to sleep. Child like to his but stronger. None of his ten were so strong. So aware. Didn't know what they were. She sighed deeply and fell into the deepest sleep. He laid his head down against hers and shut out the world, his powers keeping them warm. Just a few moments of energy over a year ago but it was all he had needed to track her down and begin his search. To find a way to get her to him. Now, he could begin.
TBC
Re: The Fate of Destiny Part 163 CC/UC ADULT 05/09/09
The Fate of Destiny Part 163
Max nodded to the sad looks he got from his nurses. Accepted the warm squeezes on his arm as they passed. Took his breaks in the lounge where he could look at pictures of his little girl when she was still young and innocent. Before the voices got too loud and before boys and before anyone knew anything about a Sleeper. He didn't even realize that he was crying until the floor nurse came to find him. She took the pictures from him and lifted his head by the chin. "She'll be fine. That girl is not a shrinking violet. She's a strong, resourceful young woman with a mighty big angel on her shoulder to survive all she has. She's not a child anymore but she will always be your baby. You just have to wait until she comes home."
Max caught her arm before she left. "Thank you. I'll be out soon."
"You're a good man, Dr. Evans. You don't deserve all this but if she's near as resilient as you are, she really will be fine… Hell, we've brought her back from the brink twice already. I really don't think she'll go over."
--
Zan woke first, hunger rousing him from sleep. Beth woke a moment after, her mouthing turning up at the sight of him. Her head tilted slightly before her fingers touched the smooth skin of his face. "Did I do that?"
He removed her hand and felt his face. Years of trying had never succeeded in minimizing his scars, forget healing them. Here was the Sleeper child, so unaware of her abilities, doing so much more than he could. So much more than was imagined when she was first prophesized so many millennia ago.
--
Liz graded the papers. She taught the classes. She went to the meetings with the parents. She felt like they were all judging her. How could she give them advice about their kids when her daughter had run away?
Lunchtime was the worst. She had sunken into the end of a couch in the teacher's lounge to pick at her lunch. She was too nauseous with worry to consume food. The gym teacher had ushered in her son who had had a panic attack in class. She spent the hour rocking him like a child despite his insistence that he was all right now. Unfortunately for her young son, he was the only child she could put hands on for the moment.
--
Kal looked the phone over. Lauren sat still on the chair across from him, knees pulled up to her chest, staring at nothing. "It just… conked out?"
"That's what I said." She whispered. Something tugged at the edges of her mind but she couldn't find it. "I just… don't really remember but when I got home to the hotel last night… I couldn't remember where I'd been."
"You were gone for two days."
"Was I?" She lifted her eyes to him, water filling them. "Do you know? Um… is this what happened to my father… before he…?"
"I don't know, kid. We'll keep an eye on you."
"He was never… taken… but his grandfather was… do you think that maybe they weren't taken at all? Maybe it was sickness or something?"
"We'll take care of you. You got contracts, girly. I like my money."
She snickered and wiped at her eyes. "Yeah. I'll make you some money."
--
Gabriel sat at the Evans' dinner table with his siblings. They ate in silence. Agustín was out of town. The boys had patched together a dessert to contribute but the adults were not eating much. David ate some but only because his stomach was growling loud enough to make Eva giggle. He decided right there and then that he could not do this again. Could not eat a meal with Beth's family without Beth. He was angry with her. Angrier than he had ever been. To just pick up and leave without a word to anyone who loved her.
--
Beth watched Zan. Watched him work. Stealing get some cash, warping to get through some doors. Never really hurting anyone unless he felt them the way Beth did when she saw the pedophiles. The inherent evil they carried with them. Something that Frank Black had carried within himself before he died at Zan's will. Beth had seen how Frank had paid with his life for what he had done to Lauren and let Beth find out about it. When she met eyes with a rapist, a murderer, a pyromaniac; something deep inside flared up and stood to attention, wanting to reach out and end the life. It was different when she saw the soldiers. Young or old, some who never served in a militia; and she met eyes and tilted her head, could feel their good uses, could feel they never took a life that could have been avoided.
She watched through Zan's eyes as his children grew up without him. Never knowing that their father loved them and watched them grow and helped where he could to make their lives just a bit easier.
Watched his son Nat as he experimented with his powers away from the prying eyes of his family but Zan watched. Secretly guiding him to develop them far beyond what he could have done on his own... but Nat was the only one. The others had no idea that they carried in their blood… had no idea what weight laid on their heads if all should fail. Beth felt it.
Zan whispered her to sleep with stories of the sleeper and what the sleeper meant to Antar and all that lay beyond. What the sleeper meant to the future. What SHE meant to the future. The future of Antar and the future of earth when the time came. And told her how her father was weak… and she felt it, he was too scared to grasp what he needed to conquer his fears so that he could lead. Had too many weaknesses. Had too many ties to earth. Had too many reasons not to reign in the quake of the war and not in the glorious blinding light of war. The glorious blinding light of victory. The glorious blinding light of the future of the Antarian kingdom but Zan knew it all too well and could make it happen and Beth had much to do, to watch, to learn about who she really was... about who her father had been… about who Zan had been. All it cost was... What did it cost?? Nothing it seemed. Beth had peace for the first time in years. Honest to goodness peace and the price for ignoring that was just too high.
--
Will heard the reports, one by one; they were all the same. Maybe, it's possible, that someone, here or there, caught a glimpse of a girl matching that description boarding a train, an airplane and possibly a bus headed North or South or maybe it was West.
He swept everything off his desk. "Sir?" The voice came from his assistant. "Sir, who exactly did we lose when we lost this girl?"
"Hope."
TBC
Max nodded to the sad looks he got from his nurses. Accepted the warm squeezes on his arm as they passed. Took his breaks in the lounge where he could look at pictures of his little girl when she was still young and innocent. Before the voices got too loud and before boys and before anyone knew anything about a Sleeper. He didn't even realize that he was crying until the floor nurse came to find him. She took the pictures from him and lifted his head by the chin. "She'll be fine. That girl is not a shrinking violet. She's a strong, resourceful young woman with a mighty big angel on her shoulder to survive all she has. She's not a child anymore but she will always be your baby. You just have to wait until she comes home."
Max caught her arm before she left. "Thank you. I'll be out soon."
"You're a good man, Dr. Evans. You don't deserve all this but if she's near as resilient as you are, she really will be fine… Hell, we've brought her back from the brink twice already. I really don't think she'll go over."
--
Zan woke first, hunger rousing him from sleep. Beth woke a moment after, her mouthing turning up at the sight of him. Her head tilted slightly before her fingers touched the smooth skin of his face. "Did I do that?"
He removed her hand and felt his face. Years of trying had never succeeded in minimizing his scars, forget healing them. Here was the Sleeper child, so unaware of her abilities, doing so much more than he could. So much more than was imagined when she was first prophesized so many millennia ago.
--
Liz graded the papers. She taught the classes. She went to the meetings with the parents. She felt like they were all judging her. How could she give them advice about their kids when her daughter had run away?
Lunchtime was the worst. She had sunken into the end of a couch in the teacher's lounge to pick at her lunch. She was too nauseous with worry to consume food. The gym teacher had ushered in her son who had had a panic attack in class. She spent the hour rocking him like a child despite his insistence that he was all right now. Unfortunately for her young son, he was the only child she could put hands on for the moment.
--
Kal looked the phone over. Lauren sat still on the chair across from him, knees pulled up to her chest, staring at nothing. "It just… conked out?"
"That's what I said." She whispered. Something tugged at the edges of her mind but she couldn't find it. "I just… don't really remember but when I got home to the hotel last night… I couldn't remember where I'd been."
"You were gone for two days."
"Was I?" She lifted her eyes to him, water filling them. "Do you know? Um… is this what happened to my father… before he…?"
"I don't know, kid. We'll keep an eye on you."
"He was never… taken… but his grandfather was… do you think that maybe they weren't taken at all? Maybe it was sickness or something?"
"We'll take care of you. You got contracts, girly. I like my money."
She snickered and wiped at her eyes. "Yeah. I'll make you some money."
--
Gabriel sat at the Evans' dinner table with his siblings. They ate in silence. Agustín was out of town. The boys had patched together a dessert to contribute but the adults were not eating much. David ate some but only because his stomach was growling loud enough to make Eva giggle. He decided right there and then that he could not do this again. Could not eat a meal with Beth's family without Beth. He was angry with her. Angrier than he had ever been. To just pick up and leave without a word to anyone who loved her.
--
Beth watched Zan. Watched him work. Stealing get some cash, warping to get through some doors. Never really hurting anyone unless he felt them the way Beth did when she saw the pedophiles. The inherent evil they carried with them. Something that Frank Black had carried within himself before he died at Zan's will. Beth had seen how Frank had paid with his life for what he had done to Lauren and let Beth find out about it. When she met eyes with a rapist, a murderer, a pyromaniac; something deep inside flared up and stood to attention, wanting to reach out and end the life. It was different when she saw the soldiers. Young or old, some who never served in a militia; and she met eyes and tilted her head, could feel their good uses, could feel they never took a life that could have been avoided.
She watched through Zan's eyes as his children grew up without him. Never knowing that their father loved them and watched them grow and helped where he could to make their lives just a bit easier.
Watched his son Nat as he experimented with his powers away from the prying eyes of his family but Zan watched. Secretly guiding him to develop them far beyond what he could have done on his own... but Nat was the only one. The others had no idea that they carried in their blood… had no idea what weight laid on their heads if all should fail. Beth felt it.
Zan whispered her to sleep with stories of the sleeper and what the sleeper meant to Antar and all that lay beyond. What the sleeper meant to the future. What SHE meant to the future. The future of Antar and the future of earth when the time came. And told her how her father was weak… and she felt it, he was too scared to grasp what he needed to conquer his fears so that he could lead. Had too many weaknesses. Had too many ties to earth. Had too many reasons not to reign in the quake of the war and not in the glorious blinding light of war. The glorious blinding light of victory. The glorious blinding light of the future of the Antarian kingdom but Zan knew it all too well and could make it happen and Beth had much to do, to watch, to learn about who she really was... about who her father had been… about who Zan had been. All it cost was... What did it cost?? Nothing it seemed. Beth had peace for the first time in years. Honest to goodness peace and the price for ignoring that was just too high.
--
Will heard the reports, one by one; they were all the same. Maybe, it's possible, that someone, here or there, caught a glimpse of a girl matching that description boarding a train, an airplane and possibly a bus headed North or South or maybe it was West.
He swept everything off his desk. "Sir?" The voice came from his assistant. "Sir, who exactly did we lose when we lost this girl?"
"Hope."
TBC
Re: The Fate of Destiny Part 164 CC/UC ADULT 05/21/09
The Fate of Destiny Part 164
October 2030
Max stood over the table, scalpel in hand. The first slice always made him a bit nervous these days. Reminded him a bit too much of his time in the White Room, especially after what he'd been through with his daughter. It always made him hesitate but the moments afterward were just moments colliding where he reached in and repaired and there was nothing to do but succeed or fail. Complications happened and Max had to know when to step back and let it go.
He was on that precipice with his youngest daughter. He was on the brink of letting go. He had struggled for so many years to hold onto her but she kept running away from him. Dancing closer and closer until she was in his grasp and darting away the second he was sure he could catch her. As he was scrubbing his hands after the surgery, his phone rang and he was reaching once more.
--
Donna Jo smiled up at David when he met her at the Crashdown. "Hey there, you got tall, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I guess." He hugged her. She'd been gone since graduation and this was her first weekend back home. They caught up on life since she'd gone to college. How she was dreading Thanksgiving with her family after the previous year's debacle. David told her about his trail of broken hearts. They didn't talk about Beth. He knew it was on the tip of her tongue to ask but she didn't and he was grateful. "How's school?"
"College is just like high school only without the parents. Go figure." She grinned and looked him over once again. He had definitely grown. Filled out. He barely looked like the freshman who had stolen his first kiss from her. "Geez, you look just like Dr. Max."
"That's what everybody says." He ducked his head but he knew about the family resemblance… and he knew the girls had noticed. Everyone thought he was going to become a doctor like his father and brother but he didn't think that was in his cards.
--
Lauren shook his hand when they were introduced. He nodded to her and then their host left them alone. She leaned forward "Do you feel like you're at an audition?"
"Little bit."
"Buy you a drink?"
"I… uh… don't drink… but I'll take a refill on my soda."
She clucked her tongue and winced slightly as she revealed her plan. "Well, I was just going to lube you up to go upstairs… you want to do that instead?"
He gave her a smile and ducked his head. "I'm on the wagon… No alcohol or sex." But he looked at her, really looked at her. "But I know a good coffee place up the street if you want to talk for a bit."
"We could do that." She straightened up and smiled brightly. "Haven't done that in a long time."
"What's your major?"
"I'm not a student."
"Who's your father?"
"He didn't go here." She smirked and followed him to the door. "My agent has made a donation so that we can film here over the next few years."
"An actress, huh…"
--
"So, where is she?" Max paced the parking garage; still in his scrubs, cell at his ear.
"She's at a function on the East Coast." Kal eyed the screens in front of him. He made notes on a pad to pass along. "She's having a good time for once… it's been real hard to sell her smile since New York."
"But she remembered something?"
"Yeah… says she was on a train and she got off a stop early but doesn't remember why. She can only remember getting back on the train with a big headache. That part still hasn't changed."
"So, what does this mean?"
"Looks like she's blocking something out. I can't do anything with her."
"So, you called me to save your pay day?" Max ground his teeth.
"I know she's your little pet and everything but the girl has contracts to honor. See if you can't get her talking."
--
Nat glanced up from his inventory list. The hot girl from last week was back… with her dad it looked like. She met his eyes and he felt a grin slip over his face, the inventory could wait… as soon as she ditched the old man for a minute. Then he got his moment. "Can I help you find something?"
"Hi…" She smiled; sparkling eyes but no teeth… all curving lips. "I'm Beth."
"Good to meet you. I'm Nat." He tapped his nametag. "What can I do you for?" Something about her eyes transfixed him. Then her father held out his hand. "Sir?"
"My name is Zan. I'm your father."
The delivery was solemn enough. Nat stared at the hand and then at the face… with the eyes that were like hers… like his… "I'm sorry?"
--
Liz froze and focused. It was there for a second. A face. Eyes that were familiar in a face that was not. She couldn't get it back but she had seen it. Some part of her was always reaching and Beth had let her guard down for a split second. She was alive. Okay was hard to tell but strong enough to hold a mental shield against absolutely everyone who was looking for her.
Liz set down her grading pen and had herself a cry of relief. Somewhere out there, her daughter was alive and strong. Liz reached out and projected a thought loud and clear if Beth would only let herself hear it. "Baby, come home."
--
They talked all night at Buckley Pointe and when she pulled up to drop him at home, he jerked his head to the house and she cut the engine. The house was silent. She only glanced once at Beth's empty room when she shut David's door. She had figured on a nap before going home to her drama. She didn't quite know when they started making out or when the clothes started coming off... But she knew the instant that she sank down on her best friend's little brother's cock. Did her level best to make it good for him. Let him touch and kiss everything he wanted. Wondered who he had been kissing that he kissed so damn well. He came first but she came not a thrust later, her own fingers doing the work… then somehow she ended up beneath him when he got it up again. The way only a fifteen year old could rejuvenate. She ended up sneaking out the door just before his parents got up for work. She kept up a mantra all the way home. "I am going to hell. I am so going to hell."
--
Beth walked through the hallway. The rooms were all empty. Had been for over a year. The place was condemned. Not even the squatters had felt safe anymore. This was the only floor that was inhabitable because it was Beth's training ground. She had not just reinforced the beams… she had turned back the clock and rejuvenated them. Had lifted stains and blown their particles away like ashes. She couldn't sleep. It was nearly dawn. She had peeked in on them… after an evening of Nat and Zan going around and around the genetics until Nat had inadvertently set off all the car alarms in a two block radius… and then Zan had made them stop.
The argument had reminded her of home. Her mother had been crying. Her father had been running alone in the dark. Her little brother… ew, she didn't want to know what he had been doing naked and sweaty in his bed. Danny and Emily had been asleep with popcorn on the coffee table and a screensaver for the DVD player on the TV. Kat had been talking to Will's secretary. Will was drinking and looking for her in reports that were a year old. Gabriel was asleep on top of his books.
Beth turned to walk back down the hallway, she passed Zan who was just getting in. He turned to look at her then disappeared into his room. She gave him a few minutes to get settled before appearing in the doorway. His form lay against the pillows on the wall. He jerked his head in invitation. She crawled onto the bed next to him and rested her cheek against his chest.
"Sh, darlin', sh…" He stroked her back gently. "I'm here. Tomorrow, we'll find Nat again and we'll start over with him. Tonight you need to sleep."
TBC
October 2030
Max stood over the table, scalpel in hand. The first slice always made him a bit nervous these days. Reminded him a bit too much of his time in the White Room, especially after what he'd been through with his daughter. It always made him hesitate but the moments afterward were just moments colliding where he reached in and repaired and there was nothing to do but succeed or fail. Complications happened and Max had to know when to step back and let it go.
He was on that precipice with his youngest daughter. He was on the brink of letting go. He had struggled for so many years to hold onto her but she kept running away from him. Dancing closer and closer until she was in his grasp and darting away the second he was sure he could catch her. As he was scrubbing his hands after the surgery, his phone rang and he was reaching once more.
--
Donna Jo smiled up at David when he met her at the Crashdown. "Hey there, you got tall, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I guess." He hugged her. She'd been gone since graduation and this was her first weekend back home. They caught up on life since she'd gone to college. How she was dreading Thanksgiving with her family after the previous year's debacle. David told her about his trail of broken hearts. They didn't talk about Beth. He knew it was on the tip of her tongue to ask but she didn't and he was grateful. "How's school?"
"College is just like high school only without the parents. Go figure." She grinned and looked him over once again. He had definitely grown. Filled out. He barely looked like the freshman who had stolen his first kiss from her. "Geez, you look just like Dr. Max."
"That's what everybody says." He ducked his head but he knew about the family resemblance… and he knew the girls had noticed. Everyone thought he was going to become a doctor like his father and brother but he didn't think that was in his cards.
--
Lauren shook his hand when they were introduced. He nodded to her and then their host left them alone. She leaned forward "Do you feel like you're at an audition?"
"Little bit."
"Buy you a drink?"
"I… uh… don't drink… but I'll take a refill on my soda."
She clucked her tongue and winced slightly as she revealed her plan. "Well, I was just going to lube you up to go upstairs… you want to do that instead?"
He gave her a smile and ducked his head. "I'm on the wagon… No alcohol or sex." But he looked at her, really looked at her. "But I know a good coffee place up the street if you want to talk for a bit."
"We could do that." She straightened up and smiled brightly. "Haven't done that in a long time."
"What's your major?"
"I'm not a student."
"Who's your father?"
"He didn't go here." She smirked and followed him to the door. "My agent has made a donation so that we can film here over the next few years."
"An actress, huh…"
--
"So, where is she?" Max paced the parking garage; still in his scrubs, cell at his ear.
"She's at a function on the East Coast." Kal eyed the screens in front of him. He made notes on a pad to pass along. "She's having a good time for once… it's been real hard to sell her smile since New York."
"But she remembered something?"
"Yeah… says she was on a train and she got off a stop early but doesn't remember why. She can only remember getting back on the train with a big headache. That part still hasn't changed."
"So, what does this mean?"
"Looks like she's blocking something out. I can't do anything with her."
"So, you called me to save your pay day?" Max ground his teeth.
"I know she's your little pet and everything but the girl has contracts to honor. See if you can't get her talking."
--
Nat glanced up from his inventory list. The hot girl from last week was back… with her dad it looked like. She met his eyes and he felt a grin slip over his face, the inventory could wait… as soon as she ditched the old man for a minute. Then he got his moment. "Can I help you find something?"
"Hi…" She smiled; sparkling eyes but no teeth… all curving lips. "I'm Beth."
"Good to meet you. I'm Nat." He tapped his nametag. "What can I do you for?" Something about her eyes transfixed him. Then her father held out his hand. "Sir?"
"My name is Zan. I'm your father."
The delivery was solemn enough. Nat stared at the hand and then at the face… with the eyes that were like hers… like his… "I'm sorry?"
--
Liz froze and focused. It was there for a second. A face. Eyes that were familiar in a face that was not. She couldn't get it back but she had seen it. Some part of her was always reaching and Beth had let her guard down for a split second. She was alive. Okay was hard to tell but strong enough to hold a mental shield against absolutely everyone who was looking for her.
Liz set down her grading pen and had herself a cry of relief. Somewhere out there, her daughter was alive and strong. Liz reached out and projected a thought loud and clear if Beth would only let herself hear it. "Baby, come home."
--
They talked all night at Buckley Pointe and when she pulled up to drop him at home, he jerked his head to the house and she cut the engine. The house was silent. She only glanced once at Beth's empty room when she shut David's door. She had figured on a nap before going home to her drama. She didn't quite know when they started making out or when the clothes started coming off... But she knew the instant that she sank down on her best friend's little brother's cock. Did her level best to make it good for him. Let him touch and kiss everything he wanted. Wondered who he had been kissing that he kissed so damn well. He came first but she came not a thrust later, her own fingers doing the work… then somehow she ended up beneath him when he got it up again. The way only a fifteen year old could rejuvenate. She ended up sneaking out the door just before his parents got up for work. She kept up a mantra all the way home. "I am going to hell. I am so going to hell."
--
Beth walked through the hallway. The rooms were all empty. Had been for over a year. The place was condemned. Not even the squatters had felt safe anymore. This was the only floor that was inhabitable because it was Beth's training ground. She had not just reinforced the beams… she had turned back the clock and rejuvenated them. Had lifted stains and blown their particles away like ashes. She couldn't sleep. It was nearly dawn. She had peeked in on them… after an evening of Nat and Zan going around and around the genetics until Nat had inadvertently set off all the car alarms in a two block radius… and then Zan had made them stop.
The argument had reminded her of home. Her mother had been crying. Her father had been running alone in the dark. Her little brother… ew, she didn't want to know what he had been doing naked and sweaty in his bed. Danny and Emily had been asleep with popcorn on the coffee table and a screensaver for the DVD player on the TV. Kat had been talking to Will's secretary. Will was drinking and looking for her in reports that were a year old. Gabriel was asleep on top of his books.
Beth turned to walk back down the hallway, she passed Zan who was just getting in. He turned to look at her then disappeared into his room. She gave him a few minutes to get settled before appearing in the doorway. His form lay against the pillows on the wall. He jerked his head in invitation. She crawled onto the bed next to him and rested her cheek against his chest.
"Sh, darlin', sh…" He stroked her back gently. "I'm here. Tomorrow, we'll find Nat again and we'll start over with him. Tonight you need to sleep."
TBC
Re: The Fate of Destiny Part 165 CC/UC ADULT 05/24/09
The Fate of Destiny Part 165
Liz gave her husband a weary smile when he entered their bedroom. He tilted his head at the bottle of aspirin next to her. He frowned. "You're in bed early. What's wrong?"
"I didn't see you this morning." She rubbed at her temples.
"I went for a run before work, when I got back, you were already gone to your dad's." He sat on the bed next to her.
She nodded and then cleared her throat. "I connected for a second last night."
"With Beth?"
"Yeah." She smiled but it didn't touch her eyes. "I saw what she saw for split second. It was a boy... figures, right?"
"Did you get anything about where she is?" He let his hopes soar for a second before she shook her head. "Anything grab your eye?"
"His eyes... I don't know who he is but his eyes were very... very much like yours."
"Like mine?"
"He was um... her age... Younger than Danny by a few years... but... very familiar in face."
"How familiar?"
"That if I didn't know better, he could have been yours."
--
Kal excused himself from the meeting and stormed into his office and began pulling up last known whereabouts for his charges. He picked up the line and breathed out. "He died. I know he died."
"Maybe he did but there's a boy with his eyes and his face somewhere near my daughter."
"Kathy?"
"Beth."
"She made contact?"
"Liz did. She caught a second when Beth's guard was down. It was only a second. He was about 19 or 20."
"He'd been long dead by then." Kal mused. "Though... the others did start dropping like flies a few years later. Never was sure what got to them."
"Well?"
"Zan's last known whereabouts were in New York before that Summit. For a boy to be as young as you say... it's not possible."
"More offspring from my donor?"
"No, we ferreted out everything we could along that line... I'll look into it but I'm going to come up empty."
--
David bussed breakfast tables for his grandfather. He smiled when she walked in with her parents. She waved. He had to get busy before he started tripping all over himself and popping wood in front of customers. He kept walking past their table, trying to find a way to say 'hi' but that was lame and he had nothing besides that to say. Then Donna Jo stopped him on her way to the bathroom. "David, we have to talk… but later. 'kay?"
"Yeah, sure."
--
Nat walked with Beth through the decrepit building. It was his day off. He should be taking care of his brothers and sisters... but he'd had a fight with his mom. He had confronted her with news of his father. She had looked away. He had described the man to her and she had warned him to stay away from it. When he had asked why, she had clammed up. Then he had said some pretty awful things to her. He stared at this girl who was not his sister but who had said she was very much related to him.
"20?"
She nodded. "In a few weeks."
"I'm 22."
"I know."
"How?"
"He told me." She put her hand on the wall and reformed it. "And showed me how to do a lot of things."
"You always knew?"
"Yeah. I did."
"I don't know if I can do something like that."
"You won't know until you try... My dad would never try."
"Was he..."
"Exactly like your dad but my dad was afraid of it. Don't be afraid of it. Embrace it."
--
Kal finished his meetings. Then he focused on all the aliens he knew about. Aliens and hybrids. Lubbock and Santa Fe and Miami aside from Roswell. When he tried to focus on Beth, it was a blinding blur. Then he switched tactics. He focused on Lauren. She had a similar flavor to Beth but it was just a reminder of it. Beth was so much stronger than even the aliens these days. It was the flavor that Kal needed. To find others with the blood. He knew where Lauren's half-aunt lived.
Then he let himself drift on the flavor. He thought of Zan. How he used to tell Max and Zan apart when both were still young and making trouble for him. The same but different. The same but different. Zan was always a little more Antarian than Max was. Was always a little more wild. Was always a lot more angry at the world. Was always more prone to... fits of passion.
Then he found one. A baby throwing a tantrum. Then another, and another and another, and another, and another. Each a bit older than the next. So young though. Another and another and there... the boy. Man. He was a young man. He held his hand out to a wall and focused hard. Struggled to make the molecules shift into a different pattern. To shift and he started to rebuild it when his strength gave out... and next to him... a blinding blur. An absence of being.
Kal sat up. East coast. She'd been in New York all this time.
--
Gabriel had arranged this because it was only right. He stood when Liz got to his table. She ordered a coffee and took her seat. She gave him a sad smile "How have you been?"
"You know..." He shrugged. "You look..."
"Terrible, I know..."
"Still no word?"
"There's still hope." Liz watched him. He looked nervous. "Gabe... what is it?"
"I... uh... I wanted to tell you before you heard it from someone else." He took a deep breath. "I started seeing someone."
Her shoulders sagged but she offered him a smile. "Good. Good for you."
"I just didn't want you to... I love Beth. I may always love her... but she ran away. From me, from her life... and I can't... just sit here and wait for her..."
"I know. I wouldn't ask you to. I'll tell her dad."
"Okay. Thanks..." He lifted his coffee cup. "I..."
"I know. She's hurt us all... possibly beyond repair... but you still deserve to live your life." She sipped her coffee and set it down. "I was in your position some time ago... two or three lifetimes it seems."
"You were?"
"Not the exact position, mind you but... I had to choose to live my life without the mess or let the mess live me. I chose to live my life... just know that... sometimes you can go back... if you really want to. Don't... I know you feel like you're shutting Beth out but if she's anywhere near the grown up that she's pretending to be, she's going to understand the choices you're making and why you're making them. If she throws a tantrum, then she needs to grow up some more."
He took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. "Thanks, Liz... for that."
"I love her, too. I don't get the option of walking away."
"Who was it? If you don't mind my asking. Who was it that you walked away from?"
"Beth's dad." She nodded to his confused face. "I'm sure Beth has told you some about our family but the real mess was in living it... not the outcome. I let her dad walk away from me... then I walked away but when he came back... so did I."
"Thank you for that. I don't regret being with Beth. I put a lot of blame on myself for her leaving but I realized that it had nothing to do with me. She already had one foot out the door... I just wish I knew what made her run and slam it behind her like that."
"Me too."
--
Max sat in Beth's room. Unchanged since she had gone. She hadn't taken a thing of hers. Not her MP3 player. Not any of her CDs. Nothing. No clothes or make up or shoes. Nothing but what she was wearing. Liz had made contact. Brief and having nothing to do with their daughter except that she was not alone and may possibly be in the presence of another hybrid.
--
Zan held Beth in his arms as he talked. "On Antar, the roads are smooth and can only be damaged by fire-fight but can be easily altered to suit the flows of traffic... Murder is reserved for wars and heinous crimes... It is far better to make an example of someone than to take their life."
"What happened?" Nat whispered.
"My father died and I was too young, too inexperienced... and there were far too many who thought the same of me. Who thought to better me, who thought to change the world far too fast... we all made the same mistakes over and over until the world was divided in civil war... and then the murders started. This noble there, that noble here and all for nothing. Power was abused by all... and after I took my bride... the true war erupted and I was killed but my mother had me cloned, along with my bride, my sister and my war general... she sent us here to be safe. To live again and to take back what was ours... she always told me about the Sleeper who would save us all from the dark ages and bring us back into the light. She firmly believed that I would give birth to the one perfect being."
"You said you have 10 kids... are any of us..."
"No." He shook his head and smoothed down Beth's hair. "It is this one here. My clone, her father... and she has powers that rival mine but they are too untried. She far surpasses any hybrid on this planet... and most of the clones."
"Why do you want me?"
"To teach you so we can test how far we can go."
--
Donna Jo sat him down on her bed and tried to give him the talk but she couldn't do it. Couldn't look into those big brown eyes and let him down easy. David stared up at her. "I know… okay? I know."
"I'm not trying to be a bitch or anything. You're really sweet and everything…" She bit her lip. "Any girl would be lucky to have you."
"Just not you, huh." His eyes slid to the ground.
"Including me." She sat next to him. "I just… it's not fair to you." She brushed his hair back, it was getting so long. "I'm only here on weekends and it's not even every weekend. I'm too old for you."
"I wouldn't care about that."
"No, but your parents would. I mean… if we did this… we'd have to hide what we were doing. I couldn't hold your hand in public… couldn't kiss that amazing mouth you've got…" She smiled when the corner of his mouth turned up. "You shouldn't have to hide when you're with someone. It just makes a mess of things."
"If I were older?"
"No question about it."
--
Will hung up the phone and studied the agents he had in place. He couldn't pull anyone with clearance. They were all needed where they were but he needed back up to go meet Kal in New York.
--
Kathy listened to her messages and frowned when she realized she had missed Will's call and that he was already gone. The ring on her finger made her feel lonely.
--
Alex stared up at his assigned agent and nodded that he understood before the agent planted herself in the corner with a notepad and a pen. Alex returned to mixing and then asked the artist in the booth if there was a contract for confidentiality to be signed. The young man waved him off and motioned that he was ready to get going. A few minutes later, his wife called and he had to stop so that he could explain why there was suddenly a guard at their home.
--
Emily looked up from her exam when the agent walked in but didn't rush to finish her test. It was as it had always been. This had never happened before but she'd been told to expect its occurrence. So far, she had not been disappointed. She idly wondered if an agent had dared to enter the operating room at Dan's hospital.
--
Lauren blinked at the agent outside her door when Seb had dropped her off but she just figured she'd needed the extra security. It was sadly becoming part of her life. She'd learned not to ask questions for fear of getting an answer.
--
Will boarded the plane with Agent Seyton and briefed her professionally as he could, passing on files that she would need to familiarize herself with information on the flight. He needed to sleep. He was going to tear that city apart until he found her.
TBC
Liz gave her husband a weary smile when he entered their bedroom. He tilted his head at the bottle of aspirin next to her. He frowned. "You're in bed early. What's wrong?"
"I didn't see you this morning." She rubbed at her temples.
"I went for a run before work, when I got back, you were already gone to your dad's." He sat on the bed next to her.
She nodded and then cleared her throat. "I connected for a second last night."
"With Beth?"
"Yeah." She smiled but it didn't touch her eyes. "I saw what she saw for split second. It was a boy... figures, right?"
"Did you get anything about where she is?" He let his hopes soar for a second before she shook her head. "Anything grab your eye?"
"His eyes... I don't know who he is but his eyes were very... very much like yours."
"Like mine?"
"He was um... her age... Younger than Danny by a few years... but... very familiar in face."
"How familiar?"
"That if I didn't know better, he could have been yours."
--
Kal excused himself from the meeting and stormed into his office and began pulling up last known whereabouts for his charges. He picked up the line and breathed out. "He died. I know he died."
"Maybe he did but there's a boy with his eyes and his face somewhere near my daughter."
"Kathy?"
"Beth."
"She made contact?"
"Liz did. She caught a second when Beth's guard was down. It was only a second. He was about 19 or 20."
"He'd been long dead by then." Kal mused. "Though... the others did start dropping like flies a few years later. Never was sure what got to them."
"Well?"
"Zan's last known whereabouts were in New York before that Summit. For a boy to be as young as you say... it's not possible."
"More offspring from my donor?"
"No, we ferreted out everything we could along that line... I'll look into it but I'm going to come up empty."
--
David bussed breakfast tables for his grandfather. He smiled when she walked in with her parents. She waved. He had to get busy before he started tripping all over himself and popping wood in front of customers. He kept walking past their table, trying to find a way to say 'hi' but that was lame and he had nothing besides that to say. Then Donna Jo stopped him on her way to the bathroom. "David, we have to talk… but later. 'kay?"
"Yeah, sure."
--
Nat walked with Beth through the decrepit building. It was his day off. He should be taking care of his brothers and sisters... but he'd had a fight with his mom. He had confronted her with news of his father. She had looked away. He had described the man to her and she had warned him to stay away from it. When he had asked why, she had clammed up. Then he had said some pretty awful things to her. He stared at this girl who was not his sister but who had said she was very much related to him.
"20?"
She nodded. "In a few weeks."
"I'm 22."
"I know."
"How?"
"He told me." She put her hand on the wall and reformed it. "And showed me how to do a lot of things."
"You always knew?"
"Yeah. I did."
"I don't know if I can do something like that."
"You won't know until you try... My dad would never try."
"Was he..."
"Exactly like your dad but my dad was afraid of it. Don't be afraid of it. Embrace it."
--
Kal finished his meetings. Then he focused on all the aliens he knew about. Aliens and hybrids. Lubbock and Santa Fe and Miami aside from Roswell. When he tried to focus on Beth, it was a blinding blur. Then he switched tactics. He focused on Lauren. She had a similar flavor to Beth but it was just a reminder of it. Beth was so much stronger than even the aliens these days. It was the flavor that Kal needed. To find others with the blood. He knew where Lauren's half-aunt lived.
Then he let himself drift on the flavor. He thought of Zan. How he used to tell Max and Zan apart when both were still young and making trouble for him. The same but different. The same but different. Zan was always a little more Antarian than Max was. Was always a little more wild. Was always a lot more angry at the world. Was always more prone to... fits of passion.
Then he found one. A baby throwing a tantrum. Then another, and another and another, and another, and another. Each a bit older than the next. So young though. Another and another and there... the boy. Man. He was a young man. He held his hand out to a wall and focused hard. Struggled to make the molecules shift into a different pattern. To shift and he started to rebuild it when his strength gave out... and next to him... a blinding blur. An absence of being.
Kal sat up. East coast. She'd been in New York all this time.
--
Gabriel had arranged this because it was only right. He stood when Liz got to his table. She ordered a coffee and took her seat. She gave him a sad smile "How have you been?"
"You know..." He shrugged. "You look..."
"Terrible, I know..."
"Still no word?"
"There's still hope." Liz watched him. He looked nervous. "Gabe... what is it?"
"I... uh... I wanted to tell you before you heard it from someone else." He took a deep breath. "I started seeing someone."
Her shoulders sagged but she offered him a smile. "Good. Good for you."
"I just didn't want you to... I love Beth. I may always love her... but she ran away. From me, from her life... and I can't... just sit here and wait for her..."
"I know. I wouldn't ask you to. I'll tell her dad."
"Okay. Thanks..." He lifted his coffee cup. "I..."
"I know. She's hurt us all... possibly beyond repair... but you still deserve to live your life." She sipped her coffee and set it down. "I was in your position some time ago... two or three lifetimes it seems."
"You were?"
"Not the exact position, mind you but... I had to choose to live my life without the mess or let the mess live me. I chose to live my life... just know that... sometimes you can go back... if you really want to. Don't... I know you feel like you're shutting Beth out but if she's anywhere near the grown up that she's pretending to be, she's going to understand the choices you're making and why you're making them. If she throws a tantrum, then she needs to grow up some more."
He took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. "Thanks, Liz... for that."
"I love her, too. I don't get the option of walking away."
"Who was it? If you don't mind my asking. Who was it that you walked away from?"
"Beth's dad." She nodded to his confused face. "I'm sure Beth has told you some about our family but the real mess was in living it... not the outcome. I let her dad walk away from me... then I walked away but when he came back... so did I."
"Thank you for that. I don't regret being with Beth. I put a lot of blame on myself for her leaving but I realized that it had nothing to do with me. She already had one foot out the door... I just wish I knew what made her run and slam it behind her like that."
"Me too."
--
Max sat in Beth's room. Unchanged since she had gone. She hadn't taken a thing of hers. Not her MP3 player. Not any of her CDs. Nothing. No clothes or make up or shoes. Nothing but what she was wearing. Liz had made contact. Brief and having nothing to do with their daughter except that she was not alone and may possibly be in the presence of another hybrid.
--
Zan held Beth in his arms as he talked. "On Antar, the roads are smooth and can only be damaged by fire-fight but can be easily altered to suit the flows of traffic... Murder is reserved for wars and heinous crimes... It is far better to make an example of someone than to take their life."
"What happened?" Nat whispered.
"My father died and I was too young, too inexperienced... and there were far too many who thought the same of me. Who thought to better me, who thought to change the world far too fast... we all made the same mistakes over and over until the world was divided in civil war... and then the murders started. This noble there, that noble here and all for nothing. Power was abused by all... and after I took my bride... the true war erupted and I was killed but my mother had me cloned, along with my bride, my sister and my war general... she sent us here to be safe. To live again and to take back what was ours... she always told me about the Sleeper who would save us all from the dark ages and bring us back into the light. She firmly believed that I would give birth to the one perfect being."
"You said you have 10 kids... are any of us..."
"No." He shook his head and smoothed down Beth's hair. "It is this one here. My clone, her father... and she has powers that rival mine but they are too untried. She far surpasses any hybrid on this planet... and most of the clones."
"Why do you want me?"
"To teach you so we can test how far we can go."
--
Donna Jo sat him down on her bed and tried to give him the talk but she couldn't do it. Couldn't look into those big brown eyes and let him down easy. David stared up at her. "I know… okay? I know."
"I'm not trying to be a bitch or anything. You're really sweet and everything…" She bit her lip. "Any girl would be lucky to have you."
"Just not you, huh." His eyes slid to the ground.
"Including me." She sat next to him. "I just… it's not fair to you." She brushed his hair back, it was getting so long. "I'm only here on weekends and it's not even every weekend. I'm too old for you."
"I wouldn't care about that."
"No, but your parents would. I mean… if we did this… we'd have to hide what we were doing. I couldn't hold your hand in public… couldn't kiss that amazing mouth you've got…" She smiled when the corner of his mouth turned up. "You shouldn't have to hide when you're with someone. It just makes a mess of things."
"If I were older?"
"No question about it."
--
Will hung up the phone and studied the agents he had in place. He couldn't pull anyone with clearance. They were all needed where they were but he needed back up to go meet Kal in New York.
--
Kathy listened to her messages and frowned when she realized she had missed Will's call and that he was already gone. The ring on her finger made her feel lonely.
--
Alex stared up at his assigned agent and nodded that he understood before the agent planted herself in the corner with a notepad and a pen. Alex returned to mixing and then asked the artist in the booth if there was a contract for confidentiality to be signed. The young man waved him off and motioned that he was ready to get going. A few minutes later, his wife called and he had to stop so that he could explain why there was suddenly a guard at their home.
--
Emily looked up from her exam when the agent walked in but didn't rush to finish her test. It was as it had always been. This had never happened before but she'd been told to expect its occurrence. So far, she had not been disappointed. She idly wondered if an agent had dared to enter the operating room at Dan's hospital.
--
Lauren blinked at the agent outside her door when Seb had dropped her off but she just figured she'd needed the extra security. It was sadly becoming part of her life. She'd learned not to ask questions for fear of getting an answer.
--
Will boarded the plane with Agent Seyton and briefed her professionally as he could, passing on files that she would need to familiarize herself with information on the flight. He needed to sleep. He was going to tear that city apart until he found her.
TBC
Re: The Fate of Destiny Part 166 CC/UC ADULT 05/28/09
The Fate of Destiny Part 166
Nat concentrated and found that once he was able to complete a task that it was easier, slightly, to repeat it. Listened to Beth talk about what she knew about their people's enemies. When Zan attempted to tell about the FBI, Beth had cut him to the quick with a look. "They don't do that anymore. They've made a formal apology and now devote a branch to our needs. No one wants to involve Earth in an interstellar war."
Zan turned to Nat with raised eyebrows. "That's news to me."
"Wait!" Nat stood and rubbed his hands over his face. This just got weirder and weirder all the time. "The government knows about this?"
"The barest of details until 2000." Beth supplied.
"What happened?"
"The Special Unit kidnapped my father and subjected him to tests…" Beth's eyes went far away as she thought of her father's stories, the glimpses of his memories that she had seen. "Humiliation and degradation… Samples of every kind. Torture to make him do something, anything to prove how unhuman he was and how justified their program was. They wanted to know when the big invasion was scheduled."
"Invasion?" Zan's eyebrows went up. "Idiots."
"Right." She nodded to him.
"But how are they working for us now?" Nat prodded.
"2019." Beth swallowed down a lump in her throat as she thought about what had happened. "My parents found bugs in our homes, thought it was the government… and then my baby brother was kidnapped."
Nat thought of his younger brothers and if anything could happen to them. "It was the Special Unit?"
"No, it was a human. My dad marched into the FBI offices and demanded aid in exchange for not going to the press with what happened to him in the White Room. They listened and they devoted a branch to us. The Special Unit was an embarrassment from a past regime. There were those who had knowledge of us and our capabilities and they made vast restitutions."
"Did you get him back?"
"Yeah. He was okay."
"Stuff like that happen a lot?"
"Stuff like that always happens." Zan cleared his throat.
--
Liz stared out the window. Rain falling outside. She wished she could make another connection to her daughter. Just a few seconds to see if she was really alright. To see if she could talk her into coming home.
She looked up when David returned from his evening run with Sterling. The very big dog who had started to overtake her son in size was very appropriate now. He shrugged under her gaze as he took off his slicker and rubbed down the dog with a towel. "What?"
"Nothing. You're getting tall."
"Everyone's saying that?"
"It's true. This time last year, you were barely taller than me." She got up to make a cup of cocoa. "Want some?"
"Nah."
"Come on… just because you're taller doesn't mean you're grown enough to get out of spending some time with me."
He submitted, taking a seat at the table. Sterling put his wet nose under his hand. Damp dog. "Mom, I'm not five anymore."
"No, you're fifteen and you still have to listen to me." She winked at him. "Hannah called looking for you."
"Again." He groaned and dropped his head onto the table. "Shoot me now."
"She was sweet."
"Yeah… I got a toothache and she follows me everywhere."
Liz laughed and poured out two mugs and took them to the table. "You ever going to bring the same girl home two weekends in a row?"
"I don't know…" He shrugged.
"And watch who you're hanging out with. The neighbor had to tell me that she thought she saw the Vaughn car in the drive overnight."
"She's such a liar." David lied as he sipped his cocoa.
"I would hope so. How late did Donna Jo stay?"
"It was pretty late."
"I don't know about girls in your room so late."
"Mom." He groaned.
"You and Dad talked yet?"
"Yes."
"You're my baby, Davey. I'm going to hold on tight."
"I know."
--
Zan stole a car and swung it around. Beth climbed into the back and let Nat take shotgun. When he asked where they were going, Zan only smiled and said, "Target shooting."
He watched the scenery go by. First the city streets slowly because of traffic, then the buildings gave way to houses, gave way to trees and woods. Then he pulled off until a barely used road and then a building appeared out of the foliage. "Where are we?"
"No one uses it anymore. Lots of stuff we can break." Zan answered.
--
Kal nodded to the agents in the room. "What we're looking for is a young girl and a young boy. Both over 19 but under 25. I have whereabouts that are decades old. I don't know about anyone returning to stomping grounds but I won't rule it out. Canvas the city… discreetly. If either of them figures out we're onto them, then we're screwed."
Will cleared his throat. "We have reason to believe both are to be heavily armed. I would not consider approaching them without a full unit. Our objective is to locate and track. Absolutely no one makes a move without informing me." He passed out pictures. "This is our girl. Most of you have seen her before and know that her hair color is subject to change on whim. The male is believed to be 6 foot, medium complexion, dark hair and brown eyes. Not much is known about him at this time but again, we expect these individuals to be armed and dangerous."
--
Max sat in the waiting room and waited. Liz hated coming here but he had insisted after her weight had dropped so much and she had refused to talk to him. Her only condition was that he be nearby when she was inside. Sitting in the waiting room sucked but then he saw other people that he knew who saw the doctor. He didn't know what to do anymore. It was all he could do to keep the rest of his family together. He wondered what Liz talked about in there.
The doctor waited patiently. This patient didn't like to sit while she talked and that was fine because it had taken two sessions to get her talking.
"It's this piece of me that's missing. It's out there thriving but the rest of me is withering away." Liz explained as she examined her reflection; her weight had dropped significantly following Beth's silent exit. "My children are concerned for my health but I don't know how to move on without that piece of me."
"Beth has been the source of a lot of your frustrations."
"She always was. She was…" Liz smiled to herself and sank down into a chair. "I wasn't really ready to have another child. Max was. It was a sore point for a while."
"Did you consider not having her?"
"OH NO." Liz shook her head and got to her feet again. Restless as always. "I could have never done that. Max is always so attentive when I'm pregnant. He hovers too much but I love him for it. Bethany… well, she was kind of a miracle. I was on birth control when I conceived. A lot of women on the same stuff had bad reactions. Conceptions that were difficult, babies that miscarried or died weeks after birth… or they were never able to conceive at all."
"Did you know this when you conceived?"
"No. Found out a couple of years ago. Very few children survived the ill effects of that drug. Bethany was one of 'em. A blood defect from my husband made all the difference." She smiled as she paced. "From the moment of conception, she was Max's favorite. He says he doesn't have favorites but she is. She is every bit of him. His sense of humor, his entitlement issues, his self-esteem issues. His eyes."
"Do any of your other children have his eyes?"
"Not so much. Danny's are light brown but not really hazel like Max. Davey's are a deeper brown, like mine."
"Your other daughter?"
"Blue, like her mother's. Not even a freckle in them to look like Max's." She paused in the mirror again. "Max says that Beth looks just like me. Says she acts like me, too."
"What do you think?"
"Maybe he's right." She shrugged. "The way I fought with her is a lot like the way I used to fight with my mother." She laughed. "My father always said that Parker men married strong-willed women and had strong-willed daughters."
"Tell me about Bethany's childhood."
"The labor was intense. I remember that. We chose to birth at home. She was colicky. Max and I were constantly up soothing her. She was no trouble, though… the last time we'd walked the floor was with two babies so one… She was such a vibrant little girl…" Her voice trailed off as she sank into the chair once more.
"What changed?"
"We should have noticed sooner. It started with headaches and eye strain. She needed glasses…" She sighed. "She was sweet and inquisitive. In middle school she was popular and was a cheerleader. We just weren't paying enough attention to the little signs along the way. I feel so stupid when I think about it now but we really couldn't have known. She seemed to be fine and we were focusing all our attention on Davey."
"Why was that?"
"When he was four, he was kidnapped for several hours by a man who wanted to harm my husband. He was traumatized and well, I guess you can figure what our worries were there." Liz ran a hand over her face, glancing at her watch. "Wearing glasses at age 9 was an adventure for her, not a curse like it was to other kids. She just…started getting ideas. We didn't know where she came up with them. She thought Kathy was our favorite. Maybe she noticed how much we doted on Kathy to make sure she felt included and more like a part of the family."
"Sounds like an intuitive little girl."
"That what Max says… but she would… see these things and interpret them in odd ways. She started to have issues with keeping friends. See that… the things that little girls do to each other and she took it to heart every time. She could never seem to move past the initial perception she got from someone. When she was in the seventh grade she… We found her mutilating herself… she was trying to stop the voices, she said." Liz bit back a sob. "We weren't watching her close enough. Weren't paying enough attention and she was trying to stop the voices."
"I can see you blame yourself for that."
"Max was out of town and Beth was falling apart and I didn't know what to do. She eventually got better. She… Max put her on medication."
"For the voices."
"Yes and… she seemed to be okay. She started wearing dark clothes and black make up and… acting out just enough to get attention without… She stopped letting us hug her. Kept everyone away."
"Then what happened?"
"She went off her meds, two years ago. She had another break. She had a mass in her brain. Treatable… but we only found it after she'd practically died. She was run over by a truck and lived… and then there's this… mass in her brain. It had been blocking signals her whole life."
"And no one suspected?"
"No. No one knew. They removed it and then she got taller by another inch. She didn't need glasses anymore. She filled out more. She started to come around a bit. We got used to her boyfriend. It seemed to be okay." Liz took a deep breath. "We've been over it and over and over it… no one can figure out why she left."
"It does seem to be a bit of a mystery. Though, I noticed you didn't say anything about the voices going away."
"She's always going to hear the voices." Liz admitted. "Nothing is ever going to change that."
"And is that what you can't accept?"
"Maybe."
"Is that why you blame Max?"
"I don't blame him."
"But you resent him."
"A bit… but I love him."
"Let's talk about this resentment."
"He just… exasperates me."
"Like when he wanted more kids before you were ready…"
"Like then." Liz lowered her eyes even as she rose to her feet once more. "He wanted another one when Davey was four. It was just too soon after the kidnapping. With the problems we were having with him… I half-jokingly told Max to get a vasectomy."
"Did he?"
"Yes but he didn't tell anyone he was going to do it and then he had a reaction to the anesthesia and almost died." She laughed bitterly. "I remember Beth's face so well when we took her in to see him while he recovered. She was so… distraught. He was so out of it… He always does things like that. He'll take hurt and hold it inside and won't let anyone help him… and she's a lot like him."
"I see."
"What?"
"You resent the traits in your husband that your daughter has picked up… the traits that allowed her to run away." She cleared her throat. "It's important to remember that it's possible to have something irk you but to be able to live with it. You may not always feel this way."
"It's not good to feel this way."
"It would be worse to not feel some sort of resentment, Liz. Feelings of any kind let us know that we're alive. Feelings change. They evolve. Do you think our sessions help?"
"Max thinks so."
"Do you think so?"
--
Sebastian clasped his hands together "I met someone."
"Oh? Tell me about this someone."
"I met her at an alumni function. She's smart, pretty and pretty indulgent of my rules."
"How do you feel about that?"
"I do still get the urge to have a drink but she'll drink iced tea with me. She doesn't do drugs and… when she put the moves on me… she understood when I turned down the act of intercourse. She lets me get away with going without details. She told me that maybe the old sex stories could wait until we knew each other better."
"Sounds like a good start. How do you feel about it?"
"Good, I think. Taking baby steps so far."
"It's important to maintain your progress. It will become a balancing act to introduce a relationship."
"I don't know if I'm ready but… I haven't felt interested in a woman since…."
"Donna Jo."
"Right." Sebastien chuckled to himself. "I liked Donna Jo's innocence. She was a firecracker but she was so… perfect."
"And this new girl?"
"Lauren is… the opposite in almost every way. I mean… she's beautiful. Long dark hair and these brown eyes that… are… so old… I mean… she's playful but it's like her eyes are saying something that her mouth can't. She's an actress but I haven't seen anything she's been in. I've sort of had to make myself stop from looking her up. I really don't want to creep her out."
"Well, I can see that you're very excited about this girl."
"She's very… strong-willed and I like that about her. She's going to keep me in check."
"You're making plans?"
"I guess so. I just don't want to say goodbye to her yet." He meets his therapist's eyes. "I like the way she makes me feel."
"And how is that?"
"Trustworthy."
TBC
Nat concentrated and found that once he was able to complete a task that it was easier, slightly, to repeat it. Listened to Beth talk about what she knew about their people's enemies. When Zan attempted to tell about the FBI, Beth had cut him to the quick with a look. "They don't do that anymore. They've made a formal apology and now devote a branch to our needs. No one wants to involve Earth in an interstellar war."
Zan turned to Nat with raised eyebrows. "That's news to me."
"Wait!" Nat stood and rubbed his hands over his face. This just got weirder and weirder all the time. "The government knows about this?"
"The barest of details until 2000." Beth supplied.
"What happened?"
"The Special Unit kidnapped my father and subjected him to tests…" Beth's eyes went far away as she thought of her father's stories, the glimpses of his memories that she had seen. "Humiliation and degradation… Samples of every kind. Torture to make him do something, anything to prove how unhuman he was and how justified their program was. They wanted to know when the big invasion was scheduled."
"Invasion?" Zan's eyebrows went up. "Idiots."
"Right." She nodded to him.
"But how are they working for us now?" Nat prodded.
"2019." Beth swallowed down a lump in her throat as she thought about what had happened. "My parents found bugs in our homes, thought it was the government… and then my baby brother was kidnapped."
Nat thought of his younger brothers and if anything could happen to them. "It was the Special Unit?"
"No, it was a human. My dad marched into the FBI offices and demanded aid in exchange for not going to the press with what happened to him in the White Room. They listened and they devoted a branch to us. The Special Unit was an embarrassment from a past regime. There were those who had knowledge of us and our capabilities and they made vast restitutions."
"Did you get him back?"
"Yeah. He was okay."
"Stuff like that happen a lot?"
"Stuff like that always happens." Zan cleared his throat.
--
Liz stared out the window. Rain falling outside. She wished she could make another connection to her daughter. Just a few seconds to see if she was really alright. To see if she could talk her into coming home.
She looked up when David returned from his evening run with Sterling. The very big dog who had started to overtake her son in size was very appropriate now. He shrugged under her gaze as he took off his slicker and rubbed down the dog with a towel. "What?"
"Nothing. You're getting tall."
"Everyone's saying that?"
"It's true. This time last year, you were barely taller than me." She got up to make a cup of cocoa. "Want some?"
"Nah."
"Come on… just because you're taller doesn't mean you're grown enough to get out of spending some time with me."
He submitted, taking a seat at the table. Sterling put his wet nose under his hand. Damp dog. "Mom, I'm not five anymore."
"No, you're fifteen and you still have to listen to me." She winked at him. "Hannah called looking for you."
"Again." He groaned and dropped his head onto the table. "Shoot me now."
"She was sweet."
"Yeah… I got a toothache and she follows me everywhere."
Liz laughed and poured out two mugs and took them to the table. "You ever going to bring the same girl home two weekends in a row?"
"I don't know…" He shrugged.
"And watch who you're hanging out with. The neighbor had to tell me that she thought she saw the Vaughn car in the drive overnight."
"She's such a liar." David lied as he sipped his cocoa.
"I would hope so. How late did Donna Jo stay?"
"It was pretty late."
"I don't know about girls in your room so late."
"Mom." He groaned.
"You and Dad talked yet?"
"Yes."
"You're my baby, Davey. I'm going to hold on tight."
"I know."
--
Zan stole a car and swung it around. Beth climbed into the back and let Nat take shotgun. When he asked where they were going, Zan only smiled and said, "Target shooting."
He watched the scenery go by. First the city streets slowly because of traffic, then the buildings gave way to houses, gave way to trees and woods. Then he pulled off until a barely used road and then a building appeared out of the foliage. "Where are we?"
"No one uses it anymore. Lots of stuff we can break." Zan answered.
--
Kal nodded to the agents in the room. "What we're looking for is a young girl and a young boy. Both over 19 but under 25. I have whereabouts that are decades old. I don't know about anyone returning to stomping grounds but I won't rule it out. Canvas the city… discreetly. If either of them figures out we're onto them, then we're screwed."
Will cleared his throat. "We have reason to believe both are to be heavily armed. I would not consider approaching them without a full unit. Our objective is to locate and track. Absolutely no one makes a move without informing me." He passed out pictures. "This is our girl. Most of you have seen her before and know that her hair color is subject to change on whim. The male is believed to be 6 foot, medium complexion, dark hair and brown eyes. Not much is known about him at this time but again, we expect these individuals to be armed and dangerous."
--
Max sat in the waiting room and waited. Liz hated coming here but he had insisted after her weight had dropped so much and she had refused to talk to him. Her only condition was that he be nearby when she was inside. Sitting in the waiting room sucked but then he saw other people that he knew who saw the doctor. He didn't know what to do anymore. It was all he could do to keep the rest of his family together. He wondered what Liz talked about in there.
The doctor waited patiently. This patient didn't like to sit while she talked and that was fine because it had taken two sessions to get her talking.
"It's this piece of me that's missing. It's out there thriving but the rest of me is withering away." Liz explained as she examined her reflection; her weight had dropped significantly following Beth's silent exit. "My children are concerned for my health but I don't know how to move on without that piece of me."
"Beth has been the source of a lot of your frustrations."
"She always was. She was…" Liz smiled to herself and sank down into a chair. "I wasn't really ready to have another child. Max was. It was a sore point for a while."
"Did you consider not having her?"
"OH NO." Liz shook her head and got to her feet again. Restless as always. "I could have never done that. Max is always so attentive when I'm pregnant. He hovers too much but I love him for it. Bethany… well, she was kind of a miracle. I was on birth control when I conceived. A lot of women on the same stuff had bad reactions. Conceptions that were difficult, babies that miscarried or died weeks after birth… or they were never able to conceive at all."
"Did you know this when you conceived?"
"No. Found out a couple of years ago. Very few children survived the ill effects of that drug. Bethany was one of 'em. A blood defect from my husband made all the difference." She smiled as she paced. "From the moment of conception, she was Max's favorite. He says he doesn't have favorites but she is. She is every bit of him. His sense of humor, his entitlement issues, his self-esteem issues. His eyes."
"Do any of your other children have his eyes?"
"Not so much. Danny's are light brown but not really hazel like Max. Davey's are a deeper brown, like mine."
"Your other daughter?"
"Blue, like her mother's. Not even a freckle in them to look like Max's." She paused in the mirror again. "Max says that Beth looks just like me. Says she acts like me, too."
"What do you think?"
"Maybe he's right." She shrugged. "The way I fought with her is a lot like the way I used to fight with my mother." She laughed. "My father always said that Parker men married strong-willed women and had strong-willed daughters."
"Tell me about Bethany's childhood."
"The labor was intense. I remember that. We chose to birth at home. She was colicky. Max and I were constantly up soothing her. She was no trouble, though… the last time we'd walked the floor was with two babies so one… She was such a vibrant little girl…" Her voice trailed off as she sank into the chair once more.
"What changed?"
"We should have noticed sooner. It started with headaches and eye strain. She needed glasses…" She sighed. "She was sweet and inquisitive. In middle school she was popular and was a cheerleader. We just weren't paying enough attention to the little signs along the way. I feel so stupid when I think about it now but we really couldn't have known. She seemed to be fine and we were focusing all our attention on Davey."
"Why was that?"
"When he was four, he was kidnapped for several hours by a man who wanted to harm my husband. He was traumatized and well, I guess you can figure what our worries were there." Liz ran a hand over her face, glancing at her watch. "Wearing glasses at age 9 was an adventure for her, not a curse like it was to other kids. She just…started getting ideas. We didn't know where she came up with them. She thought Kathy was our favorite. Maybe she noticed how much we doted on Kathy to make sure she felt included and more like a part of the family."
"Sounds like an intuitive little girl."
"That what Max says… but she would… see these things and interpret them in odd ways. She started to have issues with keeping friends. See that… the things that little girls do to each other and she took it to heart every time. She could never seem to move past the initial perception she got from someone. When she was in the seventh grade she… We found her mutilating herself… she was trying to stop the voices, she said." Liz bit back a sob. "We weren't watching her close enough. Weren't paying enough attention and she was trying to stop the voices."
"I can see you blame yourself for that."
"Max was out of town and Beth was falling apart and I didn't know what to do. She eventually got better. She… Max put her on medication."
"For the voices."
"Yes and… she seemed to be okay. She started wearing dark clothes and black make up and… acting out just enough to get attention without… She stopped letting us hug her. Kept everyone away."
"Then what happened?"
"She went off her meds, two years ago. She had another break. She had a mass in her brain. Treatable… but we only found it after she'd practically died. She was run over by a truck and lived… and then there's this… mass in her brain. It had been blocking signals her whole life."
"And no one suspected?"
"No. No one knew. They removed it and then she got taller by another inch. She didn't need glasses anymore. She filled out more. She started to come around a bit. We got used to her boyfriend. It seemed to be okay." Liz took a deep breath. "We've been over it and over and over it… no one can figure out why she left."
"It does seem to be a bit of a mystery. Though, I noticed you didn't say anything about the voices going away."
"She's always going to hear the voices." Liz admitted. "Nothing is ever going to change that."
"And is that what you can't accept?"
"Maybe."
"Is that why you blame Max?"
"I don't blame him."
"But you resent him."
"A bit… but I love him."
"Let's talk about this resentment."
"He just… exasperates me."
"Like when he wanted more kids before you were ready…"
"Like then." Liz lowered her eyes even as she rose to her feet once more. "He wanted another one when Davey was four. It was just too soon after the kidnapping. With the problems we were having with him… I half-jokingly told Max to get a vasectomy."
"Did he?"
"Yes but he didn't tell anyone he was going to do it and then he had a reaction to the anesthesia and almost died." She laughed bitterly. "I remember Beth's face so well when we took her in to see him while he recovered. She was so… distraught. He was so out of it… He always does things like that. He'll take hurt and hold it inside and won't let anyone help him… and she's a lot like him."
"I see."
"What?"
"You resent the traits in your husband that your daughter has picked up… the traits that allowed her to run away." She cleared her throat. "It's important to remember that it's possible to have something irk you but to be able to live with it. You may not always feel this way."
"It's not good to feel this way."
"It would be worse to not feel some sort of resentment, Liz. Feelings of any kind let us know that we're alive. Feelings change. They evolve. Do you think our sessions help?"
"Max thinks so."
"Do you think so?"
--
Sebastian clasped his hands together "I met someone."
"Oh? Tell me about this someone."
"I met her at an alumni function. She's smart, pretty and pretty indulgent of my rules."
"How do you feel about that?"
"I do still get the urge to have a drink but she'll drink iced tea with me. She doesn't do drugs and… when she put the moves on me… she understood when I turned down the act of intercourse. She lets me get away with going without details. She told me that maybe the old sex stories could wait until we knew each other better."
"Sounds like a good start. How do you feel about it?"
"Good, I think. Taking baby steps so far."
"It's important to maintain your progress. It will become a balancing act to introduce a relationship."
"I don't know if I'm ready but… I haven't felt interested in a woman since…."
"Donna Jo."
"Right." Sebastien chuckled to himself. "I liked Donna Jo's innocence. She was a firecracker but she was so… perfect."
"And this new girl?"
"Lauren is… the opposite in almost every way. I mean… she's beautiful. Long dark hair and these brown eyes that… are… so old… I mean… she's playful but it's like her eyes are saying something that her mouth can't. She's an actress but I haven't seen anything she's been in. I've sort of had to make myself stop from looking her up. I really don't want to creep her out."
"Well, I can see that you're very excited about this girl."
"She's very… strong-willed and I like that about her. She's going to keep me in check."
"You're making plans?"
"I guess so. I just don't want to say goodbye to her yet." He meets his therapist's eyes. "I like the way she makes me feel."
"And how is that?"
"Trustworthy."
TBC
Re: The Fate of Destiny Part 167 CC/UC ADULT 06/03/09
The Fate of Destiny Part 167
Beth stroked Nat's hair back from his face. He was exhausted but he had made a lot of progress. "That was good. Real good."
"How good?"
"Better than my baby brother when he was 10."
Nat hung his head. "Fuck."
"Kid was a prodigy. Don't take it the wrong way." She laughed. "My older brother kind of sucks at this stuff. You're almost as good as he is. He never tries though."
"How many you got?"
"Two brothers and a half-sister."
"She good at this stuff?"
"A natural but she doesn't use it."
"Doesn't seem like anyone in your family uses their… gifts."
"Not really. They want to be normal." She shrugged and backed away to fix a couple of bottles. Coffee, Tabasco and Sugar, heavily watered. She tossed one to him.
"These are so gross." He made a face but drank anyway. "And yet…"
"And yet…" She smiled. "Food starting to taste better, then?"
"I love my mom's cooking but it wasn't until… now that I realized it was missing something." Nat shook his head. "It's so weird. It's like I've been living someone else's life all this time."
"How are things with your mom?"
"Tense."
"I get that." She chugged from her bottle and sat near the window. "I don't get along with my mom."
"You get along with your dad?"
"Most of the time. We have a difference of opinion on the things that really matter."
"Like what?"
"The family's position in the universe."
--
Liz was stunned. Struck dumb. Words would just not form. She stared, jaw on her toes, at the picture in front of her. Gabriel and his new girlfriend were in line for coffee a few people ahead of her. She felt betrayed for her daughter. She had told Gabriel that she was fine with him dating other girls. Had encouraged it… but she hadn't expected this. The girl on his arm had long dark hair with tresses of all colors flowing through it in thick ratted strands. Had dark makeup and heavy jewelry. For a moment, but only a moment, Liz could have sworn it was Beth. This girl was too tall though. Her smile too bright. Her skin rich with a tan. Then she had teetered in her heels, making him rush to catch her before she went down. That had never happened to Beth.
Her laugh, so deep and throaty, so unlike Beth's. So unlike Beth who would have never laughed at falling down, who hated being teased. The eyes, more green hazel than brown. Liz tried to look away, tried to find a place to hide but she was transfixed by Gabriel's reactions. He laughed. Deep and hearty. His face was painted heavily, more so than Liz remembered. She managed to avoid meeting his gaze until she had placed her order and he picked up theirs. His smiled faltered. "Liz, hi."
"Gabriel." She nodded to him and his girlfriend.
"Liz, this is Anita Paredes." He stepped out of the line to let Liz through. "Anita, this is Liz Evans."
"Good to meet you." Anita held her hand out and gave Liz a firm handshake.
"Likewise." Liz stepped out of the line's way and took her cup when Gabriel passed it along. She cleared her throat. "Returning to your old ways?"
"OH!" Gabriel laughed and glanced down at his outfit. "We're heading to a Halloween party. We're… dressed like the Seraphim Falling videos…"
"Ah… I see." Liz nodded. "Well, good job."
"Are you really related to the girl in the videos?" Anita burst out.
"She's… a distant relative of my husband's." Liz nodded again, biting her tongue against so many comments. She looked her over. "You've managed to look just like her. You could be her sister."
"Really? I'm really bad at wearing heels. I keep falling down." She laughed.
"Are you from Roswell, Anita?" Liz struggled to place her face but with all the makeup, it was near impossible.
"No." She smiled sweetly and like she meant it. "I came up from Las Cruces over Spring Break. I was thinking of transferring schools." She took a breath and glanced at Gabriel.
"Her dad is friends with my mom." He explained quickly.
"Oh, how is that going, by the way?" Liz blinked at him.
"Okay… Um… Eva is still really resistant to speak to her, actually."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Well, so… Anita started the semester here."
"How did you find NMSU?" Liz found herself asking.
"Big. Too big, you know. It's a small town but… Dad and I agreed that it was kind of overwhelming. My mom wanted me to stay but… I have to get out on my own and see if I can do it… but in a small town."
"And I'm sure this handsome young man had nothing to do with it." Liz tried to joke but it fell flat.
"He is a bonus."
"Anita, mind waiting at the car for me?" Gabe nudged her toward the door.
"Sure. It was really nice meeting you. Gabe always talks about you and your family." Anita smiled and teetered her way to the door.
Liz raised an eyebrow at him when she had gone. Gabe tapped his cup for a moment. "Liz, look…"
"Gabriel, you said you were dating again and I was happy for you but she's…"
"What?"
"She's Beth."
"Dad said that too. She's not." He only barely restrained himself from stomping his foot like a two year old.
"She is." Liz scoffed at him. "Dark hair, light eyes… maybe she is a little taller but… the hair, the clothes."
"She doesn't normally dress like that. This is a costume." He protested.
"Gabriel." She touched his shoulder to hold his attention. "I just don't want to see you get hurt when…" She took a breath and let it out slowly. "Just be careful. If your dad noticed it, too…"
"You think I'm gonna get hurt?"
"I think you've been hurt badly already." She touched his cheek as if she were one of her own children. "You deserve to be happy, Gabe… really happy." Her heart broke all over again, watching him. Six foot four, head bowed like a kicked puppy. "Just be sure you really like this girl and not just because she reminds you of Beth, okay?"
--
Max grinned as he sat down at his desk with his cell to his ear. "What are you? In love or something?"
"I don't know." Lauren evaded the question, a smile turning her lips and a laugh coloring her voice. "Maybe."
"Good to hear. Kal told me… well…"
"Yeah, I know." Her smile faded. "It's weird. With all the stuff that I know happened to me… it's the stuff that I don't know about that really bothers me."
"How long are you going to stay in Massachusetts?"
"However long we're filming. It's gonna be a couple of years. It's a trilogy, you know."
"So, when do we get to meet this new guy?"
"How do you know that it's not a girl?"
"Because if it was, you'd be talking to one of your mothers and not to your dear beloved uncle." He laughed. These girls. It was getting easier to keep up with them but only just barely.
"Well, he mentioned he lived in Roswell for a bit. I didn't ask him. I did tell him that I knew some people from there. He got quiet. I don't want to ask but I want to know. Does that make sense?"
"Maybe you should let him tell you in his own time. Sounds like maybe he's not all that fond of Roswell… there are few who are."
"I haven't told him about me."
"If you like him and he reciprocates. He'll wait until you're ready to tell him about that stuff."
"How do you know so much?"
"Made a lot of mistakes. Gave me much to learn from."
--
Lynette shook her finger at Alex, silently chiding him for making faces at his mother's rantings over the speakerphone. Isabel was a whirlwind, even over the phone. "I hope that place has a decent enough room to turn into a nursery. There's so much stuff to fit in. a crib, a changing table, a chest of drawers, a toy box, a diaper genie… Are you two listening to me?"
"Yes, Mom. We're listening." Alex growled. "We're having a baby, not staging an invasion."
"Your aunt called. Make sure you talk to your grandfather this week. He's having a wonderful week and he would love to hear your news."
"Will do." Alex saluted the phone.
"Have the two of you thought about names?"
"Mom, she's been pregnant for all of two seconds. Give us a minute."
"There's just not a minute to spare. Even the most prepared of new parents cannot possibly be prepared enough-"
"Hi Alex! I love you!"
Alex laughed. "Hi Gina. Love you, too. Give Mom back the phone."
"Okay but promise me you're not going to have a girl. You have to have a boy."
"We'll try." Lynette answered the girl.
"She adores you, Alex, you should really call and talk to her more often." Isabel chided as she took the phone back.
"I barely have time to call you. How am I going to call an 8 year old more often?"
"Just… try… please."
"Alex! I'm going to be a Creature from Outer Space for Halloween!"
Lynette burst into a fit of laughter. Alex sighed and picked up the phone, taking it off the speaker. "Okay, fine… put the munchkin back on the phone, Mom."
--
Nat watched the kids in costumes disappear into the darkness. "So… that's why I can't hold my alcohol."
"Yeah, it's genetic. Black outs and bad behaviors." Beth shrugged, sipping her spiced cider. "It literally arrests the cells that send signals so you just start spazzing."
"Hey… where did… he go?"
"Zan? To pick up a date." Beth shrugged. "He's got an active libido for an old guy."
"My mom told me that… his face was… and…" Nat really struggled with the words. "Is he really my dad?"
"Yeah." She grinned. "His face was pretty scarred up… I fixed it last year when I met him."
"You did."
"I'm good at that stuff… but only for the last couple of years. I didn't know I could before that."
"How'd you find out?"
"Got run over by a truck."
"Say what?"
"My dad's a kick ass surgeon." She cleared her throat. "I'm going out."
"Where?"
"Out." She got to her feet.
"You just go out?"
"Yeah. Don't you?"
"With aliens and… and vendettas and shit?"
"Dude, it's life, not a death sentence."
--
Donna Jo laughed at her friends. She hugged David and exclaimed over his costume. She lost track of him for a while. Catching up with friends and getting drunk. Everyone was kind of stupid. It was really no fault of her own that she ended up making out with a hottie on the back porch. She was grateful for the buzz that faded a bit the longer she made out with him.
And really, why shouldn't she enjoy herself? Why shouldn't she be rubbing up against the hottest guy in the house? Maybe he was young. But oh, the things this boy could do with his mouth. And tongue. Didn't she have knees?
"Donna Jo… we really shouldn't do this out here." His hands framed her face. "Sh…"
Her head began to clear. "David?"
"Hey, you okay?"
"Feel kind of funny."
David took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Maybe you should go home."
"Can't… been drinking."
"Come on."
"David…"
"Come on."
--
Anita fell onto her bed in an exhausted, buzzed mess. Her boyfriend sat next to her but was quiet, the way he'd been all night. "Hey." He grunted. "Gabe, you okay?"
"Fine." He nodded.
"The party was fun."
"Yeah."
"Gabe…" She reached out to touch his back. "Look at me."
"Sup?" He turned to face her.
"Are you okay? You've been somewhere else all night." She leaned over to peer up into his face. "What's got you down? I know you're not used to these people but you're usually a much better actor than this…"
"Just… thinking." He leaned back to trap her under his arm. "Not one for parties like that."
"I know… but you've hardly tried. You're a great guy. Smart and funny. Everyone loves you… when you give them the chance."
"I will. Been a long day."
"Can I talk you into staying the night?"
"Not tonight."
She nodded through her disappointment. "It was Liz, right? Family friend. She said something to you?"
"Not anything that anyone else hasn't said."
--
Max raised an eyebrow when David walked in carrying a sleepy blonde in his arms. David jerked his head to the side then carried her upstairs to deposit her in Kat's old bed. He settled her, removed her shoes and brushed her hair back before trudging back downstairs. Both his parents were waiting for him in the living room when he reached the bottom. He used a hand to wipe the last of his Halloween makeup off before addressing them. "She's drunk and I couldn't take her home like that."
"Okay." Max nodded and exchanged a look with his wife. "Where'd you put her?"
"In Kat's room."
"Okay." Liz nodded and stepped around them to attend to their unexpected guest.
Max motioned to his son to join him in the downstairs guestroom. He crossed his arms over his chest staring at the floor instead of his youngest child… who was not a child but not yet a young man. "So, what happened?"
"I saw her at a party I was at. And when I ran into her again… she was… drunk. I offered to take her home… she said she couldn't go home like that… I know her parents, Dad…"
"I know the Vaughns, too, David." He cleared his throat. "Listen, I know we've had this talk before but I need you to hear me, really hear me…"
"Dad… I've never seen her like this before… and that's saying something."
Liz laid a cool washcloth on the nightstand and used a warm one to clean up her face. Liz smiled sadly. When Kat and Dan had been about 14 or so, Max had let them have a sip of whiskey. The two of them had a wonderful time amongst family and then both she and Max had sat up with them. Had done this very thing with them. Beth had never had this.
Donna Jo's eyes fluttered open. "Mrs. Max?"
"Yeah. Come on, sit up. I've got water and aspirin with your name on it."
"Okay." She sat up, leaning on Liz for support but swallowed down what she was given. "I don't feel right."
"It's okay. You're safe."
"I've drunk before… it was never like this."
"What did you drink?" Liz settled herself on the bed so that Donna Jo could lean against her and so she had access to the cool cloth that she laid over the girl's eyes.
"I had a few beers… maybe five, tops… I… had… a drink that Missy's friend mixed me. I… Chuck gave me something that tasted like rum… but the last thing anyone handed me was a… really sweet… thing… I can't even tell you what it tasted like."
"How sweet?"
"Like... cheap soda… times a thousand."
"Max!" Liz kissed her forehead and hugged her. "Anyone try to get you alone tonight?"
"Everybody tries that all the time, Mrs. E."
Liz smiled at the comment but noted that Donna Jo wasn't smiling. "Anyone who should know better?"
"No, but I don't think I pay as much attention as I should."
Max had grabbed his bag before he entered. He flashed a light in Donna Jo's eyes. "Sweetie, how are you feeling?"
"Light's bright, Dr. Max."
"Her eyes are dilated." Max muttered under his breath.
"Someone slipped her something." Liz whispered. "Is there anything we can do?"
"We can take care of this beautiful young lady until this passes." Max cleared his throat. "We should get her more comfortable, though."
"Yeah, Kat's got some stuff she can borrow." Liz nodded and watched him leave the room. "You'll be okay, sweetie. We won't let anything happen to you."
--
Beth sat in the club and ignored everything around her. It was late, they'd be kicking people out soon. And her mother was rocking Donna Jo. Donna Jo was in her sister's clothes, in her sister's bed with her mother. Her father was taking care of her.
She fumed all the way back. She found Nat asleep on her bed. She took pity on him and didn't kick him out. She nudged him over and flopped down. "You're a sheet hog."
"Shut up." He muttered.
"You're worse than my baby brother." She tugged on the sheet.
"You whine more than my baby sister." He lifted an arm and tugged her beneath the sheet and under his arm. "Go to sleep. I'm exhausted."
Beth breathed out her anger and breathed in slowly… relaxing bit by bit. "You didn't go home?"
"Mom's new boyfriend is making examples. I think everyone else fled, too."
"You're going to have to save them all if you save one."
"Yeah… being the oldest is a tough job."
--
Danny forked eggs onto a plate for his wife. She smiled wearily and plopped down. "You were supposed to be home about five hours ago."
"I had to hold an intestine for three hours." He grimaced but forked eggs out for himself and sat to eat. "I'm exhausted. I hate Halloween."
"You're just mad that you don't get to assist as much here."
"Maybe." He raised an eyebrow. Things had been easier in Roswell. His dad was a celebrated surgeon. It got him favors. He'd had to start over in Lubbock. No one was willing to give him a chance based on "Well, when I was back home…" What did help was that his professors had given him strong recommendations. That he didn't fall apart when he lost a patient… and that was because the best surgeries he had ever assisted in had shaken him the worst and there was nothing that should ever shake him like that again. His thoughts drifted back to Beth. He owed her that. She had helped him hone his surgeon's stomach. He wondered where she was. Hoped that she was someplace warm and fed. "Maybe." He took two more huge bites. "I'm gonna hit the sack. Wake me when you get home."
--
"I see her in my dreams." Gabriel cleared his throat. "When I dream of I her, it's so vivid. I'm not talking about a wet dream or sex dreams or anything like that. I'm saying that I see her with changes I've never seen. We talk about things we've never talked about before. But it feel true. It feels real."
"How do you feel about that?"
"It used to give me hope. Now… it just feels like some part of me is holding back."
"We haven't spoken in a while, Gabe. Why are you here?"
"I started seeing someone. I feel like she's Beth's opposite in a lot of ways. My dad and… Beth's mom… they think she's a Beth replacement."
"What do you think?"
"That I don't know what to think." He shook his head. "I like her… and I guess I can see what they do but… she's not Beth. She's definitely not Beth. She likes pop music and Gucci purses and she… she's very generous."
"Are you saying that Beth wasn't?"
"I'm saying that Beth if very selfish. With her time, with her heart… Anita isn't like that at all."
"I thought you said that you loved how Beth took the time to get to know your brothers and sister."
"Well, that was in the beginning. Before she ran out on everyone who loved her."
TBC
Beth stroked Nat's hair back from his face. He was exhausted but he had made a lot of progress. "That was good. Real good."
"How good?"
"Better than my baby brother when he was 10."
Nat hung his head. "Fuck."
"Kid was a prodigy. Don't take it the wrong way." She laughed. "My older brother kind of sucks at this stuff. You're almost as good as he is. He never tries though."
"How many you got?"
"Two brothers and a half-sister."
"She good at this stuff?"
"A natural but she doesn't use it."
"Doesn't seem like anyone in your family uses their… gifts."
"Not really. They want to be normal." She shrugged and backed away to fix a couple of bottles. Coffee, Tabasco and Sugar, heavily watered. She tossed one to him.
"These are so gross." He made a face but drank anyway. "And yet…"
"And yet…" She smiled. "Food starting to taste better, then?"
"I love my mom's cooking but it wasn't until… now that I realized it was missing something." Nat shook his head. "It's so weird. It's like I've been living someone else's life all this time."
"How are things with your mom?"
"Tense."
"I get that." She chugged from her bottle and sat near the window. "I don't get along with my mom."
"You get along with your dad?"
"Most of the time. We have a difference of opinion on the things that really matter."
"Like what?"
"The family's position in the universe."
--
Liz was stunned. Struck dumb. Words would just not form. She stared, jaw on her toes, at the picture in front of her. Gabriel and his new girlfriend were in line for coffee a few people ahead of her. She felt betrayed for her daughter. She had told Gabriel that she was fine with him dating other girls. Had encouraged it… but she hadn't expected this. The girl on his arm had long dark hair with tresses of all colors flowing through it in thick ratted strands. Had dark makeup and heavy jewelry. For a moment, but only a moment, Liz could have sworn it was Beth. This girl was too tall though. Her smile too bright. Her skin rich with a tan. Then she had teetered in her heels, making him rush to catch her before she went down. That had never happened to Beth.
Her laugh, so deep and throaty, so unlike Beth's. So unlike Beth who would have never laughed at falling down, who hated being teased. The eyes, more green hazel than brown. Liz tried to look away, tried to find a place to hide but she was transfixed by Gabriel's reactions. He laughed. Deep and hearty. His face was painted heavily, more so than Liz remembered. She managed to avoid meeting his gaze until she had placed her order and he picked up theirs. His smiled faltered. "Liz, hi."
"Gabriel." She nodded to him and his girlfriend.
"Liz, this is Anita Paredes." He stepped out of the line to let Liz through. "Anita, this is Liz Evans."
"Good to meet you." Anita held her hand out and gave Liz a firm handshake.
"Likewise." Liz stepped out of the line's way and took her cup when Gabriel passed it along. She cleared her throat. "Returning to your old ways?"
"OH!" Gabriel laughed and glanced down at his outfit. "We're heading to a Halloween party. We're… dressed like the Seraphim Falling videos…"
"Ah… I see." Liz nodded. "Well, good job."
"Are you really related to the girl in the videos?" Anita burst out.
"She's… a distant relative of my husband's." Liz nodded again, biting her tongue against so many comments. She looked her over. "You've managed to look just like her. You could be her sister."
"Really? I'm really bad at wearing heels. I keep falling down." She laughed.
"Are you from Roswell, Anita?" Liz struggled to place her face but with all the makeup, it was near impossible.
"No." She smiled sweetly and like she meant it. "I came up from Las Cruces over Spring Break. I was thinking of transferring schools." She took a breath and glanced at Gabriel.
"Her dad is friends with my mom." He explained quickly.
"Oh, how is that going, by the way?" Liz blinked at him.
"Okay… Um… Eva is still really resistant to speak to her, actually."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Well, so… Anita started the semester here."
"How did you find NMSU?" Liz found herself asking.
"Big. Too big, you know. It's a small town but… Dad and I agreed that it was kind of overwhelming. My mom wanted me to stay but… I have to get out on my own and see if I can do it… but in a small town."
"And I'm sure this handsome young man had nothing to do with it." Liz tried to joke but it fell flat.
"He is a bonus."
"Anita, mind waiting at the car for me?" Gabe nudged her toward the door.
"Sure. It was really nice meeting you. Gabe always talks about you and your family." Anita smiled and teetered her way to the door.
Liz raised an eyebrow at him when she had gone. Gabe tapped his cup for a moment. "Liz, look…"
"Gabriel, you said you were dating again and I was happy for you but she's…"
"What?"
"She's Beth."
"Dad said that too. She's not." He only barely restrained himself from stomping his foot like a two year old.
"She is." Liz scoffed at him. "Dark hair, light eyes… maybe she is a little taller but… the hair, the clothes."
"She doesn't normally dress like that. This is a costume." He protested.
"Gabriel." She touched his shoulder to hold his attention. "I just don't want to see you get hurt when…" She took a breath and let it out slowly. "Just be careful. If your dad noticed it, too…"
"You think I'm gonna get hurt?"
"I think you've been hurt badly already." She touched his cheek as if she were one of her own children. "You deserve to be happy, Gabe… really happy." Her heart broke all over again, watching him. Six foot four, head bowed like a kicked puppy. "Just be sure you really like this girl and not just because she reminds you of Beth, okay?"
--
Max grinned as he sat down at his desk with his cell to his ear. "What are you? In love or something?"
"I don't know." Lauren evaded the question, a smile turning her lips and a laugh coloring her voice. "Maybe."
"Good to hear. Kal told me… well…"
"Yeah, I know." Her smile faded. "It's weird. With all the stuff that I know happened to me… it's the stuff that I don't know about that really bothers me."
"How long are you going to stay in Massachusetts?"
"However long we're filming. It's gonna be a couple of years. It's a trilogy, you know."
"So, when do we get to meet this new guy?"
"How do you know that it's not a girl?"
"Because if it was, you'd be talking to one of your mothers and not to your dear beloved uncle." He laughed. These girls. It was getting easier to keep up with them but only just barely.
"Well, he mentioned he lived in Roswell for a bit. I didn't ask him. I did tell him that I knew some people from there. He got quiet. I don't want to ask but I want to know. Does that make sense?"
"Maybe you should let him tell you in his own time. Sounds like maybe he's not all that fond of Roswell… there are few who are."
"I haven't told him about me."
"If you like him and he reciprocates. He'll wait until you're ready to tell him about that stuff."
"How do you know so much?"
"Made a lot of mistakes. Gave me much to learn from."
--
Lynette shook her finger at Alex, silently chiding him for making faces at his mother's rantings over the speakerphone. Isabel was a whirlwind, even over the phone. "I hope that place has a decent enough room to turn into a nursery. There's so much stuff to fit in. a crib, a changing table, a chest of drawers, a toy box, a diaper genie… Are you two listening to me?"
"Yes, Mom. We're listening." Alex growled. "We're having a baby, not staging an invasion."
"Your aunt called. Make sure you talk to your grandfather this week. He's having a wonderful week and he would love to hear your news."
"Will do." Alex saluted the phone.
"Have the two of you thought about names?"
"Mom, she's been pregnant for all of two seconds. Give us a minute."
"There's just not a minute to spare. Even the most prepared of new parents cannot possibly be prepared enough-"
"Hi Alex! I love you!"
Alex laughed. "Hi Gina. Love you, too. Give Mom back the phone."
"Okay but promise me you're not going to have a girl. You have to have a boy."
"We'll try." Lynette answered the girl.
"She adores you, Alex, you should really call and talk to her more often." Isabel chided as she took the phone back.
"I barely have time to call you. How am I going to call an 8 year old more often?"
"Just… try… please."
"Alex! I'm going to be a Creature from Outer Space for Halloween!"
Lynette burst into a fit of laughter. Alex sighed and picked up the phone, taking it off the speaker. "Okay, fine… put the munchkin back on the phone, Mom."
--
Nat watched the kids in costumes disappear into the darkness. "So… that's why I can't hold my alcohol."
"Yeah, it's genetic. Black outs and bad behaviors." Beth shrugged, sipping her spiced cider. "It literally arrests the cells that send signals so you just start spazzing."
"Hey… where did… he go?"
"Zan? To pick up a date." Beth shrugged. "He's got an active libido for an old guy."
"My mom told me that… his face was… and…" Nat really struggled with the words. "Is he really my dad?"
"Yeah." She grinned. "His face was pretty scarred up… I fixed it last year when I met him."
"You did."
"I'm good at that stuff… but only for the last couple of years. I didn't know I could before that."
"How'd you find out?"
"Got run over by a truck."
"Say what?"
"My dad's a kick ass surgeon." She cleared her throat. "I'm going out."
"Where?"
"Out." She got to her feet.
"You just go out?"
"Yeah. Don't you?"
"With aliens and… and vendettas and shit?"
"Dude, it's life, not a death sentence."
--
Donna Jo laughed at her friends. She hugged David and exclaimed over his costume. She lost track of him for a while. Catching up with friends and getting drunk. Everyone was kind of stupid. It was really no fault of her own that she ended up making out with a hottie on the back porch. She was grateful for the buzz that faded a bit the longer she made out with him.
And really, why shouldn't she enjoy herself? Why shouldn't she be rubbing up against the hottest guy in the house? Maybe he was young. But oh, the things this boy could do with his mouth. And tongue. Didn't she have knees?
"Donna Jo… we really shouldn't do this out here." His hands framed her face. "Sh…"
Her head began to clear. "David?"
"Hey, you okay?"
"Feel kind of funny."
David took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Maybe you should go home."
"Can't… been drinking."
"Come on."
"David…"
"Come on."
--
Anita fell onto her bed in an exhausted, buzzed mess. Her boyfriend sat next to her but was quiet, the way he'd been all night. "Hey." He grunted. "Gabe, you okay?"
"Fine." He nodded.
"The party was fun."
"Yeah."
"Gabe…" She reached out to touch his back. "Look at me."
"Sup?" He turned to face her.
"Are you okay? You've been somewhere else all night." She leaned over to peer up into his face. "What's got you down? I know you're not used to these people but you're usually a much better actor than this…"
"Just… thinking." He leaned back to trap her under his arm. "Not one for parties like that."
"I know… but you've hardly tried. You're a great guy. Smart and funny. Everyone loves you… when you give them the chance."
"I will. Been a long day."
"Can I talk you into staying the night?"
"Not tonight."
She nodded through her disappointment. "It was Liz, right? Family friend. She said something to you?"
"Not anything that anyone else hasn't said."
--
Max raised an eyebrow when David walked in carrying a sleepy blonde in his arms. David jerked his head to the side then carried her upstairs to deposit her in Kat's old bed. He settled her, removed her shoes and brushed her hair back before trudging back downstairs. Both his parents were waiting for him in the living room when he reached the bottom. He used a hand to wipe the last of his Halloween makeup off before addressing them. "She's drunk and I couldn't take her home like that."
"Okay." Max nodded and exchanged a look with his wife. "Where'd you put her?"
"In Kat's room."
"Okay." Liz nodded and stepped around them to attend to their unexpected guest.
Max motioned to his son to join him in the downstairs guestroom. He crossed his arms over his chest staring at the floor instead of his youngest child… who was not a child but not yet a young man. "So, what happened?"
"I saw her at a party I was at. And when I ran into her again… she was… drunk. I offered to take her home… she said she couldn't go home like that… I know her parents, Dad…"
"I know the Vaughns, too, David." He cleared his throat. "Listen, I know we've had this talk before but I need you to hear me, really hear me…"
"Dad… I've never seen her like this before… and that's saying something."
Liz laid a cool washcloth on the nightstand and used a warm one to clean up her face. Liz smiled sadly. When Kat and Dan had been about 14 or so, Max had let them have a sip of whiskey. The two of them had a wonderful time amongst family and then both she and Max had sat up with them. Had done this very thing with them. Beth had never had this.
Donna Jo's eyes fluttered open. "Mrs. Max?"
"Yeah. Come on, sit up. I've got water and aspirin with your name on it."
"Okay." She sat up, leaning on Liz for support but swallowed down what she was given. "I don't feel right."
"It's okay. You're safe."
"I've drunk before… it was never like this."
"What did you drink?" Liz settled herself on the bed so that Donna Jo could lean against her and so she had access to the cool cloth that she laid over the girl's eyes.
"I had a few beers… maybe five, tops… I… had… a drink that Missy's friend mixed me. I… Chuck gave me something that tasted like rum… but the last thing anyone handed me was a… really sweet… thing… I can't even tell you what it tasted like."
"How sweet?"
"Like... cheap soda… times a thousand."
"Max!" Liz kissed her forehead and hugged her. "Anyone try to get you alone tonight?"
"Everybody tries that all the time, Mrs. E."
Liz smiled at the comment but noted that Donna Jo wasn't smiling. "Anyone who should know better?"
"No, but I don't think I pay as much attention as I should."
Max had grabbed his bag before he entered. He flashed a light in Donna Jo's eyes. "Sweetie, how are you feeling?"
"Light's bright, Dr. Max."
"Her eyes are dilated." Max muttered under his breath.
"Someone slipped her something." Liz whispered. "Is there anything we can do?"
"We can take care of this beautiful young lady until this passes." Max cleared his throat. "We should get her more comfortable, though."
"Yeah, Kat's got some stuff she can borrow." Liz nodded and watched him leave the room. "You'll be okay, sweetie. We won't let anything happen to you."
--
Beth sat in the club and ignored everything around her. It was late, they'd be kicking people out soon. And her mother was rocking Donna Jo. Donna Jo was in her sister's clothes, in her sister's bed with her mother. Her father was taking care of her.
She fumed all the way back. She found Nat asleep on her bed. She took pity on him and didn't kick him out. She nudged him over and flopped down. "You're a sheet hog."
"Shut up." He muttered.
"You're worse than my baby brother." She tugged on the sheet.
"You whine more than my baby sister." He lifted an arm and tugged her beneath the sheet and under his arm. "Go to sleep. I'm exhausted."
Beth breathed out her anger and breathed in slowly… relaxing bit by bit. "You didn't go home?"
"Mom's new boyfriend is making examples. I think everyone else fled, too."
"You're going to have to save them all if you save one."
"Yeah… being the oldest is a tough job."
--
Danny forked eggs onto a plate for his wife. She smiled wearily and plopped down. "You were supposed to be home about five hours ago."
"I had to hold an intestine for three hours." He grimaced but forked eggs out for himself and sat to eat. "I'm exhausted. I hate Halloween."
"You're just mad that you don't get to assist as much here."
"Maybe." He raised an eyebrow. Things had been easier in Roswell. His dad was a celebrated surgeon. It got him favors. He'd had to start over in Lubbock. No one was willing to give him a chance based on "Well, when I was back home…" What did help was that his professors had given him strong recommendations. That he didn't fall apart when he lost a patient… and that was because the best surgeries he had ever assisted in had shaken him the worst and there was nothing that should ever shake him like that again. His thoughts drifted back to Beth. He owed her that. She had helped him hone his surgeon's stomach. He wondered where she was. Hoped that she was someplace warm and fed. "Maybe." He took two more huge bites. "I'm gonna hit the sack. Wake me when you get home."
--
"I see her in my dreams." Gabriel cleared his throat. "When I dream of I her, it's so vivid. I'm not talking about a wet dream or sex dreams or anything like that. I'm saying that I see her with changes I've never seen. We talk about things we've never talked about before. But it feel true. It feels real."
"How do you feel about that?"
"It used to give me hope. Now… it just feels like some part of me is holding back."
"We haven't spoken in a while, Gabe. Why are you here?"
"I started seeing someone. I feel like she's Beth's opposite in a lot of ways. My dad and… Beth's mom… they think she's a Beth replacement."
"What do you think?"
"That I don't know what to think." He shook his head. "I like her… and I guess I can see what they do but… she's not Beth. She's definitely not Beth. She likes pop music and Gucci purses and she… she's very generous."
"Are you saying that Beth wasn't?"
"I'm saying that Beth if very selfish. With her time, with her heart… Anita isn't like that at all."
"I thought you said that you loved how Beth took the time to get to know your brothers and sister."
"Well, that was in the beginning. Before she ran out on everyone who loved her."
TBC