Sense of Duty (CC/UC,M/M,ADULT) Ch 21 - 03/14/05 [WIP]

[Ninlil]

Title: Sense of Duty
Author: Kara
Rating: ADULT
Pairing: CC/UC.
Summary: Post-graduation. Despite her wanting to go with them, they left Maria behind in Roswell.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Distribution: Just ask.
Banner by Kate (aka crazylittlecandygirl)

CHAPTER 1

It had been almost ten years since the five of them had left Roswell. They were sick of running. Every time one of them spotted someone acting out of the ordinary they would have to move. They figured most of the time it was just their paranoia, but no one wanted to find out for sure so they kept running. They all lived together with Max and Liz in one bedroom, Kyle and Isabel in the other, and Michael usually slept on the couch.

Michael didn’t think that Max and Liz missed home all that much, after all they were usually so wrapped up in their own little world. Kyle and Isabel seemed to miss it a little bit more, but not as much as they did before they fell in love. They have been married for the past couple of years and while not as sickening as Max and Liz they often still acted like newlyweds. Michael realized the worst mistake of his life was when he left Maria behind, but he had known this as he walked away from her. He often had one night stands with women who came onto him while he was bartending, but he had never felt with anyone else a smidgeon of what he had with Maria.

They had been living in Chicago for the past 13 months which was quite the stretch for them. A few years ago they had lived in a small community in the mountains in Colorado for almost two years which was the longest that they had stayed in one place. Their run from there had been the strangest since they had left Roswell.

***
It was two hours into his shift and his night was totally sucking. So far the tip situation had been pretty bleak, the place was packed, and to top it all off he now reeked because one of the waitresses had accidentally spilled beer on him. The only highlight of the evening was the gorgeous redhead that kept giving him looks. She was wearing a great dress, but what was most striking was the necklace she had on. It was an unusual design and it reminded him of one that Maria used to wear all the time when they were together. He was planning on hitting on her as soon as the crowd thinned out. He hadn’t been with anyone in a while, and he had been getting pretty lonely.

Finally, after things slowed down Michael went over to the woman to see if she was really going to try to pick him up or if she was just being a tease. “Can I get you anything else? Anything at all?” he asked her with a flirtatious smirk.

“I think so, but I’d like a taste before I commit to asking you to fuck me for the night.”

He was taken aback by her forcefulness, but he also liked it. It was another thing that reminded him of the feisty one he left behind. So he decided that he would give her a kiss that would make sure she offered an invitation for more. He leaned across the bar as she did and as their lips met in the middle they kissed passionately. But as he was pulling back she whispered in his ear “Everything here is from a good friend including the kiss. She passes on the message that there is no time for the usual warning, you must get the others and leave now. She said to tell you not to be stubborn about this and just for once do something when she tells you to do it.” As she said this he felt something being pushed into his hand. After the message he looked down to see what it was. He was so surprised that he immediately looked back up to question the lady, but she was gone.

In his hand he held a cylindrical object with money wrapped around it. When he unwrapped the money he found that he now held in his hand five thousand dollar bills and a vial of cypress oil. He was in such a daze that it took him a few minutes to process what the redhead had told him. As soon as he had, he was walking out the door to his bike while sending out their emergency page from his cell phone. He still couldn’t believe what just happened, but right now all that mattered was running again.

They made it out of the small town just in time, and didn’t stop until days later when as many states as possible had been put between them and their last location. Michael hadn’t told anyone about the circumstances that led to them leaving. His mind had been on overload and he decided that he needed to talk to the only person that might be able to help him sort it all out.

Michael and Kyle were sitting at a greasy breakfast diner feasting on a hardy breakfast. Michael wasn’t quite sure how he was going to tell Kyle his suspicions because he was certain that as soon as he said it out loud it would sound ridiculous. He was going to have to put this just the right way. Of course he was never good with words, instead he shoved the vial of cypress oil towards Kyle and blurted out “I was gonna screw this chick, then she gave me a message that we had to leave and left me this.”

“What?” Kyle was sure he wasn’t hearing the whole story here because he was thoroughly confused.

Michael decided he better just start the story from the beginning and let Kyle come to his own conclusions. Maybe Kyle would be the voice of reason and not find anything unusual about getting a message from a woman wearing recognizable jewelry that left him with a warning from a “good friend” and a vial of oil that he was all too familiar with. Right?

His first problem with that was the words ‘Kyle’ and ‘voice of reason’ should never be uttered in the same sentence as was evident by Kyle’s next outburst. “Maria sent a woman to kiss you, warn you, kind of insult you, and give you money. What the hell? How in the world would she know where we were or that we were in trouble?”

“Look we don’t even know if the message came from Maria. Someone could have been setting us up.”

“Setting us up to escape? That makes no sense.” Kyle said while shaking his head.

Michael scowled at him. “Well, it makes just about as much sense as Maria sending us a warning. I left her in Roswell so that she would be safe and could have a life of her own. I refuse to believe that she is somehow involved in this. She is supposed to be SAFE!” If she was involved, that would mean she was in trouble. He wasn’t quite sure he could live with himself if she was in trouble because of him.

“I could ask Isabel to dreamwalk her, but except for the first few times she hasn’t been able to get in.” Kyle doubted it would work, but it wouldn’t hurt to try.

This was the first he was hearing of any attempts to dreamwalk Maria. Michael looked over at Kyle and calmly raised an eyebrow so that he would know an explanation to that statement was definitely in order.

Kyle looked a bit sheepish as he explained “I was worried about her after we left. I was really beginning to think of her as my sister, so a few days after we left I asked Isabel to check up on her dreams. I didn’t tell you about it because I knew you would be upset and what Isabel saw wasn’t really comforting.”

Michael frowned. “What did she see?”

Kyle looked down at his plate before finally raising his head to meet his friend’s eyes. “She was dreaming of repeated images of people in her life abandoning her. I think the images that got to Isabel the most were the ones of Maria begging Alex not to leave her. Isabel was in tears by the time she came out of the dreamwalk.”

Michael closed his eyes in an extended blink. When he opened them Kyle could see the unshed tears, so he quickly continued on “About a month later when she tried again she had trouble getting into the dream. She said the whole dream was so dark and heavy with sadness that she couldn’t really get in. Then she tried again the next month and found Maria standing at the head of a conference table speaking to strange men and women in the room. Sitting at the conference table by her side was Alex. Isabel went to go sit down in the empty seat next to him, but suddenly Maria turned to look straight at her and she was thrown out of the dream. Isabel was not happy about that at all.”

Michael chuckled. That would be just like his pixie.

Kyle laughed as well, but carried on in a serious tone when he told Michael that Isabel hadn’t been able to get in to Maria’s dreams since then. He gave his alien friend a big smile and said “who knows…maybe it will work this time.”

It hadn’t worked, and they had decided to not tell the others. There was nothing they could do but pray that she was okay.
***

Michael was just getting ready to go into work when Liz and Isabel burst through the door complaining about the electric bill.

“Isabel, we just can’t keep the heat on all the time.”

“I’m not going to freeze my ass off just so we can save a few extra dollars. We’ll come up with the money somehow – we always do.”

“Fine.” Liz wasn’t about to get into it any further with Isabel because she was sure that she was going to blow up at her any minute and say something she would regret.

Isabel wasn’t one to let something go completely and so she turned to Michael. “Maybe Michael will get another big tipper in tonight. I swear if I didn’t know any better I would think that you had developed a new power of suggestion. You always seem to get those big tips at just the right times.”

“Yeah, I wish I had that power. It would be nice if I got those kind of tips all the time, but I’m not complaining. I’m off to work. See you guys later.”

TBC

[Ninlil]

CHAPTER 2

Liz was in bed trying in vain to come up with reasons as to why her husband wasn’t in bed with her. She really didn’t want to believe that anything was wrong, and when the others were around he put on a good show of soulfully looking into her eyes every chance he got.

The other night she had asked him outright if he was having an affair. His response that she was crazy thinking that he was sleeping with someone else just because he didn’t feel like having sex with her at that moment hadn’t made her feel any better. She agreed that not wanting to have sex did not necessarily equate to having an affair, but it was more than that. For the past few months, she had been the one to initiate the few and far between times that they had sex; and for the past couple of weeks, even when she tried to get something started he would spurn her advances.

She knew she was still an attractive woman, and didn’t see any reason why her husband wouldn’t still find her attractive. And those times that they did have sex it was good. Not spectacular, but nothing near the dreadful department. So, why did she practically have to beg her husband for sex? Her contemplations were abruptly cut off at seeing several large men enter her room.

In the bedroom down the hall, Kyle and Isabel were snuggling up close together. Her back was leaned up against his chest while one of his hands idly traced patterns on her exposed hip. She was just about to turn around and try to reciprocate some of the feelings he was stirring up inside of her when they heard a scream coming from Liz’s bedroom.

In an instant they were both up out of bed and dressed. During this time Kyle called out to Liz but the only response was silence. He immediately retrieved his gun from the drawer in the nightstand and tossed Isabel his cell phone. Isabel caught the phone and had just managed to send out the emergency page when they were surrounded by men with their guns pointing directly at them.

Max was too preoccupied to notice his emergency page. At that moment, he was admiring the way his unbuttoned shirt was hanging off the young woman standing in the doorway. “What are you doing up? Did I not tire you out enough? Come back to bed and I’ll try my best to help you work off some of that excess energy.”

The young blonde slowly straddled his body leaning down to give him a nice long kiss. She pulled back a bit and with a gentle voice said, “I really am sorry about this, but duty calls.”

Before he could ask what she was talking about, he felt a prick in his arm and his world went black.

Michael’s instincts had been on overdrive for the better part of the evening, and he had just decided to leave work early when the emergency page came through. He was out the door in seconds. Unfortunately, as soon as he stepped outside he found himself encircled by a dozen guns pointed at his head. He figured that if they had found him there, then it was likely that the others had been caught as well. His last thought that night was to wonder why he had not been warned.

~ ~ ~

In a small room near the Black Sea, eight friends sat around talking and playing cards.

“Any movie with Val Kilmer in it is a good movie.”

“I completely agree. He was so hot in Tombstone.”

The guys obviously didn’t share this view as evident by the snorts and guffaws heard around the room. Ace decided to speak up. “Are you kidding? He was all sickly looking in that movie. You were attracted to that?”

Ava looked over at her boyfriend. He really was a good-looking young man. He was tall and lean, but had well-defined muscles. His brown hair was always falling into his eyes these days, yet it just made him all the more endearing. However, he just didn’t understand. “Val Kilmer definitely had it going on in that movie. I could get off just listenin’ to his voice.”

Quinn who usually never spoke up looked over at her with wide blue eyes. “Ava, you are a very strange woman.”

As the rest laughed, Ava smiled over at him and thanked him for the compliment.

In the chair next to the subdued Quinn was his exact opposite. The man with strong features and deep golden brown eyes was the epitome of loud and brash. He was currently staring at the blonde sitting across from him. “Yo, babe you gonna show ya cards or what?”

She just laughed and shook her head. She was sure that he lived just to annoy her.

Talia shouted from the sofa at the back of the room. “You going to let him get away with that Commander?”

She responded with a shrug. “Babe is better than bitch. It took me long enough to get him to stop calling every girl he met bitch. I can’t even imagine how long it would take to train him to call someone by their proper name.”

“Hey! No one trains me!”

She just nodded her head and smiled at him while the other girls gave her knowing grins.

Sam didn’t want to give up the goods on his friend, but the Commander would kill him if she found out he knew and didn’t tell. So he muttered, “Obviously not trained that well”.

The Commander turned to him sharply. “Explain.”

Sean tried to diffuse the situation in defense of his buddy. “It was an accident. The girl was flirting with him and you know how he gets when they’re being all sweet.”

The Commander looked at him like he was crazy, rolled her eyes, and then turned to the offender. “Please tell me it wasn’t one of the new girls.” At the down cast of his eyes she let out a growl. “Damn, this time you will be punished.”

Not one to back down from a challenge, he looked back up at her and with a spark in his eyes said “sounds like a date to me.”

Fortunately for him, they were interrupted by the intercom. “Commander, you have a go. Repeat, you have a go.”

The eight of them were up and out the door within seconds.

~ ~ ~

In a facility deep in the backwoods of Virginia, the five that had been on the run for so long were awaking from their first night in captivity.

An older man with peppered gray hair entered the room. “You have been detained by the Central Intelligence Agency. You have been given a drug that inhibits your abilities. Take the rest of today to get some rest as we will begin testing tomorrow morning. Dr. Luca Diamare will arrive at that time to commence with the psychological evaluations. Until then.” With that said he left the room.

Kyle looked over at Michael with his brows furrowed. Michael knew what his friend was thinking but there was just no way that was a possibility.

TBC

[Ninlil]

Thanks for the feedback.

CHAPTER 3

It was just past dawn when Dr. Diamare started to get anxious. Although she was young, she had garnered much respect within the agency. Nevertheless, this case was of extreme importance. So, naturally, her best friend was sitting on her bed going over exactly what kind of shoes she should wear for the day.

“What do you think, the ‘practical yet attractive’ pumps or the ‘I’ll be regretting it about three this afternoon but until then I’ll be looking good’ heels?”

Her best friend watched as she slipped on the heels, gaining four inches in height and making her silk clad calf muscles flex. “Since when have you ever been practical and what’s a little pain when you’ll be looking damn good? Besides it will be a nice distraction.”

“Heels it is! I can’t believe I have butterflies in my tummy. I’ve done this too many times to count, so it should be no bid deal. Right?” She was trying desperately to sound like her normal confident self, but it just wasn’t working.

“You’ll be fine. Just treat the whole situation as routine. Don’t worry; everything is going to go like clockwork.”

With a light laugh she told her friend, “Maybe you should be the shrink”. It was time to go. “Thanks, sweetie. Okay, I’m out of here. I’ll see you later tonight.”

As soon as Dr. Diamare entered the CIA facility, the unit leader, John Miller, was there to greet her. As she caught his eyes lingering on her body longer than they should have, she reminded herself to thank her friend for her clothing expertise. Miller made small talk with her on their way through the compound to the room where the five were being held. When they reached the hallway outside the room she paused to speak with Miller regarding the schedule for the next week.

The large rectangular room they were being held in was sparsely furnished with three sets of bunk beds. On the side of each bunk bed there was a metal locker containing several sets of medical scrubs, and in the center of the room was a small, round metal table. Unfortunately, all of the furnishings were securely bolted to the floor or wall. The room was painted an awful sterile white color. Well, at least the long back wall and two short side walls were. The front wall was clear as if they were in an aquarium.

The two couples were sitting at the table watching the occasional person walk by in the hallway. They were all trying desperately to pretend that everything was going to be okay.

Michael was sitting on the floor, his back against one of the side walls and his head lowered into his arms that were crossed over his bent knees. He just couldn’t stop trying to figure out how it was possible that the government had caught them so easily. He looked up to ask Kyle what his theories were when he saw the guy that had spoken with them yesterday out in the hallway talking to a young woman that had her back turned to the room.

The first thing he noticed was her legs. The heels she had on were creating a seductive tension in her calves. His eyes traveled up her body taking in the short skirt that ended a few inches above her knees. She was wearing a black jacket along with the black skirt, and her blonde hair was pulled back tightly into a bun. She looked svelte and he was wondering what she might look like from the front when she briefly turned her head around to look into the room.

In the moment he locked eyes with her, a sudden shock wave coursed through his body. He immediately looked over to the table to see who else had seen her. Max still had his eyes glued to the woman in the hallway so Michael figured that he knew. He looked over at Kyle who was whispering something into Isabel’s ear. He spoke up to get Kyle’s attention. “Kyle, you were right about the name.”

Kyle sat up sharply and looked in the direction Michael was staring then bent back down to tell Isabel to play along. He was just about to make sure the others were aware of what was going on when she walked in with the man that had informed them of their detention yesterday.

While the others had managed to school their shocked expressions back to icy indifference, Liz was having a much harder time with the emotions that were storming within her. On instinct, she started to speak. She got as far as “M…..” before she was interrupted.

The doctor looked straight at the petite brunette and with a contemptuous laugh said, “Little girl, please do not start calling for your mommy now. Trust me, there will be plenty of time for that when the testing begins.”

Max immediately pulled Liz into a hug so that she was no longer facing the others.

Michael thought they might need more of a distraction from Liz’s outburst, and the best way to do that would be to have his own little outburst. He turned venomous eyes on the doctor and with a voice full of scorn told her exactly what he thought of her. “Look here bitch there is no way that I’m going to let you do any kind of testing on us. You can take your testing and go to Hell. How dare you…”

But he faltered in his ranting. Up close he could see her eyes were the color of caramel. They shouldn’t have been. And her voice was cold. He had never heard her voice that indifferent. On the other hand, she had the same kitten nose, full lips, and small firm chin that he remembered so well. He was an idiot. It was a disguise. It was her. It had to be her. He could feel her. It was Maria.

The doctor took a good look at the deliciously beautiful man standing in front of her. She had always been attracted to that body, those hands, and even that brooding scowl that was ever present on his face. There was even the dangerous and unhealthy attraction to the vibes that were coming off him at the moment. Those vibes were definitely not gentle, however she knew that he could be the most gentle of souls and that was even more dangerous.

Michael was so caught up in the confusion clouding his mind that he was startled when the doctor started laughing. Not the soft, musical laugh he was familiar with, but a terrible, condescending laugh.

She turned to Miller who was standing next to her and said, “delusional…this should be a very interesting evaluation.” Miller nodded his head in full agreement. This was a particularly interesting group. Miller showed in the two guards and told Dr. Diamare that he would see her later before he himself left.

They were all looking at the doctor when she turned back around. Her eyes softened and with a gentle voice she said, “Please follow me and I will take you to the room where the first part of the evaluations will take place.”

They walked down several corridors with one guard in front and the doctor with the other guard behind them. The hallways were brightly lit, but they hadn’t seen anyone else since they had left their room. The doctor was telling them about the upcoming evaluation. “The psychological evaluation will cover both cognitive and emotional functioning. The tests you will take today and tomorrow will include assessments of personality styles, tests of emotional well-being, IQ tests, tests of academic achievement, and tests for specific psychological disturbances and their severity. The interview will include questions about your personal and family history as well as a review of current life stressors. The tests will include the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, the Rorschach Inkblot Test, the Bender Gestalt Test, the…” she trailed off as the guard next to her gave her the signal.

The guard in front of them had stopped walking, and they gradually realized that Maria had stopped talking. They all turned to look at her. She had a kind, loving smile on her face. “Hi guys! I hope you can trust me even after all this time. We can’t talk long. We are interfering with the listening devices in short bursts of sixty seconds so please don’t speak just yet.” She paused and waited for another signal.

“You will be transferred to another facility soon. The request should go through tonight or tomorrow. Miller has promised that there will be no physical testing for the next two days, but just in case I will make sure that Michael is the first one they start with.”

Michael nodded in understanding, but Isabel was fuming. Maria would never let them do testing on Michael. “What? Is this some kind of payback? He would never…” her words hung in the air as Kyle clamped his hand over her mouth and nodded to the guard giving the signal.

Maria returned Isabel’s glare with a scowl of her own. The guard finally gave her the signal that she could resume the conversation. “I know it has been a long time Isabel, but I thought you knew me better than that. First of all, being the protector of the group he would want to go first. Secondly, there’s someone standing by that we could easily switch him with before any physical testing began.”

She paused once again before continuing. “I would never let anything bad happen to any of you.” She locked eyes with Kyle and continued, “Especially when family is involved”.

Kyle was surprised and as soon as what that had to mean sunk in, he gave her a big grin.

“This is the last time we will be able to talk in here. The psych evals are real and will be recorded, so I expect a good show. Please don’t worry.” With that said she turned to the guard in front, nodded her head, and they began walking down the corridor once again.

TBC

[Ninlil]

Thanks for the feedback.

CHAPTER 4

They were back in their room. All of them were completely worn out. Who knew that all those tests could be so exhausting?

Michael had been dreading the written tests the most because he disliked taking any kind of test, but the hardest part of the day had to have been the interview. Throughout the entire interview he had attempted the impossible feat of gawking at Maria while trying to appear uninterested. Then there were the billions of thoughts running through his head during the whole process: anger, worry, lust, need, love. By the end of the day, he thought if the evaluation had been real, it would probably show that he had some genuine psychological problems. It had not been a fun day.

“Miss them?” Michael looked up to see Kyle nodding towards his hands.

They had taken his two silver rings along with the girls’ jewelry and the other guys’ wedding bands. “Yeah, it’s weird to not have them on. I’ve worn those forever.”

“I’m glad they’ve at least let us stay in our own clothes. When do you think we’ll have to start wearing those scrubs?” The thought of being stripped of his own clothes was worse to him than missing his wedding band. His love for Izzy was more than just a ring, but wearing those scrubs seemed so degrading.

In response, Michael clapped Kyle’s back and shook his head. “I don’t know, man. My head is jam-packed of so much other crap right now. We ought to try to get some sleep. I have a feeling that tomorrow will be another… peculiar day.”

~ ~ ~

Maria knocked on the unit leader’s office door. She acknowledged his welcome, walked in, and sat down in the plush leather chair on the other side of his desk.

John Miller was pleased to see her before she left for the night. “Luca, how did it go today?”

“Nothing too exciting. Not that I was expecting anything more. You know how it is; things usually don’t start getting interesting until a couple of months down the line.”

“How about dinner?”

“Sure. We can even take my car.” She gave him a sly smile knowing how much he adored her car.

They made small talk on their way out to the parking lot. John stopped several feet away from her car to admire it. It was a gorgeous car, a dark blue 72’ Oldsmobile 442 convertible with racing stripes. He had heard talk that she had done the restorations herself. She had always fascinated him, but add in the car and it was just over the top.

They got in the car and she turned to ask, “Where to?”

“The Lodge”. Although it was bit on the romantic side, it was one of the few restaurants open this late and the fact that they had seriously good food didn’t hurt.

As they walked into the restaurant, John caught a few of the men looking over their way in admiration. Just walking with her was a stroke to his ego.

Towards the end of the meal he decided that he was going to have to tell her.

“So, none of them confessed their origins?” He was only mildly curious.

“Of course not, would you have cared if they had?”

She knew him too well. Frowning slightly he told her, “not really. I’ve just approved a transfer request for them to be sent to another facility.”

She nodded. She knew he would. “Why the glum face then? Did you not want them transferred?”

“No, I’ll be glad to see them gone. I have much larger threats to the country to worry about. Unfortunately, you will be going as well. The bosses were only too happy when they found out you were the presiding analyst on the case. I hate to see you leave again so soon.” He liked having her around. She made him feel young.

She took a good look at her unit leader and friend. He was a good-looking man in his mid forties. He had peppered gray hair, yet it just made him look more distinguished. And, despite the fact that he spent most of his day behind a desk, she could tell that underneath the designer suit he was in great shape. He was an utterly charming older man and she often wondered about going out with him after his divorce last year. There just never seemed to be any time to do so.

“I’ll be glad to continue working on the case, but you’re right only a couple of days home before I have to leave again sucks.” She had planned it that way, but he didn’t need to know that.

“We could spend your last night in town together?”

She thought about it. Regrettably, she still had work to do before the flight in the morning. Besides, she had a mission to complete. “Sorry. If I am leaving in the morning, I’ll have to go home, re-pack, and get all the house stuff taken care of again. Rain check?”

He should have asked her out long ago. He nodded. “Next time. This case will probably keep you away for awhile, so don’t forget to keep in touch.”

She smiled appreciatively, “I wouldn’t dream of it”.

~ ~ ~

Max was having a rough time sleeping. He was confused. He really didn’t want to be locked up again. This time was so different than his time with Pierce in the White Room, but he felt as if any moment they were going to strap him down to an operating table to start cutting him open.

Along with this anxiety about his memories he was trying to work out how the woman he had been seeing was involved. Did Maria know? Would she tell Liz? Had she already told Liz? His wife had been acting strange around him last night and he was afraid of what she might know. She had even opted to sleep on the top bunk. Maybe if, no when, they were finally liberated he would tell her the truth and beg for her forgiveness. Maybe.

He was startled when the lights were turned on to find five guards standing in their room. He looked for the guards that had been with Maria yesterday, but didn’t see either of them.

Once they were all up out of bed, each guard put leg restraints and cuffs on the detainee they were assigned. The five were marched out to a hangar where a military transport plane was waiting. Their guards handed them over to the guards on the plane and went back to their posts.

It was mere minutes before they were taxing down the runway. All of them had recognized their new guards as the ones that knew Maria, but no one was sure if it was okay to speak freely.

After what seemed like hours, but in all actuality was probably twenty minutes, the two guards came forward to release them of their restraints. “We have a long flight ahead of us. We have some sodas and junk food. I think there might even be sandwiches in here…” He pulled out the food and started passing it around. The other guard excused himself to go speak with the pilot.

“Where’s Maria? Isn’t she coming too?” Liz asked timidly. She was having a hard time coping with everything going on. All she knew was that she needed her friend.

The guard looked at her strangely then comprehension flashed across his face. He chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll see her when we land.”

Kyle was excited. “This means we’re free, right?!” Freedom was definitely a good thing.

The guard looked at him and smiled. “I’ll let… uh… Maria handle all of your questions when we land.”

The guards had not been kidding when they said it would be a lengthy flight. They had stopped once, but were told that it was just a chance to refuel before continuing. Most of them were asleep when the guards woke them to let them know they were almost to their destination. Where that was the guards wouldn’t say, preferring to wait until Maria was there.

Once they landed, they were stunned to see Maria walking out of the pilot’s cabin.

“You were our pilot?” Isabel knew she hadn’t seen her in years, but every time she saw Maria lately she changed the way she thought about her.

“Nope, I was just the co-pilot this time. Our pilot is a little stingy when it comes to his baby,” she said while gesturing to the plane.

One of the guards opened the door, and as she motioned for them to go down the stairs she said, “Welcome to your new home”.

TBC

[Ninlil]

I decided to post two chapters today so here's the next one. Thanks for reading.

CHAPTER 5

They were greeted by a blast of cold air and the smell of the sea. They followed her into one of many buildings. “I’ll show you to the rooms that have been set up for you. Then we can go to the conference room. I’m sure all of you have plenty of questions. I don’t have much time before I have to leave for Vienna, but the other members of my team will be with us shortly. They can answer any of your questions while I’m gone.”

This was all so strange and Kyle wasn’t sure he liked the thought of her leaving again so soon. “Why are you going to Vienna? When will you be back?”

“I have to report to the Council, but I’ll be back as soon as possible tomorrow,” she answered while taking them deep under the compound.

They frequently encountered people dressed in camouflage. All of them noticed the curious stares they received, and the respectful nods towards Maria.

They finally arrived at the apartments. “Each apartment has two bedrooms. Michael, yours is on the left. Kyle and Isabel you have the one right next door to Michael, and Max and Liz you have the one across the hallway here. The kitchens have been stocked, and you’ll find clothes in the closets. Hopefully, everything is to everyone’s liking. If there is anything else you need, just let me know. Go ahead and look around your new homes while I go change. I’ll meet you in ten minutes in the conference room. The guard down the hall will direct you to the right place.” Maria walked off trying to prepare herself for the upcoming discussion. A dozen emotions were warring within her.

Kyle and Isabel were the first to enter their apartment. Judging by the outside Isabel was sure it would be completely utilitarian. She was pleasantly surprised to find that the inside was much nicer than expected. It was a small apartment, but she saw that great effort had gone into decorating the place to make it look more spacious.

Isabel was sick of the jeans and sweatshirt she had been wearing for the past few days. “Sweetie, I’m going to go check out the closet. Maybe there is something there that I can change into.”

Kyle nodded and followed her into the bedroom. They each had a closet. He was happy to see that his closet was filled with the kind of clothes he liked to wear. He briefly wondered how Maria had done this, but he just added it to the millions of other questions he had for her. He looked over at his wife to see her gaping at a dress she was holding in her hands. “What’s that?”

Isabel turned around. A smile flitted across her face. “A red dress.”

“I see that, but why are you staring at it like you’ve never seen a dress before?”

“No, it’s my red dress. My prom dress. It was towards the back of the closet. How in the world did it get here?” Isabel had always regretted leaving that behind.

“I have no idea. Hey look, my old letterman jacket is in here too. Cool.”

“This whole thing is so weird. Let’s get dressed and go find the others. I think we could all use some answers soon.”

Michael spent the first two minutes in his new place changing into clean black jeans and a new black t-shirt. The rest of his time was spent munching on a big bowl of cereal. He was astonished to find that the kitchen was filled with his favorite foods.

Liz wasn’t sure she wanted to share an apartment with Max. She wondered if Maria would be able to find her another room. No, she was being silly. Max was her husband. She spent her time quickly changing into new clothes and then examining the rest of the bedroom.

Max spent his time checking out the smaller bedroom and kitchen. He wasn’t sure if he should try to talk to his wife or not. Maybe after things had settled down she would stop being so weird.

Ten minutes later the guard was showing them the way to the conference room. A few moments after they sat down, Maria strolled in wearing butter-soft black leather pants and a white button down shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail showing off her lean oval face and flawless full lips.

A deep carefully concealed shudder swept through Michael when his eyes met hers and suddenly his hands wanted all of her, the small full curve of her hips, the roundness of her breasts, her alabaster neck; he desired every inch. He had to shake himself to recover. As he did, all of his emotions came bubbling to the surface.

Michael could no longer control his anger at the thought that she could have been hurt. “What the hell did you think you were doing? I can’t believe you thought you could just waltz right into the friggin’ CIA pretending to be a doctor of all things. Do you know how dangerous that was?”

She sneered at him. “I see you have just as much faith in me as you always did!”

“You know that’s not what…”

“Whatever. For your information, I’ve worked very hard to become a psychiatrist which is one of the reasons why the CIA legitimately recruited me after my first two years in college.” He was so infuriating. He couldn’t just be grateful that she got him out of danger; no, he had to yell at her.

Max could see that after all this time they still liked to fight with each other, but he wanted answers. “How did the CIA recruit you? I know you have a different name, but you were on the list. Surely they have pictures.”

She looked at Max thoughtfully for a moment. “Funny that you should bring up the list now and not when I was trying to run away with you. It might have saved me some trouble.” This wasn’t the way the conversation was supposed to go. She needed to get things back on track.

“Let me start from the beginning so you understand what has been happening for the past ten years. I’ll just go through the basics since I don’t have much time before I leave. The other members of my team will be here soon, and can explain in further detail later if necessary.”

“After all of you left, I decided that I was going to go after you and make you take me with you no matter what.” She looked directly at Michael for a moment then turned to look at the rest of them before continuing.

“I was determined to find you, but I wasn’t sure how long it would take. I went back to my house to pack a few things, get some money, and say goodbye to my mom. My mom was helping me in my bedroom when we heard cars pull up to the house. We could see people dressed all in black surrounding the house. I thought for sure that it was all over for me.”

“Fortunately, with my mom being the trouble-making activist that she was back in the day she knew of a couple of secret hiding places underneath the floorboards in the house. We hid and after a few hours of trashing our home most of them left. We could still hear a few of them so we made our escape under the house. We found the Sheriff, and he took us out to the old mine where he told my mom everything that had been going on for the past few years.”

“She was devastated that I had kept so much of my life a secret, but she helped get me to the Reservation where I hid for a couple of weeks. Riverdog and Eddie helped get me out of Roswell through an underground network set up between the Reservations all over the States.”

“I eventually ended up settling for more than a couple of days in Seattle.” Unexpectedly, immense inner suffering was visible in her face, as if she could no longer conceal it, before she swiftly hid it once again. “I must have come too close…” she trailed off trying to decide how much she wanted to reveal of that time.

Isabel interrupted, “Maria, I did try to dreamwalk you. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to get through.” Max and Liz looked surprised at her admission.

They barely heard Maria mutter under her breath, “Unfortunately, you weren’t the only one dreamwalking”. She shook her head and looked up to see all of the confused stares.

“Sorry, I just don’t like talking about it. I started having terrible nightmares and was quickly working my way into a deep depression. I didn’t know at the time, but Lonnie was manipulating my dreams. I’m pretty sure now that she just wanted me out of Seattle. However, her plan didn’t work and I ended up in the hospital.”

“You know how I’ve always kind of had a natural ability to feel the vibes coming off of people?” She saw that most of them were nodding in agreement. “The ability had gotten stronger ever since I had left the Reservation. So, I was really disturbed at first when the only thing I could pick up from my doctor was a vast void of nothingness. I should have known then that something was wrong, but I just put it down to being… sick.”

“I was being heavily medicated, but something wasn’t right so I started hiding the drugs they gave me. I explored the hospital as much as I could and amazingly found an old friend who was also being drugged. That’s when I figured out that my doctor was a shapeshifter.” She ignored their shocked expressions. She had to continue.

“After a big ordeal, that we don’t really have the time to go into right now, we were able to escape just barely. In the process, I had been hurt. Luckily, there were others that had been following Lonnie and they took us in. They helped heal me and taught me how to block a person from entering my mind since Lonnie was still out there. My friend and I found that our goals coincided with theirs when we discovered they had also been searching for the Royal Four. We told them of our connection to the group, and they asked us to stay.”

“The organization finally found you eight years ago and you have been under the protection of the Allied Forces since then. There are people in the organization of all different origins including Earth and Antar. The Allied Forces is working to overthrow Khivar’s dictatorial rule and replace it with a form of democracy. They also work to keep other planets safe from his tyranny. Once we knew what they were trying to accomplish, we both felt a sense of duty to our planet as well as our friends. We’ve been a part of the organization ever since.”

“With their help my friend was able to replace the electronic pictures of me in the government databases with pictures of a Jane Doe that died in a car accident. I was listed as deceased in their files, so agents weren’t actively searching for me. Later we were able to change the hardcopies as well. My name was changed and all new credentials were produced.”

Liz was shocked that so much had happened to her friend she didn’t know what to say. “Do you go by Luca or Maria now?”

A gruff voice from the doorway interrupted her response. “Aint’ heard nobody call her Maria in a long time. Everyone here calls her Commander.” He then muttered under his breath “at least most everyone”. Long ago he had likened her to a pixie. Rath knew her true fierce nature was often deceptively hidden by her alluring beauty, it was quite misleading sometimes.

All eyes turned to the doorway. They took in his appearance: short buzz hair cut, light brown; eyes the color of whiskey; strong and pronounced facial features; well-defined muscles covered by his flight suit. And except for the haircut, he looked exactly like Michael.

Maria looked at him with a stern expression on her face. “Thanks for reminding me of our conversation on the proper use of names. Tell Jansky to be ready to pilot in thirty.” Rath had a passion for flying and this was the perfect punishment. Besides, the flight back to the base had been long and he really did need the rest.

“What?! Come on, you know I didn’t mean to call her a bitch. Sean…”

He looked like a five year old that had his favorite toy taken away so she decided to go easy on him. “Johnny’s making his special pizzas for the group. Go tell Amy to set an extra place for you, and tell Johnny to make two or three more pizzas.”

She could see the joy on his face at the mere mention of his favorite kind of pizza. He thanked her, scooped her up into a big hug with a quick kiss on the lips, and was gone as suddenly as he had appeared. She shook her head, he was such a kid sometimes.

Max couldn’t believe what he had just seen. Who did these people think they were? “Rath? He is a part of your little group here? Um, you do remember that he killed my dupe, right?” he asked her with an incredulous sneer.

Rath detested that part of his past. He didn’t like to make excuses for himself, but she knew he had been deeply influenced by Lonnie’s maniacal schemes. She narrowed her eyes and carefully looked Max over. She hesitated before responding. Finally, “we’ve all done things we regretted”. Maria thought Max was out of his mind if he didn’t think there were quite a few things he should be regretting right about now.

TBC

[Ninlil]

Thanks again for the feedback. It is much appreciated.


CHAPTER 6

Liz stared at her husband. She couldn’t figure out why he was being so rude. At least now she knew it wasn’t just her that he was acting strangely towards.

She had tried to comfort him when they were still in the clutches of the CIA given his horrible memories of the White Room. She had been really happy in the beginning when he had willing accepted her attempts with tenderness. Max hadn’t behaved that way with her in so long that she had almost forgotten how good it felt. Then during a conversation she had asked him where he was when he was caught. He wouldn’t answer, and later she recognized that as the moment when he started distancing himself from her.

To top it off Max literally had not touched her since they had found out that Maria was their doctor, and that hug was intended as more of a distraction than anything. Before all of this, she had been worried that their lack of sex had meant that he was having an affair. Now he wouldn’t even touch her. What was she suppose to think now? Liz desperately needed to find a way to talk to Maria privately.

‘That shut Max up pretty damn quick,’ Maria thought. She was glad that Rath had come in. He was a good distraction and always helped to lighten her mood. She really didn’t enjoy rehashing her painful past. She had tried to be as vague and business-like as possible just to get through it, but all she had really wanted was to throw her arms around all of them and be elated that they were finally with her again. Surely they were just as happy to see her. They had been through a great deal the past few days, so it was probably just as well that she had to rush through this before leaving. Her joy would have to wait until she got back from Vienna.

Michael had been sitting there quietly trying to digest all of the information they were getting. The things she was telling them were blowing all of his preconceived notions regarding aliens, his world, her… in short everything, right out of the water. Then Rath walked in and he found himself seething with possessiveness. His dupe had actually kissed his Maria. He kept repeating the mantra ‘please just let them be friends’ in his head. He wasn’t sure what he would do if it turned out that they were together.

His thinking turned to the number of women he had been with over the years. God, she’s probably been with other men. No, he couldn’t think that way. He knew it was delusional to think that she hadn’t been with anyone else in the last ten years, but he just couldn’t go down that line of thinking. He was already in a rage just seeing someone peck her on the lips. Shit, what if she was married? He quickly glanced at her ring finger and was relieved when he didn’t see a ring. He had to remind himself over and over that when he left her behind he gave up his rights to even be thinking this way.

He was so involved in his increasingly disturbing thoughts that he was startled to hear the hope in Kyle’s voice. “Amy? Your mom is here? Does that mean…”

With a big grin on her face Maria interrupted him, “Yep. My mom is in the dining room setting the table for dinner and helping Johnny cook. Dad should be wrapping up his training class right about now, so he will be here soon. He’s very excited to see you again.”

Isabel was thrilled that her husband would get to see his father again. She knew how much he missed him. Yet, something was bothering her and she couldn’t figure it out. After hearing Kyle’s next question, she forgot all about it.

“I don’t understand. Why not bring us here eight years ago?”

Maria knew this was going to be the hardest question she would have to answer. “We wanted to, but when you were first found the Council thought it would be safer not to. Back then the organization wasn’t as large and advanced as it is today, but it is still as dangerous today as it was then. There is always the possibility that we will be attacked, and they don’t want the Royals hurt.”

“They convinced me at first. About a year after we had found you, I had gone on a mission with a couple of teams to retrieve some important documents from a British government agency. It was a rare event for me as I didn’t often go on missions since I was in college and had recently been recruited by the CIA. During our mission we discovered that Rath and Ava were being held there. They were rescued and decided to stay with the Allied Forces.”

“The situation seemed to reinforce the idea that it was safer if you were moving around. If Khivar’s people or the CIA were getting too close, we would let one of our operatives linger out in the open longer than necessary ensuring that one of you would get suspicious and the group would leave that area. Only once did we have to send someone in with a direct message.”

“So, that was you?” Michael asked astonished.

She chuckled. “Of course, who did you think it was? The cypress oil wasn’t a dead give-away?” She saw him and Kyle shaking their heads. “That was a close call. A person loyal to Khivar had gotten too close to one of you. Luckily, we picked up a transmission from Khivar’s camp informing the person how to proceed. We just didn’t have time for the usual warning.”

Max was thoroughly confused. He demanded, “What message are you talking about?”

Kyle answered before Maria or Michael had the chance. “A few years ago when we were living in Colorado, some chick at Michael’s workplace gave him a message that we had to split town.”

Liz remembered that move. It had been so scary because they had left just in time. “I thought that was the FBI. We saw all of those unmarked black cars coming into town just as we left.”

Maria clarified, “Actually the FBI hasn’t been actively searching for any of you since the Special Unit was dismantled. The CIA is responsible for investigating extra-terrestrial activities seeing as the CIA isn’t restricted domestically like the Bureau is. But you’re kind of right. We let the CIA track you there in hopes that it would prevent Khivar’s operative from following.”

Max glared at Michael and Kyle. “Why wasn’t I aware of this warning? And you thought it was from Maria? What if it had been a trap? You two are always acting on impulse. We should have sat down and talked about it.”

Kyle rolled his eyes at Max’s behavior. “How could it have been a trap? She didn’t tell him where to go or anything. Was he supposed to wait around to see why we should leave town? Michael told me about the message once we were safe, and neither of us was sure if it was Maria or not. We had Isabel try to dreamwalk her, but obviously it didn’t work. There was nothing any of us could do about it anyways.”

Tension was thick in the air and there was an awkward silence. Then Liz realized something and started laughing hysterically. They looked at her like she was going crazy so she tried to explain. “Sorry, it’s just that I think I realize now why Michael got all of those big tips at just the right times. Isabel and I were sure that he had a new power. We had no idea how he was doing it, so we tried to see if we could get customers to leave bigger tips just by concentrating really hard.”

That broke the tension and most of the others started laughing as well.

After they had settled down Maria explained, “We didn’t want you to not have any money, but it was difficult getting it to the group. It was easiest to get the largest amounts at a time without anyone seeing who left the tip to Michael since he usually worked as a bartender.”

Michael wasn’t sure what to think about that. He had always wondered, but he often thought it was just luck. He should’ve known.

Max was flustered. He really didn’t think any of this was funny. “Why were we captured this time if we were being so well protected? Shouldn’t you have sent Michael another warning? Not that I would know if you had.”

Maria really wanted to tell Max where he could put his remarks, but she reminded herself of how much stress he had been through lately. She calmly tried to answer his question, “For some time now I’ve thought it would be just as safe if you were here, but it wasn’t solely my choice to make. They finally agreed that I needed to pull you in now in case I wasn’t able to at a later date. Truthfully, the decision was very controversial within the Council.”

Max wasn’t sure if he understood what she was saying. “What do you mean? You had the CIA capture us on purpose? How? Why?”

She nodded. “Yes, my team and I felt the only way to get the CIA to stop looking for you would be if they thought they already had you. Congresswoman Whitaker wasn’t the only alien in a government position for either side. There are many government officials that are also members of the Allied Forces whether they are from Earth or not. This makes it easy for us to often simulate our bases as government facilities.”

“Because we always knew where you were, our operatives on the team that was searching for you were able to filter and change information to fit our needs. Once the decision to bring you in was made, we made sure you were caught by Miller’s unit. He’s a good friend, and I knew he would call me to do the evaluation. I was also aware that he would be pleased if the group was transferred.”

“The Council finally agreed because we have reliable intelligence indicating that the Granolith is back on Earth. We think that Khivar was worried that the rebels were getting too close, and he sent it back here for safekeeping. We now have the opportunity to get it back which would give the advantage to the Allied Forces and hopefully help us get rid of Khivar.”

Isabel was staring at the solid oak conference table in front of her and thinking about everything they had been told. It was amazing that all of this was going on and they had no idea. Then she realized what had been bugging her. Maria had talked about an “old friend” that she found in the hospital, and that they both wanted to find the group.

After seeing Rath, Isabel assumed that it was him she had been talking about, but now she wasn’t so sure. None of them would have called the dupes friends back in high school. Well, Liz probably thought of Ava as a friend, but Isabel was certain that Maria never thought of Rath or Ava that way back then. Plus, she just said that Rath and Ava weren’t rescued until a few years after she had been in the hospital.

Then it clicked that Maria had said her friend helped her change her picture on CIA records. Isabel knew of only one “old friend” of Maria’s that could do that, but that was impossible. There was that dream of Maria’s before she had been blocked, but that couldn’t have been real. She looked up at Maria with her brows furrowed. “Maria, who did you find in that hospital?”

As soon as the question left her mouth, Isabel saw the knowledge there in her limitless green eyes. Isabel yelled, “He’s ALIVE! He’s alive and you didn’t tell me…us? You… you… ugh!! How could you keep that kind of information to yourself?”

TBC

[Ninlil]

Thanks again for the feedback.

CHAPTER 7

After waiting for a pause in Isabel’s shouting, Maria firmly told her, “Yes, he is alive. Isabel, I have great respect for you. We were getting to be pretty good friends before you left and now you are my sister-in-law, so I hope you realize that I would never try to hurt you.” She took a deep breath and continued, “You have to understand that it wasn’t my choice to make. Not only did he want you to be safe, but he wanted you to be happy. You were with Kyle by the time we found you again. He had always appreciated Kyle’s friendship, and he knew that Kyle would always be there to love you and take care of you. Isabel, he made the decision not to let you know.”

Kyle looked around the table to see that everyone aside from Maria and Isabel looked just as confused as he was. He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew who they were talking about, but he was having a hard time putting it all together.

Isabel’s head was swimming. All that was going through her head was ‘Alex is alive’. She wasn’t sure what to say. “But…”

Isabel was interrupted by a familiar voice at the door. “Hey sweetie, I heard you have my son in here.”

Before Maria could respond, Kyle was out of his chair and in his father’s arms. “Dad! I thought I’d never see you again.”

Jim Valenti laughed softly. “No worries, son. Your sister would never let that happen.” He turned to Isabel and pulled her into the hug. “Mrs. Valenti, it is a pleasure to see you again.”

Isabel was stunned. She had never heard anyone besides her husband call her that because they had always traveled under assumed names. Her smile was beaming. “It’s good to see you too, Sheriff. I mean…”

“Don’t worry. Apparently it’s a hard habit to break. Even my own daughter slips sometimes and calls me Sheriff.” Jim looked over to see Maria chuckling.

Michael’s attention was focused on the woman that had entered shortly after Valenti had walked in. She looked to be in her early thirties, long red hair, hazel eyes, medium height, slim build wearing tight jeans and a dark blue t-shirt. When she turned and smiled at him, he blushed slightly recognizing her as the woman that had kissed him while delivering Maria’s warning years ago. He hurriedly glanced over at Maria hoping that she hadn’t seen him and cringed when he saw that she had.

Maria watched the interaction with amusement. “Everyone, I would like you to meet Talia. She is a member of my team and our surveillance and intelligence gathering expert.”

Talia greeted everyone. She allowed them to introduce themselves. She didn’t have the heart to tell them that she probably knew more about them than they did.

Maria looked over to see her dad distracting Isabel, but she knew it wouldn’t be long before Isabel resumed her questioning about Alex. Everyone else had seemed to be catching on to what they were talking about as well before they were interrupted. He was taking too long to get here; she needed him here right away. “Talia, tell Ace to get the rest of the team and get in here… now. Tell him he can find Rath in the dining room bugging Mom.”

Talia gave her friend a small smile. She knew this must be tough on her. “Sure thing, Commander.” She walked out intent on quickly finding the rest of her team so they could rescue their leader.

Jim looked at his daughter and could see the weariness in her eyes. It had been a difficult mission for her. Although it had been well planned, it had still been incredibly risky. He was so proud of her and extremely grateful that she had given him the chance to be with his son again. The least he could do was distract the others until the rest of her team arrived.

A little over five minutes later they could hear voices down the hallway filtering through the open doorway. The group in the room started to pick up on the conversation as the voices got closer. “So he goes up to her and starts spoutin’ all this shit about how he likes it rough. The chick runs her hand across his chest and down his arm slowly. Then before he knows it she flips him so hard he lands on the mat with a loud thud, and she asks him ‘Is that rough enough for you?’. Now it’s all he can talk about. He’s in love.”

They can hear laughter and a gruff voice respond, “She wants me, I can tell. It’s just a matter of time.” At that remark the laughter only got louder.

Maria just shook her head and rolled her eyes. She should have never encouraged Sean and Rath to be friends.

Liz thought the voices sounded familiar, but she was still surprised when the first ones through the door were Rath and Sean Deluca. She thought about the last time she had seen Sean and felt her face go red. He still had his boyish good looks, but he looked like he spent much more time working out these days. Her thoughts were abruptly brought to an end when she caught sight of the next two people to walk through the door, Ava and Alex.

Everyone was so shocked to see Alex that they didn’t even notice that Talia had walked back in with two more people.

Kyle was trying to discern who he was more shocked to see Tess or Alex or worse the two of them together. Then he realized it was Ava not Tess. Still his mind was flooded with images of Tess making him place Alex’s body in that car.

As soon as Alex had walked in the questions and comments started flying. They had run the gamut from Isabel’s sharp gasp followed by Michael’s “Holy Shit!” to Max’s “How’s it possible? I saw you dead.”

Maria sighed. “Okay, let’s just all sit down for a moment. We can get the rest of the introductions out of the way before I need to leave. Then all of you can go sit down for dinner and talk. Of course, you all already know Alex who goes by Ace now, Ava, Rath, Sean, and you met Talia earlier.”

Maria pointed to a tall, young man with sandy blonde hair sitting at the end of the table on her right side. “This is Sam. He is our team’s medical doctor.” She then turned and pointed to a man on her left. The man looked to be in his early twenties with a nice face, clean-shaven, and a pair of thin framed glasses that seemed to make his crystal blue eyes stand out. “This is Quinn. He is our logistics and engineering expert.”

“I know this must be awfully confusing,” Maria said sympathetically. “I’m really sorry that I have to leave so soon. I’ll be back tomorrow. In the meantime, my team should be able to answer any questions you have.” She gave them a bright smile before walking out the door.

Alex knew that most of the questions would be directed towards him, but they would just have to wait a little bit longer. He had seen the look in Maria’s eyes. She was barely holding it together. “I’ll be right back,” he said excusing himself.

He found her around the corner leaning against the wall with her eyes closed struggling to take deep breaths. “You okay?” he asked her gently.

She opened her eyes and gave him a small smile. She just needed a moment to compose herself. “I’ll be okay in a minute. The intense emotions in there were just so overwhelming. Not even my blocks were helping. It was just too much.” An Antarian doctor had shown her how to prevent feeling the emotions she picked up, but sometimes when she was in an enclosed space and strong vibes were present not even her blocking technique worked.

It usually helped if she didn’t focus on it so he changed the subject. “Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” He had always gone with her to the Council meetings.

She shook her head. “No, they need you here. They’ll have a ton of questions.” She paused then she asked him, “Alex, do you think I did the right thing by bringing them here?”

“Of course you did,” he replied gently. “I know there are some Council members who didn’t think it would be a good idea, but just remember everyone here is behind you all the way. Plus, you have some pretty powerful Council members on your side.” He sighed and looked back towards the room they had left. “I better get back in there before Isabel or Ava comes searching for me.”

She arched an eyebrow at the mention of Isabel and Ava in the same sentence. He just shook his head and chuckled. After he left she remained against the wall with her eyes closed.

Michael had seen Alex rush after Maria and he had followed. He had stopped around the corner not wanting to interrupt their conversation. Listening he realized how hard this had been for her. He had noticed exhaustion in her eyes towards the end, but thought that was to be expected after the long trip. He had no idea that part of it was because she was trying to suppress the emotions she was picking up off of all of them.

Alex saw him as he rounded the corner. He gave Michael a knowing smile with a pat on his back before he continued towards the conference room.

Michael turned the corner and walked up to her. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up. She locked eyes with him and it seemed for an instant that they were profoundly connected. All speech had left his brain and he just stood there staring into those flawless green eyes.

He finally shook himself regaining control of his senses. “I…um…just wanted to say sorry for…uh… yelling at you earlier and to thank you for helping us out.”

She looked at him carefully, her eyes dancing with amusement. “Wow an apology and a thanks all at once. Things have changed.”

He drew close to her so that their bodies were almost touching. He gently traced his thumb over her lips. He whispered softly, “I’m much more charming now.” He lowered his head so that his lips were nearly caressing hers.

She wanted to give in. More than anything she wanted to close the gap between them and kiss him until they were both gasping for air. Yet, she couldn’t. Not right now. Not yet. Maybe after she had laid out all of the options the group still had available.

She leaned in closer her lips millimeters away from his and teasingly said, “You’ve had lots of practice”.

He flinched at the casual statement, and there was a flash of pain in his clear brilliant eyes. He wanted to explain and tell her that none of them had ever meant anything to him. He paused not knowing what to say.

She pulled away and said, “I should be going”. She hadn’t taken more than two steps when he reached out laying his large hand on her forearm. She slowly turned around and looked at him expectantly.

“I…” He felt his throat constrict but he finally managed to get out, “I’ve missed you”.

Her response was not what he had been expecting. She nodded once and with a smirk said, “See you tomorrow, Spaceboy”. She then proceeded to turn around and stride down the hallway with long graceful steps, leaving him standing there stunned.

TBC

[Ninlil]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad more people are starting to read this. Chelbert8: Sorry, Sean will be a major factor in the M/L situation. They have a history, but it will eventually be necessary for her to decide what is right for her and that may or may not include Sean or Max (that whole situation is one of the reasons I put this in UC ). Hope you continue reading anyways.


CHAPTER 8

They were walking down the hallways to the dining room. It seemed that the large group had naturally fallen into pairs or threes. Liz just happened to sort of end up walking with Sean. “So, Rath is in love?”

Sean laughed at that. “Rath is in love with someone new every week. He fell hard for a dame once. Didn’t work.” Sean shrugged his shoulders. “He’s a player.” He and Rath had been good friends for a long time. They seemed to understand each other.

“What about you?” Liz asked quietly.

Well, well this should be interesting. “Parker, you askin’ for my status?”

Liz giggled. She was about to answer when her husband stepped in between the two of them.

Max had been watching his wife walking with Sean. He hadn’t been able to hear what they were talking about, but he certainly had heard his wife giggle. Sean was a menace. He decided it was time to run interference. “Honey, you mind if I talk with Sean for a bit?”

Liz looked over at Sean and gave him a sympathetic smile. “Sure.” She trailed behind leaving them to their discussion.

As soon as his wife was out of earshot, Max turned to Sean. “Leave my wife alone.”

Sean rolled his eyes. What a jackass! “Are you questioning your wife’s faithfulness?”

Max really didn’t like the way he had asked that, but decided to ignore it for now. “No, I trust my wife. I don’t trust you.”

Sean smirked. A trait he had picked up from Rath. “No worries Evans. I would never do anything that Liz didn’t want me to.” He walked off into the group hoping to get away from the prick.

Kyle was walking with Ava just behind Isabel and Alex. Ava looked so much like Tess. She no longer had the punk look. All of her piercings were gone, and she was dressed in navy blue shorts with a grey t-shirt. Her shoulder length hair wasn’t as curly as Tess’s but it was still wavy, and she had dropped the heavy New York accent. He had no idea what to say to her. Instead he found himself staring at the two in front of him.

His wife had yet to let go of Alex. It seems that she thought he would disappear if she wasn’t touching him. It was starting to get to him, no matter how happy he was that Alex was alive. Isabel had been so devastated by Alex’s death that she had married Jesse on the rebound. It had taken Kyle years to prove that he truly loved her, and to get her to let herself go enough to realize that she loved him back. Now her first true love was back. He shook himself. He loved his wife and most of all he trusted her. He turned to speak with Ava, but noticed that she hadn’t been paying any attention to their lack of conversation. Instead she was staring at Isabel and Alex just as intently as he had been.

Michael was walking with Rath. They had been discussing hockey when Sean interrupted with “King-wannabe has a stick up his ass!” All three burst into laughter. After a bit of joking around about how uptight Max was Rath asked his dupe, “Bro, ya gonna be knockin’ on Red’s door tonight or what?”

“Who?” Michael looked over at Rath and Sean questioningly.

“You know, Red” Sean nodded his head in Talia’s direction.

What the hell gave them that idea? “Not interested.”

Rath shrugged his shoulders. “Too bad. That is one fine piece.”

“You and her?” Michael asked.

Rath shook his head. “Naw, the Commander’s got rules. As much as I like gettin’ her mad I like my balls where they are.”

Michael was lost in thought trying to work out the implications of that when they entered the dining room.

It was a large room with a long table in the middle. The pizzas were already setup down the middle of the table and the places were already set. After greeting Amy everyone sat down.

“The pizzas on the silver pans are made especially for those taste buds that cater to the sweet and spicy. Johnny makes them with a special Tabasco sauce, and Rath swears they are the best he’s ever had.” Amy walked over to Rath and patted him on the shoulder. He already had several slices on his plate and an almost devoured piece in his mouth. “The ones on the darker pans are made in the Earthly tradition.” It had taken time for her to get over the whole aliens are among us deal, but now it was second nature. Different taste buds were just one of those small little differences.

Liz could no longer contain her curiosity. She had to ask, “So, um, Alex how are you alive? I mean Max tried to heal you, but he couldn’t. Not that I’m not thrilled that you are still with us. It’s amazing.”

“Thanks, Liz. Well, we know that there was a body. Unfortunately, we still haven’t been able to identify the body. From what I’ve been told Tess was standing outside of the van with the group. That was a pretty easy mindwarp for her,” Ace stated matter-of-factly.

Kyle thought about the day that Maria and Liz had come over to his house when he discovered he had been mindwarped. How could that not be true? “Man, I don’t know what to think. After I seemed to break out of her mindwarp I remembered you in the room talking about how she was killing you by destroying your mind. Then you fell to the floor. I thought you were dead. She made me carry you out to the car. Was that someone else or something?”

“No, it was me. She messed me up pretty good. At some point after I collapsed I was handed over to Lonnie. Apparently, Lonnie wanted insurance in case Tess couldn’t get the others to leave with her. If she couldn’t, we think her plan was to use me in one of her whacked out schemes to get to the rest of you for Khivar. Her and Nacedo stashed me in a mental ward and kept me drugged. My mind was already so messed up, and I guess to keep it in that state she frequently manipulated my dreams. We don’t know what their plans were exactly, but obviously they were delayed somehow since I was in there for a year after Tess left by herself.” Ace shrugged his shoulders. That was so long ago. Most of that year before Maria found him was completely gone from his mind. He relived some of it in his nightmares, but not really the specifics.

“Nacedo? He’s dead. What are you talking about?” Max demanded.

Rath was tired of this shit. “Yo, Chief, it was a set up. Think about it. Who was with ya when ya saw im’ croak? He was a shapeshifter. Ya didn’t think he coulda shift inta the floor? Or maybe he walked right out the door while ya thought yous were seein’ im’ go to dust.”

“Why didn’t he kill us when he had the chance?” Michael asked.

Ava replied, “He couldn’t. It’s in his programming. Guess he felt he could control the situation better behind the scenes. That way he wouldn’t have to obey any unwelcome orders from Max. Doesn’t matter now… the Commander made sure he stayed dead this time.”

“Rath, I thought you and Lonnie were together. How did you and Ava end up here?” Kyle asked while grabbing another slice of pizza. It was damn good pizza.

“Ava came back to the sewers when she left yer crazy little alien town. A few months later all three of us went overseas to do somethin’ for Khivar. Lonnie had whacked Nicholas while she was blowin' him so she kinda became Khivar’s second. While we was in London she sold us out. We was picked up by the damn Brits until the Commander rescued our asses.” They had been in there for so damn long. Probably would have been in there forever too if it wasn’t for his pixie.

Liz was curious. Rath made it sound as if Maria was the only one there. “Maria? I thought you were rescued by a couple of teams?”

“She was the one that picked up on the vibes I guess we was sendin’ out. While the rest of the team completed the original mission she took a couple of guys and found us. They woulda never known we was there if it hadn’t a been for her.” Rath grinned. That had been a very good day.

“What do you mean she picked up on your ‘vibes’?” Kyle asked.

“Yo, she’s a vibrator ya know. Her natural ability kinda got enhanced when Lonnie was messin’ with her mind. She thought it was the drugs Nacedo was givin’ her at first, but even after she was out and the smack wore off she could feel people.” Rath frowned. “It mighta had somethin’ ta do with how she and Ace got out.”

Ava looked across the table at Ace to see him looking down at his plate. He was picking at his food with his brows furrowed. They didn’t need to go into all of that right now, so she steered the conversation back on track. “Rath and I decided to stay. Not too many people trusted us, but for whatever reason she did. She was given command of her own team, and we quickly became a part of that team.”

Max sat back in his chair. “Who’s in charge?”

Sean laughed. “The Commander is in charge.” Who did he think was in charge?

“I understand. She’s in charge of your team, but who is in charge of all these other people?” Max snapped. “Who runs the base?”

This caused all of the Commander’s team to laugh. Ace was finally able to get out, “The Commander does. This is her base. The Allied Forces have three bases. The Commander is in charge of this one which is the largest of the three.”

“How is that possible?” Liz asked in awe. Not that she didn’t believe it, but it looked like such a big operation.

Quinn explained. “There are eight special operations teams stationed at this base including ours. Each team consists of eight people. Each team has a leader. The leaders of the seven other teams report to one of the Commander’s team members. She gives out the orders to our team and they filter down through the seven of us to the other seven teams. Those leaders then give the orders to their teams. Each team has their own support staff, and there are over a thousand personnel that are combat ready. We also get a lot of trainees that come here for advanced training. She is a well respected leader and everyone puts in their best effort because of that.”

Once everyone had finished Ace told the Roswell group, “I’m sure all of you would like nothing more than a nice long sleep. I’ll ask the cooks in the morning to be ready to prepare a late breakfast for you. If you leave your rooms, just let the guards at the end of your hallway know where you are going for your own safety. If you need anything or want to talk to one of us, the guards will take care of it. We will see you tomorrow.”

Alex was about to leave when Isabel grabbed his arm. “Wait. Um…” Now she was embarrassed. She didn’t know what she wanted to say, but somehow she felt that if he left she would wake up from a dream and have lost him again.

Ace knew how she felt. Although he had seen pictures of her over the years in various reports, it was nothing like being around her in person. He gave her an understanding smile. “We’ll talk later. I’m not going anywhere.” He turned to Kyle and clapped his shoulder. “You too, man. It’s really good to see you again. We have a lot of catching up to do.” He walked out of the room where Ava was waiting for him.

~ ~ ~

She walked out of the plane into a cloudless night. Vienna was gorgeous, beckoning with its soft glow shining through the darkness. She hailed a taxi to take her to her friends’ house. When she arrived the door was swung open with the cry, “My beautiful, I am so happy you are here! Come in.”

Maria gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek. He was such a sweet man. “Rashen, how are you?”

“Good. Good. Now go get comfortable. I put new night clothes in your bedroom that I think you’ll adore. Try them on and get back in here so you can tell me all about your latest adventures.”

She giggled, but followed his orders. In her bedroom she found a pair of emerald silk shorts that rode low on her hips with a matching silk spaghetti strap tank top. She quickly changed loving the way the silk felt against her skin. Rashen was right. She did adore the new pajamas.

He saw her walk out of the room and dramatically put his hand over his heart. “My darling, you are stunning.” He walked over to the freezer grabbing the ice cream and two spoons. They sat down together on his leather sofa. “Okay, so spill.”

She told him all about the mission and how the Roswell group had reacted. He had a running commentary through it all. At the end of her tale he had only one question. “Michael?” He knew the answer. He could see the spark in her eyes every time she mentioned his name.

“Who knows?! He left me! How can I forgive that?” She shook her head. “No, I know I’ve already forgiven him. He was only trying to keep me safe and I understand that now more than ever. But, what if I’ve put them in more danger by bringing them into this? What if I subconsciously just want him back so badly that I justified bringing the group in with other reasons? I’m afraid that I’m being selfish.” She stabbed at the ice cream scooping out a huge spoonful.

“Darling, you know you had good reasons to bring them in. You are being far from selfish. Don’t fret. It will all work out in the end.” He sighed. “Go get that cute butt in bed. We have an early morning tomorrow.”

She kissed him loudly on the cheek. “You’re the best.” She darted off to her bedroom in better spirits than when she had arrived.

TBC

[Ninlil]

Thanks for the feedback.

CHAPTER 9

Liz was lying on her side in bed remembering how tightly she had hugged Alex as they were leaving the dining room. She was so happy that he was alive. It was just beginning to sink in how crazy everything was now. It was all beyond her wildest dreams. She wondered what tomorrow would bring. Would Alex or Sean show her around the base?

Maybe they had a laboratory she could look at. It had been so long since she had been involved in any kind of science. She had worked mostly as a waitress for the past ten years. She had so many aspirations and dreams as a child that she had given up for her lover. He had quickly become her world and despite having a child with another woman, she wanted nothing more than to be with him forever. She considered the saying ‘be careful what you wish for’.

She felt Max slide into bed behind her and wrap his arms around her. He started to kiss her bare shoulder around the strap of her nightgown. His hand traveled down her hip pulling up her nightgown along the way. His ministrations felt so good and it had been so long. It was that thought that brought her back to her senses. “What are you doing?”

“If you don’t know when your husband is trying to seduce you, then I haven’t been doing my job very well,” he said with amusement in his voice.

That was exactly her point. He hadn’t. Had he forgotten? He was so unaware that she was taken aback by his statement. Half of her wanted him to continue and the other half wanted to yell at him for being such an ass. She opted for moving out of his reach and said, “I’ve got a headache”.

He reached for her again. This time he put a hand on her breast and started kneading it. “What’s the matter my love? Why don’t you let me make it all better?” He put his other hand on her temple to rid her of her headache, but she slapped his hand away.

“That’s okay. I already took some aspirin and it’s starting to go away.” Unbelievable! He wanted to get rid of her headache so that she would be more willing to have sex with him. In a soft voice she said, “I just don’t feel like it tonight”. She faced away from him again, and silently hoped that he wouldn’t push it.

He sighed loudly and rolled over on his back. He stared for a while at the ceiling wondering why the hell his wife was being so frigid. He had better sex with other women who were more into experimenting, but his wife had always been eager to do what he wanted when he needed to release his sexual tension. Maybe it was just the insanity of the past couple of days. He got up to go masturbate in the bathroom. His mind filled with visions of a naked Tess sucking his dick.

~~~
In the apartment across the hall, Kyle and Isabel were quietly talking in bed. They were facing each other. Isabel’s head rested on one of his arms while his other arm gently lay on her hip. She was telling him all about how happy she was that Alex was alive.

He was happy too, but he lowered his eyes wishing that he didn’t also feel the pangs of jealousy.

Her hands were caressing his chest as they spoke. She brought one hand up to gently lift his chin. She looked into his eyes and saw pain. “Honey, what’s wrong?”

He shook his head. “Nothing, sweetie.” He tried to smile for her sake.

“You can tell me. You know you can tell me anything, right? We’ve been best friends for a long time, and I don’t want that to ever change. Does it have something to do with seeing Ava?” She knew he had trouble getting over Tess’s duplicity, and seeing her double must have really thrown him for a loop.

“Kind of.” He nodded. “It was really strange seeing her. She doesn’t look like the punk we met back in High School. But that’s not really it.” He stroked her hip lovingly. “I know you’re thrilled to see Alex again and so am I, but I can’t help feeling a little jealous.” He bit his lip. Now that he had said it out loud it seemed even more ridiculous.

She looked at him with understanding in her eyes. “You have nothing to be jealous about. I am completely in love with you. Let me show you how much.” Her eyes danced with mischief, and before he knew it he was on his back with her straddling his waist. Damn, he loved this woman.

~~~
“Oooooh, Ace…” she moaned and felt his tongue delve deeper into her folds. He slowly sucked on her clitoris. Ava screamed again at the searing pleasure. Breathing heavily she managed to get out, “more…please, more…” He did as she demanded. His warm hand lay on her drenched sex, his fingers gently parting the lips before he thrust three fingers deep inside her.

She gave an openmouthed gasp, lifting her hips higher and higher. He bit down lightly on her sensitive nub and she came hard. “Fuck…yesssss….ugghhhh…” He pulled his fingers away replacing them with his mouth in order to drink her completely.

~~~
Michael walked into his room. He flipped on the television and then went to check out the rest of the apartment. The living room area was small, but it had a decent sized television with a stereo next to it. He walked over to get a good look at the CD rack. He didn’t think he could be more in love with her. She had put in there every single one of Metallica’s recordings. He turned off the TV, and quickly had the stereo blasting Metallica.

He walked into one of the bedrooms to find a large King size bed. The bedroom had a definite masculine feel with deep blue and tan colors, he briefly wondered who had done the decorating. There was a bookshelf on one side of the bed and a nightstand on the other side. He was surprised to see the bookshelves lined with the Classics he enjoyed reading along with some newer Mysteries and other assorted Fiction. He laughed when he found Ulysses on his nightstand.

He backed out of the room and headed towards the other bedroom. In there he found a large easel with other painting and drawing materials. In one corner of the room was what looked like a high-tech computer. He shook his head. He wasn’t about to touch that thing. Maybe Alex could show him how it worked. He sat down in the plush recliner in the other corner of the room and thought about everything that had happened the past few days.

He got up when he felt himself nodding off. He went to the other bedroom, stripped, and changed into some boxers. He flopped back onto the comfortable bed. His last thought before falling asleep was that things could not be more perfect unless he had Maria in his arms, and he was going to try very hard to make that come true.

~~~
She was walking down a darkly lit hallway when a hand darted out and pulled her into a small, dark room. Fleetingly she thought the room looked an awful lot like the eraser room. Yet instead of being afraid, she was instantly turned on. She recognized his scent. He slid his palm over her throat and shoulders then buried his face in her neck. His mouth was sucking, licking and nipping the bare skin of her neck.

“Mmmm…Michael…that feels so good.” He slowly backed up until the back of his knees hit the edge of the sofa. He sat down bringing her with him. He cradled her in his arms and buried his hands in her hair then his mouth was on hers as if he were drinking her soul. They continued kissing hungrily.

His mouth kissed along her jaw and down her throat. He panted between heavy breaths, “Maria…want…you…” He picked her up off the counter, her legs wrapping around his middle and her arms around his neck holding him tightly. His desire for her was too much and unable to remain standing, he slid down the wall. His hands slowly moved down her body pulling her clothes away as she trembled. Her hand came up between his legs finding him hard and ready.

Suddenly she felt a different touch on her arm, a touch that wasn’t his. She opened her eyes on full alert and found jet black hair and dark brown eyes dancing with amusement hovering over her. She reprimanded herself silently for being so absorbed that she had not heard him enter her room. “Ra?” she looked at him questioningly.

“Good dreams?” he asked with laughter in his voice.

She groaned and hit him with her pillow. “It was just about to get really good.” Why did he have to wake her?

He laughed while she mock glared at him. “Sorry baby girl. My Lord called earlier and wants us to talk with him before the meeting starts.” Rashen looked over her. Lord Larek would go crazy with want if he could see her right now. She was still flushed from the dream and her beautiful long blonde hair was tousled against the pillows. He mused that he had often been hard pressed to tell who desired her more, Larek or his host Brody. “Come on, get your lazy butt out of bed. We’ve got to leave in half an hour.”

She groaned again. That had to be one of the worst parts of being a leader. Getting up early was not her cup of tea. She often ran night training on her base just so she could sleep in late.

TBC

[Ninlil]

Thanks for the feedback. Not sure why I wrote Max as such a jerk in this fic, but he just kind of turned out that way. At least, it makes for some interesting drama for poor Liz. Anyway, here's the next chapter.


CHAPTER 10

They strode up to the thirteen-story glass office building. Rashen was walking next to her. His core shape was elegant and beautiful. He had taken the old saying tall, dark and handsome to a whole new level. His eyes were his most striking feature. They were dark brown with an almost violet ring around the edges, but right now they were pleading with her and it was starting to annoy her.

“Ra, stop it. I’m sorry Ace isn’t here, but he needed to stay behind for the others.” Ace and Ra both thought most of the other advisors were boring, so they always hung out together.

“I can’t help it. He has never not been here. It’s weird. Besides, you are depriving me of my eye candy. He’s just so yummy and oh, the sense of humor…”

Maria rolled her eyes. “You see him almost every week when you talk to him on the vid-phone,” she said exasperated. He was devastated when Ace and Ava started a serious relationship a little over a year ago despite Ace’s insistence even before that he wasn’t interested in men.

“It’s not the same,” he said huffily.

At that moment the elevator doors open. She walked in ignoring his last statement. “Do you know what Larek wanted?” She popped the button panel as soon as the doors closed. They both entered their security codes, and a wall of bright blue light ran through the interior of the elevator. Their vitals were checked, and they were identified by their DNA.

A green light flashed indicating that they were cleared to proceed, and the elevator took them down to sub-level four. She disliked the full body scans. They were so intrusive, but it was a good precaution since it ensured that an unwelcome individual could not use a cleared person’s body or body parts to fool the scanner. The scanner also made certain that shape shifters were identified correctly no matter what form they took. This was helpful since there were shifters that were allies as well as enemies.

They passed through two more checkpoints. Clearing the last scan opened a large, solid metal door. They entered a long hallway with several spacious offices on each side. Rashen, Larek’s advisor, entered the last office on the left to inform him that they had arrived while she waited in the hallway. A moment later Ra poked his head out of the office and gestured for her to come in.

In greeting Larek took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze before letting go. “Telana’ra”

Maria tried to smile, but she really disliked the unbefitting title he had bestowed upon her. The title ‘beloved leader’ was used to describe the Antarians and Saphonians great kings and warriors. She was neither. She had tried to dissuade him, but he insisted usually spouting verse she did not understand.

Familiar with her discomfort Rashen tried to move the conversation along quickly. “My Lord, the meeting will start soon.”

“Right. Down to business,” Larek sat down behind his desk and gestured for Maria and Rashen to take the other two seats available. “We received intelligence this morning that Khivar knows we have the Royals in our custody. I wanted to give you notice before I report to the Council.” He grimaced slightly. He didn’t want her to have to sit through those idiots’ harsh comments. They all liked her and admired her, but when it came to the Royals all bets were off. The Royals would always be a controversial topic. There were even some members conflicted over what position the Royals would have in the government if the Allied Forces were able to defeat Khivar. “I wanted you to be prepared since this gives ammunition to those members that were against bringing them in.”

Shit! This complicated the situation. Maria took a deep breath before replying. “Well, we knew Khivar would find out sooner or later. I was just really hoping to not have to worry about it so soon. Does he know where we have them?”

“No, he only knows that they are in our custody and under our protection. I will advise the Council to limit knowledge of their location to Council members and your base.”

“Good. Has Khivar realized that we know the Granolith is back on Earth?”

Rashen shook his head. “No, Khivar is keeping the information limited to a very small group on Antar and only a few of his people here on Earth. He still doesn’t think he needs to worry about us or rebel Antarians finding out. We won’t be able to inform our friends on Antar either if we want the chance at retrieving it.”

After a long talk about how to deflect the comments and questions that were sure to rise during the meeting after Larek’s report, she and Larek bid farewell to Rashen and walked to the room where the meeting was to take place. They greeted the other members and took their seats.

Maria was first to report. She told them about the mission and its’ success. She could tell that most of the members were relieved.

Durham asked what the others were thinking, “What choice have the Royals made?”

Oops! Maria had yet to give them their choices. She had planned on doing so when she got back to the base. It was selfish, but she wasn’t sure she could handle it if they left her again. At the very least, she wanted to be there when they made the decision. So, she lied, “They are still deciding. I didn’t have much time to speak with them before coming here. As it is a very important decision, I wanted to give them as much time as possible to think it over.” She gave a hopeful look around the table, and was relieved to see the others nodding their heads. Thank goodness. Apparently poker games with Rath had honed her bluffing skills.

They voted to meet again once the Royals had made their decision.

The other main topic up for discussion was the fighting between the outer planets, Malen and Moren. Moren was a commerce planet and therefore tried to stay neutral, but Malen’s ruling party had allied with Khivar. Sero, representative of Malen, had all but declared war on Moren. Most thought that Moren’s High Ambassador, Hanar, might be more willing now to help in their fight against Khivar.

Larek’s intelligence report was the last topic on the table for discussion. As soon as it was out, everyone began talking at once. Larek looked at her from across the table and mouthed ‘Sorry’.

She shook her head. It wasn’t his fault, but this bickering was so unproductive. Maria stood up and slammed her fist down on the table to get their attention. “Enough!” All eyes turned to her. She sat back down a bit flushed, but with a steady voice she said, “Their safety has always been a concern. All of you know I do not take that lightly. I did what I thought was best, but that is irrelevant right now. What has already been done cannot be undone. We will wait for their decision.”

The majority of other members agreed and everyone calmed down. The meeting was adjourned shortly after, and she tried to make a fast escape.

However, luck was not on her side and she was cornered. At least it was only Larek. “Before you leave, Brody wanted to know if he could interest you in a night at the Bolshoy in Moscow.”

Maria had worked hard to make sure Larek and Brody’s relationship was more conducive for both parties. Brody had always felt so disjointed after his “abductions”, and as a good friend she hated being dishonest with him. Citing Brody’s breakdown at the UFO Center as a prime example as to what could go wrong, she convinced Larek and the other members of the Council that it would be safer if the hosts knew what was happening to them.

Everything had been explained to Brody, and of course he was more than willing to help. However, now that they were close they could tag team her for dates. She figured some of Brody’s fondness for her must of leaked to Larek. She had told both of them that she didn’t have time for a relationship, but that never stopped either of them. Fortunately, Brody was a great friend and never took their occasional outings for more than what they were.

She presented him with her sweetest smile. “Tell him I would love to, but it will have to be another time. I must get back to the base. The others are expecting me.”

~~~
…Her hand slid down his body to the hard bulge in his jeans. Her long, delicate fingers were dancing around his erection. He was so hard for her. She helped him out of his jeans and boxers then took his hard length into her small hand. He groaned deep in his throat, “Maria…” She grasped him tighter and began stroking him slowly…

Her hand stopped as a strange buzzing noise interrupted them. Michael swung his arm over to the nightstand to turn off the alarm clock before he fully woke from his dream. When he was unable to find it by feeling around he grudgingly opened one eye. He groaned seeing that there was no alarm clock on the nightstand, and it sounded like the noise was coming from a different room. He cursed realizing that he was going to have to forget about his dream and leave his warm, comfortable bed.

He followed the noise to the other bedroom. It seemed to be coming from the high-tech computer thingy. There was a small button in the right-hand corner of the panel flashing bright yellow. He was never one to analyze a situation forever, so he pressed the button in hopes that it would stop the damn buzzing. Michael was surprised that it actually worked, but he was even more amazed to see the Sheriff’s picture on the screen in front of him.

“Son, glad to see you’re awake. The boys will be around to your room to pick you up in fifteen minutes. Get dressed. It’s cold outside so you may want to wear a coat.” The Sheriff smiled, and then his picture was gone as suddenly as it had appeared.

Michael stood there in his boxers blinking a few times at the screen. What the hell? He shook his head to clear it. He was wasting time.

He took a quick shower and threw on some jeans and a long sleeved black t-shirt. He pulled a jacket out of the closet, and went to the living room to put on his docs. He was just putting on his baseball cap when there was a knock at the door.

He heard Rath’s gruff voice from the hallway. “Yo, punk, hurry the fuck up.”

He opened the door and was greeted by Rath, Sean, Kyle, and Alex. He scowled at Rath. “Damn have some patience! I’m here.” Then while yawning he asked, “What’s going on?”

Rath muttered, “bout damn time…”

When Ace heard Michael growl he decided it was time to intervene. “Sorry you had to get up so early. I didn’t think Pops would still want to go today.” He started walking down the hallway with the others following. “I think he’s just so excited that you and Kyle are here.”

“Pops?”

Sean answered, “It’s what everyone calls the Sheriff around here. He’s like a dad to everyone anyway.”

Kyle looked down at his shoes. He missed his dad so much. He wished things had been different, but now he had the chance to make up for lost time. “Let me guess, fishing?”

The others chuckled and nodded.

Alex led them to another building and up a couple of levels. They stopped near an open door. They watched as Jim, oblivious to their presence, took his wife in a tight embrace and passionately kissed her. Rath and Sean started whooping and whistling.

A slightly embarrassed Jim finally let go of Amy. Amy just smiled at them and shook her head. “You boys don’t let him keep you out there all day.” She handed the ice chest she had packed over to them and gave her husband a last kiss goodbye on his cheek.

They made it to ground level and piled into a military Hummer. Michael finally noticed that someone was missing. “What happened to Max?”

Rath replied, “Guess His Mightiness is too good for us.” Sean grunted in agreement.

Jim looked in the rearview mirror from the drivers’ seat and caught Michael’s eye. “I called him, but he decided not to come along.” He didn’t want Michael to think that they were excluding Max on purpose, but he knew it was probably for the best. Rath and Sean would be all over him with the snide comments if he had come and no one wanted that. “Quinn stayed behind with his wife. She’s pregnant and due any day now. He said he would go check up on Max later in the morning.”

Michael and Kyle looked at each other and shrugged. Neither of them had spent much time hanging out with Max lately. He was so overbearing that it was hard to have a good time when he was around.

Thirty minutes later they arrived at a secluded pier. “Where are we?” Kyle asked. “The flight took forever, but I don’t remember anyone mentioning where we ended up exactly.”

“We’re in Russia near the Georgian border. Nestled between the Black Sea…” Jim gestured in front of him to the long stretch of ocean and then behind them “…and the Caucasus Mountains. The Black Sea is quite a tourist spot, but this base is well isolated. There’s usually good fishing around here.” They all sat down on the pier and busied themselves with baiting their hooks.

Ace cast his line out and turned to Sean and Rath. “Did I tell you, the Commander crashed her computer… again?!”

Sean scoffed. “I swear the woman is amazing at fixing people, but give her something electronic and it’s down in minutes.” His cousin was notorious for her computer crashing. “I still don’t know why you give her all those electronic gadgets for out in the field. You get her all tricked out like some kind of James Bond and she never uses any of it.”

“I complained to her about that on the last mission. I gave her that really awesome watch that had about a hundred more features besides the usual global positioning system. She never used a single one of them. I don’t think she even used it to tell time. She told me that there had to be a reason why she kept us around.” Ace sighed. He and Quinn always came up with cool new things for her despite her lack of interest.

Rath muttered, “figures…”

Sean and Jim just laughed.

Michael reeled in the fish he had caught. “I was wondering how to work that computer thing myself this morning.”

Ace was about to go into a lengthy discussion in computer speak. Rath had to save them all. “Don’t worry man, when we get back I’ll take you over to my pad and show you how to work the machine.”

Kyle got out a ham and cheese sandwich from the cooler that Amy had packed. He wondered what it would be like to have a mom and a sister now. Maria was cool back in High School, but it looked as if she had changed these past ten years. “We didn’t get a chance to talk to Maria for very long. She seems different…”

Ace nodded. “She is I guess. She is still loud and bold, but she’s lost some of those insecurities she had back in school. She can still talk your ear off…”

“…and she can still be as girly as any other chick” Rath continued.

Ace shrugged his shoulders and looked out into the vastness of the ocean thoughtfully. “I guess most of the differences are just from growing up. Like we all did. You’ll see for yourselves. She should be back by the time we finish up here.”

They enjoyed the rest of their fishing trip telling stories and joking around. They put their best catches in a cooler to have cooked later. There was an unspoken competition which even Jim joined for the largest catch. It had been a long time since Michael and Kyle had felt so untroubled and relaxed.

They got back to the base a little past noon. Michael followed Rath to his place. Once inside Rath headed straight for the fridge to grab a couple of Snapples. He was handing one to Michael when they heard Maria’s voice coming from one of the bedrooms.

“Hey, baby. How are you? Have you been a good girl? Come here, sweetie, I think daddy’s home. Let’s go see what he is up to.”

Michael’s heart stopped beating, and he was having difficulty breathing. She had a little girl. She had a little girl that wasn’t his. He was the stupidest man in the world ten years ago, and now his dupe had everything he had ever dreamed about. His stomach was churning. He was going to be sick.

Rath looked over at Michael. “You’re lookin’ green man. What’s up?” Michael was still staring towards the closed door of the room her soft voice had come from. Then it clicked in his head what Michael had heard and must be thinking. He fell back on the sofa laughing hysterically.

Maria walked out of the room to see Rath laughing so hard he was having problems staying up on the sofa, and Michael staring at her and Jetta in shock. She put her free hand on his arm. “Hey. Are you okay?” He didn’t look that well.

He sputtered, “a…a dog?” His heart started beating again.

She looked down to the little bundle in her other arm. “Oh, this is my baby girl Jetta.” She handed her small black and brown miniature Doberman Pincher to him.

His breathing was slowly returning to normal. The puppy happily licked his face. “You named her Jetta?”

Maria smiled. “Sentimental reasons although she gets treated much better than my old car did. She likes you.” She turned to Rath to see him finally recovering. “What was so funny?”

“Pixie, you should’ve seen his face! He thought you were talking to a squirt. That you and me…” He couldn’t continue, and burst out laughing again. The face on his dupe had just been classic. Sure, he would’ve given anything to have kids with her, but that chance passed him by a long time ago.

Maria stuck her tongue out at Rath for the nickname. Then she shyly smiled at Michael and shrugged her shoulders. “No time for kids. Rath found Jetta, and gave her to me as a gift. Now we share her.” Like she would ever want someone other than Michael to be the father of her child – not that he needed to know that.

TBC