Against My Programming (CC,TEEN) pt 62 pg 10 2/26 [WIP]

[littleroswell]

Ok, everybody, here is part 20! Let me know if you like it. Thanks.

Beth

Against My Programming


Thanks so much to Chynna Princess for the beautiful banner!!

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything. The characters, the music, the movies referenced, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada.

A/N: Hey, everyone, I just wanted to give you guys the reminder that we are skipping ahead on the Roswell timeline. Everything that happened on the episodes from “Crazy” up to “Meet the Dupes” has happened for this story. Also, Zan has been killed and the Dupes have left for Roswell to look for the podsquad and convinced Max to go with them. He and Tess have left for NY with them and Ava has stayed behind but the summit meeting hasn’t happened yet. I may use some of the lines from “Max in the City”. That’s where we’re picking up now. From this time on, anything that happens is of my own imagination. But, as always, I don’t own it. Leslie, Lucas, and Megan are mine, however.

Part 20 – “Going Back to Roswell”

Leslie stopped the car down the street from the house she and Lauren had moved into from Atlanta. It was really late, either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, and she was studying the house for signs of life. Lauren’s car sat out front but the house was completely dark. Leslie would have even said it looked a little eerie.

“Lucas,” she whispered, gently shaking her sleeping brother’s arm. He stirred in the passenger seat and yawned as he opened his eyes and looked around. “We’re here. Megan’s asleep and I need you to watch her while I go inside and try to explain to Lauren what happened,” she told him, reaching for the door handle.

“Wait!” Lucas said, stopping her. “What are you going to tell her? You can’t just show up after being gone for so many months without a good explanation.”

“Lucas, you and I both know that they’ve already had the police looking for you, and it’s safe to assume they added me to the search not long after I left. Now not only do I show back up here, but you’re with me as well as a four-year-old. I only see one option; we’ve got to tell Lauren and Kevin the truth,” she answered.

Lucas thought about what she had said and nodded slowly. “Ok, but don’t tell them we’re out here. If anything goes wrong, I’ll be sitting here with the motor running; just run out and jump in and we’ll go.”

Leslie nodded in agreement and opened the door. As she approached the house, she automatically looked next door to the Whitman home and looked up at Alex’s window. It was dark, as was the rest of the house, and the blinds and curtains were closed tight. She sighed and shook her head, trying to clear out the empty, longing feeling in her heart.

She unlocked the door and went in. It was pitch black and she automatically reached for the switch on the wall that would turn on the lamp to illuminate the entryway. Once her eyes adjusted and she looked around, she gasped. All the furniture in the living room to the left was covered with drop cloths and there were a few spider webs here and there, but what made her gasp was the fact that there were boxes everywhere and all the pictures had been removed from the walls.

Lauren’s bedroom door was wide open, she noticed as she looked to the right, and the bed had been stripped. Rushing to the kitchen, Leslie quickly opened the refrigerator and gasped again at what she saw. There wasn’t much food inside and what was there was covered in mold. It was obvious that no one had lived in the house for months, and Leslie got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She ran back to the front door and waved at Lucas for him to come inside. He pulled the car into the driveway and opened the back door for Megan, who hopped out.

“What’s going on, Les?” he asked.

“Lucas, I don’t think Lauren’s been here for a long time. We need to call New York and see if she’s up there with Kevin,” Leslie explained quickly, leading him into the house and closing the door.

Lucas looked around the living room and then entered Lauren’s bedroom. He opened the closet and the drawers on the dresser. “Can you tell if anything is missing, Leslie?” he asked.

Leslie opened the jewelry box sitting on the dresser. “A couple of things that I can name right off hand. I couldn’t tell you much specifically but it looks like things that she might take with her if she left,” she answered.

“Mommy, why are we here? Who lives here?” Megan asked from the doorway.

Lucas and Leslie exchanged a look. “I lived here for a while and we might be staying here,” Leslie answered vaguely. “Lucas, try calling the apartment in New York. If she thinks I went to look for you, she might have gone up to stay to look for us.”

Her brother nodded and went over to the phone on the night stand. Picking up the receiver, he got a strange look on his face and set it back on the cradle. “It’s dead,” he stated.

Leslie tossed him her cell phone and he caught it. “Call from my cell. We’ll have to find out why the phone’s dead later.” Just as she was saying this and Lucas had started dialing, they both heard sirens…and they were getting closer. Leslie and Lucas’s eyes met in panic and they moved quickly, trying to put things back the way they found them. Lucas snatched Megan up and ran out of the bedroom with Leslie on his heels.

They had made it to the front door when they heard, “Freeze!” behind them and they did as they were told. “Now slowly turn around,” came a male’s voice. “Don’t make any sudden movements.”

They turned around and came face to face with Sheriff Valenti who recognized the girl immediately. He did not lower his gun, however. “Leslie? You’re Leslie Terrell right?” he asked.

Leslie stepped forward a step and nodded. “Yes, sir. You’re Sheriff Valenti right? Kyle’s dad?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Jim answered, lowering his gun just a little but not putting it away. “So what are you doing here? Where have you been? And who are these two?” he questioned the young woman.

“This is my brother Lucas, and this is Megan,” Leslie told him, pointing to the two people with her. “We just got back from New York and were looking for Lauren. Do you know where she is?”

Jim looked from one teen to the other and then at the four-year-old. He wasn’t oblivious to the fact that Leslie had not defined her relationship to young Megan. He put his gun in its holster and walked over to the young people. “Can I see some kind of ID please, son?” he asked Lucas.

“Certainly, officer,” Lucas answered, lowering Megan to the ground and pulling his wallet out of his back pocket. He handed his driver’s license to Jim, who scanned it quickly and handed it back.

“I think you three had better come with me to my office and we can talk,” Jim said, opening the front door.

“Sheriff, my sister and I have been driving all night and we are beat. Can’t this wait until tomorrow morning?” Lucas asked.

“I’m afraid not. You see, people have been looking for you two and now you show up together with a little girl who I admit looks an awful lot like Leslie. We have some serious things to discuss, son, and it should be done right away,” Jim explained, escorting the three young people to the patrol car.

Lucas and Leslie exchanged a look, and Leslie brought up the only other thing she could think of that might allow she and Lucas some time to get their story straight. “Sheriff, would you mind if we drove our car over? We have the booster seat for Megan in there and we don’t want her to get hurt if something happens.”

Jim opened the door for them to get into the vehicle. “I’m sure she’ll be fine for the few minutes we’ll be on the road. Your car will be safe enough sitting in the driveway.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

“Mr. Terrell, I’ve spoken at length to your sister about your whereabouts and hers and how Megan came into the picture. Maybe I could hear your side of things,” Jim Valenti said as he entered the office where Lucas had been sitting and waiting for the past hour and a half.

Lucas met the Sheriff’s eyes and didn’t flinch but instead tried to scan the lawman’s memory for what his sister might have told him. “Alright, sir. First, Megan is Leslie’s daughter. I know that might seem hard to accept but she is. My sister got involved with the wrong crowd and was seeing this guy that was the leader of a gang. He’s the father and he’s why I was missing. He wasn’t happy when Leslie broke it off and stashed Megan with some friends in Atlanta. He and his gang kidnapped me and they beat me pretty good. They sent a message to Leslie telling them where to meet them and to bring Megan or they’d kill me. Leslie went to get Megan in Atlanta and then came to New York. They held us for a while and then they left for a fight with another gang. Leslie, Megan and I got away while they were gone. We heard later that the leader, the guy who was Megan’s father, was killed in that fight. We knew it was safe to come back here so we did. We were looking for Lauren when you found us in the house,” Lucas told him.

Jim had sat on the other side of the desk and had been taking notes during Lucas’s entire story. It seemed to match everything that he had heard from Leslie and it was pretty believable but something didn’t match up. He wished he knew exactly what it was. Maybe it was just the fact that after everything he had seen with the alien teens, normal trouble didn’t seem to exist. “I’m sorry to have to tell you, son, but I think that that gang might have killed your parents. Lauren and Kevin were found underneath a subway platform over a week ago. They had both been bound and strangled to death. I’m sorry,” Jim told him.

Lucas’s shock was genuine and Jim could tell that. Was it possible that Lauren and Kevin were just another two victims of New York violence? Yes, it was possible but Lucas was more convinced that it was probably Lonnie and Rath. That would explain the confidence that they had displayed in the last two weeks that he would never be out of their control. “How long had they been dead?” Lucas asked hoarsely.

“It was hard to tell but it was at least two weeks ago. It looks like you and your sister are orphans again,” Jim told him, sympathetically placing a hand on the young man’s arm. “I’ll place a call to your father’s lawyer as soon as their office opens. He told me to contact him as soon as we heard from you or Leslie. In the meantime, I’ll take the three of you home. You could really use some sleep.”

Lucas rose automatically and walked towards the door. “Thank you, Sheriff. I’m sure this has come as quite a shock to Leslie too. I know it’s a shock to me.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

The front door hadn’t even closed good before Leslie burst into tears and fell against her brother. “I can’t believe they’re dead! Lucas, I know they didn’t do everything right but they were the only parents we’ve ever had,” she sobbed.

Lucas rubbed her back and hugged her tight. “I know, Les. I can’t believe that Lonnie and Rath would go this far. They really are worse than ever.”

The Sheriff had brought a sleeping Megan into the home and placed her on the living room couch before he had left the three young people alone. The sun was just beginning to come up and neither of the siblings had had much sleep. “Leslie, I’m going to carry Megan into that room across the entryway and I want you to crawl into bed with her. You need to rest and we can really grieve later. If that lawyer wants to meet with us, we’re going to need our wits to be functioning at 100%. We have to think about what we’re going to do now,” Lucas told his sister.

He carefully disengaged himself from her and went over to pick Megan up from the sofa. Leslie followed him obediently into the room and waited until he had placed the small four year old onto the bed before climbing into the bed beside her. Lucas started to leave the room when he looked back at the two most important women in his life. “Leslie, you know I love you two more than anything else right?” he asked.

Leslie smiled and nodded through her tears. “More than all the sands of Arrakis,” she repeated in the same tone of voice that her daughter used.

* * * * * * * * * * *

“I am terribly sorry that I have to discuss business now when you’ve just found out about your parents’ deaths, but it is always better to get this over with as soon as possible,” the lawyer said as he sat at the kitchen table, spreading papers out in front of him. He had called and made the appointment for two o’clock and had shown up at 1:55, introducing himself as Mr. Jenkins.

“Mr. Jenkins, we know that we’re only 17 years old but…” Lucas began but the lawyer interrupted him quickly.

“There’s no cause for alarm, son. As bad as the circumstances are under which I’ve been brought here, I have wonderfully good news. Dr. Kevin Terrell was one of my favorite clients and he left very strict instructions about what was to be done in the event that something might happen to him. You and your sister have been declared emancipated minors by the state of New York. The apartment in New York has been taken care of and all bills that you have had up to this point, have been paid. Your parents had substantial insurance policies and I went ahead and sold your father’s car. You and your sister will do just fine all the way through college if you choose,” Mr. Jenkins explained.

“What about this house?” Leslie asked. “And Megan? Mom and Dad really didn’t know about her and I won’t give her up to anyone else.”

The lawyer passed a stack of papers over to her and Lucas on the other side of the table and pointed to a figure at the bottom of the top page. “You see that figure, Miss Terrell?” he asked. Leslie nodded and looked up into his face. “That is how much is in a savings account with your name on it. There is a second savings account with the same amount in it for your brother as well as a bigger third with money with which I am to pay your bills for whatever home you dwell in until such a time as you graduate college or until the money is gone. There are also two checking accounts, one in each of your names, with about half of this amount in each of them. As long as the two of you don’t plan on buying any luxury cars or a mansion, you should do just fine for quite a while, even with little Megan.”

Leslie and Lucas’s eyes widened and they looked at each other. They listened closely to the rest of what Mr. Jenkins had to say, which included a list of things he had sold, things he had put into storage for them, and also suggestions for them. It took most of the rest of the afternoon. Then they watched TV while eating a pizza and playing with Megan. They planned to take the next day to sort through things around the house and maybe look for any signs in town that Lonnie and Rath were around. Things were definitely up in the air for them and they really didn’t like it that way.

[littleroswell]

Part 21 – “Unhappy Reunion”

Leslie and Lucas went through the list of items that Mr. Jenkins had placed into storage and divided them into three separate lists: things to get rid of, things they wanted to keep, and things they would have to see in order to judge what they would do with them. Megan played with several of Leslie’s old toys that she had found in a box and kept herself busy. It felt good to do something that was so ordinarily human and the siblings tried to keep their minds off of the reasons they were here. Leslie’s heart and mind, however, kept wandering and Lucas could hear the directions of her thoughts loud and clear.

Finally, Lucas couldn’t take it anymore and stood up. “Leslie, why don’t you go next door and see Alex,” he suggested.

His sister looked startled and shook her head. “I wouldn’t know what to say,” she said softly.

“If you let them know you’re back, they won’t be worried about all the activity over here,” he offered. Then he touched his sister’s arm. “Les, I know you want to see him and see how he is; you should see him as soon as you can so that if something…if something happens you won’t regret not having talked to him.”

Unable to argue against what not only her brother but her heart was also telling her, Leslie jumped up and rushed to the door. “Watch out for Megan for me!” she called over her shoulder. She had gotten the door open when her daughter came running to her.

“Where are you going?” Megan asked.

“I’m going next door to tell Alex that I’m back,” Leslie answered without thinking it through.

“I want to go! I want to meet Alex!” Megan exclaimed excitedly. She ran to get her shoes but Leslie called her name softly.

“Megan, honey, I need to see Alex by myself first, ok?” she said, bending down to the little girl’s level and taking her small hands in her own.

“But why?” Megan asked, obviously disappointed.

“Because it’s going to be hard to explain where I’ve been and how I got back here and…” Leslie tried to explain and groped for other reasons and trying to avoid the major one.

“And because he doesn’t know about me or that we’re not from here?” Megan asked bluntly, watching Leslie’s reaction and meeting her eyes with her own beautiful brown ones.

“You have too much of your uncle in you,” Leslie muttered with a small smile. She gathered her daughter in her arms and held her close. “Yeah, because he doesn’t know everything about us. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She carefully pulled away after kissing the little girl on the cheek and exited the house, pulling the door closed behind her. She leaned against the door for a moment to gather the strength to walk the few feet to the Whitman’s home. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for a moment, her hand automatically went to the necklace that she was wearing and she suddenly found the courage to take those few steps.

Moments later, Leslie found herself knocking on the door and alternating between wishing that Alex would answer and praying that no one was home. The door opened suddenly and she couldn’t help feeling disappointed to see Evelyn’s face. “Oh my god! Leslie!” she exclaimed, taking the girl in her arms unexpectedly. “My dear girl, please come inside! We’ve all been so worried about you and your family. Sheriff Valenti told us what happened to your parents and we were so worried that you…that…that something might have happened to you and your brother too.”

Leslie was startled but quickly hugged Evelyn and pulled back. “My brother and I are ok, Mrs. Whitman, except for the shock about our parents of course. I just came by to let all of you know that Lucas and I were here and that we will probably be staying for a while so that you wouldn’t be worried about any activity you saw at the house,” she explained.

“You found your brother then? That must be a relief. Oh, where are my manners? I invite you inside and then don’t move from the doorway. Please come in,” Evelyn invited again and stepped aside for the young woman to enter. She closed the door behind Leslie and for some reason, Leslie felt trapped. She knew it was just her nerves at the prospect of seeing…

“Alex is upstairs in his room. Let me just go up and tell him that you’re here,” Mrs. Whitman offered, interrupting her thoughts and heading for the stairs.

“That really isn’t necessary, Mrs. Whitman,” Leslie told her, nervously biting her bottom lip.

“Nonsense! He was so upset when you disappeared that he moved across the house to his brother’s old room. I’m sure he’ll be delighted to see that you’re ok,” Evelyn dismissed her protest and climbed the stairs.

Leslie didn’t know what to do with herself as she waited. Her stomach was churning and she felt jumpy. What was she going to say? His mother had said he was so upset at her leaving that he had moved across the house, and Leslie couldn’t help but feel guilty for having put Alex through that. Her nerves were getting the best of her, and she had just decided that coming over had been a mistake and had her hand on the door when she heard someone coming down the stairs behind her. She whirled around to see Alex’s stunned expression as he stumbled down the last couple of stairs to stand in front of her.

“Leslie,” he stated more than asked. “You’re here…you’re really here.”

“Hello, Alex,” she said softly. They both stood there awkwardly, neither knowing what to say. Finally, taking a deep breath, Leslie broke the silence. “Can we go somewhere and talk, like maybe your room?”

Alex’s eyes grew so hard that Leslie was startled and afraid that he would burn a hole right through her. “You want to talk now? Why couldn’t you have talked to me before you decided to pull a disappearing act? You didn’t tell me you were leaving…you didn’t even call once! Not once, Leslie! Do you have any idea what I went through…how much I worried about you? I didn’t even know where you had gone!” he yelled.

She flinched at his tone but his words struck as arrows right into her heart. “Alex, I’m sorry I left the way I did but you had to have known where I went when you read the letter. I didn’t tell you before because I didn’t want you to try to stop me. I went to New York to look for my brother,” she tried to explain.

“I thought you might have, but you could have told me, Leslie! I would have gone with you or figured out a way to help you look for Lucas, but you didn’t even try to come to me. You just let me worry about where you had gone and why,” Alex accused harshly. He had been almost out of his mind for the months that she had been gone. At first he had been angry that she hadn’t come to him with her problems and he had tried to get together with Isabel, more out of spite than anything else. Then as the months had gone by and he hadn’t heard from her, he was sure that something had happened and she was dead. Now that she was standing in front of him, however, all his anger returned ten fold and he was hurt that she hadn’t trusted in him enough.

“I’m truly sorry, Alex, to have put you through that but that was why I left the letter. Didn’t you get it?” Leslie asked, fighting back tears. She hadn’t thought that he might react this way to seeing her. Truthfully, she had never thought she would see him again at all.

Alex shook his head and he looked away quickly. “No, I didn’t get any letter. I’m sorry you didn’t think you could trust me enough to tell me about this but I can’t change that. Is your brother ok?”

“Alex, please just let me…” Leslie began to plead.

“Is your brother ok?” he asked again, louder this time.

Her heart sank and tears fell quickly from her eyes. “Yes, he’s ok,” she whispered. “We’re just kinda in shock about Lauren and Kevin,” she added, hoping for some sign of the Alex she had fallen for.

Instead of giving the sign that Leslie had been hoping for and Alex was tempted to give, he turned away from her quickly as if ready to go back upstairs. “I’m sorry about your parents, and I’m glad you and your brother are ok. If you’ll excuse me, I have some things to do,” he told her, his head hanging down. He started up the stairs towards his room…his new room.

“Alex!” she called out desperately in one last attempt to explain herself to Alex. At this point, she might even tell him the truth. She felt encouraged when he stopped but was disappointed that he didn’t turn around. “Please, Alex, let me explain some things…” she began again.

“There’s nothing you can say that will explain why you left the guy who loved you against his better judgment without an explanation or a goodbye. You should probably know that Isabel and I are together now. I’ll see ya around, Leslie,” he told her quietly and jogged up the last of the stairs. The last part had been a lie of course but she didn’t need to know that. The last time he had seen Isabel had been a few days ago when the duplicate set of the aliens had come to town.

Stunned and shattered beyond belief, Leslie stood staring up the stairs for a few minutes just shaking and not believing that he would turn his back on her. Why now of all times? He was with Isabel? The shaking worsened and she swallowed a sob that rose in her throat. She turned quickly and opened the front door, ready to bolt when Evelyn Whitman’s voice stopped her.

“Oh, Leslie, before you go, do you and your brother have somewhere to go for Thanksgiving?” Evelyn asked, coming from the kitchen. She had come down using the back stairs to give the two young people some privacy.

Leslie was completely thrown off by the question. Thanksgiving? That was tomorrow? She swallowed and turned to face the kind woman. “Um, actually, we hadn’t thought much about it and I honestly forgot that it was tomorrow. We’ll probably just go out somewhere or order pizza or something.”

Evelyn placed a hand on her arm warmly. “You are welcome to spend tomorrow with us, both of you. I’d hate to think of you two alone on Thanksgiving,” she offered kindly.

Forcing a small smile, Leslie glanced from Evelyn to the top of the stairs where she thought Alex might be listening. She tried to swallow past the lump in her throat as she answered his mother. “I don’t think that would be a good idea, but thank you so much for your offer, Mrs. Whitman,” Leslie said so softly Evelyn had to strain to hear her.

The older woman understood quickly and stopped Leslie once more from leaving. “Well, the invitation is open for you anyway and I will also tell you that the Crashdown has a pretty good dinner and some fun family activities if you want to go out. That’s where Charles and I spent our first Thanksgiving because I completely ruined the turkey I had insisted on cooking,” she suggested with a warm smile.

Leslie was starting to really feel trapped. If she didn’t get away soon, she was afraid she would burst into tears and collapse in Evelyn’s arms. Picking up on the younger woman’s need to leave, Mrs. Whitman bade a quick goodbye with a promise to check in to make sure she and Lucas were alright from time to time. Leslie thanked her and hurriedly left the house.

Finally feeling free from the suffocating feeling of the Whitman household but not free of her breaking heart, Leslie ran home and quickly inside, slamming the door behind her. Lucas and Megan started at the sudden noise and Lucas walked into the entryway just in time to see Leslie flying up the stairs and heard another door slam above them. “What’s wrong with mommy?” Megan asked puzzled.

Lucas shrugged. “I don’t know, princess. Stay down here and try not to get into any trouble while I go find out ok?” he told her, taking the stairs two at a time. He got to the door to the room that Leslie had shown him had been hers before she had left and paused before knocking, hearing his sister sobbing her heart out. His heart broke for her and he knocked softly. He heard springs creaking and sniffling and her clearing her throat before he finally heard her tell him to come in. Stepping into the room, he closed the door behind him and moved to sit on the edge of the bed beside his sister.

“I take it things didn’t go so well with Alex,” he said sympathetically.

Leslie didn’t meet his eyes but shook her head. “Not exactly but maybe it’s for the best. I didn’t really know what to say and he really doesn’t need me screwing up his life. He told me he’s with Isabel now and maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be,” she told him quietly.

Lucas took his sister’s face in his hand and forced her to look at him. “He doesn’t know what he’s missing in you. You’re a good person, Leslie, and you just got dealt a very bad hand. I’m so sorry. You deserve so much more than this,” he said bitterly.

“Oh, Lucas, why is life so hard for us? Why did it have to be this way, not just once but twice? It’s just not fair! We’ve always tried to do what was right and what we were programmed to do but whether we do it or try to rebel against it, nothing works out for us!” Leslie said passionately, hugging her brother tightly.

“I don’t know, Les,” Lucas answered honestly. “I just don’t know.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

“Alex, are you ok, sweetheart?” Evelyn asked her son through the door to his room. “You can talk to me if you need to.”

Glancing at the door, Alex answered his mother. “Thanks, mom, but I’m ok. I just need to be alone for a little while.” He was so confused and hurt and angry and…and just frustrated. Seeing Leslie again brought back all those feelings that he had tried to bury because she had left.

No, that wasn’t entirely true. He hadn’t exactly tried to bury them; he had tried more to transfer them. Or had he? Shaking his head in confusion, he looked at the picture on his desk of him and Leslie that someone had taken while they were at the Crashdown studying. Leslie had had a copy of it once and he wondered if she still had it. Sighing he looked from that one to the picture of Isabel next to it. It was one she had given him during that brief period that she had said she was ready for a boyfriend. That hadn’t lasted very long and Alex knew that she really didn’t feel that way about him. If she truly wanted to be with him she would be by now. Somehow that thought didn’t hurt as much as he thought it should have.

Getting up, he walked over to his desk and turned the pictures over. He just wasn’t ready to deal with this. Max and Tess had left for New York without telling anyone and it was Thanksgiving and his family was going to be in town and together tomorrow and Liz was going through something strange that she didn’t want to discuss with him. Leslie had been gone for months and now she was back and wanting to talk to him. Alex shook his head again, heavy hearted and suddenly very tired. He just wasn’t ready to deal with it yet.

[littleroswell]

A/N: I know that the last few parts have dealt mostly with Lucas, Leslie, and Megan but I promise that our original characters are going to be flowing back into the story over the next couple of parts. I know that at least two will make an appearance in the part after this one. Thanks for your patience and I hope I’ve kept your interest in the meantime. Also, a very big thank you goes out to my Aussie friend, Craig, for making me feel so special in saying that he is quickly becoming “a treeclimber”! I can’t believe I created a couple that now has a name for their pairing! I’m so psyched!

Part 22 – “Clues to the Past”

Leslie stood in the desert outside of Roswell, facing the northeast as the sun went down behind her. As she turned in a circle to look in all directions, the ground began to rumble and shake. Almost losing her balance, Leslie looked for something to hold on to but there was nothing around. The ground beneath her feet began to crack and split apart.

As she tried to run to avoid being swallowed, something tripped her as it ran past and Leslie fell with a thud to the ground. Looking for what tripped her, she spotted what looked like a tree root that was growing and stretching in the direction she had been trying to run. Looking back, she saw a tree growing up out of the ground, a big beautiful tree with branches that reached toward the heavens and very similar to the one that was between the Whitman home and her own.

Her instinct was to run no matter what the tree looked like. She had just gotten to her feet and ready to run again when she heard a voice call her name. Turning around, she saw Alex sitting on a branch a little more than half way up the tree. As she watched, he stood up quickly and made his way toward the trunk, moving entirely too fast. “Alex, be careful! You’re going to fall and break your neck if you keep going that fast,” she called to him.

“Leslie, don’t leave! I have something important to tell you!” he called back, quickly shimmying down the tree. She waited, curious to know what he wanted to say to her. He was a little winded from rushing when he caught up to her. “I just wanted to say how sorry I am for yelling at you like I did. I love you, Leslie, and you’re the only one I want to be with. Can you forgive me?”

Tears filled her eyes and fear filled her heart at his words. “Oh, Alex, I love you too. God help me, but I do,” she breathed, throwing herself into his arms. He held her close for a moment and then pulled back just enough to kiss her. As he did so, the ground again began to rumble and shake. The sky darkened as black as night and there was a loud sound that was hard to name.

As bright lights lit up the sky brighter than day, Leslie’s fear increased one hundred fold. “Alex, run!” she told him, pushing him away from her. At his confused look, she urged him harder. “Please, Alex! If you love me, run for your life!”

Just as he was about to obey her request, people appeared all around them. There was the sounding of trumpets and two men stopped Alex from leaving, each taking hold of one of his arms. Two other men stood on either side of Leslie, and yet another man stepped forward and took in a deep breath. “His Majesty, King Xan of Antar!” he announced at the top of his lungs.

“Oh God!” Leslie moaned, her face going white as a sheet.

“Who?” Alex asked at the same time.

A man with no face suddenly appeared and strode haughtily over to Leslie. Sinking to the ground in the deepest bow possible, Leslie lowered her head to the man whom she hadn’t seen in years but had feared every day of her life. Suddenly, he hit her, not hard enough to hurt but hard enough to get her attention and knock her over.

“Hey!” Alex called angrily. “You can’t do that!”

The man spun around to face him. “You are mistaken, human! I can do that and I will until she learns her place! What is your name?” he asked Alex.

“Alex Whitman,” Alex spat out. “And who are you, other than some piece of scum?”

“Alex! Please!” Leslie tried to warn him. This only further infuriated the obviously important man. He turned on her again and pulled her up by her arm, not bothering to be gentle. Leslie yelped, more out of fear than pain.

“Tell him who I am, F-L,” the man ordered.

“He is Xan, King of the throne of Antar, son of Yvan the second, brother of Vilandra,” Leslie replied robotically.

“And?” Xan questioned.

Swallowing the tears that threatened to spill down her face, Leslie met Alex’s eyes. “And my lord and genetic superior,” she finished almost in a whisper.

Xan stepped in between them. “You are accused of treason, disobeying your superiors and your programming, and conspiring against your king,” he listed to Leslie. “Do you have anything to say in your behalf or in your defense?”

She dropped back to the ground before him. “Please, your majesty, I didn’t mean to fall in love with Alex; it just happened. I know it was wrong. I beg you to have mercy,” she pleaded.

“All of those charges didn’t come from just falling in love with Alex, F-L. You have tried to run from your duty and have hid the rightful heir to the throne! For all these crimes, you must be punished,” Xan told her. Alex just looked terribly confused, but Xan’s words had stopped Leslie’s heart cold. He knew about Megan?! How? The fear showed in her eyes and the king laughed coldly. “Yes, F-L, I know about Meganora. Did you honestly think you could keep her from me?”

Before she could answer, Alex spoke again. “Who is Meganora? Why do you keep calling her ‘F-L’? Her name is Leslie?”

Without even looking in Alex’s direction, Xan threw an order out at his guards. “Kill the human, and make sure that F-L sees every minute of it!” With that, Xan moved away from the two and Leslie screamed.

“No!! Xan, please! I’ll do anything you want. Please just let Alex live!” she pleaded, crying openly.

Xan met her eyes and held them. “You will do as I want no matter what; that is what you were meant to do. I don’t think this is a big punishment considering the severity of your crimes. You will have to live with the guilt of Alex’s blood on your head all the days of your life,” he told her. Nodding once more at the guards that held Alex, he disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared, Leslie’s screams and pleadings falling to the ground beneath her unheard.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Leslie!” Lucas called once again, shaking his sister and trying to wake her. She had been screaming and crying for the past few minutes and he was terrified that something was terribly wrong. Finally, her eyes opened and looked around wildly. “Leslie, it’s ok! It was just a dream. You’re safe; everything is ok,” he told her over and over, gathering her to him in a hug. Slowly she began to relax.

As she began to realize where she was, she sobbed on her brother’s shoulder. “Oh, M-L, it was so awful! He found us and he had Alex killed and he had Meganora!” she wailed hysterically.

Lucas shushed her and rocked her until she calmed a bit. Then he pulled her back so that he could see her face. Giving her a smile, he pointed out, “It must have been pretty wild for you to call me ‘M-L’; you haven’t called me that since we were given the names Leslie and Lucas. Who found you? Xan?” Leslie nodded and Lucas sighed. “I’m sorry, Les. I wish I knew what to do.”

“I’m sorry for having wakened you, Lucas. Did I wake Megan?” Leslie asked, starting to feel embarrassed over the whole episode.

“No, but she sleeps like the dead anyway,” he joked. “Now you go back to sleep for a little while. We should probably try to go through the rest of these boxes and run over to the storage place today.”

Leslie swung her legs over the side of the bed. The sun had just begun to peak over the horizon but she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep after that dream and she said as much to her brother. “I’m going to get a shower and start breakfast. Do you want anything in particular or do you want to go back to bed for a while?” she asked.

He sighed deeply but with a teasing smile. “I guess I’ll go ahead and get up too then. I tell you what, you take as long a shower as you want and I’ll make breakfast. Ok? I’ll even fix Belgian waffles if you want,” he told her, pushing her towards the bathroom.

“Really?” she asked brightening. At his nod, she threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you, Lucas, I really don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You’d starve or wake the whole neighborhood,” he joked. Then he grew serious and squeezed her hand. “I know exactly what you mean, sis. I feel the same way. Now go shower!”

* * * * * * * * * * *

Looking around the room that she had lived in only briefly months before, Leslie sighed longingly for those days that seemed years ago. She missed the time when the only thing she had to worry about was trying to find out where Lucas lived with Kevin and how to tick off Lauren. They had been working all morning on cleaning out more of the boxes of stuff with Megan trying to help and in actuality making it take twice as long.

“What’s this, mommy?” Megan asked, holding up a doll that was in one of the boxes.

“That’s the doll my earth mother, Lauren, gave to me. It was her mother’s before hers,” Leslie answered.

“Can I keep her?” Megan asked looking at the doll lovingly.

“Yes, but go downstairs and play with her or in the room with Uncle Lucas,” Leslie told her, getting frustrated.

Megan was so excited that she ran to the doorway and through it, almost colliding with Lucas in the process. “Whoa! Watch it there, princess! You almost knocked me on my butt!” he teased her. She laughed but kept going.

“I swear if she asks ‘what’s this’ one more time, I’m going to scream!” Leslie stated.

Lucas just laughed. “She’s already at the questioning stage, huh?” he asked.

“When are children not at the questioning age?” Leslie asked with a grin. Her brother’s never ending good mood was contagious.

“When they become know-it-all teenagers,” Lucas answered with a roll of his eyes dramatically. Then he held up the box in his hands. “I found this in the closet in Lauren’s old room. Some of this stuff had your name on it so I thought I’d bring it up for you to look through.”

“Gee, thanks! As if I wasn’t already going through enough stuff!” she laughed. “But your turn is coming, dear brother. Let’s see what we have here.” She pulled out a small trophy and turned it around trying to remember what it could be for. As she read the label on the award, she gasped, one of her hands automatically clutching the precious object around her throat. “Lucas! This is an award for West Roswell High’s talent show!” she told him.

“So? I don’t get it,” Lucas admitted, taking the trophy from her. Then it dawned on him when he saw the year. “Oh, this is from last year. You told me you sang but you didn’t think you were that good. You won first place! That’s great! I just wish you had been able to accept it yourself. I guess the school must have sent it over here.” He took her hand in his and looked into her face but her eyes were glued to the trophy. “Are you ok?”

Her eyes met his and she smiled through tears. “Yeah, I just can’t believe I won. I’ve never won any kind of award before. Even though our grades were good, they weren’t that noteworthy and we never did anything extracurricular to keep a low profile. What else is in that box?” she asked, looking inside. She pulled out a few pictures she had drawn for Lauren when they had first come to live with the Terrells, some photos, and other memorabilia before coming to a piece of paper that made her breath hitch in her throat.

Taking note of the expression on his sister’s face, Lucas asked, “What’s wrong, Les? What is it?”

She didn’t answer with words but passed the paper over to her. “Just read it and you’ll understand. I can’t believe she did that!”

Lucas obeyed, reading the note quickly. It was addressed to Alex and more or less, mostly less, explained where Leslie had gone and why. It was short but sweet and Lucas could feel his sister’s pain in writing it. “I don’t understand, Les. I thought you left this in the window for Alex to find it so he wouldn’t wonder where you disappeared to. You said Alex told you he never got it,” he pointed out.

“Exactly! So Lauren had to have found it first and hidden it and not shown it to Alex. How could she do that, Lucas? He hates me because he thinks I didn’t even care enough to leave a note and she had hidden it away, not even mentioning she had a note from me!” Leslie stormed, pacing the short length of the room.

“I don’t know but I think you should show this to Alex. At the very least, it would prove to him that you did leave him something and didn’t just disappear to let him worry. You should take it over to him,” he told her.

“After the welcome I got yesterday, I don’t think that would be a good idea. Maybe I will leave it in the mailbox along with a note explaining what happened. It’s worth a shot. We can’t ever be what we were but maybe we can be friends or at least civil and not have him hate me,” Leslie said. Glancing out the window, she saw several cars next door. “I won’t take it over there today, though. It’s Thanksgiving and I don’t want to disturb their time with their family. I’ll take it over or leave it in the mailbox first thing in the morning. For now, let’s get these boxes over on this side of the room out of here.”

Leslie placed the letter in a drawer in her desk and Lucas watched where she put it, knowing she wouldn’t take that letter over herself. “You go ahead and take down a couple of boxes and I’ll get that big one over there,” he told her. She shrugged and picked up a box, heading out the door for the stairs. Quickly he crossed to the desk and removed the letter, folding it and putting it in his pocket. Blowing out a breath, he muttered, “May Leslie and the creator forgive me. I’m going to deliver this letter myself.”

[littleroswell]

Part 23 – “An Understanding”

Lucas snuck out the back door and quickly walked next door to the Whitman home and rang the doorbell. He hoped he was doing the right thing and subconsciously held his breath. The door was opened by a kind looking woman that looked about the same age Lauren had been. “You can’t be my nephew Peter; you couldn’t have changed that much!” she greeted him smiling.

He cleared his throat and not for the second time thought this might have been a bad idea, especially since it was Thanksgiving. “Um, no ma’am, I’m not Peter. My name is Lucas and…” he began but she cut him off.

“Not Lauren’s son Lucas?” she asked. When he nodded his head, she opened the door wide. “Oh my dear boy, please come inside! Will you be joining us for dinner?” she inquired as she closed the door behind him.

Lucas was startled by the question. “Uh, thank you, but I wasn’t planning on staying, Mrs. Whitman. I just wanted to talk to Alex for a minute or two if that’s ok,” he answered. She looked a little disappointed so he hurried to explain a little. “Leslie and I will probably be cleaning out the storage unit most of the day and we want to get that over with as soon as possible.”

“Of course you do. I’m so sorry about your parents. If either of you need any help with anything, please don’t hesitate to let us know. I’ll just run get Alex for you,” she told him sympathetically.

Before she could completely leave the room, Lucas stopped her. “Mrs. Whitman?” She stopped and looked at him questioningly. “Thanks for your kindness to me and to Leslie. We haven’t really received much of that in our lives and we really appreciate all we can get.”

She seemed startled and embarrassed by his admission and simply nodded. “You’re welcome, and call me Evelyn,” she told him as she left the room. Lucas took a moment to look around the entryway and noticed that it was only slightly different from their home next door. He put his hands in his back pockets and came into contact with the note that Leslie had written to Alex. It strengthened his resolve to try to straighten Alex’s thoughts out.

At the sound of laughter coming from a room at the back of the house, Lucas looked up and it was just in time to see Alex come around the corner. He looked a little confused and Lucas wondered if Evelyn had told him who was at the door to speak to him. “Um, can I help you?” he asked. Ok, evidently she hadn’t.

“I know we haven’t really met but I’m…” Lucas started to introduce himself but Alex interrupted him.

“I know who you are, Lucas. I just don’t know what you’re doing here,” Alex told him. He folded his arms in front of him in a defensive gesture.

Now it was Lucas’s turn to be confused. “How did you know who I am?” he asked. Then it hit him and he almost slapped his forehead at his stupidity. “Your mother, duh!”

Alex shook his head. “No, actually I recognized you from the picture of you and Leslie that she keeps by her bed…the one of you two at the apple festival in Georgia.”

Lucas’s eyebrows went up and his brother instincts almost took over. Alex had been in Leslie’s room? He shook his head to clear those thoughts out of it; now was not the time for that. “Yeah, well, I just came to try to clear up a couple of things. I know that you are with Isabel now, whoever she is, and I know that you are hurt that Leslie appeared to have run out on you without any word to you about her whereabouts or…”

Again Alex interrupted him. “Did Leslie send you over here to talk to me?” he asked angrily. “Because I don’t appreciate your interrupting my Thanksgiving that I’m spending with my family when I am trying to come to grips with the fact that my ex-girlfriend just moved back in next door!”

Lucas’s blood began to boil. How dare this human think he could treat his sister that way! “Look, Whitman, nobody sent me over here! I came over here because I care about my sister and from everything that she had told me about you, you seemed like a decent guy…someone that I could have seen my sister with. I thought you cared about her too, but maybe we both had you pinned wrong! Maybe you give every girl you meet a necklace that seems to be real gold and a diamond and print out a very real looking certificate that says that there is a star named after the both of you. If you do, I don’t really want to know about it because that would mean that you didn’t mean any of it when you gave those things to my sister!” he said through clenched teeth, poking Alex in the chest until he backed up into a wall.

Catching himself, Lucas let out a big breath and raked his hand through his hair, letting his eyes drop from Alex’s face. This wasn’t going the way he had planned but this guy pissed him off. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out Leslie’s letter and thrust it into Alex’s face. “Here! This is a letter that Leslie had written for you before she left for New York to try to find me. You should probably know that she put her life in extreme danger to come after me and maybe even by writing that letter. Lauren found it before you did and she evidently hid it or forgot to give it to you before looking for us.” The darker haired guy took the letter hesitantly and Lucas let his hand drop and stalked to the door. “I’ve gotta go before Leslie notices I’ve gone and worries about me.” Opening the door, he started to step out but stopped to look Alex in the eyes. “She really does care about you, Alex. You won’t understand this but that’s the most dangerous thing for her to do…love someone. I hope you were worth it because from what I’ve seen and heard the last two days, I would say she wasted her feelings on a jerk.” That said, Lucas slammed the door shut, leaving a bewildered Alex still holding the letter in his hand.

* * * * * * * * * * *

As soon as Lucas had left, Alex read the letter from Leslie and now he was itching to talk to someone. He was tempted to skip out on the rest of Thanksgiving to go talk to Maria or Liz or even Isabel, but he knew his mother would never forgive him. Besides, his family wouldn’t be staying all day and he would just leave when they did or a little after. The words of her letter kept haunting his thoughts, as if he were missing something important and several times, he snuck away just to read it again to make sure, but nothing revealed itself. He just knew there was something big in between the few lines that she had written.

Finally, his extended family left and he quickly helped his mother clear the dishes and glasses scattered all over the house. In his haste he accidentally dropped one of the glasses and it shattered into a million pieces. He stopped himself just short of swearing in front of his mother and rushed to get the broom and dustpan. He quickly swept up the pieces and threw them away, unaware that Evelyn was watching his every move. When he turned to put the broom and dustpan away, he caught her eyes and he gave her an apologetic smile. “Sorry about the glass, mom. At least it wasn’t the good crystal,” he pointed out.

She took the contents of his hands from him and smiled at him. “Alex, go on and get out of here. I’ll finish cleaning up,” she told him. His jaw dropped open and he stared at her. At his questioning look she answered his silent question. “Alex, you’ve been restless ever since Lucas came by. I know you are dying to talk to someone and I only hope it’s Leslie. So go ahead and leave.”

Alex snatched her up and spun her around, hugging her tightly. “Thanks, mom! You are the greatest! I love you so much!” he exclaimed. Then just as suddenly, he was out of the kitchen and out the door, leaving his teary-eyed mother to watch after him.

“I love you too, son,” she whispered after him. Suddenly two hands landed on her shoulders. She placed her hand over one and leaned her head onto it, knowing it was her husband.

“Is something wrong?” Charles asked. He saw the tears in her eyes and knew that Alex had just left. He wondered if they had had a fight. He hadn’t heard any yelling but that didn’t mean anything.

“No, nothing’s wrong. Our son is just growing up,” she answered with a sigh. “Soon this house is going to be so empty.”

Charles turned her around to look at him. “Why? Are you planning on going somewhere?” he teased. “I, for one, am looking forward to spending some real time with my wife, maybe even traveling a bit when Alex is gone. For now, he’s not going anywhere and let’s not worry about the “what ifs”. Let’s put on some music and dance.”

Evelyn smiled at him. He always knew just how to cheer her up when she was feeling down. She let him lead her into the living room and watched while he walked over to the stereo and put a CD in. As the soft notes of Ray Charles’s “Georgia” began, he swept her into his arms and began swaying. “Now then, isn’t this nice?” he asked. She nodded and laid her head on his shoulder. “And we’ll be able to do this anytime we want without having our children look at us like we are too old.”

They danced in silence for a few moments and as the song ended, he nibbled on her ear causing her to giggle. “I know something else we’ll be able to do any time we want when Alex is gone,” he told her suggestively. She giggled again and lightly slapped his chest, pretending to be shocked by his words. “Come on, Evelyn. Let’s go upstairs.”

“But the kitchen is a mess and I still need to straighten the rest of the house,” she protested weakly.

Charles started leading her to the stairs. “That can wait until later. I’ll even help you with it. For now, I want to have some fun with my wife.” She giggled again and didn’t bother to protest anymore, instead choosing to follow him upstairs.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Alex drove to the Evans’ home first for some reason. He wasn’t sure what drew him there but it might have been the fact that Diane had always been nice when he came over and always told him to come back. He knew the Crashdown would be busy so Liz would be too and who knew what Maria and Amy would be doing today. He quickly pulled up in the driveway and hopped out of the car. Running up to the front door, he knocked and shuffled his feet until someone yanked the door open.

“Maxwell Evans, you had better have a good…” Isabel started, but she stopped as she realized it wasn’t Max on the other side of the door. “Alex, what are you doing here?”

“I need to talk to somebody, Isabel. Can I come inside?” he asked.

Isabel glanced inside and quickly came out on the porch, closing the door behind her. “Now really isn’t the best time, Alex. Max has disappeared and so has Tess. We’re pretty sure they went to New York but mom is heartbroken and dad is ready to kill Max for disappearing and I’m on his side. You wouldn’t have heard from either him or Tess have you?” she asked.

Alex stared at her for a moment, eyes blinking as he tried to process what she had told him. Max and Tess had disappeared…at Thanksgiving…and Isabel and somebody else thought they were in New York. “Um, I’m sorry but I haven’t spoken to either of them lately. Who’s in the ‘we’?” he asked. At her confused expression he clarified. “You said that ‘we think they went to New York’, as in plural. Who is included in ‘we’?”

“Oh, Michael and I. I’m sorry I don’t have much time to talk Alex. Maybe if you can hurry and tell me now what’s wrong I can try to help,” she volunteered. She felt bad that she was always pushing him away. The time just never seemed right for them to be together…to talk. They never seemed to be able to finish a conversation. Maybe that was one of the reasons that they couldn’t seem to be a couple; maybe they just weren’t meant to be.

Alex had been thinking these specific thoughts and shook his head at them. He and Isabel had never really been right together. As he started to walk off to get back in his car, Isabel stopped him. “Alex, what’s bothering you? I’m sorry we can’t go inside to talk, but I really do want to help.”

He met her eyes and answered her quickly. “Leslie is back and she has her brother with her. I don’t really know how to handle it, and I thought I’d talk to you about it but maybe I should talk to Liz or Maria,” he stated. She looked like she was going to protest but he held up his hand for her to stop. “Really, Isabel, I know you want to help but you have enough to worry about without me adding to it. Just promise me one thing.” He paused, waiting for her to say something.

Isabel nodded slowly. “Sure, I’ll promise you anything that I can,” she told him.

“Promise me that we’ll always be friends,” he asked. At her puzzled look, he continued. “I know that I’ve tried to push us being more than friends in the past and that it just never seemed to work out. I’m fine with that and I won’t try to push again, but I still want to be friends, Isabel. I want you to know that you can come to me with your problems without having to worry about how I’ll take it. I think that underneath that ice princess exterior that you always have up, there is a wonderful person that is just scared of being alone and yet afraid to trust someone. I hope you find someone that you can open up to, and I really hope that you do so when you find him.”

She looked surprised and touched. “Oh, Alex, I know that we haven’t been as close as you’ve wanted to be, but I promise that we’ll always be friends. Right now, you are the closest person to me. I know I have a problem with opening up and trusting people but you have helped me so much. I’ve told you things and trusted you more than I have anyone else, except Michael and Max. I just don’t think that I can love…” she told him.

“I know…I know. I am finally realizing that I feel the same way,” Alex said smiling at her. “Ok, I’m just gonna go for now. Let me know if you don’t hear from Max and want my help trying to find him and Tess. I’m sure that someone knows where they are. Have you tried asking Liz? Maybe she knows something.”

“No, I haven’t asked her yet. She and Max hadn’t exactly seemed close lately and I don’t know why. Maybe you should talk to her Alex. I’ll talk to Jim and Kyle and see if they know anything about where they went,” Isabel told him. He had made his way to his car and had pulled the door open.

“Ok, I’ll try to talk to her but it might be late tonight or tomorrow before I get a chance. You know how the Crashdown is on Thanksgiving. I’ll see you around,” Alex called, getting into his car. Just before he closed the door, he called out to her again. “Happy Thanksgiving, Isabel.”

She smiled back at him and opened her front door. “Happy Thanksgiving, Alex,” she answered before disappearing inside.

[littleroswell]

A/N: Ok, guys, like I said, everything up to Meet the Dupes happened but nothing after. I’m writing the storyline from that point on. Tess and Max did leave for New York and Ava did stay behind and I may use some of the lines from Max in the City but mostly, I’m rewriting it.

Part 24 – “Thanksgiving at the Crashdown”

Alex pulled into the parking lot of the Crashdown looking for a place to park but the place was jam packed. Finally, he pulled around to the back of the building where he sometimes parked when he used to go up to Liz’s balcony. He didn’t go up that way much since she and Max had first become a thing. He knew things were different between the two of them now but he didn’t want to chance it.

Walking to the back door, he couldn’t help but think that maybe this would work out better. If Maria happened to be working as well as Liz, maybe he could get Liz’s attention and get her in the back to talk without Maria noticing. Just as he was about to pass through the doorway to the inside, he spotted a figure sitting on a cement block behind the dumpster. She appeared to be trying to get comfortable and he couldn’t help but say something to her.

“Ava, right?” he asked, squatting beside her. She really did look like Tess, and Alex found it very unsettling.

“Yeah, what’s it to ya?” she spat out at him. When he couldn’t really think of something else to say, she waved him away. “Can’t a girl get some privacy around ‘ere? Beat it, will ya?” With that, she turned her back to him, clearly showing that she thought the conversation over.

Alex stood to his full height and shrugged, moving back to the door. He entered and carefully looked for any sign of anyone around. Not seeing anyone, he stepped fully into the room and moved to the swinging door that separated the back room from the dining area. “Watchya looking for, Whitman?” Michael asked coming up behind him.

Alex jumped about a foot off of the ground and spun around. “God! You scared me, Michael!” he said, placing his hand over his racing heart. “I was looking for Liz. Has she had her break yet?”

Michael pulled the grease covered apron off of his body and grimaced at it. “Nope. It’s been a zoo around here. She should have a break coming; Maria just got back from hers. I’m off for the night. Hey, if you think about it, ask Liz if she knows where Max and Tess are. Let me or Isabel know later, ‘k?” With that, Michael made his way to his locker and with his body language dismissed Alex.

Just as Alex turned back to the diamond shaped window, Maria started heading his way. He started to panic and looked around for a place to hide but she was too close to the door. Just as Maria breezed through the door, he ducked behind it, sufficiently hiding himself from her beautiful green eyes.

“I have to pee so bad!” She declared to Michael’s back, racing for the employee bathroom. She slammed the door behind her and after only a couple of seconds, Alex heard a loud, “Ahhhh,” come from that room. He chuckled to himself and quickly exited to the dining area, knowing that it was safe to ask to speak to Liz.

Spotting her at a nearby table refilling drinks, he caught her eyes and waved her over. She smiled and said something briefly to her customers and walked in his direction. “Alex, what are you doing here? I thought you were spending Thanksgiving with your family at home. Didn’t you get enough to eat?” she teased.

“Yeah, I got plenty to eat for a while. I just wanted to know if I could talk to you for a minute. I really need some advice and Michael said you hadn’t had your break yet,” he explained quickly.

Glancing around the café, Liz searched for Maria. “Um, I am due a break but I don’t see Maria anywhere. My dad should be in the basement, looking for some more supplies for Jose. If you can go tell him that I’m ready for my break or wait for Maria to get back in the room, we can go to the back and talk while I wolf down something to eat,” she said.

Alex grinned at her. “Maria will be right back; she just had to pee really bad,” he informed her. At Liz’s slap across his chest and her disgusted look, he held up his hands in defense. “Hey, those were her words not mine.”

After Maria came back up front and Jeff came up with his arms full of supplies, Liz was free to grab something to eat and settle down with Alex in the back of the restaurant. Quickly, he told her all about Leslie coming over, Lucas coming over with that letter, and his talk with Isabel. Liz listened carefully while she chewed her food. When he stopped, she swallowed and looked at him questioningly.

“So how do you feel about her being back? Why would you tell her you were with Isabel?” she asked him.

“I don’t know why I did that and I’m not sure about how I feel about her being back in town. I mean, I’m glad she’s ok; I was really worried about her and she obviously wasn’t sure she would be back from the tone of her note. Liz, she’s just as beautiful as ever but I just don’t understand why should wouldn’t trust me enough to let me in, to tell me what’s been bothering her besides just being separated from her brother,” he answered.

“From what I saw while she was here and from what you’ve told me about being with her, you were the only one she came close to opening up to before she left. Alex, maybe something happened to her in the past to make her distrust people and she was just starting to trust you when she got an idea or something about where Lucas would be and she felt she had to go. Her coming to see you right after getting back into town might have been her trying to reach out to you again,” Liz gently pointed out.

He groaned as her point hit home. “And I virtually slammed the door to her soul shut in her face. Liz, what should I do? I don’t think I ever cared about anyone the way I did about Leslie but I don’t want to have her disappear on me again.”

“Then talk to her, Alex. You owe her, and yourself, that much. What happens might surprise you,” Liz told him. She knew that she and Max didn’t have any future together but she wanted her friends to be as happy as they could. She also knew that Isabel would never make Alex happy but Leslie had and maybe she could again.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Leslie sighed as she straightened up from the last box she had to go through at the house. They were done, finally, and she was tired and she felt dirty. It had taken all day to finish going through all the stuff in the house and getting it sorted. Megan had been better after finding the doll, playing quietly and staying out of the way. Lucas appeared in the doorway with a grin and dirt on his face.

“Hey, I’m all done; how ‘bout you?” he asked.

“Yeah, just finished. Have you seen Megan lately? I’m sure she’s getting hungry,” she asked.

“She fell asleep in the master bedroom downstairs with that doll in her arms. I’m going to take a shower. Be thinking about what you want to do about some dinner,” he told her, disappearing again.

“I can’t go out, Lucas, until we figure out how to stop my looks from changing back and forth so crazily. When I woke up this morning I was the brunette and before lunch I became the blond again,” she called to him.

Lucas’s face reappeared in the doorway. “Yeah, but it has stayed that way all day. Maybe he finally decided on this look.”

Leslie snorted. “Yeah, you know as well as I do that this was how I looked all our lives until after I moved here. Obviously, His Majesty can’t decide between a certain blond with blue eyes and a brunette with brown eyes. Maybe I should go ahead and dye it that jet black again and just wear my sunglasses or tinted glasses everywhere until he picks something and sticks with it.”

“Whatever you want to do. You did buy that dye just before we got into town. After I get out of the shower, I’ll get Megan ready while you shower and do your hair. Then maybe we’ll check out that café that Mrs. Whitman mentioned,” he called, his voice fading as he got farther away.

She couldn’t help the stabbing pain that streaked through her chest at the mention of Alex’s mother. She knew it was probably for the best that she and Alex weren’t together anymore, but her heart just wouldn’t listen to the logic of her mind’s arguments. Her stomach rumbled and she realized she couldn’t wait for dinner to eat something so she made her way down the stairs towards the kitchen when the doorbell rang. Sighing she walked to the door and looked out of the peephole and quickly opened the door.

“Sheriff Valenti, it’s so nice to see you again! Don’t tell me that they have you working on Thanksgiving!” she greeted the older man warmly. He had been so nice to them in the past couple of days and she wasn’t used to having that kind of treatment from lawmen.

“Well, as a matter of fact they do, Miss Terrell,” he answered with a smile. In the short time he had spent with Leslie and Lucas, he found that he really liked the young people. They had had a rough life and really had no one in the world to care about them. “That’s not really why I came by, though.”

“Sheriff, you don’t have to be so formal with us; just call me Leslie. What did bring you by?” she asked sincerely.

“Well, since I ended up having to work the day shift, Kyle and I weren’t able to celebrate Thanksgiving until tonight, and it seemed like a waste to have all that food for just the two of us so we invited a couple of friends over. I was wondering if you, Lucas, and Megan didn’t have any plans if you would like to join us? I was just on my way home now and I’d be happy to leave you directions or I could even wait if you don’t think it would take you long to get ready,” Jim invited warmly.

Tears involuntarily filled Leslie’s eyes and she blinked a couple of times to clear them. “That is so sweet of you; I can’t tell you how much your invitation means to me and will mean to Lucas. Unfortunately, we’ve been working around here all day and we both just kind of wanted to have a quiet dinner just the three of us. We haven’t spent any real time together in a long time. We were just going to pick up something from the Crashdown and come home to eat. I hope you understand; we’d love to come another time,” Leslie declined as gracefully as she could.

Jim smiled at her and nodded understandingly. “Of course I understand. You probably are too pooped to want to spend an evening with a bunch of strangers anyway. We will have to do it some other time. You kids better hurry if you’re going to catch the Crashdown special, though. They may be open but they do close early. I know that Jeff and Nancy like to have dinner with family and friends only after closing.”

Leslie thanked the Sheriff again and ran up to the bathroom after he had left. She quickly showered while Lucas got Megan ready to go. They left not much after Jim had left and were on their way to the café. They didn’t notice the car that was headed down their street with Alex in it.

Deciding to sleep on the problem of what to say to Leslie, Alex went home and worked on his music for a while before he finally ended up listening to the CD he had made as a memory of Leslie when she had disappeared. It had several songs on it that they had sung or listened to together, including a few from the movie they had watched together and cuddled to. Later, he ended up watching the video of the talent show that he had gotten a copy of.

* * * * * * * * * *

Leslie, Lucas, and Megan walked into the Crashdown and were met by a smiling Liz. “Hey, Leslie! I heard you were back in town! I’m so glad to see you again; is this your brother?” she greeted, nodding toward Lucas as she picked up two adult menus and one kids’ menu.

Not having spent much time with Liz, Leslie was a bit embarrassed by the attention. She really didn’t want to have to explain much about her disappearance; she hated lying and their entire explanation was basically a lie. “Um, yeah, this is Lucas and this,” she said with her hands on her daughter’s shoulders, “is Megan. Guys, this is Liz Parker. We’ve been working on getting the house in order all day and we’re starving. You aren’t about to close are you?” Silently, Leslie praised herself for smoothly diverting the attention from them to the diner.

Liz noticed Leslie’s hurried introductions and, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable, let it slide with a smile for each of Leslie’s companions. “We definitely have time for you guys. Do you want a booth or a table?” she asked. They asked for a booth but only long enough to decide what they would get to go. They didn’t want to be a burden while they tried to clean up.

As Liz escorted the small family to a booth to the side of the restaurant, neither Lucas nor Leslie noticed Isabel and Michael sitting at a table in an animated discussion. Isabel had come to talk to Michael about Max and Tess’s disappearance. Since Michael was supposed to go to the Valenti’s for dinner with Maria, he had come back to get her after showering at home. Isabel had called him and said she would meet him at the Crashdown to discuss the problem.

“Two days and not a word,” Isabel told Michael.

“Your parents asking questions?” he asked her.

Isabel gave an exasperated look. “They think he’s gone camping again.”

“They gotta think he’s turned into some kinda tree hugger,” he commented. He was so pissed at Max for pulling something like this. They weren’t supposed to do anything to draw attention to themselves and Max and Tess went and pulled a disappearing act without telling anyone where they were going.

“They think he doesn’t want to spend Thanksgiving with his family. He could have at least said goodbye before he went traipsing to the other side of the country, if that’s where they went,” she bit out angrily and hurt.

“You know Max. It’s got nothing to do with you. It probably has something to do with…” Michael pointed out Liz and nodded. The entire group knew that something big had happened between her and Max but none of them could imagine what it could be.

Lucas, in the meantime, had noticed Isabel and Michael and started to panic. “Leslie, we need to get out of here!” he hissed at his sister. She gave him a questioning look, but before she could ask, he continued. “Just order something and let’s get out of here! I’ll explain once we’re gone!”

They quickly gave Liz their order and made it easy by ordering the special. As they left, Lucas was practically dragging Leslie to the car, with Megan being pulled as well. As soon as they were in the car and pulling away from the café, Leslie demanded to know what had gotten into him. Checking his rearview mirror every few minutes to make sure they weren’t being followed, Lucas answered her. “They are here. I just saw Lonnie and Rath in the café. They had changed their looks so they would blend in better but it was them.”

He had purposely kept his voice low so as not to frighten young Megan, but his tone couldn’t keep the fear from taking over his sister. Leslie’s face paled and she looked back at her precious daughter, knowing they would take her away if they ever found out about her. “Lucas, are you sure? Maybe you were mistaken; maybe it just looked like them,” she said hopefully.

“Leslie, I’m telling you, that was them. We have to figure out what to do now,” he told her. As tears filled her eyes, he knew exactly what she was thinking. They had just started to think that maybe, just maybe, they would be able to lead normal lives in Roswell. Now they find out that no matter what they did, it seemed that destiny, fate, their programming or whatever was determined that they didn’t get that normal life.

Taking his sister’s hand in his, he squeezed it tightly. “Leslie, no matter what happens, I promise you that I will give my last breath to make sure that nothing separates you from Megan,” he swore.

She quickly corrected him. “No, Lucas! If we have to separate to keep her safe, then I’m all for it. Change your promise that we’ll do whatever it takes to keep her out of the hands of the Royal Four. They will ruin her and make her miserable if they ever got her,” she said, almost choking at the thought. “Never, as long as I have breath in my body, will they ever get her.”

[littleroswell]

A/N: Ok, I felt like I had been neglecting the other characters and I also wanted to show some of the behind the scenes things that I imagined might have happened in New York. Anyway, I felt it was appropriate to pick up with Tess, Max, Lonnie, and Rath there. I’ll be using some of the same lines from the show but not all of them and I will be changing some things. Remember I don’t own or want to take credit for those particular lines I use. As always, let me know what you think.

Part 25 – “King in the City”

Max looked down from his spot on top of the Empire State Building onto the hectic and very large city below. His insides rumbled and churned and not for the first time did his heart sink at the thought of how he had come here. Tess had sensed his desire to be alone with his thoughts and had moved further down the observation deck, and Max was grateful for the few moments to himself. In all the millions of people in New York City, he had never felt more alone. Although he was supposed to be king of an entire planet, he had never felt so small and ill prepared.

Tess and he had arrived in the Big Apple less than 12 hours ago, having driven with Lonnie and Rath straight through, and Tess had begged him to go sight seeing. Lonnie and Rath had assured them that they had plenty of time to do as they pleased and urged them to go have fun. It was already almost five in the afternoon and they had already seen the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and had lunch in Central Park when he had suggested going to the Empire State Building. Tess had readily agreed and after stopping in a few shops that caught her eye, they had stepped into the lobby of the famous landmark.

Max did not feel good about his decision to come to the city. He felt that it had been made compulsively and rashly and he usually did not make decisions that way. Leaving Michael and Isabel the way he had had been a mistake. Sure he had been upset with them, especially Isabel, but they were still his family. His thoughts again strayed to Liz. His heart contracted in pain every time he thought of her because he just couldn’t get over the fact that she had slept with Kyle. He still loved her and it was obvious that she still wanted to be a part of the group with the way she was acting before he left.

“Hey,” Tess said softly behind him, startling him out of his thoughts. “We need to be meeting back up with Lonnie and Rath soon. You want to go through the souvenir shop?”

“Sure, if you want to,” he said, following her towards the elevators.

* * * * * * * * * * *

“Where the hell could he have gone?” Lonnie yelled into the underground maze. “I specifically ordered him to stay here!”

“Yo, maybe he chose death instead,” Rath joked, going through the stash of food they had left.

Angry at Rath’s nonchalant attitude toward the disappearance of her favorite toy at the moment, she walked over to him and slammed his fingers with the lid to the cookie jar his hand was inside of. “Ow! What the hell did you do that for?” Rath screamed.

“You know as well as I do that he ain’t dead. We ain’t the real McCoy so he could really be anywhere. Damn! We was so close!” Lonnie exclaimed.

“Lonnie, just because he was a good screw don’t mean he’s the only one there is. Yo, you still got me! Besides, when we get back home you can have a dozen slaves to do your bidding,” Rath pointed out.

“Idiot! He ain’t just any slave, rememba? Asking for a Luinwe might rouse suspicions,” she reminded him.

“Maybe we’ll find ‘im lata then. We can look. Going home is more important right?” he asked. She merely grunted in reply. “I don’t like that we left Ava in that Podunk town. I know what this Tess has said and that crazy Luinwe says about her but I ain’t sure I trust her.”

Lonnie looked him with a completely bored expression. “Yo, you really care which witch goes back with us to marry Khivar? Whicheva one of ‘em gets the job done is the one that wins the crown. I really could care less which one it is. I admit this Tess hasn’t exactly got Maxie boy eatin’ outta her hand like we had been told.”

“He doesn’t seem to mind havin’ her around, though,” Rath admitted. He glanced at the stolen watch on his arm. “Yo, we gotta make tracks if we’re gonna be on time to meet the shrimp.”

Lonnie’s face screwed up like she smelled something bad. “I hate that kid. Don’t matta if he is our ticket home.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

Lonnie shuffled her feet as she waited impatiently for Nicholas to arrive. Rath was yelling at some kid about a sandwich. As she saw the little rat fittingly climb the stairs from the subway station with a map, she got Rath’s attention. “Yo, drop it! He’s here.” She turned her attention back to Nicholas. “Took you long enough. Where the hell have you been?” she asked annoyed.

“God, I hate this town!” he declared. “So where are they?”

She shrugged. “They doin’ the tourist thing…you know, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building. They supposed to meet up wit us in a coupla minutes.”

“You let them wander around this open sewer alone?” Nicholas asked in disbelief.

“Yo, chill, even Max Evans can find his way from the Empire State Building; it’s 3 blocks,” Lonnie replied, annoyed that he would treat them like they didn’t have any sense.

“Better hope you’re right. Without Max at the summit, no one is gonna give you two the time of day,” Nicholas reminded them.

Lonnie rolled her eyes but as usual, Rath got all defensive. “Yo, we’re two of the royal four.”

Nicholas snorted. “Royal rejects is more like it.”

Rath got right in his face. “Yo, let’s get something straight right now. They may be the originals but they the rejects now. We’re the ones who’re goin’ home.”

“Not without that granolith you’re not. Khivar really isn’t impressed with any of you,” Nicholas told them.

Lonnie jumped in at that. “It’s only been a coupla days. You ain’t getting’ that granolith without us, so just you rememba that,” she told him, ice dripping from her words. Looking up, she noticed Tess and Max walking towards them. “Yo, here they come. Get outta here.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

Tess declared she was tired and needed a break and Lonnie and Rath suggested they go to their “crib”. Following them through the tunnels below the subway, Max wondered where they were going when they reached a fairly large, furnished open area. Lonnie collapsed on the couch and Rath picked up a hockey stick and starting hitting some balls against a wall.

Looking at the expression on Max’s face as he looked around the place, Lonnie smirked. “Ain’t exactly Mayberry is it?” When Max asked if this was where they were born after noticing the pods on the wall, she noticed Rath hit the balls a little harder. He always got defensive when people pitied them. “Day one. Wake up, break through the membranes, step outta the pods into the brave new world of the sewas,” she answered.

Tess new this was a sensitive spot and smiled inside. “And now you live here?” she asked. Rath made some kind of snide remark back and she knew she was pushing the right buttons. She knew they knew she was of the original set and Rath was jealous of the birthright that came with that. “So did your protector bring your pods to New York? Why put you in the sewers?”

Lonnie quickly grew tired of the petite blonde girl who was rubbing her power in her face. “What is up with you and all these questions about the shapeshifta?” she asked, careful to use the word the group from Roswell had.

Tess had a hard time not grinning openly at Lonnie’s impatience with her. “Our protector raised me,” she explained to cover in front of Max. “His name was Nesedo and we were close.”

Rath smirked at the ground at that statement. “Oh yeah? How close was that?” he asked, wacking another ball that bounced back with so much force it almost hit Tess and Max.

Max asked him to watch where he was hitting the balls and then brought up one of the major things on his mind. “I want to talk about the summit. When, where, what kind of…” he began. He wanted to be prepared as much as possible so he didn’t look completely like a lost kid from New Mexico.

Lonnie rolled her eyes at Tess, and Rath again spoke up. “Chill, Duke! All in good time.”

Max caught the ball that he had been hitting in midair and was quickly losing patience with these two. “The time is now,” he said authoritatively.

Rath didn’t like this guy. Who did he think he was to just order them around? He might be the king but it was Rath who remembered their life, or at least most of it. “You flexin’ on me?” he asked Max in his face.

Lonnie interrupted the spat before it got worse. “Boys, don’t make me get off this couch,” she told them. Rath got the hint and jumped on the couch next to her. Tess and Max sat down and Lonnie tried to change the subject, pointing out that Max was so much like Zan. She asked if they had jumped each other yet and Max quickly steered the conversation back to what he had been asking about.

“The summit,” he simply said, waiting for them to explain something.

Lonnie sighed and pushed Rath away a bit. “No summit until you meet the emissary. You gotta pass the test first,” she told him. There was no way she would inform him of everything she knew. Khivar needed him to appear just as he was…completely ignorant of everything.

Tess kind of panicked at Lonnie’s words. “Test?” she asked.

“Not you, just him. They wanna make sure you’re the real king before they sit down, but don’t worry; you’ll pass,” Lonnie told him. She knew he would pass because he was the real king. That was the problem they encountered when they thought Zan might go.

“So when do I meet with the…” Max started but Lonnie was tired of answering questions.

“Enough!” she yelled. Then in a softer tone she smiled at Max. “Enough. Don’t worry, Maxie. We’ll get ya to the church on time.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

It was the next morning when Rath took Max to this abandoned building to meet with the emissary. Max was a little worried as he had no idea what to expect of this test. Truthfully, Rath and Lonnie didn’t really know what it was either but Nicholas had told them that it was something that only the real king would be able to pass. When the test was over, Rath was ecstatic. Max had passed with flying colors. Lonnie might have been convinced that Max was the real king but Rath didn’t put it past Khivar or Nicholas to yank their chains yet again.

Max again tried to ask questions about what was to come but Rath dodged them by saying that Lonnie would explain everything later. He just hoped that this punk from New Mexico didn’t screw up his chance to get home. When they got back to his and Lonnie’s place, Max again wanted some things explained so Rath explained things that wouldn’t harm Max to know without giving any real information. Explaining about the royal seal of the 5 planets of their home system and the ambassadors that would be coming through the human vessels, Rath continually looked to Lonnie to see if he was staying within the boundaries Khivar had set.

Tess played along and Rath used the opportunity to treat her like dirt. “Why don’t they come in person?” she asked of the ambassadors.

“You see, little girl, space is what we call very, very big. You know it’s not easy to get to places. It ain’t like Star Trek,” he explained as if talking to a two year old.

Lonnie spoke up at that. “No one’s comin’ here in person unless there is a very good reason,” she said.

“Like to take us home,” Rath finished her thought.

“Home? We can go home?” Tess asked brightly. She knew what the plan was; she and Lonnie had discussed the final details while Max and Rath had gone to meet with the emissary. She couldn’t wait to get back to Antar and rule as queen.

“Yeah, we can…if the man here cuts a deal at the summit,” Rath stated.

Max didn’t like the way this was sounding. Something just sounded…off somehow. “What kind of deal?” he asked.

“A deal for peace on our world,” Lonnie said, trying to appeal to the human side of Max. She and Rath explained a little more, not giving more information that she knew from Tess they had. She reaffirmed the phony message that Nesedo and Nicholas had set up with Tess supposedly from Max and Isabel’s mother.

Max brought up the question she had hoped he wouldn’t. “Home. I never thought…not this soon. What about Michael and Isabel?”

“And Ava?” Tess threw in. She knew that Ava also wanted to go back but no one on the home world knew about duplicate royals.

There was no way to avoid this question, Lonnie knew. “Yo, they’re expectin’ the royal four, not the royal seven.”

“I’m not leaving Michael and Isabel behind,” Max declared firmly, making Lonnie, Rath, and Tess all want to scream in frustration.

Lonnie tried to reason with him. “Look, Max, Max, Max…they seem so happy in that cute little town.” Seeing that he was about to protest again, she stopped him, bringing in the question that she needed answered. “Chill, chill. It’ll all be ok. You’ll see; it’ll all fall our way…unless they bring up the granolith again.”

She searched his reaction. Tess had told her earlier that the group in Roswell knew where the granolith was, but Lonnie wanted to see how far Max trusted them. This would be an important part of their plan. If they could get Max to turn over the granolith, they would all be set. “The granolith?” he asked, feigning ignorance. Almost sighing aloud, Lonnie saw he wasn’t going to let them know he knew about it.

“Yeah, the granolith. It’s this stupid religious thing,” Rath began.

“Some piece of junk the people on our planet worship for some reason,” Lonnie finished, both of them trying to downplay its importance. “You eva heard of it?”

Max didn’t flinch as he answered her. “No.”

“No,” Lonnie repeated, disappointed. It would have made things so much easier. Now she would have to deal with Tess as well as Nicholas and Khivar.

“That’s too bad,” Rath said.

“Yeah, it would have been a real bargaining chip if you had it,” Lonnie hinted, hoping he would take the bait.

He didn’t. “Well, I don’t,” Max said again.

Lonnie and Tess exchanged a quick look and Tess shrugged slightly. Inside she was grinning like the Cheshire cat. She had the bargaining chip now. There was no way she was getting left behind and Lonnie knew it. “No problem. Probably won’t even bring it up anyway,” Lonnie said, again trying to downplay its importance.

Tess wasn’t as easily fooled. She knew exactly what the granolith meant and did and she was the only one who knew where it was and was willing to give it up to get home. Khivar would be really pleased with her. She was the rightful queen and she would be so again. Tomorrow was the summit but it was really just a formality. The plans set in motion would not be stopped. She only wished Max would pay more attention to give Khivar the other thing she had said she would try to produce.

[littleroswell]

A/N: Again, I’ll be using some of the same lines from the show but not all of them and I will be changing some things. Remember I don’t own or want to take credit for those particular lines I use. We’re still going to the summit and most of what happened and was said there will be the same so you might want to reference that episode (Max in the City) if you want the exact lines as I won’t be quoting all of them, I don’t think. I’ll also be showing what was happening behind the scenes and in Roswell, according to me of course. This may take several parts so try to remember that the time that it takes to get the parts out is a lot longer than this is supposed to be taking place. As always, let me know what you think.

Part 26 – “Before The Summit”

It was long past close when Liz went outside the back of the café with the last bag of trash. She sighed at the sight of the other bags of trash scattered all over the back of the building. Why was she the only one that made sure the trash ended up in the dumpster? She quickly started picking them up and tossing them into the dumpster when something started moving in among the bags.

“Yo! You mind not banging that thing around,” came a female voice in a heavy New York accent.

Startled, Liz jumped back until she saw the owner of the voice. “Tess? Oh, no, no I mean…um,” she said, trying to remember the duplicate’s name.

“Ava,” she supplied for her, sitting up and trying to disentangle herself from the trash.

“Yes! Ava, that’s right! I’m sorry. So what are you…what are you doing here?” Liz asked, confused.

“Trying to get some sleep,” the other girl answered dryly.

“In the alley?” Liz was still confused. Why would anyone sleep in an alley by a dumpster?

Looking annoyed at the dark haired girl, Ava pointed out the obvious. “Yeah, in the alley. I really didn’t have any place else to go. I don’t exactly have da money to stay at the Hilton.” She didn’t mention that she wanted to keep an eye on the other members of the Roswell gang. She knew that Lonnie and Rath would ditch her if they could if it meant they would be going home. If she could help it, that wasn’t going to happen, and she was looking for some kind of leverage. Maybe they knew where the granolith was and she could find it.

Feeling sorry for the dupe, Liz gave her a hand to help her stand up. “Um, why don’t…why don’t you come upstairs with me and you can have a shower and we can find you some clean clothes and you can sleep there. My parents are out of town buying supplies for the café.”

Ava wanted to jump at the opportunity but she didn’t want to appear too eager. So looking the other girl up and down, she smirked. “Yo, I don’t think you’d have any clothes that’d really be my type. I will take you up on the shower and bed, howeva, and I can take care of the clothes I’m wearin’,” she told her. Maybe she could get Liz to trust her and maybe spill some vital information.

* * * * * * * * * * *

After a shower and climbing into Liz’s bed, Ava tried to think of some way to get Liz to trust her and open up. Finally, it came to her. Thrashing around in the bed with her eyes closed, she started screaming. Hearing footsteps rushing toward her, she had to swallow a smile. So predictable!

“Ava, Ava! Wake up; it’s just a dream,” Liz said, shaking the screaming girl. Sitting up quickly, Ava started heaving like she was out of breath. “Are you ok?” Liz asked her.

“I…I saw it again. I saw the accident…Zan…the way his body just laid there,” she sobbed. Liz quickly pulled her into a hug and Ava knew just how to manipulate the conversation so that Liz started to open up about the others. Over the next little bit, Ava found out how Liz found out about the aliens and she could tell that Max really meant a lot to Liz. One fact disturbed her more than anything else, however. Liz had to have meant enough to Max for him to bring her back from the brink of death. That could be a major problem.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Max wondered over to the phone booth and started digging in his pockets. It was almost seven in the morning but he had been awake for a while and walking for the past hour. This whole situation bothered him. He shouldn’t be in New York, he didn’t know enough to attend and participate in this summit, he shouldn’t have left Michael and Isabel the way he had, and he didn’t trust Lonnie and Rath. He had no real reason or solid foundation for his feelings but he couldn’t shake them. When he had spotted the phone booth, he knew he had to call home.

Not finding any change in his pockets, he placed his hand over the money slot and a glow emitted from his palm. Hearing the dial tone, he quickly dialed his sister’s cell phone. “Hello?” he heard her answer sleepily on the third ring.

“Hey, it’s me,” he said uncertainly.

Now fully awake, Isabel quickly sat up in bed. “Max, where are you? Are you ok?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m still in New York,” he answered. Why did he feel so awkward talking to his sister? They used to be so close. “I just called to see how things were going. So how was…how was Thanksgiving?”

Getting angry now that she knew that he was ok, Isabel wanted to throttle him. How dare he just call up all casually after letting his family and friends worry about him for two days! And then he acted like she should know where he was; the nerve! “It was great. Mom cried all the way from the cranberry sauce to the peach cobbler. So did I,” she spat at him.

Choosing to ignore the venom in her voice, Max brought up the subject that had been bugging him most. “Isabel, how would you feel about…about going home?” he asked.

There was dead silence before he heard her take in a deep breath. “When you say home, Max…” she began.

“I mean…home,” he finished knowing she understood.

“Is that even possible?” Isabel asked, the question not sinking in.

“If it is, would you want to go or not?” he asked again.

Isabel began pacing her floor. It was all so ludicrous! “I don’t know. I mean leaving mom and dad and Roswell for a whole…for a whole other planet that we know nothing about. I mean it’s crazy…it sounds crazy,” she admitted to him.

Tired and running out of time, Max snapped at her. “Well, it isn’t, and I need an answer…from you and Michael both.”

Isabel’s temper flared again and she met Max’s tone exactly. “What? You can’t do this! You can’t just drop this on me all of a sudden! I mean…God! You just leave without even saying goodbye with those people without even discussing it with Michael and I, and you expect me to just…” she ranted.

“I guess I’m just being a self-indulgent little boy again,” Max bit out.

Completely thrown off and not understanding him, it took Isabel a minute to respond. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she asked.

Sighing, Max leaned against the inside of the booth. “I really don’t want to rehash the entire thing…Vilondra,” he said, knowing it was mean.

His arrow had struck its mark. “That’s not fair, Max.” The pain was evident in her words.

But Isabel wasn’t the only one hurt by the secret she had kept and Max had discovered. “No, what isn’t fair is that I had to find out about that from Lonnie,” he pointed out.

They were both silent for a moment before Isabel answered him. “I really am sorry about that, Max. I wanted to tell you but I was kind of ashamed. I mean what kind of person must I be if I betrayed my brother in my past life? It really threw me for a loop, you know?” she tried to explain.

“I know, but you should have told me that when I confronted you about this the first time,” he said, his anger dissipating. He really didn’t feel like fighting anymore.

“The first time? What are you talking about?” Again he was saying things that didn’t make any sense. Isabel’s instincts told her she should know what he was talking about but there was just too much for her to take in at once.

“Never mind. Listen, I gotta go. They might get worried if they wake up and I’ve disappeared. I’ve already done that to enough people. I’m sorry for everything that’s happened between us, Is,” he told her sincerely. “I really want us to talk and try to work through this wall that’s grown between us. We used to be so close.”

“I know. I miss that too. It just seems that we don’t have time to talk much anymore,” she sighed.

“Well, I’m not going anywhere without you guys so just know that ok? I’ll call you after the summit is over,” he told her.

“Ok. And Max, you and Tess be careful,” she told her brother. “I love you.” After hanging up with him, Isabel still felt that she had missed something important in their conversation. Yawning, she realized she hadn’t gotten much sleep in the last two days because of worrying about Max and Tess. After reminding herself that she needed to call Michael to let him know where they were and that they were ok, she climbed back into bed and quickly fell asleep.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Leslie, Lucas, and Megan sat around the table, eating their breakfast and discussing what they wanted to accomplish that day. They still had some things to go through in the storage unit but Lucas said he would take care of it. “Then we seriously need to talk about what we’re going to do about you-know-who,” he told his sister.

Leslie sighed knowing he meant Megan and the royal four. She just didn’t know what to do about the situation. She really didn’t want to leave Roswell but leaving now might mean freedom later, although she doubted it. The royal four seemed to haunt them no matter where they went. “Ok, I’ll clean up the breakfast dishes if you want to go ahead to the storage place,” she volunteered.

Standing up, Lucas put his hand on his sister’s shoulder and squeezed it. “It’ll all work out, I promise. I’m gonna go take a shower,” he told her, leaving the room.

Sighing, Leslie stood up too and picked up her dishes. Smiling at her daughter’s sticky but content face, she pointed to Megan’s plate. “Are you done, princess?” she asked.

Smacking her lips appreciatively, Megan grinned up at her mother. “Yup! Those were the best panacakes I’ve ever had,” she declared loudly.

Kissing the top of her dark head, Leslie laughed at that. “That’s ‘pancakes’ and I can tell you enjoyed them; you’re wearing them all over your face and hands. Go wash up and pick out something to wear today. I’ll be up to help you in a minute,” she told her.

“Ok,” Megan said happily. She climbed out of her chair and headed out the same way Lucas had.

As Leslie started washing the dishes, Lucas came back in the room no cleaner than when he left. “I thought you were going to get a shower,” she stated questioningly.

“I am, I just forgot the rest of my coffee. You didn’t clear it away did you?” he asked, looking at the table.

“I poured out what was in your cup but the pot’s still on. Your cup is right by it,” Leslie answered.

As he disappeared again, the doorbell rang. Lucas called out something that sounded like, “I’ll get it,” but Leslie couldn’t really tell over the running water in the sink. When the chime didn’t sound again, she assumed he had gotten it. However, Lucas had yelled out for Leslie to answer the door as he headed up the stairs. Megan decided to take it upon herself to answer the door.

Alex shuffled his feet back and forth nervously, waiting for someone to answer the door. When the door did open he was momentarily confused not to be meeting someone eye to eye. Instead, a young female voice drew his attention down to about the height of the doorknob.

“Hello,” Megan said brightly. She smiled at this lanky guy that looked about the same age as her mother and her uncle.

Surprised to find such a young girl in the house, Alex was rather abrupt in answering her. “Hello, who are you?” he asked. He quickly assessed the little girl and realized that she had the same color hair that Leslie had and her eyes were a warm brown with gold flecks in them.

“I’m not supposed to talk to strangers,” she answered matter-of-factly. Impatiently pushing a stray lock of hair from her face, Megan continued to talk to Alex. “Are you a friend of my mommy’s?”

Confused, Alex wasn’t sure how to answer. “I’m not sure who your mommy is. I’m Alex; I live next door.” He kneeled down to her level so he could study her more closely.

Megan studied him right back and very openly. The clarity and wisdom that reflected in the eyes of the girl that was so young startled Alex. She grinned widely at him. “You’re Alex! I’m so glad to meet you! I’m Megan and I’m four years old,” she informed him as if those two facts obviously went together.

Coming out of the kitchen to go upstairs, Leslie heard voices at the front door. When it came in sight and she saw that it was Megan standing at the door, she ran over and pulled her daughter away from the door so she could see who was standing on the other side of it. “Megan! What are you doing? You know better than to answer the door alone!” she scolded, her fear getting the better of her. It was only then that she looked up to see who was calling. She was startled and terrified to find it was Alex.

Looking up at her mother, Megan pointed to Alex. “It’s ok, mommy. Look; it’s Alex!” she told her excitedly.

Alex had been smiling at Leslie somewhat shyly when he heard Megan’s words. His head shot back down to the four year old and then back up to Leslie’s questioningly. Avoiding Alex’s eyes, Leslie placed her hand on Megan’s head and patted it. “I can see that, sweetie. Why don’t you go upstairs and start getting dressed like I told you. I’ll be up in a few minutes. If you get done before I’m up, brush your teeth and play for a bit,” she told her.

“But I wanted to get to know Alex better!” Megan protested.

The smile reappeared on Alex and his charm took over. Kneeling back down to Megan, he took her hand. “It is very nice to meet you and I promise that you and I will get to know each other better. I’ll probably still be here when you get done but Leslie and I need to talk for a little bit ok?” he told her.

“Ok,” Megan answered. Then leaning forward, she placed a light kiss on his cheek. The surprise showed on his face and she giggled. “I know why mommy liked you.” With that said, she ran up the stairs.

Straightening up again, he waited until Megan was completely out of sight before he met Leslie’s eyes. She looked nervous. “She’s adorable,” he told her. She thanked him but didn’t say anything else waiting for him to continue. “Is she your daughter?” he finally asked.

Meeting his eyes, she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Yeah…Megan is my daughter,” she answered. They both took a deep breath at that and Leslie felt that one of the many weights on her back had been lifted off. “Alex, we should talk.”

Smiling at her briefly, he blew out a breath. “Yeah, we should. You wanna take a walk or should I come inside?” he asked.

“Lucas will be leaving in a few minutes so I should stay inside. Why don’t you come in and we’ll talk in the kitchen over coffee,” she said. He agreed and she let him in and closed the door.

[littleroswell]

Part 27 – “The Day of the Summit – Part A”

Alex followed Leslie into the kitchen and stood with his hands in his pockets as she started pulling things out of the cabinets. “Have a seat. Do you want some pancakes? I put the rest of the batter in the refrigerator so it wouldn’t be any trouble,” she asked over her shoulder.

Sitting at the table, he looked around the kitchen and noted what few changes had been made since he had been here last. “Well, if it wouldn’t be any trouble, pancakes sound great,” he answered.

“It’ll only take a minute to heat up the griddle again. I already ate so you’ll be eating alone but I will have some coffee with you,” she told him, setting a cup of black coffee with a spoon in front of him. “There’s cream and sugar there on the table.” She nodded at the containers in the center.

They were quiet for the few minutes it took for Leslie to fix the pancakes and place them in front of Alex. It was a little awkward but not much, as they were each lost in their own thoughts, mostly of each other. As she sat down with her own cup of coffee, she watched Alex roll the first bite of pancakes around in his mouth. He caught her and smiled as he chewed.

“These are really good. Did you make them or did Lucas?” he asked politely.

“I did,” she answered briefly. She allowed a couple more moments of silence to pass while she watched Alex and sipped on her coffee. “Alex, why did you come over here today?” she finally asked.

Startled at her bluntness, Alex almost choked. He quickly swallowed the bite in his mouth and drunk a sip of his coffee before he could answer. “Wow; that was direct! I came over to talk…and to apologize. I’m sorry for how I acted the other day.” He pulled a folded piece of paper out of his back pocket and placed it on the table. Nodding at it, he continued. “Lucas brought that by on Thanksgiving.”

Glancing at it, Leslie didn’t have to pick it up to know what it was. “You had every right to be angry and hurt with the way I ran out on you. I just never thought you would be so angry that you wouldn’t listen to any explanations,” she said quietly into her coffee mug.

Reaching across the table, Alex tentatively took her hand in his. “Leslie, I was hurt more than angry. I was also relieved that you were ok and so I just reacted before I had thought about the situation. I really want to talk things out so that we can at least try being friends again, if not more.”

Leslie withdrew her hand and looked up at that. “What would Isabel say about that?” she asked. She really didn’t relish going toe to toe with the tall blonde, especially after Isabel had helped her change her look and in a way get Alex. If Isabel made him happy, she wouldn’t come between them.

Blushing from embarrassment, Alex cleared his throat and stabbed at his plate. “Well, I don’t think it would matter to her much. Leslie, I…I sort of made up the part about being with Isabel. She and I talked not too long ago and realized that we never were and never will be anything more than friends. I’m sorry I lied to you about it. That just kind of came out.”

“I understand. I hurt you so you wanted to hurt me back. I think you should know that it worked,” she admitted.

When he looked up to her face, she gave him half a smile. His breath caught as he realized again just how beautiful she was. Taking a deep breath, he took her hand back in his and looked deep into her brown eyes. “Leslie, I missed you so much. Liz had Max and Maria had Michael and I tried being with Isabel for a while but it just wasn’t right. She wasn’t you. Is there any way we can try again? Can we try to either start over or pick up where we left off?” He hadn’t meant to beg but he didn’t want to lose her again.

Standing quickly and walking across the kitchen, she used her empty coffee cup as an excuse to get away from his intense gaze. “Alex, things can’t be the same as they were. Megan is with me now, Lucas is here, and they aren’t going to go anywhere. They are a part of me and a major part of my life.” Spinning around, she blinked back the tears in her eyes but Alex still saw them. “Megan is my daughter, Alex. Do you have any idea what it would put all of us through if we were to try dating again…what it would put you through?”

Alex jumped up from his seat and crossed the room to stand in front of her. He put his hands on her shoulders so that she couldn’t turn away from him. “Leslie, I understand that she’s your daughter and that everything you do affects her. She’s beautiful and so sweet. I don’t want to do anything to mess her life up but I do care about you. I’m willing to give us a chance or at least talk about one. Is she the reason you kept pulling away from me before?”

Meeting his eyes, she nodded and sniffled. “She’s one of the major ones,” she answered. Seeing that he relaxed a bit at that, she continued hurriedly. As much as she wanted to try being with Alex, as much as she cared about him, she didn’t want him to be dragged into this completely blind. “But she’s not the only reason. Alex, I want you to seriously think about this. There is much about me…about us that you don’t know. At the very least, think about what people are going to think and say about us dating. Think about what your parents will say about you dating an 18 year old girl with a 4 year old daughter. When it becomes public knowledge that I have a daughter, they will see me as trash. I was an orphan that was taken in by a nice couple in the medical field, and ungratefully I ran off to be with my brother and got them killed. If you are dating me, people will start seeing you in a different light too.”

Hearing more than just what her words expressed, Alex realized that Leslie was really scared, and part of that fear was for him. What was she hiding from him? “Leslie, I think you are overreacting. I care about you and I want to be with you. Can you honestly tell me you don’t feel the same way?” he asked, holding her beautiful brown eyes.

Letting out a breath, Leslie relaxed her shoulders and shook her head. “No, I can’t. Alex, I really care about you too but that’s why I’m not sure it’s a good idea to…” She was interrupted by a loud call from the front entryway.

“Leslie, I’m leaving!” Lucas’s voice called to her.

Meeting Alex’s eyes, she moved away from him toward the door. “Wait here; I’ll be right back,” she told him. Without turning back, she went to the foyer where Lucas was pulling on a light jacket. “Hey, be careful ok? If they’re out there, I don’t want them to get you again. Call me every couple of hours ok?” she told him.

“I will. Who was at the door?” Lucas asked as he searched for his keys.

“Alex,” she answered heavily. Lucas stopped his search abruptly and his eyes snapped to hers. At his questioning look, she looked back toward the kitchen. “He wants to try being a couple again.”

“Les, look at me,” Lucas said softly. When he held her eyes with his, he asked carefully, “Is that what you want?”

Looking down at her hands and at the floor, Leslie thought about her answer. “I know it’s wrong, Lucas. I know that I shouldn’t be with him, that I should let him go to live his life, but…”

He interrupted her and shook his head. “That’s not what I asked. Leslie, you know all of the facts and I know this isn’t the same as it was with…with you-know-who. No matter what you decide, you know I’ll back you up. I always have,” he told her sincerely.

She met his eyes and tears again formed in hers. “Yes, you have, Lucas, and I don’t know what I would do without you,” she said, swallowing a sob. “No matter how stupid I was, you were there to take care of me and I don’t think I would have survived that period of my life without your support.” She took a deep breath and forced herself to answer his question. “I want to be with him, Lucas…no matter what that means.”

He nodded slowly and then gave her a soft smile. “Ok, then. I’ll back you up in this decision if that’s what you really want. Are you going to tell him everything?” he asked, simply curious.

Leslie looked at him like he had lost his mind. “Let’s not put the cart before the horse. I want to see if it looks like we’ll work out before I go and ruin it. The minute I tell him what we are, he’s gonna freak out at the very least. I’ll tell him eventually.”

Lucas nodded again. “Ok. Well, let me get outta here. I’ll call you every couple of hours to let you know I’m ok.” He placed a quick kiss on her cheek and opened the door. Turning back he gave her a half smile again. “Leslie, if four hours go by without hearing from me, I want you to take Megan and leave Roswell. I’ll find you again if and when I can.” At her look of protest, he placed her hands on her shoulders. “Promise me you’ll look after her first, then me.”

Her eyes dropped at the thought that she might have to choose. “Ok, I promise,” she answered quietly.

After he had gone, she made her way slowly back to the kitchen. Alex was sitting at the table with a newly dressed Megan sitting next to him and they were chatting. He looked up as she came into the room. She smiled at him and nodded to his questioning look. “Yes, Alex, I want to try again,” she told him simply.

Grinning uncontrollably, he had to restrain himself to keep from jumping up and kissing her. His face fell again when he heard her next word. “But…there are a couple of conditions. First, I can’t promise forever; I can’t even promise tomorrow. My life is crazy and I don’t know if we’ll be able to stay in Roswell permanently. Second, you can ask any questions you want but I might not be able to answer them all right now and some maybe not ever. Can you live with all of that?” she asked.

Alex studied her for a minute and then answered. “Yeah, but I have a condition too. If you have to leave Roswell again, you don’t just disappear without telling me. You have to tell me before you leave as soon as you know you’re going to. Deal?”

She nodded with a smile. “Deal,” she agreed. Turning to her confused but smiling daughter, she asked,” Ok, so what are we going to do now?”

“Can we watch TV?” Megan asked quickly.

“I suppose so but Alex and I might talk while you watch TV. Do you want us to talk in here or in there while you try to watch your show?” Leslie asked, hoping she would want them to stay in the kitchen.

“You can talk in here if you want to but only if you promise we can do something together later,” Megan tried to negotiate. After her mother had agreed, Megan slid off of the chair and smiled at Alex. “It was nice chatting with you, Alex.”

Taken aback, Alex grinned again. “Same here, Megan. You know, you need a nickname. Anyone can be called Megan,” he teased.

Clapping her hands in excitement, Megan laughed at that idea. “Ok, what nickname. Nothing like ‘squirt’ or ‘kid’,” she insisted.

“Ok, let me think,” Alex said pretending to think really hard. “What do your mom and uncle call you?”

“They usually call me ‘Princess’,” she told him.

“Nah, that won’t work for me. Hmm…how about…” he thought aloud. Megan beat him to one, though.

“What about ‘mon chou’? It’s a French expression of endearment that means ‘my little cabbage’,” Megan explained matter-of-factly.

Alex blinked a couple of times as he couldn’t seem to comprehend that a four-year-old had used a French expression with him. “Um, sure, if that’s what you want.” Megan happily went into the living room and after a few seconds, the sound of the TV was heard from that direction. Turning to Leslie Alex caught her trying to hold back her snickering. “How did she know that?” he asked, openly amazed.

“You might as well know that Megan is a lot smarter than most four-year-olds. She can already read and write…in English and in French. She can also speak Spanish and is working on learning to write it as well as to speak Portuguese. She’s way ahead of any preschool,” Leslie said softly. She wasn’t sure how Alex would react to her daughter being a child genius.

“Wow! Have you thought about getting her tested for her IQ level or getting her placed in school?” he asked.

Sitting down at the table, she nodded. “Yeah, I’ve thought about it but I want her to have some time to be a kid first. I bought her some of those books that teach you how to read and she asked for a dictionary after an hour. In a day she had read the one I had given her and wanted to start on a French one. She loves to learn and I don’t want to deny her the opportunity but I also want her to have a childhood.”

Alex nodded in agreement at her statement. “I can see that.” His eyes met hers and he couldn’t stop himself from blurting out his next question. “What about Megan’s father? Is he in the picture?”

Leslie’s eyes dropped to the table top and she shook her head. “No, and I would like to keep it that way. He doesn’t even know she exists.”

A thousand thoughts ran through Alex’s mind. “Leslie, he didn’t…he didn’t rape you did he? I mean for her to be 4 years old would put you at 14 when you had her and...”

“He didn’t rape me, Alex. I really can’t tell you much about him right now. Just know that he shouldn’t come looking for her,” she told him, meeting him in the eyes finally. She couldn’t explain about Megan’s father without explaining everything and she wasn’t ready to do that.

He could see that she really didn’t want to talk about him so he decided to drop the subject. Catching sight of a shiny object around Leslie’s neck, he leaned over the table to pull it out of her shirt where it was partially hiding. Looking back up, he had to swallow at the expression on her face. “You still wear it,” he stated softly.

“I’ve never taken it off; it’s very precious to me,” she whispered, drawn closer to his face. Just as she was going to say something else, he closed the distance between their lips and kissed her gently.

Suddenly impatient with the table separating them, Alex stood, pulling her up with him and into his arms. “Let’s try that again without the table interfering,” he said. Then he lowered his lips to hers and fused them together. As his tongue slid over her lips, she quickly parted them for him and met his tongue with her own.

Just as Leslie let out a soft moan, they heard a small giggle beside them. Pulling apart quickly, they looked down to see Megan standing there, her hand over her mouth. She grinned widely at them. “I see you made up! Good, now we can do something together,” she said.

Smiling at her daughter, Leslie looked at Alex. “Well, Alex, what are we going to do today?”

Surprised at Leslie’s lack of surprise at her daughter, it took him a minute for her question to click. “Oh…whatever you lovely ladies would like to do, I’m game.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

Max, Rath, Lonnie, and Tess entered an abandoned building and headed for the room where the summit was to take place. “Now you get into any trouble, you just look to us and we’ll bail you out,” Rath told him.

Tess rolled her eyes at that and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to harass him. “I think he’ll handle it,” she declared.

Rounding on her, Rath got right in her face. “Hey, is someone talkin’ to you, retard?” he asked.

Rath didn’t scare her so Tess didn’t even blink but what happened next did surprise her. Max quickly shoved Rath out of her face and stood between them. “All right, that’s it. Let’s get something clear right here, right now. I’m the one who passed the emissary’s test. That means that from now on, I’m the one who’s in charge.”

Lonnie quickly recovered from her shock and covered her own tail with Max. “Understood, duke. You da king,” she nodded in mock humility.

“And for your information, her name is Tess,” Max added quickly. With his back to her, he didn’t see Tess’s smile of triumph, and with his eyes on Rath, he didn’t notice the scowl that Lonnie gave in response to that smile.

Pushing between the guys, Lonnie turned to Rath. “Rath, take Tess and go inside; I want to talk to Max for a minute.” After they had gone, Lonnie turned her charm on thick. “I’m proud of you, Max. You’re everything I loved about Zan and more. You’re the brother I never knew.” She didn’t want Rath’s mistakes in his dealings with Max to cost her her trip home. Nodding towards the door Rath and Tess had just passed through, she encouraged him to enter.

Turning and taking a deep breath, Max felt like he was strangling with the mistake of the decision to come here at all and especially alone looming before him. Too late to back out now, however, so he put his hand in front of him and pushed open the door. Lonnie followed quickly behind him.

[littleroswell]

A/N: Ok, I know these few parts have had lines from “Max in the City” and I used more in this part too but I wanted to weave my story into it. I hope I do a good job. I am changing some things to go with my own ideas. I totally redid the scene between Lonnie and Nicholas because them being attracted to each other is just not happening in this story. You’ll understand more why later. Let me know what you think about all of this.

Part 28 – “The Day of the Summit – Part B”

As the door closed behind Max, and Lonnie and Rath moved up to either side to stand behind him, he couldn’t help but feel surrounded. Every instinct was telling him to run and he had to really fight down the urge to do just that. Tess must have sensed his tension for she quietly placed her hand in his and squeezed it in silent support. Finding strength inside himself again, he quickly squeezed back and stepped further into the room.

Walking toward the table where the “ambassadors” were gathered, he got a shock when he saw his boss standing at the side of the conference table. “Brody?” he questioned surprise in his voice.

“Actually, my name is Larek. Are you Xan?” Brody’s face smiled and asked.

Realizing that Brody’s body must be one of those used as a vessel or host for the aliens on the planets far away, Max quickly recovered from his shock. “They tell me that used to be my name but my name is Max…Max Evans,” he answered.

One of the people at the table spoke up. “If he doesn’t even remember who he is, why is he sitting with us in conference with us?” she said, harshly.

Max was taken aback by the hostility that resounded in her voice. “He sits with us because the emissary certified him. He is the king of Antar,” Larek stated forcefully. He quickly introduced the others around the table except for one whose chair was turned around, hiding its occupant. After the introductions, Larek added, “We’ll each be speaking for our worlds and Max will speak for his.”

As the chair completely turned around and revealed who sat in it, Max was once again bowled over in shock. One question kept repeating in his mind, ‘How? How was it possible that he was here?’ “Actually, Khivar speaks for his world, and I speak for Khivar,” Nicholas corrected. He nodded to Max and Tess. “Max…nice to see your genocidal girlfriend again. Killed anyone today?”

Tess seemed to bristle at his words and Max tried to pull himself together again after this latest shock. “Day’s not over yet,” she ground out. She was also surprised to see Nicholas here.

Smirking, Nicholas muttered, “What a charmer.”

Larek interrupted the verbal tennis match. “Can we begin?”

* * * * * * * * * * *

Lucas was one seriously confused alien. He hadn’t wanted to alarm Leslie by telling her that he was going to look for Lonnie and Rath so he had volunteered to clean out the storage unit alone. Now, a couple of hours later, he was completely confused. He knew he had seen the two aliens from New York in Roswell but when he closed his eyes to try to concentrate on where they were now, he felt a pull in several different directions. He felt the strongest pulls back in New York and here in town. He finally pulled over and spent the next hour trying to sort out the different pulls to narrow down the one in town.

When he finally felt he had a good idea of where to start looking, he pulled his car onto the road and followed his instincts, which led him to a dilapidated looking apartment complex. Automatically, Lucas’s eyes went to a corner apartment on the second floor and he scanned the building and the windows for any sign of the two aliens he was looking for.

Exiting the car, he carefully and stealthily made his way up the stairs to the apartment and then stopped. What was he going to do…knock on the door and put himself right back where he had been, in Lonnie and Rath’s merciless hands? Sighing in sadness, he shook his head to rid it of his memories and disappointment and formulated a small plan. Quietly, Lucas crept up to the door and placed his ear to it, sending all of his senses out to find out what was going on behind that door.

“Isabel! Calm down and tell me exactly what he said that has you so upset!” a male voice said loudly.

There was a mumbled response from a female voice and then, “Michael, we have to do something! I know that Max and Tess are in trouble; I just know it!” Lucas pulled away for a moment, confused. Who were Michael and Isabel? Who were Max and Tess? Where were Lonnie and Rath and why did he feel the pull stronger than ever here? Somewhere deep inside him, there was a brief flutter of recognition and of something else, but he quickly pushed it aside to listen to the raised voices on the other side of the door.

“So what are we supposed to do? If they are in trouble at the summit, we don’t know where it is, we can’t get to New York fast enough, and I can guarantee you that Max doesn’t have his cell phone because he called you from a pay phone,” came the male voice.

“Yeah, but guess who they left behind? Ava is at the Crashdown; we can ask her for some answers. I saw her in there with Liz as I headed this way,” came the female voice.

There were some other words mumbled but Lucas didn’t hear anymore and immediately moved back down the stairs to the car and waited for the two occupants of the apartment to exit. It was obvious that something weird was going on. He wished he could figure out what. He replayed the words he had heard but they just weren’t making sense. They had mentioned “the summit” and “New York” and finally Ava.

As two people who looked like Lonnie and Rath emerged from the apartment and made their way to an old army jeep, he struggled with his confusion again. Preparing to follow them, Lucas suddenly remembered where he had heard the names that were mentioned in the apartment. They were names that Leslie had mentioned and were friends of hers. They were also the ones she had thought might be the royal four before he had assured her that they couldn’t be because they had been in New York and him with them.

The sinking feeling in his gut made Lucas pay extra careful attention to where the jeep was in front of him even though he was pretty sure they were headed to the Crashdown Café. It wasn’t possible that there were more than one set of them was it? Well, he would soon find out.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Max thought he might be sick at the momentum of the meeting. Within minutes, Nicholas and the others had effectively argued that something needed to be done for the peace of everyone’s planets and then shoved a deal in his lap that had no explanations behind it. He knew nothing about anything behind this important decision and he had a weird feeling that that was exactly the way it had been planned. Something in his subconscious told him that he had been set up. Now all he had to figure out was by whom, what parts were a set up, and why.

The past few minutes replayed themselves in his head.

“Khivar has a solution. He will abdicate the throne and allow the royal four to return home under the following conditions: 1) Max becomes king in name only. All real power and authority stay in Khivar’s hands. 2) Max calls upon his followers and supporters to lay down their arms and support the new government. 3) Most importantly…Max returns the granolith to us,” Nicholas listed off.

All eyes turned to him in disbelief. “The granolith?” Kathana asked.

Nicholas’s eyes never left Max’s. “No, it’s no longer on our world. Yes, we’ve known about it for a long time. No, Khivar decided he didn’t need to tell you. And yes, we know where it is…it’s here, with Max,” he said, answering all the questions that were silently circling the room.

Quickly everyone looked to Max. “Is this true, Max?” Larek asked.

Not letting go of Nicholas’s eyes, Max nodded imperceptibly. “It’s here,” he answered.

Lonnie feigned ignorance and betrayal. “What?!” she exclaimed.

“So there you have it. Max comes home with the granolith, all is forgiven. Do we have a deal?” Nicholas asked, finally tearing his gaze from Max’s briefly and then flicking his eyes back again.

Now Max looked at Tess and tried to read her reaction to all of this. What he saw was her, watching for his reaction and his decision. Sighing internally, he thought over the terms and what he knew of what was happening on the other worlds. He was disappointed to realize that it was extremely little.

Looking back at Tess, he said thoughtfully, “Cut a deal with Nicholas? I don’t trust him anymore than I can throw him.”

Smirking, Tess spoke up at that. “You could throw him pretty far.”

Still thinking aloud, Max continued. “Then there’s Lonnie and Rath. It’s hard to believe they share the same DNA as Isabel and Michael.”

Again, Tess voiced her opinion. “For what it’s worth, I don’t trust them.” Knowing what she was doing, Tess smiled internally, happy that Max thought enough of her and trusted her enough to think these thoughts aloud in front of her. Perhaps her going home would be a sure thing after all.

“And then there’s this whole thing about the granolith,” he went on.

Genuinely curious, Tess asked a question that was bugging her. “Why did you lie to Lonnie and Rath about the granolith anyway?”

Max got a far off look in his eyes and when he answered his voice seemed to come from far away. “There was something Liz said…just before we left. She said the granolith could be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands.”

Tess felt a chill run up and down her spine at his words. Had Liz told Max everything behind her being with Kyle? Genuine fear seemed to start to choke her but she stubbornly and logically chased it away. If Liz had told him everything, he wouldn’t have come here with her. Finding her tongue again, Tess asked him, “How does she know that?”

To her relief, he answered with a disappointed, “She wouldn’t say.” With that statement, he seemed to return to himself and the problem at hand.

But Tess had to know one more thing. “But she’s never even seen the granolith,” she stated, praying that she was right.

“I know, I know but I just keep thinking about it…the way she said it…she seemed so sure. I just don’t know what to do.” He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

Disgusted with the obvious love he still had for Liz that he would still trust her, Tess said something that she knew he would take one way when in reality simply made her roll her eyes. “Well, whatever you do…it’ll be the right choice. I’m sure of it.”

Curious as to why she would say that, he asked her why she thought so. Saying the words fast so they wouldn’t gag her in their sweetness, she answered, “Because despite whatever Nicholas said about you in there, I know that you were a great man in that other life, a great king. I can feel it in my bones.”

Quickly looking up at Tess, Max searched her face. His next words startled her and made her hopes soar. “All you’ve ever done is trust me, been there for me whenever I needed you. I’ve never done anything to deserve that kind of loyalty.”

Forcing a smile and lying through her teeth, she told him, “I think in that other life…you must have been one great husband.” With the look on his face, she knew she had finally broken through one of the walls he had put up between them.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Lucas stealthily made his way through the back door of the closed Crashdown and through the kitchen to the swinging door that separated the kitchen from the café out front. He had just barely gotten his head to the diamond-shaped window in the door when something blew up on the pass through counter and he ducked instinctively.

“Don’t piss us off!” came a familiar male voice from the other side of the door.

Coming back up to the window carefully, Lucas was so surprised to see the blond that looked like Lonnie and the long-haired Rath with Ava and the waitress from the other day that he forgot to pay attention to what they were saying for a few minutes. When he came to himself again, he noticed that the waitress had stepped in between Ava and the other two. He raised his eyebrows in surprise at that. No one turned their back on Lonnie.

“…You lost Zan,” the brunette was saying. “Please don’t let me lose Max. I love him, you know, and I love him just as much as you loved Zan. Please, Ava, don’t let me lose him…please.”

Ava debated over how much she could help them and at the same time help herself. She only wanted one thing, to get off this miserable planet, go home, and rule once again as queen. How much could she say until she compromised that goal? Then she thought of Lonnie and Rath in New York and how many times they had screwed her over and she knew what she had to do.

“Lonnie and Rath killed Zan…and they’re probably gonna kill Max,” she said in a strong voice. Maybe now she would win their trust and find a ticket home…hopefully the granolith.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Lonnie met up with Nicholas as soon as they had broken away from Max and Tess. She was going to get her promise of going home…now. “Yo,” she said to get his attention.

“Yo, yourself,” he smirked back. “What’s on your mind, cousin?”

“I want to know when the ship leaves for home,” she said frankly with a shrug.

She was trying to play it cool but Nicholas knew better. He had helped design her and the other three in New York and knew she was programmed with an insatiable desire to go home and to want the life of a princess. “Let’s get something straight, you don’t go home until I get the granolith,” he told her.

Lonnie’s eyes blazed and she got right in his face. “Let me be straight with you, Nicholas…I don’t give a damn if you get the granolith or not. I’m going home,” she spat at him.

He snorted at that. “Big words for a woman with no cards to play.”

Calming down, Lonnie went back to playing it cool. “I got cards, I just ain’t shown ‘em to ya yet. I do remember our world and I know that I got Vilandra’s memories as well as the others that you put inside me. I also know the others don’t know just how much you and Khivar messed with our DNA and development so that we are the way we are. I want Vilandra’s life and I’ll do anything to get it. Be on my side and you’ll benefit. Be against me and…well, it would be a mad, crazy idea to be against me. Don’t worry about Max. He’s a straight arrow; he’ll go for the deal. Billions of lives hang in the balance and he wants to be the one celebrated for bringing peace. The crown that comes with it probably looks pretty good too.”

“He won’t live long enough to wear it. Khivar wants him dead,” Nicholas pointed out.

Rolling her eyes at that, Lonnie stepped back another step. “Yeah, well I’d have to be a special kind of stupid not to have figured that out.”

“If he takes the deal, there’ll be a nice semi-public execution to attend. If he doesn’t take it, Khivar still wants him dead,” Nicholas said meaningfully.

Lonnie met his gaze unflinchingly. “I can arrange that. What’s in it for me?” she asked.

“Passage home…but only for you; the punk with the Mohawk stays here,” he offered.

Knowing exactly what Nicholas meant by that, she nodded. “Yeah, I can live with that. See ya inside at the summit.”

[littleroswell]

Part 29 – “The Day of the Summit – Part C”

Leslie pulled the sheet up to cover most of her daughter and sat on the bed to kiss her cheek. “Sleep well, princess. I’ll wake you up in a little while,” she told Megan.

“Momma, after my nap will you show me the tree that you and Alex sat in before you came for me?” she asked just as Leslie reached the door.

Smiling back at her, Leslie nodded. “Yeah, I’ll show you. You go to sleep now and maybe we’ll order pizza for dinner.”

As she started to pull the door closed, Megan’s voice reached her again. “I love you, momma.” Before Leslie could tease and ask how much, she finished with, “I love you more than all the sand on Arrakis.”

“I love you too, baby,” she told her daughter, closing the door. She went downstairs to where Alex was flipping through channels on the TV. Sitting down beside him, she leaned into him and sighed happily.

“Everything ok?” he asked, looking down into her face.

“Yeah, my daughter loves me, I’ve got a great boyfriend back, my brother called and said he’s ok, and for the moment everything is right with my world,” she answered, snuggling against him.

Alex wrapped his long arms around her and turned it to the Cartoon Network to watch the Flintstones. Her words bothered him, though. Why wouldn’t Lucas be ok? Why is everything right with her world right at this moment? He knew he said he would accept that there were some things she wouldn’t be able to tell him just yet, but he couldn’t help wishing she would confide more in him. Trying to shake it off, he kissed the top of her head and started paying attention to her laugh as she watched the cartoons.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Lucas had called Leslie to let her know he was ok and since then had been watching the people in the café as they had discussed how they had to reach Max. He had an urge to help but he didn’t want Ava to discover him. Whatever the intentions and morals of the other people in the café, he knew that she was evil and for now, his instincts told him to lay low for now.

Isabel’s eyes popped back open. “Damn it! It’s not working! I can’t reach him,” she exclaimed upset.

Michael came over from his pacing to where she sat and leaned on the table. “Yeah, but you gotta try again,” he told her.

Meeting his eyes, she couldn’t hide her fear. “It won’t do any good; he’s not hearing me!”

Michael didn’t know what to say to that. They had thought this was their only option. Isabel had to reach Max before something happened to them. Ava had told them that Isabel might not be able to break through to him, using the excuse that her powers hadn’t been developed enough to reach people while they were awake, and thereby planting a seed of doubt that kept Isabel from doing just that.

Liz had been hopping all around the restaurant, looking out the windows, sitting down by Ava, looking out the windows, sitting down by Isabel. Now she came over to the other two aliens. “Ok, so um what’s plan B?” she asked, nervous that she already knew the answer.

Isabel’s voice cracked as she answered, unable to believe it herself. “There isn’t one.”

Ava spoke up and surprised them all but especially the alien hiding in the back room of the building. “Liz can do it,” she said. Everyone’s expressions said the same thing: what was she talking about?

“What?” Isabel asked.

“What are you talking about?” Liz asked at the same time.

Ava jumped off the stool she was sitting on and came over to the group at the table. “Max brought you back from the dead. You’ve been changed,” she answered. Yes, she knew that Liz was different now and had enough time gone by she would have definitely been able to reach Max alone, especially with the connection she suspected was developing. There was no reason she couldn’t inform them of that just like there was no need to tell them that Liz wouldn’t be able to do it yet because the process of her changing hadn’t been completed, especially if she didn’t know about the change in the first place.

“What do you mean by changed?” Liz asked fearfully.

“Look, there ain’t time to explain right now. You just gotta trust me here. If Max brought you back from the brink of death then…you’re different,” Ava said. Her mind was racing; maybe if she did everything she could to make it look like she was helping them save Max and they didn’t, they couldn’t blame her for it happening and she would easily become a trusted part of the group. By now, Max was already dead, and if he wasn’t he soon would be. There was nothing this pathetic little group would be able to do to stop it from happening.

Lucas watched these proceedings with mixed feelings. This scenario had brought up more questions than answers and he didn’t know what to make of it. His instincts screamed that whoever this Max person was, he needed to be protected at all costs. They also told him that Ava was only giving these other people half the story they needed to save him. If this Isabel was a duplicate of Lonnie, if she was Vilondra brought back, then she should easily be able to reach her brother if she really believed she could. Her doubts were the problems.

He wanted desperately to reveal himself and help them but he couldn’t justify that with the problems it would bring. If he showed himself now, Ava would reveal who he was and that Liz waitress would remember that he was Leslie’s brother and mention Megan. He would be exposing them all to both a known and an unknown danger. How could he help without destroying the lives he held most dear in the process?

* * * * * * * * * * *

Just as Max was facing everyone to inform them of his decision, Lonnie asked to speak to him alone. She pulled him aside and decided to push the issue at hand. She had a back up plan of course but if he would take this deal, it would be the easiest on her.

“You lied to me. I don’t like it but there it is,” she began, trying to play on a guilt trip. “But what’s about to go down in there is a helluva lot bigger than you and I, Max. Millions of lives hang in the balance. Millions of people could die if we don’t stop this fighting. So this is not about whether you or I go home. We are nothing in this scheme of things. This is about the greater good,” Lonnie went on, playing the concerned leader to the hilt. She only hoped Max would buy it. She nodded toward the others who were waiting. “After you, your highness.”

Max understood what Lonnie was saying because it was nothing that he hadn’t already told himself, but he had a feeling that she was saying those things for all the wrong reasons. After everyone had settled down again, Larek spoke up. “Max, have you made your decision?” he asked.

Max met Nicholas’s eyes and nodded. “Yes I have and the answer is no. I will not give up the granolith to you, not to you, not to Khivar, not to anyone. It was entrusted to me and I will not give up in a decision that I don’t have all the facts to make.”

There was an immediate uproar with Nicholas yelling over the chaos. “You all are witnesses. Khivar tried to be reasonable, tried to extend a hand of peace…and had it slapped away. These negotiations are at an end and so is this meeting. Our offers are withdrawn,” he yelled. He rose from his chair, met Max’s eyes and then glanced to Lonnie who nodded, and turned to leave the room. The others were already beginning to clear out, spitting words of derision in Max and Tess’s direction. As Nicholas reached the doorway, he turned. “Do you ever wonder why your predecessor was killed? He made bad decisions.”

Larek expressed his disappointment in the situation and left the room, leaving Max alone with Lonnie, Rath, and Tess. Max left the building with them following after him. Even though Max could tell Lonnie and Rath were disappointed in him, for the first time since he had come to New York, he felt like he had done something right.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Liz sat down next to Isabel. “Take my hand, Liz,” the blond instructed.

As Liz did so, she expressed her doubts. “I don’t know why but I’m really scared to try this. If you can’t reach him, what makes you think I will?” she asked.

Isabel looked the dark haired girl in the eyes as she responded. “Because I know my brother, and I know that if there is one voice in this universe that he will hear, no matter what he’s doing, it’s yours,” she told her sincerely.

‘Maybe eventually, but for now, you’ll be getting a little help,’ Lucas thought, getting ready to “boost her signal”. He concentrated on the two females who were trying to contact whoever this Max might be and got a flash of a guy that looked like Zan only different.

* * * * * * * * * *

Rath finally couldn’t contain his anger and turned it on its target. “What’s up with you anyway, huh? You just threw away our only chance of getting home!” he bellowed at Max.

“Maybe,” Max answered vaguely.

“Hey, who do you think you are, huh?” Rath went on for about two minutes when he finally backed off with a look from Lonnie. He knew what was to happen, especially when she said she wanted to go for food in Chinatown. Watching for her signal, he saw her nod toward a scaffold at the corner on the building above them. He nodded back and looked at Tess’s back. Lonnie nodded again and just as Max stepped under the scaffolding, he grabbed Tess and held his hand over her mouth in case she got some crazy idea to warn him.

As Max looked ahead, he saw Liz’s form standing in the middle of the street and it confused him. He had left her in Roswell and why couldn’t he hear her? He stepped forward to check it out when he heard a huge crash behind him. Whipping around, he took in the situation and when he noticed that the others were no where around, he immediately became concerned for Tess, knowing that Lonnie and/or Rath were behind this.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Isabel was watching Liz and when her eyes popped open, she immediately barraged the brunette with questions. “Did it work? Did you reach Max? Is he ok?” she asked.

Panting heavily at the excitement of the situation, Liz nodded. “Yeah, I reached him and just in time. Lonnie and Rath just tried to kill him and because he saw me, it didn’t work. I don’t think he could hear me but I know he saw me.”

Ava couldn’t hide her look of shock that it had worked. How was this possible? She quickly recovered and said, “Well, I’m glad that it worked. I’ve gotta visit the ladies’ room and then we can talk about it more.” She quickly headed for the restroom to pull herself together.

Isabel and Michael were stumbling over each other in their expressions of relief when Liz interrupted them. “Guys, I don’t want to alarm you but I didn’t do that by myself.”

Michael nodded. “Of course not, you had Isabel’s help.”

“No, that’s not what I meant. I felt someone helping me and it wasn’t Isabel. I don’t know who it was but they were farther away from me than she was,” Liz said. Seeing the look of confusion and trying to stop the questions before they began, she spoke up. “Don’t ask who or how I know because I have no idea. I just know.”

Lucas ducked down, hoping that they would leave it alone but Liz’s next words had him scrambling for his feet again. “Whoever it was that helped me is still here; I can feel him.”

“Him?” Michael asked. “You know it’s a him?”

Liz looked lost in her thoughts for only a moment before they all heard a noise from the back and she ran to the kitchen door with Isabel and Michael on her heels. Pushing open the door, she saw a guy that looked familiar about to duck out the back door. Michael put up his hand and sent the guy across the room. As Liz saw his face, she was taken aback as she recognized him. “Aren’t you Lucas…Leslie’s brother?” she asked.

Nodding ruefully, Lucas picked himself up off the floor and looked for Ava. “The one and only,” he answered, sounding defeated. This was not good, not good at all.