Earth2Mama, thanks for the feedback. Hope you enjoy this next chapter.
CHAPTER 11
Max stepped out of his apartment. He wasn’t sure where he was going, but now that he was awake he thought he would take a look around. At the end of the hallway, he met up with one of the guards.
“Sir, is there anything I can help you with?” the guard asked.
Max looked around the hallway for a moment. “Yes, can you tell me where to find Ava?” He had woken up with the sudden urge to see her.
The guard gave him directions and five minutes later he arrived at what the guard had called “the war room”. Ava was faced away from him leaning over a table looking at what appeared to be a digital map. Max took his time watching her from just outside the doorway. He knew that body thoroughly, he often dreamt about every curve he had known intimately on Tess. He approached Ava slowly.
The guard had informed Ava of Max’s impending arrival, so she was aware the moment he started to approach her. She turned around, and he stepped forward closing the space between them.
She felt nothing for him. He certainly wasn’t Ace. He wasn’t even Zan.
Max leaned in closer. “It’s been a while Ava. How have you been?”
“Just fine,” she said curtly. Ava sidestepped him so that she could place some space between them.
He looked her up and down, his eyes lingering on her chest. “You look like you’ve been doing better than fine, Ava.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I guess,” she replied impassively. Ava looked at him with her brows furrowed. He really was a major pig! “I hope you and your wife found your accommodations suitable.” She could care less, but she felt it pertinent to remind him that he was married.
Max licked his lips and advanced on her. “It was fine. A bit cold in the bedroom, but if I remember correctly you could’ve warmed it up real nice.”
“I don’t think so,” Ava retorted coldly. Under her breath she muttered, “Not many people can say that their infidelity came close to getting them and their friends killed, but with him it doesn’t surprise me.” Then raising her voice she told him, “If you’ll excuse me, I have work that needs to be done.”
He had heard her just barely. “What is that suppose to mean?”
“Nothing, Max. Just forget about it,” she said resignedly. She really wanted to let him know what a screw up he had been, but saying it really wouldn’t accomplish anything. “It’s in the past just like our past lives,” she said pointedly. She left the room since he apparently couldn’t take a hint despite how obvious it was that she wanted nothing to do with him. Ava caught a flash of a petite brunette quickly turning the corner, and prayed that it wasn’t who she knew it mostly likely was. That was the last thing she needed to deal with today! When was Ria going to be back? She needed her best friend.
~~~
Liz had been over at Isabel’s chatting with her while Isabel reorganized the apartment to her liking. Liz was on her way over back to her room when she saw her husband talking to a guard at the end of the hallway. She was going to call out to him, but decided to wait until she could catch up with him.
She almost got lost following him, but was relieved when she finally spotted him standing just outside a doorway. Max obviously hadn’t seen her yet, so she was about to make her presence known when he entered the room. She walked up to the doorway, but stopped abruptly when she realized who her husband was speaking with.
A sudden rush of images of him and Tess together flooded her mind. She finally got herself together, remembering that it was Ava not Tess. Then she heard Max flirting with her. Maybe she wasn’t hearing it right. He could’ve been joking around. Then her head started aching as his words “cold in the bedroom” repeated over and over in her head. She knew exactly what he meant. She missed Ava’s reply, but caught her excusing herself from the room. She couldn’t let Max know that she was there. Liz had tears streaming down her face as she quickly left to go back to her room.
~~~
Maria had left Rath and Michael claiming that she had reports to write up. Although Michael thought it may have had something to do with the terror in her eyes when Rath explained that he was going to show Michael how to work the computer.
Rath threw a couple of bags of chips in his arms while he grabbed a six-pack of Snapple. “Follow me.” He dragged a chair behind him into the room and set it next to the computer so they’d both have a place to sit.
Michael looked around. Rath’s whole place seemed much smaller than his, and his bedroom was definitely crowded even if you discounted all of the piles of clothes on the floor. “How come your computer’s not in the other bedroom?”
Rath snickered. “Other door is to a closet.” He grabbed some wires from a shelf below his computer. “Here strap this on to your wrist.”
Michael momentarily wondered why the group had gotten such nicer apartments. Michael wrapped the band around his wrist. He really didn’t want to ask, but after the scare of finding Maria in Rath’s bedroom and thinking they had a kid together, the guessing was killing him. “So, you and Maria?”
Ooh, this was interesting. Rath smirked. He could toy with his dupe about this mercilessly, but thought better of it when caught the desperation in Michael’s eyes. Shit! Maria was right; he was gettin’ to be a softie in his old age. Then he reminded himself that he never played by the rules. This was going to be fun. “Maria and me, what?” he asked as innocently as he could.
Michael just looked at Rath expectantly. Somehow he just knew that he wasn’t going to get any answers if he played into Rath’s game or got defensive about it.
Rath pursed his lips together and scowled. That was no fun. “Fine,” he huffed. “Yeah, we were kickin’ it for a bit…years ago.” He really didn’t want to get into it - it still kinda stung. “Put these on.” He put on a pair of large black sunglasses and handed a pair to his dupe.
Michael’s blood was boiling. His Maria and Rath? That was just wrong on so many levels. He put on the sunglasses reflexively. What did “kickin’ it” mean anyways? He so wasn’t about to ask. Suddenly all was forgotten when he realized he was in a hockey rink on skates with Rath standing next to him. Bad ass! NHL Virtual Hockey 2K12. He had seen the commercials for the game, but most of his money went to the group get away fund.
They had played several games each playing as dirty as they could. Rath had won the first two, but he had won the last one in overtime and was on the verge of winning their current game. Michael was about to attempt a 20-foot slap shot from the left circle that if good would leave him in the lead by a goal in the closing minutes when a timer buzzed and the game shut off. What the hell? He threw the glasses off and looked incredulously at Rath.
“Sorry, man. I get so into it Ace had to install a timer that shuts it down when there’s other shit I gotta do. The computer says I gots a meeting in twenty…you too.” At least the fucker didn’t have the chance to score that last goal. “Guess I win,” Rath said with a wolfish grin.
Michael growled in return, too upset over having to stop playing.
“I’ll show ya the only other thing ya need the comm. for. If you get a call, just hit this button. This’ll show ya who wants ya.” Rath pointed out the ID panel. “If you wanna call someone, just press here and say their name. Goes by nicknames too. Like ya can get a hold of Jim Valenti by saying Sheriff or Pops. Let’s call Pixie-girl, see what she’s up ta.” He pressed the button. “Commander,” he told the computer.
Maria had just gotten back after a hard work-out. She had been trying to burn off some major sexual tension. Only there were so many other ways she could think of to rid herself of the extra energy. She sighed. It was so hard to be around him and not jump his bones, and she was going to have to restrain herself again in the meeting they were having soon. She slipped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around herself and stepped into her bedroom to get dressed. She was grabbing some loose-fitting comfortable jeans when the comm. went off. She looked to see who was calling. It was only Rath, so she didn’t bother throwing on a robe first. “What’s up, Rath?”
Michael blinked at the screen a couple of times. She was in a towel…wrapped tight around her…nothing else. Was she trying to kill him? His eyes traveled down her body then he realized that she could probably see him as well. His lifted his eyes to meet hers, but not before he caught a glimpse of a mark on the top swell of her breast. The skin had a darker pigmentation like a birthmark, but he knew her birthmark was on her lower back. He tuned back into her and Rath’s conversation just in time to hear her tell them she would see them in the conference room soon.
~~~
Maria’s team met up with their five guests in the conference room. There weren’t quite enough seats so Sean and Michael stood, both leaning against opposite walls. Maria also stood at the front of the room since she was the one conducting the meeting.
“Thanks, guys, for coming. Sorry we had to have another meeting so soon, but our guests have some choices to make. I wanted the rest of you here to help answer any questions they may have.” Maria looked around the table at Max, Isabel, Kyle, Liz, and finally Michael. Liz had red puffy eyes, she could only guess as to why. She made a mental note to have girl time with her later. “I need you to keep in mind that each individual needs to make the choice for him or her self. We can protect an individual just as well as the group together. So, that will be a decision along with whether or not you want to stay here at the base.” …‘with me’ she added silently. They looked surprised and she wondered why.
“Um, what do you mean? Where else would we go?” Kyle voiced the question for all of them.
She explained, “It’s very dangerous here. I received intelligence this morning that Khivar is now aware that the Allied Forces brought you in. He doesn’t know where you are and he’s never attacked my base, but it’s not out of the realm of possibilities. He has attacked the other two bases in previous years.”
Isabel hated the idea of being on the run again. “But, isn’t it more dangerous to be on the run. No place to hold our ground and fight back.”
“Moving around and staying your ground both have their advantages and disadvantages. That’s why we want you to have the choice,” Alex answered.
Michael thought back to their nice accommodations. That must be why they had been given such a nice little setup with all the special touches. Just a little incentive to stay he supposed.
“Take as much time as you need to think about it. Whatever you decide you will still be under the best protection we can provide,” Maria stated clearly. She couldn’t look at Michael. She was so scared of his decision.
“You said before that this organization supports democracy, so why do they want to protect us…the Royals?” Max asked bluntly.
Rath sneered at him, but Maria answered anyway. “The Royals are a controversial issue with the Council. Let me try to explain. It was a mistake in some ways to go to the summit in New York back in High School.” Max had only proved to them that he was just a young boy not a leader. He had barely known his Antarian name. “The representatives of the other planets weren’t too impressed, but at that time you still possessed the Granolith. They thought Khivar had it. Once you confirmed that it was on Earth, Larek sent a small group of Emissaries to help protect it and the Royals. They did their best to leak the information to the common people on Antar, and that was when the rebellion started.”
Maria turned to look Max straight in the eye. “However, before any real uprising could get going, Khivar had the Granolith back in his miserable little hands.” Due, of course, to the great King and his wise ways. “You would pretty much be insignificant at this point, but thanks to Khivar’s obsession with the execution of the Royals the people have not forgotten about you. With the backing of the Allied Forces we can get you back in the game. Yet, you will never have the same power you once had,” she boldly told him.
“Then you know that we remember our past lives?” Max asked.
She raised one eyebrow challengingly. “Of course.”
He nodded. “What do you propose?”
Maria turned to Ace indicating that he should answer. “Most of the Council would like to set up a type of democratic government with the Royal party as a figurehead. The Royals were well liked. Although you look nothing like you did back on Antar, all of you have the Royal seal so they should have no problem accepting you. We think that it would make the transition easier for the people.”
Maria took over the conversation once again. “Just something to think about. It’s another decision you will need to make if you decide to stay and fight with us. Are there any other questions?”
Kyle asked, “What did they look like back on Antar?” At Isabel’s withering look, he shrugged. “What? I was just curious.”
Ava lauged. “Don’t feel bad, I asked too. Actually full blooded Antarians are shape shifters. As hybrids we can’t fully shift, but we can do little things.”
At their incredulous looks, Maria further elaborated. “It’s the reason why Michael was able to change his fingerprints when he rescued Max from the White Room. It is also how Lonnie and Rath were able to morph into Isabel and Michael when they were in Roswell.”
“So we really look like the typical grey alien that Nacedo shifted into it right before he supposedly disintegrated?” Isabel looked pretty scared at that thought.
Ace took her hand in reassurance. Her physical beauty had always been such an asset to her. “No. Shapeshifters have core shapes that they are born with. Various races have different core shapes. He belonged to a race that do resemble what we think of as greys. Most of the other races on your planet and Saphon have a core shape that looks more like we do here on Earth.” He gave her his distinctive two-thumbs up and a big grin. “I have pictures I’ll show you later. You were just as stunning in your last life.”
She blushed and bowed her head a little. “Thanks.” He still knew how to make her feel better when she started to panic.
Michael noticed Kyle’s uneasiness and changed the subject. “Who are the skins? How come they can’t breathe in Earth’s atmosphere?” If Nacedo could, he wondered why Nicholas couldn’t.
Sam, who as a doctor knew the most about the physiology of other beings, answered. “The ones you call ‘Skins’ are a different species. They originate from the other three planets in the system. The atmospheres on all five planets are agreeable for both species, but only Antarians and Saphonians have the filtering capabilities to be able to survive on Earth without artificial assistance.”
“Why were we engineered as hybrids then, if we could have survived on Earth as full blooded Antarians?” Max asked. He looked over at Michael to see that he was also very interested in the answer.
“It was the best way at that time to stabilize your essences. I believe the goal was also to ensure that you would be safe if anything went wrong. Your human DNA gives your bodies structure such as bones and ligaments, and your blood looks like a very rare form of blood disorder here on Earth. If you were full blooded then you could easily be discovered by x-ray due to your lack of structure,” Sam replied.
Michael asked something he had wanted the answer to for what seemed like ever, “Why does everyone want the Granolith so badly? What does it do…besides go back in time?” He looked over at Maria, but she looked slightly annoyed that he had brought up that particular ability.
Maria hated being reminded of Max’s stupid Future self and his ego-centric ‘the world revolves around me’ mind-set. Once they had the Granolith back they needed to make sure it was never used for that purpose again. “The Granolith is among other things a nuclear-like device. However, along with the destructive powers it also has regenerative and fertility powers hence the religious worship of it. During your reign, the other planets in the system deferred to Antar because of the possession of the Granolith and the obvious wealth of the planet.”
Maria took a deep breath. “That’s a lot of information for you take in, and you still have some important decisions to think about. I think we’ll call it a day unless anyone else has any other questions.”
Michael was hesitant to ask, but it felt important. “What is that mark on your chest?”
Maria chuckled. “Hmm, and why were you looking at my chest, Spaceboy?” She replied in a light tone, but her team could tell she was trying to avoid answering him.
Liz was looking at Maria’s chest, but couldn’t figure out what Michael was talking about. “What mark?”
Maria groaned. Great, now they were all staring at her chest, even her team members who were familiar with the story. “It’s not a big deal. When Nacedo tried to kill me I guess he was going to burn or melt my heart.” She shook her head dismissing it all together. “Once I was healed, I was left with a slightly darker pigmentation of some of my skin and a small hole in my heart.”
“You have a hole in your heart?” Kyle asked astounded at that news.
“It’s called a septal defect. Basically there is a small opening in the wall that separates the right and left chambers of my heart. Whatever he did sealed the tissue so it couldn’t repair itself.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter. It hasn’t ever caused me any health problems. Besides, Sam makes sure I’m okay all the time.” She smiled faintly in Sam’s direction.
“How did you stop him?” Isabel asked.
Maria shrugged her shoulders again. It was all in the past where she wanted to keep it. “At first I didn’t know it was Nacedo. I knew he was a shapeshifter because I felt the same nothingness I had felt around Nacedo. Since this guy had been drugging us and keeping us locked up I assumed all shapeshifters were bad. He was a nice, young looking doctor so imagine my surprise when he shifted into Ed Harding. It all kind of clicked into place and I knew it was him. I also knew he was going to try to kill me otherwise he wouldn’t have given away the secret that he was still alive.”
“He thought I was drugged, but I had stopped taking the drugs after the first couple of weeks there. He placed his hand over my heart and I could feel myself being burned from the inside out.” Maria looked over at Alex with her brows furrowed. “Something must’ve gone wrong because suddenly he was struggling. Luckily, I had been keeping a large hypodermic needle filled with acid I found in the janitor’s closet under my pillow. I felt a burst of energy, I suppose adrenaline kicking in, and somehow I had the presence of mind to pull the syringe out and inject him with it while he was struggling. I was just hoping to get him off of me long enough so that I could get out of there, but it ended up killing him and he disintegrated.” She looked down at her feet. “I don’t know why. I guess it could’ve been because I slammed the needle in his eye.”
Maria shook her head as if trying to rid herself of the bad memories. “I thought I had died, but then I woke to Alex dragging me out of the hospital. Fortunately, Rashen found us and took us to some others that were able to heal me. They all seemed to think that I should’ve been dead. Guess I’m just lucky.” She grinned. She was alive and that was all that mattered.
Michael had closed his eyes during the telling of her story. He didn’t want to see the pain on her beautiful face. He felt sick just hearing what she went through. He opened his eyes to see her grinning, and something inside of him snapped. “Dammit, Maria! I left so you would be safe! So you could have a life without being in danger every two seconds. What did you not understand about the word SAFE?!” he shouted.
Everyone looked at him shock. Maria just stalked up to him, her green eyes darkened. “What I understood was you casting me off so it would be easier for you.” Okay, so maybe she wasn’t as over it as she thought.
He glared at her. Easier?! She thought it was easy leaving her? She was clearly insane. “No! I left you so that you could have a life, and what do you do… you go looking for trouble.”
Maria poked him in the chest, her other arm gesturing wildly. “I went looking for you. I made the choice because I wanted to be a part of your heart. It’s not like I didn’t think on it, but you took away my choice. I was so shocked that I just took it. Then I realized there was no way I was letting you take my family from me just because you wanted to cut me out of your life. It wasn’t my fault that I got sucked back into the alien abyss. Wrong time, wrong place or who knows maybe it was all fated to be that way.”
Michael pushed her hand away from his chest and growled. “You could have gone on with your life once you were healed. But, no, you just jump right back into danger. It wasn’t bad enough that you were permanently injured?! Now you’re the friggin’ leader to people who are fighting my war.” That was what his nightmares were all about - her getting hurt because of him.
Maria had put all of her passion for him into her work to maybe be someone that would matter to him and now… “I wanted to do something real with my life, to make a difference. It was my opportunity…I took it and I’ll never regret that,” Maria said through gritted teeth.
“Right,” he said sarcastically. “Especially since you could just replace me… with me.” Michael threw his arm out in Rath’s direction letting it fall to his side just as quickly. He tried not to think about all the time wasted that they could have been together.
“Are you sure you want to go there? Remember you’ve been under surveillance for the past eight years. You have no right!” Her eyes filled with unshed tears and with a soft voice she said, “You’re making me think that maybe I should have, but I never did…not in my heart. Here…” Maria grabbed his wrist and placed something in his hand before walking out of the room.
Michael looked down to see his two silver rings sitting in the palm of his hand. He clutched them in his fist. How could she think that he didn’t want her to be a part of his life? He covered his face with his hands. How could she not?! He felt his chest tighten unbearably. He couldn’t look at anyone. What had he done? He was going to retch; he had to get out of there.
TBC
Sense of Duty (CC/UC,M/M,ADULT) Ch 21 - 03/14/05 [WIP]
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Sense of Duty Ch. 11
Last edited by Ninlil on Fri Sep 24, 2004 9:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sense of Duty Ch. 12
Thanks for the feedback.
CHAPTER 12
A stunned silence fell over the room after Michael stormed out. Liz noticed the looks Maria’s team members were giving each other. Before she could decipher the message they were communicating to each other with their eyes, all of them were getting up and heading towards the door. Liz got up as well and quickly caught up with Sean before he walked out the door. “Sean, where are ya‘ll going?” she asked him quietly.
“M was pretty pissed off, so she’s probably already out on the obstacle course. We’re going to go join her,” Sean replied. When the Commander was angry she tended to push them harder than usual, but no one complained since they always got in their best training during those sessions. Sean looked at Liz more closely. She looked alarmed at being left in the room with the others which is why he told her, “You’re welcome to watch from the sidelines, if you want.”
Liz gratefully followed him out of the room not even sparing a glance back at Max. Right now, she truly did not want to look at him much less speak with him. She waited for Sean to change his clothes. He came out of the changing room wearing a long sleeved black shirt tucked into form-fitting camouflage pants along with black combat boots. Liz was impressed. Sean looked every bit the soldier he was. However, looking at the silly grin on his face she could see that he still had his old boyish charms and good looks. Liz found herself wondering why she never gave him a chance. As in answer to her own question Liz glanced down at her wedding ring.
They arrived outside just as the sun was setting. Sean showed Liz a place where she could sit and watch, then left to catch up with his team.
~~~
Maria walked out of the conference room as quickly as possible. She was beyond upset. She could also feel the shock and dismay rolling off the others in waves. Sometimes it really sucked being slightly empathic. Maria quickened her pace to distance herself from the turbulent emotions.
She changed into her training gear intent on running her obstacle course until she could no longer think straight. He was so damn infuriating! What was that dumb ass remark about her fighting his war? And he thought she replaced him. Didn’t he understand?! The whole point was that no matter how much sense it made to her mind to do so, her heart would never let that happen. The worse thing about the entire ordeal was how horrifically beautiful Michael had been in his rage. So unfair! The passionate confrontation had been so reminiscent of their past that she wasn’t sure whether to hit him or kiss him. Instead she chose to walk out the door…this time.
Maria was scaling a 20-foot tall cargo net when she noticed that her team had joined her. She was thankful for their support. They spent the next couple of hours sprinting through rope grids, scaling various walls, trudging through mud ditches, slinking under barbed wire, and pulling themselves across rope bridges. It wasn’t a full workout, but they worked it hard. Her mind had been delightfully numb. Maria walked over to where Liz was sitting. She knew Liz was anxious to speak with her. “Hey, chica. I need to get cleaned up.” She wiped her face that was caked with mud. “If you want, you can come back to my room with me and fix us some ice cream while I take a shower. Then we can relax for some girl talk.”
Liz nodded and followed Maria back to her room. She had been amazed watching them. They were quick and graceful while putting forth an extraordinary amount of effort, and they worked well together…truly a team. When they got to her room Maria showed Liz where to find the ice cream and toppings before walking into the bathroom to shower. “Make yourself comfortable,” she called out to Liz before shutting the door.
Liz turned on the television surprised to find it on a Russian speaking news channel. She flipped it to an international news station and watched for a few minutes. While glimpsing around the room she spotted some framed photographs on a bookshelf. She got up to take a look. There were pictures of her, Maria and Alex as young kids and as teenagers. Maria also had photos of what looked like her mom and the Sheriff’s wedding, and pictures of her and her team. Some people in the pictures she didn’t recognize, but there were a couple of the whole Roswell group. Sitting on a lower shelf she found a photo of Maria and Michael. Liz picked it up remembering when she took it. She had caught a rare glimpse of Michael looking at Maria longingly as she sat on his lap animatedly talking with Alex. “It’s one of my favorites, even if the bonehead is in it,” Maria said from behind her.
Liz turned around to find Maria holding out some nightclothes to her. Maria was already dressed in a tank top and a pair of girls’ boxers. Liz smiled. “Thanks. I made us sundaes. They’re in the freezer.” She grabbed the pajamas and went to the bathroom to change.
Maria handed her the ice cream when she came back out. “So, tell me what’s on your mind.”
Liz sighed. “So much, Maria…so much.” She sat down next to Maria on the sofa and took a big bite of ice cream. “I don’t know where to start.”
“Best place is the beginning.”
“Hot alien sex…”
It would have been an interesting topic except that Liz had said it so dejectedly. Maria just looked at her expectantly hoping that she would explain.
“I used to get flashes from Max all the time back before his past life memories came back to him a few years ago. He’s been able to block me ever since. I’m still not sure if that’s good or bad…” Sometimes she really missed the flashes. At least the ones where she felt as if she were flying through space, or the ones she would get at the beginning of their marriage where she could feel his love for her. She was babbling, back to the subject. “Occasionally, I got a flash of Max and Tess together.” Liz cast her eyes down as they started to fill with tears.
Maria looked at her sympathetically. “Together…as in together?” Liz nodded and Maria suddenly felt a wave of sympathy for the young woman in front of her.
“But that’s not the worst. I think the most awful flash I ever got from him was of him and Michael playing basketball.” She explained further at Maria’s look of confusion, “It was the day after and he was talking to Michael about doing it with Tess. He told Michael he had, and I quote, “hot alien sex”.” Tears cascaded down her face, and Maria grabbed her into a fierce hug.
Maria stroked her hair softly. “Sweetie, I’m so sorry. I wish you never had to go through all that stuff with Max and Tess.”
Liz sobbed on Maria’s shoulder, thankful that she had someone to talk to. She never felt like she could open up to Isabel, and she didn’t think Isabel would want to hear anything sex related about her brother. “I…I guess I always had in the back of my head the thought that Tess had mindwarped him into doing it with her. But she wasn’t anywhere around him when he was telling Michael how hot it was with his hour long climax,” she spit out bitterly. Pulling back she looked at Maria with her brows furrowed. “And, I’ve thought about this a lot. Not once do I remember seeing him tap his fingers incessantly like Kyle, Alex and your mom did when they were mindwarped. So, logically I have to conclude that he slept with her of his own volition and…and… he liked it.”
“Have you and Max ever talked about it?” The Tess situation had been a long time ago, but the bitter way Liz spoke about it made it seem as if it were still an unresolved issue in their lives.
Liz shook her head, tears still streaming down her face. “No. I wanted to just forget about all of that stuff. I really thought everything was okay until a few years ago.”
Maria knew exactly what Liz was thinking about from the reports she had to look through every day. Back then she had a hard time believing that Max would do that to his wife. Although when she thought about it later she wasn’t all that surprised given his history with Tess. Maria didn’t realize that Liz was aware of his philandering. She had been planning on having a nice chat with Max to ensure that he came clean with his wife. Maybe Liz just needed to talk it through now. “What happened a few years ago?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s when he started sleeping with…with…other…” Liz was sobbing so hard by this point that she couldn’t continue. She buried her face in Maria’s shoulder and just cried.
“Oh, sweetie. Sshhh, it’ll be okay…it’ll be okay,” Maria whispered to her. She stroked her hair and her back trying to get her to calm down some. More than anything she wished that her friend didn’t have to go through this kind of turmoil, it broke her heart to see Liz so devastated.
Liz calmed down a bit and continued, “I’m not positive, but now when I look back at that time…” She hated how naïve she had been this whole time. He must of thought she was really stupid. “Um, Maria…you told Mi…you said earlier in the conference room that we had been under surveillance for the past eight years, right?”
Maria knew where she was going with this. It really wasn’t her place to tell Liz about Max’s activities, but she needed to make sure they spoke with each other. “Yes, and I know what you are going to ask, but I think it would be best if you spoke with Max first. If he won’t answer your questions, then I will. I just think it should come from him, you know?”
“It doesn’t matter. I already know.” Liz wiped her tears away. “I heard him propositioning Ava earlier.”
That bastard! It sounded like he needed a good ass-kicking. Maria made a mental note to check up on Ava after she was finished talking with Liz. Luckily, Ava had Ace now. He would take care of her. “Oh God, Liz. I’m so sorry! That must have been awful.” Maria would kill Michael if she ever found him even talking to a Courtney clone, and they weren’t even together much less married.
Liz shook her head. “It just made me realize how stupid I’ve been.”
“Liz, you are anything but stupid. He’s the jerk!”
“No, I am stupid. Look at you. You did what I should’ve done long ago, you made your own life. You have an education, you’re a professional now, you’re in charge of this place, and you’re this great person…not that you weren’t before, but…I’m just so jealous.” Liz looked away staring hard at the floor in front of her. Liz didn’t want to be envious, but she had been stuck in a life that had gone nowhere for the past ten years. She had given up everything to run away with the love of her life. She thought she was special. “God, I hate admitting this, but I used to have these secret fantasies of being his Queen.”
“Every girl fantasizes about being princesses or Queens when they’re young. Who could blame you if yours were a little more attainable?” she laughed. “And, Liz trust me my life hasn’t been a walk in the park. I had to work really hard to get to where I am today. Besides, if truth be told it isn’t the kind of life to be jealous of,” Maria said sympathetically.
Maria continued with an excited gleam in her clear green eyes, “Now I want you to really think about what I said earlier. I want you to make a decision on whether to stay or go for yourself, and not because of anyone else…including Max. Think of this as a new door opening for you. If you want, we can get you into school.” They would have to change her documents. She wouldn’t be able to go to school in the States since the CIA still had her picture on file, but it could be a start. “Or, you could stay here and train with the medical staff. We also have several different laboratories,” Maria told her excitedly. They had a microbiology lab, chemistry lab, genetics lab, engineering lab; she would make sure that Liz got the training to do whatever she wanted. “Just remember, it is your decision,” she told Liz seriously.
“Thanks, Maria.” Liz gave her a big hug, holding on tight for several minutes. “That would be great. I’ll think about what I want to do. I guess I need to talk to Max first.” She frowned. She didn’t want to think about him anymore. At least there were now other things to think about with the options Maria gave her. Maybe she could get her life back on track. Liz decided to lighten the mood. “So, I never thought I’d see the day you and Sean would work together. How did that happen?”
Maria burst out laughing. “You and me both, chica. Unfortunately, his criminal tendencies have come in very useful.” They talked and laughed while Maria explained how the others had become a part of her team.
After laughing themselves silly over the antics of Sean and Rath, Liz got serious again. “Maria, um…I should’ve asked earlier, but so much…” She shook her head. “I mean I just wanted to know if you had any information about my parents.”
Maria walked over to her desk in the corner of the living room. She grabbed two files and handed them over to Liz.
“What are these?”
“Everything I have on your parents. I’ve kept tabs on everyone’s families. Your parents are the last ones still in Roswell. My mom and Kyle’s dad moved away after they got married. They moved to a small town on the coast of Italy, and I was able to bring them here. Mom and Dad kept their house in Italy, but they only use it as a vacation spot now. The Evans’ moved their practice to California. Ace set up a tech job for his dad in Australia, and now they keep in regular contact. Mr. Whitman divides his time between London and Brisbane.”
Liz looked in the folder to see pictures of her mom and dad. Her eyes were watery, but she had a big smile on her face. Rifling through the folder she came across what looked like one of those little survey cards you find in grocery stores or restaurants only it had strange questions and answers. “Maria, what’s this?”
“Ah, well Laurie Dupree and I went in on some legitimate business ventures together. So, you know, when they no longer need me here I have something to fall back on. One of those businesses is a restaurant supplier.” She took a couple more cards out of the folder to show Liz. “See, this is the way I keep in touch with your parents to let them know you are okay. You would love it Liz, I send the cards in cases of Tabasco sauce. Fitting, huh?”
Liz laughed. She was happy to know that her parents weren’t completely in the dark about her life. “I miss them so much. I never realized how much I would regret never seeing them again.”
Maria could feel Liz’s pain. “Okay, I’ve got this crazy scheme that just might work. There’s no way you can go back to Roswell, so we need to have them come to you. Only they can’t just take off for no reason. So, what if they won a vacation get-away in a contest from their supplier?”
Liz’s eyes had gotten bigger and bigger as she went on. It was definitely crazy, but good.
“We’ll take care of the security measures, and figure out a way for you to meet up with them. It will be the biggest surprise ever!”
“Maria, I think seeing you as a CIA agent was the biggest surprise ever. No, wait it must have been when we found out you were Commander of a base. No, no…I know, it had to have been when Alex walked into the room…alive.”
She nodded her head. “Yeah, I imagine you’ve been in a bit of a shock lately.”
They laughed hysterically, rolling around on the floor like the young girls they once were. Getting her breath under control Liz pulled Maria into her embrace and said, “Thank you”. The rest of the night passed with tons more girl-talk. They had a lot of catching up to do. Finally they both fell asleep on the sofa, only to wake a couple of hours later to the comm.
“Commander?”
Maria got up to answer. “Go ahead.”
“Commander, Lily and Quinn are having their baby.”
“Thanks, tell Sam I’ll be right there.” She woke Liz up to tell her she had to leave, and that she was welcome to stay in her apartment. She tucked a sleepy Liz into her bed before dressing and rushing out the door.
Maria entered the room just as they were setting Lily’s baby on her chest. From the doorway she said, “My god, she is beautiful.”
Quinn turned to her with the biggest grin on his face. “Just like her namesake. Commander, we would like you to meet Maria Elena.”
She walked forward with tears in her eyes. “Quinn…” The honor was too much. Lily placed the baby in her arms. She was so tiny.
Sam came up beside her. “So, what do you think?”
“She is truly an angel, one of a kind,” Maria said softly handing the precious baby back to her parents.
Sam and Maria left the room to give the new parents some time alone. “It’s amazing. I’m so happy with another addition to our family.”
Sam pulled Maria over to the coffee maker. “I’ve got even more good news. Let’s just say, how do you think your mom is going to take becoming a real grandmother?”
“No! Kyle? Kyle and Isabel?” she asked in astonishment.
Sam answered, “Yep. Well, I have to do the formal tests, but yesterday at the meeting I could see a small fetus.”
Sam was like a walking internal scanning machine, so she had no doubt he was right. “Come on, we need to go tell them.”
He laughed, “Commander, it’s like four in the morning.”
“And?!” Maria demanded. At his look she huffed, “Fine. I suppose I can wait a couple more hours.”
TBC
CHAPTER 12
A stunned silence fell over the room after Michael stormed out. Liz noticed the looks Maria’s team members were giving each other. Before she could decipher the message they were communicating to each other with their eyes, all of them were getting up and heading towards the door. Liz got up as well and quickly caught up with Sean before he walked out the door. “Sean, where are ya‘ll going?” she asked him quietly.
“M was pretty pissed off, so she’s probably already out on the obstacle course. We’re going to go join her,” Sean replied. When the Commander was angry she tended to push them harder than usual, but no one complained since they always got in their best training during those sessions. Sean looked at Liz more closely. She looked alarmed at being left in the room with the others which is why he told her, “You’re welcome to watch from the sidelines, if you want.”
Liz gratefully followed him out of the room not even sparing a glance back at Max. Right now, she truly did not want to look at him much less speak with him. She waited for Sean to change his clothes. He came out of the changing room wearing a long sleeved black shirt tucked into form-fitting camouflage pants along with black combat boots. Liz was impressed. Sean looked every bit the soldier he was. However, looking at the silly grin on his face she could see that he still had his old boyish charms and good looks. Liz found herself wondering why she never gave him a chance. As in answer to her own question Liz glanced down at her wedding ring.
They arrived outside just as the sun was setting. Sean showed Liz a place where she could sit and watch, then left to catch up with his team.
~~~
Maria walked out of the conference room as quickly as possible. She was beyond upset. She could also feel the shock and dismay rolling off the others in waves. Sometimes it really sucked being slightly empathic. Maria quickened her pace to distance herself from the turbulent emotions.
She changed into her training gear intent on running her obstacle course until she could no longer think straight. He was so damn infuriating! What was that dumb ass remark about her fighting his war? And he thought she replaced him. Didn’t he understand?! The whole point was that no matter how much sense it made to her mind to do so, her heart would never let that happen. The worse thing about the entire ordeal was how horrifically beautiful Michael had been in his rage. So unfair! The passionate confrontation had been so reminiscent of their past that she wasn’t sure whether to hit him or kiss him. Instead she chose to walk out the door…this time.
Maria was scaling a 20-foot tall cargo net when she noticed that her team had joined her. She was thankful for their support. They spent the next couple of hours sprinting through rope grids, scaling various walls, trudging through mud ditches, slinking under barbed wire, and pulling themselves across rope bridges. It wasn’t a full workout, but they worked it hard. Her mind had been delightfully numb. Maria walked over to where Liz was sitting. She knew Liz was anxious to speak with her. “Hey, chica. I need to get cleaned up.” She wiped her face that was caked with mud. “If you want, you can come back to my room with me and fix us some ice cream while I take a shower. Then we can relax for some girl talk.”
Liz nodded and followed Maria back to her room. She had been amazed watching them. They were quick and graceful while putting forth an extraordinary amount of effort, and they worked well together…truly a team. When they got to her room Maria showed Liz where to find the ice cream and toppings before walking into the bathroom to shower. “Make yourself comfortable,” she called out to Liz before shutting the door.
Liz turned on the television surprised to find it on a Russian speaking news channel. She flipped it to an international news station and watched for a few minutes. While glimpsing around the room she spotted some framed photographs on a bookshelf. She got up to take a look. There were pictures of her, Maria and Alex as young kids and as teenagers. Maria also had photos of what looked like her mom and the Sheriff’s wedding, and pictures of her and her team. Some people in the pictures she didn’t recognize, but there were a couple of the whole Roswell group. Sitting on a lower shelf she found a photo of Maria and Michael. Liz picked it up remembering when she took it. She had caught a rare glimpse of Michael looking at Maria longingly as she sat on his lap animatedly talking with Alex. “It’s one of my favorites, even if the bonehead is in it,” Maria said from behind her.
Liz turned around to find Maria holding out some nightclothes to her. Maria was already dressed in a tank top and a pair of girls’ boxers. Liz smiled. “Thanks. I made us sundaes. They’re in the freezer.” She grabbed the pajamas and went to the bathroom to change.
Maria handed her the ice cream when she came back out. “So, tell me what’s on your mind.”
Liz sighed. “So much, Maria…so much.” She sat down next to Maria on the sofa and took a big bite of ice cream. “I don’t know where to start.”
“Best place is the beginning.”
“Hot alien sex…”
It would have been an interesting topic except that Liz had said it so dejectedly. Maria just looked at her expectantly hoping that she would explain.
“I used to get flashes from Max all the time back before his past life memories came back to him a few years ago. He’s been able to block me ever since. I’m still not sure if that’s good or bad…” Sometimes she really missed the flashes. At least the ones where she felt as if she were flying through space, or the ones she would get at the beginning of their marriage where she could feel his love for her. She was babbling, back to the subject. “Occasionally, I got a flash of Max and Tess together.” Liz cast her eyes down as they started to fill with tears.
Maria looked at her sympathetically. “Together…as in together?” Liz nodded and Maria suddenly felt a wave of sympathy for the young woman in front of her.
“But that’s not the worst. I think the most awful flash I ever got from him was of him and Michael playing basketball.” She explained further at Maria’s look of confusion, “It was the day after and he was talking to Michael about doing it with Tess. He told Michael he had, and I quote, “hot alien sex”.” Tears cascaded down her face, and Maria grabbed her into a fierce hug.
Maria stroked her hair softly. “Sweetie, I’m so sorry. I wish you never had to go through all that stuff with Max and Tess.”
Liz sobbed on Maria’s shoulder, thankful that she had someone to talk to. She never felt like she could open up to Isabel, and she didn’t think Isabel would want to hear anything sex related about her brother. “I…I guess I always had in the back of my head the thought that Tess had mindwarped him into doing it with her. But she wasn’t anywhere around him when he was telling Michael how hot it was with his hour long climax,” she spit out bitterly. Pulling back she looked at Maria with her brows furrowed. “And, I’ve thought about this a lot. Not once do I remember seeing him tap his fingers incessantly like Kyle, Alex and your mom did when they were mindwarped. So, logically I have to conclude that he slept with her of his own volition and…and… he liked it.”
“Have you and Max ever talked about it?” The Tess situation had been a long time ago, but the bitter way Liz spoke about it made it seem as if it were still an unresolved issue in their lives.
Liz shook her head, tears still streaming down her face. “No. I wanted to just forget about all of that stuff. I really thought everything was okay until a few years ago.”
Maria knew exactly what Liz was thinking about from the reports she had to look through every day. Back then she had a hard time believing that Max would do that to his wife. Although when she thought about it later she wasn’t all that surprised given his history with Tess. Maria didn’t realize that Liz was aware of his philandering. She had been planning on having a nice chat with Max to ensure that he came clean with his wife. Maybe Liz just needed to talk it through now. “What happened a few years ago?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s when he started sleeping with…with…other…” Liz was sobbing so hard by this point that she couldn’t continue. She buried her face in Maria’s shoulder and just cried.
“Oh, sweetie. Sshhh, it’ll be okay…it’ll be okay,” Maria whispered to her. She stroked her hair and her back trying to get her to calm down some. More than anything she wished that her friend didn’t have to go through this kind of turmoil, it broke her heart to see Liz so devastated.
Liz calmed down a bit and continued, “I’m not positive, but now when I look back at that time…” She hated how naïve she had been this whole time. He must of thought she was really stupid. “Um, Maria…you told Mi…you said earlier in the conference room that we had been under surveillance for the past eight years, right?”
Maria knew where she was going with this. It really wasn’t her place to tell Liz about Max’s activities, but she needed to make sure they spoke with each other. “Yes, and I know what you are going to ask, but I think it would be best if you spoke with Max first. If he won’t answer your questions, then I will. I just think it should come from him, you know?”
“It doesn’t matter. I already know.” Liz wiped her tears away. “I heard him propositioning Ava earlier.”
That bastard! It sounded like he needed a good ass-kicking. Maria made a mental note to check up on Ava after she was finished talking with Liz. Luckily, Ava had Ace now. He would take care of her. “Oh God, Liz. I’m so sorry! That must have been awful.” Maria would kill Michael if she ever found him even talking to a Courtney clone, and they weren’t even together much less married.
Liz shook her head. “It just made me realize how stupid I’ve been.”
“Liz, you are anything but stupid. He’s the jerk!”
“No, I am stupid. Look at you. You did what I should’ve done long ago, you made your own life. You have an education, you’re a professional now, you’re in charge of this place, and you’re this great person…not that you weren’t before, but…I’m just so jealous.” Liz looked away staring hard at the floor in front of her. Liz didn’t want to be envious, but she had been stuck in a life that had gone nowhere for the past ten years. She had given up everything to run away with the love of her life. She thought she was special. “God, I hate admitting this, but I used to have these secret fantasies of being his Queen.”
“Every girl fantasizes about being princesses or Queens when they’re young. Who could blame you if yours were a little more attainable?” she laughed. “And, Liz trust me my life hasn’t been a walk in the park. I had to work really hard to get to where I am today. Besides, if truth be told it isn’t the kind of life to be jealous of,” Maria said sympathetically.
Maria continued with an excited gleam in her clear green eyes, “Now I want you to really think about what I said earlier. I want you to make a decision on whether to stay or go for yourself, and not because of anyone else…including Max. Think of this as a new door opening for you. If you want, we can get you into school.” They would have to change her documents. She wouldn’t be able to go to school in the States since the CIA still had her picture on file, but it could be a start. “Or, you could stay here and train with the medical staff. We also have several different laboratories,” Maria told her excitedly. They had a microbiology lab, chemistry lab, genetics lab, engineering lab; she would make sure that Liz got the training to do whatever she wanted. “Just remember, it is your decision,” she told Liz seriously.
“Thanks, Maria.” Liz gave her a big hug, holding on tight for several minutes. “That would be great. I’ll think about what I want to do. I guess I need to talk to Max first.” She frowned. She didn’t want to think about him anymore. At least there were now other things to think about with the options Maria gave her. Maybe she could get her life back on track. Liz decided to lighten the mood. “So, I never thought I’d see the day you and Sean would work together. How did that happen?”
Maria burst out laughing. “You and me both, chica. Unfortunately, his criminal tendencies have come in very useful.” They talked and laughed while Maria explained how the others had become a part of her team.
After laughing themselves silly over the antics of Sean and Rath, Liz got serious again. “Maria, um…I should’ve asked earlier, but so much…” She shook her head. “I mean I just wanted to know if you had any information about my parents.”
Maria walked over to her desk in the corner of the living room. She grabbed two files and handed them over to Liz.
“What are these?”
“Everything I have on your parents. I’ve kept tabs on everyone’s families. Your parents are the last ones still in Roswell. My mom and Kyle’s dad moved away after they got married. They moved to a small town on the coast of Italy, and I was able to bring them here. Mom and Dad kept their house in Italy, but they only use it as a vacation spot now. The Evans’ moved their practice to California. Ace set up a tech job for his dad in Australia, and now they keep in regular contact. Mr. Whitman divides his time between London and Brisbane.”
Liz looked in the folder to see pictures of her mom and dad. Her eyes were watery, but she had a big smile on her face. Rifling through the folder she came across what looked like one of those little survey cards you find in grocery stores or restaurants only it had strange questions and answers. “Maria, what’s this?”
“Ah, well Laurie Dupree and I went in on some legitimate business ventures together. So, you know, when they no longer need me here I have something to fall back on. One of those businesses is a restaurant supplier.” She took a couple more cards out of the folder to show Liz. “See, this is the way I keep in touch with your parents to let them know you are okay. You would love it Liz, I send the cards in cases of Tabasco sauce. Fitting, huh?”
Liz laughed. She was happy to know that her parents weren’t completely in the dark about her life. “I miss them so much. I never realized how much I would regret never seeing them again.”
Maria could feel Liz’s pain. “Okay, I’ve got this crazy scheme that just might work. There’s no way you can go back to Roswell, so we need to have them come to you. Only they can’t just take off for no reason. So, what if they won a vacation get-away in a contest from their supplier?”
Liz’s eyes had gotten bigger and bigger as she went on. It was definitely crazy, but good.
“We’ll take care of the security measures, and figure out a way for you to meet up with them. It will be the biggest surprise ever!”
“Maria, I think seeing you as a CIA agent was the biggest surprise ever. No, wait it must have been when we found out you were Commander of a base. No, no…I know, it had to have been when Alex walked into the room…alive.”
She nodded her head. “Yeah, I imagine you’ve been in a bit of a shock lately.”
They laughed hysterically, rolling around on the floor like the young girls they once were. Getting her breath under control Liz pulled Maria into her embrace and said, “Thank you”. The rest of the night passed with tons more girl-talk. They had a lot of catching up to do. Finally they both fell asleep on the sofa, only to wake a couple of hours later to the comm.
“Commander?”
Maria got up to answer. “Go ahead.”
“Commander, Lily and Quinn are having their baby.”
“Thanks, tell Sam I’ll be right there.” She woke Liz up to tell her she had to leave, and that she was welcome to stay in her apartment. She tucked a sleepy Liz into her bed before dressing and rushing out the door.
Maria entered the room just as they were setting Lily’s baby on her chest. From the doorway she said, “My god, she is beautiful.”
Quinn turned to her with the biggest grin on his face. “Just like her namesake. Commander, we would like you to meet Maria Elena.”
She walked forward with tears in her eyes. “Quinn…” The honor was too much. Lily placed the baby in her arms. She was so tiny.
Sam came up beside her. “So, what do you think?”
“She is truly an angel, one of a kind,” Maria said softly handing the precious baby back to her parents.
Sam and Maria left the room to give the new parents some time alone. “It’s amazing. I’m so happy with another addition to our family.”
Sam pulled Maria over to the coffee maker. “I’ve got even more good news. Let’s just say, how do you think your mom is going to take becoming a real grandmother?”
“No! Kyle? Kyle and Isabel?” she asked in astonishment.
Sam answered, “Yep. Well, I have to do the formal tests, but yesterday at the meeting I could see a small fetus.”
Sam was like a walking internal scanning machine, so she had no doubt he was right. “Come on, we need to go tell them.”
He laughed, “Commander, it’s like four in the morning.”
“And?!” Maria demanded. At his look she huffed, “Fine. I suppose I can wait a couple more hours.”
TBC
Last edited by Ninlil on Fri Sep 24, 2004 9:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Chapter 13
Thanks everyone for the feedback, and to everyone who is reading this.
-Kara
CHAPTER 13
It was early morning and sleep was still eluding Michael. Last night after the meeting, he had gone back to his room unbelievably angry at her and himself. He paced the room trying to figure out what his problem was. He was to the boiling point when he decided to go outside to blow off some steam. Unfortunately, he couldn’t seem to get away from her.
Michael stood there on the fringes of the clearing watching her run the obstacle course. Why did she have to be so damn beautiful? He felt a curious mixture of emotions: love and apprehension, pride and worry, admiration and lust. He stomped back to his room all the more angry at himself for the tightening in his jeans.
He had tried to numb his brain by playing virtual hockey all night. It had worked to a point, but now he was in bed exhausted and his thoughts were back to going a hundred miles per hour again. And to top it all off, as if his fight with her wasn’t enough, he had to make the decision on whether to stay or leave.
Part of him really wanted to stay, just to be around her. The other part of him felt like he had too much pride to stay. If she was going to do his job for him, what did she need him for? He was also angry that she had his answers all this time. Michael had discovered over the years that the only thing he wanted more than his answers was to be with her. Now it all just seemed like wasted time. The thought of wasted time clicked something inside of his head, and he realized what an idiot he was being. He needed to find her. Halfway out the door, he decided that it would be better to shower and brush his teeth first.
~~~
Maria already couldn’t wait for her niece or nephew to be born; she would be the best Aunt. She was also more determined than ever to get back the Granolith to ensure that it was safe for her brother and sister-in-law to bring the new little life they’d created into this world.
Maria was a bit put out that Sam had made her wait so long, but they were finally sitting down to breakfast with Kyle and Isabel.
They were just finishing up a delicious breakfast, but Kyle couldn’t take it any longer. He was also curious as to why it was only Maria and the doctor that were having breakfast with them. He wondered if they were a couple or something. He would have to find out for Michael’s sake. “Okay, Ria, what is going on? You are practically bouncing in your seat. Are we waiting for the others to get here?”
Maria tried to settle herself down. “No, we’re all here. I have some great news to tell you, but I think it would be best if Sam explained a little about his abilities first.” She took a big gulp of orange juice while Sam explained, anxiously waiting for her turn to tell them the good news.
His father was from Saphon, but his mother was a refugee from another star system. This meant Sam’s abilities were unique, so sometimes it was hard to describe what was natural to him. He struggled to explain it simply, “The reason I went into the medical field is because I can sense when something has changed within a person. That change also triggers my sight to scan a person internally.”
Maria eagerly picked up the conversation, “Yesterday at the meeting, Sam, sensed something different about Isabel.”
“There’s nothing wrong with Iz, is there?” Kyle was starting to get worried, but Maria had said it was good news.
With a big smile Maria answered, “No, no. When Sam scanned her he discovered that she’s pregnant.”
It took a minute to sink in, then the biggest grin broke out on Kyle’s face. He was ecstatic. “A baby, really?! I'm gonna be a daddy?” He turned to his wife. “Iz, isn’t that gr…” He stopped when he realized that she wasn’t smiling. “Izzy, what is it?”
Isabel felt like she couldn’t breathe. It couldn’t be true. It was too soon to have a baby. She looked in her husband’s piercing blue eyes. Shaking her head, she whispered, “nothing”. Yet, tears were welling up in her eyes belying her statement.
“Isabel, what’s wrong?” He tried to put his arms around her, but she shrugged him off.
Her face went blank, and with a scathing voice she told him, “I said nothing is wrong.” She ached seeing the hurt flash across his face, but her fears were too overwhelming. “I just…I need some air.” Isabel turned on her heels, rushing out of the room.
Kyle started to go after her, but was stopped by Maria. “Kyle, hold on. Let her calm down for a minute.” Maria had felt Isabel’s panic, and knew she just needed a minute to digest the information she had been given. Poor Kyle! “Come on, let’s sit down for a minute. I want Sam to give you some facts about the pregnancy. That should help when you talk with Izzy.” She had a feeling that part of Isabel’s panic was because the only other pregnant hybrid she had known was Tess, and Tess didn’t exactly leave the impression of a normal pregnancy. Maria really wished that the ‘Big Faker’ had been stopped before she had created such mayhem in their lives. The other part had to be Isabel’s slightly neurotic tendencies to plan everything. Isabel was a lot like her brother in that regard, always needing control in their lives. She was guessing that Isabel hadn’t planned on motherhood at this point in her life, but some of the best things in life were unplanned. Maria was sure Isabel would make a fantastic mother.
~~~
Ace was walking Ava to her training class when they saw Isabel stumbling down the hall. Ace turned to Ava, his eyes pleading with her. He hated to leave in the middle of the conversation they were having about their relationship, but Isabel looked like she really needed someone.
Ava gently squeezed his hand before letting go. “It’s fine. Go make sure she’s okay.”
“I promise we’ll talk later, okay? You’re not going on the GCHQ mission today, are you?”
“Nope, I think the only ones going with the Commander are Rath, Talia and Sam.” Ava pinched his butt and said, “So, I’ll see you later hot stuff.” She smirked and turned to continue towards her classroom.
His girl really knew how to put a smile on his face. He called out to her in a sickeningly sweet voice, “Later, Sugar Plum.” She didn’t bother to turn around, but he could hear her giggle in response.
Ace caught up with Isabel, putting an arm around her shoulders in support. “We don’t allow Princesses to be distraught around here. So tell me, what can I do to make it all better?” He pulled her towards the exit where they sat on the outside stairs.
“Oh, Alex. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” She wiped at her tears almost violently. “I’m pregnant…” She let the words hang in the air, trying to get used to them. Isabel leaned her head on Alex’s shoulder. “Alex, I’m pregnant. What if the baby can’t survive here on Earth. I just found you again, everyone’s here, I don’t want to have to leave.”
“Ah, I see. From what I’ve been told about the situation with Tess after I was out of the picture, I can see why you might have that misconception. You really need to talk to Sam or you could even talk to Quinn and Lily who just had a perfectly healthy baby girl.”
Isabel looked at him questioningly. How was some couple having a baby suppose to help her? She was hybrid, it would be completely different. Oh god, she just knew she was going to be popping out a baby in a month on another planet.
At her look Ace explained, “Quinn’s mom is Antarian, but his father was from Earth.”
“What? I thought we were the first hybrids?”
He nodded. “You were. You were the first to be genetically engineered with DNA from donors that were born on Earth. People from your galaxy, and others, have been taking people from Earth or “abducting” them for a long time. During your reign it was pretty taboo for people of different galaxies to mix, but I guess you can’t stop love.”
“Is Lily Antarian too?”
“Nope, she was born in Italy. Same old story – they met in a bar, she found out he was an alien, they fell in love anyways, they got hitched, and now they have a kid that has a very interesting lineage.” He turned and gave her a hug. “Talk to Sam. There is no need for you to leave Earth, and you will probably be surprised by how similar the pregnancy will be to what you are used to seeing here on Earth.” He always thought that motherhood would suit Isabel, but that poor kid was going to have every hour of their entire lives planned out. Ace started chuckling.
“What is so funny?” She tried to be stern, but it never seemed to work with him.
“I guess the news was a little surprising, huh?”
She joined him in laughter until she thought about what she had done. “Oh, no.” She grabbed Alex’s arm. “Alex, I just took off. What is Kyle going to think? He’s going to kill me.”
“Don’t worry. Maria will take good care of him, and I’m pretty sure he isn’t going to kill his wife and mother of his child. Kyle’s a really good guy.”
“Yeah, he is…especially for putting up with me.” She closed her eyes, suddenly exhausted from her emotional uproar. She felt so much better now. “Thanks, Alex. You always knew how to make me feel better.”
Alex was taken aback. “I did?”
“You did. I’m sorry I wasn’t a better friend to you. I want you to know that I was seriously falling for you around the time of our Prom.” Isabel felt a blush creeping up her neck, but she really wanted him to know how much he meant to her. “I can’t believe you are really here. God, your death was such a defining moment in my life.” Everything had gone downhill after Alex was no longer in her life, the Tess catastrophe, her silly rebound romance to Jesse, having to leave Roswell. Then there was Kyle. They had been best friends for a long time before starting anything romantic, and they had stayed a couple for a long time before they decided to get married. Kyle was her best friend, partner, and lover.
Alex looked out at the gathering storm on the horizon. “It was a defining moment in my life as well.” Part of him wanted to apologize for being dead, but it wasn’t like that was what he would’ve chosen for himself. He had been perfectly happy in his blossoming relationship with the Goddess he had crushed on for years. He shook his head. That was a long time ago, their lives were different now. “Actually, I think the real defining moment in my life had to be leaving that loony bin in Seattle. I remember wanting to stay in the hospital and make the doctors save Maria, but she was so bad off with her chest practically melted and glowing. I was afraid that they wouldn’t save her, and would just hand her over to the FBI.”
He looked so sad looking out at the sky. It sounded like a nightmare. “What did you do?” she asked gently.
“I covered her up, and snuck out of there. We were just lucky that the Allied Forces were keeping tabs on Nacedo. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I had lost her. She was kind of my last hope, my last thread to reality.” Between Tess and Lonnie his brains had been truly scrambled, any longer and he probably would have really been dead.
Isabel wanted to lighten the mood, so she asked “How did you get the name Ace?”
He chuckled. “Maria, of course. She says it’s a shortening of my first and middle name, Alexander Charles. She also says it has to do with being an Ace on the computer, with her who knows how she came up with it. She has strange logic, so I try not to question it.”
“Do you like it here? You and Maria must be very close.”
“In the beginning, I just didn’t want to be alone. Maria was my family, and I was sticking with her no matter where she went. She was really determined to help, so we stayed with the organization. Now there are so many others that I consider part of my family.” He had been extremely fortunate to find his place in the world, and to find the love he had with Ava.
Feeling unsure of where they stood, Isabel asked, “Does that include me as well?”
Alex placed a light kiss on the top of her head. “Absolutely, my lady! Imagine that, a real Princess in the family,” he said jokingly. They sat there watching the approaching storm. At the first raindrop, Alex turned to her and said, “Come on, let’s go inside. We can’t have the pregnant lady getting sick.”
“Oh my god! Alex, I’m going to have a baby.” There was so much to do. She yanked Alex up off the stairs, hurrying them inside. She needed to take care of herself better. Oh, and she needed to go talk to her husband. Then they could plan on how to make the spare room into a nursery.
~~~
Max was on his way to his room when he saw Maria heading towards him in the hallway. She didn’t look that happy to see him. He steeled himself for the lecture that he had known was coming, but was caught completely off guard when his ass hit the floor from a powerful right hook. “Dammit, Maria. What the hell?”
Maria glanced towards the end of the hallway to find the guard stationed there trying to stifle his snickering. Great, surely hitting the deposed King of Antar would be fodder for the rumor mill. Oh, well. She held out her hand to help Max up off the floor.
He took her hand and picked himself up off the floor. “Maria?” She didn’t answer, only dragged him into an adjacent room. The room looked like a high school classroom with small writing areas attached to the chairs. Maria sat on top of one of the desks and gestured for Max to do the same.
“Look Max, as Commander of this base, if you want to be unfaithful to your wife it really isn’t any of my business. But understand this, my base will not be a playground for you and your dick…especially while you are still married.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Max, please don’t play stupid. Despite the fact that the CIA agent you were sleeping with when you were picked up is also a member of one of my special ops teams, I also know about the woman in Colorado. Those indiscretions are between you and Liz. What bothers me is when I hear that you are propositioning women while on my base. Everyone has a job to do here, and I really can’t be dealing with the emotional upheaval that would surely come with your sordid affairs.”
Damn, Ava must have told her about their talk yesterday. “Ava? I wasn’t really propositioning her. She must have misunderstood…”
Max had always seemed self-serving, but this was somehow worse. “I have yet to speak with Ava. Although, Ava is in a serious relationship and I suspect that she isn’t too happy about her encounter with you. No, I heard about it from your wife. It seems she overheard your conversation with Ava. Liz is also fairly confident that you have been have committed adultery in the past. She asked me to confirm it, but I suggested she speak with you first.”
“Oh, god…she knows?” Max could feel a panic starting to seize him.
Maria sighed. “Max, as your friend, what is going on? I’ve known about your transgressions from surveillance reports, but I never could understand what was going through your head.”
Max took a moment to study her expression carefully. Maria looked as if she genuinely cared. There hadn’t been anyone that he felt he could really talk to in so long. At one time, he would have gone to Michael, but ever since they left Roswell their relationship had deteriorated. No, if he were honest with himself, he would have to say that their friendship had been on the brink even before that. Michael was still as loyal as ever, only now it was out of duty not brotherhood. Max kept his eyes on the floor. “Maria, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I love Liz. I never would have even entertained the idea of another woman, but then I met Jenny while we were in Colorado. We became friends, and my relationship with her was just so different. It was new and exciting…I could be normal with her. God, what am I going to do?”
Maria closed her eyes for a second, letting his emotions roll over her. It was worse than she thought. “You loved Jenny?”
“Um… yes, but…uh…not in the way that I love Liz. Liz is my soulmate. There was just something about Jenny that was irresistible. She made me feel young and virile again. I could really talk to her.” He wanted her to understand that it wasn’t just a whim.
Great! This was going to go over so well. “Max, I really hate to have to tell you this. The reason I had to send an agent to warn Michael to get all of you out of Colorado was because we, by pure chance, intercepted a communication to one of Khivar’s people asking for instructions on what to do if they had found the once King Zan. We traced it back, and found that the message came from the woman you were having an affair with. If we hadn’t sent a warning when we did, it’s likely that you, if not the rest of the group as well, would be in Lonnie’s custody right now. And, she is one woman you don’t want to have anything to do with.” Maria shuddered involuntarily.
“Jenny? No she couldn’t have been a skin, Maria. It can’t be true, I would’ve known,” he said thinking about all the times he had held her close. There had never been any sign of peeling skin.
Maria nodded. “You’re right, she wasn’t a skin. Skins aren’t the only ones loyal to Khivar. Max, I’m sorry but it’s true.” Maybe she could offer him some advice. “Max, I think it would be a good idea for you to speak with someone who could help you analyze your behavior in your relationships with others. I’m not really able to be objective about this situation, but there are other counselors here on the base that you could talk to. In the meantime, I will toss you out on your ass if you try to get with someone on this base while you’re still married. Understand?”
“Understood.” He wondered if it would be a good idea to talk to someone. At least, unlike the shrink he had back in high school, he could actually tell the truth this time. “I need to go find Liz.”
“Good, I think that a talk between the two of you is long overdue.” She was glad she could knock some sense into him…even if she did have to do so literally. Maria was also pleased to see him worrying, although she wondered if it was out of guilt for what he had done or if it was just because he had lost his control now that Liz knew his secret.
~~~
Michael opened his door to go find Maria when he ran into Kyle. “Hey, man. What’s up? I was just on my way out.”
“Where you going?” Kyle asked.
Hating that he had to admit that he was seeking her out, he grunted “Maria”.
Kyle nodded. He knew the big guy wouldn’t last very long. “I just saw her. She was heading back to her room. Do you have a minute?”
Michael took a good look at Kyle. He looked like a very confused man. “Sure, come on in.” He grabbed a Snapple from the fridge. “You want one?”
“Sure.”
He tossed Kyle a Snapple, and sat down in the chair across from him. “You look like someone just stole your favorite toy.”
He frowned, it certainly felt like it. “Uh…well, we found out this morning that Izzy is pregnant.”
“Congrats! That is a good thing, right?” Michael asked, uncertain of why Kyle was being so sullen. He would give anything to have a family.
“I thought so. Izzy freaked.” Kyle slumped further down the sofa. He was miserable, who would’ve thought it possible that a person could be so happy and so sad at the same time.
Michael nodded his head. She must not have planned on getting knocked up. “She’ll calm down. She just needs to get used to the idea.”
“After getting some info from Sam on the pregnancy, I went looking for her.” Kyle looked over at his best friend. “She was talking to Whitman. She had her head on his shoulder.” It really hurt that she went to someone else for comfort, especially her first true love. How was he supposed to compete with that?
That was a bad scene, but he was sure it was innocent. “Come on man, the girl loves you. He probably just happened to be there. Besides, you and Izzy have been best friends for the past ten years. She and Alex were friends for a couple of years in High School. No need to worry.” Michael stood up, and offered his hand to the other man. “You better get back to your room before she starts tearing the place a part looking for you.” He really didn’t need a batty Isabel delaying him further.
Kyle smiled. “Thanks, man.” He was going to be a daddy. He headed out the door determined to find his wife. Then they could go tell his dad the good news. “Good luck with Ria.”
~~~
Rath climbed into the pilot’s seat. “You all set?”
Maria clapped her hands together. “Yep, let’s get this show on the road.”
“You are so goofy,” Talia yelled from her seat next to the cabin doors.
She smirked. “Whatever. Ya’ll like me goofy.”
They were taxing down the runway when Maria slapped Rath up side his head.
Rath rubbed his head. “What was that shit for?”
“I can’t believe you told Michael all about us being together.” She had wanted to do it tactfully, who knew what Rath told him.
“I didn’t say anything.” He certainly hadn’t told him how it had been a serious relationship for over a year. “He asked if we was together, I said yeah. He didn’t ask for details, and I didn’t offer. No big.” There was silence between them as they guided the plane to the correct altitude. Once settled, Rath leered at her and said, “But ya know, if ya were gonna replace him, I am open.”
“Raaaath!” she cried exasperatedly, playfully swatting his arm. They laughed together for awhile, until she got serious again. “I didn’t mean for anything I said in the meeting yesterday to hurt you. If it did, I’m sorry. You mean more to me than I think you’ll ever realize. I never want to see you hurting.”
Rath swiveled his seat towards her, turning hers towards him at the same time. He placed his forehead against hers and whispered, “I know, Pixie. No worries.”
~~~
Michael finally made his way to Maria’s apartment. He swiped his sweaty hands along his jeans. Why was he so nervous? They would just calmly discuss things, get everything out in the open, and then maybe he could do what he has wanted to do for the past ten years and kiss her. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
Liz tugged away from Sean to open the door. Her laughter was cut off when she saw who it was. “Michael?!” Liz said surprised. Maria had told her that she could stay at her place until she felt comfortable enough to speak with Max, but she had been so caught up in joking around with Sean that she forgot where she was.
“Where’s Maria?” he asked curtly. First order of business had to be to get Parker out of there. Michael’s raised an eyebrow as Sean opened the door the rest of the way.
Sean pulled Liz behind him so he could talk with Michael. “Hey, man. Sorry, she’s on an assignment right now. She should be back tonight.”
Damn! He gave Sean a slight nod of his head and a grunt before heading back to his room. On the way, he briefly wondered what Liz and Sean were up to in Maria’s apartment…and if Max knew.
TBC
-Kara
CHAPTER 13
It was early morning and sleep was still eluding Michael. Last night after the meeting, he had gone back to his room unbelievably angry at her and himself. He paced the room trying to figure out what his problem was. He was to the boiling point when he decided to go outside to blow off some steam. Unfortunately, he couldn’t seem to get away from her.
Michael stood there on the fringes of the clearing watching her run the obstacle course. Why did she have to be so damn beautiful? He felt a curious mixture of emotions: love and apprehension, pride and worry, admiration and lust. He stomped back to his room all the more angry at himself for the tightening in his jeans.
He had tried to numb his brain by playing virtual hockey all night. It had worked to a point, but now he was in bed exhausted and his thoughts were back to going a hundred miles per hour again. And to top it all off, as if his fight with her wasn’t enough, he had to make the decision on whether to stay or leave.
Part of him really wanted to stay, just to be around her. The other part of him felt like he had too much pride to stay. If she was going to do his job for him, what did she need him for? He was also angry that she had his answers all this time. Michael had discovered over the years that the only thing he wanted more than his answers was to be with her. Now it all just seemed like wasted time. The thought of wasted time clicked something inside of his head, and he realized what an idiot he was being. He needed to find her. Halfway out the door, he decided that it would be better to shower and brush his teeth first.
~~~
Maria already couldn’t wait for her niece or nephew to be born; she would be the best Aunt. She was also more determined than ever to get back the Granolith to ensure that it was safe for her brother and sister-in-law to bring the new little life they’d created into this world.
Maria was a bit put out that Sam had made her wait so long, but they were finally sitting down to breakfast with Kyle and Isabel.
They were just finishing up a delicious breakfast, but Kyle couldn’t take it any longer. He was also curious as to why it was only Maria and the doctor that were having breakfast with them. He wondered if they were a couple or something. He would have to find out for Michael’s sake. “Okay, Ria, what is going on? You are practically bouncing in your seat. Are we waiting for the others to get here?”
Maria tried to settle herself down. “No, we’re all here. I have some great news to tell you, but I think it would be best if Sam explained a little about his abilities first.” She took a big gulp of orange juice while Sam explained, anxiously waiting for her turn to tell them the good news.
His father was from Saphon, but his mother was a refugee from another star system. This meant Sam’s abilities were unique, so sometimes it was hard to describe what was natural to him. He struggled to explain it simply, “The reason I went into the medical field is because I can sense when something has changed within a person. That change also triggers my sight to scan a person internally.”
Maria eagerly picked up the conversation, “Yesterday at the meeting, Sam, sensed something different about Isabel.”
“There’s nothing wrong with Iz, is there?” Kyle was starting to get worried, but Maria had said it was good news.
With a big smile Maria answered, “No, no. When Sam scanned her he discovered that she’s pregnant.”
It took a minute to sink in, then the biggest grin broke out on Kyle’s face. He was ecstatic. “A baby, really?! I'm gonna be a daddy?” He turned to his wife. “Iz, isn’t that gr…” He stopped when he realized that she wasn’t smiling. “Izzy, what is it?”
Isabel felt like she couldn’t breathe. It couldn’t be true. It was too soon to have a baby. She looked in her husband’s piercing blue eyes. Shaking her head, she whispered, “nothing”. Yet, tears were welling up in her eyes belying her statement.
“Isabel, what’s wrong?” He tried to put his arms around her, but she shrugged him off.
Her face went blank, and with a scathing voice she told him, “I said nothing is wrong.” She ached seeing the hurt flash across his face, but her fears were too overwhelming. “I just…I need some air.” Isabel turned on her heels, rushing out of the room.
Kyle started to go after her, but was stopped by Maria. “Kyle, hold on. Let her calm down for a minute.” Maria had felt Isabel’s panic, and knew she just needed a minute to digest the information she had been given. Poor Kyle! “Come on, let’s sit down for a minute. I want Sam to give you some facts about the pregnancy. That should help when you talk with Izzy.” She had a feeling that part of Isabel’s panic was because the only other pregnant hybrid she had known was Tess, and Tess didn’t exactly leave the impression of a normal pregnancy. Maria really wished that the ‘Big Faker’ had been stopped before she had created such mayhem in their lives. The other part had to be Isabel’s slightly neurotic tendencies to plan everything. Isabel was a lot like her brother in that regard, always needing control in their lives. She was guessing that Isabel hadn’t planned on motherhood at this point in her life, but some of the best things in life were unplanned. Maria was sure Isabel would make a fantastic mother.
~~~
Ace was walking Ava to her training class when they saw Isabel stumbling down the hall. Ace turned to Ava, his eyes pleading with her. He hated to leave in the middle of the conversation they were having about their relationship, but Isabel looked like she really needed someone.
Ava gently squeezed his hand before letting go. “It’s fine. Go make sure she’s okay.”
“I promise we’ll talk later, okay? You’re not going on the GCHQ mission today, are you?”
“Nope, I think the only ones going with the Commander are Rath, Talia and Sam.” Ava pinched his butt and said, “So, I’ll see you later hot stuff.” She smirked and turned to continue towards her classroom.
His girl really knew how to put a smile on his face. He called out to her in a sickeningly sweet voice, “Later, Sugar Plum.” She didn’t bother to turn around, but he could hear her giggle in response.
Ace caught up with Isabel, putting an arm around her shoulders in support. “We don’t allow Princesses to be distraught around here. So tell me, what can I do to make it all better?” He pulled her towards the exit where they sat on the outside stairs.
“Oh, Alex. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” She wiped at her tears almost violently. “I’m pregnant…” She let the words hang in the air, trying to get used to them. Isabel leaned her head on Alex’s shoulder. “Alex, I’m pregnant. What if the baby can’t survive here on Earth. I just found you again, everyone’s here, I don’t want to have to leave.”
“Ah, I see. From what I’ve been told about the situation with Tess after I was out of the picture, I can see why you might have that misconception. You really need to talk to Sam or you could even talk to Quinn and Lily who just had a perfectly healthy baby girl.”
Isabel looked at him questioningly. How was some couple having a baby suppose to help her? She was hybrid, it would be completely different. Oh god, she just knew she was going to be popping out a baby in a month on another planet.
At her look Ace explained, “Quinn’s mom is Antarian, but his father was from Earth.”
“What? I thought we were the first hybrids?”
He nodded. “You were. You were the first to be genetically engineered with DNA from donors that were born on Earth. People from your galaxy, and others, have been taking people from Earth or “abducting” them for a long time. During your reign it was pretty taboo for people of different galaxies to mix, but I guess you can’t stop love.”
“Is Lily Antarian too?”
“Nope, she was born in Italy. Same old story – they met in a bar, she found out he was an alien, they fell in love anyways, they got hitched, and now they have a kid that has a very interesting lineage.” He turned and gave her a hug. “Talk to Sam. There is no need for you to leave Earth, and you will probably be surprised by how similar the pregnancy will be to what you are used to seeing here on Earth.” He always thought that motherhood would suit Isabel, but that poor kid was going to have every hour of their entire lives planned out. Ace started chuckling.
“What is so funny?” She tried to be stern, but it never seemed to work with him.
“I guess the news was a little surprising, huh?”
She joined him in laughter until she thought about what she had done. “Oh, no.” She grabbed Alex’s arm. “Alex, I just took off. What is Kyle going to think? He’s going to kill me.”
“Don’t worry. Maria will take good care of him, and I’m pretty sure he isn’t going to kill his wife and mother of his child. Kyle’s a really good guy.”
“Yeah, he is…especially for putting up with me.” She closed her eyes, suddenly exhausted from her emotional uproar. She felt so much better now. “Thanks, Alex. You always knew how to make me feel better.”
Alex was taken aback. “I did?”
“You did. I’m sorry I wasn’t a better friend to you. I want you to know that I was seriously falling for you around the time of our Prom.” Isabel felt a blush creeping up her neck, but she really wanted him to know how much he meant to her. “I can’t believe you are really here. God, your death was such a defining moment in my life.” Everything had gone downhill after Alex was no longer in her life, the Tess catastrophe, her silly rebound romance to Jesse, having to leave Roswell. Then there was Kyle. They had been best friends for a long time before starting anything romantic, and they had stayed a couple for a long time before they decided to get married. Kyle was her best friend, partner, and lover.
Alex looked out at the gathering storm on the horizon. “It was a defining moment in my life as well.” Part of him wanted to apologize for being dead, but it wasn’t like that was what he would’ve chosen for himself. He had been perfectly happy in his blossoming relationship with the Goddess he had crushed on for years. He shook his head. That was a long time ago, their lives were different now. “Actually, I think the real defining moment in my life had to be leaving that loony bin in Seattle. I remember wanting to stay in the hospital and make the doctors save Maria, but she was so bad off with her chest practically melted and glowing. I was afraid that they wouldn’t save her, and would just hand her over to the FBI.”
He looked so sad looking out at the sky. It sounded like a nightmare. “What did you do?” she asked gently.
“I covered her up, and snuck out of there. We were just lucky that the Allied Forces were keeping tabs on Nacedo. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I had lost her. She was kind of my last hope, my last thread to reality.” Between Tess and Lonnie his brains had been truly scrambled, any longer and he probably would have really been dead.
Isabel wanted to lighten the mood, so she asked “How did you get the name Ace?”
He chuckled. “Maria, of course. She says it’s a shortening of my first and middle name, Alexander Charles. She also says it has to do with being an Ace on the computer, with her who knows how she came up with it. She has strange logic, so I try not to question it.”
“Do you like it here? You and Maria must be very close.”
“In the beginning, I just didn’t want to be alone. Maria was my family, and I was sticking with her no matter where she went. She was really determined to help, so we stayed with the organization. Now there are so many others that I consider part of my family.” He had been extremely fortunate to find his place in the world, and to find the love he had with Ava.
Feeling unsure of where they stood, Isabel asked, “Does that include me as well?”
Alex placed a light kiss on the top of her head. “Absolutely, my lady! Imagine that, a real Princess in the family,” he said jokingly. They sat there watching the approaching storm. At the first raindrop, Alex turned to her and said, “Come on, let’s go inside. We can’t have the pregnant lady getting sick.”
“Oh my god! Alex, I’m going to have a baby.” There was so much to do. She yanked Alex up off the stairs, hurrying them inside. She needed to take care of herself better. Oh, and she needed to go talk to her husband. Then they could plan on how to make the spare room into a nursery.
~~~
Max was on his way to his room when he saw Maria heading towards him in the hallway. She didn’t look that happy to see him. He steeled himself for the lecture that he had known was coming, but was caught completely off guard when his ass hit the floor from a powerful right hook. “Dammit, Maria. What the hell?”
Maria glanced towards the end of the hallway to find the guard stationed there trying to stifle his snickering. Great, surely hitting the deposed King of Antar would be fodder for the rumor mill. Oh, well. She held out her hand to help Max up off the floor.
He took her hand and picked himself up off the floor. “Maria?” She didn’t answer, only dragged him into an adjacent room. The room looked like a high school classroom with small writing areas attached to the chairs. Maria sat on top of one of the desks and gestured for Max to do the same.
“Look Max, as Commander of this base, if you want to be unfaithful to your wife it really isn’t any of my business. But understand this, my base will not be a playground for you and your dick…especially while you are still married.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Max, please don’t play stupid. Despite the fact that the CIA agent you were sleeping with when you were picked up is also a member of one of my special ops teams, I also know about the woman in Colorado. Those indiscretions are between you and Liz. What bothers me is when I hear that you are propositioning women while on my base. Everyone has a job to do here, and I really can’t be dealing with the emotional upheaval that would surely come with your sordid affairs.”
Damn, Ava must have told her about their talk yesterday. “Ava? I wasn’t really propositioning her. She must have misunderstood…”
Max had always seemed self-serving, but this was somehow worse. “I have yet to speak with Ava. Although, Ava is in a serious relationship and I suspect that she isn’t too happy about her encounter with you. No, I heard about it from your wife. It seems she overheard your conversation with Ava. Liz is also fairly confident that you have been have committed adultery in the past. She asked me to confirm it, but I suggested she speak with you first.”
“Oh, god…she knows?” Max could feel a panic starting to seize him.
Maria sighed. “Max, as your friend, what is going on? I’ve known about your transgressions from surveillance reports, but I never could understand what was going through your head.”
Max took a moment to study her expression carefully. Maria looked as if she genuinely cared. There hadn’t been anyone that he felt he could really talk to in so long. At one time, he would have gone to Michael, but ever since they left Roswell their relationship had deteriorated. No, if he were honest with himself, he would have to say that their friendship had been on the brink even before that. Michael was still as loyal as ever, only now it was out of duty not brotherhood. Max kept his eyes on the floor. “Maria, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I love Liz. I never would have even entertained the idea of another woman, but then I met Jenny while we were in Colorado. We became friends, and my relationship with her was just so different. It was new and exciting…I could be normal with her. God, what am I going to do?”
Maria closed her eyes for a second, letting his emotions roll over her. It was worse than she thought. “You loved Jenny?”
“Um… yes, but…uh…not in the way that I love Liz. Liz is my soulmate. There was just something about Jenny that was irresistible. She made me feel young and virile again. I could really talk to her.” He wanted her to understand that it wasn’t just a whim.
Great! This was going to go over so well. “Max, I really hate to have to tell you this. The reason I had to send an agent to warn Michael to get all of you out of Colorado was because we, by pure chance, intercepted a communication to one of Khivar’s people asking for instructions on what to do if they had found the once King Zan. We traced it back, and found that the message came from the woman you were having an affair with. If we hadn’t sent a warning when we did, it’s likely that you, if not the rest of the group as well, would be in Lonnie’s custody right now. And, she is one woman you don’t want to have anything to do with.” Maria shuddered involuntarily.
“Jenny? No she couldn’t have been a skin, Maria. It can’t be true, I would’ve known,” he said thinking about all the times he had held her close. There had never been any sign of peeling skin.
Maria nodded. “You’re right, she wasn’t a skin. Skins aren’t the only ones loyal to Khivar. Max, I’m sorry but it’s true.” Maybe she could offer him some advice. “Max, I think it would be a good idea for you to speak with someone who could help you analyze your behavior in your relationships with others. I’m not really able to be objective about this situation, but there are other counselors here on the base that you could talk to. In the meantime, I will toss you out on your ass if you try to get with someone on this base while you’re still married. Understand?”
“Understood.” He wondered if it would be a good idea to talk to someone. At least, unlike the shrink he had back in high school, he could actually tell the truth this time. “I need to go find Liz.”
“Good, I think that a talk between the two of you is long overdue.” She was glad she could knock some sense into him…even if she did have to do so literally. Maria was also pleased to see him worrying, although she wondered if it was out of guilt for what he had done or if it was just because he had lost his control now that Liz knew his secret.
~~~
Michael opened his door to go find Maria when he ran into Kyle. “Hey, man. What’s up? I was just on my way out.”
“Where you going?” Kyle asked.
Hating that he had to admit that he was seeking her out, he grunted “Maria”.
Kyle nodded. He knew the big guy wouldn’t last very long. “I just saw her. She was heading back to her room. Do you have a minute?”
Michael took a good look at Kyle. He looked like a very confused man. “Sure, come on in.” He grabbed a Snapple from the fridge. “You want one?”
“Sure.”
He tossed Kyle a Snapple, and sat down in the chair across from him. “You look like someone just stole your favorite toy.”
He frowned, it certainly felt like it. “Uh…well, we found out this morning that Izzy is pregnant.”
“Congrats! That is a good thing, right?” Michael asked, uncertain of why Kyle was being so sullen. He would give anything to have a family.
“I thought so. Izzy freaked.” Kyle slumped further down the sofa. He was miserable, who would’ve thought it possible that a person could be so happy and so sad at the same time.
Michael nodded his head. She must not have planned on getting knocked up. “She’ll calm down. She just needs to get used to the idea.”
“After getting some info from Sam on the pregnancy, I went looking for her.” Kyle looked over at his best friend. “She was talking to Whitman. She had her head on his shoulder.” It really hurt that she went to someone else for comfort, especially her first true love. How was he supposed to compete with that?
That was a bad scene, but he was sure it was innocent. “Come on man, the girl loves you. He probably just happened to be there. Besides, you and Izzy have been best friends for the past ten years. She and Alex were friends for a couple of years in High School. No need to worry.” Michael stood up, and offered his hand to the other man. “You better get back to your room before she starts tearing the place a part looking for you.” He really didn’t need a batty Isabel delaying him further.
Kyle smiled. “Thanks, man.” He was going to be a daddy. He headed out the door determined to find his wife. Then they could go tell his dad the good news. “Good luck with Ria.”
~~~
Rath climbed into the pilot’s seat. “You all set?”
Maria clapped her hands together. “Yep, let’s get this show on the road.”
“You are so goofy,” Talia yelled from her seat next to the cabin doors.
She smirked. “Whatever. Ya’ll like me goofy.”
They were taxing down the runway when Maria slapped Rath up side his head.
Rath rubbed his head. “What was that shit for?”
“I can’t believe you told Michael all about us being together.” She had wanted to do it tactfully, who knew what Rath told him.
“I didn’t say anything.” He certainly hadn’t told him how it had been a serious relationship for over a year. “He asked if we was together, I said yeah. He didn’t ask for details, and I didn’t offer. No big.” There was silence between them as they guided the plane to the correct altitude. Once settled, Rath leered at her and said, “But ya know, if ya were gonna replace him, I am open.”
“Raaaath!” she cried exasperatedly, playfully swatting his arm. They laughed together for awhile, until she got serious again. “I didn’t mean for anything I said in the meeting yesterday to hurt you. If it did, I’m sorry. You mean more to me than I think you’ll ever realize. I never want to see you hurting.”
Rath swiveled his seat towards her, turning hers towards him at the same time. He placed his forehead against hers and whispered, “I know, Pixie. No worries.”
~~~
Michael finally made his way to Maria’s apartment. He swiped his sweaty hands along his jeans. Why was he so nervous? They would just calmly discuss things, get everything out in the open, and then maybe he could do what he has wanted to do for the past ten years and kiss her. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
Liz tugged away from Sean to open the door. Her laughter was cut off when she saw who it was. “Michael?!” Liz said surprised. Maria had told her that she could stay at her place until she felt comfortable enough to speak with Max, but she had been so caught up in joking around with Sean that she forgot where she was.
“Where’s Maria?” he asked curtly. First order of business had to be to get Parker out of there. Michael’s raised an eyebrow as Sean opened the door the rest of the way.
Sean pulled Liz behind him so he could talk with Michael. “Hey, man. Sorry, she’s on an assignment right now. She should be back tonight.”
Damn! He gave Sean a slight nod of his head and a grunt before heading back to his room. On the way, he briefly wondered what Liz and Sean were up to in Maria’s apartment…and if Max knew.
TBC
Last edited by Ninlil on Fri Sep 24, 2004 9:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Chapter 14
Thanks for the feedback. The promised M/M interaction is finally here... I hope you're not disappointed. Thanks to all those that are reading.
-Kara
CHAPTER 14
A car was sent to pick Maria up from the small vine-covered cottage she was staying at for the day. When they arrived, she looked out the window of the sleek, black Cadillac at the miles of chain-link fence covered with barbed wire as the car drove through the gates and up to a large, windowless red brick building. The Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ, a veritable puzzle palace was located deep in the Cotswolds in Cheltenham. The British code bureau had been formed in the 1940’s to decode German Enigma messages, and to this day it still had ‘ears’ everywhere. She was there on official CIA business, but the opportunity for the Allied Forces was too great to pass up.
Every few seconds she could hear Talia checking the system. This wasn’t her usual job, she had taken over so that Quinn could spend more time with his wife and new baby, but Maria had complete faith in her. Talia would relay instructions on where Maria needed to go within the building to plant the quantum nano-oscillators that would allow them to tap into the intelligence the GCHQ gathered.
Maria had a small receptor implanted right behind her left ear that allowed her to receive instructions from her team, and the microphone to relay messages back to them was embedded inside what looked like a silver necklace that hung around her neck. The Allied Forces had a great advantage in electronics since they had knowledge from other planets that was quite technologically advanced.
She was checked-in, and escorted to Dr. Chao’s office. His secretary greeted her at the door, “Dr. Diamare, it’s a pleasure to see you again. Please come in. I’m afraid Dr. Chao is still in a meeting. I’ll take a message in to let him know you are here.”
“Hello, Susie. It’s nice to see you too. Please, no need to make a fuss.” Maria took a seat and glanced at her watch before looking back up. “It seems I’ve arrived fairly early.”
“Can I get you something to drink while you wait, tea or coffee perhaps?”
“Actually, if Howard is still going to be awhile, I was thinking I’d pop around to the break room down the hallway for a spot of coffee. Maybe I can find something in the vending machines as well. Would you like me to bring you back something?” Maria asked gently.
Susie smiled brightly at the kindness. “No, I have my tea here so I’m all set for now. Thank you though, Doctor.”
“Susie, please call me Luca.” Maria headed towards the door.
The young woman blushed and nodded. She wasn’t used to the important people that visited her boss being so nice to what they considered his lowly assistant. “Try the shortbread cookies in the machine on the far wall, they are scrumptious.”
Maria walked to the break room quickly. She had a very limited amount of time to complete her tasks before her meeting with Dr. Chao began. After purchasing two bags of shortbread cookies, one for her and one for Susie, and pouring herself a cup of coffee, she walked down to the ladies room. Setting her purchases and coffee down on the counter, she moved inside the far stall, and hung up her jacket on the inside of the door while locking it. Maria slipped off her high-heeled shoes and placed them on the back of the toilet. Carefully, she hiked up her skirt and positioned her feet on the seat before removing the screws of the vent in the ceiling.
Once inside the ventilation shaft, Maria followed Talia’s directions on which way to go. The listening devices she was planting were extremely small, and had been well hidden in a pocket in her bra located between her breasts. Moving slowly to the vent to the famed Room 40, the room of an organization so secret that those in the intelligence business that were high enough in ranking to even have heard its name often likened it to a black hole, she wrapped one of the colorless wires that was about the size of a strand of hair around the screw of the vent letting it hang down into the room. She did the same at several other vents that Talia told her to stop at.
“You better get back Commander. We’ve gotten most of them.”
“Just one more, Tal. Tell me where to go.”
After planting most of the devices, Maria made her way back to the ladies’ room. She had to wait for a couple of women to leave before climbing back down. She was hot and sweaty, but didn’t have much time to get herself back together. Sliding her shoes back on, she grabbed her jacket and other things and made her way out of the bathroom. Just outside the door she remembered that her black pin-striped skirt was hiked up to her mid thigh and swiftly straightened it back down. Luckily she was just about straight when her colleague rounded the corner.
The last thing Talia heard was Maria muttering about the insanity of wearing a skirt for this job, then her equipment went black. “Commander? Come in, Commander?”
Rath called from the front of the plane, “What’s up?”
“I’m not getting anything... I can’t hear anything, and I’m not getting any response.”
“Shit! Better call Ace, give ‘im the rundown.”
~~~
Liz stole a sly glance at Sean. “Thanks Sean for helping me get situated in my own room. I’m sorry if I’ve been a bother.”
“No worries, Parker.” After Maria’s discussion with Max, she had sent Sean to help Liz find another room to stay in, figuring it would be awhile before Liz wanted to stay with Max again. “Let’s go get something to eat.”
Liz giggled, “We’re not going to write out my troubles in mustard again are we?”
As they moved out the door, Sean excitedly told her, “Who knows, Parker?! I might even take you into to town to the bowling alley for a little reminiscing.”
A deep masculine voice filled with disdain interrupted their conversation, “Exactly what kind of reminiscing would that be, Sean?” They turned around to see Max heading towards them.
~~~
Michael finally found the room Alex was in. “Hey! What’s going on?” He needed to find out when Maria would be back, but he was trying to be as discreet as possible. It would be nice to talk to Alex again anyways.
Alex nodded in his direction, acknowledging his presence, and motioned for Michael to take a seat. “Not much. How have you been lately? This must all seem pretty outrageous to you, huh?”
“I guess. It kinda feels like my perception of the world has been turned upside down.”
“I know what you mean.” Alex distractedly said after looking over at some controls.
Michael could see the lines of worry on Alex’s forehead. “What’s wrong?”
“Hmm…what? Oh, nothing really. I’m just a little worried. No big deal really.” Alex punched a few buttons and checked another display screen.
Michael was starting to get agitated. “Does it have to do with Maria?”
Alex was surprised to hear the frustration in his voice, and rushed to explain. “All communication from her went out a couple of hours ago, and they haven’t come back on since. We’re just waiting for her to check back in.”
“That sounds like a big deal,” Michael said using Alex’s earlier words.
“She’s probably just been delayed. For some reason I have the hardest time with making electronics work in her presence. I’m sure nothing is wrong. She hasn’t sent out an emergency code or anything.”
Michael was starting to panic. “What if she can’t?”
“I’ve checked her bio chip, and it’s working fine.” At Michael’s look of confusion, he further explained, “It’s a chip that monitors biorhythms. It would tell us if she was under too much distress to call for help or was in any other way biologically impeded.” Alex didn’t even want to think of her being in the kind of trouble that would set off her bio chip.
Michael took a sharp breath, willing himself to be calm. A faint tremor in the muscles of his neck betrayed his inner struggle. Alex said she would be fine. He had to believe in that. “Is no one out looking for her? What was she doing anyways?”
Alex watched Michael’s face shut down as he explained the mission. Hoping that they could get communications back before Michael blew something up, Alex messed around with the screens some more. An orange light appeared on one of the screens, and Alex hastily moved to answer it.
Maria had at last made it back to the plane. The colleague she was meeting with had a wave interference device on him. He had taken her out to lunch, and everything seemed to be fine so she hadn’t proceeded with protocol demands as if she’d been in danger. She hadn’t figured out why he had the device on him, but decided that it was because he didn’t want anyone listening in on their conversation.
Alex relayed the information back to Michael, informing him that they were headed back to the base. Relief flooded through him. How could she do that to him? Michael left the room not even bothering to say goodbye.
~~~
“Max? Um, what are you doing here?” Liz asked.
He stared directly at Sean. “I was hoping we could talk, Liz.”
“Uh…yeah, okay.” She looked at Sean with worried eyes.
Sean bent his head down to her ear and whispered hotly, “You sure?” After her nod, he told her, “Call if you need me.”
Liz nodded and walked back into her new room, knowing that Max would follow. They both sat down on the couch. Noticing the bruise on his jaw, she lightly reached out and brushed her fingertips across it. “What happened?”
“Let’s just say, I had an encounter with a hurricane.”
Liz laughed knowing that he must’ve had a run in with Maria. “Why didn’t you heal it?”
He looked down intently at the floor, “penance”. Max finally raised his eyes to see her reaction. She looked sad, yet accepting of his answer.
Liz looked into his dark brown eyes, feeling like she could get lost in them forever. God, she loved to stare into those deep soulful eyes. She shook her head to clear it. “What did you want to talk about, Max?”
Max took her hand in his. “I…uh, I wanted to say how sorry I am.”
Liz jerked her hand out of his. “Sorry about what exactly? Having sex with other women or getting caught in your lies?”
“No! I didn’t…” his protest trailed off at seeing her disbelieving look. He took a deep breath and decided to be honest. “I did have an affair, but I love you Liz. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”
“Why, Max? Why?” she cried.
It hadn’t been just one thing that made him step out on his wife. They had drifted apart, and Jenny had become such a good friend to him in a short amount of time. Max had felt stifled with Liz. He remembered how he had felt a certain kind of freedom with Tess. She was adventurous, spirited. When Jenny started flirting with him it brought back those memories of having fun and being free. Sex with Liz was so conservative, and when Max finally followed through on Jenny’s advances it felt as if he could finally breathe. He had always felt like a burden to Liz, like she blamed him for having to be on the run, for the life she could never have. Max couldn’t tell her any of that, his life was spinning out of control and he needed her. “I didn’t mean to. Liz, my love, you have to believe me. It was just a stupid mistake, one I’ll never make again.”
Liz swiped at the tears running down her face. Somewhere along the way his apologies had lost their value. She had never really gotten over all the old wounds, and now there were too many new ones to ever heal their relationship. “It’s not just that, Max. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to live.” Despite his look of dejection, she continued, “I’m not trying to make you feel bad. I’m glad you saved my life, but I feel like that ever since then my life has belonged to you.” She needed her life back…it was hers not his.
“Please, love, what are you saying? It’s the other way around. I belong to you. We’re soulmates.”
Liz shook her head. She didn’t want to share her soul with him. “Max, we’ve struggled through our whole relationship. Maybe we weren’t meant to be together.” She saw the tears welling up in his eyes, and wanted to hold him so badly, to tell him that she’d never leave. “I don’t know what you’ve decided about staying or going, but I’m staying here. I need something in my life that makes sense, and I think helping Maria will give me a sense of purpose again.” She took a deep cleansing breath. “I want my life back, Max.”
His chest tightened painfully, tears were flowing down his face. “We can work this out, Liz.” All he ever seemed to do was focus on his own wants and he hated himself for that.
“No, I don’t think we can.”
All his anger came to the surface. “So, what…you’re just going to be with Sean now?” This was all Sean’s fault.
She hadn’t really thought about it. Liz was happy that Sean would be there for her, but she wasn’t sure that it would ever turn into something more. Besides, she didn’t want to just fall into another man’s arms hoping that he would fix her life for her. She needed to find her own path. “Max, it’s not really any of your business anymore. You’re the one that brought us to this point by sleeping around while we were married.” She felt stupid, remembering the saying ‘once a cheater always a cheater’. “I’ll move what few belongings I have from your room to this one later on. Right now, I’m going to go find something to eat. Max, I hope that you can respect my feelings and give me some space. I don’t want you here when I get back.” Feeling stronger than she had in a long time, yet infinitely sadder she left the room.
Max was left feeling guilt-ridden and miserable at losing the love of his life. The times she had left him to go to Florida and Vermont hadn’t been for very long, he had to hope that this time wasn’t any different.
~~~
Maria was back at the base, and heading for Michael’s room. Ace had told her of his reaction to her situation this afternoon, and she needed to clear the air between them. She paused at the door, blocking any empathic thoughts in hopes that it would help her not show any weakness in front of him.
He heard a knock at the door. Michael recognized it even after all these years, yet didn’t bother to go answer it. He ached for her and it had led to his impulsive action in seeking her out that morning, but seeing the danger she had been in since then had reinforced his arguments of why he had every right to be angry with her.
Maria opened the door and walked into his bedroom, she knew he was in there, he was just being stubborn. Michael pushed back against his pillows until firmly planted in an upright position with his legs comfortably stretched out and ankles crossed. Maria tried hard not to noticeably gulp, but he looked so hot lounging on his bed in just a pair of blue jeans hung down low on his hips with his hard upper body exposed.
As Maria sat down on the edge of his bed, she rubbed her legs together and crossed them, making an effort to quell the almost unbearable ache that came from seeing the cut outlines of his chest and shoulder muscles. Crossing her legs caused her skirt to ride up, and Michael had to try hard not to ogle as the long delicate muscles of her thighs stretched. He just stared at her, refusing to speak first.
The heat in the room had risen a few degrees, but she needed to get through this conversation with him. “I just wanted to say that I, um, I need you to have faith in my abilities.”
Her confidence grew despite his lack of response. “Okay, look, I understand your need to protect me. What do you think I’ve been doing for you all these years?”
He wanted to tell her that he didn’t need her protection.
“Okay, just think about it this way, we’ve been in danger since high school. I don’t regret any of that.” Maria smirked. “Well, maybe the whole Lonnie screwing with my head and almost getting killed bit, but truthfully not even that considering it got me to this point in my life. I had to stop waiting for my something better to come to me,” she said passionately, thinking of how she had always thought he was her saving grace. “Instead I demanded my something better from myself, and this is where I ended up. I’m not sorry about that at all. I have a good life.” She wanted to add that it was even better now that he was here with her.
He wanted to tell her that she would always be his something better.
When Maria received no reply, she continued on, “Okay, uh, the other thing I want to talk about is Rath.” She had to stop herself from rolling her eyes as he narrowed his. “Maybe it will help if I start at the beginning. When you left I was devastated. I thought you didn’t love me anymore. Then Lonnie came along and made it a thousand times worse as she preyed on all my insecurities. Afterwards, I had to sort through all of my feelings to figure out which were really mine and which ones where planted. I felt like I was finally getting a grip on how I felt about everything until I read one of the first surveillance reports.” Her fingers picked at the bedspread absentmindedly. “There were pictures…of the group, um, at a club. There was one of you and a, uh…a girl. You were along the wall in the shadows, but it was obvious that you were, um…” She swallowed hard, remembering the pain she had felt when looking at the photos, “that you were kissing.”
He wanted to tell her that none of those girls ever mattered to him.
“Anyway, after that I kind of threw myself into my work and school. It was good for me though because I ended up actually doing really well in school. When Rath came along we became pretty good friends.” Maria looked into his dark serious eyes, willing him to understand. “He kind of got me to live life again. There was also a physical attraction because well, you know, uh…” She gestured towards him and blushed. He had the same body, the same hands, the same eyes, the same everything. How could she not be attracted to him? “Well, we were together for awhile, but it really wasn’t fair to him or me since you already had my heart and soul. We broke up, but we’ve remained good friends ever since.” She had chosen him. Why couldn’t he see that? Michael was the reason why she was so indomitable in life, desperately trying to be worthy of his love.
He wanted to tell her that she was his first love, his only love.
The silence was deafening. For awhile her face was perfectly still, then impatiently she wiped away the lone tear that had escaped and stood to leave. “Once again I put my heart out there, and you don’t return the sentiment or even respond.” Her head bowed, and she quietly whispered an emphatic, “fine”. She turned on her heels and left his apartment.
He looked at the empty space she had occupied seconds before, and his control broke. Michael caught up with her as she passed through the doorway to her room and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her body into his. He turned them around, shutting the door and pushing her up against the wall, then his mouth was on hers kissing her hard and eagerly. He sucked on her tongue, the fiery sweetness intoxicating. The heat of her passion filled him with unbearable longing, he had wanted this for so long. Michael pulled back slightly, futilely struggling to keep his breathing steady and whispered, “Dammit…you don’t understand… I’ve never stopped loving you.”
Maria was still trying to recover from the shock of his kiss, so that when his whispered statement finally registered she did the only thing she could at that moment and brought his head down to crush her lips against his. The desire and need for each other had been ignited and neither could slow down. His hands swept down the valley between her breasts ripping her blouse and bra off. As his wet mouth hungrily traveled down her neck to her collar bone, her hands caressed his bare chest pausing to rub a nipple before moving down to his waist. Needing to touch all of him, Maria quickly unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them down along with his boxers. Her lithe fingers skimmed the underside of his cock causing him to groan loudly into her neck, the vibrations triggering a hot shiver to course down to her core.
Michael hurriedly stripped her of her skirt and panties, then his hands were on her backside lifting her and pressing her harder into the wall. Her arms gripped his shoulders tightly and she wrapped her long legs tightly around his hips, grinding her hot, wet sex against his erection. Michael looked into her darkened green eyes, and felt an electrical connection come alive as his hard length entered her silken walls. He felt her clamp hard, body lurching, her hips straining to take him deeper inside of her. Maria gave an openmouthed gasp, his size shocking her as it always had before, hurting her, bruising her. The mixture of pain and pleasure was gorgeous, exquisite, intense. Neither broke the connection as he worked her back and forth on his thrusting cock, his body slamming into hers over and over again.
It was fast and primal, next time they’d take it slower, but right now they both seemed to crave that fierceness. Her eyes never leaving his, she nonetheless ran her hands through his beautiful shoulder-length brown locks, and down his back, letting her nails scrape at his bronzed skin. His groan was carnal setting off her own moans of pleasure when he drove into her with more force.
Hot jolts of pleasure journeyed through their bodies with every tiny path in their nervous system coming alive. Suddenly they exploded in glorious patterns of colors and images, too fast to define. It felt as if their bodies had merged and become one, that there was nothing that could separate them ever again, where one stopped the other began.
Her entire body shook as she came apart in his arms, coming harder than she ever had before. Their erotic stare finally broke and Michael buried his face in the crook of her neck, his teeth grazing her shoulder. As he continued to come deep inside her in violent spasms, he bit down on her porcelain skin drawing tiny drops of blood. The bite was infused with heat as he sucked on it savagely, and she whimpered in time with the throbbing pulse he had created, enjoying the sensual release.
They stayed that way for what felt like forever. Maria was in a haze, utterly spent but still keening from aftershocks of pleasure. Unexpectedly she felt soft, cool fabric underneath her, realizing that somehow Michael had carried her to the bedroom. Maria curled into his chest, his large hands in her long blonde hair stroking her to sleep, his soft lips gently caressing her shoulder lulling her into relaxed contentment.
An hour or so later, she awoke to the loud buzzing of an emergency message coming through. Memories of their coupling flooding her mind, she looked down at the strong arm holding her tightly, and reluctantly rolled out of his grasp. She immediately got up, wanting to answer before Michael was awakened as well. Her legs were unsteady, but she managed to pull on a robe while making sure that Michael was covered with a sheet before answering the comm.
She was startled to see Rashen’s face pop on the screen. He looked worried, and she could see a flurry of people in the background yelling out commands. “Sorry to wake you my sweet, but we’ve got a major crisis. Our Canadian base has been attacked. I don’t have all the info, but I’ll keep you posted. Keep safe.”
Maria immediately sent out emergency calls to the other seven member of her team, relaying her message from Ra. “I don’t think they’ll attack. It would have made more sense to attack us simultaneously with their attack on Commander Berdichev so that we couldn’t be warned. However, I’m not taking any chances. I want a full perimeter of soldiers around the base and another perimeter twenty-five yards out. We won’t go to full alert just yet, so only wake necessary personnel. Shift change is in a few hours anyway.”
She continued barking out orders, “Ace, make sure all systems are online. Let’s see if we can’t put that early warning system you installed to good use. Sam, I want a full staff in the infirmary. Sean, let’s make sure we’re good on ammunition and explosives, the soldiers on the outer perimeter will need the appropriate explosives. Rath, I want two fighter jets up in the air…quick. Put them on rotation for the next forty-eight hours. Talia, inform any operatives out in the field, and let’s reroute any personnel that are in Simon’s area to help out. Quinn, bring up the schematics for the Canadian base. Let’s try to figure out how they were attacked, anything that might help us. Ava, I’ll need you to help Quinn, but if we are attacked I need you to get the Roswell group out of here. Okay, everyone meet up in the war room in thirty.” Maria was confident that her team would pass along her commands to those they were in charge of, that they would be well-prepared. She was worried though, she knew Commander Simon Berdichev ran a top-notch base nestled in the Rocky Mountains, and it was troubling that he had been attacked without any prior warning.
Michael listened to the conversation, feigning sleep. He wanted to offer his help, but he wasn’t sure that he had anything to offer, despite the memories of being Second-in-Command to a King, he felt useless. It was hard to admit that it sounded as if she did not need him at all. He felt the bed dip slightly and then her small hand was on his shoulder trying to wake him. “Michael, sorry to wake you, one of the other bases has been attacked, and we need to prepare in case we’re attacked as well. I could really use your help.”
He turned around, feeling unworthy but adoring the look of love in her eyes. “Sure”, he managed to choke out. They quickly got up, casting furtive glances at each other as they dressed.
TBC
-Kara
CHAPTER 14
A car was sent to pick Maria up from the small vine-covered cottage she was staying at for the day. When they arrived, she looked out the window of the sleek, black Cadillac at the miles of chain-link fence covered with barbed wire as the car drove through the gates and up to a large, windowless red brick building. The Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ, a veritable puzzle palace was located deep in the Cotswolds in Cheltenham. The British code bureau had been formed in the 1940’s to decode German Enigma messages, and to this day it still had ‘ears’ everywhere. She was there on official CIA business, but the opportunity for the Allied Forces was too great to pass up.
Every few seconds she could hear Talia checking the system. This wasn’t her usual job, she had taken over so that Quinn could spend more time with his wife and new baby, but Maria had complete faith in her. Talia would relay instructions on where Maria needed to go within the building to plant the quantum nano-oscillators that would allow them to tap into the intelligence the GCHQ gathered.
Maria had a small receptor implanted right behind her left ear that allowed her to receive instructions from her team, and the microphone to relay messages back to them was embedded inside what looked like a silver necklace that hung around her neck. The Allied Forces had a great advantage in electronics since they had knowledge from other planets that was quite technologically advanced.
She was checked-in, and escorted to Dr. Chao’s office. His secretary greeted her at the door, “Dr. Diamare, it’s a pleasure to see you again. Please come in. I’m afraid Dr. Chao is still in a meeting. I’ll take a message in to let him know you are here.”
“Hello, Susie. It’s nice to see you too. Please, no need to make a fuss.” Maria took a seat and glanced at her watch before looking back up. “It seems I’ve arrived fairly early.”
“Can I get you something to drink while you wait, tea or coffee perhaps?”
“Actually, if Howard is still going to be awhile, I was thinking I’d pop around to the break room down the hallway for a spot of coffee. Maybe I can find something in the vending machines as well. Would you like me to bring you back something?” Maria asked gently.
Susie smiled brightly at the kindness. “No, I have my tea here so I’m all set for now. Thank you though, Doctor.”
“Susie, please call me Luca.” Maria headed towards the door.
The young woman blushed and nodded. She wasn’t used to the important people that visited her boss being so nice to what they considered his lowly assistant. “Try the shortbread cookies in the machine on the far wall, they are scrumptious.”
Maria walked to the break room quickly. She had a very limited amount of time to complete her tasks before her meeting with Dr. Chao began. After purchasing two bags of shortbread cookies, one for her and one for Susie, and pouring herself a cup of coffee, she walked down to the ladies room. Setting her purchases and coffee down on the counter, she moved inside the far stall, and hung up her jacket on the inside of the door while locking it. Maria slipped off her high-heeled shoes and placed them on the back of the toilet. Carefully, she hiked up her skirt and positioned her feet on the seat before removing the screws of the vent in the ceiling.
Once inside the ventilation shaft, Maria followed Talia’s directions on which way to go. The listening devices she was planting were extremely small, and had been well hidden in a pocket in her bra located between her breasts. Moving slowly to the vent to the famed Room 40, the room of an organization so secret that those in the intelligence business that were high enough in ranking to even have heard its name often likened it to a black hole, she wrapped one of the colorless wires that was about the size of a strand of hair around the screw of the vent letting it hang down into the room. She did the same at several other vents that Talia told her to stop at.
“You better get back Commander. We’ve gotten most of them.”
“Just one more, Tal. Tell me where to go.”
After planting most of the devices, Maria made her way back to the ladies’ room. She had to wait for a couple of women to leave before climbing back down. She was hot and sweaty, but didn’t have much time to get herself back together. Sliding her shoes back on, she grabbed her jacket and other things and made her way out of the bathroom. Just outside the door she remembered that her black pin-striped skirt was hiked up to her mid thigh and swiftly straightened it back down. Luckily she was just about straight when her colleague rounded the corner.
The last thing Talia heard was Maria muttering about the insanity of wearing a skirt for this job, then her equipment went black. “Commander? Come in, Commander?”
Rath called from the front of the plane, “What’s up?”
“I’m not getting anything... I can’t hear anything, and I’m not getting any response.”
“Shit! Better call Ace, give ‘im the rundown.”
~~~
Liz stole a sly glance at Sean. “Thanks Sean for helping me get situated in my own room. I’m sorry if I’ve been a bother.”
“No worries, Parker.” After Maria’s discussion with Max, she had sent Sean to help Liz find another room to stay in, figuring it would be awhile before Liz wanted to stay with Max again. “Let’s go get something to eat.”
Liz giggled, “We’re not going to write out my troubles in mustard again are we?”
As they moved out the door, Sean excitedly told her, “Who knows, Parker?! I might even take you into to town to the bowling alley for a little reminiscing.”
A deep masculine voice filled with disdain interrupted their conversation, “Exactly what kind of reminiscing would that be, Sean?” They turned around to see Max heading towards them.
~~~
Michael finally found the room Alex was in. “Hey! What’s going on?” He needed to find out when Maria would be back, but he was trying to be as discreet as possible. It would be nice to talk to Alex again anyways.
Alex nodded in his direction, acknowledging his presence, and motioned for Michael to take a seat. “Not much. How have you been lately? This must all seem pretty outrageous to you, huh?”
“I guess. It kinda feels like my perception of the world has been turned upside down.”
“I know what you mean.” Alex distractedly said after looking over at some controls.
Michael could see the lines of worry on Alex’s forehead. “What’s wrong?”
“Hmm…what? Oh, nothing really. I’m just a little worried. No big deal really.” Alex punched a few buttons and checked another display screen.
Michael was starting to get agitated. “Does it have to do with Maria?”
Alex was surprised to hear the frustration in his voice, and rushed to explain. “All communication from her went out a couple of hours ago, and they haven’t come back on since. We’re just waiting for her to check back in.”
“That sounds like a big deal,” Michael said using Alex’s earlier words.
“She’s probably just been delayed. For some reason I have the hardest time with making electronics work in her presence. I’m sure nothing is wrong. She hasn’t sent out an emergency code or anything.”
Michael was starting to panic. “What if she can’t?”
“I’ve checked her bio chip, and it’s working fine.” At Michael’s look of confusion, he further explained, “It’s a chip that monitors biorhythms. It would tell us if she was under too much distress to call for help or was in any other way biologically impeded.” Alex didn’t even want to think of her being in the kind of trouble that would set off her bio chip.
Michael took a sharp breath, willing himself to be calm. A faint tremor in the muscles of his neck betrayed his inner struggle. Alex said she would be fine. He had to believe in that. “Is no one out looking for her? What was she doing anyways?”
Alex watched Michael’s face shut down as he explained the mission. Hoping that they could get communications back before Michael blew something up, Alex messed around with the screens some more. An orange light appeared on one of the screens, and Alex hastily moved to answer it.
Maria had at last made it back to the plane. The colleague she was meeting with had a wave interference device on him. He had taken her out to lunch, and everything seemed to be fine so she hadn’t proceeded with protocol demands as if she’d been in danger. She hadn’t figured out why he had the device on him, but decided that it was because he didn’t want anyone listening in on their conversation.
Alex relayed the information back to Michael, informing him that they were headed back to the base. Relief flooded through him. How could she do that to him? Michael left the room not even bothering to say goodbye.
~~~
“Max? Um, what are you doing here?” Liz asked.
He stared directly at Sean. “I was hoping we could talk, Liz.”
“Uh…yeah, okay.” She looked at Sean with worried eyes.
Sean bent his head down to her ear and whispered hotly, “You sure?” After her nod, he told her, “Call if you need me.”
Liz nodded and walked back into her new room, knowing that Max would follow. They both sat down on the couch. Noticing the bruise on his jaw, she lightly reached out and brushed her fingertips across it. “What happened?”
“Let’s just say, I had an encounter with a hurricane.”
Liz laughed knowing that he must’ve had a run in with Maria. “Why didn’t you heal it?”
He looked down intently at the floor, “penance”. Max finally raised his eyes to see her reaction. She looked sad, yet accepting of his answer.
Liz looked into his dark brown eyes, feeling like she could get lost in them forever. God, she loved to stare into those deep soulful eyes. She shook her head to clear it. “What did you want to talk about, Max?”
Max took her hand in his. “I…uh, I wanted to say how sorry I am.”
Liz jerked her hand out of his. “Sorry about what exactly? Having sex with other women or getting caught in your lies?”
“No! I didn’t…” his protest trailed off at seeing her disbelieving look. He took a deep breath and decided to be honest. “I did have an affair, but I love you Liz. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”
“Why, Max? Why?” she cried.
It hadn’t been just one thing that made him step out on his wife. They had drifted apart, and Jenny had become such a good friend to him in a short amount of time. Max had felt stifled with Liz. He remembered how he had felt a certain kind of freedom with Tess. She was adventurous, spirited. When Jenny started flirting with him it brought back those memories of having fun and being free. Sex with Liz was so conservative, and when Max finally followed through on Jenny’s advances it felt as if he could finally breathe. He had always felt like a burden to Liz, like she blamed him for having to be on the run, for the life she could never have. Max couldn’t tell her any of that, his life was spinning out of control and he needed her. “I didn’t mean to. Liz, my love, you have to believe me. It was just a stupid mistake, one I’ll never make again.”
Liz swiped at the tears running down her face. Somewhere along the way his apologies had lost their value. She had never really gotten over all the old wounds, and now there were too many new ones to ever heal their relationship. “It’s not just that, Max. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to live.” Despite his look of dejection, she continued, “I’m not trying to make you feel bad. I’m glad you saved my life, but I feel like that ever since then my life has belonged to you.” She needed her life back…it was hers not his.
“Please, love, what are you saying? It’s the other way around. I belong to you. We’re soulmates.”
Liz shook her head. She didn’t want to share her soul with him. “Max, we’ve struggled through our whole relationship. Maybe we weren’t meant to be together.” She saw the tears welling up in his eyes, and wanted to hold him so badly, to tell him that she’d never leave. “I don’t know what you’ve decided about staying or going, but I’m staying here. I need something in my life that makes sense, and I think helping Maria will give me a sense of purpose again.” She took a deep cleansing breath. “I want my life back, Max.”
His chest tightened painfully, tears were flowing down his face. “We can work this out, Liz.” All he ever seemed to do was focus on his own wants and he hated himself for that.
“No, I don’t think we can.”
All his anger came to the surface. “So, what…you’re just going to be with Sean now?” This was all Sean’s fault.
She hadn’t really thought about it. Liz was happy that Sean would be there for her, but she wasn’t sure that it would ever turn into something more. Besides, she didn’t want to just fall into another man’s arms hoping that he would fix her life for her. She needed to find her own path. “Max, it’s not really any of your business anymore. You’re the one that brought us to this point by sleeping around while we were married.” She felt stupid, remembering the saying ‘once a cheater always a cheater’. “I’ll move what few belongings I have from your room to this one later on. Right now, I’m going to go find something to eat. Max, I hope that you can respect my feelings and give me some space. I don’t want you here when I get back.” Feeling stronger than she had in a long time, yet infinitely sadder she left the room.
Max was left feeling guilt-ridden and miserable at losing the love of his life. The times she had left him to go to Florida and Vermont hadn’t been for very long, he had to hope that this time wasn’t any different.
~~~
Maria was back at the base, and heading for Michael’s room. Ace had told her of his reaction to her situation this afternoon, and she needed to clear the air between them. She paused at the door, blocking any empathic thoughts in hopes that it would help her not show any weakness in front of him.
He heard a knock at the door. Michael recognized it even after all these years, yet didn’t bother to go answer it. He ached for her and it had led to his impulsive action in seeking her out that morning, but seeing the danger she had been in since then had reinforced his arguments of why he had every right to be angry with her.
Maria opened the door and walked into his bedroom, she knew he was in there, he was just being stubborn. Michael pushed back against his pillows until firmly planted in an upright position with his legs comfortably stretched out and ankles crossed. Maria tried hard not to noticeably gulp, but he looked so hot lounging on his bed in just a pair of blue jeans hung down low on his hips with his hard upper body exposed.
As Maria sat down on the edge of his bed, she rubbed her legs together and crossed them, making an effort to quell the almost unbearable ache that came from seeing the cut outlines of his chest and shoulder muscles. Crossing her legs caused her skirt to ride up, and Michael had to try hard not to ogle as the long delicate muscles of her thighs stretched. He just stared at her, refusing to speak first.
The heat in the room had risen a few degrees, but she needed to get through this conversation with him. “I just wanted to say that I, um, I need you to have faith in my abilities.”
Her confidence grew despite his lack of response. “Okay, look, I understand your need to protect me. What do you think I’ve been doing for you all these years?”
He wanted to tell her that he didn’t need her protection.
“Okay, just think about it this way, we’ve been in danger since high school. I don’t regret any of that.” Maria smirked. “Well, maybe the whole Lonnie screwing with my head and almost getting killed bit, but truthfully not even that considering it got me to this point in my life. I had to stop waiting for my something better to come to me,” she said passionately, thinking of how she had always thought he was her saving grace. “Instead I demanded my something better from myself, and this is where I ended up. I’m not sorry about that at all. I have a good life.” She wanted to add that it was even better now that he was here with her.
He wanted to tell her that she would always be his something better.
When Maria received no reply, she continued on, “Okay, uh, the other thing I want to talk about is Rath.” She had to stop herself from rolling her eyes as he narrowed his. “Maybe it will help if I start at the beginning. When you left I was devastated. I thought you didn’t love me anymore. Then Lonnie came along and made it a thousand times worse as she preyed on all my insecurities. Afterwards, I had to sort through all of my feelings to figure out which were really mine and which ones where planted. I felt like I was finally getting a grip on how I felt about everything until I read one of the first surveillance reports.” Her fingers picked at the bedspread absentmindedly. “There were pictures…of the group, um, at a club. There was one of you and a, uh…a girl. You were along the wall in the shadows, but it was obvious that you were, um…” She swallowed hard, remembering the pain she had felt when looking at the photos, “that you were kissing.”
He wanted to tell her that none of those girls ever mattered to him.
“Anyway, after that I kind of threw myself into my work and school. It was good for me though because I ended up actually doing really well in school. When Rath came along we became pretty good friends.” Maria looked into his dark serious eyes, willing him to understand. “He kind of got me to live life again. There was also a physical attraction because well, you know, uh…” She gestured towards him and blushed. He had the same body, the same hands, the same eyes, the same everything. How could she not be attracted to him? “Well, we were together for awhile, but it really wasn’t fair to him or me since you already had my heart and soul. We broke up, but we’ve remained good friends ever since.” She had chosen him. Why couldn’t he see that? Michael was the reason why she was so indomitable in life, desperately trying to be worthy of his love.
He wanted to tell her that she was his first love, his only love.
The silence was deafening. For awhile her face was perfectly still, then impatiently she wiped away the lone tear that had escaped and stood to leave. “Once again I put my heart out there, and you don’t return the sentiment or even respond.” Her head bowed, and she quietly whispered an emphatic, “fine”. She turned on her heels and left his apartment.
He looked at the empty space she had occupied seconds before, and his control broke. Michael caught up with her as she passed through the doorway to her room and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her body into his. He turned them around, shutting the door and pushing her up against the wall, then his mouth was on hers kissing her hard and eagerly. He sucked on her tongue, the fiery sweetness intoxicating. The heat of her passion filled him with unbearable longing, he had wanted this for so long. Michael pulled back slightly, futilely struggling to keep his breathing steady and whispered, “Dammit…you don’t understand… I’ve never stopped loving you.”
Maria was still trying to recover from the shock of his kiss, so that when his whispered statement finally registered she did the only thing she could at that moment and brought his head down to crush her lips against his. The desire and need for each other had been ignited and neither could slow down. His hands swept down the valley between her breasts ripping her blouse and bra off. As his wet mouth hungrily traveled down her neck to her collar bone, her hands caressed his bare chest pausing to rub a nipple before moving down to his waist. Needing to touch all of him, Maria quickly unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them down along with his boxers. Her lithe fingers skimmed the underside of his cock causing him to groan loudly into her neck, the vibrations triggering a hot shiver to course down to her core.
Michael hurriedly stripped her of her skirt and panties, then his hands were on her backside lifting her and pressing her harder into the wall. Her arms gripped his shoulders tightly and she wrapped her long legs tightly around his hips, grinding her hot, wet sex against his erection. Michael looked into her darkened green eyes, and felt an electrical connection come alive as his hard length entered her silken walls. He felt her clamp hard, body lurching, her hips straining to take him deeper inside of her. Maria gave an openmouthed gasp, his size shocking her as it always had before, hurting her, bruising her. The mixture of pain and pleasure was gorgeous, exquisite, intense. Neither broke the connection as he worked her back and forth on his thrusting cock, his body slamming into hers over and over again.
It was fast and primal, next time they’d take it slower, but right now they both seemed to crave that fierceness. Her eyes never leaving his, she nonetheless ran her hands through his beautiful shoulder-length brown locks, and down his back, letting her nails scrape at his bronzed skin. His groan was carnal setting off her own moans of pleasure when he drove into her with more force.
Hot jolts of pleasure journeyed through their bodies with every tiny path in their nervous system coming alive. Suddenly they exploded in glorious patterns of colors and images, too fast to define. It felt as if their bodies had merged and become one, that there was nothing that could separate them ever again, where one stopped the other began.
Her entire body shook as she came apart in his arms, coming harder than she ever had before. Their erotic stare finally broke and Michael buried his face in the crook of her neck, his teeth grazing her shoulder. As he continued to come deep inside her in violent spasms, he bit down on her porcelain skin drawing tiny drops of blood. The bite was infused with heat as he sucked on it savagely, and she whimpered in time with the throbbing pulse he had created, enjoying the sensual release.
They stayed that way for what felt like forever. Maria was in a haze, utterly spent but still keening from aftershocks of pleasure. Unexpectedly she felt soft, cool fabric underneath her, realizing that somehow Michael had carried her to the bedroom. Maria curled into his chest, his large hands in her long blonde hair stroking her to sleep, his soft lips gently caressing her shoulder lulling her into relaxed contentment.
An hour or so later, she awoke to the loud buzzing of an emergency message coming through. Memories of their coupling flooding her mind, she looked down at the strong arm holding her tightly, and reluctantly rolled out of his grasp. She immediately got up, wanting to answer before Michael was awakened as well. Her legs were unsteady, but she managed to pull on a robe while making sure that Michael was covered with a sheet before answering the comm.
She was startled to see Rashen’s face pop on the screen. He looked worried, and she could see a flurry of people in the background yelling out commands. “Sorry to wake you my sweet, but we’ve got a major crisis. Our Canadian base has been attacked. I don’t have all the info, but I’ll keep you posted. Keep safe.”
Maria immediately sent out emergency calls to the other seven member of her team, relaying her message from Ra. “I don’t think they’ll attack. It would have made more sense to attack us simultaneously with their attack on Commander Berdichev so that we couldn’t be warned. However, I’m not taking any chances. I want a full perimeter of soldiers around the base and another perimeter twenty-five yards out. We won’t go to full alert just yet, so only wake necessary personnel. Shift change is in a few hours anyway.”
She continued barking out orders, “Ace, make sure all systems are online. Let’s see if we can’t put that early warning system you installed to good use. Sam, I want a full staff in the infirmary. Sean, let’s make sure we’re good on ammunition and explosives, the soldiers on the outer perimeter will need the appropriate explosives. Rath, I want two fighter jets up in the air…quick. Put them on rotation for the next forty-eight hours. Talia, inform any operatives out in the field, and let’s reroute any personnel that are in Simon’s area to help out. Quinn, bring up the schematics for the Canadian base. Let’s try to figure out how they were attacked, anything that might help us. Ava, I’ll need you to help Quinn, but if we are attacked I need you to get the Roswell group out of here. Okay, everyone meet up in the war room in thirty.” Maria was confident that her team would pass along her commands to those they were in charge of, that they would be well-prepared. She was worried though, she knew Commander Simon Berdichev ran a top-notch base nestled in the Rocky Mountains, and it was troubling that he had been attacked without any prior warning.
Michael listened to the conversation, feigning sleep. He wanted to offer his help, but he wasn’t sure that he had anything to offer, despite the memories of being Second-in-Command to a King, he felt useless. It was hard to admit that it sounded as if she did not need him at all. He felt the bed dip slightly and then her small hand was on his shoulder trying to wake him. “Michael, sorry to wake you, one of the other bases has been attacked, and we need to prepare in case we’re attacked as well. I could really use your help.”
He turned around, feeling unworthy but adoring the look of love in her eyes. “Sure”, he managed to choke out. They quickly got up, casting furtive glances at each other as they dressed.
TBC
Last edited by Ninlil on Fri Sep 24, 2004 9:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Chapter 15
Sorry it’s been so long since an update. February is always a very busy month for me socially. The updates should start coming quicker again now. Anyways, thanks to everyone who left feedback and I hope that this chapter was worth the wait.
CHAPTER 15
Liz’s eyes fluttered open to find a single white rose on the pillow next to her. She had been dreaming about being the Queen bride in a Royal wedding, the great hall filled with pristine white roses in every nook and cranny, the aisle under her feet snowed under in soft satiny white petals, and her King down on one knee at the altar staring at her in awe. Reaching out, her fingers gently touched the blossoming flower to make sure she wasn’t still dreaming. She picked up the note that had been underneath the rose.
My dearest love,
I wish with all my heart that I had never hurt
you. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to be
happy, safe, and loved. Just know that I am
deeply sorry, and I will never make the same
mistakes again. Please, love, I am truly
distraught without you in my arms. I need you.
Love,
Your devoted husband
Liz stroked the petals faintly across her cheek, a small smile playing across her lips. All she wanted to do at that moment was go find her husband, and show him just how much his romantic gesture meant to her. Only reality decided at that moment to slam into her as she wondered how many other women had received roses from her supposedly devoted husband. She steeled her emotions, it was going to be hard but she needed to be strong.
Their marriage had been good for so many years, she hadn’t always spent her nights wondering where he was. Liz knew that he did truly love her, but he had screwed up big time and she wasn’t about to take him back again. She had given up a lot for him and his love, and if he was willing to throw that away then it was about time that she started respecting herself and live her life to its full potential.
After showering and dressing, Liz walked out into the hallway ready to start on her new life. The hallways were bustling with activity. Her feet had subconsciously carried her towards Max’s door before she realized the mistake she was making. That way led to heartbreak, and she refused to go down that path any longer. She quickly turned the opposite direction and was about to stop someone to find out what was going on when she heard her name being called.
“Mrs. Evans”
For a moment, she was startled by the last name. They hadn’t used it while on the run, and she had gotten used to Sean calling her Parker the past few days. The familiarity of the last name Parker felt right to her, the name Evans just made her heart constrict. “Yes?” Liz turned around to find one of the men that she had seen in Maria’s company. If she remembered correctly, he was a doctor.
“You looked lost. Is there anything I can help you with?” the young man asked.
“Do you know where Maria is? I need to speak with her.”
He smiled politely. “Sure. If you follow me, I’ll take you to where she’s at.”
“Thanks.” Liz followed the good looking man, desperately trying to remember his name.
“It’s Sam.”
Stunned out of her thoughts, she asked, “But…how did you know?”
His laugh was charming. “The confusion on your face said quite a bit, but I am slightly empathic. Really it was just a good guess.” He noticed her embarrassment. “Don’t worry about it, Mrs. Evans. After all you’ve been through lately I really didn’t expect you to remember my name.”
“Please call me Liz.” It was bothersome to be constantly reminded that she was still married to Max, especially since she was trying hard to keep him off her mind. “You’re a doctor, right?” At his nod, she continued, “So…um, are you from around here?” Liz reprimanded herself silently for not being able to ask straightforwardly if he was an alien, but the seemingly lifelong endeavor of keeping alien existence secret was difficult to overcome. This world in which beings born on other planets was fairly commonplace was definitely new to them.
Sam smiled, it was kind of cute to see her flustered. “No. I was born on Saphon, but I’ve spent most of my adult life here. I received my medical license from Harvard, and I interned at Cambridge Hospital and later worked at the Mayo Clinic before deciding to work with the Allied Forces fulltime.”
Liz looked at him closely. That was quite impressive, and he didn’t even look all that much older than her. Her small exclamation of “wow!” was not missed, but they had stopped just inside a large room full of activity.
“Wait here. I’ll go get the Commander.”
She watched him walk away, and thought about all the questions she couldn’t wait to ask him about his time at Harvard. It amazed her how much he had accomplished. Liz remembered Maria telling her that staying at the base could be dangerous, but now that she was meeting new and interesting people she really didn’t want to leave. However, the commotion around the base this morning seemed to indicate that they might be in one of those dangerous situations now. Her pulse quickened as she looked around the room.
The room was full of people talking and moving around. The walls were lined with computers and other electronics she had never seen before. Several view screens had large maps displayed on them, and clusters of people around them pointing out various objects. Liz looked through the crowd to see if she could find Sam or Maria, and was surprised to see Michael with them coming her way. She supposed that he was in his element. He looked confident and authoritative walking next to Maria. Once they had reached her, her eyes automatically flitted to Michael. “What’s going on here?”
Michael scratched his eyebrow and waited for Maria to answer. This was after all her show.
Maria bristled at Liz’s lack of respect, but knew that it was only natural for Liz to seek answers from someone she perceived to be the strongest male in the room. Being a woman in a role of leadership, Maria often strove twice as hard as any man to earn the respect of others, so the slight from another woman, as unaware as it might have been, was annoying. She calmed herself remembering that there was also familiarity between the two that came from being in their small, self-isolated group for the past ten years, although she was sure that Michael and Liz still had not become friends in all that time. Maria stepped forward gaining Liz’s attention by putting herself in front of the two men that flanked her sides. “Hi, Liz. It’s nothing to worry about right now. We had a problem at one of our other bases, and I just want to make sure we all stay safe.”
Liz quickly recognized her blunder in etiquette. She quietly asked, “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Maria thought about it for a moment, and her face brightened. Turning to Sam she told him, “Liz was a totally smart cookie in the sciences back in school. I’m sure she’d be a real help down in the medical facilities. Will you show her what she can do to lend a hand?”
Sam wanted to remind her that Liz had no real training and that she was talking about high school, but he knew better. The Commander wanted her friend to feel needed, and he was sure there would be something she could do. Besides, people who were instinctively smart were usually fast learners. “Sure, we could always use the help.”
They had been down in the hospital area of the base for a couple of hours when Sean showed up. “Parker, what are you doing here?” He appeared pleasantly surprised to see her.
“I’m just helping Sam a little.” She had been doing menial tasks, but that was good enough for now. In the future, she’d have to see about training or schooling. She had been fascinated by every one of Sam’s stories, but it also had made her feel unaccomplished. Liz stood up to give Sean a hug, but noticed his grimace as he reached for her. “What happened?”
Sam walked back into the room at that moment and groaned. “Sean, what did I tell you about lifting those crates. No matter what you might think you are not superman.” He didn’t even really need his abilities to know what was wrong with his friend. Sean never came to him for anything else.
Sean caught Liz trying to stifle a giggle. “Awww, come on man, don’t make me look like a wimp in front of the pretty girl.” Of course, this only caused Liz to giggle more. He smiled at making her laugh, and dramatically slumped down on one of the beds. “Just fix me up, doc. I’ve got work to do.” If only he had a little alien healing power in him, then he could fix his own damn dislocated shoulder. Once he was all fixed up, he asked Liz, “Do you want to get together for dinner tonight?” Sean knew she’d been having a rough time of it lately, and he hoped that he could take her mind off her troubles.
“Okay, what time?” They worked out the details, and soon Sean left to get back to work. Liz noticed Sam looking at her, and felt the need to explain. “We’re just friends.”
Sam shook his head. “No need to explain to me, Liz. I don’t really know you all that well, and I’m not the kind of person to pass judgment on others.” He knew she was still married to King Zan, but being a part of the Commander’s team he also knew that their marriage was in trouble.
Hiding behind the long, dark curtain of hair that fell in front of her eyes, Liz dipped her head at the emotional confusion his words caused to roil in her gut. Hesitantly she tucked her hair behind her ear and glanced at Sam out of the corner of her eye, hoping that he was telling the truth about not judging her. In a very short amount of time of knowing each other, she realized that his opinion had become incredibly important to her.
~~~
Michael had stolen glances at her all morning as she commanded, issuing orders… She was beautiful. He was pulled out of his reverie as he watched Rath move to Maria’s side standing so close to her that their sides were touching. Maria was pointing something out to him on one of the maps scattered across the conference room table, and whatever he said to her caused her to playfully nudge his shoulder with her own. Michael’s jaw clenched, her ease around his double was unnerving. It aggravated him to no end that despite her explanation of their relationship he still couldn’t keep his jealousy in check. Then she looked up, found his eyes across the room, and offered him the sweetest, most engaging smile he had ever seen which promptly made him forget all of his previous concerns.
“A siren’s smile.”
Michael turned to find Alex by his side. He grunted in response, not willing to let on just how much her smile meant to him.
Alex chuckled. “I suppose I’ll have to try to navigate the waters without crashing onto the rocks. Wish me luck.” Not expecting a response from his stoic friend, he walked off to speak with his Commander. He put his hand on her shoulder. “Haven’t I told you that violence is never the solution?”
Maria rolled her eyes. “Right, you’re just mad because you didn’t get there before me.”
She was right, not that he was willing to admit it. There was no way he could attempt the same noble friend act for Liz that he had for Maria back during the Courtney situation now that Maria had gotten to Max first. Ace threw a pretty mean punch, but his Commander was at the top level in combatant skills. He wasn’t prepared to look like a wimp. Ace had no response, so he spat out in an accusatory tone with a hint of teasing, “pugilist.”
Maria and Rath laughed. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” She walked away shaking her head.
“When ya ever gonna learn man?” Rath questioned with a proud grin on his face. People like he and the Commander could never feel bad about being called a warrior, a fighter, it was in their blood.
Maria walked over to the side table they had set up at the back corner of the room to fix a cup of much needed coffee. They hadn’t been attacked, and she was fairly sure that they wouldn’t be. Even so, it had been good practice. She also discovered that she really liked the way Michael thought tactically. He had many of the same proficiencies she saw in Rath, but somehow Michael seemed more creative and unreserved with his strategies. Whether it was because he had more Grandpa Dupree in him or because of his upbringing she wasn’t sure.
Michael listened to Talia tell him about the other teams they were diverting to help the Canadian base. They had been coming up with a plan to best utilize each operative. He loved finally being in a position of being able to do something. Ever since the memories of his past life had fully come back to him, he had felt the need to use his military skills. He had used them somewhat in protecting the group, but he always had to frustratingly pull away from the need to stand his ground and fight.
As Talia left to give directions to various staff members, Maria brought him a cup of coffee. Their hands brushed up against each other as she handed the cup to him. All day he had endured small touches from her hands and slight brushes of her body against his, it had been such sweet torture. After taking a sip, he raised his eyebrow questioningly.
“Of course I remember how you like it,” Maria whispered hotly in his ear.
Michael had to stifle a groan. Neither of them had said anything after his confession the night before, there had only been moans and groans while they made love, and afterwards they had been too spent to do anything but sleep. No words had needed to be spoken then, everything had been said with their eyes, with their profound connection. But now in the light of day when his body was no longer buried deep inside of hers, he was feeling unsure of where they stood.
Maria knew they had fallen back into a sexual relationship fast, although it felt like they needed to make up for lost time. In some ways, she wanted nothing more than to forgive and forget and pick up where they left off. In other ways, she felt that they should slow down and build a friendship so they could get to know each other again. But, their connection had felt so powerful the night before that it had her questioning why she wanted to waste anymore time.
As day turned into night, slowly things around the base went back to only a slightly heightened alert level. It was enough that the first response teams could now get some much needed rest. In silent agreement, Michael and Maria headed towards their rooms together.
They were both silent, each deep in contemplation. As they approached her room Maria slowed down slightly allowing him to walk in front of her. His jeans were so tight she could hardly stand it, his natural walk a seductive swagger.
Michael’s measured steps slowed as they reached the door to her apartment. He really didn’t want to go back to his own room, but he also didn’t want her to think that he just assumed they would sleep in the same bed again. Even though it was what he desperately wanted, she had yet to say anything about it. He ran his hands through his hair. “Well, I guess I’ll…uh…see you tomorrow.” Afraid that she would see through his façade of indifference and see the hope of a protest from her, he steeled himself not to turn around. However, when there was only complete silence he looked her way only to find her gone.
His mouth fell open. She just left?! Michael didn’t have long to be angry though. He turned to her door expecting it to be closed, and instead found it open. She was almost to her bedroom, her back turned to him, but still in clear view of the doorway as she pulled off her shirt and let it drop to the floor. His mouth fell open a little wider, his Maria stood there clad only in her tight leather pants with her bare back exposed to him. Her hand lifted to pull her hair to one side, and she looked over her shoulder at him in clear invitation before resuming her walk to the bedroom. Michael felt his breath catch, she was absolutely stunning!
He strolled in to her space kicking the door closed behind him. Michael pressed his body up tightly against hers. His arms wrapped around from behind her, and he gently pushed away the small hands at the buttons of her pants replacing them with his own. Michael’s fingers traced the warm smoothness of her hips and belly as he pushed the last articles of clothing covering her supple body to the floor.
Maria stepped out of the clothes pooled at her feet, and turned to face her lover. With a sharp intake of breath at the beauty exposed to him, he bent down to kiss her as his palms slid down her body. Her skin hummed and she felt an incredible awareness of him, of his energy. Maria unbuttoned his shirt letting her fingers explore the soft fine hair of his chest, then the heat of his skin as she dipped her fingers under the waistband of his jeans.
Desperate to see all of him, feel all of him, Maria deftly worked the button and zipper of his jeans, sighing with relief when she was able to push them down his body. Michael drew her close to him relishing in the contact of her skin against his own bare skin. His large hand curled around the back of her neck and he swooped down for another kiss, increasing the pressure, his tongue tangling with hers as intense desire ran through them. They walked the remaining few steps before falling onto the bed together.
Michael hovered over her, his hand stroking down over the soft flesh of her breasts, his thumbnails lightly scratching over the hardening nipples. After nipping and sucking along the sensitive skin of her neck and across the quickly heating skin of her shoulders and chest, he took a stiffening rosy nipple into his wet mouth and sucked hard. "Michael, yeessss," she hissed and arched her back, her hands entangled in his hair, holding him firmly against her lustful body.
He trailed kisses down to her navel, savoring the scent and taste of her enticing flesh. His tongue flicked out against her bellybutton causing her hips to rise slightly in anticipation. Shivers of excitement rushed down her spine. Maria gasped out his name once again as Michael brushed his hands down over her taut stomach and through the wet curls between her legs, his fingers parting her lips before two fingers sunk deep inside of her.
Her nails scratched over the back of his scalp and along with the breathy whispers of his name from her lips and the intoxicating scent of her, an uncontrollable passion swept through his body. Michael closed his eyes briefly in an effort to remain in control. Unable to resist any longer he lowered his head and ran his tongue along her hardened clit, scraping it slightly with his teeth. He felt her clamp hard around his fingers, and enjoyed the way her body surged up beneath him sending his fingers even deeper. She writhed beneath him as he thrust his fingers back and forth while licking and sucking on her clit. Her orgasm approached fast, and her thighs clenched tightly, a shudder racing over her entire body. A guttural cry escaped her lips as he removed his fingers and lapped up the juices from her hot center.
Michael took great pleasure in the taste of her that lingered in his mouth as he crawled back up her body. His tongue moved between her lips, sharing the taste in a heated kiss. He gasped brokenly feeling the touch of her small hands on his already hard length. “Maria…I need…” Michael was beyond words and feeling her guide him to her passage he was thankful that she knew exactly what he needed, what he suspected they both needed.
Taking a deep controlled breath, Michael moved down swiftly, losing himself in the sensation of her wet heat closing around his erection. Maria wrapped her legs tightly around his hips while her hands gripped his shoulders in a fervent embrace. He drove her in a slower, softer rhythm, hoping to prolong the sensuousness of their bodies coming together again after years of thinking that it would never happen. She met his slow thrusts, and soon they were both feeling the tendrils of electricity move over them.
The connection opened and his mouth came down on hers once again. Maria sighed when he pushed his tongue between her slightly parted lips, his tongue stroking against the roof of her mouth, inside her lip over her teeth, gliding along the tip of her tongue, making love to her mouth, mimicking the actions of their bodies. Michael reached one hand between their bodies and stroked it down to where they were joined rubbing the hard nubbin that would send her higher. His pace increased as he felt Maria moving closer to her release, wanting to be there with her.
She was overcome with the feel of the steady pulsing of his cock inside her, with the continual assault on her senses, and felt her orgasm quickly spiraling to the surface. Harsh pants escaped her lips as she arched upwards once more before calling out “Michael…” as jarring explosions of pleasure washed through her. Michael pumped into her welcoming body once more before the convulsing of her sex on his cock became too much and he spilled his seed deep within her womb.
Fast explosions of color and images once again attacked their senses through the connection, sending them both into rapture from white-hot shocks of pleasure coursing along every nerve. Michael struggled to breathe through the limitless ecstasy. “Maria,” he muttered against her breast. He tried to move off of her so that he didn’t crush her, but his entire body resisted. Slowly the back of her hand brushed along his cheek and Maria whispered, “stay”. She felt pleasurably drained, but enjoyed the sensation of his weight pressed against her.
After several hours of blissful rest they woke, and fell into a familiar pattern of talking about anything and everything.
“I don’t know. I think if I hadn’t of had a purpose, I would have drowned. Hell, I had a taste of what that would feel like when I got put in the hospital, and it’s not something I ever want to feel again.”
Flashes of his youth and a time when his quest for answers was a driving force behind everything he did filtered through his brain. It was his sense of purpose, his way out of the murkiness of living with Hank. “I know that feeling. It’s not pretty.”
Maria snuggled up closer to his body, placing soft kisses along his collar bone. For the millionth time in her life, she wished he’d never had to live through that abuse.
Michael traced the darkened skin on the swell of her breast that blemished her beautiful alabaster skin. He felt like he was the one who had put that hole in her heart. He was the reason she even knew Nacedo. He was the reason she was left defenseless and alone in the first place.
Maria groaned, instinctively knowing what he was thinking. “It’s not your fault. You’re not even the one who brought me into the alien abyss, so please once and for all stop blaming yourself. The only one at fault is Nacedo and he’s already paid for his crimes.”
The cool metal of his silver rings made her skin quiver as his hands caressed her throat and shoulder, down her side, and back up over the side of her breast.
As long as they were on tough subjects he asked, “So, where do we go from here?”
“Guerin, I can’t believe you of all people are initiating a relationship talk,” she joked. Maria intertwined her hand with his. “I don’t know. You don’t know me any more. Baby, we don’t know each other.” They were both different now. Although the changes may have laid on a familiar foundation, they had been apart a long time.
Michael knew that, but he also knew that Maria was the only woman he would ever love despite any length of time they spent apart. “We connected. We know each others’ hearts. I think we always have. My whole being calls out for you and not just in the physical sense…though that is obvious,” he stated as his erection pressed against her thigh. “I was so stupid for letting you out of my sight, for leaving you.” He didn’t understand back then how incomplete he would feel without her.
“Doesn’t this seem too fast to you?”
He shook his head. “It’s not fast enough. It’s taken us a long time to get to this point. I know we have a lot to learn about each other. I hope that we’ll have the rest of our lives to do so.” The last was said in a hopeful whisper that he wasn’t sure she heard. “All I know is that I need you in my life. I want to be with you.” Michael felt that it was time to put all his cards on the table.
Maria closed her eyes, wanting to believe in his words. “Does that mean you’ll stay… with me?”
Michael nuzzled his head in the crook of her neck and whispered, “’til the end of time.” He wondered if it was too soon to ask her to marry him. There was probably a lot of relationship stuff they needed to work on, but now that Maria was back in his life he wasn’t going to let her go. He had feared for so long, too long that he would never see her again. “I meant what I said the other night. I still love you.”
This was her second chance at a love that she recognized long ago would transcend all others in her life. She looked into his brazenly handsome face with its ever present devilish smirk, his whiskey colored eyes set in sun-browned skin, and understood on some complete mystical level that she needed to take a leap of faith. Maria breathed deep and tried in vain to suppress the goofy grin she just knew wanted to make itself known. “I love you too. I always have.”
Michael rolled over and pinned her beneath him. He kissed her hungrily, everything else in the world melted away. Pulling back and gazing into her flawless green eyes, he stated with strong conviction, “I love you”.
He said it with such intensity that the memories it invoked caused her to burst into soft laughter.
His brows furrowed. That definitely wasn’t the response he expected. Then again when did Maria ever do anything predictable? Michael steadied his voice to sound as unconcerned as possible and asked, “What’s so funny?”
Maria smiled and rubbed his shoulders reassuringly. “Nothing…just as long as you don’t love me too much,” she said referring to their first break up.
He chuckled, a deep-chested, marvelous chuckle that sent vibrations through her body. “Me?” he asked with incredulity. “What about you and your ‘I want out because I love you so much’?”
“God, we were idiots. How did we ever think that loving someone too much was a good reason to run away?” She pulled his head down and pressed her lips to his.
He mumbled against her lips, “We were both scared.”
“Yeah” she sighed. “Let’s not do that again. I’m tired of running.”
He held her tightly against him, kissing her tenderly. “Me too.”
TBC
CHAPTER 15
Liz’s eyes fluttered open to find a single white rose on the pillow next to her. She had been dreaming about being the Queen bride in a Royal wedding, the great hall filled with pristine white roses in every nook and cranny, the aisle under her feet snowed under in soft satiny white petals, and her King down on one knee at the altar staring at her in awe. Reaching out, her fingers gently touched the blossoming flower to make sure she wasn’t still dreaming. She picked up the note that had been underneath the rose.
My dearest love,
I wish with all my heart that I had never hurt
you. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to be
happy, safe, and loved. Just know that I am
deeply sorry, and I will never make the same
mistakes again. Please, love, I am truly
distraught without you in my arms. I need you.
Love,
Your devoted husband
Liz stroked the petals faintly across her cheek, a small smile playing across her lips. All she wanted to do at that moment was go find her husband, and show him just how much his romantic gesture meant to her. Only reality decided at that moment to slam into her as she wondered how many other women had received roses from her supposedly devoted husband. She steeled her emotions, it was going to be hard but she needed to be strong.
Their marriage had been good for so many years, she hadn’t always spent her nights wondering where he was. Liz knew that he did truly love her, but he had screwed up big time and she wasn’t about to take him back again. She had given up a lot for him and his love, and if he was willing to throw that away then it was about time that she started respecting herself and live her life to its full potential.
After showering and dressing, Liz walked out into the hallway ready to start on her new life. The hallways were bustling with activity. Her feet had subconsciously carried her towards Max’s door before she realized the mistake she was making. That way led to heartbreak, and she refused to go down that path any longer. She quickly turned the opposite direction and was about to stop someone to find out what was going on when she heard her name being called.
“Mrs. Evans”
For a moment, she was startled by the last name. They hadn’t used it while on the run, and she had gotten used to Sean calling her Parker the past few days. The familiarity of the last name Parker felt right to her, the name Evans just made her heart constrict. “Yes?” Liz turned around to find one of the men that she had seen in Maria’s company. If she remembered correctly, he was a doctor.
“You looked lost. Is there anything I can help you with?” the young man asked.
“Do you know where Maria is? I need to speak with her.”
He smiled politely. “Sure. If you follow me, I’ll take you to where she’s at.”
“Thanks.” Liz followed the good looking man, desperately trying to remember his name.
“It’s Sam.”
Stunned out of her thoughts, she asked, “But…how did you know?”
His laugh was charming. “The confusion on your face said quite a bit, but I am slightly empathic. Really it was just a good guess.” He noticed her embarrassment. “Don’t worry about it, Mrs. Evans. After all you’ve been through lately I really didn’t expect you to remember my name.”
“Please call me Liz.” It was bothersome to be constantly reminded that she was still married to Max, especially since she was trying hard to keep him off her mind. “You’re a doctor, right?” At his nod, she continued, “So…um, are you from around here?” Liz reprimanded herself silently for not being able to ask straightforwardly if he was an alien, but the seemingly lifelong endeavor of keeping alien existence secret was difficult to overcome. This world in which beings born on other planets was fairly commonplace was definitely new to them.
Sam smiled, it was kind of cute to see her flustered. “No. I was born on Saphon, but I’ve spent most of my adult life here. I received my medical license from Harvard, and I interned at Cambridge Hospital and later worked at the Mayo Clinic before deciding to work with the Allied Forces fulltime.”
Liz looked at him closely. That was quite impressive, and he didn’t even look all that much older than her. Her small exclamation of “wow!” was not missed, but they had stopped just inside a large room full of activity.
“Wait here. I’ll go get the Commander.”
She watched him walk away, and thought about all the questions she couldn’t wait to ask him about his time at Harvard. It amazed her how much he had accomplished. Liz remembered Maria telling her that staying at the base could be dangerous, but now that she was meeting new and interesting people she really didn’t want to leave. However, the commotion around the base this morning seemed to indicate that they might be in one of those dangerous situations now. Her pulse quickened as she looked around the room.
The room was full of people talking and moving around. The walls were lined with computers and other electronics she had never seen before. Several view screens had large maps displayed on them, and clusters of people around them pointing out various objects. Liz looked through the crowd to see if she could find Sam or Maria, and was surprised to see Michael with them coming her way. She supposed that he was in his element. He looked confident and authoritative walking next to Maria. Once they had reached her, her eyes automatically flitted to Michael. “What’s going on here?”
Michael scratched his eyebrow and waited for Maria to answer. This was after all her show.
Maria bristled at Liz’s lack of respect, but knew that it was only natural for Liz to seek answers from someone she perceived to be the strongest male in the room. Being a woman in a role of leadership, Maria often strove twice as hard as any man to earn the respect of others, so the slight from another woman, as unaware as it might have been, was annoying. She calmed herself remembering that there was also familiarity between the two that came from being in their small, self-isolated group for the past ten years, although she was sure that Michael and Liz still had not become friends in all that time. Maria stepped forward gaining Liz’s attention by putting herself in front of the two men that flanked her sides. “Hi, Liz. It’s nothing to worry about right now. We had a problem at one of our other bases, and I just want to make sure we all stay safe.”
Liz quickly recognized her blunder in etiquette. She quietly asked, “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Maria thought about it for a moment, and her face brightened. Turning to Sam she told him, “Liz was a totally smart cookie in the sciences back in school. I’m sure she’d be a real help down in the medical facilities. Will you show her what she can do to lend a hand?”
Sam wanted to remind her that Liz had no real training and that she was talking about high school, but he knew better. The Commander wanted her friend to feel needed, and he was sure there would be something she could do. Besides, people who were instinctively smart were usually fast learners. “Sure, we could always use the help.”
They had been down in the hospital area of the base for a couple of hours when Sean showed up. “Parker, what are you doing here?” He appeared pleasantly surprised to see her.
“I’m just helping Sam a little.” She had been doing menial tasks, but that was good enough for now. In the future, she’d have to see about training or schooling. She had been fascinated by every one of Sam’s stories, but it also had made her feel unaccomplished. Liz stood up to give Sean a hug, but noticed his grimace as he reached for her. “What happened?”
Sam walked back into the room at that moment and groaned. “Sean, what did I tell you about lifting those crates. No matter what you might think you are not superman.” He didn’t even really need his abilities to know what was wrong with his friend. Sean never came to him for anything else.
Sean caught Liz trying to stifle a giggle. “Awww, come on man, don’t make me look like a wimp in front of the pretty girl.” Of course, this only caused Liz to giggle more. He smiled at making her laugh, and dramatically slumped down on one of the beds. “Just fix me up, doc. I’ve got work to do.” If only he had a little alien healing power in him, then he could fix his own damn dislocated shoulder. Once he was all fixed up, he asked Liz, “Do you want to get together for dinner tonight?” Sean knew she’d been having a rough time of it lately, and he hoped that he could take her mind off her troubles.
“Okay, what time?” They worked out the details, and soon Sean left to get back to work. Liz noticed Sam looking at her, and felt the need to explain. “We’re just friends.”
Sam shook his head. “No need to explain to me, Liz. I don’t really know you all that well, and I’m not the kind of person to pass judgment on others.” He knew she was still married to King Zan, but being a part of the Commander’s team he also knew that their marriage was in trouble.
Hiding behind the long, dark curtain of hair that fell in front of her eyes, Liz dipped her head at the emotional confusion his words caused to roil in her gut. Hesitantly she tucked her hair behind her ear and glanced at Sam out of the corner of her eye, hoping that he was telling the truth about not judging her. In a very short amount of time of knowing each other, she realized that his opinion had become incredibly important to her.
~~~
Michael had stolen glances at her all morning as she commanded, issuing orders… She was beautiful. He was pulled out of his reverie as he watched Rath move to Maria’s side standing so close to her that their sides were touching. Maria was pointing something out to him on one of the maps scattered across the conference room table, and whatever he said to her caused her to playfully nudge his shoulder with her own. Michael’s jaw clenched, her ease around his double was unnerving. It aggravated him to no end that despite her explanation of their relationship he still couldn’t keep his jealousy in check. Then she looked up, found his eyes across the room, and offered him the sweetest, most engaging smile he had ever seen which promptly made him forget all of his previous concerns.
“A siren’s smile.”
Michael turned to find Alex by his side. He grunted in response, not willing to let on just how much her smile meant to him.
Alex chuckled. “I suppose I’ll have to try to navigate the waters without crashing onto the rocks. Wish me luck.” Not expecting a response from his stoic friend, he walked off to speak with his Commander. He put his hand on her shoulder. “Haven’t I told you that violence is never the solution?”
Maria rolled her eyes. “Right, you’re just mad because you didn’t get there before me.”
She was right, not that he was willing to admit it. There was no way he could attempt the same noble friend act for Liz that he had for Maria back during the Courtney situation now that Maria had gotten to Max first. Ace threw a pretty mean punch, but his Commander was at the top level in combatant skills. He wasn’t prepared to look like a wimp. Ace had no response, so he spat out in an accusatory tone with a hint of teasing, “pugilist.”
Maria and Rath laughed. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” She walked away shaking her head.
“When ya ever gonna learn man?” Rath questioned with a proud grin on his face. People like he and the Commander could never feel bad about being called a warrior, a fighter, it was in their blood.
Maria walked over to the side table they had set up at the back corner of the room to fix a cup of much needed coffee. They hadn’t been attacked, and she was fairly sure that they wouldn’t be. Even so, it had been good practice. She also discovered that she really liked the way Michael thought tactically. He had many of the same proficiencies she saw in Rath, but somehow Michael seemed more creative and unreserved with his strategies. Whether it was because he had more Grandpa Dupree in him or because of his upbringing she wasn’t sure.
Michael listened to Talia tell him about the other teams they were diverting to help the Canadian base. They had been coming up with a plan to best utilize each operative. He loved finally being in a position of being able to do something. Ever since the memories of his past life had fully come back to him, he had felt the need to use his military skills. He had used them somewhat in protecting the group, but he always had to frustratingly pull away from the need to stand his ground and fight.
As Talia left to give directions to various staff members, Maria brought him a cup of coffee. Their hands brushed up against each other as she handed the cup to him. All day he had endured small touches from her hands and slight brushes of her body against his, it had been such sweet torture. After taking a sip, he raised his eyebrow questioningly.
“Of course I remember how you like it,” Maria whispered hotly in his ear.
Michael had to stifle a groan. Neither of them had said anything after his confession the night before, there had only been moans and groans while they made love, and afterwards they had been too spent to do anything but sleep. No words had needed to be spoken then, everything had been said with their eyes, with their profound connection. But now in the light of day when his body was no longer buried deep inside of hers, he was feeling unsure of where they stood.
Maria knew they had fallen back into a sexual relationship fast, although it felt like they needed to make up for lost time. In some ways, she wanted nothing more than to forgive and forget and pick up where they left off. In other ways, she felt that they should slow down and build a friendship so they could get to know each other again. But, their connection had felt so powerful the night before that it had her questioning why she wanted to waste anymore time.
As day turned into night, slowly things around the base went back to only a slightly heightened alert level. It was enough that the first response teams could now get some much needed rest. In silent agreement, Michael and Maria headed towards their rooms together.
They were both silent, each deep in contemplation. As they approached her room Maria slowed down slightly allowing him to walk in front of her. His jeans were so tight she could hardly stand it, his natural walk a seductive swagger.
Michael’s measured steps slowed as they reached the door to her apartment. He really didn’t want to go back to his own room, but he also didn’t want her to think that he just assumed they would sleep in the same bed again. Even though it was what he desperately wanted, she had yet to say anything about it. He ran his hands through his hair. “Well, I guess I’ll…uh…see you tomorrow.” Afraid that she would see through his façade of indifference and see the hope of a protest from her, he steeled himself not to turn around. However, when there was only complete silence he looked her way only to find her gone.
His mouth fell open. She just left?! Michael didn’t have long to be angry though. He turned to her door expecting it to be closed, and instead found it open. She was almost to her bedroom, her back turned to him, but still in clear view of the doorway as she pulled off her shirt and let it drop to the floor. His mouth fell open a little wider, his Maria stood there clad only in her tight leather pants with her bare back exposed to him. Her hand lifted to pull her hair to one side, and she looked over her shoulder at him in clear invitation before resuming her walk to the bedroom. Michael felt his breath catch, she was absolutely stunning!
He strolled in to her space kicking the door closed behind him. Michael pressed his body up tightly against hers. His arms wrapped around from behind her, and he gently pushed away the small hands at the buttons of her pants replacing them with his own. Michael’s fingers traced the warm smoothness of her hips and belly as he pushed the last articles of clothing covering her supple body to the floor.
Maria stepped out of the clothes pooled at her feet, and turned to face her lover. With a sharp intake of breath at the beauty exposed to him, he bent down to kiss her as his palms slid down her body. Her skin hummed and she felt an incredible awareness of him, of his energy. Maria unbuttoned his shirt letting her fingers explore the soft fine hair of his chest, then the heat of his skin as she dipped her fingers under the waistband of his jeans.
Desperate to see all of him, feel all of him, Maria deftly worked the button and zipper of his jeans, sighing with relief when she was able to push them down his body. Michael drew her close to him relishing in the contact of her skin against his own bare skin. His large hand curled around the back of her neck and he swooped down for another kiss, increasing the pressure, his tongue tangling with hers as intense desire ran through them. They walked the remaining few steps before falling onto the bed together.
Michael hovered over her, his hand stroking down over the soft flesh of her breasts, his thumbnails lightly scratching over the hardening nipples. After nipping and sucking along the sensitive skin of her neck and across the quickly heating skin of her shoulders and chest, he took a stiffening rosy nipple into his wet mouth and sucked hard. "Michael, yeessss," she hissed and arched her back, her hands entangled in his hair, holding him firmly against her lustful body.
He trailed kisses down to her navel, savoring the scent and taste of her enticing flesh. His tongue flicked out against her bellybutton causing her hips to rise slightly in anticipation. Shivers of excitement rushed down her spine. Maria gasped out his name once again as Michael brushed his hands down over her taut stomach and through the wet curls between her legs, his fingers parting her lips before two fingers sunk deep inside of her.
Her nails scratched over the back of his scalp and along with the breathy whispers of his name from her lips and the intoxicating scent of her, an uncontrollable passion swept through his body. Michael closed his eyes briefly in an effort to remain in control. Unable to resist any longer he lowered his head and ran his tongue along her hardened clit, scraping it slightly with his teeth. He felt her clamp hard around his fingers, and enjoyed the way her body surged up beneath him sending his fingers even deeper. She writhed beneath him as he thrust his fingers back and forth while licking and sucking on her clit. Her orgasm approached fast, and her thighs clenched tightly, a shudder racing over her entire body. A guttural cry escaped her lips as he removed his fingers and lapped up the juices from her hot center.
Michael took great pleasure in the taste of her that lingered in his mouth as he crawled back up her body. His tongue moved between her lips, sharing the taste in a heated kiss. He gasped brokenly feeling the touch of her small hands on his already hard length. “Maria…I need…” Michael was beyond words and feeling her guide him to her passage he was thankful that she knew exactly what he needed, what he suspected they both needed.
Taking a deep controlled breath, Michael moved down swiftly, losing himself in the sensation of her wet heat closing around his erection. Maria wrapped her legs tightly around his hips while her hands gripped his shoulders in a fervent embrace. He drove her in a slower, softer rhythm, hoping to prolong the sensuousness of their bodies coming together again after years of thinking that it would never happen. She met his slow thrusts, and soon they were both feeling the tendrils of electricity move over them.
The connection opened and his mouth came down on hers once again. Maria sighed when he pushed his tongue between her slightly parted lips, his tongue stroking against the roof of her mouth, inside her lip over her teeth, gliding along the tip of her tongue, making love to her mouth, mimicking the actions of their bodies. Michael reached one hand between their bodies and stroked it down to where they were joined rubbing the hard nubbin that would send her higher. His pace increased as he felt Maria moving closer to her release, wanting to be there with her.
She was overcome with the feel of the steady pulsing of his cock inside her, with the continual assault on her senses, and felt her orgasm quickly spiraling to the surface. Harsh pants escaped her lips as she arched upwards once more before calling out “Michael…” as jarring explosions of pleasure washed through her. Michael pumped into her welcoming body once more before the convulsing of her sex on his cock became too much and he spilled his seed deep within her womb.
Fast explosions of color and images once again attacked their senses through the connection, sending them both into rapture from white-hot shocks of pleasure coursing along every nerve. Michael struggled to breathe through the limitless ecstasy. “Maria,” he muttered against her breast. He tried to move off of her so that he didn’t crush her, but his entire body resisted. Slowly the back of her hand brushed along his cheek and Maria whispered, “stay”. She felt pleasurably drained, but enjoyed the sensation of his weight pressed against her.
After several hours of blissful rest they woke, and fell into a familiar pattern of talking about anything and everything.
“I don’t know. I think if I hadn’t of had a purpose, I would have drowned. Hell, I had a taste of what that would feel like when I got put in the hospital, and it’s not something I ever want to feel again.”
Flashes of his youth and a time when his quest for answers was a driving force behind everything he did filtered through his brain. It was his sense of purpose, his way out of the murkiness of living with Hank. “I know that feeling. It’s not pretty.”
Maria snuggled up closer to his body, placing soft kisses along his collar bone. For the millionth time in her life, she wished he’d never had to live through that abuse.
Michael traced the darkened skin on the swell of her breast that blemished her beautiful alabaster skin. He felt like he was the one who had put that hole in her heart. He was the reason she even knew Nacedo. He was the reason she was left defenseless and alone in the first place.
Maria groaned, instinctively knowing what he was thinking. “It’s not your fault. You’re not even the one who brought me into the alien abyss, so please once and for all stop blaming yourself. The only one at fault is Nacedo and he’s already paid for his crimes.”
The cool metal of his silver rings made her skin quiver as his hands caressed her throat and shoulder, down her side, and back up over the side of her breast.
As long as they were on tough subjects he asked, “So, where do we go from here?”
“Guerin, I can’t believe you of all people are initiating a relationship talk,” she joked. Maria intertwined her hand with his. “I don’t know. You don’t know me any more. Baby, we don’t know each other.” They were both different now. Although the changes may have laid on a familiar foundation, they had been apart a long time.
Michael knew that, but he also knew that Maria was the only woman he would ever love despite any length of time they spent apart. “We connected. We know each others’ hearts. I think we always have. My whole being calls out for you and not just in the physical sense…though that is obvious,” he stated as his erection pressed against her thigh. “I was so stupid for letting you out of my sight, for leaving you.” He didn’t understand back then how incomplete he would feel without her.
“Doesn’t this seem too fast to you?”
He shook his head. “It’s not fast enough. It’s taken us a long time to get to this point. I know we have a lot to learn about each other. I hope that we’ll have the rest of our lives to do so.” The last was said in a hopeful whisper that he wasn’t sure she heard. “All I know is that I need you in my life. I want to be with you.” Michael felt that it was time to put all his cards on the table.
Maria closed her eyes, wanting to believe in his words. “Does that mean you’ll stay… with me?”
Michael nuzzled his head in the crook of her neck and whispered, “’til the end of time.” He wondered if it was too soon to ask her to marry him. There was probably a lot of relationship stuff they needed to work on, but now that Maria was back in his life he wasn’t going to let her go. He had feared for so long, too long that he would never see her again. “I meant what I said the other night. I still love you.”
This was her second chance at a love that she recognized long ago would transcend all others in her life. She looked into his brazenly handsome face with its ever present devilish smirk, his whiskey colored eyes set in sun-browned skin, and understood on some complete mystical level that she needed to take a leap of faith. Maria breathed deep and tried in vain to suppress the goofy grin she just knew wanted to make itself known. “I love you too. I always have.”
Michael rolled over and pinned her beneath him. He kissed her hungrily, everything else in the world melted away. Pulling back and gazing into her flawless green eyes, he stated with strong conviction, “I love you”.
He said it with such intensity that the memories it invoked caused her to burst into soft laughter.
His brows furrowed. That definitely wasn’t the response he expected. Then again when did Maria ever do anything predictable? Michael steadied his voice to sound as unconcerned as possible and asked, “What’s so funny?”
Maria smiled and rubbed his shoulders reassuringly. “Nothing…just as long as you don’t love me too much,” she said referring to their first break up.
He chuckled, a deep-chested, marvelous chuckle that sent vibrations through her body. “Me?” he asked with incredulity. “What about you and your ‘I want out because I love you so much’?”
“God, we were idiots. How did we ever think that loving someone too much was a good reason to run away?” She pulled his head down and pressed her lips to his.
He mumbled against her lips, “We were both scared.”
“Yeah” she sighed. “Let’s not do that again. I’m tired of running.”
He held her tightly against him, kissing her tenderly. “Me too.”
TBC
Last edited by Ninlil on Fri Sep 24, 2004 9:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Chapter 16
Thanks Earth2Mama, magikhands and tiredmuse for the feedback! Anya, I'm glad you found the story. I hope you continue to enjoy it. Earth2Mama, thanks for the bump. It was much appreciated since it actually encouraged me to sit down and write out the last bit for this chapter.
-Kara
CHAPTER 16
Rath sat up and grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off his neck and shoulders. He and Sean were just finishing up their workout. “What’s up with you and the Parker chic?”
“Not much. I’ve always kinda had a thing for her.” Sean laid out on the weight bench to finish his last set.
“You and her get it on back in the day?” Rath asked while spotting his friend.
“Nah, spent some time with her at the bowling alley and got busted helping her break into the school. That’s about it. She was always hard up for Evans back then.”
“Not the case now,” Rath pointed out.
“True, but unlike most chics she’s not very receptive to the Delcua charm.” They had kissed, but every time they started to get physical she pulled back. He was also starting to suspect that her attentions were focused elsewhere. Sean voiced his worries, “I think she might be into the doc.” These days she was always helping him out in the clinic, and now Sam was all she ever talked about. He hoped it was only an infatuation and wouldn’t last long.
“Goin’ for the straight arrow, huh?” Sam was definitely a by-the-book kinda guy. However, Rath wasn’t sure that Sam would even think of Parker in that way since his girls, though few and far between, were usually vivacious blondes.
“Maybe, I just thought she might like a walk on the wild side. It could be good for her,” Sean said only partially in jest. Back when they were in Roswell he had always thought that if Max had been out of the picture, that she would’ve been more open to pursuing a relationship with him. Now that Max was out of the picture, for the most part, she was still hesitant to start anything. He didn’t want to be her rebound guy either, so maybe her little dalliance with the doc was a good thing. Sean sat up after finishing his last repetition.
Rath threw Sean a clean towel. “Shit, yeah, Parker definitely needs to loosen up.” What Sean saw in her was beyond him. Sean never seemed to have a thing for nerdy book girls before. ‘Must be the challenge’, Rath thought.
Changing the subject Sean asked, “So, how you doin’ about M and your dupe?” Maria and Michael had tried not to be too obvious about the new developments in their relationship, but the members of her team were family and it was hard to hide from them the giddiness she exuded lately.
Rath shrugged. “Whatever. They gots sumthin’ special. If he don’t fuck it up, they’ll last.” It wasn’t something he was particularly happy about, but there was also nothing he could do about it. At least his Pixie was happy, and that was enough.
Sean agreed and decided to get on to the more important subject of the day. “You seen that new chic that flew in this morning for weapons training…short blonde hair, blue eyes, tight body?”
Rath nodded with a smirk on his face. “She’s coming over tonight at 10.”
Sean laughed. “Damn!” The man certainly moved fast.
A soft feminine voice floated in from the doorway, “You are such a slut.”
“I don’t ever remember hearin’ you complainin’,” Rath retorted sharply.
“No you wouldn’t, not over that oh, so big…” Maria paused, her eyes traveling down his body “…ego”. The laughter in her eyes showed him that she was only messing with him.
Sean laughed while Rath muttered curses under his breath.
“Come on, let’s go play.” Maria walked into an adjacent training room confident that Rath would follow.
Sean sat in the corner to watch while Rath and Maria faced off in a room designed for hand-to-hand combat. They stared at each other silently for a few moments, until suddenly Rath ducked low and kicked out to her left. Maria feinted farther to the right just missing his strike.
As he stood up, she leapt, turning in the air and kicking high, aiming for his ribs. He rolled backward avoiding the full impact of her hit. Rath flipped up onto his feet, he lunged toward her, his left arm punching upward. Maria quickly ducked under the vicious swinging blow, sweeping her leg out and knocking him off his feet.
Maria rolled and fell upon his chest, her knees pinning down his arms. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Normally he would’ve easily averted getting held down, he wasn’t focusing.
Rath grunted and jerked his head towards the doorway. “We got an audience.”
“I know,” she declared a bit arrogantly. During a fight she never closed herself off, her empathic skills tended to be useful in detecting other presences within the area. So, besides having seen Kyle and Michael enter the doorway moments before out of the corner of her eye, Maria had also sensed their presence by way of their emotions as they approached the room.
Kyle whispered to Michael, “All I can say is thank god we’re related now. I mean she wouldn’t hurt her brother, would she?”
Michael ignored his friend. When they first walked in he had been immediately pissed off that Rath would dare to attack his girl, but after realizing it was the other way around his mind had quickly shifted into a fantasy of Maria being in complete control in the bedroom. The thought that he would without a doubt willingly submit to her had his mind reeling with possibilities. “Is it wrong to be turned on right now?” he asked more to himself than to Kyle who was by now completely absorbed with the fight.
Rath roughly pushed up with his whole body, throwing her off sideways. Despite being thrust off-balance, her movements were as fluid as a dancer’s. She gracefully bounded to her feet, facing her challenger once more. Maria circled him. Rath watched her cautiously, he had learned long ago to be wary of the small girl when she had that predatory gleam in her eyes.
He had to be on the offensive with her, it wasn’t in his nature to wait for anything. Rath turned sharply, his left arm coming down in a curving movement, catching her on the side. Maria ignored the pain of the blow, and caught his hand as it snaked back. In the same instant, her leg swept out forcefully clipping him in the back of the knees. His legs buckled, and Maria’s hand had encircled his throat before he had the chance to defend himself. Rath bowed his head conceding the fight. He grumbled, “show off”.
Maria kissed him on the cheek, loudly exaggerating the smacking sound, before releasing him and quickly darting across the room. Rath smirked at her cheekiness, and he and Sean headed to the showers, grunting their greetings to Michael and Kyle on their way out.
Still breathing deeply from the training, Maria smiled and went to Michael, embracing him as he bent to kiss her. “I was gonna finish up my workout. You want to stay and workout with me?”
Michael took in her tiny black shorts that showed off a great expanse of leg and the fitted black sports tank that revealed her toned midriff. He pulled her closer to his body and whispered seductively in her ear, “I’ve got a much better idea for a workout.”
Her eyebrow raised, but before he knew it she was telling Kyle they would see him later and he was being dragged from the room.
~~~
Kyle walked in the door to find his wife busily writing in her planner.
Without looking up Isabel told him, “I’m going with Amy to help out with the childcare program again today.” She flipped the page and wrote down another task.
“Are you sure you should be doing that in your condition?” Those kids were heavy and he didn’t want her lifting them, nor did he want her to over exert herself trying to keep up with them.
“Kyle!” she yelled exasperatedly. “I’m not even out of my first trimester let alone my first month.” She popped the pre-natal vitamins Sam had given her after her physical exam into her mouth and swallowed them down with a big glass of water.
“Yeah, but for all we know you could deliver a month from now.”
“Lily carried Maria Elena nine months. Quinn may not be an engineered hybrid, but their situation is pretty close. Besides, Sam is certain that I will carry to full term and that the earliest will be around seven months.” Isabel kissed his cheek. “Don’t worry, sweetie. Everything is on schedule.” She looked back at her planner, and her tone became more demanding, “Well, everything except making our second room into a nursery. There is so much we need to do and not much time, so I’m really going to need your help.”
He was thrilled that she seemed to really accept the idea of being pregnant now. It hadn’t taken her long to come around, but that first day had scared him to death. “I guess that means you want to stay here? You heard what happened at that other base, right?” He was full of worry at not being able to take care of his wife and child.
The loss of life had been minimal and they had eventually stopped the attack, but that didn’t take away from the fact that people had died. Isabel sighed, but she had thought about this quite a bit. “I know, but I feel safer here. It’s at least a bit more stable than moving around the country all the time. Plus, I like having Sam around to consult about our pregnancy. Besides, I’m pretty sure Michael will be staying what with him and Maria being all close now.”
Kyle nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I just got ditched by them. He got all hot under the collar at seein’ her kick Rath’s ass, and all he had to do was whisper in her ear and they were out the door.”
“Not surprising!” ‘Weird!’ she thought. ‘Who gets turned on at seeing the love their life beating up someone who is essentially their clone?’ Those two always were kind of weird in their own right, and when together they are even stranger and always turned on. “Anyways, Max will also stay since he’s all about being King and getting Liz back, and Liz is staying. I’m certain she prefers working down in the hospital rather than waitressing again. All of our family is staying here, and the rest of our family, Alex, Maria, Amy and your dad are here. What do you think?”
Kyle sat next to her on the sofa, and gently pulled her into his arms. “I think it’s a good idea. I really like being around family again, and it’s so nice not being cramped into a small apartment with the others all the time. Plus, I’d like to be able to share with them the joy our little one will bring in to our lives.”
~~~
“Ace, cut it out!” Ava yelled and swatted at his hand.
Ace moved out of her reach, but adjusted the small handheld camera and continued filming. “What’s wrong sugarpie? I really think we should document this. Don’t ya wanna be on camera?”
“Please! Reality tv is sooo last decade. Now get that stupid thing outta my face…honey dumpling,” the last being said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. Only he would want to film her moving into his apartment. The man was insane! Yummy, but insane!
“Hey! I liked all those reality shows. I’m just waiting for the American Idol: Where Are They Now? show. That’ll be the best!” He paused looking thoughtful. “Huh, maybe I can get the wild feed before it even goes on air.”
She shook her head. “You are such a dork…but a lovable dork.”
He put the camera down, and softly stroked her cheek. “I’m just excited…happy.”
Ava kissed him lightly, whispering “good” against his lips.
Ace could see that she was once a Queen, she was so used to having her way. He felt pride swell in him that such a magnificent woman wanted him, that she had pursued him was even more fantastic. “Fine, but my little dumpling you are one spoiled brat.” He danced out of reach from her swinging arm, laughing as she missed.
They chased each other around the room until Ava let herself be caught and thrown on the bed. They made love with slow caresses, both recognizing that living together was a big step in their relationship.
A week later, Ace told her that he was having lunch with Isabel. She wasn’t worried about anything physical between them, but there was always this slight twinge of jealousy when she thought of the emotional bond they would most likely always share. Not wanting to act like an envious schoolgirl, she smiled sweetly and let him go on his way.
Ace had picked up some lunch meats, cheeses, and fresh fruit for a light picnic lunch. They were outside sitting on a blanket under a tree, enjoying the mild fall weather. He looked up to find Isabel staring at him intently. “Okay Isabel. You’re going to give me a complex here. What’s going on?”
Isabel looked away as a pretty blush colored her cheeks. She rolled her eyes at her own reaction and lifted her shoulders in a half-hearted shrug. “Nothing, really. Sometimes it’s just hard to believe that you’re alive…and well. It’s silly, but I look at you and pray that I’m not dreaming this all up.”
He took her hand in his. “It’s not silly, Is. I am sorry that you had to believe that I was dead all this time.”
“It’s not your fault!” Her bimbo dupe and that back-stabbing Tess were to blame.
“I know, but I’m still sorry that you were hurt.” He stroked his thumb across the back of her hand. At least it all worked out in the end, they both fell in love and are happy. Maybe it wasn’t together like they once thought it might be, but now they can still be a part of each others lives and that is all that really matters.
~~~
Michael was astonished. This base had everything. There were several stores including the commissary he had just entered where a large variety of food was sold. And from what he'd heard, Sean had his hooks into the Russian black market and if given time can procure anything you can’t find on base.
He headed straight for the pasta aisle. He was shopping for Italian fixings to make a nice dinner for Maria. She was due back later tonight from her meeting with the Council in Vienna. She said it wasn’t dangerous, but he still worried about her. Besides, he missed her already.
On his way to see what kind of vegetables they had, he ran into Max. “Maxwell,” he greeted him tersely. Maria had finally told him why Liz had been avoiding Max and hanging out with Sean. Michael’s relationship with Max had deteriorated over the years, so it wasn’t too surprising that he knew nothing about Max’s extracurricular activities. What really bothered him was that even when their relationship was in trouble, Max and Liz had kept up the pretense of being sickeningly lovey-dovey with their soulmate stares in front of him, Kyle and Isabel. The least they could’ve done was spare them that daily torture.
Max was oblivious to the disdain in Michael’s voice. “Hey Michael,” he said enthusiastically. “I haven’t seen you around for awhile.”
“Been busy.” Michael picked out a nice head of lettuce for the salad, and walked on to the cucumbers. Unfortunately, Max followed.
“Oh yeah, I heard what happened at that other base. You don’t think that will happen here do you? Because if you think it would, maybe I should get Liz somewhere safe.”
That got his attention. “I thought I heard that Liz’s business was her own now.”
“I’m inviting her for dinner tonight,” Max said as if that explained everything.
The guy was delusional, or if Liz accepted, maybe they both were. Michael chuckled inwardly at his thoughts. “I’ve gotta get going, Maxwell. Talk to ya later.” He hurried to pick up the other ingredients for dinner, not wanting to waste any more of his time.
Michael was just taking the bread out of the oven when his love walked through the door. She looked glum, but her smile brightened considerably when she saw the table romantically set with candles and smelled the sweet spices of Italian food.
Maria jumped into his arms. “You are the best!” Her lips closed over his in a passionate embrace, her tongue seeking and finding his as she explored his mouth. A soft moan escaped her throat. After the day she had this was exactly what she needed.
He pulled back when the need for air became necessary. Once he could breathe again, Michael chuckled. “I have to say that is the best greeting I’ve ever had.” He kissed her once more, then pulled her to the table. “You have perfect timing, dinner is ready. Let’s eat.”
“Mmmm, this tastes so good.”
He nodded and they ate in comfortable silence. Michael wondered what had her looking so dejected when she walked in, and after awhile decided to ask. “What happened with the Council?”
Maria wanted to deny that anything was wrong, but she knew he would pester her until she admitted the problem. “Reports have been dwindling in to the Council about two cities in the far reaches of Antar. Hundreds of thousands of people are dead, and word has it that Khivar destroyed the two cities with the Granolith before sending it to Earth.”
“No one noticed?”
“Apparently Khivar’s keeping entrance to that area of the planet restricted. Communication from that area had been down for some time, but the government was telling the people that it was due to a natural disaster. The rebels heard rumors that indicated otherwise, but they had to trek through some pretty harsh conditions to get there without letting Khivar know they were there. They’re just now getting back from the expeditions.”
Michael thought about it for a few moments. “What was so important about those two cities?”
She nodded, he caught that one quick. “Natural resources. The rebels had a strong foothold there with the lower class that mined the area. Now Khivar can send in whoever he wants to set up his own industries there.”
“So he sends the Granolith here in case there’s retaliation from the rebels for the destroyed cities?”
Maria finished her bite of bread and shrugged her shoulders. “Not positive, but I think so. He put a major dent in the rebel forces though.”
Michael could tell that she was worried about something else. “Why didn’t he use the granolith when he attacked Berdichev’s base?”
“My guess is that he didn’t want to let on that the Granolith was here on Earth. He’s testing our defenses maybe gathering information before going in for the kill.” Khivar had a plan, and to stop it they would have to move up the mission to prevent any more killing.
Michael realized now what she meant to do. He pleaded with her, “Take me with you.” She shook her head, but he stopped her before she could protest. “I have the skills to fight, Maria. I was a Commander long before you were ever born,” he burst out angrily.
She moved to sit in his lap. “I know you do, and if we had more time I’d take you up on your offer in a heartbeat.” She tried to appeal to his memories of being a leader. “As a Commander, you know we don’t have time to coordinate and train for an extra person in the group.”
Maria wrapped her arms around him and stroked the hair at the nape of his neck. “Baby, we have to do this now before Khivar executes another massacre. What if he found out the location of this base? I doubt he would hesitate to destroy us. We could probably stand up to a conventional attack fairly well, but we’re powerless against the Granolith. We need to get it back and fast.”
She put her finger to his lips to silence his protest, “I’m not going to lie and say it isn’t going to be a tough mission, but my team is prepared and ready. We can do this…I can do this. I need you to trust me.”
TBC
-Kara
CHAPTER 16
Rath sat up and grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off his neck and shoulders. He and Sean were just finishing up their workout. “What’s up with you and the Parker chic?”
“Not much. I’ve always kinda had a thing for her.” Sean laid out on the weight bench to finish his last set.
“You and her get it on back in the day?” Rath asked while spotting his friend.
“Nah, spent some time with her at the bowling alley and got busted helping her break into the school. That’s about it. She was always hard up for Evans back then.”
“Not the case now,” Rath pointed out.
“True, but unlike most chics she’s not very receptive to the Delcua charm.” They had kissed, but every time they started to get physical she pulled back. He was also starting to suspect that her attentions were focused elsewhere. Sean voiced his worries, “I think she might be into the doc.” These days she was always helping him out in the clinic, and now Sam was all she ever talked about. He hoped it was only an infatuation and wouldn’t last long.
“Goin’ for the straight arrow, huh?” Sam was definitely a by-the-book kinda guy. However, Rath wasn’t sure that Sam would even think of Parker in that way since his girls, though few and far between, were usually vivacious blondes.
“Maybe, I just thought she might like a walk on the wild side. It could be good for her,” Sean said only partially in jest. Back when they were in Roswell he had always thought that if Max had been out of the picture, that she would’ve been more open to pursuing a relationship with him. Now that Max was out of the picture, for the most part, she was still hesitant to start anything. He didn’t want to be her rebound guy either, so maybe her little dalliance with the doc was a good thing. Sean sat up after finishing his last repetition.
Rath threw Sean a clean towel. “Shit, yeah, Parker definitely needs to loosen up.” What Sean saw in her was beyond him. Sean never seemed to have a thing for nerdy book girls before. ‘Must be the challenge’, Rath thought.
Changing the subject Sean asked, “So, how you doin’ about M and your dupe?” Maria and Michael had tried not to be too obvious about the new developments in their relationship, but the members of her team were family and it was hard to hide from them the giddiness she exuded lately.
Rath shrugged. “Whatever. They gots sumthin’ special. If he don’t fuck it up, they’ll last.” It wasn’t something he was particularly happy about, but there was also nothing he could do about it. At least his Pixie was happy, and that was enough.
Sean agreed and decided to get on to the more important subject of the day. “You seen that new chic that flew in this morning for weapons training…short blonde hair, blue eyes, tight body?”
Rath nodded with a smirk on his face. “She’s coming over tonight at 10.”
Sean laughed. “Damn!” The man certainly moved fast.
A soft feminine voice floated in from the doorway, “You are such a slut.”
“I don’t ever remember hearin’ you complainin’,” Rath retorted sharply.
“No you wouldn’t, not over that oh, so big…” Maria paused, her eyes traveling down his body “…ego”. The laughter in her eyes showed him that she was only messing with him.
Sean laughed while Rath muttered curses under his breath.
“Come on, let’s go play.” Maria walked into an adjacent training room confident that Rath would follow.
Sean sat in the corner to watch while Rath and Maria faced off in a room designed for hand-to-hand combat. They stared at each other silently for a few moments, until suddenly Rath ducked low and kicked out to her left. Maria feinted farther to the right just missing his strike.
As he stood up, she leapt, turning in the air and kicking high, aiming for his ribs. He rolled backward avoiding the full impact of her hit. Rath flipped up onto his feet, he lunged toward her, his left arm punching upward. Maria quickly ducked under the vicious swinging blow, sweeping her leg out and knocking him off his feet.
Maria rolled and fell upon his chest, her knees pinning down his arms. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Normally he would’ve easily averted getting held down, he wasn’t focusing.
Rath grunted and jerked his head towards the doorway. “We got an audience.”
“I know,” she declared a bit arrogantly. During a fight she never closed herself off, her empathic skills tended to be useful in detecting other presences within the area. So, besides having seen Kyle and Michael enter the doorway moments before out of the corner of her eye, Maria had also sensed their presence by way of their emotions as they approached the room.
Kyle whispered to Michael, “All I can say is thank god we’re related now. I mean she wouldn’t hurt her brother, would she?”
Michael ignored his friend. When they first walked in he had been immediately pissed off that Rath would dare to attack his girl, but after realizing it was the other way around his mind had quickly shifted into a fantasy of Maria being in complete control in the bedroom. The thought that he would without a doubt willingly submit to her had his mind reeling with possibilities. “Is it wrong to be turned on right now?” he asked more to himself than to Kyle who was by now completely absorbed with the fight.
Rath roughly pushed up with his whole body, throwing her off sideways. Despite being thrust off-balance, her movements were as fluid as a dancer’s. She gracefully bounded to her feet, facing her challenger once more. Maria circled him. Rath watched her cautiously, he had learned long ago to be wary of the small girl when she had that predatory gleam in her eyes.
He had to be on the offensive with her, it wasn’t in his nature to wait for anything. Rath turned sharply, his left arm coming down in a curving movement, catching her on the side. Maria ignored the pain of the blow, and caught his hand as it snaked back. In the same instant, her leg swept out forcefully clipping him in the back of the knees. His legs buckled, and Maria’s hand had encircled his throat before he had the chance to defend himself. Rath bowed his head conceding the fight. He grumbled, “show off”.
Maria kissed him on the cheek, loudly exaggerating the smacking sound, before releasing him and quickly darting across the room. Rath smirked at her cheekiness, and he and Sean headed to the showers, grunting their greetings to Michael and Kyle on their way out.
Still breathing deeply from the training, Maria smiled and went to Michael, embracing him as he bent to kiss her. “I was gonna finish up my workout. You want to stay and workout with me?”
Michael took in her tiny black shorts that showed off a great expanse of leg and the fitted black sports tank that revealed her toned midriff. He pulled her closer to his body and whispered seductively in her ear, “I’ve got a much better idea for a workout.”
Her eyebrow raised, but before he knew it she was telling Kyle they would see him later and he was being dragged from the room.
~~~
Kyle walked in the door to find his wife busily writing in her planner.
Without looking up Isabel told him, “I’m going with Amy to help out with the childcare program again today.” She flipped the page and wrote down another task.
“Are you sure you should be doing that in your condition?” Those kids were heavy and he didn’t want her lifting them, nor did he want her to over exert herself trying to keep up with them.
“Kyle!” she yelled exasperatedly. “I’m not even out of my first trimester let alone my first month.” She popped the pre-natal vitamins Sam had given her after her physical exam into her mouth and swallowed them down with a big glass of water.
“Yeah, but for all we know you could deliver a month from now.”
“Lily carried Maria Elena nine months. Quinn may not be an engineered hybrid, but their situation is pretty close. Besides, Sam is certain that I will carry to full term and that the earliest will be around seven months.” Isabel kissed his cheek. “Don’t worry, sweetie. Everything is on schedule.” She looked back at her planner, and her tone became more demanding, “Well, everything except making our second room into a nursery. There is so much we need to do and not much time, so I’m really going to need your help.”
He was thrilled that she seemed to really accept the idea of being pregnant now. It hadn’t taken her long to come around, but that first day had scared him to death. “I guess that means you want to stay here? You heard what happened at that other base, right?” He was full of worry at not being able to take care of his wife and child.
The loss of life had been minimal and they had eventually stopped the attack, but that didn’t take away from the fact that people had died. Isabel sighed, but she had thought about this quite a bit. “I know, but I feel safer here. It’s at least a bit more stable than moving around the country all the time. Plus, I like having Sam around to consult about our pregnancy. Besides, I’m pretty sure Michael will be staying what with him and Maria being all close now.”
Kyle nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I just got ditched by them. He got all hot under the collar at seein’ her kick Rath’s ass, and all he had to do was whisper in her ear and they were out the door.”
“Not surprising!” ‘Weird!’ she thought. ‘Who gets turned on at seeing the love their life beating up someone who is essentially their clone?’ Those two always were kind of weird in their own right, and when together they are even stranger and always turned on. “Anyways, Max will also stay since he’s all about being King and getting Liz back, and Liz is staying. I’m certain she prefers working down in the hospital rather than waitressing again. All of our family is staying here, and the rest of our family, Alex, Maria, Amy and your dad are here. What do you think?”
Kyle sat next to her on the sofa, and gently pulled her into his arms. “I think it’s a good idea. I really like being around family again, and it’s so nice not being cramped into a small apartment with the others all the time. Plus, I’d like to be able to share with them the joy our little one will bring in to our lives.”
~~~
“Ace, cut it out!” Ava yelled and swatted at his hand.
Ace moved out of her reach, but adjusted the small handheld camera and continued filming. “What’s wrong sugarpie? I really think we should document this. Don’t ya wanna be on camera?”
“Please! Reality tv is sooo last decade. Now get that stupid thing outta my face…honey dumpling,” the last being said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. Only he would want to film her moving into his apartment. The man was insane! Yummy, but insane!
“Hey! I liked all those reality shows. I’m just waiting for the American Idol: Where Are They Now? show. That’ll be the best!” He paused looking thoughtful. “Huh, maybe I can get the wild feed before it even goes on air.”
She shook her head. “You are such a dork…but a lovable dork.”
He put the camera down, and softly stroked her cheek. “I’m just excited…happy.”
Ava kissed him lightly, whispering “good” against his lips.
Ace could see that she was once a Queen, she was so used to having her way. He felt pride swell in him that such a magnificent woman wanted him, that she had pursued him was even more fantastic. “Fine, but my little dumpling you are one spoiled brat.” He danced out of reach from her swinging arm, laughing as she missed.
They chased each other around the room until Ava let herself be caught and thrown on the bed. They made love with slow caresses, both recognizing that living together was a big step in their relationship.
A week later, Ace told her that he was having lunch with Isabel. She wasn’t worried about anything physical between them, but there was always this slight twinge of jealousy when she thought of the emotional bond they would most likely always share. Not wanting to act like an envious schoolgirl, she smiled sweetly and let him go on his way.
Ace had picked up some lunch meats, cheeses, and fresh fruit for a light picnic lunch. They were outside sitting on a blanket under a tree, enjoying the mild fall weather. He looked up to find Isabel staring at him intently. “Okay Isabel. You’re going to give me a complex here. What’s going on?”
Isabel looked away as a pretty blush colored her cheeks. She rolled her eyes at her own reaction and lifted her shoulders in a half-hearted shrug. “Nothing, really. Sometimes it’s just hard to believe that you’re alive…and well. It’s silly, but I look at you and pray that I’m not dreaming this all up.”
He took her hand in his. “It’s not silly, Is. I am sorry that you had to believe that I was dead all this time.”
“It’s not your fault!” Her bimbo dupe and that back-stabbing Tess were to blame.
“I know, but I’m still sorry that you were hurt.” He stroked his thumb across the back of her hand. At least it all worked out in the end, they both fell in love and are happy. Maybe it wasn’t together like they once thought it might be, but now they can still be a part of each others lives and that is all that really matters.
~~~
Michael was astonished. This base had everything. There were several stores including the commissary he had just entered where a large variety of food was sold. And from what he'd heard, Sean had his hooks into the Russian black market and if given time can procure anything you can’t find on base.
He headed straight for the pasta aisle. He was shopping for Italian fixings to make a nice dinner for Maria. She was due back later tonight from her meeting with the Council in Vienna. She said it wasn’t dangerous, but he still worried about her. Besides, he missed her already.
On his way to see what kind of vegetables they had, he ran into Max. “Maxwell,” he greeted him tersely. Maria had finally told him why Liz had been avoiding Max and hanging out with Sean. Michael’s relationship with Max had deteriorated over the years, so it wasn’t too surprising that he knew nothing about Max’s extracurricular activities. What really bothered him was that even when their relationship was in trouble, Max and Liz had kept up the pretense of being sickeningly lovey-dovey with their soulmate stares in front of him, Kyle and Isabel. The least they could’ve done was spare them that daily torture.
Max was oblivious to the disdain in Michael’s voice. “Hey Michael,” he said enthusiastically. “I haven’t seen you around for awhile.”
“Been busy.” Michael picked out a nice head of lettuce for the salad, and walked on to the cucumbers. Unfortunately, Max followed.
“Oh yeah, I heard what happened at that other base. You don’t think that will happen here do you? Because if you think it would, maybe I should get Liz somewhere safe.”
That got his attention. “I thought I heard that Liz’s business was her own now.”
“I’m inviting her for dinner tonight,” Max said as if that explained everything.
The guy was delusional, or if Liz accepted, maybe they both were. Michael chuckled inwardly at his thoughts. “I’ve gotta get going, Maxwell. Talk to ya later.” He hurried to pick up the other ingredients for dinner, not wanting to waste any more of his time.
Michael was just taking the bread out of the oven when his love walked through the door. She looked glum, but her smile brightened considerably when she saw the table romantically set with candles and smelled the sweet spices of Italian food.
Maria jumped into his arms. “You are the best!” Her lips closed over his in a passionate embrace, her tongue seeking and finding his as she explored his mouth. A soft moan escaped her throat. After the day she had this was exactly what she needed.
He pulled back when the need for air became necessary. Once he could breathe again, Michael chuckled. “I have to say that is the best greeting I’ve ever had.” He kissed her once more, then pulled her to the table. “You have perfect timing, dinner is ready. Let’s eat.”
“Mmmm, this tastes so good.”
He nodded and they ate in comfortable silence. Michael wondered what had her looking so dejected when she walked in, and after awhile decided to ask. “What happened with the Council?”
Maria wanted to deny that anything was wrong, but she knew he would pester her until she admitted the problem. “Reports have been dwindling in to the Council about two cities in the far reaches of Antar. Hundreds of thousands of people are dead, and word has it that Khivar destroyed the two cities with the Granolith before sending it to Earth.”
“No one noticed?”
“Apparently Khivar’s keeping entrance to that area of the planet restricted. Communication from that area had been down for some time, but the government was telling the people that it was due to a natural disaster. The rebels heard rumors that indicated otherwise, but they had to trek through some pretty harsh conditions to get there without letting Khivar know they were there. They’re just now getting back from the expeditions.”
Michael thought about it for a few moments. “What was so important about those two cities?”
She nodded, he caught that one quick. “Natural resources. The rebels had a strong foothold there with the lower class that mined the area. Now Khivar can send in whoever he wants to set up his own industries there.”
“So he sends the Granolith here in case there’s retaliation from the rebels for the destroyed cities?”
Maria finished her bite of bread and shrugged her shoulders. “Not positive, but I think so. He put a major dent in the rebel forces though.”
Michael could tell that she was worried about something else. “Why didn’t he use the granolith when he attacked Berdichev’s base?”
“My guess is that he didn’t want to let on that the Granolith was here on Earth. He’s testing our defenses maybe gathering information before going in for the kill.” Khivar had a plan, and to stop it they would have to move up the mission to prevent any more killing.
Michael realized now what she meant to do. He pleaded with her, “Take me with you.” She shook her head, but he stopped her before she could protest. “I have the skills to fight, Maria. I was a Commander long before you were ever born,” he burst out angrily.
She moved to sit in his lap. “I know you do, and if we had more time I’d take you up on your offer in a heartbeat.” She tried to appeal to his memories of being a leader. “As a Commander, you know we don’t have time to coordinate and train for an extra person in the group.”
Maria wrapped her arms around him and stroked the hair at the nape of his neck. “Baby, we have to do this now before Khivar executes another massacre. What if he found out the location of this base? I doubt he would hesitate to destroy us. We could probably stand up to a conventional attack fairly well, but we’re powerless against the Granolith. We need to get it back and fast.”
She put her finger to his lips to silence his protest, “I’m not going to lie and say it isn’t going to be a tough mission, but my team is prepared and ready. We can do this…I can do this. I need you to trust me.”
TBC
Last edited by Ninlil on Fri Sep 24, 2004 9:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Chapter 17
Sorry it took so long, but I've had major writer's block. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long. Thanks for the feedback and bumping.
-Kara
CHAPTER 17
Maria let herself gradually wake up for the second time that morning. The first time, Michael had woken her up in the most pleasant way. Her skin was still tingling from where his mouth had done wondrous things to her body. Lazily stretching her body, Maria yelped as she felt the brush of cool metal against her skin.
Confusion was quickly replaced by a soft smile and her hands eagerly sought the object as she remembered the gift Michael had given her the night before. Pulling at the chain that hung loosely around her neck, Maria was filled with warmth at the sight of the silver ring she had always seen on Michael’s fingers.
He’d offered to resize it with his powers to fit her finger, but she declined and instead grabbed a silver chain to hang it from. It was amazing having something that still belonged to him, was a part of him, yet she could carry with her next to her heart. She read the inscription again ‘til the end of time. For a man of few words, it amazed her that despite his taciturn nature, he always found the right words to make her insides turn to mush.
Speaking of her insides, she realized that she could smell frying bacon. It had been a long time since someone had made breakfast for her, and her growling stomach indicated that it would be thoroughly appreciated.
Dressed in a white silk robe, Maria leaned against the entryway to the kitchen silently watching him. Her gaze traveled over the sinuous curve of his strong bare back, she stared unashamedly at the movement of his muscles as he continued cooking. There was something so sexy about seeing him clad only in jeans, his exposed skin calling to her. There was absolutely no resisting him when he looked so delicious. Moving up behind him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and placed small kisses on his shoulder.
He continued cooking with one hand as the large slender fingers of his other hand intertwined with hers where it rested just above his waistband on his stomach. “Good morning.”
“Mmmm, very good morning.”
Michael chuckled lightly remembering how vocal she had been earlier. “I was planning on bringing you breakfast in bed.” Turning off the stove and putting the finished eggs and bacon to the side, he turned and put his hands on her shoulders, gently pulling her back into his body. “It’s ready now. Do you want to go snuggle under the covers again or do you want to eat out here?” His hands held her hips firmly and as they ascended, the material of her silk robe briefly rose with his hands before floating back down along her body. Circling the sides of her breasts with his thumbs, Michael’s mouth descended upon hers in a wildly fierce kiss.
She melted in to him, her knees almost buckling. With her voice husky from desire she answered, “Bed. Bed would be good.” He just laughed, grabbed the breakfast tray and dragged her back to the bedroom.
“Michael, this looks delicious.” The breakfast tray was overflowing with bacon, eggs, and waffles with whip cream and strawberry topping along with chilled orange juice and coffee. He was going to spoil her.
He doused his eggs in Tabasco and took a bite. Nodding his head, he nonchalantly uttered, “Not bad.”
“Not bad?! This is really good! When did you get to be such a great cook?” He had always been good at cooking fast food kind of stuff or his famous spaghetti, but the meals he had been making her were beyond divine.
Michael shrugged his shoulders. “Not too many of us that lived together could cook. Kyle and I are probably the best at it, and Liz can cook a few things really well. Isabel and Max take after Diane Evans in that nothing they make is edible. It was cheaper to make large meals for everyone, so if the girls didn’t bring something home from whatever restaurant they were working in then Kyle or I usually cooked.”
She leaned into him, nudging his side. “I love a guy that can cook. I guess I’ll have to keep you around for awhile, huh?!”
“You better.”
After they were done eating, Michael moved the plates to the bedside table and kissed the corner of her mouth gently licking at the bit of strawberry sauce that was there. She moaned softly into his mouth and moved to deepen the kiss. Pulling back before he forgot his own name much less what he’d wanted to say, he asked, “So what are the plans for today?”
“I’ve got a meeting later this afternoon. Other than that, I was hoping that we could stay in bed all day.”
“Now that sounds like a plan.”
Maria watched with hunger in her eyes as he slipped off his jeans. He looked devastating with his golden brown eyes flaring and his long hair in need of cutting. “Uh huh, then later tonight we’ll go to the dinner my mom set up for everybody.”
Michael moved back in front of her and ran his hands over her shoulders, pushing her robe off, and nibbling at the junction between her neck and collarbone. “And after that?”
Her breathing hitched and she struggled to calm it. “It’s kind of become a tradition to wait for our green light call in one of the community rooms, playing poker, talking and relaxing. You up for a game of Poker later on?”
“I think I’m up for more than that right now.” His long fingers caressed her arms and shoulders, moving gently over the smooth alabaster skin of her breasts down past her navel and up again.
Maria giggled as he dragged her down to the bed with him and rolled atop her in one fluid motion. He kissed her slowly, soft and tender. Her lips parted for his kiss as she closed her eyes running her fingers through the soft brown locks at the nape of his neck. Their heated bodies were pressed together, skin to skin, as his warm hands lingered slowly across her body.
Taking a deep breath, she felt the wet warmth between her legs and her nipples hardened like little rocks. It still surprised her at how fast he could cause those feelings to rise and stir inside her, rolling over her like ocean waves. Her hands moved down his body, feeling the hair on his chest between her fingers, letting her palm ride down the center of his firm back to the hard unyielding muscles of his thighs.
His kisses followed the graceful curve of her throat downward to her slender body. Lowering his head, Michael kissed the top of each breast before moving his mouth to suck on a hard rosy nipple. His long fingers molded her hips as he took his time exploring every curve of her body, followed by the taste of her skin beneath his lips.
Her muscles quivered wherever his lips touched as he kissed his way down the valley between her breasts to her navel, then down to her inner thighs where he placed delicate kisses. Maria moaned and lifted her hips in offering as his lips found her center and kissed it. He gently traced her tiny rigid nub with his tongue until she groaned, imploring him, “Michael… please, I need you. Now.”
He moved back up her body, his tongue flicking out to brush against her quickly heating skin. Struck by her beauty, he stilled for a moment taking in her golden tresses and sparkling emerald eyes as she locked eyes with him. “Maria… I…” he choked out overwhelmed by the feelings welling up inside of him.
“Shh, I know.” Leaning in, Maria kissed his neck, sucking on a tender spot just below his ear. Her hands ran over his arm muscles, hard and flexed at holding himself above her, up around his shoulders to tangle in his hair.
Breathing deeply and staring into her eyes, Michael pressed forward gently, sliding into her slowly. She cried aloud as they finally joined, her insides quivering at the feel of him becoming a part of her.
He moved deep inside her with strength and gentleness, rhythmically moving with her in ways that they had taught each other so long ago. As he poured his soul and body into her, Maria came apart under him, surrendering to the shudders of ecstasy that racked her small body.
She trembled beneath him, struggling to catch her breath as his pace increased and his thrusts became more forceful. Another orgasm built before the first one had ended and electricity coursed through her body wildly as he thrust hard one last time, spilling his seed within her, a guttural cry escaping his lips.
His face flushed and breathing ragged, Michael moved next to her on the bed. He gathered her into his arms, wrapping himself around her sylphlike body, and they breathlessly murmured words of love between soft kisses as they drifted off to sleep.
~~~
Hours later Maria woke to go to her last meeting before the mission later that night. As she quietly dressed she thought about how good life had been lately. She and Michael had spent their days getting to know each other all over again, and she was sure that she was more in love with him now than ever before. Plus, all of the Roswell gang had decided to stay at the base. And even though she had been put through the ringer about that decision by some Council members when the other base was attacked, most were finally coming around, especially now that they were going after the Granolith.
Life would be damn near perfect if only they could get the Granolith back and do so without any casualties. She wasn’t so naïve to think they would escape without harm, they all knew how dangerous this operation would be and how likely injuries or worse would be, but she hoped that it would all be worth it in the end. In a way, she had joined up with this crusade for Michael, but now it had become her own, her soldiers that put their lives on the line, her family that she needed to protect, her hope for the salvation of her lover’s planet, her compulsion to make a difference in the universe.
Maria moved out the door and immediately recognized the raised voices in the hallway.
“Max, just stop it. I am not going to have dinner with you so stop asking.”
“You’re still my wife, Liz.” His voice was stern, but he was gentle as he took her hand in his. “Look, I’ve seen you around with Sean; you’ve gotten your point across. Now, it’s time for us to work past all of this. Let’s just have dinner and we can talk.”
Liz felt like tearing her hair out. What ‘point’? Anything she was doing or not doing with Sean, Sam or anyone else was her business and had nothing to do with him. Besides, she wasn’t sure how she felt about any of the men in her life.
His thumb caressed the top of her hand and he squeezed it slightly before pleading. “Please, Liz, give us another chance. You are the love of my life. You always have been and you always will be.”
At one time all she lived for was to be important to him, to be loved by him, and in some ways parts of her still wanted that. It would be so easy to fall back in to those soulful brown eyes. She missed him almost unbearably at night when he wasn’t there to share her bed, but it was time to try to move past those feelings and get on with her life. He’d shared a bed with too many others. “I realize that taking you back after you had a child with another woman might make you optimistic that I’d take you back this time, but you’ve cheated on me too many times and this time we were married. It’s not going to happen, Max. Ever.” She turned away, her long brown hair swinging behind her, and headed back to her room.
Max started after her. “Liz, wait! You can’t just leave…” He trailed off as he felt a hand land on his shoulder in a firm grip. Turning to cast off whoever it was, he wasn’t surprised to see Maria there. “Maria, this is between me and Liz.”
“Max, I think Liz made herself pretty clear. Why don’t you just back off for awhile? It would do you both some good.”
He shrugged her hand off his shoulder. “Why? So your loser cousin can get his clutches into my wife. I don’t think so. Liz and I are meant to be. She’s just trying to make a point, and I need her to see that I get it. It won’t happen again.”
“What won’t happen, getting caught or taking another mistress?” Maria asked matter-of-factly.
Max sighed loudly. “Maria, I don’t want to talk to you about this.” He walked off in the opposite direction his wife had gone with his shoulders slumped.
“What was that all about?”
Maria jumped. “Damn, Kyle, you scared me!”
“Sorry.” He sounded contrite but the smile on his face hinted that he wasn’t really that apologetic at all.
She smiled, punching him on the arm for scaring her. Her arm slipped around the crook of his elbow and she pulled him along to walk with her while they talked. “Same ol’ story, Max can’t seem to get it through his head that Liz wants nothing to do with him anymore.”
Kyle shook his head. “I can’t believe he was cheating on her. Not that it was right, but it was one thing when he slept with Tess since they weren’t together at the time and he thought she had slept with me. But to come back from all that and then cheat while they were married is unbelievable. I just can’t understand why he would do that? Did he think he could get away with it a second time?”
“Probably. From the stories I’ve heard, Zan was a real ladies’ man on Antar. He was notoriously unfaithful to Ava. I guess he has enough of his previous life’s personality traits to give him the same commitment issues.”
“So he was like the JFK of Antar?”
Maria giggled. At least he hadn’t spouted some Buddhist verse.
“You know, Buddha says…”
She groaned, having obviously spoken too soon, and slapped her hand over his mouth to cut him off. “Enough of that! How’s Izzy doing? I heard she’s been talking with Quinn’s wife, Lily.”
“She’s doing much better. She still has morning sickness, but I think Iz is a lot less nervous about the pregnancy now that she and Lily have become fast friends.”
“I’m so excited, Kyle. I can’t wait until he or she is born. You do know I’m going to spoil my little niece or nephew rotten, don’t you?”
“You might have mentioned something like that once or twice.” Or a billion times, he thought, but he wouldn’t quell her excitement to save his life. It was fun sharing his own enthusiasm with her.
“Well, I don’t want to be the favorite Aunt just by default of being the kid’s only Aunt.”
“Yeah, but something tells me that you won’t have to work at it too hard. You’ll be a great Aunt.”
“I knew having a brother would be good for something.”
Kyle placed his hand on his chin thoughtfully. “Now if only I could think of what having a sister is good for…”
~~~
After a quick run through of the mission and a check on all the preparations, Maria headed back to her room. Quietly walking into the bedroom, she found Michael still asleep, sprawled across the bed with only a sheet barely covering him.
Through heavy-lidded eyes, Michael silently watched her peel off her clothes. He groaned loudly as the last piece of clothing came off and her curvaceous backside was completely bared to him.
She gasped, “I thought you were still asleep.” Turning around, Maria walked towards him. His smoldering eyes were a caress as they moved over her body, and she could barely contain her moan of desire. Michael held out his hand pulling her back to bed where they made love all afternoon.
~~~
Later that evening, at dinner Michael watched on as he found his life filled with laughter and love in a way he never thought it would be. His hand found Maria’s under the table and he gently squeezed it, her touch was reassuring, comforting. He chuckled at Maria desperately trying to ignore Jim and Amy who, after a few glasses of wine, were getting very friendly at the head of the table.
He looked on as Kyle and Isabel, the parents-to-be, talked with Quinn and Lily about little Maria Elena, nicknamed Lena, who was happily snuggled up asleep in her mother’s arms blissfully unaware of all the noise around her. Michael felt a tug in his heart as he watched the family, and he had to look away, his hand unconsciously tightening on hers.
Maria’s laughter caught his attention and he turned to find her giggling at Rath and Sean who were trying to outdo each other in entertaining her with crude jokes. Further down the table, Liz and Sam seemed to be having an intense discussion, most likely over some geeky science thing. Quickly, he glanced at Max who he was sure would be glaring their way, but instead found that he was caught up in animated conversation with Talia, Alex and Ava. ‘This is the way it should always be,’ he thought as he sat back to enjoy the conversations and laughter.
~~~
After dinner, most of the gang migrated to the community room. Michael and Maria started a game of Poker with Rath, Talia and Sean while the others stood around talking or playing pool.
Talia watched Michael and Maria together. Maria was snuggled up against his side, and Talia wondered how she could possibly be keeping her hand a secret from him. They looked good like they were made to fit together. She’d thought it would be the same as when she used to watch Rath and Maria together, but there was more intimacy in Maria’s gestures with Michael. A sidelong glance in Rath’s direction found him staring at her with an intensity she rarely saw.
Rath noticed Talia watching them and he leaned in close, brushing her shoulder with his. With a gleam in his eye and a smirk on his lips, he whispered, “Bet I’m a better kisser.” This was dangerous territory, but he couldn’t help himself. Red was looking really fine tonight. He glanced over at the Commander to make sure she was otherwise occupied. She had threatened him that unless he was willing to commit, then he wasn’t to “see” anyone in their group. The only thing stopping him from making a move on the beautiful red-head was knowing that his pixie was right, it would suck to have someone on his own team out for his blood if things went sour between them.
She shook her head and turned to look at him. A salacious grin covered his face, but his mouth was inviting, his lips full and beautifully shaped. Talia tried to hold back the blush she knew was threatening to cover her cheeks. She wasn’t used to anyone having an affect on her, but for some reason he broke down all her defenses. The only reason she had agreed to give Michael that message years ago was because it was the closest she would ever get to locking lips with Rath that wouldn’t involve getting played. She didn’t want a broken heart.
She had crushed on him back in the days when he and Ava first teamed up with the Allied Forces. He was wild and pierced with a Mohawk and tattoos, but there was also a vulnerability that he hid under all that sneering. Fortunately, she learned early on that his swaggering walk and troublemaker’s smirk were something she could not afford, and his appearance may have changed drastically over the years, but he was still trouble. Well, two could play at that game. She moved into his space, her breath hot on his cheek as she whispered her reply, “We’ll probably never know.”
“Yeah… Probably…” He breathed the words out, his voice husky and sounding far away. The doubt in his voice sent an unwanted thrill through her, and despite the full house in her hand Talia quickly folded and left the table.
After losing a couple of hands, Maria also excused herself from the table, intent on getting another drink. Along the way, she cornered Ace to discuss things that couldn’t be said in front of the others.
Finishing his drink, Michael decided to get another, hoping to find Maria and drag her into a quiet corner for some alone time. He paused when he heard her voice around the corner.
“You know what to do if anything goes wrong, right?”
“Maria…” Of course he knew what the protocol was, it was the same for every mission, although thankfully they’d never had to implement it.
“Alex Whitman, you and I both know how dangerous this is going to be.” Her head turned and she looked off into the distance.
The tone of her voice caught him by surprise, and besides that she never called him by his full name. “What’s really going on here, Maria?”
When she looked back at him her green eyes were dark, thoughtful. “I have a bad feeling about this, Alex, but I also know that if we don’t do this now then we won’t get another chance. I need your reassurance that things will be under control here and that they will be safe. There is always a chance…”
The rest was left unsaid, but he understood. Ace looked back at her, she was counting on him and he had promised himself long ago to never let her down. His eyes firm and determined, he told her, “I know what I have to do.”
Michael swallowed back the bile rising in his stomach. Danger. Real Danger. He hadn’t allowed himself to think about it before. Fine tremors ran through his hands as he felt himself losing control. He had to get out of there.
A couple of minutes later, Rath sidled up next to Ace. Vaguely interested in the intense conversation they were having, he thought about asking, but they didn’t have time. “Commander, we gots a green light.”
She pulled Ace to her in a quick embrace. “Bye, babe. See ya soon.”
He and Quinn had worked with a special Granolith research team to develop a custom crystalline matrix. Once inserted, if they’d done their jobs right, it would interface with the Granolith and make it transport itself to their set of coordinates, so he had to stay at the base to head the mission control unit and coordinate the transport. “Don’t worry, this is going to work. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow morning.”
Maria nodded and looked back at the table for Michael, but couldn’t find him. Rath told her that he had left the table shortly after she did, and looking around the room neither of them saw him anywhere. Resorting to her last measure, she opened up her senses and was immediately bombarded by his panic. Crap! What was going on? “You and Talia coordinate the extraction teams and get them up in the air. I’ll be right behind you. Just give me a few.” Tracking down his blazing emotions, she easily found him.
“Hey, we just got the go ah…” Her words trailed off as she stopped in the middle of the room. Breath left her lungs in a whoosh and her heart twisted. He was packing. A sudden irrational betrayal came over her. “You said you’d stay.” She had been a fool for ever thinking that it would be different this time around.
Desperation flashed in his dark, haunted eyes as he glanced up to see her green eyes demanding an explanation. Unable to face her, he turned around and resumed packing. With his eyes closed and his back still turned to her, his voice low with undisguised grief, Michael brokenly whispered, “I can’t, Maria.”
If he left now, then he’d never know. Not knowing would be a godsend if the unthinkable happened. There was no way he could survive knowledge of her death, so he was running like he always did, keeping himself safe. Michael took a deep breath and turned around, avoiding her eyes. Raking his hands through his hair, he squeezed his eyes shut tightly. “I just can’t,” he uttered wretchedly. This wasn’t about love, this was about self-preservation.
“Okay,” she responded in a soft whisper. Maria could see the anguish in his eyes. As much as she hated it, she also understood. If the situation was reversed she’d like to think that she would have the courage to stay and hope for a better future, for their future together, but she could see how difficult that would be. For people like her and Michael, the future didn’t often turn out the way they wished it would, so it was difficult in believing that everything could work out. She would let him do what he thought was in his best interest, and for once in her life not argue with him about it. Her hands cupped his face and brought his lips down to hers. She again whispered a tender “okay”, and then she kissed him with all the love and passion that she had for him.
His hands traveled down her shoulders brushing along her arms until he reached her hands. Clasping her hands tightly, he let down his walls, opening a connection between them. Her defenses were down and now she was being bombarded with images from their life together. As the memories of their times together coursed through her mind, she knew she’d never find another man as beautiful inside and out. But she also knew that if he left this time it would be the last. Their trust in one another would be irrevocably damaged.
Michael was breathing hard when she finally pulled back. He let the feelings of love wash through him, and suddenly she was moving out of his arms and walking out the door. Immediately he felt the loss of her warmth. He turned back to his bag to finish packing, but instead threw it across the room with a howl of frustration. Immediately, anything in the room that was glass violently shattered.
Flopping down on the bed, he hung his head in his hands. What was he doing? What was he suppose to do? Could he really walk away from her again? If he left this time, there would be no coming back. He ran his hand across his chest as if the ache in his heart was physical. The soft, gentle look of understanding on her face had been his undoing. Now he had a better understanding of all the times that she waited for him hoping that he would return. He whispered brokenly to the empty room, “Come back to me.”
Maria rushed out stifling a sob, she kept repeating ‘focus… don’t break… focus’ over and over in her mind. It was difficult to figure out if it was helping at all since she could hardly breathe, her lungs felt like they were on fire. There was no time for her to lose it, she had to keep walking, her focus had to be on the mission. She breathed slowly and deliberately, holding back the overwhelming need to cry. She felt a crushing sadness start to envelop her, but pushed it back not wanting to breakdown in front of her team.
TBC
-Kara
CHAPTER 17
Maria let herself gradually wake up for the second time that morning. The first time, Michael had woken her up in the most pleasant way. Her skin was still tingling from where his mouth had done wondrous things to her body. Lazily stretching her body, Maria yelped as she felt the brush of cool metal against her skin.
Confusion was quickly replaced by a soft smile and her hands eagerly sought the object as she remembered the gift Michael had given her the night before. Pulling at the chain that hung loosely around her neck, Maria was filled with warmth at the sight of the silver ring she had always seen on Michael’s fingers.
He’d offered to resize it with his powers to fit her finger, but she declined and instead grabbed a silver chain to hang it from. It was amazing having something that still belonged to him, was a part of him, yet she could carry with her next to her heart. She read the inscription again ‘til the end of time. For a man of few words, it amazed her that despite his taciturn nature, he always found the right words to make her insides turn to mush.
Speaking of her insides, she realized that she could smell frying bacon. It had been a long time since someone had made breakfast for her, and her growling stomach indicated that it would be thoroughly appreciated.
Dressed in a white silk robe, Maria leaned against the entryway to the kitchen silently watching him. Her gaze traveled over the sinuous curve of his strong bare back, she stared unashamedly at the movement of his muscles as he continued cooking. There was something so sexy about seeing him clad only in jeans, his exposed skin calling to her. There was absolutely no resisting him when he looked so delicious. Moving up behind him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and placed small kisses on his shoulder.
He continued cooking with one hand as the large slender fingers of his other hand intertwined with hers where it rested just above his waistband on his stomach. “Good morning.”
“Mmmm, very good morning.”
Michael chuckled lightly remembering how vocal she had been earlier. “I was planning on bringing you breakfast in bed.” Turning off the stove and putting the finished eggs and bacon to the side, he turned and put his hands on her shoulders, gently pulling her back into his body. “It’s ready now. Do you want to go snuggle under the covers again or do you want to eat out here?” His hands held her hips firmly and as they ascended, the material of her silk robe briefly rose with his hands before floating back down along her body. Circling the sides of her breasts with his thumbs, Michael’s mouth descended upon hers in a wildly fierce kiss.
She melted in to him, her knees almost buckling. With her voice husky from desire she answered, “Bed. Bed would be good.” He just laughed, grabbed the breakfast tray and dragged her back to the bedroom.
“Michael, this looks delicious.” The breakfast tray was overflowing with bacon, eggs, and waffles with whip cream and strawberry topping along with chilled orange juice and coffee. He was going to spoil her.
He doused his eggs in Tabasco and took a bite. Nodding his head, he nonchalantly uttered, “Not bad.”
“Not bad?! This is really good! When did you get to be such a great cook?” He had always been good at cooking fast food kind of stuff or his famous spaghetti, but the meals he had been making her were beyond divine.
Michael shrugged his shoulders. “Not too many of us that lived together could cook. Kyle and I are probably the best at it, and Liz can cook a few things really well. Isabel and Max take after Diane Evans in that nothing they make is edible. It was cheaper to make large meals for everyone, so if the girls didn’t bring something home from whatever restaurant they were working in then Kyle or I usually cooked.”
She leaned into him, nudging his side. “I love a guy that can cook. I guess I’ll have to keep you around for awhile, huh?!”
“You better.”
After they were done eating, Michael moved the plates to the bedside table and kissed the corner of her mouth gently licking at the bit of strawberry sauce that was there. She moaned softly into his mouth and moved to deepen the kiss. Pulling back before he forgot his own name much less what he’d wanted to say, he asked, “So what are the plans for today?”
“I’ve got a meeting later this afternoon. Other than that, I was hoping that we could stay in bed all day.”
“Now that sounds like a plan.”
Maria watched with hunger in her eyes as he slipped off his jeans. He looked devastating with his golden brown eyes flaring and his long hair in need of cutting. “Uh huh, then later tonight we’ll go to the dinner my mom set up for everybody.”
Michael moved back in front of her and ran his hands over her shoulders, pushing her robe off, and nibbling at the junction between her neck and collarbone. “And after that?”
Her breathing hitched and she struggled to calm it. “It’s kind of become a tradition to wait for our green light call in one of the community rooms, playing poker, talking and relaxing. You up for a game of Poker later on?”
“I think I’m up for more than that right now.” His long fingers caressed her arms and shoulders, moving gently over the smooth alabaster skin of her breasts down past her navel and up again.
Maria giggled as he dragged her down to the bed with him and rolled atop her in one fluid motion. He kissed her slowly, soft and tender. Her lips parted for his kiss as she closed her eyes running her fingers through the soft brown locks at the nape of his neck. Their heated bodies were pressed together, skin to skin, as his warm hands lingered slowly across her body.
Taking a deep breath, she felt the wet warmth between her legs and her nipples hardened like little rocks. It still surprised her at how fast he could cause those feelings to rise and stir inside her, rolling over her like ocean waves. Her hands moved down his body, feeling the hair on his chest between her fingers, letting her palm ride down the center of his firm back to the hard unyielding muscles of his thighs.
His kisses followed the graceful curve of her throat downward to her slender body. Lowering his head, Michael kissed the top of each breast before moving his mouth to suck on a hard rosy nipple. His long fingers molded her hips as he took his time exploring every curve of her body, followed by the taste of her skin beneath his lips.
Her muscles quivered wherever his lips touched as he kissed his way down the valley between her breasts to her navel, then down to her inner thighs where he placed delicate kisses. Maria moaned and lifted her hips in offering as his lips found her center and kissed it. He gently traced her tiny rigid nub with his tongue until she groaned, imploring him, “Michael… please, I need you. Now.”
He moved back up her body, his tongue flicking out to brush against her quickly heating skin. Struck by her beauty, he stilled for a moment taking in her golden tresses and sparkling emerald eyes as she locked eyes with him. “Maria… I…” he choked out overwhelmed by the feelings welling up inside of him.
“Shh, I know.” Leaning in, Maria kissed his neck, sucking on a tender spot just below his ear. Her hands ran over his arm muscles, hard and flexed at holding himself above her, up around his shoulders to tangle in his hair.
Breathing deeply and staring into her eyes, Michael pressed forward gently, sliding into her slowly. She cried aloud as they finally joined, her insides quivering at the feel of him becoming a part of her.
He moved deep inside her with strength and gentleness, rhythmically moving with her in ways that they had taught each other so long ago. As he poured his soul and body into her, Maria came apart under him, surrendering to the shudders of ecstasy that racked her small body.
She trembled beneath him, struggling to catch her breath as his pace increased and his thrusts became more forceful. Another orgasm built before the first one had ended and electricity coursed through her body wildly as he thrust hard one last time, spilling his seed within her, a guttural cry escaping his lips.
His face flushed and breathing ragged, Michael moved next to her on the bed. He gathered her into his arms, wrapping himself around her sylphlike body, and they breathlessly murmured words of love between soft kisses as they drifted off to sleep.
~~~
Hours later Maria woke to go to her last meeting before the mission later that night. As she quietly dressed she thought about how good life had been lately. She and Michael had spent their days getting to know each other all over again, and she was sure that she was more in love with him now than ever before. Plus, all of the Roswell gang had decided to stay at the base. And even though she had been put through the ringer about that decision by some Council members when the other base was attacked, most were finally coming around, especially now that they were going after the Granolith.
Life would be damn near perfect if only they could get the Granolith back and do so without any casualties. She wasn’t so naïve to think they would escape without harm, they all knew how dangerous this operation would be and how likely injuries or worse would be, but she hoped that it would all be worth it in the end. In a way, she had joined up with this crusade for Michael, but now it had become her own, her soldiers that put their lives on the line, her family that she needed to protect, her hope for the salvation of her lover’s planet, her compulsion to make a difference in the universe.
Maria moved out the door and immediately recognized the raised voices in the hallway.
“Max, just stop it. I am not going to have dinner with you so stop asking.”
“You’re still my wife, Liz.” His voice was stern, but he was gentle as he took her hand in his. “Look, I’ve seen you around with Sean; you’ve gotten your point across. Now, it’s time for us to work past all of this. Let’s just have dinner and we can talk.”
Liz felt like tearing her hair out. What ‘point’? Anything she was doing or not doing with Sean, Sam or anyone else was her business and had nothing to do with him. Besides, she wasn’t sure how she felt about any of the men in her life.
His thumb caressed the top of her hand and he squeezed it slightly before pleading. “Please, Liz, give us another chance. You are the love of my life. You always have been and you always will be.”
At one time all she lived for was to be important to him, to be loved by him, and in some ways parts of her still wanted that. It would be so easy to fall back in to those soulful brown eyes. She missed him almost unbearably at night when he wasn’t there to share her bed, but it was time to try to move past those feelings and get on with her life. He’d shared a bed with too many others. “I realize that taking you back after you had a child with another woman might make you optimistic that I’d take you back this time, but you’ve cheated on me too many times and this time we were married. It’s not going to happen, Max. Ever.” She turned away, her long brown hair swinging behind her, and headed back to her room.
Max started after her. “Liz, wait! You can’t just leave…” He trailed off as he felt a hand land on his shoulder in a firm grip. Turning to cast off whoever it was, he wasn’t surprised to see Maria there. “Maria, this is between me and Liz.”
“Max, I think Liz made herself pretty clear. Why don’t you just back off for awhile? It would do you both some good.”
He shrugged her hand off his shoulder. “Why? So your loser cousin can get his clutches into my wife. I don’t think so. Liz and I are meant to be. She’s just trying to make a point, and I need her to see that I get it. It won’t happen again.”
“What won’t happen, getting caught or taking another mistress?” Maria asked matter-of-factly.
Max sighed loudly. “Maria, I don’t want to talk to you about this.” He walked off in the opposite direction his wife had gone with his shoulders slumped.
“What was that all about?”
Maria jumped. “Damn, Kyle, you scared me!”
“Sorry.” He sounded contrite but the smile on his face hinted that he wasn’t really that apologetic at all.
She smiled, punching him on the arm for scaring her. Her arm slipped around the crook of his elbow and she pulled him along to walk with her while they talked. “Same ol’ story, Max can’t seem to get it through his head that Liz wants nothing to do with him anymore.”
Kyle shook his head. “I can’t believe he was cheating on her. Not that it was right, but it was one thing when he slept with Tess since they weren’t together at the time and he thought she had slept with me. But to come back from all that and then cheat while they were married is unbelievable. I just can’t understand why he would do that? Did he think he could get away with it a second time?”
“Probably. From the stories I’ve heard, Zan was a real ladies’ man on Antar. He was notoriously unfaithful to Ava. I guess he has enough of his previous life’s personality traits to give him the same commitment issues.”
“So he was like the JFK of Antar?”
Maria giggled. At least he hadn’t spouted some Buddhist verse.
“You know, Buddha says…”
She groaned, having obviously spoken too soon, and slapped her hand over his mouth to cut him off. “Enough of that! How’s Izzy doing? I heard she’s been talking with Quinn’s wife, Lily.”
“She’s doing much better. She still has morning sickness, but I think Iz is a lot less nervous about the pregnancy now that she and Lily have become fast friends.”
“I’m so excited, Kyle. I can’t wait until he or she is born. You do know I’m going to spoil my little niece or nephew rotten, don’t you?”
“You might have mentioned something like that once or twice.” Or a billion times, he thought, but he wouldn’t quell her excitement to save his life. It was fun sharing his own enthusiasm with her.
“Well, I don’t want to be the favorite Aunt just by default of being the kid’s only Aunt.”
“Yeah, but something tells me that you won’t have to work at it too hard. You’ll be a great Aunt.”
“I knew having a brother would be good for something.”
Kyle placed his hand on his chin thoughtfully. “Now if only I could think of what having a sister is good for…”
~~~
After a quick run through of the mission and a check on all the preparations, Maria headed back to her room. Quietly walking into the bedroom, she found Michael still asleep, sprawled across the bed with only a sheet barely covering him.
Through heavy-lidded eyes, Michael silently watched her peel off her clothes. He groaned loudly as the last piece of clothing came off and her curvaceous backside was completely bared to him.
She gasped, “I thought you were still asleep.” Turning around, Maria walked towards him. His smoldering eyes were a caress as they moved over her body, and she could barely contain her moan of desire. Michael held out his hand pulling her back to bed where they made love all afternoon.
~~~
Later that evening, at dinner Michael watched on as he found his life filled with laughter and love in a way he never thought it would be. His hand found Maria’s under the table and he gently squeezed it, her touch was reassuring, comforting. He chuckled at Maria desperately trying to ignore Jim and Amy who, after a few glasses of wine, were getting very friendly at the head of the table.
He looked on as Kyle and Isabel, the parents-to-be, talked with Quinn and Lily about little Maria Elena, nicknamed Lena, who was happily snuggled up asleep in her mother’s arms blissfully unaware of all the noise around her. Michael felt a tug in his heart as he watched the family, and he had to look away, his hand unconsciously tightening on hers.
Maria’s laughter caught his attention and he turned to find her giggling at Rath and Sean who were trying to outdo each other in entertaining her with crude jokes. Further down the table, Liz and Sam seemed to be having an intense discussion, most likely over some geeky science thing. Quickly, he glanced at Max who he was sure would be glaring their way, but instead found that he was caught up in animated conversation with Talia, Alex and Ava. ‘This is the way it should always be,’ he thought as he sat back to enjoy the conversations and laughter.
~~~
After dinner, most of the gang migrated to the community room. Michael and Maria started a game of Poker with Rath, Talia and Sean while the others stood around talking or playing pool.
Talia watched Michael and Maria together. Maria was snuggled up against his side, and Talia wondered how she could possibly be keeping her hand a secret from him. They looked good like they were made to fit together. She’d thought it would be the same as when she used to watch Rath and Maria together, but there was more intimacy in Maria’s gestures with Michael. A sidelong glance in Rath’s direction found him staring at her with an intensity she rarely saw.
Rath noticed Talia watching them and he leaned in close, brushing her shoulder with his. With a gleam in his eye and a smirk on his lips, he whispered, “Bet I’m a better kisser.” This was dangerous territory, but he couldn’t help himself. Red was looking really fine tonight. He glanced over at the Commander to make sure she was otherwise occupied. She had threatened him that unless he was willing to commit, then he wasn’t to “see” anyone in their group. The only thing stopping him from making a move on the beautiful red-head was knowing that his pixie was right, it would suck to have someone on his own team out for his blood if things went sour between them.
She shook her head and turned to look at him. A salacious grin covered his face, but his mouth was inviting, his lips full and beautifully shaped. Talia tried to hold back the blush she knew was threatening to cover her cheeks. She wasn’t used to anyone having an affect on her, but for some reason he broke down all her defenses. The only reason she had agreed to give Michael that message years ago was because it was the closest she would ever get to locking lips with Rath that wouldn’t involve getting played. She didn’t want a broken heart.
She had crushed on him back in the days when he and Ava first teamed up with the Allied Forces. He was wild and pierced with a Mohawk and tattoos, but there was also a vulnerability that he hid under all that sneering. Fortunately, she learned early on that his swaggering walk and troublemaker’s smirk were something she could not afford, and his appearance may have changed drastically over the years, but he was still trouble. Well, two could play at that game. She moved into his space, her breath hot on his cheek as she whispered her reply, “We’ll probably never know.”
“Yeah… Probably…” He breathed the words out, his voice husky and sounding far away. The doubt in his voice sent an unwanted thrill through her, and despite the full house in her hand Talia quickly folded and left the table.
After losing a couple of hands, Maria also excused herself from the table, intent on getting another drink. Along the way, she cornered Ace to discuss things that couldn’t be said in front of the others.
Finishing his drink, Michael decided to get another, hoping to find Maria and drag her into a quiet corner for some alone time. He paused when he heard her voice around the corner.
“You know what to do if anything goes wrong, right?”
“Maria…” Of course he knew what the protocol was, it was the same for every mission, although thankfully they’d never had to implement it.
“Alex Whitman, you and I both know how dangerous this is going to be.” Her head turned and she looked off into the distance.
The tone of her voice caught him by surprise, and besides that she never called him by his full name. “What’s really going on here, Maria?”
When she looked back at him her green eyes were dark, thoughtful. “I have a bad feeling about this, Alex, but I also know that if we don’t do this now then we won’t get another chance. I need your reassurance that things will be under control here and that they will be safe. There is always a chance…”
The rest was left unsaid, but he understood. Ace looked back at her, she was counting on him and he had promised himself long ago to never let her down. His eyes firm and determined, he told her, “I know what I have to do.”
Michael swallowed back the bile rising in his stomach. Danger. Real Danger. He hadn’t allowed himself to think about it before. Fine tremors ran through his hands as he felt himself losing control. He had to get out of there.
A couple of minutes later, Rath sidled up next to Ace. Vaguely interested in the intense conversation they were having, he thought about asking, but they didn’t have time. “Commander, we gots a green light.”
She pulled Ace to her in a quick embrace. “Bye, babe. See ya soon.”
He and Quinn had worked with a special Granolith research team to develop a custom crystalline matrix. Once inserted, if they’d done their jobs right, it would interface with the Granolith and make it transport itself to their set of coordinates, so he had to stay at the base to head the mission control unit and coordinate the transport. “Don’t worry, this is going to work. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow morning.”
Maria nodded and looked back at the table for Michael, but couldn’t find him. Rath told her that he had left the table shortly after she did, and looking around the room neither of them saw him anywhere. Resorting to her last measure, she opened up her senses and was immediately bombarded by his panic. Crap! What was going on? “You and Talia coordinate the extraction teams and get them up in the air. I’ll be right behind you. Just give me a few.” Tracking down his blazing emotions, she easily found him.
“Hey, we just got the go ah…” Her words trailed off as she stopped in the middle of the room. Breath left her lungs in a whoosh and her heart twisted. He was packing. A sudden irrational betrayal came over her. “You said you’d stay.” She had been a fool for ever thinking that it would be different this time around.
Desperation flashed in his dark, haunted eyes as he glanced up to see her green eyes demanding an explanation. Unable to face her, he turned around and resumed packing. With his eyes closed and his back still turned to her, his voice low with undisguised grief, Michael brokenly whispered, “I can’t, Maria.”
If he left now, then he’d never know. Not knowing would be a godsend if the unthinkable happened. There was no way he could survive knowledge of her death, so he was running like he always did, keeping himself safe. Michael took a deep breath and turned around, avoiding her eyes. Raking his hands through his hair, he squeezed his eyes shut tightly. “I just can’t,” he uttered wretchedly. This wasn’t about love, this was about self-preservation.
“Okay,” she responded in a soft whisper. Maria could see the anguish in his eyes. As much as she hated it, she also understood. If the situation was reversed she’d like to think that she would have the courage to stay and hope for a better future, for their future together, but she could see how difficult that would be. For people like her and Michael, the future didn’t often turn out the way they wished it would, so it was difficult in believing that everything could work out. She would let him do what he thought was in his best interest, and for once in her life not argue with him about it. Her hands cupped his face and brought his lips down to hers. She again whispered a tender “okay”, and then she kissed him with all the love and passion that she had for him.
His hands traveled down her shoulders brushing along her arms until he reached her hands. Clasping her hands tightly, he let down his walls, opening a connection between them. Her defenses were down and now she was being bombarded with images from their life together. As the memories of their times together coursed through her mind, she knew she’d never find another man as beautiful inside and out. But she also knew that if he left this time it would be the last. Their trust in one another would be irrevocably damaged.
Michael was breathing hard when she finally pulled back. He let the feelings of love wash through him, and suddenly she was moving out of his arms and walking out the door. Immediately he felt the loss of her warmth. He turned back to his bag to finish packing, but instead threw it across the room with a howl of frustration. Immediately, anything in the room that was glass violently shattered.
Flopping down on the bed, he hung his head in his hands. What was he doing? What was he suppose to do? Could he really walk away from her again? If he left this time, there would be no coming back. He ran his hand across his chest as if the ache in his heart was physical. The soft, gentle look of understanding on her face had been his undoing. Now he had a better understanding of all the times that she waited for him hoping that he would return. He whispered brokenly to the empty room, “Come back to me.”
Maria rushed out stifling a sob, she kept repeating ‘focus… don’t break… focus’ over and over in her mind. It was difficult to figure out if it was helping at all since she could hardly breathe, her lungs felt like they were on fire. There was no time for her to lose it, she had to keep walking, her focus had to be on the mission. She breathed slowly and deliberately, holding back the overwhelming need to cry. She felt a crushing sadness start to envelop her, but pushed it back not wanting to breakdown in front of her team.
TBC
Last edited by Ninlil on Fri Sep 24, 2004 9:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ch. 18
Thanks again for the feedback and the bumping. This part was super difficult to write, so I hope it came out okay. It's a lot of action, and it's harder than I thought it would be to put that down on paper (or computer 
). Anyway, on to the story...
-Kara
CHAPTER 18
Fear was the only thing holding him back. But, what did he really have to fear? He wasn’t afraid of loving her – he loved her more than any other being in his life in any lifetime. He wasn’t afraid of rejection – she’d never been anything but clear on how she felt about him. He wasn’t afraid of commitment – he wanted to be with her forever and was only holding back because he knew she would think it too soon.
Could he really walk away? Could he continue holding himself apart from the one woman who fulfilled all of his heart’s desires, who, after being empty for so long, made him feel whole again? Maria was not only a part of his heart, but of his very soul. Leaving would be like ripping heart from soul and he couldn’t do it again, it had almost destroyed him the last time.
Suddenly all the panicked fear left in a rush of breath. He had to find her, had to make things right again before she left. Michael stormed out of the room determined to find her and get down on his knees to beg for her forgiveness if he had to, the knowledge that she would never ask that of him tore at his heart. Why she loved him was beyond him, he never thought anyone could love him the way she does.
He caught sight of Alex and he rushed into the room. “Alex, have you seen Maria? I need to talk to her before she leaves.”
“She’s already gone, Michael. Has been for a bit.”
In uncontrolled fury, he banged his fist against the wall so hard that pain shot through his elbow. “Damn!”
“Um, something I can help you with, Michael? Besides the assault on the wall, I mean.”
“Are you in contact with her? I need to talk to her.” His chest ached.
Ace shook his head. “They’ve gone dark. They’ll check-in when they land, but they won’t have very long to talk.”
“Alex, you have to let me talk to her when she calls in,” Michael demanded then uncharacteristically added, “Please.”
Knowing his past actions in regards to his closest friend, Ace was instantly wary. “What did you do?”
Michael hung his head and slumped down into a chair. “I overheard her talking with you earlier, and I panicked. It was stupid… I was so damn stupid.”
Ace wasn’t about to disagree with that assessment, but the guy looked like he was being harder on himself than anything he could say. “I’ll try, shouldn’t be long if you want to stick around.”
~~~
As fast as possible she joined her team in the last plane taking off, her demeanor guarded and stoic, but inside her heart was breaking in a thousand pieces.
Sam was worried, looking at her it seemed as if nothing was wrong, but every once in awhile he would pick up a sudden onslaught of emotions. Born with a touch of empathic abilities, he could read most people, but he rarely ever picked up anything from her. However, ever since Maria boarded the plane she’d been broadcasting. It was like listening to a radio station full of static where the signal never came in clear long enough to hear the voices.
Their eyes met; his crystal blue gaze questioning while her darkened green eyes remained stark and serious. The silence was deafening as he watched her deliberately shut down all emotion.
Aware that she had been driven to distraction and was losing control, Maria reigned herself in. She needed absolute command over her muscles and movements. The fine tremors in her hands were immediately squelched.
As they got closer Maria started gathering her gear, she wished that they were going in with thousands of soldiers or even hundreds, but the most important part of their mission was getting in quietly in order to get to the Granolith, something that an army would make impossible. She took the time to look around at her elite squad, her confidence rising, knowing that they were all experienced and well trained. All around her they worked to get their minds and hearts ready as well as their weapons.
About forty pounds of equipment and ammunition were strapped to their bodies over their camouflage fatigues. The fatigues were worn over a black bodysuit that clung to their skin like a wetsuit. Armor was heavy and not wanting to be slowed down they all wore as little as possible, most had armor plates in their suits covering vital organs in the front and back.
Over the years they’d developed a special type of coated titanium bullet that could penetrate husk or armor, and they were issued to even those with blasting ability, the reason being that their guns didn’t consume nearly as much energy for the shooter as a blast did. Sean had issued each of them various equipment according to their skills and set tasks in the mission, and they all wore a small earpiece and microphone that wrapped around to their mouth.
Stepping out of the plane, Maria instinctively lowered her shoulders, taking deep breaths into her lungs, quickly acclimating to the thinner mountain air. They would hike the rest of the way, hopefully unobserved in their silent approach through the dense jungle. Leaving their objective would be by helicopter when noise was no longer a concern, and she briefly stopped to rehash the timetable and maps with the extraction teams while she sent a team out to scout the area.
~~~
Ava gave the signal to commence with the interference wave that would mask her call back to base. She switched to the dedicated outside channel and confirmed, “We’re down, babe. Goin’ in.”
Ace hurried to stop her. “Wait, Ava! Tell the Commander that I’ve got an urgent message for her.”
“Commander,” Ava called from several yards away, “Ace says he has a message for ya. Urgent.”
Maria looked up from the maps, giving Ava a funny look. “About the mission?”
“Duty or life?” Ava asked in the shorthand communication that Ace knew all too well after so many years of working together.
“Personal, but she’ll want to know,” Ace answered.
“Life, Commander, he says you’ll be interested,” Ava relayed back to Maria, wondering about the tension in her friend’s face that the answer seemed to provoke.
Unfortunately, she was already aware of that personal message, she’d received it in person when she’d walked in on Michael packing. Maria stood there shaking her head, debating on whether she could afford to listen right now to the sympathy in her best friend’s voice when he told her that Michael had left. Luckily, she spied Talia and Rath coming back from their reconnaissance and was saved from answering. Switching her headset to all channels, Maria sent her words to all of the soldiers. “Let’s move out.”
Michael and Ace heard her over Ava’s headset before Ava switched back to the outside line. “Gotta go, hun. Catch ya on the flip side.”
“Wait! What the hell?” Michael shouted. “They’re calling back in a few minutes right.”
He looked into his eyes with apprehension and shook his head. “Few hours, if all goes well.” Ace knew Maria better than he knew anyone else in the world, not surprising considering he’d been right by her side for most of his life. For that reason, he could fairly accurately deduce her reasons for not wanting to hear the message.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!”
“Don’t worry about it, man. As soon as she gets back you can patch things up with her.” For his friend’s sake because he knew how devastated she must be, he added, “You’re doing the right thing, Michael. Just hang in there.”
Angry at himself, his response was gruff. “Yeah, whatever. Look, I’m staying right here until she calls back.”
“Yeah, um, I understand you wanting to stay, but I really need all of the equipment in here to be functional for this mission to go off without a hitch.”
“Don’t worry about it.” At Alex’s dubious look, he continued, “I’m tapped.” His expenditure of energy over the past twenty-four hours had left him completely drained.
Seeing that he was serious, Ace agreed to let him stay, and Michael sat there watching the blinking lights that indicated their positions on the map grid in front of them.
~~~
Cloaked in darkness, they moved like liquid night, quickly and soundlessly disappearing into the woods. Night vision goggles were needed as the jungle loomed over them cutting off any light from the bright moon and stars, and although they moved through the night with easy confidence, they remained alert of their surroundings.
When radio silence was needed they relied on hand signals to communicate. An odd combination of awareness and exhilaration settled over them sending their pulses racing while they anxiously fingered their weapons. As they walked, they moved with their weapons up and ready.
When the ruins came into view, they moved up crouching defensively with easy grace, taking cover behind the partial rock walls. Maria signaled for her teams to stay, and moments later a sentry walked right by Rath’s position. With deadly skill, Rath stepped nonchalantly behind the Skin, out of his line of sight, and grabbed his arm hoisting it up high and hard behind his back. The Skin barely had time to grunt before Rath, the picture of a gung-ho soldier with his shaved head, camouflage fatigues, combat boots, and several pistols strapped to shoulder and leg holsters, punched hard with his other hand breaking the seal of the husk.
They moved up to the entrance of the underground caves they would have to traverse to get to the Granolith. Hidden by Ava’s mindwarp, they shed their camouflage while Quinn worked to bypass the perimeter alarm. When he was done Maria gave the signal, and Rath darted inside kicking the legs out from under a stunned Skin just beyond the doorway, dropping him and busting his seal. They all stood in the small dark space just staring at each other, waiting.
After a few moments of silence, they strode powerfully through the tunnel. Time had lost all meaning. They moved on quickly, their bodies acting almost without thought, doing what they had rehearsed a hundred times in the last few weeks. Maria could sense her team’s movements around her, everyone was just where they were suppose to be.
They made their way quickly down several intersecting corridors before finally coming to the building that, if their intelligence was correct, housed the Granolith. A Skin rushed around the corner, but the Commander clipped the base of his skull with the butt of her gun in a swift, deliberate movement then released the seal of his husk turning him into nothing but flakes.
Maria gave the signal for Sam to bring into play one of his most important abilities, and slowly his body blended into the background like a chameleon. It was another of his unique abilities, but had come in very useful at times when he needed to get to the injured during a battle.
The safety of Talia’s gun was off, her trigger finger aching with tension of preparedness. They wanted to prolong the loud sounds of weapons fire until the last possible moment, but she was itching to get in there and kick some ass.
Muscles flexing and shifting his weight, Rath nodded his readiness. He exulted in heart-pounding, balls-out battles. It’s what made him so good. The Commander gave the signal and he moved in ahead of the others. Taking the full weight of the first Skin, he turned his hip and sent him flying over his shoulder.
Maria moved up behind Quinn, and signaled for him to come in behind her. He was frightened, excited and nervous all at once. He nodded and lifted his gun to his chest, tensed, and followed her steps. They raced into an adjacent room where a massive steel door stood blocking their path. In the distance she could hear the start of gunfire, her team had been engaged.
Sweating under her body armor, she pulled Quinn to the control panel outside the door. He quickly went to work on getting the door unlocked, and it opened just as two enemy soldiers came around the corner. Maria and Quinn stole inside the room letting the door automatically close behind them, his override securing them from any unwanted intrusions. The massive onyx structure loomed before them, its surface reflecting their own images like a mirror.
A chill of awareness went through her, and she jostled Quinn out of his stunned paralyzed state. “Alright, let’s get this thing out of here as fast as possible.”
Battling excitement and the rush of adrenaline, Quinn deliberately slowed his movements so that he could set up the interface for their customized crystalline matrix with precision and accuracy.
No longer needing to be quiet, she shouted into her headset. “Update!” Various status and injury reports filtered in as everyone seemed to be on the comm. at once. Feeling the need to be out there fighting, she turned to Quinn. “Babe, hate to rush ya, but we need this done like five minutes ago.”
“Got it. Got it. Just a sec.” He rushed to insert the crystal and the room came alive with a burst of swirling colors. They both backed away to the door, praying that they wouldn’t be blown up or blinked out of existence. The room shook in thundering rage then suddenly a white light flashed and the massive structure was gone. She felt the pull of its leaving deep in her bones, and briefly wondered if the Granolith was sentient and if the profound feeling in the pit of her stomach was because she sensed its feelings. They’d figure it out later, now it was time to get the hell out of here. A couple of minutes later, Ace relayed the confirmation to Quinn that it had worked and the Granolith was in its new location.
They opened the door just enough to throw out a couple of canisters of gas to disable any enemies outside the door. Coordinating with Rath and Sean for cover, they moved out into the open. The outer room had exploded in an orgy of violence, and events seemed to be happening at a frantic pace.
A cold creeping feeling inched down her spine, and Maria had the inexplicable premonition that something was very wrong. She turned just in time to see a blast of energy heading straight for Quinn’s chest. There was no way she was letting that happen, Quinn had a wife and new little baby to go back to. She flew at him knocking him out of the way, taking the hit in her left arm.
Recovering her balance, Maria sprang up, guiding a dazed Quinn to a safer area as Rath, Talia, Sean and Ava laid down a cover of fire for them. Wooden crates were strewn all over the building and the area erupted in a shower of cement, wood and dust. It was hard to believe things could’ve gone to hell in such short a time. There were way too many people firing at them, and she had the inkling that things were seriously amiss. Some of them were Khivar’s human allies, but most were Skins. There wasn’t suppose to be that many Skins left on Earth, and intelligence indicated that the small cells of Skins they had tagged over the years were still active in other parts of the world. So, where the hell did all these people come from? They would be having a serious meeting when this was all over. The thought brought on the reminder of their success, the recovery of the Granolith, and she smiled amidst all the chaos.
All she could hear pounding in her ears was the shrill whistle of bullets passing by and the beating sounds of automatic weapon fire along with the occasional deafening swoosh of an energy blast. Halfway there she turned and dropped to a knee and opened fire.
Maria felt him nearby before he spoke. As he touched her injured arm she could see the vague outline of his body but the rest was the same stark grey as the concrete walls.
“Commander, you okay?” Sam asked, cringing at the blood trickling down her arm.
She nodded. “I’m fine. Nothing you need to expend any energy on. How’s everyone else?” Her arm hung limply by her side, unusable. It had burned incredibly at first, but now it was just numb.
“It’s getting pretty bad.” Sam informed her of the injuries he’d already healed and the two members of the second team that would need to be paired up with someone conscious and alert when they were lifted out, their injuries too extensive to heal in the combat zone.
The beating of chopper blades became audible to the North, the extraction team was moving in. She spoke to the leader of the other team, “We’ll cover. Get your team out of here.”
As the other team made their way into the open room and were lifted to the waiting helicopter, her team laid down a deafening round of cover fire while inching their way to the same location. She heard the roar of the chopper moving away from the building, and another coming closer. “Ava, it’s time.”
Concentration contorted her face and she replied, “Got it. Ready to go.”
Maria gave the signal. “Let’s move.” Talia and Quinn were the first to go then Sam, but it took longer than they’d expected and Ava was quickly tiring from the mindwarp. “Ava, you and Sean go on. Rath and I are right behind you.”
Once the others were around the corner she and Rath made a go of it. She sprinted, her long legs eating up the distance. Then without warning there was a pop then a blinding flash, and a devouring fountain of fire sprung up. Suddenly she was falling, her arms thrown out wide trying to catch something to stop her fall or brace herself when she hit.
Rath saw and heard a flash of light and a violent crack, and felt himself driven hard into the ground, feeling a burst of heat and light behind him. Somewhere in the enveloping chaos, he’d heard a heart-rending scream of pain. Instinct took over and he clambered to his feet. The explosion had been powerful enough to dismember anyone close to it and had hurled deadly sharp metal fragments in all directions. He felt like he was on fire, his ears still rang from the blast and his nose and mouth were filled with a bitter metallic taste. There was a piece of shrapnel embedded in his forearm where it had broken the bone, and his hand looked mangled. It wasn’t bleeding much and now he felt no pain, just some numbness in his hand. He looked around for Maria and hit a wall of heat as flames danced in front of his eyes.
Maria came to and tried to get back up, but her arm was stuck in between a pile of crates. An excruciating river of pain flowed through her as she tried to pull herself free. Shots ricocheted off the concrete walls, spitting out chunks of stone at high velocities near her head. Finally, she managed to pry her hand loose from its jammed position, losing her watch in the process. She tried to retrieve it, but gave up as the heat of the battle swirled around her. She felt her leg buckle under her as she tried to get up, and looked down to find her femur broken. “Shit!”
Rath heard her yell over the roar of the battle, and feeling immense relief made his way around the fire to her side. “Shit!” he cursed under his breath when he saw her. Her side was bloody and swollen from where she’d been thrown, she had a compound fracture of her left leg, shrapnel had punctured her skin in several places, and her left arm had begun to swell and discolor from where she’d taken the earlier blast.
He helped her to her feet and with her arm slung around his waist and his good arm wrapped around to her uninjured side, they made their way to the other room. Just as they reached it there was another flash and explosion and they were both thrown once again to the floor. Rath yelled and rolled onto his back, clutching at the wound on his hip.
In the fall, Maria hit her head hard on the concrete and lost her gun in the process. She blinked, opening her eyes groggily just in time to see a Skin lunging at her with some kind of sharp angular blade. She dodged the attack at the last possible moment, only receiving a glancing blow. Without thinking she’d pulled out the knife she kept at her hip and was up on her feet ducking under his vicious swinging blow, thrusting her blade into his chest hilt-deep using both hands. Before he could move again, she pivoted around him on her good leg, and the serrated knife left her hand and lodged into his lower back piercing the husk and breaking the seal.
Rath looked up just as a soldier slammed into him full on. He was pushed back, but managed to stay standing. The two men squared off, both firing at the same time but neither fell. Rath looked the other man in the eyes with a cold menace and shot again. The bullet hit the human enemy square in the chest and he toppled. Rath stood there triumphant with a split lower lip and two fingers of his left hand bent at awkward angles, bleeding from a thick gash in his forearm and the wound on his hip, never feeling the penetration of the bullet into his shoulder.
Keeping their heads low, Maria and Rath lunged for the other room. The roar of the helicopter hovering up in the night sky was deafening and debris swirled all around them. Their enemies had made their way into the room as well, and there was a noticeable increase in fire from the upper level. They picked off Khivar’s soldiers firing above them as the chopper blasted streams of fire from a gun on its side.
They found some cover behind a small stack of filled crates, both slumping to the ground in pain. Her leg ached where the bone was broken, and her head felt fuzzy from the earlier fall. “Is everyone out?” she asked Rath. Her comm. piece had gone missing at some point.
The state of the art helicopter was designed to stay in the air no matter what, but it was getting increasingly dangerous as an explosion to the right side of the airframe rocked it dreadfully. The pilot yelled to the back at Sean, “The blast damaged the main rotor housing. We have to leave soon or we’re not going to make it back.” Sean relayed the message to Rath then told the pilot, “Just hold on. They’ll be right here in a minute.” He switched back to Rath’s channel, “Get out of there now. The cable is down. We’re out of time, so come up on the same one.”
They needed to decide if they were going to take their chances with the harness or try and fight their way out. The drag time on the harness reel would double with both of them, giving the enemy longer to target them. They would essentially be sitting ducks. Shooting their way out wasn’t looking very promising either. Sweat dripped from his brow. “Everyone is out, Commander. We gots a choice to make here.” It wouldn’t hurt to have the harnesses on; they could just unhook the line if she decided they had a better chance another way. He hooked up his harness reaching his hand out to hook her up as well.
Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth. Neither of them was in any shape to fight their way out, and Rath needed medical attention soon. Looking into his darkened brown eyes she saw his fierce determination and refused to let him sacrifice himself when he still had a chance. “There is no choice,” she said with a fierce calm. With the last of her strength Maria reached out and pulled the cord that would lift him back to the waiting chopper.
“NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO…” Rath roared as he was propelled upwards.
Maria closed her eyes against his scream of protest tearing at her heart, as three of the five skins approaching her were dusted by his last blasts. Opening her eyes just as one of the skins was aiming his shot, she prayed that her end would come quickly. Really she ought to thank him, her body was telling her that she wasn’t going to survive much longer and this would just quicken the unavoidable.
She shut her eyes tightly waiting for the inevitable, desperately recalling the best times of her life, the care and love her mother had given her over the many years, the beginning of her trek into the alien abyss and all the beautiful people it had brought into her life, her friends, her family. Then she remembered all the moments that she and Michael had together, from their youthful lust-filled beginnings, through the years that they matured and mellowed together sowing the deeper seeds of their love, to more recent times when she felt that her shattered heart had miraculously been mended because he was in her life. If this was going to be the end, she wanted him to be her last thought.
As immense pain shot through her body and blackness grew behind her eyelids, she knew in that heartbeat that it was all over for her.
TBC
). Anyway, on to the story...-Kara
CHAPTER 18
Fear was the only thing holding him back. But, what did he really have to fear? He wasn’t afraid of loving her – he loved her more than any other being in his life in any lifetime. He wasn’t afraid of rejection – she’d never been anything but clear on how she felt about him. He wasn’t afraid of commitment – he wanted to be with her forever and was only holding back because he knew she would think it too soon.
Could he really walk away? Could he continue holding himself apart from the one woman who fulfilled all of his heart’s desires, who, after being empty for so long, made him feel whole again? Maria was not only a part of his heart, but of his very soul. Leaving would be like ripping heart from soul and he couldn’t do it again, it had almost destroyed him the last time.
Suddenly all the panicked fear left in a rush of breath. He had to find her, had to make things right again before she left. Michael stormed out of the room determined to find her and get down on his knees to beg for her forgiveness if he had to, the knowledge that she would never ask that of him tore at his heart. Why she loved him was beyond him, he never thought anyone could love him the way she does.
He caught sight of Alex and he rushed into the room. “Alex, have you seen Maria? I need to talk to her before she leaves.”
“She’s already gone, Michael. Has been for a bit.”
In uncontrolled fury, he banged his fist against the wall so hard that pain shot through his elbow. “Damn!”
“Um, something I can help you with, Michael? Besides the assault on the wall, I mean.”
“Are you in contact with her? I need to talk to her.” His chest ached.
Ace shook his head. “They’ve gone dark. They’ll check-in when they land, but they won’t have very long to talk.”
“Alex, you have to let me talk to her when she calls in,” Michael demanded then uncharacteristically added, “Please.”
Knowing his past actions in regards to his closest friend, Ace was instantly wary. “What did you do?”
Michael hung his head and slumped down into a chair. “I overheard her talking with you earlier, and I panicked. It was stupid… I was so damn stupid.”
Ace wasn’t about to disagree with that assessment, but the guy looked like he was being harder on himself than anything he could say. “I’ll try, shouldn’t be long if you want to stick around.”
~~~
As fast as possible she joined her team in the last plane taking off, her demeanor guarded and stoic, but inside her heart was breaking in a thousand pieces.
Sam was worried, looking at her it seemed as if nothing was wrong, but every once in awhile he would pick up a sudden onslaught of emotions. Born with a touch of empathic abilities, he could read most people, but he rarely ever picked up anything from her. However, ever since Maria boarded the plane she’d been broadcasting. It was like listening to a radio station full of static where the signal never came in clear long enough to hear the voices.
Their eyes met; his crystal blue gaze questioning while her darkened green eyes remained stark and serious. The silence was deafening as he watched her deliberately shut down all emotion.
Aware that she had been driven to distraction and was losing control, Maria reigned herself in. She needed absolute command over her muscles and movements. The fine tremors in her hands were immediately squelched.
As they got closer Maria started gathering her gear, she wished that they were going in with thousands of soldiers or even hundreds, but the most important part of their mission was getting in quietly in order to get to the Granolith, something that an army would make impossible. She took the time to look around at her elite squad, her confidence rising, knowing that they were all experienced and well trained. All around her they worked to get their minds and hearts ready as well as their weapons.
About forty pounds of equipment and ammunition were strapped to their bodies over their camouflage fatigues. The fatigues were worn over a black bodysuit that clung to their skin like a wetsuit. Armor was heavy and not wanting to be slowed down they all wore as little as possible, most had armor plates in their suits covering vital organs in the front and back.
Over the years they’d developed a special type of coated titanium bullet that could penetrate husk or armor, and they were issued to even those with blasting ability, the reason being that their guns didn’t consume nearly as much energy for the shooter as a blast did. Sean had issued each of them various equipment according to their skills and set tasks in the mission, and they all wore a small earpiece and microphone that wrapped around to their mouth.
Stepping out of the plane, Maria instinctively lowered her shoulders, taking deep breaths into her lungs, quickly acclimating to the thinner mountain air. They would hike the rest of the way, hopefully unobserved in their silent approach through the dense jungle. Leaving their objective would be by helicopter when noise was no longer a concern, and she briefly stopped to rehash the timetable and maps with the extraction teams while she sent a team out to scout the area.
~~~
Ava gave the signal to commence with the interference wave that would mask her call back to base. She switched to the dedicated outside channel and confirmed, “We’re down, babe. Goin’ in.”
Ace hurried to stop her. “Wait, Ava! Tell the Commander that I’ve got an urgent message for her.”
“Commander,” Ava called from several yards away, “Ace says he has a message for ya. Urgent.”
Maria looked up from the maps, giving Ava a funny look. “About the mission?”
“Duty or life?” Ava asked in the shorthand communication that Ace knew all too well after so many years of working together.
“Personal, but she’ll want to know,” Ace answered.
“Life, Commander, he says you’ll be interested,” Ava relayed back to Maria, wondering about the tension in her friend’s face that the answer seemed to provoke.
Unfortunately, she was already aware of that personal message, she’d received it in person when she’d walked in on Michael packing. Maria stood there shaking her head, debating on whether she could afford to listen right now to the sympathy in her best friend’s voice when he told her that Michael had left. Luckily, she spied Talia and Rath coming back from their reconnaissance and was saved from answering. Switching her headset to all channels, Maria sent her words to all of the soldiers. “Let’s move out.”
Michael and Ace heard her over Ava’s headset before Ava switched back to the outside line. “Gotta go, hun. Catch ya on the flip side.”
“Wait! What the hell?” Michael shouted. “They’re calling back in a few minutes right.”
He looked into his eyes with apprehension and shook his head. “Few hours, if all goes well.” Ace knew Maria better than he knew anyone else in the world, not surprising considering he’d been right by her side for most of his life. For that reason, he could fairly accurately deduce her reasons for not wanting to hear the message.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!”
“Don’t worry about it, man. As soon as she gets back you can patch things up with her.” For his friend’s sake because he knew how devastated she must be, he added, “You’re doing the right thing, Michael. Just hang in there.”
Angry at himself, his response was gruff. “Yeah, whatever. Look, I’m staying right here until she calls back.”
“Yeah, um, I understand you wanting to stay, but I really need all of the equipment in here to be functional for this mission to go off without a hitch.”
“Don’t worry about it.” At Alex’s dubious look, he continued, “I’m tapped.” His expenditure of energy over the past twenty-four hours had left him completely drained.
Seeing that he was serious, Ace agreed to let him stay, and Michael sat there watching the blinking lights that indicated their positions on the map grid in front of them.
~~~
Cloaked in darkness, they moved like liquid night, quickly and soundlessly disappearing into the woods. Night vision goggles were needed as the jungle loomed over them cutting off any light from the bright moon and stars, and although they moved through the night with easy confidence, they remained alert of their surroundings.
When radio silence was needed they relied on hand signals to communicate. An odd combination of awareness and exhilaration settled over them sending their pulses racing while they anxiously fingered their weapons. As they walked, they moved with their weapons up and ready.
When the ruins came into view, they moved up crouching defensively with easy grace, taking cover behind the partial rock walls. Maria signaled for her teams to stay, and moments later a sentry walked right by Rath’s position. With deadly skill, Rath stepped nonchalantly behind the Skin, out of his line of sight, and grabbed his arm hoisting it up high and hard behind his back. The Skin barely had time to grunt before Rath, the picture of a gung-ho soldier with his shaved head, camouflage fatigues, combat boots, and several pistols strapped to shoulder and leg holsters, punched hard with his other hand breaking the seal of the husk.
They moved up to the entrance of the underground caves they would have to traverse to get to the Granolith. Hidden by Ava’s mindwarp, they shed their camouflage while Quinn worked to bypass the perimeter alarm. When he was done Maria gave the signal, and Rath darted inside kicking the legs out from under a stunned Skin just beyond the doorway, dropping him and busting his seal. They all stood in the small dark space just staring at each other, waiting.
After a few moments of silence, they strode powerfully through the tunnel. Time had lost all meaning. They moved on quickly, their bodies acting almost without thought, doing what they had rehearsed a hundred times in the last few weeks. Maria could sense her team’s movements around her, everyone was just where they were suppose to be.
They made their way quickly down several intersecting corridors before finally coming to the building that, if their intelligence was correct, housed the Granolith. A Skin rushed around the corner, but the Commander clipped the base of his skull with the butt of her gun in a swift, deliberate movement then released the seal of his husk turning him into nothing but flakes.
Maria gave the signal for Sam to bring into play one of his most important abilities, and slowly his body blended into the background like a chameleon. It was another of his unique abilities, but had come in very useful at times when he needed to get to the injured during a battle.
The safety of Talia’s gun was off, her trigger finger aching with tension of preparedness. They wanted to prolong the loud sounds of weapons fire until the last possible moment, but she was itching to get in there and kick some ass.
Muscles flexing and shifting his weight, Rath nodded his readiness. He exulted in heart-pounding, balls-out battles. It’s what made him so good. The Commander gave the signal and he moved in ahead of the others. Taking the full weight of the first Skin, he turned his hip and sent him flying over his shoulder.
Maria moved up behind Quinn, and signaled for him to come in behind her. He was frightened, excited and nervous all at once. He nodded and lifted his gun to his chest, tensed, and followed her steps. They raced into an adjacent room where a massive steel door stood blocking their path. In the distance she could hear the start of gunfire, her team had been engaged.
Sweating under her body armor, she pulled Quinn to the control panel outside the door. He quickly went to work on getting the door unlocked, and it opened just as two enemy soldiers came around the corner. Maria and Quinn stole inside the room letting the door automatically close behind them, his override securing them from any unwanted intrusions. The massive onyx structure loomed before them, its surface reflecting their own images like a mirror.
A chill of awareness went through her, and she jostled Quinn out of his stunned paralyzed state. “Alright, let’s get this thing out of here as fast as possible.”
Battling excitement and the rush of adrenaline, Quinn deliberately slowed his movements so that he could set up the interface for their customized crystalline matrix with precision and accuracy.
No longer needing to be quiet, she shouted into her headset. “Update!” Various status and injury reports filtered in as everyone seemed to be on the comm. at once. Feeling the need to be out there fighting, she turned to Quinn. “Babe, hate to rush ya, but we need this done like five minutes ago.”
“Got it. Got it. Just a sec.” He rushed to insert the crystal and the room came alive with a burst of swirling colors. They both backed away to the door, praying that they wouldn’t be blown up or blinked out of existence. The room shook in thundering rage then suddenly a white light flashed and the massive structure was gone. She felt the pull of its leaving deep in her bones, and briefly wondered if the Granolith was sentient and if the profound feeling in the pit of her stomach was because she sensed its feelings. They’d figure it out later, now it was time to get the hell out of here. A couple of minutes later, Ace relayed the confirmation to Quinn that it had worked and the Granolith was in its new location.
They opened the door just enough to throw out a couple of canisters of gas to disable any enemies outside the door. Coordinating with Rath and Sean for cover, they moved out into the open. The outer room had exploded in an orgy of violence, and events seemed to be happening at a frantic pace.
A cold creeping feeling inched down her spine, and Maria had the inexplicable premonition that something was very wrong. She turned just in time to see a blast of energy heading straight for Quinn’s chest. There was no way she was letting that happen, Quinn had a wife and new little baby to go back to. She flew at him knocking him out of the way, taking the hit in her left arm.
Recovering her balance, Maria sprang up, guiding a dazed Quinn to a safer area as Rath, Talia, Sean and Ava laid down a cover of fire for them. Wooden crates were strewn all over the building and the area erupted in a shower of cement, wood and dust. It was hard to believe things could’ve gone to hell in such short a time. There were way too many people firing at them, and she had the inkling that things were seriously amiss. Some of them were Khivar’s human allies, but most were Skins. There wasn’t suppose to be that many Skins left on Earth, and intelligence indicated that the small cells of Skins they had tagged over the years were still active in other parts of the world. So, where the hell did all these people come from? They would be having a serious meeting when this was all over. The thought brought on the reminder of their success, the recovery of the Granolith, and she smiled amidst all the chaos.
All she could hear pounding in her ears was the shrill whistle of bullets passing by and the beating sounds of automatic weapon fire along with the occasional deafening swoosh of an energy blast. Halfway there she turned and dropped to a knee and opened fire.
Maria felt him nearby before he spoke. As he touched her injured arm she could see the vague outline of his body but the rest was the same stark grey as the concrete walls.
“Commander, you okay?” Sam asked, cringing at the blood trickling down her arm.
She nodded. “I’m fine. Nothing you need to expend any energy on. How’s everyone else?” Her arm hung limply by her side, unusable. It had burned incredibly at first, but now it was just numb.
“It’s getting pretty bad.” Sam informed her of the injuries he’d already healed and the two members of the second team that would need to be paired up with someone conscious and alert when they were lifted out, their injuries too extensive to heal in the combat zone.
The beating of chopper blades became audible to the North, the extraction team was moving in. She spoke to the leader of the other team, “We’ll cover. Get your team out of here.”
As the other team made their way into the open room and were lifted to the waiting helicopter, her team laid down a deafening round of cover fire while inching their way to the same location. She heard the roar of the chopper moving away from the building, and another coming closer. “Ava, it’s time.”
Concentration contorted her face and she replied, “Got it. Ready to go.”
Maria gave the signal. “Let’s move.” Talia and Quinn were the first to go then Sam, but it took longer than they’d expected and Ava was quickly tiring from the mindwarp. “Ava, you and Sean go on. Rath and I are right behind you.”
Once the others were around the corner she and Rath made a go of it. She sprinted, her long legs eating up the distance. Then without warning there was a pop then a blinding flash, and a devouring fountain of fire sprung up. Suddenly she was falling, her arms thrown out wide trying to catch something to stop her fall or brace herself when she hit.
Rath saw and heard a flash of light and a violent crack, and felt himself driven hard into the ground, feeling a burst of heat and light behind him. Somewhere in the enveloping chaos, he’d heard a heart-rending scream of pain. Instinct took over and he clambered to his feet. The explosion had been powerful enough to dismember anyone close to it and had hurled deadly sharp metal fragments in all directions. He felt like he was on fire, his ears still rang from the blast and his nose and mouth were filled with a bitter metallic taste. There was a piece of shrapnel embedded in his forearm where it had broken the bone, and his hand looked mangled. It wasn’t bleeding much and now he felt no pain, just some numbness in his hand. He looked around for Maria and hit a wall of heat as flames danced in front of his eyes.
Maria came to and tried to get back up, but her arm was stuck in between a pile of crates. An excruciating river of pain flowed through her as she tried to pull herself free. Shots ricocheted off the concrete walls, spitting out chunks of stone at high velocities near her head. Finally, she managed to pry her hand loose from its jammed position, losing her watch in the process. She tried to retrieve it, but gave up as the heat of the battle swirled around her. She felt her leg buckle under her as she tried to get up, and looked down to find her femur broken. “Shit!”
Rath heard her yell over the roar of the battle, and feeling immense relief made his way around the fire to her side. “Shit!” he cursed under his breath when he saw her. Her side was bloody and swollen from where she’d been thrown, she had a compound fracture of her left leg, shrapnel had punctured her skin in several places, and her left arm had begun to swell and discolor from where she’d taken the earlier blast.
He helped her to her feet and with her arm slung around his waist and his good arm wrapped around to her uninjured side, they made their way to the other room. Just as they reached it there was another flash and explosion and they were both thrown once again to the floor. Rath yelled and rolled onto his back, clutching at the wound on his hip.
In the fall, Maria hit her head hard on the concrete and lost her gun in the process. She blinked, opening her eyes groggily just in time to see a Skin lunging at her with some kind of sharp angular blade. She dodged the attack at the last possible moment, only receiving a glancing blow. Without thinking she’d pulled out the knife she kept at her hip and was up on her feet ducking under his vicious swinging blow, thrusting her blade into his chest hilt-deep using both hands. Before he could move again, she pivoted around him on her good leg, and the serrated knife left her hand and lodged into his lower back piercing the husk and breaking the seal.
Rath looked up just as a soldier slammed into him full on. He was pushed back, but managed to stay standing. The two men squared off, both firing at the same time but neither fell. Rath looked the other man in the eyes with a cold menace and shot again. The bullet hit the human enemy square in the chest and he toppled. Rath stood there triumphant with a split lower lip and two fingers of his left hand bent at awkward angles, bleeding from a thick gash in his forearm and the wound on his hip, never feeling the penetration of the bullet into his shoulder.
Keeping their heads low, Maria and Rath lunged for the other room. The roar of the helicopter hovering up in the night sky was deafening and debris swirled all around them. Their enemies had made their way into the room as well, and there was a noticeable increase in fire from the upper level. They picked off Khivar’s soldiers firing above them as the chopper blasted streams of fire from a gun on its side.
They found some cover behind a small stack of filled crates, both slumping to the ground in pain. Her leg ached where the bone was broken, and her head felt fuzzy from the earlier fall. “Is everyone out?” she asked Rath. Her comm. piece had gone missing at some point.
The state of the art helicopter was designed to stay in the air no matter what, but it was getting increasingly dangerous as an explosion to the right side of the airframe rocked it dreadfully. The pilot yelled to the back at Sean, “The blast damaged the main rotor housing. We have to leave soon or we’re not going to make it back.” Sean relayed the message to Rath then told the pilot, “Just hold on. They’ll be right here in a minute.” He switched back to Rath’s channel, “Get out of there now. The cable is down. We’re out of time, so come up on the same one.”
They needed to decide if they were going to take their chances with the harness or try and fight their way out. The drag time on the harness reel would double with both of them, giving the enemy longer to target them. They would essentially be sitting ducks. Shooting their way out wasn’t looking very promising either. Sweat dripped from his brow. “Everyone is out, Commander. We gots a choice to make here.” It wouldn’t hurt to have the harnesses on; they could just unhook the line if she decided they had a better chance another way. He hooked up his harness reaching his hand out to hook her up as well.
Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth. Neither of them was in any shape to fight their way out, and Rath needed medical attention soon. Looking into his darkened brown eyes she saw his fierce determination and refused to let him sacrifice himself when he still had a chance. “There is no choice,” she said with a fierce calm. With the last of her strength Maria reached out and pulled the cord that would lift him back to the waiting chopper.
“NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO…” Rath roared as he was propelled upwards.
Maria closed her eyes against his scream of protest tearing at her heart, as three of the five skins approaching her were dusted by his last blasts. Opening her eyes just as one of the skins was aiming his shot, she prayed that her end would come quickly. Really she ought to thank him, her body was telling her that she wasn’t going to survive much longer and this would just quicken the unavoidable.
She shut her eyes tightly waiting for the inevitable, desperately recalling the best times of her life, the care and love her mother had given her over the many years, the beginning of her trek into the alien abyss and all the beautiful people it had brought into her life, her friends, her family. Then she remembered all the moments that she and Michael had together, from their youthful lust-filled beginnings, through the years that they matured and mellowed together sowing the deeper seeds of their love, to more recent times when she felt that her shattered heart had miraculously been mended because he was in her life. If this was going to be the end, she wanted him to be her last thought.
As immense pain shot through her body and blackness grew behind her eyelids, she knew in that heartbeat that it was all over for her.
TBC
Last edited by Ninlil on Fri Sep 24, 2004 9:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Chapter 19
Thanks everyone for the feedback. It is always very much appreciated.
-Kara
CHAPTER 19
It had taken her a moment to place the bitch. As soon as she had, Lonnie shoved her soldier out of the way causing his armor-penetrating bullet to pierce the girl’s shoulder instead of her heart. “This one’s mine,” she growled. It was about time this simpleton died. She had always wondered how Nacedo was killed after she’d told him to dispose of the girl, but now it was obvious that their enemies had killed him and helped the weak humans escape. Well, this time the stupid cunt would be sorry she ever crossed her path.
Lonnie knelt down on the floor and put her hands around the bitch’s throat. This was personal. A bullet wouldn’t give her the satisfaction that slowly squeezing the life out of her would. Just as she was making some real nice bruises, Lonnie felt herself sail through the air and hit the back wall hard.
Dazedly she opened her eyes only to wish that she hadn’t. The glowering face in front of her was one she was all too accustomed to, and she detested the way it made her feel. Half of her wanted to fight back, but the other half only wanted to please him. As it was, he stood over her threateningly, his steel grey eyes boring into her while she fought the urge to cower.
He leaned forward and took her forcibly by the shoulder, throwing her back in the direction of the unconscious girl. “Get the Nela’kin in here. I want it out before we move.”
She skidded along the floor, humiliated, then picked herself up defiantly and stalked over to the girl. The twit was unconscious, who knew if it was from the extent of her injuries or from the lack of oxygen at being strangled. Who gave a shit? Lonnie ruthlessly kicked the pathetic human in the ribs, delighting in the sound of bones cracking. “Why bother? She ain’t gonna make it.” The stupid cow was about to take her last breath, there was no way she’d make it.
“Vilandra…” he said warningly, his caustic tone telling her that it would be better to keep her mouth shut. “This is your fuck up! I don’t think you want to be questioning me right now, do you?” His voice was calm and calculated, and that scared her more than his yelling ever could. As an afterthought he added, “Oh, and, darling, a traitorous failure like the one here tonight is treasonous against your King. The information I can get from her head will determine the thread of your life. If I were you, I’d find religion fast and start praying that her mind makes it through long enough to be of some value in ascertaining the location of the Granolith instead of injuring her further.”
~~~
Michael sat staring at the stationary blinking light on the electronic grid in front of him. A pounding roar pulsed in his head along with the rhythm of the blinking light, blocking out all sound or movement around him. He had no idea how much time had passed.
Kyle and Isabel were there, they’d tried to get him to leave, but he wouldn’t budge, not until she waltzed off that plane to yell at him for saying he was going to leave. Maria would never pass up a chance to argue with him, that’s how he knew she had to be on that plane. Because that stupid blinking red light was just a tracking device someone had accidentally left behind. It didn’t matter that he knew that the trackers had been added to their bio-chips which were embedded in their abdomens, it didn’t matter that Alex had been avoiding eye contact with him, it didn’t matter that Alex had called his best friends to come get him, and it most certainly didn’t matter that his chest hurt so damn much it was almost beyond bearing.
Distantly, Michael heard Alex tell Kyle and Isabel that “they” had landed and would be joining them shortly. His heart lurched hard, and for a moment there he thought he was having a heart attack. He felt other people coming into the room and whipped his head around in their direction.
A glance at the fear and miserable sorrow in their eyes told him at once more than he wanted to know, but Michael asked anyways. “Where is she?” The faint tremor in the muscles at his neck betrayed his inner struggle and his lips pinched with pain.
No one answered. The unbidden thought, ‘I should’ve left’, briefly popped in his mind, then Michael looked at Rath, his double, and fiery rage erupted through his veins. He roared in misplaced anger, “HOW COULD YOU? HOW COULD YOU JUST LEAVE HER? YOU SELFISH BASTARD!” Michael lunged at him, but was quickly held back by the others.
The anguish in Michael’s voice was a deep pain that cut right through him. ‘I caused this pain,’ Rath thought, ‘My failure caused it.’ He was reminded of the pain and terror of the battle they had fought, and the shock of waking up in the helicopter and being told that they’d had to leave.
Crystallized fury burned in his blood wildly, and Rath’s fists clenched and unclenched at his sides. With fierce and violent emotions emanating from the powerful alien, his low voice was solemn but stern, “She’s the closest damn thing I’ve ever had to family. For fuck’s sake, she was the love of my life and probably still would be it weren’t for you, ya stupid asshole.” No longer able to contain himself as his rage increased, he bellowed with a quick dangerous sneer, “SO DON’T YA DARE THINK FOR ONE FUCKIN’ SECOND THAT I WOULDA LEFT HER!” Rath stormed out of the room, nearly tearing the hinges off the door on his way out.
Sam laid a gentle hand on Michael’s shoulder. “It’s true, Michael. Rath was unconscious when he reached the helicopter, a blast and several bullets had punctured his armor and he was barely alive. I saw it when I healed his most serious injuries. The Commander knew that only one of them would make it on the ascent, and she made that decision accordingly. She was the one that pulled his cord.” Sam didn’t want to tell him that through Rath he’d seen that the Commander wasn’t likely to survive, and that as leader of their group she’d made the only feasible choice. “The chopper was hit by an explosion, Michael. She knew we had to leave.” Sam turned to Ace. “I’ve got to get down to the clinic. We still have injured.”
The rest of the conversation was lost to Michael, he had an overwhelming need to rage at her for doing something so stupid, but it only reminded him that she wasn’t there. Instead, he slumped back in the chair and turned his attention back to the lone blinking light. No matter how much agony he would’ve been saved, Michael was glad he hadn’t left, it would’ve been all that much worse if she was in trouble and he wasn’t there to help her. He didn’t want to think about what would’ve happened had he left, instead his mind raced with ways to bring her back. Alone or with an army it didn’t matter, but he would get her back.
~~~
She found him sitting on the stairs dragging his hands through his short, light brown hair.
“He was wrong to yell at you like that. It wasn’t your fault.” She sat down beside him, giving his undamaged arm a soft squeeze before retracting it and placing it limply in her lap.
He looked up to see the deep concern in her hazel eyes, and he felt the sting of tears at the back of his eyelids. “I don’t blame him, Red. I shoulda hooked her up ta the harness first. It is my fault. I shoulda known she’d do somethin’ like that.” All he could do was shake his head, berating himself over and over in his mind. He was still in pain from the injuries he’d sustained that had yet to be healed, but he couldn’t think of anything other than the ache in his heart and the condemning look on his dupe’s face that he knew mirrored his own feelings of reproach.
“Rath, please don’t blame yourself. She wouldn’t want that.” Talia looked down at her black boots. It wasn’t right being back at the base without her, but it wasn’t his fault and her friend would want him to know that. Shoot, the Commander would probably slap him upside the head if she heard him now.
“I know. It’s just…” Rath felt a tear of frustration escape and wiped it away before it could be seen. “Damn!” he said shakily, clenching his fists so that they’d stop shaking.
She spoke softly, “You’re still in love with her.”
It was said as a statement more than a question, but he answered anyway. “Yah, I’ll always love ‘er, but our time’s passed.”
“So, is that why you’re such a lothario?” Talia asked in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Rath laughed, his eyebrows arched. “A lothario?” Oh yeah, he liked that… a seducer of women. In answer to her question, he shrugged innocently and with a boyish grin said, “What can I say? The ladies like me.” If truth be told though, all of the women he’d bedded recently were starting to blend together. They seemed to all look, talk and feel the same, and he often found himself wanting more. But none of it mattered now. “How come I never hear of ya hookin’ up wit’ someone, Red?”
“Too much work to do, Rath. There’s no time for any kind of relationship,” she said, glancing away before he could discern the real reasons. At times, she was sure that he could see right through her.
“Bullshit. Look at Ace and Ava, and Michael and Maria… yo, I’m sensing a pattern here…”
“Hmmm, too bad our names don’t match up.” The words had slipped out before Talia even realized that she’d said it out loud. Belatedly, she slapped her hand over her mouth.
His grin was fast and wolfish. “Reeeaaalllly, Red?” Rath drawled with pointed emphasis on his longtime nickname for her.
She snorted a laugh. Rath and Red. RR. Figures. The man sure did know how to get under her skin.
She ignored his statement, and he figured he’d let her simmer on that for awhile. His spirits lifted a bit, Rath stood up, ignoring the spasms of pain in his shoulder and arm, and pulled Talia to her feet. “C’mon, we’s gots lots of work ta do… gotta get my Pixie back.” And once they did, he had a few choice words for her.
~~~
It should’ve been easy to get inside her head. Humans were rarely able to block intrusions into their minds, they were often all too easy to access, and besides she’d been inside this particular weakling’s mind quite often in the past. Sure it had been ten years, but there was no reason that should make a difference. Only it was.
Lonnie rubbed her hand over her short, dirty blond hair and looked at the man standing next to her out of the corner of her eye. She really didn’t want to admit to him that she couldn’t get in to a simple weak human’s mind. It was embarrassing, and after the humiliating night, Lonnie had little doubt that if pushed he would settle against waiting to decide her fate. Maybe there was no mind left to get into. Perfect! Then she could blame it all on the Nela’kin, after all, it wouldn’t be her fault that they’d left the girl a vegetable.
“Who is she?”
Surprised at his question, her eyes shot up, and her hand slipped off the human’s clammy forehead to her side.
Frustrated with the lack of results, he pushed Lonnie out of the way, and placed his hands on either side of the girl’s head, his fingers digging into her temples. It was shockingly difficult to get in, but finally he started to receive surface thoughts. Her unconscious mind threw out a name and he repeated out loud, “Dr. Luca Diamare…”
What? Lonnie looked at him skeptically. “Uh, no, her name is Maria Deluca.” Astonished that he’d gotten through when she’d tried so hard, Lonnie forgot whose presence she was in and her tone was much more condescending than she intended.
His head tilted up and his merciless eyes stared hard at her. “You know who she is?”
Lonnie backed up a few steps. “I… I, uh…” It was no use apologizing, that only showed weakness. When she spoke again, her voice was as confident and business-like as she could make it. “Name - Maria Deluca. Human ally of the toppled Royals while in Roswell. Last seen under Nacedo’s control with the other human collaborator, Alexander Whitman.”
“Nacedo?”
“Zaraan. They knew him as Nacedo,” she added for clarity.
Ah, yes. He remembered now. They were the humans they’d used to get information on the deposed Royals. They’d been planning on using them to bring the others out of hiding, but then Zaraan’s reports stopped. Nikal sent agents to check up on him, but only traces of Zaraan’s ashes remained and the humans were long gone.
He probed her mind again. This time he slithered back in with ease as her body diverted all remaining energies to survival as she started to rapidly slip away. Most areas were blocked and it was apparent that she’d been taught to guard her mind. Finally he accessed her memories of her last moments with Zaraan. He watched as Zaraan placed his hand over her heart. There was something in the look that Zaraan gave her as he faltered. It looked almost like a mixture of awe and fear. What in the world could that little slip of a girl have done to make the powerful shifter waver? Before he could see the rest of the memory her mind closed like an iris to shut him out.
Lonnie watched as he stood there just staring at the human with a look of incomprehension. Finally, he snapped out of it and told her, “Get the Nela’kin back in here. Run a check on the pseudonym. I want her movements for the past ten years.”
As he was pushed from her mind, he’d caught another name. Commander.
~~~
There was an eerie stillness punctuated by the occasional whimper or sob that pervaded the crowded Communications room. Ace looked around the room: Amy was wrapped in Jim’s arms, her head buried in his chest; Kyle and Isabel stood beside the chair Michael was seated in, keeping their eyes either on the electronic grid or Michael, who had yet to take his eyes off the blinking signature light of Maria’s bio-chip; Sean was seated next to Liz giving her, literally, a shoulder to cry on; Ava and Quinn sat with him at the consoles silently strategizing their next move while keeping an eye on the current situation; even Max had shown for awhile before Sam dragged him away to help heal their injured.
Ace didn’t want to show it, but he was scared. Maria was still alive, but as soon as they found out that she did not know the new location of the Granolith they would no longer have a use for her. As soon as the unwanted thought passed through his mind, the life signs of her bio-chip took a major drop and the indicator light on the grid slowed in response.
The room exploded in gasps and shouts as the others recognized what was happening. The light continued to slow until it went out and did not come back on. Their hands moving swiftly across the monitors, Ace and Ava urgently analyzed the faded signal.
Pale and numb with shock, Ace turned to the others. “She’s gone,” he said, though his voice was hollow with disbelief.
Michael stood from his chair on shaky legs, frowning fiercely, trying hard to take in this latest, unexpected piece of news. It wasn’t making any sense. He looked up, his eyes unfocused. “No. NO! It’s not possible!”
Isabel nodded her head in agreement. “Michael is right. You can’t know that for sure. For all we know they probably just took out the chip.”
“If they knew it had a tracking device, they would want to remove it,” Kyle added.
Ava turned her head away from their stares, hiding the tears that were welling up in her baby blue eyes.
Ace shook his head. “You don’t understand. If a bio-chip is removed, it gives off a specific signal so that we know what has happened.” He steeled himself before continuing, “The signal we received indicated the… the ceasing of life signs.” Ace’s face contorted, almost unrecognizable in his grief, as his own words sunk in.
Keening sobs could be heard throughout the room. Feeling the power building up inside of him, Michael quickly left. As soon as he was outside, he ran and ran as fast as he could, his lungs burning in the effort to get away from everyone. When he reached the sea his mask of control cracked and fell away. He stood there, sobbing bitterly, his teeth clenched in anguish and tears streaming down his face.
His heart banged in his chest and he found it difficult to breathe as despair pulsed through his body. He let out a piercing scream of torment, and finally released the harsh, choking accumulation of his increasingly chaotic energy into the ocean. Drained, he slumped against the railing of the pier and thought, ‘I brought this on. It’s my fault. She would’ve gotten out of there had she known I was waiting for her. She would’ve never left me all alone. Oh god, I was going to leave her. I did leave her. She was all alone. Oh god, oh god, oh god…’
Isolated with his chiding thoughts, Michael pressed his eyes with the heels of his hands in welling despair, feeling utterly defeated and alone, tears burning and escaping behind his closed eyelids.
Staring out at the turbulent sea in the distance where his energy had unsettled the once calm waters, he refused to accept even the possibility that she might be gone. It wasn’t possible!
On the edge of his senses, Michael suddenly realized he could feel pain and anger that was not his. Their connection! It had to be… which meant she was still alive. Breathless with hope, Michael raced back to tell the others never stopping to consider how it was possible that he could feel her inside of him.
~~~
Maria woke up cold and in pain, lying on what felt like icy steel with her hands strapped down at her sides. Tasting the residue of adrenaline in her mouth and the pangs and aches in her body, she was sure she was alive and her first thought was, ‘This can’t be good’. Her injuries had been healed just enough to no longer be life threatening.
Someone wanted her alive, but in pain. Pain made you weak. Obviously they wanted something from her. If they thought they could get the location of the Granolith, then they were going to be shit out of luck. For just this scenario, she’d trusted the coordinates to only one person, the one she’d counted on for most of her life, the one that would never fail her, and he was safely ensconced back at the base.
Looking down at herself, she found her shirt cut open straight down the middle revealing nasty looking bruises across her ribs and a fresh wound on the right side of her abdomen where her bio-chip was embedded. Her bra was still in place, at least they’d left her with some dignity and hadn’t stripped her completely. That thought flew out the window as soon as she saw that all she was left with on the bottom half of her body was her panties. It was almost enough to make her shriek in outrage. The only thing holding her back was the need to assess her medical condition without being disturbed by whoever had put her in restraints.
She looked around at the room she was in. It was definitely a lab of some sort. Glassware and strange looking instruments littered the benchtops. Her eyes landed on a jar of jelly-like substance, but what bothered her the most was the chip that was floating in the middle of the jar. Staring back at the wound on her abdomen, it didn’t take long for it to click as to what had happened. She sighed heavily. Removing a bio-chip sent a different signal than if a person died. It was a safeguard meant to ensure that death could not be faked, but she didn’t like the fact that her team would not have knowledge of her death. They would come looking for her and if she wasn’t alive then it would be dangerous and a waste of time. She looked back at it and wondered why it was in that jelly stuff.
The next thing she noticed sent her heart plummeting and diverted all her attention. Her chain with Michael’s ring was missing. The only thing she had left of him was gone. A pulse of longing engulfed her before she gallantly suppressed it. She looked around the room desperately for the ring and her clothes until a sound at the door got her attention. Two soldiers walked in and silently released her restraints. They roughly pulled her up off the table, oblivious to her curses, cuffed her hands behind her back, and made her walk out of the room.
Every step sent excruciating pain shooting through her body. The soldiers steered her back through the main room where most of the battle had taken place. Bodies were strewn haphazardly along the way, clearly humans since their bodies were still mostly intact. The flakes of skin scattered all about on the floor was truly disgusting, but also the only indication that her teams had done some serious damage to their main unit and she found herself filled with pride at that thought. Not only had they taken back the Granolith, Khivar’s prized possession, but they had taken out a good portion of their enemies on Earth. Whatever her fate was to be, she felt the mission had been truly successful.
Concentrating on each agonizing step she kept her eyes focused on the floor in front of her. Then she spotted it. Her watch was lying ahead of them almost right in front of her. If there was any chance that her people might come looking for her, she needed that watch. When they got closer she let her body fall into the guard on her right feigning a fainting spell. As he forcibly tried to hold her body up, she pointed her toes placing them in the center of the wristband then flexed her foot so that the watch was now secured around the arch of her foot. It was difficult to keep it on her foot and made walking even more distressful, but she managed to follow them until they stopped just inside a big metal door.
While they stood there waiting, for what she wasn’t sure, she bent her leg back behind her, standing like a flamingo. Trying not to groan out loud at the searing pain, Maria grabbed the watch with her cuffed hands and let her foot fall back to the ground. The soldier closest to her gave her a sidelong glance at the grunt that escaped when the pain became too much, but she just pointedly looked down at her discolored ribcage. Behind her back, her hands worked furiously to get the tracking chip out. She remembered Ace telling her how to get to it, but she hadn’t really been listening. He tended to drone on and on for hours in techno-babble. She supposed this was payback for never listening.
Finally after pressing several combinations of buttons she managed to make the back of the watch open. She used her fingernail to pop out the battery, almost getting caught by the sound of it pinging against the floor, but her fingers at last found the tiny chip just behind where the battery had been. Maria pulled it out, clutching it tightly in her fist so as not to drop it. Reversing the way she’d picked the watch up, she brought her foot up behind her back once again and placed the watch between her toes. Quietly, she placed her foot back on the ground and scooted the watch in between some broken crates nearby.
The agony resumed now that she had settled again. Every inch of her hurt, she heaved and tasted blood, but inside she was gathering her strength for what lay ahead. Maria had a feeling she’d soon be meeting her captors.
TBC
-Kara
CHAPTER 19
It had taken her a moment to place the bitch. As soon as she had, Lonnie shoved her soldier out of the way causing his armor-penetrating bullet to pierce the girl’s shoulder instead of her heart. “This one’s mine,” she growled. It was about time this simpleton died. She had always wondered how Nacedo was killed after she’d told him to dispose of the girl, but now it was obvious that their enemies had killed him and helped the weak humans escape. Well, this time the stupid cunt would be sorry she ever crossed her path.
Lonnie knelt down on the floor and put her hands around the bitch’s throat. This was personal. A bullet wouldn’t give her the satisfaction that slowly squeezing the life out of her would. Just as she was making some real nice bruises, Lonnie felt herself sail through the air and hit the back wall hard.
Dazedly she opened her eyes only to wish that she hadn’t. The glowering face in front of her was one she was all too accustomed to, and she detested the way it made her feel. Half of her wanted to fight back, but the other half only wanted to please him. As it was, he stood over her threateningly, his steel grey eyes boring into her while she fought the urge to cower.
He leaned forward and took her forcibly by the shoulder, throwing her back in the direction of the unconscious girl. “Get the Nela’kin in here. I want it out before we move.”
She skidded along the floor, humiliated, then picked herself up defiantly and stalked over to the girl. The twit was unconscious, who knew if it was from the extent of her injuries or from the lack of oxygen at being strangled. Who gave a shit? Lonnie ruthlessly kicked the pathetic human in the ribs, delighting in the sound of bones cracking. “Why bother? She ain’t gonna make it.” The stupid cow was about to take her last breath, there was no way she’d make it.
“Vilandra…” he said warningly, his caustic tone telling her that it would be better to keep her mouth shut. “This is your fuck up! I don’t think you want to be questioning me right now, do you?” His voice was calm and calculated, and that scared her more than his yelling ever could. As an afterthought he added, “Oh, and, darling, a traitorous failure like the one here tonight is treasonous against your King. The information I can get from her head will determine the thread of your life. If I were you, I’d find religion fast and start praying that her mind makes it through long enough to be of some value in ascertaining the location of the Granolith instead of injuring her further.”
~~~
Michael sat staring at the stationary blinking light on the electronic grid in front of him. A pounding roar pulsed in his head along with the rhythm of the blinking light, blocking out all sound or movement around him. He had no idea how much time had passed.
Kyle and Isabel were there, they’d tried to get him to leave, but he wouldn’t budge, not until she waltzed off that plane to yell at him for saying he was going to leave. Maria would never pass up a chance to argue with him, that’s how he knew she had to be on that plane. Because that stupid blinking red light was just a tracking device someone had accidentally left behind. It didn’t matter that he knew that the trackers had been added to their bio-chips which were embedded in their abdomens, it didn’t matter that Alex had been avoiding eye contact with him, it didn’t matter that Alex had called his best friends to come get him, and it most certainly didn’t matter that his chest hurt so damn much it was almost beyond bearing.
Distantly, Michael heard Alex tell Kyle and Isabel that “they” had landed and would be joining them shortly. His heart lurched hard, and for a moment there he thought he was having a heart attack. He felt other people coming into the room and whipped his head around in their direction.
A glance at the fear and miserable sorrow in their eyes told him at once more than he wanted to know, but Michael asked anyways. “Where is she?” The faint tremor in the muscles at his neck betrayed his inner struggle and his lips pinched with pain.
No one answered. The unbidden thought, ‘I should’ve left’, briefly popped in his mind, then Michael looked at Rath, his double, and fiery rage erupted through his veins. He roared in misplaced anger, “HOW COULD YOU? HOW COULD YOU JUST LEAVE HER? YOU SELFISH BASTARD!” Michael lunged at him, but was quickly held back by the others.
The anguish in Michael’s voice was a deep pain that cut right through him. ‘I caused this pain,’ Rath thought, ‘My failure caused it.’ He was reminded of the pain and terror of the battle they had fought, and the shock of waking up in the helicopter and being told that they’d had to leave.
Crystallized fury burned in his blood wildly, and Rath’s fists clenched and unclenched at his sides. With fierce and violent emotions emanating from the powerful alien, his low voice was solemn but stern, “She’s the closest damn thing I’ve ever had to family. For fuck’s sake, she was the love of my life and probably still would be it weren’t for you, ya stupid asshole.” No longer able to contain himself as his rage increased, he bellowed with a quick dangerous sneer, “SO DON’T YA DARE THINK FOR ONE FUCKIN’ SECOND THAT I WOULDA LEFT HER!” Rath stormed out of the room, nearly tearing the hinges off the door on his way out.
Sam laid a gentle hand on Michael’s shoulder. “It’s true, Michael. Rath was unconscious when he reached the helicopter, a blast and several bullets had punctured his armor and he was barely alive. I saw it when I healed his most serious injuries. The Commander knew that only one of them would make it on the ascent, and she made that decision accordingly. She was the one that pulled his cord.” Sam didn’t want to tell him that through Rath he’d seen that the Commander wasn’t likely to survive, and that as leader of their group she’d made the only feasible choice. “The chopper was hit by an explosion, Michael. She knew we had to leave.” Sam turned to Ace. “I’ve got to get down to the clinic. We still have injured.”
The rest of the conversation was lost to Michael, he had an overwhelming need to rage at her for doing something so stupid, but it only reminded him that she wasn’t there. Instead, he slumped back in the chair and turned his attention back to the lone blinking light. No matter how much agony he would’ve been saved, Michael was glad he hadn’t left, it would’ve been all that much worse if she was in trouble and he wasn’t there to help her. He didn’t want to think about what would’ve happened had he left, instead his mind raced with ways to bring her back. Alone or with an army it didn’t matter, but he would get her back.
~~~
She found him sitting on the stairs dragging his hands through his short, light brown hair.
“He was wrong to yell at you like that. It wasn’t your fault.” She sat down beside him, giving his undamaged arm a soft squeeze before retracting it and placing it limply in her lap.
He looked up to see the deep concern in her hazel eyes, and he felt the sting of tears at the back of his eyelids. “I don’t blame him, Red. I shoulda hooked her up ta the harness first. It is my fault. I shoulda known she’d do somethin’ like that.” All he could do was shake his head, berating himself over and over in his mind. He was still in pain from the injuries he’d sustained that had yet to be healed, but he couldn’t think of anything other than the ache in his heart and the condemning look on his dupe’s face that he knew mirrored his own feelings of reproach.
“Rath, please don’t blame yourself. She wouldn’t want that.” Talia looked down at her black boots. It wasn’t right being back at the base without her, but it wasn’t his fault and her friend would want him to know that. Shoot, the Commander would probably slap him upside the head if she heard him now.
“I know. It’s just…” Rath felt a tear of frustration escape and wiped it away before it could be seen. “Damn!” he said shakily, clenching his fists so that they’d stop shaking.
She spoke softly, “You’re still in love with her.”
It was said as a statement more than a question, but he answered anyway. “Yah, I’ll always love ‘er, but our time’s passed.”
“So, is that why you’re such a lothario?” Talia asked in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Rath laughed, his eyebrows arched. “A lothario?” Oh yeah, he liked that… a seducer of women. In answer to her question, he shrugged innocently and with a boyish grin said, “What can I say? The ladies like me.” If truth be told though, all of the women he’d bedded recently were starting to blend together. They seemed to all look, talk and feel the same, and he often found himself wanting more. But none of it mattered now. “How come I never hear of ya hookin’ up wit’ someone, Red?”
“Too much work to do, Rath. There’s no time for any kind of relationship,” she said, glancing away before he could discern the real reasons. At times, she was sure that he could see right through her.
“Bullshit. Look at Ace and Ava, and Michael and Maria… yo, I’m sensing a pattern here…”
“Hmmm, too bad our names don’t match up.” The words had slipped out before Talia even realized that she’d said it out loud. Belatedly, she slapped her hand over her mouth.
His grin was fast and wolfish. “Reeeaaalllly, Red?” Rath drawled with pointed emphasis on his longtime nickname for her.
She snorted a laugh. Rath and Red. RR. Figures. The man sure did know how to get under her skin.
She ignored his statement, and he figured he’d let her simmer on that for awhile. His spirits lifted a bit, Rath stood up, ignoring the spasms of pain in his shoulder and arm, and pulled Talia to her feet. “C’mon, we’s gots lots of work ta do… gotta get my Pixie back.” And once they did, he had a few choice words for her.
~~~
It should’ve been easy to get inside her head. Humans were rarely able to block intrusions into their minds, they were often all too easy to access, and besides she’d been inside this particular weakling’s mind quite often in the past. Sure it had been ten years, but there was no reason that should make a difference. Only it was.
Lonnie rubbed her hand over her short, dirty blond hair and looked at the man standing next to her out of the corner of her eye. She really didn’t want to admit to him that she couldn’t get in to a simple weak human’s mind. It was embarrassing, and after the humiliating night, Lonnie had little doubt that if pushed he would settle against waiting to decide her fate. Maybe there was no mind left to get into. Perfect! Then she could blame it all on the Nela’kin, after all, it wouldn’t be her fault that they’d left the girl a vegetable.
“Who is she?”
Surprised at his question, her eyes shot up, and her hand slipped off the human’s clammy forehead to her side.
Frustrated with the lack of results, he pushed Lonnie out of the way, and placed his hands on either side of the girl’s head, his fingers digging into her temples. It was shockingly difficult to get in, but finally he started to receive surface thoughts. Her unconscious mind threw out a name and he repeated out loud, “Dr. Luca Diamare…”
What? Lonnie looked at him skeptically. “Uh, no, her name is Maria Deluca.” Astonished that he’d gotten through when she’d tried so hard, Lonnie forgot whose presence she was in and her tone was much more condescending than she intended.
His head tilted up and his merciless eyes stared hard at her. “You know who she is?”
Lonnie backed up a few steps. “I… I, uh…” It was no use apologizing, that only showed weakness. When she spoke again, her voice was as confident and business-like as she could make it. “Name - Maria Deluca. Human ally of the toppled Royals while in Roswell. Last seen under Nacedo’s control with the other human collaborator, Alexander Whitman.”
“Nacedo?”
“Zaraan. They knew him as Nacedo,” she added for clarity.
Ah, yes. He remembered now. They were the humans they’d used to get information on the deposed Royals. They’d been planning on using them to bring the others out of hiding, but then Zaraan’s reports stopped. Nikal sent agents to check up on him, but only traces of Zaraan’s ashes remained and the humans were long gone.
He probed her mind again. This time he slithered back in with ease as her body diverted all remaining energies to survival as she started to rapidly slip away. Most areas were blocked and it was apparent that she’d been taught to guard her mind. Finally he accessed her memories of her last moments with Zaraan. He watched as Zaraan placed his hand over her heart. There was something in the look that Zaraan gave her as he faltered. It looked almost like a mixture of awe and fear. What in the world could that little slip of a girl have done to make the powerful shifter waver? Before he could see the rest of the memory her mind closed like an iris to shut him out.
Lonnie watched as he stood there just staring at the human with a look of incomprehension. Finally, he snapped out of it and told her, “Get the Nela’kin back in here. Run a check on the pseudonym. I want her movements for the past ten years.”
As he was pushed from her mind, he’d caught another name. Commander.
~~~
There was an eerie stillness punctuated by the occasional whimper or sob that pervaded the crowded Communications room. Ace looked around the room: Amy was wrapped in Jim’s arms, her head buried in his chest; Kyle and Isabel stood beside the chair Michael was seated in, keeping their eyes either on the electronic grid or Michael, who had yet to take his eyes off the blinking signature light of Maria’s bio-chip; Sean was seated next to Liz giving her, literally, a shoulder to cry on; Ava and Quinn sat with him at the consoles silently strategizing their next move while keeping an eye on the current situation; even Max had shown for awhile before Sam dragged him away to help heal their injured.
Ace didn’t want to show it, but he was scared. Maria was still alive, but as soon as they found out that she did not know the new location of the Granolith they would no longer have a use for her. As soon as the unwanted thought passed through his mind, the life signs of her bio-chip took a major drop and the indicator light on the grid slowed in response.
The room exploded in gasps and shouts as the others recognized what was happening. The light continued to slow until it went out and did not come back on. Their hands moving swiftly across the monitors, Ace and Ava urgently analyzed the faded signal.
Pale and numb with shock, Ace turned to the others. “She’s gone,” he said, though his voice was hollow with disbelief.
Michael stood from his chair on shaky legs, frowning fiercely, trying hard to take in this latest, unexpected piece of news. It wasn’t making any sense. He looked up, his eyes unfocused. “No. NO! It’s not possible!”
Isabel nodded her head in agreement. “Michael is right. You can’t know that for sure. For all we know they probably just took out the chip.”
“If they knew it had a tracking device, they would want to remove it,” Kyle added.
Ava turned her head away from their stares, hiding the tears that were welling up in her baby blue eyes.
Ace shook his head. “You don’t understand. If a bio-chip is removed, it gives off a specific signal so that we know what has happened.” He steeled himself before continuing, “The signal we received indicated the… the ceasing of life signs.” Ace’s face contorted, almost unrecognizable in his grief, as his own words sunk in.
Keening sobs could be heard throughout the room. Feeling the power building up inside of him, Michael quickly left. As soon as he was outside, he ran and ran as fast as he could, his lungs burning in the effort to get away from everyone. When he reached the sea his mask of control cracked and fell away. He stood there, sobbing bitterly, his teeth clenched in anguish and tears streaming down his face.
His heart banged in his chest and he found it difficult to breathe as despair pulsed through his body. He let out a piercing scream of torment, and finally released the harsh, choking accumulation of his increasingly chaotic energy into the ocean. Drained, he slumped against the railing of the pier and thought, ‘I brought this on. It’s my fault. She would’ve gotten out of there had she known I was waiting for her. She would’ve never left me all alone. Oh god, I was going to leave her. I did leave her. She was all alone. Oh god, oh god, oh god…’
Isolated with his chiding thoughts, Michael pressed his eyes with the heels of his hands in welling despair, feeling utterly defeated and alone, tears burning and escaping behind his closed eyelids.
Staring out at the turbulent sea in the distance where his energy had unsettled the once calm waters, he refused to accept even the possibility that she might be gone. It wasn’t possible!
On the edge of his senses, Michael suddenly realized he could feel pain and anger that was not his. Their connection! It had to be… which meant she was still alive. Breathless with hope, Michael raced back to tell the others never stopping to consider how it was possible that he could feel her inside of him.
~~~
Maria woke up cold and in pain, lying on what felt like icy steel with her hands strapped down at her sides. Tasting the residue of adrenaline in her mouth and the pangs and aches in her body, she was sure she was alive and her first thought was, ‘This can’t be good’. Her injuries had been healed just enough to no longer be life threatening.
Someone wanted her alive, but in pain. Pain made you weak. Obviously they wanted something from her. If they thought they could get the location of the Granolith, then they were going to be shit out of luck. For just this scenario, she’d trusted the coordinates to only one person, the one she’d counted on for most of her life, the one that would never fail her, and he was safely ensconced back at the base.
Looking down at herself, she found her shirt cut open straight down the middle revealing nasty looking bruises across her ribs and a fresh wound on the right side of her abdomen where her bio-chip was embedded. Her bra was still in place, at least they’d left her with some dignity and hadn’t stripped her completely. That thought flew out the window as soon as she saw that all she was left with on the bottom half of her body was her panties. It was almost enough to make her shriek in outrage. The only thing holding her back was the need to assess her medical condition without being disturbed by whoever had put her in restraints.
She looked around at the room she was in. It was definitely a lab of some sort. Glassware and strange looking instruments littered the benchtops. Her eyes landed on a jar of jelly-like substance, but what bothered her the most was the chip that was floating in the middle of the jar. Staring back at the wound on her abdomen, it didn’t take long for it to click as to what had happened. She sighed heavily. Removing a bio-chip sent a different signal than if a person died. It was a safeguard meant to ensure that death could not be faked, but she didn’t like the fact that her team would not have knowledge of her death. They would come looking for her and if she wasn’t alive then it would be dangerous and a waste of time. She looked back at it and wondered why it was in that jelly stuff.
The next thing she noticed sent her heart plummeting and diverted all her attention. Her chain with Michael’s ring was missing. The only thing she had left of him was gone. A pulse of longing engulfed her before she gallantly suppressed it. She looked around the room desperately for the ring and her clothes until a sound at the door got her attention. Two soldiers walked in and silently released her restraints. They roughly pulled her up off the table, oblivious to her curses, cuffed her hands behind her back, and made her walk out of the room.
Every step sent excruciating pain shooting through her body. The soldiers steered her back through the main room where most of the battle had taken place. Bodies were strewn haphazardly along the way, clearly humans since their bodies were still mostly intact. The flakes of skin scattered all about on the floor was truly disgusting, but also the only indication that her teams had done some serious damage to their main unit and she found herself filled with pride at that thought. Not only had they taken back the Granolith, Khivar’s prized possession, but they had taken out a good portion of their enemies on Earth. Whatever her fate was to be, she felt the mission had been truly successful.
Concentrating on each agonizing step she kept her eyes focused on the floor in front of her. Then she spotted it. Her watch was lying ahead of them almost right in front of her. If there was any chance that her people might come looking for her, she needed that watch. When they got closer she let her body fall into the guard on her right feigning a fainting spell. As he forcibly tried to hold her body up, she pointed her toes placing them in the center of the wristband then flexed her foot so that the watch was now secured around the arch of her foot. It was difficult to keep it on her foot and made walking even more distressful, but she managed to follow them until they stopped just inside a big metal door.
While they stood there waiting, for what she wasn’t sure, she bent her leg back behind her, standing like a flamingo. Trying not to groan out loud at the searing pain, Maria grabbed the watch with her cuffed hands and let her foot fall back to the ground. The soldier closest to her gave her a sidelong glance at the grunt that escaped when the pain became too much, but she just pointedly looked down at her discolored ribcage. Behind her back, her hands worked furiously to get the tracking chip out. She remembered Ace telling her how to get to it, but she hadn’t really been listening. He tended to drone on and on for hours in techno-babble. She supposed this was payback for never listening.
Finally after pressing several combinations of buttons she managed to make the back of the watch open. She used her fingernail to pop out the battery, almost getting caught by the sound of it pinging against the floor, but her fingers at last found the tiny chip just behind where the battery had been. Maria pulled it out, clutching it tightly in her fist so as not to drop it. Reversing the way she’d picked the watch up, she brought her foot up behind her back once again and placed the watch between her toes. Quietly, she placed her foot back on the ground and scooted the watch in between some broken crates nearby.
The agony resumed now that she had settled again. Every inch of her hurt, she heaved and tasted blood, but inside she was gathering her strength for what lay ahead. Maria had a feeling she’d soon be meeting her captors.
TBC
Last edited by Ninlil on Fri Sep 24, 2004 9:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ch. 20
Sorry it's been so long since an update. Luckily, most of the last three chapters after this one are just about completed. I'm dashing off to Dallas, so I'll try to respond to feedback when I return. And, no worries, I'll be posting the next chapter much sooner.
Thanks for reading,
Kara
CHAPTER 20
With few choices, Maria set to work on worrying the threads on the hem of the elastic waistline of her underwear. Luckily, they were more like bikini bottoms since they were made of the same wetsuit-like material as their black bodysuits and therefore had a fairly large hem. It felt like ages before she had a couple of threads broken, but finally she was able to open it enough to slide the small tracking chip underneath the elastic band. All she could do was hope that she wasn’t scanned for electronics, but they had obviously already done so when they took her bio-chip out and she was betting that they wouldn’t bother to do it again.
Maria suddenly felt the attention in the guards shift and looked up just in time to see a man and a woman walking towards her. The woman, if you could call her that, Maria was unfortunately familiar with, however she had never seen the man before and therefore took the time to scrutinize him carefully. He definitely had tall, dark and handsome down; his tall, lean frame was swathed in a black dress shirt and black slacks that appeared tailored and expensive, his short, dark brown hair was neatly clipped and styled. With his long, black coat billowing out from behind him he looked like a man accustomed to affluence and deference, and for a moment, she wondered if the Skins had taken up with the mafia.
But his elegant, fashionable clothes and style belied the ominous air around him, and a chill of foreboding shivered down her spine as his steel grey eyes studied her just as intently. The soldiers, she noticed, did not meet his eyes and they all seemed to bow to him without actually doing so, even the normally overconfident alien that approached with him seemed to defer to him by walking a step behind his pace. The vibe told her he was a major player, and that was highly disturbing since the Allied Forces were under the impression that Lonnie had been in charge ever since she’d killed Nicholas. There’d never been any intel to contradict that information.
As he drew nearer, Maria noticed that he had a prominent chin with a dimple in it and one eye that was almost imperceptibly larger than the other giving his face a certain innocuous charm, but then their eyes met and his emotionless stare caused her blood to run cold. She broke his gaze, choosing to ignore him for now, and turned to the woman next to him. “I should’ve known,” Maria groaned and rolled her eyes. “So, Lonnie, still Khivar’s flunky, huh? I see he hasn’t beamed you, his supposed great love, back to Antar to be his Queen. So sad,” she added mockingly. “You just can’t hold on to any of those lovers, can you? Geez, I can’t imagine why they all run from you?”
The response was a backhand across the face, her lip and cheekbone catching most of the hit. The pain was blinding as Lonnie’s hand swept across cuts that had not been healed, but Maria steadied herself unwilling to give her even an inch.
Lonnie sneered, “And what are you some kinda alien groupie? Still clinging on even though they left your sorry ass to die in that hick town.”
Maria spat the blood pooling in her mouth towards her, but as Lonnie backed away she caught sight of a glint of silver. Behind her back her fists clenched to the point of pain and her cheeks went hot with fury. “Give it back or I’ll fucking kill you!” She narrowed her eyes. “No- No, you know what, I’m gonna kill you no matter what – it’ll just be less messy if you hand it over now.” Maria lunged forward with cold hatred darkening her eyes until they were almost black with only a slight tinge of the pale green she was known for.
Lonnie motioned for the guards to contain her, and in her injured and cuffed state they easily pulled her back.
Maria glanced at her ring, the ring that Michael had given her before it’d all gone wrong, the ring that was now around her enemy’s neck and then back to Lonnie’s flat, brown eyes. With a voice simmering with rage and her body taut with tension, she told her, “I will get that back.”
“You ain’t gettin nothin’ back,” Lonnie replied bitterly, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Fuck you!” The simple statement was all she could think of at the moment with thoughts of Michael crowding her mind. Maria wished with all her heart that she was back at the base safe in his arms, however her brain reminded her that even if she was back home, he was probably long gone by now.
“Sorry, not a necrophile. I don’t screw dead people, and, bitch, that’s exactly what you are,” Lonnie replied coldly.
Before Maria had a chance to respond to Lonnie’s grim sense of humor, the man that’d walked in with Lonnie interrupted their stare-down with a crack of laughter that reverberated loudly around the room. A quick nod of his head to the guards holding her, and Maria knew what was coming even as her vision began to blur and she felt herself drifting once again towards unconsciousness.
~~~
Michael rushed back to the room only to find the place in shambles. The energy signature was familiar and at first he thought he hadn’t held back as well as he’d assumed, but then he remembered that Rath hadn’t been in the room when the signal from her chip went out. He’d obviously found out since then. He shuddered to think what would’ve happened if they’d found out while in the same room and fed off each others chaotic energy.
Moving back out into the hallway, Michael saw a guard point him towards another door. As he entered, all he could hear were broken sobs and loud arguing. It looked like Rath and Sean were having it out with Alex and Sam, each screaming over the others. The Sheriff was trying to intervene and calm everyone down, but Amy had her head buried against his shoulder and his shirt clutched tightly in her small hands, not letting him away from her for even a second.
“Guys!” Michael called out, only to be ignored. Finally, he slapped his hand hard against a desk creating a loud, echoing bang. All eyes turned to him, but before they could interrupt he told them, “Maria’s alive!”
“WHAT?” Rath and Sean both exclaimed at the same time while Alex just wearily shook his head.
Looking down at his feet, Michael paused looking for the right words to explain how he knew that she was alive. Then he heard Amy’s small voice, “Michael?” His head jerked up, and he looked straight into Amy’s red-rimmed eyes, “Amy, she’s alive. I know she is.”
Staring back into his tawny colored eyes, Amy found that they held an unquestionable knowledge and he’d said the words with such conviction that she nodded her head and looked up at her husband. “Jim, we’ve got get my baby back.”
“Now wait a minute,” Ace cleared his throat from the lump that was forming in his throat just thinking about what he so badly wanted to be true. “How do you know, Michael?”
“I just do!” There was a hoarse desperation in his voice as he restlessly moved around the room.
“How, Michael? I understand that you want her to be alive. We all do, but we all saw the signal go out.” Ace shook his head. If he started believing and it turned out not to be true… He just couldn’t. He was barely making it as it was. “How can you be so sure?”
“I feel her, okay?!” Michael took a sharp breath, willing himself to be calm, knowing he’d never be able to convince them if he couldn’t answer their questions.
Sean arched an eyebrow. “Feel her?”
He raked his fingers through his hair, flinging his arms out as he sighed heavily. “I don’t know. Maybe it was there before and I didn’t realize it, or maybe it just started because she’s reaching out to me. Just all of a sudden I could feel it... feel her.”
Rath furrowed his brows. “What exactly did you feel?”
Lowering his honey brown eyes brimmed with stormy sorrow, Michael couldn’t look at any of them. “Pain,” he said in a quiet voice that they all had to strain to hear. “I felt her pain.” He cringed as he heard some of the girls whimper. “But, I also felt her anger and that means she’s fighting. Which means I’m not waiting around for you guys to believe me. I <i>will</i> rescue her… with or without your help.”
“Michael…” Max warned.
“Fuck off, Max. I’m not sitting around here all frickin day trying to convince all of you about something I know to be true.” The anger in his voice forced Max to take a step back, but out of the corner of his eye Michael noticed both Rath and Sean giving brief nods indicating that they were with him.
There was a silence in the air as no one knew what to say. After a few moments of thought, Kyle stood up and walked to his friend’s side. “You know, Michael’s probably right. It would make sense for them to keep her alive to find out where the Granolith is.”
Shoulders drooping in defeat, Ace replied, “Even if they did, she doesn’t know. Before she left she made sure I was the only one with the coordinates. Not even she saw them.” If she wasn’t dead, and he wasn’t sure he was prepared to believe that Michael wasn’t just feeling what he wanted to be true, then that meant that she was being tortured for information she didn’t have.
Isabel joined her husband’s side by Michael. “So she doesn’t know where the Granolith is, I’m sure if they were able to get into her head that there’s other stuff they’d want to know.”
Squeezing her boyfriend’s hand in support, Ava nodded. “Okay, say she is alive, and, god, you don’t know how much I want that be true. But, how do we find her? They wouldn’t stay there for long, so how do we find out where they took her?”
“Lure them with the Granolith,” Liz suggested. “If Khivar wants it that bad, then he ought to jump at the chance for a trade.”
“They would know it was a trap. We would have to give them what they want,” Sam pointed out.
“Okay, why not?! Let’s make a deal. Who the hell needs the stupid thing anyway! It’s been nothing but trouble…”
Sam stoically interrupted his rant. “We can’t. Rath, you know better than anyone that she would kill us if we just gave the Granolith back.” No matter how badly he wanted her back that was not the way to go about it.
Talia placed a hand on Rath’s arm, she knew he hadn’t released all of his energy back in the other room, and he was liable to blast someone if they didn’t put a plan into action soon. Before Michael had even come to them with his revelation, Rath had been calling for action, arguing with Ace and Sam that no person should be left behind whether they were alive or dead, dead being something he’d refused to believe. Rath bristled at the contact, but as he looked over at Talia’s golden green gaze the storm inside of him lulled for the moment.
Needing her back no matter how it was done, Michael yelled at them, “I DON’T CARE!” He just wanted… needed her back.
“She would,” Ace countered. “Think about how you would feel if something you worked so hard to accomplish for the past ten years to get was given up to save your life. She knowingly puts herself in danger all the time. She would be miserable if we made a trade like that.” Every fiber of his being begged to agree with them and give up the coordinates, but he wasn’t about to betray the trust she’d given him.
Michael knew they were right, but it didn’t make him feel any better. How had he fallen so fatally in love? Because he was realizing more and more every second that he wouldn’t survive without her by his side. Why had he even bothered for one moment to think that he could leave her again? He shook his head, unshed tears welling in his eyes full of desperation. “We have to do something!”
Cleaning his glasses with his shirttail, Quinn excitedly spoke up, “Hey, we could build a replica of the Granolith. By the time they discovered it was a fake, she would be back home safe and sound.”
“It would take too long. We need to do this fast.” Ace realized he was starting to believe, and he sat down heavily on the desk behind him, his mind working overtime.
“What about a mindwarp, Ava?”
“Maybe,” Ava said as she pondered Isabel’s question. “But, what if they want us to transport it somewhere else and the confirmation for the trade is made by phone. I’d have to at least know where they were and how many I needed to mindwarp for it to work.” She shook her head. “Sketchy at best.”
“What about dreamwalking her to find out where she is like you did Max back in High School?”
Isabel glanced at Liz uncertainly. “I can try, but since I couldn’t do it ten years ago, I doubt it’d work now.”
A knock sounded at the door, and Ace moved to answer it. “Yes?” He inquired of the guard.
“Sorry to interrupt, sir, but we have incoming friendlies.”
“Who?”
“Lord Larek and his advisor.”
“Larek?” Strange. He figured it was a condolence visit, knowing how fond they both were of Maria. He wondered what they would make of this connection that Michael and Maria seemed to have. How was that even possible anyways?
The guard nodded briskly. “Yes, sir.”
“Okay, we’ll head over to the conference room in tactical operations. Bring them over as soon as they land.” Ace turned to the others. “Let’s go see what they have to say. Maybe the walk will help us come with some more ideas.”
“Alex, we need to go now!” The longer they left her there…
“Michael, I know. But, we need to find out where she is first. Look, let’s see what Larek wants. He’s got more resources than we do so maybe he can help us in figuring out how to trick the Skins into making a trade without actually giving them the Granolith.”
As they were walking out the door Rath moved in next to Jim. “Pops?”
Jim nodded, aware of the task that needed to be done. “I’ll get them ready.” He kissed his wife on the cheek and let her go out the door ahead of him. Amy only let him go because she knew it was to prepare for her daughter’s rescue.
Rath had no doubt that this would never be as simple as making a trade. He hesitated, depending on how they located her, “It could end up being a trap…” The soldiers should just do what they were told to do, but thoughts of the way his pixie commanded the base prevented him from risking their lives without letting them know how dangerous it could be.
“I’ll inform them that it’s a voluntary mission, but I don’t think it will change a thing.”
“Okay, Sean and I are going to see how much munitions we can round up.”
Jim nodded and headed down the hallway in the opposite direction. Michael agreed to keep them apprized of any new information, and after Sean and Rath took off, he and Kyle joined the others on their way to meet up with Larek.
~~~
Waking with a pounding in her head way beyond the pain of a migraine, Maria hazily tried to figure out what had woken her. She could hear strange voices fading in and out, words that made no sense to her followed by a startling deafness then bursts of white noise. The scariness of it stirred her to a more conscious state, and she realized she was being carried on a stretcher up some steps and down a long walkway. It all came back in a flash, and she quickly shut her mind to the memories of what had happened. Now was not the time to panic. ‘Sure,’ she thought, rolling her eyes, ‘that’s a sentiment that’ll be easy to live up to when I have no friggin’ no idea where I am or what’s going to happen.’
Maria tried to move her head to see if she could find anything that would tell her where they were taking her, but she found that she was completely immobilized. All she could see were large rectangles of fluorescent lights in the ceiling – she could be anywhere. ‘Fantastic!’ she thought, sarcastically. They entered a room where she was pulled off the stretcher and thrown on the floor, her body flooding with pain at the harsh contact against the hard concrete. Her hands still bound together, she pulled herself up into a corner of the room, and glared at the steel door that the guards had slammed shut. The room was ugly and bare and utterly grey. At least the damn government put their prisoners in a sterile, white room. She huffed. These aliens knew nothing about hospitality!
Feeling cold and too undressed for her liking, she brought her bare legs up to her chest and hugged them tightly. She wondered what they’d do if she requested a blanket or for that matter some damn clothes. Just as Maria was gearing herself up to bang on the door, five guards walked in. “So, decided to bring me some pants? Maybe a nice warm blanket?” She kept talking as her silent guards picked her up and carried her out of the room down a long, dark corridor. “I guess you can’t tell me where we are, huh? I mean it’s not like I can rush off and tell someone. I’m just curious. Oh, can you tell me who that guy was that Lonnie was hanging with? Kinda got the idea that he might be a big bad. Yes? No? I mean, I wouldn’t want to unfairly judge someone, you know?”
They refused to even make eye contact and threw her in another room. This one was even more dingy and smelly than the last, she shuddered as she had to step over something on the cement floor that looked an awful lot like old puke. As she was being transported from the last cell to this one, she’d eyed the guards’ weapons, assessing whether she could get a hold of one. She would never be able to escape, there were too many soldiers around, but she wouldn’t hesitate to use it on herself. There was no way she would give up any information that would hurt her friends and family.
She would miss everyone terribly, but as a soldier she took those risks everyday. At least Michael would never know, that was after all exactly what he’d wanted. Now that she was in a position she never imagined really being in, she could see the reasoning in what he did. If it were the other way around, she’d probably be going crazy right about now. Even so… It was such a Cinderella wish, but she just couldn’t help wishing that Michael was still around.
The door opened bringing her out of her thoughts, and she looked up to find a dark figure looming just inside the doorway. He motioned for one of the guards, and he came in and forced her into a chair, cuffing her wrists together behind the back of the chair before he left the room. She was left in the room with Mr. Dark and Mysterious. Completely out of place in his fancy suit, he gingerly took a seat in the chair in front of her and moved forward so that his icy-grey eyes were now just inches from hers. She stared at his mismatched eyes and wondered if one wasn’t maybe a glass eye, but suddenly he moved back as if he’d finished assessing her with his callous eyes and now knew everything about her.
His voice cloaked in darkness he told her, “I think you should know that no one is coming to rescue you. We made sure that they think you’re dead. I know you’re thinking to yourself that because we took the chip out that the signal will show that, but you’re wrong, we now use a substance that simulates death for those that we rather keep alive without anyone else knowing. It would be in your best interest to cooperate.” With a cool, enigmatic smile he went on, “Who knows if you’re a good little girl I might just be able to find you a place on the winning team. Of course, I’d have to keep you close. “After all, I’d have to keep an eye on you, make sure you didn’t do anything stupid.”
Maria shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know anything.”
“I’m not so sure about that, <i>Commander</i>.”
She felt the blood draining from her face. Crap! How the hell did he know that? ‘Oh god!’ she cried of herself. ‘Please, don’t let me have given up information while unconscious.’ Breathing in and out deeply, Maria calmed and reminded herself that he wouldn’t still want her to talk if he’d already gotten the information he wanted.
“What were they thinking anyway, making a little slip of thing like you a leader?” he mused. “If you were on my side, you’d be in my bed not my army.”
His army? She wondered who he could be, he was obviously higher up than Lonnie which meant he was probably pretty powerful, a top leader. “Guess I’ll just have to count my lucky stars that I’m not on your side.”
“Oh, if I decide not to kill you, I promise that by the time I’m done with you, you’ll be begging to be in my bed,” he spat, his steel eyes narrowed. Suddenly his hand shot out and he squeezed her jaw painfully between his fingers and thumb. “Let’s just see what all you can tell me. I’m sure there are some delicious little facts in that human brain of yours. I would especially like to know where the Granolith is.”
His other hand moved her hair gently behind her ear before moving up over the top of her skull. For a moment there was nothing, then abruptly Maria could feel him trying to get inside her head. Stifling a keening sound by biting her lower lip, she winced at the pain and struggled to keep her mind clear.
There was an awful ringing in her eardrums, and it felt as if his fingers were pushing deep, penetrating her skin… her skull. Maria had no idea how long it had been, but she wasn’t sure if her blocking techniques would hold out much longer. Her chest rose and fell sharply as fine tremors ran through her hands and explosions went off inside her head. She just wanted it to stop. It <i>had</i> to stop soon. She was going to faint from the pain any second now.
Fuzzy images started to swirl in her head, and her chest tightened. In that moment Maria knew exactly who she was dealing with, and she vowed she’d see him dead if it was the last thing she ever did. Her breathing labored, body aching everywhere and forehead damp with perspiration, she stared back at the man with resentful fire flashing in her stormy green eyes, unflinching in their challenge.
~~~
“We came as soon as we heard. I’m assuming they’ve moved positions. Do you have any idea of where they’ve taken her?” Larek asked, sitting at the head of the conference room table.
Damn! He thought they’d already heard. “Larek, the signal in her bio-chip flat-lined over an hour ago…”
Brows furrowed, Larek interrupted, “They wouldn’t kill her.”
“She was pretty bad off they might not have had to,” Sam explained.
“No, unless it was the act of an ignorant soldier, they would need their hostage alive for information,” Larek explained, self-assuredly.
“They must’ve faked the signal somehow,” Rashen murmured.
“Well, you might be right. Michael has discovered that he has a, I guess you could call it a connection to her. I’m not sure how, but he says he can feel Maria’s emotions.”
Both men studied Michael, assessed him carefully then nodded.
Their easy acceptance bewildered him. “Have you heard of this before? Is it an Antarian thing?” Ace asked.
Rashen nodded. “It’s a phenomenon that usually occurs when one of the bonded person’s is in a dire situation. There are reports of it happening between humans as well. Most of the time it’s twins that feel their sibling’s emotions, but there’re also stories of mothers knowing the moment their child is in danger.”
“None of that matters right now,” Larek said firmly, gathering the attention of everyone around the table. “We need to find Maria. She holds information that could negate the whole mission she just sacrificed herself for.”
“I agree that we need to find her. I won’t let my best friend suffer like that. But, just so you know, she doesn’t have the Granolith’s coordinates so they won’t be able to get that data from her if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Larek sighed heavily, his expression grave. “That won’t matter if they find out how to unlock the information inside of her on how to build one.”
TBC
Thanks for reading,
Kara
CHAPTER 20
With few choices, Maria set to work on worrying the threads on the hem of the elastic waistline of her underwear. Luckily, they were more like bikini bottoms since they were made of the same wetsuit-like material as their black bodysuits and therefore had a fairly large hem. It felt like ages before she had a couple of threads broken, but finally she was able to open it enough to slide the small tracking chip underneath the elastic band. All she could do was hope that she wasn’t scanned for electronics, but they had obviously already done so when they took her bio-chip out and she was betting that they wouldn’t bother to do it again.
Maria suddenly felt the attention in the guards shift and looked up just in time to see a man and a woman walking towards her. The woman, if you could call her that, Maria was unfortunately familiar with, however she had never seen the man before and therefore took the time to scrutinize him carefully. He definitely had tall, dark and handsome down; his tall, lean frame was swathed in a black dress shirt and black slacks that appeared tailored and expensive, his short, dark brown hair was neatly clipped and styled. With his long, black coat billowing out from behind him he looked like a man accustomed to affluence and deference, and for a moment, she wondered if the Skins had taken up with the mafia.
But his elegant, fashionable clothes and style belied the ominous air around him, and a chill of foreboding shivered down her spine as his steel grey eyes studied her just as intently. The soldiers, she noticed, did not meet his eyes and they all seemed to bow to him without actually doing so, even the normally overconfident alien that approached with him seemed to defer to him by walking a step behind his pace. The vibe told her he was a major player, and that was highly disturbing since the Allied Forces were under the impression that Lonnie had been in charge ever since she’d killed Nicholas. There’d never been any intel to contradict that information.
As he drew nearer, Maria noticed that he had a prominent chin with a dimple in it and one eye that was almost imperceptibly larger than the other giving his face a certain innocuous charm, but then their eyes met and his emotionless stare caused her blood to run cold. She broke his gaze, choosing to ignore him for now, and turned to the woman next to him. “I should’ve known,” Maria groaned and rolled her eyes. “So, Lonnie, still Khivar’s flunky, huh? I see he hasn’t beamed you, his supposed great love, back to Antar to be his Queen. So sad,” she added mockingly. “You just can’t hold on to any of those lovers, can you? Geez, I can’t imagine why they all run from you?”
The response was a backhand across the face, her lip and cheekbone catching most of the hit. The pain was blinding as Lonnie’s hand swept across cuts that had not been healed, but Maria steadied herself unwilling to give her even an inch.
Lonnie sneered, “And what are you some kinda alien groupie? Still clinging on even though they left your sorry ass to die in that hick town.”
Maria spat the blood pooling in her mouth towards her, but as Lonnie backed away she caught sight of a glint of silver. Behind her back her fists clenched to the point of pain and her cheeks went hot with fury. “Give it back or I’ll fucking kill you!” She narrowed her eyes. “No- No, you know what, I’m gonna kill you no matter what – it’ll just be less messy if you hand it over now.” Maria lunged forward with cold hatred darkening her eyes until they were almost black with only a slight tinge of the pale green she was known for.
Lonnie motioned for the guards to contain her, and in her injured and cuffed state they easily pulled her back.
Maria glanced at her ring, the ring that Michael had given her before it’d all gone wrong, the ring that was now around her enemy’s neck and then back to Lonnie’s flat, brown eyes. With a voice simmering with rage and her body taut with tension, she told her, “I will get that back.”
“You ain’t gettin nothin’ back,” Lonnie replied bitterly, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Fuck you!” The simple statement was all she could think of at the moment with thoughts of Michael crowding her mind. Maria wished with all her heart that she was back at the base safe in his arms, however her brain reminded her that even if she was back home, he was probably long gone by now.
“Sorry, not a necrophile. I don’t screw dead people, and, bitch, that’s exactly what you are,” Lonnie replied coldly.
Before Maria had a chance to respond to Lonnie’s grim sense of humor, the man that’d walked in with Lonnie interrupted their stare-down with a crack of laughter that reverberated loudly around the room. A quick nod of his head to the guards holding her, and Maria knew what was coming even as her vision began to blur and she felt herself drifting once again towards unconsciousness.
~~~
Michael rushed back to the room only to find the place in shambles. The energy signature was familiar and at first he thought he hadn’t held back as well as he’d assumed, but then he remembered that Rath hadn’t been in the room when the signal from her chip went out. He’d obviously found out since then. He shuddered to think what would’ve happened if they’d found out while in the same room and fed off each others chaotic energy.
Moving back out into the hallway, Michael saw a guard point him towards another door. As he entered, all he could hear were broken sobs and loud arguing. It looked like Rath and Sean were having it out with Alex and Sam, each screaming over the others. The Sheriff was trying to intervene and calm everyone down, but Amy had her head buried against his shoulder and his shirt clutched tightly in her small hands, not letting him away from her for even a second.
“Guys!” Michael called out, only to be ignored. Finally, he slapped his hand hard against a desk creating a loud, echoing bang. All eyes turned to him, but before they could interrupt he told them, “Maria’s alive!”
“WHAT?” Rath and Sean both exclaimed at the same time while Alex just wearily shook his head.
Looking down at his feet, Michael paused looking for the right words to explain how he knew that she was alive. Then he heard Amy’s small voice, “Michael?” His head jerked up, and he looked straight into Amy’s red-rimmed eyes, “Amy, she’s alive. I know she is.”
Staring back into his tawny colored eyes, Amy found that they held an unquestionable knowledge and he’d said the words with such conviction that she nodded her head and looked up at her husband. “Jim, we’ve got get my baby back.”
“Now wait a minute,” Ace cleared his throat from the lump that was forming in his throat just thinking about what he so badly wanted to be true. “How do you know, Michael?”
“I just do!” There was a hoarse desperation in his voice as he restlessly moved around the room.
“How, Michael? I understand that you want her to be alive. We all do, but we all saw the signal go out.” Ace shook his head. If he started believing and it turned out not to be true… He just couldn’t. He was barely making it as it was. “How can you be so sure?”
“I feel her, okay?!” Michael took a sharp breath, willing himself to be calm, knowing he’d never be able to convince them if he couldn’t answer their questions.
Sean arched an eyebrow. “Feel her?”
He raked his fingers through his hair, flinging his arms out as he sighed heavily. “I don’t know. Maybe it was there before and I didn’t realize it, or maybe it just started because she’s reaching out to me. Just all of a sudden I could feel it... feel her.”
Rath furrowed his brows. “What exactly did you feel?”
Lowering his honey brown eyes brimmed with stormy sorrow, Michael couldn’t look at any of them. “Pain,” he said in a quiet voice that they all had to strain to hear. “I felt her pain.” He cringed as he heard some of the girls whimper. “But, I also felt her anger and that means she’s fighting. Which means I’m not waiting around for you guys to believe me. I <i>will</i> rescue her… with or without your help.”
“Michael…” Max warned.
“Fuck off, Max. I’m not sitting around here all frickin day trying to convince all of you about something I know to be true.” The anger in his voice forced Max to take a step back, but out of the corner of his eye Michael noticed both Rath and Sean giving brief nods indicating that they were with him.
There was a silence in the air as no one knew what to say. After a few moments of thought, Kyle stood up and walked to his friend’s side. “You know, Michael’s probably right. It would make sense for them to keep her alive to find out where the Granolith is.”
Shoulders drooping in defeat, Ace replied, “Even if they did, she doesn’t know. Before she left she made sure I was the only one with the coordinates. Not even she saw them.” If she wasn’t dead, and he wasn’t sure he was prepared to believe that Michael wasn’t just feeling what he wanted to be true, then that meant that she was being tortured for information she didn’t have.
Isabel joined her husband’s side by Michael. “So she doesn’t know where the Granolith is, I’m sure if they were able to get into her head that there’s other stuff they’d want to know.”
Squeezing her boyfriend’s hand in support, Ava nodded. “Okay, say she is alive, and, god, you don’t know how much I want that be true. But, how do we find her? They wouldn’t stay there for long, so how do we find out where they took her?”
“Lure them with the Granolith,” Liz suggested. “If Khivar wants it that bad, then he ought to jump at the chance for a trade.”
“They would know it was a trap. We would have to give them what they want,” Sam pointed out.
“Okay, why not?! Let’s make a deal. Who the hell needs the stupid thing anyway! It’s been nothing but trouble…”
Sam stoically interrupted his rant. “We can’t. Rath, you know better than anyone that she would kill us if we just gave the Granolith back.” No matter how badly he wanted her back that was not the way to go about it.
Talia placed a hand on Rath’s arm, she knew he hadn’t released all of his energy back in the other room, and he was liable to blast someone if they didn’t put a plan into action soon. Before Michael had even come to them with his revelation, Rath had been calling for action, arguing with Ace and Sam that no person should be left behind whether they were alive or dead, dead being something he’d refused to believe. Rath bristled at the contact, but as he looked over at Talia’s golden green gaze the storm inside of him lulled for the moment.
Needing her back no matter how it was done, Michael yelled at them, “I DON’T CARE!” He just wanted… needed her back.
“She would,” Ace countered. “Think about how you would feel if something you worked so hard to accomplish for the past ten years to get was given up to save your life. She knowingly puts herself in danger all the time. She would be miserable if we made a trade like that.” Every fiber of his being begged to agree with them and give up the coordinates, but he wasn’t about to betray the trust she’d given him.
Michael knew they were right, but it didn’t make him feel any better. How had he fallen so fatally in love? Because he was realizing more and more every second that he wouldn’t survive without her by his side. Why had he even bothered for one moment to think that he could leave her again? He shook his head, unshed tears welling in his eyes full of desperation. “We have to do something!”
Cleaning his glasses with his shirttail, Quinn excitedly spoke up, “Hey, we could build a replica of the Granolith. By the time they discovered it was a fake, she would be back home safe and sound.”
“It would take too long. We need to do this fast.” Ace realized he was starting to believe, and he sat down heavily on the desk behind him, his mind working overtime.
“What about a mindwarp, Ava?”
“Maybe,” Ava said as she pondered Isabel’s question. “But, what if they want us to transport it somewhere else and the confirmation for the trade is made by phone. I’d have to at least know where they were and how many I needed to mindwarp for it to work.” She shook her head. “Sketchy at best.”
“What about dreamwalking her to find out where she is like you did Max back in High School?”
Isabel glanced at Liz uncertainly. “I can try, but since I couldn’t do it ten years ago, I doubt it’d work now.”
A knock sounded at the door, and Ace moved to answer it. “Yes?” He inquired of the guard.
“Sorry to interrupt, sir, but we have incoming friendlies.”
“Who?”
“Lord Larek and his advisor.”
“Larek?” Strange. He figured it was a condolence visit, knowing how fond they both were of Maria. He wondered what they would make of this connection that Michael and Maria seemed to have. How was that even possible anyways?
The guard nodded briskly. “Yes, sir.”
“Okay, we’ll head over to the conference room in tactical operations. Bring them over as soon as they land.” Ace turned to the others. “Let’s go see what they have to say. Maybe the walk will help us come with some more ideas.”
“Alex, we need to go now!” The longer they left her there…
“Michael, I know. But, we need to find out where she is first. Look, let’s see what Larek wants. He’s got more resources than we do so maybe he can help us in figuring out how to trick the Skins into making a trade without actually giving them the Granolith.”
As they were walking out the door Rath moved in next to Jim. “Pops?”
Jim nodded, aware of the task that needed to be done. “I’ll get them ready.” He kissed his wife on the cheek and let her go out the door ahead of him. Amy only let him go because she knew it was to prepare for her daughter’s rescue.
Rath had no doubt that this would never be as simple as making a trade. He hesitated, depending on how they located her, “It could end up being a trap…” The soldiers should just do what they were told to do, but thoughts of the way his pixie commanded the base prevented him from risking their lives without letting them know how dangerous it could be.
“I’ll inform them that it’s a voluntary mission, but I don’t think it will change a thing.”
“Okay, Sean and I are going to see how much munitions we can round up.”
Jim nodded and headed down the hallway in the opposite direction. Michael agreed to keep them apprized of any new information, and after Sean and Rath took off, he and Kyle joined the others on their way to meet up with Larek.
~~~
Waking with a pounding in her head way beyond the pain of a migraine, Maria hazily tried to figure out what had woken her. She could hear strange voices fading in and out, words that made no sense to her followed by a startling deafness then bursts of white noise. The scariness of it stirred her to a more conscious state, and she realized she was being carried on a stretcher up some steps and down a long walkway. It all came back in a flash, and she quickly shut her mind to the memories of what had happened. Now was not the time to panic. ‘Sure,’ she thought, rolling her eyes, ‘that’s a sentiment that’ll be easy to live up to when I have no friggin’ no idea where I am or what’s going to happen.’
Maria tried to move her head to see if she could find anything that would tell her where they were taking her, but she found that she was completely immobilized. All she could see were large rectangles of fluorescent lights in the ceiling – she could be anywhere. ‘Fantastic!’ she thought, sarcastically. They entered a room where she was pulled off the stretcher and thrown on the floor, her body flooding with pain at the harsh contact against the hard concrete. Her hands still bound together, she pulled herself up into a corner of the room, and glared at the steel door that the guards had slammed shut. The room was ugly and bare and utterly grey. At least the damn government put their prisoners in a sterile, white room. She huffed. These aliens knew nothing about hospitality!
Feeling cold and too undressed for her liking, she brought her bare legs up to her chest and hugged them tightly. She wondered what they’d do if she requested a blanket or for that matter some damn clothes. Just as Maria was gearing herself up to bang on the door, five guards walked in. “So, decided to bring me some pants? Maybe a nice warm blanket?” She kept talking as her silent guards picked her up and carried her out of the room down a long, dark corridor. “I guess you can’t tell me where we are, huh? I mean it’s not like I can rush off and tell someone. I’m just curious. Oh, can you tell me who that guy was that Lonnie was hanging with? Kinda got the idea that he might be a big bad. Yes? No? I mean, I wouldn’t want to unfairly judge someone, you know?”
They refused to even make eye contact and threw her in another room. This one was even more dingy and smelly than the last, she shuddered as she had to step over something on the cement floor that looked an awful lot like old puke. As she was being transported from the last cell to this one, she’d eyed the guards’ weapons, assessing whether she could get a hold of one. She would never be able to escape, there were too many soldiers around, but she wouldn’t hesitate to use it on herself. There was no way she would give up any information that would hurt her friends and family.
She would miss everyone terribly, but as a soldier she took those risks everyday. At least Michael would never know, that was after all exactly what he’d wanted. Now that she was in a position she never imagined really being in, she could see the reasoning in what he did. If it were the other way around, she’d probably be going crazy right about now. Even so… It was such a Cinderella wish, but she just couldn’t help wishing that Michael was still around.
The door opened bringing her out of her thoughts, and she looked up to find a dark figure looming just inside the doorway. He motioned for one of the guards, and he came in and forced her into a chair, cuffing her wrists together behind the back of the chair before he left the room. She was left in the room with Mr. Dark and Mysterious. Completely out of place in his fancy suit, he gingerly took a seat in the chair in front of her and moved forward so that his icy-grey eyes were now just inches from hers. She stared at his mismatched eyes and wondered if one wasn’t maybe a glass eye, but suddenly he moved back as if he’d finished assessing her with his callous eyes and now knew everything about her.
His voice cloaked in darkness he told her, “I think you should know that no one is coming to rescue you. We made sure that they think you’re dead. I know you’re thinking to yourself that because we took the chip out that the signal will show that, but you’re wrong, we now use a substance that simulates death for those that we rather keep alive without anyone else knowing. It would be in your best interest to cooperate.” With a cool, enigmatic smile he went on, “Who knows if you’re a good little girl I might just be able to find you a place on the winning team. Of course, I’d have to keep you close. “After all, I’d have to keep an eye on you, make sure you didn’t do anything stupid.”
Maria shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know anything.”
“I’m not so sure about that, <i>Commander</i>.”
She felt the blood draining from her face. Crap! How the hell did he know that? ‘Oh god!’ she cried of herself. ‘Please, don’t let me have given up information while unconscious.’ Breathing in and out deeply, Maria calmed and reminded herself that he wouldn’t still want her to talk if he’d already gotten the information he wanted.
“What were they thinking anyway, making a little slip of thing like you a leader?” he mused. “If you were on my side, you’d be in my bed not my army.”
His army? She wondered who he could be, he was obviously higher up than Lonnie which meant he was probably pretty powerful, a top leader. “Guess I’ll just have to count my lucky stars that I’m not on your side.”
“Oh, if I decide not to kill you, I promise that by the time I’m done with you, you’ll be begging to be in my bed,” he spat, his steel eyes narrowed. Suddenly his hand shot out and he squeezed her jaw painfully between his fingers and thumb. “Let’s just see what all you can tell me. I’m sure there are some delicious little facts in that human brain of yours. I would especially like to know where the Granolith is.”
His other hand moved her hair gently behind her ear before moving up over the top of her skull. For a moment there was nothing, then abruptly Maria could feel him trying to get inside her head. Stifling a keening sound by biting her lower lip, she winced at the pain and struggled to keep her mind clear.
There was an awful ringing in her eardrums, and it felt as if his fingers were pushing deep, penetrating her skin… her skull. Maria had no idea how long it had been, but she wasn’t sure if her blocking techniques would hold out much longer. Her chest rose and fell sharply as fine tremors ran through her hands and explosions went off inside her head. She just wanted it to stop. It <i>had</i> to stop soon. She was going to faint from the pain any second now.
Fuzzy images started to swirl in her head, and her chest tightened. In that moment Maria knew exactly who she was dealing with, and she vowed she’d see him dead if it was the last thing she ever did. Her breathing labored, body aching everywhere and forehead damp with perspiration, she stared back at the man with resentful fire flashing in her stormy green eyes, unflinching in their challenge.
~~~
“We came as soon as we heard. I’m assuming they’ve moved positions. Do you have any idea of where they’ve taken her?” Larek asked, sitting at the head of the conference room table.
Damn! He thought they’d already heard. “Larek, the signal in her bio-chip flat-lined over an hour ago…”
Brows furrowed, Larek interrupted, “They wouldn’t kill her.”
“She was pretty bad off they might not have had to,” Sam explained.
“No, unless it was the act of an ignorant soldier, they would need their hostage alive for information,” Larek explained, self-assuredly.
“They must’ve faked the signal somehow,” Rashen murmured.
“Well, you might be right. Michael has discovered that he has a, I guess you could call it a connection to her. I’m not sure how, but he says he can feel Maria’s emotions.”
Both men studied Michael, assessed him carefully then nodded.
Their easy acceptance bewildered him. “Have you heard of this before? Is it an Antarian thing?” Ace asked.
Rashen nodded. “It’s a phenomenon that usually occurs when one of the bonded person’s is in a dire situation. There are reports of it happening between humans as well. Most of the time it’s twins that feel their sibling’s emotions, but there’re also stories of mothers knowing the moment their child is in danger.”
“None of that matters right now,” Larek said firmly, gathering the attention of everyone around the table. “We need to find Maria. She holds information that could negate the whole mission she just sacrificed herself for.”
“I agree that we need to find her. I won’t let my best friend suffer like that. But, just so you know, she doesn’t have the Granolith’s coordinates so they won’t be able to get that data from her if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Larek sighed heavily, his expression grave. “That won’t matter if they find out how to unlock the information inside of her on how to build one.”
TBC