Axis (CC/Mature) Pt. 10 2/26 {WIP}

[Anniepoo98]

Title: Axis
Author: Annie
E-mail: anniepoo98@hotmail.com
Rating: Mature
Summary: CC - AU with aliens... This story is going to answers some what ifs I’ve come up with. What if something went wrong when future Max came back? What if Tess hadn’t been raised by Nasedo? What if Max and Liz didn’t even meet until they were teenagers? Read and see what I came up with.
Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the story... you know that!





Part One:


~*~ June 7, 1989 ~*~


Warm. When some form of realization began to dawn on him, it was all Max could feel. It was all around him, enveloping his entire being. He wondered if it should feel like this. Was it normal to feel this warm inside the contraption that took away every reason he had for living.

He remember when it first drew him in. Energy buzzed all around him, drawing on the molecules that made up his body until it had urged them apart and he’d disappeared. It didn’t feel like it did now. Max knew that he had felt friction and heat, almost to the point were his entire body felt like it was on fire. Not like this. There had been none of this warmth. This felt strange, falling somewhere just beyond familiar, yet just shy of strange.

Something was terribly wrong!

Desperately, Max tried to break free of his captor. He didn’t care if it was the granolith, some strange enemy cell, or the sheets on the bed he shared with Liz. He only wanted out. The warmth of the cocoon around him was no longer comforting. It was restricting. Restricting his ability to think or move or conceive the situation he’d gotten himself into. Instead, he was submerged in this warmth. Something he’d only felt once before.

“Oh God,” his mind cried out. “The pods.”

He struggled against the organic binding, trying to claw and tear his way out. All the while, his mind kept up an endless chant. “No… no… no… no…”

Then he heard it. The ripping sound, like someone was shredding a piece of cloth. A draft of cold air hit his hand, sending a chill down his spine that destroyed the menacing warmth. He’d had never been so happy to be born in his life.

The next several minutes went by in a blur. There was more of the ripping sound echoing in his ears, more of the cold wind blowing across his skin. Finally, his fight was over and he was free. Blinking once, then twice, his eyes adjusting to the sight of the world around him… the dark, cavernous depths of the pod chamber.

Even though he was free, the noise around him continued. “Isabel,” he thought. “Michael!” The very idea made him spring into action. Cautiously, he climbed down the casing that held the pods in there four-square position. His legs felt like jelly and his arms were heavy with lack of use, but finally Max felt his feet hit solid ground.

And there before him was one of the most beautiful sights he’d ever seen. Isabel was standing there, a hint of impatience in her eye as she waited for him, covered in the leftover residue from her pod. She was fine and whole and alive.

For a moment, he forget were he was and his confusion over what was happening. He just allowed himself to get caught up in the fact that his sister was alive. Max started to move towards her, going as fast as he could even though it felt like he was trying to run through water. Reaching Isabel, he lifted his arms, making an attempt to hug her.

Isabel recoiled slightly at the sudden movements. “C’ptha mem.”

The words buzzed in his brain, the strange sensation of hearing her thought resonating. However, he had no idea what she was saying. Then, he remembered that this was the only way she knew how to communicate. None of them could speak when they first came out of the pods, only now he knew it wasn’t because they didn’t know any language. They simply didn’t know how to say the words aloud.

Still, he didn’t have a clue what he was saying. He could sense she was overjoyed to see him, afraid of what was going on, scared because she didn’t know where they were, but he had no idea how to reassure her. Therefore, he did the only thing he could think of. “Isabel?” he tried sending back, hoping she would relax a bit from hearing his voice in her mind.

She looked at him, studied his response to her, then blinked a couple of times as she tried to figure out how to communicate with him. Max could feel more confusion though the bond, but he had no idea how to put her mind at ease.

“C’ptha mem,” she repeated in his head, this time slower.

Rummaging through every memory he had of this time, he could not, for the life of him, remember the words he’d used before. The words simply held no meaning to him. Shaking his head, Max let out a deep sigh. He couldn’t think of anything.

Tears started forming in her eyes, as she started looking down at the ground. Slowly, Max reached out his hand, gently taking her own. At least he could offer some physical reassurance. The instant their palms met, Isabel tilted her head back up, offering him her first smile.

By this time, Michael had torn his way free. With his natural curiosity taking over, he had simply began investigating his surroundings rather than join them. Max opened his mouth, trying to make some noise to get his attention, but nothing came out. Isabel seemed to sense his frustration. Seconds later, he could hear her voice echo in his head once more.

“H’tbra mem?” her tiny voice questioned. “Yre te h’tbra mem?”

Michael’s head shot up. Nervously, he watched them, his eyes darting around the room, then back to their faces. “Dal,” he sent back. “Te h’tbra uoy. E’dnod yre ew?”

His eyes met Max’s expectantly. “Pod chamber,” Max whispered over the connection. He watched as Michael forehead creased in confusion.

Then, with a quick shake of his head, Michael started to move towards the cave entrance. “Tuo,” he cried out. “Tuo!”

Isabel began to follow him, tugging on Max hand, urging him to do the same. “C’ptha... c’ptha tuo.”

“No,” Max called out to them. He turned back to look at the remaining pod. “We can’t leave Tess.”

Both Michael and Isabel frowned at him, and Max started searching his brain for a way to make them understand. Things, memories, were starting to become fuzz, but he did know there was something he had to do. “Tess,” he repeated just as he remember something. Pointing to the last pod, he spoke cautiously. “Ava.”

Michael eyes widened. “Aveena lam. Deen...” Pausing for an instant, Michael shook his head, and Max could feel him trying to concentrate on finding the right words. Things were starting to fade for him too. “Deen ni eht ocnop. Tuo,” he insisted, moving again.

Letting out a deep sigh, Isabel glanced over at Tess’s pod, then to Max. “Tuo,” she said slowly, pulling on his hand once more. “Tuo esaelp.”

Finally, Max let himself follow. With one last look at Tess float back in the pod, the warmth it provided, he made a vow. For some reason, he knew that along would be very important. “We’ll be back.”


~*~ June 6, 2001 ~*~



The weirdest sense of deja vu came over Liz as she entered the Crashdown. Glancing around the restaurant, she realized that not much had changed over the years. The mural on the wall was still of the alien standing near his spaceship, waving his little hand. All of the tables were arranged in the same spots. Even the uniforms hadn’t changed. They were still the turquoise, fifties style dress with the alien apron.

Truthfully, it all unnerved her a little.

Taking a deep breath, Liz slowly make her way to the counter, only to come to an abrupt stop as a shreek filled the room.

“Lizzie,” Maria screamed the second she saw her. Liz suddenly found herself enveloped in the biggest hug her best friend could muster. “You’re here early,” Maria continued to chatter, even as she was cutting off Liz’s circulation. “But that’s good, it just gives us a head start on this summer. We are going to have so much fun this year, I’m telling you...”

“Breathing,” Liz gasped. “I love you too, Maria, but I need air.”

“Air is overrated.” Yet, with one last squeeze, Maria let her arms drop and took a step back. Liz could feel Maria’s eyes taking an assessment of her appearance, and judging by the sharp intake of air, it was a bit shocking to her. Granted, while Liz knew she didn’t look like any sort of model, she didn’t think that she deserved the flash of pure shock and concern. Yet, as quickly as it appeared, the look vanished, replaced by a big smile.

Maria grabbed Liz’s hand and started dragging her towards the breakroom. “Come on,” she urged. “We’ll put your stuff back her, then get you something to eat. God, you must be starved.”

“Not really,” Liz reassured her. “Aunt Lydia stuffed my backpack full of chips and stuff before I left.”

“You’re kidding!” Grabbing at the pack, Maria tore open the zipper to inspect it.

“Have my ears deceived me,” another voice broke into the commotion. Both Liz and Maria’s heads popped up just in time to see Alex enter thought the backdoor of the restaurant. “Our favorite tofu eating aunt has joined the junk food consuming mass.”

“Alex,” Liz exclaimed, dropping her bags on the floor and hurrying over to him. Quickly, she was enveloped in the second best friend hug within a matter of minutes. In the background, Liz could hear Maria listing off the various items she was discovering in the backpack, but she let it all drown out. Alex hugs were the greatest for making all bad stuff fall away for the moment. Only a moment.

“Good to see you, Lizzie,” he whispered softly near her ear, and tears started to well up in her eyes before she could stop them. There was just a gentle concern in his voice that tugged at her. Still, being the typical Alex that he was, dwelling on the depressing stuff was shoved aside for the more interesting topic at hand. “Now,” he said, pulling back a bit to look at her. “Tell me all about this junk food, and just what kind of special alien power it took to get her to buy it.”
Liz tossed both of her hand up defensively. “I did nothing,” she told them, mockingly, in her best Shultz impression.

“Likely story.” Maria shook her head in disbelief as she pulled out another package. “Mallomars,” she gasped in disbelief. “I think I might faint.”

Alex seemed to block out all of her statement, with the exception of one word. “Mallomars!” His ears perked up. The grin on his face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Hand them over, Deluca.”

“Not a chance,” she retorted. “You on a sugar high is never a good thing.”

“Sugar me likely,” Alex shouted, taking a step towards her.

Watching as Maria took a step back, then squeal as she broke out into a full out run with Alex quick on her heals, Liz let out her first genuine laugh in weeks. This summer might be just what she needed.




Let me know what you think!

Annie:)
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[Anniepoo98]

Hey all~

Sorry, it took me longer than expected to get this part done, but it is. Thank you for all the awesome feedback. I really apperciate it. I just hope that you all like this part as much.

Side note: I'm going on vacation next week, finally. A trip to my sisters for the holiday, and a doubt that I will be able to work on any of my stories, so it will be about another two or so weeks before another part. SORRY!


Annie:)


Part Two:

~*~ July 1, 1989 ~*~

Max sat on the Isabel’s bed, watching as Betsy ran a brush through Isabel’s blonde locks. His feet dangled a good foot or so off the floor, and he swung them back and forth, simply content to just wait. It had become a daily routine since they’d been brought to the orphanage.

Even now, the word seemed foreign to him. He knew he should know what it meant, but he the only thing he could make out was that it was a place for kids. Lots and lots of kids. They were different, not quite like him or Isabel, but each of them were missing something. The sheriff man said that he and Isabel were missing it too.

Isabel didn’t like the sheriff man. Not one bit. He made the Evans’ leave. Max let out a sigh as he swung his feet in a continuous rhythm. Maybe that was what they were missing, he wondered. Maybe he shouldn’t like the sheriff man either?

The only thing that he was sure of about that night just shy of a month ago was that it was a beginning. For him, for Isabel, for the other boy who’d run off almost as soon as they were out of the cave. Max thought long and hard to remember his name, because Max was sure that there was one, but he couldn’t.

In fact, there was a lot of stuff he couldn’t remember. Important stuff. Names and places and people he needed to know, but it was all gone. It had quickly disappeared as he and Isabel walked around in the desert.

Still, he could recall the bright headlights that washed over them suddenly as they wandered. It came from a large thing that could both move and stop when someone wanted it to. Max later learned that the thing was called a car. It took people from place to place. The one that night belong to the Evans’.

Just as the lights washed over them, the car was made to stop, and Mrs. Evans got out. Isabel’s hand started to grow painfully tight where it was holding his. But Max just watched and waited, kinda like he was doing right now. He like her face. It was pretty, kinda like a memory. So was her voice. She used it over and over again as she gathered them up, wrapping the both of them in a big warm blanket. Then, she climbed into the back of the car, Isabel in her arms, as Mr. Evans placed him next to her. The whole time she talked, soft and slow.


That night he wanted to understand what she was saying so badly, but it was just beyond his reach.

He sighed again, this time with a hint of frustration lacing it. Betsy looked at him over the top of Isabel’s head as she unfastened a barrette. “Are you okay, Max?”

It was the Sheriff man’s middle name. He said that Max could have it just after the Evans left and one the orphanage ladies came. She was the one to come up with Isabel. It had been her mother’s name.

“Max?” Betsy repeated.

He nodded his head, regarding the expression on her round face. Lots of people wore that face when they looked at him and Isabel. He still wasn’t sure what it meant. Not that it matter much at the moment. He shrugged his shoulder to let her know that he was fine.

She stopped with Isabel’s hair. The look on her face grew deeper for a second, then brightened greatly. “Do you think that you can draw me a picture?”

Now he understood why she was really happy. She had color sticks. They made everyone happy, including him. Eagerly, Max started nodding his head.

Betsy reached into the pocket, pulling out a small box of color sticks, handing the over to Max quickly just as he hopped off the bed. Those pockets must be magic, Max thought, because she was always pulling stuff out of them. Anything that a kid could possibly need; barrettes and band-aids and tissues and color sticks.

As fast as he could, Max hurried across the room to the large table there. Opening the drawer he knew had paper, Max pulled out a sheet and set to work. The first color he sought out was brown. It was always brown. His little fingers made quick work, gliding the color over the pristine white of the paper, leaving mark after mark. God, he thought with glee. Was there anything better than this?

Next came red. He loved the color just as much as brown for some reason. Maybe because it was so vivid and full of life? Whatever the reason, the color quickly join the brown, aiding Max in creating his latest masterpiece. Soon, other colors joined it until, finally, he was done.

Smiling to himself, Max felt Betsy and Isabel come up behind him. Instantly, he held up the drawing, showing it off with pride.

Betsy studied the picture of a girl with brown hair and eyes, tilting her head to the side, as she often did when she was thinking things over. Then, she shifted down to one knee, crouching beside his chair. Running a hand lightly over his head, she let out a small chuckle. “Why do you always draw the same little girl?” she asked him.

Max searched his mind for the right word, his brain coming across one Betsy had used herself just a few days ago. “Pretty,” he told her quietly. That is what she had said when she showed him a ring she wore on a chair around her neck. “She pretty.”

There was a gentle tugging on his shirt. Max turned to look at Isabel, who had a slight frown on her face. “I pretty,” she spoke softly.

This time his smile grew to reassure her. Taking her hand in his, he nodded his head. “You pretty,” he said, give her hand a light squeeze. Her grin grew to match his as she laid her head down on his shoulder.

Leaning into her slightly, Max glanced over his picture. He didn’t know who the girl was in the drawing, but it didn’t matter to him. She was his pretty.

~*~ June 6, 2001 ~*~

“Dios mio,” Lupe muttered under her breath as she glanced up the staircase. “Theresa.” The word boomed, then echoed up after the Spanish swear. “Viene hija. You’re going to be late for your first day of work.”

Max shook his head, watching as the familiar scene played out before him. For as long as Tess had lived with the Donnelly’s, she’d made a habit out of being late. And tardiness was something that just got under Lupe’s skin. When that happened, everyone knew it was time to be leery of the Spanish curses that could come out her mouth.

He wouldn’t trade a second of it.

Shamus and Guadalupe Donnelly had been among the first people he and Isabel met when they were adopted by the Evans’. It was like growing up with a Hispanic aunt and Irish uncle right next door. His father and Shamus played golf together, while Lupe and his mother took cooking classes. Max knew better than to say it aloud, but Lupe was the better of the two.

Then, about two years after Max and Isabel were adopted, Lupe confessed something to his mother. Both she and Shamus wanted to adopt a child of their own. Max could remember that night like it was yesterday. He’d never heard Lupe cry like that before. It was those deep wrenching sobs, which wracked her petite frame, while Diane Evans did her best to comfort the other woman.

Two weeks later, in a night that changed his life forever in more ways than one, Tess came into their little world. It was another one of those nights that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

With an elaborate sigh, Lupe turned to look at him, bring Max back into the here and now. “That girl,” she told him, finally settling back down to English. “I swear, she’s gonna be late to her own funeral.”

This time, he did laugh. “And everything in-between,” he finished off her favorite saying.

Lupe laughed along with him, rolling her eyes slightly. “You know me too well, hijo,” she told him, patting her hand against his cheek. “Do old Lupe a favor. Pretend every once and a while she says something you haven’t heard a million times before.”

He covered her hand with his, giving it a gentle squeeze. “You’ll never be old, Lupe. Just simply Lupe.”

She rolled her eyes yet again, a patented sign that she felt he was lying though his teeth. Still, a wistful smile crept across her lips at the same time. That is until a whirl of blond hair streaked down the staircase, nearly barreling into the two of them.

“Theresa,” Lupe let out a startle gasp. “Are you planning on being the death of me?”

Max simply held out his hands, catching Tess easily, before she had the chance to knock them all over. “Where’s the fire,” he teased her.

Taking a step away from him, Tess started to straighten out her shirt, tugging the hem of bright blue fabric back into the proper place. “I don’t know about you, but I’m trying not to be late,” she told him, matter-of-factily. “So let’s get a move on.”

Folding his arms across his chest, Max simply stared at her. “I’m not the one who takes forever and a day to get ready,” he retorted. “Man, you and Isabel. What takes you girls so long?”

“Stuff,” she replied shortly, then gave Lupe a kiss on the cheek. Moving towards the door, Tess turned back to look at him. “Are we going?”

Max reached out, opening the door for her. “Don’t get so stressed, Tess. Brody won’t know the difference. If he says something, tell him that we where here the whole time. Then he’ll just think he was abducted again.”

Suddenly, Max felt a smack at the back of his skull. “I was just kidding, Lupe,” he told her, rubbing at the spot.

“You better be,” she scolded with a smile on her face. “Now, outta here, the both of you. Trabajan mucho.”

Laughing to himself, Max shut the door behind him. Tess stood over by the jeep, tapping her foot impatiently waiting for him. “Relax Tess. We won’t be late.”

She let out a huff as she pulled the door open and stopped. “What’s this?” she asked, holding up a yellow vest.

“Your uniform,” Max told her, completely unable to restrain the wicked gleam in his eyes. “The latest in fashion, according to Isabel.”

Satisfied with the look on her face, he climbed into the jeep. A second later, he felt her slide into the seat next to him. “I’m not wearing this.”

Max shrugged and started the car. “You gotta. Those are the rules.”

“You stopped wearing your vest over a year ago,” she argued.

His smile grew bigger. “I’m special.” He heard her mutter something that sounded a lot like ‘special ed’ under her breath, but let it drop as the jeep made it’s way to the UFO museum. The whole time, Max could feel Tess watching him, a current of concern broadcasting loud and clear over the connection. Finally, when the were about halfway there, he couldn’t take it any longer.

“I know that you were there last night, Tess,” he stated simply, his smile now gone.

“I was worried,” she sighed, turning her seat to look at him. “Three times a week you sneak out to see them. You’re lucky noone has ever caught you.”

With a glance, Max met her gaze briefly. “Like you said, I’ve been doing it for years. And all I do is make sure the flowers are fresh. I owe them at least that much.”

“You were eight,” she exclaimed. “There was nothing you could have done to save them. You did save their little girl.”

“And left her an orphan,” he retorted bitterly as he pulled up alongside the museum, jerking the jeep to a stop. “You know what? I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” With that, he yanked of his seatbelt and got out.

He knew Tess was no more than a few steps behind him. “Max, you can’t keep blaming yourself.”

Stopping just before the entrance, Max stopped, dropping his head to study the sidewalk. “Yes, I can.” Pulling the door open, he walked inside.

~~~~~~~

“Where do you want me to start putting my stuff,” Liz asked as she unzipped the larger of her two suitcases. God, she thought, glancing over it’s contents. Just how much stuff does Aunt Lydia think I need?

Maria shrugged her shoulders, taking in her own inspection of the room around her. “I’d just leave it all right there,” she told her, randomly opening the drawers in her dresser.

Liz looked over her shoulder at Maria, wondering what the hell was going on. There was no way she could just leave these two huge bags in the middle of her best friend’s bedroom. Eventually they’d wind up killing themselves after tripping over them. “You can’t be se…”

“Serious,” Maria finished for her, tugging another drawer open at the same time. “But apparently I am.” Liz watched as Maria’s gaze turned from the dresser to her bed, then back again. “You see, if you leave it there, the magic laundry fairy will appear, and poof, it all gets put away.”

Huh, Liz thought to herself.

“Huh?” Hell, she was thinking it aloud too. “What are you talking about?”

Maria shuffled across the room. “I’m talking about the massive amount of clothes I had on the bed when I went to work this morning. I told her that I was going to put them all away the second I came home, but look,” she ranted, waving her hands emphatically over the bed. “Gone, done, put away… however you want to say it.” With a dramatic sigh, she tossed herself backwards, falling on the bed with a loud thump. “My mother strikes again.”

Liz couldn’t help it. For the second time that day, she found herself wrapped up in peals of laughter. When Maria tilted her head backwards, glaring at Liz upside down, the giggles became that much worse. It only made Maria scowl more.

“This isn’t funny.”

Collapsing on the bed beside her, Liz shook her head in disagreement. The fit she was having prevented her from doing anything else. Finally, when she was able to speak, Liz pushed herself up on one elbow. “What’s the matter, Maria? Hurricane Deluca getting you down?”

“Make that Typhoon Valenti, and you’d have it just about right,” she bit out, even as the expression on her face was softening. “It just this whole nesting phase of the pregnancy is driving me insane.”

“How far along is Amy,” Liz wondered aloud.

Maria let out a deep sigh. “Twelve or thirteen months,” she groaned. “Congratulations, your baby brother is an elephant.”

Liz’s face lights up. “So it’s a boy?” she asked, than winced as the scowl face returned. Deciding it was time to move on to another topic, Liz searched her brain for a subject. “So… how do you like the new house?”

At least that earned her a smile. “Nice try, Lizzie. You don’t have to worry about me killing you over hormone problems. Not anytime in the near future anyway.”

“Maria,” Liz groaned. You’re mother is the one that’s pregnant, not you.”

“Ahhh,” Maria sighed. “But when they are my mother’s hormones, it becomes everyone’s problem.”

Rolling over onto her back, Liz let out her own sigh to match Maria’s earlier one. This is a nice change for once, she decided. Letting someone confide in her about their issues, no matter how small, was definitely a change over them forcing her to talk about hers. So much better.

As strange as it sounded, even to her, Liz liked Maria’s kind of problems. They were minor ones. Some could possibly be seen as comical. And, for the most part, they came about because of good, life-altering changes. There was always happiness lying just around the corner from the solution to these problems. Yep, Liz definitely preferred them over her own.

“So, you’re mother is cleaning all the time,” Liz thought aloud. “It can’t be that bad.”

A sound that slightly resembled a snort came from Maria’s direction on the bed. “You’re kidding me, right? With Mom cleaning like 24/7, I have constantly gotta worry about her find stuff.”

This caused Liz to sit back up, propping herself on both elbows. “What kind of stuff?”

Maria’s head turned to stare at Liz. “You know,” she whispered. “Personal stuff.”

“Like?” Liz asked, practically begging for Maria to expand.

Her best friend let out a deep, exasperated sigh. “There’s a condom in the bottom drawer of my nightstand.”

Liz’s eyes grew wide. “Maria,” she exclaimed. “What... who...”

Shaking her head, Maria started to giggle. “I’m not using it,” she told her, waylaying Liz’s concern. “In fact, I can’t think of anyone I’d want to use it with. It was a dare.”

“Who dared you?” Liz wondered, flopping back down on the bed.

“Alex.” The memory had to have been a good one. Liz could hear the laughter underlying Maria’s tone. “He bet me that I wouldn’t go to the men’s room at a restaurant and buy one. I did, and he lost.”

Liz snorted. “He should have known better. You never back down from a dare. What did you make him do?”

“Lick Kyle’s boot,” Maria said simply.

Liz had never been more disgusted in her life. She was loving every minute of it.

“He told me it tasted like chicken,” Maria continued, her face slightly contorted. “Yum.”

Liz quickly got over the grossness of the dare, and asked the most important question. “So, if you think you’re not going to use it, why do you keep the condom around?”

An impish expression crossed Maria’s face, as though she keeping some sort of secret that Liz knew nothing about. “Cause, when it comes to sex, you don’t always think.”

[Anniepoo98]

Hey all~

I'm back. I've got a new part, and might I add, way before I thought I would! This is me doing a little dance cause I almost never get done with parts early. GO ME!

Anyway, thank you all for the great feedback. You have no idea how much I apperciate it:) Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Annie:)

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Part Three:


~*~ March 27, 1991 ~*~

The crisp fall air was cool. Not overly so, but enough for his mom to make him and Isabel wear a jacket.

Somewhere over the past year and a half that was what Mrs. Evans became to him. His mom. Mr. Evans also drifted into his role as Max’s dad as the months went by. They worked so hard to make a home for him and Isabel, welcoming them with open arms into their hearts. Still, it had taken Max time before he could open his up enough to offer them some of the same.

It had been easier for Isabel. The day the Evans’ came to pick them up, she’d found what she was missing. Or, at least a big part of it. Both of them knew deep down that there were still things they needed, like lost pieces of the puzzle they needed to find in order to be complete. In fact, one of those pieces disappeared only hours before the Evans’ took them home.

Max could remember it like it was yesterday. The night before Betsy had taken them and some of the other kids outside to watch the pretty lights color the sky. Red and white and blue ones exploded high above them. Even some pink and green. Max watched them all, enthralled as one would fade, only to be replaced seconds later by another.

Isabel was just as excited. She spent the entire time holding his hand, giving it a squeeze each time a new burst of color appeared. They fell asleep like that, hand in hand, on the blanket Betsy helped them spread out.

Later, without knowing how he wound up there, Max awoke in his bed. A sharp pain in his chest, like a part of his soul was being ripped away, sent him bolting from the room. His first thought was to find Isabel, who was no longer beside him. Max never felt the cold wood flooring below his bare feet as he ran out into the hallway. He didn’t even bother with a robe. His only thought was to get to Isabel.

Barely even ten steps outside of his room, Max ran into her. Literally. Isabel launched herself into his arms, sobbing brokenly. Max hugged her tightly to him, rocking her slowly back and forth where the stood.

“Boy,” she cried. “I no feel him.” Back away a step, she placed a hand over her heart. “Here. He’s no more there. We have to fix.”

Max knew instantly that she was right. He couldn’t feel the other boy from the desert. Even though they were separated almost instantly, Max always new that the boy was out there cause he could feel a connection to him. It was kinda like a little buzz in the back of the brain, but now it was gone. Tears of his own were forming in his eyes because he didn’t know what to tell Isabel, or himself. There was nothing he could say that would make it better. Finally, he gave in and began to cry too.

“It hurt,” Isabel whimpered, clinging to him again. “Hurt bad. So empty.”

Max leaned back against the wall, sliding down until his butt hit the floor. With a gentle tug, he urged Isabel down next to him. That was how Betsy and Mrs. Evans found them the next morning. They had lost a part of themselves, but gained a home, all within a matter of hours.

Isabel almost instinctively transferred the loss she felt for the boy into the need to belong to the Evans. She went right into the role of their daughter, holding nothing back from them, except the secret she shared with him. She starting calling them mom and dad right away, and absorbed every ounce of love they showered on her.

Only at night did she cry, and every time Max felt it though the connection. Sometimes the pain was so bad that Max would go to her room and crawl into bed beside her. Other times, she cried soft tears of longing, where he knew there was nothing he could do to comfort her. Those nights he’d lay awake in his bed, searching the connection for the boy, hoping to feel him, but he was never there.

However, Max was aware of another buzz, growing with intensity as each week passed. At first it was faint, like the brush of a breeze touching someone on the cheek. That was three months ago. It had grown so much so that Max could practically feel it all the time. Not quite as strong as his connection to Isabel, but still there, a presence within his mind.

“Max,” Isabel called out, breaking him out of his thoughts as she ran towards him. The damp ground slurped at her shoes, make a suctioning noise with each step. “Lookie,” she whisper when she reached him.

Holding out her hands, Max saw the bird cradled in them. Its eyes were opened wide and every few seconds it would try to flap its wings to get away. “It’s hurt,” she told him, much in the same way she had when the boy disappeared. “We have to fix it.”

By this time, his mom had gotten up from the bench. Slowly, her eyes met Max’s, wordlessly questioning what they were doing, then she turned back to his dad. “Phillip, can you tell what they’re holding?”

His dad started fiddling with the buttons on the camcorder they’d just bought. Max could tell that he was trying to zoom in on them. Max hesitated, unsure of what to do.

“So when you healed me, you risked all this getting out. Why?”

The voice whispered in his mind, prettier than any of the songs his mom listened to on the radio. It felt so strange, like a memory of something he had no idea about.

“It was you.”

That made up his mind. Without a second thought, Max took the bird from Isabel, stepping to the side slightly so she would block their parents’ view.

“I think it might be a bird,” his dad announced, moving towards his mom. “You better get them away from it.”

Quickly, his mom moved closer to them. “Max, Isabel, get away from the bird.”

However, Max had instinctively open the connection. A blur of images flashed across his mind, so fast that he couldn’t make any of them out. He didn’t even register the voice speaking to him.

“Max, I mean it. Honey, put the bird down.”

It was just a muffled sound. There was nothing else in his world but the bird and himself. That was until the bird started to flap its wings in earnest, startling Max out of the connection. He instantly open his hands. Yet, instead of dropping to the ground, the bird soared into the air, gliding on the breeze with it’s newly mended wing.

“Max,” his mom gasped, coming to stand beside him, a baffled expression on her face.

He looked up at her, then over to his father, who had long forgot about the camcorder in his hand. Trying to feign ignorance about what was going on, he forced himself to smile though the actual sickness of discovery turning in his stomach. “Birdie,” he exclaimed, pointing at the bird he had just healed.

His mom looked down at him, and Max could almost see the wheels in her mind turning as she tried to figure out what she just saw. That’s when he felt her hand gently touch his head, running softly over his hair. “That’s right Max. A birdie.”

He heard a sigh of relief from Isabel, both over the connection and aloud. He matched it with one of his own, but it was one of a temporary relief. Instead of any answers coming from his newfound ability, there were only more questions. Why could he do this? How could he see all the things he saw? Where did those voices come from? Why did he feel like he had done this all before?

That night, alone in his room, Max cried. It was those deep, heart-wrenching sobs he had heard Isabel cry so many times. Wrapped up, warm in the covers that his mom had tucked in so tight, he cried because he was different. He would always be different. And Max had never felt more alone.

~~~~~~

~*~ June 6, 2001 ~*~

“Max!”

Wincing at the tone in her voice, Max came out from the museum’s store room to face the wrath of Isabel. He knew that his little stunt would come back to bite him in the ass. “Hey Isabel,” he said just a bit too cheerfully.

She stood there, arms crossed and with a scowl on her face. Slowly, Max walked over to her, still trying to look as innocent as possible. Then, Tess stepped out from behind the taller blond.

“You made her wear the vest,” Isabel scolded, annoyance flaring in her eyes. “I thought we talked about this.”

Max mirror his sister’s pose, only not for intimidation as much as protection. “We did,” he conceded, “but it is the required uniform.” He didn’t know if that defense would work, but it was all he could come up with. Mentally, he was keeping his fingers crossed.

“Then, how come you’re not wearing one?” she tossed back at him.

Clearing her throat, Tess answered that question. “He’s special,” she said sarcastically.

With a little snort, Isabel’s shoulders hunch forward slightly, obviously trying to keep from laughing aloud. “Yeah right,” she giggled. “Special ed.”

“Exactly what I said.” Max watched as Tess threw up her hand, waiting for the enviable high five. A crack echoed through the room when their hands met, and Max rolled his eyes when both of them started laughing in earnest.

“Do I even need to be here for this?” he asked. Using his thumb to point over his shoulder, he let out a low groan when the laughter grew louder. “I’ll take that as a no, so I’m going to get back to work.”

“Not so fast.” Isabel quickly grabbed his arm as Max made a move to get away. “We haven’t discussed punishment.”

“Punishment,” he repeated. “I didn’t do anything wrong.” However, the look that appeared on Isabel’s face told him she thought differently. “Not really,” he amended, shifting all of his focus to his shoes.

“Nice try,” Tess said, and Max could practically hear the grin on her face. She moved up beside him, taking his free arm. “You see, I talked to Brody this morning, and the funny thing was he said that the vest was only mandatory on special days, like the UFO convention or holidays.”

“Now, in order to make it up to Tess, you have to escort us to the fair tomorrow,” Isabel chimed in.

“Come on,” Max groaned, loudly this time. “I hate the fair.”

“That was years ago,” Isabel protested, but Max could hear her voice soften with every word. “Things are different.”

Different isn’t always better, he thought to himself. “Why don’t you get Michael to do it. I’ll even offer it up and give you the jeep for the night to make up for the vest thing.”

He felt Tess shake her head against his arm. “Michael’s working tomorrow night. He might be able to meet us somewhere later, but he’s closing at the Crash.”

“Likely excuse,” Max muttered under his breath. “Fine.” He knew he would never win in a fight with the both of them ganging up on him. “I’ll go. Happy?”

Letting out a little squeal of joy, Isabel leaned over and placed a little kiss on his cheek. “Ecstatic. You’ll have fun, I promise. Tess and I will do everything in our power to make it a night to remember.” With that, she took a step back, holding out her hand expectantly. “Now, if you hand over the car keys, I will be out of your hair.”

Max opened his mouth to protest, but Isabel cut him off. “I have to run a bunch of errands for mom. Fork ‘em over.”

“I am such a wuse,” Max lamented, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the keys. Isabel took them instantly, making her way to the door before he had a chance to change his mind.

“Just don’t forget to pick us up tonight,” he heard Tess call out after her. Suddenly, he felt her hip collide with his. “Wuse,” she teased.

“Yeah,” Max agreed, but his mind was already wandering to other things. Isabel hadn’t said a word about last night. He wondered if Tess even mentioned it to Isabel, and seeing as how she told Isabel everything, he was pretty sure she did.

As if reading his thoughts, Tess broke into his mental process. “I didn’t.”

Staring at her for a moment, Max knew there had to be a priceless, baffled expression on his face at her comment. “What are you talking about?”

“I didn’t say a word to Isabel,” she told him plainly. “It’s your secret, Max. I just happened to stumble onto it. You’ll tell them when you feel it’s the right time...”

“But,” Max finished for her as her voice trailed off. “I can hear the ‘but’ there, Tess. But what?”

He watched the deep sigh the sent little shudders through her petite form. “We just have so many of them,” she whispered. “I can’t help wondering when they’re going catch up to us.”

Max shrugged his shoulders, not really sure about what to say. She was right. Their entire existence was one big secret, and one day it was bound to get out. Becoming aware of the gentle humming in the back of his mind, Max couldn’t shake the feeling that the time would be sooner than any of them expected.

~~~~~~

Quietly, Liz crept out of Maria’s room and down the hall. It was late, or rather early in the morning, but Liz couldn’t help it. She was desperate for a snack of some sort. It must have been all the laughing, she thought to herself. Made me work up an appetite.

She and Maria had stayed up for hours, just talking and joking around like they used to do, but Maria had fallen asleep about half an hour ago. Liz simply couldn’t bring herself to do the same, and all of the effort left her with the need for a sandwich.

As she made her way down the stairs towards the kitchen, she had to bite her own tongue to keep from laughing. “Aunt Lydia would be so proud,” she whispered to herself. After all, it was one of the things her aunt had wished her just before Liz got on the plane... an appetite.

Yet, as she entered the kitchen, Liz didn’t think her type of snack was what her vegetarian caretaker would have in mind. Pulling out all the necessary supplies, Liz quickly went to work on her sandwich. However, just when she finished cutting it in half, she heard footsteps heading in her direction. Seconds later, Jim Valenti appeared in the doorway.

“Liz,” he said, surprised to find her there. “What are you doing up?”

Holding up her plate, Liz smiled guiltily. “I got hungry.”

Rubbing a hand through his already messed up hair, Jim let out a little laugh. “So did Amy. Please tell me that your food of choice is nothing like the concoction she’s expecting me to make.”

Liz shook her head. “No. Just salami and cream cheese on toast,” she told him, walking over to the table. Sitting down, she looked up to see a look of disgust on his face.

“That’s almost as bad,” he told her, going over to the refrigerator and pulling out his own sandwich ingredients. “If memory serves me right, you used to like for everything to be on the plain side. What happened to the good old days?” he teased.

“I kinda developed a taste for all things tangy,” she laughed. “And don’t even get me started on my sweet tooth.”

She watched as he started to slice up a tomato. “You’re forgetting, I saw the backpack,” he told her, causing Liz to giggle a little bit more. She remember when he came into the breakroom at the Crashdown that afternoon, only to find Alex and Maria tangled up on the floor, wrestling for the Mallomars. “Do me a favor. Hide all marshmallow products when Alex is around.”

Liz nodded, biting on her lower lip to keep from laughing so loud she’d wake up the whole house. Then, she saw Jim pick up a slice of bread, smearing it with peanut butter. “Peanut butter and tomato,” she gasped.

He plucked a banana out of the bowl of fruit on the counter. “Don’t forget the banana.”

Looking down at her own sandwich, Liz shudder with her own disgust. “And you said that my sandwich was bad.”

“As long as you’re eating...” he started to say, then trailed off. “God, Liz... I didn’t mean...”

She held up her hand, effectively cutting him off. At that moment, Liz didn’t trust her own voice. In fact, it felt like someone had kicked her in the stomach with the way it clenched painfully. She heard the chair next to her being pulled out only a moment before Jim draped his arm across her shoulders. “Truthfully, Lizzie-girl, how are you doing?”

He used her father’s old nickname for her. Tears formed in her eyes because it had been so long since she’d heard it. But it didn’t mean she was going to let them fall. Stiffening her spine, she straighten up in the chair, trying to swallow the lump forming in her throat at the same time. “Fine,” she choked out unconvincingly.

A finger gently tilted her head so that she was meeting Jim eye to eye. “I said truthfully.”

That was all it took for the damn to break. Tears poured from her eyes as Jim reached around with his other arm, wrapping her in a hug. “It’s okay to cry, Lizzie,” he whispered softly. “There’s nothing wrong with having a good cry.”

“I’m so tired of it,” Liz sobbed against him. “It just never seems to end. Why didn’t they just leave me the way I was? It felt so much better than this.”

“That’s because you weren’t really feeling anything at all,” he reminded her quietly. “And you needed to deal with all those feelings you were avoiding. Besides, if you stayed like that, we’d all miss you terribly. Maria wasn’t more than three feet from the phone for a week. As for Alex, Amy and I thought we’d have to move him in. He was right by Maria’s side the whole time. You gave us quite a scare.”

With a sniffle, Liz reached across the table and grabbed a napkin, using it to blow her nose. “I didn’t mean to,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

Much to her surprise, Jim started to shake his head. “No apologies. It was nothing that could be help. Let’s just keep it from happening again,” he said lightly, trying to shift the tone of the conversation.

While Liz was grateful, his attempt fell short. Everything was just too new and raw for it to come off humorously. “I don’t think I’d survive another time. Twice is enough for me.”

“The first time was different,” he tried to correct her, but Liz had her mind set.

“Nobody believed me,” she argued. “They all thought I had lost my mind and was making up stories.” With a deep sigh, Liz started to rub her left temple. “Who knows? Maybe I was.”

“You were unconscious for days,” Jim reminded her. “With the accident... well, you we were just plain lucky that you woke up at all.”

“Lucky,” Liz repeated, then stood up. She looked over at him, picking up the rest of her sandwich. Distance. She needed distance. “I’m starting to get really tired,” she told him, yawning for effect. “I think I’ll just head upstairs.”

He only nodded at her. Liz walked over to the trash, dumping her sandwich into it, than headed to doorway. However, before she made it though, Jim called out her.

“If you have any questions, Liz, any at all, don’t be afraid to ask me.”

Liz turned her head to face him, offering him the faintest of smiles. “Thanks.” With that, she started once again to make her way back to Maria’s room.

[Anniepoo98]

Howdy everyone~

I know. I haven't posted on this in forever. In all fairness, this was probably the hardest part I've ever had to write. A few days after I started in on it, I was driving to work and happened across an accident quite similar to the one in this part. Another woman and I tried to help the man who was hurt, but it was too late.

At the time, most of this was done, but I really couldn't bring myself to finish it, or really even look at it until a few days ago. I couldn't even change it really because it is such a big part of the story. Anyway, I finally managed to get it done, and even though it is a bit shorter than I wanted and probably not exactly edited very well, I hope that explains some questions you have about what's going on in the story.

Annie:)

Part Four:

~*~ June 4, 1991 ~*~

The fair. His mother said that the merry-go-round would cause butterflies in his belly. His dad said that the cotton candy would make his fingers sticky. Isabel said that they would get to see ponies for the first time. They were all telling the truth. Max told them that he liked the fair.

He lied.

It was too loud, too crowded, and too unknown. There was so many things he’d never seen and too many people he’d never met. Some would watch him as he walked by, while others demanded he tried whatever their booth had to offer. The whole experience had been overwhelming... and exhausting. That night, Max fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

That’s when it hit. The buzzing presence on his mind that had been growing over the past few months enveloped him as soon as his mind reached the dream state. In a staccato rhythm, flashes slammed into his brain, dragging him down with them, deeper into his subconscious...

A great towering rock formation grew closer, looming before him. Instinctively, he knew that he had to press his palm to the flattest part of the rock. Doing so, a tiny silver handprint appeared. Max knew it was the key. Lightly, he touching it, and the ground beneath him began to shake as part of the rock opened up before him.

A girl with curly blond hair floating in her pod. Reaching out to touch it, he could sense that she was waiting, but time was running short. Suddenly, a man appeared, hovering over the girl’s pod. Not able to see his face, yet still able to sense evil coming off of him in waves, Max cowered in the corner... watching.

‘... you’ll be ready then.’ The man traced his finger down the organic material of the pod, and Max could almost he him laughing to himself. ‘The plan will go on as if the others hadn’t gotten away. I know that they’re close, hiding somewhere in this sorry excuse for a town. You will be the key to finding them. Kivar will get what he wants, I’ll get what I want.’

Max crept closer, feeling the girl’s agitation growing in the back of his mind. He needed to help her, to get her out of there. That’s when the man’s face came into view. Those eyes. Blank, emotionless eyes...

Shooting up in bed, Max let out a little cry. It was a ride attendant at fair. He had seen those same eyes not more than eight hours before. The man had let them ride the ponies.

Taking a deep breath, Max climbed out of bed, instantly knowing what he had to do. The girl was in trouble. He was sure of it. Just as sure as he was that only he and Isabel could help her. It was pure instinct, sort of like some long-forgotten memory was driving him to get out to the desert.

Quietly creeping, Max made his way out of his bedroom and down the hall to Isabel’s. Looking through the door, he saw that she was facing away from the door and muttering softly to herself. She only did this when she was sound asleep, and Max regretted that he had to wake her. He crept over to her bed, reaching out to shake her awake. “Isabel,” he whispered. “Isabel, get up. We have to go.”

Slowly, she rolled over, rubbing at her right eye with a balled up fist. “What,” she groaned.

“The girl,” Max told her. He took a hold of her balled up hand, opening up the connection between them. He sent her the image of the curly-headed blond floating in the pod, allowing his sister to feel the desperation of the other girl.

Isabel sat up. “Okay.”

~~~~~

They took their bikes, a full moon lighting their journey as they agilely navigating their way down the back roads and alleys of Roswell to avoid detection. Max knew that he and Isabel would be in big trouble if there were caught, and they would never make it to the girl in time. It was something they couldn’t afford. Within an hour, they’d the city limits.

“How much farther?” Isabel wondered aloud from her place beside him. “Are you sure this is the right way?”

“Yes.” And it was true. Somehow he knew exactly where to go, as if a force was guiding his where to go. “We go this way,” he said, pointing down the road.

Isabel peddled on beside him. “Okay.”

The rest of the trip was in silence, the only exception being Max’s directions. Finally, almost another forty-five minutes, they saw what they were looking for. Isabel immediately stopped her bike, awe and fear filling her expression. “Max...” she whispered.

The giant rock formation loomed in front of them. He remember it from that night. He remembered being scared of what laid outside its walls. Now, he feared what was inside them. Yet, Max didn’t say a word. He simply climbed off his bike, walking in the direction of the formation’s base.

He heard Isabel’s steps behind him. It was the only sound filling the night. Carefully, they both started to climb towards a large outcropping. Max recognized it from his dream. He knew it was the door.

Suddenly, another sound filled the air. The soft whimper of a little girl.

Reaching the outcropping, Max saw the girl from his dreams huddling naked in amongst the rocks. She was sitting on a small, flat one, her knees pulled up under her chin. She looked up at them, her eyes meeting his. The connection flared between them, and he could hear her voice in his mind.

“Yre te h’tbra mem, Zan?”

Max’s eyes widened when he heard the words. He didn’t even realize Isabel had come up beside him, not even when she grabbed a hold of his arm. All he could think about were those words.

Even softer this time, the voice repeated the words in his head. “Yre te h’tbra mem, Zan?”

Isabel stiffened beside him, and Max became aware of her presence. He also realized that she must have heard the words too, though their connection. “What’s she saying?” Isabel whispered to him. Only he had no answer for her.

Ignoring Isabel’s question for the moment, Max took a step towards the girl, slowly extending his hand to her. “I’m Max,” he told her gently. “This is Isabel. She’s my sister.” He heard Isabel mutter a soft ‘hi’ behind him. “We wanna be your friends.”

The girl’s gaze left him, flickering to Isabel, then back to him. “Ami seracd.” Tears rolled from her bright blue eyes. “Ami yrev seracd.”

Max took another step. “It’s okay. I promise.”

He watched her as she studied him. Her face tilted to one side as she regarded him and Max could feel her presence in his head, searching for anything bad lurking in his thoughts. Then, she reached her hand out, taking a hold of his.

Carefully, she got to her feet, and with Isabel’s help, they all made their way back down the formation. The second their feet reaching flat ground, Isabel ran to her bike, pulling out a set of clothes from the little basket in the front. Gently, she helped the girl dress, and Max stuffed her feet into a pair of Isabel’s old shoes.

When the girl was dressed, the three of them made their way back towards the main road. They walked instead of road because there was no place for the girl to sit. Neither Max or Isabel had any idea how they were going to explain the new girl with them, but it didn’t matter to him. All that he care about was getting her away from the bad man.

Finally reaching paved road, Max directed them back towards town and they continued on their way. Things were going smoothly until they reaching the tunnel just outside the city limits. A car making is way towards Roswell appeared behind them. The lights and noise startled the girl. Crying out, she tore away from him and Isabel, running out into the road. The car started to brake, but it was going too fast. Without even thinking, Max rushed out, flinging himself at the girl.

The pavement scratched at his skin as they both rolled out of the way. For a instant, Max thought everything was going to be okay. That is until he heard Isabel scream and the sound of crunching metal filled the night. His head snapped up and he saw the most horrible site of his life.

The car had swerved, hitting the side of the tunnel and flipped over, landing on its roof. Shattered bits of glass were scattered across the pavement. Max instantly got to his feet running over to the car. Isabel, who was standing a few feet away started sobbing. “There’s people,” she cried. “They’re hurt.”

But that wasn’t the cry he was listening to. A wail came from inside the car. Max dropped to his knees next the back window, bending over to look in. His heart stopping at what he saw, the rest of the world fading away.

It was the little girl from his drawings. His pretty. He was sure of it. She was lying on the roof car between the front and back seats, her little fingers clutching tightly to the hand of the woman stuck in the front of the car.

“Mommy,” she whimpered, turning her face to look at him. “Help my mommy, please. She won’t wake up.”

Not knowing what to do first, Max did the only thing he could think of. He reaching inside the car, lightly touching the back of the woman’s head. He tried to open the connection, but there was nothing. She was gone. He looked over to the man just beyond the woman and realized he must be the same. His eyes were closed and his chest wasn’t moving up and down.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Max felt the tears roll out of them, running down the sides of his face. However, another cry from the girl cause his eyes to snap open. “Help,” she cried, her breathing started to grow shallow. “Please. It hurts.”
That snapped him into action. He grabbed her arm gently, trying his best to open the connection. Her eyes fluttered shut and Max started to panic. “No,” he shouted. “Wake up. Look at me.”

There was more fluttering before she finally managed to open them a little bit. That was all it took. Max was in.

Her life flashed before his eyes as he started trying find what felt wrong. He saw her looking at a bright yellow ball, point her chubby little finger at it and exclaiming the word ‘ball’, much to her parents surprise. He saw another girl with long blond hair wearing a pink polka dot dress, and he suddenly knew her name. Maria. He saw the two of them sitting on stools in the funny restaurant in town, twirling themselves round and round in a daring spinning contest. His pretty won.

Using all his strength, Max pushing the flashes to the back of his mind as he tried to focus on what was hurting. Something was pressing against chest on the inside. She couldn’t breathe. He sent out energy, pushing against the weight, trying to ease the pressure there. After what felt like forever, it lessened and he could feel cool air rush back in. The sudden sensation pushed him out.

Max became aware of the world around him once again. It began to spin, the only stable point being the deep brown of the girl’s eyes. Yet, with a deep sigh, they feel closed once more. That’s when he felt Isabel tugging on his arm. He had no idea how long she’d been doing that. At that point, it didn’t matter.

He let her drag him out of the car, allowed her to help him stand. But his world had suddenly lost it’s axis, and Max could feel the spinning world closing in on him. He was to tired to fight it, and darkness enveloped him. The next morning he woke up in his bed, Isabel sleeping on one side, girl from the formation on the other, and his mother’s shocked face looming just above him.


~~~~~~

~*~ June 7, 2001 ~*~

“Sunshine...”

Liz groaned, throughly annoyed with the voice breaking into her dreams. It was not suppose to be there.

“Time to wake up, Sunshine.”

Instead of obeying, Liz simply flipped herself over, burying her head deep into the pillow. Ha, she thought. Take that.

Apparently, this didn’t amuse the owner of the annoying voice because the next thing Liz knew the person was tugging at the covers. This is getting ridiculous, her mind screamed. This person was treading on seriously thin ice. Messing with the warm cocoon she’d wrapped herself in was a beating offense.

After a minute or two, the tugging stopped. A slight grin of triumph crossed her lips. Then, the voice came again. “You’ve got to be the most difficult person to wake up in the morning,” the person complained before giving the covers one last mighty yank.

That was it. Liz had enough. This was war. Reaching over to Maria’s side of the huge queen size bed, Liz grabbed one of the other pillows and started swinging without even bothering to take a look at who she was swinging at. “Damnit Maria,” she growled. “I’m sleeping. Sleep is good. Go away.”

“You wound me with your words. First you ignore me, then you hit me, and now I’m a girl,” the voice retorted, and for the first time Liz took note of how deep it was. Too deep to be Maria...

Liz came awake instantly, shooting straight up in bed. “Oh my God,” she screamed.

Kyle Valenti, Jim’s son, stood before her, a cocky smirk on his face, mocking her. “Not quite the hello I was looking for.”

With another groan, Liz started hitting him with the pillow again. “You scared the shit out of me, Kyle.”

He quickly took a couple of steps back, moving just out of her reach. “Yeah,” Kyle laughed. “That is when you finally decided to wake up. Ten minutes. I’ve been at this for ten minutes. I think it might be a new record.”

Throwing him the dirtiest look she could muster, Liz swung her legs over the side of the bed, then stood up. “So what brings you to Roswell?” she asked running a hand through her sleep matted hair. “I thought that you were staying with your mom in Santa Fe this summer.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Kyle maneuvered his away around Liz, taking the spot she’d just vacated on the bed. “I changed my mind. Thought I’d spend the summer with dad. Help out when the squirt shows up. Do the whole big brother thing. You know the drill.”

Liz nodded, moving towards the closet. She grabbed her robe, pulling in on quickly as she turned around to face him. “Does part of the job description call for acting as a human alarm clock?”

“Nah.” The smirk that had been there before upgraded itself to a grin. “Maria paid me twenty bucks to get you to the Crash by two. Ten before she left, and ten when I get you there. That gives us an hour to haul ass.”

“No way,” Liz exclaimed in disbelief. “There is no way I slept until one in the afternoon.” She rushed around to the other side of the bed, grabbing the clock on Maria’s nightstand. A red one, follow by a zero and three, blinked back at her, effectively telling her that she had. “It’s one.” she gasped.

Kyle started chuckling at her response. “You’re a quick one when you wake up,” he teased.

She threw him another glare. “Shut up, Kyle.”

“Okay,” he told her, standing up. “But only because time’s a wastin’. Get dressed, Parker. Your chariot awaits."

[Anniepoo98]

Hey everyone~

I finally have a new part. Thank you for all the feedback!!!! I am hoping that it will not take so long to next one out.

Annie:)

ps... the song is "To the Moon and Back" by Savage Garden.

Part Five:

~*~ June 8, 1991 ~*~

She woke up in the hospital four days later. The normal, white room was bursting with colors from various balloons and flowers covering every flat surface. But none of it mattered. The only thing she wanted was something she would never have again. Her parents.

“Mommy.” The word was barely a breath on her lips as her eyes fluttered open. However, they closed almost as quickly.

“Lizzie.” The voice was soft, familiar. Her eyes fluttered once more, this time lingering open as a face came into her vision. When the fuzziness faded away a bit, Liz understood why she recognized it.

“Aunt Lydia?”

Liz became aware of a hand tightly grasping one of her own. The second she spoke, it tightened. “Oh God,” the choking sob came out. “Mom, she’s awake.”

Another face came into view. Another hand clasped her free one. “Honeybear. Oh Sweetie.”

“Grandma?”

Her aunt started to run her fingers through Liz’s hair as her gaze shifted back and forth between the two women. “That’s right, Lizzie. We’re both here.”

They were there, but her parents weren’t. She knew that was wrong. No matter what her aunt was saying, things weren’t right. “Where’s Mommy? Where’s Daddy?”

There was no mistaking the pain in their eyes, or the sadness. Liz felt her own shut on their own accord as the memory of what had happened came back to her in one horrible rush. “The boy,” she cried. “He couldn’t help them.”

~~~~~~

~*~ June 10, 1991 ~*~

Max waited, watching his mother as she went around the living room, gathering up the old newspapers. She clean when she was stressed. Everyone knew that. Isabel was even starting to pick up the habit. Max decided that the way she was cleaning now, she must really be upset.

She had been that way all week. The entire house was sparkling by now.

It began the morning after Tess’s came out of the pod. The morning after the accident. There wasn’t much he could remember from that day. God, he had never been that tired in his whole life. He knew that Shamus and Lupe came over after his mother called them. Isabel and the girl stay with him in his room while the grown ups talked... a lot.

Then, the sheriff man stopped by. He had remembered Max. Even ruffled the hair on his head, just before Max got sick on his shoes. It was something that had never happened before, but he was just so tired and his stomach was all twisted in knots. He knew what the sheriff man was here for. He was going to take the girl away.

Max didn’t want him to do that. They had already lost the boy, Max didn’t think that he and Isabel could take losing the girl too. As he was getting sick, Max could hear Isabel in the background crying. The girl, not knowing what else to do, mimicked her. The whole house went up in chaos.

In the end, the girl had been taken away. By that time, she latched on to Lupe’s leg, crying like there was no tomorrow. Max saw Lupe crying too. In fact, everyone had tears in their eyes. After they had gone, Shamus spoke up for the first time since the sheriff man had come. He asked Max’s dad to help him get the little girl back. He wanted her to come live with him and Lupe.

It sounded like a good idea.

However, nothing had happened yet, and his mom was cleaning like crazy. Max was worried. Everyone was also upset about the restaurant people who had been killed in a car accident. Over the last few days, his parents had been talking about it, and Max listened to every word.

“They are being buried on Monday.”

“The restaurant was left to his sister and Jim Valenti.”

“The Parker girl is going to be okay..”

That was yesterday. Max nearly cried when his mom announced it at the table during breakfast. She mention that she’d read it in the newspaper. The one that was now on the top of the pile she was currently gathering.

“Max,” she called out, placing the stack of papers in front of him. “Could you please take these to the recycle bin. I’m going to get started on the laundry.”

Max nodded his head. A second later, his mom has left the room. He hurried over the newspapers, flipping thought the top paper until he found what he was looking for. The article on his pretty. Glancing around the room to make sure no one was looking, Max ripped the section out of the paper, folded it carefully, and stuck it in his pocket.

~~~~~


~*~ June 7, 2001 ~*~

“... moron.”

Liz stopped just shy of the Crashdown’s back door. She turned to look at Kyle, who was pretending to sneak up beside her, his fingers pressed against his lips. “Shhh,” he hissed, reaching around her to grab the door handle. “We’s hunting rabbits.” She couldn’t help giggling at his Elmer Fudd impression. “I said ‘shhh’,” he scolded.

“Yes sir,” Liz told him, giving the best salute she could muster.

Slowly, he pulled the door open. “Forward... march,” he ordered under his breath. They both slid inside, gently closing the door behind them.

“It’s a matter of taste, “ a booming voice echoed from the kitchen. Suddenly, a boy came storming into the breakroom. “And as far as I know, no one has declared alien-themed music as a hot genre.”

Maria rushed into the room on his heels. “Genre. Good word. Did you have to look it up?”

The boy’s eyes flared. “Very funny coming from the girl who was taking all remedial courses.”

Liz stated forward. She might not know this guy, but there was no way in hell she was going to standby and let him insult her best friend. However, one of Kyle’s hands closed around her mouth as the other grabbed her arm. “Trust me,” he whispered in her ear. “You do not want to get in the middle of this.”

And that is when Maria started to sing. “Love will fly you to the moon and back...” It was the song playing over the speakers in the dining room., and clearly not one of the boy’s favorites. He quickly covered his ears, groaning as though he was in pain. With the look on his face, Liz judged that he just might be. “Make it stop,” he asked no one in particular.

“... if you’ll be, be my baby,” Maria continued, the smile on her face growing

The guy’s head dropped to his sides. “Shut up,” he demanded.

“Make me,” Maria challenge before she began humming along with the music.

That seemed to be the last straw. The boy brought both his hands to cup Maria’s face, and before anyone hand the change to do anything, he planted his lips firmly down upon hers. Liz felt her jaw drop about three feet. Kyle didn’t do much better. He immediatly covered his eyes, letting out an almost girlish scream.

“My eyes,” he shreeked. “They’re melting.”

Instantly, the other two broke apart. Actually, they each jumped back a couple of feet. “What are you two doing here,” Maria demanded. “I thought I said two o’clock.”

Glancing up at the clock on the other wall, Liz noticed that it was a quarter past. Still speechless, all she could do was point at it. Maria smiled at her sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders at the same time. “Sorry.”

“Who’s this,” the guy asked sharply, pointing directly at Liz. Maria’s gaze snapped back to him.

“God,” she groaned. “Don’t you have any manners? This is my friend...”

“Oh,” he said, his face lighting up with recognition. “The crazy one.”

Before anyone else had a chance to react, Maria pulled back one arm, hauled off, and punched Michael straight in the eye. Liz’s hands came up to cover her face on their own volition, but it didn’t block the line of profanities that shot out of the guy’s mouth.

“Shit Maria,” he hissed. “That was my damn eye. What the hell?”

For her part, Maria had no troubles shouting right back at him. “Well, shit, Michael. You don’t think before you speak. That was uncalled for.”

Liz decided it was time to step in. “Maria, it’s okay.”

However, Maria was already shaking her head by the time Liz finished her sentence. “No, it’s not.”

“I was just saying,” The newly dubbed Michael commented in his defense.

Thinking for a second, Maria walked across the room and threw open her locker. Ripping off her apron, she tossed it in and slammed the door shut. “Then, I guess I better say that I’m taking the rest of the day off.”

Kyle reached out, taking his step-sister by the shoulders. “Dad will fire you. You know that.”

“Won’t be the first time,” Maria tossed back. She stepped around Kyle, and moment later, Liz felt Maria fling her arm around her shoulders, leading her towards the back door. “Come on Lizzie, let’s go!”

Glancing over her shoulder, Liz offered Michael a slight smile. “Nice to meet you,” she offered meekly.

~~~~~

Max held the door open, letting Tess and Isabel breeze past him on their way into the Crashdown. Quickly, the two girls hurried off in the direction of their favorite booth, talking excitedly about what rides they wanted to go on first. For his part, Max trudged along behind them, fighting against the urge to just run in the other direction and hide.

A bubble of giggles reached his ears, making Max groan inwardly. “This is going to be the longest night of my life, isn’t it?” he asked, speaking to no one in particular.

Isabel took a hold of his arm, pulling him into the booth beside her. “Don’t be like that, Max. Remember, Tess and I promised that this was going to be a night to remember. A fun night, trust me. And if push comes to shove, you can at least pig out on greasy nachos and elephant ears. My treat. Okay?”

Max obliged her with a smile. “Fine. I’ll try to have fun, but I’m not making any promises.”

Tess looked up from the menu she’d been glancing at. “Lighten up, Max.”

Ready with a witty comeback, Max opened his mouth, only to have his jaw bottom out when he saw Michael, who was sporting a brand new shiner around his left eye, come out from the kitchen. Quickly, his friend hurried across the dining room to the booth, using his rear end to shove Tess over so he could sit down.

“Where in the hell did you get the eye?” Isabel demanded, and Max could feel a full mother-mode panic coming on. Not that, in this case, she didn’t have good reason to. Though Michael had been out on his own for awhile, the nightmare of what his life was before never faded away. His last foster father, Hank, was abusive to say the least. They all did there best to help Michael out, but it was never quite enough to make up for what he was missing.

Max could remember vividly all the times Michael had crawled though his window, looking for a place to stay so Hank didn’t take his bad mood out on him. Tess kept a steady stream of Lupe’s home cooking in the trailer where they live. Hell, he could have swore that for their entire ninth grade year, she brought two lunches to school everyday; one for herself, one for Michael. However, the final straw was a couple of years, after Isabel stopped by the trailer to check up on Michael. She’d noticed that he had a few new bruises at school, and she was worried. Hank attacked her. Beyond that, Max and Tess weren’t told many details, no matter how hard they pressed. They knew Michael had fought him off, and from that day on, refused to ever set foot in the trailer park again. Everything else was left up to their imaginations.

For his part, Max hated his. After that, Michael and Isabel seemed closer. She worried about he even more, and he seemed to confide in her more often than anyone else. Isabel even had their parents arrange for Michael to take over the apartment above the Crashdown after Jim and Amy moved in together.

Oh yeah. Michael with a black eye was definaintly going to get Isabel’s guard up.

Michael stiffened a bit at the tone in her voice, and he shrugged his shoulders in an attempt to calm her. “It’s no big deal, Is.”

Her eyes narrowed in a look that Max knew all to well. He could practically hear her mind shouting ‘bullshit.’ She took a deep breath, obviously counting to ten so she wouldn’t actually say it aloud. “You have a black eye,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, Is, I sorta knew that, seeing as how it’s my eye and all,” he retorted.

Her nostrils flared. “They don’t appear out of nowhere, Michael.” The words hissed out through her clentched teeth. “Now, tell me where it came from.”

His eyes widened. Tess’s eyes widened. Even Max’s eyes widened. It was the voice. The classic, ‘don’t think you’re gonna get away with not fessing up all your secrets’ tone. It was a very intimidating tone, even more so when Isabel used it. Michael is dust, Max thought.

“Maria.” It was all Michael said, but it was enough. The entire booth started to laugh.

“Maria,” Tess repeated. “Little blond waitress about yea big?” she asked, holding her hand just above her head. “She gave you that black eye?”

At a lack for words, Michael only nodded his response.

This apparently wasn’t enough for Isabel. She needed details. “And why did she do that?”

Michael ran a hand through his hair, causing the spikes to become more pronounced. “She thinks I insulted her friend, which I didn’t, by the way.”

Now Max was compelled to join in on the bandwagon. “Why would you insult Alex?

“Not Alex, the other one,” Michael told them, shaking his head. “The one from the nut house.”

Isabel started sputter next to Max, her eyes large with shock. “You didn’t actually say that, did you?”

This earned a sharp nodded from Michael.

“To Maria’s face?” Isabel demanded. “To the girl’s face?”

Michael held up his hands in defense. “Well, it wasn’t those words exactly. That’s just the general gist. I think I said ‘oh, the crazy one,’ and the next thing I know… bam, she punched me straight in the eye. She’s got a good right hook.”

Tess smacked him across the back of the head. “Geez Michael, you don’t go around saying things like this to people. You lucky she didn’t to more.”

“In my defense, the girl didn’t seem too offended,” he argued. “Besides, I was only telling the truth.”

“How would you know?” Max wondered aloud. He hadn’t heard about anyone they would know being treated for mental problems.

“I might have overheard something about it a couple of weeks ago,” Michael replied. “I guess the girl went off the deep end. That’s why Maria missed all her shifts that one week. Wouldn’t leave the phone or something.”

“Now she’s here?” Max asked, trying to get up to speed. Some things were clicking inside his mind, and he rather wished they wouldn’t.

Michael nodded once more. “Yeah. Here for the whole summer. Maria’s been going on non-stop about it. ‘Her bestest friend the whole wide world,’” he mimicked.

The news sent Max spinning. Maria’s best friend… here for the whole summer… a girl. He shook his head to clear up the thoughts running around in it. It couldn’t be? It was just too much to hope. There was no way it was her, wasn’t there?

[Anniepoo98]

Howdy all~

Thank you so much for all the feedback. You all are to good to me!!! I've got another part ready and waiting to be posted. I hope that you all enjoy it!

Annie:)

Part Six:

~*~ August 1, 1991 ~*~

“Lizzie, it’s time to go!”

With a forlorn sigh, Liz took one last look around the only place she’d ever call home. It was the last place her parents had called home too. Now, it was no longer theirs at all.

It had taken almost a month before the doctors said it was safe enough for her to go home. More than two weeks of that time had been in the crazy ward at the hospital. Liz hated it there. She’d told them about the little boy, the one who had helped her, but no one believed her. Not one single person thought she was telling the truth. They said that she was confused, or that the bump on the back of her head made her see things that weren’t there. However, Liz knew that they were the ones who were wrong.

She wasn’t a fibber.

The worst part about it was that not even her Grandma understood that she was telling the truth. Grandma Claudia always believed her, no matter what, but for so many reasons, this time was different. Even Aunt Lydia didn’t give her the benefit of the doubt. In her heart, Liz knew it was because they both were broken, just like all the doctors kept saying about her. Only it wasn’t their heads that were hurt, it was their hearts.

Liz wanted them to know that her heart hurt too. Thought they came when she cried and comforted her when she couldn’t sleep, both her Aunt and Grandma weren’t really there with her. They were so busy making choices and changes that they just didn’t notice. And now they were making her leave Roswell for good.

She kept silent about the whole situation, afraid that she might say the wrong thing and they’d take her back to the doctors, but she knew it was worst thing they could ever do. She didn’t want to live in Florida. Maria wasn’t in Florida, neither was her school, and all her other friends. The boy wasn’t in Florida, and if she went, she might never have the chance to find him.

And she really wanted to.

Deep down, part of her wondered if maybe he was an angel. Her mommy told her all about angels. They could do special things that no one else could. People called them miracles. Yet, for every part of her that believed he was an angel, seventeen gazillon other parts told her that was just silly. Angels were older and they had wings. Her little boy wasn’t old and he didn’t have wings, but he did something that no one else in the world could ever do. That was why Liz thought that maybe he was her miracle.

“Lizzie, did you hear me?”

She could feel her Aunt come up behind her, placing a gentle hand on her back. “It’s time, sweetie.”

Liz nodded, and clutching her favorite bear tighter to her chest, she let herself be led away.

~~~~

~*~ June 7, 2001 ~*~

Madam Nicolette peered outside her tent, taking in the sights and sounds of the fair. People wandered from booth to booth, searching for the next ride or game that would shed a little color on their normal lives. After all, it was what they paid for. Beneath it all, the truest definition of a fair was nothing more then the empty quest for fun and fantasy.

Taking one last drag on her cigarette, Nicolette let the mentholated smoke hover over her tongue before exhaling it. “What a crock,” she muttered under her breath as she dropped the smoldering to the ground. She stomped on it, twisting her heel to make sure it was extinguished before returning to the confines of her tent.

She hated all of it. What other people used as an escape, she considered a prison. Day after day, night after night, people came to her booth and asked her to see the future. Some did it so they could find an easy answer to all of their problems. Other just asked so they could mock her the second they left her tent. It never mattered to Nicolette why they came. She only did this to keep her promise. A promise she’d made to her mother just before she died.

She used to call them the kindred. It was her way of saying different, the signal that whoever was like her. That was one of the things Nicolette loved so much about her mom. Only she would take something as frightening as being an alien and romanticize it into something else. Kindred… like spirits… aliens. Finding them had been the goal in her mother’s life, and now that she was gone, the torch had been past down to Nicolette.

The torch, the burden… two sides of the same coin really. Letting out a sigh, Nicolette suddenly felt a chill go up her spine. The air was shifting, charging, coming to life with some strange force of energy. A shrill cry followed by a light thud alerted her to the fact that she wasn’t the only one to feel it. Nicolette reached out to the cat now sitting on her table, lightly brushing her fingers back and forth between its ears. “Someone’s coming, Sadie,” she whispered under her breath.

~~~~

The only thing Max could do was stare at the sign. Who in the hell did Isabel think she was kidding?

The sign simply stared right back at him. Mocking him, of course.

“Madam Nicolette,” he read aloud. “Teller of both the past and the future.” He glared over his shoulder at Isabel. “This has got to be some kind of joke. You’d never do this if Michael was here.”

“Jeez Max,” Isabel huffed. He could just see her hands rising to rest on her hips. “Maybe if you whine a bit more, you’ll sound like a man.”

His head whipped around, and he threw her a glare. “I don’t whine,” he pointed out. “I just see the point in wasting,” he glanced back briefly at the sign, “ten bucks for nothing.”

Tess stepped up along side him, elbowing him in the ribs. “Cheapskate.”

Max rolled his eyes. “Not cheap, practical. Besides, these people are always weird.”

It was just at that moment that a woman appeared out from behind the tent. “What’s so great about normal,” the woman asked, her alto voice smooth and unwavering.

Swallowing hard, Max felt a bit of warmth rise to his cheeks and the tips of his ears. He hadn’t meant for anyone but Isabel and Tess to hear that. Yet, the woman’s large blue eyes, which were peeking out over a dark purple veil, didn’t seem to hold any animosity in them as she studied him. Instead, he could only see a deep-seated curiosity there. Still, he knew he needed to apologize. “I’m sorry,” he started, only to be cut off with a wave of her hand.

“I don’t need an apology. You were only stating your opinion.” There was another long pause, another period of study. “You don’t believe I can see the future,” she stated rather than asked. “Maybe I’ll prove you wrong.” With that, she turned and returned to the tent.

From behind him, Max could hear Isabel and Tess laughing at him. “Smooth,” Tess taunted between giggles.

“I didn’t know that she was there,” he said in his defense.

“Well, you better get in there before you really do tick her off,” Isabel chuckled. “You don’t want her to see something horrible in your future, after all.” With that, she gave him a hard shove in the back.

Stumbling forward, Max found himself almost falling though the opening of a tent. However, he managed to look up just in time to see the woman’s eyebrows arch slightly. “Quite an entrance.” Her hand raised, gesturing to a chair opposite from where she was standing.

Moving slowly, he moved over to the chair, sitting down. All the while, Max took in the setting around him. A small round table acted as a barrier between them. On it was a gleaming crystal ball in a pewter stand. Next to that, were a tattered set of cards.

She must of have noticed what he was looking at. Waving her hand over them, she let out a small sigh. “The tools of my trade,” she told him wryly. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to rid myself of these veils. After all, they are only part of the show.”

Max winced slightly, yet he watched as she started to remove one veil after another. The first one was the deep purple that had been covering her mouth and nose. His jaw dropped a bit when he saw that she really couldn’t been that much older than him.

“Were you really expecting a hag?” she joked, still untangling herself from the layers of fabric.

His eye shut on their own accord. “Maybe I should just go,” he muttered under his breath. “I seem to be doing nothing but offending you, so...”

“I was only poking a little fun,” she said, cutting him off. “Loosen up. This is suppose to be fun.”

Max’s eyes snapped open, shocked about she had said. That still didn’t keep him from noticing that all the veils on her head were gone, revealing a mess of black curls tumbling down her back. She finally sat down in the chair across from him. “You have your choice: tarot cards, the crystal ball, or a palm reading.”

“It doesn’t matter to me,” he confessed, shrugging his shoulders.

The eyebrow arch returned. “A suggestion then.” She paused for a moment, and Max answered her with a nod of his head. “Palms never lie.”

Still not caring very much, he turned over his hand, laying it out on the table before her. Lightly, she touched it, tracing the creases in the skin. Suddenly, she stopped, a small gasp escaping from her lips, her fingers starting to tremble slightly.

Max pulled his hand back. “What?” he asked, confused by the reaction. “Am I going to die in some horrible way or something?”

A moment passed, and still she hadn’t said anything. Max decided that he’d had enough. “Forget this,” he said, getting up from the chair. Reaching into his back pocket, he grabbed his wallet, and pulled out a ten dollar bill. “Thanks for proving me right,” he mumble, dropping the money onto the table.

He started moving away, when a hand closed over his wrist. “You’ve known pain,” she began. Max noticed that her voice lost the smooth timbre. In fact, it was almost shaky. He stop, turning to glance back at her.

“That’s it?” he asked, unable to hide the sarcasm in his voice. “Who hasn’t?”

“Nobody that I know of,” she replied, even softer than before. “But you’re case is different, isn’t it?”

He didn’t answer her, only waited for her continue. “Someone else... someone who has known even greater pain... is coming. She’ll need you’re help.”

“Who is she?” Max questioned before he could stop himself.

The woman shook her head. “I don’t know. But you will. Trust your heart.”

Not knowing what else to say, Max nodded his head once more, drawing back the opening to the tent. “And Max,” she called after him, halting his progress one last time. “Be gentle with her.”

He couldn’t help the being unnerved a bit. She sounded almost sad. Still, he started to walking again, making his way towards Isabel and Tess.

“How did it go?” Isabel demanded. “Did she make a believer out of you?”

Max shook his head. “Let’s just go. I’m starving.”

Tess looked a bit taken back. “But we haven’t gotten a chance,” she pointed out.

“It’s a waste of money,” he stated, moving in the direction of the concession stands. He heard some grumbles behind him, but he knew that his sister and friend were following behind him.

It wouldn’t be until much later that he remember he’d never told her his name.

[Anniepoo98]

Okay~

I'm going to start this off with a big apology for taking so long...

SORRY!!!

Really, though... I am. But I do have a new part. I hope that you all like it!

Annie:)


Part Seven:


~*~ August 10, 1991 ~*~

His pretty moved away. The little girl came back.

Max didn’t know how to feel about either.

He knew that the girl was going to stay with Shamus and Lupe. She would be right next door forever, if the grown ups had their way. For the most part, Max knew it was a good thing. He would be able to watch out for the girl if she stayed. Deep down, he knew that was really important. She needed to stay close to him and Isabel.

But seeing her would be a painful reminder of that night. Max could still see it sometimes when he closed his eyes. His pretty, her dead parents, his first sick. They were all things he wanted desperately to forget. He never talked about it. Not with Isabel, and most definitely not with his parents. They could never know what happened that night.

They still talked about how bad they felt about the accident. What a horrible tragedy it was. Yet, it was as much as it had been before. Max overheard his mom saying that his pretty’s aunt was going to take good care of her in the place called Florida because the Sheriff man ‘bought her out.’ Granted, Max didn’t have a clue what that meant other then he wasn’t going to be the Sheriff man no more. However, he couldn’t help wondering it that was a good thing or not.

Isabel said it was. She was afraid of his star. She told him that if he didn’t have his star no more, he could take them away again. Stars were the only thing that could do that.

Her words stuck in his head. “Stars are the only think that can make us go.” It played on repeat in his mind for days. Something about the words was just so familiar.

At night, he would dream. Isabel would be there, all grown up and lovely. And, Max would think, sad. So very sad. Tears were in her eyes. Not the kind that ran little rivers down her face, but the ones that simply swam within them, threatening to swallow up with brown of her irises.

“He liked to look at the stars,” she’d tell him. “Night after night, he’d watch them as a way to say thanks for bringing me to him. But I never did. I knew that stars were the only things that could makes us go. Damnit, I never wanted to say thanks to the bane of my existence. So they took him away from me.”

Max would wake up then, full of grief. He had no idea who for, but part of him ached so bad for this person.

Still, while part of him ached, another was happy. No matter how hard he tried, it wouldn’t be denied. His pretty was alive. She was okay. The other girl was safe, and close. There was someone else to share their secret with now. Someone else who was different, and could understand how afraid he was of being that way.

He couldn’t deny it anymore. While the bird might have been a fluke, a one-time thing, fixing his pretty was not. Neither was seeing pictures in her head, or the empty blackness inside her parents. It wasn’t normal. He wasn’t normal.

God, that’s all he wanted.

That is what ran through his mind when the dream woke him up this time. The terrifying dark of his room was too much like the blank in the Parkers. Rocking back and forth on his bed, he wonder if they were just as scared of the void. Of the empty.

Getting out of bed, he pulled on a pair of jeans over his pajama bottoms. He was going to find out.

It didn’t take him long to sneak out and ride over to the cemetery. His dad told him it was where the Parkers were resting. For the first time in a long time, Max wondered if his dad was telling the truth. The icy fear of the dark was still in his mind and he knew it was anything but restful. So he was going to double check. He wanted to make sure his pretty’s parents were okay before he went back home.

After looking around a bit, he found a large stone at the head of a blanket of grass.

Jeffery Ian Parker & Nancy Jillian Parker
May their souls rest with the hands of our Lord.

Max read that over and over again while his fingers traced the numbers below. He wasn’t quite sure what it meant, but it sounded nice. That’s when he noticed the bunch of flowers at the base of the stone. He knew that the flowers were nice too. His mom always like getting them. They seemed to make her happy. It made him wonder if getting them would make the Parkers happy too.

He hadn’t saved them. It was his fault they were there instead of at him with their daughter. He needed to make that up to them in some way.

Laying his head on the cool stone that marked their graves, he finally let the tears roll out of his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

~~~~

~*~ June 7, 2001 ~*~


The sun began to set on the fairgrounds as Liz let Maria and Alex drag her from booth to booth, ride to ride. They’d lost Kyle almost an hour ago after he saw an example of the female species he needed to become acquainted with. Liz laughed at Maria’s comments on his chauvinistic, neanderthal ways as Alex begged for a stop at the concession stands. Cotton candy was calling his name, or so he claimed.

She’d missed this. Missed all of them. The prospect of leaving for Florida at the end of the summer wasn’t something she could even consider right now.

“If you’re all hyped up on sugar, the psychic will never be able to get a proper reading on you,” Maria explained, leading them in the opposite direction.

The offhanded statement stuck in Liz’s head. “We’re going to a psychic?”

The blond head of her best friend began to bob up and down. “Of course. There’s one that travels to the fair every year. She’s really accurate.”

A short snort echoed from Alex. “Psychic and accurate. Isn’t that an oxymoron?”

“I’m not going,” Liz chimed in.

Maria’s hands immediately when to her hips. “Why not?” she asked, ignoring Alex’s comment completely.

Mimicking the gesture, Liz’s hands came to rest on her own. “Because I agree with Alex. It’s a hoax. They take your money, than talk about whatever pops into their heads for about five minutes. If we go, we’ll all leave the booth confused and ten dollars poorer.”

The look on Maria’s face was less than amused. “I’ll have you know that my mom swears by her psychic.”

Dual expressions flashed across Liz and Alex’s faces. It screamed ‘duh’. “Was that the same woman who suggested your destined name was Sunbeam?” Liz questioned.

“You think I don’t know that,” Maria scoffed. “Trust me, every time I go to Grandma Rosa’s house, she reminds me of how she saved from going through life suffering from my mother’s hippie ways.”

An inquiring look crossed Alex’s face. “And how, pray tell, did she do that? Your mom pretty much does what she want’s to when her minds made up.”

“Grammy threatened to never speak to my mom again,” Maria said, chuckling a bit. “And trust me not a day goes by that I’m not thankful for that. As it was, I still ended up with the middle name Dawn.”

“So that’s what the D stands for,” Alex muttered under his breath. “Got it.” Then, he started laughing. “You could have been Sunb...”

Liz watched Maria reach over and grab a hold of his shirt collar. “Not a word. Not one. Even thinking it can insight riots between them.”

Now it was Liz’s turn to start laughing. “Amy and Grandma Rosa do like to fight, but I don’t think they could go for more than a week without talking to each other.”

“True.” Maria eased back. “They may have no-holds-bar brawls, but mom and grammy are like this,” she said, crossing her fingers. “Besides, I personally think all that whole hippie thing was just my mom’s excuse to smoke stuff and protest things.”

“Hey,” Liz exclaimed as a memory popped into her mind. The image of Amy Deluca sitting on Maria’s bed while the two of them were snuggled under the blankets, telling stories of her wild youth, quickly followed it. “Didn’t your mom get arrested by Valenti once?”

Maria nodded. “Yeah. He tells the story over and over again as a joke.” Clearing her throat, she attempted her best impression of her stepfather. “‘I introduced myself to my future wife by arresting her.’ The whole thing was pretty funny until Kyle brought up the subject of handcuffs. It was all disturbing from that point on.”

“So how is the whole step-sibling thing going?” Liz asked, as they began moving through the crowd again.

It was enough to launch Maria into the topic of all the changes that had occurred in the Deluca-Valenti household. “Don’t even get me started,” she rambled. “I have Kyle Valenti for a stepbrother. It was an all-girls house since I was six, now I’m forced to live with the prototype for the Men are from Mars... books. I mean, he burps and scratches and leaves the toilet seat up.”

Liz started laughing again. She just couldn’t help it. The mental images that accompanied Maria’s complaints just set her off. In fact, she was giggling so hard it was caused her to clutch her sides. Heat rushed to her cheeks with the effort she was putting into breathing. “Stop for a sec,” she squeaked. “I need to catch my breath.”

Then, Liz realized she didn’t have to ask in the first place. Alex was chucking right along with her, causing Maria to give in to it’s contagious effects. Liz sucked in lungful after lungful of air, hope to settle down a bit. Laughing was fun and all, but the good bouts of it had a habit of making ribs ache like a bitch.

Standing still, Liz caught the smell of hot dogs and popcorn that was carried under her nose on a breeze, and as she took in another big gulp of air, she could almost taste time. Them, and something else.

It was sharp, almost electric. A tangible force hitched to the air like a hiker bumming a ride. Liz froze. Tiny hairs on the back of her neck raised.

“Girlfriend.” Maria’s voice filtered in against the buzz going on in Liz’s head. She tried to focus on that, to push back the sudden panic rising within her. “Ya good?”

Liz shook her head, hoping to clear it. “Fine,” she said, happy to find that her voice was actually steady enough to make the statement believable. “Must have stayed up too late last night. Should have gotten more sleep.” It was a lie. Sleeping until one in the afternoon more than made up for her late bedtime, but it was the best she could come up with. Liz wasn’t going to kick her vacation off by giving her friends a reason to hawk-eye her. At least, not anymore than they already had.

Alex jumped in, doing what he did best... picking up masked distress signals. “Well, what you lack in sleep, we will make up for in lackofsleep. No sleep for you now. In fact,” he said, turning to Maria, “did you know if you go too long without sleep, it can have the same effect as alcohol on the body. Since we are too young to do it the normal way, we’ll just have to try this alternative.”

It was bullshit. Crap of the highest degree. Liz was sure Maria knew it, but she was still going to off Alex her first-born the second she got the chance. They both knew that Maria had a nose like a bloodhound when it came to distress. She could pick it up by osmosis. When she picked up a signal, she had the habit of latching on, worrying like a crazed mother hen. Alex... well he, Liz knew, could smooth it over with humor. When he laid it on real thick, Maria backed off... for awhile.

“So,” Liz said quickly. “We’re going to see a psychic?”

~~~~

She heard the three of them long before they entered her tent. It wasn’t hard with the odd silence that had fallen over her corner of the fair before they arrived. Silence like that made her edgy, always did. Noise was a filler, and extra point of focus that kept the mind from thinking too much. And Nicolette had a lot she could mull over.

She didn’t handle the boy Max well at all. The skin to skin contact with him had ripped open her defenses, shoving images into her mind before she could control them. He was kindred. One of her kind. Of that much she was sure. Well, that and the fact she’d scared the shit out of him.

It couldn’t be helped now. Nor could she could she take back the things she saw in his mind. She needed to focus on them, figure them out. It would be only way she could help him and the others. Nicolette only hoped that she gave him enough to aid him until she found the answers.

Answers that were beyond her reach at this moment, which is why she was despising the silence around her. Crowds were suppose to be wonderful noisemakers, so where the hell were they? Quiet like this had the horrible knack of forewarning bad things to come. Calm before the storm. She hated the heralds of bad news.

Finally, chirpy, slightly tense chattering broke through the void. She stood as, one by one, they filed in. “Welcome.”

Three sets of eyes looked on her, then around, taking in the stage she set for her customers, the act she lowered herself to perform night after night. “I am Madam Nicolette. Do the three of you seek knowledge of the future?”

The girl with long blond hair smiled at her. “Of course.” The words were said so plainly, almost with reverence, that Nicolette knew what she had on her hands. A believer. The remain two, on the other hand, she wasn’t so sure about.

The boy was tall and lanky, with a quite power lying just beneath the surface. Because she remained open from the early experience with Max, she could sense a warmth about him that indicated a good nature. He also seemed to only be along for the ride. Nicolette liked him immediately.

However, as she turned to face the other girl, the one with deep brown hair streaming down her back in a ponytail, Nicolette felt a sense of unease slide into her belly. Scepticism was written on the teenager’s face, emphasized with each appraising glance she gave Nicolette. While she’d had critics and disbelievers before, even an hour before, something was different this time. The girl was different. She could sense it, and that warned her it was time to tread lightly.

“Who wishes to go first,” she asked, taking time to meet each one’s gaze dead on.

The blond grabbed the brunette’s hand. “She does.”

Shaking her head, the other girl tried to step back. “No,” she exclaimed, than took a deep breath. “This is really your thing, Maria. You should be the one to go first.”

“Not a chance,” the newly dubbed Maria told her friend, pushing her towards the table and Nicolette.

Opening her mouth to protest again, the girl found the boy speaking for her. “You know not to argue with her, Liz. I have a feeling she’s set on this one. You’ll never win.”

Nicolette watched the exchange with interest. It was very obvious the group was close, which only led her to wonder more about the girl. About Liz.

The other two were open. She could sense what was going on beyond surface. Impressions of their thoughts screamed at her through the connection. Liz wasn’t. There was a block between Nicolette and the girl’s mind. It was the first time she’d ever had that happened, except with mother.

This was just getting more and more curious.

“Fine,” Liz conceded. “I’ll go first.”

Nodding, Nicolette smiled and turned to the other two. “You need to wait outside.” Having the them there would be too distracting, and she needed to have a firm control on her abilities right now. “I have to focus.”

The believer, Maria, smiled her understanding. She grabbed the boy’s arm. “We’ll just be right outside.”

The boy gave his remaining friend a thumbs up sign as he deserted her. “Good luck, Liz,” he called back to her as he walked out of the tent.

The draping fabric fell closed behind him, leaving the two of them alone. “Relax,” Nicolette said lightly, hope to ease the girl a bit. “Have a seat.”

Caution remained in Liz’s eyes as she sat down, telling Nicolette it didn’t work. “You have your choice: a tarot card reading, a gaze into the ball, or a palm reading.” Unlike she had done before with Max, she made no suggestions. In fact, she was hoping with all might that the choice wouldn’t be palms. Hand to hand contact right now might just be too much.

“Cards,” Liz said offhandedly. It was plain as day that she just wanted to get this over with.

Picking up the cards, Nicolette ran her hands over the deck lovingly, than passed them. “Concentrate on a question that you want answered and shuffle the cards carefully,” she directed. “Then, cut the deck three times.”

Liz did as she was told, making three almost even piles on the table. With another nod, Nicolette tapped the center pile three times with the tip of her finger before she gathered the cards together again. When they were all aligned within her palm, she began revealing card after card, starting at the top of the deck.

She placed the first card close to where Liz’s hands were resting. It was the Five of Cups. Below it, on either side, came two more cards. The Six of Pentacles and the Queen of Swords. “You have suffered a loss,” Nicolette whispered, concentrating on the cards. “It’s led you here. There is a reason for that.”

With her index finger, she tapped on the Six of Pentacles. “You have questions, knowledge that you’re seeking.” Her finger moved to the other card. “This tells me that you can face the answers. But that doesn’t answer the question going on in your head right now,” she realized aloud as she gazed into Liz’s face.

More cards were dealt. “The High Priestess followed by the Lovers leads me to believe that a mysterious connection is going to come about, and the relationship that follows will be quite a journey...” She trailed off for the moment. Her mind, for some reason, wandered back to Max. She had no idea why, but it made a sudden sense. “For the both of you.”

Liz’s eyes were wide by that point, but as Nicolette passed out the last three cards, they grew even more so. Her fingers also began to tremble visibly. The Moon card was followed by the Devil. Lastly, came Death.

With a quick shove, Liz pushed back from the table. “No.” The scream seemed to be ripped from her throat. “No, no, no.”

Nicolette jumped to her feet quickly. “Liz,” she said softly, approaching the girl. “It’s not as bad as it look.”

One trembling finger came out, pointing at the Death card., than dropped quickly. “I can’t take this.”

Reaching out to grab Liz by the shoulders, Nicolette found herself falling back against the table as she was shoved out of the way. Liz flew out of the tent without a glance back.

~~~~

Run.

Her entire being called for it. To flee from picture of body trapped underneath horse’s hooves. Death. It followed her everywhere she went.

Weaving her way in and around the crowds, Liz thought on her question. She had wanted to know if things would get easier. If she would find her normal again. The Death card killed that hope, just like it did everything else.

When would it come for her? The horrible thought rush into her mind all of a sudden, causing Liz to stop her flight of panic. Panic that turned to anger. “Damnit,” she retorted against all of the doubts within her. “Damnit, I am not giving up that easily.”

That was all she got out before the sound of screeching tires filled her ears. Turning, she didn’t even have time to brace for impact. When it came, darkness surrounded her.




Let me know what you think, if you think I deserve to know:)

Annie:)

[Anniepoo98]

Howdy all~

I'm so sorry that it has taken me so long to get this part out. I promise you that I haven't given up on this... or WOTW. PROMISE. Here is a new part for you. Hope that you all like it.

Annie:)

Part Eight:


~*~ August 22, 1991 ~*~

The first day of school had arrived.

Over the past couple of weeks, Liz spent time adjusting to the move, but Florida would never be what Roswell had been. Home.

Not for the lack of trying, though. Aunt Lydia and Grandma Claudia did anything and everything in their power to make things easier: a big bedroom that was all her own, brand new clothes. They even offered to get her a dog, something she was never allowed to have before when she lived over the Crashdown. Her Dad told her it was bad for business.

She told them no. Saying yes would have been like a betrayal. Liz already felt guilty enough.

So, here she stood, her aunt clasping her hand tightly, staring at the large strange building in front of her. It was so much bigger that Roswell elementary. Liz felt a slight panic. She was going to get lost.

And there would be no Maria to help her find her way again. No Maria to giggle with or play hopscotch on the playground with.

Playground…

Liz glanced around, her eyes searching for big yellow bus. She saw several of the lined the street running beside them. Kids rushed off them in waves, running, talking, laughing. For a brief instant, she saw a flash of dark hair. Of the large, sad eyes adorning a little boy’s face. Then, it was gone.

Where was he? she wondered. He should be here.

With a little tug on her hand, Liz felt her aunt started towards the door. Reluctantly, she allowed herself to be pulled away. However, she couldn’t get over the strange feeling that something weird was going on. She felt funny. Her head was all fuzzy and buzzing.

Something was different. Liz had the oddest idea that it might be her.

~~~~~

~*~ August 22, 2001 ~*~

The first day of school had arrived.

His very first day of school ever.

Max knew he should be excited. Isabel was. His mom said that he should be too. There were going to be a lot of kids there to meet. New friends to be made. He wondered if that was possible.

Was he too different to make any friends? Was it safe?

Not that he needed new friends. He had Isabel. He had Theresa... Tess. Sitting on the bus, Max decided that was all he really needed. They already knew what he was, well what they were. He could trust them.

He remembered Tess pouting when she found out that she couldn’t go with him and Isabel on the bus.

“I go,” she said, pointing at the big yellow vehicle. “You go, I go.” But, Lupe said no. Tess cried as Isabel hugged her goodbye, telling her that they would be right back, and that they would come right over. The tears stopped, but not the longing in her eyes.

Even after all these weeks, Tess still hated to be separated from them. She was learning to trust Shamus and Lupe, but it was hard. Max could remember just how hard it had been for him. At night, he would sneak over to her window. Her bed was right underneath it, and he would talk until she fell asleep. After that, he would sometimes check on the Parkers.

He did last night. He told them that the next day he would start school. He told them that he was scared. Max wondered if there little girl was starting a new school too. Would she be scared?

A sudden tug on his forced Max out of his thoughts. Isabel was practically bouncing out of her seat as the bus came to a stop. “We’re here,” she whispered loudly in his ear. “This is so cool.”

Max nodded because it was expected. “Cool.”

With a death on his hand still, Isabel dragged him down the aisle and off the bus. The playground spread out before him. Kids were all over the place, running from here to here. Max halted just inside the large, grassy lawn, taking in everything. Something was missing.

Isabel started off, dropping his hand in her excitement. His eyes followed her for a moment, then veered off once more, coming to rest on a group of three girls playing a game with their hands. Just beyond them was a little blond girl. Her bouncy curls were pulled away from her face with red ribbon. She was staring at the others, a look of sadness on her face.

For a moment, Max thought that he recognized her, bur from where he couldn’t remember. Maybe that was what was missing. He didn’t have long to dwell on it. Isabel came right back the second she realized he wasn’t following, resuming her dragging.

~~~~

~*~ June 7, 2001 ~*~


“Oh my God!”

Isabel’s scream rang though Max’s ears even as he was jumping out of passenger side the car. He saw the body lying on the ground about five feet beyond the rear fender of the Jeep. The impact had thrown it back that far.

Impact, Max thought again as the bile rose in his throat. However, despite his lurching stomach, his feet still managed to carry him towards the body on the ground.

It just wasn’t possible. Tonight was suppose to be easy, fun... all that good stuff. Ten minutes ago, Isabel had wrangled the keys away from him. An half and hour before that, they’d all finally ran into Michael at the concessions. He’d gotten off early and found bummed a ride out to the fairgrounds.

Fairgrounds. The word managed to dig through his bogged mind. “I hate the damn fair.” Even as the words left his mouth, Max was kneeling down, gently reaching out to the person lying on the ground. The person who was obviously a girl.

Slowly, he turned her over, ignoring the soft cries behind him that were coming from Isabel and the sharp gasp from Tess. However, Michael’s muttered curse did get his attention. “Shit, that’s Maria’s friend. The one from the Crash this morning.”

Max could only stare at him for a moment, protecting his mind from the relazation trying to take hold. He needed to focus, and he could never do that if it did. So he ignored the long brown tresses, the facial planes and angles that seemed so familiar to him, almost as familiar as his own, and zoned in on the injuries marring them. He felt a faint pulse underneath the skin of her neck.

“Is...” Isabel’s voice cracked. “Is she dead?”

Max shook his head. “No. And I’m going to make sure that she stays that way.” The decision was that simple, just as it had been all the times he made it before. He could feel the doubt flooding his connection with the others, fusing with the feel that had been there before he’d gotten out of the Jeep. “Trust me,” he urged without looking back. “I need you guys to back off, or I won’t be able to do anything. Our connection is too strong.”

He could felt them take a step back, both physically and mentally. It left him open enough for the connection with the girl. Concentrating, he focused on her. One of his hands pressed light against her stomach as the other wound itself into her hair. “Come on,” he whispered. “Open up just a little. Let me in.”

There was a flutter, brief and faint movement, but that was all he needed. Max was in.

The connection threw in directly into a mirage of image instantly. He couldn’t tell one from another. He saw a flash of red, a lunch box, an older lady with grey hair. Max turned his power away from that. He didn’t have time to spend seperating and dissecting. All of his energy needed to focus on fixing the damage.

The first thing he noticed was the internal bleeding. She had taken most of the hit in her abdomen, so made sense to focus there. And Max was right. It was coming from a lacceration to her liver. He urged the cells together to close the opening. He also noticed that the tissue of other organs were bruised.

His energy started regeneration cells, pushed others together, urged more to mend. Minutes passed, how many he couldn’t be sure. But as they passed, he felt himself weakening. He could actually feel her drawing him in, absorbing any energy to replenish her own. Deep down, Max knew he had to start drawing back. There was no telling what could happen if he let go of too much.

Then it was too late.

~~~~

The body has it’s own defense system against pain. Logically, Liz knew it. However, when you’re the one experiance the pain, logic doesn’t mean diddly. Therefore, after the first harsh jolt spread over her, the spasms erupting from her stomach outward, she allowed the darkness to draw her it.

Then, she felt the heat. Was this part of dying? was an idle thought. Was she even dying? Did it matter? All Liz knew is that she was so tired. The darkness was so quite, peaceful. She just wanted to rest there for a bit.

But the heat continued to radiate, centering from her stomach. It wasn’t painful though. In fact, it was oddly soothing, easing the sharper pangs that not even the darkness could keep her from feeling. Yet, it was drawing from her. She could feel what was left of her energy ebbing away.

Instinctively, part of her reached out, grabbing at the source of the heat, absorbed it, felt the fatigue fade. The heat grew so intense. For a moment she felt almost fused to it. Still, she couldn’t stop taking it. The more she took, the more alive she felt.

The lighter the world around her grew.

She could hear voices. There was desperation there, fear. Above all, love and concern. They were pleading for realize. To just let go.

Were they talking to her?

“Max, now.” A final plea. And the heat was ripped away.

Liz moaned, heard herself do so, as the cold came flooding back. Only, there was no pain now, just cold and the knowledge that she was alone again. She hadn’t felt that way in the dark, in the warmth. Since the latter was gone, Liz knew it was time to fully relinquish the other.

Opening her eyes, she found herself staring into another set of eyes. The first thing that caught her attention was the color. They were brown, but not ordinary, everyday brown like her own. There were sparks of amber held in them that gave them almost an otherworldly golden glow.

The fact that held the eyes was the next thing to come into focus. Sharp planes made up the face that was too pale. He... he looked shaken. Drops of perseration ran along his brow, and he was breathing hard. Liz could feel the warm puff of air against her face.

“You’re okay,” he whispered. He sounded more like he was trying to convince himself more than her.

It left some doubt in her mind. “I’m okay?”

One side of his mouth curled slightly. “Yes. Yes, you’re okay.”

Liz found herself smiling a bit. “Okay.” The word was barely out of her mouth before she heard feet kicking at the gravel around them.

“Max,” a voice, impatient and deep, called out. “Maxwell, we gotta get out of here.”

The boy, Max, moved... well, tried to move. However, he started to slump a bit, kept from falling back against Liz by two sets of arms around his shoulders. That’s when she noticed that there was more than one person standing around, watching all of this.

Still, Max’s eyes remained locked on hers as the others hauled him away. They dragged him towards a car... a jeep. Within moments, Liz heard the engine gunning. The tires squealed as the jeep lurched into motion, taking off as fast as it could.



Liz stayed on the ground, attempted to get a grip on what had just happened. Not that she could. Any sort of logic seemed beyond her grasp.

“LIZ!!!”

She knew that voice. Liz knew she did. The name a attached wasn’t as forthcoming as the recognition. Slowly, she sat up, but nearly ended up flat on her back as a wave of dizziness washed over her. She settled for resting her weight on her elbows.

“LIZ!!!”

There it was again. Might was well answer it, she figured.

“Over here,” she called out, managing to keep her balance and wave one hand at the same time. Suddenly, three people appeared, shadowed by the lights of the fair. That’s when the name hit her. “Maria, I’m right here.”

Maria raced over, Alex and Kyle nipping on her heels. “Girl, you gave me a heart attack. What the hell were you thinking, running off like that? What in the hell are you doing on the ground?”

Alex rolled his eyes, reaching out to grab Liz’s hand. “Let’s get her off the ground before she answer, okay?”

With a tug, he pulled her to her feet, holding on when she swayed a bit. Liz ran a hand through her hair, shaking loose some grass in it. “I think I fell.”

She could feel them studying her, but it was Kyle who spoke up first. “Think, as in you don’t know?”

Liz shook her head. “No, no, I fell.” It was a boldfaced lie, and she knew it. However, there was some driving force within her, an instinct that told her to say it. She just couldn’t tell them what she thought had happened. “Gave myself a jolt. Sorry I worried you guys.”

With a little whimper, Maria lunged forward, wrapping her arms around Liz in a bear hug. “Just don’t do it again,” she muttered. “Okay.”

“Yeah,” Liz agreed, giving her a light squeeze before she let go. “But do you think we can go back to your house. I’m kinda beat.”

“Sounds good to me,” Alex chimed. “Plus, all the quality junk food is at the Deluca/Valenti household.”

Maria lead the way with Liz, one arm still around her. Behind her, Liz could hear Kyle and Alex fall in, starting a deep discussion on which was better, Nutter Butter’s or Nutty Bars. It was all so normal.

All except for her.

She’d lied. Now, she needed to find out why.

[Anniepoo98]

Howdy all~

Did I say this weekend, or did I say this weekend. Although none of you can see this, I am doing a happy dance because I've actually met a self imposed deadline! I first for me!!!!! LOL! Anyway, here be a new part. Hope you all like it. I can't wait to see is anyone can guess who the new person is in the part.

Annie:)

Part Nine:


~*~ September 15, 1991 ~*~

His hair stuck up all over.

That was about the only thing that Max could think of when he came into the lunchroom. Isabel was sitting with a boy, and his hair stuck out all over the place. Did it just grow like that?

Then the realization hit him. Isabel was eating lunch with someone else. In his chest, Max felt his eight year old heart fall just a bit. He knew how hard she was trying to blend in at school, to make friends. He also knew just how much he hampered that because he didn’t want to. Kids maybe just kids, but they were still strangers.

To Max, there was nothing harder than to be strange among strangers. He’d come to count on just him and Isabel sitting together at lunch. As long as he had that, he didn’t care who she played with during recess. He would even join in if she really wanted him to. But lunch was the only time he had alone with only person at school who was like him.

Now, this boy was sitting with her.

Max didn’t know how long he had been standing there, but suddenly Isabel looked up and started waving emphatically. “Max,” she called out. “Over here!”

Quietly, Max made his way to him, taking the chair across from the boy. For a moment, the boy stared at him, and Max stared right back. For once, he didn’t care that he might stand out. The boy was invading on his turf, and Max was going to make sure he knew it.

He was so intent, that he didn’t even catch Isabel rolling her eyes. He didn’t even notice her move until she was right next to him, leaning over. “It’s him,” she whispered in his ear. “Our boy. He’s here. Can you feel it?”

Max blinked, absorbing what she was saying. The boy? Could it be?

For a moment, he concentrated, searching his mind until he found it... the hum of another presence there. The other boy seemed to become aware of it at the same time. Max saw his head jerk suddenly, his eyes wide.

“You,” the boy whispered.

“Max,” he told him. “My name’s Max.”

“Michael.”

Isabel started to laugh. “This is so cool,” she squealed. “We all here. No more hurt. No more empty. And can you believe it? He forgot his lunch money. I’ll just have to member for you...”

Max tuned out Isabel’s voice. All of them. Four. It meant something. Deep down, he knew that, only he didn’t have the first clue what that was. He knew it was important, though.

Important, but not complete. Something else was missing. The four of them where there, but something wasn’t. Someone?


~*~ June 8, 2001 ~*~


Night was fading. The wispy light of dawn scattered over the sky as Nicolette watched from the doorway of her trailer. A new day, she thought. And like everyone that preceded, it held the chance for change.

Yanking the last cigarette out of her pack of Kools, she lit it and frowned. Change was never something she handled well. Strange, seeing as how she made her living by it. Every week was a new city, a new set of faces. But that, in itself, held a thread of monotony. The setting, scenery, and actors may be different, yet the roles each played never were.

That was it’s own sense of security. As a little girl, she struggled to understand how it comforted her mother to drift. How she found a sanctuary in the anonymity associated with fair life. It was as close to safe as they could ever get. Then again, the word safe being tied to anything akin to aliens was an oxymoron.

There was always the possibility of being hunt, captured, tortured… killed. The nightmares that woke her mother screaming in the middle of the night only drove the point home painfully. Nicolette had developed a keen sense of distrust when it came to authority figures before she could ride a bike. Not that anyone involved in the traveling life trusted officials much anyway. She guessed it was because they were always on the fringe of society. Being both only served to make her extremely cautious.

She took another drag on her cigarette, doing everything in her power to push all those thoughts aside.

“Now, there’s a pretty site.”

She didn’t move, almost afraid to. After putting in late nights, most workers didn’t care for rising with the sun. However, she did shift her gaze slightly, catching a figure moving just on the edge of her vision. He was tall. She could tell that much from the sideways glance. And not from around here, she noted. There was a slow, easy drawl lacing his voice.

“Happens every morning,” she replied coolly after a moment.

He let out a short laugh, warmly, and moved closer. “Wasn’t really talking about the sun, but it’s pretty too.”

She turned somewhat, facing him more, getting a better look. The first assessment of tall was right on. Lean as well. Someone use to working, or working out, by the build. Dark hair that was a couple months overdue for a cut capped him off, the bangs falling into equal dark eyes. The whole package was wrapped with denim and cotton, with a flannel to ward off the early morning chill.

He looked… dangerous, she decided. And wasn’t there just something appealing about dangerous? Still, appealing, whether dangerous or not, didn’t mean she trusted him. “You’re new.” It was made as a statement, rather than as a question.

He continued to move toward her as slowly as he spoke. “Is that so?” When she made no move to answer him, he went on. “Name’s Tucker. Tucker Kelley. Frank hired me a couple of days ago. Said there was a chance of steady work if I was willing to travel.”

She exhaled smoke. “Are you?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Willing enough. Variety is the spice of life, or so the saying goes.” His gaze remained on her face as she took another drag. “You know, those things can kill ya.”

She could help finding humor in the old argument. She went though it several times with her mother after she started. “So can breathing,” she countered, just as she would with her mom.

As he moved closer still, Nicolette watched as a faint smile curve the corners of his mouth, his eyes lighting with it. “Fair enough. In fact, my old man use to say something along those lines when I nagged him about it.”

She could feel the tugging at her lips, urging it to match. “Smart man.” But the light was gone by the time she finished speaking. The sudden change alerted her curiosity, heightened her suspicion. The little smile turned. “Did I say something wrong?”

Tucker shook his head. “No, not really. Just a reminder.”

“How long ago?” Nicolette asked, knowing exactly what he was thinking about, and not in an ESP kinda way. It was written in his face, the look in his eyes. The pain of loss was always distinct. It never failed to tug at her sympathy.

“Four months. You?”

Her face scrunched at the thought she was still obvious in her own emotions after all this time. With one last pull on the cigarette, she dropped it to the ground, crushing it with the toe of her slip-ons. “Years.”

“I didn’t mean to offend,” he said quickly as she moved to retreat into her trailer. Then, she felt the light brush of his fingers against hers. Nicolette stopped, glanced over her shoulder at him. “Really,” he reiterated. “I sorry if I did.”

Suddenly, Nicolette felt tired. Just so tired. “Me too.” Short, to the point, and sincere. “I’ll see you around.”

“Is there name I should call out if I happen to see you first? Or should I just call you Gypsy?”

Damnit. He would have to make her smile just when she was gearing up for a good self-pity party. And damn again if she couldn’t tell whether it was honest or clever. She slipped her hand out from underneath his. “Gypsy works fine for now.” With that, she shut the door.

And instantly pressed her ear against the metal, listening for the retreating footsteps. As she heard them grow softer until they were nonexistent, she berated herself. How foolish can you be? Details, however small or vague should never be given away, and most definitely not after knowing each other a few minutes.

I don’t trust him, Nicolette told herself. Ever after that brief touch, the tiniest connection she allowed herself to take, she could feel the undercurrent of secrets. He had them. So do you, her conscience reminded her.

Well, hers were more important.

God, she needed a cigarette. And that meant a trip into town. Looking down at her old, ratty bathrobe, Nicolette let out a deep sigh. “Guess I better get started on my day.”

~~~~~

He moved quickly, putting as much room between himself and the occupant of the trailer. He’d gotten up before dawn to assure himself time to wander the fairgrounds freely, learning the layout without any kind of distractions... or observations. He’d been trained well, know that a critical key to survival was knowing the surroundings.

And he was a survivor.

A survivor seeking revenge, because there were others who didn’t. No matter the price, he was going to find the creature that caused his pain. Then, he would kill it.

That was what should be the only thought in his mind. The planning, plotting, and execution of his revenge. Yet, it vanished the instant he saw her.

She was standing the doorway to her trailer, eyes trained on the growing sun. One of it’s slanted rays illuminating her face, and the beauty of it stuck him like an arrow. Even in the old, blue terry cloth robe, she was beautiful. The riot of dark curls flowing down her back, the light gold of her skin both glowed in the sun. Before he could think it through, he found himself speaking to her, moving towards her.

Now, he wanted to kick himself for being so obvious. He had to of been because she’d been able to read it on his face. Then again, like recognizes like. He had seen it on her’s. Heard the grief in her voice. It amazed him now just how much he wanted to comfort her because of it. To hold her for a moment.

It’s not going to happen, he told himself. For several reasons, including the one where he couldn’t even tell her his real name. A week ago, Tucker Kelley didn’t exist. The only reason he did now was because people had died and more probably were going to.

He could accept that. It was all part of the job description. And because of that, of his reaction to her, he was going to keep his eye on the gypsy, because she had secrets. No matter how befuddled his brain had been, he could still tell that much about her.

For her sake, he hoped that they were totally unrelated to his.

~~~~~

Liz woke up early. Granted, not ‘break of dawn’ early, but it was still shy of 6:30. Not that she had really slept well the night before. Her brain just wouldn’t shut off long enough for her to rest.

So she wondered. Wondered what it all meant, how he could do the things he had done. Who he was.

Who was Max?

Liz remembered hearing his name, hearing the others calling out to him. And then she was okay. She’d been hit by a car, thrown feet in the air, but she was still alive. Not even a scratch or bruise. Or was there?

As quietly as she could, Liz got out of bed and quickly moved down the hallway to the bathroom. She was desperate for any sign that something had happened. To prove to herself that it wasn’t just in her mind, like so many other things had been.

Flipping on the light, Liz turned to lock the door. Seconds later, she was at the floor length mirror across the room, examining her face. Normal there, she thought. Well, as normal as she got. At least the eye baggies are gone. She sighed. Maybe it was all in her head.

Then, as if lighting had struck her, Liz jerked. She hadn’t been hit in the face. There wouldn’t be any mark there. That meant... Instantly, she was yanking at her tank, hauling it up so she could get a good look at her stomach.

There it was. Proof. And it glowed.

She wasn’t crazy. Even as the realization hit her, tears filled her eyes. This wasn’t in her head like all the times before. She wasn’t lost there again.

Then, someone started pounding on the door.

“I have a bowling ball weighing down my bladder, so whoever’s in there, I don’t care what part of the process you are at. Suck it up, because you’re done. There is no way I am making it to the downstairs bathroom.”

Liz let out a teary giggle. She wiped the formed tears away with the edge of her tank, than straighten it. Only Amy.

Amy, who pushed past Liz the second the lock clicked open. With a shove, she pushed Liz out into the hallway. “I love ya, sweetie, but survival come first,” she muttered before slamming the door in Liz’s face.

Another giggle escaped as Liz headed back to Maria’s room. But the second she was in the room, Liz sobered. She wasn’t crazy, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t in trouble of some sort. Now, she had to come up with a way to handle it. Hell, she had to figure out what it was.

All that hinged on finding Max. Who he was, what he was? Somewhere deep inside, Liz felt she should know the answers to all these questions, but they were lurking somewhere just beyond her.

One thing she did know was that he had to be about her age, and if luck wanted to run her way, he went to West Roswell, like Maria. Keeping quiet so she would wake Maria, Liz crossed to the bookcase where a line of yearbooks dating back to junior high lined the shelves. After pausing for a moment, she grabbed the freshman yearbook and began thumbing through the pages.

[Anniepoo98]

Howdy all,

I finally have a new part to this story. I know, it's only taken me more than a year to update. For that, I am really, really sorry. I do hope that you all will give me another shot with this.

This part is dedicated to Ellie because she has kept faith that I will update despite how much time it had taken. Thank you, Ellie!!!!

Well, here ya all go.... part Ten. I hope that you enjoy.

Annie:)

PS... I will be having an Author's Chat at DAS on Tuesday, February 28th. Just click on the banner in my sig for a link. I might give away some spoilers for this...


Part Ten:

~*~ March 11, 1992 ~*~

“Maria, that’s not nice.”

Rolling her eyes, Maria let out a sigh. “But Lizzie, it’s not like I’m fibbing. He is weird.”

Liz glanced over at the person in question. He was taller then almost anyone in their class, and a bit gangly, but he had a crooked, goofy smile that made her want to laugh. She watched as he twisted his arms and linked them behind his neck. Was he supposed to be able to do that? For a moment, she considered the possibility that Maria was right. That this new kid just might be weird, then she changed her mind. “He’s new, Maria. It’s gotta be scary to be the new kid. I bet he just wants to make a friend.”

Maria shook her head. “No. No way,” Maria shot the idea down. “I’m the only friend you can have that’s weird. No more weird friends…”

“Lizzie,” a voice called out.

The scene around Liz faded away. She was no longer standing in the playground at her old school, Maria by her side, the two of them watching the new kid. No, now she in her aunt’s backyard with Foo, the truly pitiful tabby cat, standing at her feet, butt wiggling in the air as he prepared to attack the vicious butterfly a few feet away.

“I’m right here, Grandma.”

A pair of arms wrapped around her shoulders, giving her a little hug from behind. “Who were you talking to, Honeybear?”

Struggling to hide the need to wince, Liz’s mind raced to come up with a lie. She knew it was wrong to do so, but she didn’t want to go back to the health center. She didn’t want to have another round of appointments with Dr. Turner. And most especially, she didn’t want to see that look, the one her grandma and aunt got every time she did something they thought was strange. It made her feel like a freak.

If she could, she would stop the pictures in her head. She would ignore the voices too. But they were just so strong sometimes… and so tempting. Most the time, it was just Maria that she saw, and they would be in Roswell, playing like normal little girls. Other times, the times it broke her heart to break free, she saw her parents. They would be alive and laughing, whole and happy. It made her heart ache with longing, and she was happy that she wasn’t normal.

However, at times like this, Liz wondered if she ever would be?

“I was just talking to Foo,” she lied smoothly, pointing at the cat, who’s prey was getting away. “He’s been chasing that silly butterfly all around the yard. He even climbed up on the swing, but the swing moved and he fell off.”

She felt a nodding motion against the top of her head. Liz wanted to do a little victory dance because she pulled it off, but she held back. Suddenly, her grandma’s warmth was gone, and Liz turned to see her straightening up. “You’ve got a phone call, Lizzie. It’s Maria.”

“Maria!” Eagerly, she head out a hand for the phone. Her grandma handed over the cordless, and Liz took off for the hours. “I’ve missed you so much, Maria,” she cried into the phone. “You’re kidding. There’s a new boy at school…”

She never saw the expression on her grandma’s face when she walked away.


~~~~

~*~ June 8, 2001 ~*~


“So what is it that we are looking for?”

Liz jolted at the sound of Maria’s voice coming from behind her. “Hey,” she said, plastering an innocent look on her face. “Did I wake you up?”

Struggling to a sitting position, Maria looked at her, eyes focusing on Liz’s face, as if searching for signs of… something. Tuffs of hair tangled from a sleeping stuck up in a strange arrangement, but Maria’s eyes were clear and alert. Liz had always hated the fact that Maria had no trouble waking up in the morning. “No,” she said finally, then shook her head. “No, you didn’t.” Her eyes narrowed. “Are you avoiding my question?”

A tiny hint of guilt welled up inside of Liz. She tried to cover it by looking affronted. “Why would I be avoiding your question?”

“Because you are answering all of my questions with questions of your own.” A hand came up, tried to work its way though the mess of her hair, then gave up. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” Liz said, keeping her voice firm. “Nothing is wrong.” Or everything was, but that was beside the point. “I had to get up, go to the bathroom. Then, I was just awake, so I thought I would take a gander at your yearbooks. I wanted to see if Pam Troy ever got really fat.”

Maria blinked. Blinked again. “Gander?”

“Yup. It’s from the word gandra, meaning goose. You know, a goose has to crane its neck to look around at things, so the word really…” She paused and her cheeks reddened in embarrassment. “That was geek mode, wasn’t it?”

To her surprise, Maria let out a whooping laugh. In an instant, she was bellying off the bed and crawling towards Liz. “I just love ya, Lizzie,” she exclaimed as she threw her arms around Liz in a big bear hug. “I am so glad that you came.”

Emotion threatened to storm inside her, but Liz managed to hold it back and take a moment, just a moment, of comfort. “Me too,” she whispered fiercely. “Me too.”

Rearing back with one of her patent bright smiles on her face, Maria sighed. “Well, since we’re up, I vote for breakfast.” She leapt to her feet, grabbed Liz’s hand and pulled her to hers. “I say a couple Crater Cakes platters topped with all the whipped cream and strawberries we can eat.”

Because Maria’s enthusiasm was just to contagious, Liz started to laugh. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

“Good.” Maria danced off towards her closet. “Then get dressed, because Crashdown, here we come.”

~~~~

The Crashdown was practically packed when they entered it a half an hour later. Used to maneuvering thought crowds, Maria took Liz’s hand and led her to an empty booth. Even as they started to sit down, they both saw Jim standing at the serving window, waving frantically.

“Oh man,” Maria sighed.

Liz glanced over at her, confused. “What’s the matter?”

“Jim’s got that look on his face.”

Obviously not as good as deciphering Jim’s facial expressions as his stepdaughter was, Liz’s confusion deepened. “What look?”

Instead of answering, Maria started gesturing towards a booth. They moved to it quickly, but as Liz started to sit down, she noticed that her best friend remained standing. “She’s not going to get away with it,” Maria murmured darkly under her breath.

Liz blinked at the tone. “Okay,” she started, “you’re going to have to give me a clue here, because I am twelve shades of confused right now. What are you talking about?”

“She didn’t show up for work today. Then again, I don’t know why I should be a surprise. Schedule her for a morning shift and she never shows up. Jim so ought to know better by now. But this time, she will go down. Yes, I will have my revenge against the hell-beast otherwise known as Courtney.”

Either to afraid to speak, or simply to smart to, Liz just sat there as Maria continued to rant. “Payback will come, and it will be horribly terrifying,” Maria muttered. “This, I swear.” Then, as if she just realized that Liz was still there, Maria glanced down at her, than shook her head to clear it. “Sorry about that. It’s just that the girl annoys me to no end. And now, because of her, I am going to have to abandon you for a bit. By the expression on Jim’s face, he is a little desperate for a waitress right about this point.”

Shrugging, Liz eased more into the chair, relaxing a bit now that she knew what was going on. “It’s alright. I can just hangout here and wait for you, or - if it’s easier - I can find a way back your house.”

“Stay. I’m hoping, against all logic, that this won’t take very long. Plus, I promised you crater cakes, and I never back down on a promise. Just sit tight, and I’ll be back as soon as I can with them.”

“Okay,” Liz murmured as Maria made her way to the kitchen. When her friend was completely out of sight, she let out a sigh of her own and glanced around the room. It was the first time she’d been left along in the restaurant, and to be completely honest with herself, it unnerved her just a little bit. This place had been such an intricate part of her childhood, and, up until a couple of days ago, it had been almost a decade since Liz had set a foot thought its doors.

How would my parents feel about that? Liz couldn’t help but wondering. So many of her memories of them revolved around the Crashdown. Sometimes they would flirt in the kitchen, or mock argue over some of the inventory. Hell, one of Liz’s first memories was of sitting on the counter, pounding her chubby toddler fist against the order bell gleefully all while her father looked on, laughing.

She still dreamed of them. Haunting dreams that were full of what should have been if they lived. In them, her parents aged over the years, talked her about her day or of the memories they never got to make. When Liz woke from one of those dreams, she always felt empty.

Sort of like how she felt now, sitting in the restaurant her parents once owned and missing them terribly.

That was what Nicolette saw when she entered the restaurant a few moments later. A very pretty, very sad girl who looked so alone sitting in a room full of people, and she knew that was what had brought her to the Crashdown.

Now how do I approach her without her bolting again? That was the first question that ran through Nicolette’s mind. She’d felt the girl’s fear the night before, had formed just enough of a connection with her that she had some idea as to why. Still, the girl… Liz was her name, Nicolette recalled, was special. It was something else she’d been able to sense. Not a kindred like her or the boy, but something more than human.

One thing that she didn’t believe in was coincidence. It wasn’t just a random set of circumstances that brought both of these kids to her booth. As much as she hated to give it any credit, Nicolette had to chalk it up to fate.

“Stupid fate,” she muttered under her breath.

Even as the words left her mouth, Liz’s head shot up from book she was scanning and focused directly on Nicolette. The look on her face had Nicolette nearly sprinting forward, crossing the restaurant as fast as she could to get to the booth where Liz was sitting. However, the moment she started to move, so did Liz. Gaining her feet, she made a beeline for the breakroom. She was only inches from the swinging door when Nicolette caught up to her.

“Please,” she said softly. “I need a chance to explain.”

Liz felt her whole body stiffen, but she didn’t turn. “There is nothing to explain.”

“The fact that you ran out before I could finish the reading, that you are running now, says that there is,” Nicolette shot back. Then, suddenly weary, she sighed. “It’s not what you think, Liz. Nothing is.”

“What the hell are you doing?”

Nicolette turned at the sound of the sharply demanding voice. Behind her, the petite blond who had accompanied Liz the night before stood scowling, arms folded across her chest. Around them, people were starting to stare. Shit, was the first word that came to Nicolette’s mind. This is the last thing I need right now.

Still, she had to admire the blond for looking out for her friend. Therefore, she gave the girl a faint smile instead of letting out a string of curses welling up out of frustration. “You’re a good friend,” she murmured before turning back to Liz.

She’d as shifted the moment the blond spoke, her eyes now wide with both wonder and embarrassment. Nicolette understood exactly how she was feeling. She hated being the focus of attention, and with a restaurant nearly full of people looking at them, that was a lot of attention. But she couldn’t leave, not until she had at least given Liz some way to get in contact with her.

Reaching into the huge bag slung over her shoulder, she pulled out a small notebook and pen. Scribbling down her name and number, she ripped the sheet from the book, held it out to Liz. “Take it,” she whispered so only Liz could hear. “Answers to your questions or help, someday you might need one or both. If that becomes the case, use this.”

A hand came down on Nicolette’s shoulder, not rough, but firm enough she knew what she had good hint at what she was going to face when she turned around. With one last look, she implored Liz to take the piece of paper from her hand.

Liz swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. Was this day going to get any weirder? With a sober, nearly begging look, there she was, the fortune teller who’d scared the crap out of her the night before, handing her a piece of paper that might hold all the answers to questions she wasn’t even sure of. And part of her, though leery of what those answers might be, wanted that piece of paper desperately.

So she listen to it and snatched the paper from the woman’s hand just as Jim was pulling her around to face him.

“I think it’s would be best if you leave,” he said tersely.

Madam Nicolette’s spine stiffened at his order, and very nearly regally, she gave a toss of her hair and shifted away from him, moving her arm out of his grasp. “I’m going,” she said, and moved past him. With the eyes off all the restaurant patrons watching her, she walked directly to the door and out, moving gracefully down the sidewalk until she was out of sight.

A second later, Jim had Liz by the shoulder, much gentler than he’d held Nicolette’s. “Are you alright, Liz?”

I have no idea, she thought even as she nodded. “I’m fine. She just startled me, that’s all.”

“If she bugs you again, let me know. I’ll take it up with Hanson.”

Liz gave him a little smile, hoping to put Jim at ease. “Thanks, but I’m okay. I promise.”

Nodding, he gave her one last look, than made his way back toward the counter. Behind him, Maria stood, studying Liz closely. The intensity of the gaze had Liz shifting a bit. Then, with a sigh, she walked into the breakroom to get away from it and the glances of the other customers. She heard the door swing again as Maria walked through it just seconds behind her.

It was stupid to think she was going to get away that easy.

“Lizzie, you know that I am your best friend.”

Liz moved the little sofa, took a seat on it. “I know.”

“Then you know that you can tell me anything. Anything at all.”

Now, it was Liz’s turn to study her friend. “Of course I know that. I do tell you everything.”

Maria winced a little at the words. “Then tell me what is going on with you and the fortune teller. Hell, give me a clue about what happened last night. I know that you are not telling me everything.”

Shrugging one shoulder, Liz looked away because she just could tell a blatant lie to Maria and look her in the eyes at the same time. “She just wigged me out last night. I think she was actually trying to apologize just now, or something like that, but seeing her startled me. That’s all, Maria. I swear.”

A loud sigh of defeat escaped from her best friend, but Maria nodded her aquiensence just same. “Just remember, Liz. You can’t lie to save your life.”

As Maria turned back to go to work, Liz brushed away the tears that few tears that started to well in her eyes. She hadn’t been lying to save her life, but the life of someone else. Someone who’d already saved hers. Twice.


~~~~~~


Dreams consumed him. Like memories that could no longer go unremembered, the rushed thought his mind like a blur. Max would catch vague images of people, slight impressions on his feelings for them. Over all, there was the light scent of jasmine permeated his senses.

One hazy image was just a bit clearer than the others, invoked the strongest emotions, yet her name was just beyond his recognition. He wanted to know it, know her, like he apparently did at one time. So, when even those vague images began to fade away, Max delved deeper into him mind, chasing the dreams. Only, it was no use. consciousness began to filter in, drawing him back to reality.

The last thing that went though Max’s mind before his eyes began to flutter open was a name. “Liz…”

“Max.”

The sound of his name, which nearly choked out on a sob, washed away the last visages of his dreams. He blinked his eyes, saw the outline of Isabel’s head illuminated harshly by the light coming thought the window. Quickly, he closed them again. “What’s…”

That was all he managed to get out before he found himself crush in his sister’s arms. A second later, there was another pair of arms, another body crushed against his. Deciding he had no choice, Max opened his eyes again, saw a blond head on each side of him, faces buried into his shoulders. Isabel and Tess, he though, and was lost as to why they were crying.

Then, he heard a laugh, as tense as a laugh could be, but a laugh nonetheless. Slowly, Max turned his head, spotting Michael standing on the other side of the room.

“I love ya, man, but not enough to jump onto that bed.” Still, he walked over to the foot of the bed. “Welcome back, Max.”

“Back?” In his shock at the statement, Max tried to sit up, only to find he couldn’t move under Isabel and Tess’s weight.

“Don’t move,” Isabel ordered, moving to sit up now. For the first time, Max got a good look at his sister. There were dark bruises of fatigue underneath eyes that were rimmed in red and shiny with fresh tears just waiting to be spilled. On top of that, her face was pale and… completely without makeup, he realized. That hadn’t happened since birth… okay, hatching, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that something was going on, and Max wanted to know what.

“Okay,” he conceded slightly. “I won’t move, but will somebody please tell me what the hell is going on? You all are acting like I almost died or something.”

“We didn’t know if you were going to.” This came from Tess. She’d sat up too, but unlike Isabel, she wasn’t trying to keep her tears at bay. They were freely flowing down her cheeks. “You wouldn’t wake up, at all.”

Michael moved around the bed and laid a hand on Tess shoulder to offer comfort. Yet, his gaze remained focused on Max. “What’s the last thing you remember about last night?”

Max searched his brain, trying to remember what happened the night before. “We went to the fair. Saw that kooky fortune teller, then met up with you. Ate, than decided it was time to go. Isabel,” he turned to look at her. “You wanted to drive.”

Now the tears his sister had been holding back began to fall. And the rest came crashing down on him. This time, Max did manage to sit up, surprised a bit by how lightheaded the movement made him. “Is everyone okay?” he still managed to ask.

Michael and Tess nodded, but Isabel started to cry harder. “I didn’t see her, Max, not until that last second. Then it was too late. I thought she was going to die. She would have, if you hadn’t helped her, I know she would have. It would have been all my fault…”

“No.” Max leaned forward, wrapped his arms around his nearly hysterical sister. “No, Isabel. It was an accident. She was running.” He could remember the way the girl with long dark hair shot out from in-between to cars, running as if the Devil himself was chasing her. “There was nothing else you could’ve done.”

“But…”

Max shook his head. “Nothing,” he repeated, cutting her off. “Just tell me what happened next.”

Overwrought, Isabel only leaned more into his embrace, and Michael picked up where she left off. “You healed her, Maxwell. But then something happened. Something… freaky. You’re hands began to glow, then where your hands were,” he gestured at his stomach, “well, that began to glow too. Next thing I knew, you were groaning, and I think you were trying to let go, but you couldn’t.”

“We had to pull you away,” Tess continued. “You were out before we even got you into the Jeep. You’ve been out ever since.”

“Out?” Okay, maybe that was a stupid question, but Max wanted a little more clarification.

“Yeah.” Michael finally sat down on the edge of the bed. “You know, out like a light, snoozing, off in la-la land, in a trance. Take your pick.”

“And you were talking,” Isabel added as she shifted away from Max.

“Talking about what?”

Isabel reached up, brushed away the tears remaining on her cheeks as she pulled herself together. “I don’t know. Strange stuff like names. You repeated the word ‘Antar’ a few times.”

“What is Antar?” Tess asked, looking at him with questing eyes. Max thought for a moment he saw a brief flicker of recognition, but it was gone so fast that he could have been wrong.

Searching his own mind, Max tried the place the word with its meaning, only to come up blank. “I have no idea what it is?”

“Do you think it could be from our home?” Michael wondered aloud. “I mean, it’s not in the dictionary.” When Max just stared at him, Michael shrugged. “Tess looked it up. Still, what if it is from our home? What if it is our home?”

“This is our home,” Isabel corrected.

“Sure,” Michael scoffed, “to you three. You all have comfy homes and nice families. I’ve got one lonely apartment that sits above a restaurant.”

Max could see fresh tears beginning to brew in Isabel eyes, only these weren’t driven as much by sadness as by frustration… maybe a bit of anger. “You have us, Michael.” She shifted off the bed, and squared her shoulders in such a typical Isabel stance. Oh yeah, her heals were dug in now. “Or don’t we factor into your equation? Aren’t we enough for you? Our ‘nice families,’ as you put it, have always and will always welcome you. Doesn’t that even warrant a mention?”

Obviously aware of the fact that he’d stuck in foot in it, Michael stood up and started towards Isabel, reaching. “Iz…”

She threw up her hands to ward him off. “No. Don’t even think about it. No coddling, or hugs, or any of the other things you do when you’re trying to placate me.”

His hands dropped to his side. “Fine. I’ve gotta get to work anyway.” He crossed the room, threw a leg over the window sill, than glanced back at Max. “Let me know if you need anything, Maxwell. I’m glad you’re up.”

With that, he was gone, and Isabel was pacing. “He just frustrates me to no end. He would leave if somebody gave him the choice. Just pack up and take off. I can’t…” She trailed off, looked back, her eyes meeting Max, than Tess. “We can’t. This is all we’ve ever known. But he would leave us…”

The last few words were tight on emotion. Max tried to sit up more so he’d be able to swing his legs off the bed, but another wave of dizziness hit him when he moved. In that instant, Isabel let out a swallowed sob and ran from the room. “Isabel,” he called after her.

Shaking her head, Tess shifted a bit closer, laid a hand on his arm. “We should let her be for a bit. It’s been a really stressful night, especially for Isabel. She just needs a bit to pull herself together. We all know that Michael would never actually take off…” Her voice stopped short as she considered. “Would he?”

Max met her gaze, tried to manage a weak smile that failed completely. For a moment the memories of the things Michael had been through in his short life flooded Max’s mind, leaving doubt in their wake. “I’m not sure.”