His Father's Son (CC ALL,MATURE) [COMPLETE]

[Midwest Max]

Winner - Round 6




Title: His Father's Son
Author: Karen
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I get nothing from this...at least not in the form of money
Summary: This picks up three months after the end of Nobody's Son. Nate tries to adjust to his new life, trying to keep what he knows a secret.
Author's Note: Thank you very much to all of you who supported the first fic! The banner is by the wonderful babylisou. Not sure how quick I'll post on this one. Gateway sucks.


Part One

She came to him in his dreams.

Or so he wanted to believe. Several nights a week, an attractive blond girl entered Nate’s subconscious and he wanted to believe that she was indeed visiting him, that he wasn’t only conjuring her up as part of a fantasy. Of course, some nights his dreams were a little more carnal than others, and he owned up to the fact that those might indeed be spawned from his imagination. Not only were those dreams more sexual, but they also held a maddening lack of detail – he could kiss her, but he couldn’t taste her. He could touch her, but he couldn’t feel her. And though she’d shed her clothing, he could never discern any intimate details of her body – it was as though he was looking at her through a camera’s smoke filter.

The lack of the tangible in those dreams led Nate to believe that they were indeed of his own making. But other nights, when she came to him in crisp clarity and he could almost smell her perfume when he awoke, he was certain she’d been there in some capacity. Because, after all, Alyssa Guerin was not a normal girl.

It had been three months since Nate Spencer had returned home from Roswell, New Mexico. Winter had fallen on western New York, freezing Lake Chautauqua, the cold winds blowing across Lake Erie and dumping inches of snow on the small tourist town. This was the quiet time of year, when all of the tourists retreated to their permanent homes, when cottages were boarded up and Chautauqua became populate only by the natives.

While Nate had always enjoyed the change of seasons, the claustrophobia this winter brought was far from welcoming. He’d done his best to act “normal”, but he was essentially canned up in the house or his father’s shop for hours at a time with nowhere to run. If it was summer, at least he could go outside if he started to feel uncomfortable, if he started to feel like the charade was dissolving.

Because that’s what Nate had been doing for the last three months – playing charades with his parents. Until recently, he had never kept anything from them; he’d never had a reason to lie. But his trip to Roswell had changed that forever. Nate, it seemed, was descended from alien/human hybrids, a fact that had nearly gotten him killed at the hands of the FBI. The fewer people who knew the secret, the safer he’d be – and that included the Spencers.

Jonathan and Emma Spencer were simple people, living a country life – but they weren’t fools. The change in Nate since he’d returned would be obvious to the blind. Forever a quiet and reserved person, he had now slipped into nearly being mute. He took to spending long hours in his bedroom, shut away from the world. He wasn’t doing anything particularly secretive in there – he just wanted to be alone. Heading Max’s advice, he took up running every morning, an act that totally baffled his parents, who had known him to be a rather lazy person when it came to fitness. For all of the ordinary airs that Nate put on, there was another half dozen things he did that pointed to the fact that something was different.

The one thing that he couldn’t escape was the nightmares. When sweet dreams of Alyssa Guerin eluded him, his nights were filled with the FBI, with paralyzing strokes induced by electrical devices implanted into his spine. With Annie.

Nate had done what Max had suggested – he’d waited a month then told his parents that Annie O’Donnell had dumped him. It hurt to lie to them, and it felt even worse to hope that the deception would also help explain his sullen mood of late – anyone who was experiencing relationship problems would be moody, wouldn’t they? As Max had predicted, there was no obituary in the papers for Nate’s ex-fiance. It was as though she’d fallen off the face of the earth.

The hardest part had been leaving her picture on his nightstand until the “break up” happened. It was Nate’s penance, his punishment for having sent Annie running into that desert to meet her doom. Every night before he went to bed, he had to look at her smiling face, the dots of freckles that decorated her nose, all the while knowing that her body had been disposed of in some manner he didn’t care to have details about.

Not that Annie was a saint. Nate knew that. He knew that her betrayal could have led to the deaths of many innocent people, beings who were just hoping to survive another day. What bothered him, though, was that he never really got to hear her side of things. At what age had her father – whom Nate also assumed to be dead – coerced her into working for the FBI? Did she ever really have any feelings for him at all? He was never going to know, and that in and of itself was devastating.

There were times when Nate wondered if he’d made a mistake by coming back east. At home without anyone to really talk to, he’d felt that maybe he should have stayed in Roswell, or traveled to Boston to be with Max. Of course, to have turned his back on his parents would have been to cut them to the core. But he felt that being closer to Max would have put some of his insecurities to rest. Sometimes Nate felt utterly alone.

And then she’d come to him out of the blue. Sometimes it was an email, or a phone call, or those wonderful dreams that helped him to sleep through a restless night. Her words were always comforting and friendly, never mentioning the pain she’d displayed when he’d left her standing in the middle of her mother’s living room with a gaping hole in her heart.

As Nate logged on to check his email, he grinned as he discovered that cyberspace was her way of communicating this evening. Full of anticipation, he clicked on her message and it popped up before him. He was surprised to find that it was a picture of her in a scarlet red dress, her hair pulled atop her head and curled, an arrangement of white and red flowers strapped to her wrist. Behind her, a very gawky teen stood awkwardly – he was wearing a dark suit and a stupid grin. She’d gone to a dance – just like he’d told her to.

Below the picture was a one-sentence message – He thinks HE’S a king HA!

Nate’s eyes drifted back to the top of her head and he saw a small tiara embedded in her hair. A slow grin curved his lips – she’d been crowned Christmas Queen or something like that and the guy in the picture (her date?) must have been crowned King. Instead of jealousy, Nate felt a surge of pride and happiness…followed by a twinge of envy. Not jealousy, envy. He envied this goofy teenager who had his hands on Alyssa’s waist. Then he realized that her message continued, so he scrolled farther down so he could see the rest of it.

I wish he was you.

Nate frowned slightly. He wished that, too.

Once grief over Annie had started to dissipate, Nate found his thoughts – conscious and unconscious – slipping back to Alyssa more and more frequently. And it was more than just thinking about her, it was aching for her. Sometimes when he couldn’t get to sleep, he’d replay kissing her over and over in his head, trying to recall every little detail – how she’d tasted, the little sighs she’d given. Every time his mother did laundry, the smell of fabric softener would propel him back in time, to that night when she’d spent her free time watching his clothes tumble in the dryer, when she’d first kissed him. He could obsess about her for hours and he started to wonder if Max had been right about Alyssa’s feelings – she and Nate were meant for one another.

Reluctantly closing the email from Alyssa, he clicked on the next one which was from Liz Evans. It was also a picture and it made him chuckle aloud. Liz was now five months pregnant and the photo was of her holding her belly and looking bewildered. The week before, it had been a picture of her shoeless, wearing a shirt that was too small and standing over the stove – barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen. Nate was finding that even though Liz was a professor at a haughty Ivy League school, she had quite a silly sense of humor.

Nate’s expression became pensive as he thought about the relationship he’d forged with Max’s wife. Liz had no reason to be nice to him, not after what his mother had done, not after they’d all paid the price of his existence. But she’d overlooked all of that, becoming a friend to him and never judging him based on his lineage. He knew that some of that open-mindedness was due to the fact that Liz loved Max more than her next breath, but it had to be hard to be so kind to the evidence of Max’s prior relationship. Nate commended her – she had never once shown anything but kindness toward him.

Scrolling past Liz’s picture, he read her short note. Max had been away again and she hoped that he would be in Boston when the baby was born in a few months. In his gut, Nate felt a stab of sympathy – it had to be difficult to know that Max could be pulled away at any moment, that she might end up giving birth to their first child without his presence. Oh, Nate knew that Liz wouldn’t be alone – she’d probably be surrounded by more family than she could deal with – but he also knew that the only person Liz really wanted there was Max. Nate hoped that Max could make it there – for both of their sakes.

Sitting back in his chair, Nate smiled easily. He was going to be a brother! True, this baby was going to be nineteen years younger than him and Nate was roughly the same age Max had been when he became a father, but he was excited about it all the same. Nate didn’t have a large family – no siblings, a couple of cousins who were decades older than him – so he’d never had the pleasure of having a baby or a child around. It was going to be a new experience and he couldn’t wait to be the big brother.

Biting his lip, he scrolled back up and looked at Liz’s picture again, wondered if it was a boy or girl. There was obviously no way to tell, but Nate had to wonder if Max could tell simply by virtue of his powers. Not that it mattered to Nate – he’d meant it when he’d said that he didn’t care what he got as far as a half-sibling.

Unable to avoid the temptation, Nate closed Liz’s email and re-opened Alyssa’s. Like a lovesick puppy, his eyes glazed over and all he could do was stare at her picture. She was perfection, pure and simple. His eyes traveled over her face, each curve, and he remembered how soft her skin had been. These days he ached for her so much that he regretted having told her to stay behind even though he’d known that it was for the best. If she was here right now, he’d put his arms around her and never let go.

Images of Alyssa in his bedroom flooded Nate’s mind and he immediately blushed – some of the dreams he’d had of her had been raunchier than he’d ever imagined they could be. He’d certainly never dreamed of Annie in such a manner. Maybe it was because Alyssa seemed more liberal than Annie had been, regardless of her virgin status. Maybe it was because Alyssa had been right about there being a connection between her Nate. All he knew was that he often thought of doing things with her that Annie would have found absolutely disgusting – and it didn’t seem wrong to want to do them.

Glancing at the calendar pinned to his wall, Nate counted the days – 33 days until Alyssa turned seventeen; he would turn nineteen only a month later. Agonizingly appropriate, she’d been born on Valentine’s Day. Nate grinned, a ton of puns about that running through his head. Tomorrow he’d go pick out a present to mail to her, something pretty and precious – just like she was.

Stretching, Nate looked out the window and realized it was already dark – nightfall came quickly this time of year. Soon it would be dinner time and he knew that he had to put on a good front, put Nate the actor out there for his parents. It seemed like such a struggle to just act normal these days.

Nate decided to go downstairs and sit in front of the fireplace with his father, who was no doubt down there finishing up the daily paper. Since Nate had returned from Roswell, his little outings with Jonathan – fishing, boating, local hockey games – had just about screeched to a halt. He knew that it was his fault, that his need to distance himself had also robbed him of the pleasure of his father’s company. But tonight he felt like commiserating with the man, trying to have a normal, non-filtered conversation.

When he got about half way down the stairs, however, he realized that this night would be no different than those of the last three months. He stopped in his footsteps and listened carefully. He could hear his mother’s words, but only a mumble from his father.

“I’m just worried about him, Jon,” Emma said. “He never used to be this withdrawn.”

Jonathan’s reply was short and indiscernible.

“I don’t know. I just feel like he’s hiding something from us.”

Nate’s heart began to thump a little quicker. Maybe he should just walk in like he’d heard nothing…

“He spends an awful lot of time in his room,” Emma continued. “His friends don’t come over any more – I don’t think he even calls them. I think something happened while he was away, something he doesn’t want us to know.”

Nate swallowed and Jonathan mumbled his reply.

“Yes, I know that,” Emma responded. “But your son is a bad liar, Jon.”

At that, Nate had to brace himself against the wall of the stairwell, feeling like a trapped rabbit. All of these months, he’d thought he was doing a good job of covering up but now he realized he hadn’t done a good job of anything.

“Well, I’m not going to sit around and watch him disappear before our very eyes,” Emma announced. “If he won’t tell us, I know someone who will. I’m calling Diane Evans in the morning.”

“Emmie, you can’t go behind his back like that,” Jonathan replied and Nate guessed he’d moved closer to the stairs since he could now hear him clearly.

“I don’t want to,” Emma confessed, tears in her voice. “But I don’t know what else to do, Jon. Can’t you see? I’m afraid we’re losing him…and I just hope we haven’t already lost him.”

tbc

Off to see The Grudge tomorrow

[Midwest Max]

Hey, Tas - read my comments above about Emma wanting to call Diane. She's grasping right now, at a loss for what to do. It was a thought that came out of her mouth as she thought it.


Part Two

“Calm down, Nate. Just relax.”

Max’s voice was level and controlled as it came through Nate’s cell phone.

Nate had driven down along the lake, to a secluded spot where he and Annie used to go to make out. His new truck was better than his last, but not by much. When he’d returned from Roswell, he’d given his parents the highly-believable excuse that the old truck had broken down and it would have cost more to tow it and repair it than it would have to just abandon it. So, off to the junkyard with it…but Nate knew that it was really the property of the US government, that there were probably a half dozen scientists going over it with a fine-tooth comb to gather as much trace evidence from it that they could.

“She hasn’t called my mom,” Max informed his son.

“How can you be sure?” Nate asked, watching a squirrel scamper along one of the bare limbs of a nearby tree.

“Because my mom can’t keep a secret,” Max laughed. “She would have called me by now. Just slow down and take a couple of deep breaths. Better?”

Nate frowned slightly, but for Max’s sake he gave a wary, “Yeah.”

“Good. Now listen. We knew this was going to happen, right? What happened to you in New Mexico forever changed you. There’s no avoiding that. Your parents have known you all of your life – I had no doubt they were going to see the change in you.”

Nate’s brow furrowed. “And yet you let me come home?”

“I didn’t let you do anything, Nate. You chose your path – it’s not up to me to tell you what to do. Besides, if you’d have never returned to New York, how would that have looked? What would they think then?”

Nate sighed tiredly. The Spencers would have been hurt at first – but then highly suspicious afterward. Max was right – it would have been worse. “What am I supposed to do?”

“You can start by not overreacting,” Max advised. “You don’t need to act more nervous than you already are. Go back to your house, stop avoiding them and try talking to them.”

“You mean tell them the truth?” Nate’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “I don’t mean that,” Max finally said. “But someday, we’re going to have to make that decision. Before you do, make sure you let me know first, okay?”

Nate snorted. “Trust me, Max, I’m not letting the cat out of the bag again – not after what happened last time.”

Max’s voice dropped slightly, to a warmer, less-authoritative tone. “You need to let yourself off the hook for that one. It was a mistake. We all make them. At one point or another, we’ve all done something that could have been potentially disastrous.”

“Yeah, but people ended up dead because of what I did.” Nate’s tone was sullen, apologetic.

A longer pause ensued this time. When Max spoke, Nate heard a stab of remorse in his words. “You’re assuming too many things, Nate. Don’t be so sure that we haven’t already gone through what you went through. We all make choices – and sometimes we all pay the consequences of them.”

Nate looked down at his boot, its toe wet from recently-melted snow. Of course Max was right in that Nate didn’t know all there was to know – and Nate thought maybe there were things he’d be better off not knowing.

“You okay?” Max asked.

“Yeah,” Nate replied. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

“Good. You have my cell number if you need me.”

“Yeah.”

“Nate?”

“Huh?”

“Call me anytime, day or night.”

Nate gave a small smile. “Thanks.”

“I’ve gotta go now – gotta call my girl.” There was a smile in Max’s voice that immediately made Nate imagine his and Liz’s phone call, no doubt gushing and overflowing with tidings of love.

“All right. Talk to you later.” Nate clicked off his cell phone and stared at it for a moment. Gotta call my girl. Well, she wasn’t his girl yet – not officially – but that didn’t mean he couldn’t call her, did it? Hoping she wasn’t at work, he quickly pushed a couple of buttons and Alyssa’s number was automatically dialed.

“Hello?” she said shortly, her voice as sweet as she was.

“Hi,” Nate said tentatively. “It’s Nate.”

“Oh my God! Hang on a moment.”

Nate’s brow furrowed as he imagined what she could be doing – running for an exit? Putting out a fire? Kicking King Christmas Dance out the door?

“Okay, I’m back,” she said breathlessly.

“Is everything…okay?” he asked cautiously.

“Yep, fine.” She gave a silly giggle. “As soon as I heard your voice my heart literally skipped, Nate! It took my breath away!”

A grin spread across his face just knowing his voice could do that to her.

“You snuck up on me,” she accused light-heartedly.

“I’m sorry,” he said, still smiling.

“Don’t be. It felt…amazing.” She giggled again. “So, what’s up? Did you call just to put me into cardiac arrest?”

He laughed lightly, already feeling a little better. “No, I was just out and about…and bored. So I thought maybe you’d be home and want to talk for a bit.”

“Oh, my baby’s bored,” she cooed, then laughed. “I wish I knew what that was like.”

Nate felt a stab in his gut. She was too busy to be bored, too busy to miss him.

“You’re frowning,” she said. “I can tell all of the way from here.”

He smiled, nabbed. She already knew him so well.

“Well, get rid of that sour puss. Just because I’m busy doesn’t mean I’m happy.”

His brow furrowed. She was unhappy? Alyssa unhappy was a thought that he just couldn’t live with. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s nothing wrong, not really. I’m just tired of school and work and school and work. It’s all I do. Besides, Mom’s been back in the studio so she’s never home. I’m here all alone – when I am home, that is.”

“Where’s your dad?” Nate asked. Maybe out punching little kids on the playground? Taking candy from babies, perhaps?

“Working.” There was a pause, then, “Actually, he’s been with Uncle Max. Wherever they are. Averting another crisis.” She sighed.

“I just talked to Max.”

“Really?” She groaned. “I miss Uncle Max, too. What did he have to say?”

Nate picked at the steering wheel of the truck. “I had to call him…because my parents are getting suspicious.”

“No way! Why?”

He snorted. It was so like Alyssa to be so worldly and so naïve at the same time. “I guess I’ve changed a bit since I went away.”

“Oh.” Pause. “In what way? Did you grow another head?”

Nate laughed. “No, not like that. I just…I just find it really hard to lie to them, Alyssa. I’m sure they know that I’m acting weird.”

“Well…stop it.”

He blinked. Stop it? Like throwing a switch?

“You worry too much,” she decided. “Jeez, you are your father’s son. Max Junior, that’s what you are.”

Nate rubbed his brow. “You make it sound so easy, Alyssa.”

“It is easy.”

“And you’ve been doing this your entire life,” he reminded. “I’m new to this.”

“Well, take some advice from a pro – the harder you try, the more you fail. Just act normal – but watch your words.”

He dropped his hand and looked out across the frozen lake. Maybe she was right – maybe he was trying hard. Why was it that Alyssa always had the ability to cut straight through the bullshit and simplify things to a manageable level?

“I’ve seen you in my dreams,” he said softly, the words coming out of his mouth as soon as he thought them. Immediately, he paled – he was never going to be able to “watch his words” when things like that came tumbling out.

“What?” she laughed.

“You’ve been in my dreams,” he repeated, deciding he didn’t mind if she knew that.

“Have I? And what kind of dreams were they, Nathan?” she asked, teasing.

All kinds was the correct answer, not that he felt like sharing that piece of information. “Sweet dreams,” he said. “Do you come to me? Or am I imagining the whole thing?”

The silence on the other end of the line confirmed that sometimes she did indeed come to him. Finally she answered, her voice small. “Yes.”

Nate grinned.

“Are you mad?” she asked. “Because if you are, I’ll stop.”

“I’m not mad,” he replied. “I’m grateful. You don’t have any idea of some of the dreams you’ve interrupted.” He practically shivered, just thinking about the tortures he’d imagined, the pain that sometimes seemed all too real.

“Yes I do.”

He stopped, his mouth slowly dropping open in surprise. So, the interruption of his nightmares was not a coincidence or something he’d imagined – Alyssa had been doing it all along.

“Sometimes I just watch,” she explained. “I watch what’s going on in your head. If it’s nice, then you never know I’m there. If it’s bad, then I make it go away.”

Nate’s mind immediately shifted to some of his more risqué dreams and he blushed even though he was alone. “Um, Alyssa, have you seen…um…”

“Sex?”

The blushing reached all of the way to his ears. She was so blunt – nothing embarrassed her. “Yeah,” he answered weakly.

“Yes,” she replied without disgust or indignation.

Nate covered his eyes. “And when you’ve seen the sex dreams, um, do you…interact with them?”

“No,” she said simply. “I wouldn’t know how. Besides, I don’t want to have sex with you for the first time in a dream. What fun would that be?”

Embarrassment had pretty much taken over Nate’s being at that point. “I’m sorry,” he said, tossing his hand in the air. “I know that some of the things I’ve dreamed are – “

“Interesting,” she finished. “I’m not offended – I’m flattered.”

Nate smiled weakly, wanting to believe she really felt that way.

“You’re thinking I’m just saying that, aren’t you? You’re too serious, Nate. You’re going to have an ulcer by the time you’re twenty.”

He laughed lightly.

“Listen, I have to go,” she said in regret. “I have a paper due tomorrow and all the powers in the world aren’t going to write it for me.”

“Okay,” he said. “Um, thanks – for helping me out during the nightmares.”

“Happy to help,” she said, a smile in her voice. “I’ve gotta go now – but maybe I’ll see you later.”

Nate grinned, knowing what that meant. After saying goodbye, he turned off the phone and then looked into his lap. While hearing his voice made Alyssa’s heart skip, hearing hers prompted an entirely different reaction from him.

tbc

[Midwest Max]

I talked to a nice woman at Gateway today. So 1 out of 8 employees there has a clue Still didn't save the sale for them.

Earth2Mama - you blew my story arc a few pages back Honestly, I was thinking of what happens in this chapter before you put it out there as a suggestion


Part Three

When Nate returned home from the lake, he found Emma sitting at the dining room table, writing out the week’s bills. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he loitered for awhile in the doorway, watching this woman who had raised him. Just the night before, he’d heard a tone in her voice that he’d never heard before – it had practically screamed with desperation. Desperation because of him. He loved her – to him, she was his mother and always would be – and he hated to see her in such a state. Now that he’d talked with Max, he more or less came to his own conclusion that Emma was never planning on calling Diane Evans to ask for information about his strange behavior – she was simply at a loss for what to do.

“Hey, Mom,” he finally said, moving cautiously toward the table.

Emma turned in her seat, her reading glasses near the end of her nose and gave him a big grin. “Oh, hello, Nate,” she said. “I didn’t see you standing there.”

“Sorry if I startled you,” he said, slipping into the chair adjacent to hers.

“No, that’s okay,” she replied, stacking the envelopes she’d written checks for.

“Do you need me to run those to the post office for you?” he offered, trying desperately to act normal.

She smiled gently at him. “That would be great.”

“Need anything from town while I’m there?”

She thought for a moment. “You could pick up some apples if you’d like me to make a pie for dessert tonight.”

He grinned, his mouth watering at the mere suggestion of one of Emma’s pies. “Okay.”

They remained like that for a couple of minutes, mother and son simply looking at one another. In her eyes, Nate saw a lot of love and a lot of confusion. He hated what this was doing to her. Reaching across the table, she brushed his hair out of his eyes.

“You need a haircut, Nathan,” she mused.

He gave her a one-sided smile and a nod of his head. Rising from the table, he gave her a kiss on the cheek that seemed to startle her. Then he picked up the stack of bills and went about his errands.

The first stop was the post office. As he was dropping the letters into the slot, he looked at the Most Wanted board and was glad to see that Max Evans’s picture wasn’t posted there. Then he kicked himself internally for being that paranoid. After a quick stop at the market to get apples, he decided to placate his mother by stopping at the barber. If little things like that made it easier for her, then it was the least he could do.

After he returned home, Nate went upstairs to check his email. Even though he’d just talked to Alyssa on the phone a few hours before, he hoped to find a message from her. When he didn’t see one, he frowned slightly and sighed in mild disappointment. But she had a paper to write and he knew that she needed to put her homework before stroking his ego – or anything else of his for that matter.

Nate’s blue eyes drifted over the sidebar and he saw that MightyMouse was on line – Liz Evans. He looked at her name for a long time, wondering how Liz had dealt with the whole alien conspiracy when she’d first found out. After all, she wasn’t born with the knowledge like Max and Alyssa had been – she’d had it dumped on her just like Nate had. So, what had she done?

Reaching for the mouse, Nate clicked on her name and an instant message window opened. Hi Liz, he typed.

In a few moments, her reply sprang onto the screen. Hey, BoyWonder, what are you doing?

Nate grinned – Liz had given him his screen name out of the blue about a month ago. Saw your name, wanted to see if you wanted to talk. How are you feeling?

Ugh. My feet are swollen up now. I walk like a penguin. The little one wants to kick me in the bladder – but only from midnight until five AM.

Nate gave a small laugh. Still haven’t found out what it is?

Nope. But I’m thinking at this point that it has at least one extra arm…and an extra foot. Nothing with only two of each could hit so many places at once.

He supposed that if it weren’t for his existence, the others might worry about what they were about to spawn. But he’d come out normal. And Alyssa had been constructed perfectly, at least in Nate’s opinion. It was a small comfort to know that at least Liz wouldn’t have to worry about the genetic profile of her baby.

Can I ask you something? he typed.

Of course you can. Tell Dr. Liz all your problems.

Nate grinned. The irony was that Liz really was a doctor – not medical, but she’d received her doctorate degree somewhere along the way. Do your parents know?

There was a brief pause, then she replied, Yes, they know I’m knocked up.

He couldn’t risk being too explicit and neither could she. This was her way of saying that she wasn’t sure what he was talking about. Not that, he responded. Do they know about me?

Yes, they know that Max has a son from a prior relationship.

Nate grimaced. She wasn’t getting it – he needed a way of asking so that she would understand but no one else would. Do they know where I was born?

A longer pause ensued this time and when her reply came it was short. No.

Nate’s eyes fixed on that tiny word. No. Liz Parker had been lying to her parents for two decades, and had apparently been getting away with it unnoticed. Either she was very good or she had some special gift that he didn’t.

I’m struggling with that, he finally typed. How do you cope?

He waited patiently during a long silence. He got the feeling that she was typing more than a one-word, one-syllable response this time, however. When the computer finally chimed, he found that he was right.

They know what they need to know. Max works for the oceanographic institute as an environmentalist. Because of that, he’s away a lot. That’s reasonable and they accept it. In the beginning, it wasn’t so easy. I slipped up a lot, I acted strangely. I think they assumed it was normal teenage rebellion/out-of-whack hormones or something. Then I realized that I didn’t have anything to hide. It wasn’t MY secret – to bear or to tell. As soon as I let go of that, then I could act like a normal person again. I had been acting suspicious for no reason.

Nate sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes fixed on her words. There was a difference here – it wasn’t Liz’s secret, but it was definitely his. Her advice on this matter wasn’t going to carry much weight…except for one thing.

Did you ever think about telling them? he asked.

After a short pause, her reply returned to the screen. I’ve thought about it, but I’ve never had a reason to. They’ve never been in danger. Max and I live far away, so we don’t need to cover ourselves all of the time.

Unlike Nate, who lived right under his parents’ noses.

Liz seemed to get that immediately. Sweetie, she typed. I know this is hard. I didn’t like it either when I had to do it. Did you ever consider putting some distance between you and them?

Nate recoiled. He couldn’t just up and leave his parents – it would hurt them so much. How? he asked. I can’t just pick up and move to Europe or something.

LOL Not that much distance! Then you’d be too far from us as well I meant, maybe you need your own place, your own space. You’re going to be 19 soon – you’re old enough to be on your own. What about going away to college?

Nate frowned. I’m not sure I have enough money for that.

Then how about getting an apartment?

He worked his mouth, bit his bottom lip. How about that? Would it hurt his parents terribly if he said he wanted to live on his own? Would they become old and depressed if their nest was empty? Of course, he’d still see them every day, what with working at the store and all, but maybe Liz had a point. Maybe if he were to get his own place, he wouldn’t be so self-conscious about phone calls he received from a girl in New Mexico, or nervous that he’d leave his PC logged in and one of his parents would see a note from Max or Liz. Maybe she was right…

Listen, kiddo, you think that over for awhile. The critter within has just sucker punched my bladder once again and I’m going to need to use the bathroom soon.

Nate smirked. One last question?

As long as it’s a short one.

What can I get Alyssa for her birthday?

No money for school and yet enough money for her, eh?

Nate’s ears turned red with embarrassment – Liz could read him like a book. Well, yeah…

How much money do you want to spend?

Money is no object.

Well then. She likes emeralds...and sports cars.

Nate laughed. She already has a sports car.

Then I guess it’s emeralds. Oh, shit. Gotta go – literally!

MightyMouse disappeared immediately from Nate’s contact list and he gave a little grin. Poor Liz – at the mercy of a houseguest that kept kicking her bladder. He’d never been around many pregnant people, so he wondered what it was like to go through that day after day. She seemed in good spirits, but was she always that way?

Clicking off his PC, he stretched out on his stomach on his bed as the wonderful smell of baking apples drifted up the stairs. He liked being here, in this tiny little bungalow home with his attic bedroom. He liked smelling his mother’s home cooking every night – and eating it as well. Nate pretty much couldn’t cook – if he moved out, it was going to be take-out or macaroni and cheese every night. Since he was pretty much a pauper, even the take-out wasn’t looking too promising.

Flipping onto his back, he looked up at the unfinished ceiling, the ancient rafters of the place. He’d had this bedroom as long as he could remember. Memories of holidays past came to his mind – waking up to the aroma of a turkey roasting in the oven on Thanksgiving morning, creeping down the stairs one Christmas Eve to see if Santa had arrived yet then hearing a “Ho Ho Ho” from somewhere outside and scampering back up the steps before St. Nick spotted him. There were so many wonderful memories in this place.

Nate knew he couldn’t stay forever. He’d known that eventually he and Annie would get married and they’d get their own home and have a bunch of children, so moving out wasn’t entirely the issue.

Annie was now gone. The future Nate had planned for them was gone. The only permanent thing he had left was this place, his parents. In all of the turmoil that had surrounded him of late, he found comfort and security in his home.

And now he was afraid he was going to have to leave it behind.

tbc

[Midwest Max]

Thanks everyone for your support. Let's get back to fic, shall we? I'm blaming this next part on MariachiMax (my alter ego). She was in a naughty mood Must be all the stress...


Part Four

The bell above the door of the tiny shop jingled merrily as Nate stepped inside, the smell of old varnish and a warm fireplace greeting him. Kicking the snow from his boots, he couldn’t help but smile – he’d always loved this little store, loved the little old man who ran it.

Shortly, the gentleman appeared, his steps short and shuffled, but a huge smile on his time-wrinkled face. “Mr. Spencer,” he said in a raspy, slow voice, extending a hand in Nate’s direction.

Nate grinned in return and took the shopkeeper’s hand in greeting. “Hello, Mr. Wallace.”

The man waved a hand. “Life’s too short for formalities,” he said in spite of his prior greeting to Nate. “Call me Joe.”

“As long as you call me Nate,” he conceded.

Joe shrugged. “Sure, why not. So good to see you.”

“And you as well. How is Mrs. Wallace?” Formalities aside for present company, Nate knew that Joe preferred that his wife was paid more respect than everyone else.

“You know,” he answered, shuffling around behind the glass jewelry case. “Bursitis in her shoulder, a bought with the flu this year.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“Eh, she lived. What can I do for you today?”

Nate smiled widely. “Emeralds.”

The old man’s gray eyebrows shot up quickly. “Emeralds, is it? A Valentine’s Day present perhaps?”

Nate knew what he was asking – by now all of Jonathan’s acquaintances had been informed that the engagement of Nate and Annie O’Donnell was kaput. Joe wanted to know if there had been a miracle reunion…and it would indeed take a miracle for them to reunite. Joe had been the one to sell Nate Annie’s engagement ring.

“A birthday present,” Nate clarified.

The old man gave a little chuckle. “Got a girlfriend, do ya?”

Nate could feel his cheeks start to flush. “A friend.”

Joe nodded his head but he was still smirking, years of experience telling him that Nate was lying like a rug. “Okay, what kind of emerald for your friend?” He pointed with a shaking hand to the other side of the store. “They’re over there.”

Crossing the room took all of two steps, but Nate beat Joe there by a good fifteen seconds. Beneath the glass lay a sea of emeralds, all of them sparkling in the lights. There were rings and bracelets and necklaces. Nate was drawn to the rings first, but he didn’t know her size. Of course, she could have it resized, but why burden her with the leg work? The bracelets were beautiful – but the price tags on them made his hair stand up.

“How much in the bank account?” Joe joked playfully.

“Enough for a necklace,” Nate decided, stooping at the waist so he could take a closer look.

Joe reached behind the case and unlocked the back of it, slid a panel aside and put the tray of necklaces on the top of the case. Outside of their glass cocoon, the jewels were even more beautiful. Nate’s eyes immediately fell on one that had a stone so dark it looked almost blue.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” Joe asked, his eyes creasing at the corners with a knowing smile.

“Yeah, it’s beautiful,” Nate said, reaching for it. “May I?”

“Of course.”

Nate picked it up and held it by its delicate gold chain. It was an emerald cut, with a tiny rim of diamonds around it; it was pretty without being flashy. This was the one he had to have, there was no point in looking any farther. Then he turned over the price tag and nearly hit the floor. Frowning with disappointment, he gently laid the necklace back onto the tray.

Nate glanced over the others, but none of them seemed to compare to the one he’d picked up. Joe waited patiently, leaning his old bones on the counter. Finally Nate straightened and shook his head.

“Maybe emeralds aren’t the way to go,” he announced, trying to hide his disappointment.

“No?” Joe asked. He glanced at the necklace Nate had picked up. “I thought you liked that one.”

Nate looked at it for a long moment, then shook his head. “Yeah, it’s pretty, but I just don’t know…”

Joe’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “Not that much in the bank account?”

Nate looked up sheepishly and shook his head.

Joe’s brow furrowed as he picked up his reading glasses and perched them on the end of his nose and then inspected the tag on the necklace. “Well, that can’t be right…”

Nate watched him curiously as he clucked and retrieved a pencil. Joe erased furiously, then scribbled on the tag, turned it around so Nate could see it.

“That was supposed to be a four,” he explained.

Nate withdrew slightly. “Oh, Joe, I can’t possibly –“

“You mean you don’t even have that much?” the old man interrupted.

“No, that’s not what I meant. I meant that I can’t accept –“

“The correct price for this?”

Nate stopped entirely. Perhaps there was no arguing with the man. Perhaps letting Joe do this one nice thing for him – for Alyssa – was something the old man wanted to do and maybe Nate should just let him do it.

Joe winked. “How about I find a pretty box for this?”

Nate conceded, nodding his thanks, and waited patiently while the man took almost an hour to find an appropriate box and ring up the sale.

Driving home with his prize tucked neatly into his jacket pocket, Nate couldn’t keep thoughts of Alyssa out of his head. He’s just bought her a beautiful gift and he couldn’t wait to give it to her. Of course, he had to keep it a secret until he mailed it for her birthday, but he was practically bursting with the excitement.

As soon as he got home, he raced upstairs, flopped onto his bed and dialed her number. When she heard his cheerful tone, she laughed lightly.

“What are you so happy about?” she asked.

“Nothing really,” he lied. “I’m just in a really good mood today.”

“That’s good, Nate,” she laughed again. “I’m in a good mood too.”

“What are you doing? Tell me what you’re doing right now.” He wanted to hear every detail of what she was doing, even if it was just picking her teeth.

“I wasn’t doing much, but now that I’ve got that voice of yours in my ear, I was thinking about touching myself.”

“What did you say?” he half-gasped, sure he hadn’t heard correctly.

“Do you ever touch yourself?”

Nate’s eyes were wide. The mere fact that she was bold enough to ask that question made him stir, the room in his jeans suddenly becoming a little claustrophobic.

“Do you, Nate?” Her words were soft.

His whole body suddenly felt alive, a quiver starting in his abdomen. “Well, yeah,” he answered, his voice barely audible.

“And when you touch yourself,” she said, her voice but a whisper traveling a thousand miles, “do you ever think of me?”

Nate swallowed hard; it was a little harder to breathe all of a sudden. He couldn’t believe the turn this conversation was taking.

“Do you wonder what it’s like to be with me?” she asked.

He looked at the phone, wondering just what she was doing on the other end, then nodded his head. There was no point in lying to her – the girl had seen all of his naughty dreams for Heaven’s sake. “Yes.”

“When I touch myself,” she said, her lips close to the receiver, “I think about what it would be like to be with you.”

Nate thought he heard a little groan – with a tug of agony he realized that she decided to touch herself after all.

“I never did that before,” Alyssa continued. “When I touched myself before, it was just because it felt good. But now…no, now I only do it when I think of you.”

Nate drew his lips into his mouth, biting down hard to quell the sudden need that was racing through his body. She was such an enigma sometimes. Didn’t she say she was a virgin?

“I know what you’re thinking,” she sighed into the phone. “You’re thinking I lied about being a virgin.”

His eyebrows rose quickly – damn that she knew him so well already!

“You don’t have to lose your virginity to do this,” she said. “I am a virgin, but I know how to pleasure myself. My friend Jeannie showed me…” On the other end of the line, there was a gasp, a sharp in-take of breath.

Nate closed his eyes, just listening to the sound of her voice, wishing she was lying beside him, her lips against his ear. Wait – her friend Jeannie showed her how to reach orgasm? The very thought of that made him whimper.

“Touch yourself, Nate,” she whispered into the phone. “We don’t have to tell anyone. Just you and me, apart but still together. Do this with me.”

Oh, God. She really was touching herself. In Nate’s mind, he tried to picture what she looked like at this moment. Was she clothed or naked? Since Nate had never seen her naked, he decided to imagine her clothed, her agile hands exploring beneath the fabric. He saw her face, her eyes closed, her cheeks flushed with desire, her full lips parted as she moaned.

He couldn’t take it any longer. His breathing started to match her ragged breaths on the other end of the line.

“Do it,” she whispered, her words a seductive hiss in his ear.

Nate’s hand slid downward, over his tense stomach muscles, to the tab of his zipper. He wanted this, to share this intimacy with her more than anything.

“Are you doing it?” she asked in a moan.

“Yes,” he answered, his throat dry. He started to ease his zipper down, the discomfort in his jeans lessening with each inch it dropped.

Alyssa gave a hiccupping sound on the other end. “Hurry,” she said.

Nate jerked his zipper the rest of the way down –

And his call-waiting beeped.

“Son of a bitch!” he shouted and he could almost feel Alyssa cringe on the other end – Nate never swore. “I’m sorry,” he said, his head clearing and his voice dropping to a normal decibel. “Hang on a second.” Cursing under his breath, he hit the button that would pick up the other line. “Hello?” he barked in exasperation.

“Um, Nate?” came Max’s voice after a startled pause.

Nate wiped his hand over his face and blew out a breath. “Sorry, Max.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, fine. Hang on a second. I have someone on the other line.” Flipping back over to Alyssa, Nate felt a wave of disappointment wash over him. “Alyssa?”

“Yeah?” she said, the sound of sex gone from her voice.

“It’s Max. I have to go. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she replied and Nate could imagine her shrugging nonchalantly. Just like that – the sex kitten had gone back into her cage.

“No, I’m really sorry,” he said, his cheeks turning red. He’d wanted to come with her more than anything.

“Don’t be,” she laughed, a smile in her voice. “You can take care of it later…just remember to think of me.”

“Uh, yeah,” he agreed in embarrassment.

“Bye,” she giggled, then hung up.

Nate flipped back over to Max. “Sorry about that, Max.”

“Did I interrupt something?” Max asked, his voice soft and as succinct as it always was, holding a tone that made Nate believe he knew absolutely everything Nate had just been doing.

“No, nothing,” Nate denied, trying to sound innocent. “So, what’s up?”

“I’m done with my work,” Max explained. “I’m on my way back to Boston to see Liz.”

“Really? That’s great.”

“But I couldn’t help but notice how close I am to Chautauqua.”

Nate’s face lit up. “You are?” he asked, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.

“I think so,” Max said playfully. “I’m in Buffalo.”

“Really?!”

“Do you think maybe I could come see where you grew up? Is now a bad time?” Max’s voice was full of apology.

“Now is perfect. Where are you?”

“At the airport.”

Nate was already off his bed and shoving on his shoes, the urgency in his pants forgotten for now. “I’m on my way.”

tbc

[Midwest Max]

Part Five

Nate jogged through the airport, his eyes fixed on the signs along the concourse. Baggage Claim - that’s where Max said he would be. Nate couldn’t help but feel a rush of excitement at seeing him again - they hadn’t set eyes on one another since Nate had left Roswell. Not that there hadn’t been contact. Quite the contrary - he received frequent emails from Liz and heard from Max at least once a week, usually via telephone.

But there were things that couldn’t be discussed over the phone, things that could only be eluded to and never spoken of in any certain terms. It was hard for Nate to inquire about his heritage under such conditions, and since he’d returned to his home in New York where he could clear his head, he’d been full of questions.

Nate spied Max before Max saw him. He was leaning against a wall, one leg bent at the knee, one boot sole flush with the cinder block. His eyes were fixed on a magazine he held before him; his hair was longer than when Nate had last seen him and he was sporting a fully-grown beard, not the stubble he’d had in Roswell. Immediately, Nate broke into a wide grin.

Seeming to sense the presence of his offspring, Max looked up and grinned as well, his smile infectious and undeniably handsome. Laughing, the two embraced, Max giving his son a good squeeze before releasing him. At closer proximity now, Nate realized that Max’s golden tan from the fall was gone - apparently his “work” had been in a chilly climate, judging from the beard and the paler complexion.

“How you doin’, man?” Max laughed, cuffing him playfully on the arm.

“I can’t be better,” Nate replied, his smile still in place. And the truth was, he hadn’t felt this good in a long time - he had a potential girlfriend who was willing to molest him via long distance and now Max had fulfilled his promise to visit him. Yep, Nate was feeling quite chipper at this moment.

“That’s great,” Max said, still grinning as well. “You look great - been working out?”

Nate shrugged. “Just doing like I was told. Where are your bags? I’m sure you don’t want to hang out in an airport forever.”

Max shook his head. “No, I’ve seen enough of them for a couple of days.”

A couple of days? He’d been traveling for a couple of days? Cold climate, couple of days...Nate tried to piece together all of the places he could have been.

“My bags are over here,” Max was saying as he moved for a surprisingly small pile of belongings. Nate was oddly reminded of those “race around the world” reality shows - those people always managed to pack every necessity in one huge back pack. Was this how Max always traveled?
Nate grabbed the biggest bag and Max cocked his head in his direction.

Nate shrugged. “You’re my guest,” he pointed out.

Max snorted an amused laugh, then followed Nate out of the airport and into the brisk winter air. A light snow had started to fall, the flakes large like those from A Charlie Brown Christmas as they floated to the ground.

“So, this is New York,” Max said, looking up into the sky, a flake smacking him right on the end of the nose.

“No, this is Buffalo,” Nate corrected, pointing in the direction of his parked truck. “If we don’t get out of here soon, we might get snow-bound.”

Max gave him a disbelieving look.

“Honest to God,” Nate laughed, opening his door and tossing Max’s bag behind the seat. “I’m not kidding - one innocent flake in Buffalo can turn into an avalanche an hour later.”

Max laughed as he climbed into the passenger seat.

Nate shrugged nonchalantly as he slid behind the wheel and slammed his door shut. “All right, don’t believe me. I just hope you brought some snow shoes.” He couldn’t help an impish laugh as he backed out of his parking spot and they headed for Chautauqua.

After a few minutes of chatting about Max’s flight and Nate’s hurried trip to the airport, Max pulled down his sun visor and gave himself a scowl in the mirror.

“Do your parents know I’m coming?” he asked, scratching his fingers across his beard.

Nate hesitated just long enough that Max stopped studying himself in the mirror and gave his son a wary look.

“Nate.”

Nate glanced at him, briefly taking his eyes off the road.

“Did you tell them I’m coming?” Max inquired.

“Yeah,” Nate answered softly.

Max blinked. “Oh. I’m, um, getting the feeling it’s not such a good thing that I’m here.”

Nate shook his head. “No, it’s not that. It’s just...”

“What?” Max asked gently. “What is it? If my coming here abruptly is causing problems, just tell me and we can turn around and go right back to the airport. I know that I just dropped in unannounced and that I should have given you more notice. There would be no hard feelings if you wanted me to leave.”

Nate glanced at him and gave him a smile of truce. “No, I don’t want you to leave. I’m glad you’re here. It’s just that this has to be kind of weird for them, you know?”

Max nodded in agreement. “I can understand that.”

“They were both at the store when you called.” Nate conveniently left out what he was doing when Max phoned. “I stopped to see them and my mom just started panicking,” he said with a laugh that lead Max to believe the panicking wasn’t a serious thing.

“Why?” he asked.

Nate rolled his eyes. “She hadn’t shopped. Be warned now - my mom will stuff you like a Thanksgiving turkey.”

Max laughed. “Good - it’s been awhile since anyone tried to over feed me.”

Nate imagined the last time that had happened had been when Diane Evans had clucked over him back in the fall. “Mom’s probably at home right now, stripping the sheets off the spare bed to put on fresh ones, cooking and baking and fretting like she always does when we’re about to have company.” He drew in a breath. “So it’s not that they don’t want you here - it’s just a little awkward.”

Max paused a moment, then said, “Well, in that case...” First glancing out the windows to make sure they didn’t have an audience in a passing car, he looked into the mirror and waved his hand across this face. Immediately the beared disappeared.

Nate’s eyebrows rose quickly, wondering if Max could show him that - if he never had to see another razor again in his life, it would be a godsend.

Then Max ran his fingers through his hair and it quickly shortened to just above his collar, a tad shorter than when Nate had met him. Grinning, he flipped the visor back up and turned to Nate. “More presentable now?”

Nate nodded, not that his parents would have cared that Max looked like he’d just crawled down from the mountains. He fixed his eyes on the road and thought about his trip to the store to tell them that Max was in Buffalo. In his father’s eyes, he saw curiosity and surprise, but in his mother’s, he’d seen something else - fear. Fear of what, exactly, Nate could only speculate. Before he’d left New York in search of his real father, Jonathan had told him about Emma’s numerous failed attempts at motherhood and how getting Nate had been the best thing that had ever happened to her in that regard. Was knowing that his real father was so interested in him making her nervous that she might lose him some day? Or was it something else?

Since Nate had been home, it was Emma who seemed to notice - and worry about - the changes in him. Meeting the person who had given him life could be considered a life-altering event in the respect that it might change how someone viewed their life or their future. Such changes would probably be small and nearly identifiable to the outside world. But Nate had been tortured by the FBI, his fiancé had died a rather unpleasant death and he’d found out he was actually second-generation alien/human hybrid. All of those things had stripped away some of his innocence and had altered his every day behaviors to the point that they caused concern. Since Nate couldn’t tell Emma any of those things, was it possible that she was blaming all of the changes on Max? Could she be dreading meeting him for fear that her worst fears of him being a terrible influence on Nate would be confirmed?

“Of course, then I started shaving my balls, so finally the rash went away.”

Nate blinked and turned to look at Max, who was smirking at him. “What did you say?”

“Glad I finally got your attention,” Max said, lifting an eyebrow. “Are you sure this is okay?”

Nate nodded. “It will be fine. I’m sorry - my mind went elsewhere there for a minute.”

“To anyone I know?”

Nate flushed lightly.

Max grinned and gave a little snort. “Oh, Nate. As I asked you before - are you sure you can handle all of that?”

Nate thought of Alyssa and their last phone conversation - without much preamble, she’d pretty much outright told him she wanted to have phone sex. Annie would have hinted around and tried to be coy...then again, Annie would have found masturbation disgusting and would never have asked in the first place. Alyssa was so up front, so ‘take me as I am’ that sometimes she simply astounded him with her blunt honestly.

“No,” he answered Max with a laugh. “I’m not sure I can handle all of that.”

Max clapped him on the shoulder. “I don’t think many men could. Best of luck to you on that.”

“Thanks,” Nate said, trying to sound like he was put-upon, but there was a hint of happiness under all of it.

“I may need you to do a favor for me,” Max announced, turning his head to look at a house that still had its Christmas lights on - and they were lit.

“What’s that?” Nate asked curiously.

“Well, you know I’ve got a baby on the way.” Pride practically dripped from Max’s ear-to-ear grin.

Nate cocked an eyebrow teasingly. “You do? I didn’t know.”

“Yeah, pretty soon,” Max boasted, his chest puffed up with pride before he laughed at himself. “Anyway, I’m going to try to stay home for awhile. And Liz won’t be able to travel for a bit, and there’s something we need to do and won’t be able to get there to do it.”

Nate’s brow was furrowed with concern. Was this alien-related? Was he being pulled into the family business now? “What is it?”

“I want you to represent us,” Max said cryptically.

Represent them? At what - an intergalactic conference or something? Nate knew nothing of relations - for God’s sake, he’d just been unable to talk an octogenarian out of giving him an obscene discount on Alyssa’s birthday present. If Max and company expected him to be able to negotiate with warring alien factions, then the whole planet was going to hell.

“Relax,” Max finally said, obviously trying not to laugh. “I was just dicking with you so I could see that worry-wart look on your face.”

Nate shot him an irritated glance which held little to no malice. “Ass,” he muttered.

Max laughed lightly. “Truth is, Alyssa is graduating a year early.”

All thoughts of Max being an ass quickly flitted away - she’d failed to mention this news to Nate.

Realizing that, Max waved a hand to appease his sense of being left out. “She’s kept it pretty quiet, in case she didn’t earn enough credits. But I know she’s going to. In any event, Liz and I aren’t going to be able to make it to her graduation - the baby is due right around that time and we won’t be able to travel. I know it’s going to disappoint her, but I thought maybe you could go for us - for our family.”

For some reason, those words hit Nate right in the heart and warmed it immensely- Max and Liz considered Nate part of their family. It wasn’t Max and Liz and a new baby - it was Max, Liz, a new baby and Nate. Just like that, they’d opened their home and hearts to him.

“Besides,” Max said, one corner of his lip lifting into a half smirk. “Something tells me that although she’s going to be disappointed to not be seeing us, seeing you is going to more than make up for it.”

Nate flushed again but smiled in spite of himself. The smile turned to sheepishness and the flush turned crimson, however, at Max’s next remark.

“Plus it will cut down on all of those long distance bills.” There was just a hint of knowledge in his voice, an understanding that he knew exactly what Nate had been doing when he’d called.

Fortunately for Nate, his period of squirming was short as they had just arrived at the Spencer bungalow. Internally, he drew in a deep breath, praying that the next few days would go smoothly.

tbc

[Midwest Max]

Part Six

Ten minutes after Max and Nate arrived at the Spencer home, Nate realized that his fears of the night being a total disaster were unfounded. It was, of course, Max’s job - and his life - to communicate with people he’d never met. He went about it with grace and ease and sincerity. Nate got the impression that the grace and ease had come over time, that Max hadn’t always been so secure in himself that he could be congenial with strangers, but the sincerity had probably always been part of him.

Over dinner, Nate watched in amazement as Max asked just the right number of questions to appear interested but not intrusive. Even Emma seemed to relax a bit with this stranger who insisted on calling her “Ma’am”, a politeness that had also been instilled in Nate. But it was toward the end of the meal, when dessert had been presented and coffee poured, that Max did the most astounding - he got the normally stoic Jonathan to talk about his love of ice fishing. Nate sat simply dumbfounded, listening to his father rattle on and on about appropriate safety measures, about dragging his shanty out onto the lake and cutting the hole with a chainsaw. And Max seemed genuinely enthused - Nate wouldn’t have been surprised to find both of his fathers suited up and heading out to the lake come morning.

“This is my wife,” Max was saying as he pulled a picture of Liz from his wallet. “This is Liz.”

Jonathan held the picture as far as his arm length would allow, taking a glance at the pretty dark haired girl without the aide of his reading glasses. He gave a grunt of approval and handed the picture to Emma.

“My, she’s a pretty girl,” Emma said, nodding to punctuate the truth of her compliment.

“Thank you,” Max said, beaming.

“What is it that she does?”

“She’s a professor at Harvard.”

In that moment, Nate saw a twinge of something in his mother’s eyes, something that almost made him think she felt unworthy, that the Spencers were beneath the Evanses in some way. After all, Max’s father was a lawyer, his wife a professor at an Ivy League school - and the Spencers were but humble shop owners.

“That’s wonderful,” Emma said, some of the enthusiasm gone from her voice.

Max nodded and pushed the picture back into his wallet. “She likes it. She struggled to get where she is,” he said, picking up his coffee cup. Nate had a feeling this is where the Band-Aid for Emma’s pride came into play. “It wasn’t easy working her way through a school like that, but my Liz is plucky - nothing was going to hold her back.”

Nate’s eyes shifted to his mother, who seemed to have appreciated the fact that Liz Evans wasn’t a snob, that she hadn’t ridden on some rich relative’s coattails to get where she was.

“What do you do?” Jonathan asked, cutting into his pie.

Max shifted his attention to the man who had raised his son. “I work for the oceanographic institute. I’m an environmentalist. I just got back from Alaska, working on a project up there.”

One corner of Nate’s mouth lifted into a half-smirk. Had Max really been in Alaska? Did it really take days to get from Alaska to New York? He doubted it.

“I’m on my way home,” Max was saying. “And I thought I’d stop in and pay Nate a visit, get to meet you as well. I hope it wasn’t an intrusion - I know it was short notice.”

As both of his parents denied that that was the case, it occurred to Nate that Max had avoided the fact that Liz was pregnant. Judging from the pride that had oozed from Max’s every pore in the truck on the way there, Nate had to conclude that the omission was intentional. But why? Was Max afraid of how it would look that he was having another child, when he’d already given one up for adoption?

Or maybe there was another reason. Eighteen years before, Max had “hidden” Nate by giving him away. It was just possible that the paranoia that had led to that act was still in place, that Max had just cause to fear for the life of his unborn child. It was possible that the threats that had existed eighteen years before still existed in this day and Max was keeping his child a secret to the outside world.

The rest of the evening was spent talking in the living room, the small group of people gathered before the brick fireplace. Nate didn’t talk much - he sat back and watched his parents interacting with Max, noting that they were genuinely interested in what he had to say. Nate was relieved that things had worked out so well, that his parents were accepting to this stranger who had given them his son.

At bedtime, Nate showed Max where the spare bedroom was - not much more than a ten-foot-square room with a bed, a small dresser and a night stand. But it had a half bathroom attached to it, so the Spencers had always designated that room the visitor’s quarters. Max thanked him for putting him up for the night, then Nate went upstairs to his own room.

He stared at the rafters for a long time, still finding it surreal that Max was in his home. A year ago, he hadn’t even known that Max existed. A year ago, Nate had been an entirely different person. Now everyone who was in his life then was no longer there - not Annie, not most of his friends. Now he had a new understanding of who he was, of his lineage. It was astounding how so much could change in just a year’s time.

But the truth was, a year hadn’t even passed since all of those things had happened - it had been a mere three months. If that much could happen in three months, what would the rest of the year hold?

At some point, Nate drifted to sleep, falling into darkness for a long time. Slowly, an image came to his subconscious, a floating apparition of a dead girl with strawberry blond hair. He watched in fascination rather than fear as she took form before him - Annie.

“What are you doing here?” he heard himself ask, his voice sounding like was coming from the far end of a paper towel roll.

“I came to see you,” she said, her grin wide but empty of kindness.

“Why?” His brow furrowed, confused as to what Annie could possibly want with him.

“I heard you. I heard your little conversation.”

“What conversation?”

“With that girl.” Annie slid closer to him, laying her palm flat against his zipper.

Even in the dream world, the action did nothing for him. He didn’t even really care that she was touching him there.

“You need to be careful of what you do,” she said, her eyes shifting from his crotch to his eyes. “I know what you almost did.”

He shrugged. “What did I almost do?”

She sat back, removing her hand, her face twisted into a smirk. “Were you really going to wack off to the sound of her voice?”

Nate remained silent, a spark of anger flaring deep within.

“You were, weren’t you?” Annie let out a cackle of disbelief. “Christ, I’m glad you never asked me to do that. It’s disgusting, Nate. You know that.”

He continued to watch her mutely, reasoning that it wasn’t any of her business what he did these days.

“But you need to be careful,” she warned, tilting her head downward and looking at him menacingly from beneath her eyelids.

“Why?”

Her green eyes drifted to his crotch again, then slowly back to meet his eyes. “Be careful where you’re spreading that sperm around, Nate. You never know who might come across it.”

His brow furrowed. “How could anyone come across it? And what would they want with it?” Talk about disgusting...

Annie rose, stretching her arms high above her head. Then she slid her hands over her breasts, to her abdomen, to her thighs. “Did you ever wonder why I went on the pill?”

Nate snorted. “Yeah. So you wouldn’t get pregnant.” That was a no-brainer.

But Annie shook her head slowly. “Oh, no, Nate. That’s only part of it. Because if I went on the pill, we no longer needed condoms, did we? And if we no longer needed condoms, what could you do?”

Nate swallowed. This wasn’t looking good.

“What could you do?” she repeated. “I’ll tell you - you got to come inside of me, didn’t you?”

He nodded mutely.

“And it felt great, didn’t it?”

At the time, yes, it had.

“But what about all of that sperm?” she asked, tapping her lips with her forefinger. “You know that my dad knew what you are. Do you really think he’d let that kind of...evidence slip away so freely?”

Nate’s eyes grew round and he felt his heart jump in his chest. Was she telling him that they had harvested semen from Annie after they’d had sex?!

She leaned in close, her nose nearly touching his. “What do you think they would do with that?”

Nate shook his head.

“Haven’t a clue, do you?” She turned to look over her shoulder and Nate anxiously followed her line of sight.

Behind her, a group of doctors was milling about a room, all with clipboards and pensive expressions on their faces. Nate searched their faces, but saw no one he recognized. He noticed that the men seemed to be looking at the floor. He followed their gaze.

A small child, still in diapers, was sitting with his back to Nate. The doctors scribbled on their clipboards, then huddled together, whispering behind their hands as they studied the tot. Nate felt a huge hole open inside of his stomach - they were discussing what to do with the baby. And their options didn’t include giving him a warm, loving home. He was their lab rat, their experimental monkey. If they destroyed him in the process of their experiments, they’d just make another one.

Nate’s heart was pounding so hard now he could feel it in the hollow of his throat. He couldn’t take his eyes off the baby, off its head of black hair. Slowly, the child turned and met Nate’s eyes, his blue and resigned to his fate. Nate gasped at the utter devastation he saw there, the complete destruction of the spirit of one so small. Icy fingers gripped his heart and turned his blood to ice water. He struggled to get up, to save the child, but Annie pushed him back down.

“It’s too late, Nate,” she cooed. “You’re ours now.”

“Nate.”

Nate’s eyes darted about his room, trying to get a bearing on where he was, on where the treacherous Annie had gone. Everything was dark, save for the small rectangle of moonlight that was coming in from the dormer window. It reminded Nate of that small strip of light beneath the door of the compound where he’d been held by the FBI - that tiny beam had been his only hope.

“It’s okay, Nate.”

That was Max’s voice. Nate shifted his eyes to the right and found Max sitting calmly on the edge of his bed.

“You’re okay,” he said softly. “It was just a dream.”

Nate sat up with a start. Had he cried out? Had his parents heard? If Max heard, then certainly Emma and Jon had.

Max put a hand on his shoulder and eased him back to the mattress. “I heard you, but they didn’t,” he said to the unasked question.

His mind clearing, Nate remembered that Max had superior hearing to other people. Drawing in a deep breath, he tried to calm his heart, the knot that was in his stomach. He could still see that little boy’s face, the death and loss of hope he’d seen there. It haunted him.

“You okay?” Max asked, turning on the bedside lamp.

Nate squinted against the light and nodded.

Max looked at the floor, then back to his son. “This happens a lot, doesn’t it?”

What - dreams of Annie burglaring sperm from him and helping the FBI create Guinea pigs? No, that was new.

“I mean the nightmares,” Max clarified in the wake of Nate’s silence. “It’s okay if it happens. I know. I’ve been there.”

Nate looked at him silently. He’d seen Max’s torture via videotape and what he’d gone through had to have been the fodder for many bad dreams for many years.

“I wish I had some miracle cure for them,” Max said apologetically. “But I don’t.” He reached down and pulled Nate’s blankets back over him. “All I can advise is that you talk to people who care about you about what you see. Don’t let the dreams drive you mad.” He placed a hand on Nate’s shoulder. “You’re safe,” he said in reassurance. “Nothing is going to get you here, especially not while I’m here.” He smiled gently, then turned out the light and returned to his own room.

Nate was wide awake. Even though he knew it was foolish to try, he attempted to rationalize the dream. Dreams were rarely literal, so he doubted that Annie had really delivered a fresh semen sample to the FBI. He doubted that they were creating Nate clones to experiment on.

Then again, dreams were also sometimes prophetic.

tbc

[Midwest Max]

Thanks for your fb, everyone Here's a new part and Max's analysis of Nate's dream


Part Seven

Nate never did get any more sleep that night. He laid in his bed until the early-morning light started to filter through his windows, then he heaved a sigh and started to get up. He was used to this, used to short nights, although the dream he’d had the this time had been far freakier than any other he’d had.

Slipping on a pair of sweats and his running shoes, Nate figured that if Max was still sleeping, he could get his run in before breakfast. Halfway down the stairs, however, he realized that Max was already up - he could hear his mother talking with him in the kitchen. Nate paused in his footsteps, drawn by the fact that Emma was chuckling; the sound warmed his heart and he sank to the step, silently observing their conversation.

“I wanted to thank you,” Max was saying. “For giving Nate the home I couldn’t give him.” There was genuine gratitude in his voice and it only drove home to Nate how hard it had been for Max to give him up.

“It was our pleasure,” Emma replied, a hint of thanks in her voice as well. “He’s a wonderful kid.”

“Yeah, he’s special,” Max said affectionately.

Nate heard the clink of dishes and knew that Emma and Max had been up for some time now - she’d probably insisted on cooking him breakfast. From his position on the steps, he could see the clock in the living room - it was past eight already - and he knew that Jonathan was probably already at the store.

“I’m glad that you came,” Emma was saying when Nate tuned back in. “He’s been...a little out of sorts lately.”

“What do you mean?” Max asked.

“I don’t know, really. Since he came back he’s just been...distant.”

Nate swallowed and bit his bottom lip - how was Max going to handle the inquisition that had been originally meant for Diane Evans?

“Well, he did break up with his girlfriend, didn’t he?” Max inquired.

“Yes, but...” Emma blew out a sigh. “It seemed to happen before then. Did something happen while he was in Roswell? I’m not trying to pry, I’m just worried about him.”

“Understandable.” Max’s voice held complete understanding, more than Emma could ever comprehend. “Nothing traumatic happened while he was in New Mexico that I know of.”

Nate smiled solemnly - Max was a good liar.

“I think it’s just an adjustment,” Max continued. “I was adopted, too, you know.”

“No, were you?” Emma sounded surprised.

“Yeah. My sister and I were adopted when we were six. Of course, I knew that I was adopted, but there were still a lot of things that I didn’t understand. I didn’t know where I came from, who my parents were.”

“Even at that age?”

Nate’s eyes were round - Max had slipped up this time. Nate knew that the hybrids had emerged from the pods the size of six year olds, but if Max was human, he should have some remembrance of a time before then.

“We were abandoned,” Max covered easily.

“Oh, my!” Emma exclaimed. “You poor things!”

“It was hard, I won’t deny that. But it all worked out in the end - I got great parents, just like Nate did. Anyway, I think it’s just been a lot for him to absorb. I don’t think you need to worry about him being a little distracted. Having been there myself, I know there is a lot on his mind.”

“I suppose you’re right.” There was a pause and Nate could clearly picture his mother’s pensive expression. “It must have been so hard for you to give him up, after having been an orphan yourself.”

Max’s coffee cup clinked on its saucer. “It was. But I made sure he went to a good home. I made sure he came here.”

Nate pushed himself to his feet and decided to make his presence known. In the kitchen, he found Max and Emma seated at the small table, empty plates and coffee cups before them. As soon as they saw him, they both smiled widely, Emma rising to give him her seat.

“It’s okay, Mom,” he said. “You sit.”

“Nonsense,” she laughed, moving out of his way. “You sit and I’ll make you some eggs. The skillet is still hot.”

Nate slid into his seat and rolled his eyes at Max, who hid his grin behind his coffee mug. Nate noted that he was also wearing running clothes - had he already gone? The fact that they’d both had the same thought to get the morning run out of the way was amusing to him.

“Sleep well?” Nate asked, reaching for the coffee pot.

“Wonderful,” Max replied, shooting him a meaningful glance. “You?”

Nate gave a little shrug. “Pretty good. Did you run already?”

Max laughed. “Well, I started to, but your mom was cooking breakfast when I got up and it smelled too good to pass up. Want to go after you eat?”

Nate nodded as he stirred some creamer into his cup. “Three miles?”

Max raised an appreciative eyebrow. “Up to three miles already? Impressive.”

Emma clucked softly from before the stove. “That’s all he does. Run, run, run. Are you the one he got it from?”

Max gave a nod of his head. “Yep. Not so bad once you get started, is it?” he asked Nate.

Nate shook his head. In fact, running helped to clear his thoughts, and today he definitely needed that.

While Nate ate his breakfast silently, Emma and Max continued to chat about inconsequential things, just getting to know one another better. Max, being the good house guest, insisted on doing the dishes, finishing his and Emma’s in time for Nate to slide his into the water.

Then they were outside, breathing the brisk late-January air. There was a new coat of snow on the ground, the flakes glistening in the pale winter sunlight. Max pulled a stocking hat down over his ears, but Nate preferred to run without one. They started out slowly, gradually picking up the pace.

After about a mile and a half, Max glanced at his son and gave him the once-over. “Was it the dream?”

Nate glanced at him, his breath coming out in quick, frosty puffs that dissipated in the wind. Inside, he was delighted that this time he could keep up with Max without feeling like he was going to die. “The dream?”

“Is that why you’re so quiet?”

Nate shrugged.

Max pulled up to a stop, putting his hands on his hips and dragging in a few deep breaths. Nate passed him, then circled around when he realized he’d stopped.

“Tell me what happened,” Max said. “It helps to talk about it.”

Nate looked at the ground. In the harsh daylight, thoughts of sperm stealing and baby torturing seemed more than a little ridiculous. Max was going to think he was a whack job.

Max reached over and tapped him on the shoulder. “C’mon, let’s walk.”

Together, they continued on their running path, walking rather than running.

“When I was first released from the White Room,” Max started, his nose and cheeks red from the chilly air. “I had some horrible dreams. Things weren’t so good for me then. Liz and I had split up and she’d left the state for the summer. Isabel and Michael were on an entirely different wave-length than I was.”

“Why?” Nate asked.

Max shrugged. “They wanted to go home. They wanted to find our enemies. I didn’t. I just wanted Liz to come home so I could apologize to her for being what I was.”

Nate gave him a sad smile.

“She had a hard time with it,” Max explained, his breathing already returned to normal. “I can imagine that it was hard to find out that your boyfriend was an alien king.” He laughed at the sheer lunacy of it. “Worse, I was destined to be with someone else.”

“My mother.”

Max nodded. “Yeah. Anyway, I would have these awful dreams and all I wanted was for someone to make them stop. I wanted Liz to be there for me and she wasn’t. Isabel and Michael were half pissed off at me and I didn’t want to trust Tess enough to let her help me. So, I was on my own. And it was hell, Nate. If I can prevent you from going through that same hell, I will.”

Nate kicked at the snow beneath his feet. Of course, Alyssa had already been helping him...not that he wanted Max to know that she’d been in his dreams, seeing all kinds of things.

“Max, what if there are others like you and me - being tortured by the FBI?” he finally asked.

Max gave it some serious thought, then said, “I would know about it.”

“Would you?”

He nodded. “Agent Darmon isn’t the only person I have embedded in the government. If there was another alien being held captive, I would know.” He furrowed his brow slightly. “Is that what the dream was about?”

“Sort of.” How to bring up the stolen sperm theory? “Max, when you were captured, did they take...um, bodily fluids from you?”

Max’s eyebrows lifted in surprise and he couldn’t help the grin that came to his lips. “Bodily fluids?”

“Yeah, you know...um...” Nate’s cheeks burned red - and it had nothing to do with the cold air.

“You mean like a semen sample?” Max asked, trying to be mature but still amused nonetheless.

Nate’s eyes darted away. “Um, yeah.”

Max thought. “Not that I know of...but I was unconscious part of the time.” His brow furrowed. “Did they take one from you?”

Nate shook his head. “Not that I know of - but I was unconscious part of the time.” He drew in a breath and looked at his feet. “I think that they may have gotten it from some other way, at some other time.”

Max stopped walking. “When? How?”

“Annie,” Nate answered quietly, not looking up from the ground.

All sense of humor was gone from Max’s expression now. Reaching out, he put a hand on Nate’s shoulder. “Nate, tell me about the dream. You can tell me anything.”

Nate pointed to a park bench and the two men walked to it, brushed off the snow and took a seat. Half embarrassed, Nate told Max about Annie having unprotected sex with him in order to collect sperm samples, then teams of doctors studying a little boy, all the while giving Nate the impression that he was a clone of some kind. He left out the part about Annie warning him about having phone sex with Alyssa - some things Max just didn’t need to know.

When Nate was done with the story, Max stared at the ground between his shoes, thinking for a long moment. Nate watched a couple of joggers on the other side of the park, running with a big white dog that nearly blended into the snow.

Finally, Max lifted his head and gave his son an understanding half-smile. “First off, I don’t believe that they are making Max and Nate clones to experiment on,” he said. “But I will contact my contacts and have them confirm that.”

Nate felt a wave of relief. “Thank you.”

“Secondly, I think your dream was not literal, Nate. I think it was all a part of your subconscious. I’m not the dream expert here, but I can give you my dime-store analysis if you’d like.”

“Please,” Nate said eagerly.

“You dredged up Annie to punish you for having feelings for Alyssa,” Max stated bluntly.

Nate wilted, guilt rushing through him.

“I’m not saying it’s rational that you feel that way - but I believe some part of your conscience is still feeling grief and responsibility for Annie’s death. I can’t help you with that - you need to move on in your own time.”

Nate nodded silently in agreement.

“I think maybe the doctors were just an after-effect of what you experienced while you were captured. You have a fear of being experimented on. It’s a valid fear, Nate. None of us is truly safe. We never will be. But we can’t let that fear run our lives.”

Nate waited for more of Max’s psycho-analysis, but he got none. Finally, he lifted his head to speak to Max. “What about Annie taking the sperm to the FBI? What about the babies?”

Max’s eyes followed the people with the dog, who had reversed their direction. “I think you’re still feeling betrayed by Annie, and this would be an ultimate betrayal by her - to take something from you and then use it to create something to destroy mercilessly.”

Nate looked away again, not really comforted by Max’s words. “I saw his face, his eyes,” he said. “He was destroyed, that poor little boy. He was begging me to help him, but I couldn’t.” Nate’s blue eyes were clouded with grief. Then he jerked as a realization came to him. “What if the dream was prophetic?”

“You mean that the child was your son that was being tortured?” Max asked, weighing the possibility.

Nate nodded slowly, then shook his head, a grim reality settling in. During dinner, he’d been thinking about Max and his desire to hide Liz’s pregnancy - perhaps that had played a part in this dream. “What if it isn’t my child that would be in danger...but yours?”

Max seemed momentarily started at that thought, then gave a grin and shook his head. “Can’t be.”

“Why not?”

“Because it was a boy.”

Nate’s brow furrowed.

Max grinned a little wider. “I’m not having a boy.”

Nate’s eyebrows shot up quickly at the revelation.

Max put a finger to his lips. “Don’t tell Liz - she doesn’t know yet.”

Nate nodded to the conspiracy, but then his joy at having a little sister faded quickly away. “God, Max, it just seemed so real. I could feel his pain, his defeat...”

Max watched him silently, then put voice to another theory. “Nate, there’s something you haven’t considered.”

“What’s that?” he asked softly.

Max gave him a look of sympathy, of grief. “Maybe that little boy was you.”

tbc

~~~~~~~~~

God, I've never used the word "sperm" so much

[Midwest Max]

I really appreciate all of you leaving comments! Especially you de-lurkers There's always a sense of satisfaction when you can get a lurker to delurk But I appreciate everyone taking the time to leave fb! It means more to an author than you can know.



Part Eight

Nate stared into his salad without really seeing it. He and Max had finished their run, then had gone home to get cleaned up and then spent the rest of the morning window shopping. Max had purchased a few things for Liz, a grin on his face the entire time, and then they’d ended up at this corner café for lunch.

But Nate didn’t care about lunch or gifts for Liz or window shopping. His mind was stuck on Max’s theory about his dream.

Maybe that little boy was you.

Nate had already exhibited the ability to retrieve memories that most people couldn’t, remembrances from his infancy - the oldest of which had been the recollection of crashing into the desert when Tess had returned to earth with him. It wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility that the baby in the dream had literally been Nate, on another planet, being experimented on by the doctors of Antar. Just because it was his “home” planet didn’t necessarily mean they were going to be friendly and welcoming to him - just as the FBI on earth was curious about him, why wouldn’t the beings of Antar be as well? Had he endured some unwelcome poking and prodding during his short time there? Was the dream really a suppressed memory?

Or maybe it was less literal than that. Maybe that little boy, the child who had given up hope and had resigned himself to his fate, was just a symbol for what Nate was becoming. Maybe he just represented Nate’s loss of innocence, the jading of his soul.

And for some reason that was more depressing than the thought that he’d been experimented on as an infant.

“I want to talk to you about something,” Max announced, poking his fork into his salad.

Nate raised his eyes from his plate and regarded him silently.

“Liz and I have talked this over and we both agree on it.” Max smiled happily, like he had a surprise birthday present for his son. “We want you to pick a school. We want to pay your tuition.”

Nate’s eyebrows lifted sharply, thoughts of being jaded and ruined for life forgotten. Max and Liz wanted to put him through college? Why? Maybe it was just the mood he was in, but Nate suddenly felt like he was on the receiving end of public assistance, a thought that humbled and embarrassed him.

His eyes must have clouded over because Max’s smile diminished rather quickly. “I thought you’d be happy about that,” he said cautiously.

“I don’t need a handout,” Nate said glumly, his jaw set in annoyance.

Max blinked. “It’s not a handout. We know that you could probably work your way through school, but I watched Liz go through that - it took forever and wasn’t easy. We wanted to see to it that you didn’t have to do that.”

“Because you feel obligated?” Irrational anger was flaring just beneath Nate’s skin. Who was Max to come into his life just three months ago and then start making such judgements?

Max quietly laid down his silverware, then regarded Nate unblinkingly. When he spoke, his words were measured and no-nonsense. “No, I’m not doing it out of obligation. I’m doing it because I want to. There is no denying that you are my son, Nate. If I had raised you, I would have put you through college. Just because you came back into my life eighteen years after the fact does not mean I want to help you any less. If I had known that offering to help you out was going to piss you off, trust me - I never would have brought it up.”

With that, Max picked up his fork and began stabbing at his salad, his strokes ones of irritation.

Nate watched him mutely, ashamed that he’d rejected his generosity so quickly and rudely. What was wrong with him? It was unlike Nate to lash out at anyone, let alone someone who had only ever shown him kindness. Max had asked nothing of him - not even honesty - and Nate had thrown all of it back in his face.

Inexplicably, tears burned his eyes and he had to hang his head to hide them. Maybe it was the dream, maybe it was the frustration of still not truly understanding who - or what - he was, maybe it was the pain of falling in love with someone who was a thousand miles away and still jailbait. Whatever it was, it was turning Nate into a premenstrual fourteen-year-old girl.

“Nate.”

Blinking away the tears that had never fully formed, Nate lifted his head to regard Max, who seemed to have lost all animosity with him.

“We didn’t mean any offense by offering to pay your tuition,” he explained.

Nate nodded slightly. “I know,” he said quietly and looked down into his plate again.

“Nate.”

He looked up again, saw kindness and compassion in Max’s eyes.

“I know things are a mess in there right now,” Max said, glancing briefly at Nate’s forehead. “But my offer still stands. You think it over. Talk with your parents about it. If you want to go, all you have to do is say the word.”

Nate frowned, felt a rush of guilt scream through him. “Max, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have -“

But Max gave him a smile and shook his head. “It’s okay. I understand. No hard feelings.”

Nate watched him cut into his salad and found it unbelievable that Max had forgiven him that quickly for his irrational outburst. Then again, Max had been there before and it was looking more and more like Nate was definitely his father’s son. Maybe Max understood him more than Nate could ever comprehend.

“Better eat that,” Max said without looking up. “I want to hit that 2:00 movie and I don’t want to have to listen to your stomach growl the whole time.”

******************

As Max and Nate sat in the theater waiting for the movie to start, Nate tried to remember ever going to see a film with Jonathan. Sometimes when he was little, the whole family would pile into the car and they’d go to the drive-in before it had been torn down. But Nate couldn’t remember ever going to a theater with his father. Emma had taken him quite a few times, usually because Jonathan was busy with the store, but there had never been a father-son outing.

Until today.

It seemed somewhat bizarre that Nate’s real father was taking him to a movie. Part of the weirdness was due to the fact that Nate didn’t see Max as a father figure...if anything, they were brothers, with Max having twice the life experience that Nate had. There was still a lot about Max Evans that Nate didn’t know, and would probably never know, but somehow he felt like Max knew every inch of him.

Some of the glumness had passed, Nate momentarily forgiving himself for his prior behavior. The uncertainty from the dream was still swirling through his head, but he felt like he had a better grip on it now, that he could actually cope with the outside world again.

In the dim lights of the theater, Max pulled a small box from his jacket pocket and opened it up to examine his purchase. It was a bracelet for Liz, made of silver and turquoise - she loved turquoise jewelry. Nate eyed the jewel and couldn’t help but smile at the self-satisfied smirk on Max’s face.

“It’s nice,” Nate said.

Max glanced at him. “Yeah. I think she’ll like it.”

“Wanna see something?”

Max nodded.

Reaching into his own pocket, Nate pulled out the box containing the necklace he’d bought for Alyssa. He popped open the lid and turned it to face Max. Max’s eyes landed on the gem and his eyebrows lifted slightly.

“Don’t let my wife see that,” he whispered as the theater started to darken. “You’ll make me look bad.”

Nate chuckled and closed the box, returned it to his pocket, close to his heart.

Max watched him for a few moments, then shook his head. “Hopeless,” he muttered.

Nate blushed slightly, but knew inside that Max was right - he was hopeless.

“You’re an embarrassment to the Evans family name,” Max tossed in, ribbing him.

Nate cocked his head. “Really? Do I need to bring up Mariachi bands?”

Max’s mouth dropped open. “She didn’t.”

“She did,” Nate responded victoriously.

Max huffed and turned to look at the screen, which was now showing previews of up-coming movies. “Christ, what else did she tell you?”

Nate shrugged. “I’ll never tell.” Inside, he felt a twinge of glee at having Max on the ropes for a change. Two could play that game.

The movie - picked by Max - was a “guy” movie, full of gross-out, juvenile humor. Nate was amused to find that the normally reserved hybrid was capable of laughing so hard that he snorted. In fact, Max snorting was almost funnier than the movie was.

Halfway through the film, Nate’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He quickly retrieved it and flipped it open, the display window glowing a bluish white in the darkness; he broke into a wide grin when he saw that he had a text message from Alyssa.

I’ve never had a hickey, it said. I want you to give me one.

Nate blushed but grinned anyway. Before he could even think of a response, another message from her popped up.

But not on my neck.

Nate’s grin faded in an instant as he felt the undeniable rise in his jeans. Damn her for doing that to him in public! One thought, one suggestion of intimacy with her was enough to get his engine going and he was suddenly very glad for the darkness of the theater.

Max was looking at him with concern. “Everything okay?” he whispered.

Nate nodded, closed the phone and stuffed it back into his pocket. His mind drifted back to Alyssa, to the way she always smelled so delicate, the sound of her voice on the phone as she’d commanded him to touch himself. He truly believed if he didn’t see her soon, he might actually die...

“Nate,” Max whispered.

Nate turned to him, curious.

“Turn off the phone, man.”

Nate had been so enraptured with thoughts of Alyssa that he hadn’t noticed his phone was still on, glowing dimly inside of his jacket. “Sorry,” he said, reaching for it.

But the glow wasn’t coming from his phone. Once his fingers had curled around the device, he realized that the glow was much higher in his jacket than where the phone was. Dread washing all color from his face, he looked at Max, a deer in the headlights.

“What’s wrong?” Max whispered.

Mute, Nate opened his jacket and Max withdrew involuntarily.

Awakened from its slumber and burning brightly through Nate’s shirt was the seal of the king of Antar.

tbc

[Midwest Max]

It's late and I must go to bed Thanks for your comments - Susan, you're a crazy woman for taking your PC with you to read this


Part Nine

Max stood silently still as Nate paced a path before him, only his eyes following his son’s movements. They were in the deserted park down by the lake, snow once again falling around them. Nate was wearing a trench in the snow, his path becoming soggier with each step.

“Nate,” Max finally said.

“What?” Nate snapped, stopping in his tracks and whirling on his father.

“Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” he echoed. “No, I’m not okay.” He jabbed a thumb toward his chest, toward the mark that was now concealed beneath his jacket. “Do you think something like this makes me okay?”

Max shrugged gently. “Well, I don’t think it means there’s anything wrong with you...”

“Nothing wrong with me?” Nate scowled. “It means everything is wrong with me, Max!” Usually reserved and quiet, Nate had finally popped. “You want me to go to school - how in the hell am I supposed to go away and live in a dorm, go to classes with normal kids when I’m glowing like Rudolph the freakin’ red-nosed reindeer?!”

Unable to ignore the humor in the analogy, Max bit his lips, trying desperately not to laugh.

“You did this to me,” Nate accused, shoving a finger in Max’s direction.

Max’s eyebrows rose sharply. “I did?”

“Yes. Because of who you are. Because of what you made me. I’m like this because of all of that!”

Max sighed. “Nate, I think we need to think about this calmly. Panicking never got anyone anywhere.”

“I am not panicking!” Even as the words left Nate’s lips, he felt a surge of adrenaline, an urge to flee. He was indeed panicking. Then his breath caught in his chest and started to come in quick gasps. His head started to go fuzzy and his heart began to pound - he was going to pass out. Not sure what else to do, he bent at the waist and tried to concentrate on remaining conscious.

Max was beside him, putting a hand on his back. “You’re hyperventilating,” he explained, trying to calm his son. “Slow down, Nate. Take one deep breath at a time.” He took in a long breath, trying to get Nate to follow his lead.

Nate closed his eyes, the hot burn of panic slowly starting to slip away with each breath he took. Within a few minutes, his head had cleared and he no longer felt the black fuzziness surrounding him. Cautiously, he straightened.

Max gave him a wan smile, then took him by the arm. “Come here. Sit down.” He lead Nate to a bench, where a wave of his hand removed all snow and ice and dried the wood.

Nate sat and drew in a long, weary breath. It had been a rough day. Max sat beside him, but Nate continued to stare straight ahead.

“Remove it,” he said softly, in defeat.

“What?” Max asked.

“Just get rid of it. I can’t have this. I can’t be this way.”

Max stared at him for a long moment, then looked down at the ground between his feet. “Nate, I don’t think I can just get rid of it. It’s a part of you, just like it’s a part of me.”

Nate frowned. Was he to spend the rest of his life with this glowing constellation just popping up whenever it wanted to? And that was another question - why had it reappeared? It had lain dormant for three months, going on four. What had prompted it to come out of hiding?

“It’s because I was thinking of the future,” he murmured.

“What did you say?” Max asked, almost as quietly.

Nate frowned in defeat. “We talked about my going away to school. I can’t quit thinking about Alyssa - I keep thinking that my future lies with her. But as soon as I started thinking about what I want to do with my life, this thing popped up. Like it’s here to remind me that I can’t do any of those things. Because of who I am.”

Max was silent, his eyes round. Nate could only imagine what he was thinking.

“That’s it, isn’t it?” he asked. “I’m not meant to live a normal life. I’m meant to go into the family business, aren’t I?” In his gut, Nate felt sick - he thought of all of the bored, lonely emails he got from Liz and realized that one day that could be his wife, looking for friendship with a relative stranger because he was never around to be with her. It wasn’t the life he would choose for himself.

Then again, maybe he had no choices at all. Maybe he was what he was. Period.

Max’s words were quiet and carefully spoken. “We don’t know why the symbol reappeared, Nate. It could be any number of reasons, I guess.”

Nate snorted. “You guess?”

Max shrugged apologetically. “We didn’t come with a handbook.”

“Well, didn’t this ever happen to you?”

Max shook his head. “No. I only saw the seal on another person once. I’ve never seen it on myself.” He thought for a moment, then added, “I did see it projected once, with the aid of another alien. But I’ve never been able to summon it myself.”

Nate was about to wallow in the futility of the whole situation when Max’s words sank in fully and his brow furrowed. Someone else had the seal? Who? Did Max have other children Nate didn’t know about?

“How did you see the seal on someone else?” he finally asked. “I thought only a descendent of the king got the seal.”

For one moment, Max appeared taken off-guard, like he’d said something he shouldn’t. But Nate could see in his eyes that he wasn’t about to lie to him. “I, um, died once.”

Nate’s eyebrows shot up quicky.

“It’s a long story,” Max said, waving the tale off with a hand. “But while I was, um, away, the seal transferred to the next in line.”

“Which was - ?”

“Michael.”

Nate paled. The thought of Michael Guerin with that much power wasn’t a pleasant thought. The guy was a thug, even if he had tried to make an uneasy peace with Nate. He had the feeling that in Michael’s case, absolute power would corrupt absolutely.

“But once I was better, the seal came back to me,” Max explained. There was something in those words, something in his eyes that told Nate he wasn’t telling the whole story - it almost looked like pain, like the memory was one that wasn’t visited too often. Because of that, Nate didn’t press for an explanation.

Instead, he blew out a sigh, his shoulders sagging. “What am I going to do? I can’t go home like this. What if my mom or dad sees this?”

Max bit his lip. “You could always try to make it go dormant again.”

Nate shrugged. “How am I supposed to do that?”

Max returned his shrug. “The same way I would.”

Nate felt another tug in his stomach - this was something he just didn’t want to deal with. “Can you do it for me?”

Max shook his head. “No. You try. I’m not always going to be here, Nate.”

Nate’s blue eyes were apprehensive. “I don’t know how.”

“How did you drop the shield in the pod chamber?”

Nate blinked. How had he done that? He had pretty much avoided memories of that night because it was the night he had sent Annie running to her death. Reaching back, he remembered laying a hand on the shield and willing it to go away. That was all it had taken. Biting his lip, he tugged off his glove and slid his hand inside of his jacket, then beneath his shirt; his fingers were cold against his warm body. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the mark, on making it go away. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes and peeked beneath his hand - the mark was still there. Dejected, he stuffed his glove back onto his hand and stared sullenly into the distance.

Max was watching him sympathetically. “Well,” he started as he looked up at the darkening sky, “we can’t stay out here forever. I guess you can always practice later.” With that, he slid his hand across the front of Nate’s jacket and then stood up to leave.

Curious, Nate looked inside of his shirt and found the mark gone. A shimmer of glee ran through him. “Is it gone?” he asked excitedly.

Max shook his head and watched his son deflate before him. “No, but it won’t come back any time soon. Come on - let’s go home.”

Hope extinguished, Nate pushed himself to his feet and followed Max back to the truck.

* * * * *

“Wow, Uncle Max is there?” Alyssa’s voice was throaty and sleepy.

Nate was lying on his side on his bed, his blankets pulled up to his shoulder. It was well past one in the morning and everyone else had gone to bed for the night. As usual, he’d been unable to sleep and had called Alyssa to try to calm his nerves.

“Yeah, he came yesterday,” he said quietly into his phone.

“That’s great, Nate. I’m glad he came to see you.”

“He’s leaving tomorrow,” Nate added. “It doesn’t seem like he was here very long.”

“Take what you can get,” she said wisely. “Make it worth every minute.”

His mind slipped back to his brief time with her, what seemed like so many months ago now. He wished things had been different then, that he hadn’t been reeling from all of the changes in his life - if he hadn’t been, then he definitely would have made being with her worth every minute.

“I miss you,” he said softly, feeling those words all of the way down to his toes.

There was a smile in Alyssa’s voice when she answered. “Thank you, Nate. I miss you too.”

“More than you can imagine.”

“No,” she corrected softly. “I can imagine exactly how much.” There was a brief pause on the line, then she asked a gentle, caring question. “Nate, what happened? Tell me what’s wrong.”

“There’s nothing wrong,” he denied. “I just missed you.”

“Bullshit,” she half-giggled. “I can tell from this distance that something is up with you. If you don’t tell me, then I’ll just dreamwalk you and find out for myself.”

Nate laughed lightly, knowing she was kidding but also serious. And since she’d brought up dreams, he started with that first - that freaky, cryptic dream of cloned babies. Unlike with Max, he left out no details - it was easier to talk with Alyssa about masturbation because, well, he’d nearly done it with her. Over the phone.

“Creepy,” was her response when he finished telling her the details of the nightmare. “I wish I had popped into your head last night - that would have made for some weird watching.”

From anyone else, that may have been an offensive comment, but coming from Alyssa, Nate found it amusing. “What do you think it means?” he asked her.

“I don’t know...could be any number of things. Could be a repressed memory even.”

Nate frowned slightly. He’d thought of that too.

“Could mean nothing. Did you eat pepperoni before you went to bed or something?”

He laughed lightly. “No.”

“Then I’m not sure.” She paused briefly. “Let it go,” she advised. “If it means nothing, then why waste your energy on it? So, tell me - what else happened?”

Nate smiled lightly - she knew him well enough to know there was more to the story. He told her about the seal reappearing in the theater, leaving out the detail of him and Max comparing gifts for their sweethearts.

“Well, that must have been annoying to the other movie-goers,” Alyssa quipped dryly. “What did you do about it?”

“Max made it go away...for now. Why do you think it came back?”

“To give you an ulcer the size of Kansas. Sweetie, I want you to do something for me.”

“What’s that?” In truth, Nate would do anything for her - especially when she called him sweetie.

“It’s late. It’s even later where you are. For tonight, I want you to put bad dreams and glowing birthmarks out of your mind.”

He shook his head. “That’s not going to be easy.”

“It will be if you listen to me. Are you listening to me?”

“Yeah.”

“Close your eyes...are you doing it?”

“Yeah...”

“Now just relax...start with your toes...all of the tension is leaving them...then to your calves...your muscles are loose and relaxed...”

Nate closed his eyes and listened to her soft voice traveling across the miles, gently hypnotizing him into relaxation.

“We’re all of the way up to your shoulders now...imagine that I’m lying right beside you, with my arms around you...can you feel me?”

And oddly enough, he could. He felt like she was right there, cradling his tired body against her.

“My fingers are smoothing your hair...this isn’t about doing naughty things...it’s about being comfortable and warm...with someone who cares about you...you can’t resist it any longer...you’re starting to fall sleep...”

The rest of her words were lost as Nate felt himself drift soundlessly into peaceful darkness.

tbc

[Midwest Max]

Part Ten

She came to him in a dream, her long blond hair falling over one shoulder as she leaned over him. Smiling with love and understanding, she traced a pattern on his bare chest, over the spot where the V-constellation once glowed. Then she touched his face and leaned down to place her lips over the invisible mark.

And then he saw a world of the future, a time and place where his people - neither human nor alien - could walk amongst regular men, without being judged, in peace...

When Nate awoke in the morning, he felt more rested than he had in months, despite the fact that he’d spent part of the night with his cell phone pressing into his cheek. He blinked several times, then quickly glanced at the clock, afraid he’d overslept on Max’s last day in New York.

But it was barely daylight and the house was still. Nate slid out of bed and pulled on some clothes, then made his way downstairs. Max was already up, sitting alone in the living room, and Nate had to wonder if he ever slept. Or maybe he didn’t need sleep at all. Upon hearing his footsteps on the stairs, Max looked up and gave him a small smile.

“Morning, Nate,” he said quietly.

“Morning,” Nate replied, dropping into his father’s chair by the fireplace. Now that he was face to face with Max, he realized that he looked exhausted, every one of his thirty seven - nearly thirty eight - years. “Did you sleep well?”

Max shrugged slightly. “I didn’t sleep much, really, but what I did sleep was good.” He gave a half-hearted grin. “There’s coffee in the kitchen. I hope you don’t mind - I went ahead and made a pot.”

Nate shook his head in response to Max’s worry that he’d intruded, then rose and retrieved a cup. When he returned to the living room, he set his cup on the coffee table and regarded his father seriously. “Why couldn’t you sleep?”

Max’s eyes creased with his smile. “I couldn’t quit thinking about my girl...actually, my girls. It’s plural now.” Happiness and pride seemed to ooze from Max’s very being.

Joy being contagious, Nate found himself smiling as well. “Picked out a name for her yet?”

Max shook his head. “No. That will be up to Liz as well, and she wants the sex to be a mystery.”

Nate nodded and took a sip of his coffee. His mind drifted back to that short, cryptic dream he’d had, a dream of peace and understanding. While he didn’t understand it, he’d been left with a sense of calm, a feeling that whatever may happen perhaps it was meant to be.

“You okay?” Max asked. “I mean, after yesterday?”

Nate nodded. “I think so. No blazing beacon to speak of today.”

Max gave a half smile. “How about otherwise? You going to be okay with things?”

Nate didn’t know about that. For the last three months, it seemed that every day was a mystery - he could never tell what was going to happen to him next. He couldn’t deny that once Max left, he knew he was going to be on his own again and that was a little intimidating.

“I’m only a phone call away,” Max reminded him after the long silence.

“I know that,” Nate answered quietly. “And I appreciate it, Max, I really do.”

Max’s eyes creased at the corners with the warm of his affection for Nate. “Someday when you’re a father - and I hope someday you are, because there is nothing like it - you’ll understand that every parent wants their children to have a better life than what they had.”

Nate gave Max a reassuring smile. “I have had a good life, Max.” Of course, that warm, comfortable life, free from the knowledge that he was constantly being stalked, had come at Max’s expense, at his sacrifice.

“I think you have, too,” Max agreed. “But I want your future to be better than my life as well, Nate.” He looked away for a moment, lost in thought. When he spoke again, his tone was very serious, almost aggrieved. “This isn’t the way to be a father. To you or to the new baby. I’m gone all of the time. In the last year, I’ve been in Boston a total of twenty six days. My wife is a widow to the cause, a role I have absolutely no idea why she accepts so easily.”

Nate frowned because he knew that all of Max’s words were true. For a moment, he worried that they shouldn’t be talking of these matters with Emma and Jonathan in the house for fear one of them might awaken and overhear; then Nate remembered Max’s super-human hearing and relaxed knowing that he would halt the conversation as soon as one of them stirred.

“You made reference yesterday to the fact that you didn’t want to be brought into the family business,” Max continued.

Nate felt a surge of guilt - perhaps Max’s sleeplessness could be partially attributed to Nate’s harsh words from the previous day.

“I don’t want that for you either,” Max said, shaking his head. Leaning forward, he lifted his coffee cup from the table, waved a hand over it to warm it, then took a sip. He sat back, the cup cradled between his hands. “After I found you, after Tess died, I realized that I had nothing to drive me any more. I’d spent a year of my life exploring every avenue possible to get you back.”

Nate remained silent as Max revealed things that they’d never spoken of before - Max’s quest and overwhelming need to find him. In his mind, Nate tried to imagine Max at nineteen, lost and hopelessly struggling to locate a child he’d never seen. It was hard to picture, Max Evans without the cool, pulled-together exterior.

“I realized at that point that I had a path, I just needed to accept it,” Max said, his gaze far away. “Like it or not, I’d been given a crown, and just because I wasn’t in the same solar system as the kingdom I was supposed to rule, it didn’t excuse me from the responsibility I had to my people - to the people of this planet. So my path was - and still is - set.” He put the cup back onto the table, his eyes shifting back to Nate. “I never got to go to college. As I told you before, I have no profession. My profession is traveling the globe, trying to maintain peace. It has come at great sacrifice, I understand that. I don’t want that for you.”

Nate thought about the dream again and wondered if it was a projection of the future. But what had the dream meant? Did it mean that Max would restore peace by the time in the future Nate had dreamed about? Or did it mean that under Nate’s leadership there would be peace?

“What if I don’t have a choice?” Nate asked carefully.

Max’s eyebrows rose in question.

Nate’s fingers unconsciously went to his chest where the seal lay dormant. “What if I’ve been given a crown, too? What if I have a path and a responsibility as well?”

Nate thought he saw a wave of sadness pass through Max’s dark eyes. He knew that his father didn’t want that to be true, but with the appearance of the seal...how could it not be?

“Your mom is awake,” Max said quietly, in warning.

Nate sat back in the chair, disappointed that their conversation was over.

Max gave him a sad smile, then rose to his feet. “Help me make breakfast for your mom - she works too hard.”

Emma was more than delighted to be doted upon - after she’d accepted the fact that she couldn’t talk the boys out of cooking for her. Nate was a horrible cook, most of his blunders discretely repaired with a wave of Max’s hand. Max, on the other hand, had been self-sufficient for so long that he’d mastered the use of a stove. Eventually Jonathan arose as well, equally astounded that his wife had been given a day off from the morning breakfast ritual.

After their meal, Max thanked the Spencers for their hospitality and Nate was pleased to see that his mother appeared a little less apprehensive about the young man who had given life to their son. When they packed up to leave for the airport, she handed Max a brown paper bag and gave him a long hug, polished off with a kiss on the cheek. Jonathan, as quiet as ever, simply shook Max’s hand and wished him a good trip.

On the way to the airport, Max opened the paper bag and peered inside. Grinning, he gave Nate a sideways glance. “Cookies. Hmm...chocolate chunk, I think.”

Nate tipped his head and gave a little shrug. “I guess she likes you.”

Max laughed and closed the bag, stuffed it inside of his carry on. Then he watched the houses whiz past the truck, the same house with the Christmas lights still lit like a beacon to those who held Christmas in their hearts year round.

“I want you to choose your own path,” he announced, craning his neck to get a glimpse of Santa perched on the roof of the old farm house. “I don’t want you to think you have to follow my path, Nate.”

Nate glanced at him from behind the driver’s wheel. But what if it was also his path?

Max turned to look at him, the boyish smile returning to his face. “I’m a young man. I don’t plan on conceding the throne anytime soon. You’ve got a good thirty, forty years to live your life before you need to even think about all of this stuff. Okay?”

Nate nodded mutely, thinking that they both knew that was wishful thinking. The seal was there for a reason - and it wasn’t to let him know he had thirty or forty years to sit on his ass and do nothing about his heritage. But for now, if it made Max happy to think it was otherwise, then Nate would play along.

As they neared the airport, Max pulled down the sun visor and returned the beard and long hair that he’d arrived with. Nate raised a questioning eyebrow in his direction, prompting him to laugh sheepishly.

“Liz likes hair,” he said and Nate chose not to ask for any more details.

Another departure, Max leaving this time instead of Nate. Nate couldn’t help but recall how hard it was to leave Roswell, with Alyssa at home with a broken heart and the Evanses at the gate with tears in their eyes. This parting was just as awkward. He knew that Max was more than excited to be returning to his wife and baby-to-be, but he also knew that Max was aware that he had to leave one child behind to be with another.

As his row was called for boarding, Max wrapped his arms around his son and held him tightly. “Think about my offer,” he said over his shoulder. “It still stands. It will always stand.”

Nate nodded as he pulled away, feeling a lump in his throat. Max smiled gently at him, then cuffed him easily on the shoulder.

“Just a phone call away,” he reminded, picking up his bag and moving for the jetway. After giving the attendant his boarding pass, he turned to smile at Nate, then disappeared around the bend of the jetway.

Nate took a seat by the large window and waited until he saw Max’s plane push back from the gate fifteen minutes later. A cold chill crawled up his spine and he wasn’t sure if it was the brisk January air or the knowledge that he was alone again, an alien-human hybrid adrift in the world.

Back in Chautauqua, Nate spent the afternoon at his father’s store, stocking the shelves and taking inventory of the stock room. Business was slow this time of year, product moving slowly. But the deluge would come soon, as soon as the lake thawed and the snow went away. The tourists would be back in droves, the dreaded Flatlanders. Nate paused in his marking of soup cans and looked out of the window at the frozen lake. He and his friends had been too judgmental of the tourists, he realized. Those people were judged and discriminated against because they were different than the locals, and now Nate knew what it was like to be different...

“He’s a good man.”

Nate jumped, Jonathan having snuck up on him - apparently he hadn’t inherited Max’s hearing powers. At least not yet.

“I like him,” Nate said casually, putting the priced cans onto the shelf.

“Your mom likes him, too.”

Nate studied his father, the fact that he was shuffling his feet and not meeting his gaze. It had always been hard for Jonathan to talk about his feelings. “What about you, Dad?”

Jonathan nodded and repeated, “He’s a good man.”

Nate smiled slightly - that was as much as he was going to get from the man. He cast the empty soup box to the side and used a box cutter to open up a box of rice. Jonathan was still beside him, straightening the cans of beans.

“Dad?”

Jonathan looked at him over the top of his reading glasses.

Nate swallowed. This wasn’t going to be easy, but it needed to be done before he made any decisions about his future. “Max made me an offer.”

Jonathan’s expression remained emotionless.

Nate bit his lip. Maybe he should have waited to bring this up with both of his parents. But now he was too far to turn back. “He, um, offered to pay for college.”

Jonathan blinked.

“For me,” Nate clarified stupidly, just to fill the deafening silence. He could read nothing in his father’s eyes, but he knew that Jonathan was a proud man, just as Nate was a proud man. After all, Nate hadn’t exactly taken Max’s offer well when it had been presented to him.

Jonathan paused for a long moment, then gestured toward the store room. “We got a pallet of snow salt in. I’m going to get it checked in and unwrapped. Stock it later?”

Nate nodded silently and watched the man walk away, a hint of sadness in his steps. When he was gone, Nate blew out a sigh and put his hands on his hips. The last thing he’d ever want to do was offend the people who had raised him in a loving, giving home.

But he got the impression he’d done just that.

tbc