Complications (CC,M/L,mature) A/N - 05/08/06[WIP]

[hoLLyBEHRy]

Make sure to click the word *Flash* to see the flash.


Chapter 11: Part 2

{Max}

“You came back,” Michael smiled.

I pulled the corner of my mouth into my cheek and bobbed my head. “I did.”

“She told me what happened.”

I continued to stand in the hallway while Michael started sitting up. I cleared my throat. “And what did you think?” I wondered.

Michael shrugged his shoulders. “Liz screwed up and I know how disappointing it must’ve been for you to hear her tell you that she doesn’t want kids.”

I went back to bobbing my head in affirmation.

“But I also know that this is you two,” Michael grinned. “You guys can work this out. She thinks this way now, but you’ve changed her mind before.”

To add to my own epiphany was Michael’s, which is shocking since the guy never gets epiphanies. It gave hope for mine and Liz’s future.

“Where is she?” I wondered.

Michael’s eyes moved up, making him glance at the ceiling. “She’s taking a shower.”

As I walked past Michael, I lifted my hand in thanks and started up the circular staircase to get on the back hallway, which we called the Gallery. Maria and Liz covered the walls with art of all sorts, but mostly of our own photos.

There were a lot of photos from back in high school, nearly a whole wall with Alex, to remember him and to serve as a sort of memorial. There were other photos like from our road trip to here from Roswell. We stopped at the nation’s largest ball of yarn and the largest skillet. Stopped at a few amusement parks. That sort of thing. At Michael’s request, we caught a Metallica concert in Dallas, and at Maria’s request, we caught an Alanis Morissette concert, which Michael despised sitting through, but ended up enjoying. Photos from that amazing trip scattered the Gallery. Then there were photos of our first Thanksgiving and Christmas on the East Coast. All of our families came up to spend Christmas with us. We all took the train to New York and ice skated at Rockefeller Center. It was the first time we had seen so much snow. I took an excellent photo of Maria clocking Michael in the face with a snowball. The picture taken after that was Michael tackling Maria into the snow and that’s when I had tucked the camera away, which was a shame because I missed a excellent photo opportunity to capture Maria overpowering her boyfriend and shoving snow down his throat. Instead, I joined in the snow fight by sneaking up on Liz and taking her in my arms to toss her into a snow bank. She sank right through and came up soaking wet. She dried herself off with a little “magic” and got back at me, by causing snow from the tree towering over me to fall on me. It was the best Christmas. Everything from our lives in Roswell up to nearly six months ago was in the Gallery.

As I passed the door to the game room, I was left with the only other door that the Gallery led to, the master bedroom. Before reaching it, I panned the back hallway, taking a good look at our lives on the walls. There was one fairly large photo that stood out among the rest. It would be the first thing to catch your eye if you walked out of the master bedroom and into the Gallery and you’d be able to see it from the family room since the Gallery was open to those below.

It was something that Liz and I wanted to show off. It was a photo of just the two of us. Liz was wearing an absolutely stunning, mind-blowing, white, strapless gown. Her hair, which was a shade lighter back then, was slightly wavy and resting on her bare shoulders. She stood facing me and I stood facing her, wearing a black suit with a gold vest and neck tie. We held each other in our arms on the best day of our lives, despite what did occur that day. Our wedding photo was the main focus of the Gallery and I had forgotten that.

Finally, I turned the doorknob to the master bedroom door and I could hear the shower running, but then as soon as I stepped foot inside, the shower stopped. The door of the shower stall opened and closed as I made my way across our bedroom. It had been a week since I was in this room. Liz’s clothes scattered the floor and the bed was unmade. At the corner, the bed sheet began to come off.

The master bathroom was practically divided into two bathrooms. You would first walk through mine to get to Liz’s and as I did walk through my bathroom, nothing had been touched. Everything was the way I had left it a week ago. Liz had her cosmetic stuff at her sink, but used mine to brush her teeth, and her toothbrush rested alone in the cup.

I stood at the conjunction of mine and Liz’s bathroom and watched her move about, oblivious of my presence. She stood at her sink, facing her mirror, and her back to me. She ran her hands over her face to wipe away the tears. Sniffling a bit, she gathered herself together and used the towel on her head to dry her hair and then to wipe the fog off the mirror. She ran the towel in circles and there I appeared to her.

Liz froze still, her arm still in the air and her hand still on the towel on the mirror. Slowly her arm lowered, but the whole time, we kept a lock on each other’s eyes. We didn’t face each other but stared at each other through the mirror. For a moment we did that without showing any expression or giving off any hint of future actions. Finally Liz gave a miniscule smile.

“Hi,” she said softly.

I took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. I didn’t say anything, though. I just tucked the corner of my mouth into my cheek once again, giving a little smirk, and slowly started walking towards Liz. She turned around and leaned against the counter waiting for and watching my movements. Soon, we were no more than a foot apart. The whole time, our eyes remained locked. Her beautiful brown eyes gazed into mine and my eyes gazed into hers. I could see her happiness to see me, yet, I could see her pain and torture.

I leaned forward and placed my lips on hers, taking them between mine.

*Flash*
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I pulled away with my head lowered and my lips in my mouth, tasting the remnants of Liz’s kiss, and Liz was doing the same. I caught her doing so when I finally opened my eyes.

“Why are you forgiving me?” she asked, with her eyes still closed and her head slightly lowered.

"I'm not," I replied, shaking my head and pursing my lips slightly. "Because I—I can’t forgive you, Liz."

Liz looked up in confusion. “But you came back.”

“I did.”

“Why?”

I sighed heavily as I played with the ends of her hair. “I spent three hours thinking about that,” I began. “By the end of two hours, I came to the conclusion that I was going to come back here to pack up the rest of my things, and leave you.”

Liz seemed to take the news fairly well, like she accepted that and expected it.

“It wouldn’t have been because I don’t love you anymore,” I continued. “That’ll never happen because I can’t ever stop loving you. No matter what you do or say, I can’t stop. It’s a curse,” I grinned, but Liz didn’t grin back or smirk or anything. I cleared my throat and got serious. “Um…anyway, I thought I was going to come back to pack up all my things because I thought it would be best for you. I thought maybe you needed a life without me.”

Liz’s mouth hung open just a smidge and her eyes darted from left to right, letting me know that she didn’t at all agree with me.

“But…” I continued. “something happened in the third hour and I realized that I couldn’t imagine my life without you. I couldn’t live without you, because I need you, so much. So I’ve come back to you because I’m going to be selfish, Liz. I’m coming back to fight for you, even if that means fighting you. I’m going to change your mind.”

But Liz shook her head in disbelief and moved me away. “Max, nothing’s going to change my mind…”

I grabbed Liz’s arms and moved back towards her. “I am,” I disagreed.

“Max—”

“No, Liz,” I interrupted. I held her arms in my hands and looked into her eyes and forced her to look into mine. “Look, you know that I can’t give you everything you want, but you know I try like hell anyway.”

Hesitantly, Liz nodded.

“Then you know I’ll do the same for our child,” I continued. “You want a happy and safe future for it, well, I want that too,” I assured her. “So I’ll do whatever it takes to try to give our child that life and future. You have to believe me, Liz. You said that you care about the child and it’s not even born. You worry and you fear for him or her. Liz, I do that too, and it’s even more of an incentive to take care of our child and give our child everything in the world that it deserves and I feel that same way about you. You deserve a family and a normal life and I’m going to try to give you that. Some alien intricacies might work their way into our lives, but I will take care of it. I will protect you, keep you safe, watch over you, make you happy, and love you. I will do the exact same for our family.”

Liz lowered her head, shaking it. “Do we want to expose our child to that? To the 'alien intricacies'?”

She had a point. Even if I gave our family the white picket fence, the dog running around in the yard, and all the sunshine and happiness in the world, it’d be slightly less than normal. I would have to fight and work for all of that and it’s not going to be easy to hide the struggle. But did I want to hide it? I wouldn’t want our child to wonder and find out all that we hid from him or her. Liz and I both know what secrets can do.

“We can’t hide anything, Liz,” was my answer. “If we have a child, we won’t hide anything.”

“Max, I don’t know…I—I can’t promise anything.”

“But I can,” I replied. “You have my word.”

Liz was adamant and got quiet.

Closing my eyes, I sighed heavily. I wanted so much to be with her. “Listen,” I instructed, “I didn’t want to wake up tomorrow in some motel room without you beside me. I didn’t want to wake up knowing that I needed to try to forget you or try to stop loving you. And I didn’t want to wake up knowing I no longer had the option of kissing these lips.” I leaned forward and kissed Liz. I didn’t pull away, but instead, rested my forehead on hers. “I didn’t want to wake up knowing I no longer had the option of making love to you. I need you, Liz. I love you.”

Liz sighed, but more of an exhausted, I-give-in sigh. “I love you,” she replied, in almost the exact same way she said it to me for the very first time.

I took Liz’s face in my hands and kissed her lips. I pulled away to look into her eyes and smile. Her tears created a glazed affect over the brown pools in her eyes. She was so beautiful.

I took Liz’s lips again and felt the towel around her torso drop to our feet.


I got inspiration for this chapter from ER.

[hoLLyBEHRy]

I'm sorry it's taken so long to get this posted.


Chapter 12: Part 1

{Liz}

“MAX!!!”

My excitement ran through my body and Max drove inside of me. A few more of Max's rhythmic thrusts and I was near my climax. Above me, Max panted as each of his plunges forced me up the bed and into the bed. I tilted my head back, throwing my head into the pillow. Max groaned and gave a little growl. Not one on purpose to be cute or sexy or anything like that, but because of the pain, the pleasurable pain.

I dug my nails deeper into Max's back as I begged for him to move faster.

“Liz…” he panted.

Max was like a drug, each thrust inside of me was like a dose of ecstasy, taking me places out of this world. He continuously threw his pelvis forward and soon enough, I was throwing my head back deeper into the pillow, piercing Max's skin with my nails, and coming close to biting my own lip off.

Around my head, I could feel the bed tremble as Max's arms began to quiver. He slowly lowered himself onto me and rested his head on my chest. I could feel his warm breath reach my stomach and his sweat run off his skin and down mine.

“Happy anniversary,” Max panted.

As I continued combing his hair back with my hand, I leaned forward and placed a kiss on his head. “Our anniversary isn’t until tomorrow,” I smiled.

Max nodded. “Ok, fine, happy anniversary eve,” he said, correcting himself.

And we were going to be as happy as we could be, given that only a week ago we had reconciled. We still haven’t worked everything out. I was still skeptical about children, but I gave Max hope that maybe I would one day change my mind, and you know, maybe I will, but I don’t think anytime soon.

“So what do you have planned for us tomorrow?” I wondered.

Max leaned on his arm and rested his head in his hand. “That’s a surprise,” he grinned. “But tonight, my leave starts and so I’m taking you out to a pre-anniversary dinner.”

A wide smile stretched out across my face. “Sounds like a plan.”

Even though Max had quit his second job and I dropped the research group, we were still pretty busy. The hospital had given him erratic shifts and we were struggling to find time to be with each other, but I’d rather struggle than not try at all.

“Good.” Max pushed himself off the bed and rolled on out. “I’ve got to get to the hospital in an hour, and I’ll be there all day, but six tonight, you and I are going out. I’m going to shower.”

I nodded in understanding with a grin on my face and watched him walk across the room and to the bathroom. I stretched out across the bed and almost sank into complete relaxation when Max stopped at the doorway and turned around.

“Care to join me?” he wondered.



{Isabel}

“I bet you anything they’re showering together, again,” Maria sighed.

All of us around the kitchen table simply grinned.

“It’s nine in the morning for Christ’s sakes!”

Maria continued to complain as we all looked up at the ceiling. A week after Liz’s revelation, Max's walkouts, and their fight, the two of them seemed to have slipped back into the newlywed phase of their marriage—sex, sex, and more sex. They seemed happy and in sync again. Albeit everyone knew, even Max and Liz, that there was still a flaw in their relationship: the big disagreement about children. They’ve put the issue on the back burner for now with Max holding onto the possibility that Liz would change her mind about the situation.

And so we all had settled back to the time when Max and Liz were newlyweds, when everything was happy and perfect for all of us. Maria was relaxed and care-free, Michael was…well, Michael, and Jesse and I were happy to be around our family and friends.

“You know,” Michael sighed, “all that sex they’re having increases the chances of them getting pregnant, which isn’t what they want right now.”

Maria took a sip of her coffee and shook her head. “Mmm…” she said in reply to the coffee and, “No,” was her response to Michael’s deduction. “Liz is wearing her patch and using a diaphragm, and Max is using a glove.”

Jesse gave a little chuckle. “Guess they really don’t want to get pregnant, do they?”

“That’s the plan,” I said, then I shuddered, shaking thoughts from my head. “You know, can we just not talk about my brother and sister-in-law having sex and their methods of contraception? It’s too early in the day.”

When that realization hit the others, they shuddered too and willingly nodded in agreement. Jesse went back to reading the local section of the newspaper, Maria finished cramming for a test, Michael was reading the funnies, and I was going over the itinerary for a Valentine’s Day benefit. I could hear the deep murmur of Max's voice and Liz’s faint giggle as the two of them started heading down the stairs. They stumbled into the kitchen practically all over each other. Jesse and Michael peered over their newspapers, Maria looked up from her book, and I stopped detailing the parameters of the Cupid ice sculpture.

“Morning,” we all smiled.

With their cheeks a rosy red and their heads slightly lowered to hide their burning faces, the two of them coolly walked in and joined us at the table.

“You guys couldn’t have gotten dressed?” Michael sighed.

Max was in his bathrobe and so was Liz and their hair was slightly damp and dripping wet. I guess Maria was right.

“We didn’t know you guys were still here,” Max answered.

Jesse rolled up his sleeve and glanced at his watch. “Well, maybe we should get going,” he announced. “Maybe we should have left ten minutes ago, or fifteen, but our mistake.”

“You guys don’t have to go,” Liz insisted.

Michael, Maria, Jesse, and I exchanged glances and had to disagree with Liz.

“No,” I replied. “We really should get going. We need something else to occupy our minds right now.”

Max and Liz sneaked each other embarrassed, yet devilish, grins while all I could do was roll my eyes.

“Michael, is your bike still in the shop?” I wondered.

Stuffing a bagel into his jacket pocket and grabbing a banana and an apple from the basket, Michael nodded. “Yeah, do you mind?”

I shook my head and let him follow me to my car. We said goodbye to Maria and I left Jesse with a kiss on the cheek. With his suitcase in hand and an overcoat on over his suit, Jesse jogged across the street back to our home where his car was parked. Not wanting to run in heels, I had brought my own car to my brother’s house and left it in the driveway while we all had breakfast.

“How’s his firm doing?” Michael wondered.

As I pulled the car out of the driveway, I gave a little shrug and drove down the suburban road. “It’s ok,” I guessed. “They’re not overflowing with clients, but they’ve got some steady and trustworthy ones.”

“Steady and trustworthy corporate sharks? Yeah, right.”

I rolled my eyes. “As long as these people are paying my husband, then I’m fine with them lying and manipulating their way to earn money.”

The rest of the drive was silent. Michael’s not much of a talker and I’m fine with just being in his company and him being in mine, but the twenty minute drive to get across Cambridge was longer than expected due to traffic and silence was going to strangle me.

After putting the car in park, I started fiddling with the radio.

“Ooh!” Michael cooed. “Go back! ‘Enter Sandman’ was on.”

“No,” I refused. “It is too early for Metallica and I don’t want that damn song stuck in my head all day.”

Slouching and pouting like a little girl, Michael rolled his eyes. “It is never too early for Metallica and it’s an awesome intro.”

“It’s an awesome intro,” I mocked. “Michael, when is this obsession going to end?”

“Obsessions don’t end, they flourish.”

Ok, screw the being fine with being in his company, having to hear Michael defend his love for Metallica was going to drive me insane. I had to sit through it once before and once was definitely enough.

“The intro to—”

“How’s Maria?” I interrupted before Michael could go on.

Michael stared at me with narrow eyes, but I remained focus on the car in front of mine as we continued to sit through traffic.

“You saw her five minutes ago,” Michael replied skeptically. “Why?”

“Because I don’t want to listen to you rant and rave about Metallica again,” I laughed.

“Like I always want to hear about your stupid Red Cross Valentine’s Day benefit,” Michael sighed.

“Speaking of Valentine’s Day,” I said, moving on to a new subject. “What are you and Maria doing this Friday?”

Michael gave a little shrug and played with the window, rolling it up and down with a push of the button. He stopped and sighed heavily. “I don’t know. I might be at the club.”

“Michael!” I exclaimed. “It’s Valentine’s Day. You have other employees at Whits. I’m pretty sure they can handle it.”

“But it’s my baby,” Michael replied.

I turned away and stared at the immobile traffic.

“Is there something wrong?” Michael wondered. “Was it something I said?”

Yeah, the word “baby”. It was that point where I needed to preoccupy my time with a child of my own and not volunteer work. I love being able to hate people, but I was at in my life where I craved to be a mother.

“Michael, do you think about it?” I wondered.

He slid back up his seat and turned onto his side. “What are you talking about?”

I sighed heavily, not sure that I should be talking about children with Michael, but it looked like we weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. “Kids,” I finally admitted. “I mean, after what Max and Liz went through and with Jesse and me trying, do you think about it? Do you and Maria think about having kids?”

Michael’s eyebrows rose in shock. He snuffed out a little scoff and started scratching one of his eyebrows. “Wow…” he replied. “Um…Honestly?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

He took a deep breath and shook his head. “No,” he answered. “It’s in the plan, but later in the plan, you know? Maybe Maria thinks about it, but me? It’s not time for me to think about it. What’s the rush?”

“It’s not about time or age,” I preached to Michael. “I mean, yeah, Jesse is getting older, but we have plenty of time. Max said that he’s at that point in his life where he’s ready to have kids, and I understand where he’s coming from because I feel that way too. He’s married and I’m married and it’s the next step. It’s just the next step.”

“Which is probably why I’m not thinking about kids,” Michael realized, “because Maria and I aren’t married.”

I nodded in agreement and then turned my head to one side and then to the other as the cars around me started moving. “Thank God,” I sighed.

I took the car shifted into drive and started driving, glancing over once in a while at Michael as he went back to staring at the window, this time with something definitely on his mind. We arrived at the club and Michael and I headed straight in towards his office.

“When are you going to marry Maria?” I wondered.

It had been about ten minutes since we had talked about it in the car. It took Michael a moment to think about it, and when he had his answer, he gave a little shrug. “I’m not grown up enough to get married,” he replied.

And I couldn’t disagree. “True,” I smiled. “But when? When do you see you and Maria standing at the altar?”

Again Michael shrugged as he turned on the tv and Playstation2. “I’m not really sure,” he answered honestly. “I know I’m going to marry her, I love her, but I’m not at that stage where you and Max were at at 18. You guys are insane by the way.”

Having to be satisfied with that answer, I smiled and started reading the Cosmo I brought from my car.

“Mr. Guerin?”

I jumped as did Michael when we heard the stranger at the door. I semi-closed my Cosmo as Michael quickly shut off the tv even though he was in the middle of his game. The man at the door was dressed in a black business suit, but really simple with a white shirt and single-colored tie. His brown hair was short and slightly receding and Michael stared at the man as if he knew him.

“Agent Burns,” he said as he walked over to the man with an extended hand.

Agent? I wondered. The last time I had heard that word used, in that way, I was 18 and in Utah. Max had told us that he was approached by an FBI agent, whom he and my father blackmailed into getting Liz released from jail. For two years, that word had vanished from our vocabulary and from our lives, until now.

“Good morning, Mr. Guerin,” the man replied. He had that Mr. Smith from The Matrix trilogy way about him. It was eerie and made me shiver. Agent Burns looked in my direction and nodded. “Ma’am,” he said.

I gave a warm smile, albeit fake, and went back to reading my Cosmo. I was pretending to, anyway.

“Um, what can I do for you?” Michael nervously asked. It seemed as though he was nervous, and not about the fact that Burns was an FBI agent, but more nervous about the fact that I knew that Burns was an FBI agent and that I got the feeling Michael knew him somehow.

“I just wanted to patrol around,” the man replied with his deep voice. “How have things been going?”

Michael cleared his throat, bobbing his head. “Ok,” he squeaked. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Things have been going ok.”

Agent Burns nodded. “That’s all I wanted to know.”

“You sure?” Michael wondered, hoping the man’s reply would be yes.

And it was. Agent Burns had nodded again and started reaching inside his jacket. “Well, just contact me if you notice any strange occurrences.” He pulled out a small white business card and held it out.

Michael smirked and grabbed the card. “Will do.”

They shook hands again and I quickly ducked my head as the agent looked my way.

“Ma’am,” he said.

I looked up, pretending that I hadn’t paid any attention to their conversation, and raised my eyebrows with wonderment.

“Have a good day,” Burns smirked.

“Um, you too,” I replied.

Burns looked to Michael, gave a nod of nobility and left the doorway. Knowing I was watching him closely, Michael walked back to his chair in front of the tv scratching his eyebrow, hiding his face to avoid confrontation with me.

“Michael,” I began to scold.

He sat down in his leather recliner and turned the tv back on after restarting the Playstation. He tried to ignore my call, humming to himself, most likely “Enter Sandman”.

“Michael, what the hell was that?”

“Just an FBI agent,” he replied hastily.

I scoffed a laugh, tossed my magazine aside, and walked towards Michael. “Just an FBI agent? Michael, we know that an FBI agent is never just an FBI agent.”

After pausing his game, Michael glared up at me as I stood over him. “With the narcotics unit,” he explained, drawing his attention back to the tv. “Isabel, relax.”

I stared at the tv and then Michael and sighed. “Michael, it looked like you knew him.”

Michael was someone who I trusted. He was practically my brother, but with the tension between Michael and the agent, it was evident that he was hiding something from me, maybe everyone else.

“Are you trying to pick a fight with me, Isabel? Look, I’ve got this guy covered. This is only the second time I’ve seen him. He hasn’t been causing me trouble and he doesn’t seem to be searching for—”

I jumped at the sound that made Michael drop his game controller. My heart nearly leapt out of my chest as he jumped to his feet.

“Was that…?” he began to wonder.

As we both looked to the door, I hesitantly nodded. “A gun shot.”

And not one from Michael’s video game.

TBC

[hoLLyBEHRy]

Chapter 12: Part 2

[Maria]

Michael stuffed as much into his pocket as he could while Isabel wondered if he needed a ride. “Michael, is your bike still in the shop?” she asked.

They started heading through the house and reached the front by the time Michael replied. The door shut and I began cleaning up everyone’s plates. Max and Liz still sat at the table, though. They were just starting their breakfast after having a…busy morning.

The two of them sat close together in the booth, sharing the same newspaper, reading the same article. They sat on the edge of the bench, leaning on the table with their arms touching. Liz leaned towards Max and when he noticed her trying to get a better look at the paper, he took his arm off the table and wrapped it around her, allowing her to get closer. This was the Max and Liz we all knew and it was definitely a relief, on my part, to see them together again. It was good to be back to normal.

Liz glanced my way and I gave a little smile. I wasn’t going to deny that I was admiring them together and so I smiled at Liz, letting her know that I was happy that she was happy. She went back to her newspaper and I started heading to the kitchen.

“Hey, you should probably start getting dressed for work,” Liz said to her husband.

“Yeah,” Max replied. “You’re right.”

From the kitchen, I could hear their lips smack. Before, I’d roll my eyes at the sick lovey-dovey display, and I do have to say, it was so good to roll my eyes again.

The doors to Max and Liz’s master bedroom closed and I resumed washing the dishes when Liz decided to observe me.

“Hi,” she smiled.

I glanced over my shoulder at her leaning against the wall watching me. “Um, hi, girlfriend,” I chuckled, going back to the dishes in the sink. “What’s up?”

When Liz hesitated to reply, I glanced back over my shoulder. Liz stood with her arms loosely crossed and she stared at the ground intently, worriedly.

“Liz…? What’s wrong?”

She looked up and slowly uncrossed her arms, but left one arm resting against her abdomen. “I think I’ve changed my mind,” she finally said.

I shook my head in confusion. “About what?”

“Kids.”

My eyes widened and my face lit up. “That’s great,” I exclaimed. But Liz still had that worried look on her face and I knew there was something more. “Um, why exactly have you changed your mind?” I asked.

Liz took a deep breath. “Because I think I’m pregnant,” she spat out.

I swear, the world froze. The water running from the faucet froze, the snow stopped falling, my heart stopped beating, I stopped breathing, and the world just froze.

“Maria, please say something,” Liz begged.

“That is not something to joke about!” I shouted. I turned back to the sink and started scrubbing an already clean plate.

“Maria…”

Placing the plate down in the sink, I lowered my head. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” I realized.

Out of the corner of my eyes, Liz nodded her head. “I am.”

“How do you know?” I wondered.

Liz shrugged her shoulders as she walked towards me. “I don’t know,” she said softly. “I just know. I can feel something growing inside of me.”

“That’s gross,” I laughed.

Liz scrunched her face and shook her head. “Yeah, it’s not the time to joke.”

I grinned and grabbed Liz’s arm, pulling her into a hug. “I’m so happy for you!” I held her away and studied her reacting expression. “It’s ok to be happy, right?”

Liz took a moment to think and then nodded. “Yeah…it is,” she smiled.

I tugged her into another hug and squeezed her tight. “Oh, wait, is this good for the baby?”

“I don’t know,” Liz giggled.

I pulled to the table into the dining room and sat her down. “Ok, we’ve got so much to discuss,” I told her. “How long have you…you know, felt this way?”

Liz shook her head and shrugged. “Maybe a day or two?”

“Wait,” I ordered. “I thought you guys were using, like, the armed forces to protect yourself?”

“We were,” Liz insisted. “I was on the patch and the diaphragm was in. Max was using condoms and somehow one of his swimmers got through. They’re a very determined bunch.”

“Obviously,” I sighed. “Did you tell him?”

Liz shook her head. “No, not yet. I want to take a test first before I tell him. So will you come with me to get one?”

Without hesitation, I nodded. “Of course. This is what I’m here for, to go with you to the drug store and pick up pregnancy tests, and you know, be your best friend and whatnot.”

Liz smiled happily and we hugged once more.

“You’ve really changed your mind? You really want this baby?” I questioned her. “I mean, you’re going to keep it?”

My best friend nodded confidently. “Max made a good point. He said he was going to protect me no matter what and that he would fight to do the same for our child. I’m keeping it.”

Everything changed at that moment. We were all officially adults at 18, but somehow, this moment made it even more evident that we were.

“Good,” I smiled.

“Besides,” Liz continued, “nothing’s happened to us lately, right? We’re ok.”



{Michael}

“Isabel, go home,” I ordered.

There was no doubt that the loud pop we heard was a gun shot. I turned to Isabel as my heart began to race. Her eyes were wide and her face a pale, frightened white.

“Isabel!” I shouted.

She slowly came to, blinking her eyes and then turning to me. “Michael…” Her voice was soft and quivered slightly.

I grabbed her by the arms and looked at her sternly. “If it is what we think it is, then you have to go home,” I told her. “I will take care of it.”

With her mouth hanging open, Isabel bobbed her head and rushed over to the couch where she grabbed her purse. “You’ll be ok?”

“Yeah,” I assured her. “Just go.”

Isabel nodded again, gave me a quick hug, and rushed out of the club. There was no one else here because the club wasn’t open this early. Jerry was probably at class as were my other employees, so it was just Isabel and I that were here, and Agent Burns.

The shot came from behind the club. I ran out of my office, turned right, and jogged straight towards the alley. The back entrance was open. I could see the ice that formed on sidewalk and the snow that collected on the dumpster. I could see a pair of legs, lying on the floor.

I shoved my hand in my pocket, pulling out my phone with my shaking hand. I slowly walked towards the door and before stepping foot outside, I took a deep breath. With my hand ready to blow whomever was out in the alley away, I walked outside and saw the person who the legs belonged to.

Agent Burns lied on the floor with a single gun shot through the chest. His white shirt was soaked with blood, which continued gushing out, making the spot on his shirt grow larger and larger. I quickly turned around and found the alley empty, not even a person walked by the opening.

I could see the cold air surround my warm breath, creating a cloud of smoke. There were several clouds as my breathing quickened. What the hell was I supposed to do?

I fell to my knees, scanning over the man lying on the ground. His eyes blinked open as his hand moved up to his chest, quivering like my own hands.

“Help me…” he begged. Burns’s own voice was shaky and labored, like it was a struggle to even breathe.

I bobbed my head. “Y—Yeah,” I stuttered. “What—What do I do?”

“Call 911…”

I flipped my phone open, quickly pressed two buttons, and held the phone to my ear as I made sure Burns kept his eyes open.

“911 Emergency Response,” the operator answered.

“Um, yeah,” I exhaled sharply. “Uh, someone’s shot. He’s bleeding pretty bad.”

“Is he conscious?” the woman wondered.

I nodded. “Yeah, but just barely.”

“What is your location?”

“The alley behind my club Whits on Kennedy.”

“An ambulance will be there right away.”

I nodded and shut my phone. “It’ll be here soon,” I told Burns. “Did you see who did this to you?”

But the agent didn’t reply. He slowly closed his eyes, taking slow, deep breaths.

“HEY!” I shouted. I leaned over his body and lightly slapped the man’s face. “Hey! Wake up!”

The sirens grew louder and an ambulance slid to halt at the opening of the alley. Paramedics rushed out of the vehicle, ran to the back and pulled out a gurney. They sprinted towards us and pushed me away.

“How long has been out here?” one EMT asked.

I shook my head, not sure. Time had stopped the moment I saw Burns on the floor. “Five minutes?” I guessed.

The EMTs lifted Burns onto the gurney. “Are you coming?” on asked.

I shook my head as my jaw bounced. “I—I don’t know the guy.”

“Well, you do now,” a paramedic said.

“Is he going to be ok?” I wondered.

All three of the paramedics wheel the gurney towards the ambulance. “Let’s hope so,” one replied. “Call the police and let them know what happened. We’re taking this guy to Boston General.”

I nodded obediently and started dialing as the paramedics shoved the gurney into the back of the ambulance. The sirens wailed and the lights spun as the vehicle sped off. After reporting to the police dispatcher, within minutes a patrol car arrived. Two officers stepped out.

“There was a shooting?”

“Yea,” I nodded.

Both officers stuck out their hands and I grabbed one after shaking the other. “I’m Officer Williams and this is Officer Bailey,” the gentleman officer said, pointing to his female partner.

“Michael Guerin,” I replied.

“Can you tell us what happened, Mr. Guerin?” Officer Bailey wondered. “Do you know who the victim was?”

I bobbed my head as I nervously scratched my eyebrow. “Um, he was Agent Burns from the FBI narcotics unit.”

The police officers looked to each other and their eyes widened. “Agent?” Officer Williams wondered.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “He was an FBI agent that came by my club before to ask me about any drug use or deals or something. I had told him I don’t let that crap in here. Today, he came by to check up on me, I guess. I told him everything was fine, I haven’t been having any trouble with my customers using drugs and he left. Seconds later and I heard a gun shot. I saw the door open and I rushed right out. I saw him here on the floor, I freaked out, called 911, they came, picked him up, and left. I called you guys and you guys came.”

Officer Bailey quickly scribbled what I said into her little notebook and then looked up. “When did Burns see you the first time?”

“The Friday before last,” I answered. “I reopened my club and he warned me about the drug transactions and stuff.”

The officers bobbed their heads. “What time did you see him today?”

“Ten minutes ago?” I guessed. “He came and we talked briefly and that was it. He left.”

“Ok,” Officer Bailey sighed, satisfied. “I'll head to Boston General right now. Mr. Guerin, you understand that you'll have to go down to the station for questioning.”

I nodded obediently and walked with the officers to their patrol car.



{Max}

“Where the hell have you been Evans?”

I pushed open the door to the staff room and just threw my backpack inside. I didn’t have time to put my belongings away into my locker. The ER was packed. In the waiting room, there were so many people that many were left standing or sitting on the floor.

“I lost track of time!” I shouted back to the attending doctor.

There was so much noise in the ER, that I was forced to shout in order for anyone to hear me. It was a bad day to come in. As I was rushing in towards the ER, the attending doctor, Dr. Adams was running out and towards the ambulance bay.

“Well, next time, keep track of it!” he shouted as he continued coming at me. When he was an arm length’s away, he grabbed my shirt and started dragging me behind him. “You’re coming with me,” Adams said. “There’s a GSW to the chest coming in. I’ll need you.”

I nodded obediently and grabbed the gloves and plastic smock that a nurse handed to me. It was damn cold outside and I had thrown my leather jacket into the staff room along with my backpack. The plastic smock was definitely not enough to keep me warm.

As soon as Adams, two nurses, and I stepped out into the ambulance bay, an ambulance came charging in, coming to a halt just a few feet from running me over. The back doors to the van-type vehicle and two paramedics leapt out.

“GSW through the chest,” one of them said. “ID says his name is Burns.”

The gurney slid out of the ambulance and on the bed was a man dressed in a black business suit with a shirt that was once white but now a crimson blood red.

“Do you know what happened?” Adams asked.

I couldn’t do anything but stare at the man on the gurney as we pushed him through the waiting room in order to get to the ER. I knew who it was. It was him. It was Agent Burns. When I heard his name, the thought of the agent never crossed my mind, but I saw his face, and I knew.

“Max!”

Blinking my eyes and shaking my head, I regained my composure. “Yeah?”

Adams laughed and looked at Burns on the gurney. “You going to help me out or what?”

I bobbed my head and hooked an IV up into the victim’s arm. He was unconscious but still breathing and living. An officer pushed her way into the trauma room and examined the situation.

I took notice but concentrated on the still gushing wound. “GSW through the left chest.” I slightly lifted Burns up and felt around his shoulder blade. “No exit wound.”

Adams looked to the officer. “Can we help you?” he wondered.

“Officer Bailey,” the female police officer replied. “I need some information from the victim.”

Adams laughed. He was a easy-going guy. Everything that came out of the guy’s mouth was either a laugh or a light-hearted joke. “Once we get him to wake up, we’ll call you back in here.”

Just then, Burns blinked his eyes open and the police officer rushed over to his side.

“Agent Burns?” the officer wondered.

Adams looked my way with his eyes narrowed. “Agent?” he mouthed silently.

I watched Burns and the Officer speak intently. “Yeah,” I replied, not really paying attention to Adams. “He’s FBI.”

“How do you know?”

My heart dropped. If anyone found out that I knew Burns and knew of the connection I had with him, then I would most definitely be brought into questioning. I quickly reached into Burns’s jacket and reached for his badge and showed it to Adams. “His ID,” I replied.

The attending doctor nodded and went back to working on the wound. I sighed in relief. I’d have to be careful and cautious.

“I’m Officer Bailey with Boston PD,” the woman went on. “I need to ask you some questions.”

With all the strength in him, Burns nodded with his eyes slowly blinking.

“Ok, do you remember what happened?” Bailey questioned.

The nurse removed the oxygen mask from around Burns’s mouth and nose. “I was in the alley,” he barely whispered, “behind Whits.”

My eyes widened.

“Ok, good,” Bailey nodded. “Now, Agent Burns, did you see who shot you?”

The man on the gurney fought to lift his head and my hands leapt off Burns’s arms as he tried to raise his arm and after succeeding in doing so, he pointed a finger.

“Him,” he grunted. Burns pointed a finger at me.

TBC

[hoLLyBEHRy]

Chapter 12: Part 3

{Max}

“Max?”

I turned to Dr. Adams.

“Did you…?”

Panic took over. My blood froze all through my body. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Bailey looking at me. I vehemently shook my head. “N—NO! I—I don’t even know—”

A loud screech sliced through the air and Burns’s head dropped back onto the table. His eyes rolled to the back off his head and his eyelids shut close.

“He’s stopped breathing!” a nurse announced.

“Max, tube him,” Adams ordered.

I nodded obediently and grabbed a laryngoscope and an intubation tube and pushed Officer Bailey out of the way. “Excuse me,” I ordered. I tilted Burns’s head back and pushed his chin down to open his mouth. After sliding the tube into his mouth, I tried my best to push the plastic tube through Burns’s throat, but it wasn’t budging. “I can’t get it. It’s completely clogged.”

“You want to crike him?”

“I—I’ve never done it…” I nervously replied.

Adams nodded and grabbed a scalpel from the tray. “It’s ok, Max. I can do it.”

“Dr. Evans,” Officer Bailey intruded. “I’m going to need to ask you some questions.”

“I—I’m a little busy,” I replied. I was too occupied with watching Adams slide the scalpel across Burns’s throat.

“His pulse is falling,” one of the nurses announced.

“Start compressions,” Dr. Adams ordered. “Push an amp of epi and charge paddles to 300.”

I grabbed the defribulators from the rack and waited for the standby beep. The lights on the monitor turned green and a short beep sounded and I placed the paddles on both side of Burns’s bare chest. “Clear!” I ordered.

Adams stopped compressions and lifted his hands off Burns’s chest. I pressed the button and Burns’s body jumped off the table.

“300 again!”

Before the standby beep could sound, a loud screech from another monitor sounded.

“Asystole.”

“Dr. Evans,” Officer Bailey continued to pester. “I need to talk to you.”

I shook my head. “Now’s not the time.”

“Max, go with the officer,” Adams ordered. “I’ll take it from here.”

I stared at my superior in confusion, pleading for him to let me stay because I didn’t want to go with the officer.

“Max…”

The officer led the way out of the trauma room and I hesitantly followed. We stood just outside of the room and I couldn’t stop looking through the windows. I couldn’t stop wondering if Burns was going to make it or not.

“Dr. Evans, where were you about twenty minutes ago?”

I snapped off the latex gloves and the let the plastic smock drop to the floor. “I don’t know,” I answered.

“You don’t know?”

“Alright,” I heard Dr. Adams sighed. “Let’s get him to the OR.”

Running my hands through my hair, I sighed in relief. Thank God, I thought to myself. Officer Bailey and I parted to let Adams and the nurses push Burns through. With his insides exposed, Burns was in need of surgery.

“He’s going to be ok?” I wondered.

Adams patted me on the back. “For now.” He followed the gurney to the elevators and he with the gurney, disappeared behind the doors.

“Dr. Evans…”

“Look,” I asserted. “Unless you have proof that I shot Agent Burns, I’m not going anywhere.”

Officer Bailey smacked her lips and bobbed her head. “Fine,” she sighed. “I guess I’ll just have to wait until Burns is in recovery.”

Smirking, I nodded my head.

“But…” Officer Bailey warned, “if Burns doesn’t make it off the operating table, then I’m coming after you.”



{Liz}

“First Response or generic?”

I stopped staring at the endless variety of pregnancy tests and shook my head. “What?” I wondered.

Maria grabbed two different boxes from the shelf. “Would you like to spend $30 or $8 on a stick you pee on?” She held up both boxes and displayed them like she was one of Bob Barker’s girls on The Price is Right.

Again, I shook my head as I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t care. You choose.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest and started walking down the aisle.

Maria placed the generic pregnancy test back on the shelf, keeping the First Response box, and jogged after me. “Liz, are you ok?”

I was married at 18 with no intention of having children because my husband was an alien as was I. Yet here I was, at 20, pregnant. Oh, yeah, I’m perfectly ok.

“I’m fine,” I lied.

We walked to the register where I shelled out the $30 for the pregnancy test. Maria grabbed the bag from the bag boy and the two of us started walking through the parking lot.

“Maria, thanks for coming with me again,” I smiled.

She handed me the bag, which I placed on the floor, so that she could buckle her seatbelt. As she did, she smiled. “Stop thanking me. I’m supposed to do this.”

I smiled back and watched as we drove through Cambridge. Just a week ago, I was so firm in my stance against kids. I mean, I love kids. It’s not like I hate them or anything. They just weren’t an option.

When I believed I was pregnant last fall, I was so sure that I was just going to get rid of the pregnancy like it was nothing more than a gum wrapper. Now I believed I was pregnant again, and I just knew that I wasn’t going to get rid of it. The disgust on Max's face when I told him that I had considered an abortion…it was like he was looking at Tess.

So, this time, abortion wasn’t even a small thought in my mind. I was going to keep the baby because I didn’t want to disappoint Max and because honestly, I really wanted kids. I just wished I was pregnant sometime in the future and not at this moment. I should’ve been prepared though because I did, after all, foresee the moment I was going to tell Max. I knew that I was going to tell Max on our second wedding anniversary…tomorrow. But how? How did I know?

“You’re definitely not ok,” Maria realized.

I took my elbow off the armrest and shook my head. “What are you talking about?”

Maria glanced over her shoulder to change lanes and then focused back on the road ahead of her. “You somehow seem certain that you’re pregnant, yet you wanted to go out and buy a pregnancy test. Now I’m not you and you’re not me, but I would be spazing out right now. If my thoughts were little miniature people, they’d be running amok in my brain right now.”

“Maria, what are you talking about?” I laughed.

Without slowing down, Maria sped into the driveway and into the garage, coming to a sudden stop. “Why aren’t you freaking out?” she asked.

I shrugged my shoulders as we walked into the house. We didn’t discuss it or anything, but we headed straight to the downstairs bathroom. Without even thinking, I just went ahead and pulled out the stick.

“I don’t get how you can be so cool about all of this.”

Again I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s like I told you before. Max is right, Maria. Nothing’s happened in the past two years, and if something were to happen, I know hewould protect us.”

“I’m glad you do,” Maria sighed. She brought her attention to the stick in my hand. “You ready to pee?”

I glanced down at the pregnancy test and the directions in my hand. I placed them on the counter and looked at myself in the mirror. I was different. I was changed in so many ways.

“I don’t need to,” I smirked. “I know I am.”

I walked past Maria with the intention of going to the kitchen to grab the phone to call Max.

“Wait a second,” my best friend ordered. “We just paid $30 for that stick that’s going to go to waste. How do you know for sure?”

I shrugged my shoulders and pressed my lips together into a smirk. “I saw the future.”

“What?!” Maria laughed.

I turned away with a smile on my face.

[hoLLyBEHRy]

Accompanying music: "Come On" by Ben Jelen.

Chapter 13

{Kyle}

Last night was definitely the last night that I was going to go out and drink. Being part alien totally bites. Drinking was turning my brain into mush. I had one beer, but last night, everything I touched burned my skin and every sound, even a pin dropping, was like a bomb going off.

I managed to stumble out of the bedroom even though my brain throbbed in agonizing pain. The sun forcing its way through the blinds began to sting my eyes and I squinted to scan my surroundings. Sitting the living room with the tv on, Katie sat in relaxation and I envied her greatly. She had more that just one beer last night, but she woke up like every other human being.

“Morning, sweetie,” she said happily.

I winced out a smile and looked across the kitchen at the fridge that seemed so far away.

“Are you that hung over?” Katie laughed.

Rubbing my ear to stop the ringing, I nodded. “I’m glad you find amusement in my pain. I love you too.”

Katie laughed to herself as she got off the couch and joined me in the kitchen. “You had one beer,” she said. “I don’t get how you can be so sensitive.”

She kissed my lips and I wanted to be able to savor the soft touch of her lips pressing against mine, but instead, it burned. My lips were so sensitive and raw that feeling hers on mine burned and stung.

I didn’t know how I was going to tell Katie that I was changing. Honestly, I don’t think I’m ever going to tell her. From the moment I learned that Liz had gained powers of her own, it wasn’t too hard to figure out why, and so I instantly knew that what was happening to Liz was going to happen to me too. I told myself that I wasn’t going to let anyone know what I was become, or now, what I am. Even though I’m in love with Katie Stone, I wasn’t going to tell her anything. I wasn’t going to tell her about Max, Liz, Michael, and Isabel. I wasn’t going to tell her what happened to us during high school, and I wasn’t going to tell her that I was part of the conspiracy.

“I don’t get it either,” I smirked, pressing my lips together and stretching the corners of my mouth.

“I’ll make you breakfast,” Katie smiled, looking up at the clock. “Or should I say lunch?”

She kissed me again and this time, the kiss hurt even more. I climbed onto one of the stools at the counter and hovered over my cup of coffee. After placing the skillet onto the stove, Katie turned the volume on the tv up to hear better. It might have been just fine to her, but to me, it was shouting within my ears. Yes, definitely no more drinking. Damn shame.

“Ugh…” Katie sighed.

I watched her as she stopped looking at the television to roll her eyes in disgust. “What?” I wondered.

Using the spatula, Katie pointed at the tv. “I hate it when they interrupt the game for some stupid breaking news.”

I gave a little chuckle and turned to see what the big news was about. I bet anything that it was going to be some high speed chase. You rarely see those anymore.

“This just in,” the newscaster began, “FBI Agent Anthony Burns was pronounced dead at 6:51 Eastern Time this morning. We had been keeping the nation up to date on the narcotics age who was shot yesterday some time between 10am and 10:30. Burns had been stabilized at Boston General but passed away due undetected internal hemorrhaging. The Boston Police Department is investigating the shooting.”

Then up popped Agent Burns’s photo. He was a man with intense facial features, dark brown hair, and a piercing stare. Agent Burns was also Tony Burnette, the tv reporter from “Channel 51” news.

“Oh my God…”

“What?” Katie wondered. She didn’t even look over her shoulder. She just focused on the scrambled eggs and bacon.

My words were lodged in my throat, along with my pounding heart. He knew, I thought to myself. The FBI agent knew who I was. He knew what I was.

“Kyle?” Katie put the food onto a plate and slid it in front of me.

I quickly shut my mouth and smiled. “Yeah?”

“Are you ok? You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.”

I did. With my heart still pounding the walls of my chest and the sweat running down my forehead, I nodded. “I’m fine,” I lied. I grabbed her hand and kissed the diamond ring I had place on her left ring finger last night. That kiss hurt too.

Katie gave the warmest smile anyone could ever give and kissed my forehead after dabbing it dry with a napkin. The sentiment was kind, but it was pain.

“Kyle, are sure you’re ok?”

My mouth hung open as I shook my head. “No…I—I’m not. I think…I think I need to sit down.”

“You are sitting…” Katie replied. She grabbed my hand. “Kyle, you’re freaking me out.”

I continued to stare at the television. My life had been perfect. School was actually going good for once, baseball was going to provide for me for the rest of my life, I was going to get married to the girl I loved, and I was dealing with what was happening to me, but Burns knew who I was, meaning that damn camera man knew who I was too. I wasn’t safe. Neither were the others.

Katie shrieked at the explosion and ducked to avoid the debris of the television. I didn’t intend to blow it up, but it happened, as a result, all my energy was sucked right out of me. The tile floor took my fall with the stool tipping over on me.

I could hear her cries. “KYLE!!!” she shouted. “Kyle! Wake up…please…”



[Maria]

Liz could see the future. She said that today, Valentine’s Day, their second wedding anniversary, was the day that she was going to tell Max she was pregnant. It’s how she was certain that she was pregnant. So if she had known that she was going to get pregnant, all that fighting between her and Max was just a waste of time, but I wasn’t going to bring that fact to Liz’s attention. She was happy. Max was happy. The two of them were happy and they were going to have a baby.

After that news settles in, I’d have to remind Liz that because of Max and who now she was as a result of Max's special touch, there was more to it than just being pregnant, but somehow she didn’t seem worried.

“Happy Valentine’s Day!” Michael cheered.

He pressed his lips firmly against my cheek and I watched him as he walked in stride all around the kitchen. He had come home yesterday afternoon, an hour earlier than he normally did, and he had been acting strange since. I didn’t want to question the rose he brought me last night even though I know I should have. I just didn’t want to though. It had been a long time since Michael had been so…normal. Well, normal in my mind, definitely not normal for him.

“You’re awfully happy,” I smiled.

With the orange juice carton in his hand, Michael looked out the windows and took a deep breath. “It’s a good day,” he said before chugging from the carton. He placed the cardboard box back into the fridge and started on breakfast by pulling out an egg carton, a package of bacon, some sausage, and cheddar cheese. Michael dumped everything onto the counter and scratched his brow. “Um…is Max up?” he wondered.

I shrugged my shoulders and turned on the tv on one of the kitchen counters. “I think he and Liz stayed out last night. They went out and I never heard them come in. Why?”

Michael shook his head. “Just wondering,” he shrugged. There was something not right with his behavior.

I started flipping through the channels. Nothing but morning shows like Today or Good Morning, America. They all seemed to be reporting the same thing: Some man who was shot and died. I decided to stop on one of the shows to get the full detail.

“Yesterday,” one of the reporters announced, “ FBI Agent Anthony Burns was found shot in an alley—”

Michael dropped the spatula and started at the tv, and from his point of view, he was staring at the back of the television set. “Turn that up,” he ordered.

Without question, I raised the volume and Michael continued to stare at the back of the tv.

“He was taken to Boston General and had been stabilized—”

“Boston General?” I exclaimed.

“SHH!” Michael ordered.

“However,” the news reporter continued on, “at 6:51 Eastern Time this morning, internal bleeding led to Burns’s death. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has allowed the Boston Police Department to lead the investigation. We’ll keep you up to date on this story.”

I turned the tv off and shook my head in disbelief. “Can you believe that?” I wondered. “That guy died at Max's hospital.”

With his hands on the edge of the counter, Michael lowered his head. I had no idea why. His head quickly shot up when the veranda door opened and Max and Liz walked in hand-in-hand with smiles on their faces.

“Morning,” they grinned.

I put on a smile. “Hi. Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Anniversary.” I stood up and wrapped my arms around both of them.

“Thank you,” Liz smiled. “Happy Valentine’s Day to both of you.”

I looked over at Michael as he lifted up the corner of his mouth, forming a little smirk. Max, Liz, and I sat back down into the breakfast nook while Michael went back to scrambling eggs and turning over sausages. Max and Liz cuddled close together and the news of the FBI guy just slipped out of my mind.

“So what did you two do last night?” I asked with a grin.

Liz shrugged and stuck her nose into a white rose she had brought into the house with her. “We went to Viento’s and stayed the night at the Marriott.”

“The Mariott?” I smiled. “Well done, Max.”

He smiled, proud of himself.

“Hey,” Michael called. “You guys want in on this?” He pointed at the skillet with the spatula.

Max bobbed his head and got up. “Sure, I can find room for another breakfast.” He moved to the cupboard and grabbed plates.

While the men finally did some of the kitchen work, I slid next to Liz and rested my chin on her shoulder. “So…?” I smiled.

Liz turned to me, grabbed my face with both her hands. “So…?” she mocked with a grin.

“Did you tell him?” My eyes went to her belly.

Liz shook her head. “No,” she sighed happily. “I think I’ll stick with the schedule and tell him tonight.”

I nodded in understanding. “Where’s he taking you?”

Liz shrugged. “He still hasn’t told me.”

Max was too good at keeping his mouth shut. With all the secrets he held inside him, I would have self-combusted if I was him. “Max!” I called out.

“Maria…” Liz begged.

I swatted her hand away from my mouth and laughed. “Where you taking the wifey for anniversary deux?”

Max laughed and shook his head. “I haven’t told Liz and I’m not going to tell you,” he smiled at me. “That reminds me: Liz, we’ve got to leave in a couple of hours.”

“Why so early?” Liz asked.

With a few plates and silverware in his hand, Max started to make his way over to the table. “It’s part of the surprise, and if I tell you, then it’s not much of a—”

The plates and silverware never made it onto the table. They all came crashing down to the floor, slipping out of Max's hands. Both Liz and I shrieked while Max's face turned a pale white as he stared at the veranda door. Liz and I instinctively turned around and saw a man and woman. The man was dressed in a policeman’s uniform and the woman in a pant suit underneath an overcoat.

I looked at Max and rested my hand on his shoulder. “Breathe,” I instructed. I gave a little laugh and walked to the door as Max kneeled to the ground, lowering his head as he began to pick up the silverware. “Hi,” I said as I answered the door. “How can I help you?”

The woman smiled and looked to the man next to her. “This is Officer Grant,” she said. She then reached into her coat and pulled out a leather wallet. “I’m Detective Bailey, Boston Police Department.” She revealed her badge and I nodded in confirmation.

“I thought you were an officer?” Max said. He was now standing with shards of plates in one hand and silverware in the other. He stared at Detective Bailey intently.

“Max, you know who she is?” Liz wondered.

Her husband slowly nodded his head as he swallowed down. “Long story,” he growled.

“And the story gets longer,” Bailey smiled. She had said it with such smugness.

From out the corner of my eyes, Michael marched forward. “What the hell do you guys want?” he demanded to know.

I couldn’t believe his rudeness. “Michael!” I scolded. “What is wrong—”

“Mr. Guerin?” Bailey replied. Now she was slightly shocked and less smug.

Liz stepped forward with her hands out to her sides. “Ok, what’s going on?” she questioned.

And I sure as hell was wondering the same thing. Liz and I were standing in the middle of it all. On one side of us were members of the Boston PD and on the other side were our significant others, but at this moment, Liz and I didn’t know either side, we didn’t even know who Max and Michael were. They were strangers to us.

“We can explain everything later,” Bailey sighed. “Right now, though, I’ve got to arrest you Dr. Evans.”

“What?!” It was an exclamation expressed by all of us.

Bailey reached inside her jacket once again and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “I’ve got a warrant for your arrest.”

Michael, Liz, and I turned to Max. He stared at the detective completely dumbfounded.

“I guess that means you haven’t heard,” Bailey realized.

I shook my head in confusion. “Heard what?”

“Agent Burns is dead,” Bailey answered, although she said it directly to Max. The next thing she did was wait for his reaction as did I.

Max's eyes widened, his jaw dropped, his face turned white, sweat began to seep through his pores, and he didn’t look like he was breathing.

“Who is Agent Burns?” Liz wondered.

I learned who Burns was this morning, but Liz was so out of the loop, and I guess I still was because it seemed like Max and Michael both knew more about Burns than they should have.

“We need to take you in,” Bailey said to Max. It’s like Liz and I weren’t even in the room.

Bailey looked to the officer standing behind her. They made some sort of communication because now the officer was approaching Max with his hand placed on his handcuffs, ready to pull them out. He reached for Max's wrist, but Max snatched his hand away.

“I didn’t kill him!” he shouted.

“What?!” The word jumped out of Liz’s and my mouth at the same time.

Even though he didn’t grab Max's hand the first time, the officer tried again and succeeded in getting Max's hands behind his back and then bound together with handcuffs all while reading Max his rights. Max winced in pain as the officer snapped the handcuffs around his wrists. “Max Evans,” he said. “You are under arrest for the murder of FBI agent Anthony Burns. You have the right to remain silent,” the officer said. “Anything you say, can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney—”

Michael had stepped forward and grabbed the lapels of Max's suit to pull him aside. “What the hell is going on, Maxwell?” I heard my boyfriend whisper.

The police officer went on with Max's rights even though no one in the room was listening.

“I don’t know,” Max answered, worriedly. “I didn’t do anything.”

Liz stepped in between the two men and looked up at her husband. “Max, what’s going on?” she asked.

It must’ve been the millionth time he’s been asked that, but we needed an answer. Truth was, Max was just as confused as we were, but he wasn’t going to let his wife know that.

“I’m not sure,” he replied. He answered more confidently this time. “Everything will be fine.” He leaned forward and placed a kiss on Liz’s lips. He pulled away with an assuring smirk on his face.

Holding onto the lapels of Max's jacket, Liz dug her face into her husband’s chest.

“Let’s go,” Bailey ordered.

The officer pulled Max away and as he did, Liz moved with them.

“Liz,” Max said. “It’ll be ok.”

So reluctantly, my best friend then released her hold on her husband and we all watched as the police office led Max out of the house. Bailey followed after them, stopping at the door to look at Michael.

“I had no idea you knew Evans,” she sighed. “You might as well come down to the station too.”

“I’ll go on my own free will,” Michael scoffed.

Bailey shrugged her shoulders. “Whatever you say, but if you’re not, then I’m going to be after you next. Someone killed Burns and I’m about to find out who and why.”

The veranda door shut and Liz, Michael, and I stared through its glass windows, watching as the police officer opened the back door to the patrol car. Max placed one foot in and the policeman helped Max duck his head so he could get in safely. Max sat inside the car with his head lowered.

“Grab your coats,” Michael ordered. “We’re going to the police station.”

[hoLLyBEHRy]

A/N: It's been a LONG time, I know. The past month, I've been swamped with term papers, finals, shopping for the holidays, friends, family, and every other thing. I got no writing done whatsoever. BUT I'm on winter break now and so I've got about two weeks to write. I'll be taking advantage of it. In the meantime, here's chapter 14. I hope you enjoy. Just, please, everyone stick with me. Thank you so very much. Everyone take care. Have a happy and safe holiday season.

-hoLLy


Chapter 14

{Liz}

We made a stop at Jesse’s firm before going to the police station. It was nothing short of embarrassing for Michael, Maria, and I to show up at Jesse’s prestigious workplace. To make matters worse, Michael defied the secretary’s warnings that Jesse was not to be disturbed because he was in a meeting. Michael walked straight into the board room and dragged my sister-in-law’s husband right out of his seat.

“Michael!” Jesse exclaimed. “What the hell is wrong with—” He noticed Maria and I standing just outside the door. “Maria? Liz? What’s happened?”

I stepped forward. “We need your help,” I told him. “Max has been arrested.”

“What?” he laughed in disbelief. “Arrested for what?”

Michael, Maria, and I exchanged looks and silently decided who would be the one to tell him. It was going to be Michael. Maria and I had absolutely no idea what the hell happened or what was happening. Michael was the best candidate to explain what he knew to anyone who ever asked.

“I found an FBI agent shot in the alley behind Whits,” he began to explain. He started off the same way when he told us this story on the drive over.

“What was an FBI agent doing around the club?” Jesse wondered.

It was a question Maria and I had also.

“Drugs,” Michael answered both times. “He said there were a lot of drugs in the area and he was just trying to monitor everything. He came to the club yesterday morning. He left and I heard a gun shot and I found him in the back alley.”

“Did you see anyone else in the alley?” Jesse wondered. By now he was panicking, but keeping his stress under a tight lid. “Anyone run off? Anyone on the roofs?”

Michael shook his head as he scratched his eyebrow.

Jesse sighed heavily and glanced at his watch. “So what does Max have to do with all of this?”

“They think Max shot Burns,” I said softly. Hearing myself say it out loud still made the situation seem ridiculous.

Jesse did too. He laughed again. “Why would they think that?”

We all shook our heads and shrugged our shoulders.

“That’s why we need you,” Maria said. “He’s at the station now.”

Jesse reached behind him to the coat rack and pulled off the overcoat. “Let’s go,” he nodded.

The four of us started rushing through the office with Jesse’s secretary following close behind us. “Mr. Ramirez! Where are you going? You’re in the middle of a meeting.”

“Tell them all to go home,” Jesse sighed. “I’ve got to get my brother-in-law out of jail again.”

Jesse followed behind us as Michael drove us to the police station. We pulled up to the front as druggies and other criminals were being led in and out of the station. Michael made sure to walk close to Maria and I to protect us, but we were no stranger to police stations.

Coming from behind, Jesse took lead of our little group. He walked up to the front desk and slammed his briefcase down, an assertive action. “I’m looking for Max Evans,” he said. “He was taken in a few minutes ago.”

Before the desk clerk could answer, Detective Bailey walked into view and waved us in. “Let them back here,” she said. The desk clerk opened the small swinging door and let us in.

Jesse shook hands with the detective who began briefing Jesse on the situation. I stared at the tall woman with her blonde hair tied tightly into a bun. She was a bitch if I ever saw one. She had strode right into my home this morning way more cockier than Michael could ever be and arrested my husband for a murder he couldn’t have committed.

Michael, Maria, and I walked behind Jesse and the detective, who started leading us to the back of the station. I clung onto Maria’s arm as she clung onto Michael’s. He looked down at Maria and gave an assuring smile and then looked to me with the same expression. It was a nice gesture, but I needed the reassurance from my husband, whom I saw in a jail cell. He was wearing only his dress shirt and his slacks. The police must have had Max's jacket and other belongings. His sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his face worn and tired. We didn’t exactly get a lot of sleep last night.

“Evans,” Bailey called.

Max's head shot up and his eyes went straight to mine. I smiled happily as he jumped to his feet and ran to the wall of metal bars. “Where have you guys been?” he wondered.

Michael tilted his head in Jesse’s direction. “We needed to make a quick stop.”

Jesse looked to Detective Bailey. “I think we’d like a moment alone with my client.”

The slender woman nodded and left the room, glaring. The area she had taken us to was a cell in a secluded room. There were no other jail cells around us, just Max's.

Jesse stood in front of Max, blocking my view of him and his of me. “Max, what’s going on?” he asked. “You’ve got to tell me what happened.”

I wasn’t interested in Max's side of the story. I knew he was innocent. I believed he was.

“Yesterday Burns was brought into the ER,” Max said, rubbing his forehead. “I was working with Dr. Adams to stabilize him and Bailey came into the trauma room asking Burns who shot him.” Max lowered his head and gave it a little shake. “Burns said I shot him.”

“Bull shit,” Michael laughed. “Why would you shoot him?”

Jesse looked over his shoulder and held up his hand to Michael who obediently nodded and shut his mouth. “Why would Burns think you shot him?” Jesse asked. “You don’t know him.”

Max kept his head lowered as Jesse stared him down.

“Max…?”

My husband cleared his throat, leaving his head down and his eyes on the ground. “Burns was the FBI agent that my father and I made a deal with to get Liz out of jail when we were arrested in Utah.”

My hands lowered to my stomach as it did a little turn and shake. It was then that I knew that maybe Max wasn’t innocent after all.

“So you did shoot him?” Jesse questioned with confusion.

Max shook his head, pushed himself away from the metal bars, and walked back to the bed where he took a seat. “I don’t know,” he said softly…worriedly.

Jesse scoffed, he was finding a lot of amusement in all of this. “You don’t know?” he wondered. “Max, you’ve got to help me out here. You’re facing charges of murder. The police don’t have concrete evidence that you shot Burns. They did find plane tickets in your jacket. What are the plane tickets for?”

Finally, Max looked in our direction and directly at me, but he didn’t say anything.

“Answer me, Max,” Jesse ordered. “I need to know what they were for. The police can easily say that you were planning on fleeing, and they will come after you.”

Max sighed heavily and ran his hands through his hair. “The tickets were for Liz and I,” he answered. “It was for our anniversary.”

“Where were you going?” Jesse continued to interrogate.

My husband looked up and walked back to the metal bars. “Liz, I’m sorry,” said to me. “I’m sorry things are so screwed up. I wanted to take you back to Roswell.”

Despite the situation, I smiled as my cheeks burned red. “Back home?”

He nodded with his cheeks glowing also. “I wanted to take you to Señor Chows,” he grinned.

I looked down and smiled. “Our first date,” I realized.

Max nodded and we stared at each other for a while.

“Maybe we should leave the two of them alone for a minute.”

I glanced over my shoulder as Maria began pulling Michael and reaching to grab Jesse’s arms.

“But I—” Jesse pleaded.

“Come on,” Maria insisted.

She and I shared a smile. I watched and waited for them to leave Max and I alone. When they finally did, Max reached through the metal bars and grabbed both my hands.

“I’m sorry this is happening,” he apologized again.

I shook my head and lowered myself to kiss his palms. “It’s ok,” I smiled. “Remember? You said that we were going to be ok.”

Max pressed his lips together and smiled. “You’re right.”

We didn’t say much else. We just wanted to be together as much as possible on our anniversary.

“Um…what were we going to do in Roswell?” I wondered. I just wanted to hear his voice. I didn’t really care what we were going to do in Roswell. We were going to be together and that’s all that mattered, but I asked because I just wanted to hear him say anything to me.

Max brought my hands up to the metal bars and kissed my hands a few times. He placed a final kiss on the rings on my left ring finger. “I just wanted to take you to see your parents and mine,” he sighed. “I just wanted to take you home.”

I bit the inside of my bottom lip to stop myself from smiling goofily.

“We also would’ve stopped by Valenti’s,” Max went on. “See how big Jamie’s gotten…Maybe work on a baby of our own…”

I brought my gaze down to the floor and noticed the metal wall separating my husband and I, and I noticed my belly.



“Happy 2nd wedding anniversary,” Max grinned, handing me a box while trying unsuccessfully to hide his smile.

The velvet box opened with a creak and revealed a beautiful necklace with heart-shaped diamonds.

“You spoil me, Max,” I smiled.

“Only because you deserve the best.”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “You do too,” I replied. “You deserve all you want, and you should have all you want.”

Max shook his head and grabbed my hand. “I’ve got all I want.”

I couldn’t conceal my smile as I stared at Max and I holding hands. I moved my husband’s hand off my lap and placed it flat against my stomach. “Now you do,” I told him.

“What?” Max laughed.

“Well, now you’ve got the family you wanted. You—and I—have a baby too,” I smiled. “I’m pregnant.”



“Max…”

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. He lowered his head and let his thumbs graze the back of my hands. “I told you I was going to change your mind, but at the same time I told you I was going to back off. So I’m sorry. I shouldn’t—”

“I’m pregnant.”

I sensed Max lift his head, but I kept mine down. Not for long, however, because Max lifted my chin with his finger.

“Liz, look at me,” he said. “You’re pregnant?” His eyebrows had risen to the top of his forehead and his eyes grew wide. In the light, Max's eyes were an amber with a hint of brown here and there, but in dim lighting, like now, they were a slightly dark hazel, warming to my own eyes.

I smiled willingly and nodded.

Max lowered his head with a scoff. I didn’t know how to take it. Was he happy? Shocked? Maybe both?

Definitely both. Max looked up with a smile on his face. A grin so wide I could see his molars. I knew he wanted to just jump in the air, but he withheld himself from doing so. He blinked his eyes a few times to maybe let it all sink in and breathed out a chuckle.

“This is great,” he smiled. He saw the smirk on my face and his smile shrunk a bit, eventually it disappeared. “Is this great?” he wondered.

I nodded my head. “This is,” I said. I know that I didn’t sound confident, but how could I when my husband was in jail?

“I don’t believe you.”

I rested my forehead on our pile of hands and then pulled my head back. “Max, I was so sure that this was going to be ok because I loved you and I was ready for this baby, but look at what’s happened,” I said. “This was what I was talking about.”

“You think I killed Burns?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I sighed.

Max slid his hands out from under mine and walked away. “I need someone to believe that I didn’t kill him!” he shouted. “You’re supposed to be that someone, Liz. You’re supposed to believe that I didn’t do what they said I did!”

“Don’t get mad at me!” I shouted back. “Max, you don’t even know!”

“That’s why I need you!”

I lowered my head and backed up to lean against the wall. I needed a seat. “We’re dancing in circles,” I sighed.

Max had moved to the farthest corner of his cell and sat down. One leg was stretched all the way out and the other was pulled in so that the side of his leg rested on the floor. He was totally defeated and spent. “How am I supposed to protect this family if you don’t even believe in me?”

I slid to the floor. “I believe in you, Max, but this is what I was saying when bad things happen to us. This is why I didn’t want kids.”

“So what now?” he questioned. “You’re pregnant. What are you going to do?”

I knew there was only one answer he wanted to hear, which was the only answer I had and wanted to give.

“I’m keeping this baby,” I said. “I’m scared and I have no idea what the hell is going to happen, but no one ever does. You told me that, I believed you then…” I took a deep breath. “…and I believe you now.”

Max stood up and walked back to the metal bars. “Come here,” he whispered.

I helped myself up off the floor. Inside of me was a beautiful new life, a product of Max's and my love for each other. And it was going to be born into a family where its aunt was a princess and its father was a king of a planet in a whole other universe. My child was going to be born into alien royalty. Being a part of the royal family for years, I’ve learned that there are no luxuries.

Ok, so that’s a lie. There’s the danger that has come out of knowing Max Evans, but there is one luxury as a result of knowing Max Evans and that’s loving him. Maria can say the same for Michael and Jesse for Isabel. And as corny as it sounds, love can conquer all, even all my fears.

No matter what may happen to me in the future, I’m confident in knowing that Max will protect me. His love for me has made me confident. I know that he’ll do the same for our child.

“Be careful,” he warned.

I nodded, assuring him that I was fine, and stepped forward. Max bent his knees and reached through the metal bars once again to grab my hands. He paused for a moment, still crouched down, and then just decided to descend all the way to the floor. His hands rested on my hips and he brought me closer to the bars. I felt his arms circle around my waist as he rested his forehead on my stomach. I placed my hands on his head, running my hands through his silky hair.

“I’ll get us through this,” Max sighed. “All of this. The pregnancy, this, everything.”



{Michael}

We were waiting just outside the door for nearly ten minutes to give Max and Liz some time alone. During that time, Jesse had started wandering around the station trying to gather any information he could. It seemed as though everyone was busy. After a few minutes, Jesse came back to us.

“Max was telling the truth,” he said upon arrival.

“Of course he was,” I snapped.

Jesse sighed heavily. “They’re trying to piece everything together,” he went on. “Michael, according to what you said yesterday, Burns left your office at ten after ten, or around there.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Isabel and I left the house with you sometime after nine, but we were stuck in traffic for nearly an hour.”

“Right,” Jesse agreed. “So Burns showed up not too long after you two arrived and left within five to ten minutes, like you said.”

I nodded again.

“Right, so that puts Burns’s shooting anywhere from the time he left your office to when you found him. The police are estimating the shooting some time around 10:20. He was brought into the hospital at 10:25.”

“Well, there we go,” Maria clapped. “Max left for the hospital a quarter before his ten o’clock shift started.”

I looked at my girlfriend with such pride and turned to Jesse, expecting to see a pleased expression on his face, but all he did was look towards Max's cell. “We need to talk to him.”

“Jesse, what is it?”

He didn’t answer my question. Instead, Jesse marched back into the room where Max's cell was and Maria and I quickly followed. We found Max and Liz sitting on the floor.

“Max,” Jesse called.

Both Liz and Max jumped to their feet.

“What?” Max wondered. “What is it?”

Liz stepped away as Jesse moved closer towards Max. “Tell me exactly what happened after you left the house yesterday morning.”

Max stared in Jesse’s eyes and it might’ve been then or when Max said I don’t know that I knew what was going on.

“Jesse, what is it?” Liz asked.

“Burns’s shooting is placed around 10:20,” Jesse answered, not taking his eyes off Max. “That was when Burns left Michael’s office and when Michael found Burns in the alley. I need to know where you were, Max.”

Max remained silent and moved away to sit back on the bed.

“Max was already at the hospital,” Liz answered for her husband.

Jesse turned to Liz and with a sympathetic smirk, he shook his head. “No, he wasn’t,” he sighed. “The attending doctor at the hospital told the police that Max was half an hour late for his ten o’clock shift.”

“No,” Liz refused to believe.

As Liz argued Max's whereabouts, he continued to remain silent. He sent the floor piercing stares. I have no idea what was going on in his head at this moment, but I know there was something he wasn’t telling us. I was going to get the answer out of him.

“Where were you?” I demanded to know.

Max knew I was talking to him, and he slowly lifted his head.

“Why were you late to work?” I questioned. “Where were you after you left the house?

He stared at me and didn’t respond back, but I found an answer from his silence.

You’re something else, Maxwell, I thought to myself. I ran my hands through my hair as I shook my head in complete disbelief. “YOU SON OF A BITCH!”



[Maria]

“You…!” Michael ran his hands through his hair and became hysterical. “YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!! How long has it been back???”

“Michael, lower your voice,” Jesse ordered.

You could see the fury in Michael’s burning face. His nostrils flaring and his breathing picking up the pace as he tried to calm down.

Jesse bobbed his head, assured that Michael was calm. “Now, what are you talking about?” he asked.

“Max knows what I’m talking about. How long has it been back?” Michael asked again.

Max stared at the cement flooring and then slowly shook his head for a moment. “I don’t know,” he finally answered. “I can’t—I can’t remember.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me! You ASSHOLE!!!”

“Whoa!” Jesse ordered. “Michael, calm down. What is it? Michael, you need to tell me what’s going on,” he said. “Fill me in so I can get Max out of here.”

He tried to restrain him, but Michael just kept on forcing my way towards Max. “TELL THEM!” I shouted.

Jesse gave Michael one good push. “You settle down!” he ordered. “You know, you’re not out of the blue here either. They seem to think you’re involved.”

“Tell them, Max,” Michael said more calmly.

Jesse turned back around to face his brother-in-law. “Max, what is he talking about?”

Michael stood with his arms folded in front of his chest as he glared at Max sitting on the jail cell bed. “Max can’t remember where he was at the time of Burns’s murder because the conscience took him over.”

“What?!” Liz and I gasped.

Ashamed, Max continued to hide his face and hung his head low to stare at a spot between his feet.

“Max?” Liz said softly. “Max, look at me.”

Hesitantly, he lifted his head and looked into the eyes of his wife. He hadn’t had any sleep at all and he was letting all his worries and fears collapse on himself and you could see it. There was pallor to his face, his eyelids weighed down, and his eyes were near bloodshot.

“You hid this from us?” Liz questioned.

Max took a deep breathe, exhaling sharply and quickly. “Well, you hid a pregnancy and abortion from me.”

Liz’s eyes widened in shock. “I can’t believe you just said that! What the hell is wrong with you???”

Max recoiled. “I’m sorry,” he apologized, shaking his head. Gradually, he lowered his head with each shake. He rested his forehead in balls of his palms and quietly began to weep. “I’m sorry,” he said again. This time we could hear a crack in his voice.

“Max, it’ll be ok,” Jesse said calmly. “I don’t know how the conscience works or what it does to you, but you have to try to remember where you were and what you were doing at the time of the murder.”

Max sniffled a bit and wiped his upper lip and cheeks with the back of his hands to wipe away the tears. “I can’t,” he said. “I don’t remember anything. A page from the hospital broke the conscience.”

“What the hell do we tell the police?” I wondered.

Jesse shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. We don’t have anything to help Max out. We’re sitting ducks. Burns pointed Max out in the hospital. Max's attending doctor told the police that Max showed up late for his shift. None of us can give an alibi and there’s obviously the fact that Max doesn’t remember anything between 9:45 to 10:30. This gives Max time to kill Burns, get cleaned up, and get to work. Are you listening to me, Max? This is why I need you to remember where you were and what you were doing. If we can find that out, we can go to where you were and find witnesses that can account for your whereabouts, but we’ve got nothing. So try to remember.”

“What if I did kill him?” Max wondered. “That’s possible, isn’t it? I can’t remember, maybe I did kill him.”

“Max, shut up. You don’t say a word.”

[hoLLyBEHRy]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I have to make sure I thank you guys. You are all incentive to keep writing. Thank you so much. I'm getting my writing mojo back (:lol:), so I've been writing more and hopefully this story will get moving along. Once again, thank you all so much.

-hoLLy


Chapter 15

[Maria]

“So what do we do now?” Michael wondered. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and shrugged.

I’m sure it was the question on everyone’s mind, and I’m sure that no one even knew the answer to it. Max glumly sat slouched on the jail cell bed while we all stood outside of it. Jesse stood closest to the cell with his hand gripped around one bar. He began thinking intently, trying to figure out our next step. Michael leaned against the wall of the crammed room and stared at the floor. His face still burned red from the sudden confession by Max. I stood in the middle of aisle, just trying to read everyone’s minds. Not thinking like Jesse was, but pondering the situation we were in, wondering how the hell we all got to where we were right at this moment. Everything had happened so fast this morning. Our heads were still spinning. I looked to the door, and there was Liz, standing in the corner. She stood the farthest away from Max with her arms loosely crossed in front of her chest, just a little above her stomach. I don’t know if she told Max or not. I guess she had been right all along. I don’t think any of us are meant to have children, not with the lives we lead.

Sighing heavily, Jesse finally let go of the metal bar. “There’s nothing we can do right now to prove Max's innocence.”

Somehow, I don’t think Jesse believed Max was innocent, and I know it’s horrible to say, but I don’t believe Max is innocent either. Even Max is doubting himself. But Max was practically my brother-in-law, and there was no way I, or anyone else, was going to let him go to prison.

“Bail,” I blurted out. “Can’t we post bail?”

Jesse turned his head and barely looked over his shoulder at me. “They don’t have enough evidence, but Max is the prime suspect,” he said. “He’s looking at second degree murder of a government official. There’ll be a bail hearing, but I can guarantee you that the judge will deny him bail.”

“That’s only if it turns out that he is the murderer,” Michael argued. “But they haven’t proved it yet. So there has to be something we can do to get him out of here in the meantime.”

Jesse bobbed his head. “You’re right. I’ll stay here and see what I can find out and do to get Max out of here. There’s nothing the rest of you all can do without getting more involved. So, Max, just sit tight. Michael, you should take Maria and Liz home—”

“No,” Liz interrupted. “I’m not going anywhere. I don’t want to leave Max.”

I quickly looked to her husband in the jail cell. He got up from the bed and walked to the bars and leaned as far forward as he could and looked in his wife’s direction.

“Liz, go home,” he ordered. “Please.”

She finally stepped forward with her arms still crossed in front of her chest. She shook her head. “Max, I’m not leaving you.”

“Liz, there’s nothing that can be done right now.”

Being the stubborn girl that she was, Liz shook her head. “I don’t care. Let me stay with you then.”

Max looked my way, the sign that he needed my help. “I don’t think they’ll let you stay here, Liz,” I said. “Come on, girlfriend.” I started walking towards the door and grabbed Liz’s arm on my way there, but she resisted.

“Give me a second,” she said.

I nodded and let go of my grip on her arm and watched as she walked towards Max. Jesse stepped out of the way and Liz took his place at the wall of metal bars.

Max gave a little smirk as his wife approached him. He placed his face in between two of the bars so that his forehead kind of jutted out. Liz slowly walked forward and was able to rest her own forehead against Max's. They both closed their eyes. It was the poster image of the star-crossed lovers.

“I don’t want to leave you,” Liz said softly, with a slight whimper.

Max smirked again as he sighed heavily. “I know, I know. But you have to, Liz. You can’t stay here, and I don’t want you to. Look, aside from me missing being with you and…” he opened his eyes and brought them down to Liz’s belly and smiled, “…I’ll be absolutely fine. It’s not like I haven’t been in here before.”

Liz pulled away with a stern expression on her face and Max knew that it really wasn’t the time or the place to joke.

“Sorry,” he apologized. He brought his chin forward and kissed his wife’s lips. “Liz, everything will be fine.”

A knock on the wall brought my attention to the door where Detective Bailey was standing.

“Guess visiting hours are over,” Michael sighed.

Detective Bailey gave a little smile. Michael walked out of the room first and I followed, grabbing Liz’s arm on my way to the door. She tried to resist my pulls, but hesitantly started following after me by backing out of the room, not wanting to take her eyes off her husband, and he didn’t let his eyes drift either.

“Happy anniversary,” he said.



{Michael}

The two girls stopped at the door. Maria was facing me, nearly halfway through the door, still holding onto Liz, who wasn’t facing me. She just continued stared at her husband as I heard him wish her a happy anniversary. After that, Liz quickly turned around and started marching out of the police station. Maria and I had to jog to catch up with her.

“What’s the rush?” I wondered looking down at Maria.

My girlfriend shrugged her shoulders and ran up next to Liz who continued rushing through the police station, eventually pushing through the front doors and continuing her pace to the car.

“Liz, what’s going on?” Maria asked.

“Keys,” Liz ordered.

Without question or hesitation, I reached into my pocket and forked over the keys to the new driver and took the backseat. Maria quickly climbed into the car before Liz sped out of the parking lot.

“Liz, what the hell is going on?” I demanded to know.

“We have to get home,” she replied. She barely looked over her shoulder. “I have to call Serena.”

My face scrunched in confusion. “Serena?”

“Langley’s goddaughter?” Maria questioned.

No longer did I scrunch my face. My jaw quickly fell to the floor. “Langley?” I exclaimed in shock. “Someone start explaining!”

Maria turned in her seat. “Some girl named Serena Hudson found Liz,” she began to answer. “She said she was Langley’s goddaughter and that she was here to help us.”

I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. Maxwell had told me that Langley was some jackass, emotionless Hollywood producer. Who would make him the godfather to their child? And as I expected, Maria slapped my thigh, leaving a stinging sensation.

I cleared my throat. “Sorry,” I apologized. “You said she was here to help us. Help us how?”

I watched as Maria looked to Liz and as Liz kept her focus on the road, she shook her head. Maria turned back to me and shook her head. “I can’t tell you. I can’t tell you yet.”

I glanced at Liz and then back to Maria. Something was definitely up. “Why not?”

“Liz isn’t ready to tell anyone.”

Now my face was scrunched up again, but this time, it was in frustration in addition to confusion. My fuse was short. Maria damn well knew that.

“Look,” Liz interrupted. “Serena can talk to Langley, he’ll help us.”

I shook my head to the plan. It wasn’t a good idea. “Liz, the guy despises Maxwell. Max ruined his life. He practically ended his human life. Why would Langley helps us?”

“Because no matter what,” Liz sighed, “it’s his job.”

She slammed on the brakes, nearly throwing me through the windshield. Note to self: When Liz is behind the wheel, where seatbelt, and maybe a helmet. Liz got out of the car and speed-walked her way into the house. After regaining what composure I could gather for myself, I followed Maria into the house just as Liz finished getting off the phone with her new friend.

“She’ll be here soon,” Liz reported.

Outsiders were never a good idea. It was common knowledge.

“Liz…” I sighed. “How do we even know we can trust her? How do we know she’ll help us in…whatever way she will? And how will Langley help us? Liz, he’s capable of killing, and he’s angry.”

With that sympathetic look on her face, Liz smirked. “Michael, just trust me, please?”

She was hiding a secret from me. She had a new friend that we never knew about. She was so willing to trust this new friend and Langley.

“Fine,” I nodded. “It’s worth a shot. Whatever to help Maxwell.”

Within minutes, the doorbell rang. Liz rushed off to open the door, Maria followed, and I sluggishly walked after them.

“Thanks so much for coming,” Liz greeted the stranger. Liz may have been friends with this girl, but I didn’t know her. So she was still a stranger.

“It’s not a problem,” the stranger replied. “I’m here to help in whatever way I can.”

I rounded the corner and there standing at the door was a twenty-something woman with straight blonde hair, calming eyes, and a cute dimple in her chin. I wasn’t going to trust her for a second.

“Oh, Serena,” Liz smiled. “I’d like you to meet Michael Guerin.”

I gave a little smirk and put out my hand for her to shake, which she did.

“So you’re the General?” she asked.

I shrugged my shoulders and bobbed my head. “I guess so. Who are you?”

“Human,” she smiled.

I glared at Maria angrily as she covered her grin and snickered behind her hand. “What’s the plan?” I sighed, shaking my head.

“All I know is what I’ve heard on the news,” Serena replied. “But I’m sure Uncle Kal’s been paying closer attention.”

“What the hell does that mean?” I wondered.

Maria leaned her head towards the inside of the house. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go to the kitchen and sit down.”

The three girls walked into the house, on their way to the kitchen. I walked to the door and held my hand to the lock. I just wanted to add a little extra security. I wasn’t feeling safe all of a sudden.

Apparently, I didn’t make the door all that secure.

“Isabel? What the hell?”

The tall blonde barged into the house after having shoved open the door that nearly took me out. “Why didn’t anyone call me???” she cried out.

I stayed hidden behind the door in fear as I noticed the three other girls whip around with alarm. All fear the wrath of Princess Isabel.

“I—Iz…” Maria stuttered.

“My brother’s in jail?!” she shouted. “On murder accusations???”

Liz stepped forward. “Isabel...calm down,” she said cautiously.

“Where the hell was I when all of this happened?”

Maria cleared her throat and was the next to step forward. “Class,” she answered.

I think I saw steam coming out of Isabel’s ears. Her face was red enough.

“I can’t believe this!” she said angrily. Then she froze for a moment, staring at the newcomer standing a step back in between Maria and Liz. “Who is she?”

After witnessing just a small preview of Isabel’s lashings, Serena decided not to step forward like the other girls, which was a smart move on her part. “I’m Serena,” she replied meekly.

“She’s a friend of mine,” Liz said. “She’s going to help us.”

“How?” Isabel wondered.

“That’s what I want to know,” I said. I closed the front door and locked it for the second time. I walked through the group of girls and led the way to the kitchen, the girls followed behind me.

“Uncle Kal will know what to do,” Serena said as she took a seat in the breakfast booth.

“Uncle Kal?” Isabel questioned.

I leaned towards Isabel. “It’s obviously a long story, but she’s basically our contact with Langley.”

Serena gave a modest little smile. “I tried calling him this morning, but I had no luck. We should try calling again.”

I reached for the phone and tossed it to Serena. She dialed, then held the phone to her ear. It was my cue to put the call on speaker phone, and I did.

“Michael!” Maria scolded the second she heard the ringing.

“I’m listening to every word they have to say to each other,” I said.

Serena held up her hand to Maria. “It’s ok. I’m sure Kal’s going to want to talk to Michael anyway.”

We all waited for the ringing to stop and just as Serena was about to sigh and hang up, the ringing stopped.

“Langley,” he answered.

“Uncle Kal,” Serena smiled. She had a cheery voice, but not those cheery, irritating voices. “It’s me.”

There was a slight pause. “Serena,” Langley sternly replied. “Have you made contact with them?”

Serena lowered her head to hide her red cheeks. “Yeah, Uncle Kal. I’m actually here with them now.”

“You’re there?” There was a hint of shock in his voice. “Let me talk to one of them.”

“You’re talking to them right now.”

And with perfect timing, every one of us said “Hi” in unison, and with smiles. On the other end, Kal exhaled sharply.

“Michael,” he said. “Let me talk to you.”

With my eyes wide and nervousness coursing through my body, I looked to Serena with my mouth hanging open slightly. She just shrugged and tossed the phone across the room. I caught it with my chest and cleared my throat. Never before had I spoken to Kal Langley. I didn’t know exactly how to feel. I turned the speaker off the phone and walked to the dining room.

“Uh…hello?” I answered.

“Michael Guerin,” Langley sighed. “It’s a pleasure to finally speak with you.”

I bobbed my head and scratched my brow. “Yeah, you too.”

There was a slight pause before Langley spoke again. “You don’t trust me,” he finally said.

“I don’t,” I replied. No hesitation on my part.

Langley laughed. “Well you should because I’m trying like hell to get your faithful leader out of jail.”

I didn’t entirely believe him. “Just what exactly have you been doing? Why haven’t you contacted us? You’re supposed to be our protector.” I began to get angry. None of this should be happening to us. We were royalty. We were supposed to be happy now. “Why aren’t you here, you selfish bastard? All you care about is yourself.”

“I risked my life for our king,” Langley snapped. “Don’t call me selfish. You should have been paying more attention to Max.”

“Excuse me?” I exclaimed. He had no right telling me that I needed to pay more attention to Max, because all I did was look out for him.

“I mean closer attention,” Langley emphasized. “You shouldn’t have been in so much denial and you should’ve listened to your girlfriend.”

Looking to the kitchen, I caught all the girls looking through the doorway at me. I walked farther away from the kitchen and out of their line of site. “What the hell are you talking about?” I demanded to know.

“You call it the conscience.”

I shook my head and took a seat on the staircase. “I’m still not following you.”

“The conscience never went away, Michael.”

My eyes began to water because the betrayal I felt made my eyes tear. He lied to me. Max had been lying to all of us for years. He might’ve killed Burns. Who knows what else he might have done?

“He did it, didn’t he?” I asked. “That’s why you wanted to speak to me, because Max did it. He killed Burns.”

“Don’t jump to conclusions, Michael. I’m still investigating.”

“And just how much investigating have you done so far. You know this guy worked for the Special Unit?”

“Yes, I did know that, but rest assured that the Special Unit has not been reestablished. It became the laughing stock of the FBI. There’s no funding. Members have been debriefed—”

“Except for Burns,” I interrupted. “He must’ve known about us. He contacted Max in Utah. He’s snooping around my club. Who is he?”

“A bitter agent. Look, don’t worry about it, Michael. I’ll take care of everything. Get the money to bail out Max. He should be held on bail, and if not, I’ll send my lawyers.”

“Jesse’s going to take care of everything,” I insisted.

“He’ll do for now,” Langley replied. “But if things get messy, you’re going to need more than Isabel’s husband.”

And it seemed as though Langley was expecting things to get messy. I sighed heavily, worriedly scratching my eyebrow. “So what do I do? What do we do?”

“Get Max out of jail,” he ordered. “Let’s hope he hasn’t been exposed. Once he’s out of jail, lay low. Max wakes up every morning, goes to work, comes home, and that’s it. The police and the feds will be watching him, let them.”

“What?” I questioned. It didn’t make any sense. Why would we want them eyeing us? Langley had a plan. “What are you going to do?”

“Just do as I say, Michael. I’ll take care of everything. This will all go away soon.”



{Kyle}

“Yeah,” I said into the phone. “I’m fine.”

On the other end, Katie sighed heavily. “Are you sure? I really don’t have to be in psych today. Professor James is lecturing again. You’ll be saving me.”

I gave a little chuckle and nodded. “I need you to be there,” I insisted. “I’ve got fifty bucks that today will be the day. I have a feeling about it.”

Professor James was the oldest teacher at USC. There was an ongoing bet as to when the teacher would actually pass away. It was sad really, but honestly, the lady was old. It would be best if she went some time soon.

“I had my money on March 25th,” Katie laughed.

I smiled to myself. “I’m so sorry,” I said.

I pictured Katie with one hand on the wheel and the other on her phone. “For what?” she wondered. I imagined her shaking her head, allowing her red hair to sway and dance.

“It’s Valentine’s Day,” I began to explain. “We should be spending every minute together, but I’m here in bed and you’re off in class and—”

“Kyle, it’s ok. I want you to get better so we can celebrate tonight.”

During our whole conversation, I could tell that she was still freaked about what had happened this morning. I would be too. I blew up the tv and I didn’t even know that I could. To scare Katie even more, I passed out. I think she said I was out for a good minute or so. After I came to, she brought me to our room and put me in bed where we just hung out until she had to get to class.

Ok, so I was turning into an alien. I knew that I would eventually go through the transition, but that wasn’t what was really bothering me. The fact that I blew up the television is pretty big, but it’s what brought on the energy to do so that worried me the most.

Someone who had discovered my secret, Max's secret, was just killed, in Boston. Maybe it was just coincidence. It had to be coincidence. I desperately needed it to be a coincidence.

So I dialed their number. As I listened to the ringing, I thought of how I was going to bring the whole Agent Burns thing up. Maybe I’d start off with wishing Max and Liz a happy second wedding anniversary. God, it was their wedding anniversary and I was going to tell them that our lives were potentially in danger again.

For a good few minutes I listened to the ringing as no one on the other end picked up. I hung up the phone and lied back in bed. I couldn’t believe this was happening all over again. Why now? Why me?

I grabbed the phone and dialed the numbed to their place in Boston once more, wondering where the hell everyone was. Finally, the ringing stopped.

“Oh, thank God someone finally picked up,” I sighed in relief.

“Kyle, hey.” It was Michael. There was something in the tone of his voice. Fatigue, worry, and frustration. “Kyle, can I call you back later? I don’t want to tie up the line. We’re kind of going through a crisis.”

“What crisis?” I wondered, but then I quickly shrugged it off and remembered that I wasn’t about to get off the phone without telling Michael what was going on. “I bet I’ve got a bigger crisis. Have you heard in the news about that murder of the FBI agent?” So much for wishing Max and Liz a happy anniversary.

Michael sighed, frustrated. “Yeah,” he replied.

“I knew him,” I said.

“What?” It was that forced out kind of “What?” that Michael exclaimed. The kind where he was angry and shocked at the same time. Only Michael knew how to sound angry and shocked at the same time.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Well, more like he knew me,” I continued on. “He was at the field, during practice, two or three weeks ago. He was dressed as a reporter with a camera guy and everything. He said his name was Tony Burnette. I saw Anthony Burns on TV and I knew that without a doubt, that Tony Burnette was the same guy who was just murdered. I think the Special Unit is back up.”

“No, it’s not,” Michael informed me. “It’s not getting funded and Burns was the only remaining member of the Special Unit and he had transferred over to narcotic and crime rings, that sort of thing.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. You remember how Max went to LA in search of our ship? That other shape shifter has been looking out for us. He’s been keeping tabs on the FBI and other aliens and everything. He’s even got his goddaughter looking for us.”

“The guy’s got a goddaughter? I thought he was a cold-hearted Hollywood producer.”

“He is.”

“Oh. Ok,” I said satisfied. It was weight off my shoulders and I could breathe easy. “Good. We’re ok then, right? We don’t need to worry about this?”

“Actually, we do. Back to Burns.”

“What about him?” I wondered.

Michael paused, sighed, and then gave out a little chuckle. “Max is accused of his murder.”

“What?!”

For the next few minutes, I held the phone to my ear and remained silent as Michael explained the whole ordeal. It was the biggest mess Max had ever gotten himself into. I could tell it had an effect on Michael and I wondered how Liz was feeling about Max keeping the conscience a secret yet again.

“Is there anything I can do? Should I fly over there?”

“Um…No, I think we’re ok,” Michael replied. “You should stay there. Don’t worry about us over here. We’re taking care of it.”

I bobbed my head. “Alright. Maybe you should call my father. He might be able to help, he’s got resources.”

“Yeah,” Michael said. “Good idea. Thanks.”

I sighed heavily. “No problem. Look, keep me informed, alright? Call me with any news.”

“Will do.”

“Ok,” I said. “Tell everyone I said hey and that, um…well, just hey.”

A click on the other end of the line and the conversation was over. I placed the phone back into its base for no longer than a second when it rang.

“Damn,” I chuckled. Michael must’ve gotten some news already. “What the hell is it?” I answered.

“Kyle Valenti?” a voice asked. It definitely wasn’t Michael.

I cleared my throat and nodded. “Yes. What can I do for you?”

“Hi, I’m Officer Warren from the LAPD. Do you happen to know a Katie Stone?”

My heart skipped a beat. “Yes,” I nodded. “She’s my fiancée. Don’t tell me she got arrested.”

“No,” the man replied. He paused to take a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Mr. Valenti, but there’s been an accident. Katie’s car swerved into traffic. We’re not sure it’s her, but the car is registered to her. We’re waiting for the dental results.”

I swallowed down hard, hoping that I’d force down the lump in my throat. My mouth was parched and the lump remained. A knot formed in my stomach and it seemed to start it ascent through my throat. Maybe I’d be able to get rid of the lump afterall.

“Dental?” I wondered. There was a squeak in my voice.

“Dental records are another way to identify a body under certain circumstances.”

“What are the circumstances?”

“The driver of the car was burnt beyond recognition.”

[hoLLyBEHRy]

Thanks for the bumps and comments you guys! I'm trying to chuck these chapters out as fast I can and the bumps and comments are fueling me. So keep 'em coming!


Chapter 16

{Isabel}

A whole day had elapsed and there’s was nothing for us to do except sit and wait for the next thing to come at us. Some time around 8PM, Jesse called from his office. Bail was set at a few thousand dollars he had told me. I relayed the information to everyone else and the minute Michael heard, he left the house. We assumed he was heading to the bank and then to the police station to get Max out, but he had left hours ago and we hadn’t heard back since.

When I spoke to Jesse, I told him I was over at Max's. Despite that information, Jesse finally left his office probably a little before midnight and went straight home, not bothering to come across the street to say hi to any of us. I looked out the window as I heard his car pull into our driveway. He went straight inside and in a matter seconds of his arrival, all of the lights in the house were turned off. And once again, I was feeling that pang of guilt for bringing Jesse into all of this. He was risking his job for us.

“What’s taking them so long?” Maria sighed. I don’t think she stopped pacing and she had started the moment Michael left.

Liz gave a little smile and patted the empty space next to her on the couch. “They’ll be here.” I was surprised that she was the emphasis of calm and cool. She wasn’t happy or delighting in the fact that her husband was in jail, but she wasn’t a complete mess like you would expect her to be. She had remained quiet most of the time and it had been a really long time.

“It’s been six hours,” Maria reminded us.

I looked Maria’s way and agreed with a nod. That was the only reply to the statement. We were all too tired to do much else. I had watched the sky go from a midnight black to an early morning dark blue. In a couple of hours, the sun would rise.

For the several hours we had been sitting around, we had all remained quiet. Serena even stayed and waited with us. We got no other word from Langley. He had given specific instructions to Michael and Michael hadn’t really spoken to us about the conversation. Then Michael left and we weren’t sure if Langley was going to call us back or not. Serena assured us that we would know what to do next. I barely spoke to her, but from her actions thus far, she seemed ok, but I still left room for doubt. She was our only way to contact Langley directly without going through all his “people”. We kind of needed her. Maria also said that Serena was going to be useful in the future. I don’t exactly know what she meant.

Maria never took the seat Liz had pointed out to her, she just continued pacing. So I went ahead and occupied the seat for myself. Serena was sitting across the kitchen on one of the counters and watching television.

“Hi,” I smiled.

Liz looked up and smiled back. “Hi.”

“How are you holding up? You really haven’t said much.”

Her shoulders jerked up slightly. “Ok, I guess. I’m worried.”

I gave a little smile. “You don’t look it.”

“I can’t let it show,” Liz smirked. “It’ll just consume me. I can’t let that happen. I have to believe that everything is going to be fine. It’s like a fight with myself, you know? My insides are telling me that I should be pacing right next to Maria but they’re also saying that I’ve got to be calm and tell myself that Max is going to be ok, that we’ll all be ok.” She was just like Max now. She was trying to be strong for all of us just like her husband, my brother, always was.

Under the circumstances and the evidence so far, it didn’t seem like Max was innocent. I didn’t want to admit that, but we were in some serious trouble. My little brother was alone in this and there was nothing that I could do to get him out of trouble. There were so many reasons to just become hysterical and freak out, but if Liz believed that we were all going to be ok, then we were going to be ok.

“We’re going to be ok,” I smiled.



{Michael}

Boats came into their ports and fishermen hauled in their day’s catch. They threw down anchor and headed in for the day. We had been at the harbor for so long that now the fishermen were returning back to their boats, untying ropes, and setting sail.

The sun was going to rise over the horizon in a little while and Max and I continued to sit on the coast of the harbor, staring at, for the most part, the still water. The whole night we didn’t look at each other or speak to each other. Well, I looked at him out of the corners of my eyes while he glued his to the water and every few hours I’d mention that it was getting late. The only thing Max would say was, “Not yet.” So we stayed at the harbor. I guess it was a good idea. Langley did tell me to get Maxwell home, but spending time at the harbor was time needed. It was quiet and peaceful and a break from everything and everyone. That’s how I saw the last few hours anyway. I don’t know what Maxwell was thinking, but I know he was definitely deep in thought.

The expressions on his face constantly changed. There was strain, depression, fatigue, frustration, and for a moment, clarity and hope. That look subsided quickly.

I grabbed my phone out of my back pocket and flipped it open to check the time. 4AM.

I never did call the house to let everyone know that I got Max out. The second we left the police station, he asked me to go to the harbor. That’s what I did and I guess I just forgot about telling the others. Maybe they knew Max needed some time.

I nervously cleared my throat. “Max, it’s really late. We should probably head back now.”

With a heavy, weighted sigh, Max finally agreed by nodding and helped himself and then me off the large boulder we sat on.

“Some Valentine’s Day, huh?” I said.

Max froze as he was about to buckle in his seatbelt.

“What? What is it?”

He buckled the his belt and then closed his eyes and rubbed them hard. “I forgot. Shit. I forgot it was Valentine’s Day.

I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s no big deal, Max. This was much more important.”

“Yeah, and because of that, I ruined it for everyone.”

I didn’t know how to reply. I couldn’t lie to him and say that he didn’t, because truth was, he did. He screwed us all over. I was still angry with him over the conscience, but that I was suppressing for a later time.

“How come you never told us that it came back?” I wondered. I wasn’t going to get angry, I told myself. I was just going to ask questions. Curiosity.

As I steered the car through small and winding streets, Max stared out his window. His chin in his hand and his elbow resting on the door’s armrest. “I don’t know,” he replied.

My first question would have been, “You don’t know?” I had already expressed my disappointment in him when I yelled at him today at the police station. I don’t think that he needed more of it now. So I let him go on.

“For the past two years, Michael,” he said, “for the most part, we were happy. Right?”

I stared at the road in front of me and thought about the past two years. I thought about the moment we moved into our home, the day Jesse and Isabel moved across the street, the times we all spent together just hanging out at the house together, going to the movies, having dinners out in town, doing normal things. I nodded. Max didn’t turn his head to see my gesture of agreement, but he knew that I agreed with him. He was right, we were happy.

“If I had told you that the conscience never went away,” he continued, “you all would have treated me like some cancer patient.”

I looked down in disappointment, not in Max, but in me and the others. He was right. If we knew, we would have treated him like a little child with some sort of terminal illness, but then I lifted my head. There’s reason to treating him like some sickly patient, because, like a cancer patient, tomorrow could be his last.

“Do you have a death wish?” I asked him. “Because, Max, this thing may kill you today or tomorrow.”

“I’m dealing with it.”

“Apparently not very well,” I sighed. “Max, you might’ve killed Burns. Do you understand that? This could have been prevented.”

“There was no way to prevent this, Michael.” He turned in his seat, but not all the way, just so that he sat facing forward. “Give me a bodyguard? Keep me at home?”

I finally seceded and bobbed my head. “You’re right. It happened. We’re going to deal with it.” I stopped at the corner. A few yards away was our home. “Are you ready?”



{Liz}

We heard the car pull up to the driveway. Serena shut off the tv and hopped off the counter. Maria finally stopped pacing in the path she had worn into the linoleum floor. Isabel nearly leapt out of the breakfast booth and I tried my best to keep down yesterday’s breakfast. It was the last thing I had eaten, and yeah, I definitely should have eaten something since then, but I’ve been pretty preoccupied.

It never occurred to any of us to run to the door to greet them. We all just kind of froze. Michael sluggishly walked into the kitchen first. He pulled back a stray hair and tucked it behind his ear. As he did so, he lowered his head, avoiding eye contact with me, and walked straight to Maria. From what I could see, dark circles formed around Michael’s eyes and it seemed as though he was struggling to keep his eyelids open.

My attention on Michael was distracted by the newcomer slowly striding into the kitchen. He looked even worse than Michael did. In addition to dark circles were bags. The paleness of his skin was something I had seen before, but when he was drenched in water on a desert night, not because of a lack of sleep. He tried his best to smile, but ended up barely lifting up only one corner of his mouth. I caught a glimpse of his pearly white teeth and a dimple in his cheek. I smiled back and ran into Max's arms.

“I’ve missed you.”

I nodded in total agreement and continued to squeeze tight as I felt his hands finally touch my body. They rested on me loosely. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was tired or if he didn’t want to touch me. It felt like the latter.

I opened my eyes and looked over Max's shoulder. Serena was leaning against the counter with a smile on her face. I patted Max on the back. A pat on the back was the universal signal to break out of a hug when it got awkward. It was the first time I had to do that with Max since we were married.

“I need you to meet someone,” I said.

He slowly turned around.

“This is Serena Hudson,” I smiled. “Langley’s goddaughter.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Max gawk slightly.

The girl with the beach blonde hair stepped forward with a smile still on her face and her hand outstretched. “It’s nice to finally meet the infamous almighty king.”

Max gave that cute little, embarrassed smirk and breathed out a laugh. “I’m sure Langley’s spoken highly of me,” he said with sarcasm.

“Yeah…” Serena replied, extending the word. “He thinks you’re a dumbass.”

Max bobbed his head in agreement. “I figured.”

The bobbing of heads increased as Serena began to do the same. Before things could get awkward, I grabbed both Serena and Max's wrists and started pulling them out of the kitchen.

“Hey!” Michael shouted after me. “Where are you going?”

I looked over my shoulder at Maria. She knew what we were off to discuss and held Michael back to prevent him from following us.

“What’s going on?” I heard Isabel ask Maria.

I continued marching for the front door, and eventually, led Max and Serena out onto the front porch. I shut the door closed and locked it from the outside without a key. “We have some things to discuss,” I announced immediately.

“Yeah,” Serena agreed. “I’m sure Uncle Kal’s going to want to talk to you, Max. We should call—”

“Not about that,” I interrupted. I looked down at my hands folded over my stomach. “Serena, I’m pregnant.”

It was then that I noticed that her eyes were two different colors because they had grown so wide. One was a caramel-like hazel and the other, a blue, bluer than the sky. And Max noticed it too. He instantly grew worried, I sensed it.

“Wait,” he ordered. He grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him. “Are we sure we can trust her?” he whispered.

Still looking at Serena’s eyes, I nodded. “I think so.”

Her eyes rolled. “Relax. I’m human,” she said. “My eyes being different colors is just a condition I was born with, not something alien.”

Max and I lifted our chins in understanding. “Oh,” we both said.

“Now, about you being pregnant,” Serena reminded us. “Are you sure?”

I looked up at Max who smiled, bringing a smile to my face. “Yes,” I nodded. “I’m positive.”

Serena exhaled sharply. “You guys couldn’t have waited maybe three more years?”

“Why?” Max wondered.

“Because we have a problem.” Serena then chuckled to herself in disbelief. “I’m not going to be able to deliver your baby.”

I knew that my pregnancy was going to be different than all others, but with the discovery of Serena, for a while, I believed that this was going to be ok, that this pregnancy was going to be one of the last things I had to worry about. I believed wrong.

“Why not?” I questioned.

“Uncle Kal taught me everything about alien bio 101,” Serena began. “In two months, you’re going to be ready to give birth to a beautiful baby. I’m not going to be ready. I’ve never delivered a child before.” She began to panic slightly. “I was hoping that I was going to be an actual doctor with a few delivered babies under my belt before you guys got pregnant, but that’s not going to happen in two months.”

Both Max and I exchanged glances. But there was nothing we could do. I was pregnant. I wasn’t going to get rid of this baby.

“It can’t be that hard,” Max sighed. “I mean, just pull, right?”

I elbowed Max in the gut.

Serena laughed and shook her head. “Fine, if you think it’s that easy, you deliver your baby.”

“No,” I immediately refused. I grabbed a hold of my husband. “I love you, Max, but you’re not an OB/GYN.”

“Serena, you have to know enough to deliver a baby,” Max insisted.

“I can forge medical records, making a two-month pregnancy look like a nine-month pregnancy on paper, and I can monitor the baby, making sure it’s healthy, but I cannot deliver a baby. That’s a whole different ballpark.”

“We have a problem,” Max said.

Yesterday’s breakfast wasn’t going to stay down.

“We have quite a few,” I sighed.

[hoLLyBEHRy]

Accompanying music: "Never Keeping Secrets" by Babyface (*Note: Another window will pop up when the link is clicked. Leave it open for the music to play.)


Chapter 17

{Max}

It felt so good to be in my own bed again. I didn’t necessarily sleep in the past few hours I was in bed, but it still felt so good.

Liz rested in the nook created by my arm; her naked chest resting against mine and her head on my shoulder. I combed away her hair, tucking it behind her ear, and kissed her forehead. She had fallen asleep maybe an hour or two ago, and I could’ve used the rest, but I stayed awake and watched my wife sleep.

It had been a couple of days since my release on bail and the evidence and case against me was piling up and getting stronger. There were no other suspects, just me. So I had to appear innocent. I went to work in the morning and came home right after work. Liz and I weren’t able to go to Roswell as planned, but we did have a dinner with the others. We made sure that we acted like normal people and allowed the police to keep tabs on us as I looked more and more like Burns’ killer. No other word had been leaked to the press and we were thankful. Other than that, things had quieted down, but all of that was just one problem.

Lying in my arms wasn’t just my wife, but also my child. There was a combination of her and I growing inside her. It had to be the most beautiful concept in the world. Knowing that I was going to have a child with my wife, the woman I loved, was something so hard to grasp, but I had it, I did have it in my grasp. I was going to be a father. But things weren’t that simple. Our baby was growing at superhuman speed. Who knows how old the baby was right now? Definitely more than just a few days. Then there was the fact that we needed someone to deliver our child. We couldn’t just let some stranger deliver the baby. What happens if our child isn’t normal?

Liz jumped in my arms and her eyes shot open as the doorbell chimed.

I chuckled and kissed her forehead. “Hi,” I smiled.

“Mmm…Hi.”

“Go back to sleep,” I insisted. “I’ll go get the door.”

Liz expressed her disapproval with a deep, outstretched moan, but the doorbell rang again and I slid out from under Liz.

“I’ll be right back,” I assured her.

Digging her head into a pillow, Liz shooed me away with a swat of her hand and that was my cue to hurry off. It was fairly early in the morning and I had no idea who could be at our door. It was too early for the mailman. Milkmen died with those tvs with the dials instead of buttons and I don’t think solicitors hit up houses a little after sunrise. The thought that maybe something happened with the Burns murder and that maybe police were waiting for me to come to the door did cross my mind, and it crossed Michael’s mind. When I looked back at the top of the stairs, Michael was standing firm and tall.

I gave him a little nod before turning back around. I reached the door and took a deep breath before leaning towards the door to peer through the peephole. I was praying to see anyone not wearing a police uniform or Detective Bailey. That woman was too much to handle. But I looked into the peephole and got a surprise.

“Kyle!” I cheered as I opened the door.

Kyle Valenti, appearing to have come off a long flight, was standing on the porch with a backpack and nothing but one of his Western, cowboy-esque shirts on and a pair of jeans. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest and he held them close to his body.

“Mind if I come in?” he shivered.

I chuckled and stepped out of the way as Michael joined my side after having shouted to Liz and Maria the announcement that Kyle was here.

“Kyle, what the hell are you doing here?” Michael playfully wondered. “I told you you didn’t have to come.

He blew hot air into his cupped hands and rubbed his upper arms vigorously. “Yeah, I know, but I kind of needed to be with family.”

“What happened?”

All of our eyes suddenly grew slightly larger as we waited in anticipation for an answer.

As Kyle remained silent, I had noticed that he kept his head slightly lowered and he barely looked at any of us. He continued to keep his head lowered and his eyes on the floor. “Um…” he said nervously. “Katie…” He gave a sad little chuckle, one of disbelief. “Katie died. She was killed in a car accident.”

Liz and Maria’s hands shot up to cover their gaping mouths and Michael and I stared at each other in absolute shock.

“Shit, Kyle,” Michael said. “I’m so sorry.”

In return, Kyle bobbed his head up and down. “Thanks.”

Liz immediately stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her old boyfriend and now close friend. “Kyle, I’m so sorry,” she wept.

When she moved out of the way, Maria stepped forward as she wiped her eyes. She gave Kyle a hug and held on tight. They were family now and she was there for him. “Did you talk to our parents?”

“Yeah,” Kyle nodded. “They’re going to meet me in California in a few days for the funeral.”

“Do you want us to come with?” his step-sister asked.

Kyle curled in his lips and shook his head. “No, it’s ok. I know you guys are dealing with some things. You don’t need to worry about this.”

“I’ll go,” Maria insisted.

Liz nodded. “That’s a good idea.”

Then we all continued to stand in the foyer, now rocking on our heels and toes in awkward silence until Kyle cleared his throat.

“Listen, I’m sorry to barge in on—”

“No,” I interrupted. I wrapped an arm around him and smiled. “Don’t apologize. We’re glad you’re here, Kyle.”

Everyone nodded in agreement as we began moving to the family room.

“I’ll go put on some coffee,” Liz announced.

I quickly reached forward and grabbed her arm. “But none for you,” I whispered in her ear. “Remember, you’re pregnant now.”

“It’s kind of hard to forget,” Liz grinned. She disappeared into the kitchen and we continued on our way to the family room.

I brought my attention to Kyle and grabbed his bag off his back. “You can stay with us as long as you want.”

“About that…” Kyle began to say. “I’m transferring out of USC.”

“Kyle,” Maria said with a hint of disapproval. “What about your baseball scholarship?”

He shook his head. “I already applied to Boston U. and talked to the coach there. But the thing is…”

“Kyle, we’d be happy if you lived with us,” Liz smiled.

With an appreciative smile, Kyle bobbed his head. “Thanks, you guys. It means a lot to me.”

“Guess we’ll have to get rid of the game room,” Michael realized.

The room across the hall from Liz’s and my room was currently occupied by a foosball table, a variation of vintage arcade games, a large screen tv, and quite a few game systems. The moment Whits started rolling in dough, Michael splurged on a game room. We used to hit the foosball table pretty often, but lately things had been more busy than before. Just the other night, Liz and I had discussed the baby and that the game room was going to be the new nursery.

“You’re right,” Liz said to Michael. She then looked to me and grinned. “We really should start moving everything out of there soon…but not for Kyle. He’s going to have to bunk with you, Michael.”

“What? Why?”

Liz and I and looked across the room at each other and smiled. “Because,” I began. “Because the baby’s getting the room.”

“Baby?” Michael questioned.

“God, I have perfect timing,” Kyle chuckled to himself.

I chuckled to myself and looked at the smiles on Maria and Liz’s faces. The only one who wasn’t amused was Michael. Under the circumstances, I think it was good that we were smiling. It was good that Kyle still had his sense of humor.

“So wait, you’re pregnant?” Michael questioned.

Liz nodded calmly. She absolutely glowed and it appeared that her cheeks were painted red. I couldn’t stop smiling at her.

“I’m pregnant too!” Maria blurted out.

Everyone’s eyes shot to Maria and I think Michael choked on some air.

“Really?” Liz wondered.

Maria gave a little laugh and shook her head. “No, I just always thought we’d be pregnant together.”

Liz walked across the room and wrapped her arms around her best friend and sister. “Aw,” she giggled. “Someday.”

“Yeah,” Maria nodded. “But I guess not someday soon.” She pointed to Michael and we all followed the invisible line shooting out of her finger.

We all turned to her boyfriend. His skin turned a pale white, almost transparent. His eyes bulged out and he looked like he was going to pass out. “You’re not funny,” he said.

But we couldn’t’ help but laugh. I’m pretty sure he had near wet his pants or felt his heart stop for a moment.

“That really isn’t funny,” Michael panted. He began to breathe quickly as if to catch his breath.

“But the look on your face was,” Kyle pointed out. He had been laughing with the rest of us and it was good to see him do so despite his recent loss.

“Yeah, yeah,” Michael sighed. He then looked to me and Liz. “Ok, so you’re pregnant. I thought you were waiting. I mean, you guys just got over a huge blowout about this whole thing.”

I nodded. He was right. Not too long ago, Liz and I were near separation over our disagreement about children, but things change, things happen. “There’s nothing we can do about it, Michael. Liz is pregnant. We’re having a child.”

Scratching his eyebrow with slight vigor, Michael sighed. “You do know that it isn’t that simple, right?”

With our smiles no longer on our faces, Liz and I nodded. We were fully aware of everything concerning this child.

“Serena is an OB/GYN med student,” Liz started to explain. “She’s going to help us monitor the baby and forge medical records.”

Kyle lifted his hand in the air. “I’ve got a few questions. 1: Who is Serena? And 2: Why would medical records need to be forged?”

There was a lot of catching up Kyle would have to do.

“Serena’s Langley’s goddaughter. Remember I told you he had one?” Michael said.

“Oh, ok,” Kyle nodded. “And the medical records?”

Liz cleared her throat and held her hands over her stomach. It brought a smile to my face. “My pregnancy will last only two months,” she said.

“Shit,” Michael exclaimed. “Are you sure?”

Liz nodded affirmatively. “I’ll invite Serena over for dinner. She’ll explain everything and tell us how everything’s going to go.”

We all froze and stared at the kitchen. The phone began to ring. I was the first to stand up.

“I’ll get it,” I said.

Everyone nodded and went on with the conversation. As I stepped out of the family room and into the kitchen, I heard Michael sigh very heavily, almost in frustration, and run his hands through his hair.

“So you’re pregnant?” he said. I don’t think it hit him.

I jogged into the kitchen and snatched the phone off its base as it continued its slightly high-pitched ring.

“Evans, DeLuca, Guerin, and Valenti,” I smiled.

“Please don’t answer the phone like that ever again.” It was Langley.

I rolled my eyes and leaned against the fridge. “It’s about time you called.”

“Me?” Langley questioned. “The telephone works both ways, Max.”

“But apparently your answering service doesn’t know just how important I am.”

“Right,” Langley sighed. “Well, listen, you’re off the hook.”

I squinted my eyes, readjusted my grip on the phone, and got more comfortable against the fridge. “Excuse me?”

“Burns,” Langley answered. “You don’t have to worry about it anymore. Everything’s been taken care of.”

“What the hell does that mean?” I shook my head in confusion. By the tone of his voice, I feared what he had done.

“It doesn’t matter. We’ve got more important things to worry about.”

I remembered the one golden rule that the shapeshifters had to abide by. “Langley, tell me what you did,” I said, and he had to do it, it was an order, and he was programmed to follow orders.

I heard his teeth grind and his breath sharply exit through his nostrils. “You’re a bastard, you know that?” he said through his throat. “Look, someone should be confessing to the killing sometime soon.”

I stopped leaning against the fridge and let my eyes dart from side to side. He forced someone to confess. He had to, because I was the one that killed Burns. It was true. I murdered him. I was guilty.

“I killed someone.”

“Max, no,” Langley insisted. “Listen to me, it was a mugging. Some punk thought Burns was a nobody. He shot Burns, looked into the wallet, and when he found out who Burns actually was, he ran. Do you understand that?”

I shook my head. “I—I have to turn myself in,” I stuttered.

“No, Max,” Langley continued to argue. “You have to understand that the conscience just uses your body. It manipulates you and uses you. It used your body to kill someone. You didn’t do anything.”

“Do you hear what you’re saying?” I laughed. I quickly looked over my shoulder at my family sitting in the family room. I marched farther away and into the dining room.

“Max, listen to me. I am getting really tired of saying that. You didn’t kill Burns. That body you’re in did.”

I gripped the top of my head tightly and then tussled my hair. I was frustrated and angry. I killed a man. I killed an FBI agent. I was going to get away with it. I should’ve been happy, but I wasn’t like Langley.

“Calm down,” Langley suggested.

But I shook my head. “You don’t understand, Langley,” I said. “This is me. This body is mine. You might think that you’ve embraced what human side you created for yourself, but you haven’t. You have to realize that we’re not just in some shell that you can change.”

“Ok, I understand that,” Langley replied. “But you just have to accept what I’m saying. The conscience was able to use your body. You understand? Just nod and smile, please.”

There was no changing anything that had been done and set in stone. I had a killed man, but Langley had someone confess to the murder. How he did it, I have no idea. I needed to step forward and say that I was the one, but if that person comes to confess the murder, a rather large controversy would erupt. With a baby on the way, Langley was right, we’ve got more important things to worry about. So I was going to drop it.

“How long have you been looking out for us?” I wondered.

As I heard him chuckle, I imagined him with his head lowered, shaking it slowly. “Ever since the day you left my mansion, Max. You’re too jaded.” He had a good point.

But if he had been, then why hasn’t he been helped us. Why did so much shit happen to us?

“The conscience,” I brought up. “Why haven’t you been helping me with that? You barely called.” I began to feel the blood rush to my face, along with some heat. “The past year has been hell.”

“I have been,” Langley replied, “I’ve been trying to figure things out, but I’m coming up with nothing. I don’t know what the hell the conscience is. I’ve been observing it, but I’ve never seen anything like it before. I don’t know what it’s doing and I can’t seem to contact our planet to find out more.”

I chuckled to myself, but not an amusing laugh. “Why didn’t you ever call us? We had contact with the planet.”

“What? How???”

I thought about this time two years ago. It was the day Liz and I had gotten married, but it was also the day that we had an unwanted visitor. “Tess came back.”

“She what?” Langley exclaimed.

I guess he didn’t look after us so closely.

“She showed up on my wedding day.”

“What the hell was she doing back? Thanks for the invitation to the wedding, by the way.”

I ignored his last statement and answered his question. “She said she needed me. She needed me to go back with her.” I laughed to myself at her stupid request. “But there was no way in hell I was going back with her and she wasn’t going back without giving us answers, so we locked her up.”

“What answers could she possibly have?”

“Well, we thought she was the conscience, that she was mindwarping me.”

“Max, when did you make love to Liz?”

I widened my eyes and spat out a laugh. “What?”

“When did you and Liz have sex?”

“What the hell does that matter?” I asked, shaking my head.

“It will,” Langley assured me. “Just answer.”

I sighed heavily, continuing to shake my head. I had no idea what the hell he was getting at. “The day before the wedding,” I finally answered.

“Well, that’s the day Tess lost her mindwarping ability.”

“I’m going to sit down right now,” I told him, “and you better be prepared for an expensive long distance call.”

“The mindwarping ability goes to your queen.”

“And Tess is my queen,” I replied.

“No, Max, ‘was’. Tess was your queen. Liz is your new queen.”

I shook my head in complete and utter confusion. “And I’m lost.”

Langley sighed heavily. Apparently, he was easily frustrated. “Max, as our former selves, we had the souls we have now,” he explained. I pulled out the chair I leaned on and took a seat. “Those souls evolved and awakened and have become what we are now,” he continued. “Tess, or Ava, was never your soul mate. You married her because of infatuation and politics, and as a result of that, she became your queen. With that title came the ability to mindwarp. Now Liz, she’s your soul mate, and the moment you and Liz made love, you molded your souls together and she was spiritually your wife, your true queen. Finding your soul mate and making love to them allows the two of you to become bonded together for life, you know that. Now the rule that the queen obtains mindwarping abilities carries over to here on Earth. So Tess lost her mindwarping power.”

“That was obviously a mouthful, so I won’t ask you to clarify that because I’m not exactly sure what you meant,” I laughed.

“All hail the intelligent King Max,” Langley sighed sarcastically. The guy couldn’t keep his mouth from spitting out unnecessary, stupid comments.

So I had to roll my eyes. “Fine, let me at least try to get this straight: Tess isn’t my queen.”

“Good boy!” Langley said lightly. “You deserve a treat. How’s a doggy biscuit sound?”

This time I gritted my teeth at him and went on summarizing. “So she can’t mindwarp.”

“Correct.”

“But Liz can, because she’s my queen.”

“That’s right, Liz is part of the Royal Four,” Langley confirmed. “I’ll give you an A- for effort.”

Lowering my head and rubbing my temple with my free hand, I sighed heavily and shook my head. “She’s not going to like this,” I said.

“She’s the queen of an entire planet. What’s not to like?”

I continued shaking my head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

And he really wouldn’t understand.

“I wouldn’t understand?” Langley scoffed. “Tess killed Alex with a mindwarp and now Liz has to carry the power that did that to him. How’d I do?” Langley wondered. Honestly, he was right on the nose.

“Pretty good,” I reluctantly admitted. “Is there any way to, I don’t know, get rid of it?”

“The mindwarping?”

“Yeah,” I nodded.

Langley quickly shot me down with a “Nope.”

I stood up from my seat and walked to the hallway. I looked down the corridor and there was Liz. She sat on one of the couches, leaning forward, listening intently as Kyle spoke. She must’ve calmed Michael’s anxiety about the pregnancy and then set aside our joyous news to comfort and listen to our friend. The look on her face at the current moment was solemn and sympathetic, but there was a different air to her. She seemed happy and maternal.

Liz caught sight of me and looked my way. She gave a little smile and I smiled back, lifting my hand and waving it slightly. She turned back to Kyle and continued listening.

“What the hell am I going to do?” I said to Langley. “Liz is going to die when I tell her about this.”

“Then just don’t.”

I scoffed a laugh. “I guess you haven’t been watching us so closely after all.”

“What?”

“You’d know that I need to stop keeping secrets from Liz.”

“This little secret won’t hurt.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

[hoLLyBEHRy]

Chapter 18

{Kyle}

“I feel bad for invading Michael’s room,” I said.

But Max just shook his head as we lifted the couch out of the game room. “It’s no problem,” he shrugged. “I’m sure he’s just glad that he’s keeping his room. It’d be another story if we told him to move into Maria’s room.”

With the loveseat sofa still in my arms, I started backing down the main staircase cautiously. “Now, see, I don’t understand that. They always end up sleeping together in the same bed at the end of the day anyway.”

“Operative word would be sleeping,” Max smirked, letting his eyebrows shrug. “You know Michael can only stand so much of her awake.”

I had to agree and did so by nodding as we continued down the stairs. This morning after Max got off the phone, he, Michael and I headed upstairs to start moving everything out of the game room. The three of us managed to haul the foosball table into the garage while the girls lounged in the family room. It was under Max's strict orders that Liz stay put and not do anything strenuous. “Things are changing,” he had said. Boy, were they ever.

“Kyle!”

I snapped out of my daze and brought my attention across the couch to Max. “What?”

“We’re about to crash.”

I looked over my shoulder and saw that Max was right, I was a few feet away from backing into wall. “Sorry,” I apologized.

“Just pay attention,” Max suggested.

I gave a little nod and looked over my shoulder as we walked, but I could feel Max staring at me.

“You ok?” he asked.

How exactly was I supposed to answer that. Holidays were beginning to suck for me. Alex died the day before my birthday and my fiancée dies on Valentine’s Day.

“Drop it,” Max ordered.

“What?”

Max brought his eyes down to the couch. “Let’s put it down, take a seat, and talk.”

I guess I could use a talk. So we both crouched down and lowered the sofa back onto the ground. We sat down at the same time, me sitting face forward and Max sitting turned towards me. He rested his arm on the back of the loveseat and stared at me, patiently waiting, but I didn’t know where to start.

“We’ve got plenty of time,” Max chuckled. “Michael’s been on a break for an hour now, so we can sit here all day if you want.”

I pressed my lips together and smirked. Then I covered my mouth with a fist and quickly cleared my throat. “Well, I’ve spent a lot of time meditating—”

Max shaking his head with disinterest caught my attention. He pressed his lips together tight, raising his cheeks and squinting his eyes as his head shook. I gave a little laugh and nodded.

“Yeah, sorry,” I apologized. “I’ve spent a lot of time ‘thinking’. Look, before everyone found out your little secret, did you ever feel normal?”

Max looked off to the side to think about it and after a brief second he nodded. “I thought I never was, but looking back, a long time ago, I did feel that way at least once. So yeah.”

“But do you feel normal now?” I wondered.

This time, Max shook his head.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “The thing is, I’m changing…like Liz did.”

“For how long now?”

I shrugged. “Not too long, just recently. I haven’t had any problems with it. I blew up the tv and fainted once, but that was it.”

Max nervously cleared his throat. “Did, um, Katie know?”

“No,” I shook my head. “She had no idea.”

“Were you going to tell her?”

I looked to Max and curiosity was written all over his face. I realized then that there was no way I could’ve married Katie. It would’ve been too complicated and dangerous if I did because although I didn’t want to tell her about the secret, I would have had to.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “I loved her, Max.”

“I know,” Max nodded, lowering his head with each nod. “We all knew.”

I smiled, appreciating the sympathy, and went on. “I asked her to marry me and now I feel responsible for her death.”

“It was an accident, Kyle.”

But I shook my head slightly. “I know you don’t want to hear it, Max, but being alien is like being jinxed.”

“Kyle…”

“Come on, admit it,” I insisted. “This sucks. When was the last time you were happy? I mean, genuinely happy, no other shit hanging over your head?”

Max remained silent.

“Exactly.”

“Well, what do you want us to do?” he questioned. “I’m sorry you lost Katie and I’m sorry you feel this way, but what do you want me to do? I can’t take everything away and make our lives perfect, but I am trying, Kyle. I’m trying to give us normal, whatever it may be.”

“Katie was my normal and now she’s gone. My normalcy is gone.”

I didn’t mean to make Max feel guilty, because if he didn’t heal me all those years ago, I wouldn’t be alive today, but I looked across the couch and saw the guilt I put in Max.

“Kyle,” he said. “It’s all part of life. Now, I know I have no right to speak to you here as if I’ve lived more than you have, because, despite my history, I really haven’t. Shit happens and we have to accept it. I mean, isn’t that part of Buddhism or something? Recognize the pain and accept it?”

I was impressed. “You’ve been reading up on the Buddha?”

Max smirked. “Look, we just have to accept that our lives suck once in a while, ours more than others, but once in a while something good will happen too and that something good will make up for everything.”



{Liz}

I felt his hands start at my shoulders and then work their way down to my hips. He rested his hands there and kissed my neck and my shoulders where his hands used to be. Happy to be blessed with his presence, I turned around and wrapped my arms around Max's neck.

“Hi,” I smiled.

Max grinned back. “Hi.”

A week ago, if you were to tell me that Max and I would be so giddily happy that we looked like cartoons with wide eyes and humongous grins, I would have said that you were out of your mind insane. But Max and I really were so giddily happy. The current circumstances could have been better, but Max and I were happy and we were working together to get through the circumstances. Max was still under suspicion of murdering Burns and Kyle was moving in with us because he had nothing left in California, but there wasn’t enough evidence to convict Max and we were happy that Kyle was back with us.

I really wished things were different. Things were just more complicated. Despite what we believed, the conscience was back. It was something Max hid from all of us, not once, but twice. I could easily be angry at him, but his reasons for choosing to keep the conscience hidden from us were so damn noble that it’d be me being angry at him for being noble. Because of what’s happened with Burns, I think Max realized what a stupid choice he made. We’re all careful now especially because we’re aware the conscience is back and according to Max, it’s back without the schedule. So every time Max isn’t with any of us, Michael calls the beeper that Valenti gave Max years ago. The beeper vibrates and shakes Max out of the conscience if it so happened to take over him.

With the addition of Kyle to the household, we had one extra person looking after Max. I know it wasn’t something Kyle was looking forward to, but he knows we need him, and I think he appreciates that feeling of being wanted and needed. All he had in California was baseball and Katie Stone. I met her once, when Kyle and Maria’s little sister was born. She was probably the best thing that ever happened to Kyle, even better than that scholarship that Kyle had. He told us this morning that he had proposed and she had accepted. Instead of celebrating that occasion at dinner on Valentine’s Day, he was calling Katie’s family and helping with the funeral arrangements. It was a tragedy and Kyle definitely didn’t deserve that experience. He had nothing left in California. There was the USC baseball scholarship, but he just couldn’t stay in the apartment that he and Katie lived in. So he decided to transfer out of USC and come to us. We were happy to take him in.

After Max got off the phone this morning, he came into the family room announcing that they should probably get to work on converting the game room to the nursery. Kyle brought his backpack up to Michael’s room and got as situated as he could. He’d head back to California in a couple days with Maria for the funeral and to pack up his things and have them moved here. After that, the men got started working on moving the foosball table, arcade machines, and all the other electronics out of the room and into the garage. I insisted on helping, but Max forced me to sit put in the family room. No longer would I be doing any work for weeks. So Maria kept me company and I divulged my image of the nursery.

The thought of having a baby and being a mother was just so overwhelming that everything with the conscience and Burns didn’t matter. I mean, they mattered of course, but they didn’t seem to worry me as much as I thought they would. But still, there was worry on my mind, but in terms of the baby.

I leaned my head into Max's chest. “We’ve got so much to take care of,” I sighed.

Max bobbed his head in agreement and kissed the top of my head. “And we don’t exactly have a whole lot of time.”

“And speaking of time, Serena will be here in a few minutes.”

While the boys were moving furniture through the house, I made a call to Serena and invited her over for dinner. We needed to put everything on the table and discuss it all as a group. Michael, Maria, and Kyle weren’t having a baby, but we all needed to be on the same page.

I finished getting dressed as Max hopped into the shower. By the time I reached the bottom of the stairs, the doorbell rang.

“Hi,” I smiled. “Come on in.”

Serena smiled back, making small dimples in her cheeks appear. “Thanks for having me over for dinner.”

“It’s not a problem. We should all be together and really talk about what’s happening.”

Serena nodded in agreement and followed me as I led the way to the dining room. Maria was bringing the tuna casserole out while Michael was pulling out a lettuce leaf from the salad bowl for himself. He quickly shoved it into his mouth when we arrived.

“Hi,” he mumbled. “Sorry, I’m a little hungry.”

I pulled out a chair for Serena and had her sit down. Kyle came in through the kitchen door and took the seat next to her.

“Serena,” I said, “this is our friend Kyle—”

“Valenti,” Serena smiled as she held out her hand to him. “I know who you are.”

Kyle gave a shy little smirk and shook Serena’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“I’m sure you know Jesse too,” I said.

Jesse reached across the table and shook Serena’s hand. “Hi.”

“Hi,” the blonde replied back.

“You remember Maria, Isabel, and Michael,” I said to Serena, pointing every one of my family members out.

Serena smirked at all of them and they all smirked back. We weren’t a very welcoming group when it came to newcomers. Suddenly everyone was shy and quiet. We all took our seats and waited silently and patiently for Max to come down.

“He should be here in a second or two,” I announced.

“Um, do you mind if I wash up?” Serena wondered.

I quickly stood up from my chair and to the hallway to point out the bathroom. “Just through there.”

Serena disappeared into the bathroom as I turned back to the table. Michael was staring down the invisible path that Serena had left behind.

“Never trust a blonde,” I heard.

I looked up, wondering who spoke the words, but no one appeared to have spoken and no one responded to the reply as I figured someone would.

“Never trust a blonde,” Michael then whispered, supposedly to himself.

I stared at him in confusion and disbelief as Maria and Isabel leaned forward to turn and look at each other. They made a silent agreement and slapped the back of Michael’s head at the same time. He flew forward.

“What the hell?” he exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head. He looked to the girls on both sides of him and both girls pointed to their heads at the same time, pointing out their blonde hair. “You guys aren’t natural blondes,” he mumbled. And again, the girls slapped the back of Michael’s head.

“I’d quit while you’re ahead,” Kyle grinned.

Michael scowled at Kyle as he continued to soothe the stinging at the back of his head.

“We can trust her,” I assured Michael. “We kind of have to.”

He hesitantly nodded his head. The door to the bathroom opened and Serena joined us back in the dining room, and Max finally came jogging down the stairs. He greeted me with a kiss on the head and removed the flower vase centerpiece and replaced it with a conference speaker phone.

“What the hell is that doing here?” Isabel wondered.

“Whatever we need to discuss,” Max began to explain, “Langley should hear it too.” He looked at Serena. “Do you mind?”

Serena shook her head and reached for the center of the table, pressing buttons on the machine. We all stared at the new centerpiece as it rang three times before stopping.

“Langley.”

“Welcome to dinner,” Max said with a slightly raised voice. “Everyone’s here.”

Langley cleared his throat. “Right, well, where shall we begin?”

“How about the salad?” Michael grinned.

Langley exhaled a breath of disapproval sharply. “I’ve got a very important meeting in ten minutes. Do not waste my time.”

Embarrassed, Serena lowered her head.

“Does everyone know the deal with Liz’s pregnancy?” Langley questioned. He didn’t wait for any replies. “Two months,” he said. “Do you all understand that?”

I looked around the table and everyone nodded. Langley wasn’t able to see our nods, but we nodded anyway. We sat in front of our empty plates, but I don’t think any of us really cared. Somehow, Langley managed to steal our attention and appetites.

“Now the thing is,” he began, “people are going to wonder where the hell a baby came from. What’s the story?”

I looked across the table at Max and his eyes met mine. We were confused, that much was obvious, too bad Langley couldn’t see that.

“Story?” Max wondered.

“Yes, story. You need a story to explain where this baby came from.”

“You mean, like saying Max and Liz adopted their baby,” Maria realized.

Langley took a moment to reply, and by doing so, I already knew his answer. “Yes,” he finally replied.

Max and I continued to stare at each other across the table. My pleading eyes begged for him to say something, to protest. I didn’t want to deny this baby. It was our own, no one else’s.

“We’re not going to do that,” Max said. “This baby is ours.”

Langley sighed disapprovingly. “Well then have fun explaining that to everyone.”

Everyone went silent to try to think of some sort of alibi. No one was coming up with anything. Classmates and professors I saw just the other day would definitely wonder. Max's colleagues would wonder. My parents would wonder.

“Liz is small—petite,” Serena began to say. “There have been cases where woman have carried to a full term without their figure changing. It is possible.”

I could breathe slightly easier.

“Fine,” Langley snapped, “but from now on, Liz, you have to stay out of sight until that baby is born. No school, no shopping, no visits to the post office, nothing.”

And suddenly, it was harder for me to breathe again.

“Now is that it?” Langley asked. Clearly he was irritated. “Jonathan Frakes wants to meet with me about some new sci-fi movie.”

All of us looked to Serena and she nervously cleared her throat.

“Uncle Kal,” she started, “you do realize that I’m only a medical student.”

“You two couldn’t have waited just a few more years,” Langley sighed.

“Hey, believe me,” I forcibly said, “this wasn’t part of the plan. It kind of just happened.”

Max looked at me questionably, wondering about my intentions, but then quickly brought his attention to the conference phone. “What about taking Liz to the hospital?” he wondered. “The baby should be fine, right? With the genetics we’ve got, the baby has to appear human.”

“Yes, that is true,” Langley admitted. “But if I were you, I’d feel safer if you or Serena delivered the baby. It’s just a precaution. Labor is unpredictable—”

“Which is exactly why we should take Liz to the hospital,” Max insisted.

“I had Serena become an OB/GYN for this purpose alone, to keep everyone who isn’t already part of your large group out of this situation,” Langley quickly replied back. He seemed angry. “There is less than a fifty percent chance that that baby is human. That means if it’s alien, then that baby’s got green blood inside of it. If people at the hospital find that out, everything will go to hell, and that is too much of a risk.”

Everyone went silent.

“Do you all understand me?” Langley said loudly. “If you have the baby at a hospital, you risk exposure!”

The silence remained.

Langley took a deep breath. “Serena, you should deliver the baby.”

“Uncle Kal,” she began to protest. “I’m only a med student. You want to know how much she’s dilating? I can look it up in a book, but I can’t deliver the baby.” Serena looked to Max. “You’re the resident,” she said to him. “You’re more qualified than I am.”

And like so many times before, we all looked to Max. He had the answer. He was the answer. He didn’t stare at anything particular, but he was staring at it awfully hard.

“I don’t know if I trust myself,” Max said softly.

“If you care, at all,” Langley began, “for the safety of the Royal Four and your future family, your Highness, you will deliver your child.”