Beyond the Threshhold (SG1,XO,UC,ADULT) AN 8/17/05 [WIP]

[Liz Parker Evans]

Chapter 11

Michael watched silently while Maria slept fitfully. He knew she was have nightmares but he learned not to wake her from them, no matter how he wanted to. The last time he had woken her she screamed for several seconds but those seconds seemed like hours. Kivar’s damage lived on and it had destroyed Maria. He would give just about anything to fix this…to fix her. Maria had always been the strong one, he learned that the night she was attacked. He still didn’t know all the details and Maria wasn’t ready to share them but he would be here for her when she was. Just like she had always been here for him, even in the middle of this nightmare she was the one that he still drew his strength from. There was a quiet knock on the chamber door and as Michael rose to open it he found a letter sitting on the floor. He quickly picked it up and even though he knew he shouldn’t he read, he was hoping to gain some insight on how to help her.

Dear Liz,

I know that I will probably never see you again. So, why am I writing a letter that no one will ever read? I guess you could say this is my version of your journal. I use to envy you the ability to write down your feeling like that. Anyway, guess where I am? I am on Antar with Michael, Isabel and Max. Oh Liz, if you could see Max. He misses you and he blames himself for everything that went wrong between the two of you. I should tell you that I told him about the whole Future Max thing. I didn’t see a point in keeping that from him seeing we are millions of miles away and I was a bit tired of the endless anger he had towards you, so at least now he shares the responsibility. I have to tell you, the first few weeks here I just wanted to clock him. Michael has been an angel though, who would ever have thought it. I may not have intended on ending up here but I did intend on ending up with Michael so this is all worth it in the end. I know he doesn’t see it that way. He blames himself for every bad thing that happens to me, but he can’t keep the devil from my door, no one can. Kivar hurt me, he mind raped me in the most heinous way. I guess I should tell you the whole story…


Six month earlier

Maria’s laughter filled the air as Michael tickled her relentlessly to get the answer out of her. She wasn’t going to budge, Isabel had made her promise that she wouldn’t tell him what they had planned for his birthday and she was determined to keep at least one secret in her life. Though in retrospect she had kept the biggest secret there was or at least one of the biggest…Aliens exist and Oh yeah, I’m in love one.

“Tell me.” Michael demanded. “You know how I hate secrets.”

“Get used to disappointment.” Her eyes twinkled. He attacked her callously then by kissing her and making her heart stop in her chest. It was amazing that he still did this to her. She had come to the conclusion that aliens were like drugs. She had seen the way that Liz and Alex had fallen so hard for Max and Isabel. Alex, she still couldn’t say his name out loud without crying and as far as she knew Liz still hadn’t cried. She worried about Liz every day and that was the hardest part about being here. She missed Liz. She missed her mother as well but she knew that Jim Valenti would take care of her. He would have told her something that wouldn’t hurt her too bad. But Liz had left a few weeks before Maria had ended up on the strange alien home world. They hadn’t been talking then; Maria had thought that Liz had become too obsessed with Alex’s death. Liz had believed that Alex had been killed and Maria adamantly refused to believe her. In the end the only one that have believed in her was Kyle of all people. In the end they had all betrayed Liz.

“Maria, what is it?” Michael asked noting the change in her. This really was nothing new. He knew that she was happy here with him otherwise she would never have married him, but he also knew of everything she had ultimately given up to be with him. Of what they all had given up. He had sat by and watched as Maxwell ate himself up with anger. He knew he had the key to ending that but Maria had made him promise not to tell Max about what she had confided in him, about Liz and what she referred to as Future Max. She was convinced that he might forgive Liz a little anyway but that he would hate himself because that would mean that he had been partly responsible.

“I’m thinking about Liz.” She sighed as she sat up. “It’s funny. I miss my mom but I know she is okay. I know that Sheriff Valenti is watching over her and making sure she is safe. I don’t know where Liz is. Who is looking after her? The person that should have been doing it left her high and dry. I am so mad at Max…still. I love him, Michael, but when I think about Liz I just want to bang his head against the wall and don’t think I couldn’t do it, alien or not.”

“I admit he went a little nuts there towards the end…we all did I think.” Michael said pointedly.

“I know I am not exactly innocent in all of this. I abandoned her just when we should have been sticking together I left her alone to deal with Alex’s death by herself.”

“Maria, stop it. I am sure she doesn’t blame you. I mean we didn’t know what Tess did when we left, did we? It’s over now. Tess is gone and Kivar is in prison.”

“Tess is not gone and you know it. She will be back and when she does I want you to promise me that I get first shot at her.” Maria looked seriously into Michael’s eyes. “Promise me Michael.”

Michael had never known Maria to hate anyone but Tess had chipped away a lot of Maria’s openness and innocence. She was no longer quite as trusting. She was no longer quite so willing to believe you. At least she still believed in him that was unwavering. He would agree to her wishes just to keep the peace but when the time came he would kill Tess for her. He didn’t want her to have blood on her hands and he didn’t want to watch as another part of Maria’s soul got chipped away. He simply nodded his head in agreement.

“You need to get back to work, Michael.”

“What are you going to do?” Michael asked.

“I think I am going to take a walk in the garden before my lunch with Isabel.” She gently kissed him. “Who would have ever thought that Iz and I would have ended up being friends?” She slowly rose and left him alone with his own brooding thoughts.

“Yeah, who would have thought?”


Maria loved the gardens. The colors were almost indescribable. The blues were bluer that they had been on Earth. Everything was richer and hued more heavily. She stared up and the crimson sun and almost smiled. She loved it here; this was her favorite place on Antar. She found solace and peace.

She heard footsteps running down the cobblestone steps and voices yelling. She couldn’t make out quite what they were saying. Her Antarian was still sketchy as best. She thought she caught a word or two though. “Find him!” “Run” and then there was one that was unmistakable…”Kivar”

“Hmmm, they’re talking about me again.” Kivar said coming out from behind a tree to stand before the small blond girl.

“Kivar!” it was no more than a whisper. She looked anxiously around in an effort to see where those voices went.

“Looking for your darling Rath, my dear?” Kivar asked. “I must say I never thought I would live to see the day where the feral Rath was domesticated. Sorry I missed the nuptials.”

“What do you want?” Maria asked knowing that if she called out Michael would have been there in an instant. But she was fearful that Kivar would kill him as he had threatened to do so many times.

“I have to apologize for this in advance but I need answers and I am afraid that you are the only one that can help me.” Kivar smiled as he held up his hand. It was then than Maria noticed the hand device. She tried to scream but no words came out. She felt as if she were falling apart. She saw each memory that Kivar rifled through. She couldn’t help but notice that he paid particular interest in the ones of Liz. With each passing image her brain felt as if part of it were dying. She tried to scream out again but nothing happened. Then it seemed that Kivar found what he was looking for. It was a memory of Max healing Liz, though at the time Maria didn’t know what she saw or what Kivar had locked on to. The memory played and replayed over and over in her head. Then just as abruptly as it started it ended and she was left in a crumpled mass on the ground surrounds by the garden she had grown to love and could never look at again.


PRESENT

Michael continued to read the letter.

So, that is my story Liz. I wish you were here. Michael tries, but you know my Spaceboy. He is just so angry now and I am just not in a position to try to reach him. He blames himself. He doesn’t realize that had be been there Kivar would more than likely have killed him. Kivar hates Michael about as much as he hates Max. He hates Michael for having been promised to Vilandra in the last life. He hate Max for being Max, for ruling Antar and for not giving him the Granolith when he asked. There is more to that damn contraption that we know. Serena is working on it still. Yes, you heard right, Serena and Liz you would love her. She is Larek’s sister and has in turn become mine in your absence. Not that anyone could take your place but I needed someone I could talk to here that was outside my normal little chaotic circle. I think she has a little bit of a crush on Max, but don’t worry the girl is only about eighteen years old and Max still loves you no matter what to stupid jerk says. I still say I am going to body slam his royal hiney one of these days, so help me. Anyway, I miss you and I will write again soon.

Your friend and sister

Maria Luisa DeLuca Guerin (boy that’s a mouthful)

P.S. Just so you know, I told Max the truth and he didn’t take it too well. Too bad is what I have to say.


Michael quickly folded up the letter and opens the door to Serena. So, she had a crush on Max? Michael found that slightly amusing but Maria was right she was far too young and Max wouldn’t look twice at her. She was attractive but clearly not Max’s type. Unfortunately there was probably only one woman that Max would ever completely love and technically in a strange way he was still married to Tess. Evidently even marriages from past lives are binding no matter how monstrous they turned out to be.

“Hello Serena.” Michael said as he moved to the side so that she could enter.

“How is she?” she asked tenderly.

“About the same.” He answered and then notices the anxious look on Serena’s face. “All right, out with it.”

“What?” She said innocently. She was dying to tell Michael. She had promised her brother but at the moment he was gone and she was worried about all of their safety. If Kivar was using the Katanzan, that meant that he could be absolutely anywhere. Surely Larek would want some help and she couldn’t remember if he had specially said not to tell Michael. He might have only said not to tell Maria and so this wouldn’t exactly be breaking his confidence.

“Out with it. What do you know?”

“Um, all right but you can’t tell Max or Maria.” Michael nodded. “All right, while I was scanning trying to pick up something on Kivar I found a Katanzan transmission coming from Earth. What you call Colorado, I believe. Kivar is the only one that we know of that has such a device.”

“Yeah, but what would he be doing in Colorado?” Michael asked incredulously.

“Kivar has no bargaining chip with Zan. Perhaps he went to get one.”

Michael paled. He remembered the words of Maria’s letter, something about Kivar stopping repeatedly at the memory of Max healing Liz. He knew about Liz. Of course he knew about her. Tess was with Kivar and she hated Liz. He was sure that Tess made Liz out to be the greatest threat to their power since Zan took the throne.

“Liz. I have to tell Max, he has to know.”

“Michael you promised me.”

“Actually I never said I did.” He kissed her briefly on the cheek. “Don’t tell Maria, I don’t want her to worry.”

“I won’t.” Serena promised.

“No, I mean it, Serena. DON’T TELL MARIA.”

“I promise, Michael. I won’t tell her anything.”

Michael ran as fast as he could. He had to find Max. Max had to know what was happening whether or not he wanted to hear about it or not.




It had been hours since Daniel had found himself alone in a dank cell with Liz. Well, if misery loved company then they were doing well. No one had come for them since they had been placed in the cell. Both he and Liz had managed to get out of the cords that bound their ankles but it hadn’t helped a whole lot. The cell they were in had for solid walls and didn’t seem to actually have a door, at least not one that they could see. What Liz hated most was the stark white of the walls. It reminded her too much of the visions she would periodically get of Max in the White Room.

“What the hell does he want?” Daniel grumbled.

“Me. He wants me, Daniel.” Liz said as she walked and sat next to Daniel on the makeshift bunk that he was occupying. Daniel felt the warmth from her contact. He itched to touch her but once more his intellect took over. This was hardly the place to make a pass at the girl no matter how much he wanted to.

“What was she like?” Liz asked thankful that the lights were now on in the room.

“Who?”

“Sha’re, your wife.”

Silence. Daniel didn’t know how to answer that question let alone how she had found out about her. “Never mind, it’s none of my business.” Liz added quickly.

“No, I was just wondering how you knew about her.”

“People at the base were talking about her plus when I had that premonition it was of the past…your past to be precise. That was a first for me.”

“Ah.” He nodded not really wanting to go into the details of what she saw. The less he talked about it the more unreal that whole time with her had been. He found that he actually wanted to talk about her, to remember. He just found it strange that it was with the woman he was currently considering to be more than a friend, to be a potential as his friend Katherine would say. “Sha’re was beautiful and graceful, she had a wonderful heart. She was a gift to me from her father. I never knew why I accepted but I took one look at her and I was a goner. I loved her passionately and I will till the day I die but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to love someone else if given the chance.”

“Why do I get the feeling the conversation just turned.” Liz said uneasily.

“Because it has. I didn’t want to bring this up here and in fact I didn’t really want to bring this up at all but since there is a good chance that we won’t make it out of here in one peace I am not going to add this to my list of regrets.” He sighed once before continuing on. “Liz I have started to have feeling for you.”

“Feelings?” Liz asked. “You hardly know me Daniel. In fact before the whole Kivar thing we didn’t say more than ten words to each other.”

“That’s true and I will admit that that was when it started to happen but I always found you attractive and a wee bit intimidating.”

“Intimidating? Me?” Liz asked astounded. She never intimidated anyone.

“I was wondering if when we get out of this if maybe we could go to dinner.” Daniel asked shyly. Why was this so hard for him to do all of a sudden.

“Dinner?” Daniel nodded. “Dinner I can do. Um, Daniel, I guess that I should tell you…” but she was cut off by the feather light touch of lips upon hers. It was not a passionate kiss and it wasn’t supposed to be. It was tentative, pleading and exceedly nice. Liz felt warmth and something close to happiness bubbling up inside of her. It had been a couple of years since someone had kissed her and she knew if she let go of her resolve that those long dormant sparks would ignite but this was not the place for that. Damn her logical brain. Couldn’t it just give it a rest for once?

“Sorry.” Daniel said but the look on his face clearly showed that he was anything but sorry.

“I’m not.” Liz admitted shocking even herself. “It’s been a while since I have felt anything remotely…well, anything. And if we were anywhere but…in a jail cell on a strange planet I would definitely possibly maybe want to explore this further.”

“Way to commit, Parker.” Daniel kidded her but he was delighted that she was not turning him away. It had been years since he had approached a woman. It had been years since he had wanted to and to know that Liz was just as cautious as he was helping greatly. “So, how do you propose we get out of here.”






Colonel Jack O’Neill looked around the large palace that was home of Larek, the ruler of Nyack. Nice digs, he thought to himself as he flashed back to his two bedroom one bath house about ten miles from the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Major Samantha Carter was walking slightly ahead and looking at some of the painting that adorned the walls. Some of the older pictures reminded her of Thor, their Asgard friend.

“We used to be like that. The way your planet thinks in terms of aliens.” Larek said as he entered the room to greet his new friends.

“Larek?” O’Neill asked. This was not what he looked like when they had met on Earth but then he had been occupying someone else’s body at the time. This man appeared to be in his mid-thirties and would have been quite attractive by earth standards. A fact which O’Neill noticed that Carter didn’t miss.

“Welcome to Nyack. It has been a long time since we have had any visitors.”

“Where do we stand?” O’Neill asked as he looked back at Teal’c as he harnessed his weapon.

“I am afraid that I do not have much information. We will just have to be patient. Believe me Kivar will contact Max and then we will know.”

“I would like to meet with this Max.” O’Neill demanded. Larek looked at him for a moment and then nodded his head to the inevitable. Max had to be told and it would be better it came from him that from some sort of ransom note from Kivar.

“Why don’t you all stay the night here? I will have my help prepare a banquet and then in the morning we can head over to Antar and speak with the King. “

O’Neill nodded and the followed Larek as he showed them out of the great room.

[Liz Parker Evans]

Okay, Okay, I know that it has been a while since I posted to this. RL...that's what I get for going to college. Winter break is coming up in another two weeks and hopefully I can get a bit a head on this before buring myself in Chemisty books in the Winter quarter. Well, here is the new part, it's not much but it is something.




[/color=violet]Chapter 12


Zan or Max as he insisted on being called was not exactly what O’Neill had expected. This man looked to be no more that twenty five and that might have been pushing it. This was the man that Liz Parker had risked so much for? He was unassuming and polite but nothing that would illicit such loyalty from those around him. He hoped that all this was worth it. He just wanted to find his team and get back to earth. Sam nudged O’Neill gently to get his head back into the game, so to speak.

“King…Max? We have something’s to discuss.” O’Neill announced immediately after the brief introduction that Larek had made.

“What can I help you with?”

“I need your assistance in launching a bit of a rescue mission.”

“Rescue mission?” Max asked. “Who needs to be rescued?”

“Two members of my team were kidnapped from our base on Earth. They were taken by the one you call Kivar. I believe you have some passing knowledge of one of the individuals.”

“And who would that be?” Max asked as his mouth went dry. His heart was falling into his stomach. He didn’t that many people back on earth just his parents and her. Liz.

“One is our team’s Archeologist Dr. Daniel Jackson, and the other is our Biochemist Dr. Elizabeth Parker.”

There was that name, the one name that held more meaning to him then just about anything. The name that he couldn’t get out of his heart let alone his soul and the one person he was sure he had destroyed. He left her on Earth in the misguided hopes that she would be safe but the person she needed protection from more than anyone else would have been him. Because of him Tess came to town and ripped Alex from their lives. Even though he was sure that given time and the right circumstances that Liz would forgive him for Tess and the chaos that came from that, he knew she would never forgive him for Alex.

“Liz is here?” Max demanded.

“Yes, she is. “ Larek explained. “Serena was monitoring transmissions from the planet when she noticed the anomaly.”

Max was about to ask Larek what Serena had noticed but felt that it really didn’t matter and Michael took that precise moment to crash into the throne room. One look at Max’s face and Michael knew that whatever these people were here for involved Liz.

“Max, I just heard.” Michael informed him.

“How did you find out?”

“Um…”

“I told her to keep her mouth shut.” Larek cursed under his breath.

“Excuse me, back to the reason that we are all here. I need your help if we are going to bring this whole thing to a close with no casualties.” O’Neill said loudly

Max nodded his head in agreement even though he knew there would indeed be casualties, casualties in the form of Tess Harding.





Liz was being led down a long corridor and into an open airy room. Her shackles were still firmly fastened around her wrists, though she was pretty sure if she were to try to break free with her powers she would be able to but that would have put Daniel in jeopardy and that was the last thing that she wanted. Smiling coldly as she entered the large room was Tess. Somehow, Liz was not surprised to see her here. was not surprised that she was here with Kivar nor that she had betrayed Max to this end. What did surprise Liz was that she had believed Future Max when he had told her that the survival of all of them depended on Tess and in a way she supposed she was right. If Liz had ignored the warning Michael and Isabel may have been killed but Alex would have been alive. Liz, after much reflection felt that if they had just had the future knowledge of what the skins were planning that that alone would have been enough to save them from this fate and from her. Liz had never truly hated anyone before but she hated Tess.

“Liz, how nice of you to join me.” Tess said in that sickeningly sweet voice. “I have to admit that you are the last person I expected to see here. How are tricks?”

“I have to admit that you are the first person I expected to see. I did expect to see Max with you though. What happened, he tire of you all ready?”

“More like the other way around. He was too much a boy scout for my purposes. If you had just hung around you could have had him back. That Dr. Jackson you are here with now…yum.”

It nauseated Liz the way that Tess said Daniel’s name. She wanted to leap across the space separating them and scratch her eyes out. Before all was said and done Liz swore she would make Tess pay. Pay for her lost innocence, pay for all the heartbreak, pay for the treachery and most of all she would make her pay for Alex. Alex who never hurt anyone in his life, all he ever wanted to do was help Isabel and the rest of them out. Tess in turn repaid that kindness with murder.

“Anyway, I just thought you might want to know that in the morning I will be contacting Max to see just what feelings he has left for you. Either he surrenders up his control of Antar or he will receive a gift at his preverbal doorstep in the form of your dead body.”

Liz knew this should have outraged her. She doubted that Max would do anything, she was pretty sure he hated Tess as much as she did but she was also fairly sure that he hated her as well. She was the symbol of his betrayal, the reason he had to change, and the reason he had to accept his destiny. Once upon a time destiny wasn’t a dirty word, Liz longed to have that time back again.[/color/

[Liz Parker Evans]

Just a note...I am still revising and I am making a lot of progress. I have not abandoned this fic because to be honest I have become obsessed with it.

[Liz Parker Evans]

Just so you all know, this has not been abandoned...well, not really and truly. I have been reworking the thing and hope to start posting in about two weeks.