Jennifer24: No Rath and Ava aren't the child of the current, now former, King. I re-read the part where I think you might have gotten that impression and it did read like they were his children. So I fixed it about 3 hours after I first post it. Zan and Vilandra are his children. And Khivar's role will be revealed soon--or somewhat soon.
Ellie
bluebear01: You'll have to wait and see who Val is. I'd say more but I'd give it away.
Liz2Infinity
elfangel01: Later on, hopefully in Ch 11 just depends on how talkative my Khivar muse is and if he wants to show himself in the next chapter, you'll find out a couple more things that will hopefully answer some Khivar/Antar/former King questions.
orphyfets
pandas2001
SagiBecca
Darknhauntinglove
sdcheesehead: Welcome to my world...well my borrowed world I get to play in
, always love having a new reviewer. dreammaster
A.N. I love coffee, it's my friend. Went to bed around 2 in the morning, luckily I don't have class till 1 this afternoon so I was able to sleep in.
Ok story stuff...this chapter came about because I wanted to put some Clark/Liz and the parents before I put another Kyle-centric chapter. He’s going to be in the next chapter and more info will be revealed, hint, hint, and I'm going to try to get some Khivar stuff in there as well. So this is mostly a break from information. Enjoy.Chapter 10
Roswell; July 6; 8:34 p.m.
Martha and Jonathan lean against the Parker’s kitchen counter, they had dinner down in the Crashdown and enjoyed the food and company. Now Clark and Liz are setting up a game of Monopoly in the dining room, which gives them a moment to be alone and talk about what transpired earlier that day. After Liz returned to the table she had a smirk that she didn’t have when she left.
The fact that Clark was practically giddy is suspicious enough but combined with Liz’s facial expression it sent red flags high in the air. “I'm telling you Jonathan something is going on in this town and with Liz and Clark. Please tell me that you’ve noticed too.” Martha pleads with her husband of over twenty years.
Jonathan peeks out into the living room seeing Jeff and Nancy still haven’t returned. “Yes, I have noticed things. But sweetheart this is Roswell, the alien tourist trap, not Smallville. There is no Lionel Luthor here trying to expose our son. As for Clark and Liz I'm happy, it’ll get him out of his Lana funk, which I am all for.”
“So am I but you saw those kids at the restaurant today. They could not take their eyes off of Liz, kept trying to get her attention.” Martha stares up at him sighing.
“Martha, you heard what Nancy said about them, they used to be friends until that Max kid started seeing another girl.” He rests his hands on her shoulders. “Now it’s just normal high school crap. This trip is so we can relax away from Smallville and forget about the Luthor’s and meteor rocks. So please relax sweetheart.” Jonathan reasons.
Shrugging her shoulders shyly Martha smirks up at him. “Since when are you the rational one? Isn’t that in my job description?” She lightly teases.
“Every once in a while we’re bound to switch places.” He kisses her forehead calming her worries. Jonathan’s right it’s normal high school drama and she’s reading too much into it. But then why does she have this funny feeling in her heart?
Nancy breaks the private moment between her friends. “Is everything all right?” Worried by the expression on their faces. It’s a look she’s seen and had herself quite a lot, and it’s used only when Liz is in perceived danger.
“Yea, we’re fine. Martha was worried about some odds and ends at the farm we forgot to take care of.” He easily fibs, in general he hates lying but for his family he’d kill so a small lie isn’t even a blip on the radar screen.
Nancy didn’t believe that for a second, whatever is going on is family related but she wouldn’t push. Poking and prodding will only close them up further. “Ok, well the kids have the Monopoly game set up, Jeff should be up in a minute.” The three parents leave the kitchen area and crowd around the dining room table; no one misses that Clark and Liz are seated together…again.
A few seconds’ later Jeff bounds up the stairs from down in the Crashdown up to the apartment, everyone is waiting for him. “Sorry, two of Liz’s classmates were giving me grief.” He tells them.
Liz notices he doesn’t say friends, if it were Maria and Alex he would have invited them up to meet the Kent’s. “Which of the four was it?” She has her suspicions but it could have easily be Isabel or Michael if they think she caused Max pain.
“The two that normally stop by trying to talk to you.” Jeff raises an eyebrow, a talent he’s had since a toddler. “They said it was important and needed to speak with you right away. I said you were busy, the big-eared stalker said for you to call him when you were done.”
Liz spits a little of her drink back into the can; her Dad hates it when Max ‘orders’ something. Yesterday Max demanded from the safety of her answering machine commanding her to answer the phone. The Royal Pain in her Ass is getting desperate and when he gets desperate he gets stupid. She’s positive all Max wants to talk to her about is persuading her to reconsider his protection offer.
“Stalker?” Clark’s eyes flame with fury, who would dare chase after his Liz, his chosen mate? His long buried Kryptonian shouts in the deep recesses of his mind. He suppressed a growl threatening to spill from his clenched jaw, Clark recognizes this primal side of him, and it’s like he’s on Red K again. Only ten times stronger.
Liz’s primal side purrs in satisfaction, the perfect response was given for the mere mention of some boy unworthy of her attention stalking her. There was a tone in Clark’s voice that makes her want to roll over onto her back and prove that she’s his and only his. “Don’t worry about him.” She eases her face and body closer to his. “He thinks he’s the big man but he comes up real short.” She rumbles contently, shocking the parents around the table with the sensual nature Liz suddenly brought forth.
Clark wants to take Liz up on the blatant invitation in her tone but enough of his innocent farm boy personality is still at the forefront that he fights off that urge. He blinks to clear the rage brought on by Jeff’s statement and returns to his normal shy persona. With Clark’s cool down, Liz does the same, unable to keep that primitive side front and center without Clark’s being there to feed hers.
Coughing passed the desire Liz grabs a Monopoly playing piece searching for a distraction from the curious stares she’s receiving. “I--,” swallow, “I don’t know how many times I need to tell them that their emergencies are not my emergencies.” She drops the piece from one hand to the other keeping her hands occupied. “I’ll remind them of that tomorrow.”
“Why do they keep coming around if you told them you don’t want to see them?” Clark asks in a curious and nervous innocent boy kind of way, not listening to the primitive voice demanding he protect his mate against these weaker people.
“Max isn’t exactly the kind of person who takes ‘no’ for an answer.” She whispers, unaware of how it sounds to her parents.
“Lizzie did that little shit hurt you?” Jeff leans forward; he doesn’t care if Liz can throw Max into the next galaxy. If he tried to force his baby into anything he’d enjoy torturing the youngon.
Quickly Liz denies that, “No Daddy, no. That’s not what I meant at all.” Unconsciously she lays her hand on Clark’s thigh under the table calming him down somewhat. “He’s never hurt me like that or tried. All I meant is that if he thinks his idea is the best course of action he’ll hound you until you go with it too.” She assures him.
Jeff takes a deep breath easing his heart rate to a more reasonable level. Needing to get off the topic of the other aliens Jeff jumps right into explaining to the Kent’s how they determine who goes first in the game. He isn’t embarrassed by his reaction toward Liz’s misunderstood statement; he’d be ashamed if he didn’t have that reaction. However this is a time to talk about friends and being with their friends not dissect the Pod Squad’s problems.
“So Clark,” Liz rolls the dice getting a ‘7’ then hands the dice to Martha. “What do you do for fun in Smallville? Do you have speed races in the cornfields? Bon fires in the woods?”
“Not really, mostly I'm helping out on the farm, or hanging out with Pete. He’s my best friend; I can tell him anything and know he’ll have my back. He’s more into the extreme stuff, going to raves, going to watch races, getting into scrapes in general.” Martha rolls the dice and gets a ‘4’. “And brings me along for the ride a lot of the time.”
“He’s your Maria.” Liz nods in complete understanding but Clark stares at her in question. She leans over the table with her elbows crossed and shrugs her shoulders. “Pete is your fun valve so to speak. If he weren’t around you’d probably sit in your room all day and stay on the straight and narrow. Maria’s like that for me, I wouldn’t have gotten into half the trouble I’ve gotten into if she wasn’t around and I’d miss out on half the fun too.”
“Exactly,” the dice makes it around the table. Jonathan got the highest number so he goes first and they decide to go counter clock-wise from there. “You’d be a hell of a lot lonelier if she wasn’t there huh?”
“Precisely. Doesn’t matter how many times we’re brought home but the Sheriff, it’s worth it just having her as a friend.” The night continues as such, buying properties while giving insight on their lives. All the while the parents are wondering what that flare up was before the start of the game. Never had Jeff or Nancy seen Liz behave that way; Jonathan and Martha have seen Clark act that way but only after a dose of Red K and it took the Red K to be away from him that he returned to normal. Something is going on and they need to figure out what.
Michael’s Apartment; July 6, 10:10 p.m.
“Dammit, she hasn’t called yet. What part of call me as soon as possible didn’t she understand?” Max fumes. With those people hanging around at the Parker’s Liz needs to be extra careful. She can’t let anything slip or be left out or be spoken in front of them.
“Maybe it was the ordering her to call you that pissed her off.” Max looks ready to argue but Michael raises his hand to stop it, “Come on Maxwell, if she wasn’t pissed she’d have called. Ordering someone especially someone like Liz is never a great way to get them to do what you want.” Michael points out. Tess and Max arrived at his place shortly before nine telling Michael about the brief but hostile conversation with Jeff Parker.
“How else am I supposed to get her to call me?”
“Seems to me that ‘order’ didn’t work out to well.” He scratches his forehead. “Here’s a thought, ask instead of demand. Trust me with a personality like Liz’s demanding will only accomplish her ignoring your ass, believe me.”
Tess squints her eyes, how the Hell does Michael know so much about Liz and what she’s like? He’s only spoken to her a couple of times in the couple months she’s been in Roswell and when he did it was only a ‘hi’ or a ‘bye’. “And you know that how?”
Michael rolls his eyes, no way would he tell them about the journal swiping or the time he tried to go out on a date with Liz. Well, maybe not so much a date as a make-out session in the Eraser Room before Maria was shot a year ago. She turned him down flat, not because she thought he was trash but because he said, ‘You, me, Eraser Room, make out, seventh period’. He wasn’t exactly suave. “Just trust me on that.”
It seemed like a good idea at the time, she’s hot, he’s hot, it was the perfect idea, he just went about it the wrong way. He stands up from his barstool; “Since I doubt she’ll call and if she does she won’t call here I suggest you leave so I can get some sleep.” The broody alien pushes them out shutting the door on them and locks it. “God they’re irritating.”
TBC
