The One Left Behind (SN,XO,UC,Mature) [WIP]

[Jezebel Jinx]

Banner by Little Red Riding Hood

Title: The One Left Behind
Author: Dez/Jezebel Jinx/VampireQueen21
Rating: Mature
Couple: Drifter (Dean/Liz)
Category: XO/Roswell/Supernatural
Set: Roswell: After Departure/AU S3; SPN: Post S1 (when Dean and Sam make their appearance in the story it’s after John died but before they knew about the Roadhouse)
Summary: Life has gone to hell for Liz Parker, she could have never predicted what happened, now she has no one and sets off on a journey that brings her closer to peace.
Warning: Secondary character deaths, violence, underage drinking, and a healthy dollop of vulgar language.
Note: Basically I see this story happening in three big chunks with several chapters in each chunk. I already have the entire first chunk planned with basic plot points which will be about 18-24 chapters (just depends on how long it takes to write some of the plot points). Overall the three chunks will be divided like this: First; Liz’s various…transitions and events, Second; the Winchester boys enter the picture, Third; the return to Roswell.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters unless otherwise stated belong to people who aren’t me. A few of the demons/creatures/supernatural beings that are mentioned in this are from the book A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits, by Carol K. Mack and Dinah Mack. Some will also obviously be from the show and a couple may be from Internet research.

Prologue

Crashdown Café; late afternoon; July 3

A sharp ding of the bell rang through her pounding head. “T 5. Order up.” Jose cheerfully called. Table number five’s food was ready. The waitress nodded her thanks to a cook who wasn’t even looking at her because he’s focused on the other meals in front of him.

Liz watched the red head pass her sliding the plates in front of the customer. She was off today, in fact she’d been off for an entire month, thank the Gods above, the last three days she had a constant headache. It wasn’t getting any better, if anything it got worse. Of course it had to be the dull headache, behind the eyeballs threatening to blow out your brains if you dare cough or sneeze.

Mom made her promise she’d go in to see the doctor that weekend. Reluctantly she agreed if only to keep her off her back for at least another week. Thumb and forefinger squeeze the web of skin between her other thumb and forefinger, clockwise she massaged the area. Pressure points work wonders when over the counter medicine couldn’t cut it.

Slowly the pain receded giving her relief if only for a few moments. The second she stopped the mind numbing pain would be back to its goal of splitting her head in half.

From behind her she heard the click clack of high heels on the tiled floor of the restaurant. With every click the heel hammered against her brain. But what followed the click was deemed far worse than the torture she had endured.

“Hey Liz.” Pam Troy greeted with all the sincerity of a wet rag. “Why are you sitting here all alone?” She pouted pathetically. “Shouldn’t you be out with your friends right now? Oh wait…I forgot. They all left you.”

“Pam-“ She spoke in a similar tone. “It’s so wonderful to see you off your back and on your feet for a change.”

“Cute. At least I have offers sweetie. The best offer you’ve had lately is a free dinner at IHOP.” She shot back.

“Is it really called offers when you’re the one that has to pay them?” Liz couldn’t deny that she was enjoying this back and forth one-liner match between her and Pam. Unwittingly Pam confronting her gave her a brief reprieve from the pain in head-although now she had a pain in her ass.

Instead of coming back with another doozy she clenched her hands around her milkshake container. It didn’t explode or cascade down her arm and hand, but it did give Liz a wave of dizziness. Weird.

Liz scrunched her face trying to keep her breakfast down. Her headache was back in full force. Fantastic.

“You’re pathetic Liz Parker. Not only did your boyfriend dump you for the new girl who put out, but your best friend left town with all your other friends and they never told you.” That would cause hurt, what girl wouldn’t be hurt that her best friend skipped town without a phone call? It’s amazing what she could hear when sitting in the booth right outside the backroom door.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, breathing in and out slowly so as not to make her rolling stomach decide on summersaults. “I may be pathetic, but one of us is drinking a milkshake right now lying to her friends about it being a protein shake. So unless you want that milkshake to go on your head as opposed to around your waistline I suggest you leave my restaurant.”

She didn’t catch the shocked stare, didn’t watch Pam throw the fatty beverage in the garbage, nor did she see Pam glare at her with a questioning gaze. Sighing she grabbed her soda and left the bustle continuing around her. While it was only 4:30 in the afternoon she went up to her room, locked the door, and curled up in bed. Maybe this last month would all be a nightmare that she could leave behind. How much worse could her life get?

TBC

[Jezebel Jinx]

lizandzackfan
aussietrueblue
vampyrolover86
Blink1lit
behrstars
Jensen Lover 37
theweirdchick
Ellie
jamy21: It's about two months after Departure and yes they left in the Granolith.
pandas2001: No I won't forget my other fics. Promise.
WomanofMystery
AlwaysRoswell
SnowyOwl-17

Thank you everyone for the wonderful feedback. To answer many of your questions about why the others left Liz...well you'll find out later . But I will say that it's not as purposeful as some may think. Hope you enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 1

“Lizzie?”

A soft loving voice called out to her from far away.

A shadow leapt across the ceiling, “Mom?” She knew she was dreaming, from the flowery fabric of the couch and the scent of Pledge, she was in the living room, and from her vantage-point curled up on the floor.

“Sweetheart?”

The motherly touch against her back translated to her mind but she couldn’t wake up. Mom was calling she had to wake up.

Screaming shattered her eardrums, blood sprayed up the wall, it seeped at a snails pace down the wall to the dead body shoved violently under it. “Mommy?”

With a gasp she shot open her eyes. A sigh escaped as she took in her surroundings. It was a dream, it wasn’t real. The reddish brown brick of her bedroom wall became more detailed, the small holes that formed over the seventy years the building had been there were clear and pronounced. Mom sat next to her on her bed rubbing her back gently and staring at her with concern. It was a dream.

“Sweetie? You okay? Another nightmare?” Nancy didn’t hide the worry she felt. For the past two or three months Liz had been waking with a jolt. After Maria and her other friends left it only got worse. She’d hear Liz up in her room till the early hours of morning doing God knows what in her room only to sleep all day till dinner.

“Yea, I don’t why I keep having them.” Liz yawned. It’d be another ‘stay up till seven in the morning’ night. She didn’t know why she’d been having the strange and violent nightmares but she knew what triggered them. Alex’s death.

“How about the headaches? Have you called the doctor like I asked?” That was another thing that concerned her. On more than one occasion she’d seen Liz curled up into a ball cradling her head with an arm, pain clearly shown.

Liz shrugged. “Same. And no not yet. I’ll do it tomorrow morning before I go to sleep.” That’ll at least appease Mom.

“If you don’t do it tomorrow I’ll do it. I'm worried about you.” She brushed the stray hairs away from Liz’s face. “My beautiful girl.” Even with bags under her eyes and crazy bed head she had a beauty about her that couldn’t be erased. “Come on, outta bed, its time for dinner.” She tapped the tired girl’s leg before leaving the room.

As Mom left, Liz knew it was only a matter of time before she called a shrink. Not because she thought she was crazy—she hadn’t done anything crazy for a month. But Mom could tell the nightmares were more than once in a while. Knew that if she didn’t start talking about it she’d crack up.

Maybe she’s already cracking up but her mind hadn’t caught up with that realization yet. Anything’s possible. With motivation she didn’t feel she shoved herself up and off the bed. She left the room not bothering to brush her hair or straighten her clothes—after all who was she trying to impress?

Scrubbing the gross crusty’s in the creases of her eyes away she sat at her normal place at the table. Dad squeezed her hand as if saying he’d be there when she was ready to open up. That’d be in the time frame of never. There wasn’t anything he could do so why burden him?

Mom put the plate full of chicken on the table, while Dad dug into the deviled eggs. Liz reached for the mashed potatoes; the back and forth hurried eye movements of the parental units went unnoticed. Next she grabbed a piece of chicken and began to eat.

Coughing uncomfortably Dad set down the fork that had been poised to shovel his face full of food, “Uh, Lizzie, your Mom and I have been talking lately…” He said it as if he and Mom had gone months without speaking. Knew for a fact that wasn’t true, she could hear them at night before they went to sleep and it was mostly about her. “And since you won’t talk to us, which is alright, we think it’s time you talk to someone else—a therapist.”

Wow, they already were at the shrink stage? She had to pay more attention. “I'm fine you guys. Just had a weird schedule this last month. That’s all.” No way they’d buy that line of crap. They weren’t idiots.

“That’s crap and you know it.” Jeff pointed her finger at her.

“Jeff!” Exclaimed Nancy.

“No Nancy. I know you’ve seen her hold her head in pain, the tossing and turning of a nightmare. She is not going to live like this, we’re taking her to the doctor and then she’s going to talk to Dr. Faye. I’ve set up the appointments for both.” That was news to Mom.

“Dad I'm fine. I don’t need a doctor and certainly don’t need to talk to some whack job that tells me I have issues because let me tell you I can inform you of that and you won’t have to pay me hundreds of dollars.” She jabbed her fork into her chicken tearing a shed of flesh off.

“Please, just for once don’t argue with me on this. I know you’re not fond of doctors, but honey we’re worried about you.” Jeff pleaded.

Maybe she should talk with a professional, if only to keep Mom and Dad happy and sane. She’d agreed to the physical doctor why not the mental one too? Liz set her fork on the plate. “Okay, if it’ll make you feel better I’ll go. When’s the appointment?” Giving in was easier in the long run.

“Tomorrow afternoon at 3:30, the session is going to run for two hours. Now your doctor appointment to check your headaches out is on July sixth at 4 p.m.” Relieved Liz agreed without too much problem.

Nodding she bent back over her food. Tomorrow was going to be so fun. That’s right that was her being sarcastic. Sarcasm had become such a blanket of warmth, that she didn’t want to shed the protective armor, her attitude she could control and she embraced that power.

She could sit in silence when she went to the shrink but then Mom and Dad would have wasted ‘X’ amount of dollars. That’d only make her feel guilty—guess talking about her feelings was the only way to go. Great, she grew out of expressing her emotions through words when her friends abandoned her by flying off into space. Like she said, tomorrow was going to be fun.

TBC

[Jezebel Jinx]

Queen Fee: Yep aliens went back in the Granolith. Including Kyle, Maria, and Jim. Who killed Alex is still a mystery...even to Liz since she wasn't at Maria's like in the ep Departure so she didn't figure out the pattern and because she didn't figure out the pattern she didn't go to the Valenti's where Kyle's memory returned. As for Liz's headaches that's something to be found out about later.

vampyrolover86: I hear ya on killing someone to make headaches stop. Had a nasty one yesterday. Ooo, almost permanently scarred some people.

aussietrueblue: Nobody knows about what Tess did to Alex.

lizandzackfan: Thanks.

jamy21: Dean is definitely needed to get Liz out of her funk.

SnowyOwl-17: Well Dean won't get to Roswell for quite a while, he'll be meeting Liz before that.

WomanofMystery: Yep, the visions have started. But she's going to have a lot more problems then that.

A.N. Hi everyone. I'm in a very good mood tonight so I'm posting the next chapters to a few stories. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 2

July 4th

Liz glanced at her watch for the fifth time that afternoon, she knew she should be grateful that Dr. Faye agreed to see her on a holiday, but she’s not. Not only was she ungrateful she was pissed off that the good doctor was late.

Twenty minutes she’d been waiting but still no sign of Dr. Faye. Ten more minutes she’d wait; ten more but no longer. She had a few more hours of sleep she could catch up on.

At the five-minute mark she finally showed. It didn’t matter to Liz that she’d been a few minutes late herself, her annoyance at Faye was clearly pronounced.

“Please don’t let the fact that my parents are paying you keep you from being on time.” Liz snapped effectively making her anger known, in case there had been doubt in the doc’s mind.

“I’ll care when you care. You were seven minutes late.” She shot back at her calmly, letting the young Parker girl know her sarcasm wouldn’t get much of a reaction. “Now come in.” She moved aside allowing the angry teen to pass. “Have a seat on the couch I’ll be right with you.” Faye went from the front door to a corner of the room covered by a large decorated screen.

Music floated up from the corner, a soft melody that would soothe any anger it came across. Another sense came into play, her nose; she smelled the aroma of long used incense. Lavender and a different flower mixed to create a pleasant experience.

“How long have you been a shrink?” Liz didn’t bother to change her “shrink” comment. This was what the doc was there to do right? Get her back to who she was before the aliens crash-landed into her quiet, normal life. The “normal” Liz would never call a physiatrist or therapist a shrink.

“Quite a number of years. Don’t worry I'm well equipped to handle anything you throw at me.” She spoke with a confidence that Liz envied. She hadn’t had much confidence for a while, she may act like she did but instead that pseudo-confidence was not caring. In a way a switch had been turned inside and true confidence gave way to an inability to feel anything including confidence.

“Hmm.” Liz grunted. She sat on the couch, crossing her legs one over the other.

Faye sat down across from her in a large comfy leather chair. The kind of chair that invoked thoughts of curling up in one position for hours to watch a fire crackling in the fireplace. While she got comfortable Liz took that time to assess Dr. Faye.

Vibrant red hair was piled messily in a bun but still had a certain professionalism, chopsticks kept the hair in place. Faye had expressive moss green eyes and thin lips turned up in a welcoming but small smile. Her suit didn’t look all that expensive, a pair of black slacks with a silk blue top; a matching black jacket lay over her desk chair haphazardly like she couldn’t wait to get it off. Along with stylish open toed blue heels and her pale pink painted toenails.

“Listen, I'm not really into talking about my feelings. As a matter of fact I despise it…”

“We don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to, these are your two hours to do with what you will. We can sit here in silence if you want.” She told her.

That wouldn’t work- “Well I wouldn’t want this to be a complete waste. Parents paid for it after all.” Noticing the shrink didn’t have a pad and pen out ready to write down any theories or notes about how fucked up she really was. Probably recording it behind that huge screen or something.

“Why don’t we start off with what you’re going to do today? Are you going to watch fireworks? Spend the evening with some friends?”

Liz shook her head negatively. “No on hanging with my friends. Don’t have any to hang out with anymore. And more than likely watching fireworks from my balcony. I’ll be up then anyway, why not?” She forced a tight smile onto her lips. A clear sign that she felt like anything but smiling.

“How’s your home life with your family? Get along with your parents? Other relatives?” She leaned back giving the impression of relaxing. She’d go back and address the no friends issue later.

“Yea, most of the time.” No kid got along with their parents ever moment of everyday. If they did she’d assume there were a pod-person…no pun intended. Maybe even go so far as being a robot.

It took another hour of revealing not so personal information before Dr. Faye even broached the subject of her wayward friends. “Now you spoke of not being with friends earlier. Why not? Did they go somewhere?”

Liz nodded. “They left, Maria, my best friend, didn’t want to be without her boyfriend, Michael. Michael wasn’t about to let Isabel and Max go anywhere without him; after all they’ve been his family. Tess, Max’s new girlfriend, is pregnant with Max’s child so you know she went too.”

“In fact Tess was the reason everyone left, Max’s parents wouldn’t be thrilled he knocked a girl up at seventeen. Isabel wasn’t leaving her brother to handle fatherhood alone. And Kyle grew attached to Tess; Jim, Kyle’s Dad had nothing keeping him here so off he went with his son.” Liz played with the arm of the couch.

“Now what about your other friend Alex? You mentioned him before but he wasn’t brought up in who left.”

Again she nodded; she’s beginning to feel like a bobble head doll. “Alex died a few months ago. So he didn’t get the opportunity to leave with them.” Not that she believed that if Alex were alive he’d leave with the others. He’d still have his band, family, and friends; there’d be a lot of reasons to stay on Earth.

“Were you invited along.” By the way Liz spoke of the others leaving Faye assumed the answer would be a no.

“No, I knew that Max, Isabel, Tess, and Michael were going but what I didn’t count on were the others going.” She stared off into space not focusing on much of anything.

“If they had asked would you have gone?”

Her gaze shot up to meet the doctors. Would she have gone with them? Sure she would have felt better if she’d been asked to tag along but would she have? She still loved Max, no matter how much she tried to deny it. Maria would have been there with her-but Tess would be there too. Although that wouldn’t have been reason enough, in all actuality the blonde former Queen wasn’t that bad. She could have seen them be if not friends at least civil if Max hadn’t been in the middle.

“No, I wouldn’t.” And that’s the truth. She’d have said no. Liz paused for a moment waiting for Faye to say something like ‘then why was she so upset’. Guess she wasn’t one of those kinds of shrinks and she appreciated that. Faye didn’t try to talk her out of her anger only helped her to realize that even though she had every right to her emotions that she also wouldn’t have gone had they asked.

Sensing that Liz had enough for today she uncrossed her legs and leaned forward. “Liz do you keep a journal? Fill it with your thoughts and feelings?”

“Used to. Haven’t written in it for a while.” She admitted.

“I’d like you to start writing in it again. Anything and everything you’re feeling. At our next appointment if you like we can talk about what you wrote.”

“And-what if I don’t want to talk about what I wrote?” Liz wondered. The musings she wrote in her journals were personal and private. Whole reason she wrote them down was so she could get those feelings out and not feel the repercussions of telling somebody. Some people tended to get testy when you tell them how you felt about them with no filters.

“Than we won’t. These sessions are for you to do with what you will.” She soothed.

“Okay. Thanks. When can we meet again?” As much as she’d like to lie about how much this one session had helped so couldn’t. Drained, exhausted, and even a little frustration beat at her head but a little weight had been lifted. She’s far from “cured” but little baby steps she told herself.

Faye looked into her date book. “I have next week on Tuesday at three, next Friday at four-thirty, and next Saturday at nine in the morning.”

“How bout’ the Friday one. By then I should be awake.” She joked. After Faye gave her a card with her name, number, and the date of their next appointment she left the comfort of her office. Dad wouldn’t be by to pick her up for at least another twenty minutes.

Shoving the card into her pocket Liz jogged across the street to the Wolves Den Café. A small local hangout that hardly got any tourists because it wasn’t alien themed. The owner’s a nice woman who always had a smile for her customers, she catered to the locals and the locals loved it. There were only so many alien restaurants and museums they could take before going crazy.

She ordered a white chocolate mocha with an extra dollop of whipped cream. Sugar heaven. Taking her mocha she got comfortable in a lone chair and table by the window watching the people walking and driving while waiting for Dad’s truck. Why he didn’t just drive Mom’s new Nissan Altima she’d never know. But who was she to fault him for loving his fifteen-year-old truck to the point of obsession. He took care of it, so it ran better than it probably should.

Liz passed a glance by her watch. A little while longer before Dad came and got her. Yawning she fell forward laying her head on her arms. She was so tired, despite drinking half of her caffinated beverage. She’d close her eyes for only a minute. A minute wouldn’t kill her. In seconds she was out like a light.

TBC

[Jezebel Jinx]

SnowyOwl-17
vampyrolover86
aussietrueblue
pandas2001
WomanofMystery

Thank you for the wonderful feedback. Never fails to brighten my day.

Chapter 3

Scuffling from up above brought her gaze upward. “Dad? Mom? I'm home.” Slowly silently she climbed up the stairs. The stairway expanded and contracted, breathing her in trapping her between the brick wall and the…licorice? The red candy took the place of the dark wood railing.

Bending over she took a bite—“Mmm, is Willy Wonka behind this?” She knew it was a dream, once she realized it the stairs stopped breathing, the licorice faded and she felt herself flying upward. “No, no, I want to stay.

Jeff left the therapists office, she said Liz left fifteen minutes ago. She must be in the coffeehouse across the street. Waiting for the three cars to pass he crossed, jogging into the door. The smell of freshly brewed coffee and cinnamon buns filled the air sweetly.

The owner, Eclipse Monroe, waved to him before turning back to a customer. Her parents had five children and named them all “Moon” or “Sun” names. Four girls and one boy, the girls were Dawn, Eclipse, Luna, and Moonbeam, Moon for short. While their one boy was named Sunny, with a ‘u’ instead of an ‘o’. Poor kid was teased mercilessly after the guys found out about that. Jeff had been at college when Sunny was in high school but he was good friends with Dawn and she told him about the fights he’d been involved in.

Scanning the coffee shop he found his daughter sleeping soundly, head on the table, eyes fluttering and her coffee gripped tightly in her hand. Smiling at how innocent and angelic she looked when sleeping he made his way over to her. He brushed the hair from her forehead. “Lizzie? Sweetie? Time to wake up.”

Everything changed color, the once bright and inviting back room of the Crashdown changed to a bleak and cold gray. Red liquid flowed down the stairs she stood on bathing her feet in the sticky substance. “Daddy?” She whimpered. She wanted Daddy.

More scuffling, she stared at her front door. A loud crash and her Mom screaming snapped her out of her stupor. Not caring what lay beyond that door she ran up the stairs, slipping twice soaking her front with the red fluid and pushed open the door. “Mom?”

“Liz run!” She heard her scream but she couldn’t see her.

Gurgles captured her attention, she followed the blood, so much blood. The sharp metallic taste stuck at the back of her throat and seeped its way into her nasal passages. Nothing but blood smelled like that. “Dad?” She whispered softly. That couldn’t be him, it couldn’t—no he wasn’t—“

“Sweetheart?” Jeff shook her more firmly.

Bright flashing lights pounded a new headache home. Blood slid away, evaporating from her dreams.

Her eyes snapped open. A sight she’d never been so happy to see stood before her. “Dad?” She hoped she wasn’t imagining him, standing there, not dying.

“Hey. Tired honey?” Concern evident from his dark eyes.

Liz set her coffee down on the table. “Yea, a little.” She picked at the indents of her fingernails on her palms.

Jeff sat in the chair across from her. “How did you like the therapist?” Nancy made him promise he wouldn’t ask for specifics about what went on during Liz’s session. She was so adamant that he questioned her on it, to which she replied that if he did ask she’d probably clam up more.

“Okay. She’s nice. But it’s too early to tell right now.” Should she tell him she’d already scheduled another appointment with the doctor? “I hope it’s all right but I’ve scheduled to meet with her again.” She probably should have spoken to him and Mom before going ahead and making the appointment but she doubted they only wanted her to go for one session.

Hearing her say those words eased some of his concern. Liz liked the therapist enough to want to have another meeting. “Of course honey. For when?”

“I’d have to check the card again but sometime next week.” She finished her coffee before she asked Dad if he’s ready to go home. With a wave to the owner father and daughter left the establishment.

Silence filled the truck for the next five minutes, until Jeff came up with an idea that he and Nancy had spoke on earlier. “Liz, how would you like to spend some time with Mom and I? There’s a movie playing at the drive-in, I think it’s your favorite movie too.” He knew it was her favorite, had been since she was a little girl.

Immediately her eyes lit up. “Commando?”

“Yep.” He’s pleased she’d shown an emotion besides sadness. Nothing crushed him more than seeing his little girl hurting.

Anybody who looked at Liz, who even knew Liz, would be surprise that her favorite movie of all-time was the 80’s classic Commando with Arnold Schwarzenegger. It wasn’t the violence or even the mediocre dialogue that grabbed her attention it was the theme that a parent would do anything for their child. And that always appealed to her.

The drive-in had been shut down a few years previously but the locals—himself included—started such a stink that they re-opened it. Since then the once dying drive-in was thriving. Every night it was open and showing movies and every night the locals and tourists filled it up.

Jeff remembered taking Nancy there on their first date. Nancy lost her virginity to him at that theatre. Liz was even conceived there—as were a few other kids. Their family went to movies there fairly regularly until Liz turned twelve and didn’t want to be seen with her parents at a drive-in.

“Afterwards we can go out on your balcony and watch the fireworks.” Roswell usually had a brilliant light show every Fourth. One of the reasons why he closed the Crashdown early every July 4th, there were enough customers coming in to justify staying open. Most were up at the carnival Alien Amusement Park.

“I’d like that, we haven’t gone to the movies for a long time.” As they pulled into the driveway behind the café Liz was glad she’d never gone to the drive-in with anyone but her parents. She didn’t know if she’d be able to handle the memories of happy times with the others. “Are you sure Mom won’t mind? She’s not exactly an action fan.”

“You aren’t either Liz.” He reminded her.

“Commando is special though. It is the major exception.” She didn’t explain further. Dad had heard all her arguments for her love of the action flick over the years. He could recite them verbatim.

“Don’t worry. She’ll be fin. As long as you’re enjoying yourself she’ll have fun too.” He slung his arm over her shoulders and guided her upstairs. Jeff pushed open the door. “Nancy? We’re home.”

“Hey Mom.” Liz greeted but there was no answer. Strange. “Mom?”

“She probably went out to get dinner.” Jeff rationalized. That afternoon Nancy expressed that she felt lazy that day and wouldn’t be cooking. He set his keys on the table by the front door.

“Yea maybe.” Liz whispered, unsure of what was going on. She’d been having nightmares of calling out to her Mom and Dad only to find their dead bloodied corpses. Oh God what if someone was in the house lying in wait, torturing her?

“Sweetie?” Mom exited the kitchen scrubbing her hands with a towel. “Sorry I didn’t hear you two, I was finishing up the dishes before I went out to grab dinner.”

Liz let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. Okay she jumped to conclusions. What was wrong with her? Jumping straight to the dire situation and completely ignoring the rationale far more likely scenario. When did she turn into Maria—maybe she was compensating for the fact that her crazy, wacky, jump to conclusions friend wasn’t there anymore.

“Liz? You all right?” Nancy tucked a stray brown hair behind Liz’s ear. “You look pale.”

She forced a ‘I'm fine’ smile. “No, you just scared me is all. Popping out of the kitchen and everything.”

“Is that all?” Not convinced.

She shrugged her shoulders. “Yea Mom. I'm okay.”

Jeff eager to get back to happy things kissed Nancy in greeting. “I’ve talked it over with Liz and she loves the drive-in idea.”

“And I'm sure the drive-in playing Commando had nothing to do with it.” She teased her.

“Not a bit.” Liz came back to the warmth she left behind a few moments ago. Now that she saw Mom was safe and alive she could join in on the teasing once again.

“Sure you won’t be embarrassed by your parents taking you to the movies?” Nancy recalled the time Liz stated she didn’t want to accompany them to the drive-in. She was too old to be going places with her parents—especially a movie where her classmates could see her. Heaven forbid.

Liz thought about it for a minute. “Well you may have to sneak into the drive-in, dressed all in black, and then find me. Can’t let people know I *gasp* enjoy my parents company.”

“Very cute.” Jeff chuckled. “If you want Nancy I can get the food.”

“No it’s okay. I can get it.”

“No really, I insist.” Jeff smiled.

“You sure?”

He nodded. “If we want to eat before tomorrow I better go.” He kissed her forehead.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Smiling at her husband’s teasing nature.

“Mom when you go pick up dinner you talk to everyone you see. Dad and I would like to eat sometime in the near future.” Liz piped up.

“Oh I see how it is. Both of you gang up on me. Well fine.” She smirked and headed back to the kitchen while Dad grabbed his keys and headed out the front leaving her there by herself but not feeling the least bit alone.

TBC

[Jezebel Jinx]

vampyrolover86
aussietrueblue
jamy21
pandas2001
SnowyOwl-17
Liz2Infinity
mrsjbehr

Thank you so much for the feedback. I love reading it.

Chapter 4

July 5; Parker Household; 4:45 p.m.

Sinking sunlight crept in through an opening of pale brown curtains of the room. It harshly caressed the young woman sleeping on top of the covers forcing her to consciousness. "Uhh," She turned around to face the other side of her bedroom but at her sudden movement a sharp pain crashed through her mind.

"Wonderful." She gripped her temples between her palms as if that would help. Liz reached over to the nightstand and fumbled for the bottle of Advil. Despite the painful headache she felt...ok. Not good, not bad, just ok. This was the first night...day in weeks that she hadn't had a nightmare.

She may be depressed but that didn't mean she couldn't see the good in waking up nightmare free. Now if she could only get rid of the headaches she'd be set.

Knowing she didn't have a glass of water near she set the bottle of pills on the bed and curled up. Maybe if she tried hard enough she could will her headache away. Groaning she lifted an arm up to her eyes to block out the cheerful sun that was disappearing not as fast as she would have preferred.

Liz lay there in bed with her eyes shut and covered for a few minutes before she gave up on trying to sleep again. Frustrated she grunted and slowly so as not to disturb her head anymore than it already had been got out of bed.

She shuffled to her bathroom, poured water into a Dixie cup and popped three Advil's. It wouldn't take the pain away completely but it'd give her some relief. She downed the rest of the cool tap water and tossed the paper cup away.

Last night had been so fun, that's right she said fun. Mom and Dad, after they ate dinner, took her to the drive-in and they watched Commando. They brought Dad's truck and she sat in the middle like she did when she was a little girl. It made her feel special and safe, like nothing bad could ever happen to her and that everything that happened those last two years was all a dream.

During the whole movie she had mouthed every line, she had watched the movie so much growing up her VHS tape had worn out and she finally got the DVD version last year. Mom teased her a bit for knowing every single line but she loved it.

After the movie they went for ice cream, the fireworks wouldn't start until almost 10:30 that night. The had plenty of time to get their dessert and get back to their home in time to see the first colorful explosion.

By the time they got back it was 10:20. They went onto Liz's balcony, Mom and Dad cuddled on one of her lawn chairs while she sprawled out on the lawn chair by the wall, the one she normally wrote in her journal on.

For the next two hours they watched the sky light up continuously. She couldn't help the stray thought that passed through her mind that night. Could her friends see the fireworks too? She doubted it but it was a nice thought all the same.

Yawning Liz brushed her hair only to put it up in a ponytail. Before walking out of the bedroom she pulled her shorts out of her butt, that's the one thing she hated about sleeping in shorts, her underwear and whatever she was wearing found it's way to the butt.

Leaving her room she called out. "Mom? Dad?" She didn't expect them to be up there, not with it still being the afternoon. They were probably downstairs keeping the employees in line. Her bare feet slapped on the hard wood floor as she made her way to the kitchen.

She opened the fridge door missing the note taped to it and grabbed a container of fruit, reached up to the cabinets and got a bowl and poured a few chunks of fruit into the bowl. When she closed the door she noticed the note. Taking it off the fridge door she read it out loud. "Let's see here, 'Liz, your Mom and I went to run some errands, we'll be back no later than nine tonight, there's some casserole in the fridge...' Mmm, yummy. 'Aaron is downstairs, make sure to do the dishes, we'll be on our cells in you need us, hope you slept ok. Love Dad and Mom'."

Liz tossed the note on the counter and left the kitchen stabbing the fruit with a fork before putting it in her mouth. She sat on the couch and turned on the TV. After channel surfing for five minutes she settled on a repeat of Moral Court. The bailiff, Mr. Brown, was a hunky piece of pure man. Now why couldn't there be guys like that in the real world. Right a real world where aliens crash land on Earth leaving behind their hybrid offspring whose strongest power was to destroy a young girl’s heart. Did she sound bitter?

On any other day if Mom and Dad had been gone she would have been on the phone to Maria asking if she could come over and save her from her boredom. Now however was a completely different story. She doubted the phone service would reach the Moon let alone Antar.

When Max dropped her off at her house and she kissed him that last time she saw a flash of him and Tess together. It squeezed her heart so hard it hurt. Tess had replaced her in his heart and that didn't sit well with her. Was she so easy to forget? Pretending to sleep with Kyle really did the trick as far as Max was concerned. She knew why in that moment why Future Max choose her instead of someone else, she could break his heart like no one else could.

Even when they tried to remain friends, it wasn't enough. That betrayal, however fake it was, to Max it was real and broke their connection enough to let someone else into his heart, that person just happened to be Tess.

After she entered her home she called the Deluca's but Sean said Maria and Amy weren't around. The guy she for a brief moment tried to move on with invited her over, while she was tempted...really tempted, she turned him down and said that when Maria showed up to give her a call. Maria never came home.

Amy called her house early that morning in a panic, begging Liz to tell her that Maria was there and she was ok because she never came home that night. Unfortunately she couldn't ease Amy's worry. Maria wasn't there and she told her to call Michael's she might be there. While she knew she was going to face the wrath of Maria for telling her mom she was probably at Michael's if Maria wanted her to cover with Amy she should have called and told her so.

With their group it was just as likely she had been kidnapped because of her connection to Michael and the other alien hybrids. But when Amy said she already tried Michael's and there was no answer Liz got worried. She said she'd call Kyle, maybe he'd seen her. So she hung up with Ms. Deluca and called Kyle, hell she called every one of their group and nothing, not one answer...except at the Evans place.

Diane and Phillip were in tears. They had found the video message their children left and watched it. While she knew Max, Isabel, Tess, and Michael were gone she hadn't considered Maria, Kyle, and Jim would have taken off too. But as the hours ticked by and no phone call came in she began to consider the possibility that everyone had left and they had excluded her.

Why wouldn't Maria call her and let her know, why would Jim go, why would Kyle go? At first nothing made sense and she truly began to believe that they had all planned on leaving and never once filled her in. Had they been trying to get rid of her for months and she never caught on? She had helped Michael and the others find the piece of information they needed to get home, did she not at least warrant a courtesy call?

But as the days turned to weeks she began to wonder how planned it had really been. Had something happened with Michael to make Maria want to go? Did Tess convince Kyle to go which convinced Jim to go with his son and the girl he began to think of as a daughter? Them leaving her out didn't fit right with the image she had of her friends. Sighing she set the bowl, empty of fruit, down on the coffee table. Nothing made sense anymore.

TBC

[Jezebel Jinx]

LizNdAlec4eva
carter13
Emerald_iceus
vampyrolover86
SnowyOwl-17
aussietrueblue
crashdown'47
Appleprincess
WomanofMystery
Kitten88
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orphyfets

A.N. Thank you for all the great feedback. As for when Dean and Sam come into the picture it won't be for quite awhile. Liz will have to go through some things before they come into the picture. There are three main chunks of the story and the brothers don't come in until the beginning of the second chunk. While the aliens don't enter the picture until the early parts of the third chunk. The entire story is already mapped out for the main plot points, the 1st chunk is already mapped out for what happens in each individual chapter and I'm starting to write the details for the second chunk.

I'm glad people are liking the story and I hope you like this chapter.

Chapter 5

July 6; Doctor's Office; 5:45 p.m.

Black, thin ink left a trail on the paper, around walls, turning corners only to find a dead end. "Stupid maze." Liz grumbled as she waited in the clean sterile room. Nothing bothered her more than waiting for a doctor. They acted like they didn't own a clock. It had been thirty minutes passed her scheduled appointment before she was sent to a room.

Finishing up the maze in the magazine she tossed it back into the holder. Dad offered to come with her but she told him that she'd rather go alone. After all last thing she wanted was for Mom or Dad to get all worried if her headaches were the sign of something serious. She hoped they were only migraines and she'd have to take a pill and be done with it, but a part of her was scared that it could be a serious illness.

After the first doctor checked her out he sent her to the second floor of the hospital to get some tests done. Once she got there she had to wait another twenty minutes before someone came and retrieved her, she got the tests done then was sent back up to her regular doctor. Would it be wrong if she tortured the doctors after they gave her the results of her tests?

Now she's sitting, in a different room, waiting for him to show up. She gave some serious thought to having the doctors and staff pay her for having to wait.

Yesterday had been mildly uneventful, thank God. Mom and Dad went on their date night last night, the reason for being late getting home, Mom insisted on it so it'd keep their fire alive. Her parents and fire...shiver. Gross not something she'd want to think on for any length of time.

The knock she'd been waiting for finally came five minutes later. Doctor Asher announced his presence and came in. "Well Liz, there's nothing on your results that indicate anything serious. You mentioned that you've been dealing with some stress, although a lot less than you're use to. Want to elaborate on what you mean by that?"

Liz shrugged. How would she tell him that compared to the last two years of finding out about aliens, helping said aliens, running from anybody and everybody who were a threat to the aliens, lying to everyone, and on top of that dealing with regular life as a teen--this summer was extremely low-key. "School's out." He wouldn't believe her anyway if she told him.

He made a note in her chart. "From the symptoms you described you seem to experiencing migraines. Nothing that we can't prescribe a medicine for." He patted her on the knee and turned away to write up a prescription.

Great her parents paid money for the doc to tell her she seemed to be experiencing migraines. She hadn't gone to medical school and she could have told him that. Maybe she could be a doctor. Didn't seem that hard, all he did was check ears, nose, mouth, and said 'hmm' and 'say ahh'. Medical school here she comes.

He tore off a piece of paper with his chicken scratch written all over it and told her that if problems persist to come see him again. Yeah right, like she waste more of her parents money she didn't think so. She politely thanked him and left the office.

Once she made it out of the hospital she glanced up at the sky and saw that the sun was still high enough in the sky that if she walked she could make it home before dark. For a brief minute she contemplated calling her parents to come and get her but tossed the idea aside. She hadn't taken a nice long walk for awhile and now was as good a time as any.

Liz shoved her hands into her pants pocket and went on her way. The hospital was only a mile or so away from her house, if it was much longer she would have broken down and called Dad to come get her lazy butt.

As she cut through familiar neighborhoods taking the short cuts she realized she went down one street she hadn't meant to go through. Maria's house was on the very street she strode down. What was she hoping for, Maria to come running out, gabbing about the latest gossip, or how frustrating she found Michael. Whatever she was hoping it didn't happen, it wouldn't happen.

Nobody even lived in that house anymore. Amy Deluca changed when Maria "disappeared" she sold her business and used the money she got from it to search for Maria. She'd been gone for the last two weeks on a lead, she didn't have the heart to tell the mother that her daughter wasn't even on the planet. There was no chance in hell she'd track her down.

Not for the first time she was wondering if she shouldn't just tell Amy and her parents about the aliens. However the second she thought that she knew what the outcome would be. Her in a padded cell wearing a straight jacket and getting treatment for the alien thoughts. No thank you.

~*~*~*~

9:20 p.m.

Liz made it back to Crashdown with a slight spring in her step. The walk helped her clear her head and calm her frazzled mind. Half way though her walk she took a detour to the cemetery, she needed to talk to Alex. She believed with all her heart that Alex was there with her instead of standing at his own grave but sometimes she needed something physical to talk too. In this case it was his headstone.

Before having her long talk with him she called her parents and told them she'd be home late, she needed to talk to a friend and she get dinner at one of the fast-food joints near by. Once she got off the phone with them she got comfortable and started talking to her long-time friend.

She laid everything out, told him that she'd visited his parents two weeks ago. They were of course still grieving, his Dad had thrown himself into work and hardly ever came home anymore, mostly he stayed at the office. And his Mom spent hours in his room, talking and crying. Liz hoped that her visits would help them even if it were only a bit.

At eight o'clock she went to the fast-food restaurant down the street from the cemetery and had a sit down dinner. While there she watched families eat together and friends hang out drinking milkshakes, although from the way many of them were acting there was more than ice cream and strawberry flavoring in those cups. Liz stayed there for close to an hour, she didn't want to go home yet.

Over the phone she explained to Mom and Dad about what the doctor said and what the tests showed. Told them about the prescription and she'd get it filled tomorrow. She could tell they were happy she wanted to stay out for a little longer. Since her friends left she stayed close to home. They didn't mind but it worried them. Mom and Dad would probably be thrilled if she said she went to rob a bank with some of the local delinquents because then she wouldn't only be out she'd be with other people.

Tossing a crumbled up wrapper in the trash she left the restaurant sipping the rest of her drink. She entered the back way of the Crashdown and hurrying up the stairs to the front door. Her feet pound on the stairs until she reached the door. She went to put her key in the lock but it opened. Weird. Mom and Dad never left the door unlocked.

The nightmare.

Liz almost backed away from the door scared of what she may find. She breathed in and out quickly in short breaths unable to stop the mind-numbing panic. Blood rushed to her brain and it sounded like the ocean flooding the portals to hear, every sound was muffled.

Holding her breath she pushed open the door. "Mom?" She called out. Hoping to hear her cheerful voice before opening the door completely. But nothing came.

With her palm flat against the door she pushed it open fully, her mouth fell open but not a single peep came out.

A snarling, growling, and snapping furred creature sharply turned at the noise of the door. Seeing her it roared. The bodies of her broken parents lay unnoticed on the floor, the monster had her total attention. Drool and blood dripped from it's powerful jaws as it stomped closer to her trembling form.

Tears began to roll down her cheeks, she needed to move, she needed to move. Why then couldn't she move.

Jaws snap and terrified her to the core. She was frozen solid and it couldn't have happened at the worst time. One minute she's standing still in the door way the next a large clawed hand bat her out of the apartment sending her flying down the stairs. When she landed she instantly blacked out.

TBC

[Jezebel Jinx]

sixpacschic
orphyfets
vampyrolover86
Ellie
Emerald_iceus
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Christina2984
carter13
alizaleven
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WomanofMystery
LizNdAlec4eva
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Touch of the Wind

Thank you everyone for the wonderful feedback and bumps. As for what the creature is...well that'll have to wait to when Liz finds out.

A.N. Hi everyone, I was hoping to get this next chapter completely done but I’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to finish so I’ll post the first half and then when I have time I start working on the second half. While writing this part though I realized I’ve been listening to a lot of music (which is nothing new) but some of the songs I’ve listened to have been giving me ideas for some of the scenes/chapters in this story. So I figured I’d put down what song(s) helped me envision a certain chapter. Some chapters won’t have a song and others will have a few attached to it, some I picked for the melody alone and others for the lyrics.

My Happy Ending –Avril Lavigne (Prologue)
Prelude 12/24—AFI, Cells—The Servant (Chapter 5)
Ripped the Heart Out of Me—Adema (Chapter 6-first half)

Chapter 6 A

July 6; Crashdown Backroom; 11:37 p.m.

Sirens reached her ears as she regained consciousness. She moaned in pain as she opened her eyes slowly. Light pierced her brain and she closed her eyes again as fast as she could. A deep Hispanic accent pushed through the chaos of her brain. "Liz. Sweetheart? Don't move." She felt a soft touch against her cheek.

Jose? Why was he there? Didn't he go home at eight? Groaning she tried to turn but Jose kept a firm grip on her shoulders holding her in place.

“No, stay still. The ambulance is on their way. Just rest.” He stroked her head doing his best to calm her.

“Mom?” She coughed out. “Daddy?” Liz wanted her parents. No one but them could make her feel completely safe and taken care of.

Silence followed her request; it wasn’t until she said their names again that Jose spoke. “Just concentrate on yourself little one. Don’t worry about them right now.”

The siren which one-minute ago sounded close now seemed farther away, she felt herself falling back down the hole of darkness.

When she awoke again she heard Jose tell someone not to hurt one of his girls. It was an affectionate term he used with her and Maria. He saw them as his little sisters and no one was to mess with them without getting an ear full from him.

What was happening…she tried to move her head but couldn’t.

“Don’t move Miss Parker. Keep still.” A firm but friendly female voice spoke to her.

“Mom?” She cried. “Dad?” Where were they? Why weren’t they here? No one answered her; they seemed to not care where her parents were. Well she cared dammit.

Liz tried to get up but hands held her down. “Let go.” Pain shot up her right side and her left wrist throbbed.

“Relax, you need to calm down. You’re in an ambulance, we’re on the way to the hospital. Your parents…” Some hurried voices cut off the woman speaking but she couldn’t make it out because the pounding in her ears wouldn’t stop. “They’re on their way to the hospital.”

Hearing that she calmed, okay, if they were headed to the hospital then it must not be so bad. Slowly her breathing slowed and she relaxed back into the stretcher she laid on. Now that the people had her up they tried to keep her up.

For the rest of the way to the hospital they kept her awake and somewhat alert. They asked her questions and asked her to tell them stories about happy times all to make sure she stayed up.

Over the next hour she was rushed to emergency, her broken left wrist was wrapped in a cast, the doctor said her entire right side was black and blue from landing hard on the stairs. No wonder it hurt to move. And he wrapped her ankle because it was sprained.

When she was wheeled into a room the doctor told her that she had a concussion, which explained why she was dizzy and had a difficult time keeping her eyes open. That was when she asked for her parents again. “Where are they? Are they alright?”

The doctor looked at his chart. “You were the only person admitted to this hospital from the address the ambulance was sent to…” He put a hand on his waist and took out his pen from his white jacket. A knock on the door interrupted their brief consultation.

It was the police. “Oh thank God. Where are my parents?” The doctor made no sense to her? The woman in the ambulance said her parents were on the way to the hospital. That means either they were hurt and were sent there for treatment or they were fine and out in the waiting room. Both scenarios led to the same result and that’s them being in the hospital.

One of the male officers stepped forward, he was medium built, only 5’7 at the most, dark blonde hair and a long scar that started on his eyebrow and continued below his left eye. The long crooked nose kept the man from being classified as handsome but still was attractive. “Miss Parker, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this but your parents didn’t survive the attack.”

The EKG machine beeped faster as her heartbeat accelerated, “But—but the woman in the ambulance…” She shook her head as tears formed in her eyes.

The older policeman stood taller than his partner at about six feet, he had tired eyes that had seen too much in his life. He stepped forward and stood closer to the hospital bed. “Whoever the woman was that told you that, I’m sure she said it to keep you calm.” He would have gone on but from the look of the young woman in the bed she hadn’t heard a word he said. “Miss Parker?”

Liz raised her head to look at the doctor and two officers, “They can’t be dead—you see they can’t be. You made a mistake it can’t be them.”

“It was them.” The younger of the two spoke.

Any composure she had managed fled at those three words. “No!” She grabbed the Dixie cup filled with water next to her bed and threw it at them. “It’s not! It’s not!” Liz wailed in agony. The mirror across the room above the sink shattered as she cried.

The cracking of the mirror startled the other occupants of the room but Liz didn’t notice or care. She curled up on her side, the EKG machine continued to freak out at the increase in heart rate. A few seconds later the machine was quiet and had a tiny stream of smoke coming from it. Not even that would break her out her grief.

TBC

[Jezebel Jinx]

sixpacschic
flyawayraven
pandas2001
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vampyrolover86
Touch of the Wind
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Ellie
Synera
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Thank you so much for the feedback, glad the story is being enjoyed.

A.N. Here is the second part of chapter 6, there will a part ‘C’ as well. This chapter is a long one…or longer than previous chapters. And as for when Dean and Sam enter the picture go back to previous author’s notes because the answers are there.

Chapter 6 B

6:14 a.m.

Nurses and doctors came and went through the night and into the morning hours, checking on her, making sure her bandages were in place and clean. After the police left her alone every time someone came in she stared straight ahead didn’t interact—even when they asked her a question. What was the point of speaking when the only people she wanted to talk to weren’t there anymore?

During the time between shift change she heard murmuring outside her door. The nurses and police thought the mirror broke because she threw an object hard at it, didn’t matter that when it was cleaned up no one could find what she threw. Their excuse for the EKG machine was simply a short circuit. Entering the Alien Abyss she knew first hand that people tended to rationalize what they could and forget what they couldn’t.

Doctor Shulle recommended a suicide watch, she’d have told him it would have been a waste of workers if she cared. She didn’t feel like doing much of anything let alone killing herself. And yet there was a big burly female nurse that stood guard outside her door. At least she thought it was a female, the deep voice and male like face and body threw her off but she’d never heard of a man named Lily.

The room she’s recovering in was meant for two people but there wasn’t anyone in the next bed so she had it all to herself. Liz hadn’t gone to sleep yet, the doctor wanted to drug her but she practically pushed him away saying she didn’t want or need to be knocked out. The possibility of waking up strapped to a bed and being dissected by a Pierce wanna-be didn’t make her warm and fuzzy.

Over the last six hours she had been staring off into space thinking about the creature that killed her parents. While the police questioned her she couldn’t tell them what really had done the horrible crime so she lied and said she hadn’t seen anything. Went on to say when she walked in the front door she’d been pushed aside and thrown down the stairs and that was last thing she remembered before waking at the bottom with Jose talking to her.

In reality she saw the thing quite clearly. The image of the murderous creature barring its teeth, snarling the blood of her parents dripping from its jaw and claws—it hadn’t left her mind since the cops broke the news to her.

A knock on her hospital door broke her thought process. “Jose?”

The cook who had been pulling double duty these last few days because their new cook quit unexpectedly was holding a vase with various flower arrangements and a small black teddy bear with a tanned belly.

“Hey little one.” He stepped passed the large nurse and set the items on her end table.

Although she didn’t want to talk she couldn’t ignore her friend. “Hi.” Her voice hoarse from crying half the night.

“They wouldn’t let me see you till now, something about visiting hours.” Jose took hold of her good hand and held it. “I am so sorry this happened to you.” He kissed her hand tenderly.

“Thank you.” She spoke softly and sincerely.

“Is there anything I can get you?” He saw her battered and bruised body and fought the cringe. Liz was so small already; the bruises and bandages covering various parts on her body only made her look smaller and more fragile.

“Yesterday would be nice.” Not wanting to hold back her tears any longer she curled up keeping a hold of Jose’s hand and let out the tears that were clogging her throat. “I want them back. I want them back.” She moaned out.

A firm hand stoked her hair, “I know. I would give them back to you if I could.” He kissed her forehead. Jose held her till her tears subsided, she was shattered and there was nothing he could do to fix it. Nothing could take the pain away. Nothing could stop the helplessness he felt at not being able to make her better.

He held her for a few moments when Liz broke the silence; “Do you know how long I have to stay here?” She wanted to leave the hospital as soon as possible. Sniffing she leaned back and rubbed at her raw cheeks.

“Want me to go check?” He kept his voice low and calming.

“Please.” Liz continued to wipe at her eyes rubbing the wetness on her hands on the sheets. Her hospital gown was soaked enough from crying.

In a few moments Jose returned with a doctor in tow. “Mr. Hernandez tells me you want to leave?” He put his hands on his waist in an aggressive manner.

“Yes I do.” Where was her doctor? Dr…she took a moment to look at the tag with his name, Dr. Rooke had come in once before, after the police told her about her parents. His bedside approach sucked buttermilk, he told her to snap out of it. She only stared at him giving him no indication that she heard him, it almost made her laugh when he left in a huff.

“I recommend against it.” He took his glasses off and gave her the full power of his glare. On most patients it worked but he didn’t know the history of the woman he was speaking with. She wasn’t one to be easily intimidated.

Anger coursed through her body, finally an emotion she could fully express without breaking down into tears. “Screw your recommendation. The only reason you want me to stay is to milk more money from me, so you can take your recommendation and stick it up your ass because I don’t want it. Let me leave.”

“I think you heard the lady doctor.” Jose smirked at him. Many people underestimated his girl but they usually only did it once.

After arguing for a few more minutes the doctor reluctantly agreed to discharge her. Jose said he’d take care of everything and left with the irritated doctor. However getting out of there wasn’t going to be that easy, the police wanted to talk to her first.

So there she sat waiting while the police talked to the doctor before they moved on to her. Finally they came into the room, one, a male, looked stern, while the other had a smile in her eyes.

“We hear you’re talking again. Would you be willing to tell us anymore about what happened tonight?” The female, Detective Malone, spoke sweetly. Great, were they going to try good cop, bad cop on her? Sure seemed that way from where she’s laying.

“Yea.” She nodded, anything to get her out of that hospital room quicker. It wasn’t that she hated hospitals, she knew they had a purpose but she didn’t love them either.

“Good.” Detective Malone, she took out a notepad. “Can you tell us where you were yesterday afternoon?”

Swallowing she asked them, “Umm, what time?” She’d had gone a lot of places yesterday, the detective needed to be more specific.

“Between the hours of 4 o’clock and 6 o’clock?”

“At the doctors office. Lately I have been having headaches and my parents wanted me to get it checked out." She didn’t raise her voice too much, only spoke in a monotone voice, she couldn’t get herself to put emotion into what she was saying.

“Have you ever had blackouts?” Both detectives wrote in their notepads while waiting for her answer.

“No. Just headaches.” Right like she was going to mention that she had visions of her parent’s death. They’d lock her up and not even look back.

Detective Redding nodded and mouthed something but she couldn’t make it out. “You told the police earlier that you hadn’t arrived home till almost nine thirty. Where else did you go between 6 and when you got home?”

“Walked around the neighborhood for a half an hour, stopped by a friends mother’s house, then went to the cemetery, after that I had dinner at the Wendy’s a few blocks from the Crashdown then went home.”

“Why didn’t you just go home after the doctor’s appointment?” Redding asked.

“I hadn’t been out of the house a whole lot these passed few weeks, it felt good to walk and be outside.”

“And what about the friends mother and the cemetery visit?” Malone questioned. She didn’t like the way the girls story was unfolding. Her actions gave the impression that she was waiting for her parents to be killed by an assailant before heading home.

“My friends mom has been having a hard time since her daughter disappeared, every once in a while she returns home and I wanted to see how she was doing. As for the cemetery I needed to talk to somebody.”

Redding tapped his pen on his notepad. “Who is this someone. Is there any way we can get in touch with them to corroborate your story?”

“Not unless you have a direct line to the great beyond. My friend’s been dead for a few months.” She blinked back the tears.

“Then why were you there? If he’s dead—“ Redding began but he was cut off by the victim/suspects outburst.

“Listen he may not be physically there anymore but I still feel him. Alex was my best friend and he’s gone—“ she was about to continue but instead tried a different approach. “Do you talk to God Detective?” When he nodded she continued, “Why? He’s not physically there but yet you still talk to Him. It’s the same thing with Alex. It makes me feel better to talk to him and sometimes I need something physical to look at.” Breathing heavily she acknowledged that apparently there was one emotion she could still feel and be unashamed and that was anger.

A few more minutes of questioning passed before Jose returned. “You’re all checked out.” He rose a hand in greeting as he walked over to her bed. In his other hand was a folded pile of scrubs. “The doctors said your clothes were ruined so they got these for you instead.”

“Thanks Jose.” She fingered the scratchy fabric. Didn’t even get her own clothes back the perfect end to her night.

“Where will you be staying Miss Parker? You can’t go back to the apartment yet and we’ll need to get in contact with you.” Malone told her.

“A hotel may be my best bet right now.” She sighed.

Jose however had other ideas. “No, you’re staying with me and my family.”

TBC

[Jezebel Jinx]

A.N. Here’s the final part of Chapter 6, thank you for the wonderful feedback and bumps.

Chapter 6 C

Liz swung her gaze to Jose, she should have known he’d offer up a place for her to stay, he always made it his goal in life to take care of ‘his girls’. “Jose…”

“Don’t argue with me, I know that tone.” Liz shut her eyes briefly as he stared down at her. “You’re coming to stay with me and Carla—“

“No.” She opened her eyes and looked at him straight on. “I appreciate it you have no idea how much but I can’t. Carla is going to pop any minute now with your boys and that house is not big enough for all of us.” She took the scrubs between her fingers picking at it. “I’ll stay at a hotel.”

“That’s not…”

Again she interrupted him, which irked him. “I’ll be fine.” Liz turned to the detectives. “So how do you want to handle this?”

“Where are you planning on staying?” Detective Malone asked. If what she felt in her gut was right they’d need to know where to pick her up when it was time to arrest her.

“Haven’t thought that far ahead yet.” She whispered.

A nurse entered the room, “All of you can wait outside while I get her ready to leave.” She shooed the police and Jose outside shutting the door behind her.

Quietly the nurse unhooked the various tubes and electrodes, the only sound that she made were humming a tune that Liz feared would be stuck in her head for the next few hours. “There you go. You can change in the bathroom and I’ll keep the others out for a few minutes.”

When Liz nodded the nurse left. She stared at the nurse in question until she was out of sight. Wasn’t someone supposed to make sure she could stand before leaving the room? Liz thought that would have been logical but then again she hadn’t had fantastic experiences with doctors.

Slowly she eased from the bed, the cold floor seeped into her feet as she placed them flat. Liz cradled her broken wrist close and pushed up from the bed, sharp pain shot through her chest, damn ribs. Her ankle throbbed but she could still walk on it.

She made it to the bathroom with little trouble, once she closed and locked the door she put the lid down on the toilet and sat. Deep breaths in and out, her ribs pulsed angrily upset at the constant pressure. Briefly she contemplated staying in the hospital per doctor’s orders, but tossed the thought aside as soon as it entered her mind.

Liz sat there staring at the gown she was wearing…how was she going to get it off without causing further injury to her already beaten body. She couldn’t exactly reach the loosely knotted string in the back without straining her ribs. Maybe if she pulled it.

With her good hand she tightened it around the front of the hospital gown and pulled. Not only didn’t it work but also the strings holding the article of thin cloth closed put pressure on her ribs.

Determined she looked at the gown again, okay she could figure the contraption out, she got straight A’s in school she could figure out a simple napkin covering. Or she used to get straight A’s before Alex died, after he left the world of the living she was lucky if she got D’s on assignments, she hadn’t cared any longer.

She swept her eyes down, if it hadn’t been so close to the end of the year already she would have failed miserably. Instead she received mostly ‘B’s and one ‘C’, her straight ‘A’ streak went down the drain along with a number of her dreams.

Liz wiggled her good arm back into the armhole then gently lifted and pulled her broken wrist in through the other armhole. With a little bit of pain she lifted her arms up and pushed her head through the neck hole, which was also tied off. Once she was free of the first restriction she was able to let the gown fall to the floor, it barely made any noise as it pooled around her feet.

She let out a breath then picked up the pair of blue green scrubs, it took her a little over five minutes to get everything on. When she exited out of the bathroom Jose pushed away from the sink and let her lean on him as he helped her back to the bed.

“Sure I can’t talk you into to staying here a couple more days little one?” He whispered. The detectives watched them closely; Redding jotted down a note to talk to Mr. Hernandez at a later date. They tried to speak to him there while they were outside the hospital room but he refused.

“No, I really want to get out of here.” Liz sniffed then hissed. Damn ribs again, those were going to be bothering her for a while longer it seemed.

The doctor gave her a small bottle of painkillers to get her through the first forty-eight hours out of the hospital until she could get the prescription he gave her filled. Then the detectives asked her again what hotel she would be staying at, she told them the Motel 6 a few blocks from her home.

Satisfied the officers left her and Jose alone in the hospital room to get the rest of her things together. “That offer to stay at my place still stands Liz.” He helped her stand from the bed and into the wheelchair waiting for her.

“I know…” She fiddled with her fingers. “Really need to be alone right now.” Although why she couldn’t tell him. If he knew what she planned to do the second he left her alone at the hotel he’d demand she go home with him.

Nodding Jose grabbed the teddy bear while the nurse walking beside them took the flowers he brought and carried them down to his car. He supported Liz as she slid into the passenger side of the car; he handed the wheelchair back to the nurse and rushed to the driver’s side of the door.

The ride to the hotel was silent, Liz focused on nothing specific outside the window just watched the desert give way to businesses, then homes, and back to businesses again. Once they pull into the Motel 6 Jose parked in front of the check in doors.

By the time he exited the car Liz had the passenger door open and was working to get out. “I wish you weren’t so stubborn.” He mumbled more to himself than her.

“Dad’s fault.” She whispered tears rose but they didn’t fall.

It took a few minutes for the woman at the front desk to get her a room; she couldn’t take her eyes off the TV screen. Liz couldn’t tell what it was but it must be riveting. She paid for the room for three nights. If she needed more she’d pay for more.

Jose asked the woman if there was an elevator to the upper two floors, he wasn’t very happy when the woman told him no. Even started to yell at her but quickly stopped when he saw she wasn’t paying any attention to him.

They got to her room with little problem, the room wasn’t that bad, it looked semi-clean…was that a fly trap? She sat on the bed and sighed in relief, it felt good to get off her ankle.

“Say the word and you’re in my car heading to my house.” Jose glanced around not liking the surroundings he would be leaving her in. This was no place for her, especially tonight.

“I’m not moving from this spot for a few hours yet.” She turned her lips up in a small smile, it didn’t reach her eyes but it made him feel a little better.

“I’ll come by tomorrow with your pain medication—I’d come by tonight but I have to take Carla to an appointment. If I can I’ll swing by.” He brushed the hair that had fallen in her face away and behind her ear. “Call me if you need anything. Promise me.”

“Promise.” Her eyes begin to droop. “Thank you Jose.”

“You’re welcome.” He kissed the top of her head and quietly left the room.

The second the door shut closed behind him Liz’s eyes opened. She limped over to the table where she placed her purse and the bear Jose got her. In the side compartment she found what she was looking for. Hard plastic smoothed over her fingertips as she pulled it out, her modified ID from the Las Vegas trip. Michael never changed it back when the got back to Roswell.

When she and Max were still on somewhat good terms she asked him to make it a more believable fake ID, who the hell would believe her name, was Shirley Temple. Maybe if she were three feet tall with curly hair bobbing on top of her head.

Now she was Erica Winterbourne, born in Roswell, NM, and twenty-two years old, able to get into clubs and drink till the cows come home. Her ankle throbbed, she should have chosen a hotel with room service, that way she could order the drinks from her room and not go down the liquor store across the way.

Liz reluctantly decided to wait a few hours before going down and buying out the liquor store. A couple more hours of sleep might help her sore body. She put the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door and locked it back up slipping the chain and deadbolt on before shuffling back to the bed where she promptly fell asleep.

TBC

[Jezebel Jinx]

A.N. Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback. This chapter wasn’t planned, I was going to skip it and only mention it briefly but as I started writing what is now chapter 8 it felt like there was something missing so I decided to write this part after all.

The song I had in mind for this chapter is ‘Dirty Laundry’ by the Eagles.

Chapter 7

July 7, Somewhere in Arizona; 8:30 a.m.

The bitter scent of coffee wafted to his nose as he read the paper. He read the headline of the small article.

‘Aliens upset over representation?’

“Hmm.” He took a drink of coffee then continued reading.

‘Grisly murder of two UFO restaurant owners. A man and a woman. It appears the man was bitten on the neck and then ripped apart by sharp teeth. The woman was shredded, had deep claw marks in her chest and legs. Witness claims she heard screaming from the apartment, then nothing. Names of the victims are being withheld, no suspects are being named at this time.’

He finished the rest of the coffee and set the paper down. Might be a good idea to check it out, he was so close after all.

~*~*~*~

2:15 p.m.

Liz awoke slowly, she wished she could say that she hadn’t remembered what happened the night before. Unfortunately that was not to be the case. The second she opened her eyes she knew her parents were dead, and there was no way to bring them back.

She knew exactly where she was, where she had been, what she had seen. Nothing was blissfully forgotten during those first few minutes of consciousness. Stiffly she pushed off the bed and stood shakily. She wondered if it was still the seventh.

It didn’t feel like she had been asleep for very long but how was she supposed to know. Sunlight filtered in from beneath the shut drapes, so the sun was out, at least she knew it was in the afternoon instead of early morning. It was progress.

Liz went to her purse, which was still on the table and dug through it. Her watch had to be in there someplace, she had it with her yesterday, it kept both time and date…but did she have it with her when she went to the hospital. She stopped for a second…she couldn’t remember. Okay she had it at the fast food place, and then she went home…did it fall off when she was shoved down the stairs?

Angry she threw her purse back down on the table and brushed tears roughly away. A shower, she needed to shower. As she made her way to the bathroom she stripped off the clothes from the hospital…she didn’t have any clean clothes.

All she had to wear was the hospital scrubs, her shoes, and Jose’s jacket. Not exactly a full wardrobe. She and Jose never went back to the apartment, she hadn’t wanted too. Wasn’t even sure if she could with all the police and detectives around.

Turning on the shower she waited for it to be at the right temperature. As she waited she grabbed the garbage bag from the garbage can. It looked clean and there wasn’t anything else that was plastic that could cover her cast. She pulled off her hair-tie and rolled it up her cast keeping the bag in place.

Liz then sat on the toilet and unwrapped her ankle, it made her ribs scream in protest but it had to be done. Carefully she stepped into the flow of steaming hot water. On the skin it felt like a thousand needles poking at her, but deep within it eased her muscle tension. Her ribs practically sighed in relief at the sensation of heat being applied.

Thirty minutes later she was clean and wrapped in a large terry cloth towel. She sat on the bed for a few moments before reaching over grabbing the remote. Anything was better then the silence of the room and the noise of her mind.

Pushing the power button turned out to be a huge mistake. The sound came first and it was on the news.

“Horror rips through the Roswell community. Two well-known members were found brutally killed by what looked to be a wild animal. Let’s go to Steven Gust live at the Crashdown Café.”

Silent tears flow down Liz’s face as the picture became clearer and she watched the news team make ratings off her parent’s murder. They were salivating over the details, competing with other stations, no doubt, for the best scoops.

“Thanks Karen. We’re here at the Crashdown Café a hot Roswell tourist spot. It was run by Jeffery Parker and his wife Nancy Parker. Both were well-known people in the neighborhood, their daughter wasn’t in the home at the time of their deaths and at this time her whereabouts are unknown.”

Unknown by who? Just because the news stations didn’t know where she was didn’t mean no one knew where she was.

“Are the police at this time looking at her as a suspect? Do they have any leads on where she was last seen?”

No, bitch they don’t because the only people who know right now are Jose and the two police officers…well and the hospital staff. Shit, they might have talked to the staff; they didn’t have any loyalty to her or the police.

“As of this moment they haven’t named her a suspect. And because she is seventeen we can’t reveal her name. The police have refused to answer any questions regarding the daughter, however the hospital staff did say that she was brought in shortly after her parents bodies were discovered with various injuries.”

Fantastic, thousands of people were going to be on the look out for her now. Heaven forbid she mourn her parent’s death in peace.

“Did the hospital staff say how she received these injuries? And is she still at the hospital now?”

Bet the news team wanted to get her side of the story…yea right, they wanted a sound byte they could manipulate into whatever they wanted. Did they not care that this was her life, her pain that they were broadcasting citywide?

“We have reliable sources that said she was at the bottom of the stairs unconscious, she was knocked out by whoever killed her mother and father but wasn’t there during the actual killing. She checked out early this morning and from there no one has seen her since.”

Having heard enough Liz pushed the power button again. Now seemed like a good time to get good and drunk. Slowly she stood from the bed and put on the hospital scrubs back on. They didn’t smell yet but she’d have to get some clothes soon.

Liz couldn’t go back to the apartment yet. Her nightmares and the reality of the apartment refused to leave her and she didn’t need to see any more.

She still had her credit card with a couple hundred dollars in there; she’d just need a couple pairs of clothes and undergarments. Gingerly she eased her socks on her feet and slipped on her shoes. She didn’t bother to tie her laces just tucked them under the tongue.

She’d get clothes first, come back to the hotel then go to the liquor store across the street, the fake ID would be useful for something.

Slipping on Jose’s jacket she grabbed her purse and slowly made her way to do her errands.

TBC