]Happy Mother's Day Everyone[/b]
Carolyn: Me too, I’ll just bet Jim was sporting a smile as wide as Hoover Dam…as for Tess, wellll, let’s just say the girl loved her son. What she did wasn’t for Max, Liz or anybody else but Zan. She did love her baby. That is why she left Antar, remember. Whatever else she was she loved her baby and she knew Max loved Liz and would do his best to get to her some day…and if that day ever came Zan would have a mother who loved him whether Liz and Max got back together or not.
Eve: You’re right about Tess, she did choose Liz because of Zan and for purely selfish reasons when you think about it, she wanted the best for her son and Liz was it.
Nitpick23: Remember Tess came back from Antar to save Zan…she really did love him and what she did wasn’t for Max or Liz but her child, at least that's what I’m thinking.
As for the New York Zan, well, I think the whole damned bunch of them, with the exception of Ava, should never have made it to Earth. I think Ava and Tess’ pods got switched is what I think.
Now, the Canadian skins…let’s just a wait a little while and see what they’re all about.
XAF RU208: Well, it looks like we’re all on the same page when it comes to Tess, except for Killjoy…he thinks she’s the only one that had any sense…he could be right you know! As for Zan and Liz, I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do to break up their feelings they’ve got building for each other and that little girl…well, we’ll just see how that turns out.
Cardinal: Yep, Zan is totally happy with the concept of Liz being his mother. As for Serena and Michael…Serena thought about it for just a minute and then thought about the fact that she was only going to be here until they found a cure and she would be gone. Sometime it’s best not to start something than can’t go anywhere. I cover this somewhere, I can't remember just where though, it's been finished for quite a while.
Chapter: 20
Back in Texas a wired up little boy was all but dragging his ‘mother’ through the stock yards of Fort Worth in awe and wonder…Liz giggled as she took the bottle of Tabasco out of her purse and poured it over the youngster vanilla ice cream cone. They had bar-b-que for dinner and after putting away a huge beef sandwich Liz wouldn’t allow Max to order desert…
“No, we’re not finished yet.” She told him and they headed to the ice cream parlor where she got Zan a small cone to start with…he could have more later, which she was sure he would want, but she didn’t want him getting sick. (She had forgotten that Antarians don’t get sick!)
After Zan finished his Tabasco laced cone Liz led him to the hat company. Beautiful hats of all sizes and colors, and she made her way to the other end of the store to the children’s section. Serena and Max following behind and watched the two in action. Max still wasn’t sure he believed what Serena had told him but it certainly looked like they were in love…literally in love with each other. No other words could describe the emotions radiating from the both of them…they knew each other from deep within and Max was still trying to wrap himself around it. He would have to talk to Cal about this. Michael was off with Maria checking out the equipment for tomorrow’s show and they would join them at Billy Bob’s in an hour. In the meantime Serena found a hat that she liked too and Max nodded to her to get it…then she had to ask…
“Max, I don’t understand this card business…explain it to me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. This is a credit card. The company that issued it to me pays these people for what we buy, then they send a bill to me and I repay them. They charge me a percentage of what I owe for the privilege of not having to carry money on my person and it is worth every dime. The merchant also pays a fee to the credit card company for doing their bookkeeping for them It’s all a money game Serena, but it works very well over all.”
“Hmm…seems to me that the money people are the ones coming out ahead in this venture.”
“Well, they are in it to make money, that’s for sure. It’s what makes the world go around.”
“Uh-huh…okay then…I want this hat, and Max, is two billion a lot?”
“It’s an awfully lot Serena…a great big bunch of a lot.”
“I see. Why do you think Cal bought that stuff?”
“I really don’t care. I’m just glad he did.”
And about that time a dark haired little boy with golden eyes came waltzing up to them sporting a western style straw hat to match his ostrich skin boots, it had a snake skin band on it and he had a rope tie around his little neck topping off the white cowboy shirt he had on over his tee-shirt... He was carrying a bag and when Max opened it up to have a peek there were five more shirts. Max stood there and grinned from ear to ear and Liz Parker glowed, absolutely glowed and the man standing behind them trying on a hat as well could only smile at the picture. His boss was going to love this and he took out his phone and snapped a picture of one mighty happy looking group of people. He had many assignments in his life but this one had to be one of the best so far.
*
On Thursday morning, very early, Liz felt someone watching her…it was not uncomfortable but she felt compelled to open her eyes. She had her head partially covered with her blanket and heard some soft snoring coming from the person next to her, who she remembered to be Maria, so what was the problem. She opened the only eye not covered and saw Zan standing there looking at her and she smiled, raised her head and whispered…
“Is something wrong sweetie?”
“Dad’s snoring very loud Liz.”
Liz looked at the small boy and grinned, Zan was used to sleeping with Max, she knew this, she was told this…they have been sleeping together since Zan was a baby, then she looked at the boy a little harder and realized, ‘he wants to sleep with me so he can read my mind…Well come ahead, I have nothing to hide from you little one’…and she scooted over and pulled the covers back. The slight little figure crawled right in next to his ‘mother’, spooned in with his little head on her pillow and went right back to sleep. Liz smiled, wrapped an arm around his little body, pulled him closer and joined him in slumber.
About 7:00 a.m. Max Evans rolled over, reached out automatically for his son and the bed was empty. He jumped from the bed and grabbed his jeans, an automatic reflex from years of being in danger, he hopped into them on his way to Michael’s room all but yelling…
“Mike, MIKE…MICHAEL! Get up! Zan’s gone!”
“What the hell…” Michael rolled over and lifted his body up onto his elbows and tried to get his bearings while Max whispered loudly…
“Get up Michael, Zan’s gone!”
“Maxwell, relax man, he’s here somewhere…”
“No Michael, he would never leave me.”
“Max! Hold on buddy, did you check the bathroom? You know he ate a lot of strange food yesterday.”
“And you know we don’t get sick!!!”
By this time Michael was grabbing his jeans and following Max down the hall to Serena’s room…Max stopped for a second and then tapped on the door and entered.
“Serena, Zan’s missing!”
“What…What do you mean missing? Max…” Serena rolled over on her side and looked at Max…”God, he’s not missing…he’s just not with you. Have you checked all of the rooms?”
“Well no, I got Michael before I came in here.”
“Ah Max…come on, he’s not missing.” And Serena drug herself out of bed, finding her slippers and sliding her feet into them as she scratched her head and yawned she said…”Come on.”
She made her way to Liz’s room, noticed the door slightly ajar and when she peaked her head in she got a big grin on her face and stifled a laugh. There in all of her Diva Glory was Maria, sprawled out on her back, pink satin eye shades on, mouth wide open and snoring lightly…she followed the line of vision to a very tiny spot on the other side of Maria, taking up very little space were two dark heads sharing a pillow…both occupants of the pillow sound asleep…one little boy cuddled up next to one slight woman with dark hair looking as though it was the most natural thing on earth.
Serena stood back, made a grand gesture toward the bed and Max and Michael just stood there gawking. Michael looking at Maria as he grinned broadly and Max watching his son and Liz sleep like babes. They all smiled and headed back toward their rooms with Max shaking his head…’when did he do that?’ he wondered… then he thought, ‘the lucky little shit!’
“You know Max, if I can’t go back to sleep I’m going to get even.”
“Okay Serena, I’ll owe you.” And Max went back into his room and decided the excitement was enough to completely wake him up and he headed to his bathroom for a shower. ‘What a beautiful sight they make!’ He thought to himself and smiled once again…
Michael was ready to blast Max’s ass back to Antar and then the picture of Maria all sprawled out made him smile all over again. God, he did love her, that was for sure and then he too grabbed a towel from the linen closet and headed to the shower outside his room.
Serena crawled back into bed and wished to hell the mighty king of Antar would learn to relax just a little because once they got back to Roswell the fun was really going to start. 'Maybe she and Liz could go back to that lab today and see if their samples would do any good on those cultures' and then she had another thought, Liz probably has some equipment here and we have the cultures…why not just run some tests here. She smiled, covered her head with a blanket and went back to sleep in a flash.
*
Meanwhile, in a small community of about 200 a middle aged man, in his 50’s, was calling a meeting in a private club. T. Greer looked exactly as he had 60 years ago when the community was founded. As a matter of fact none of the citizens had aged at all. It was a tight knit group actually, they farmed their own fruits and vegetables, raised their own live stock and tended to keep to themselves for the most part. Occasionally one of them might make a trip to the closest town for some supplies such as gasoline or a truck and trailer load of heating fuel but other than that they were very self contained.
Mr. Greer called the meeting to order, opening his carefully planned speech with the news that John Harvik had contacted him but he lost reception before the message could be completed. Apparently he found some sort of biological experiment that could make it possible for them to get back to their home planet with a guarantee of safety. He wanted the townspeople to be aware of what he was working on and he would try to contact Mr. Harvik again this evening.
“Please don’t get your hopes up folks but there has been some activity and I just wanted to make all of you aware of it. Thanks for coming.”
One of the people in the audience, Joe Wagner, got up and left the building in total disgust…’why tell us about another maybe. We have been living with maybes for over 50 years…Why don’t we just figure out a way to survive here and forget about a return. We have been here so long that we won’t even recognize the place anymore and none of the population we knew will even recognize us. It’s time to stop this insanity and move on. Ever since Greer got here from Arizona it has been one useless meeting after the other.’ But instead of saying anything and being ridiculed as he had always been in the past he kept his thoughts to himself and made his way to his farm. It’s time to get out of here!’ He thought.
Mr. Greer didn’t miss this exit and immediately sent one of his goons to keep an eye on Joe. He always was one to balk at any new ideas and Greer wondered what in the hell he was mad about this time.
