Unbreakable - A Beautiful Lie (AU M/L ADULT) COMPLETE 5/5/17 + A/N 5/5/19

[L-J-L 76]

Great Chapter!!!! Please please please please please please please please please please come back and post more really really really really soon? I can't wait to read what will happen next for Max and Liz. Ok someone please kick Sargent's ass for what he did to Liz and for saying that he was Liz's father. Sargent is very sick asshole if saying he was her father and for trying to get her to sleep with her half brother Sean. Where the hell is Max and Mr. Evans when Liz needs them.

From:
L-J-L 76

[max and liz believer]

Carolyn (keepsmiling7) - Thank you


Helen (roswelllostcause) - Hmm... yes, a nuclear power source is not easy to find. Have you tried eBay? Thank you for the feedback


Eve (begonia9508)

Oh my... If the sergeant is Liz's father, likes he pretends he could be, it would mean that she would have to sleep with her half brother's Sean?!

Um...yeah. Which is really gross and wrong. Not just morally but also genetically. So let's hope the aliens aren't that screwed up.

And obviously, he never expected Liz having such power... because she has!!!! He wasn't sweating for nothing, the man!!!

He was really not prepared for that

Thank you for the feedback!


Ashley (Morning Dreamgirl)

You know, when I first read this I thought Liz was merely in the bedroom she and Max had been in before. And the fact that she is knocked unconscious for the second time in an hour seems to support that. But then you wrote that she feels like she's been there before. Obviously she didn't recognize it which makes me think maybe it's not the room she was in with Max.

Liz doeshave a feeling that she’s been in that room before, but maybe it just reminds her of another room (maybe the one she had been in with Max earlier - which, you’re right, she most likely would have recognized immediately) or she has been there before but her memory of it might’ve been wiped.

The conversation that the Sgt. had with Liz is interesting. Especially the part where he mentions that Sean said Liz was difficult. It sort of hinted at previous conversations between Sean and his father.

Sean and his father discuss Liz. Steven is probably very willing to give Sean ”helpful” advice on how to handle a gaea, while Sean seeks out his father’s advice due to his own insecurities. It wouldn’t be so odd to assume that Sean is inclined to blame Liz for his failure at connecting with her. The Sergeant is probably not too happy about that, so Sean has to come up with excuses. Liz’s temper being a convenient one.

And you’re right - the easiest way to control Liz, both for her and for her controllers, would have been mind control. But even though Liz has realized this herself (since she’s been told that her mother got really bad really quickly because she was ”resisting”), it’s out of her control. The connection won’t let some stranger break through it.

I was wondering at one point why the Sgt. didn't bond with Liz until his son was more ready to do so. While its a horrible situation I wouldn't put it past him.

Why didn’t the Sergeant bond with Liz? Because he is planning for his son to take his place. He needs Sean to grow into a man and by shouldering the responsibilities of having a gaea and controlling her energy (and her) he’s hoping that Sean will grow up. We all get the feeling that the Sergeant isn’t too happy about Sean. Maybe Sean isn’t the only one that feels inferior to Max. Maybe Steven right out compares Sean to Max to Sean’s face. Wouldn’t really help Sean’s ”relationship” to Max, now would it?

But, just as Steven has hinted at, he might have to try and bond with Liz himself. He is after all stronger than Sean, considering that his powers have developed after having been bonded to Liz’s mother. He’s also physically stronger and more manipulative. If he really wanted to have sex with Liz, he would find ways around it. If needed.

I'm curious as to where Max is. He's obviously still unconscious.

As soon as Max is able to, he’ll be reaching for Liz. You can count on that. But I can’t answer where he’s being kept…

I'm curious as to why the Sgt. doesn't think Max knows a lot about Gaeas. He's been going along for Liz's checkups for years. He's also a healer so he has more of an understanding of connections than most Antarians his age would. (Even if they're not gaea-strength connections.) Maybe he under estimates Max. I get the feeling that none of the Carter men like the Evans men. And that the sentiment is probably mutual.

The comment about Max not knowing a lot about gaeas is an assumption on the Sergeant’s part. He does very often underestimate Max. Plus, he doesn’t know that Max has been involved in Liz’s life for a long time (not only with their visits, checking on her development, which the Sergeant obviously does know about), but also in other ways. This might have brought him in touch, repeatedly, with Liz’s mother. And since she’s a gaea, he might have found out a lot of information on his own. Remember when Max told Liz that she should be with her mother, when Nancy was starting to become really weak? Max obviously was in on that. How or how much is still unclear, of course :-p

Speaking of men the Parker women love and the Carter family... Jeff is an interesting character. When did he come into the picture?

Jeff has a role to play in all of this as well. It will become clearer in the future. He meant a lot to Nancy. And she needed to protect him just as much as her daughter. Hence, why she would ”keep him safe” by ending his life as well. Jeff’s story is coming up… later…

I am curious as to the Sgt's suggestion that Liz isn't completely human. It sounds like he's just messing with her head but at the same time he likes teasing with half-truths and half-lies to mess with people. So you never know what part is true and what part isn't. Well *you* do but we don't. Feel free to spill all though!

Since the Sergeant (apparently) had a lot of sex with Nancy, there is the risk that Liz was the product of that. That in the end, Nancy actually did manage to get pregnant by Steven. It’s not impossible, something that Steven certainly enjoys to play on. But just as Liz noted, it would be a bit strange for the Sergeant to push his own son to bond in such a manner with a sister. Inbreeding is not good in any race, if it were to lead to a pregnancy. Of course, maybe a bonded sibling couple would be really strong. And if Sean didn’t know that Liz was his sister, he wouldn’t be having any objections to bonding with her.

I'm intrigued about how Liz was able to use thoughts of her family, friends and Max to kick the Sgt. fully out of her mind. He obviously wasn't expecting it any more than she was. I didn't expect her thoughts of Jeff, Nancy, etc. to have any effect on the Sgt's control. I also didn't anticipate that just the thought and memory of Max to be able to do that. It makes sense but I wasn't expecting it with Max not currently being in her mind.

How was Liz able to protect herself by thinking of things that mattered to her? Because she strengthened herself that way. She thought of the things she loved, of the things that made her feel safe, and she connected to herself and her own strength on a much deeper level. Even if she doesn’t know it yet, that’s the key. That’s how she’ll be able to fully ”utilize” the bond in the end. By connecting with herself.

Can we have Max come save her in the next chapter?

Hmmm...

Thank you, love, for your feedback


L-J-L 76

Sargent is very sick asshole if saying he was her father and for trying to get her to sleep with her half brother Sean.

I'm 100% with you on that one Thank you for the feedback!



From SIXTY-ONE:

I felt the second his control snapped and my body shook with awareness.

I could feel my hands again and move my legs.

The Sergeant's head dropped forward in a second of visible fatigue and my mind worked fervently, quickly changing gears towards what my next move should be.

I hadn't really planned to be 'released' before the Sergeant had decided I would. So I didn't have the time to stop and think whether it was a good idea as I threw myself off the bed and tried to get my adrenaline-jellied legs to function as I shot for the door.

As my shaking fingers curled around the door handle, some invisible force wrapped itself around my body and yanked me backwards. The snap was so abrupt, so forceful, that I was sent flying to the floor and the back of my head impacted loudly with the wooden flooring.

For the second time within the span of an hour, I was rendered unconscious.

____________________________________

SIXTY-TWO

I was walking through a cornfield, the plants tall as they surrounded me on all sides. The leaves - sharp enough to create deep paper cuts - cut into my arms, and my agitation was increasing with every second.

I couldn't make out where I was. The sky was covered in thick grey clouds, its contours tinted with orange, and I could hear the faint sounds of thunder in the distance. The air sparkled with electricity - the magnetism that would sometimes charge the air close to big lightning storms.

My feet ached as I stepped on pebbles. Looking down, I realized that I was barefoot.

I could hear nothing but the rustling of stalks brushing against each other, of semi-ripe cobs bending over within their protective sleeves of leaves in the soft wind.

And the sound of quick moving feet.

I swirled around towards that eerie sound, the blood rushing in my ears.

Who was that?

But the view behind me looked exactly the same as the one in front of me. Row upon row of corn.

Even with the sound of hasty footsteps, like short legs and small feet moving really really quickly, I couldn't see anyone.

Not watching where I was going, my feet caught on something and I fell with a yelp of fear. I wiggled, trying to get away from the warm mass of something that I had stumbled on, afraid that it was in fact something alive. Something that could hurt me.

Then my eyes fell on the head of my obstacle and I froze. I would have recognized that brown thick hair anywhere. The shape of the head. The strong curve of his neck that connected with the well-defined muscles of his back.

"Max?" I whispered and angled my body towards him rather than away.

He was facedown, wearing only black jeans, and I crawled closer, trying to see if he was breathing.

I brushed at his fringe, simultaneously checking his temperature. I sighed in relief at his warmth.

He was alive.

"Max?" I whispered again, bending closer. "Wake up. Please."

The rapid titter-tatter of little feet was gaining on me and my heart rate escalated in response to the rhythmic sound. I placed my hands on his shoulders and shook him.

"Please, Max," I pleaded. "We have to go. Wake up. Please."

The running sounds were increasing in volume, and panic was settling into my bones as I now could also discern the sound of corn plants being pushed to the side and trampled. Which meant that whoever - whatever - was making that sound was getting very close.

"Liz?"

My attention was sharply directed towards his mumbled query, but my relief was short-lived as the running now had reached sound levels that spoke of more than ten pairs of running feet. And they were close.

"We have to move," I told his closed eyes.

He groaned and moved slowly in the red sand. I took a hold of his bicep and helped him to his feet when the rustle got closer. Then stopped.

My body froze at the sudden deafening silence, and I slowly looked up from Max's weak, barely conscious, shape.

Surrounding us, forming a circle around our crouched bodies, were grey figures. They were about as tall as the average six-year-old, didn't wear a stitch of clothing, their bodies like plastic Barbie dolls with no external sexual traits, and their heads disproportionally large to the rest of their bodies.

Large, lidless, pitch black eyes - situated in triangular-shaped hairless heads with no mouths - were staring blankly at us.

It took me a second to take all of this in.

And one second was the only reprieve they afforded me with before they charged forward, the deafening ruffling of their heedless advance drowning my scream.

"Hey, hey," someone murmured soothingly as I was thrown out of my subconscious into my conscious.

My eyes snapped open and landed on blue eyes and blonde hair.

From one nightmare to another...

I startled and jerked backwards. But he had his hand around my arm and his grip only dug further into my upper arm with the movement, holding me in place.

"Calm down, Liz," he said quietly. "You're safe now. It was only a nightmare."

"Safe?" I gasped, struggling against his hold. "I'm not safe. Not as long as you're here."

Sean frowned. His position was mirroring mine. We were lying on our sides, on a bed, facing each other.

His frown turned into concern as he said, "Max really did a number on you, didn't he?"

I stopped struggling, looking at him coldly. "If anyone did a number on me, it was you."

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Sean asked. Since I had stopped struggling, he let go of my arm and used that freed hand to brush a tendril of my hair off my face.

I flinched.

He had the audacity to look hurt. "You loved me, remember?"

His behavior was confusing me. Does he really believe that?

"It was all an act," I answered and tried to figure out why I felt guilty saying it.

"No," he said slowly, his blue gaze searching my face. "No, I could feel it. You had - have - feelings for me."

Oh, I had feelings for him alright. But I suspected we were not talking about the same kind of feelings.

"The only warm feelings I have for you are the ones you force on me," I said coldly. I met his eyes straight on. No longer fearing that doing so might make it easier for him to break into my mind.

Let him break into my mind. Let him see how Max makes me feel, how beautifully Max has treated me. How much he loves me.

Let him so what true love looks like.

I stared at him. I dare you.

But since his father hadn't been able to, I surmised that Sean would be equally unsuccessful at breaking into my mind.

"You can't force someone to love you, Sean," I continued. "That's not real love. That's not even pretending. That's assault. What you did... You removed my free will."

"Don't be such a drama queen," Sean snarled, anger flashing in his eyes. "You needed a push in the right direction. Besides-" he brushed his thumb down along my cheek and I swallowed back my nausea while holding completely still, as Sean continued, "-I'm the good guy here. I didn't have to be nice. You already belonged to me. You were already meant for me. You were mine."

I shivered. He ignored it and continued, "I could have bonded with you," there was a worrisome creepy hint to his insinuation, "any time I wanted. I wouldn't have to take you on a date, make you like me." He sighed disappointedly. "But I did. For you. Because I wanted us to mean something."

"You wanted me to like you," I said slowly, quietly.

That was it.

In the midst of all the terror I was feeling, the disgust at having Sean so close, the disturbing magnitude of having him touch me, I realized something.

Sean was lonely. His father was a monster. He lived in the shadow of Max Evans. And the girl he had practiced his whole life to control - the girl that was intended for him - didn't even want to be around him. Not by her own free will at least.

I found myself feeling incredibly sorry for him. Pitying him.

The first real emotion I had ever seen moved through his eyes as I showered him with that emotion. Surprised recognition. Acknowledgement.

But it was gone in the blink of an eye.

"We have a long future ahead of us," he said, his voice cold and devoid of emotions. "It was worth a shot. It would have made both of our existences much more bearable."

"You're too late," I said bravely, while I was fearfully gauging his reaction. "I've already bonded with Max."

"So he said. At the meeting." Sean appeared unaffected. Bored even. "And just look at how that little announcement of his was received."

"You almost killed me," I shot back.

He looked annoyed, and a bit insulted. "That blast was intended for Max. He should be dead. I lost a little bit of respect for you with that move, Liz. Throwing your safety to the wind like that. For Max Evans, nonetheless. I thought you valued your life higher than that."

"I love him," I whispered desolately.

I would die for him.

Sean scoffed. "Like that matters."

His words hurt, even though I knew he was throwing them at me to taunt me. To belittle Max. To downgrade what Max and I shared.

I narrowed my eyes at him and asked, "What's happening to him?", hoping that Sean might provide me with the answers that his father had been unwilling to.

"He's awaiting trial," Sean shrugged, his tone light but not disguising his pleasure at that particular turn of events.

I blanched. Trial?

"Will they kill him?" I whispered, barely getting the words out.

My mind automatically searched for Max's (as it had done about a thousand times since we had been brutally separated), pessimistically expecting him to not be there.

Instead of the emptiness, having replaced Max's undeniable presence, I stumbled upon a familiar hum. Making me pause in hopeful anticipation. It was weak, but it was there. He was there. How long had he been there?

I had to struggle to hide my reaction from Sean, not letting my hope and love show on my face. But considering the gleeful smirk on Sean's face, he hadn't noticed my mysterious happiness as he answered my dark question with, "Hopefully."

I wanted to smack the smirk off his face.

Instead I sighed with despondency. "What do you want, Sean?"

He brushed his hand down my arm, leaving ice-cold shivers in its wake. "You, of course," he stated as if it was a well-known fact. And yes, by now it probably was. Had been for awhile.

"At any price?" I asked, my whole body tightening as his hand caressed along the curve of my waist and over the hill of my hip. "Even if you know it would be rape?"

"Honestly," he said, his eyes reflecting irritation. "I don't care any longer." He shrugged. "I enjoyed the chase for a while." He grinned. "It was even fun. To see you lose all that spunk and become putty in my hands. So easily shaped after my will. So weak."

His hand folded around the top of my thigh and with a hard squeeze he sharply pulled my thigh closer to his body. I gasped and my hand whipped up to connect with his cheek.

The sound of my palm hitting his face must have taken us both by surprise.

Anger flared in his eyes and with a faint grunt, unmatched to the explosiveness of his movements, he pulled me under him and covered my body with his. His breaths were like puffs of fire against my freezing face as he looked down at me.

His eyes were dark like charcoal.

"No-" I got out before he circled his hands around my throat and effectively cut of both my voice and air supply. The hard tops of his fingers squeezed around the cartilage of my trachea and with the building burn in my lungs, panic was seizing me, adrenaline trying to provide me with strength and power. Power to fight back.

But his much heavier body was pressing me down into the mattress; he had crawled further up my body, the insides of his feet pressed up against my hips and his knees pressing on my elbows - effectively trapping my arms. My chest hit his as I tried to get air into my lungs by arching my neck and upper body backwards and upwards.

"Such a beautiful girl," he said in a threatening hiss. His eyes were staring at me, barely an inch from my own. "Such a shame. Why couldn't you be bit more complacent?"

He let go of my throat and I immediately pulled a desperate breath of air into my starving lungs. But one gulping breath was all I got before he pressed my cheeks together, making my lips purse as he mumbled close to my face, "Oh, I'm gonna enjoy this." He laughed humorlessly. Coldly. "And you might just learnt to enjoy it. But first, you'll probably be in a lot of pain." And he laughed again.

The sound of my heart was pounding through my body, partly drowning his voice. I kicked upwards with my legs, but they had no target to hit. I tried turning my head away, but he was holding on too tightly.

I think this was the moment that people would refer to 'Your life flashing before your eyes'. Because I knew that he was going to abuse, rape and force me to submit to him. I knew that he might even manage to break the bond - that him having sex with me might be the thing that would override the connection. Just like Max had once told me. In a conversation that seemed to have happened years ago. That changing sexual partners would break bonds. Perhaps even the 'unbreakable' ones.

Against the darkness of my thoughts, he pressed his mouth against my restrained one and forced his tongue into my mouth. The violating kiss ignited my anger and I bit down on his tongue.

Sean's scream was garbled and mangled in my mouth before he pulled away. There was a metallic taste on my own tongue and I gagged, forcing the nausea back as I watched the droplets of blood gleam brightly red on the white, poorly tanned, skin of his chin.

I stared at the blood, my heart beating roughly in my chest, in what was probably only the fraction of a second of stand-still before Sean cracked the knuckles of his tightly fisted hand across my left cheek.

Hot pain exploded across my cheek and my head snapped to the side from the force.

I'm not really sure what happened after that. I briefly felt warmth and strength gather in the center of my body, coupled with a scream that seemed to originate from the deepest corners of my soul. Rapidly assembling a ball of power that - along with a scream - exploded out of my body.

Sean was flung off me as though he were an offending fly having been swatted by a flyswatter. The wall next to the door abruptly stopped his trajectory through the air and he crumbled into a heap on the floor.

The energy simmering in my body in the aftermath was not my own. Couldn't be. Because even if the Sergeant's taunt about me being partly of alien blood - being his child - couldn't possibly be true, there was no way I could do something like that. Something completely alien.

"Max," I whispered, questioningly and hopefully. My mind reached for an answer, a sign that Max was more present than just a hum, while my eyes kept a close guard on the immobile stack of alien over by the door.

Tingles of energy sparked out along my arms and wrapped me up in a comforting warmth. For a second it felt as if the mental hum was intensifying. But the sensation was gone as soon as it had arrived.

Sean groaned and my focus immediately sharpened. I pulled my legs to my chest, scooted up against the headboard and temporarily forgot about the throbbing pain across my cheekbone, as I watched Sean start to rise from his recumbency.

"I don't know how or what you just did, bitch," he mumbled.

My pulse was so loud in my ears that I could barely hear his threats. He grabbed onto the door handle for leverage as he unsteadily pulled himself to his feet. "Maybe I should get Max to heal me for this stunt of yours. He would see what I've done to you. See you in my mind. That would be fun."

I paled. Whenever Max was mentioned, the fear gripped me tighter.

"I'll be back, Lizzie," he hissed, his eyes darker than I had ever seen them.

As he slammed the door behind him and left me alone, the pain in my cheek became very obvious. I couldn't stop the tears, even if I had wanted to.

I sank down into the bed, curled up in a tight fetal position, with my back against the headboard, aiming to make myself disappear as I sought out that presence at the back of my head. The only thing that was making this bearable. The only thing that was giving me hope.


TBC...

[L-J-L 76]

Great Chapter!!!! Please please please please please please please please please please come back and post more really really really really soon? Way to go Liz fight back against Sean. Let Sean know your not his but your own person. Can't believe Sean is going to rape Liz. Someone needs to get off their asses and save Liz from Sean, Sargent. Hope Max won't heal Sean. Someone need to save Liz!!!!!


From:
L-J-L 76

[Roswelllostcause]

Way to go Liz! Fight that son of a bitch! Sean needs to learn that you can't always get what you want!


Maybe I need to rethink my power source.......

Helen

[begonia9508]

She should have cut his tongue, for all the insanities he said... Anyway, I really think that Liz should try to escape... the bonding with Max must have left some power in her, no? As always, I hate such situations of violence against women, alien or not!

Thanks EVE

[Morning Dreamgirl]

You're tricky with Liz's dreams you know. The first one with Nancy, the second one with Sean and now this third one.

The interesting bit about this one though is that it seemed (partially) fulfilled so quickly. She stumbles upon Max wearing only his black jeans - which I imagine is pretty accurate if he's awaiting trial, they wouldn't send him home to wait comfortably. Then (after "waking him up") just a few minutes later she finds him in her mind. Did they connect on another level which brought him back to enough consciousness for them to reconnect mentally? Like if they were both on a sleep level maybe she was finally able to reach him.

Did Sean *really* think he could convince Liz that she loved him and that Max was the bad guy after she was willing to take the blast for Max? He's either delusional, has a very low level of expectation as far as Liz's emotions and beliefs or seriously over estimates his own abilities. Perhaps all of the above. :-/

I don't get why Liz would feel guilty though. The confused part makes sense because when Sean acted like that you have to wonder what the heck is going on ET's mind. But I don't get why she would feel guilty for telling him she never cared for him - especially after everything he's done to her - when she's "take-no-BS-Parker."

I'm sure the guilt immediately lessened when he claimed to be the good guy. But on one hand he is telling the truth. According to Antarian law he could have just raped her to form a bond and then wiped her memory of it. The only one who *might* have been aware of anything would have been Nancy. Sean's attempt at humanity actually ended up protecting Liz in the long run because it gave her the time to get to know and bond with Max. I guess in that way I can see the guilt. Sean basically created the situation and it's the exact opposite of what he wanted and hoped for. But then you have to think he partially did it to feel good about himself. To make himself feel less like a monster. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. If you're trying to play a role in real life it doesn't make the role any more real. But the idea that you're trying to be better is admirable. Hmm...

But the way he delivered the whole speech undermines his attempt. I imagine part of that is due to his father's pressure to bond with Liz as much as it is her rebuking him and Max taking away what he always had been told was his. Basically everything Liz pitied him for is what causes him to get angry. It's probably hard for him to deal with the emotions the ways he's expected to with his lineage. But that's not really the fault of Liz (or even Max). Yet he's happily willing to take it out on them. It's a screwed up situation for sure.

He obviously had some kind of emotional bent towards Liz as well even if Max never saw it. He says he lost some of the respect he had for her when she put herself in front of Max when Sean tried to kill him. Which means on at least some level he had a small amount of respect for her. I imagine it stems from her fighting him. She's strong and a fighter which he has to admire as a military member if nothing else. Hopefully her continually fighting him will ignite some of that respect again. (It's a long shot but right now she's limited in her options.)

I'm actually surprised Sean gave Liz any information about Max. I realize it was more to make Liz "see the error of her ways" as well as to gloat about Max's situation. But I wonder if that would actually happen. Not only is Max high ranking but his bond with Liz has to protect him just like it protected her when Sean was thrown off of her.

If Max isn't killed than Sean has a reason to fear for his life. It would mean that Max is extremely powerful and is going to be filled with even more rage once he finds out Sean hit and choked Liz and tried to rape her again. You'd think at some point he's realize that raping Liz isn't going to give him a strong bond with her. At this point it could very well get him killed as well. He was struggling greatly even when the connection was paused in the locker room. Doesn't he realize Liz is even *more* protected now? Even Command seemed to understand that Max and Liz had an extremely strong bond. If his father couldn't break thru and Command noticed the strength (in addition to the electricity/glow at the meeting) why does Sean think he'll be able to break their bond without causing bodily injury to himself?

It's like he knows something but we don't need know what that is yet. Or maybe he thinks that as long as he can bond with her (before she kills him) then he'll be able to be as strong. But even Sean can't be that stupid. He's more likely to die than he is to break the bond.

Hmm...

Just as a side note - maybe having Max heal his wound wouldn't be such a good idea. He already tried to kill Sean at least once (when he accidentally hit the energy at Liz). I really don't think provoking him is the right way to go.

Anyhoo - lots of questions in my head. Can't wait to see what else Sean reveals in his arrogance.

[max and liz believer]

L-J-L 76 - Thank you so much for the feedback!


Helen (Roswelllostcause) - *laughs* Yes, maybe you do need to rethink that power source, since Liz needs all the help she can get Thank you so much for the feedback!


Eve (begonia9508) - This type of violence against women is horrendous. Not just the physical abuse, but the mental scars it leaves Thank you so much for the feedback!


Ashley (Morning Dreamgirl)

You're tricky with Liz's dreams you know. The first one with Nancy, the second one with Sean and now this third one.

The interesting bit about this one though is that it seemed (partially) fulfilled so quickly. She stumbles upon Max wearing only his black jeans - which I imagine is pretty accurate if he's awaiting trial, they wouldn't send him home to wait comfortably. Then (after "waking him up") just a few minutes later she finds him in her mind. Did they connect on another level which brought him back to enough consciousness for them to reconnect mentally? Like if they were both on a sleep level maybe she was finally able to reach him.

*laughs* You really get caught up in those dreams, don’t you? Maybe they’re just dreams. Your mind trying to sort through everything you’re going through. But I know that mezzi would be with you on this one; analyzing the dreams right along with you.

Did Sean *really* think he could convince Liz that she loved him and that Max was the bad guy after she was willing to take the blast for Max? He's either delusional, has a very low level of expectation as far as Liz's emotions and beliefs or seriously over estimates his own abilities. Perhaps all of the above. :-/

Who knows what Sean thinks? (I barely do, he’s one messed up individual) He’s either really stupid or just acting stupid. Or, like you said, he thinks very little of Liz’s emotions and both underestimates her and overestimates himself. Delusions of grandeur comes to mind…

I don't get why Liz would feel guilty though. The confused part makes sense because when Sean acted like that you have to wonder what the heck is going on ET's mind. But I don't get why she would feel guilty for telling him she never cared for him - especially after everything he's done to her - when she's "take-no-BS-Parker."

Why did Liz feel guilty? Because she’s human. Because she cares for people. Because she is starting to realize that something must’ve messed Sean up pretty badly to turn him into the person he is and she pities that. And for her to add (in whatever minuscule way) onto that makes her feel guilty. Even though it’s the truth. Even though Sean wouldn’t hesitate to hurt her if he felt like it. Liz has never met this kind of evil before. So she still reacts how she’s been brought up. That words hurt. Even if they’re the truth. So briefly, she feels guilty. Yeah, she’s not the type to take any BS, but she tries to do so without hurting anyone.

Plus. Sean really did a number on her mind (and emotions) before Max bonded with her. There has to be some residual feelings there from what Sean manipulated her into feeling.

He obviously had some kind of emotional bent towards Liz as well even if Max never saw it. He says he lost some of the respect he had for her when she put herself in front of Max when Sean tried to kill him. Which means on at least some level he had a small amount of respect for her.

Yes, Sean has respected Liz. Mostly because she has shown strength - even if it mean that she was fighting him. But he quite liked the idea of having a bonded mate who was strong and not meek and complacent. As long as that strong girl was on his side. Loved him. He probably thought it would all work itself out eventually. That because he was intended for Liz, things would work in that favor.

Guess not…

Even Command seemed to understand that Max and Liz had an extremely strong bond. If his father couldn't break thru and Command noticed the strength (in addition to the electricity/glow at the meeting) why does Sean think he'll be able to break their bond without causing bodily injury to himself?

Command understands a lot of the situation and knows a lot. He’s the man in charge after all. But Sean is… just a boy. He thinks that because he’s part of the military, because his father is second in command, that he can do whatever. That Max will never be able to get back at him, because Max would risk his own life by harming/killing Sean. Sean is (stupidly) relaxed in this illusion. He probably hasn’t thought too much about that Max might be very powerful now if Liz is showing such abilities or that Max will probably ignore the ”rules” and try and kill Sean if the right situation presents itself. Because Sean believes that his standing in the alien society will protect him.

Thank you!



From SIXTY-TWO:

Sean groaned and my focus immediately sharpened. I pulled my legs to my chest, scooted up against the headboard and temporarily forgot about the throbbing pain across my cheekbone, as I watched Sean start to rise from his recumbency.

"I don't know how or what you just did, bitch," he mumbled.

My pulse was so loud in my ears that I could barely hear his threats. He grabbed onto the door handle for leverage as he unsteadily pulled himself to his feet. "Maybe I should get Max to heal me for this stunt of yours. He would see what I've done to you. See you in my mind. That would be fun."

I paled. Whenever Max was mentioned, the fear gripped me tighter.

"I'll be back, Lizzie," he hissed, his eyes darker than I had ever seen them.

As he slammed the door behind him and left me alone, the pain in my cheek became very obvious. I couldn't stop the tears, even if I had wanted to.

I sank down into the bed, curled up in a tight fetal position, with my back against the headboard, aiming to make myself disappear as I sought out that presence at the back of my head. The only thing that was making this bearable. The only thing that was giving me hope.


A/N: I'm adding some gifs and pics to "represent" every chapter. I'll go back (as soon as I can) through my posts and add to the previous chapters as well. So you can take a look if you want Most are from "Roswell", but some are just from the net (I'm sure you'll be able to tell what is what ). I've worked myself up to chapter 20 before I realized that I had a lot of chapters. So I'll add some more later

SIXTY-THREE

"I wonder," the Sergeant said slowly on the third day of my deprivation of freedom, "how much your mother really told you of the double life she was leading."

Feeling the need to protect my mother and ascertain that she hadn't belonged to the aliens; that they had killed someone who had actually kept their secret, I answered, "Nothing. I knew nothing of what you exposed her to."

He didn't acknowledge the venom in my voice as he huffed, "Huh," and sat down on the bed. Right where he would normally sit during his visits. "Let me tell you about your mother, Elizabeth."

I barely had time to consider if this should be something to be happy about - getting some more information on my mother - or if it should scare me, before he sent me a vision.

My suspicions about the strength of his abilities were further confirmed as he managed to project images into my mind without even touching me. Without a proper connection.

A young woman was running towards me, a large smile stretched across her lips. She looked a lot like myself, only her eyes were green and her hair was dark auburn. Her curly hair bounced around her open and freckled face. I gasped with the deepest joy as she jumped into my arms.

Mom.

It was mom.

At an age that I hadn't known her. My age. A happy carefree adolescent.

"Hey," she breathed into my neck and I tightened my arms around her. She felt small in my arms - breakable - and I realized that I wasn't only seeing the Sergeant's vision. I was seeing it from his viewpoint. At the moment I was him.

And my mom didn't seem the least afraid of him. No. When she pulled back and placed a gentle kiss on my - his - lips, I could see that she was in love. Very much in love with Steven Carter. In love with the enemy. The monster.

The edges of the memory blurred and shifted from the outside summery setting to the closed indoors. To the white-tiled bathroom with red staining on the floor.

I froze, looking closer at the bright red against the stark white tiles.

Blood.

And in the middle of the pool of blood was a slightly older version of my mom. She was sitting in the color of life, her legs bare, wearing an oversized grey T-shirt, with her red curls free around her face. Crying with the sounds of death.

No. Not just crying.

Screaming.

Making the blood freeze in my veins.

Her head turned towards me, her cheeks flustered and wet, and there was cold hatred in her red-brimmed eyes as she cried, "You did this! You did this!"

I looked at the bundle in her hands, the undeveloped fetus. The child, no larger than a package of butter. A dead child, which was cradled in my mother's bloodied hands.

"No," I heard myself say. But it wasn't my voice. Not my opinion. "This is on you, Nance. You can't even provide me with a child, you worthless whore."

In the present, in the room where I was seated with the Sergeant, I pressed my hands to my head and tried to physically force the visions out of my head. "Stop! Stop it!"

But the visions kept on coming. Loving and even romantic moments between the Sergeant and my mother mixed with the devastation and grief of one miscarriage after the other. He forced me to trace how the pink shimmer of the beginning of their relationship started to wear off. How my mom began to figure out who her boyfriend really was as the facade began to crack. I saw signs of myself in my mom as she grew more tired, constantly plagued by headaches.

When she would no longer look at him with love, he would force himself on her. He showed me the struggles, the fear in my mother's eyes, the tears down her cheek, the blood on the sheets. He showed me how he stole her memories even when she begged him not to.

And the continuous abortion of fetuses of all sizes. My heart was threatening to fall apart because of the pain. I couldn't account for the number of times my mother had been pregnant with the Sergeant - the equivalent number of times her body had rejected the babies.

I begged for him to stop. I begged for my own sanity, when it was starting to make perfect sense why my mother had - in the end - lost hers.

As the assault of his visions was retracted, my upper body slumped forward, my eyes burning from the wear of tears, and I found myself exhausted.

Then Sgt. Carter sent me into another vision. Of me.

A much younger and blissfully ignorant version of me.

I watched with fearful apprehension the worry on my mother's face as I - he - watched the young me. I saw how my mother reached for me when I picked my younger self up in my arms and hugged the small body close to mine. A little bit too tightly.

"Let her go, Steven," my mother said, sharply, just as the child - the young Elizabeth (who seemed to be barely two years old) - started crying.

To my relief, he did. Young Elizabeth was placed on her feet and stumbled straight into Nancy's arms.

My mother cradled the small body protectively in her embrace and her eyes were filled with hatred when she looked at me. Him.

I shuddered. I had never personally experienced that look from my mother. It was a look that promised death to anyone that would hurt the ones she loved.

"You can try and protect her all you want," the Sergeant albeit taunted, the vision using my mouth to speak. "But soon she'll be a part of us and serve us. Just like you."

I watched my mother pale, all color drain from her face, and she slowly shook her head, pressing her child closer to her by placing a hand to the back of the dark-haired head.

"No," Nancy said weakly. "Use me. You'll get enough out of using me. Leave my baby out of this."

"And leave my son defenseless?" the Sergeant questioned in mock surprise, insinuating that my mother was the cold-hearted, selfish one out of the two of them. "That's a bit selfish, don't you think?"

"Your son-" my mother spat, "-will do fine without my daughter."

She started to walk backwards, the crying from my younger self drowning any noise from the surroundings. "I won't stand by and watch her be forced to repeat my life."

Her voice broke at the last sentence and I could see how she was barely holding on. On the verge of falling apart.

The little girl's screams rose in volume alongside my mother's increasing agitation and my heart broke as I watched my mother put her lips to the side of my younger self's head, placing soothing gentle kisses against the innocent softness, whispering hushed nonsensical words of comfort while she rocked the young child in her arms.

"The purpose of your daughter's life is to devote her life to us. To help us. It's an honorable task. Not many people's lives have a chance to mean something. You should consider her blessed."

"Blessed?" my mother spat acidly. "You've got to be kidding me."

His shoulders shrugged and his tone was light and nonchalant across my lips as he stated, "Just see it this way; You'll never have to worry about who she'll marry or what career she'll have. A lot of girls suffer from depression because they feel like there are too many choices to make in life." He chuckled good-naturedly. "She won't ever have to worry abut that. It's all taken care of."

My mother rocked me harder, the frustration and fear evident in her increasingly agitated motions. "You stay away from her, Steven. You can do whatever you want to me. But you stay away from her."

And the vision blurred and disintegrated around me like smoke.

"No," I gasped, reaching out towards her escaping shape - the image of my mom.

Instead, the Sergeant's face became clear in front of me, a satisfied grin on his face.

"See? There's no need to try and resist us, Liz. Your mom tried. She tried for many years. Even before you were born. And just look how that turned out."

When I didn't say anything, his eyes gleamed with frightening clarification. "She became unhinged and then turned into dust. Ashes." As if it had been my mother's fault. As if her insanity and subsequent death had been her own doing. Because she had been resisting.

Heat from my grief - coupled with the bottomless anger towards the man in front of me - threatened to burn away my insides.

He leaned forward and brushed his finger down my cheek. My body didn't reject him. To my relief he didn't touch me any more than that.

"Be smart, Lizzie," he said softly. "Don't destroy your life. Sean is-" he shook his head, as if he didn't quite believe in it himself, "-really infatuated with you. If you let him; he'll be good for you."

I snapped my body back from his touch and pulled on the collar to my sweater, displaying a ring of red and blue bruising around my throat. In case he had missed the sickly-colored bruise on my cheek.

"Is this how he will take care of me, huh?" I bit out hotly. "Because to me, that's not love. That's not even care."

The Sergeant gave me an almost condescending smile. "Sean has trouble controlling his temper at times. And I bet that you - if you are anything like your mother-," he caught a tendril of my hair and rolled it slowly between his fingertips, "-are not really making it easy on my boy."

"He doesn't deserve easy," I mumbled, brushing his hand away when it floated over the purple bruise across my cheekbone. The first hit.

"Is he in your head now?" the Sergeant asked, almost curiously.

"Sean?" I taunted in disbelief. As if his son would have any more access to my mind than his father.

The Sergeant's eyes darkened at my mocking tone and his voice was ice-cold as he corrected me, "Max. Max Evans."

I swallowed. Max's name sobered me up. Made heat float into my shattered and weary body.

"Yes," I acknowledged quietly, dropping my eyes.

I didn't want to look at the man when talking about Max. Max was private. Max was to be protected.

"You know," the Sergeant mused. "I should have just killed him when all of this started."

I swallowed and looked up at him. Hearing him threatening Max's life was freezing every cell in my body. One painful freeze after the other.

"But Command found out - and then Philip butted in." He shrugged. "It's a shame he's the only healer left in his generation. Ever since that idiot David died in that motorcycle accident last year. Max is apparently-" he swallowed as if he had swallowed something nasty, "indispensable."

"If he hadn't been..." I whispered and licked my dry lips. "He would have been killed."

"I don't think you realize the magnitude of the crime you've committed, Ms. Parker," the Sergeant said slowly and threateningly. "Anyone else would have been executed the moment he started having impure thoughts about you. The only one allowed to have that is my son."

"Have you ever reflected on what you're doing?" I asked. "That you're forcing a human being to have...relations with an alien. To put her life in danger and dictate her whole future without her having a say?"

"You will be safer with us than without us," the Sergeant said simply. "We have protectors for you, and our whole society would make sure that you're not to be harmed. What other ordinary human being - excluding the ones that can pay for it - have their own bodyguard?"

I narrowed my eyes in irritation. "Still, that's just for your benefit. To protect your interests. You're not doing it because you care about me."

"Come on," the Sergeant breathed. "It's not like you humans don't have those arrangements. Arranged marriages - usually with really big age differences - are still very real in many of your cultures. Not too many years back, you imported colored people from Africa to serve you, under ridiculous and appalling conditions. So don't try and get on your high horse here, Ms. Parker, and lecture me on what is right and wrong."

"I was not part of any of that," I whispered. "I can only relate to my own situation. And hope that you would learn from all those indifferences in our world just like the human population is starting to. And I'm-" I hesitated, biting back my pride, "-begging you to let me go. Let Max and I be. We can help out - as a bonded couple - and maybe still be beneficial to you."

Maybe it was stupid to try and reason - negotiate with a monster - but I had to try. I was reaching the end of my rope here.

There was a twitch in the corner of his eye and the light in his eyes intensified into a frightening fervor, as if he was trying to X-ray his way through my face. "Enlighten me then, Ms. Parker. What is so great about a bonding between you and a healer? Why should we let you off the hook, let you get away with this crime? Why should we ignore laws that have been in play for longer than you have lived, that have been very beneficial to our race, only because you two are indulging in a high school romance?"

The sarcasm was dripping like acid off his voice, making me sick. Making me want to scream at him for not understanding how deeply I felt for Max. Even if I was just a human. Even if he was just a healer. Even if we were still in high school. Even if we were still 'kids'.

I wanted to crush that smile of his between my fingers. I really wanted to have the power to silence him, to prove to him that he was wrong. He was so wrong.

But he wasn't just an adult that was shoving his years and experience in the face of a disobedient teenager. I wasn't in a position to scream at him from the top of my lungs or slam a door in his face, as if to end a quarrel between a daughter and her father.

This was not my loving father, who loved me unconditionally even in the face of occasional arguments.

This adult could probably snap my neck with barely a thought. And would do so without hesitation or remorse if he found it appropriate.

Ergo, my voice was calm and level, borderline respectful, as I tried to enlighten him. "I know you don't want to believe me or Max about this. I know that we have broken a lot of rules and upset your community. We both know this. We never intended to be disrespectful or defiant. We can't control what we feel for each other." I inhaled deeply and added, "The bond is actually pushing us together."

There was not a single emotion on the Sergeant's face. None to reflect how he was interpreting the information I was giving him.

So I continued, further emphasizing that neither Max nor I were in control of this. Reiterating that we were innocent products of an alien phenomenon. "I don't really understand all of this. Neither does Max, even if he has more knowledge than I do. But from what I've understood, the connection we share is not ordinary. It's not even typical of a bond between a gaea and her intended alien. We can communicate telepathically-"

"That's not unusual," the Sergeant interrupted complacently.

"-without touching," I filled in, seeing the brief surprise flicker through his eyes, which encouraged me to continue. "We can communicate with thoughts across a distance. And I'm sure this is something that would develop further with time, seeing that we haven't been bonded that long."

The Sergeant looked bored. "That's all very interesting, Ms. Parker. But the question remains; How would that be beneficial to us? Sure, silent communication would be an asset in battle, but none of you are trained for that type of endeavor any way. And where's the proof that a similar connection can't be formed with another alien, say - my son?" He tapped his index finger against his mouth in contemplation. "I think it would be a waste to not give it a try, wouldn't you? Seeing that my son is very strong. The things he could do with your particular input..."

I swallowed at the creepy double meaning to his suggestion, but squared my shoulders and mustered up a challenging look to hide my terrified nervousness. "Say that I agreed to bond with Sean. Say that the bond between Max and I could actually be broken. If a bonding between Sean and I proved less successful than the connection I had shared with Max, would you let me reconnect with Max?"

A slow smile spread across his lips, making him look like a devious snake. "Are you trying to cut a deal with me, Elizabeth?"

Never in a million years, I thought, but replied, "Hypothetically."

"Something tells me that Sean wouldn't give you up once he got you," the Sergeant said slowly and I bit my lip to prevent it from shaking.

My thought exactly, I realized grimly.

"Besides, it doesn't really matter in the end; what you might have had with the Evans boy is against the law. It's not meant to be. Your destiny is much greater than a high school crush."

It's not a high school crush! I wanted to scream at him, but I held my tongue.

The visions of my mother and the dead babies were still lingering at the back of my head. Still very present in my mind. I don't think I would ever forget them. Unless they made me forget them, of course.

So instead of trying to convince him of something that he seemed dead-set on not agreeing to, I changed tracks. "What about the gaea-bloodline? Is it possible for a gaea to have a child with an alien? Were your...attempts-" I swallowed against the horrible visions of his treatment of my mother, "-with my mom an exception or the rule?"

"It's usually not done," the Sergeant replied, surprising me with what seemed to be honesty. "Usually we bond with someone we desire, to create a family."

Someone they desired... Not someone they loved.

"Our relationship with the gaea is business. Not a way to play house."

He still wasn't answering my question. Even if aliens usually chose someone other than their gaea to create a family with (as he claimed), it failed to answer the question of whether or not it was possible for a gaea to have a child with an alien. If there had been successful pregnancies in the past between a gaea and an alien, or if the combination of my mother and the Sergeant was futile.

Something told me that it was possible. Why else would the Sergeant even bother with getting my mother pregnant? One could explain it by the Sergeant 'accidentally' impregnating my mother, but if that was the case why would he have told my mom (in one of the visions he had just made me watch) that she couldn't even give him a child, if he knew that there was no possibility of a successful pregnancy happening?

I had a very strong feeling that he wouldn't be upfront about this. Probably a strategic move on his behalf to let me wonder, since my mother's fate was so closely intertwined with my own.

I let it slide, focusing on what he had just said before my thoughts ran away with me, and how much it irked me.

The aliens' relationship with gaeas was business, "Even though you had sex with her," I asked, being way past the point of feeling embarrassed about bringing that topic up with him after he had shown me too many sexual visions of he and my mother that a child to that parent should ever have to see. Actually, no human being should ever witness that cold violence and oppression.

Sgt. Carter shrugged. "It's how we bond. It's as simple as that. Although..." he started and winked at me. I pressed my mouth together. Tightly. "Sex with a gaea is something different. Which is why I went after your mother for more than just a connection. So that I could have her - all of her. It was actually kinda fun - and satisfying, I must admit - to watch her fall for me. To watch her grow weak in her love for me. How easy it was to manipulate her, to make her want to do anything for me."

He chuckled and shook his head in disbelief. "You humans are such victims to your feelings. They really make you look - and act - like idiots." He smiled knowingly. "Max is doing the same thing to you, you know. Manipulating your feelings, making you think that you love him and that he loves you. That's why you're so intent on defending him, on defending your bond. He's got you trapped in his little net and you don't even know it."

The anger I was feeling was so overwhelming, so suffocating, that I forgot how to breathe. I stared at him in open disgust, as my fingers curled into the mattress of the bed. I felt the heat of the restrained wrath numb me while it simultaneously ignited me.

How dared he?

My vision was actually turning red and I felt like crying or screaming. I didn't really know which.

I just knew that I wanted to crush him. I wanted to pump my feelings towards him into his body and make him understand. I wanted him to suffer, to regret his assumptions, to repent his condescending smiles and experience the inhuman misery he had put my mother through.

As I thought and felt this, I could see his face turning redder. I realized that it hadn't been my vision that had turned red, it was the man in front of me. His eyes widened in something akin to horror as his eyeballs started to protrude from the eye sockets, the small vessels in the whites of his eyes becoming visible like thin jagged trials of blood.

He tumbled off the bed, with his arms tightly aligned along his upper body. He was oddly stiff, which made the convulsions running through his body look odd and mechanical.

I was staring at him, my breathing shallow and unfulfilling, and met his bulging eyes straight on.

Which I probably shouldn't have done.

There was an acutely sharp and burning chop through the front of my skull, as if he had just cleaved my forehead with an axe. The pain resonated through my whole body, efficiently cooling my anger as I collapsed onto my back. I frantically cast my hands to my head, expecting to feel a hole there, expecting to get blood on my hands as my life poured out of me.

But my head was intact even while the pain was still very real.

I blinked up, my eyes squinting against the pain, as his shape leaned over me. His face was eerily neutral in the aftermath of what had happened to him. Whatever had happened to him was now gone. He looked perfectly like himself again.

He traced my face with cold empty eyes and stated calmly, "You just proved to me that you are invaluable to my son. I promise you, Elizabeth Parker. You are going to serve my son and you are going to be grateful to do it."

With that, he left, and the pain in my head ebbed along with his departure, leaving me with the traumatizing images of the life my mother had led at the hands of a cold and barbaric alien.

Knowing that Steven Carter had not merely shown me my mother's past, but also my own future.


TBC...

[Morning Dreamgirl]

Can I just say that the Sgt is a special kind of monster to not only put Nancy through that but to also show all of it to Liz. Seriously, that's even more sickness than attempting to throw Liz for a loop by indicating that she was his daughter and therefore would be bonding with her half-brother (yuck!).

I can't believe that Nancy went through all that. And all those miscarriages! I knew that they wouldn't have been happy with just one child. And apparently there *is* something special about a Gaea having a hybrid child. I imagine that child would be incredibly strong and something very desirable to certain Antarian families. (Well, all of the families really.) So if that was removed as an option (likely because she always rejected Steven - even subconsciously - including his children inside her) the only reason I would imagine "allowing her" to have only one child (Liz) is because any additional pregnancies very likely might have killed her.

So if that answered by question about the type of children that are created between a Gaea and an alien then the only other major "family" question that still bothers me is the whole "marriage" thing. I think that connections are probably what the majority of Antarians use but for those higher up I can see them needing something more "binding." After all you don't want to marry someone as a member of the royal family (or any other high ranking family) only to have that bond broken later if someone else were to force themselves on your significant other. Or if your SO ended up voluntarily sleeping with someone else. Plus that comment Sean made about "it's not like you're married to her" in the gym... Out of all the phrases to use why use the phrases "claim" and "married"? Why not just say "bond" if he was planning on forcing himself on her anyways and thus bring her in to their society? Or if he was going to wipe her mind it wouldn't have mattered if she heard the word "bond." So what's so special to them about a marriage or a claim? They obviously don't respect human marriages. Hmm... Anyways, maybe not something that was brought up in this chapter but the babies just seemed linked to that for me. Especially for powerful families.

The part I wasn't expecting was that at some point the Sgt. did seem to care for Nancy. At least in the beginning. I wonder what caused that to change? Why did her having so many miscarriages cause him to show his true self to her? Or maybe it's better asked why did so many miscarriages (which obviously upset her even more than him) cause him to turn on her so fully? If the Antarians feel the primary emotions really strongly (especially when bonded to a Gaea) it seems less likely they would turn so easily. I'm curious as to whether Philip was ever brought in. It would be another way they knew each other really well. And I'm wondering if Max is aware of all that having happened before Liz was born. How much back history does *he* know?

So what would be the point of taking Nancy's memories? Just to torture her? Because she was obviously still aware of what was going on and who people actually were. They didn't remove all her alien-memories. That probably would have been too vast. But even so, why take just certain ones? And why would she beg to keep them? It seems like some stuff she would *want* to forget.

It's shocking to me that she went through all of that and never tried to warn Liz. I wonder if she did at one point and after they "erased" Liz's mind if she decided it wasn't worth telling her and having additional damage done to her mind before necessary. Still, you can see why she would want to save her daughter all of that even if it meant killing her. To Nancy death would be the kinder fate.

Hmm... So we're not seeing all the interactions between Liz and her two horrid captors. It makes me wonder what else they put her through that we don't know about yet. And I wonder if anyone else knows what's going on as well. Surely someone on the council knows what's going on. Or at the very least Philip has to have an idea. Why allow the Carters to keep control over her when they obviously have a personal vendetta, have already almost killed her multiple times and when everything is still up in the air as far as the fate of M/L go? That makes no sense. At least not without someone outside to check on her to make sure she isn't being damaged as a Gaea (even if just mentally, thank you Steven Carter).

How often do they visit Liz though? And what is the point every visit? I would have thought it would just be Sean after the Sgt's first visit. That way if someone *did* break through Liz's mind it would he the person who was supposed to bond with her, making it easy to do so quickly. Maybe the Sgt. has another agenda we don't know about. Maybe he's looking for information he thinks Liz has that hasn't yet come up in the story.

What's interesting to me is the Sgt's statement of "then Command found out and Philip started interfering." That's a pretty loaded statement that is disguised as a passing statement of disgust. I'm not sure if the Sgt is even aware of just how loaded that sentence is.

The command found out that Max was interfering with a gaea (at the very least) or had bonded with one (if he knew the whole story) and hasn't done anything about it. I'm guessing that it's been the Sgt. who pushed for the meeting. If it were Command then he would have called it long ago to maintain order and to stop it from getting this far. So if Command knew and did nothing, why? Is he planning on getting rid of the Carters? Why not just do so? If he's powerful enough without a gaea then once Nancy died (and Max had created the - technically - second bond with Liz) why not just get rid of them or demote them or whatever at that point? And if Command wants to change how things are run, why not just do so instead of going through all of this? Surely he has mind readers loyal to him who can determine who would listen to the changes Command ordered and who would oppose a new way of doing things.

The whole Philip statement is concerning. He's stuck his neck out a lot (a *lot* a lot) for his son and Liz and he obviously hasn't been as discrete as he would have hoped. Or perhaps he had been and it's only after the meeting that Sgt. realized just how much Philip had covered for his son. Either way he's not going to let him work "behind the scenes" as easily as Philip is hoping. Not that he ever thought it would be easy but you know what I mean.

And speaking of Philip I'm surprised they haven't brought him in to heal Liz. Or the father of "David" whoever he was. I could see them not wanting to allow Philip to have contact with Liz but keeping her isolated to just the Carters had to be sending up all kinds of red flags. To not let anyone else on the council see her (at least that we know about) seems like something they wouldn't normally get away with. And how are they getting away with it? What are Jeff and Maria, etc. being told and how the heck do they expect anyone to really believe it?

The upside is that Max is apparently "indispensable." That's a far cry from Sean stating that they would hopefully kill him after his trial. So at least Liz has that bit of comfort left after everything else the Sgt. put her through during this meeting. Hopefully that means Philip is making some progress and will soon have a way of getting Liz out if her situation as well. Technically we don't know that Max has been released but at least it's starting to look better on his side.

Side note: should I look for a conspiracy as far as David dying in a motorcycle accident? Sometimes your ransom phrases turn out to not be so random.

I don't think that Liz is going to be able to reason with the Sgt. He's much to strategy minded for that. The second she even pretends to put herself in a position where she's willing to try a bond with Sean it's over and they both know it. So he has go know that she's not honestly considering it. After all, once you see what people really look like before they break in isolation you can easily recognize when it's about to happen to others. He has to see that Liz isn't at her breaking point yet. Maybe closer after that stunt regarding her mother but not there yet.

I'm surprised she actually gave him information regarding the bond she shares with Max. It doesn't seem like the smartest thing to do. Isn't one of the fundamental rules to *not* give your enemy any more knowledge than absolutely necessary? That's partly why he hasn't given much info to Liz. He likes the control as well by withholding information but he also knows the less information she has the more power he has. So Liz telling him about them being able to communicate without touching, etc. doesn't seem like the smartest move. :-/

Also he's obviously going to be pissed at her for quite awhile after she basically almost killed him. So giving info to someone you almost kill (even if accidentally) seems like the least intelligent move you can make. I can't even begin to imagine the shock he would have had going through his mind as she attacked him in such a manner. That's never something he would expect from a human - gaea or not. Had he not attacked her back when he did I doubt he would have left that room alive. While he's not my favorite person I don't want Liz to be executed for killing the second in command while she's technically still supposed to be imprisoned by him.

The bad news is that I don't think they're going to treat her any better after this interaction. She probably just lined herself up for more sessions like that from the Sgt. He's sick enough to enjoy them as well. So it's win-win for him I imagine. :-/

Hmm... Maybe the next chapter we can see her make a break for it after rendering Sean or his father unconscious. Though she might just run into the other ons on the other side of the door. And even if she did manage to run how would she find Max or even just escape on her own given that they can basically track her anywhere? It's definitely starting to look like a hopeless situation.

So... Where's our white knight?

[Roswelllostcause]

OK I am going to just kill that bastard of a Sargent myself! I know I will get off! I know how to make it look like self defense. Or even like I am crazy! I feel so bad that monster is doing that to Liz! Someone needs to get Liz away from them now!



Helen

[L-J-L 76]

Great Chapter!!!! Please please please please please please please please please please come back and post more really really really really soon? I can't wait to read what will happen next for Max and Liz. Someone needs to hang Sargent, Sean by the ball off a telephone poll and wire. or Better luck strap 10 m60's to their dicks and blow them up or electrocute them. Please someone do one of these thing and kill them for good? Sorry I really really hate the sargent, Sean, Cammonder and any other alien that is not helping Max and Liz. Someone needs to get off their asses and save Max and Liz.


From:
L-J-L 76