Roswell Fanatics

Watching his son with his imprint made Billy uncomfortable. It wasn't like the discomfort that came with knowing that his daughters were having sex, this was more the apprehension that sat in ones gut as they watched a disaster unfold that they couldn't do anything to prevent. The pairs interaction reminded him of those between the Tribal and Federal governments. The right reasons were there but nothing good would come of it. Though, maybe they were more like oil and water.

Jake was the water: cool, placid, but easily whipped into a cyclone. His imprint was oil: hard to grasp, always recognizable, and not as innocuous as appearance would dictate. Parker was a nice enough girl, she always smiled and shook his hand when she saw him. Outgoing and friendly, she had accepted what her boyfriend was without so much as a shrug. Her reaction had done Jake good. Billy knew that, but still. There was just something about her, a wariness that emerged around members of the tribe – even his son on occasion.

More worrying though was the distinct feeling of wrongness that Sam and others had reported feeling around her. A misplaced authority that was dormant but very much present. Even Billy had felt it, a crawling under his skin when she looked at him. It almost felt as if she were peeling back the layers of his skin to see all his secrets. He remembered feeling it around his father and grandfather but they had been Chief not a little girl just beginning her life.

He didn't like that she was still a mystery even though they had dug into her past. The Council knew everything from what hospital she was born in to what her current teachers thought about her but it wasn't enough. There was still that unknown factor that made Sam's Alpha wince when she was near.

Billy watched as Bella and Parker maneuvered around his kitchen, the former asking the latter if they should add more peppers to whatever was simmering away on the stove, which by the smell was a southwestern dish.

For a moment he allowed himself to observe the differences between the two girls. Bella's paleness gave her a look of fragility that led other people to underestimate her ability to survive. She was stronger that she was given credit for, even herself. Where as Bella looked like most of the rain saturated residents of Forks, Parker – even when she was pale from lack of sun – had a darkness around her that had little to do with physical attributes. She wasn't a Quileute and she wasn't a local.

She reminded him too much of her uncle, except where his aura of unforgiving hardness came from a need to protect his family and years of federal training, hers was a giant question. That unknown; the unpredictability, made Billy wish that she would disappear – no matter how much it would hurt his son.

-=-=-=-=-

There was something kind of adorable about Liz and Jake. It wasn't anything overly obvious, they weren't big on public displays of affection or airing their personal business in public, but since Bella knew them she knew the little ways that they complemented each other. All the little things that marked their rapid accent from strangers to coupledom were just another way that they were happy and that made Bella glad for whatever craziness had brought them together.

Jake made Liz laugh and Liz made Jake more comfortable in his skin and that made both of them less volatile people to be around. If she was being candid, Bella liked the way things currently were to the way they had been. They were happier now and she found that being around the both of them at the same time was the type of cathartic exercise that made it easier to sleep at night.

The nightmares had all but disappeared, trickling away to leave dreams of adventures and family. For the first time, Bella felt as if she'd finally exorcised Edward. He didn't have a role in her life and she didn't need to suffer in order to give him one. She had Charlie, Liz, Billy, Jacob, and even, to a lesser degree, the rest of the pack.

Her only worries were those that dealt with Liz and Jake. They were actually more of them than she had anticipated when she'd first suspected that something might develop between the pair. What if they fought? What would happen if they broke up? So far they had only had minor arguments easily overcome – things like Jake being an idiot and stripping in Liz's car when Bella was near him (apparently he left clothes in her car). She'd been mortified and Liz had been annoyed but he'd apologized to both of them and it had passed.

But with all the secrets they were keeping from each other: How long could it be before they had a major falling out? Bella didn't want to lose being able to see them both at the same time. It had been hard to juggle three schedules to find out who was available when. It was easier now. She could spend time with Liz when Jake had pack business, Jake when Liz had work, and both of them when they were all free. That would be over if they broke up.

There was no way she'd pull an Alice and stop talking to one of them because the relationship was over but she knew that the dynamic wouldn't be anything more than awkward.

Jake didn't know about the extraterrestrial element of Liz's life – Liz had waited till he had had to leave to patrol before explaining, and Liz didn't know about the whole imprinting thing. Bella found that she held more anger at Jake's secret keeping then Liz's.

One was trying to protect everyone else. The other was trying to protect himself.

He was afraid of losing Liz, so he was keeping an important part of himself back. There was such a stench of Edward on the act that she found herself hard put not to let him know how much he was acting like a 'bloodsucker'. Jake wouldn't appreciate the comparison and Bella wasn't healed enough to do anything to cause that kind of breach.

Despite the new found ability to all be in the same room together, she was fairly certain it would have been best if they'd stayed out of the whole romantic attachment thing.

-=--=-=-

“I think I'm going to tell Jake.”

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Bella fixed her with such an intense look that Liz was almost worried that she'd said something completely different and all together horrifying. Like 'I drown fluffy little bunny rabbits for fun in my spare time.' Just when she was about to apologize and admit that no, the bunnies were completely safe, Bella's whole body relaxed and she was flashed a wide smile.

“Good. I'm glad. That's great. Wow. Really happy. This is … good. Very good.”

“So,” she gave her friend a bewildered look, not completely sure where the reaction was coming from, “yeah. You're happier with that than I expected.”

Bella had always been uncomfortable keeping things from Jake but she'd understood why Liz didn't want to tell him. When she'd told Bells, she'd only known Jake for a short time. Enough to get involved, not enough to spill deep dark secrets that would put his life, and the lives of the people he held dear, in danger. Bella was one thing – the girl attracted danger to the point that it was better for her to know what was going on rather than to risk her walking into the middle of a battle and finding out herself – telling someone that was almost a complete stranger, was a different case all together.

She knew him now, they spent almost everyday together. Jake was smart, funny, loyal, caring, compassionate, short-tempered, passionate, and keeping such an important part of her life from him didn't seem fair. He scared the crap out of her, and their relationship still made her want to run sometimes, but she knew everything about him and knew that hurting her was the last thing that he would ever deliberately do.

Liz liked that. She really liked that.

Her whole body still clenched in apprehension at the thought of telling him that yes aliens do exist, no not all of them want to take over the planet, and yes she was a little more than the average human that he thought she was. She hadn't grown up protecting the secret like Michael, Max, and Isabel had but the last few years had taught her the importance of keeping her mouth shut. There's wasn't a forgiving world. If the wrong person found out there would be severe consequences.

That Jake's dual existence would raise as many flags as her ex's, made her question her sanity and relax a little over his ability to not share things that were better left unsaid. Though she did have to worry about the pack mind. He had no control, she wasn't even certain that it was possible to learn control over something like that. As soon as she told him, they would all know.

If they knew, there was no reason why they wouldn't tell the Quileute council. Liz felt another shiver of apprehension slide down her spine. Maybe it was too much of a risk to say anything. She glanced at Bella. No, she made the choice. She was going to tell.

So So So Sorry. Four the last couple of months I've been doing nearly 70hr weeks at work and haven't had the time to breathe let alone write. Fingers crossed things will calm down a little soon.
Wiping her hands on the back of her pants, Liz surveyed the fruits of her labor with satisfaction. The delicate structure before her had taken the better part of a month to complete, including the last twenty-six sleepless hours, but there it was. Solid and whole. She had crafted it. Spun it from her imagination and made it into something real using the skills she had cultivated over the years. First at her uncles shop and later at university.

The decision to move away from science had been, like every other choice she made, a well thought out one: gradually achieved through hours of anxiety. The change had come slowly. A much needed volunteer opportunity with Habitat for Humanity during Easter her senior year in high school had lead to another over the summer and another her December break freshman year at college. It had sparked something in her: a love of creation rather than just the understanding she had always operated off of.

By her sophomore year she had moved well away from science and had declared herself a double major in structural engineering and architecture. It had been more than a a shift in future plans, it had been a change in the way she saw the world.

Not all of it stemmed from the steady surety of building, some of it was just growing up, but eventually she'd learned. She needed to live her life for herself just as her loved ones would live theirs. They could not protect her from the fall out of her decisions and she couldn't do it for them. Everyone needed to make their own mistakes and live with the consequences.

The self revelation had been freeing, and more than a little terrifying. Liz had always taken care of other people. Not doing it, not being able to do it, anymore had left her time to make peace with herself. As cheesy as it sounded she had become reacquainted with the woman she was in college. Five years without all the deceptions, accusations, and failures of high school made her feel normal even though she was anything but.

Liz packed up the rest of supplies and waved her hand over the paint blotches on her table leaving it in the same pristine condition it had been before she had started. The little calender handing on one of the kitchen cabinets declared that it was almost exactly a week till 'Liz's Graduation'. The small square was decorated with glitter, her roommates bright personality shining through but the acknowledgment made her smile.

She liked her small off campus apartment. It had been home for the last two and half years and she'd miss it in a week when she sat through her last and only ceremony at the university. Technically her bachelors had gone through the year previous but through sheer tenacity she had gotten herself into the five year masters program for structural engineering even though as a sophomore she was supposed to be ineligible and had decided to wait it out.

Contrary to the initial beliefs of her department heads, Liz had managed to graduate on time with the rest of her year. She had proven them all wrong, and that felt good. Now, all the was left was to enter the real world of gainful employment and bills. She was actually looking forward to it.

Lying down in bed, her eye glanced across the many pictures in her room. Most of them were of her family or the friends she had made over the last several years but a couple of them were from Roswell. Like the one she kept on her bedside table from the year before. They had all gotten together to celebrate the fact that almost all of them were done with school (Liz was still finishing her masters and Maria had been headed to law school – something that had surprised them all).It had been a joyful celebration where past recriminations had been put aside. Even Tess had genuinely smiled.

The only other picture on her table was the only one she kept of Forks. It was of her, Jake, and Bella from those few weeks that things had gone well, the only memento she had left of that time. While the picture no longer filled her with grief, it didn't make her particularly happy either. It was a memory like all the others and she only kept it because, even though she didn't want to, she did remember.



Since it had been so long since I've written, I basically abandoned the approach I had been taking and am now coming at it from a whole new angle. Everything will be explained though. I'll try not to leave you hanging again.

Just a short one.

Sometimes the imprint hurts.

Even after years of dealing with the pain, that still surprises Liz. It stretches, pulls at her heart and soul. Most days its just another thought swirling at the back of her mind, not forgotten but not paid attention to. But other times, she can't think, can't breathe for the thought of it. It makes her want to run, scream, cry, hide, give in, bury herself in what she walked away from.

There are days when it makes her miss work or skip out on plans. She hates it for everything it has ever done. She hates even more that of all the people she's known to be the recipient of the curse she's the only one that feels it as keenly as the wolves that it originates with.

The worse times are the deep nights when she's laying in bed fighting against the tears and wishing that she wasn't wondering if Jay was hurting as much as she was.

“I can't tell you how happy we were when Jake imprinted on you.”

The words are said with the kind of absent minded abandon of someone that thinks that the person that they are addressing knows everything. As if life was an open book and people don't keep secrets from the ones they love.

“We were afraid it'd be Bella.”

The flames from the bonfire were licking the sky, roaring with a fierceness born of too much kindling. Despite the winter weather, it had been keeping her warm until now but the cold was slowly spreading through her again. This time though, she was certain that it was spreading from the inside of her rather than seeping in from the outside.

“She's still in love with the vampire. We all figured she'd break his heart.”

How could she be so cold with so much heat washing over her? She watched the flames dance, white blue and orange mingling together. Why?

Why?

“After what happened between Sam, Leah and I we were terrified for Jake”

She gave her partner a questioning look and tried her best to keep her face neutral as the story of the first imprint unfolded. Of Leah's broken heart, Sam's inability to fight, Emily's failing and devotion. Biologically driven soulmates. Destiny. Why was it always destiny?

“I'm glad he didn't try to fight it.”

She nodded absently. He promised that he wouldn't keep secrets. She had insisted on it, knew she couldn't ask with out coming clean so she'd told him all about Roswell. He hadn't believed her. Jay hadn't believed her, hadn't wanted to, but that was ok. It wasn't but then it was. At the time she'd been confused, why he couldn't accept the story? Why she didn't get angry when he brushed it off? Life went on.

So much for promises.

“Hey,” Jay smiled down at her warmly, his giant figure leaning down to embrace her. All she could do was stare in growing horror.

They never did hold.


She moved with the sound of the music. The air thick with smoke, the press of humanity, and Miami's oppressive humidity. Between the heat of the night and the heat of the mass of bodies around her, her shirt stuck to her, the black a shade darker from sweat.

By her fathers standards her shorts were barely decent but by Miami's standards they were tame, no matter that they were sinfully tight and barely covering her ass. Liz leaned back into the body behind her, knowing that they were enjoying the way her dark eyes peaked out at them from behind her hair.

Hands slowly worked their way up from her hips skimming over her ribs, dragging her tank up with them and she fought the urge to move away – focusing instead on the beat surrounding her and the buzz from the alcohol laced through her system.

Lips pressed against the side of her mouth and she jerked away, unsteady legs on frighteningly high heels took her to the bar where she quickly took another drag from the beer she'd stashed behind the counter with the permission of her roommates boyfriend. Marta lived by the fiery temperament of her roots but when it came to her boyfriend she gave more than was initially evident.

He wanted them near when they went out so when he was working they stayed in his club, when he wasn't he came with them wherever they wanted. He watched out for them and Liz tried not to chafe at the restrictions that it imposed on her. After all, she was more than capable of taking care of herself.

Marta pulled her back on the dance floor and the hands returned, running up her arms, gripping her waist, holding her tight against them. It was hard to breath but nights like this were the only time the bone deep chill ever faded a little no matter how hard she tried.

She closed her eyes listening and moving solely to the music and the beating of the hearts around her. It was easy to imagine that the hands of her weren't those of a stranger, that was the gift of the clubs darkness and its flashing lights. It was designed to let people let let go of their inner restraint and Liz loved that about it.

For a while she could be free from everything. At least until the pain found her.

Her lips wrapped around the one name she tried never to say and the man she was with must of assumed that she meant them because she was taken off guard by the press of a hot mouth on her neck -too close to the double crescent scar they had no right to even be near.

Pain shot through her threatening to knock her legs out from under her and she stumbled away trying to find an escape from the crowd. There was too many people, too much touching. She felt the imprint pull fighting against the strain she kept on it. Liz clutched her chest and tried not to pass out.

While it wasn't the first time the attack was so bad, it was the first time she hadn't had enough warning to make it home. She caught sight of Marta's startled face and felt the faint buzzing of Max's legacy.

Air.

She needed air.

Black spots started swimming across her vision and still she pushed herself forward. It wouldn't win. No way in hell would this thing dictate the terms of her life. She already stayed away from any hint of attraction because of it but she'd be damned if it got anything else from her.

“Dario!” Martha's panicked voice could barely be heard over the clubs din and Liz felt a rush of amusement as she contemplated how badly shit would have hit the fan if she still the green flashes she used to get under her skin were still a problem.

Lighting up like a Christmas tree with a bad circuit would be hard to explain.

The floor started rushing toward her and she felt a pair of large arms wrapped around her and the pain spiked again. They were the wrong ones – always the wrong ones.

Jay.

Initially this was meant to be several more chapters long but life is kicking my ass right now so I'm going for the rather safe than sorry. Fingers crossed when things calm down I'll get a separate epilogue/sequel up to tie up any loose knots.



“Oh, hi,” the word was soft and more than a little puzzled. “What are you doing here Bella?”

That was the question wasn't it. Why was she in Miami rather than at home? Why did she keep running? Why was she disrupting the life of someone who had made it very clear that she had no interested in being involved with her anymore?

She had bought her plane ticket in a heart beat but it had taken Bella three days to gain the courage to knock on Liz's door. She'd watched her old friend at work, softball games, hanging out with friends. Being happy.

“I.. I didn't know where else to go.”

That was kind of a lie. There was Forks and her mothers place a couple of hours from here. Liz gave her a look like she knew what Bella was thinking, could read the untruth in her expression. Maybe she could.

“Not to be a bitch but you do know we're not friends right? We haven't been for years,” her tone was very matter of fact, not a hint of pain or censure.

“I-I...”

Liz sighed heavily but offered a small smile. Leaning on the door frame, dark hair draped over tanned skin, she looked achingly familiar and alien. They hadn't seen each other for years, since graduation when Liz had walked across the stage and hadn't looked back.

Bella supposed that she had probably been around that summer before they'd started college but there had been so much going on she hadn't even noticed. And that was on her, it was her fault they had fallen apart and her fault they had stayed estranged. She knew that now. When it happened she'd been stuck on an emotional roller coaster and Liz had been just another person that was treating her poorly.

She'd been such an idiot.

“Does Michael know you're here?” She shook her head and was met with another heavy sigh, “Feel like getting breakfast?”

“Yes.”

She came to upside down.

Blood rushing, head aching. Liz wasn't surprised by the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth. It was expected, just as the burning pain that accompanied every breathe and the groggy feeling as if she had just woken up from a long bad sleep. There was something important itching at the edge of her memory, something to do with why she was hanging there.

And somewhere over the ringing, there was the faint echoes of screams.

Her nostrils were filled with the smell of gasoline and it took her a minute to realize that even though she could guess that it was coming from the car, her eyes were still closed. There had been an accident. Something had been in the road. She could remember that much but everything else was a blur.

“Bella?”

Her voice cracked as she choked on the dust and blood. It hurt to move and she was fairly certain that her shoulder was dislocated. Only half aware of what she was doing, Liz unfastened her seat belt and pulled herself across the empty drivers seat.

What happened next would never be clear. Bella on the ground bleeding. The red headed creature reaching for her, its smile one of pure delight. Liz remembered screaming and raising her hand and the next thing she knew, the creature had been blown clear.

“Bella!”

She didn't move.

It was more terror controlling her actions then logic as she pulled herself free of what was left of Bella's truck. Quick fingers found a pulse and Liz felt reason start to beat at the edge of her consciousness. Aliens and federal agents had honed skills that people two times her age couldn't imagine. They were based on instinct and experience. Running. Fighting. Surviving.

It was those skills that saved her life.

“Liz!”

The creature snarled and came at her with supernatural speed, a flash and blur of red intent on killing her. It was a matter of purely reacting, not thinking. Thinking would get her killed. Her hand came up as the creature lunged.

The day passed by uneventfully without much truth passing between the two old friends. Liz talked about what it was like living in Florida and working long hours at the firm. Bella told her about living in Las Crusas with Michael. She told story after story of his sweet absent minded devotion, the romanticism that was Michael at its very core. He wasn't very good at the big things but he was great at the little stuff.

The important stuff.

As much as she didn't agree with most of Bella's life decisions, being with Michael wasn't one of them. There had been a time there, before they had fallen apart, when Liz had known that Bella would end up with one of her friends – had anticipated it with enthusiasm - but it hadn't been clear if it was going to be Michael or Kyle.

For once Bella had chosen right.

Kyle would have taken care of her but Michael made her take care of herself and that was something that Bella needed. At the time Liz had been happy for both of them, then everything had combusted. Years later, she could say that they way they'd completely fallen apart was most likely due to their age and relative immaturity (fighting aliens and vampires didn't actually do much for their emotional naivete).

Still, she didn't think she could ever forgive Bella for taking Jake's side.

Dropping the stack of pillows and blankets she turned to look at Bella where she was huddled into the corner of Liz's plush couch. She didn't say anything, just sat next to her and half listened to the news broadcast.

“I'm pregnant,” Liz started but didn't respond. That certainly explained the visit. “Please don't call Michael. I just need a chance to figure things out.”

While there had only been a very slim chance that Liz would actually follow that request, she wished that it had been made sooner. Michael was already on his way.

“Your imprint just ripped apart a leech all on her lonesome. Why am I the only one that sees the issue here?”

Leah's words washed over her as she watched the wary expressions on the packs faces. Maybe they were right to be afraid of her. After all she could still feel the power coursing through her veins. The same power that she'd used to destroy Victoria.

That power. These hands. She'd closed her fist to crack the impenetrable facade and expanded it to explode her outward in a wave of heat and violence.

The red headed beast wouldn't be returning.

“Shut up Leah,” despite the conviction in Sam's voice there was enough doubt to keep it from being an order. It bothered her that Sam's ability to give orders grated on her nerves.

“How the hell was that even possible?”

Liz almost snorted her amusement. Turned out that the communal mind wasn't as all knowing as they assumed. Unless of course they had brushed off her story as nonsense, the way Jake had. Given the all encompassing puzzlement on everyone’s face, she was going for the former rather than the latter.

“I don't know what happened but Liz had nothing to do with it.”

She felt her heart drop out of her chest and freeze. There was only belief in Jacob's words. He believed that she wasn't capable of what she'd just done. Just like he believed, beyond any doubt, that there was no such things as aliens and she was completely human.

“I'm going home.”

“Just give me a minute and we'll leave,” he was looking at her like he was going to protect her for the rest of her life. Maybe he thought he was but she didn't think he could protect her from himself.

The emotional was always more dangerous than the physical.

“No.”

“What?”

“I'm going home by myself. Without you.”

“Liz-”

“You and me,” the words were surprisingly hard to get out, “we're done.”

The fact that she was breaking up with him on a wet road in the middle of nowhere Washington added a bit of the ridiculousness to the situation. If she wasn't trying so hard not so show how much he had hurt her, she might have laughed.

“No we're not. I love you.”

“Do you?”

“Of course I do. You're my imprint.”

Somewhere inside of her she was screaming. He was a kid and she knew she was expecting too much from him but dammit she was just a kid too. For once she would have liked for it to be 'I love you' or 'I want you' not 'You're my imprint of course I love you'.

This was the way she lived. Destiny. Imprints. And her life stuck in the middle.

But then, so it goes.

“I'm sorry Jake but it doesn't work that way.”

“Liz,” it was there. In the tone of his voice. He didn't know what to do. He was out of his depth.

“You know,” Liz took a deep breath, “I could have forgiven a lot if you'd just believed me.”

In the end that was all she could really say.

“I don't trust her.”

Probably not the smartest thing to say to the significant other of said her but it was Michael and Liz knew that she didn't have to police her thoughts around him. He had his opinions, she had hers, and he didn't feel the need to mediate between the two. Besides even if Bella was carrying his kid, he still believed she could fight her own battles.

There were times that she wished that she had fallen in love with Michael rather than Max.

“I know.”

Two words. That's it and she knew that even though he understood he was letting her know that he trusted her enough to know that Liz would always be there for others. He had faith in her and he didn't have faith in anyone.

She nodded and walked back over to the where Bella was leaning on Michael's car. The couple had stayed for a week but it was time to go and all their bags were already tucked away.

“I'm sorry.”

“I know,” sometimes being an adult sucked, “but it doesn't change the way things are.'

Brown eyes filled with tears as Bella nodded. So much for time taking the sting out of things.

“I didn't know what to do.”

“There was nothing for you to do Bella,” and that was why Liz couldn't trust her. She still didn't understand that people had to live their own lives and own up to their own mistakes. “The fight was ours not yours.”

“But you were my friends.”

“And it was our mess to figure out Bella and now it's our memories to suffer through.”

Fin