Chapter Ninety Six
Sitting in the back of the ambulance, wrapped in a blanket with her legs dangling about a foot off the ground, Liz looked out over the sea of flashing lights, not truly aware of what was happening around her. She sat apart from the commotion, cocooned inside the meager warmth of the blanket provided to her during her questioning.
The strobing of the lights combined with the throbbing in her head messing with her vision, giving everything a hazy aura and casting red and blue shadows, turning familiar faces into something strange.
“Liz?”
Nothing felt familiar to her now, least of all what was inside her own skin.
“Liz?”
Her fingers tightened reflexively around the edges of the blanket as her eyes followed the stretcher being loaded into the ambulance directly behind hers.
Reaching out to touch her Max felt her jump slightly under his hand, when her eyes lifted slowly to his the deep pool of melancholy in her expressive eyes pierced his heart leaving it painfully heavy in his chest. When she looked quickly away from him it sank like a stone into the deepest darkest waters.
Dropping the blanket she slid off the tailgate, reaching out to finger one of the numerous rips in his shirt, careful not to touch the wound underneath. “You’re okay?” Liz asked softly, still not meeting his eyes. She hated that he couldn’t just get rid of his injuries. She understood but she hated it.
“It doesn’t even hurt,” Max assured her, guiding her closer, needing to hold her.
Following the path of least resistance Liz allowed herself to be enfolded in his arms. Resting her chin on his shoulder she loosely looped her arms around his waist, blinking back tears as her eyes moved again to search for that stretcher.
Watching from a short distance away Michael saw the detachment in Liz’s behavior and understood it for what it was. When her eyes met his, as if she felt him watching her, there was a moment of complete understanding that passed between them.
“Is he dead?” Maria asked, drawing his attention away from Liz.
Molding her into his side with his arm around her waist his eyes flickered over to Cal Langley. “Not yet.”
Maria pressed even closer to Michael, needing the comfort of his solid presence to deal with this latest situation. Something was going on with that Langley person. For someone that was supposedly there to protect Max and the other hybrids he sure didn’t act like it. He’d spent more time fussing over Liz then Max. Max could have bled to death before he even would have noticed. It was creepy.
They’d just gotten rid of Nesado, Liz certainly didn’t need another alien stalker posing as a middle-aged man.
What was it about middle aged “men” that these shapeshifters found so attractive? Couldn’t they pick any form they wanted?
“Sophia Rodriguez?”
Sophia jumped at the sudden booming intrusion, backing up directly into Kyle.
Kyle scowled at the FBI agent looming in front of Sophia even as he caught her to his chest, his eyes sharpening, going cold and remote like his father’s did when he was deep into his officer of the law persona.
“Hey, back off! Don’t crowd her,” Kyle said sharply, ready to call over his father if this prick didn’t take a different tone immediately. This was bullshit. Sophia was understandably shaky around so many strangers after everything else she’d experienced over the last couple of days. “She already answered a bunch of questions.”
Sophia relaxed slightly as Kyle caught the loose edge of the blanket and tucked it up under her chin, her tremors lessening at his protective stance. She felt safer with him so close. He didn’t loom over her, or try to intimidate with his physical presence, he acted like a buffer between her and everything else.
Flicking a glance over Kyle the agent turned back to Sophia, gentling his tone slightly to sound less aggressive. “You are Sophia Rodriguez correct?”
“Yes,” Sophia said, her voice sounding timid and afraid even to her own ears. Uncomfortable with the overpowering presence of the man in front of her she had to force herself not to cower away from him. Experience had taught her that having the focused attention of a man like this was never a good thing.
“I just have a few follow up questions,” Lewis said smoothly, eyeing Sophia, absorbing everything about her. “You said you don’t know how,” He paused making a point to flip through the small notebook in hands, nodding when he came across the name he was searching for. “Andres got injured. That you didn’t see his gunshot wound prior to the arrival of Miss Parker and her friends. Is that right?”
“Yes, but I tried not look at him. I wouldn’t have noticed because I never looked directly at him. I told the other officers that he must have been shot somewhere else and not around me because that I would have noticed,” Sophia answered somewhat hesitantly. She wasn’t sure what he was fishing for but she was saying as little as possible. He wasn’t asking the right questions to get the real answers and she wasn’t about to help him.
“He was,” Lewis confirmed. “We have a witness who admits to shooting him.”
“So what’s the problem?” Kyle demanded. “The guy was a killer. Who cares who shot him?”
“I just want to be clear about the events that took place,” Lewis responded automatically. “Now you said in your previous statement that you just got in the car with him?”
“No!” Sophia denied sharply. “I didn’t! He picked me up and threw me in his trunk. He taped my mouth and…..Pam got in his car. I tried to kick the backseat to warn her but…”
Satisfied he had her off balance he cut right in with another question. “Would you repeat what he told you? The part about working for Miss Parker?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Sophia said getting even more upset. Feeling Kyle tense against her she took a deep breath and tried to think before speaking. None of them had told her what to say or explained anything, truthfully she hadn’t wanted them to, but now she had no idea what was going on. What to say when she was asked. Kyle’s father hadn’t really asked questions that she had trouble answering. He’d been more concerned about her safety and personal wellbeing then anything else. “He never said that. What he did say made no sense. Like he was, I don’t know, CRAZY maybe.”
Kyle’s lips twitched which he managed to hide behind her hair. He couldn’t help but to notice that she smelled nice. Under the dirt, the wild tangle of her hair, she still smelled nice.
“Tell me what you do remember please,” Lewis intoned blandly.
“He said I was a filthy whore. That I was pretending to be something that I wasn’t. He said that he would know the one he was looking for because she would shine, she would have eyes as bright but as dark as the night sky. That the stars would move inside her showing her purity, showing her for what she was, unique in all of creation. That she alone would make it stop when he found her,” Sophia recited from memory, matching it to what had actually happened in surprise. Maybe that guy wasn’t as crazy as she’d thought after all. “Is that what you wanted to know? He was insane. He cut off pieces of Pam and put them on that thing he was building saying that she would be HAPPY with his work. He was going to do the same thing to me. Should I be concerned about his wellbeing? If Liz Parker HAD shot him, I’d thank her. Because if I’d waited for you people I’d be dead. So. No, she didn’t shoot him. He wasn’t “working” for her. She wasn’t happy. She did what she did when it was clear he meant to kill Max Evans and then start on the rest of us. She was hurt too in case you didn’t notice or care. This wasn’t a reasonable situation and we all did the best we could. We stayed alive. That’s what I have to say.”
She was trembling with anger by the end of her speech. Who did this guy think he was? He hadn’t been there. He hadn’t lived it. Why was he trying to poke at it now? It was obscene what he was suggesting with his questions.
“I didn’t suggest otherwise,” Lewis remarked pointedly, making her feel like she was somehow covering for illegal activities.
“No, what you suggested was that Liz hired this guy to….what? Kill half the class at West Roswell?” Sophia bristled ignoring Kyle who snorted softly behind her. The angrier she got the less scared she was. This was ridiculous!
“We found a press pass on that “thing” Andres built,” Lewis slipped in silkily, watching Kyle. “John Romero’s press pass.”
“Yeah, so?” Kyle asked, his voice chilly. “That doesn’t say much. The guy thought Liz was a goddess. That reporter was slandering her. You think that didn’t set him off? Do your job and investigate actual facts….evidence, you know, the stuff you were trained to pay attention to.”
“SOPHIA!”
Sophia’s eyes widened in panic. Whirling out of Kyle’s personal space she faced her frantic father.
“Sophia, you okay?” Mr. Rodriguez asked catching her by the upper arms and looking her over for injuries. Heart still pounding over all the things he’d imagined happening to her he was worried half out his mind despite finding her in one piece. “Why are you out here and not in the ambulance? I take you now to the hospital.”
“I’m okay. I don’t want to go to the hospital,” Sophia protested. “Kyle’s father…”
“Kyle? Who is this Kyle person?” Mr. Rodriguez demanded then fixed his glare on the boy standing behind his daughter. “You are Kyle?”
“Yes, sir. Kyle Valenti,” Kyle admitted stepping up and holding out his hand, unperturbed by the man’s fierce scowl. Flashing a wide grin he let his hand hang there between them.
“You a friend of Sophia’s?” Mr. Rodriguez demanded roughly.
“Yes, sir,” Kyle admitted sending a sidelong glance Sophia’s way and catching her mouth hanging open. Sophia was as normal as he could hope to find. His smile turned even more charming even as his hand slowly fell.
“You the one that got her mixed up in this mess? You the reason she disappear for days?” Mr. Rodriguez questioned, his blood pressure inching up causing his face to redden.
“Daddy!” Sophia yelped scrambling to catch up with what was going on. She didn’t fail to notice Agent Lewis start to smirk in amusement. “Stop it! Kyle’s…..Kyle’s umm I don’t know what Kyle is but don’t be mean.”
“What are you wearing?” Mr. Rodriguez demanded when the blanket slipped. Narrowed eyes shifted to Kyle who was shirtless. “Why you wearing his clothes? Who is this boy?”
“No! See…the man took my clothes…Umm let’s just go to hospital. Okay? I think I need a doctor,” Sophia sighed worried about her father’s eye, which had started to twitch alarmingly. You’d think she’d get a break just this once.
“Zan is my godson, Agent?” Cal asked knowing damn well what his name was.
“Davis,” Davis supplied glancing up from his notes.
“Right, Agent Davis. Zan’s parents died in a car accident when he was young. I’ve been looking out for him ever since. When…..Tess called and said she’d met Max, well, he was intrigued, as was I. You see, his brother and sister had not been found after the accident. I spent many years and a lot of money trying to locate them. Peck in fact works for me,” Cal drawled, bored.
“You have proof of any of this?” Davis asked.
“Of course. I’ll have my secretary fax over birth certificates and several police reports right away. Peck will supply what he has as soon as he’s out of the hospital.”
Davis nodded and tucked his pen back into his pocket, this was the second run through of the same story and until some facts were supplied he wasn’t ready to anger such a powerful man. There was plenty of time to do that if his story didn’t check out.
Zan smoothed back Ava’s hair, rubbing a soft strand against his thumb. She hadn’t spoken at all since Cal had left. He didn’t know what to do. This wasn’t his comfort zone but he’d sworn he wouldn’t leave so here he was.
“I was leaving,” Ava finally spoke.
“I know,” Zan said quietly, still playing with that one strand of hair. It kept wanting to curl now that it was damp. “I picked up you’s stuff.”
“I wanted it,” Ava admitted her eyes tearing.
“I know,” Zan agreed softly, holding onto his rage with a tight grip. He had to do this right. He had failed to protect her, the least he could do was to be here now.
He’d felt from the flashes how she’d felt about the possibility of having a child. Now there was no possibility. At least right this second.
“I’s gonna do this right. I know I fucked up before and I know why you was blazing outta here. I woulda found you, Baby Girl. I’ll always find you cause you’s the one, see?” Zan asked moving his hand down her arm.
Ava watched the trail of light following his fingers wordlessly, conflicting emotions chasing through her.
“I ain’t gonna run ‘less you make me chase you.”
Ava rolled her eyes and elbowed him feeling his breath whoosh out against her temple.
Zan just grinned pleased that she was reacting at all. He’d take the elbow and be grateful for it. She was acting more like his Baby Girl now.
“You guys okay?” Alex asked walking up silently.
“We’s fine. Keep on walking,” Zan replied, glowering at Alex darkly as he slung his arm around Ava, grunting softly as she jabbed him again for his rudeness.
“Zan! Cut it out,” Ava reprimanded him then turned back to Alex. “You want to sit?”
“Sure, but Isabel…..she’ll worry. Listen, I’m glad Zan found you. Meet me by my car and I’ll give you guys a ride. Unless you’d rather stay for another round with the Feds.”
“We’ll be there. Go get Iz,” Ava agreed with a relieved smile. Alex was super cool. The best.
Finally free of the tedious round of questions Cal leaned against the Sheriff’s SUV, just watching.
He pondered the nature of impulses.
Watching Liz’s parents pull up and rush out of their car he admitted that at least one of his impulses had turned out okay.
Seeing Jeff Parker enfold Liz in his arms, hugging her tightly to his chest while Nancy leaned over to stroke her hair he knew he couldn’t have found her better parents. Fate had smiled on him the day he’d met Claudia Parker.
Releasing Liz to her mother, Jeff walked over to Max taking in his battered appearance. “Max, are you okay? Did the paramedics take a look at you?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. They aren’t very deep,” Max answered sheepishly, not able to look Mr. Parker in the eyes after putting Liz in danger like he had.
“I’m glad you’re going to be alright. Thank you, for trying to keep Lizzy safe,” Jeff said stopping to clear his throat. When Valenti had called and roughly sketched out what had happened, he’d been overwhelmed with gratitude that Liz had someone that would look after her when he couldn’t be there. “You’re always welcome in my home, any time. From now on you eat for free.”
“Sir, thank you, really but…” Max stumbled guilt riding him for the other man’s assumption. He hadn’t done nearly enough.
He was interrupted by the arrival of his parents.
“Max! Oh My God!” Diane cried pulling Max into her arms, stretching awkwardly to better reach him.
“Mom,” Max almost whined, embarrassed.
“So, here we all are. You do seem to attract trouble,” Phillip remarked his eyes drifting over Liz taking in her scantly clad form.
Jeff stepped in front of his daughter getting ticked at the other man’s implication.
“Phillip!” Diane snapped pulling away from Max to level a hostile stare on her husband. She’d had it with him. She wasn’t going to loose her son over his father’s inability to behave like a decent person.
Liz Parker was important to her son, therefore she was important period. She intended to live up to what she’d promised Max on the phone earlier. She’d also meant what she’d said to Phillip. She would leave him if he didn’t get his act together. There was no excuse for his behavior.
“Why don’t we go and talk to the Sheriff?” Nancy suggested hoping to defuse the situation.
Liz watched the parents descend on Valenti dispassionately, hoping she could maintain her façade just long enough to get home. Then she could curl up in bed and fall apart.
“Come on,” Max said softly, urging her toward Cal’s car. “Let’s go sit while the parents hash it all out.”
Liz slid into the back of the car and sank back into the quiet darkness with a sigh. The tinted windows guaranteed them some privacy and when Max shut the door the outside world seemed very far away.
Max’s feeling of unease increased as Liz curled up by the far door, as far away from him as she could and still be inside the car.
“Liz, please don’t. Don’t slip away from me. I love you so much. I hate to see you hurting like this. Let me help,” Max implored softly feeling her distance keenly.
“How can you say that?” Liz demanded turning to look at him. “After what….After this, how can you still say that? You’re father has a point. Andres attacked you solely because of me. There was no other reason. It didn’t have anything at all to do with you. I just don’t understand how you can look at me like that, after what you saw me do to him.”
“The Special Unit chased you, fired guns at you, solely due to me. For no other reason,” Max pointed out, easing closer to her slowly. “I would have done anything I had to do for you. To keep you safe I would do anything. I would have told Pierce anything he wanted to know if only I had known the answers.”
Seeing her blink away tears before she looked away Max closed the distance between them, wrapping his arm around her and guiding her unresisting body closer. Relieved when she curled up placing her cheek against his chest, her fingers moving to play with the end of his shirt in a well remembered habit.
Being this close it was easy for him to catch bits and pieces of her thoughts, wisps of emotion more then fully formed pictures but enough.
“You’re wrong, Liz. You are beautiful,” Max murmured into her hair. “Nothing you’ve done changes that. You’re still you.”
Liz just sighed and rubbed her cheek against him slowly, taking comfort from his heat. He was so warm against her. Her fingers slipped under his shirt to touch bare skin. She wasn’t really listening to his words, soaking in the tone, the rise and fall of his voice as he talked.
“Listen to me,” Max directed tilting her face up to his. “There are a lot of beautiful things in this world, Liz. You’re the only one I wake up to see every day. Every day since I the first time I saw you. To me you’re always beautiful.”
Shaking her head she uncurled enough to bring her lips to his, caressing his mouth softly as her fingers drifted higher taking his shirt up with them.
Every nerve came to tingling life under her touch causing him to moan into her mouth and draw her closer, common sense receding like fog under the blazing heat of the sun.
As her back met the supple leather of the seat she tore herself away from his mouth long enough to liberate him from the scrapes of cloth that used to be his shirt.
“This is so…..” Liz trailed off briefly thinking about the world outside of this car.
“Don’t worry no one can see. Cal said that it’s bulletproof too,” Max panted, catching that brief thought and responding with the safety of the vehicle.
“You better hope so,” Liz whispered thinking about his father and hers.
Unable to resist she trailed her fingers over him, gasping in shock at the ripples of light shimmering under his skin.
Seeing the stunned look of awe on her face he looked down already knowing what he’d see, feeling the ripples of her touch in the vibrating hum of pleasure that streaked through him.
Stroking his hand over her shoulder and down her arm he watched her skin start to glow, trails of light following the path of his hand.
“Max?” Liz breathed in question, lifting her eyes to his.
“I told you,” Max shrugged, watching her with intensity. “You make me glow from the inside. Always. You always have. This is beautiful, Liz. It’s you. No one else has ever loved me like you do.”
Liz let out a shuddering breath as Max repositioned them, tangling their limbs, enfolding her within the heat of his body, communicating his unconditional love with every touch of their skin.
The soft glow resulting from every touch was contained within tinted windows but managed to fill more then just the space inside the vehicle.
Intertwining her fingers with his, Liz cuddled closer, her sighed avowal of love drifting directly over his ear as she gave into exhaustion.
**Okay, we’ve finally reached the end! My short story only ran ninety-six chapters. I now know I can’t do short. So I’ve learned a valuable lesson here. Thank you all for all the feedback. I’ve enjoyed this story and, for me anyway, it was pretty light. IT WAS!
Leftovers (CC, ML / Adult) (Complete)
Moderators: Itzstacie, Forum Moderators
Epilogue
While brushing her hair Liz cataloged her reflection critically.
Her shallow complexion blended perfectly with the exhausted bruising darkening her eyes, leaving her looking somewhere between a zombie and a holocaust survivor. Not exactly the look she was shooting for.
With a sigh she tossed her brush aside and lay back on the bed dreading the evening to come almost as much as she had the visit she’d paid to the hospital earlier.
Curling up on her side she closed her eyes feeling the warning twinges of another headache.
The two days since that horrific night had been extremely stressful with question after question from everyone, starting with her parents and going all the way to the FBI. She’d spent hours sitting in the Emergency room after her nose started bleeding during that first intense questioning sending her parents into a worried frenzy but lending credence to her tale.
All she’d been able to think about at the time was how many floors separated her from Andres. She knew he was in the same hospital and feared that if she tried hard enough she’d know exactly how much space separated them.
Pressing the heels of her hands to her eyes she tried to block out those thoughts and concentrate on tonight’s disaster. Dinner with Max’s parents.
The up side was that she hadn’t seen Max for more then ten minutes since Wednesday night. They had talked on the phone every day, at least twice, but it wasn’t the same. She’d wanted to see his face, touch him, while she told him about how she knew Milagro.
A shapeshifter.
It was hard to believe that she’d known Max’s protector most of her life. Not in his current form of course but that of the Hispanic man, Milagro, that had accompanied her Grandma Claudia on various digs around South America and the Southwestern United States.
After avoiding the subject of Langley by cutting Max off whenever he attempted to broach the subject Max had finally just blurted out his question early this morning on the phone, unable to wait until he could see her that night.
“Who was Milagro?” Max asked curious and hoping Liz would finally talk about how she knew Cal.
Liz paused taken by surprise, sorting through her thoughts to frame her answer. “He hung around with my Grandma Claudia. He’d go with her on digs sometimes. When they’d swing through Roswell he always spent time with me. That summer that I went on the dig with them…….he talked to me for hours, he listened too. When I got….sick, he took care of me. He made sure I wasn’t afraid when the fever got so high that I was seeing things. I loved him, he was good to me,” Liz said softly into the phone. “Then he left and never came back. After the summer that I got sick I never saw him again.”
Max heard the hurt confusion in her voice and thought he understood. “I’m sure he cared about you too. Otherwise he wouldn't have kept coming back.”
“Really? Then he cares for you too? That’s why he’s back now right?” Liz asked pointedly.
“That’s different,” Max protested. “I’m like his job or something.”
“What if….” Liz started then stopped. She couldn’t even voice it because then it might actually be true.
“What if what?” Max asked his brow wrinkling in concern when she didn’t continue.
“Nothing, forget it,” Liz brushed off, switching the phone to her other shoulder. “So he’s coming to dinner on Friday?”
“Yeah, with Zan,” Max agreed, still processing Liz’s blatant subject change. “Liz…”
“I have to go,” Liz broke in hearing her father tapping on her bedroom door. “I have to go down and talk to Agent Lewis again. My Dad’s taking me so I’ll talk to you later.”
“Don’t do it, Liz,” Max warned, knowing what that conversation was going to be about. “Going to visit Andres isn’t a good idea. We talked about that and agreed.”
“Then there’s nothing to worry about is there?” Liz asked, trying for a breezy tone but it fell flat. “Besides, they said that he….had complications and….I don’t think it’s going to be an issue. They said they just wanted to talk and…I’ve gotta go. Talk to you later okay?”
“Kay,” Max sighed knowing she was going to go if they asked a second time. They’d already discussed it, argued about it actually, and Liz had just gotten quiet giving up. Not agreeing or disagreeing with what he was saying.
Thinking about that conversation now, Liz wished that she’d listened to him. Andres flashed through her mind obscuring everything else, including worries about her connection to an alien shapeshifter.
“Liz? Max is here.”
“Thanks Mom! I’ll be right out,” Liz called back as she forced herself to her feet. Scurrying around her room, throwing on her clothes, ignoring the tight almost throbbing sensation in her left temple.
As soon as Max saw her he knew two things. The first was that she’d gone to see Andres. The second was that she had another headache.
The way she was squinting against the light in hallway was a dead giveaway.
Damn it, he knew he should have insisted on going with her today despite what his father had to say.
“Okay, I’m ready,” Liz said as she grabbed her coat.
“Honey, are you sure you should be going?” Jeff asked as he hovered in the doorway to the living room. He didn’t feel comfortable with her going out but didn’t have a really good reason to keep her home. The killer was caught and he knew he couldn’t keep her home forever but it had only been two days.
“Dad,” Liz groaned. “We talked about this. I’m only going to be gone for a little while. Dinner and right home.”
“I know,” Jeff agreed coming forward to help her put on her coat, brushing a quick kiss over her forehead. “Just….be careful. Please. For your poor old father who has a weak heart, okay?”
“You don’t have a weak heart and you aren’t old,” Liz protested, loving her father so much in that moment it was a painful restriction in her chest. Her parents had been nothing but supportive, sitting up with her after the nightmares of the last two nights. “But I will be careful. I promise.”
Watching them leave Jeff couldn’t help but to worry. Liz was the only child he’d ever have and he loved her more then anything. So much had already happened to her that he was leery of anything that might damage her further. It was extremely difficult to let her out of his sight. He found himself checking on her multiple times throughout the night, unable to sleep for fear that something might happen to her while he was asleep. He knew he wouldn’t feel comfortable until she was back home. Scrubbing a hand across his face he went to make another pot of coffee.
Glancing over at Liz as he drove Max couldn’t help but to worry. The last few days had been particularly difficult and as a result Liz looked drawn and pale under the lights of the passing vehicles.
She hadn’t spoken since he put the Jeep into gear, gazing sightlessly out of the passenger side window. This dinner had disaster written all over it. It certainly wasn’t how he wanted to spend the first amount of time longer then ten minutes with her since they’d left the backseat of that car Wednesday night.
“So how did it go today at the hospital?” Max asked breaking the silence that lay unpleasantly thick between them with the question that had been burning inside him.
“Fine, I guess,” Was Liz’s perfunctory response.
“Was Andres awake?” Max asked trying to pry more out of her. He had been strongly against her going at all but Liz hadn’t listened to his vehement protests, allowing the FBI to accompany her, another bone of contention between them.
Liz closed her eyes briefly before answering. “He opened his eyes when I started talking to him. I don’t know if he really heard me.”
The loss of blood and sudden drop of blood pressure combined with the trauma of his injuries had come very close to killing Andres. Only Langley’s intervention had prevented his immediate death but not even Langley could replace everything he’d lost.
“So what did you say to him?” Max pressed, his fingers tightening on the steering wheel reflexively as the need to hold her swamped him.
“I played my part,” Liz said her tone flat and empty of emotion as her fingers plucked at the material of her pants showing her agitated state despite her efforts at concealment. “Just like Agent Lewis wanted me to. I told him that the penance for his actions was confession.”
It soured her stomach to dwell on what she’d done. All of it. The continued use of personal, very private knowledge of Andres to maneuver him around like a pawn on a chessboard ate at her.
“I told him that if he unburdened himself the pain inside would go away,” Liz finished then turned her face back to the window. The look in Andres’ eyes would stay with her for a long time. He hadn’t needed his voice to speak to her. She knew he’d believed every word she’d told him. That he believed she’d protect him because he was hers.
“Liz, I know you don’t like this but he’s not exactly a nice person,” Max reminded her softly. This was exactly why he hadn’t wanted her to do this. She’d had a rough enough time with everything before this. Cal had warned her about over doing it, that she would need some time to recover. That overstepping her limits again so soon was dangerous.
“And why was that?” Liz asked her voice heating. “Nesado is why. He was supposed to heal him and instead he used him. He destroyed his mind, Max. He’s a person. He had a mother who loved him and a life before Nesado took all of that from him. Now I’m using him to throw the FBI a bone just like Nesado used him to hunt. It isn’t right. None of this is right.”
“You’re not using him. You’re just making him tell the truth. You’re not making him admit to crimes he didn’t commit,” Max argued pointedly.
“That’s not exactly true and you know it. I’m manipulating him into believing things that aren’t true. I can’t fix what’s been done to him, no one can. I’m having him admit to things knowing that FBI won’t believe everything and they’ll think he’s just insane. Since aliens won’t be mentioned that shifts attention away from whatever suspicions the agents are entertaining. It’s what Tess would do, it’s what Nesado himself would do,” Liz said knowing Max wouldn’t see it the way she did. He always looked for a way to excuse her behavior, in his eyes she was rarely wrong. He wasn’t exactly unbiased when it came to her.
“No, Nesado would just kill him. He wouldn’t share his pain or offer comfort. He wouldn’t feel one moment of remorse. Liz, Andres can’t be allowed to just walk free. He’s dangerous, the reason why doesn’t out weigh that fact.”
Coming to a slow rolling stop at the light Max sighed seeing Liz chewing on her lower lip, telegraphing her emotions without saying anything. Truth was Liz hadn’t been saying much about anything of importance since Wednesday.
“If Andres recovers then confessing is a good thing, not just for us either. There are families out there that need some form of closure, answers about what happened to their daughters and sisters. Andres needs help while also being kept from doing any more harm, to anyone not just to us. This accomplishes all of that. We can’t change what was done to Andres, if we could I would.”
“I know,” Liz admitted deflating quickly, slumping in her seat as the heat of her emotion left her. Leaning her head back against the seat she sighed with exhaustion. She did know, she saw the point he was trying to make and even agreed to a point, that’s why she’d done it but that didn’t mean it didn’t bother her.
She hadn’t been sleeping much and she dreaded tonight more then any interrogation she’d undergone with the FBI in the last week. Probably because she cared what Max’s parents thought of her. To say she wasn’t at her best was an understatement, she wasn’t so sure she was even thinking clearly anymore. Logic had never seemed farther away then it had the last several days. Too much was happening all at once for her to handle it all without floundering.
“I’m sorry,” Liz whispered tiredly. “I just…”
“Don’t. You don’t have to apologize. I just don’t want you beating yourself up over something that we can’t change. All we can do is the best that we can. Besides, Cal explained….” Max hastily edited his words since Liz had been curiously unwilling to delve into the Cal subject as it related to her personally. “I mean, I understand how experiencing so much of someone sort of….changes how you look at them.”
Liz smiled faintly and made a conscience effort to change her mood. “I bet you do.”
Pulling into his driveway he killed the engine and turned to her, leaning over the gearshift to kiss her. Slipping his hand into her hair, cupping the back of her head, he did what he could to take away the pain.
Feeling the rush of warmth flowing from his hand, easing the growing pressure at her temple she moved into him, unmindful of the stick shift or their location.
The tangible presence of him beside her, bleeding through her, was exactly what she’d needed. What she’d longed for in the middle of the night when she’d awakened sweating and terrified. With him she felt safe and protected, always, even after everything, especially after everything.
Her lips were heartbreakingly soft, magically capturing him in an instant and turning him inside out. The force generated by the gentle tentative brush of her tongue was breath stealing with its impact. Love for her sang through his heart, complimented by hers, as perfectly in tune as always.
Slowly breaking apart the soft wonder and rediscovery in her dark eyes brought a burst of happiness despite the pressure of the coming meal. They would be okay. He grew even more sure of that as she traced her fingers over his lips before lifting her eyes back to his and smiling softly.
“Are we going in or are we going to make a run for it?” Liz asked, half hoping that he’d choose to run.
Glancing over toward the house he paused before answering. “We’re going in.”
Sliding back into her own seat her smile grew at the reluctance in his tone. “Give me a sec to fix the damage.”
Watching her fuss with her hair, touch up her lip gloss, and tug at her clothes Max realized how nervous she was about tonight. It reminded him of Cal’s warning that she needed to be careful, limit stress and not over do it, to give her body time to recover from the ordeal it had been put through. She simply wasn’t designed to weld the power inherent in the seal, it was dangerous for her to do so and her continued migraines worried him.
“Okay, let’s go,” Liz said zipping her purse shut, satisfied that she had her war face on. She was using it an awful lot lately and it was wearing a little thin.
While brushing her hair Liz cataloged her reflection critically.
Her shallow complexion blended perfectly with the exhausted bruising darkening her eyes, leaving her looking somewhere between a zombie and a holocaust survivor. Not exactly the look she was shooting for.
With a sigh she tossed her brush aside and lay back on the bed dreading the evening to come almost as much as she had the visit she’d paid to the hospital earlier.
Curling up on her side she closed her eyes feeling the warning twinges of another headache.
The two days since that horrific night had been extremely stressful with question after question from everyone, starting with her parents and going all the way to the FBI. She’d spent hours sitting in the Emergency room after her nose started bleeding during that first intense questioning sending her parents into a worried frenzy but lending credence to her tale.
All she’d been able to think about at the time was how many floors separated her from Andres. She knew he was in the same hospital and feared that if she tried hard enough she’d know exactly how much space separated them.
Pressing the heels of her hands to her eyes she tried to block out those thoughts and concentrate on tonight’s disaster. Dinner with Max’s parents.
The up side was that she hadn’t seen Max for more then ten minutes since Wednesday night. They had talked on the phone every day, at least twice, but it wasn’t the same. She’d wanted to see his face, touch him, while she told him about how she knew Milagro.
A shapeshifter.
It was hard to believe that she’d known Max’s protector most of her life. Not in his current form of course but that of the Hispanic man, Milagro, that had accompanied her Grandma Claudia on various digs around South America and the Southwestern United States.
After avoiding the subject of Langley by cutting Max off whenever he attempted to broach the subject Max had finally just blurted out his question early this morning on the phone, unable to wait until he could see her that night.
“Who was Milagro?” Max asked curious and hoping Liz would finally talk about how she knew Cal.
Liz paused taken by surprise, sorting through her thoughts to frame her answer. “He hung around with my Grandma Claudia. He’d go with her on digs sometimes. When they’d swing through Roswell he always spent time with me. That summer that I went on the dig with them…….he talked to me for hours, he listened too. When I got….sick, he took care of me. He made sure I wasn’t afraid when the fever got so high that I was seeing things. I loved him, he was good to me,” Liz said softly into the phone. “Then he left and never came back. After the summer that I got sick I never saw him again.”
Max heard the hurt confusion in her voice and thought he understood. “I’m sure he cared about you too. Otherwise he wouldn't have kept coming back.”
“Really? Then he cares for you too? That’s why he’s back now right?” Liz asked pointedly.
“That’s different,” Max protested. “I’m like his job or something.”
“What if….” Liz started then stopped. She couldn’t even voice it because then it might actually be true.
“What if what?” Max asked his brow wrinkling in concern when she didn’t continue.
“Nothing, forget it,” Liz brushed off, switching the phone to her other shoulder. “So he’s coming to dinner on Friday?”
“Yeah, with Zan,” Max agreed, still processing Liz’s blatant subject change. “Liz…”
“I have to go,” Liz broke in hearing her father tapping on her bedroom door. “I have to go down and talk to Agent Lewis again. My Dad’s taking me so I’ll talk to you later.”
“Don’t do it, Liz,” Max warned, knowing what that conversation was going to be about. “Going to visit Andres isn’t a good idea. We talked about that and agreed.”
“Then there’s nothing to worry about is there?” Liz asked, trying for a breezy tone but it fell flat. “Besides, they said that he….had complications and….I don’t think it’s going to be an issue. They said they just wanted to talk and…I’ve gotta go. Talk to you later okay?”
“Kay,” Max sighed knowing she was going to go if they asked a second time. They’d already discussed it, argued about it actually, and Liz had just gotten quiet giving up. Not agreeing or disagreeing with what he was saying.
Thinking about that conversation now, Liz wished that she’d listened to him. Andres flashed through her mind obscuring everything else, including worries about her connection to an alien shapeshifter.
“Liz? Max is here.”
“Thanks Mom! I’ll be right out,” Liz called back as she forced herself to her feet. Scurrying around her room, throwing on her clothes, ignoring the tight almost throbbing sensation in her left temple.
As soon as Max saw her he knew two things. The first was that she’d gone to see Andres. The second was that she had another headache.
The way she was squinting against the light in hallway was a dead giveaway.
Damn it, he knew he should have insisted on going with her today despite what his father had to say.
“Okay, I’m ready,” Liz said as she grabbed her coat.
“Honey, are you sure you should be going?” Jeff asked as he hovered in the doorway to the living room. He didn’t feel comfortable with her going out but didn’t have a really good reason to keep her home. The killer was caught and he knew he couldn’t keep her home forever but it had only been two days.
“Dad,” Liz groaned. “We talked about this. I’m only going to be gone for a little while. Dinner and right home.”
“I know,” Jeff agreed coming forward to help her put on her coat, brushing a quick kiss over her forehead. “Just….be careful. Please. For your poor old father who has a weak heart, okay?”
“You don’t have a weak heart and you aren’t old,” Liz protested, loving her father so much in that moment it was a painful restriction in her chest. Her parents had been nothing but supportive, sitting up with her after the nightmares of the last two nights. “But I will be careful. I promise.”
Watching them leave Jeff couldn’t help but to worry. Liz was the only child he’d ever have and he loved her more then anything. So much had already happened to her that he was leery of anything that might damage her further. It was extremely difficult to let her out of his sight. He found himself checking on her multiple times throughout the night, unable to sleep for fear that something might happen to her while he was asleep. He knew he wouldn’t feel comfortable until she was back home. Scrubbing a hand across his face he went to make another pot of coffee.
Glancing over at Liz as he drove Max couldn’t help but to worry. The last few days had been particularly difficult and as a result Liz looked drawn and pale under the lights of the passing vehicles.
She hadn’t spoken since he put the Jeep into gear, gazing sightlessly out of the passenger side window. This dinner had disaster written all over it. It certainly wasn’t how he wanted to spend the first amount of time longer then ten minutes with her since they’d left the backseat of that car Wednesday night.
“So how did it go today at the hospital?” Max asked breaking the silence that lay unpleasantly thick between them with the question that had been burning inside him.
“Fine, I guess,” Was Liz’s perfunctory response.
“Was Andres awake?” Max asked trying to pry more out of her. He had been strongly against her going at all but Liz hadn’t listened to his vehement protests, allowing the FBI to accompany her, another bone of contention between them.
Liz closed her eyes briefly before answering. “He opened his eyes when I started talking to him. I don’t know if he really heard me.”
The loss of blood and sudden drop of blood pressure combined with the trauma of his injuries had come very close to killing Andres. Only Langley’s intervention had prevented his immediate death but not even Langley could replace everything he’d lost.
“So what did you say to him?” Max pressed, his fingers tightening on the steering wheel reflexively as the need to hold her swamped him.
“I played my part,” Liz said her tone flat and empty of emotion as her fingers plucked at the material of her pants showing her agitated state despite her efforts at concealment. “Just like Agent Lewis wanted me to. I told him that the penance for his actions was confession.”
It soured her stomach to dwell on what she’d done. All of it. The continued use of personal, very private knowledge of Andres to maneuver him around like a pawn on a chessboard ate at her.
“I told him that if he unburdened himself the pain inside would go away,” Liz finished then turned her face back to the window. The look in Andres’ eyes would stay with her for a long time. He hadn’t needed his voice to speak to her. She knew he’d believed every word she’d told him. That he believed she’d protect him because he was hers.
“Liz, I know you don’t like this but he’s not exactly a nice person,” Max reminded her softly. This was exactly why he hadn’t wanted her to do this. She’d had a rough enough time with everything before this. Cal had warned her about over doing it, that she would need some time to recover. That overstepping her limits again so soon was dangerous.
“And why was that?” Liz asked her voice heating. “Nesado is why. He was supposed to heal him and instead he used him. He destroyed his mind, Max. He’s a person. He had a mother who loved him and a life before Nesado took all of that from him. Now I’m using him to throw the FBI a bone just like Nesado used him to hunt. It isn’t right. None of this is right.”
“You’re not using him. You’re just making him tell the truth. You’re not making him admit to crimes he didn’t commit,” Max argued pointedly.
“That’s not exactly true and you know it. I’m manipulating him into believing things that aren’t true. I can’t fix what’s been done to him, no one can. I’m having him admit to things knowing that FBI won’t believe everything and they’ll think he’s just insane. Since aliens won’t be mentioned that shifts attention away from whatever suspicions the agents are entertaining. It’s what Tess would do, it’s what Nesado himself would do,” Liz said knowing Max wouldn’t see it the way she did. He always looked for a way to excuse her behavior, in his eyes she was rarely wrong. He wasn’t exactly unbiased when it came to her.
“No, Nesado would just kill him. He wouldn’t share his pain or offer comfort. He wouldn’t feel one moment of remorse. Liz, Andres can’t be allowed to just walk free. He’s dangerous, the reason why doesn’t out weigh that fact.”
Coming to a slow rolling stop at the light Max sighed seeing Liz chewing on her lower lip, telegraphing her emotions without saying anything. Truth was Liz hadn’t been saying much about anything of importance since Wednesday.
“If Andres recovers then confessing is a good thing, not just for us either. There are families out there that need some form of closure, answers about what happened to their daughters and sisters. Andres needs help while also being kept from doing any more harm, to anyone not just to us. This accomplishes all of that. We can’t change what was done to Andres, if we could I would.”
“I know,” Liz admitted deflating quickly, slumping in her seat as the heat of her emotion left her. Leaning her head back against the seat she sighed with exhaustion. She did know, she saw the point he was trying to make and even agreed to a point, that’s why she’d done it but that didn’t mean it didn’t bother her.
She hadn’t been sleeping much and she dreaded tonight more then any interrogation she’d undergone with the FBI in the last week. Probably because she cared what Max’s parents thought of her. To say she wasn’t at her best was an understatement, she wasn’t so sure she was even thinking clearly anymore. Logic had never seemed farther away then it had the last several days. Too much was happening all at once for her to handle it all without floundering.
“I’m sorry,” Liz whispered tiredly. “I just…”
“Don’t. You don’t have to apologize. I just don’t want you beating yourself up over something that we can’t change. All we can do is the best that we can. Besides, Cal explained….” Max hastily edited his words since Liz had been curiously unwilling to delve into the Cal subject as it related to her personally. “I mean, I understand how experiencing so much of someone sort of….changes how you look at them.”
Liz smiled faintly and made a conscience effort to change her mood. “I bet you do.”
Pulling into his driveway he killed the engine and turned to her, leaning over the gearshift to kiss her. Slipping his hand into her hair, cupping the back of her head, he did what he could to take away the pain.
Feeling the rush of warmth flowing from his hand, easing the growing pressure at her temple she moved into him, unmindful of the stick shift or their location.
The tangible presence of him beside her, bleeding through her, was exactly what she’d needed. What she’d longed for in the middle of the night when she’d awakened sweating and terrified. With him she felt safe and protected, always, even after everything, especially after everything.
Her lips were heartbreakingly soft, magically capturing him in an instant and turning him inside out. The force generated by the gentle tentative brush of her tongue was breath stealing with its impact. Love for her sang through his heart, complimented by hers, as perfectly in tune as always.
Slowly breaking apart the soft wonder and rediscovery in her dark eyes brought a burst of happiness despite the pressure of the coming meal. They would be okay. He grew even more sure of that as she traced her fingers over his lips before lifting her eyes back to his and smiling softly.
“Are we going in or are we going to make a run for it?” Liz asked, half hoping that he’d choose to run.
Glancing over toward the house he paused before answering. “We’re going in.”
Sliding back into her own seat her smile grew at the reluctance in his tone. “Give me a sec to fix the damage.”
Watching her fuss with her hair, touch up her lip gloss, and tug at her clothes Max realized how nervous she was about tonight. It reminded him of Cal’s warning that she needed to be careful, limit stress and not over do it, to give her body time to recover from the ordeal it had been put through. She simply wasn’t designed to weld the power inherent in the seal, it was dangerous for her to do so and her continued migraines worried him.
“Okay, let’s go,” Liz said zipping her purse shut, satisfied that she had her war face on. She was using it an awful lot lately and it was wearing a little thin.
Part 2
Taking note of Liz’s appearance as they entered Zan smirked knowingly increasing Liz’s nervousness despite the warmth of Diane’s welcome.
Polite greetings turned into painfully polite small talk where nothing was really said and everyone ignored the issues hanging in the air.
Forty-five minutes later had everyone sitting down to dinner.
Liz sat on Max’s right her face a polite mask. Isabel looked tense but covered it by folding her napkin with carefully precise movements. Zan sat across from Liz looking bored with Cal on his left directly across from Max. His father and mother framed each end of the table and already things were going down hill.
“This looks really good, Mrs. Evans,” Liz chirped feeling queasy already as she looked at the various dishes, none of which she could identify. She kept her eyes lowered so she wouldn’t see the focused stare of Phillip Evans, feeling it was bad enough.
“So, are you planning on staying here in Roswell?” Phillip directed the question to Zan as if he hadn’t heard Liz speak.
Cal’s lips tightened briefly as he listened to Zan respond his opinion of Phillip Evans sinking even lower then it had been. He made no attempt to eat or give the appearance of conforming to the stage already set for them. If this person wasn’t going to follow the script politeness dictated neither was he.
“The resemblance to Max is…..amazing,” Phillip commented before taking a sip of water, eyes shifting to Langley.
“Yes,” Cal agreed, an arrogant smirk playing over his mouth. “You’d never think they were almost a year apart in age. Would you?”
Watching Phillip turn away to engage Zan in conversation Cal sat back to observe. This human, Phillip Evans, thought he was slick. A lawyer with his own practice in rising demand, so he added a second office, with the perfect family. A wife and two kids a boy and a girl, both of them attractive and bright, nice house in a good neighborhood.
But that wasn’t the real story.
This wasn’t the real person at all. The real person was a whole lot darker.
Max sat quietly watching his father and Zan dominate the conversation, getting along a whole lot better then he and his father ever did, and wondered what his father was up to. This was how he was when he brought a client home. Pretend to get to know them, pretending to actually care about who they were, while looking for the perfect angle. The angle that would give him the advantage.
Liz was just thankful that she was the next best thing to invisible and would be happy if it remained that way. Unfortunately, she didn’t get her wish.
“So, Liz, What about you? What are your plans for your future?” Phillip asked startling her and most causing her to knock over her water glass.
“Umm I plan on going to collage after high school. I love science so…” Liz trailed off sensing he wasn’t really listening even though he was watching her with an unblinking gaze.
Taking her ice cold hand in his under the table Max spoke up. “She’s being modest. She’s on the honor roll and has already been looking into scholarships. She throws off the grading curve in every science class we’ve taken.”
Isabel smiled at Max’s automatic recital of Liz’s scholastic achievements. The shared look that passed between them shimmered with unspoken communication so typical of them.
“Science is an interesting choice for a girl your age, Liz. What made you choose that subject?” Diane asked interested.
“I like figuring things out. That’s what science is all about,” Liz explained softly, still uncomfortable but feeling the supportive squeeze of Max’s fingers. “There are so many mysteries just waiting to be solved. Science gives you the framework to solve them.”
The besotted look on Max’s face made Phillip realize that he had to do something quick or Max’s future would wrapped up with this….girl. She just wasn’t suitable. She wasn’t the sort that he’d envisioned for his son. She was the type you dated then traded up from.
While the conversation continued through dinner Phillip noticed something interesting. There was a curious intensity to the way Zan watched Liz when he thought no one was watching that gave him a possible solution to his problem.
“Now that you’ve found Max and Isabel…” Diane started pausing to steady the beginnings of a tremor in her voice. “What do you plan to do?”
Cal blinked forcing his attention away from Phillip, softening his tone accordingly. “Nothing extreme. I just needed to make sure that they were cared for. I would like to get to know them, as would Zan. I was…..close to their parents and feel it is my duty to….make sure that they have the things that they need. I told the Sheriff that I had no plans to dispute custody at this late date. I just want to be a part of their life.”
“What does that mean? A part of their life?” Phillip asked caustically. “They have a life and everything they need. Max is planning on attending law school…I don’t see how you fit into that.”
“Phillip!” Diane gasp, flushing a dull shade of red in mortification.
“It means that I have a responsibility to ensure the wellbeing of Max and Isabel,” Cal replied firmly, his innate dislike of this man growing with every word out of his mouth. “Their parents may be dead but they entrusted me with certain responsibilities that I will fulfil. I had no intention of disrupting their lives unless their environment is not suitable. If it should be discovered that their environment is abusive in some way then of course that couldn’t be tolerated.”
Phillip flushed with anger at the implied threat he perceived in Langley’s tone.
“Of course you would be concerned,” Diane broke in before her husband could comment. “After what happened to their birth parents….it’s understandable.”
“Yes, it was tragic,” Cal agreed, noting how Isabel looked down at the table unconsciously shifting closer to Max. “I’ll probably never know exactly what happened but at least all of their children survived. That’s something to be thankful for. I wasn’t sure of that for many years even though I was hopeful.”
“It is interesting how Max and Isabel wound up so far from the scene of the accident,” Phillip interjected.
“It is a mystery,” Cal agreed. “I’ve had detectives searching for the answer to that for years, since they weren’t found at the scene of the accident actually, and they’ve turned up nothing. Finding them was an incredible twist of fate. To see that they’re okay is a relief.”
The part of her that had lived in terror of someone coming and taking her children from her relaxed at his words. Diane breathed freely for the first time all evening. Her children meant the world to her loosing them was unthinkable, unacceptable, for any reason.
After that the conversation flowed easier some of the horrible tension dissipating.
Phillip waited until dinner was over and everyone was moving into the living room to make his move. Zan’s natural tendency to lag behind played into his plans perfectly.
“Zan? Can I talk to you for a moment?” Phillip asked quietly.
“Yah,” Zan assented interested in what Max’s pops had to say. He was tired of this playing. He’d take a straight up street brawl to this “polite” conversation anytime. The sooner he got outta here and back to the Valenti’s and Ava the better.
“You seem to like Liz fairly well,” Phillip commented casually.
“She’s mad fine for sure,” Zan drawled already seeing where this was going but he wanted the other man to say it.
“You seem more like her type. You ever try to make a play for her?” Phillip asked banking on the wandering male eye to help him out here. That Liz was attractive wasn’t in question. That wasn’t the issue. He thought he understood Zan in a way he’d never understood his own son.
“Her type? You sure you’s not seeing things? She’s wit Max. They’s tight ya know?” Zan stated eyeing the other man and trying to hide his growing anger. “Or did you’s miss they’s entrance? Max is bonkers ova her an he gots no problem marking his territory.”
“Surely you could change that if you put your mind to it,” Phillip countered with a benign smile.
“I ain't gonna put my mind ta it,” Zan snapped, his brows drawing together over stormy eyes. This sick ass motherfucker thought he was the kind of trash that would get a little trim offa his brother’s girl. Pissed off and not bothering to hide it Zan laid it out. “You’s fuckin’ whack ass crazy messin’ where you ain’t got no business. Keep you’s pervy eyes offa her and don’t botha ta even think bout her got it? I ain't got no love for you’s and I will fuck you up an not feel nothin’ but good a’bout it. Maxie ain’t gonna go for this shit.”
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” Phillip backpedaled.
“On you’s end hell ya,” Zan agreed and stormed off knocking Phillip back with his shoulder on the way by. “Yo! Cal! We’s blazin.”
Diane stopped mid-sentence at Zan’s gruff declaration. “You’re leaving? So soon?”
“Yah, thanks for hav’in me and all but I’s gotta see ta my Baby Girl. ‘Sides I don’t wanna have ta tussle wit a dude twice my age afta such a great meal,” Zan said shooting Max’s father a dark glower. “Max, you betta take Liz home now too. Her pops will freak if she don’t get home.”
Max looked from Zan’s obvious fury to his father and stood, drawing Liz up with him. “I think that’s a good idea. Mom, don’t wait up.”
Isabel fled right on their heels seeing the confrontation brewing between her parents.
“What did you do?” Diane demanded.
“Nothing, I don’t know what Zan’s problem was,” Phillip deflected. “I think he’s a little…”
“Stop! Just stop it! You knew how important this was to me! To Max! And still you just….”
Phillip sighed and sank onto the couch wondering how long it would be before she wound down.
Cal pulled into the Valenti’s driveway and looked over at a still seething Zan with amusement. “Got your feathers all ruffled huh?”
“Max’s cool but his Pops is fuckin’ whacked. That fuckin’ perv betta step offa me or we’s got problems,” Zan barked still furious over Phillip’s assumptions about him. Not to mention his sick ass suggestions about Liz.
“I don’t think he’ll be a problem,” Cal assured him smoothly.
“So,” Liz said breaking the silence that had settled between them since he’d cut the Jeep’s engine.
“Yeah,” Max agreed.
“That was…..fun,” Liz continued weakly.
“I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry about tonight,” Max groaned rubbing the back of his neck, which was tight with tension.
“It’s okay,” Liz said then continued at Max’s sharp look. “It wasn’t your fault. He just doesn’t like me. There’s no law saying that everyone has to, you know. As long as you do then…That’s what’s important.”
Max didn’t answer still stewing over his father’s behavior.
“Coming up?” Liz asked softly.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m coming up. Let’s go.”
Finishing out the night on the Parker’s couch watching a movie sounded a lot better then going home.
Polite greetings turned into painfully polite small talk where nothing was really said and everyone ignored the issues hanging in the air.
Forty-five minutes later had everyone sitting down to dinner.
Liz sat on Max’s right her face a polite mask. Isabel looked tense but covered it by folding her napkin with carefully precise movements. Zan sat across from Liz looking bored with Cal on his left directly across from Max. His father and mother framed each end of the table and already things were going down hill.
“This looks really good, Mrs. Evans,” Liz chirped feeling queasy already as she looked at the various dishes, none of which she could identify. She kept her eyes lowered so she wouldn’t see the focused stare of Phillip Evans, feeling it was bad enough.
“So, are you planning on staying here in Roswell?” Phillip directed the question to Zan as if he hadn’t heard Liz speak.
Cal’s lips tightened briefly as he listened to Zan respond his opinion of Phillip Evans sinking even lower then it had been. He made no attempt to eat or give the appearance of conforming to the stage already set for them. If this person wasn’t going to follow the script politeness dictated neither was he.
“The resemblance to Max is…..amazing,” Phillip commented before taking a sip of water, eyes shifting to Langley.
“Yes,” Cal agreed, an arrogant smirk playing over his mouth. “You’d never think they were almost a year apart in age. Would you?”
Watching Phillip turn away to engage Zan in conversation Cal sat back to observe. This human, Phillip Evans, thought he was slick. A lawyer with his own practice in rising demand, so he added a second office, with the perfect family. A wife and two kids a boy and a girl, both of them attractive and bright, nice house in a good neighborhood.
But that wasn’t the real story.
This wasn’t the real person at all. The real person was a whole lot darker.
Max sat quietly watching his father and Zan dominate the conversation, getting along a whole lot better then he and his father ever did, and wondered what his father was up to. This was how he was when he brought a client home. Pretend to get to know them, pretending to actually care about who they were, while looking for the perfect angle. The angle that would give him the advantage.
Liz was just thankful that she was the next best thing to invisible and would be happy if it remained that way. Unfortunately, she didn’t get her wish.
“So, Liz, What about you? What are your plans for your future?” Phillip asked startling her and most causing her to knock over her water glass.
“Umm I plan on going to collage after high school. I love science so…” Liz trailed off sensing he wasn’t really listening even though he was watching her with an unblinking gaze.
Taking her ice cold hand in his under the table Max spoke up. “She’s being modest. She’s on the honor roll and has already been looking into scholarships. She throws off the grading curve in every science class we’ve taken.”
Isabel smiled at Max’s automatic recital of Liz’s scholastic achievements. The shared look that passed between them shimmered with unspoken communication so typical of them.
“Science is an interesting choice for a girl your age, Liz. What made you choose that subject?” Diane asked interested.
“I like figuring things out. That’s what science is all about,” Liz explained softly, still uncomfortable but feeling the supportive squeeze of Max’s fingers. “There are so many mysteries just waiting to be solved. Science gives you the framework to solve them.”
The besotted look on Max’s face made Phillip realize that he had to do something quick or Max’s future would wrapped up with this….girl. She just wasn’t suitable. She wasn’t the sort that he’d envisioned for his son. She was the type you dated then traded up from.
While the conversation continued through dinner Phillip noticed something interesting. There was a curious intensity to the way Zan watched Liz when he thought no one was watching that gave him a possible solution to his problem.
“Now that you’ve found Max and Isabel…” Diane started pausing to steady the beginnings of a tremor in her voice. “What do you plan to do?”
Cal blinked forcing his attention away from Phillip, softening his tone accordingly. “Nothing extreme. I just needed to make sure that they were cared for. I would like to get to know them, as would Zan. I was…..close to their parents and feel it is my duty to….make sure that they have the things that they need. I told the Sheriff that I had no plans to dispute custody at this late date. I just want to be a part of their life.”
“What does that mean? A part of their life?” Phillip asked caustically. “They have a life and everything they need. Max is planning on attending law school…I don’t see how you fit into that.”
“Phillip!” Diane gasp, flushing a dull shade of red in mortification.
“It means that I have a responsibility to ensure the wellbeing of Max and Isabel,” Cal replied firmly, his innate dislike of this man growing with every word out of his mouth. “Their parents may be dead but they entrusted me with certain responsibilities that I will fulfil. I had no intention of disrupting their lives unless their environment is not suitable. If it should be discovered that their environment is abusive in some way then of course that couldn’t be tolerated.”
Phillip flushed with anger at the implied threat he perceived in Langley’s tone.
“Of course you would be concerned,” Diane broke in before her husband could comment. “After what happened to their birth parents….it’s understandable.”
“Yes, it was tragic,” Cal agreed, noting how Isabel looked down at the table unconsciously shifting closer to Max. “I’ll probably never know exactly what happened but at least all of their children survived. That’s something to be thankful for. I wasn’t sure of that for many years even though I was hopeful.”
“It is interesting how Max and Isabel wound up so far from the scene of the accident,” Phillip interjected.
“It is a mystery,” Cal agreed. “I’ve had detectives searching for the answer to that for years, since they weren’t found at the scene of the accident actually, and they’ve turned up nothing. Finding them was an incredible twist of fate. To see that they’re okay is a relief.”
The part of her that had lived in terror of someone coming and taking her children from her relaxed at his words. Diane breathed freely for the first time all evening. Her children meant the world to her loosing them was unthinkable, unacceptable, for any reason.
After that the conversation flowed easier some of the horrible tension dissipating.
Phillip waited until dinner was over and everyone was moving into the living room to make his move. Zan’s natural tendency to lag behind played into his plans perfectly.
“Zan? Can I talk to you for a moment?” Phillip asked quietly.
“Yah,” Zan assented interested in what Max’s pops had to say. He was tired of this playing. He’d take a straight up street brawl to this “polite” conversation anytime. The sooner he got outta here and back to the Valenti’s and Ava the better.
“You seem to like Liz fairly well,” Phillip commented casually.
“She’s mad fine for sure,” Zan drawled already seeing where this was going but he wanted the other man to say it.
“You seem more like her type. You ever try to make a play for her?” Phillip asked banking on the wandering male eye to help him out here. That Liz was attractive wasn’t in question. That wasn’t the issue. He thought he understood Zan in a way he’d never understood his own son.
“Her type? You sure you’s not seeing things? She’s wit Max. They’s tight ya know?” Zan stated eyeing the other man and trying to hide his growing anger. “Or did you’s miss they’s entrance? Max is bonkers ova her an he gots no problem marking his territory.”
“Surely you could change that if you put your mind to it,” Phillip countered with a benign smile.
“I ain't gonna put my mind ta it,” Zan snapped, his brows drawing together over stormy eyes. This sick ass motherfucker thought he was the kind of trash that would get a little trim offa his brother’s girl. Pissed off and not bothering to hide it Zan laid it out. “You’s fuckin’ whack ass crazy messin’ where you ain’t got no business. Keep you’s pervy eyes offa her and don’t botha ta even think bout her got it? I ain't got no love for you’s and I will fuck you up an not feel nothin’ but good a’bout it. Maxie ain’t gonna go for this shit.”
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” Phillip backpedaled.
“On you’s end hell ya,” Zan agreed and stormed off knocking Phillip back with his shoulder on the way by. “Yo! Cal! We’s blazin.”
Diane stopped mid-sentence at Zan’s gruff declaration. “You’re leaving? So soon?”
“Yah, thanks for hav’in me and all but I’s gotta see ta my Baby Girl. ‘Sides I don’t wanna have ta tussle wit a dude twice my age afta such a great meal,” Zan said shooting Max’s father a dark glower. “Max, you betta take Liz home now too. Her pops will freak if she don’t get home.”
Max looked from Zan’s obvious fury to his father and stood, drawing Liz up with him. “I think that’s a good idea. Mom, don’t wait up.”
Isabel fled right on their heels seeing the confrontation brewing between her parents.
“What did you do?” Diane demanded.
“Nothing, I don’t know what Zan’s problem was,” Phillip deflected. “I think he’s a little…”
“Stop! Just stop it! You knew how important this was to me! To Max! And still you just….”
Phillip sighed and sank onto the couch wondering how long it would be before she wound down.
Cal pulled into the Valenti’s driveway and looked over at a still seething Zan with amusement. “Got your feathers all ruffled huh?”
“Max’s cool but his Pops is fuckin’ whacked. That fuckin’ perv betta step offa me or we’s got problems,” Zan barked still furious over Phillip’s assumptions about him. Not to mention his sick ass suggestions about Liz.
“I don’t think he’ll be a problem,” Cal assured him smoothly.
“So,” Liz said breaking the silence that had settled between them since he’d cut the Jeep’s engine.
“Yeah,” Max agreed.
“That was…..fun,” Liz continued weakly.
“I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry about tonight,” Max groaned rubbing the back of his neck, which was tight with tension.
“It’s okay,” Liz said then continued at Max’s sharp look. “It wasn’t your fault. He just doesn’t like me. There’s no law saying that everyone has to, you know. As long as you do then…That’s what’s important.”
Max didn’t answer still stewing over his father’s behavior.
“Coming up?” Liz asked softly.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m coming up. Let’s go.”
Finishing out the night on the Parker’s couch watching a movie sounded a lot better then going home.
The sequel to this story, Leftovers, is a go. It's titled Invasive Maneuvers....I just don't know WHEN I'll start it.
Because I am going to work on World In My Eyes until I finish it. I really like that fic, it just calls to me I guess, and I have some good ideas for it sooooo it will get finished. Also, it didn't get deleted due to lack of feedback or bumping. It was just a glitch in the board so no one's at fault. It just as easily could have been this fic it just worked out that it was that one.
I'll compromise and say that I'll try to repost WIME when I have the time. In the meantime I'll write and post new parts at the Boardello. It's just that I've been working insane hours, I've got this new puppy that likes his attention, my grandmother is coming up for the summer, and I've still got my house and lawn etc to care for so I'm strapped for time in a major way. The good news is I nixed the guy that was eating up my time so maybe it'll all even out. We'll see.
I may also add more epilogues onto this story depending on where I decide Invasive Maneuvers should pick up. Again, we'll see.
I'm not disappearing or giving up on writting my fics. I'll be around.
Because I am going to work on World In My Eyes until I finish it. I really like that fic, it just calls to me I guess, and I have some good ideas for it sooooo it will get finished. Also, it didn't get deleted due to lack of feedback or bumping. It was just a glitch in the board so no one's at fault. It just as easily could have been this fic it just worked out that it was that one.
I'll compromise and say that I'll try to repost WIME when I have the time. In the meantime I'll write and post new parts at the Boardello. It's just that I've been working insane hours, I've got this new puppy that likes his attention, my grandmother is coming up for the summer, and I've still got my house and lawn etc to care for so I'm strapped for time in a major way. The good news is I nixed the guy that was eating up my time so maybe it'll all even out. We'll see.
I may also add more epilogues onto this story depending on where I decide Invasive Maneuvers should pick up. Again, we'll see.
I'm not disappearing or giving up on writting my fics. I'll be around.
