The Fate of Destiny Part 113
Despite being mad at her, Gabriel had let her sleep in his bed after all. He had called in sick so that he could spend some time with her while she was obviously upset. She had woken him in the middle of the night to make out and so it was in the still of the night they lay awake and quiet. Beth rolled onto her side, tucking the pillow under her chin. Gabriel stayed on his back and just ran a finger down her back. She wasn't ready and he understood. All his thoughts were of her, what little seeped into her mind. She had been sleeping in his bed on and off for a week and he had always stopped when she asked him to. Tonight she had really wanted to but he knew she wasn't really ready. It made a little smile appear on her face when she remembered what Will had said about guys who knew when to stop their girls.
His lips felt so good on her spine but he kept his bodily distance. The last time she had slept in a boy's bed so regularly, she had been thirteen and hiding in Joey's room. They were broken up but still friends. Still kissing from time to time but just friends. When they had lain down together, kissing it had been okay but later they laid alone together watching a movie when his body got away from him in a scene with no girls. Thus sparked the beginning of Joey's confusion. Was it the girl in his bed or the guys on TV that had created his erection?
With Gabriel she knew she had caused it. It made her feel powerful that she could create that reaction but bad because she didn't do anything for him. Sometimes she felt like she was flying but either he just lay there or excused himself to the bathroom. Tonight he was just lying there, still touching her… still wanting her but willing to let her alone. "You don't get frustrated with me?"
"Huh?"
"Do I frustrate you?" She rolled over to look at him.
"Do I get a little frustrated? Yes, but not because you won't. I understand that. I respect that. My frustration is me that I can't seem to control this thing." He gestured to his tent. "It's more important that you trust me than if I get off."
"When you go into the bathroom, what do you do?"
"Did someone not get potty-trained?"
"I mean… like the night before last. We were fooling around and then you went to the bathroom."
"I know." Gabriel shifted so that his erection wasn't so prominent. "I take care of it."
"How?"
"Beth." He groaned and half hid his face in the pillow. "I touch myself."
"Show me."
"Show?" His breath caught.
"Only if you don't mind."
"Mind?" He almost laughed to himself. "I'm just not sure you really want to see that."
"Well… what do you think about when you do it?"
"You." She rolled toward him to listen to his deep voice. "That day we were fooling around and you came just from me kissing your chest. I remember the look on your face. That alone gets me close. I think about how you taste. Mostly I think about your eyes. Every emotion and thought is inside those hazel eyes. It hits me deep."
She pulled the blanket away to see the bulge in his shorts. "Can I see it?" He didn't say no or nod. Just watched her hand as it started at his collarbone and let it fall along the contours of his body to the top of his shorts where his pubic hair poked out. During that time, his erection had grown to full length. Her fingers danced along the bulge. His breathing picked up. When she pulled him out, he swallowed thickly. He let her explore but soon placed his hand over hers, guiding her gently until she had a good rhythm. He panted and groaned until finally he came all over himself and her hand. She kissed his quivering lips. "Thank you."
"No, no. Thank you." He reached for a Kleenex to clean them both up. Righting himself, he let her rest against his body. "Did I scare you?"
"A little." She shrugged. "When we make love, you're not going to fit inside me."
He chuckled softly into her hair. "Yes, I will. Don't worry about that."
"You sure?"
"Yes." He reassured her, holding her tightly against him. "All parts will fit on the day that happens." She was quiet for a long time and despite the new territory they had just reached, he had to ask. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No."
"You won't tell me why you really went off your meds?"
"It's just… sometimes I wonder what I'm like off of them. When I'm just me. Is that me so horrible that I need medication or am I the same only I don't… hurt."
"I didn't notice before but… you're braver, off your meds, and that's not necessarily a good thing. There's a reason doctors prescribe medication. They don't just throw that stuff around."
Beth felt bad for tonguing her meds when she'd taken them in front of him but she had to know. She had learned how to change the molecular density of the coating so they wouldn't dissolve in her mouth until she could spit them out. She had put them back in the bottle when he wasn't looking. "You think I'm braver?"
"I think you don't think about the things you do when you're off."
--
Will didn't touch his coffee, even after Kathy reached over and reheated it. He had already gone through his entire pack of cigarettes and sat fiddling with his lighter. He'd been sitting in that chair, jaw set, lips pursed for three hours. "I can't believe she'd do this. I thought she was smarter than this."
"You give her too much credit, Will. She's 16 years old. She might act like an old lady sometimes but she's still hormonal and prone to flights of fancy." She touched his hand lightly. "I was a stupid teenager once myself and not too long ago. I didn't act like an old lady but my trouble was different. Beth is just… having problems adjusting to her powers."
"Did your dad tell you she went off her meds?" His hand covered hers. He always felt most comfortable when comforting, not receiving comfort.
"Yeah. He wants to try something else, which is why we're leaving tomorrow. I have to get back to the lab." Kat crossed the distance to sit on his lap. He welcomed her warmth and rested his head on her chest. "The sooner we get back, the sooner we can make her better and the sooner that we can really start dating."
"I'd like that."
"You really love my sister, don't you."
"Yeah. I can feel for her. I always felt like I didn't belong when I was growing up. Beth isn't as lonely as I was but… the pain is the same."
"You came to the right place, Will. You belong here… with me." She tilted his head up and softly kissed his lips. She let it stay a sweet kiss before she stood and led him to the bed. "Come on. Get some sleep. You'll need rest before you see her."
--
Beth was accosted the second she walked in the door at noon. David, surprisingly enough, was the first to reach her. "How could you do that?"
"Davey…"
"Don't call me that. You just ran off and didn't tell anyone and I thought…" Tears filled his eyes. He had waited around all morning for her. He had gotten angrier and angrier with every passing hour. He didn't have words anymore so he stomped on her foot and shoved her against the wall before racing to his room.
Max sat on the arm of the couch with his arms crossed, his mouth set in a tight line. "I only knew you were gone when Mom picked me up from work. It wasn't all that late. Mom only knew since Grampa called her to say you didn't show for your shift. David went into your room night before last and saw you weren't there. When you didn't come home or call or go to work, he panicked. He thought you had been kidnapped. I'm surprised he didn't have nightmares last night."
"I…" Beth bit her lip. She couldn't say anything. She didn't think and she never wanted David to remember his abduction because she did something stupid.
"Go to your room and stay there. Do not sneak out. Do not go to Gabriel's." Max rose and pointed to the stairs. "I'll be up with Mom in a minute. She has to calm down because she saw you walk up and… You scared us, Beth. We were terrified that you were in a ditch somewhere or that someone had taken you. Mr. Black went to the wedding and I was thinking he somehow managed to get at you finally and then it turns out you were fine. I was thinking horrible things must have happened for you not to at least call and you were fine. We'll discuss your meds later. Upstairs."
--
Michael shuffled into Isabel's office with the envelope in his hands. She blinked at him when he offered a small smile. "Hey."
"Hey stranger." She set down her pen and closed a file on her desk.
"Yeah, I've been working at Laurie's hotel in Clovis. She made me head of security." He admitted finally.
"So I heard. What's going on, Michael?"
"I might need a lawyer… or just someone to look over some stuff for me." He took a seat when she motioned him to and handed her the envelope. "I don't think it's a big deal but I want to be sure."
"These are custody papers, Michael."
"I know what they are."
"So you know what when Laurie dies and if her kids are still under 21 that you have to take them in… and help make their decisions regarding school and whatever business is left to them?"
"I read the papers." Michael nodded that he understood. It was a huge responsibility but he wanted to do it.
"Michael… she wants a DNA test." Isabel shot to her feet.
"Oh… wait." Michael dug the letter out of his pocket. "She sends me letters, this one came with the package. She understands the risks and we want to arrange it so Kathy does the test."
"Oh." She sat down. "It's a good thing you came to me. I can help. I know which people to talk to. How to get it in the right place for Kathy's lab to get the assignment. Do you mind if Jesse helps on this?"
"I guess."
"I'm gonna be going out of town this summer and I don't know how soon Laurie will want to do the test."
"I understand. Just so long as it's okay."
"Is she sick?" Isabel got the courage to speak.
"Bad blood." He looked to his hands. They both knew what that meant. "Her husband died in a plane crash. It's why she didn't come to the wedding. She wanted to but…"
"Yeah." She nodded. "Do you want me to hang onto these?"
"Yeah. The boys are getting into everything… these days." He motioned with his hand that they were using their powers.
"They tend to do that."
--
David flicked the joystick and his character fell into a pit of lava. Beth sat behind him on the couch. "You're a jerk."
"I'm sorry."
"You can't just do that."
"I'm sorry."
He sniffed loudly and let his character use its second life by letting it fall into the same pit of lava. "I wasn't gonna tell anyone that you snuck out but…"
"I know. I'm sorry. Mom and Dad gave it to me pretty hard."
"Good. You deserve it." Kathy bit out as she joined them on the couch. "I didn't find out until after Dad talked to Gabriel but… Jesus, Beth… how could you let Mom and Dad worry like that? And Davey? Will was about three seconds from knocking on every house in Roswell to find you."
"Is he mad?"
"Yes, he's mad!"
Beth fought a wave of tears. "Is he gonna come say goodbye before you guys fly back?"
"Yeah. Expect a lecture." Kat put her arms around her sister and kissed her head. "Don't do that, okay? This family has enough problems without kids voluntarily going missing."
--
Isabel lay beside her boyfriend and combed back the gray from his temple. "I can fix this."
"You always say that. I always say no." He told her, his eyes surveying his younger lover. "Do you think I look old?"
"No older than the day we met."
"Do you still want to go through with it?" Jesse rolled onto his side and ran his hand up the length of her body and back down. "We abstained. Used double protection. I got fixed… you still insist on birth control…"
"I think it's safer. I don't want to stay on birth control. It's unreliable. My donor got pregnant so often and… Sex without condoms always got me pregnant before birth control."
"Always? Every single time?"
"Every single time. The first time I had sex… I conceived Alex. Kyle and I used condoms religiously until we got married and Berty was conceived on the honeymoon. Then the first time we made love after she was born… Kyle was conceived. It was kind of ridiculous." She admitted, her hands sliding down his chest to rest on his belly. "When I went on birth control, I could almost feel the difference and every once in a while, I'd switch to a different brand and then I could feel the change… when Gina… Kyle and I hadn't in a long time and I didn't feel it… So I told you that it was okay…"
"Okay, I get it. No more speak of the former lovers, please. It shrinks my manhood."
"We can't have that." She brushed her lips against his.
"You." He cupped her face in his hands. "Are a remarkable woman. You're beautiful, you're a great lawyer, a wonderful mother. Kind hearted…"
"I like that." She smiled broadly then pressed her lips to his. "Say that beautiful thing again."
"You don't look a day over 36."
"Mm." She kissed him harder. "That's what a girl likes to hear."
"Every word is true." Jesse pulled back to stare at her. "You ever think of trading me in for a younger model?"
"I couldn't handle the libido of a younger man on my schedule." She teased. They fell into a comfortable silence, just holding on to each other. "I know it's only been a day but I miss the kids."
"Me too."
"You and Berty were getting along."
"Yeah. We bonded over our hatred for all of the perverts that work in the mall. They all wanted her to wear these… I can't even think about it. I'm not entirely happy with the suit we brought home. I keep thinking that I'm too many states away to throw a sheet over her when the boys see her. I should have made Sebastien go with them."
"That… um… Jesse, do you even know what's going on there?" Isabel sat up a little. "You realize that they were not speaking to each other right?"
"Yeah but they made up."
"Do you know why they weren't speaking to each other?"
"Not exactly." He admitted.
"Berty has a crush on Sebastien. Sebastien tried to let her down easy and… it didn't go well."
"See, I don't do that part well. That… pretending not to know things that you do so well. I got comfortable with her not dating. I would have never thought though… I thought… one big happy family. Brady bunch like."
"Hate to break it to you but she didn't just turn 16, in fact, she's almost 17. Those illusions you had of her thinking all guys were icky, they just weren't going to last. I happen to know that she's got a mini-crush on Beth's boyfriend."
"Isabel, you're going to give me an ulcer." He groaned.
"Don't worry about her. By the time Alex gets done with her, we won't have to worry so much."
--
Beth shut her eyes but sleep wouldn't come. She needed the white noise her boyfriend provided to get decent sleep but her father would have a cow if she snuck out again so soon. Rising, she snuck down to the den and lay on the carpet. Some of the drugs were still in her system. If she could only get them all out, she could make out the fuzzy pictures that hung in the fringes of her mind. Sometimes they were crystal clear but only for a second.
"She's out of control, Max." Her mother's voice drifted into the den from their bedroom.
"Well, she is your daughter."
"This isn't funny."
"I never said it was. All I'm saying is that we're not going to get anywhere with her if we do nothing but yell. We need to know what's going on with her and she has to be able to talk to us to do it."
"Right, because you're so talkative."
"Liz."
"I'm serious, Max. You could never talk to your parents, even after the kids were born. My mom and I are just barely in a healthy place. We don't know how to be those parents. The ones that can get through to her. Kathy and Danny…"
"Were different. They're not Beth. They don't have her powers. Dan's a healer, like me. Kat's a warper… David is… a calmer, I guess. Beth's powers are just… out of control."
"Maybe we should ask Michael to train her."
"She's got better control than he does. He won't know what to do with her."
"How about with the other stuff?"
"She was retro-cog for two weeks. It never popped up again. That's not what it is. Michael's abilities never fully evolved along those lines and he spent an entire summer out there in the desert meditating and getting himself together. Then that year he took off. Who knows what he learned to control or how but… he's never been able to do what Beth can."
Beth felt like sobbing as she got to her feet and retreated to her room where she couldn't hear them yelling at each other anymore. If only she could sleep without sneaking out to Gabriel's.
Liz climbed into bed. "What about Isabel?"
"This is not dreamwalking, Liz."
"Somebody has to know something."
"Maybe… no. Goldblum said that alien more likely to kill us all than to help us again."
tbc
on Tuesday everybody on all boards will be caught up to the same part
113/114
The Fate of Destiny Part 181E CC/UC ADULT 09/02/10 COMPLETE
Moderators: Anniepoo98, Itzstacie, truelovepooh, Erina, Forum Moderators
Part 114
Bonus part to get us all caught up next week.
The Fate of Destiny Part 114
Beth sat in the dirt and weeded her father's garden. The dirt was hard-packed since no one had touched it in years. Will sat in a chair nearby. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" She nodded quietly. "Beth?"
"I'm sorry. Gabriel told me that lately I haven't been thinking about the things I do. When he said it, I thought it was just… you know… hindsight but…" She sniffed and tossed a weed into a pile on the concrete. "I didn't mean to scare anyone." She got to her feet and rubbed her hands together. It seemed like a simple enough motion but Will could see that she was using her powers to dry out the dirt so it fell on her hands when she rubbed them together. He had never seen any alien do anything that naturally, not even Max. "I won't do it again."
"Are you… behaving yourself?"
She managed a small, sheepish smile. "Yeah. He… I've never been able to get a good read off of him. If he's really into something, intense enough about whatever it is, I'll get glimpses of some really clear stuff but… mostly he's like one of those fans. You know, the little ones. They barely work and you can barely hear them."
"White noise."
"Kind of. So, it's easier to block other stuff out and when I come home, I can fall asleep. I shouldn't do it."
"You really shouldn't." Will watched her pace the sidewalk barefoot, as if she were using the soles of her feet to examine the texture of the concrete. "Listen, I'm not mad at you. I don't hate you. I'm mad at your judgment. You need to straighten up, kiddo."
She nodded, lips pursed, nostrils quivering. Will had seen that expression before, when David had been kidnapped; both Liz and Beth had that expression on their faces. She really was her mother's daughter. He barely noticed how quickly she pulled herself together, refusing to cry.
"And I'm not talking about the music or the clothes or the make-up. I'm talking attitude. I'm sure you heard all this already from your parents but… it needs to be said. You are such a smart and beautiful girl. You have these amazing gifts and this control over them that… blows my mind. You're a good person. I can see it. Your judgment seems to have gone the way of your eyes… just a little blurry." From what he could see of her eyes, she wasn't sleeping, even at home. She stayed quiet, ignoring his bad joke, so he kept talking. "Do me a favor. Just cool it. Stay on your meds. Cut out the cursing. Stick to your curfew. Don't let your boyfriend override your better judgment."
"It's not him." She admitted finally. Everyone wanted to put the blame for her behavior on him but he was the one who made her want to get it together. "It's not his fault. Gabriel… he's one of those good guys you were telling me about. The ones that stop their girlfriends with blurry judgment."
"That's good to hear." Will rose to give her a hug. "I gotta go. We're gonna have to speed to make our flight."
Beth wrapped her arms tightly around him, fighting tears and wishing he could stay or that he could take her with him. "Take care of Kat. She… puts on a strong face but she needs taking care of."
"I will."
--
Max watched Beth wander around the backyard in her bare feet. She seemed to be thinking over whatever Will had told her. Maybe they should call Michael and get him involved. Like she knew what he was thinking, Beth turned around with tears in her eyes. She stormed into the house, dirt falling from her clothes before she hit the door. She ran passed him and up the stairs to her room.
It hurt just a little that Will could get her to think and all Dad could do was make things worse. He'd take her off the meds but only when he could get her to a secluded place where no stray thoughts could interfere. When he could take some time off and be able to control how loudly he projected. All that would take time… and she might not have time.
--
Kathy leaned on Will, watching the clouds with him. "I have to hit the lab first thing tomorrow. I've got to process the sample soon."
"Okay. I'll send Terrini with you. I've got interviews to start. The sooner I get that done, the better I'll feel." He sighed and stroked her hair. "Alex will need a different agent. Dan and Em could use some back up. Beth and Berty will be graduating before you know it."
"Beth won't leave Roswell."
"Your dad will let her."
"Gabriel's staying… and so will Beth."
"Is that right? Did you know that she can't read him?"
"Danny mumbled something about it to Dad. He wants to take her off the meds so we can see what she should be on instead." She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Did you get a fresh sample?"
"Yeah. It'll help that she hasn't been taking them. I'll get a better read." She tilted her head back to kiss his neck. "Don't worry so much. You'll age prematurely."
"She's a child." A voice hissed from the seat behind them.
Kathy tilted her head to see the woman. "We weren't talking to you."
"What are you… twenty? I know a gold digger when I see one."
"What are you? Forty?" She bit out at the woman, who gasped in horror.
"Kat. Don't." Will whispered.
"Listen… you're thirty-something… in… I don't know advertising. You're pissed off about a glass ceiling that's not really there and the men you want dating younger women. You're not getting promoted because of you, not your gender. You thought business would be the way to go, get ahead only to find you had to give head because you don't have what it takes to rise above. As far as the men go… that expression on your face is definite turn off."
"And you're an expert in life? At 18?"
"I'm 25. I'm six months from a double masters, lady. I earn more now than you do. When I'm your age, they'll be calling him a gold digger." She pinned the woman with her eyes. "Get over yourself… maybe you'll finally live up to whatever potential you've got left."
"That was mean." Will chided softly.
"She's a grown woman. She needs to learn to mind her own business." She took a deep breath settled back into her seat. "Eavesdropping on a plane. I ought to warp her into thinking the plane's going down."
"When was the last time you did that?" He took her hand in his.
"Long time ago… back in high school…" She stared straight ahead for along moment. "Does it bother you… what I can do?"
"Nah. You don't like doing that… If I were dating Beth… then I might be scared. Gabriel's gonna get thrown for a loop when he finds out… if he finds out." He kissed her hand and pulled her back against him. "Can you see my watch?"
"Bout an hour." Kat rolled her eyes. "An hour with that woman stewing behind us. I can feel her eyes on the back of my head. Someone should teach her to lose gracefully in her old age." They were rewarded with an exasperated huff. "See, she's still listening."
"Ignore her. Rest a little. We'll be home soon."
--
Alex stretched on his towel and watched Gina build a sandcastle. "So, what you do is… never lower your eyes. Either look them in the eye if you like them or look right through them, like you can't even see them if you don't. Always stand up straight but relaxed. Like you're cool but you don't know it. Never act embarrassed. Always act like you meant to do that or say that."
"That's a lot of things to do all at once." Berty took a deep breath, her arms crossed over her stomach.
"There's one more, just for you. Act like you don't know how pretty you are. Be nice but detached. Never agreed to anything. Be non-committal."
"Non-committal. Sure. That's razor."
"Right." Alex nodded and scanned the beach for his brother. "Did Mom give Kyle the sex talk?"
"Yeah."
"Dang it. Now I'm gonna spend my vacation making sure he doesn't get any." Alex grumbled as he got to his feet to interrupt his brother's conversation. "Ladies, you're lovely but he's 14."
"Hey… I'm almost 15." Kyle protested even as the girls lost interest. "Man… Alex, how could you do that to me?"
"Promised Mom that you were all going home virgins and I am a man of my word."
--
Beth singled out the images, identifying, then discarding. Mrs. Hammel down the street was thinking about having an affair with the paperboy. Jessie Allen in the house behind-adjacent was watching Duncan Wainwright work out in his room. Almost made Beth wish her window faced Duncan's room, too. Relaxing, Beth tried to go deeper. She lay back on the bed and breathed deep.
["I want to know that this ass... can still do this to me... every single time...]
"Yes." Her eyes opened. She could do it again. Before she could try again to test it. Her father knocked then opened the door. "Yeah?"
"I was just wondering… Do you still see auras?" Max sat on the foot of the bed.
"What?"
"When you first learned you could do this… you could see auras. Colors around them that told you what they were made of. I was one color. Mom was some sort of blend. Grandma and Grandpa were another color. You and your brothers were another. Do you remember?"
"Not really."
"So, you don't know when you stopped seeing them?"
Beth started to shake her head but then she took a deep breath and tried to search for the memory. [Beth looked into the mirror and spit at it, her aura swirling brightly.] "I think it was before my fit, the last time I saw them. Why?"
"Just wondering. I'm trying to figure it out. It might be helpful if I could do that."
"I don't remember how I did it."
"Okay. Get some sleep. It's been a long day."
"Danny's coming home tomorrow."
"No." Max shook his head. "He's coming next week."
"Oh. Okay. Never mind."
tbc
The Fate of Destiny Part 114
Beth sat in the dirt and weeded her father's garden. The dirt was hard-packed since no one had touched it in years. Will sat in a chair nearby. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" She nodded quietly. "Beth?"
"I'm sorry. Gabriel told me that lately I haven't been thinking about the things I do. When he said it, I thought it was just… you know… hindsight but…" She sniffed and tossed a weed into a pile on the concrete. "I didn't mean to scare anyone." She got to her feet and rubbed her hands together. It seemed like a simple enough motion but Will could see that she was using her powers to dry out the dirt so it fell on her hands when she rubbed them together. He had never seen any alien do anything that naturally, not even Max. "I won't do it again."
"Are you… behaving yourself?"
She managed a small, sheepish smile. "Yeah. He… I've never been able to get a good read off of him. If he's really into something, intense enough about whatever it is, I'll get glimpses of some really clear stuff but… mostly he's like one of those fans. You know, the little ones. They barely work and you can barely hear them."
"White noise."
"Kind of. So, it's easier to block other stuff out and when I come home, I can fall asleep. I shouldn't do it."
"You really shouldn't." Will watched her pace the sidewalk barefoot, as if she were using the soles of her feet to examine the texture of the concrete. "Listen, I'm not mad at you. I don't hate you. I'm mad at your judgment. You need to straighten up, kiddo."
She nodded, lips pursed, nostrils quivering. Will had seen that expression before, when David had been kidnapped; both Liz and Beth had that expression on their faces. She really was her mother's daughter. He barely noticed how quickly she pulled herself together, refusing to cry.
"And I'm not talking about the music or the clothes or the make-up. I'm talking attitude. I'm sure you heard all this already from your parents but… it needs to be said. You are such a smart and beautiful girl. You have these amazing gifts and this control over them that… blows my mind. You're a good person. I can see it. Your judgment seems to have gone the way of your eyes… just a little blurry." From what he could see of her eyes, she wasn't sleeping, even at home. She stayed quiet, ignoring his bad joke, so he kept talking. "Do me a favor. Just cool it. Stay on your meds. Cut out the cursing. Stick to your curfew. Don't let your boyfriend override your better judgment."
"It's not him." She admitted finally. Everyone wanted to put the blame for her behavior on him but he was the one who made her want to get it together. "It's not his fault. Gabriel… he's one of those good guys you were telling me about. The ones that stop their girlfriends with blurry judgment."
"That's good to hear." Will rose to give her a hug. "I gotta go. We're gonna have to speed to make our flight."
Beth wrapped her arms tightly around him, fighting tears and wishing he could stay or that he could take her with him. "Take care of Kat. She… puts on a strong face but she needs taking care of."
"I will."
--
Max watched Beth wander around the backyard in her bare feet. She seemed to be thinking over whatever Will had told her. Maybe they should call Michael and get him involved. Like she knew what he was thinking, Beth turned around with tears in her eyes. She stormed into the house, dirt falling from her clothes before she hit the door. She ran passed him and up the stairs to her room.
It hurt just a little that Will could get her to think and all Dad could do was make things worse. He'd take her off the meds but only when he could get her to a secluded place where no stray thoughts could interfere. When he could take some time off and be able to control how loudly he projected. All that would take time… and she might not have time.
--
Kathy leaned on Will, watching the clouds with him. "I have to hit the lab first thing tomorrow. I've got to process the sample soon."
"Okay. I'll send Terrini with you. I've got interviews to start. The sooner I get that done, the better I'll feel." He sighed and stroked her hair. "Alex will need a different agent. Dan and Em could use some back up. Beth and Berty will be graduating before you know it."
"Beth won't leave Roswell."
"Your dad will let her."
"Gabriel's staying… and so will Beth."
"Is that right? Did you know that she can't read him?"
"Danny mumbled something about it to Dad. He wants to take her off the meds so we can see what she should be on instead." She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Did you get a fresh sample?"
"Yeah. It'll help that she hasn't been taking them. I'll get a better read." She tilted her head back to kiss his neck. "Don't worry so much. You'll age prematurely."
"She's a child." A voice hissed from the seat behind them.
Kathy tilted her head to see the woman. "We weren't talking to you."
"What are you… twenty? I know a gold digger when I see one."
"What are you? Forty?" She bit out at the woman, who gasped in horror.
"Kat. Don't." Will whispered.
"Listen… you're thirty-something… in… I don't know advertising. You're pissed off about a glass ceiling that's not really there and the men you want dating younger women. You're not getting promoted because of you, not your gender. You thought business would be the way to go, get ahead only to find you had to give head because you don't have what it takes to rise above. As far as the men go… that expression on your face is definite turn off."
"And you're an expert in life? At 18?"
"I'm 25. I'm six months from a double masters, lady. I earn more now than you do. When I'm your age, they'll be calling him a gold digger." She pinned the woman with her eyes. "Get over yourself… maybe you'll finally live up to whatever potential you've got left."
"That was mean." Will chided softly.
"She's a grown woman. She needs to learn to mind her own business." She took a deep breath settled back into her seat. "Eavesdropping on a plane. I ought to warp her into thinking the plane's going down."
"When was the last time you did that?" He took her hand in his.
"Long time ago… back in high school…" She stared straight ahead for along moment. "Does it bother you… what I can do?"
"Nah. You don't like doing that… If I were dating Beth… then I might be scared. Gabriel's gonna get thrown for a loop when he finds out… if he finds out." He kissed her hand and pulled her back against him. "Can you see my watch?"
"Bout an hour." Kat rolled her eyes. "An hour with that woman stewing behind us. I can feel her eyes on the back of my head. Someone should teach her to lose gracefully in her old age." They were rewarded with an exasperated huff. "See, she's still listening."
"Ignore her. Rest a little. We'll be home soon."
--
Alex stretched on his towel and watched Gina build a sandcastle. "So, what you do is… never lower your eyes. Either look them in the eye if you like them or look right through them, like you can't even see them if you don't. Always stand up straight but relaxed. Like you're cool but you don't know it. Never act embarrassed. Always act like you meant to do that or say that."
"That's a lot of things to do all at once." Berty took a deep breath, her arms crossed over her stomach.
"There's one more, just for you. Act like you don't know how pretty you are. Be nice but detached. Never agreed to anything. Be non-committal."
"Non-committal. Sure. That's razor."
"Right." Alex nodded and scanned the beach for his brother. "Did Mom give Kyle the sex talk?"
"Yeah."
"Dang it. Now I'm gonna spend my vacation making sure he doesn't get any." Alex grumbled as he got to his feet to interrupt his brother's conversation. "Ladies, you're lovely but he's 14."
"Hey… I'm almost 15." Kyle protested even as the girls lost interest. "Man… Alex, how could you do that to me?"
"Promised Mom that you were all going home virgins and I am a man of my word."
--
Beth singled out the images, identifying, then discarding. Mrs. Hammel down the street was thinking about having an affair with the paperboy. Jessie Allen in the house behind-adjacent was watching Duncan Wainwright work out in his room. Almost made Beth wish her window faced Duncan's room, too. Relaxing, Beth tried to go deeper. She lay back on the bed and breathed deep.
["I want to know that this ass... can still do this to me... every single time...]
"Yes." Her eyes opened. She could do it again. Before she could try again to test it. Her father knocked then opened the door. "Yeah?"
"I was just wondering… Do you still see auras?" Max sat on the foot of the bed.
"What?"
"When you first learned you could do this… you could see auras. Colors around them that told you what they were made of. I was one color. Mom was some sort of blend. Grandma and Grandpa were another color. You and your brothers were another. Do you remember?"
"Not really."
"So, you don't know when you stopped seeing them?"
Beth started to shake her head but then she took a deep breath and tried to search for the memory. [Beth looked into the mirror and spit at it, her aura swirling brightly.] "I think it was before my fit, the last time I saw them. Why?"
"Just wondering. I'm trying to figure it out. It might be helpful if I could do that."
"I don't remember how I did it."
"Okay. Get some sleep. It's been a long day."
"Danny's coming home tomorrow."
"No." Max shook his head. "He's coming next week."
"Oh. Okay. Never mind."
tbc
Part 115 A
AN: This is a long and potentially upsetting part. It's also very revealing. So you read and I'll build myself a thumbtack proof shelter.
The Fate of Destiny Part 115
Max stumbled his way into the kitchen and while pouring himself a cup of coffee, heard clicking and realized he hadn't set the timer on the coffee maker the night before. He'd forgotten because he'd gotten used to Kathy doing it for him. Stirring in Tabasco and sugar, he followed the sound of clicking. "Beth?"
"Yeah, Dad?" She didn't look up from the notes she was transcribing into his journal.
"I didn't ask you to do that."
"Couldn't sleep. Needed to be productive." She answered, her eyes on the notes, her fingers typing rapidly.
"You sound like your mother." He took a seat next to her to see what she was doing. "Did you take a typing class?"
She snorted. "Everyone takes computer lit. now. It's not a typing class. We do have to do ten-key though. It sucks." She paused to take a sip of her coffee, then a sip from the bottle of water next to it.
Max watched her for a bit. Typing steadily. Then a sip of coffee and a sip of water. "Aren't you a little young for coffee? It'll stunt your growth."
"Growth." She snorted but didn't stop typing. "I'm lucky I got this tall. Your genes… a little iffy Dad. Danny barely made it to six foot. Davey… just might be stuck at five foot four. I think five foot five… is where I'm stopping."
"Well, then it's obvious you don't like the taste… because you're rinsing the taste out with water."
"I was… feeling… dehydrated." She lied, licking her lips. "I was reading this last night and Kathy wrote all that stuff about diuretics and caffeine…"
"Oh, so it's a health option." He drained his cup and reached for hers. "That's enough for today." He sipped hers and winced. "Ooh. No wonder. Sugar and Tabasco, sweetie."
"Oh." She nodded to herself. "So, Kathy thinks my meds are wrong?"
"Maybe. She'll do some tests and we'll see what really works. But I want to you stay on them until then. Speaking of… when we wean you, I want to… take some time off and we can go camping again." Her typing faltered. "We'll take Michael with us and we'll practice your powers a bit with you so you can get some control."
"Nobody has the powers I need practice with." She bit out but stopped and turned to him with a look so desperate, he bit back the comment on her attitude. "Do you work today?"
"I'm on call but I don't have to go in until later."
"Okay."
"Did you want to ask me something?"
"No." She got out quickly. "I just… want to spend some time with you. I'm really sorry about making you worry. I won't do it again. I love you, Daddy."
"I love you, too." Max nodded to her and watched as she moved slowly and almost hesitantly until she had wrapped her arms around him. He blindly set down his coffee cup and hugged her back, which made her arms hold on tighter. "Beth? What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry I get so crazy. I don't mean to be. I promise I'll be good."
"Hey… you're not crazy." Max rubbed her head where it lay on his shoulder, then pulled her onto his lap. "I'm surprised you're doing so well. If it were me… I'd have lost it a long time ago. Your paranoid old man would have gone off the deep end a very long time ago."
Beth closed her eyes and concentrated. [Max gently set his daughter in the wash tub on the counter and tested the water in the sink. He cooled it a little with his powers before daring to dip the washcloth and carefully wash the squirming baby. "It's okay. See. Just right. Sh. Beth. Sh. It's just Daddy. Taking a bath. It's okay."] That was better. A clearer picture. A real memory with voices and movements and not just an impression. "You think you could explain to me how Kat's gonna find me something that works?"
"Sure. Let me get some more coffee and we'll get started. I'll show you the charts she worked up." Max kissed her forehead when she pulled back. "Be right back."
Beth rose and took her seat at the computer once again and watched him take their cups to the kitchen. Beth downed the bottle of water in two long gulps and rose to follow him to get another. Her mother was up. "You're not going easy on her, are you?"
"I made progress, Liz." Max kissed her lips and moved around her for the Tabasco sauce. "She hugged me."
"What?"
"She hugged me. I didn't hug her. She reached for me. We're getting her back." Max took a deep satisfying breath. "You don't know how it kills me that she can hug Will but not me."
"Will's easy. She's got him wrapped around her little finger. He plays along with the little script she's got."
"Liz, sh. She's trying. Let her try."
"You're right. You're right. I'm not my mother. I'm not my mother." Liz took a deep breath and calmed herself. "I won't lock her in her room. I'm an understanding mother. I am cool."
"I think they say 'razor' now."
"Okay, Max. You're not 16. You can't say that. If you say 'razor' it's like your dad saying 'cool'." Liz laughed a little and pulled him down for a kiss. "Breakfast is on me. What'll it be?"
"On you?" He waggled his eyebrows at her and buried his face in her neck.
"Max, sh." She let out a deep, throaty chuckle. "Pancakes? Waffles? Or do you want that high cholesterol breakfast you dream of?"
"Ooh. Sausage? The spicy stuff… and eggs over easy. Maybe some hash browns."
"That's it? No pancakes with that? Heavy on the syrup?"
"Watching my weight. Thinking about taking up running again, seriously… Kat and I went a couple of times. Both of us pretending we're not dying from exhaustion. Maybe Beth might want to. Just me and her."
"She might like it. Ask before you assume she'll just ask how far when you say run."
"Dad?" Beth took a few steps away from the entryway. "You think you could grab me another bottle of water while you're in there? Please?"
"You don't want some juice?" Max called back.
"Just water."
--
Danny pulled Emily into the house and led her to their bedroom until the end of her classes. "So? Can I do it again?"
"Fine. If you must." She tried to act annoyed but hopped up when he bent to lift her into his arms.
He stepped over the threshold and kissed her lips. "Welcome to your interim bedroom, Mrs. Evans."
"That kind of rankles. I'll have to write it out eighty times to get used to saying it." She teased. "Emily Evans. Hi, I'm Emily Evans. Nice to meet you. Emily Evans."
"And I get to say. Have you met my wife? Emily Evans."
"Ooh. This is my husband. Dr. Daniel Evans." She grinned and kissed him soundly on the lips until he stumbled around for the bed. "Think your grandma left already?"
"She left a couple of days after the wedding. Come on. Let's christen the interim bedroom and then we'll call around let people know we're back."
--
Max watched Beth collapse on the floor next to the couch after her tenth trip to the bathroom. She lay there with her eyes closed. Probably bored, he told himself. When the phone rang, she opened her eyes and glanced at it wistfully. "I'm busy. Could you get that?"
She shot up and answered it before it could ring again. "Hello, Evans residence. How may I process your call?" She listened for a minute and her smile grew wider. "Hi." Her voice was soft and low. "I'm okay. In a lot of trouble but okay. Are you on your break?… I miss you, too… me, too… Yeah, they didn't give me a time frame… Probably…" She laughed quietly, angling her face away from her father even though Max was trying hard not to watch her too closely. "I can't… I scared David really badly… When he was four, um… yeah, that was him… I wasn't thinking, you were right. I'm sorry… yeah, I have been saying it a lot but I need to… No, I'm fine… I'm glad you called, though… no probably not. I'm not supposed to be on the phone now… You're kidding. You found it?… How? … that's too much, I can't take it… My birthday's not until November… I should probably get off anyway. I lo—I miss you. Talk to you when I can."
She set down the phone and laid back in the same spot on the floor. Max let her lay there a few minutes. "The couch too soft for you?"
"Just trying to relax. Haven't been sleeping well." She rolled over and pressed her face into the carpet. [Max bent over to pick up a glass sitting on the edge of the coffee table. As his finger’s brushed it, it went toppling onto the ground a couple of feet away. Sighing, he knelt on the floor to pick it up. The combination of the location he was kneeling on and the glass in his hand prompted a vision.] "Do you get visions? Of the past?"
"Not often." He turned back to the computer, trying to act aloof. If he wanted her to talk to him, he had to let her have control of the direction of the conversation. "Do you?"
"Sometimes… but I haven't been sure. Because the medication makes me all fuzzy."
"Dad? Mom?" A voice called from the front of the house. "Anybody?"
"Danny? That you?" Max called back.
"Yeah!" The married couple made their entrance into the den. "What's going on?"
Beth looked away and tried to focus on the past while her father filled them in on what she'd done. Danny's thoughts ran fast and angry. Emily's thoughts were concerned but Beth knew she wouldn't speak up.
--
Danny sat at the kitchen table with his mother. "We came back because we were tired of being by ourselves. Why didn't someone call and tell us?"
"We didn't want to bother you." Liz shook her head. Her responsible son, always wanting to be involved. "She came back. She wasn't even gone 48 hours… that we know of."
"I'll kill that kid."
"It's actually not his fault." Liz hated to admit it but it was the truth.
"I guess not… Emily wanted to hurry up and sign up for her last class so she could graduate on time. I guess I could go to the hospital and see if they could use a hand." He sighed. "You need me to stay home and guard her? I will."
"No… she's being good." Liz shook her head. "She'll go to bed soon and then she'll be up all night. I can hear her moving around… but at least she's here and not at her boyfriend's like she was every night for a week." She sighed heavily. "But she's trying. As of today, she's a quiet, sweet girl. No scary make-up. No scary clothes. No loud angry music. Just Beth. She even hugged Dad this morning."
"Did she hug you?"
"No but… I'm the enemy, remember."
Beth sat on the stairs and stared at the ceiling. ["What are you wearing?"
"Clothes."
"No. Those aren't clothes. Those are rags. Where are the clothes I bought you for school?"
"Upstairs in the bags. I'm not dressing like a dork."
"Your father is going to hear about this."
"Okay. Until he weighs in. It's a dead issue."] There, a complete conversation.
"You okay?" Liz peered at her daughter. How long had she been sitting there in the dark?
"Thirsty." She reached for her mother's glass of water. When had her mother left the kitchen?
"How many times have you been to the bathroom today? You think you might have a UTI?"
"Just thirsty." She handed the glass back.
"You sure? We could take you to Las Cruces to see Dr. Davis."
"I'm okay."
"Okay." Liz bent to kiss her forehead, relieved when the girl didn't back away but she still tensed. Progress was progress however little. "I'm going to the store tomorrow. You want anything?" All she got was a shake of the head. "Beth? Are you okay?"
"I'm okay. I'm going to bed." Beth turned and tried to walk normally but she was tired from trying all day. Gathering some clothes, she detoured to the bathroom for a long, hot, refreshing bath. She could almost feel the toxins slipping from her body into the water, disappearing in the steam. She studied her reflection before drying off. There it was. A greenish aura with a tinge of orange, just like she remembered. She had finally washed all of the drugs from her system.
Closing her eyes, she let herself hear her family. Dad was counting, doing sit-ups in his bedroom. Mom was cleaning up after Danny and Emily's visit, washing out cups and wiping down the counter. David was staring at his dream catcher and thinking about the blue-eyed girl he'd met at the pool, wondering if she liked him back. Then she reached out beyond the house. The neighbor on one side was watching porn but not really paying attention to the movie as much as how the girl in the movie looked a lot like the cashier at the 7-Eleven. The neighbor on the other side was going through her bills, trying to figure out how to pay them all off without disconnecting any of her services. Duncan Wainwright was next to his window, masturbating to Jessie Allen. Jessie Allen was thinking about Duncan Wainwright but staring at her reflection in the mirror in just a bra and panties. Those two just needed to be looking out their windows at the same time.
Winded, she stopped. Her skin had all but dried and her hair laid damp down her back. Drying off, she put her glasses on and scooted passed a bluish-orange David to her room. David stared after her, eyes accusing but he couldn't have known what she had just done, could he? Mentally, she built a wall around herself and pushed it out. David stumbled as he reached for the bathroom door. His head whipped around, glaring at her. "Jerk."
"I didn't do anything."
"Right." He slammed the door behind him.
Beth closed her bedroom door behind her and hit the stereo. The last CD Gabriel had burned for her played. He had found the real CD and planned to give it to her but she didn't have it yet. Steady drums filled the room, deep bass and haunting guitar and the girl's voice lilting and angry with a punching staccato to emphasize her words.
Slowly, she dried her hair with her powers. Then she gathered a top section and twisted it, pushing it to make a small rise up front. Then she secured it and took several sections to braid down the back of her head, all intertwining and gathering at the base of her skull. She ran gel through the tail until it fell in thin chunks over her shoulder. Then she leaned forward to put in her contacts. She used them only for this. With her contacts in, she could see well enough to do her make-up. No frames to impede her movements with a brush or pencil. She used Kathy's set to do her skin but her own to do her eyes and lips. Dark lines around her eyes, smoldering powder around her eyes. A dark lip liner that she smeared inward before covering with a liquid wine. It looked like she had black lipstick covered in blood, like she'd been sipping blood from a glass all night. At least, that's what other people thought when they saw her mouth.
Staring at her reflection, she mouthed the words. "Say it if you want to and say it if you will but if you don't say what you are thinking, no, I won't take too kindly to it."
Rising she headed to the closet and pulled out her clothes, scattering them on the bed. Carefully she dressed in torn fishnets, garters, the black cotton panties she rarely wore and her favorite corset, freshly reboned with the help of her powers. "When all I want is something special and you can't give it to me. And all you do is lie to me cause you're a liar, liar, liar.
"I will run, I will fight, I will take you through the night. Lie. Lie. Liar." She picked through her clothes for a pair of faded socks and the skirt she'd just ripped the hem off of the week before. "I will run, I will fight, I will take you through the night. Lie. Lie. Liar."
She studied her shirts for a long time as the CD ran on repeat without her having to hit the button. "Say it if you want to and say it if you choose because if you don't say what you are thinking, no, I won't take too kindly to it.
"When all I want is something different and you couldn't give it to me, and all you do is lie to me, so you're a liar, liar, liar." Finally she decided on a lace blouse in a dark blue. Sitting at the mirror again, she touched her hair to change the colors to match her outfit. A spectrum of blues, purples and white ran through her hair, intertwining in and out in her braids.
"I will run, I will fight, I will take you through the night. Lie. Lie. Liar. I will run, I will fight, I will take you through the night. Lie. Lie. Liar." She pulled on the long pair of socks and then scrambled around on the floor for just the right pair of spike-heeled boots. "I will fight you. I will fight you. I'm fighting you. Liar, Liar. You know you're a liar. Liar. Liar. Liar."
Once her jewelry was in place, she was ready. No more fence. Nothing to hinder. Nothing to hold back. Taking out her contacts, she put her glasses back on and opened her door. It was late or early but she was ready to do it. She was ready to find out. She sensed her father running around, getting ready for an emergency surgery that had cropped up and talking to her mother. So she stayed at the top of the stairs to wait until he was gone.
"She said the weirdest thing the other night."
"Oh."
"It was night before last. She says 'Danny's coming tomorrow.' I told her he wouldn't be in until next week and she just shrugged at me. Did he call her and tell her he was coming?"
"Maybe. He told me they changed their mind spur of the moment day before last. He didn't tell me before. Didn't even call before he showed up last night."
"Keep an eye on her. She's been drinking an awful lot of water and…"
"Going every five minutes. I know. I thought she might be throwing up or something but I listened."
"That's kind of gross."
"I know but the point is, she's just going to the bathroom."
"Watch her caffeine intake, please. I'm afraid she's going to negate her pills if she drinks coffee or soda with all that water she's been drinking."
"Does she know that?"
"Don't think so but she was reading my journal. She could have made the conclusion on her own if she thought about it."
"I'll watch her. Go. Save a life."
A few moments later, Max eased out the front door and then his car started and he was on his way to work. Beth carefully made her way into the den. She was in her war paint and armor and there was the battlefield. Kneeling on the carpet next to the coffee table, she concentrated. There were lots of memories of board games and sleepovers and family gatherings. She had to sift through them one by one. Year by year, month by month, week by week and day by day. She'd sit until she found it.
--
tbc next post
The Fate of Destiny Part 115
Max stumbled his way into the kitchen and while pouring himself a cup of coffee, heard clicking and realized he hadn't set the timer on the coffee maker the night before. He'd forgotten because he'd gotten used to Kathy doing it for him. Stirring in Tabasco and sugar, he followed the sound of clicking. "Beth?"
"Yeah, Dad?" She didn't look up from the notes she was transcribing into his journal.
"I didn't ask you to do that."
"Couldn't sleep. Needed to be productive." She answered, her eyes on the notes, her fingers typing rapidly.
"You sound like your mother." He took a seat next to her to see what she was doing. "Did you take a typing class?"
She snorted. "Everyone takes computer lit. now. It's not a typing class. We do have to do ten-key though. It sucks." She paused to take a sip of her coffee, then a sip from the bottle of water next to it.
Max watched her for a bit. Typing steadily. Then a sip of coffee and a sip of water. "Aren't you a little young for coffee? It'll stunt your growth."
"Growth." She snorted but didn't stop typing. "I'm lucky I got this tall. Your genes… a little iffy Dad. Danny barely made it to six foot. Davey… just might be stuck at five foot four. I think five foot five… is where I'm stopping."
"Well, then it's obvious you don't like the taste… because you're rinsing the taste out with water."
"I was… feeling… dehydrated." She lied, licking her lips. "I was reading this last night and Kathy wrote all that stuff about diuretics and caffeine…"
"Oh, so it's a health option." He drained his cup and reached for hers. "That's enough for today." He sipped hers and winced. "Ooh. No wonder. Sugar and Tabasco, sweetie."
"Oh." She nodded to herself. "So, Kathy thinks my meds are wrong?"
"Maybe. She'll do some tests and we'll see what really works. But I want to you stay on them until then. Speaking of… when we wean you, I want to… take some time off and we can go camping again." Her typing faltered. "We'll take Michael with us and we'll practice your powers a bit with you so you can get some control."
"Nobody has the powers I need practice with." She bit out but stopped and turned to him with a look so desperate, he bit back the comment on her attitude. "Do you work today?"
"I'm on call but I don't have to go in until later."
"Okay."
"Did you want to ask me something?"
"No." She got out quickly. "I just… want to spend some time with you. I'm really sorry about making you worry. I won't do it again. I love you, Daddy."
"I love you, too." Max nodded to her and watched as she moved slowly and almost hesitantly until she had wrapped her arms around him. He blindly set down his coffee cup and hugged her back, which made her arms hold on tighter. "Beth? What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry I get so crazy. I don't mean to be. I promise I'll be good."
"Hey… you're not crazy." Max rubbed her head where it lay on his shoulder, then pulled her onto his lap. "I'm surprised you're doing so well. If it were me… I'd have lost it a long time ago. Your paranoid old man would have gone off the deep end a very long time ago."
Beth closed her eyes and concentrated. [Max gently set his daughter in the wash tub on the counter and tested the water in the sink. He cooled it a little with his powers before daring to dip the washcloth and carefully wash the squirming baby. "It's okay. See. Just right. Sh. Beth. Sh. It's just Daddy. Taking a bath. It's okay."] That was better. A clearer picture. A real memory with voices and movements and not just an impression. "You think you could explain to me how Kat's gonna find me something that works?"
"Sure. Let me get some more coffee and we'll get started. I'll show you the charts she worked up." Max kissed her forehead when she pulled back. "Be right back."
Beth rose and took her seat at the computer once again and watched him take their cups to the kitchen. Beth downed the bottle of water in two long gulps and rose to follow him to get another. Her mother was up. "You're not going easy on her, are you?"
"I made progress, Liz." Max kissed her lips and moved around her for the Tabasco sauce. "She hugged me."
"What?"
"She hugged me. I didn't hug her. She reached for me. We're getting her back." Max took a deep satisfying breath. "You don't know how it kills me that she can hug Will but not me."
"Will's easy. She's got him wrapped around her little finger. He plays along with the little script she's got."
"Liz, sh. She's trying. Let her try."
"You're right. You're right. I'm not my mother. I'm not my mother." Liz took a deep breath and calmed herself. "I won't lock her in her room. I'm an understanding mother. I am cool."
"I think they say 'razor' now."
"Okay, Max. You're not 16. You can't say that. If you say 'razor' it's like your dad saying 'cool'." Liz laughed a little and pulled him down for a kiss. "Breakfast is on me. What'll it be?"
"On you?" He waggled his eyebrows at her and buried his face in her neck.
"Max, sh." She let out a deep, throaty chuckle. "Pancakes? Waffles? Or do you want that high cholesterol breakfast you dream of?"
"Ooh. Sausage? The spicy stuff… and eggs over easy. Maybe some hash browns."
"That's it? No pancakes with that? Heavy on the syrup?"
"Watching my weight. Thinking about taking up running again, seriously… Kat and I went a couple of times. Both of us pretending we're not dying from exhaustion. Maybe Beth might want to. Just me and her."
"She might like it. Ask before you assume she'll just ask how far when you say run."
"Dad?" Beth took a few steps away from the entryway. "You think you could grab me another bottle of water while you're in there? Please?"
"You don't want some juice?" Max called back.
"Just water."
--
Danny pulled Emily into the house and led her to their bedroom until the end of her classes. "So? Can I do it again?"
"Fine. If you must." She tried to act annoyed but hopped up when he bent to lift her into his arms.
He stepped over the threshold and kissed her lips. "Welcome to your interim bedroom, Mrs. Evans."
"That kind of rankles. I'll have to write it out eighty times to get used to saying it." She teased. "Emily Evans. Hi, I'm Emily Evans. Nice to meet you. Emily Evans."
"And I get to say. Have you met my wife? Emily Evans."
"Ooh. This is my husband. Dr. Daniel Evans." She grinned and kissed him soundly on the lips until he stumbled around for the bed. "Think your grandma left already?"
"She left a couple of days after the wedding. Come on. Let's christen the interim bedroom and then we'll call around let people know we're back."
--
Max watched Beth collapse on the floor next to the couch after her tenth trip to the bathroom. She lay there with her eyes closed. Probably bored, he told himself. When the phone rang, she opened her eyes and glanced at it wistfully. "I'm busy. Could you get that?"
She shot up and answered it before it could ring again. "Hello, Evans residence. How may I process your call?" She listened for a minute and her smile grew wider. "Hi." Her voice was soft and low. "I'm okay. In a lot of trouble but okay. Are you on your break?… I miss you, too… me, too… Yeah, they didn't give me a time frame… Probably…" She laughed quietly, angling her face away from her father even though Max was trying hard not to watch her too closely. "I can't… I scared David really badly… When he was four, um… yeah, that was him… I wasn't thinking, you were right. I'm sorry… yeah, I have been saying it a lot but I need to… No, I'm fine… I'm glad you called, though… no probably not. I'm not supposed to be on the phone now… You're kidding. You found it?… How? … that's too much, I can't take it… My birthday's not until November… I should probably get off anyway. I lo—I miss you. Talk to you when I can."
She set down the phone and laid back in the same spot on the floor. Max let her lay there a few minutes. "The couch too soft for you?"
"Just trying to relax. Haven't been sleeping well." She rolled over and pressed her face into the carpet. [Max bent over to pick up a glass sitting on the edge of the coffee table. As his finger’s brushed it, it went toppling onto the ground a couple of feet away. Sighing, he knelt on the floor to pick it up. The combination of the location he was kneeling on and the glass in his hand prompted a vision.] "Do you get visions? Of the past?"
"Not often." He turned back to the computer, trying to act aloof. If he wanted her to talk to him, he had to let her have control of the direction of the conversation. "Do you?"
"Sometimes… but I haven't been sure. Because the medication makes me all fuzzy."
"Dad? Mom?" A voice called from the front of the house. "Anybody?"
"Danny? That you?" Max called back.
"Yeah!" The married couple made their entrance into the den. "What's going on?"
Beth looked away and tried to focus on the past while her father filled them in on what she'd done. Danny's thoughts ran fast and angry. Emily's thoughts were concerned but Beth knew she wouldn't speak up.
--
Danny sat at the kitchen table with his mother. "We came back because we were tired of being by ourselves. Why didn't someone call and tell us?"
"We didn't want to bother you." Liz shook her head. Her responsible son, always wanting to be involved. "She came back. She wasn't even gone 48 hours… that we know of."
"I'll kill that kid."
"It's actually not his fault." Liz hated to admit it but it was the truth.
"I guess not… Emily wanted to hurry up and sign up for her last class so she could graduate on time. I guess I could go to the hospital and see if they could use a hand." He sighed. "You need me to stay home and guard her? I will."
"No… she's being good." Liz shook her head. "She'll go to bed soon and then she'll be up all night. I can hear her moving around… but at least she's here and not at her boyfriend's like she was every night for a week." She sighed heavily. "But she's trying. As of today, she's a quiet, sweet girl. No scary make-up. No scary clothes. No loud angry music. Just Beth. She even hugged Dad this morning."
"Did she hug you?"
"No but… I'm the enemy, remember."
Beth sat on the stairs and stared at the ceiling. ["What are you wearing?"
"Clothes."
"No. Those aren't clothes. Those are rags. Where are the clothes I bought you for school?"
"Upstairs in the bags. I'm not dressing like a dork."
"Your father is going to hear about this."
"Okay. Until he weighs in. It's a dead issue."] There, a complete conversation.
"You okay?" Liz peered at her daughter. How long had she been sitting there in the dark?
"Thirsty." She reached for her mother's glass of water. When had her mother left the kitchen?
"How many times have you been to the bathroom today? You think you might have a UTI?"
"Just thirsty." She handed the glass back.
"You sure? We could take you to Las Cruces to see Dr. Davis."
"I'm okay."
"Okay." Liz bent to kiss her forehead, relieved when the girl didn't back away but she still tensed. Progress was progress however little. "I'm going to the store tomorrow. You want anything?" All she got was a shake of the head. "Beth? Are you okay?"
"I'm okay. I'm going to bed." Beth turned and tried to walk normally but she was tired from trying all day. Gathering some clothes, she detoured to the bathroom for a long, hot, refreshing bath. She could almost feel the toxins slipping from her body into the water, disappearing in the steam. She studied her reflection before drying off. There it was. A greenish aura with a tinge of orange, just like she remembered. She had finally washed all of the drugs from her system.
Closing her eyes, she let herself hear her family. Dad was counting, doing sit-ups in his bedroom. Mom was cleaning up after Danny and Emily's visit, washing out cups and wiping down the counter. David was staring at his dream catcher and thinking about the blue-eyed girl he'd met at the pool, wondering if she liked him back. Then she reached out beyond the house. The neighbor on one side was watching porn but not really paying attention to the movie as much as how the girl in the movie looked a lot like the cashier at the 7-Eleven. The neighbor on the other side was going through her bills, trying to figure out how to pay them all off without disconnecting any of her services. Duncan Wainwright was next to his window, masturbating to Jessie Allen. Jessie Allen was thinking about Duncan Wainwright but staring at her reflection in the mirror in just a bra and panties. Those two just needed to be looking out their windows at the same time.
Winded, she stopped. Her skin had all but dried and her hair laid damp down her back. Drying off, she put her glasses on and scooted passed a bluish-orange David to her room. David stared after her, eyes accusing but he couldn't have known what she had just done, could he? Mentally, she built a wall around herself and pushed it out. David stumbled as he reached for the bathroom door. His head whipped around, glaring at her. "Jerk."
"I didn't do anything."
"Right." He slammed the door behind him.
Beth closed her bedroom door behind her and hit the stereo. The last CD Gabriel had burned for her played. He had found the real CD and planned to give it to her but she didn't have it yet. Steady drums filled the room, deep bass and haunting guitar and the girl's voice lilting and angry with a punching staccato to emphasize her words.
Slowly, she dried her hair with her powers. Then she gathered a top section and twisted it, pushing it to make a small rise up front. Then she secured it and took several sections to braid down the back of her head, all intertwining and gathering at the base of her skull. She ran gel through the tail until it fell in thin chunks over her shoulder. Then she leaned forward to put in her contacts. She used them only for this. With her contacts in, she could see well enough to do her make-up. No frames to impede her movements with a brush or pencil. She used Kathy's set to do her skin but her own to do her eyes and lips. Dark lines around her eyes, smoldering powder around her eyes. A dark lip liner that she smeared inward before covering with a liquid wine. It looked like she had black lipstick covered in blood, like she'd been sipping blood from a glass all night. At least, that's what other people thought when they saw her mouth.
Staring at her reflection, she mouthed the words. "Say it if you want to and say it if you will but if you don't say what you are thinking, no, I won't take too kindly to it."
Rising she headed to the closet and pulled out her clothes, scattering them on the bed. Carefully she dressed in torn fishnets, garters, the black cotton panties she rarely wore and her favorite corset, freshly reboned with the help of her powers. "When all I want is something special and you can't give it to me. And all you do is lie to me cause you're a liar, liar, liar.
"I will run, I will fight, I will take you through the night. Lie. Lie. Liar." She picked through her clothes for a pair of faded socks and the skirt she'd just ripped the hem off of the week before. "I will run, I will fight, I will take you through the night. Lie. Lie. Liar."
She studied her shirts for a long time as the CD ran on repeat without her having to hit the button. "Say it if you want to and say it if you choose because if you don't say what you are thinking, no, I won't take too kindly to it.
"When all I want is something different and you couldn't give it to me, and all you do is lie to me, so you're a liar, liar, liar." Finally she decided on a lace blouse in a dark blue. Sitting at the mirror again, she touched her hair to change the colors to match her outfit. A spectrum of blues, purples and white ran through her hair, intertwining in and out in her braids.
"I will run, I will fight, I will take you through the night. Lie. Lie. Liar. I will run, I will fight, I will take you through the night. Lie. Lie. Liar." She pulled on the long pair of socks and then scrambled around on the floor for just the right pair of spike-heeled boots. "I will fight you. I will fight you. I'm fighting you. Liar, Liar. You know you're a liar. Liar. Liar. Liar."
Once her jewelry was in place, she was ready. No more fence. Nothing to hinder. Nothing to hold back. Taking out her contacts, she put her glasses back on and opened her door. It was late or early but she was ready to do it. She was ready to find out. She sensed her father running around, getting ready for an emergency surgery that had cropped up and talking to her mother. So she stayed at the top of the stairs to wait until he was gone.
"She said the weirdest thing the other night."
"Oh."
"It was night before last. She says 'Danny's coming tomorrow.' I told her he wouldn't be in until next week and she just shrugged at me. Did he call her and tell her he was coming?"
"Maybe. He told me they changed their mind spur of the moment day before last. He didn't tell me before. Didn't even call before he showed up last night."
"Keep an eye on her. She's been drinking an awful lot of water and…"
"Going every five minutes. I know. I thought she might be throwing up or something but I listened."
"That's kind of gross."
"I know but the point is, she's just going to the bathroom."
"Watch her caffeine intake, please. I'm afraid she's going to negate her pills if she drinks coffee or soda with all that water she's been drinking."
"Does she know that?"
"Don't think so but she was reading my journal. She could have made the conclusion on her own if she thought about it."
"I'll watch her. Go. Save a life."
A few moments later, Max eased out the front door and then his car started and he was on his way to work. Beth carefully made her way into the den. She was in her war paint and armor and there was the battlefield. Kneeling on the carpet next to the coffee table, she concentrated. There were lots of memories of board games and sleepovers and family gatherings. She had to sift through them one by one. Year by year, month by month, week by week and day by day. She'd sit until she found it.
--
tbc next post
Part 115 B
--
"What do you think you're doing?" Liz forced the words out. She had gone back to sleep after Max had left. Then David had rushed in to tell her that Beth had been sitting in the same spot for nearly an hour without moving or responding to his calls. She had been calling Beth for twenty minutes but the girl didn't move. That's when Liz noticed she was sweating. The girl was doing something that Liz couldn't see. She couldn't be doing anything if she were on her meds but her behavior the day before and Max's early morning warning made it all too clear. Beth was TRYING to do something.
"Fuck." Beth spat out. She had been close. Angry eyes peeked out under dark lids to look at her mother. "You fucked it up."
"Excuse me, young lady. You do not speak to me that way." Liz pulled Beth to her feet. "And what is with the outfit? I thought you were done with this."
"I go two days without make up and the clothes I like and you think I've given up? You don't even know me if you think that." Beth swayed on her feet but fought to stay upright.
"What are you doing? You scared your brother to death. He was afraid to touch you when you wouldn’t answer him. It took me half an hour to get your attention." The worried brown orbs scanned her daughter's face but found nothing of the girl who had inhabited that body the day before. "What were you doing?"
"Trying to get me back." Beth bit out. "Obviously no one is happy with me. Putting me on pills that cage me, trying to mold me into someone I'm not. You're scared of what I can do but you won't let me do it so I can find out what it is I do. You can't know I’m dangerous if you don't fucking know what I can do!"
"Lower your voice. I'm your mother. You will respect me and tell me just what the hell you've been messing with."
"I'm exposing the lies. Unwrapping the truth. Call it what you want. I’m gonna find out!" Beth stopped shouting at her mother and stood completely and eerily still. The flashes just wouldn't stop. She'd been searching for them all morning but just now, they leapt to the fore of her mind.
["Max..." She whispered, tilting her head back. "I didn’t have time to get you a present."
"You gave me my present last night. I had a dream." He smirked at her. Then he reached over and patted her stomach. "At least we’ll be prepared for this one."
"What?!" Liz paled.]
["Why'd you take a pregnancy test? I already told you…" Max lifted the small wastebasket at her.
"I wanted to see for myself. To make sure you weren't just… hopeful."
"You act like it's a bad thing."
"It' not a bad thing. It's just… complicated. I just started working at the school unsupervised, Max."]
["How’s Liz taking her news?" Isabel changed the subject.
"I talked to Max this morning. He’s all excited about a third child but Liz is less than enthusiastic."]
["You've been hiding my birth control, Max!"]
[Liz sat there for a long time just staring down at their linked hands. "You never did tell anyone about my journal... did you?"
"Nope. It wouldn’t be right. I really shouldn’t have read it back then..."
"I forgave you for that. I knew you needed to know whether or not you could trust me... I’m glad you found you could." She looked up at him, giving his hands a squeeze.
"Yeah but, could you trust me after that?" He glanced away.
"Yes. I knew why you had done it. It was just a little more intimidating to see you. You know, just knowing that you knew what I had written down. I haven’t even shown that journal to Max yet."
"You still got it?" He smirked. "I thought you would have burned it or something."
"No, it’s put away." She shook her head with a slight smile. Liz turned and glanced at the clock. "Oh wow, it’s really late. Max will be home soon. You should get going."
"Yeah... I guess… We’ll do this again?" He asked uncertainly.
"Sure, anytime."]
[Gently, he brushed her hair out of her face. He stared down at her face, flushed from laughter. He had to do it. He brushed his lips over Liz’s, hers reflexively pushed back. Before he knew what he was doing, Michael slipped his tongue into her mouth. The connection that was always in the back of their minds, flared up and strengthened. Images flashed back and forth…]
["You’re doing it too fast." Michael said out of nowhere.
"What?" Mrs. Parker shook her head in confusion.
"You’re out of practice. Rock her slower, she’ll calm down." He placed a gentle hand on the baby’s back.]
["How long have you and Michael been sleeping together?"]
[Then he noticed how Liz and Michael were holding hands over the table and talking softly to each other. Forcing his eyes away, he met with Isabel’s face. She was watching them too... and like a hawk.]
[She opened her mouth and Michael slid his tongue into her mouth. The deep kiss prompted their already strong connection to open like a floodgate. Liz was overwhelmed with the strong emotions that Michael associated with his memories of her. Their full attention was on the places their bodies touched, where their mouths met and melded, how his weight pressed her into the ground. Just moments before he broke the kiss, Liz realized one thing. Michael Guerin was hopelessly in love with his best friend’s wife.]
["Liz, I’m just trying to figure out why you would lie to me. I had a vision. Isabel said she saw you. I watch the two of you together and it’s right there. You’re always touching and kissing on him. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Stop lying."]
["How could you do this to me?" Max glared at his so-called best friend. "That woman friend you had been talking about... it was Liz?" Michael’s lack of answer was the only answer that Max needed. "Get out of my house."]
["Get the fuck out of my house?"]
["It was an accident."]
[Their tongues clashed.]
["You're in love with my wife?"]
["It was an accident."]
["Ask your dad. He orchestrated the whole thing. I was just the carrier."]
["She's your daughter."]
["We should call Michael."]
"Bethany, look at me." Liz all but screamed in the girl's face. She was so scared by the vacant expression that had taken over Beth's eyes. {God, What now? What could possibly happen now?} The flashes stopped and all Beth could see was her mother and her orange and blue tinged aura. "Bethany…"
"You didn't even want me, did you." Beth bit out in a rage. "I'm just something that was done to you. You were a teacher and just graduated and because of me you missed an early promotion."
"Beth…" Liz furrowed her brow, not sure where that had come from.
"Don't lie to me. I saw it. I saw it all!"
"Calm down." What the hell was happening to her daughter? The teen was breathing heavy and covered in sweat.
"I won't fucking calm down. Everyone in this family is a fucking liar and it all starts with our whore of a mother-!"
The crack sounded before anyone had realized what Liz had done. Her hand immediately covered her mouth in shock of what she had just done to her daughter. "Beth…"
Both stood stock still even as blood rushed to fill the white handprint on Beth's cheek. Tears welled in her eyes. Before anyone could stop her, she bolted from the house. Liz's hand shook where it hovered over her mouth, torn between anger and sadness, a sob caught in her throat. "I didn't mean to…"
"Mom?" David stood frozen to his spot behind the couch. "What's wrong with her?"
"I didn't mean to…"
"Why did she say that? What's wrong with her? What did she see?"
"Call to the hospital." Liz tried to gather her wits but tears blurred her vision. "Call Dad. Tell him she's completely off the drugs. She ran off again."
"Mom!" David shouted. "What happened?"
"I don't know."
--
Beth paced the Crashdown break room until Gabriel showed up. She had stopped and called him to meet her. She started rambling her story to him even as he guided her to a seat at the counter. He kept looking for her grandparents but they didn't seem to be around. Then she got to this morning.
Gabriel stared at her, unbelieving, as if he had never seen her before. "Your mother was wrong to hit you but you were wrong to call her a whore."
"Gabriel." She pleaded, sweat smearing her makeup, her pupils dilated as if she were high.
"You stopped your meds again, didn't you." He cursed to himself and let his head fall to his chest.
"I… I never went back on them. I've been off since the wedding." She admitted, her hands shaking like a junkie.
"I'm done talking to you." He pushed off the counter and rushed out the doors. Beth's foot slipped as she went after him and her hand landed on the stool he had just occupied. The vision assailed her, blinding her and closing out the reality around her.
[Gabriel lay bleeding and broken in the street.]
"Gabriel!" She called after him, running on her sore ankle, disregarding the strange looks she got from everyone around her. She grabbed his shirt before he could step off the curb. "Stop!"
"Beth. Get a grip. I'm not speaking to you until you're back on your meds." He tried to back off the curb but Beth pulled him back, kissing him desperately in an attempt to get him to stay. It only worked long enough for her to turn their bodies around. He pulled away. "You're acting nuts. You need to go home and get back on the meds."
"Don't cross the street." She begged him, pulling on his shirt, her toes teetering on the curb.
"I have to go home." He sighed and tried to move around her but she stepped in front of him, her feet in the gutter.
"Don’t cross the street!" She shouted up at him.
"Beth, get out of the way. This isn't funny."
"Don't fucking cross the street, Gabriel!" She screamed and shoved at him, hoping to regain some ground but he was so solid, she bounced backward a few steps. "Dammit, Gabriel! Just don't—"
There was a whoosh of air that made him blink. Where did she go? "Beth?"
The truck came to a stop just a few yards away. The driver spilled from the cab shaking and peered under the truck. People gathered and traffic stopped.
"God, no!" Gabriel raced over to find Beth pinned beneath one of the wheels on the trailer. "Get it off of her!"
"Someone call 911. She's not moving."
Gabriel's vision blurred as he pushed against the trailer. A few people tried to help him but it was too heavy. It just wasn't moving. Gabriel didn't know where the strength came from but suddenly the trailer was moving. He was lifting it all by himself. It was only six inches but it was enough to pull her out from under the tire. "Is she out?"
"We got her. Put it down before you kill yourself, kid."
He was relieved until he turned and saw how very still she was. "Beth?" He sniffed, wiping at his eyes. He fell to his knees, so tired. "Beth?"
"Where's that ambulance?"
He wanted to touch her but he didn't want to hurt her more. Blood slipped from between her lips. Her glasses had shattered and little pieces were embedded in her cheeks and forehead. Her arm and one of her legs lay at odd angles and if she was breathing, he couldn't tell. "Beth, please. Wake up. Talk to me."
--
Max pulled off his scrubs and tossed them in the bin. He took the bottle of water when it was handed to him and suddenly he sagged against the sink. A couple of nurses rushed to catch him and set him gently on the floor. "Dr. Evans? Are you alright?"
"I'm okay, I think."
"Dizzy?"
"Suddenly… tired… drained. Maybe I was in longer than I thought." Max shook his head to clear it but there was a horrible sinking feeling in his gut.
"He's probably just dehydrated or has low blood sugar. We were in a long time." Dr. Nichols shook his head. Then beepers went off all over the room. "You stay put. I've got this. You go home as soon as you can stand. You've been here for hours. Grab something to eat."
Max nodded and waited ten minutes before getting to his feet, a little sturdier than he felt. He made his way down to the lounge to pick up his things when the commotion got his attention. Standing outside of the ER was his daughter's boyfriend. Against his better judgment, he approached the scared boy. Gabriel hugged his body and stared through the windows, ignoring the tears flowing down his face. "Gabriel?"
"Dr. Evans!" The boy whirled around, grasping at his cross for dear life. He started sobbing and gesturing to the ER. "She just and she…"
"What? Who?"
"Beth." He got the name out and pointed to the table surrounded by doctors. "She's…"
Max shook his head in disbelief and elbowed his way into the room. There was his Beth. His heart stopped. "Beth?"
All chatter ceased when they realized who exactly they had on the table. Max's eyes shot to the nurse injecting his daughter with pain killers. "No." He grabbed the nurse's hand and pulled the needle out before it could all go in. "Don't."
Freddy grabbed Max and pushed him aside. "Get out of here. We'll take care of her."
Max held up the syringe. "How much?"
"Standard dose… She only got a couple of cc's in before you stopped her."
"You'll kill her. She's allergic."
"I need—" Freddy motioned to the nearest nurse.
"To get the hell out of my way." Max growled, making the interns back away. He placed a hand on her chest and tried to connect to her but he was so drained that nothing happened. There was no time. He'd have to do this the hard way. "Someone call my wife."
"You can't operate on her." Freddy insisted but got to work on her.
"You won't operate without me." Max's eyes flashed. "Tell me what you've found so far." His hands expertly flew around feeling here and testing there. "Gabriel! What the fuck happened?"
"She got into a fight with her mom, with Mrs. Evans. Then we got into a fight cause she's off her meds again or… she was never taking them this whole time… since the wedding." Gabriel sobbed uncontrollably from his little corner of the room. "I took off and she followed me. Told me I couldn’t cross the street. I tried to go around her and then… she wasn't there anymore… and I looked and the trailer was on top of her. A truck ran her over."
"Witnesses say he pulled a Superman and lifted the trailer off of her so someone could pull her out of the way." A cop called in from where he stood in the doorway. "Guess that adrenaline stuff comes in handy."
"Which is what she needs right now." Max nodded and pulled a bottle from a cabinet and pulled a large dose to inject into her IV.
"What the hell are you doing?" Freddy barked at him.
"Saving her life." Max bit out angrily. "Her ribs are fractured but not broken and once this is half-way through, we can add a pain killer that won't send her into cardiac arrest. You've put her in a coma which might work for now."
"Internal bleeding." An intern announced. "The spleen. That thing she was wearing held some of the bleeds closed but…"
"Alright. Upstairs!" He barked. "Get the boy to the lounge."
"Dad!" Danny burst in. He's been in the nurses station waiting to speak to an attending when the gossip had reached him. "What's going on?"
"Scrub in." Max ordered and pushed the gurney toward the elevator. "Call home and ask someone to open the file on the desktop. Transfer the call to the OR when you've got someone."
"Max! You can't operate on her." Dr. Nichols shouted at him.
"Call the Army, the Marines, the Navy, the FBI, and the CI fucking A. It's the only way to keep me out of this."
TBC
See you all next week
"What do you think you're doing?" Liz forced the words out. She had gone back to sleep after Max had left. Then David had rushed in to tell her that Beth had been sitting in the same spot for nearly an hour without moving or responding to his calls. She had been calling Beth for twenty minutes but the girl didn't move. That's when Liz noticed she was sweating. The girl was doing something that Liz couldn't see. She couldn't be doing anything if she were on her meds but her behavior the day before and Max's early morning warning made it all too clear. Beth was TRYING to do something.
"Fuck." Beth spat out. She had been close. Angry eyes peeked out under dark lids to look at her mother. "You fucked it up."
"Excuse me, young lady. You do not speak to me that way." Liz pulled Beth to her feet. "And what is with the outfit? I thought you were done with this."
"I go two days without make up and the clothes I like and you think I've given up? You don't even know me if you think that." Beth swayed on her feet but fought to stay upright.
"What are you doing? You scared your brother to death. He was afraid to touch you when you wouldn’t answer him. It took me half an hour to get your attention." The worried brown orbs scanned her daughter's face but found nothing of the girl who had inhabited that body the day before. "What were you doing?"
"Trying to get me back." Beth bit out. "Obviously no one is happy with me. Putting me on pills that cage me, trying to mold me into someone I'm not. You're scared of what I can do but you won't let me do it so I can find out what it is I do. You can't know I’m dangerous if you don't fucking know what I can do!"
"Lower your voice. I'm your mother. You will respect me and tell me just what the hell you've been messing with."
"I'm exposing the lies. Unwrapping the truth. Call it what you want. I’m gonna find out!" Beth stopped shouting at her mother and stood completely and eerily still. The flashes just wouldn't stop. She'd been searching for them all morning but just now, they leapt to the fore of her mind.
["Max..." She whispered, tilting her head back. "I didn’t have time to get you a present."
"You gave me my present last night. I had a dream." He smirked at her. Then he reached over and patted her stomach. "At least we’ll be prepared for this one."
"What?!" Liz paled.]
["Why'd you take a pregnancy test? I already told you…" Max lifted the small wastebasket at her.
"I wanted to see for myself. To make sure you weren't just… hopeful."
"You act like it's a bad thing."
"It' not a bad thing. It's just… complicated. I just started working at the school unsupervised, Max."]
["How’s Liz taking her news?" Isabel changed the subject.
"I talked to Max this morning. He’s all excited about a third child but Liz is less than enthusiastic."]
["You've been hiding my birth control, Max!"]
[Liz sat there for a long time just staring down at their linked hands. "You never did tell anyone about my journal... did you?"
"Nope. It wouldn’t be right. I really shouldn’t have read it back then..."
"I forgave you for that. I knew you needed to know whether or not you could trust me... I’m glad you found you could." She looked up at him, giving his hands a squeeze.
"Yeah but, could you trust me after that?" He glanced away.
"Yes. I knew why you had done it. It was just a little more intimidating to see you. You know, just knowing that you knew what I had written down. I haven’t even shown that journal to Max yet."
"You still got it?" He smirked. "I thought you would have burned it or something."
"No, it’s put away." She shook her head with a slight smile. Liz turned and glanced at the clock. "Oh wow, it’s really late. Max will be home soon. You should get going."
"Yeah... I guess… We’ll do this again?" He asked uncertainly.
"Sure, anytime."]
[Gently, he brushed her hair out of her face. He stared down at her face, flushed from laughter. He had to do it. He brushed his lips over Liz’s, hers reflexively pushed back. Before he knew what he was doing, Michael slipped his tongue into her mouth. The connection that was always in the back of their minds, flared up and strengthened. Images flashed back and forth…]
["You’re doing it too fast." Michael said out of nowhere.
"What?" Mrs. Parker shook her head in confusion.
"You’re out of practice. Rock her slower, she’ll calm down." He placed a gentle hand on the baby’s back.]
["How long have you and Michael been sleeping together?"]
[Then he noticed how Liz and Michael were holding hands over the table and talking softly to each other. Forcing his eyes away, he met with Isabel’s face. She was watching them too... and like a hawk.]
[She opened her mouth and Michael slid his tongue into her mouth. The deep kiss prompted their already strong connection to open like a floodgate. Liz was overwhelmed with the strong emotions that Michael associated with his memories of her. Their full attention was on the places their bodies touched, where their mouths met and melded, how his weight pressed her into the ground. Just moments before he broke the kiss, Liz realized one thing. Michael Guerin was hopelessly in love with his best friend’s wife.]
["Liz, I’m just trying to figure out why you would lie to me. I had a vision. Isabel said she saw you. I watch the two of you together and it’s right there. You’re always touching and kissing on him. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Stop lying."]
["How could you do this to me?" Max glared at his so-called best friend. "That woman friend you had been talking about... it was Liz?" Michael’s lack of answer was the only answer that Max needed. "Get out of my house."]
["Get the fuck out of my house?"]
["It was an accident."]
[Their tongues clashed.]
["You're in love with my wife?"]
["It was an accident."]
["Ask your dad. He orchestrated the whole thing. I was just the carrier."]
["She's your daughter."]
["We should call Michael."]
"Bethany, look at me." Liz all but screamed in the girl's face. She was so scared by the vacant expression that had taken over Beth's eyes. {God, What now? What could possibly happen now?} The flashes stopped and all Beth could see was her mother and her orange and blue tinged aura. "Bethany…"
"You didn't even want me, did you." Beth bit out in a rage. "I'm just something that was done to you. You were a teacher and just graduated and because of me you missed an early promotion."
"Beth…" Liz furrowed her brow, not sure where that had come from.
"Don't lie to me. I saw it. I saw it all!"
"Calm down." What the hell was happening to her daughter? The teen was breathing heavy and covered in sweat.
"I won't fucking calm down. Everyone in this family is a fucking liar and it all starts with our whore of a mother-!"
The crack sounded before anyone had realized what Liz had done. Her hand immediately covered her mouth in shock of what she had just done to her daughter. "Beth…"
Both stood stock still even as blood rushed to fill the white handprint on Beth's cheek. Tears welled in her eyes. Before anyone could stop her, she bolted from the house. Liz's hand shook where it hovered over her mouth, torn between anger and sadness, a sob caught in her throat. "I didn't mean to…"
"Mom?" David stood frozen to his spot behind the couch. "What's wrong with her?"
"I didn't mean to…"
"Why did she say that? What's wrong with her? What did she see?"
"Call to the hospital." Liz tried to gather her wits but tears blurred her vision. "Call Dad. Tell him she's completely off the drugs. She ran off again."
"Mom!" David shouted. "What happened?"
"I don't know."
--
Beth paced the Crashdown break room until Gabriel showed up. She had stopped and called him to meet her. She started rambling her story to him even as he guided her to a seat at the counter. He kept looking for her grandparents but they didn't seem to be around. Then she got to this morning.
Gabriel stared at her, unbelieving, as if he had never seen her before. "Your mother was wrong to hit you but you were wrong to call her a whore."
"Gabriel." She pleaded, sweat smearing her makeup, her pupils dilated as if she were high.
"You stopped your meds again, didn't you." He cursed to himself and let his head fall to his chest.
"I… I never went back on them. I've been off since the wedding." She admitted, her hands shaking like a junkie.
"I'm done talking to you." He pushed off the counter and rushed out the doors. Beth's foot slipped as she went after him and her hand landed on the stool he had just occupied. The vision assailed her, blinding her and closing out the reality around her.
[Gabriel lay bleeding and broken in the street.]
"Gabriel!" She called after him, running on her sore ankle, disregarding the strange looks she got from everyone around her. She grabbed his shirt before he could step off the curb. "Stop!"
"Beth. Get a grip. I'm not speaking to you until you're back on your meds." He tried to back off the curb but Beth pulled him back, kissing him desperately in an attempt to get him to stay. It only worked long enough for her to turn their bodies around. He pulled away. "You're acting nuts. You need to go home and get back on the meds."
"Don't cross the street." She begged him, pulling on his shirt, her toes teetering on the curb.
"I have to go home." He sighed and tried to move around her but she stepped in front of him, her feet in the gutter.
"Don’t cross the street!" She shouted up at him.
"Beth, get out of the way. This isn't funny."
"Don't fucking cross the street, Gabriel!" She screamed and shoved at him, hoping to regain some ground but he was so solid, she bounced backward a few steps. "Dammit, Gabriel! Just don't—"
There was a whoosh of air that made him blink. Where did she go? "Beth?"
The truck came to a stop just a few yards away. The driver spilled from the cab shaking and peered under the truck. People gathered and traffic stopped.
"God, no!" Gabriel raced over to find Beth pinned beneath one of the wheels on the trailer. "Get it off of her!"
"Someone call 911. She's not moving."
Gabriel's vision blurred as he pushed against the trailer. A few people tried to help him but it was too heavy. It just wasn't moving. Gabriel didn't know where the strength came from but suddenly the trailer was moving. He was lifting it all by himself. It was only six inches but it was enough to pull her out from under the tire. "Is she out?"
"We got her. Put it down before you kill yourself, kid."
He was relieved until he turned and saw how very still she was. "Beth?" He sniffed, wiping at his eyes. He fell to his knees, so tired. "Beth?"
"Where's that ambulance?"
He wanted to touch her but he didn't want to hurt her more. Blood slipped from between her lips. Her glasses had shattered and little pieces were embedded in her cheeks and forehead. Her arm and one of her legs lay at odd angles and if she was breathing, he couldn't tell. "Beth, please. Wake up. Talk to me."
--
Max pulled off his scrubs and tossed them in the bin. He took the bottle of water when it was handed to him and suddenly he sagged against the sink. A couple of nurses rushed to catch him and set him gently on the floor. "Dr. Evans? Are you alright?"
"I'm okay, I think."
"Dizzy?"
"Suddenly… tired… drained. Maybe I was in longer than I thought." Max shook his head to clear it but there was a horrible sinking feeling in his gut.
"He's probably just dehydrated or has low blood sugar. We were in a long time." Dr. Nichols shook his head. Then beepers went off all over the room. "You stay put. I've got this. You go home as soon as you can stand. You've been here for hours. Grab something to eat."
Max nodded and waited ten minutes before getting to his feet, a little sturdier than he felt. He made his way down to the lounge to pick up his things when the commotion got his attention. Standing outside of the ER was his daughter's boyfriend. Against his better judgment, he approached the scared boy. Gabriel hugged his body and stared through the windows, ignoring the tears flowing down his face. "Gabriel?"
"Dr. Evans!" The boy whirled around, grasping at his cross for dear life. He started sobbing and gesturing to the ER. "She just and she…"
"What? Who?"
"Beth." He got the name out and pointed to the table surrounded by doctors. "She's…"
Max shook his head in disbelief and elbowed his way into the room. There was his Beth. His heart stopped. "Beth?"
All chatter ceased when they realized who exactly they had on the table. Max's eyes shot to the nurse injecting his daughter with pain killers. "No." He grabbed the nurse's hand and pulled the needle out before it could all go in. "Don't."
Freddy grabbed Max and pushed him aside. "Get out of here. We'll take care of her."
Max held up the syringe. "How much?"
"Standard dose… She only got a couple of cc's in before you stopped her."
"You'll kill her. She's allergic."
"I need—" Freddy motioned to the nearest nurse.
"To get the hell out of my way." Max growled, making the interns back away. He placed a hand on her chest and tried to connect to her but he was so drained that nothing happened. There was no time. He'd have to do this the hard way. "Someone call my wife."
"You can't operate on her." Freddy insisted but got to work on her.
"You won't operate without me." Max's eyes flashed. "Tell me what you've found so far." His hands expertly flew around feeling here and testing there. "Gabriel! What the fuck happened?"
"She got into a fight with her mom, with Mrs. Evans. Then we got into a fight cause she's off her meds again or… she was never taking them this whole time… since the wedding." Gabriel sobbed uncontrollably from his little corner of the room. "I took off and she followed me. Told me I couldn’t cross the street. I tried to go around her and then… she wasn't there anymore… and I looked and the trailer was on top of her. A truck ran her over."
"Witnesses say he pulled a Superman and lifted the trailer off of her so someone could pull her out of the way." A cop called in from where he stood in the doorway. "Guess that adrenaline stuff comes in handy."
"Which is what she needs right now." Max nodded and pulled a bottle from a cabinet and pulled a large dose to inject into her IV.
"What the hell are you doing?" Freddy barked at him.
"Saving her life." Max bit out angrily. "Her ribs are fractured but not broken and once this is half-way through, we can add a pain killer that won't send her into cardiac arrest. You've put her in a coma which might work for now."
"Internal bleeding." An intern announced. "The spleen. That thing she was wearing held some of the bleeds closed but…"
"Alright. Upstairs!" He barked. "Get the boy to the lounge."
"Dad!" Danny burst in. He's been in the nurses station waiting to speak to an attending when the gossip had reached him. "What's going on?"
"Scrub in." Max ordered and pushed the gurney toward the elevator. "Call home and ask someone to open the file on the desktop. Transfer the call to the OR when you've got someone."
"Max! You can't operate on her." Dr. Nichols shouted at him.
"Call the Army, the Marines, the Navy, the FBI, and the CI fucking A. It's the only way to keep me out of this."
TBC
See you all next week
116 a
The Fate of Destiny Part 116
Danny joined the family in the waiting room. "They just took her to recovery. Dad will be out in a minute. Let him tell it… I can't."
Liz paced with her head in her hands. Her mother had tried several times to get her to sit but Liz couldn't sit still until she knew what had happened to her baby. When Max emerged, it wasn’t from the OR but from the offices after Freddy stormed through the waiting room to the elevator. Max reached for Liz before he really saw that she was there. "She's… we'll have to wait and see. The new few hours are precious. Once she stabilizes, we'll move her to another room and everyone can see her, two at a time."
"Max, will she? Stabilize?" Liz fought the onslaught of tears.
"I hope so." Max held onto her. "Everyone wait here. I'm going to take Mom to see her. We'll be back." They walked to the small room with its glass windows. He helped her to step over cords and to the bedside of their pale, still and fragile daughter. Liz started sobbing even as she reached slowly and carefully to touch her cool skin.
"What the hell happened? She ran out the door and the next thing I know… Danny's calling me to open up your journal…"
"She got run over. Something happened, Liz, and I couldn't heal her. I didn't do the surgery because I could or I didn't want anyone to know about the aliens in Roswell. You know I'd risk everything for one of the kids. I had to do the surgery because I couldn't heal her. I tried and it wouldn't happen." Max felt the tears slip down his face.
"Max?"
"She's got broken ribs and a scraped lung. It didn't puncture but it tore a little. Her spleen ruptured, we removed it. Part of her liver, too and…" He couldn't get over what he had had to do to his daughter.
"Max… please, tell me."
"One of her ovaries. She's fractured her hip…" He ran over the words as he lifted his eyes to look on his daughter. Tubes ran into her veins and down her throat. "We're testing Danny's blood now for a transfusion."
"Mine and David's too." Liz nodded as she gently stroked her daughter's streaked hair away from her face. "Her face?"
"Minor cuts. The longer she sleeps, the better her eyelid will heal but…"
"The longer she sleeps, the less of a chance she's got of waking."
"Right." He felt weak all over again. "When I'm better, I can try again. Nichols be damned. The whole world can find out. Danny's powers never developed to heal to this extent. A bird here, a squirrel there but this…" He let it out finally, what had been building for five hours. The deep sobs and rain of tears. "Gabriel saved her life. If she had stayed pinned under that trailer, she would have died for sure but… If they would have had to wait for the 'jaws' or a tow truck to lift it… The cops said he lifted up the trailer… with his bare hands… like Superman."
Liz stared at her sobbing husband. "Max… didn't you say you healed him? Then he spontaneously is able to lift a trailer? Then you magically can't heal your own flesh and blood?"
"What?" Max felt his breath leave him. "You think he…"
"Somehow borrowed your powers to save her."
--
Isabel hung up the phone and sank into her seat. Jesse rushed to her side, getting the attention of everyone in the room. Bruce quietly got them all out of the conference room. She looked to her boyfriend. "Do you know what Gina told me before she left? She didn't want to go because Beth was gonna get an owie. Beth's in the hospital. She got run over by a truck. A truck with a trailer."
"Oh God, is she okay?"
"Max thinks she'll make it but they have wait until she wakes up." Isabel took a deep breath. "How could Gina know that?"
"Kids get hurt all the time. They're clumsy. Maybe she didn't know. Maybe she…"
"Not Beth. Beth has always had a grace about her. She glides on those damned stilettos. She's always been a dainty girl."
"Maybe Gina's finally getting her alien powers."
"Maybe…" Isabel shook her head. "She just… since… I just assumed she wouldn't." She sniffed. "God, I hope she didn't actually see Beth get hurt. Max says it was… pretty bad. I have to…"
"I'll call the kids. You sit."
"I need to tell them myself."
--
Alex frowned into the phone. "Okay… I'll tell them… No… no, we didn't. We were at the beach… no, no… I could… okay. I will. Love you, too."
"Alex?" Kyle set Gina down on a towel covered chair.
"What's going on?" Berty readjusted her towel and reached for her bag. "What happened?"
"It's Beth." Alex nodded as he hung up the phone.
"Did she… go all… again?"
"No. I don't think…" Alex sat down and let Gina crawl into his lap.
"Beth got an owie." She told him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Yeah…" Alex sniffed a little. "She got run over and Uncle Max couldn't… heal her. They had to operate and… they think she'll be okay."
"Really?" Berty realized she hadn't breathed since Alex sat down. She rummaged through her bag and yanked her Harvard shirt over her head. She couldn't be in a bikini and having fun while her cousin was dying.
"Yeah. When he's better, he's gonna try again."
"Okay." Kyle nodded to himself. He stared out the window at the girls walking by. They didn't seem as appealing as they had when they were on the beach and no one at home was dying… to their knowledge. "Okay, if Uncle Max says."
"They'll keep us posted. Mom says it'll be okay so we should just stay and try to enjoy ourselves. The last thing Beth needs is all of us just sitting around worrying about her… making her recovery harder."
"Yeah, I'm gonna enjoy myself now."
--
Kathy smiled as she shook hands with each woman in turn. "It's great to finally meet the two of you. I've studied your work extensively."
"It shows." The old woman nodded to the file on the desk. She stared at the young woman sitting across from her. "Do I know you?"
"No, trust me, I've been wanting to meet you since before I came to UNM." Kathy's mouth twitched nervously. This was her office, her private space and here were the two most respected women in the field. "Your work inspired me when I was in high school."
"You read my work in high school?" Dr. West stood up straight.
"Actually, it was Dr. Skaarstin's work on mating viruses to create a wide-range vaccination… similar to the MMR back in the 80s." She met the old woman's eyes and froze. Those eyes. "I'm sorry to stare but… you do seem familiar but I don't suppose you've ever been to Roswell." The woman's blue eyes twitched but she said nothing. "Never?"
"Never… though… a few people I met went there once. They never left." Dr. Skaarstin spoke ominously.
"Do I know them? Maybe I saw a picture."
"I was just a little girl when I met them… in '47. Has your family lived in Roswell long?"
"My mom's family is from the area, since before then. My dad only since the 80s." Kathy shook her head and tried to refocus on the matter at hand. "How did you want to proceed? My case studies were all included in my dossier."
"Actually, the case study of yours that we're interested in, you didn't include." Dr. West burst in, clearly against Dr. Skaarstin's wishes.
Kathy paled at those words. "I don't know what you're talking about. I included all of my work. Even my assignments from junior year."
"You haven't been working on a side project? One that studies blood abnormalities?"
"Not as such."
"Serena, please." Dr. Skaarstin cut in. "We can talk about appropriation of school funds later. Right now, we're here to go over this young woman's current projects… as outlined in this very thick report. I'll tell you, Dr. Evans, it took me more than a few weeks to get through it. I've been retired and am not up on all the current procedures… but I'm not wholly out of touch. I do a project here and there with the FBI."
"Aren't those classified?"
"They are. I won't divulge the details. I can't." She smiled warmly and Kathy sucked in a breath of air. That smile. "I will say that some of the projects I lent my expertise… they paralleled some of your more challenging work. You and I are going to get along well." The old woman rose and looked the office over. "I see they gave you the small office. In my day… the lowest ranked man got this office. I had to share my working space with the undergrads. They tried to shove me out. But you've shown real promise. Is this your family?"
"Yes." Kathy watched Dr. Skaarstin's expression freeze. "That's my Dad. The next one is all of us… before I moved up here." Dr. West peered over the old woman's shoulder and her smirk fell into a frown. Kathy stood and tried to see which picture they were studying. She struggled to remember the placement on that wall. Dad. The Family… Tess. "That one's my biological mother."
"Your what?" Dr. Skaarstin whispered, her blue eyes filling with tears. "You had better not be lying."
"Dr. Skaarstin…" Kathy tilted her head and then her door burst open.
Will looked shaken. He struggled for words. "It's Beth."
"What happened?" Kathy shook her head. "Did she run away again?" He shook his head. "Will, you're scaring me."
"She's in the hospital. Your dad said to stay put in case he needed you to run a test but…" He glanced at the women standing in the office. "I'm sorry to interrupt your meeting, doctors, but there's been a family emergency."
"Is she okay?" Her mind wrapping around his words. "Hospital? But didn't Dad… but in the hospital? What test? Will… tell me."
"We'll wait outside." Dr. Skaarstin led Dr. West to the door.
"Will…"
"Sh. Sh." He pulled her into his arms. "It'll be okay. You're gonna stay here. Agent Ledford is on her way. She'll be here in three hours. Just… stay here, finish your meeting. I'll go. Okay?"
"Don't… please. Don't leave me."
"Someone has to be there with the security codes to override your father's superiors if need be. Agent Ledford just got promoted. She'll do fine. I have to go."
Kathy pressed her lips against his. "Take care of her."
--
Max hadn't budged from the chair since she'd been moved from recovery to a private room. Her heart rate was normal. Her bleeding had stopped. She was taking her infusion from him well. Next was David's. Liz sat on the other side of the bed, near the point of exhaustion. She'd been babbling about the fight for hours. "I hit her, Max. That's why she ran."
"She was off her meds. She wasn't thinking straight. It's a pattern I should have noticed. Irritability and cursing. She's probably got a chemical imbalance that had nothing to do with the meds. There's something else going on with her." He barely looked up. "Why did you hit her?"
"She called me… I don't know why. She just… was standing there and she wasn't responding and then she just… lashed out… called me a… whore. I didn't think. I just… and it was probably the imbalance, whatever it is…" Liz rubbed her daughter's hand, willing it to warm up.
"Dr. Evans, Mrs. Evans." A hoarse voice whispered from the doorway. When Max looked up, it was Gabriel, with a hospital escort. "Can I come in?" Max barely nodded and waved off the orderly. There were no more chairs but he took position at the foot of the bed. "Is she going to okay?"
"Most likely. If she wakes up." Max nodded, his own voice just as hoarse but from shouting at people more than crying. "Thank you for being there… doing what you did."
"I don't know how I did it. I just… saw her there." His voice caught. "I tried with a few other people but it wouldn't budge and then… all of a sudden… all by myself… someone else pulled her out. The cops said it was adrenaline. That… it happens sometimes. Moms pulling cars off their kids and people surviving big falls." He sniffed loudly, wiping at his nose with his bare arm. "It was supposed to be me. She… she knew." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rosary. "Do you mind? She told me how you feel about it and all but…"
"Go ahead." Liz nodded at him, then watched dumbfounded as he pulled the cross from around his neck and laid it over Beth's heart, on top of her bandages. The boy knelt at the foot of the bed, one hand wrapped in beads and the other touching Beth's good leg.
--
Danny joined the family in the waiting room. "They just took her to recovery. Dad will be out in a minute. Let him tell it… I can't."
Liz paced with her head in her hands. Her mother had tried several times to get her to sit but Liz couldn't sit still until she knew what had happened to her baby. When Max emerged, it wasn’t from the OR but from the offices after Freddy stormed through the waiting room to the elevator. Max reached for Liz before he really saw that she was there. "She's… we'll have to wait and see. The new few hours are precious. Once she stabilizes, we'll move her to another room and everyone can see her, two at a time."
"Max, will she? Stabilize?" Liz fought the onslaught of tears.
"I hope so." Max held onto her. "Everyone wait here. I'm going to take Mom to see her. We'll be back." They walked to the small room with its glass windows. He helped her to step over cords and to the bedside of their pale, still and fragile daughter. Liz started sobbing even as she reached slowly and carefully to touch her cool skin.
"What the hell happened? She ran out the door and the next thing I know… Danny's calling me to open up your journal…"
"She got run over. Something happened, Liz, and I couldn't heal her. I didn't do the surgery because I could or I didn't want anyone to know about the aliens in Roswell. You know I'd risk everything for one of the kids. I had to do the surgery because I couldn't heal her. I tried and it wouldn't happen." Max felt the tears slip down his face.
"Max?"
"She's got broken ribs and a scraped lung. It didn't puncture but it tore a little. Her spleen ruptured, we removed it. Part of her liver, too and…" He couldn't get over what he had had to do to his daughter.
"Max… please, tell me."
"One of her ovaries. She's fractured her hip…" He ran over the words as he lifted his eyes to look on his daughter. Tubes ran into her veins and down her throat. "We're testing Danny's blood now for a transfusion."
"Mine and David's too." Liz nodded as she gently stroked her daughter's streaked hair away from her face. "Her face?"
"Minor cuts. The longer she sleeps, the better her eyelid will heal but…"
"The longer she sleeps, the less of a chance she's got of waking."
"Right." He felt weak all over again. "When I'm better, I can try again. Nichols be damned. The whole world can find out. Danny's powers never developed to heal to this extent. A bird here, a squirrel there but this…" He let it out finally, what had been building for five hours. The deep sobs and rain of tears. "Gabriel saved her life. If she had stayed pinned under that trailer, she would have died for sure but… If they would have had to wait for the 'jaws' or a tow truck to lift it… The cops said he lifted up the trailer… with his bare hands… like Superman."
Liz stared at her sobbing husband. "Max… didn't you say you healed him? Then he spontaneously is able to lift a trailer? Then you magically can't heal your own flesh and blood?"
"What?" Max felt his breath leave him. "You think he…"
"Somehow borrowed your powers to save her."
--
Isabel hung up the phone and sank into her seat. Jesse rushed to her side, getting the attention of everyone in the room. Bruce quietly got them all out of the conference room. She looked to her boyfriend. "Do you know what Gina told me before she left? She didn't want to go because Beth was gonna get an owie. Beth's in the hospital. She got run over by a truck. A truck with a trailer."
"Oh God, is she okay?"
"Max thinks she'll make it but they have wait until she wakes up." Isabel took a deep breath. "How could Gina know that?"
"Kids get hurt all the time. They're clumsy. Maybe she didn't know. Maybe she…"
"Not Beth. Beth has always had a grace about her. She glides on those damned stilettos. She's always been a dainty girl."
"Maybe Gina's finally getting her alien powers."
"Maybe…" Isabel shook her head. "She just… since… I just assumed she wouldn't." She sniffed. "God, I hope she didn't actually see Beth get hurt. Max says it was… pretty bad. I have to…"
"I'll call the kids. You sit."
"I need to tell them myself."
--
Alex frowned into the phone. "Okay… I'll tell them… No… no, we didn't. We were at the beach… no, no… I could… okay. I will. Love you, too."
"Alex?" Kyle set Gina down on a towel covered chair.
"What's going on?" Berty readjusted her towel and reached for her bag. "What happened?"
"It's Beth." Alex nodded as he hung up the phone.
"Did she… go all… again?"
"No. I don't think…" Alex sat down and let Gina crawl into his lap.
"Beth got an owie." She told him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Yeah…" Alex sniffed a little. "She got run over and Uncle Max couldn't… heal her. They had to operate and… they think she'll be okay."
"Really?" Berty realized she hadn't breathed since Alex sat down. She rummaged through her bag and yanked her Harvard shirt over her head. She couldn't be in a bikini and having fun while her cousin was dying.
"Yeah. When he's better, he's gonna try again."
"Okay." Kyle nodded to himself. He stared out the window at the girls walking by. They didn't seem as appealing as they had when they were on the beach and no one at home was dying… to their knowledge. "Okay, if Uncle Max says."
"They'll keep us posted. Mom says it'll be okay so we should just stay and try to enjoy ourselves. The last thing Beth needs is all of us just sitting around worrying about her… making her recovery harder."
"Yeah, I'm gonna enjoy myself now."
--
Kathy smiled as she shook hands with each woman in turn. "It's great to finally meet the two of you. I've studied your work extensively."
"It shows." The old woman nodded to the file on the desk. She stared at the young woman sitting across from her. "Do I know you?"
"No, trust me, I've been wanting to meet you since before I came to UNM." Kathy's mouth twitched nervously. This was her office, her private space and here were the two most respected women in the field. "Your work inspired me when I was in high school."
"You read my work in high school?" Dr. West stood up straight.
"Actually, it was Dr. Skaarstin's work on mating viruses to create a wide-range vaccination… similar to the MMR back in the 80s." She met the old woman's eyes and froze. Those eyes. "I'm sorry to stare but… you do seem familiar but I don't suppose you've ever been to Roswell." The woman's blue eyes twitched but she said nothing. "Never?"
"Never… though… a few people I met went there once. They never left." Dr. Skaarstin spoke ominously.
"Do I know them? Maybe I saw a picture."
"I was just a little girl when I met them… in '47. Has your family lived in Roswell long?"
"My mom's family is from the area, since before then. My dad only since the 80s." Kathy shook her head and tried to refocus on the matter at hand. "How did you want to proceed? My case studies were all included in my dossier."
"Actually, the case study of yours that we're interested in, you didn't include." Dr. West burst in, clearly against Dr. Skaarstin's wishes.
Kathy paled at those words. "I don't know what you're talking about. I included all of my work. Even my assignments from junior year."
"You haven't been working on a side project? One that studies blood abnormalities?"
"Not as such."
"Serena, please." Dr. Skaarstin cut in. "We can talk about appropriation of school funds later. Right now, we're here to go over this young woman's current projects… as outlined in this very thick report. I'll tell you, Dr. Evans, it took me more than a few weeks to get through it. I've been retired and am not up on all the current procedures… but I'm not wholly out of touch. I do a project here and there with the FBI."
"Aren't those classified?"
"They are. I won't divulge the details. I can't." She smiled warmly and Kathy sucked in a breath of air. That smile. "I will say that some of the projects I lent my expertise… they paralleled some of your more challenging work. You and I are going to get along well." The old woman rose and looked the office over. "I see they gave you the small office. In my day… the lowest ranked man got this office. I had to share my working space with the undergrads. They tried to shove me out. But you've shown real promise. Is this your family?"
"Yes." Kathy watched Dr. Skaarstin's expression freeze. "That's my Dad. The next one is all of us… before I moved up here." Dr. West peered over the old woman's shoulder and her smirk fell into a frown. Kathy stood and tried to see which picture they were studying. She struggled to remember the placement on that wall. Dad. The Family… Tess. "That one's my biological mother."
"Your what?" Dr. Skaarstin whispered, her blue eyes filling with tears. "You had better not be lying."
"Dr. Skaarstin…" Kathy tilted her head and then her door burst open.
Will looked shaken. He struggled for words. "It's Beth."
"What happened?" Kathy shook her head. "Did she run away again?" He shook his head. "Will, you're scaring me."
"She's in the hospital. Your dad said to stay put in case he needed you to run a test but…" He glanced at the women standing in the office. "I'm sorry to interrupt your meeting, doctors, but there's been a family emergency."
"Is she okay?" Her mind wrapping around his words. "Hospital? But didn't Dad… but in the hospital? What test? Will… tell me."
"We'll wait outside." Dr. Skaarstin led Dr. West to the door.
"Will…"
"Sh. Sh." He pulled her into his arms. "It'll be okay. You're gonna stay here. Agent Ledford is on her way. She'll be here in three hours. Just… stay here, finish your meeting. I'll go. Okay?"
"Don't… please. Don't leave me."
"Someone has to be there with the security codes to override your father's superiors if need be. Agent Ledford just got promoted. She'll do fine. I have to go."
Kathy pressed her lips against his. "Take care of her."
--
Max hadn't budged from the chair since she'd been moved from recovery to a private room. Her heart rate was normal. Her bleeding had stopped. She was taking her infusion from him well. Next was David's. Liz sat on the other side of the bed, near the point of exhaustion. She'd been babbling about the fight for hours. "I hit her, Max. That's why she ran."
"She was off her meds. She wasn't thinking straight. It's a pattern I should have noticed. Irritability and cursing. She's probably got a chemical imbalance that had nothing to do with the meds. There's something else going on with her." He barely looked up. "Why did you hit her?"
"She called me… I don't know why. She just… was standing there and she wasn't responding and then she just… lashed out… called me a… whore. I didn't think. I just… and it was probably the imbalance, whatever it is…" Liz rubbed her daughter's hand, willing it to warm up.
"Dr. Evans, Mrs. Evans." A hoarse voice whispered from the doorway. When Max looked up, it was Gabriel, with a hospital escort. "Can I come in?" Max barely nodded and waved off the orderly. There were no more chairs but he took position at the foot of the bed. "Is she going to okay?"
"Most likely. If she wakes up." Max nodded, his own voice just as hoarse but from shouting at people more than crying. "Thank you for being there… doing what you did."
"I don't know how I did it. I just… saw her there." His voice caught. "I tried with a few other people but it wouldn't budge and then… all of a sudden… all by myself… someone else pulled her out. The cops said it was adrenaline. That… it happens sometimes. Moms pulling cars off their kids and people surviving big falls." He sniffed loudly, wiping at his nose with his bare arm. "It was supposed to be me. She… she knew." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rosary. "Do you mind? She told me how you feel about it and all but…"
"Go ahead." Liz nodded at him, then watched dumbfounded as he pulled the cross from around his neck and laid it over Beth's heart, on top of her bandages. The boy knelt at the foot of the bed, one hand wrapped in beads and the other touching Beth's good leg.
--
116 B
--
David picked at his dinner. He couldn't eat. They hadn't let him stay at the hospital. He was too young to visit his own sister. He was useless. Danny and Emily picked at their food too. "Danny?"
"Yeah?"
"My dream catcher is at home."
"Okay. I'll run by and get it before you go to sleep."
"I can't sleep… but in case I do…"
"All right. Will do… eat something, will you." Danny half-heartedly speared a French fry with his fork but didn’t lift it to his mouth.
"What was it like? Putting your hands in her."
"Not pleasant." Danny looked to Emily. "We had to take one of her ovaries. Dad made them put it on ice to see if they could save any of the eggs… just in case."
"You mean…" Emily thought about her fears concerning children and being able to have them hadn't ever been the issue. ‘When’ had been her concern. Beth might not even have that in her future.
--
Max unfolded the rollaway bed to stow in the corner of the room. When he turned to collect Liz, he found Gabriel had already lifted her into his arms. He stood back so the boy could lay her on the bed. "Thanks. Not sure I could lift much right now."
"I lifted a truck this morning. 120 ain't nothing."
"She asks, you say 105." Max tried to joke but his heart wasn't in it. His heart lay bleeding in that bed with his daughter.
"Dr. Evans? I love her. I wasn't sure but now… I know. I thought I just had a crush and it would go away but then I talked to her and I thought… maybe she can't like me the same way… and when that truck… my heart stopped and I couldn't breathe." The boy sobbed heavily, hands fisting in the blankets at her feet.
"I know." Max gripped the boy's shoulder, trying not to cry again himself. He had to focus on something. "Have you eaten?" The boy shook his head. "Go get some air, something to eat. She'll still be here. I promise."
"Max? Oh, shit. I just heard." Michael stood in the doorway. "Oh shit. Max…" He stared at the young girl. "Shit. Is she…? Shit." His mouth could only form the one word so he bit it back. That little girl he'd always known lay broken in a hospital bed.
Max fought the emotions threatening to overwhelm. He accepted Michael's hug and wiped at his eyes. "If… think you could give some blood? Liz isn't a good match. I've already given, so have the boys. I don’t want to wear anyone out this soon… before we know if she'll…"
"Sure." Michael nodded and let Max take a sample to be tested. Soon enough, Michael was seated beside the bed with a bandage on his arm. The three men watched over the pale girl as she took in a fourth half-pint of blood. "Liz pass out?"
"She was exhausted. We haven't been sleeping well. Beth running off and all. Her acting out. They got into it this morning and so far nothing makes any sense. She just… she's been off her meds and something made her react." Max shook his head. He didn’t want to think about that. He wanted his little girl to wake up.
"How much blood did you give?"
"Legal amount. They won't let me give anymore. Especially since I um…" He glanced at Gabriel. "Almost passed out right before she got here. It was… a thing. I'm okay."
"I'll sit if you need to eat." Michael offered, knowing Max would rather eat his own arm than leave her bedside. If it were Emily, he wouldn't leave for the world. But Max seemed to think it over. "You'll go?"
"I think I need to." He eyed the fresh bag of blood going into his daughter. "She'll be out for a while and I'm weaker than I'd like."
"You mean?"
"I operated on her myself for a reason." Max nodded. "I think I barely made it through. I really need to eat." He turned his head to Gabriel. "How about it, Superman? Think you can walk me downstairs? We both need to refuel." He slowly got to his feet. "Michael… if she…"
"I'll page you. I'll wake up Liz." Michael nodded.
"Thanks."
When the two were gone, Michael sighed heavily. This little girl used to explain to him how exactly the stars worked… and now she looked ready to join them. Shutting his eyes, he said a little prayer to whoever would listen. They had never considered this. That a kid could die from something other than evil aliens.
Beth's tongue was heavy and stuck to the roof of her mouth. Her eyelids were twice as heavy. Only one would crack open. When it did, all she saw was a haze of green. Her nose itched. Her body ached but dully… like she wasn't really connected to herself. "Daddy?"
"Beth?" Michael's eyes shot open.
Beth held in a sob. That wasn't her father. Green. Green. Who was green? Her one eye opened further. Michael. "Before you… call someone. Tell me the truth. Are you really my dad?"
"You're confused. Hold on. I'm paging your dad." Michael reached for the phone.
"Tell me the truth. Are you the reason my Dad doesn't love me." A tear slid down her face. "Did you get my mom pregnant?"
Michael tilted his head at her, hand frozen on the phone. He glanced at Liz. "Is that what you think happened? Did you see something?"
"Just tell me."
"That's not true." Michael picked up the phone and quickly dialed Max's beeper. "Absolutely not. Me and your mom never did anything."
"I saw it."
"No, you didn't."
"I don't have my dad's powers. I have yours." She wished she could move but her body was numb.
"You don't have my powers, kid. Calm down. Your dad's coming. Liz! Wake up!"
"My aura is green. Not blue. It's green like yours. Dad is blue. Danny is blue. David is blue. Kathy is blue… I'm green." Her head hurt so much. "I can only be green if Dad was green but he's not he's blue."
"Sh. It's okay. It's okay. Sh." Liz whispered. "What's she talking about?"
"Auras or something. She's fucked in the head. She thinks Max isn't her father. She's got it in her head that I am. Says she saw it."
Liz gasped. "That's what this morning was about." She pushed that out of her mind. "Bethany, calm down. You've been hurt. If you move too much you'll pop a stitch and bleed to death. Stay still. Where's Max?"
"On his way. I paged him. He went to get food."
"Food." Liz bit out. "Only he could eat."
"He was weak and he has to recharge if he's going to heal her. Right? That's why he hasn't done it already?"
"He didn't tell you?"
"That boy was here. We couldn't talk candidly."
Beth sobbed, wanting to curl up but unable to do it. "Where am I?"
"In the hospital." Liz moved around the bed to look her daughter in her good eye. "You're gonna be okay. Dad says. You need to lie still until he gets here to look you over. Listen to me. You are every bit, every molecule Max Evans's daughter. Okay? He made you up special for me. Planned you because he wanted you so much. Forget every other option you've cooked up. Daddy loves you so much he gave his own blood even though he could barely stand up straight."
Beth started to calm but it wasn't her mother's words. It was the sudden lack of interference in her brain from anyone in the room. "Gabriel?"
"He's here." Max nodded as he came into her line of sight. "There's my little girl. Thought we'd lost you for a minute or two." He kissed her fingers lightly and brushed her hair out of her face before grabbed his stethoscope for a quick check. He looked into her eye sternly. "One condition on my taking you home with us when you're better…" He saw her nod. "You are never, never to step in front of a truck for a boy. I'll excuse it this time because he's in love and scared out of his mind right now but next time… just let it pass."
"Daddy?"
"It's okay, sweetie. It's okay." He tried to calm her down. "It's okay."
"Don't lie to me anymore."
"I never lie to you." Max could feel her calming or at least getting too tired to fight.
"Max." A voice called from behind him.
"Will?" Beth lifted her head with a small smile. Her father stepped aside and a harried agent filled her limited view. "You came back?"
"Of course I did. My fiancée got run over. You think I wouldn't come?" Will sniffed loudly. "What were you thinking? You probably damaged his ego, kiddo. You don’t step in front of really big trucks. Not a good idea. Kat says hi." He touched her face lightly, trying to avoid stitches and bandages. "You can't marry me if you're a smear on the road."
"She saved my life." Gabriel's voice floated over her head.
"He's okay, then?"
"Yeah, I am. Thanks to you…"
"Will… I'm… I'm…" Beth took a deep breath and then her eyes closed.
Will turned to look at Max who had just injected something into her IV. "That was fast."
"She's tired. She needs to sleep to get better." Max sniffed and tossed the needle in the hazard box against the wall. "You didn't need to come back. But thanks."
"She's always been headstrong. She listens to me." Will got up to let Liz sit in the chair.
"Could you take him home?" Max gestured to Gabriel.
"I'll stay." The boy shook his head.
"You have to work. You have to take care of your brothers and sister." Max shook his head, remembering what all Beth had said about him. "She's okay now. You can come see her when she wakes up, tomorrow or the day after. She needs to rest." He made his way around the room and put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "See to your family. She'll still be here. I promise. Okay? Come tomorrow."
"Okay. Good night, Dr. Evans. Mrs. Evans. Agent Goldblum…" Gabriel had to think before he addressed Michael. "Mr. Guerin."
Max waited until the door shut behind the teen before he turned to everyone else. "What the hell happened?"
--
When Beth woke the next day, she could turn her head a little. Her mother was asleep on a cot near the window. Her orange aura was calm. The blue around the edges lay very still, like it was barely a part of her. "Mommy?"
Her aura reacted before she fully woke. The blue part grew agitated and then soothed when her eyes opened. "Beth?" Liz nearly fell out of the bed trying to get to the bedside. "Hey honey, good morning. How are you feeling?"
"Like I got hit by a truck."
Liz chuckled a little through tears. "There's my girl." Some of the cuts had begun to close on their own. Her skin was already growing back together. On her own. Some latent healing ability had begun to surface. "Dad looked you over this morning. You know what he said?"
"What?"
"You're healing yourself. The drugs kept you asleep and let you take care of yourself. You can go home at the end of the week."
"Healing? I can't heal."
"Yeah, you can." Liz smiled. "So… don't ever… ever say what you said last night. Daddy is your daddy." She sighed heavily. "I've never ever been with any other man in my life. What you saw… I can't even remember but it only happened once and I was never a willing participant. It didn't go far from all accounts. That's why we don't drink." She wiped away Beth's relieved tears. "Daddy would never pick a favorite but I think if he could, he'd pick you. You are so like him. You have his sense of humor, you like to hide behind a persona… yours is a little more visible than his was but it's the same device… and you love just as fiercely as he does. Daddy loves forever."
"How can you know how I love?"
"I talked to Gabriel this morning. Just me and him. He told me what he did and why he did it and… even if you dump him, I'm keeping him. Any boy who lifts a two ton trailer for my little girl-"
"What?"
"Yeah. He uh… borrowed some energy from Daddy without realizing it… because Daddy healed him that time… He lifted it up so they could pull you out." Liz peered in her face. "He said you knew. That you tried to stop him from crossing the street. Do you remember?"
"Um…" Beth shut her eye and tried to remember. "I was telling him what happened and… he got mad at me… and left… I… started to go after him but I tripped and I fell on a stool."
"At the Crashdown?"
"Yeah. Grandma and Grandpa weren't there… um… and I saw it happen. He was lying in the street. Blood on his face. His arm… stuck out wrong… and both his legs… were on backward and I had to stop him."
"Sh… Sh… He's okay. He was here all day yesterday. He has to work today but he'll be here tomorrow. Okay?"
"Okay… where's Dad?"
"He's talking to his boss. Trying to make him understand about your… allergies." She smiled. "Kat's doing a full blood work-up so they can show Dr. Nichols something he can put his name on."
"Daddy's in trouble."
"No. It's nothing. Dr. Nichols will see you're getting better this way and he'll understand." Liz looked up when a shadow stood in the doorway. "Hello?"
"Hi, Mrs. Evans…" The teenaged girl shifted nervously. "They said I could come up… since everyone else was."
"Who are…?" Liz trailed off when she caught Beth's look of confusion.
"Donna Jo?" Beth whispered. The orange aura was distracting her but that was definitely her best friend from the seventh grade.
"I heard what happened and I had to come see." The blonde stepped just inside the doorway. "I know we haven't spoken much in the last few years but… I still consider you one of my friends." ["My head hurts."
"Okay… I have to go now anyway but I'll see you tomorrow, okay."
"Yeah." Beth walked with Donna Jo to the door. She walked through the living room and stopped in the middle when her vision clouded and unwanted memories forced their way into her brain. Stumbling her way to the stairs, she climbed and barely reached the bathroom before she lost her lunch. Trembling, she rinsed her mouth out and when she looked up, it was clear. Her aura was the wrong color. It was green when it should be blue. She spat at her reflection and tried to block out the visions.]
"That was my fault." Beth admitted, lowering her eye to her hand where it poked out of a cast. "I haven't been myself in a long time."
tbc
David picked at his dinner. He couldn't eat. They hadn't let him stay at the hospital. He was too young to visit his own sister. He was useless. Danny and Emily picked at their food too. "Danny?"
"Yeah?"
"My dream catcher is at home."
"Okay. I'll run by and get it before you go to sleep."
"I can't sleep… but in case I do…"
"All right. Will do… eat something, will you." Danny half-heartedly speared a French fry with his fork but didn’t lift it to his mouth.
"What was it like? Putting your hands in her."
"Not pleasant." Danny looked to Emily. "We had to take one of her ovaries. Dad made them put it on ice to see if they could save any of the eggs… just in case."
"You mean…" Emily thought about her fears concerning children and being able to have them hadn't ever been the issue. ‘When’ had been her concern. Beth might not even have that in her future.
--
Max unfolded the rollaway bed to stow in the corner of the room. When he turned to collect Liz, he found Gabriel had already lifted her into his arms. He stood back so the boy could lay her on the bed. "Thanks. Not sure I could lift much right now."
"I lifted a truck this morning. 120 ain't nothing."
"She asks, you say 105." Max tried to joke but his heart wasn't in it. His heart lay bleeding in that bed with his daughter.
"Dr. Evans? I love her. I wasn't sure but now… I know. I thought I just had a crush and it would go away but then I talked to her and I thought… maybe she can't like me the same way… and when that truck… my heart stopped and I couldn't breathe." The boy sobbed heavily, hands fisting in the blankets at her feet.
"I know." Max gripped the boy's shoulder, trying not to cry again himself. He had to focus on something. "Have you eaten?" The boy shook his head. "Go get some air, something to eat. She'll still be here. I promise."
"Max? Oh, shit. I just heard." Michael stood in the doorway. "Oh shit. Max…" He stared at the young girl. "Shit. Is she…? Shit." His mouth could only form the one word so he bit it back. That little girl he'd always known lay broken in a hospital bed.
Max fought the emotions threatening to overwhelm. He accepted Michael's hug and wiped at his eyes. "If… think you could give some blood? Liz isn't a good match. I've already given, so have the boys. I don’t want to wear anyone out this soon… before we know if she'll…"
"Sure." Michael nodded and let Max take a sample to be tested. Soon enough, Michael was seated beside the bed with a bandage on his arm. The three men watched over the pale girl as she took in a fourth half-pint of blood. "Liz pass out?"
"She was exhausted. We haven't been sleeping well. Beth running off and all. Her acting out. They got into it this morning and so far nothing makes any sense. She just… she's been off her meds and something made her react." Max shook his head. He didn’t want to think about that. He wanted his little girl to wake up.
"How much blood did you give?"
"Legal amount. They won't let me give anymore. Especially since I um…" He glanced at Gabriel. "Almost passed out right before she got here. It was… a thing. I'm okay."
"I'll sit if you need to eat." Michael offered, knowing Max would rather eat his own arm than leave her bedside. If it were Emily, he wouldn't leave for the world. But Max seemed to think it over. "You'll go?"
"I think I need to." He eyed the fresh bag of blood going into his daughter. "She'll be out for a while and I'm weaker than I'd like."
"You mean?"
"I operated on her myself for a reason." Max nodded. "I think I barely made it through. I really need to eat." He turned his head to Gabriel. "How about it, Superman? Think you can walk me downstairs? We both need to refuel." He slowly got to his feet. "Michael… if she…"
"I'll page you. I'll wake up Liz." Michael nodded.
"Thanks."
When the two were gone, Michael sighed heavily. This little girl used to explain to him how exactly the stars worked… and now she looked ready to join them. Shutting his eyes, he said a little prayer to whoever would listen. They had never considered this. That a kid could die from something other than evil aliens.
Beth's tongue was heavy and stuck to the roof of her mouth. Her eyelids were twice as heavy. Only one would crack open. When it did, all she saw was a haze of green. Her nose itched. Her body ached but dully… like she wasn't really connected to herself. "Daddy?"
"Beth?" Michael's eyes shot open.
Beth held in a sob. That wasn't her father. Green. Green. Who was green? Her one eye opened further. Michael. "Before you… call someone. Tell me the truth. Are you really my dad?"
"You're confused. Hold on. I'm paging your dad." Michael reached for the phone.
"Tell me the truth. Are you the reason my Dad doesn't love me." A tear slid down her face. "Did you get my mom pregnant?"
Michael tilted his head at her, hand frozen on the phone. He glanced at Liz. "Is that what you think happened? Did you see something?"
"Just tell me."
"That's not true." Michael picked up the phone and quickly dialed Max's beeper. "Absolutely not. Me and your mom never did anything."
"I saw it."
"No, you didn't."
"I don't have my dad's powers. I have yours." She wished she could move but her body was numb.
"You don't have my powers, kid. Calm down. Your dad's coming. Liz! Wake up!"
"My aura is green. Not blue. It's green like yours. Dad is blue. Danny is blue. David is blue. Kathy is blue… I'm green." Her head hurt so much. "I can only be green if Dad was green but he's not he's blue."
"Sh. It's okay. It's okay. Sh." Liz whispered. "What's she talking about?"
"Auras or something. She's fucked in the head. She thinks Max isn't her father. She's got it in her head that I am. Says she saw it."
Liz gasped. "That's what this morning was about." She pushed that out of her mind. "Bethany, calm down. You've been hurt. If you move too much you'll pop a stitch and bleed to death. Stay still. Where's Max?"
"On his way. I paged him. He went to get food."
"Food." Liz bit out. "Only he could eat."
"He was weak and he has to recharge if he's going to heal her. Right? That's why he hasn't done it already?"
"He didn't tell you?"
"That boy was here. We couldn't talk candidly."
Beth sobbed, wanting to curl up but unable to do it. "Where am I?"
"In the hospital." Liz moved around the bed to look her daughter in her good eye. "You're gonna be okay. Dad says. You need to lie still until he gets here to look you over. Listen to me. You are every bit, every molecule Max Evans's daughter. Okay? He made you up special for me. Planned you because he wanted you so much. Forget every other option you've cooked up. Daddy loves you so much he gave his own blood even though he could barely stand up straight."
Beth started to calm but it wasn't her mother's words. It was the sudden lack of interference in her brain from anyone in the room. "Gabriel?"
"He's here." Max nodded as he came into her line of sight. "There's my little girl. Thought we'd lost you for a minute or two." He kissed her fingers lightly and brushed her hair out of her face before grabbed his stethoscope for a quick check. He looked into her eye sternly. "One condition on my taking you home with us when you're better…" He saw her nod. "You are never, never to step in front of a truck for a boy. I'll excuse it this time because he's in love and scared out of his mind right now but next time… just let it pass."
"Daddy?"
"It's okay, sweetie. It's okay." He tried to calm her down. "It's okay."
"Don't lie to me anymore."
"I never lie to you." Max could feel her calming or at least getting too tired to fight.
"Max." A voice called from behind him.
"Will?" Beth lifted her head with a small smile. Her father stepped aside and a harried agent filled her limited view. "You came back?"
"Of course I did. My fiancée got run over. You think I wouldn't come?" Will sniffed loudly. "What were you thinking? You probably damaged his ego, kiddo. You don’t step in front of really big trucks. Not a good idea. Kat says hi." He touched her face lightly, trying to avoid stitches and bandages. "You can't marry me if you're a smear on the road."
"She saved my life." Gabriel's voice floated over her head.
"He's okay, then?"
"Yeah, I am. Thanks to you…"
"Will… I'm… I'm…" Beth took a deep breath and then her eyes closed.
Will turned to look at Max who had just injected something into her IV. "That was fast."
"She's tired. She needs to sleep to get better." Max sniffed and tossed the needle in the hazard box against the wall. "You didn't need to come back. But thanks."
"She's always been headstrong. She listens to me." Will got up to let Liz sit in the chair.
"Could you take him home?" Max gestured to Gabriel.
"I'll stay." The boy shook his head.
"You have to work. You have to take care of your brothers and sister." Max shook his head, remembering what all Beth had said about him. "She's okay now. You can come see her when she wakes up, tomorrow or the day after. She needs to rest." He made his way around the room and put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "See to your family. She'll still be here. I promise. Okay? Come tomorrow."
"Okay. Good night, Dr. Evans. Mrs. Evans. Agent Goldblum…" Gabriel had to think before he addressed Michael. "Mr. Guerin."
Max waited until the door shut behind the teen before he turned to everyone else. "What the hell happened?"
--
When Beth woke the next day, she could turn her head a little. Her mother was asleep on a cot near the window. Her orange aura was calm. The blue around the edges lay very still, like it was barely a part of her. "Mommy?"
Her aura reacted before she fully woke. The blue part grew agitated and then soothed when her eyes opened. "Beth?" Liz nearly fell out of the bed trying to get to the bedside. "Hey honey, good morning. How are you feeling?"
"Like I got hit by a truck."
Liz chuckled a little through tears. "There's my girl." Some of the cuts had begun to close on their own. Her skin was already growing back together. On her own. Some latent healing ability had begun to surface. "Dad looked you over this morning. You know what he said?"
"What?"
"You're healing yourself. The drugs kept you asleep and let you take care of yourself. You can go home at the end of the week."
"Healing? I can't heal."
"Yeah, you can." Liz smiled. "So… don't ever… ever say what you said last night. Daddy is your daddy." She sighed heavily. "I've never ever been with any other man in my life. What you saw… I can't even remember but it only happened once and I was never a willing participant. It didn't go far from all accounts. That's why we don't drink." She wiped away Beth's relieved tears. "Daddy would never pick a favorite but I think if he could, he'd pick you. You are so like him. You have his sense of humor, you like to hide behind a persona… yours is a little more visible than his was but it's the same device… and you love just as fiercely as he does. Daddy loves forever."
"How can you know how I love?"
"I talked to Gabriel this morning. Just me and him. He told me what he did and why he did it and… even if you dump him, I'm keeping him. Any boy who lifts a two ton trailer for my little girl-"
"What?"
"Yeah. He uh… borrowed some energy from Daddy without realizing it… because Daddy healed him that time… He lifted it up so they could pull you out." Liz peered in her face. "He said you knew. That you tried to stop him from crossing the street. Do you remember?"
"Um…" Beth shut her eye and tried to remember. "I was telling him what happened and… he got mad at me… and left… I… started to go after him but I tripped and I fell on a stool."
"At the Crashdown?"
"Yeah. Grandma and Grandpa weren't there… um… and I saw it happen. He was lying in the street. Blood on his face. His arm… stuck out wrong… and both his legs… were on backward and I had to stop him."
"Sh… Sh… He's okay. He was here all day yesterday. He has to work today but he'll be here tomorrow. Okay?"
"Okay… where's Dad?"
"He's talking to his boss. Trying to make him understand about your… allergies." She smiled. "Kat's doing a full blood work-up so they can show Dr. Nichols something he can put his name on."
"Daddy's in trouble."
"No. It's nothing. Dr. Nichols will see you're getting better this way and he'll understand." Liz looked up when a shadow stood in the doorway. "Hello?"
"Hi, Mrs. Evans…" The teenaged girl shifted nervously. "They said I could come up… since everyone else was."
"Who are…?" Liz trailed off when she caught Beth's look of confusion.
"Donna Jo?" Beth whispered. The orange aura was distracting her but that was definitely her best friend from the seventh grade.
"I heard what happened and I had to come see." The blonde stepped just inside the doorway. "I know we haven't spoken much in the last few years but… I still consider you one of my friends." ["My head hurts."
"Okay… I have to go now anyway but I'll see you tomorrow, okay."
"Yeah." Beth walked with Donna Jo to the door. She walked through the living room and stopped in the middle when her vision clouded and unwanted memories forced their way into her brain. Stumbling her way to the stairs, she climbed and barely reached the bathroom before she lost her lunch. Trembling, she rinsed her mouth out and when she looked up, it was clear. Her aura was the wrong color. It was green when it should be blue. She spat at her reflection and tried to block out the visions.]
"That was my fault." Beth admitted, lowering her eye to her hand where it poked out of a cast. "I haven't been myself in a long time."
tbc
The Fate of Destiny Part 117
The Fate of Destiny Part 117
Max sat on the edge of the bed. Beth tilted her head back so she could see more of him. Neither spoke for a long time. Finally, he had to do it. "Michael told me what you said." He waved a hand to hush her even as tears filled her good eye. "I saw it too. What you saw. Michael and Mom kissing. I didn't ask her about it. I let weeks slip by thinking she was unfaithful. You know what it make me realize?" She shook her head. "You have to talk to people. I'm still not all that good at it… but I try harder so feelings don't get hurt like how I hurt your mom by saying a lot of the things I said to her about it."
"But you saw it…"
"Yeah… It's why we shouldn't drink. Michael and Mom used to connect to share memories of Em's mom… something got stuck and the connection was always there, even when they didn't touch. They could feel each other's moods the way you do now… only… less. What happened shouldn't have happened but… it only happened once… after you were born. One kiss. Neither of them remembered it. You should have asked. Me or mom…"
"Maybe." She nodded. "It wasn't just that. When I was seeing the auras before… I… didn't understand at first. My aura is green and orange. Not blue and orange." She blinked her eye rapidly to dry the tears there. "Kathy is blue and yellow. Danny and Davey are blue and orange. Mom is orange with a little bit of blue. Mine is green and orange… like Em's. I didn't ask because I was sure you didn't know and I didn't want to hurt you."
"So you got mad at Mom… thinking she lied to both of us."
"She acted like she didn't want me… after she found out she was pregnant…"
"Oh sweetie…" Max wanted to pull her into his arms and hug the crap out of her but she was still tender all over and if he moved her too much, she'd pop a stitch. "Mom's… frustrations… they weren't about you. It was about me. I do some pretty… boneheaded things. If you haven't noticed… I'm not really a nice guy when I don't get my way. I've been told from time to time that I'm controlling."
"You hid Mom's birth control?"
"Just… a few times. It only worked twice."
"Mom said you made me up special… just for her."
"I did." He managed a smile at his younger daughter. "I wished for a little girl for my birthday. I didn't get one but… that's when we found out Mom was pregnant." He leaned forward to kiss an unmarred spot on her forehead. "Mom used to complain that I was a baby hog. She wanted to hold you but I wouldn't give you up. I wanted you all to myself. I made you for her but I swore you'd never have to go through what I put her through. I might not have been the best person for Mom but she's always been the best person for me."
--
Kathy stepped aside and let Dr. Skaarstin read the report. "Do you see it?"
"I do… this is an outside contract?" The old woman read rapidly while the young grad student nodded. "Huh… well, at a glance, I can offer nothing but I can suppose that your subject was born of a surrogate egg. A trace left behind and absorbed by the implanted zygote. The levels are all… wrong."
"But there are… three biological factors?"
"It would seem impossible but… you and I know better. It's possible."
"And if they can only come up with two?"
"That's one hell of an anomaly." Dr. Skaarstin looked at the time stamp on the printout. "You concluded this after only a few hours?"
"It was supposed to be a routine analysis. The anomalies stand out like a red flag."
"Well, the subject is definitely imbalanced. Do you know what the presenting manias are?"
Kathy took a deep breath while she debated how much she would share. "Subject was fine until age eight. Then the subject began hallucinating, over time the hallucinations were accompanied by headaches. At age 13, there was a psychological break and medications were used to control both headaches and hallucinations but it has come to the subject's doctors' attention that there may have been a misdiagnosis and the prescribed therapies could be wrong. The sample is pure, without medicinal influence. Subject is 16 and 9 months now."
"There are elements I'm not familiar with but I know this hormone is not one I've ever encountered."
"It's… strange… but I don't think it's harmful." Kathy was caught once again by how familiar the old doctor seemed.
"No but it could account for some of these anomalous readings. Get a biological history, medications, diseases, mental conditions, blood type. Hell, we're talking 2010s right? Check if birth control was involved in any way. I can't tell you how many reports I read from those years that made me want to scream. Letting out the stuff before it had been thoroughly tested." Skaarstin handed the report back. "Good luck. I'm glad to see that you're not just working for the university. It could seriously inhibit your creativity using your education to solely cure or kill what ails for the highest bidder."
"I like to have my thumb in several projects at once. Working on just one project at a time is stifling."
"I'll bet. I see you do rotations for the state attorney. Do you really think that's the best use of your time."
"Use it or lose it." Kathy shrugged. "It's simple but satisfying to put people's minds at ease."
"I suppose it would be. I never had the time myself. I saw your records. Quite a few neuro-psychology classes… almost enough for a second major."
"That was the plan." She admitted. "I haven't always been an overachiever. College did that to me."
"Is your father a neurosurgeon?"
"Not so much." She shook her head. "A surgeon, yes, but the garden variety that a small town can afford to keep on staff."
"Your mother some kind of famous biologist?"
"She's a high school science teacher but… once upon a time she dreamt of heading the microbiology department at Harvard."
"Ambition in the blood?"
"It's a nurture over nature thing, actually." Kathy admitted.
"Oh, she's the step-mother, then?" Dr. Skaarstin nodded. "How was your family emergency? Did that turn out okay?"
"It's getting better every day."
--
Beth smiled weakly while her father let Gabriel into the room. "There you go being all dramatic." He gave her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "If you wanted attention, you could have done a cartwheel or whatever you cheerleaders do."
She took the flowers in her good hand. "Thanks."
"Thank you." He insisted as he took a seat. "Although my rep took a big hit. The guys asked who the flowers were for and it sounds kind of lame. A handful of flowers for a girl who took a truck for me." His smile faltered at last even as he pressed ahead, unable to stop talking. "Next time, let me take it like a man. Can't have everyone thinking a little thing like you is stronger than me."
"Promise. Next truck is all yours. This one didn't agree with me… although, I wasn't the one who thought he was a superhero and picked up a truck with his bare hands."
"God, Beth…" He sobbed openly, not caring who could see. "Don’t ever do anything like that again."
"Promise." Carefully, she reached over with her good arm to touch his hair. "Gabriel?"
"Yeah?" He wiped at his eyes and tried to get his breathing under control.
"I haven't seen a mirror yet. How bad do I look?"
"Not as bad as you should." He chided her, taking a deep breath and letting out a small laugh at how ridiculous that question was. "Your mom told me you're healing really well… better than you should be. Get better soon… so we can all kick your ass."
"You didn't answer my question. How bad is it? Do I need to wear a paper bag over my head? Are small children going to have nightmares looking at me? Am I going to have to take up target shooting to keep girls off of you?"
"You're stuck with me. Paper bags, masks, plastic surgery so you can look like Dakota Fanning or… ooh… Hayden Panettiere. Ow." Gabriel rubbed his leg, trying to figure out how she had managed to pinch him.
"She never could take a teasing." Max muttered to his charts.
"Do I smell bad? I have no clue what day it is and I haven't showered since the night before I went all crazy."
"You caught me. That's the real reason I brought the flowers." Gabriel fingered the stems for a moment, fighting a new onslaught of tears.
Quickly, she tried to change the subject. "Bring me contraband?"
"I can dig up some Damning Well… maybe some Puscifer… I know you like that blasphemous stuff."
"And some Milla? It's so quiet…" Beth tilted her head back so she could see her father. "Can you ask Davey to bring me my headphones tomorrow?"
"Davey's… not coming up, Beth." Max set the charts down and took a seat on the cot by the window. "He's… been having nightmares."
"Who's at home with him?"
"He's been at Grandma's with Danny and Em."
"He won't come up or can't? If I can talk to him, maybe…"
"He can't. It's bad enough so many people have been trampling in and out." Max shook his head. He knew she felt bad but she couldn't fix everything herself and especially not from inside the hospital. "I'm not sure seeing you will help much but… I'll put him on the phone tonight." He picked up the book he'd been reading and motioned them to continue their conversation.
"Mom says I'm not allowed to break up with you." Beth turned her head back to her boyfriend. Having only one eye was annoying, especially since no one had said her other eye didn't work. "It's gonna be awkward at Thanksgiving with you and my new boyfriend at the dinner table."
"That's not funny." Gabriel and Max told her at the same time.
"Whatcha readin'?" Beth turned to her Dad, ignoring their annoyed tones.
"Don't know, cover's torn. Somebody left it in the lounge. I'm gonna see if these kids ever get out of the attic." He waved it at her and leaned back on the pillow. "Mom already tried to ruin it for me."
"I've seen that movie eight times." Gabriel offered.
"There's a movie? Damn it." Max grumbled and contemplated scanning the book to find out if he wanted to finish it or not.
"Dad? How far in are you?"
"I don't know… little ways."
"It's not for you. Put it down." Beth gave him a small smile. "The kids grow up in the attic and the older brother and sister sleep together."
"Eeaugh!" Max tossed the book away. "Who writes that crap?"
"Don't worry. She doesn't anymore. Not in my lifetime." Beth squirmed on the bed. "Do I have to have my limbs in the air?"
"Yes." Max picked up Liz's crossword puzzle and took to it in pen. "Be nice or I'll knock you out again."
"I feel like a pirate."
"I can make you an eye patch." Max squinted at the little boxes.
"When I get home, I'll call. Eva's been worried." Gabriel stroked her fingers lightly.
"Ah. Yeah, I'll talk to her."
"Has Joey been in? He's been beside himself. He blames himself for not ratting you out sooner." Gabriel watched the slow shake of her head. "Joni's been calling me, asking about you. Everyone heard. Grapevine's buzzing. Half of everyone says you died. Half of who's left thinks you died and came back. Half of the leftover doesn't care."
Beth studied his face. She hadn't ever seen his aura. Now it bloomed before her eyes. "Orange but… not… like an orange… more… tangerine."
Max's head whipped around. The boy looked afraid, not for himself but for his girlfriend. Gabriel's brow furrowed as he leaned forward. "Sweetie?"
"It's bright… and there… azure." Her fingers danced through the air around Gabriel's head.
"Beth." Max warned softly. He looked to the scared teen. "It's the drugs. Sometimes they make the patients see halos and auras and the like. It just means they're kicking in." He raised his voice to catch Beth's attention. "You hear that? You're sleepy."
"I'm not." Beth wanted to whip her head around but she knew it would hurt. "I promise. He can stay a little longer, right?"
"Just a little bit. You need to rest so you can heal."
--
Kathy waited forever for her father to pick up. "Will, that you?"
"Dad, it's Kat, I need to talk to you about Beth's blood work. Will's got a secure hard line."
"What is it?"
"The reason why her meds weren't working right. There's an extra element there. I compared to yours and Mom's and there's something extra. There's something else inside her."
"Like a disease?"
"Like extra DNA. Alien DNA."
"But… how?"
"I've never seen anything like it. I showed the numbers to an alumni. I was discreet. She seems to think that our 'subject' was a product of a donated egg. Like mom and dad inside a donated surrogate. In rare cases, there have been traces of the surrogate's DNA."
"But Beth was conceived naturally."
"But… long talk with Mom once upon a time… she was on birth control when you conceived Beth."
"You thinking that had something to do with it?"
"Could be. What was she on?"
"That was a long time ago… she's been through four or five others since then… Liz! The birth control you were on before Beth?" Kathy listened to them go back and forth about it. "It was a new one at the time. Allethora."
"I'll look it up."
"Keep me posted."
"I will. And dad?"
"Yeah?"
"When you can… I'd get her in for a brain scan."
"OK. I'll try."
"Give everyone my love."
--
"Dad… why can't I open my eye?" Beth made a bunch of faces trying to get her eye to open.
"I glued it shut." Max answered as he looked over her chart and took some vitals.
"Why? How do you even do that?"
"With super glue."
"Shut up."
Max lowered the chart and looked his daughter in the eye. "Well, your eyelid was torn and we sewed it back up but I want it to heal a little more before I let you start blinking and rolling your eyes and all that other stuff you do that could aggravate it. I use a temporary adhesive that I reapply when you fall asleep."
"Ok. That answers that. Why can't I hear anyone?"
"Well, you're on some painkillers, which I assume is muting everything and aside from that… everyone else on this floor is in a coma."
"I'm in the long term ward?" She tried to sit up.
"Hey don't do that." Max gently eased her back down. "My special request so that you could be alone and not disturb anyone…. Or the other way around. You need to lie still. If you reopen those stitches… well, I'm sure they'll heal given how you've been doing that since you woke up."
"How did… What all… Mom… didn't tell me… and I can't really feel anything. I know it's there but I'm… disconnected from my body… somehow." Her eye watered but the tears didn't spill.
"It's okay." Max slid into the chair Liz had placed next to the bed. "Don't cry. You'll wash out the glue."
"Dad…"
"Okay… but know it could have been worse. That corset thing you were wearing protected you some but mostly after the fact… one of those… plastic things inside snapped and ripped through the fabric… And by the way, we're going to have a talk about why Gabriel knows the best side to run the scissors to cut it off…" Max took a breath. "The whatchamacallit broke the skin and ruptured the spleen and the abdominal wall and into one of your ovaries."
"You had to take it out…" Beth nodded. "But I got one left. So it's okay… for… you know… later…"
"You mean in twenty years when you start thinking about kids. Yeah, probably." Max stroked her cheek. "And I know I'm hopelessly optimistic on that number but humor your old man. Ticker's not doing so great these days. I really don't like it when people run over my daughter. Or when my daughter thinks I'm not her dad…"
"I'm sorry… I'm really sorry… I just…"
"I know… you're really busy in that brain of yours. We'll see what's going on in there. Maybe it'll heal itself now that you can do that. You had a concussion… maybe you knocked something into place… started a chain reaction." He managed a smile. "The healing thing. That's from me. Remember that."
Beth nodded and swallowed down a lump. "About what I was talking about earlier… I didn't mean to… his aura was on time delay. I'd never seen it before… he's got a little piece of you in him."
"Time delay?"
"I can see everyone's aura now… but he'd been in the room for twenty minutes and it just… bloomed." She turned her head to where her mother was sleeping on the cot. "She's having a nightmare."
"How can you tell?"
"Her aura is agitated. Say her name, dad."
"Liz." He called over softly. "You okay?"
Beth watched as her orange aura spiked, then the blue piece spiked at the sound of her name. Then it all leveled out, starting with the blue and stilling all the orange. "Mom is so in tune with you."
"You almost sound like you don't mind."
"Don't get me wrong, you're still gross… but it's… sweet."
tbc
Max sat on the edge of the bed. Beth tilted her head back so she could see more of him. Neither spoke for a long time. Finally, he had to do it. "Michael told me what you said." He waved a hand to hush her even as tears filled her good eye. "I saw it too. What you saw. Michael and Mom kissing. I didn't ask her about it. I let weeks slip by thinking she was unfaithful. You know what it make me realize?" She shook her head. "You have to talk to people. I'm still not all that good at it… but I try harder so feelings don't get hurt like how I hurt your mom by saying a lot of the things I said to her about it."
"But you saw it…"
"Yeah… It's why we shouldn't drink. Michael and Mom used to connect to share memories of Em's mom… something got stuck and the connection was always there, even when they didn't touch. They could feel each other's moods the way you do now… only… less. What happened shouldn't have happened but… it only happened once… after you were born. One kiss. Neither of them remembered it. You should have asked. Me or mom…"
"Maybe." She nodded. "It wasn't just that. When I was seeing the auras before… I… didn't understand at first. My aura is green and orange. Not blue and orange." She blinked her eye rapidly to dry the tears there. "Kathy is blue and yellow. Danny and Davey are blue and orange. Mom is orange with a little bit of blue. Mine is green and orange… like Em's. I didn't ask because I was sure you didn't know and I didn't want to hurt you."
"So you got mad at Mom… thinking she lied to both of us."
"She acted like she didn't want me… after she found out she was pregnant…"
"Oh sweetie…" Max wanted to pull her into his arms and hug the crap out of her but she was still tender all over and if he moved her too much, she'd pop a stitch. "Mom's… frustrations… they weren't about you. It was about me. I do some pretty… boneheaded things. If you haven't noticed… I'm not really a nice guy when I don't get my way. I've been told from time to time that I'm controlling."
"You hid Mom's birth control?"
"Just… a few times. It only worked twice."
"Mom said you made me up special… just for her."
"I did." He managed a smile at his younger daughter. "I wished for a little girl for my birthday. I didn't get one but… that's when we found out Mom was pregnant." He leaned forward to kiss an unmarred spot on her forehead. "Mom used to complain that I was a baby hog. She wanted to hold you but I wouldn't give you up. I wanted you all to myself. I made you for her but I swore you'd never have to go through what I put her through. I might not have been the best person for Mom but she's always been the best person for me."
--
Kathy stepped aside and let Dr. Skaarstin read the report. "Do you see it?"
"I do… this is an outside contract?" The old woman read rapidly while the young grad student nodded. "Huh… well, at a glance, I can offer nothing but I can suppose that your subject was born of a surrogate egg. A trace left behind and absorbed by the implanted zygote. The levels are all… wrong."
"But there are… three biological factors?"
"It would seem impossible but… you and I know better. It's possible."
"And if they can only come up with two?"
"That's one hell of an anomaly." Dr. Skaarstin looked at the time stamp on the printout. "You concluded this after only a few hours?"
"It was supposed to be a routine analysis. The anomalies stand out like a red flag."
"Well, the subject is definitely imbalanced. Do you know what the presenting manias are?"
Kathy took a deep breath while she debated how much she would share. "Subject was fine until age eight. Then the subject began hallucinating, over time the hallucinations were accompanied by headaches. At age 13, there was a psychological break and medications were used to control both headaches and hallucinations but it has come to the subject's doctors' attention that there may have been a misdiagnosis and the prescribed therapies could be wrong. The sample is pure, without medicinal influence. Subject is 16 and 9 months now."
"There are elements I'm not familiar with but I know this hormone is not one I've ever encountered."
"It's… strange… but I don't think it's harmful." Kathy was caught once again by how familiar the old doctor seemed.
"No but it could account for some of these anomalous readings. Get a biological history, medications, diseases, mental conditions, blood type. Hell, we're talking 2010s right? Check if birth control was involved in any way. I can't tell you how many reports I read from those years that made me want to scream. Letting out the stuff before it had been thoroughly tested." Skaarstin handed the report back. "Good luck. I'm glad to see that you're not just working for the university. It could seriously inhibit your creativity using your education to solely cure or kill what ails for the highest bidder."
"I like to have my thumb in several projects at once. Working on just one project at a time is stifling."
"I'll bet. I see you do rotations for the state attorney. Do you really think that's the best use of your time."
"Use it or lose it." Kathy shrugged. "It's simple but satisfying to put people's minds at ease."
"I suppose it would be. I never had the time myself. I saw your records. Quite a few neuro-psychology classes… almost enough for a second major."
"That was the plan." She admitted. "I haven't always been an overachiever. College did that to me."
"Is your father a neurosurgeon?"
"Not so much." She shook her head. "A surgeon, yes, but the garden variety that a small town can afford to keep on staff."
"Your mother some kind of famous biologist?"
"She's a high school science teacher but… once upon a time she dreamt of heading the microbiology department at Harvard."
"Ambition in the blood?"
"It's a nurture over nature thing, actually." Kathy admitted.
"Oh, she's the step-mother, then?" Dr. Skaarstin nodded. "How was your family emergency? Did that turn out okay?"
"It's getting better every day."
--
Beth smiled weakly while her father let Gabriel into the room. "There you go being all dramatic." He gave her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "If you wanted attention, you could have done a cartwheel or whatever you cheerleaders do."
She took the flowers in her good hand. "Thanks."
"Thank you." He insisted as he took a seat. "Although my rep took a big hit. The guys asked who the flowers were for and it sounds kind of lame. A handful of flowers for a girl who took a truck for me." His smile faltered at last even as he pressed ahead, unable to stop talking. "Next time, let me take it like a man. Can't have everyone thinking a little thing like you is stronger than me."
"Promise. Next truck is all yours. This one didn't agree with me… although, I wasn't the one who thought he was a superhero and picked up a truck with his bare hands."
"God, Beth…" He sobbed openly, not caring who could see. "Don’t ever do anything like that again."
"Promise." Carefully, she reached over with her good arm to touch his hair. "Gabriel?"
"Yeah?" He wiped at his eyes and tried to get his breathing under control.
"I haven't seen a mirror yet. How bad do I look?"
"Not as bad as you should." He chided her, taking a deep breath and letting out a small laugh at how ridiculous that question was. "Your mom told me you're healing really well… better than you should be. Get better soon… so we can all kick your ass."
"You didn't answer my question. How bad is it? Do I need to wear a paper bag over my head? Are small children going to have nightmares looking at me? Am I going to have to take up target shooting to keep girls off of you?"
"You're stuck with me. Paper bags, masks, plastic surgery so you can look like Dakota Fanning or… ooh… Hayden Panettiere. Ow." Gabriel rubbed his leg, trying to figure out how she had managed to pinch him.
"She never could take a teasing." Max muttered to his charts.
"Do I smell bad? I have no clue what day it is and I haven't showered since the night before I went all crazy."
"You caught me. That's the real reason I brought the flowers." Gabriel fingered the stems for a moment, fighting a new onslaught of tears.
Quickly, she tried to change the subject. "Bring me contraband?"
"I can dig up some Damning Well… maybe some Puscifer… I know you like that blasphemous stuff."
"And some Milla? It's so quiet…" Beth tilted her head back so she could see her father. "Can you ask Davey to bring me my headphones tomorrow?"
"Davey's… not coming up, Beth." Max set the charts down and took a seat on the cot by the window. "He's… been having nightmares."
"Who's at home with him?"
"He's been at Grandma's with Danny and Em."
"He won't come up or can't? If I can talk to him, maybe…"
"He can't. It's bad enough so many people have been trampling in and out." Max shook his head. He knew she felt bad but she couldn't fix everything herself and especially not from inside the hospital. "I'm not sure seeing you will help much but… I'll put him on the phone tonight." He picked up the book he'd been reading and motioned them to continue their conversation.
"Mom says I'm not allowed to break up with you." Beth turned her head back to her boyfriend. Having only one eye was annoying, especially since no one had said her other eye didn't work. "It's gonna be awkward at Thanksgiving with you and my new boyfriend at the dinner table."
"That's not funny." Gabriel and Max told her at the same time.
"Whatcha readin'?" Beth turned to her Dad, ignoring their annoyed tones.
"Don't know, cover's torn. Somebody left it in the lounge. I'm gonna see if these kids ever get out of the attic." He waved it at her and leaned back on the pillow. "Mom already tried to ruin it for me."
"I've seen that movie eight times." Gabriel offered.
"There's a movie? Damn it." Max grumbled and contemplated scanning the book to find out if he wanted to finish it or not.
"Dad? How far in are you?"
"I don't know… little ways."
"It's not for you. Put it down." Beth gave him a small smile. "The kids grow up in the attic and the older brother and sister sleep together."
"Eeaugh!" Max tossed the book away. "Who writes that crap?"
"Don't worry. She doesn't anymore. Not in my lifetime." Beth squirmed on the bed. "Do I have to have my limbs in the air?"
"Yes." Max picked up Liz's crossword puzzle and took to it in pen. "Be nice or I'll knock you out again."
"I feel like a pirate."
"I can make you an eye patch." Max squinted at the little boxes.
"When I get home, I'll call. Eva's been worried." Gabriel stroked her fingers lightly.
"Ah. Yeah, I'll talk to her."
"Has Joey been in? He's been beside himself. He blames himself for not ratting you out sooner." Gabriel watched the slow shake of her head. "Joni's been calling me, asking about you. Everyone heard. Grapevine's buzzing. Half of everyone says you died. Half of who's left thinks you died and came back. Half of the leftover doesn't care."
Beth studied his face. She hadn't ever seen his aura. Now it bloomed before her eyes. "Orange but… not… like an orange… more… tangerine."
Max's head whipped around. The boy looked afraid, not for himself but for his girlfriend. Gabriel's brow furrowed as he leaned forward. "Sweetie?"
"It's bright… and there… azure." Her fingers danced through the air around Gabriel's head.
"Beth." Max warned softly. He looked to the scared teen. "It's the drugs. Sometimes they make the patients see halos and auras and the like. It just means they're kicking in." He raised his voice to catch Beth's attention. "You hear that? You're sleepy."
"I'm not." Beth wanted to whip her head around but she knew it would hurt. "I promise. He can stay a little longer, right?"
"Just a little bit. You need to rest so you can heal."
--
Kathy waited forever for her father to pick up. "Will, that you?"
"Dad, it's Kat, I need to talk to you about Beth's blood work. Will's got a secure hard line."
"What is it?"
"The reason why her meds weren't working right. There's an extra element there. I compared to yours and Mom's and there's something extra. There's something else inside her."
"Like a disease?"
"Like extra DNA. Alien DNA."
"But… how?"
"I've never seen anything like it. I showed the numbers to an alumni. I was discreet. She seems to think that our 'subject' was a product of a donated egg. Like mom and dad inside a donated surrogate. In rare cases, there have been traces of the surrogate's DNA."
"But Beth was conceived naturally."
"But… long talk with Mom once upon a time… she was on birth control when you conceived Beth."
"You thinking that had something to do with it?"
"Could be. What was she on?"
"That was a long time ago… she's been through four or five others since then… Liz! The birth control you were on before Beth?" Kathy listened to them go back and forth about it. "It was a new one at the time. Allethora."
"I'll look it up."
"Keep me posted."
"I will. And dad?"
"Yeah?"
"When you can… I'd get her in for a brain scan."
"OK. I'll try."
"Give everyone my love."
--
"Dad… why can't I open my eye?" Beth made a bunch of faces trying to get her eye to open.
"I glued it shut." Max answered as he looked over her chart and took some vitals.
"Why? How do you even do that?"
"With super glue."
"Shut up."
Max lowered the chart and looked his daughter in the eye. "Well, your eyelid was torn and we sewed it back up but I want it to heal a little more before I let you start blinking and rolling your eyes and all that other stuff you do that could aggravate it. I use a temporary adhesive that I reapply when you fall asleep."
"Ok. That answers that. Why can't I hear anyone?"
"Well, you're on some painkillers, which I assume is muting everything and aside from that… everyone else on this floor is in a coma."
"I'm in the long term ward?" She tried to sit up.
"Hey don't do that." Max gently eased her back down. "My special request so that you could be alone and not disturb anyone…. Or the other way around. You need to lie still. If you reopen those stitches… well, I'm sure they'll heal given how you've been doing that since you woke up."
"How did… What all… Mom… didn't tell me… and I can't really feel anything. I know it's there but I'm… disconnected from my body… somehow." Her eye watered but the tears didn't spill.
"It's okay." Max slid into the chair Liz had placed next to the bed. "Don't cry. You'll wash out the glue."
"Dad…"
"Okay… but know it could have been worse. That corset thing you were wearing protected you some but mostly after the fact… one of those… plastic things inside snapped and ripped through the fabric… And by the way, we're going to have a talk about why Gabriel knows the best side to run the scissors to cut it off…" Max took a breath. "The whatchamacallit broke the skin and ruptured the spleen and the abdominal wall and into one of your ovaries."
"You had to take it out…" Beth nodded. "But I got one left. So it's okay… for… you know… later…"
"You mean in twenty years when you start thinking about kids. Yeah, probably." Max stroked her cheek. "And I know I'm hopelessly optimistic on that number but humor your old man. Ticker's not doing so great these days. I really don't like it when people run over my daughter. Or when my daughter thinks I'm not her dad…"
"I'm sorry… I'm really sorry… I just…"
"I know… you're really busy in that brain of yours. We'll see what's going on in there. Maybe it'll heal itself now that you can do that. You had a concussion… maybe you knocked something into place… started a chain reaction." He managed a smile. "The healing thing. That's from me. Remember that."
Beth nodded and swallowed down a lump. "About what I was talking about earlier… I didn't mean to… his aura was on time delay. I'd never seen it before… he's got a little piece of you in him."
"Time delay?"
"I can see everyone's aura now… but he'd been in the room for twenty minutes and it just… bloomed." She turned her head to where her mother was sleeping on the cot. "She's having a nightmare."
"How can you tell?"
"Her aura is agitated. Say her name, dad."
"Liz." He called over softly. "You okay?"
Beth watched as her orange aura spiked, then the blue piece spiked at the sound of her name. Then it all leveled out, starting with the blue and stilling all the orange. "Mom is so in tune with you."
"You almost sound like you don't mind."
"Don't get me wrong, you're still gross… but it's… sweet."
tbc
The Fate of Destiny Part 118 A
The Fate of Destiny Part 118
"Your story sucks." Beth wiped at her eyes with the hand she could move.
"Why do you say that?" Will closed the book and leaned in to look her in the eye.
"He let her go up on the surface without telling her the truth." She griped and carefully shifted in the bed.
"Do you want me to stop reading?" Will tapped the book in his hand.
"No. Just give me a minute to process." She took a deep breath and found her eye could open a bit. "Why can't he just tell her the truth? They're married."
"They didn't marry for love… well, she didn't. Technically, he didn't either. Their whole marriage is based on lies. They were helping themselves more than they helped each other."
"He loves her. He gave her a gun, kissed her forehead and said 'go'. He thought he was going to die and he said 'go'. He told her that he might die and he just… let her go without telling her the truth. Run the love of my life, go run to freedom. Let me die in this hellhole. Let the big bad men with guns shoot me to death."
"He's a professional secret. He's not used to just spilling his guts. He's gone through training to die before he spills his guts. He has to stay behind to make sure they get away clean."
"Hey, I said you could read her a story. I didn't say you could upset her." Liz pointed her finger at them as she settled onto the cot to do her crossword puzzle.
"No, it's okay. It's a really good story. Keep going." Beth rushed to keep Will longer.
"Okay but another outburst and it's bedtime." Liz warned and frowned at her puzzle. "Did Daddy do my puzzle?"
"Yesterday." Beth bit back a smile.
The phone rang and Will reached over to answer it. "Hello?" He listened for a bit. Beth could tell he was fighting a smile. "She's doing fine. She's critiquing my choice in books… Just us and your mom… How are the tests coming?" Will tapped Beth on the nose to get her to mind her own business. "No, she's doing okay. Did your dad tell you? Beth's the first female healer in the family… No, I'm not joking. Skin's growing over her stitches, she's laughing without pain… well, she did have a hole in her belly…"
"Kat's being an instigator." Liz mused as she searched for a puzzle that Max hadn't finished for her. "Daddy's not allowed to borrow my puzzle books."
"Where is Daddy?"
"On shift." She looked up from her book and smiled. "He'll be in to glue your eye shut soon."
"I wish he wouldn't. It's disconcerting not having any depth perception. It hardly does any good to replace my glasses if I can't see right."
"You're such a whiner." Will tsked her as he motioned Liz to take the phone.
--
Berty had Kyle in a headlock, one of her legs pinning both of his and the other knee in his back. He gagged and slapped the floor. "I win again."
"Of course you do, you cheated." Alex tossed a pillow at her. "Keep it down. Gina's sleeping." He picked up the listings he'd downloaded and skimmed through them. "I talked to Mom today. Beth is doing better. She's self-healing, which is good but um… Uncle Max has been keeping her on painkillers to keep her from reading."
"So it's all gonna be okay?" Berty sank onto the couch, leaving Kyle to catch his breath on the floor.
"Yeah, I talked to uh… Agent Goldblum, he said it was a lot of stuff and not just her powers…" He fixed his little sister with a look. "So… maybe you were stressed out and when Davey taught you how to calm yourself… it stopped."
"Maybe." She avoided his eyes.
"I'm going for a run." Kyle announced and made a show of picking up Alex's cell phone on his way out the door.
"He's pretending he doesn't know anything but the little prick is always eavesdropping." She rolled her eyes. "But maybe you're right. I was… possibly obsessing over things out of my control and maybe they manifested by making me dream hop."
"Mom told me about the Sebastien thing."
"Mom knows?!" She gasped in horror. "Oh my god! My life is over."
"You know Seb loves her right? She might not treat him right and they might not last much longer but he does love her."
"I know. I can't help how I feel and I know he won't let himself feel that way back. I know that it's wrong and can never happen. Can we not talk about it?"
"Come on, Bert. There has got to be some else at school that you think of as nice enough to give a chance."
"I don't need a boyfriend to be happy. I'm ok." She scoffed and crossed the apartment to the window. The winds were picking up outside. It was hot and sticky outside but nice and cool in the apartment. "I mean… did you ever meet Louis?"
"Don't think so."
"He's one of Jesse's friends from the old neighborhood. He's a complete moron but um… he's got a son my age…"
"And if he weren't a complete moron like Louis, you might consider it?"
"Something like that." She nodded and then shrugged. "I'm just… being careful. Mom gets sucked in so deep and I'm afraid I will too."
"It's not like Mom falls in love everyday, Bert. Three men in all her life. You give her a hard time and she doesn't deserve it." Alex watched her carefully.
"It's just… you don't know how it is for me. Kyle was my dad. I loved him and I treated him so bad and then to find out Mom treated him worse… and with Jesse and he's still there and it stings… like maybe she never really cared for Dad at all."
"Kyle was my dad, too. We had our fights but that's everyone. Everyone has moments when they are not their best with each other." He rose to lean against the wall as the wind picked up outside. "I regret some of the stuff that went on with Dad before he died. We were all on bad terms with him. He was going through stuff and… it was just a bad time."
Her eyes swept the windy streets and they could see Kyle jogging around the block on the other side. "Mom blames alcohol. Dad wasn't a drinker."
"Yes he was." Alex cut off her speech. "You don't want to know what all Dad did to Mom. Okay? You have your issues and I don't want to make them worse. You can't blame Jesse for Mom and Dad's problems. Okay? He had nothing to do with what was really wrong. He was a symptom, he wasn't the disease. The drinking, the things they did to each other… all just symptoms of some underlying problem that I'm not even sure Mom knew what it was. You can't blame Mom for Dad dying. It wasn't her fault. The guy that killed Dad is in prison and he's going to stay there until the day he dies. Dad died doing what he always did. Protecting people. Jesse didn't push him into the bullet's path. Dad pushed Jesse out of the way. Dad barely had time to draw his gun. Jesse didn't kill Dad."
"I know. I just miss him."
"We all do. We're never going to forget Dad. Even I have to admit that Jesse is good for Mom. You have to let it go. You can't hang onto this stuff. Take it from someone with experience in this area. Mom doesn't control the world… as much as she likes to think so. It's not Mom's fault."
"No, the worst part is I blame Dad." Berty wiped at her eyes. "For not sticking around, for not trying harder to live."
"Mom ever tell you that Dad almost died when he was 16?"
"What?" Berty spun around to look at her brother.
"Yeah, um… That's how Dad found out about Mom and Uncle Max. I only got bits and pieces of the story though. Some guys were after Uncle Max and Dad didn't know what was going on. He thought he was helping so he untied this man and gave him a gun. He didn't know that Grampa Valenti had tied up the man for a reason. There was a lot of running around and confusion. Bullets were flying and Michael was using his powers. They killed the man and then they realized that he must have gotten Grampa's gun from somewhere. Dad had gotten shot in the crossfire. He would have died if Uncle Max hadn't healed him." Alex watched the storm clouds roll in over their street. "You and Kyle almost didn't happen at all." He sniffed suddenly. "I remember being little and running to Dad… before he was married to Mom, and telling him there were monsters in my closet. He always used to suit up, badge and gun holster to help me get rid of them." He laughed a little. "He would stick his hand in the holster like his." He made a gun with his hand. "Then he'd whip it out and fire it into the closet. We'd pretend the monsters would get shot and the others would be too scared to come out and bother me."
"I didn't know that." She whispered, though the part about Dad getting shot was vaguely familiar.
"Don't ever say it's different for me because he wasn't my real dad. He was the only dad I have ever known. I might have been seven when they got married but he'd been around for as long as I can remember. My earliest memories are of Mom and Dad dating."
"I'm sorry." She dropped her eyes to the windowsill. "I just… get so frustrated with Mom and Jesse and myself. She hovers, you know? I know they try to be discreet but I know what's going on. One of the girls on the team says that they get a room at the Travel Inn on date night."
A loud thunder clap rocked the apartment. Alex stared out at the roiling clouds. Within two minutes, Kyle had made it back to the apartment… and just in time. Rain fell in torrents. Another flash of lighting was quickly followed by a thick rumble, which was accompanied by a shriek from Alex's bedroom. His siblings just rolled their eyes when Alex rushed to the room to check out their little sister. He found her under the bed with a pillow over her head. "Hey kiddo. It's just thunder."
"It's scary, Alex."
"I know, come on." He urged her out from under the bed. He stood her on the bed so he could look into her face. "Do you know about the bowling alley in the sky?" She shook her head. "No, well. When it rains, the angels get bored. They have to stay inside so they go bowling. Most angels aren't that good at it but when an angel makes a strike, they all cheer, no matter whose team they're on. When they cheer, everyone jumps up at the same time and they clap. It makes a noise so loud, it pours out of heaven. So when you hear that noise, it means some angel finally got a strike."
"Really?"
"Really."
"I don't believe you."
"Then what do you think it is?"
"God playing the cymbals."
"If you know what it is, then why you do get so scared?"
"Because it's loud."
--
"Your story sucks." Beth wiped at her eyes with the hand she could move.
"Why do you say that?" Will closed the book and leaned in to look her in the eye.
"He let her go up on the surface without telling her the truth." She griped and carefully shifted in the bed.
"Do you want me to stop reading?" Will tapped the book in his hand.
"No. Just give me a minute to process." She took a deep breath and found her eye could open a bit. "Why can't he just tell her the truth? They're married."
"They didn't marry for love… well, she didn't. Technically, he didn't either. Their whole marriage is based on lies. They were helping themselves more than they helped each other."
"He loves her. He gave her a gun, kissed her forehead and said 'go'. He thought he was going to die and he said 'go'. He told her that he might die and he just… let her go without telling her the truth. Run the love of my life, go run to freedom. Let me die in this hellhole. Let the big bad men with guns shoot me to death."
"He's a professional secret. He's not used to just spilling his guts. He's gone through training to die before he spills his guts. He has to stay behind to make sure they get away clean."
"Hey, I said you could read her a story. I didn't say you could upset her." Liz pointed her finger at them as she settled onto the cot to do her crossword puzzle.
"No, it's okay. It's a really good story. Keep going." Beth rushed to keep Will longer.
"Okay but another outburst and it's bedtime." Liz warned and frowned at her puzzle. "Did Daddy do my puzzle?"
"Yesterday." Beth bit back a smile.
The phone rang and Will reached over to answer it. "Hello?" He listened for a bit. Beth could tell he was fighting a smile. "She's doing fine. She's critiquing my choice in books… Just us and your mom… How are the tests coming?" Will tapped Beth on the nose to get her to mind her own business. "No, she's doing okay. Did your dad tell you? Beth's the first female healer in the family… No, I'm not joking. Skin's growing over her stitches, she's laughing without pain… well, she did have a hole in her belly…"
"Kat's being an instigator." Liz mused as she searched for a puzzle that Max hadn't finished for her. "Daddy's not allowed to borrow my puzzle books."
"Where is Daddy?"
"On shift." She looked up from her book and smiled. "He'll be in to glue your eye shut soon."
"I wish he wouldn't. It's disconcerting not having any depth perception. It hardly does any good to replace my glasses if I can't see right."
"You're such a whiner." Will tsked her as he motioned Liz to take the phone.
--
Berty had Kyle in a headlock, one of her legs pinning both of his and the other knee in his back. He gagged and slapped the floor. "I win again."
"Of course you do, you cheated." Alex tossed a pillow at her. "Keep it down. Gina's sleeping." He picked up the listings he'd downloaded and skimmed through them. "I talked to Mom today. Beth is doing better. She's self-healing, which is good but um… Uncle Max has been keeping her on painkillers to keep her from reading."
"So it's all gonna be okay?" Berty sank onto the couch, leaving Kyle to catch his breath on the floor.
"Yeah, I talked to uh… Agent Goldblum, he said it was a lot of stuff and not just her powers…" He fixed his little sister with a look. "So… maybe you were stressed out and when Davey taught you how to calm yourself… it stopped."
"Maybe." She avoided his eyes.
"I'm going for a run." Kyle announced and made a show of picking up Alex's cell phone on his way out the door.
"He's pretending he doesn't know anything but the little prick is always eavesdropping." She rolled her eyes. "But maybe you're right. I was… possibly obsessing over things out of my control and maybe they manifested by making me dream hop."
"Mom told me about the Sebastien thing."
"Mom knows?!" She gasped in horror. "Oh my god! My life is over."
"You know Seb loves her right? She might not treat him right and they might not last much longer but he does love her."
"I know. I can't help how I feel and I know he won't let himself feel that way back. I know that it's wrong and can never happen. Can we not talk about it?"
"Come on, Bert. There has got to be some else at school that you think of as nice enough to give a chance."
"I don't need a boyfriend to be happy. I'm ok." She scoffed and crossed the apartment to the window. The winds were picking up outside. It was hot and sticky outside but nice and cool in the apartment. "I mean… did you ever meet Louis?"
"Don't think so."
"He's one of Jesse's friends from the old neighborhood. He's a complete moron but um… he's got a son my age…"
"And if he weren't a complete moron like Louis, you might consider it?"
"Something like that." She nodded and then shrugged. "I'm just… being careful. Mom gets sucked in so deep and I'm afraid I will too."
"It's not like Mom falls in love everyday, Bert. Three men in all her life. You give her a hard time and she doesn't deserve it." Alex watched her carefully.
"It's just… you don't know how it is for me. Kyle was my dad. I loved him and I treated him so bad and then to find out Mom treated him worse… and with Jesse and he's still there and it stings… like maybe she never really cared for Dad at all."
"Kyle was my dad, too. We had our fights but that's everyone. Everyone has moments when they are not their best with each other." He rose to lean against the wall as the wind picked up outside. "I regret some of the stuff that went on with Dad before he died. We were all on bad terms with him. He was going through stuff and… it was just a bad time."
Her eyes swept the windy streets and they could see Kyle jogging around the block on the other side. "Mom blames alcohol. Dad wasn't a drinker."
"Yes he was." Alex cut off her speech. "You don't want to know what all Dad did to Mom. Okay? You have your issues and I don't want to make them worse. You can't blame Jesse for Mom and Dad's problems. Okay? He had nothing to do with what was really wrong. He was a symptom, he wasn't the disease. The drinking, the things they did to each other… all just symptoms of some underlying problem that I'm not even sure Mom knew what it was. You can't blame Mom for Dad dying. It wasn't her fault. The guy that killed Dad is in prison and he's going to stay there until the day he dies. Dad died doing what he always did. Protecting people. Jesse didn't push him into the bullet's path. Dad pushed Jesse out of the way. Dad barely had time to draw his gun. Jesse didn't kill Dad."
"I know. I just miss him."
"We all do. We're never going to forget Dad. Even I have to admit that Jesse is good for Mom. You have to let it go. You can't hang onto this stuff. Take it from someone with experience in this area. Mom doesn't control the world… as much as she likes to think so. It's not Mom's fault."
"No, the worst part is I blame Dad." Berty wiped at her eyes. "For not sticking around, for not trying harder to live."
"Mom ever tell you that Dad almost died when he was 16?"
"What?" Berty spun around to look at her brother.
"Yeah, um… That's how Dad found out about Mom and Uncle Max. I only got bits and pieces of the story though. Some guys were after Uncle Max and Dad didn't know what was going on. He thought he was helping so he untied this man and gave him a gun. He didn't know that Grampa Valenti had tied up the man for a reason. There was a lot of running around and confusion. Bullets were flying and Michael was using his powers. They killed the man and then they realized that he must have gotten Grampa's gun from somewhere. Dad had gotten shot in the crossfire. He would have died if Uncle Max hadn't healed him." Alex watched the storm clouds roll in over their street. "You and Kyle almost didn't happen at all." He sniffed suddenly. "I remember being little and running to Dad… before he was married to Mom, and telling him there were monsters in my closet. He always used to suit up, badge and gun holster to help me get rid of them." He laughed a little. "He would stick his hand in the holster like his." He made a gun with his hand. "Then he'd whip it out and fire it into the closet. We'd pretend the monsters would get shot and the others would be too scared to come out and bother me."
"I didn't know that." She whispered, though the part about Dad getting shot was vaguely familiar.
"Don't ever say it's different for me because he wasn't my real dad. He was the only dad I have ever known. I might have been seven when they got married but he'd been around for as long as I can remember. My earliest memories are of Mom and Dad dating."
"I'm sorry." She dropped her eyes to the windowsill. "I just… get so frustrated with Mom and Jesse and myself. She hovers, you know? I know they try to be discreet but I know what's going on. One of the girls on the team says that they get a room at the Travel Inn on date night."
A loud thunder clap rocked the apartment. Alex stared out at the roiling clouds. Within two minutes, Kyle had made it back to the apartment… and just in time. Rain fell in torrents. Another flash of lighting was quickly followed by a thick rumble, which was accompanied by a shriek from Alex's bedroom. His siblings just rolled their eyes when Alex rushed to the room to check out their little sister. He found her under the bed with a pillow over her head. "Hey kiddo. It's just thunder."
"It's scary, Alex."
"I know, come on." He urged her out from under the bed. He stood her on the bed so he could look into her face. "Do you know about the bowling alley in the sky?" She shook her head. "No, well. When it rains, the angels get bored. They have to stay inside so they go bowling. Most angels aren't that good at it but when an angel makes a strike, they all cheer, no matter whose team they're on. When they cheer, everyone jumps up at the same time and they clap. It makes a noise so loud, it pours out of heaven. So when you hear that noise, it means some angel finally got a strike."
"Really?"
"Really."
"I don't believe you."
"Then what do you think it is?"
"God playing the cymbals."
"If you know what it is, then why you do get so scared?"
"Because it's loud."
--
The Fate of Destiny Part 118 B
--
Max sat down next to the cot and just watched his wife sleeping. She tossed and turned. "No…" Liz thrashed. "No… Beth…" Max reached over to soothe her. "Ehnn."
"Sh. Liz. It's okay." He gently shook her awake. "Liz… it's okay. Beth's here. She's getting better."
"Max?"
"Sh… go back to sleep." Max kissed her forehead and she settled back into sleep.
"She's been doing that off and on since she went to bed." Beth yawned and stretched the best she could while in traction. "Your aura is all bumpy and agitated."
Max moved his chair closer to his daughter's bedside. "What's it look like?"
"Blue. Like sky blue but… warm like…" She let her fingers drift through the haze around him. "Mom's cookies. Heat. Like when she mixes in Tabasco for your birthday."
Using his powers, he wiped away the remainder of the glue on her eyelid. "Look at me." It took a moment for her eye to adjust to the dim light of the room. "I love you. Do you believe me?" She laid there, quiet, tears forming in her eyes. "What do you think would have happened if we had lost you? Did you think we would just keep on plugging? 'Oh well, Beth's dead. Too bad. Gotta go to work, now.' Our world stopped because you got hurt if we had lost you… I'm not sure what I would have done. Mom's having nightmares and you lived. If you had died… I don't doubt she'd have gone crazy. We love you, you crazy girl. Always have." He took a deep breath and made sure she met his eyes. "I know I'm just some old doctor and I don't have a clue what happens to you when your gifts turn into curses but maybe you trust me a little. I know it sucks to have to tell your dad personal stuff but I can't know how to help if I don't know what's going on."
"Do I have to tell you everything?"
Max took a moment to ponder that. Part of the reason there was strain between him and Kathy was that he had demanded details. She loved him but she didn't talk to him. "No, but if something strange happens, context should be there in just so much that you don't give me a heart attack."
"Okay. I promise." She nodded. Then she seemed to think for a bit. "Daddy… do you think that because you healed Gabriel that he's different now?"
"Different how?"
"It's just like… I can't see his thoughts, not usually. When he's really, really focused, I can see it but that's like… Everyday I can see how much you love Mom. Every minute, something crosses your mind that reminds you of how much. With Gabriel… I get maybe one good thought a day. Not… good but… strong."
"What are you trying to say? That it's my fault you can't read his every thought?"
"It's just… like he picked up that truck. He borrowed from you to make something happen that he's not normally capable of. Once… he… was thinking something so much that I thought he actually did it."
"Like what?"
It took her a minute to create a parallel scenario that wouldn't give her father a heart attack. "We were… just… sitting, looking at each other, not touching. He was… fiddling with something in his hand. I think he really… wanted to kiss me. It felt like he did. Like… he took my face in his hands and really laid one on me but then I looked and he hadn't moved. He was still fiddling with… whatever it was."
"Like he wanted to kiss you so badly that he projected it?"
"Projected so strongly I could feel it. Is it me or is it him?"
"Well, you were off your meds. It could have been a little of both. Anything else?"
"I was at the park and… I was meditating. You know, practicing blocking and… I thought about a wall. I built it up around me and I pushed out. A little boy fell."
"It could have been a coincidence."
"I did it to Davey too… he knew it was me."
"We'll look into it. There's… an alien we could talk to but I hear he's not nice."
"Do you think he might know why I'm like this?"
Max leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "Sweetie, you say that like it's horrible who you are. You're not a bad person. It's just… an imbalance. I couldn't live without you. Who else would get my jokes?"
"Mom."
"But Mom doesn't think I'm funny."
--
Will woke up early and lay on his side, the phone tucked under his head. "You okay?"
"Just trying to figure out this Beth puzzle. I'm gonna do parallel studies on myself and Danny, see what it is that's different and the same and all that. What do you have planned for today? Spoiling Beth?" Kathy breathed into the phone, snuggled into her bed in Santa Fe.
"Maybe a little bit, tonight. We're reading that book I bought for the plane. I'm going to do some interviews today. Get a few new agents. Ones we'll be able to eventually trust."
"I miss you."
"It's only been a few days."
"It's just… weird. Now that I've acknowledged these feelings, I just… can look back and see how I missed you before when you left. Why don't you ever talk about her?"
"It's a sore spot, Kat. She's… she was my first everything and it fell apart so quickly. It… just hurts to think about. Someday… when it hurts less… when I feel it won't come between us. It's history, Kat… just fresher than most." He took a deep breath and listened to her silence. He knew that silence. It had never been directed at him before. "I'll be thinking of you."
"Me too."
--
Beth lay as still as possible and just watched her parents' auras bloom against each other. It struck her as a strange irony that what most people considered to be a beautiful love, actually had such an ugly color. A stormy gray. Sky blue and rich orange didn't actually mix so well. She still couldn't read but she could tell they were comforting each other before Dad had to go to work. Still that color struck her as… balancing. It wasn't dark and it wasn't light. It was Gray.
"I'll let Dr. Nichols look her over today. Then I'll heal her and we'll take her home tomorrow."
"Really?"
"He'll see she's healing well and then I can finish it. Maybe she'll let me have a look around and maybe I'll be able to see what's going on upstairs." He brushed her hair back. "Danny's coming today. Em will sit with her and you can go home, take a shower and talk to Davey. Okay?"
"Yeah. You take care of yourself today. Leave the hospital for lunch? Go to Dad's he'll fix you up. Mom said she was coming home."
"So soon?"
"Do you really think she'd stay away? She wants to see for herself that Beth's okay."
"Okay. Get some rest, huh. I love you."
"I love you, too. Go to work. Save a life."
"Get some rest."
"I will. Go on."
Beth watched them part, their auras reaching for each other, clinging to each other until he was almost out the door. "Mom?"
"Sweetie?" Liz turned, blinking rapidly to clear her blurry morning eyes.
"Does it hurt?"
"Does what hurt?"
"Loving him so much that you're almost the same person?"
--
Will winced at the bitter flavor of his generic brand coffee. That was yet another thing that made him miss Kat. The new recruits sat along two walls of his office. They were all straight out of Quantico. He glanced over the rim of his cup at them. All in similar dress, all with the same expression. No allegiances, no sense that what they were interviewing was galactically important, not that they could. Then his eyes slid over a woman leaning against the far wall. There were no seats left and none of these men had offered up their chairs. Her clothes were different. Expensive, tailored precisely. He recognized the look. Money. Just like his secretary.
"Lady and gentlemen. If you would follow me next door. I have to ask you all some questions." Will sipped from his cup once more and led them all to a room he'd rented for the day. It was full of desks positioned just far enough that only someone with super powers could see the paper of the person next to them. "Everyone sit. Paper and pens have been provided. I'll ask the questions, you answer them on paper. You cannot see each other's papers. You cannot talk until I direct you to speak. Name and phone number where I can reach you while you're here in Roswell."
Jake entered the room shortly after and leaned against the wall.
"I want you to think carefully. About why you answered the notice. About why you were willing to come here even though the location of the meeting changed so abruptly. Why do you want to work for me?" He motioned to them to begin writing. "Who recommended you? What do you think this job will entail?" When the last of them was done writing, Jake gathered all their papers. "Lady and gentlemen. I have news for you. This position, if you decide to follow through… is a dead end. You will not advance to another unit from here. When you join, consider it permanent. The money is not great. Your raises will be approved by me only. There is only one way to advance and I can't tell you how to do it. You will have to prove yourself worthy." He gestured to his secretary. "This is Agent Jake MacArthur. He's been with me for six months and all he's ever seen is the inside of my office. If that is the only thing you ever do, you have to believe that the job is worth it. If you do not, please leave."
Four agents rose and exited the room.
Eight were left. Jake passed out more paper. "Name and phone number, address for your hotel in Roswell. You were told that this job is about Secret Service assignments. Diplomats or some such. You will never have contact with the diplomat him- or herself. You will possibly never know who he or she represents. What you will do is provide protection for those who are closely related to him or her. You may never know how closely. In fact… only one agent in my command knows the family tree and she'll never tell any of you without my consent. I have three locations for those who will be hired into this unit. Miami, Florida. Lubbock, Texas. Santa Fe, New Mexico. My goal is to have three agents in each location for rotating shifts. On eight hours, off 16."
After taking up the new sheets of paper, Jake handed them to Will. "If you think you can't handle a job description so vague. Come talk to me. Make an appointment with Agent MacArthur for this afternoon. I have things to do. I will not see anyone after six o'clock tonight. You are dismissed until either your appointment tonight or until I call for a meeting."
"That’s it?" An agent rose, tucking his provisional pen into his jacket.
"For now."
"We sit and wait to be hired?"
"Was I in anyway vague about today’s instructions?"
"No, Agent Goldblum." The female agent answered. "Forgive Agent Neiman, he’s still bitter about his final scores."
"Agent?" Goldblum leaned forward to take her hand.
"Seyton, Genevieve Seyton."
"Pleasure to meet you. I’ll be in contact with you all very soon."
--
"It is a nice place."
Alex took some more pictures and sent them to Lynnette. "What do you think? Can I live here?"
"Get it." Kyle pleaded, his eyes on the marina out the window where girls rode past in bikinis in boats and in jet skis.
"Is it quiet?" She asked.
"I guess. There are the four bedrooms I showed you and a maid’s room downstairs. I could turn it into my own studio. The vibrations are low. It should work." Alex adjusted the phone against his ear as he snapped some pictures of the view. "What do you think?"
"I think it’s nice…"
"But…"
"It’s not my house."
"Does that mean you’d never live here?"
"It means that I don’t know why you’re asking me."
"Yes, you do." He cleared his throat. "Do you hate it?"
"She loves it. Get it." Berty nodded.
"I like it." Gina announced to everyone loudly.
"When you come back, we need to talk." Lynnette sighed.
"Okay. We will but... honestly, the house. Is it me?"
"Yes!" His brother and sister shouted.
TBC
I am working on the other stuff but it's been slow going. Hopefully by next week I'll have something.
Max sat down next to the cot and just watched his wife sleeping. She tossed and turned. "No…" Liz thrashed. "No… Beth…" Max reached over to soothe her. "Ehnn."
"Sh. Liz. It's okay." He gently shook her awake. "Liz… it's okay. Beth's here. She's getting better."
"Max?"
"Sh… go back to sleep." Max kissed her forehead and she settled back into sleep.
"She's been doing that off and on since she went to bed." Beth yawned and stretched the best she could while in traction. "Your aura is all bumpy and agitated."
Max moved his chair closer to his daughter's bedside. "What's it look like?"
"Blue. Like sky blue but… warm like…" She let her fingers drift through the haze around him. "Mom's cookies. Heat. Like when she mixes in Tabasco for your birthday."
Using his powers, he wiped away the remainder of the glue on her eyelid. "Look at me." It took a moment for her eye to adjust to the dim light of the room. "I love you. Do you believe me?" She laid there, quiet, tears forming in her eyes. "What do you think would have happened if we had lost you? Did you think we would just keep on plugging? 'Oh well, Beth's dead. Too bad. Gotta go to work, now.' Our world stopped because you got hurt if we had lost you… I'm not sure what I would have done. Mom's having nightmares and you lived. If you had died… I don't doubt she'd have gone crazy. We love you, you crazy girl. Always have." He took a deep breath and made sure she met his eyes. "I know I'm just some old doctor and I don't have a clue what happens to you when your gifts turn into curses but maybe you trust me a little. I know it sucks to have to tell your dad personal stuff but I can't know how to help if I don't know what's going on."
"Do I have to tell you everything?"
Max took a moment to ponder that. Part of the reason there was strain between him and Kathy was that he had demanded details. She loved him but she didn't talk to him. "No, but if something strange happens, context should be there in just so much that you don't give me a heart attack."
"Okay. I promise." She nodded. Then she seemed to think for a bit. "Daddy… do you think that because you healed Gabriel that he's different now?"
"Different how?"
"It's just like… I can't see his thoughts, not usually. When he's really, really focused, I can see it but that's like… Everyday I can see how much you love Mom. Every minute, something crosses your mind that reminds you of how much. With Gabriel… I get maybe one good thought a day. Not… good but… strong."
"What are you trying to say? That it's my fault you can't read his every thought?"
"It's just… like he picked up that truck. He borrowed from you to make something happen that he's not normally capable of. Once… he… was thinking something so much that I thought he actually did it."
"Like what?"
It took her a minute to create a parallel scenario that wouldn't give her father a heart attack. "We were… just… sitting, looking at each other, not touching. He was… fiddling with something in his hand. I think he really… wanted to kiss me. It felt like he did. Like… he took my face in his hands and really laid one on me but then I looked and he hadn't moved. He was still fiddling with… whatever it was."
"Like he wanted to kiss you so badly that he projected it?"
"Projected so strongly I could feel it. Is it me or is it him?"
"Well, you were off your meds. It could have been a little of both. Anything else?"
"I was at the park and… I was meditating. You know, practicing blocking and… I thought about a wall. I built it up around me and I pushed out. A little boy fell."
"It could have been a coincidence."
"I did it to Davey too… he knew it was me."
"We'll look into it. There's… an alien we could talk to but I hear he's not nice."
"Do you think he might know why I'm like this?"
Max leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "Sweetie, you say that like it's horrible who you are. You're not a bad person. It's just… an imbalance. I couldn't live without you. Who else would get my jokes?"
"Mom."
"But Mom doesn't think I'm funny."
--
Will woke up early and lay on his side, the phone tucked under his head. "You okay?"
"Just trying to figure out this Beth puzzle. I'm gonna do parallel studies on myself and Danny, see what it is that's different and the same and all that. What do you have planned for today? Spoiling Beth?" Kathy breathed into the phone, snuggled into her bed in Santa Fe.
"Maybe a little bit, tonight. We're reading that book I bought for the plane. I'm going to do some interviews today. Get a few new agents. Ones we'll be able to eventually trust."
"I miss you."
"It's only been a few days."
"It's just… weird. Now that I've acknowledged these feelings, I just… can look back and see how I missed you before when you left. Why don't you ever talk about her?"
"It's a sore spot, Kat. She's… she was my first everything and it fell apart so quickly. It… just hurts to think about. Someday… when it hurts less… when I feel it won't come between us. It's history, Kat… just fresher than most." He took a deep breath and listened to her silence. He knew that silence. It had never been directed at him before. "I'll be thinking of you."
"Me too."
--
Beth lay as still as possible and just watched her parents' auras bloom against each other. It struck her as a strange irony that what most people considered to be a beautiful love, actually had such an ugly color. A stormy gray. Sky blue and rich orange didn't actually mix so well. She still couldn't read but she could tell they were comforting each other before Dad had to go to work. Still that color struck her as… balancing. It wasn't dark and it wasn't light. It was Gray.
"I'll let Dr. Nichols look her over today. Then I'll heal her and we'll take her home tomorrow."
"Really?"
"He'll see she's healing well and then I can finish it. Maybe she'll let me have a look around and maybe I'll be able to see what's going on upstairs." He brushed her hair back. "Danny's coming today. Em will sit with her and you can go home, take a shower and talk to Davey. Okay?"
"Yeah. You take care of yourself today. Leave the hospital for lunch? Go to Dad's he'll fix you up. Mom said she was coming home."
"So soon?"
"Do you really think she'd stay away? She wants to see for herself that Beth's okay."
"Okay. Get some rest, huh. I love you."
"I love you, too. Go to work. Save a life."
"Get some rest."
"I will. Go on."
Beth watched them part, their auras reaching for each other, clinging to each other until he was almost out the door. "Mom?"
"Sweetie?" Liz turned, blinking rapidly to clear her blurry morning eyes.
"Does it hurt?"
"Does what hurt?"
"Loving him so much that you're almost the same person?"
--
Will winced at the bitter flavor of his generic brand coffee. That was yet another thing that made him miss Kat. The new recruits sat along two walls of his office. They were all straight out of Quantico. He glanced over the rim of his cup at them. All in similar dress, all with the same expression. No allegiances, no sense that what they were interviewing was galactically important, not that they could. Then his eyes slid over a woman leaning against the far wall. There were no seats left and none of these men had offered up their chairs. Her clothes were different. Expensive, tailored precisely. He recognized the look. Money. Just like his secretary.
"Lady and gentlemen. If you would follow me next door. I have to ask you all some questions." Will sipped from his cup once more and led them all to a room he'd rented for the day. It was full of desks positioned just far enough that only someone with super powers could see the paper of the person next to them. "Everyone sit. Paper and pens have been provided. I'll ask the questions, you answer them on paper. You cannot see each other's papers. You cannot talk until I direct you to speak. Name and phone number where I can reach you while you're here in Roswell."
Jake entered the room shortly after and leaned against the wall.
"I want you to think carefully. About why you answered the notice. About why you were willing to come here even though the location of the meeting changed so abruptly. Why do you want to work for me?" He motioned to them to begin writing. "Who recommended you? What do you think this job will entail?" When the last of them was done writing, Jake gathered all their papers. "Lady and gentlemen. I have news for you. This position, if you decide to follow through… is a dead end. You will not advance to another unit from here. When you join, consider it permanent. The money is not great. Your raises will be approved by me only. There is only one way to advance and I can't tell you how to do it. You will have to prove yourself worthy." He gestured to his secretary. "This is Agent Jake MacArthur. He's been with me for six months and all he's ever seen is the inside of my office. If that is the only thing you ever do, you have to believe that the job is worth it. If you do not, please leave."
Four agents rose and exited the room.
Eight were left. Jake passed out more paper. "Name and phone number, address for your hotel in Roswell. You were told that this job is about Secret Service assignments. Diplomats or some such. You will never have contact with the diplomat him- or herself. You will possibly never know who he or she represents. What you will do is provide protection for those who are closely related to him or her. You may never know how closely. In fact… only one agent in my command knows the family tree and she'll never tell any of you without my consent. I have three locations for those who will be hired into this unit. Miami, Florida. Lubbock, Texas. Santa Fe, New Mexico. My goal is to have three agents in each location for rotating shifts. On eight hours, off 16."
After taking up the new sheets of paper, Jake handed them to Will. "If you think you can't handle a job description so vague. Come talk to me. Make an appointment with Agent MacArthur for this afternoon. I have things to do. I will not see anyone after six o'clock tonight. You are dismissed until either your appointment tonight or until I call for a meeting."
"That’s it?" An agent rose, tucking his provisional pen into his jacket.
"For now."
"We sit and wait to be hired?"
"Was I in anyway vague about today’s instructions?"
"No, Agent Goldblum." The female agent answered. "Forgive Agent Neiman, he’s still bitter about his final scores."
"Agent?" Goldblum leaned forward to take her hand.
"Seyton, Genevieve Seyton."
"Pleasure to meet you. I’ll be in contact with you all very soon."
--
"It is a nice place."
Alex took some more pictures and sent them to Lynnette. "What do you think? Can I live here?"
"Get it." Kyle pleaded, his eyes on the marina out the window where girls rode past in bikinis in boats and in jet skis.
"Is it quiet?" She asked.
"I guess. There are the four bedrooms I showed you and a maid’s room downstairs. I could turn it into my own studio. The vibrations are low. It should work." Alex adjusted the phone against his ear as he snapped some pictures of the view. "What do you think?"
"I think it’s nice…"
"But…"
"It’s not my house."
"Does that mean you’d never live here?"
"It means that I don’t know why you’re asking me."
"Yes, you do." He cleared his throat. "Do you hate it?"
"She loves it. Get it." Berty nodded.
"I like it." Gina announced to everyone loudly.
"When you come back, we need to talk." Lynnette sighed.
"Okay. We will but... honestly, the house. Is it me?"
"Yes!" His brother and sister shouted.
TBC
I am working on the other stuff but it's been slow going. Hopefully by next week I'll have something.
Part 119
The Fate of Destiny Part 119
Freddy started the exam with Liz in the room. "You've got a very strong daughter, Liz. I'll tell you, we were all very worried."
"We all really were." Liz squeezed Beth's hand.
"These cuts are healing very nicely. You'll hardly have a scar at all. Your skin is growing back and it's all still very tender so you'll have to take it easy for a few weeks. No running around, no sneaking out and no… umm… what are they called? Mosh pits." He quickly swabbed the healing areas before reapplying fresh bandages. "Your dad does know what he's doing so listen to him. If he thinks you need to cool it. Please do." He let her close her gown and pulled a chair up to the bed. "I know that your Dad told you what all had to be done but I'm sure he glossed over most of it. So, we're going to talk."
"What about?"
"They sent the ovary to be frozen and salvaged for egg retrieval but it's highly unlikely that you'll need it. You were given estrogen supplements to keep your body from complaining too badly for the loss of the organ. You won't have to be on them for long, just until we can see if your body will adjust, which after all this… I believe it will." Dr. Nichols took a breath. "You will have to consult with a gynecologist to recommend a birth control plan that will aid in keeping you healthy and baby free until such point as you are stable and married. I think that's what your father told me to say."
Liz bit back a laugh and Beth rolled her eyes. "My casts?"
"You'll be in them for five more weeks, hon." Dr. Nichols nodded. "Wheelchair until then."
"So when you were talking about me sneaking out and running around, you were just making fun of me."
"She never could take a teasing, could she?"
"Not this one." Liz agreed and kissed her daughter's forehead.
“Side effects.” He took a seat next to the bed. “There may be some extra cramping around that time of the month. If there is pain, real pain, you tell someone. There may be tenderness in your breasts, headaches and if you feel they’re really bad-”
“I have to tell someone.” Beth rolled her eyes.
“And Mom.” Freddy leaned over the bed. “There may be extra moodiness… but I’m sure you’re used to that.”
“Hey! I’m injured. Why is everyone picking on me?”
“Because you decided all by yourself that you were better off without mood enhancers and then did a waltz into the middle of the street during rush hour. I don’t recommend that to any of my patients… not even the annoying ones.” Freddy pat her hand and rose. “I have no reason to keep you here if Dad wants you home. No exertion. Relax. Become a zombie in front of that Idiot Box. Do what teenagers do best.”
--
Max greeted his mother at the door and then found his younger son playing video games in the living room. "Davey, come on. I got someone for you to meet."
“What? I’m playing.” He grumbled.
“You look tired. Rest those eyes and come meet a new friend.” Max waited patiently as David took his time saving his game and turning off the TV.
“Max, honey?” Diane glanced out the open door but didn’t see anyone. “How’s Beth?”
“She’s doing good. She’ll be home tomorrow.” Max nodded and slapped his son on the back. “Come on. Go check the back of the van.”
“Is this like the time you told me I had a surprise and it was really groceries that needed unloading?” The boy complained on his way toward the back of the van. When he opened the back door, something barked at him. A lightly furred dog whined out of a cage. He was fuzzy and wiggly and eager to get out.
Diane gasped when she saw the dog. She slapped Max’s arm. “I hope you talked to Liz before you did this.”
“We did discuss this and we both agreed that it would be good for him. We’re also hoping that my new cocktail worked and Beth knows nothing about this. We expect her to be jealous and indignant when she finds out.” Max cleared his throat loudly. “Let him out. Name him.”
“He’s mine?” Davey stuck his fingers in the cage and let the puppy lick them.
“I know he’s not spotted and I know Pepper wouldn’t be a good name but… I figured you’d still want him.” Max helped him unlatch the cage so the puppy could spill out into the driveway. “The guy I got it from calls it a Mala-kita… whatever that is. Says its parents aren’t too big so he’ll get heavy but not too big.”
“You’re serious. This is mine. We can take him home.” Davey turned to his father, unwilling to get attached until he was certain.
“Mom’s rules. He can have a bed inside as long as it’s not yours. He can be inside as long as he’s not on the furniture. You will clean up his poop. You will walk him. You will feed him and he must have a comfortable space in the backyard when you’re in school that will not allow him to dig up the flowers. You must train him.” Max knelt to pet the excited puppy. “Well? Mr. Evans? Are you going to name him or what?”
Davey examined the pup. He was white underneath with brown and black on his back. His tail was fluffy and flipped backward. The pup whimpered a little as he sought out Davey’s hands.
“How’s his disposition?” Diane inspected the dog from afar. She hadn’t allowed pets after how devastated the kids were when the guinea pig died.
“Friendly. The guy said they don’t bark a lot but they’ll be okay with kids so long as we train him well.” Max watched his son with the dog. He seemed… still-er somehow. More calm than ever. Maybe this was exactly what he needed. “So, Davey. Are we keeping him or should I give him back?”
A sly grin crossed his face before he lifted his face to his father and grandmother, eyes squinting against the sun. “Prince Sterling the Planet-killer and Beth-defier.”
“Death-defier?” Max tilted his head in amusement.
“Beth-defier.”
“Do you see what happened? You didn’t set any boundaries for him and he overshot you.” Diane kissed her son’s cheek. “You did say he could name him.”
“Prince Sterling should do fine.” He cleared his throat.
“Yeah. Prince Sterling the Planet Killer and Beth Defier.” David pronounced each word slowly as if his father was slow on the uptake. “The whole thing is his name.”
“Come on then.” Max took a deep breath. “We’ve got to go get him registered and get him his shots.”
--
Kathy shook her head as she examined her results. Davey talked a mile a minute, describing the puppy to her in minute detail. “It’s not fair. Dad never let us have pets.”
“I’m just special.”
“Ed.” She retorted and typed in more data.
“Beth doesn’t know a thing. Dad says her cocktail is working.”
“That’s good. Have you seen her yet?”
“No. Why would I want to see her?”
“So you can rub it in her face that you got a dog.”
“Dad says she’s coming home tomorrow.”
“Aren’t you glad?” She waited and stopped working so she could listen to him but all she heard were puppy pants. “Davey?”
“You didn’t see her, Kat. The way she yelled at Mom, the things she said… the way she looked when she ran out. She looked right through me like I wasn’t even there.”
“She was sick, Davey. I’m going to tell you something that I haven’t told Dad yet. He’s going to see it when her brain scans come back.” She took a breath and let it out slowly. “Put your finger between your eyes on your forehead. You’ve got a gland there. It’s little. The size of a pea. For a long time no one knew what it did but we now know that it’s what keeps us on our 24 hour cycles. Even behind the skull, it detects light and produces melatonin in the dark. You probably can control yours. Like how you made her calm down that morning.”
“So, like, if you don’t get the melatonin going and you don’t sleep you get cranky.”
“In layman’s terms, sure. There are still other processes that it’s linked to and we don’t know why. Beth’s pineal gland was… cranky. I think the drugs she was on before blocked it from secreting properly. I think that there was another chemical present in her body before that’s not now. It… whatever it was, made a block in her that stopped her from behaving the way she’s supposed to. Her pineal was swollen but… even though she grew up, her pineal didn’t register… it didn’t secrete the way it was supposed to. When she slept, it wasn’t good.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“A lot of cultures believe that the pineal is the source of all psychic activity. It’s probably what allows us to use our powers. You, little buddy, have a good one. Yours works great. Beth’s never did.”
“You really think that’s why I can do what I do?”
“I’m not sure but it’s a good guess. You… since you were little, you’ve been doing that on yourself. You just exercised yours more and I’ll bet… in a few years… you’ll get even better at it and your other powers will get stronger. Dad… he could heal when he was little but some of his powers didn’t come until after he grew up.” She sighed into the phone, knowing she was probably losing him. “There are a lot of factors in just our brains, with Beth, there are more.”
“I guess I can cut her some slack.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“It’s probably too late to fix what I did.”
“What did you do?”
“Named the dog.”
“What did you name him?”
“Prince Sterling the Planet Killer and Beth Defier.”
“You never know. She might like it.”
--
Alex brought a hand to his head. His mother might forgive him for leaving them in a public place unattended if she knew what they were doing. All three of them were imitating ET’s walk in the lobby of the recording studio where he worked. Silas turned to him. “You know them?”
“Nah. They just followed me in here. Someone should lock up those strays.” He murmured as he adjusted a dial here and a knob there.
“You sure? That hottie looks kind of like your mom.”
“She’s my little sister and she’s not a hottie. Okay?” Alex bit out and flipped a row of switches into their correct places and pointed. “Okay. Record it and don’t screw it up this time.”
“We’d fall apart without you man.” Silas shook his head and studied the settings for a moment. “You still thinking about moving back home?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, almost to himself as his siblings tortured each other in the lobby.
“You still looking for a new place here?”
“Yeah.”
“You ever going to decide where you belong?”
“Don’t think so.”
“What is up with you? You in love or something?”
“That first thing.” Alex finally managed a smile.
Silas chuckled and signaled to the band inside the studio to begin playing as he flipped on the record switch. “You must be to bring those brats here.”
“They’re okay.”
--
Beth sat absolutely still on the shower chair. They had everything perfectly arranged so neither cast would get wet, nor her bandage. She hadn’t been helped to bathe since she was a child. She wasn’t that anymore, not a child, but she didn’t think she was a woman either. Once she was clean, she welcomed her own nightgown before she leaned back to have her hair washed. Her mother worked with a soft hum. They met eyes for a moment. “Did I ever tell you how I met Daddy?”
“No.”
“I had a crush on him. I noticed how every year, every class I had him in, he would always sit in the back if we weren’t alphabetized. I usually sat up front so I could hear better. So… I figured, if his grades can be just as good, I could risk sitting in the back so I could sit near him. I almost chickened out. Freshman year of high school, I paced and I paced the hall, not wanting to go in and take a seat up front like I knew I would. I knew if I waited too long, that’s all that would be left.”
“What did you do?”
“I chickened out and sat up front.” Liz giggled a little. “But we had a foreign exchange student and the teacher asked if one of us would give up our seat so she could sit up front. I volunteered and the only available seat was next to Daddy. I remember meeting his eyes for a second and then he looked away and I was devastated.” She poured shampoo and washed the long colorful strands gently. “He was nice and he made a good lab partner but he would never meet my eyes for more than a few seconds and I convinced myself that he couldn’t like me back.”
“But then…”
“Then Uncle Kyle asked me out and I figured… so what if Max Evans doesn’t know I’m alive. I’m dating the Freshman team’s quarterback.” She laughed, leaning down to kiss her daughter’s forehead. “I did the same thing the next year. Well, not the same thing but I saved Dad a seat and claimed that we worked so well the year before that it just made sense. So we didn’t have to get to know someone else’s work habits. We could move forward with our partnership and not have any set backs.”
“And he didn’t get any of your hinting?”
“I thought he wasn’t interested in me that way. That all changed the third week of school.”
“What happened?”
“Didn’t I ever tell you?” Liz furrowed her brow at her daughter. “That’s when Daddy saved my life. And the next day, he let me see him and that was the day I fell in love.”
“I knew. I mean…” Beth sighed. “I can’t remember if you told me or if it’s something I saw or if… it’s something I figured out.”
“Well then. I’ll just start from the beginning because Daddy never tells it right.”
--
Kathy listened to the lecture and took some notes but the whole time she felt like she was being watched. She didn’t bother looking because when it happened the day before, she had asked Agent Ledford and she hadn’t seen a thing… and she was paid to look and according to Will, she was the best. But she was tired of that feeling… and she had a pretty good idea who it was. It didn’t matter that Agent Ledford advised against it. She had to figure out why.
She felt like a junior spy following Dr. West around but Agent Ledford didn’t try to stop her after she made it clear she wasn’t going to break into the woman’s house. There was nothing remarkable about her routine. She went to work. She went to lunch. She went to meetings. She held lecture. She met with her TA and then she went home to a vapid brunette lover. That last part was a little surprising but only the vapid part. A woman like Dr. West should really look for more substance in a partner.
Agent Ledford left her in her foyer with a few quiet words. “Agent Goldblum would kill me if I told you but a good investigator does his research.”
“Right. Research.” Kathy nodded and trudged up to her room. The girls were all studying for something or other. She forgot all about her studies and grants for the moment and booted up her computer. Serena West. The information wasn’t that unusual. Alumni markings at her high school noted her as Valedictorian, same as her college… in Chicago. Northwestern at the top of her class. Then she was recruited to work in Santa Fe. The university wasn’t by any means the best in the field but there were rumors of secret works being down by it’s few elite. The college itself had only existed since the ‘00s but it had rapidly become the Southwest center for sciences because of… work done by Jolene Skaarstin. The two worked closely together for most of West’s postgraduate career until the retirement of Dr. Skaarstin at which point Dr. West did not follow as lead of the department, she instead pursued outside contracts…
--
Beth rested the heavy cast on the arm of the wheelchair and got to eat lunch in the cafeteria with Gabriel… and her mother not far away. His eyes were laughing at her Bam-Bam go Bam! nightgown and she wished she had made her mother find something else. “I made you something.”
“Oh yeah?” She tilted her head at him and waited as he pulled a notebook from his backpack. He opened it and set it in front of her… and she stared back. The time at rock-climbing, that time hiking… her staring out the window in class. “How?”
“I told you. I like cameras.” He leaned in close but he didn’t dare kiss any more than her hand with Mrs. Evans so nearby. “How’s the head?”
Beth sat up and glanced around. “Quiet.” She leaned on his shoulder and sighed happily. “The head is doing very well.” She flipped the pages and took note of the angles and then she turned to face her boyfriend, peering into the tangle of jewelry around his neck.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for the camera you freak.” She glared at the tangle and sat up. “It’s the ankh, isn’t it.”
“Clever girl.”
“If I ever see pictures of me in this… I will kill you.” Beth poked him in the chest.
“Could you really?” He narrowed his eyes at her and raised his right hand. “How many fingers?”
“Mom! He’s picking on me.”
“Ok.” Liz answered, not looking up from her salad and her notes on her lesson plans.
“No tattling.” Gabriel chided her. “Are you really okay?”
“Going home tonight.” She promised. “I’ll get these off in time for school.” It took her a moment to work up the courage to tell him what she had been warned about. “I’m okay but Dad wants to take me for some… tests… I don’t know how long.”
“Where?”
“Don’t know yet. Dad’s doing all the leg work now.”
“Will you call?” He intertwined his fingers with hers.
“If he’ll let me.”
“He will… the big softy.” Liz muttered to her notebook.
--
Will found himself smiling into his phone. “I’m heading back tonight.”
“So soon?”
“We’re going to formulate a plan and Beth’s going home. Until we know our next move, there’s nothing for me to do here.”
“Did you hire anyone interesting?”
“I’m still working on that. It’s a good batch I think.” He took a deep breath as he gathered his bags to make his exit. “I miss you.”
“I miss you. Shall I wear something sexy tonight?”
“I thought we had a rule.”
“Rules were meant to be broken.”
“I don’t know how late I’m getting in and it might seem a little suspicious if I fly in and just… take over for Agent Ledford in the middle of the night.”
“Oh come on, like she doesn’t know.”
--
The silence on the phone stretched on for eons. Long enough for Liberty to get bored with tanning. Long enough for Gina to make a few new friends. Long enough for Kyle to meet seven different girls.
“If it’s love… it’s got a funny way of letting me know.”
“Okay.” Alex sipped his soda and squinted against the sun. “Is there anything I can do?”
“I need to do my research.”
“Lynn… what research?” He was about to say more when his phone beeped. “Hold on. It’s probably my mother.”
“Alex, I’ll talk to you later. Okay? I’m going to church with Tia in a minute and I’ll call you afterward.”
“Fine. I’ll talk to you later.” Alex clicked the phone off and then picked up the other line. “Did I forget to report in, Sarge?”
“Yes.”
“They’re fine. They’re getting toasty and having fun.”
“Let me talk to my angel.”
“You’re talking to him.” Alex grinned at her exasperated groan. “She’s made a bunch of friends. She’s not going to want to talk to you.”
“I miss my baby. Put her on.”
“Gina!” Alex called out over the beach and the dark-haired angel popped up from the other side of a huge sandcastle. “Come talk to Mom.” The girl bounded over and jumped in Alex’s lap, knocking the wind out of him for a moment. “Watch it, you could have hit something vital.”
“Hi Mommy!”
--
“Whoa cool.” Stephen exclaimed while he examined David’s puppy.
“Uh.” Em shook her head. “I am way cooler than a puppy. Chill, even. Razor sometimes.”
“Hi Em.” He waved her off.
“And you?” She swung Mattie up into her arms. He giggled but soon the puppy caught his attention as well.
“Be careful. Not too hard. Soft hands, he’s just a baby.” Oriel warned from the doorway. “Are you sure, Emily?”
“We’ll be fine.” Emily nodded her head and then pointed down the hallway. “I’ve got back up anyway. Grandma and the husband will be here.”
“You look lovely.” Oriel kissed her cheek. “Marriage suits you.” Emily blushed a little and lightly shoved her away. “Bye boys.” She whispered and inched toward the door.
“Ugh. Just go. He’ll be pleasantly surprised.” Emily shoved her harder towards the door. “Maybe you get him to book a room in that fancy hotel. We’ll take care of the boys.”
“I don’t know about that but I’ll call when we’re on our way back.” Oriel nodded and took one last look at her boys before sneaking out the door.
David flipped a page in the book. “I’m going home tomorrow right?”
“Tonight, you turd.” Emily plopped down beside him. “Why?”
“This says I gotta start training him to go outside right away… within the next couple of weeks or else he’ll never learn not to go in the house. Think my dad will let me build a doggy door?” David flipped another page.
“What’s his name?” Stephen called over.
“Prince Sterling the…”
tbc
Freddy started the exam with Liz in the room. "You've got a very strong daughter, Liz. I'll tell you, we were all very worried."
"We all really were." Liz squeezed Beth's hand.
"These cuts are healing very nicely. You'll hardly have a scar at all. Your skin is growing back and it's all still very tender so you'll have to take it easy for a few weeks. No running around, no sneaking out and no… umm… what are they called? Mosh pits." He quickly swabbed the healing areas before reapplying fresh bandages. "Your dad does know what he's doing so listen to him. If he thinks you need to cool it. Please do." He let her close her gown and pulled a chair up to the bed. "I know that your Dad told you what all had to be done but I'm sure he glossed over most of it. So, we're going to talk."
"What about?"
"They sent the ovary to be frozen and salvaged for egg retrieval but it's highly unlikely that you'll need it. You were given estrogen supplements to keep your body from complaining too badly for the loss of the organ. You won't have to be on them for long, just until we can see if your body will adjust, which after all this… I believe it will." Dr. Nichols took a breath. "You will have to consult with a gynecologist to recommend a birth control plan that will aid in keeping you healthy and baby free until such point as you are stable and married. I think that's what your father told me to say."
Liz bit back a laugh and Beth rolled her eyes. "My casts?"
"You'll be in them for five more weeks, hon." Dr. Nichols nodded. "Wheelchair until then."
"So when you were talking about me sneaking out and running around, you were just making fun of me."
"She never could take a teasing, could she?"
"Not this one." Liz agreed and kissed her daughter's forehead.
“Side effects.” He took a seat next to the bed. “There may be some extra cramping around that time of the month. If there is pain, real pain, you tell someone. There may be tenderness in your breasts, headaches and if you feel they’re really bad-”
“I have to tell someone.” Beth rolled her eyes.
“And Mom.” Freddy leaned over the bed. “There may be extra moodiness… but I’m sure you’re used to that.”
“Hey! I’m injured. Why is everyone picking on me?”
“Because you decided all by yourself that you were better off without mood enhancers and then did a waltz into the middle of the street during rush hour. I don’t recommend that to any of my patients… not even the annoying ones.” Freddy pat her hand and rose. “I have no reason to keep you here if Dad wants you home. No exertion. Relax. Become a zombie in front of that Idiot Box. Do what teenagers do best.”
--
Max greeted his mother at the door and then found his younger son playing video games in the living room. "Davey, come on. I got someone for you to meet."
“What? I’m playing.” He grumbled.
“You look tired. Rest those eyes and come meet a new friend.” Max waited patiently as David took his time saving his game and turning off the TV.
“Max, honey?” Diane glanced out the open door but didn’t see anyone. “How’s Beth?”
“She’s doing good. She’ll be home tomorrow.” Max nodded and slapped his son on the back. “Come on. Go check the back of the van.”
“Is this like the time you told me I had a surprise and it was really groceries that needed unloading?” The boy complained on his way toward the back of the van. When he opened the back door, something barked at him. A lightly furred dog whined out of a cage. He was fuzzy and wiggly and eager to get out.
Diane gasped when she saw the dog. She slapped Max’s arm. “I hope you talked to Liz before you did this.”
“We did discuss this and we both agreed that it would be good for him. We’re also hoping that my new cocktail worked and Beth knows nothing about this. We expect her to be jealous and indignant when she finds out.” Max cleared his throat loudly. “Let him out. Name him.”
“He’s mine?” Davey stuck his fingers in the cage and let the puppy lick them.
“I know he’s not spotted and I know Pepper wouldn’t be a good name but… I figured you’d still want him.” Max helped him unlatch the cage so the puppy could spill out into the driveway. “The guy I got it from calls it a Mala-kita… whatever that is. Says its parents aren’t too big so he’ll get heavy but not too big.”
“You’re serious. This is mine. We can take him home.” Davey turned to his father, unwilling to get attached until he was certain.
“Mom’s rules. He can have a bed inside as long as it’s not yours. He can be inside as long as he’s not on the furniture. You will clean up his poop. You will walk him. You will feed him and he must have a comfortable space in the backyard when you’re in school that will not allow him to dig up the flowers. You must train him.” Max knelt to pet the excited puppy. “Well? Mr. Evans? Are you going to name him or what?”
Davey examined the pup. He was white underneath with brown and black on his back. His tail was fluffy and flipped backward. The pup whimpered a little as he sought out Davey’s hands.
“How’s his disposition?” Diane inspected the dog from afar. She hadn’t allowed pets after how devastated the kids were when the guinea pig died.
“Friendly. The guy said they don’t bark a lot but they’ll be okay with kids so long as we train him well.” Max watched his son with the dog. He seemed… still-er somehow. More calm than ever. Maybe this was exactly what he needed. “So, Davey. Are we keeping him or should I give him back?”
A sly grin crossed his face before he lifted his face to his father and grandmother, eyes squinting against the sun. “Prince Sterling the Planet-killer and Beth-defier.”
“Death-defier?” Max tilted his head in amusement.
“Beth-defier.”
“Do you see what happened? You didn’t set any boundaries for him and he overshot you.” Diane kissed her son’s cheek. “You did say he could name him.”
“Prince Sterling should do fine.” He cleared his throat.
“Yeah. Prince Sterling the Planet Killer and Beth Defier.” David pronounced each word slowly as if his father was slow on the uptake. “The whole thing is his name.”
“Come on then.” Max took a deep breath. “We’ve got to go get him registered and get him his shots.”
--
Kathy shook her head as she examined her results. Davey talked a mile a minute, describing the puppy to her in minute detail. “It’s not fair. Dad never let us have pets.”
“I’m just special.”
“Ed.” She retorted and typed in more data.
“Beth doesn’t know a thing. Dad says her cocktail is working.”
“That’s good. Have you seen her yet?”
“No. Why would I want to see her?”
“So you can rub it in her face that you got a dog.”
“Dad says she’s coming home tomorrow.”
“Aren’t you glad?” She waited and stopped working so she could listen to him but all she heard were puppy pants. “Davey?”
“You didn’t see her, Kat. The way she yelled at Mom, the things she said… the way she looked when she ran out. She looked right through me like I wasn’t even there.”
“She was sick, Davey. I’m going to tell you something that I haven’t told Dad yet. He’s going to see it when her brain scans come back.” She took a breath and let it out slowly. “Put your finger between your eyes on your forehead. You’ve got a gland there. It’s little. The size of a pea. For a long time no one knew what it did but we now know that it’s what keeps us on our 24 hour cycles. Even behind the skull, it detects light and produces melatonin in the dark. You probably can control yours. Like how you made her calm down that morning.”
“So, like, if you don’t get the melatonin going and you don’t sleep you get cranky.”
“In layman’s terms, sure. There are still other processes that it’s linked to and we don’t know why. Beth’s pineal gland was… cranky. I think the drugs she was on before blocked it from secreting properly. I think that there was another chemical present in her body before that’s not now. It… whatever it was, made a block in her that stopped her from behaving the way she’s supposed to. Her pineal was swollen but… even though she grew up, her pineal didn’t register… it didn’t secrete the way it was supposed to. When she slept, it wasn’t good.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“A lot of cultures believe that the pineal is the source of all psychic activity. It’s probably what allows us to use our powers. You, little buddy, have a good one. Yours works great. Beth’s never did.”
“You really think that’s why I can do what I do?”
“I’m not sure but it’s a good guess. You… since you were little, you’ve been doing that on yourself. You just exercised yours more and I’ll bet… in a few years… you’ll get even better at it and your other powers will get stronger. Dad… he could heal when he was little but some of his powers didn’t come until after he grew up.” She sighed into the phone, knowing she was probably losing him. “There are a lot of factors in just our brains, with Beth, there are more.”
“I guess I can cut her some slack.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“It’s probably too late to fix what I did.”
“What did you do?”
“Named the dog.”
“What did you name him?”
“Prince Sterling the Planet Killer and Beth Defier.”
“You never know. She might like it.”
--
Alex brought a hand to his head. His mother might forgive him for leaving them in a public place unattended if she knew what they were doing. All three of them were imitating ET’s walk in the lobby of the recording studio where he worked. Silas turned to him. “You know them?”
“Nah. They just followed me in here. Someone should lock up those strays.” He murmured as he adjusted a dial here and a knob there.
“You sure? That hottie looks kind of like your mom.”
“She’s my little sister and she’s not a hottie. Okay?” Alex bit out and flipped a row of switches into their correct places and pointed. “Okay. Record it and don’t screw it up this time.”
“We’d fall apart without you man.” Silas shook his head and studied the settings for a moment. “You still thinking about moving back home?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, almost to himself as his siblings tortured each other in the lobby.
“You still looking for a new place here?”
“Yeah.”
“You ever going to decide where you belong?”
“Don’t think so.”
“What is up with you? You in love or something?”
“That first thing.” Alex finally managed a smile.
Silas chuckled and signaled to the band inside the studio to begin playing as he flipped on the record switch. “You must be to bring those brats here.”
“They’re okay.”
--
Beth sat absolutely still on the shower chair. They had everything perfectly arranged so neither cast would get wet, nor her bandage. She hadn’t been helped to bathe since she was a child. She wasn’t that anymore, not a child, but she didn’t think she was a woman either. Once she was clean, she welcomed her own nightgown before she leaned back to have her hair washed. Her mother worked with a soft hum. They met eyes for a moment. “Did I ever tell you how I met Daddy?”
“No.”
“I had a crush on him. I noticed how every year, every class I had him in, he would always sit in the back if we weren’t alphabetized. I usually sat up front so I could hear better. So… I figured, if his grades can be just as good, I could risk sitting in the back so I could sit near him. I almost chickened out. Freshman year of high school, I paced and I paced the hall, not wanting to go in and take a seat up front like I knew I would. I knew if I waited too long, that’s all that would be left.”
“What did you do?”
“I chickened out and sat up front.” Liz giggled a little. “But we had a foreign exchange student and the teacher asked if one of us would give up our seat so she could sit up front. I volunteered and the only available seat was next to Daddy. I remember meeting his eyes for a second and then he looked away and I was devastated.” She poured shampoo and washed the long colorful strands gently. “He was nice and he made a good lab partner but he would never meet my eyes for more than a few seconds and I convinced myself that he couldn’t like me back.”
“But then…”
“Then Uncle Kyle asked me out and I figured… so what if Max Evans doesn’t know I’m alive. I’m dating the Freshman team’s quarterback.” She laughed, leaning down to kiss her daughter’s forehead. “I did the same thing the next year. Well, not the same thing but I saved Dad a seat and claimed that we worked so well the year before that it just made sense. So we didn’t have to get to know someone else’s work habits. We could move forward with our partnership and not have any set backs.”
“And he didn’t get any of your hinting?”
“I thought he wasn’t interested in me that way. That all changed the third week of school.”
“What happened?”
“Didn’t I ever tell you?” Liz furrowed her brow at her daughter. “That’s when Daddy saved my life. And the next day, he let me see him and that was the day I fell in love.”
“I knew. I mean…” Beth sighed. “I can’t remember if you told me or if it’s something I saw or if… it’s something I figured out.”
“Well then. I’ll just start from the beginning because Daddy never tells it right.”
--
Kathy listened to the lecture and took some notes but the whole time she felt like she was being watched. She didn’t bother looking because when it happened the day before, she had asked Agent Ledford and she hadn’t seen a thing… and she was paid to look and according to Will, she was the best. But she was tired of that feeling… and she had a pretty good idea who it was. It didn’t matter that Agent Ledford advised against it. She had to figure out why.
She felt like a junior spy following Dr. West around but Agent Ledford didn’t try to stop her after she made it clear she wasn’t going to break into the woman’s house. There was nothing remarkable about her routine. She went to work. She went to lunch. She went to meetings. She held lecture. She met with her TA and then she went home to a vapid brunette lover. That last part was a little surprising but only the vapid part. A woman like Dr. West should really look for more substance in a partner.
Agent Ledford left her in her foyer with a few quiet words. “Agent Goldblum would kill me if I told you but a good investigator does his research.”
“Right. Research.” Kathy nodded and trudged up to her room. The girls were all studying for something or other. She forgot all about her studies and grants for the moment and booted up her computer. Serena West. The information wasn’t that unusual. Alumni markings at her high school noted her as Valedictorian, same as her college… in Chicago. Northwestern at the top of her class. Then she was recruited to work in Santa Fe. The university wasn’t by any means the best in the field but there were rumors of secret works being down by it’s few elite. The college itself had only existed since the ‘00s but it had rapidly become the Southwest center for sciences because of… work done by Jolene Skaarstin. The two worked closely together for most of West’s postgraduate career until the retirement of Dr. Skaarstin at which point Dr. West did not follow as lead of the department, she instead pursued outside contracts…
--
Beth rested the heavy cast on the arm of the wheelchair and got to eat lunch in the cafeteria with Gabriel… and her mother not far away. His eyes were laughing at her Bam-Bam go Bam! nightgown and she wished she had made her mother find something else. “I made you something.”
“Oh yeah?” She tilted her head at him and waited as he pulled a notebook from his backpack. He opened it and set it in front of her… and she stared back. The time at rock-climbing, that time hiking… her staring out the window in class. “How?”
“I told you. I like cameras.” He leaned in close but he didn’t dare kiss any more than her hand with Mrs. Evans so nearby. “How’s the head?”
Beth sat up and glanced around. “Quiet.” She leaned on his shoulder and sighed happily. “The head is doing very well.” She flipped the pages and took note of the angles and then she turned to face her boyfriend, peering into the tangle of jewelry around his neck.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for the camera you freak.” She glared at the tangle and sat up. “It’s the ankh, isn’t it.”
“Clever girl.”
“If I ever see pictures of me in this… I will kill you.” Beth poked him in the chest.
“Could you really?” He narrowed his eyes at her and raised his right hand. “How many fingers?”
“Mom! He’s picking on me.”
“Ok.” Liz answered, not looking up from her salad and her notes on her lesson plans.
“No tattling.” Gabriel chided her. “Are you really okay?”
“Going home tonight.” She promised. “I’ll get these off in time for school.” It took her a moment to work up the courage to tell him what she had been warned about. “I’m okay but Dad wants to take me for some… tests… I don’t know how long.”
“Where?”
“Don’t know yet. Dad’s doing all the leg work now.”
“Will you call?” He intertwined his fingers with hers.
“If he’ll let me.”
“He will… the big softy.” Liz muttered to her notebook.
--
Will found himself smiling into his phone. “I’m heading back tonight.”
“So soon?”
“We’re going to formulate a plan and Beth’s going home. Until we know our next move, there’s nothing for me to do here.”
“Did you hire anyone interesting?”
“I’m still working on that. It’s a good batch I think.” He took a deep breath as he gathered his bags to make his exit. “I miss you.”
“I miss you. Shall I wear something sexy tonight?”
“I thought we had a rule.”
“Rules were meant to be broken.”
“I don’t know how late I’m getting in and it might seem a little suspicious if I fly in and just… take over for Agent Ledford in the middle of the night.”
“Oh come on, like she doesn’t know.”
--
The silence on the phone stretched on for eons. Long enough for Liberty to get bored with tanning. Long enough for Gina to make a few new friends. Long enough for Kyle to meet seven different girls.
“If it’s love… it’s got a funny way of letting me know.”
“Okay.” Alex sipped his soda and squinted against the sun. “Is there anything I can do?”
“I need to do my research.”
“Lynn… what research?” He was about to say more when his phone beeped. “Hold on. It’s probably my mother.”
“Alex, I’ll talk to you later. Okay? I’m going to church with Tia in a minute and I’ll call you afterward.”
“Fine. I’ll talk to you later.” Alex clicked the phone off and then picked up the other line. “Did I forget to report in, Sarge?”
“Yes.”
“They’re fine. They’re getting toasty and having fun.”
“Let me talk to my angel.”
“You’re talking to him.” Alex grinned at her exasperated groan. “She’s made a bunch of friends. She’s not going to want to talk to you.”
“I miss my baby. Put her on.”
“Gina!” Alex called out over the beach and the dark-haired angel popped up from the other side of a huge sandcastle. “Come talk to Mom.” The girl bounded over and jumped in Alex’s lap, knocking the wind out of him for a moment. “Watch it, you could have hit something vital.”
“Hi Mommy!”
--
“Whoa cool.” Stephen exclaimed while he examined David’s puppy.
“Uh.” Em shook her head. “I am way cooler than a puppy. Chill, even. Razor sometimes.”
“Hi Em.” He waved her off.
“And you?” She swung Mattie up into her arms. He giggled but soon the puppy caught his attention as well.
“Be careful. Not too hard. Soft hands, he’s just a baby.” Oriel warned from the doorway. “Are you sure, Emily?”
“We’ll be fine.” Emily nodded her head and then pointed down the hallway. “I’ve got back up anyway. Grandma and the husband will be here.”
“You look lovely.” Oriel kissed her cheek. “Marriage suits you.” Emily blushed a little and lightly shoved her away. “Bye boys.” She whispered and inched toward the door.
“Ugh. Just go. He’ll be pleasantly surprised.” Emily shoved her harder towards the door. “Maybe you get him to book a room in that fancy hotel. We’ll take care of the boys.”
“I don’t know about that but I’ll call when we’re on our way back.” Oriel nodded and took one last look at her boys before sneaking out the door.
David flipped a page in the book. “I’m going home tomorrow right?”
“Tonight, you turd.” Emily plopped down beside him. “Why?”
“This says I gotta start training him to go outside right away… within the next couple of weeks or else he’ll never learn not to go in the house. Think my dad will let me build a doggy door?” David flipped another page.
“What’s his name?” Stephen called over.
“Prince Sterling the…”
tbc