Elizabeth wouldn’t say and yet Grace knew instantly when she arrived at the Guerin household to pick up her husband as they were taking the boys home because they were babysitting them for the evening as Michael was going to persuade Maria to go out to dinner, and to spend some quality time together so Jake and Grace offered to take the boys while Emily would stay with Belle, Colin and Liam.
To Grace it wasn’t as telegraphed in Emily because while her hair was getting browner with age, still she had a lot of Elizabeth in her but the moment she saw Drew, she knew who the father was and if
he was Drew’s father than he would have been Emily’s too, because they did resemble each more than you would think if they were only half siblings.
“What?” Jake asked as they put Mick in the car seat, and made sure Drew was buckled up as they got in the car. Eva was in the other car seat, and Jake could notice that his wife was preoccupied as they started to drive to their place and had been since she arrived at his parent’s home. “Are you alright?”
“Nothing,” Grace sighed as her brain was whirling but she laughed at her husband’s concern. “All is fine, really, there is nothing to worry about on my end,” she sighed as she wondered what her suspicions would mean, and she tried to evade and move onto a new topic “How was it being at the house?”
“You know with my brothers and sisters, there is always drama to be had” Jake laughed as he quite liked that Colin’s news was normal for a change, and didn’t have dramatic ramifications for anyone by himself and Sue, and their futures. He suspected his brother and Sue would be happy, but one never knew, and he would take happiness after all they had to deal with Elizabeth “Colin’s news was definitely an eye opener…,” he sighed. “I don’t know how he is ready, but he’s sure he is…” he allowed. “But it is life changing, in a good way, at least”
“Do your parents know yet?” Grace asked as she looked for a way out of her thinking. “Sue is sure to.”
“Fortunately, no, because then Dad wouldn’t be getting Mom out of the house because we would be hearing the earthquake if it had been revealed. So, Colin is keeping it to himself for the moment”
“Probably wise,” Grace murmured, and she knew as well as anyone that it was hard to gage her in-law’s and their reaction to the news after so much had gone down in the past with the families.
“So, what is it with you because you do sound like you are distracted” Jake asked as he continued to drive. “You saw my sister, right. She’s okay, right?”
“Oh, she’s fine,” Grace said immediately to assure her husband. “Actually, she was more engaged and more at ease than she was yesterday” Grace acknowledged as she thought of her friend and sister-in-law as felt like the world was righting itself that she had her best friend back, after losing her for so many years. The loss of Elizabeth had major impact on her despite her ability to move on, and settle down with Jake, and have Eva. She and Elizabeth had been so close, and to lose that relationship had been life changing, and now she had a chance at reconnecting again, and she wanted that chance. “She seems to be adjusting to being back”
“Well, that is good,” Jake nodded. “Then what is it?” he asked as he pulled up in front of the house they were renting. It had been their home for six months as they had been living in an apartment when they first came back from Boston but the house became available, and they were able to arranged the rent despite it being more than their previous place and now they found it freeing to have the space to have people visit them and as Eva got older…
“Let’s talk about that later okay.” Grace nodded as Drew could overhear their discussion and he knew enough to know something was up…
*
“Only one kid at home?” Max murmured as he walked into the kitchen as his wife was making dinner. “It is quite the change…” he asked as he leaned in to kiss Beth who smiled as they looked over at Christopher who was busy playing a videogame. “What’s for dinner?”
“Lasagna, leftovers” Beth murmured as she relished these moments. “The office was busy this afternoon once I was able to get into the office and had to work in the patients, I had pushed aside these last few days.”
“Perfect,” Max smiled as they kissed again. “Tonight, I don’t need anything more than you and Christopher, and the lasagna is just an added delicious bonus.”
“You know how to say just the right things,” Beth said as she took in the kiss as she knew she was blessed and she wasn’t going to take her blessings for granted as across the kitchen, their son, Christopher looked up and scrunched his face “Gross,” Christopher muttered as he got up and took his game out of the kitchen to the laughter of his parents as Max watched as his wife finished the preparations for dinner as he strived for normalcy after a chaotic few days. “This feel’s nice, so normal.”
“Kids…” Beth laughed as they watched their son run out of the kitchen.
“Speaking of kids, has Carrie called?” Max asked as he knew Alex had gotten to Washington safety and to her hotel room they were paying for her, for the summer to make sure she lived in a safe building with lots of protection if needed, and Alex had texted to say she was fine.
“Not yet, but she did text to say they have stopped for the night and she’ll call later” Beth assured her husband. “From what I can gather, all is well with her and Naomi so far…”
“Good,” Max sighed as he wasn’t sure if he should be assured of his daughter’s safety knowing she was on the road, but she had a good friend as a buddy, so he had high hopes and despite his panic attack the other night, he did know Carrie had a knack of punching first and asking questions later and that would serve her well…
And at least Nicholas was dead, but he knew the greatest threat was that they did not know if they had someone else lurking out there, because they did have other enemies. Nicholas might be crossed off the list. But others might come out of the woodwork, and he worried for that day, and prayed he was just being hysterical.
“Elizabeth?” Beth asked.
“She’s safe in the hospital,” Max sighed. “I am still working on getting her some relief…”
“Do you think they will bite…” Beth asked.
“I hope so, but I do get their position because they are looking at it from a case perspective. It’s not easy to let it go, or go to the a more lenient side but then I look at Elizabeth and know how much Nicholas defined her these last seven years and I hate to think that she has to spend the rest of her life in prison for something I would have done or any of us would have done in her place if only we had the chance” Max sighed as he thought of the dangers still ahead of them. “So, it’s a crappy case.”
“Do you really think about it, Max?” Beth asked as she thought of his talk with the kids earlier that day.
“What?” Max asked as he took a beer out of the fridge and got out a glass and some ice as he relished the ability to relax and spend time with his wife and his son.
“I heard you with the kids this morning,” Beth asked. “Do you really think about outing yourself to the public, you know, about the family secret.”
“Oh,” Max asked silently as it was something still in the back of his mind.
“Were you being serious?” Beth asked.
“I truly don’t know,” Max said honestly because truly he did not know if he wanted to open that box yet. “The more I see of Elizabeth’s situation and know what Christopher faces as he grows up, and the youngest of the Guerin clan, well, I can’t help but wonder if things would be better if we just didn’t have to lie anymore because it’s a hell of a secret to carry. “If it were to happen, what would you think?”
“Max, it would be more your secret than mine,” Beth asked. “It’s up to you if you want go down that road. It’s not for me to judge.”
“Judge away Beth. Because it would involve you too. Not only the kids, or Christopher if we opened the pandora box of our identity to the world” Max said softly. “If we were to be honest, then they will sure look back to our younger years and they will ask questions of you too” he worried. “Especially if they go digging and look at the shooting at your parent’s place when we were kids, and how you were hit, and you magically survived without any injuries. They will wonder if I helped you. So, it does not just impact me Beth, it does impact you just as well as it does our kids as they will be looking at you”
“I would still say that it involves you, and our kids or Michael and Isabel’s families more than me because I still don’t remember as much as I would like about back then” Beth sighed as she knew she had regained some memories, but still she had to deal with there would be so much she would never recall and yet she and Max were able to make new memories with the kids, and their families that were real and that didn’t deal with the past she couldn’t recall. “Sure, it impacts me, and our family with the girls and Christopher but I would support you all the way if you want to do it. Being public about who you are doesn’t solve everything, you know…”
“Oh, I know,” Max muttered. “But I cannot help but wondering if keeping the secret going, we allowed the conditions for Nicholas to attack. If we were honest about who we were, Grace would not have to keep what Tommy did to her secret for fear of the reaction, and we could have reported it to the authorities?”
“You know as well as I do that Grace kept quiet for more reasons than who she was… It was the easy way to brush aside what happened to her, but still, she was not ready to come to terms with it. Because of her budding feelings for Jake, and for fear of what it meant for her, and you” Beth sighed knowing that had been a chaotic time for her husband and daughter, and she thanked god every day that she was able to come back in their lives so they hadn’t had to deal with it alone.
“I know, but if hadn’t had to keep the secret because of what it might have brought public especially once we found out about the baby, then we could have reported, and then Nicholas could have wreaked havoc with Jake and Grace. We could have exposed Tommy, and we could have exposed Nicholas to the authorities when we first got wind, and instead we allowed him to attack and do far worse”
“And yet he had our dirty laundry. If we had exposed him? He then had an avalanche of information to drop and you, Michael and Isabel would have been caught in the crossfire because even if the time limits weren’t a factor for much of what you told me, still it would have caused a lot of damage to all of us” Beth asked of her husband. “And your career?”
“Nicholas might not have attacked Elizabeth if we had just been honest?” Max asked.
“You don’t know that because you know he had to it out for Michael. And to him, it was means to an end and he would have loved to expose you guys for the fun of it, and still he might have done what he did with Elizabeth because he was ruled by hatred. Sure, the original plan might have changed but given he was going with the flow and therefore it’s anyone’s guess what he would have done and, sure, it would it have saved some pain but I have no idea if we would have been saved from it really at all, because he would have found another way at you guys…”
“Yeah,” Max nodded as he knew that people like Nicholas would have found another way to get their mission accomplished, and yet still if they could have changed the landscape from where Nicholas could have strike, than who knows what they might have changed.
“Given he found other ways to get at you using Grace and Jake’s relationship to rock our family, and to drive us away” Beth asked as she thought of the way Max and Grace were driven from Roswell during their daughter’s junior year of high school. “He wanted to hurt us, and so he would have found a way. Even if we had exposed our families to the press, still he might have had more motivation to get at us?”
“I know, I know, but I guess I can’t help but wonder if it would be simpler if we didn’t have to hide?”
“As I said at the end of the day it’s up to you, and I can see how being free to express who you are will allow the younger generations freedom from the burden they currently feel to keep such a secret. Because we all can see the pressure that the burden brings in having to live under the weight of such knowledge. If they can be who they are, and they don’t have to hide, especially for the littlest of them, but also for the older kids because we both know that there is a burden in not being honest about your true self. So, yes, if you guys want to come forward than I will support you all the way, and I will not care what it does mean for me, because the safety of our family means more than perception about me, or my career…”
Max could only nod and smile and thank the heavens to be given the gift to be able to love Beth and the Liz still hidden deep inside her…
*
“What has you thinking?” Jake asked as he came downstairs after checking on the kids who were asleep in either their own room which was the case of Eva and the spare room as the case with the boys. “You have been stewing since we got home?” he asked as he had seen it as they ate their dinner and now that the kids were down for the count, he could see she was distracted.
“Everything is fine,” Grace sighed as they tried to watch television even though her mind was whirling from everything that had experienced these last days, and most of all what her latest suspicions meant to her friend.
“No, something is up,” Jake muttered because he could see something was on his wife’s mind. “Is it Elizabeth, is everything setting in and all the pain she’s suffered while we got to go on with our lives?”
“No,” Grace shook her head. “Okay, partially, but really, it is nothing.”
“Then what is it?” Jake asked as he gave his wife a kiss, and she kissed him back. “Let me help you with whatever is bothering you.”
“It’s just my brain is trying to connect something, and it’s almost there…” Grace muttered. “Maybe it’s because I have too much time on my hands until my rotation starts, and that never does me well” she laughed as she thought of how she had a knack of spinning off when she had too much time on her hands.
“No, it doesn’t,” Jake agreed.
“Fine, did you know that your sister and Finn would hook up before she vanished five years ago…” Grace blurted, and Jake looked at his wife stunned. “That they never truly broke up?”
“Of course, they did,” Jake asked as he felt rocked by the statement. “I remember. After everything went down the way it did, not long after the hospital, she broke it off because she was spinning out, and she didn’t want Finn to be there for her…” Jake murmured. “Just like she was pushing all of us away.”
“Apparently they didn’t,” Grace sighed. “I walked in on a moment between them today, and it was clear whatever the bond they had years ago didn’t vanish during her absence. Elizabeth even revealed to me they would get together every so often,
“friendly ex’s” she called it” Grace muttered. “So, it makes me have to wonder?”
“Wonder what?” Jake asked because he did not know what his wife was getting at with this blast from the past conversation.
“When I arrived at your parent’s house today, and after I visited your sister, well, I couldn’t help but have a quick glance at the kids, and it made me wonder if Finn is Emily’s father and maybe even Drew’s?” Grace asked of a stunned Jake. “In terms of resemblance, I don’t really see it in Emily because I have always seen more of Elizabeth in her, and yet her hair is darker with every day, but with Drew, the similarities to Finn are starting to stick out, and the dates would match up”
“That is crazy,” Jake sputtered as she felt rocked by the insinuation “If Finn were the father then he would have been there for my sister”
“If he knew,” Grace asked. “We know Elizabeth back then, and she was being secretive, and she never gave a straight answer about anything, and we know she was heavily into drugs. She stopped while pregnant with Emily, but she was soon back at it,” she sighed as she remembered her encounter with Elizabeth shortly after her parent’s wedding, as Elizabeth had reverted back to spinning out of control. “She wasn’t letting anyone in, and most of all Finn.”
“But with Drew, she was in that hospital for like six months, and barely out of it when she disappeared,” Jake muttered as he remembered back to those days and how they were so sure that Elizabeth was going to make it through, but then she got released once she turned 18 and she was soon back to pills and other drugs only to overdose and then disappear. “I don’t know how Finn could be his father…”
“There was enough time…” Grace murmured. “If he spent any time with her while she was trying to recover in the hospital and Elizabeth indicated that she knows who the father of Emily and Drew is, and so now I am wondering if she’s beginning to realize it was Finn…”
“That is crazy,” Jake sighed but then he thought of the kids and thought of his little sister/niece in Emily… “Fuck,” he cursed as he got up and started to pace the living room as the pieces were beginning to make sense to him too and he didn’t like what he was thinking and Grace could sense something was up…
“Jake, please don’t do anything stupid,” Grace cursed that she should not have told her husband anything especially since everything was so sensitive regarding his sister. “Your reaction is why I didn’t want to tell you of my suspicions. I could be completely wrong, and yet…”
“You are often the most perceptive of the two of us, and not only because of your gifts. It is because you often pick on the smallest of things so no, you’re probably not,” Jake cursed as he paced, as his brain tried to process that new reality and then suddenly, he went for the door. “I need some time, so I’ll go for a walk…”
“Hell, you are Jake,” Grace muttered as she got up and rushed after her husband. “I know where you think you’re going, but no Jake, no, you are not going to go there and confront him. This is not about you. This about your sister and this is about those kids upstairs or at your parent’s house, and you need to let them deal with it on their own”
“No, this is about my sister,” Jake muttered as he thought of his sister. “She needs my support, and she needs someone who understands her, and what she doesn’t need is any more chaos or angst.” Jake muttered as she his brain whirled around, and he knew he needed space. “I need some space. I promise I won’t do anything rash, but I need time” he said before vanishing from the house and Grace cursed and went to the phone and started to dial.
“Damn it, Jake” she wanted to yell but did not as she cursed outside but had not realize tiny eyes were watching.
*
“Thanks for agreeing to come out to dinner,” Michael was saying as he and his wife sat at their old favorite
Senor Chow as he knew that they needed time to be together and not dwell on what was going on within their family. Michael knew things were still tense, and they needed a time out so that it did not fester and build and explode like it had done years before.
“It was probably wise,” Maria acknowledged “Things are heating up again,” she allowed as she knew the tensions were full, and they needed time to decompress. “With the house full, we can’t help but fall into the routine” she sighed. “And with Elizabeth back in the picture?”
“She will be okay Maria,” Michael insisted as he could see the emotion on his wife’s face.
“I hope so,” Maria asked wary and worried that this might be the best that it could be with their daughter in the hospital and not prison. “I do know that Max is trying his hardest.”
“We will find some way to help her,” Michael declared. “We’re not going to allow Nicholas to win…”
“Hasn’t he already won in that he changed our lives forever,” Maria muttered. “It’s no longer the life we imagined a decade ago”
“No, it’s not,” Michael conceded. “But we managed to craft our lives into something that we can stand to live with, and we need to keep doing that in the future as we make sure everyone is happy and healthy. At the end of the day we are fortunate with what we have because we do have a lot, when some people don’t even get that…”
“I guess…” Maria sighed.
“Colin wants to be with Sue so maybe it’s time we accept and allow them to ability to see if they can make it work” Michael asked. “It doesn’t help either of them to think they have to sneak around and that we disapprove.”
“All I want is for him to be happy,” Maria sighed. “Growing up is so hard these days, and I don’t want to see him hurt.”
“Then maybe it’s time that they take control of their own lives. We can only take them so far, and we have learned from the past that if we try to interfere, it is often worse. To make it, well, they might need to do it on their own” Michael sighed. “Although I wish it could have been easier…”
“Since when was it ever easy for us?” Maria smiled.
“It was good for a long time,” Michael sighed with a slight smile at the memories that turned into a deeper frown. “I guess we should have known?”
Maria could only nod and curse under her breath
Why did the gods give us so much, and then take it away?
“Do you want to dance?” Michael asked.
“Since when did you ever want to dance?” Maria could not help but ask and smile at the same time as a flash of old times broke through all the scars “You hated it, and only did it to please me back in high school”
“I love you” Michael sighed as he knew there could only be Maria for him. Just like Liz/Beth was it for Max, Maria was his soulmate. For a lot of his life he didn’t believe he deserved to be loved, and Maria busted through that barrier, and for so long they managed to make it seemed effortless when it was anything but, yet Nicholas was able to burn down their idealistic life and all they were left was the wreckage and trying to rebuild on the burnt land was so much harder than it had been when they were younger.
“I love you too,” Maria sighed because it was the truth, and for all the pain, there was only Michael for her as he picked up her hand, and the touch brought a rush of desire to her, and she allowed herself to feel the old times as flashes broke through, and it allowed her to enjoy being with the only man she ever truly love.
“I know you only took me back because of Elizabeth’s troubles and then Emily…” Michael sighed as he thought back to the time when he thought the bad times would take over. “When I walked out, you didn’t have to take me back, and you only did because of our daughter and granddaughter?”
“I took you back, or let you come home because I love you Michael. I never
not loved you, and I wanted you to be in my life, and in my bed.” Maria sighed as she thought back to that time in their lives when their marriage was almost destroyed, and they had to fight to bring it back on track. “I only ever wanted you in bed next to me…”
“It was because of me that our family was so messed with and we lost our daughter” Michael murmured as she thought of the brutal lessons they had learned as it was the one fear, he had all the way back when he was teenagers. “I always feared that something would go wrong with us, and it just took us 18 years of marriage for that fear to come true. I am sorry Maria…”
“We lost our daughter because of a mad man, and not anything you did Michael. Yes, it did not help being who you are or who are kids are, but Nicholas struck because he hated you. No matter what happened, he was going to strike at the families. We should have been more on guard and even if we were, still we would not have seen it coming because it was out of nowhere, and we were not prepared. No one, could have been prepared for what we experienced?”
“We should have seen it,” Michael muttered.
“Even if we had, then we would have never seen that it was Nicholas who was our greatest threat. He slipped in there on us and surprised us. I love you Michael, and I love the family we created. Today, and every day of the last twenty-four years we have spent together and those years in high school. The only regrets I have is that we should have protected our kids better, but it has nothing to do with you or regretting that we took a chance on each other,” Maria said softly as she took his hand, and the softness was what she missed, and the easy bliss of being together. “I never regretted wanting you, or being with you…”
“I just wish….” Michael sighed not able to express the words. “I just wish being who I am hadn’t brought pain to us, and to you and our family.”
“Given high school wasn’t the easiest time I knew what I was getting in when I fell in love with you Michael. Yes, I wish it could have easier, and maybe sometimes wish that I took door number two, but I met you when I was fifteen and I was blown away by you, and that remains the case today for better and for worse. Yes, the bad times got dark, too dark and we both made choices we might want to do over but maybe Elizabeth’s return is a sign that we have a chance to do it right this time, and to fix where it went wrong, and to build something stronger and more durable. Being young is on
her side, and history is on
our side” Maria smiled as he got up and went onto the dance floor and for a moment, they were just able to be together, and enjoy being together without the stress of what could come tomorrow or next week, and just be together. “I want you in my life Michael.”
“I love you,” Michael vowed as they looked into each other’s eyes. “You made me want our family, and the love you gave me made it all possible”
“I love you too, you are my Space boy and I don’t regret that for a moment” Maria sighed as they kissed and it felt like hearts were mending and becoming stronger, and a union once frayed was knitting itself back together and their lives together, and their family now could only be stronger…
*
Jake knew his wife was right and it was his sister’s life, but he lost her from his life when she was eighteen, and truthfully it was more like when she was barely sixteen. They were so close once upon a time, and to lose that had changed him, them, and it had changed his family. He watched at it all tumble down. And despite his parent’s ultimate reconciliation. Still, it was a vastly different landscape after prom night. For all their fight as a family to make it. There was
one missing piece that had existed, and it had been his sister and their loss of her for those years had changed them as people and as a family. Jake needed to know she was going to be alright. He could only pray every moment of the day that she wasn’t facing prison for life, but knew that Max would have to be magician to keep her from facing some kind of punishment and still he needed to know why things had gone so bad except for the obvious in that Nicholas played havoc with all their lives, and so he found himself driving and stewing and needing an outlet, and looking for a sign, and finally he felt he had one, and he knew where to go next….
Stopping the car, he got out and started knocking on a townhouse door. “Open up” he muttered as he started to knock.
“What is it,” came a voice from behind the doors. “It is getting late…” said the voice as he expressed surprise to see Jake. “Jake, what are you doing here?”
“I need to speak to you about my sister…” Jake sighed as he stormed past Finn as he did not wait for an invitation inside.
“Is Elizabeth okay?” Finn asked surprised as this was the one visitor he had not been expecting.
“She’s fine,” Jake muttered as he was still irritated. “Or at least she better be…” he sighed as he looked around and took in Finn’s home. “How long have you been here?”
“Since I graduated?” Finn muttered as while the visit was a surprise but could gather a guess of why Jake was here since he assumed Grace could see the signs, and had probably figured out that he and Elizabeth were not exactly strangers, and had stayed close until she vanished when she was eighteen. “Why?”
“Just curious,” Jake asked as they walked into the living room before he got his manners back. “Am I interrupting. Girlfriend or anything?”
“No,” Finn shook his head. “I am single and all I was doing was studying for an exam next week.”
“Really?” Jake asked. “Law school, right?”
“Right, and if it’s any of your business, there hasn’t been anyone special since your sister…” Finn muttered.
“I find that hard to believe that since she’s been gone five years, and barely a presence the two years before that” Jake muttered.
“What can I say, your sister made an impression” Finn murmured as he got the cold glare he knew so well from when he and Elizabeth were dating. “What did you want to talk about, or should I guess.”
“You and my sister…” Jake said bluntly.
“I figured,” Finn muttered.
*
“I am surprised you even considered telling him” Sue asked as they sat down in the living room as she drank nonalcoholic iced tea, and Grace the alcoholic version as they sat in the living room. The television was now off, and she had checked before Sue arrived and the kids were in bed, and no small ones looking up past their bedtimes. Grace needed someone to talk to.
“He got it out of me,” Grace sighed. “I didn’t want to tell him because of his exact reaction. Everything about his sister is so hypersensitive right now, for good reason and it is going to make him go off, which it did so I needed to talk. So, I didn’t know if you had gone back to your apartment in Las Cruces or stayed in town?”
“Colin is at his parent’s place, so I am staying at my parent’s place for tonight and then I’ll think about going back to the city tomorrow,” Sue sighed.
“I am getting up the courage to tell my big news to my parents.”
“Wow, gutsy” Grace smiled. “I know the feeling. It took time for me when I told my own parents when I got engaged at eighteen, and it took some adjusting since it was just me and Dad for so long before Mom came back into the picture.”
“Yeah, picture that and telling your parents you’re knocked up” Sue laughed. “They weren’t wild because Colin is younger, but now that there is a baby.”
“But your father will be happy you’re getting married,” Grace encouraged. And you are not a teenager,” she sighed as she thought of all her troubles with Jake when she was younger. “They will be happy for you.”
“I hope so,” Sue sighed. “So, about Elizabeth’s boys. Do you think it is possible Finn could be Drew’s father and even Emily’s” she thought of the kids, and she supposed she could see it in Drew but not as much in Emily?
“Given the way they interacted, well, it seems like they were more than a month or so experiment that sprung up before she was kidnapped. The sparks that were flying. They did seem to have a connection, and from the way Elizabeth made it sound…I guess the conclusion was that they had some kind of on and off relationship based on random hookups during those two years, before she finally went and disappeared”
“If they did. Why would Finn not have come forward and claim the baby when she got pregnant with Emily?” Sue asked.
“Maybe she didn’t know, or he didn’t,” Grace asked. “She was playing with fire a lot in those days, and maybe she didn’t know or if she did, she wasn’t going to be vocalizing it and Drew, well, we can’t know because she had disappeared.”
“Right,” Sue nodded as she thought back to the time after Grace left for Las Cruces. “I do remember seeing them together, and it’s not like she was coming to school that much after her kidnapping, and you had moved to Las Cruces and so no one was that shocked when she turned up pregnant because I do remember the rumors that she was becoming wilder by the day, and it wasn’t only Finn, as there were rumors of a lot of guys, and of course the drugs”
Grace sighed as she cursed the fact, she had moved to Las Cruces. She constantly wondered if she could have reeled in her friend if she had only stayed that year, but knew for her parents, the time away from the hellmouth that was Roswell caused a lot less stress and they were able to act like a couple in love without the threats to her, and Alexandra and Carrie. It was a good year to be a family, and to get used to each other. But she wanted to graduate with her friends, so she told her father that she wanted to move back to Roswell and stay with her aunt if necessary, to finish high school in Roswell and graduate with Sue and her friends. Regardless of the rumors mill, her core friends had stuck by her and didn’t think of her like what the media did when they got a hold of the pictures and then the knowledge that she and Jake were spending nights together, and the picture they painted about her father, it made it all the more urgent to move away. Max knew she would end up at the house alone and he did not want her to be in Roswell without the family, and so he and Beth decided to move the family back into the family house. She knew her parents liked it better in their new place but coming back to Roswell was home to her. Coming back also allowed her to be older and wiser, but still, she wondered if only she had stayed and if she had, then could have helped Elizabeth or was she too gone? “I wish I could have been here to help her” she murmured.
“Even if you were here, you would not have been able to Grace because I tried, but she wasn’t accepting the help. You were also too close to it. So, no one could have gotten through to her, and I suppose that was Nicholas’s plan, right?” Sue asked as she remembered that time and Elizabeth was completely closed off when she was around, and she would disappear for days and sometimes weeks. “He wanted her so closed off so he could fully take control of her”
“Any luck on the computer?” Grace asked as her hatred of Nicholas only grew.
“I am going to try tomorrow,” Sue acknowledged. “Something must be on it, right?”
“I hope so,” Grace sighed. “Something positive needs to come from all this” she murmured. “I have to ask, if Finn is the father, what does that mean?”
“Then something good can come from all this because Elizabeth will have someone who does accept her, because yeah, now that you have mentioned it. I do remember back then, and Finn was indeed devoted to her in the aftermath and once she was gone. It did seem like Finn was a different person. It shook him to have her gone, when it was clear that she was not doing one of her disappearances, and she was
not coming back. So yeah, I figure he will want to support her regardless of where it ultimately ends up with them. She needs all the support she can get. And from those who are not family and want her to be the old Elizabeth. Finn might be someone who won’t have those expectations?” Sue offered. “That can only help her recover, right?”
“I hope so…”