CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Liz had explained their plans to her parents. As normal parents, they were concerned at this sudden idea. The hows, whens and whys. But she explained to them that everyone had really been discussing it for weeks and with all the excitement of finals and graduation, she had completely forgotten to mention it to them. The bottom line was that they trusted their daughter, and of course the fact that Liz was now eighteen, they relented to her excitement.
She had called Maria just as she was getting ready to bring Michael over to do his shift at the Crashdown. He had mentioned that he might be getting fired in a few minutes, since he intended to tell Mr. Parker that he needed a temporary leave of absence. "Well, I'm pretty sure that my dad didn't expect you to stay here working the kitchen forever, Michael. And lately you've only been doing two or three days a week, so I'm sure he'll be fine."
Liz then spent the next few hours cleaning up her room and packing enough clothes for a few weeks. She had packed eight sets of clothes and three rolls of quarters for laundry money. Gotta be prepared, she thought. She slid her journal under the jeans in the suitcase, along with a bank envelope with her savings and her recent gift of $1000 from her dad and mom, with the promise of shopping for a little secondhand car when she got back home again. She stood back looking at the luggage on the bed. She had done very well in the packing department, she thought. Only two bags, one backpack and her purse. She could have spread things out into three bags, but didn't want to hog up too much room in the truck knowing that they’d be squeezing in a lot more luggage and belongings.
At 5 o'clock, she wandered downstairs to grab something to eat. Michael was at the grill in the kitchen. "Our little friend is out there. Seems he's takin a liking to our food too,” Michael tried to cover his anxiousness with a smirk. Liz peeked through the small glass in the door.
"He looks harmless enough, doesn't he? Well..if we didn't know who he was he would. He seems friendly; he’s talking to some of the people at the counter around him. Have you talked to Valenti, to see if he's found out anything new? We need to do that before we leave on Monday. And don't forget to leave Isabel all our cell numbers, in case anything comes up." She added quickly, "I don't think it will, but we need to do that anyway."
"Aye Aye, Sparrow," Michael joked, and then with a look as if a light bulb went on suddenly in his head, he quickly turned to Liz. He didn't have to say a word, the surprised look on her face showed it all. He started laughing. Sparrow had been Rath's nickname for Ava, because she was so tiny compared to himself.
"Woah, that was pretty cool,” he grinned a wide smile at the memory. “Sparrow,” he repeated nodding his head in a positive way. "You were always so frail."
"I was tiny, not frail, and don't you forget it!" She deliberately pushed sideways into his arm. Stealing a radish off the plate Michael was putting together, she walked out into the restaurant.
Kyle was sitting in a booth by himself and saw her come in from the back. He raised his hand, beckoning her. "Hey Kyle," she said as she cautiously walked past the stool occupied by Madison at the counter. "What's up?" She slid in opposite him.
"He's here..again,” he whispered with his head down.
"There's not a whole lot we can do about it Kyle. Let’s just pretend that he's an ordinary businessman who’s layed over in town for a while." She really didn't want Kyle to know how intimidated she was at that very second.
"I just don't want us to be his business, that's all. He's rented a house here, Liz. Isn't Max concerned? How about John and Kal, they've got to be worried, right?"
"They're taking care of everything, Kyle. Don't worry about anything. We're leaving on Monday morning. That road trip I told you about. Me and Maria, Michael and Max. We're taking off for a little while. Hopefully things will cool down and this guy will move on when he finds that there's nothing here that interests him. And we'll all get some much needed rest at the same time."
"Cool down? So you're admitting that things are...what, hot, right?" He didn’t wait for a response as he then realized what she had just said about the trip. He replied, "Good Liz, I'm glad that you're taking the bull by the horns on this one. A road trip could be just what the doctor ordered." He leaned in and winked at her, "Go for it Liz..."
She quickly interrupted him before he even went down that road. "Kyle, stop. We are going as friends. Whatever happens will happen. Besides, he's been accepted at MIT in the fall."
"Yeah...and..? Wait, that's in Maine. No, wait..Massachusetts, right?" Liz shook her head, first no, than yes. He continued on, "Well, look at all those frequent flyer miles you could rack up..." She picked up one of his fries and stuffed it into his open mouth, ending the conversation.
Kyle looked up over Liz's shoulder, making Liz look up too. Madison was walking towards the door, doggie bag in hand. "Nice place you have here." He paused by their booth. "You'll be seeing a lot of me around here, you've got great food!" Shaking hands with them both, he introduced himself. "My name is Alex Madison."
She noticed that he had eyes of steel, cold. As normally as possible she replied, "Liz Parker, my parents own this place. This is Kyle Valenti, Sheriff Valenti's son." He smiled at Liz then Kyle, and they both had the distinct feeling that he already knew everything she had just said. He smiled again, nodded goodbye and left. It took a little while before the chill that had run up Liz's spine was completely gone.
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The two men sat in front of the now blazing fire, stretched out, legs up. Kal held one of his famous Cuban cigars in one hand and a snifter of brandy in the other. John's eyes were closed, quite content from a wonderful dinner. "Life is good." Kal blew the smoke toward the fireplace.
"Are you packed?" John asked, without opening his eyes.
"What little I had with me is bagged and ready to go. I hope you know how grateful I am for you inviting me into your home, to stay here with you, and with Serena. This is one hell of a place you two have here. Absolutely beautiful. You've done well, Kolt," Kal exclaimed.
John answered, "Ya know our home will always be yours, right?"
Kal sighed a heavy sigh. "Yep, I do. But I've got to tell ya, I'm getting excited about the idea of looking for a place out here for myself. I've got my secretary rounding up information and prospects for me when I get back in LA. It shouldn't take me but a week or so to get things straight there, then I'll be back to try to settle in. She's coming with me, you know, she's been working with me for almost twelve years now. I hired her because she was a little daft upstairs and had great legs, but I gotta admit the little thing's grown on me."
"Well, Kal, maybe it's time. You should, ya know..make it legal. Life's too short," he chuckled at that. "And since I haven't always gotten the chance to say it, thanks to you, too. For being the best tag team partner this side of Eos." They both grinned at each other. "Eighteen years six months and counting."
"Yep your reign is just about over my man," Kal said. "But I sure do hope that you're planning on sticking around for the next eighteen." He laughed. "I think I might need the help."
"I'm in way too deep to move on now," John admitted. He stood up to stoke the embers that were dying down in the fire. "Besides Serena would kill me if I told her we were leaving here, especially now that she's got her buddies out there at the chamber with her. They'd all kill me." Satisfied with the small flame that he had stirred up, he leaned against the mantle. "So, what do you think we'll all be doing five years from now?"
"As far as you and I? I'm pretty sure we'll be doing just about the same thing that we're doing right now," he winked at him, "lovin who we are. But as for the quad, I'm hoping that if indeed they all stay together; and that's a pretty big if, in itself; but if they're all doing something meaningful and constructive I truly hope that. .that they're not doing it here." John was silent, as seconds ticked away. He was about to speak, then thought against it. He reluctantly nodded his head, fully aware of Kal's meaning.
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"Is, there's nothing stopping you from going to Boston, and you know it." Max was sitting on the front porch with Isabel, as the sun went down. "You could always join the road trip team. I believe our destination is the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere along the coastline." He joked, but the excitement was clear in his voice. "You'd be more than welcome, Isabel."
"A fifth wheel is what I'd be, Max. No," she said shaking her head. "I need to stay right here. I plan on taking care of business while you're all gone. I'm going to write to Jessie and just ask for a divorce, or at least a trial separation. I'm not going to plead for this marriage, Max. I can't anymore. But at the same time, I need to set things straight between him and I, once and for all. I know that I could never tell him the truth, so what's the point."
"Whatever you think is best. And by the way, this road trip is not a couples thing...it's a friends thing. Liz and I are still not on even ground. We've been forced to start over, that's what she needs right now, and I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize her trust in me...ever again."
"Things are very different now," she started slowly, staring out at the horizon. "Things have changed a lot." Max got the feeling that she wasn't talking about herself anymore. "I just don't feel that I fit in with the four of you on a road trip. You know me, I'm too moody. It wouldn't work. Thanks for asking though, Bro," she laughed slightly.
"You know, Is, you and Ava might not have hit it off ..before, but the two of you aren't exactly the same people now. Maybe if you give it half a chance..."
"Max. I just want to be Isabel. I've never been comfortable knowing about, or remembering anything to do with Lonnie. It's easier for me this way. It doesn't mean that I don't care what happens to the four of you, because you know you can bet your life that if and when you need me, I will be there for you..for all of you."
"Isabel." Mrs. Evan's voice rung out from inside. "If you need the car, you have to drop me off at the church first. Be ready in two minutes."
Isabel looked down at the porch floor, saying nothing. "Where ya going?" Max asked. "Oh, wait, let me guess. The mountain."
"Hey, I told him I'd pick him up and give him a ride back to the ranch," Isabel blushed.
"...and aren't Coby and Serena going to that very same ranch? Well, that's a horrible waste of gas," he said with a kidding smile. Instead of answering him, she stood up and sauntered into the house.
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Liz sat on her balcony, thinking about how much she would miss being out here. It had become more intimate and personable to her than even her own bedroom. It had seen her through so much in her life, so many changes. This is where Max Evans had first kissed her, telling her that if he stayed things we're going to change. How that night had indeed changed her life, in so many ways. And over there on that wall, is where he drew the heart with M.E + L.P. written inside. So many many nights she had spent out here just writing, under the stars.
She smiled when she remembered the first sunrise that she and Maria had witnessed one chilly morning in their third year of elementary school. And all of the comets and planets as seen through her telescope. God, she thought to herself, just a little girl with dreams of flying to the stars. Her eyes began to fill with tears, knowing that Ava had been speaking to her even back then.
This is where she had last spent time with Alex, watching all of his slides of Sweden, the thought as the lies churned in her stomach now. Oh, how she wished things could have been different. She missed him so much, and they had missed him so during graduation. But he had been there, in their hearts. She had worn his guitar pick on a chain under her graduation gown. It had been a small gesture, but it had made Liz feel so good. He wasn't there in body, but he was there in spirit, she felt it. And one of the things she was sure of was that the memory of her dear friend would never fade from her, no matter who she was. She remembered when they had all waited out here for Isabel to dreamwalk Max when he was captured by the special unit.
And last but not least, this is where she discovered that she was so much more than her wildest dreams could have ever told her. This was the place where she sat with three other aliens and discussed her past and present, and without a doubt her future.
She blew out the candle in the jar beside her, rising to her feet. As she climbed back through the window, she reached behind her neck unhooking Alex's necklace, and placed it carefully in her jewelry box on the bureau. She was feeling so melancholy, and she hoped that it had been stirred by her thoughts of Alex. She needed normal melancholy.
This trip had suddenly come to mean something more, her intuition was speaking to her, and she now knew better than to ignore it when that happened. She couldn't shake the feeling that they were going to be gone a while, maybe a long while. Why was she thinking this way? She tried to convince herself that it was silly. It wasn't like it was brought about by flashes, or visions of any kind; just this gut feeling inside of her, that she couldn't shake.
Without thinking she walked to the bureau, taking back the necklace from the jewelry box, then unzipped the suitcase on her bed, removing her journal. Climbing out on the balcony again, she removed that special brick in the wall, the one that had held all of her treasures since she was old enough to know that there were things that you wanted and sometimes needed to keep forever. She placed the necklace inside the cover and pushed the journal into its safe hiding place. As she carefully replaced the brick, the phone in her room rang.
"South Carolina," Maria simply stated on the other end of the line. "I'm looking at some pictures off the internet right now. It's gorgeous, Liz. I'm downloading some maps and driving directions from here with lots of interesting places to stop along the way."
"Sounds great, Maria. Hey, while you're at it, check the area out for log cabins will ya?" she answered, remembering her vision and the fun that she had felt. "One more thing, make sure to remind Michael that we all need to be out at John's in the morning to see Kal off. He's going to be gone a few weeks. We probably won't see him for a little while after that," she answered, keeping her anxieties inside her. "..Ooh, and by the way Maria...pack light," she laughed, knowing her best friend all too well.
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*lyrics belong once again to Lifehouse
~~You are the light that is leading me to the place where I find peace again.
You are the strength that keeps me walking,
You are the hope that keeps me trusting.
You are the life to my soul.~~
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Max slept the soundest that he had for weeks that night. Before falling off, he had forced himself not to think about any negative things, he wasn't going to allow anything to interfere with their chance of getting away from everything for at least a little while.
He had to admit that he wished that Kal wasn't leaving in the morning; it would have been nice if he'd been able to hang around to see them off on their adventure, but he understood that Kal was anxious to get back to California and get all the loose ends of his life tied up. It was going to be interesting having him around here all the time. He had grown pretty fond of him.
Kal had been excited for them, when Max had told them all about their plans for the next few months. He remembered that Kal had said, ‘Well, make sure you do some fishing, I love fishing. Maybe I'll get the chance to do more of it once I've relocated out here. You and I, we'll have to go together when you get back to Roswell'. Max's thoughts finally drifted him off into a deep sleep.
He was at a dance, the old soap factory, the rave of two years before. Liz was there and she looked absolutely amazing. The music was loud and the old dusty room was literally vibrating and packed with kids; but, in his eyes, she was the only one there. The only one that mattered, the only one that would ever matter. There was something that happened to him every time they were together, something deep inside of him that seemed to wake up and see the light of day again and again. She was the sunlight in his hair, and the sweet breeze when it brushed his face, she was everything to him. He knew. ...He knew even then, that this beautiful girl was meant to be his, and that he would protect her with his very life if he needed to. He had never felt so strongly about anything in his entire life as he did about Liz.
He had wanted so badly to dance with her that night, a slow close dance. He didn't care about the music; she had always been his music. In his dream, he held her tightly and whispered in her ear as they moved ever so slowly together on the dance floor. As the song of their bodies begann to play, they held on and promised each other to never, ever let go.
The sun shining brightly through the window woke him early the next morning. The alarm clock read 7:45am. It had been a good night, he thought. It had been a long time since he had slept this late. He was starving, he felt like he hadn't eaten in days. As he opened the door into the hall, he smelled the reason he had woke thinking of food. The smell of bacon and eggs was throughout the house. He ran into Isabel in the hall, she looked terrible. "What time did you get in? I never heard you."
"That's because you were snoring to beat the band, dear brother. It was late," she blushed and turned into the bathroom before finishing her answer, "or early." She quickly closed the bathroom door.
Oh this is good, Max thought. My sister is committing adultery. Wonderful. Boy do I ever need a vacation. Well she did have something in common with Pete, not to mention that she didn't have to worry about breaking the strange and disconcerting news to him that she was this scary alien from another world, or any of the other things. Max thought that it was a shame that she hadn't met him first, before Jessie entered the picture. He decided to let it go for now, and go eat breakfast instead, after all she was a big girl now, and it certainly wasn't any of his business. Besides, as everyone knew, Isabel had never been very good at taking advice.
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After breakfast Max and his sister jumped into the Chevelle and took off for John's ranch. It was drawing close to ten by the time they pulled up outside. Liz, Michael and Maria had arrived and were in fact just getting out of the Jetta themselves.
Serena and John were sitting on the porch, where they had been eagerly waiting for the kids to arrive. "Look at them Serena," John said quietly, as they watched them gather around the two cars. "It's still blows me away, everything that we accomplished in the last eighteen years, and everything that they've accomplished," he added.
Serena grabbed his hand, and couldn't help sharing the nostalgia with this person who had come to mean so much to her. They had been through a lot together over the years. Serena, much like Liz, had lived through the torture of knowing that John was in the custody of the Special Unit; days that she had prayed that much and that hard, had been few and far between.
Her life had been changed that day nineteen years ago, the day that she had learned the truth. There had been no bullet hole or anything near as brave as what Max had laid on the line for Liz, but the night that he took her up to see the treasure in the mountain that he had sworn to protect against all odds, that had been the most magical night of Serena's life. She had been much younger than, but she had known that the stranger from the sky was the only man that she would ever love. And all those years that followed, he had been her encouragement when things weighed heavy on her at the beginning of her career at Stanford. It hadn't been easy for her to be accepted there. She was not only a woman, she was an Indian woman, at that. Stanford was a difficult nut to crack, but, with John's help and guidance and her finely tuned intelligence, she had succeeded in becoming well respected there.
"I'm a little worried about what will happen when we reach point C with the granolith. We know what Kal is hoping for down the road, and John, you already know that I don't agree with him." A worried look crossed her face and he caressed her hand, as he shared the same look. "It's something that would have to be their decision and their decision only. I'm afraid that Kal being Kal, he might try to play that guilt card. And that, John, is wrong in so many ways."
"I know. This could all be irrelevant anyway. I don't think there's gonna be even a choice to make. We're a long way from point C, Serena," was all he could say before the now loud and excited group had finally reached the porch.
"Hey!" Max greeted them. Michael handed Serena a huge sunflower they had picked on their trip up the mountain. Liz and Maria were laughing, both wore small bunches of lily-of-the-valleys, pinning their hair back at the sides. "What a beautiful morning. Where's our vagabond traveler?" Max asked.
"Inside on the phone, as usual," Serena replied with a smile. "He's been so nervous all morning about flying back ...you know how he is," she smiled. "It's a good thing he didn't decide to commute for the next few years, or we would have had to keep him sedated twentyfourseven.."
Liz laughed, and sat down on the glider next to Serena. "So, Liz, I understand from John that you've been considering applying at Stanford." Liz looked over quickly at him, as he shrugged his shoulders, saying, "It’s the hazards of my heritage," referring again to his thought transference abilities. "Sorry."
"It's okay," she smiled back at John, trying not to look at Max as she continued. "I have thought a lot about it. I did want to talk to you, though," she turned back to Serena. "I applied the other day, ya know, just out of curiosity." Serena nodded her head.
Max couldn't hide his surprise. "That's great Liz. I didn't know. I mean.. you never mentioned it before." He should have at least applied there when Serena first mentioned it, he thought. He just hadn't been ready to think that far ahead right now. He forced a smile. "Being right there near Serena would be pretty cool."
"You could even stay with me if you wanted to, that is if you didn't want to stay on campus. It's pretty crowded on campus, not much privacy." she said honestly. "I tried it a while back. It just didn't work well for me, personally."
Kal came out through the screen door. letting it slam behind him. "What didn't work out well?" he asked, smiling at the girls and nodding hello to the guys.
"When I first began at Stanford," Serena explained to him, as she quickly got up from her seat. "I'll go get the keys for ya, John." She ducked into the house, avoiding Kal's eyes.
"Are you excited about going home, Kal?" Liz asked, as he gave her a hug.
"I'll be a lot more excited when I actually get there." They laughed at him, as he made a funny terrified face. "I've got about two hours till take off, so I guess we've got to make the goodbye short, and that's okay with me, I hate goodbyes." He reached for Max's hand, and then pulled him into a tight hug, patting him several times hard on the back.
Kal repeated the same with Michael, who added, "I won't say goodbye, cause we're going to see you again soon, but, I will say take care, Kal. We'll see you when we get home in late July, early August. Take care of everything here while we're gone, right?"
"You've got my word and John's word on that one, Michael. You shouldn't worry about any of this. Just have a good time, and relax. Enjoy yourself. Most of all, remember to give a call to one of us, regularly. Why am I telling you this?" he asked out loud, as he then turned to Liz and Maria. "You girl's will be in charge of checking in on a regular basis, if I leave it up to these two, we won't be hearing a thing." It was obvious in his eyes when he smiled, that he was already missing them.
He walked down to the car with Serena, as she tossed the keys over to John. She tried to get by with giving him a peck on the cheek, but Kal wasn't satisfied with that. He grabbed her tightly and held on for a few seconds. Then to keep up his image, he quickly twisted her around bending her backward halfway to the ground, and planted a noisy kiss on her neck.
"Max, will you be around later this afternoon? I want to see you before you guys take off in the morning,” John said to Max, as he leaned out the window.
"Yeah, JB, I'll be around. Have a safe flight, Kal." Max closed the door for him, as the two beat up suitcases were safely placed into the trunk.
"Yo, Max," Kal yelled to him. "Come here, I almost forgot."
Max walked around the passenger side of the car and Kal handed him a small white envelope. "What's this?" Max asked with surprise.
"It's something that I want you to give to Liz, but you have to wait till after twelve o'clock today. That way I will have already landed safely, and I'll be able to honestly enjoy thinking about my whole brilliant idea, too." He winked. "Don't you peek either. Oh, hey, another thing. You got enough cash? You're gonna need some money, here I insist take this." He pulled a roll of bills out of his pocket, peeled off eight fifties and handed them to Max. "There's more where that came from. I can always wire it to you. Don't thank me...just have some well deserved fun." Max shook his head, and smiled at him. "See ya in a few months."
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The machine hummed loudly throughout Castle Leoch. Vibrating and shaking its very walls, causing huge dust clouds in many of its halls. This had been the fourth try in as many days; things were not coming along well.
Nicholas sat with his legs crossed on top of his desk, facing four technicians that seemed to be moving at a more highly increased rate of speed then he was. "So I'm gonna ask again, what seems to be the problem? We've got to get this up and running again and soon or Jared is going to have all our heads on a block. He's running out of patience with all of this, " he waved his hands around. How in the hell had he managed to get right smack in the middle of all this, he thought to himself. He should have followed his first instinct and not come back at all, what in the hell had he been thinking?
A loud noise was evident out in the hall. "Retribution, I'm afraid is upon us," he warned the others. Just then, Jared entered the room. It was obvious to all in attendance that he was expecting answers.
"And what's the news today, my fellow patriots? We have a granolith that is waiting our arrival. It needs to be returned to its rightful owners, and this...this monstrosity is the only thing that is holding us up." He motioned at the array of machines in front of him, as his presence loomed in the room. Nicholas tried hard not to look up at him. "Do you have news? ...Nicholas!"
"Yea! I'm right here, Jared, there's no need to yell, things tend to echo in this whole place." He took a deep breath and then continued while he still had the chance to. "I am trying to accomplish this for you, but the gods are not cooperating," he joked, but then saw Jared's impatience. "We had a stir of a wormhole for about twenty minutes early yesterday morning. So that's a positive thing. You'd agree, right?" He asked, fearing what Jared's answer might be. He shook his head at him, not saying a word, but letting the little man dig himself in deeper. "Soo, I'm hoping that these fine young scientifically inspired men will have things back on line by... the end of this moon," he added quickly.
"You are all very lucky that I've been so preoccupied retraining some very powerful troops back into our ranks." He picked up a few charts lying on the table, looked at them briefly, than threw them down again. "...Before the next moon, then."
He looked to Nicholas, and flashed something short of a smile. "Thank you Levieth, for delivering the proclamation out to the colony. Oh and a dear friend of yours said to be sure to tell you hello." Nicholas looked unimpressed as Jared then left the room without finishing his message, leaving nothing but silence behind him.
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Smoke and Mirrors M/L CC ADULT {COMPLETE}
Moderators: Anniepoo98, Rowedog, ISLANDGIRL5, Itzstacie, truelovepooh, FSU/MSW-94, Forum Moderators
A big Hi out to everyone who's reading, and thanks so much for the kind words. Aurorasky, thank you for the bump. 
Kel1227, welcome aboard and thank you.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Serena had insisted that they all stay for just a little while. She put on a pot of tea for Maria and Liz, as Max and Michael looked over the books that lined the wall in the study. "He's got a hell of an impressive library here," Max commented. "Everything from Aristotle to Randall to Gabaldon, and that's one heck of a stretch,” he laughed. The girls soon joined them. Max was standing looking at a small box frame hanging on the wall behind John's desk, as Liz came walking over to see what had caught his interest. "The pendant," Liz said, nodding her head and smiling. "The day I gave it back to him he did say that he was going to frame it, to keep it safe."
"You know if it hadn't been for this pendant, we might have never found RiverDog, or the cave with the map drawing. It was pretty much the catapult that got things rolling, wasn't it?" Max couldn't take his eyes off of it, and he continued in a quiet subdued voice. "It makes you wonder, about things..things back there. Maybe there isn't even a back there anymore. They succeeded in destroying Antar, what's to stop them from doing the same to Adia, and then Trinity. What's to stop them from taking it all to hell with them." He shook his head quickly, trying to clear his thoughts back to the here and now.
"Max, there's not a lot we can do to change anything. John did say that they had checked back to where the soap factory had burned, and could see nothing that worried them. No wormhole." She could feel the anxiety and worry deep inside that was now feeding both of them. "We just have to somehow believe that everything is going to work out for them. Larek seemed really hopeful, remember?" she reminded him. "I know how hard it is not to feel for them all, Max, but we have now to think about. This is our life now." He looked down with such a look of understanding that she couldn't help but to grab his hand and squeeze it tightly.
"The here and now?" Maria interrupted from behind them, overhearing part of the conversation. "Oh that would be.. ROAD TRIP!! WOOHOO!" Liz found herself leaning back against Max as they all laughed. Snap! Snap! Several sudden quick flashes hit her hard. It was dark, and there were huge stars, many many stars, falling from the sky. It appeared to be raining stars...huge stars? What the hell was that? She looked over at Max who had caught the look on her face. "What?" he asked, worry rising in his voice. He had felt it too, but hadn't seen anything. "I don't know. Stars," she answered confused, then tried to explain to the others. "They were falling all around in a darkened sky. Like enormous meteorites, falling and burning down in slow motion. Red flames. At first it was beautiful, but then ..it was frightening."
"No bad flashes or visions will be allowed on this trip, I just wanna tell ya's all right now. Only fun is allowed." Maria announced, as Serena came into the room.
"Did you guys hear about the volcano eruption in Chile about an hour ago? It was really bad. Thousands of people were killed. The report’s still on TV. A reporter there claims that the ash was so thick and so heavy that the air was pitch black with soot that it could have been mistaken for night. They had on-the-scene pictures, it was pretty disturbing, so very sad. They said that huge boulders of hot ash and burning flaming lava was cascading from the sky for hours afterwards. An eyewitness reported that it looked like all the stars had come crashing down out of the sky."
Everyone looked to Liz with shock and question in their eyes. She tried to smile back. "I guess that makes me kind of an eye witness, too. Okay, so maybe I'm running a little late with the news flashes."
"If ya could just get some control on that and speed it up a little, Lizzie, we could be superheroes," Maria grinned.
Michael stood amazed. "Damn girl, the hell with South Carolina, we should head for Vegas!"
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About a half hour later they were saying their goodbyes to Serena, who had explained that her and the boys would be out at the podchamber at seven in the morning to continue their work and probably wouldn't be around to see them off on their journey. "Max you'll stop back later tonight, right to see John?" she asked, knowing how much he wanted to see Max again before they left. "You could pick up the Hummer then."
"I'll be here," Max assured her as he closed the door and started up the car. As they started to pull away, Liz realized just how much she was going to miss Serena. Just then she heard her cry out to them. "Don't forget, Max, it's after twelve!"
He tooted the horn in answer and waved back at her. "What's that about, Max?" Liz asked, still waving as Serena grew smaller in the distance.
Max waited til they were up the road a bit, then pulled over to the side of the road. Taking the envelope out from his pocket, he answered, "I'm not sure, but Kal said that I was to give this to you." He handed it over to Liz, with a questionable look on his face.
She tore open the flap and peeked inside. "What the heck is this? There's four tickets in here." Taking them out, she turned them around to read the face of the first one. "Oh my.God," she exclaimed with surprise. "They're Gomez tickets. They are Gomez concert tickets, Max!"
"What! Holy shit," Maria responded from the back seat. "How cool is that?"
Liz looked at him, "Did you know about this, Max?"
"No," he laughed slightly. "I swear to you, I didn't. When is this concert?" Looking again closer at them she replied, her eyes still wide with disbelief. "Three o'clock this afternoon at the Wireless."
"Where's that?" Max asked. Michael chimed in from the back, "A very cool arena about thirty miles north of here. I do remember hearing something about them being around here, but I didn't think you'd want to know..ya know."
Max looked at Liz as he again pulled out onto the road. "What do ya think?" he asked hesitantly remembering the last time he had concert tickets and not knowing how she might feel about it now after everything they had gone through.
She sat quiet for what seemed an eternity to Max, then answered. "I think.. we're gonna go see Gomez LIVE!!" she shrieked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So do you have everything packed and ready for tomorrow, Maria?" Liz asked as they sat waiting outside of Michael's.
"Liz, I am so ready to go. I couldn't be readier," Maria said with a sigh. "What is taking that man so long?" She yelled out the window, "MICHAEL! We're in a hurry here!" At that moment, he came running out of the house and jumped in. "You clean up very well, Sweetie." Her tone had changed completely as she leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek.
"And for a ball and chain, you look pretty good yourself," he answered with a smirk.
The arena was mobbed with adoring fans. They parked the car and started walking the hike up to the line for those who were holding tickets. "It's a little town called Lovell, it's right on the border of North and South Carolina, and it's magnificent. Mountains, lakes and just a thirty minute drive to the Atlantic Ocean," Maria explained to Liz as they walked along. "Sounds perfect, Maria. I'm so pumped for this trip, I can't even begin to tell you."
Max couldn’t think of another place he would rather be at that very moment. It seemed that he had waited for this night his whole life. He didn't want to think about the last time... the last time didn't exist anymore. He was here, he was here with Liz and that's all that mattered. This was here and this was now. He kept looking at her as the line began to move inside. Her face was glowing with anticipation almost as much as his heart was racing. It made him feel so good to see her this happy.
By three o'clock, they were sitting in the stands, looking down at the sights on stage. As the band appeared everyone rose to their feet for a better view. There wasn't much room, which was just fine with Max. Liz had moved over to stand directly in front of him as the lights dimmed and the first strains of cheers and guitars rung out.
She leaned back against him, and he automatically placed his arms around her so easily, so naturally, as Gomez began to play the oh so familiar strains. In his heart he knew that this was a memory neither of them would ever forget. He tightened his arms around her, but not as tightly as he wanted to for fear that he'd scare her away. Instead, she relaxed back against him and he felt the warmth of just the two of them, together...together with Gomez.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thunder rumbled, as the crowd dumped out into the parking lot. The concert had lasted for just about two hours. The band had been incredible, the afternoon was alive and they hated to see it all end. It had been perfect from the very first song, their song, to the very last.
"Well, Michael, did they rock...or not?" Liz teased, as her and Max finally caught up to them.
Maria answered for him, "He won’t admit it, Liz..."
"Hey! I can speak for myself on this one," he said as he jokingly grabbed Maria around the neck with his arm. "Yes, they rocked," then added quickly "...on the upbeat songs. Never been one for the sappy songs."
Liz looked around at Max as he placed his arm around her shoulders again, and they knew that no words were necessary between them at that very moment. That night on the balcony had meant so very much to both of them. A couple's first kiss was something that neither ever forgot, Max thought. And for Max, it truly had been his first kiss.
And you did it so well, too, Liz thought. He looked slightly stunned. Then as they both realized, she yelled out loud with great surprise, "Hey, I did it!"
Max answered with a grin, then relented, "Yes you did.."
"I know, I even heard that one." Michael laughed and leaned in quietly in Max's direction, "..And now is when your real troubles start. And you thought you couldn't get her out of your head before....." Max just laughed and kissed the top of her head. "I still can't believe that Kal even knew about Gomez, or that he got the tickets for us."
"I can," Liz answered thinking of just who the real Kal was deep inside. He tried to pretend that he wasn't a romantic like John, but once you really got to know him and saw through that put-on exterior, you realized differently.
"Well," Maria sighed, "I guess it's time to head for home now. I think I caught a contact high in there, I'm hungry."
"Yeah, I could eat too," Liz agreed, as the sky finally opened up and it started to pour they took off laughing and running for the car.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alex Madison busied himself, placing shelf paper into his new kitchen cabinets. He had always wanted a little house of his own. And now, thanks to this assignment, he could mix business with pleasure. Roswell, he thought, such a quarky little town. He had been surprised that years of tourists hadn't taken their toll here. It was still a nice little town, although he did remember someone telling him recently that he might want to leave town for three or four days at the beginning of July every year. The annual Crash Festival apparently brought a lot of loons out of the closet. And then again, maybe not all were loons, he thought. After all the crash itself had been real. That had been the beginning of the special unit's work.
He had been digging deep. Checking out land titles, marriage and death certificates, any open files that had remained unsolved. It was then that he had come across a report of a shooting during one of the festivals. A shooting by the sheriff here, Valenti. The deceased name was Edward Hubble; and the facts of the case, as little as there were, just didn't add up to him at all.
Hubble's bio showed him to be a self proclaimed alien hunter. He was a widower and somewhat of a gypsy who traveled the country, never in one place for very long. Yep, Madison thought, that was a lead that deserved more attention. It was screaming at him, but he just couldn't hear what it was saying, not yet. He had time though, plenty of time. He had a house to furnish, friends to make, a garden to plant...and then there was work..and he reminded himself of just what an interesting job it was that he had.
He had taken a drive out to the old military base, which upon inspection had turned out to be not so old at all. All locked up tighter than a drum, it had been almost two years since anything had officially happened there, even though he knew that covert funding was still being allocated to the project. Serious funding. Only those with a need to know basis had any access to anything having to do with the Special Unit.
A guy by the name of Pierce had last headed it up, and he had mysteriously disappeared ....not a good sign. A memo had passed over his own desk a while back that had dealt with an array of bones that had been located out in the desert not very far from here. But no hard evidence had ever been acquired linking them positively to Pierce. In fact, all the agents that headed up the place seemed to meet with very unfortunate circumstances. Suddenly the doorbell rang out, shattering his thoughts, and for a brief moment, quite scaring the hell out of him. The man on the other side of the door yelled out, "Fed Ex!"
Finally, he thought. It was supposed to be here this morning before ten. Seemed you just couldn't trust anyone anymore.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Now, are you sure you're gonna have enough money to see you through, ya know lodging and food, not to mention gasoline." Mr. Parker had come upstairs to find Liz sitting writing in her journal. Outside the late afternoon storms seemed to be clearing. "Don't forget to call us with the name of the place where you end up staying in this…Lovell. At least a phone number, in case of emergency or something. I can't help but wish that you'd wait awhile to take this trip of yours,” he sat down on his daughter’s bed and frowned. “You know we could have had a little summer fun. Your Mom and me.. we wanted to take you shopping for that car and all." He was putting up a brave front, and Liz saw right through it. He was worrying already and they hadn't even left yet. She couldn't help but think how glad she was that he didn't know the complete truth, he'd be having cardiac arrest right now with her going anywhere out of his sight. "I want you to know that I understand about kids your age,” he was saying, “and the need to go find yourself. I did it at your age too. I love you, Lizzie and I trust you. And most importantly I know that you'll always remember the way back home."
Liz shook her head, understanding. "Dad, really, I'm gonna be just fine. Maria will be with me, the buddy system still applies just as it always has. She still knows to call you the minute I get out of line," she hugged him as he laughed. "Besides, I think that Michael and Max both know that you would hunt them down like rabid dogs, if anything happened to either one of us."
Jeff Parker smiled that infamous goofy grin of his and shook his head. "Yes, I certainly would. And trust me they wouldn't want to deal with Amy DeLuca, either." He looked down at the closed book on her lap. "What are ya writing?"
"O-oh, just a journal...my journal, private stuff ya know," she winked at him. He looked at her as any father might, knowing that his teenage daughter could possibly have private stuff that didn't pertain to him.
"One day, maybe I'll let you read it," she thought out loud. "...but not just yet."
"It's okay, princess. I understand." He gave her a big smile before heading back downstairs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kel1227, welcome aboard and thank you.CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Serena had insisted that they all stay for just a little while. She put on a pot of tea for Maria and Liz, as Max and Michael looked over the books that lined the wall in the study. "He's got a hell of an impressive library here," Max commented. "Everything from Aristotle to Randall to Gabaldon, and that's one heck of a stretch,” he laughed. The girls soon joined them. Max was standing looking at a small box frame hanging on the wall behind John's desk, as Liz came walking over to see what had caught his interest. "The pendant," Liz said, nodding her head and smiling. "The day I gave it back to him he did say that he was going to frame it, to keep it safe."
"You know if it hadn't been for this pendant, we might have never found RiverDog, or the cave with the map drawing. It was pretty much the catapult that got things rolling, wasn't it?" Max couldn't take his eyes off of it, and he continued in a quiet subdued voice. "It makes you wonder, about things..things back there. Maybe there isn't even a back there anymore. They succeeded in destroying Antar, what's to stop them from doing the same to Adia, and then Trinity. What's to stop them from taking it all to hell with them." He shook his head quickly, trying to clear his thoughts back to the here and now.
"Max, there's not a lot we can do to change anything. John did say that they had checked back to where the soap factory had burned, and could see nothing that worried them. No wormhole." She could feel the anxiety and worry deep inside that was now feeding both of them. "We just have to somehow believe that everything is going to work out for them. Larek seemed really hopeful, remember?" she reminded him. "I know how hard it is not to feel for them all, Max, but we have now to think about. This is our life now." He looked down with such a look of understanding that she couldn't help but to grab his hand and squeeze it tightly.
"The here and now?" Maria interrupted from behind them, overhearing part of the conversation. "Oh that would be.. ROAD TRIP!! WOOHOO!" Liz found herself leaning back against Max as they all laughed. Snap! Snap! Several sudden quick flashes hit her hard. It was dark, and there were huge stars, many many stars, falling from the sky. It appeared to be raining stars...huge stars? What the hell was that? She looked over at Max who had caught the look on her face. "What?" he asked, worry rising in his voice. He had felt it too, but hadn't seen anything. "I don't know. Stars," she answered confused, then tried to explain to the others. "They were falling all around in a darkened sky. Like enormous meteorites, falling and burning down in slow motion. Red flames. At first it was beautiful, but then ..it was frightening."
"No bad flashes or visions will be allowed on this trip, I just wanna tell ya's all right now. Only fun is allowed." Maria announced, as Serena came into the room.
"Did you guys hear about the volcano eruption in Chile about an hour ago? It was really bad. Thousands of people were killed. The report’s still on TV. A reporter there claims that the ash was so thick and so heavy that the air was pitch black with soot that it could have been mistaken for night. They had on-the-scene pictures, it was pretty disturbing, so very sad. They said that huge boulders of hot ash and burning flaming lava was cascading from the sky for hours afterwards. An eyewitness reported that it looked like all the stars had come crashing down out of the sky."
Everyone looked to Liz with shock and question in their eyes. She tried to smile back. "I guess that makes me kind of an eye witness, too. Okay, so maybe I'm running a little late with the news flashes."
"If ya could just get some control on that and speed it up a little, Lizzie, we could be superheroes," Maria grinned.
Michael stood amazed. "Damn girl, the hell with South Carolina, we should head for Vegas!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About a half hour later they were saying their goodbyes to Serena, who had explained that her and the boys would be out at the podchamber at seven in the morning to continue their work and probably wouldn't be around to see them off on their journey. "Max you'll stop back later tonight, right to see John?" she asked, knowing how much he wanted to see Max again before they left. "You could pick up the Hummer then."
"I'll be here," Max assured her as he closed the door and started up the car. As they started to pull away, Liz realized just how much she was going to miss Serena. Just then she heard her cry out to them. "Don't forget, Max, it's after twelve!"
He tooted the horn in answer and waved back at her. "What's that about, Max?" Liz asked, still waving as Serena grew smaller in the distance.
Max waited til they were up the road a bit, then pulled over to the side of the road. Taking the envelope out from his pocket, he answered, "I'm not sure, but Kal said that I was to give this to you." He handed it over to Liz, with a questionable look on his face.
She tore open the flap and peeked inside. "What the heck is this? There's four tickets in here." Taking them out, she turned them around to read the face of the first one. "Oh my.God," she exclaimed with surprise. "They're Gomez tickets. They are Gomez concert tickets, Max!"
"What! Holy shit," Maria responded from the back seat. "How cool is that?"
Liz looked at him, "Did you know about this, Max?"
"No," he laughed slightly. "I swear to you, I didn't. When is this concert?" Looking again closer at them she replied, her eyes still wide with disbelief. "Three o'clock this afternoon at the Wireless."
"Where's that?" Max asked. Michael chimed in from the back, "A very cool arena about thirty miles north of here. I do remember hearing something about them being around here, but I didn't think you'd want to know..ya know."
Max looked at Liz as he again pulled out onto the road. "What do ya think?" he asked hesitantly remembering the last time he had concert tickets and not knowing how she might feel about it now after everything they had gone through.
She sat quiet for what seemed an eternity to Max, then answered. "I think.. we're gonna go see Gomez LIVE!!" she shrieked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So do you have everything packed and ready for tomorrow, Maria?" Liz asked as they sat waiting outside of Michael's.
"Liz, I am so ready to go. I couldn't be readier," Maria said with a sigh. "What is taking that man so long?" She yelled out the window, "MICHAEL! We're in a hurry here!" At that moment, he came running out of the house and jumped in. "You clean up very well, Sweetie." Her tone had changed completely as she leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek.
"And for a ball and chain, you look pretty good yourself," he answered with a smirk.
The arena was mobbed with adoring fans. They parked the car and started walking the hike up to the line for those who were holding tickets. "It's a little town called Lovell, it's right on the border of North and South Carolina, and it's magnificent. Mountains, lakes and just a thirty minute drive to the Atlantic Ocean," Maria explained to Liz as they walked along. "Sounds perfect, Maria. I'm so pumped for this trip, I can't even begin to tell you."
Max couldn’t think of another place he would rather be at that very moment. It seemed that he had waited for this night his whole life. He didn't want to think about the last time... the last time didn't exist anymore. He was here, he was here with Liz and that's all that mattered. This was here and this was now. He kept looking at her as the line began to move inside. Her face was glowing with anticipation almost as much as his heart was racing. It made him feel so good to see her this happy.
By three o'clock, they were sitting in the stands, looking down at the sights on stage. As the band appeared everyone rose to their feet for a better view. There wasn't much room, which was just fine with Max. Liz had moved over to stand directly in front of him as the lights dimmed and the first strains of cheers and guitars rung out.
She leaned back against him, and he automatically placed his arms around her so easily, so naturally, as Gomez began to play the oh so familiar strains. In his heart he knew that this was a memory neither of them would ever forget. He tightened his arms around her, but not as tightly as he wanted to for fear that he'd scare her away. Instead, she relaxed back against him and he felt the warmth of just the two of them, together...together with Gomez.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thunder rumbled, as the crowd dumped out into the parking lot. The concert had lasted for just about two hours. The band had been incredible, the afternoon was alive and they hated to see it all end. It had been perfect from the very first song, their song, to the very last.
"Well, Michael, did they rock...or not?" Liz teased, as her and Max finally caught up to them.
Maria answered for him, "He won’t admit it, Liz..."
"Hey! I can speak for myself on this one," he said as he jokingly grabbed Maria around the neck with his arm. "Yes, they rocked," then added quickly "...on the upbeat songs. Never been one for the sappy songs."
Liz looked around at Max as he placed his arm around her shoulders again, and they knew that no words were necessary between them at that very moment. That night on the balcony had meant so very much to both of them. A couple's first kiss was something that neither ever forgot, Max thought. And for Max, it truly had been his first kiss.
And you did it so well, too, Liz thought. He looked slightly stunned. Then as they both realized, she yelled out loud with great surprise, "Hey, I did it!"
Max answered with a grin, then relented, "Yes you did.."
"I know, I even heard that one." Michael laughed and leaned in quietly in Max's direction, "..And now is when your real troubles start. And you thought you couldn't get her out of your head before....." Max just laughed and kissed the top of her head. "I still can't believe that Kal even knew about Gomez, or that he got the tickets for us."
"I can," Liz answered thinking of just who the real Kal was deep inside. He tried to pretend that he wasn't a romantic like John, but once you really got to know him and saw through that put-on exterior, you realized differently.
"Well," Maria sighed, "I guess it's time to head for home now. I think I caught a contact high in there, I'm hungry."
"Yeah, I could eat too," Liz agreed, as the sky finally opened up and it started to pour they took off laughing and running for the car.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alex Madison busied himself, placing shelf paper into his new kitchen cabinets. He had always wanted a little house of his own. And now, thanks to this assignment, he could mix business with pleasure. Roswell, he thought, such a quarky little town. He had been surprised that years of tourists hadn't taken their toll here. It was still a nice little town, although he did remember someone telling him recently that he might want to leave town for three or four days at the beginning of July every year. The annual Crash Festival apparently brought a lot of loons out of the closet. And then again, maybe not all were loons, he thought. After all the crash itself had been real. That had been the beginning of the special unit's work.
He had been digging deep. Checking out land titles, marriage and death certificates, any open files that had remained unsolved. It was then that he had come across a report of a shooting during one of the festivals. A shooting by the sheriff here, Valenti. The deceased name was Edward Hubble; and the facts of the case, as little as there were, just didn't add up to him at all.
Hubble's bio showed him to be a self proclaimed alien hunter. He was a widower and somewhat of a gypsy who traveled the country, never in one place for very long. Yep, Madison thought, that was a lead that deserved more attention. It was screaming at him, but he just couldn't hear what it was saying, not yet. He had time though, plenty of time. He had a house to furnish, friends to make, a garden to plant...and then there was work..and he reminded himself of just what an interesting job it was that he had.
He had taken a drive out to the old military base, which upon inspection had turned out to be not so old at all. All locked up tighter than a drum, it had been almost two years since anything had officially happened there, even though he knew that covert funding was still being allocated to the project. Serious funding. Only those with a need to know basis had any access to anything having to do with the Special Unit.
A guy by the name of Pierce had last headed it up, and he had mysteriously disappeared ....not a good sign. A memo had passed over his own desk a while back that had dealt with an array of bones that had been located out in the desert not very far from here. But no hard evidence had ever been acquired linking them positively to Pierce. In fact, all the agents that headed up the place seemed to meet with very unfortunate circumstances. Suddenly the doorbell rang out, shattering his thoughts, and for a brief moment, quite scaring the hell out of him. The man on the other side of the door yelled out, "Fed Ex!"
Finally, he thought. It was supposed to be here this morning before ten. Seemed you just couldn't trust anyone anymore.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Now, are you sure you're gonna have enough money to see you through, ya know lodging and food, not to mention gasoline." Mr. Parker had come upstairs to find Liz sitting writing in her journal. Outside the late afternoon storms seemed to be clearing. "Don't forget to call us with the name of the place where you end up staying in this…Lovell. At least a phone number, in case of emergency or something. I can't help but wish that you'd wait awhile to take this trip of yours,” he sat down on his daughter’s bed and frowned. “You know we could have had a little summer fun. Your Mom and me.. we wanted to take you shopping for that car and all." He was putting up a brave front, and Liz saw right through it. He was worrying already and they hadn't even left yet. She couldn't help but think how glad she was that he didn't know the complete truth, he'd be having cardiac arrest right now with her going anywhere out of his sight. "I want you to know that I understand about kids your age,” he was saying, “and the need to go find yourself. I did it at your age too. I love you, Lizzie and I trust you. And most importantly I know that you'll always remember the way back home."
Liz shook her head, understanding. "Dad, really, I'm gonna be just fine. Maria will be with me, the buddy system still applies just as it always has. She still knows to call you the minute I get out of line," she hugged him as he laughed. "Besides, I think that Michael and Max both know that you would hunt them down like rabid dogs, if anything happened to either one of us."
Jeff Parker smiled that infamous goofy grin of his and shook his head. "Yes, I certainly would. And trust me they wouldn't want to deal with Amy DeLuca, either." He looked down at the closed book on her lap. "What are ya writing?"
"O-oh, just a journal...my journal, private stuff ya know," she winked at him. He looked at her as any father might, knowing that his teenage daughter could possibly have private stuff that didn't pertain to him.
"One day, maybe I'll let you read it," she thought out loud. "...but not just yet."
"It's okay, princess. I understand." He gave her a big smile before heading back downstairs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*classic lyrics belong to Mr. Stevie Wonder
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
She had so much time on her hands after dinner, she didn't know what to do. Her bags were packed and sitting by the bedroom door. She started nonchalantly to clean some of the things from her desk. An accumulation of things that you tend to collect and never get around to throwing out. She found the Beth Orton tickets that had belonged to Alex, the concert that he had never gotten to see, a library card, and a few old movie stubs.
As she dug down deeper in the pile she came upon an old chemistry notebook. Over the cover, scrawled in a rainbow of colors, was written... LIZ PARKER and MAX EVANS FOREVER. She smiled remembering the joy and hope she had had for the future when she had drawn that there. It had been just the beginning back then, back when everything was new and shiny and unspoiled, back before the dirty pieces of reality did their very best to pull them apart. She pushed the notebook aside and found a scribbled note that he had given to her right around the same time. Eraser room, 6th period, it read. She slowly traced his letters with her finger as she remembered how it used to be...once. She knew what Max had meant when he said that there was a time.. once, when they had both been better.
At the back of her desk, she saw her grandmother's book and decided quite at the last minute to take it along with her. She had discussed the book and her grandmother's message on the back cover with John right after she had found it, but she hadn't said a word about it to Max. Besides, she thought, there was going to be a lot of driving in the next few weeks, with plenty of time for her to read the book through in its entirety. Before placing it in her backpack, she again opened to the back page, and read the advice her grandmother had put there for her. Follow your heart, for it will always lead you to the truth. Closing the book and zippering up the pack, she placed it back onto the floor along with the other bags.
She sat down on the edge of the bed, looking around her. This anticipation was driving her crazy. She guessed that if she really wanted to, she could go to bed right now and just wake up a little earlier than she originally planned. But she wasn't really tired enough to do that, besides it was only seven. Something was calling to her, it was making her feel very unsettled. What is it Ava?, she asked herself, to no response. She walked to the window pushing it open all the way, feeling the fresh rush of the early evening air into her lungs.
It had been so horrible, it had all been so cruel for too long now. She only knew that she couldn't go on like this. She couldn't go on just being friends with him. She needed to move them on, to finally and completely put it all behind her. She violently shook her head trying to scatter the thought. What I need, she thought, is to get the hell out of here. It would be nice outside now that the thundershowers had ended and the fresh early evening air had been washed clean.
Passing her father on the steps, she paused. "Can I borrow the car for a little while, Dad. I've got some place I'm supposed to be,” she said in a puzzled way, grabbing her sweater off the hook by the back door.
"Sure thing, the keys are over on the counter in the kitchen. Be careful." He watched as she absentmindedly picked up the keys and headed out the back door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She drove and drove, with no destination in mind. She had decided early on not to go over to Maria's, and she knew that Max was more than likely still at John's. She couldn't help thinking about him even though she was trying so hard not to. She could almost hear him in her head every now and then. It sounded something like his voice, but she couldn't quite put the words together.
She stopped the car and walked around in the park for a while, then sat out on a picnic table there, while time ticked slowly away. Then getting back into the car she drove again, first with the radio on, then with the radio off. The sun had already set with pink and orange splashes across the sky, painted in an odd beautiful way that Liz hadn't remembered ever seeing before. She pulled to the side of the road and sat there watching the colors until they completely disappeared into dusk.
What am I doing? she asked herself desperately running her fingers through her hair. Driving again as twilight changed rapidly into night, she stopped at a small grocery store for a cold bottle of soda. It was when she returned to the car, that things became clear, and she no longer had any doubts of where she was going.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~As now, cannot reveal the mystery of tomorrow,
but in passing will grow older every day
Just as all is born is new, do know what I say is true,
that I'll be loving you, always.
Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky,
until the ocean covers every mountain high.
Until the dolphins fly and parrots live at sea,
until we dream of life and life becomes a dream.
Until the day the earth starts turning right to left,
until the earth just for the sun, denies itself.
Until mother nature says her work is through,
until the day that you are me, and I am you.
Always.~~
The night sky was the blackest and the deepest that she had ever witnessed it, making the brilliant blanket of stars appear as if they were right above the tips of her fingers, as she reached her arms high to the sky. The picturesque mountain that had housed the podchamber for more than fifty years stood as it always had. Tonight it was but a silhouette against a starlit sky. It had been a starting off point for four very special people.
Liz steadily climbed the rocks up to the entrance door, looking back down for only a brief moment. There would be no turning back for her now. No more time wasted in looking backward. The future was forward. There was much to do yet here. And out there, worlds were waiting, beckoning them back; back to a beginning from where they had once started. It was a legacy that might need attention one day, but not now, not yet; this was their time now. For tonight, this was the only place she wanted and needed to be. It felt like a sanctuary to her.
As she stepped through the opening, she felt an odd cool presence pass over her. She took a few more steps inside; the old pods still hung on the far wall just as they had all along. But tonight she saw them differently. A faint glow from the granolith chamber bounced off of them now, seeming to illuminate them from the inside.
Slowly she walked toward them, closer than she had ever allowed herself to come before. Slowly and carefully she stepped up and reached out her hand, touching the remnants of the pod on the lower right side. She saw that it looked different from the other three, older maybe. Liz thought that it felt emptier. This had been where Ava was to have been born into this world, right along with Zan, and Rath and Lonnie.
As her hand ran down what was left of the older empty sack, she felt everything in her mind rush by her at an amazing speed. She felt a strength come from within her, an assurance of all her beliefs, a certainty in her heart. She startled herself when a small piece of the fragile shell disintegrated between her fingers, and she stepped back slowly. She felt suddenly radiant, full. She was feeling so full of life, more so than she had ever remembered feeling before. She couldn't stop the tears from running down her face. Tears for all the years that had come before this moment, for loves shared and loves lost. She couldn't be that strong anymore. She needed him, because she loved him so. No matter what her doubts had been, she only knew that through it all she had never stopped loving him. She knew there was a reason, and she knew now that it was this.
She reached out again, this time touching the top pod with her finger tips. Just then a familiar spirit passed through her; she felt every bit of him, he was telling her that it was alright. Colors of unimaginable shades whirled around her, dancing in the air over her head, then spinning up and down surrounding her body, then slowly fading into the blue hues that lit the room, and then the chamber was still again.
A familiar voice spoke from behind her, ever so slowly breaking the silence and faintly echoing inside the chamber. "You have always looked beautiful to me, but here and now in this place, you look more beautiful than I have ever imagined."
She hadn't expected anyone else to be out here at this time of night. She turned around ever so slowly as her eyes met his in the blue subdued light. Her heart raced and she found that she couldn't look away this time, even if she had wanted to. He smiled and walked slowly toward her.
"Hey," she hesitated. "You're here," she whispered quietly with surprise, and somehow with a great feeling of relief. "How did you get here?"
He couldn't take his eyes off of her, as he nodded his head. She had an almost uncontrollable need to run to him, but took a deep breath instead.
"I walked," he said, still almost in a whisper.
"You walked??" She couldn't believe it. "You're not kidding are you?" She tilted her head slightly with the question.
"No, I'm not. I needed the air. I needed to think." I needed to see you, he thought, and ..somehow I knew that you'd be. .here. He took a step closer to her.
"I could have given you a ride," she nervously laughed. The silence then grew for a handful of moments, as the gaze shared between them deepened. "This place, " she started, paused and took a breath still not being able to look away, "it's really special here. I've needed to come back here for the longest while now. I thought I needed to do it alone, but now I'm glad that you're here."
"I've always been here," he said tenderly, as he carefully reached out his hand toward her. She hesitated only for a brief moment, and then he was there in front of her. She closed her eyes and thought she felt his body blending with hers. She had missed him for so very long. He held both of her hands in his now and gently brushed his lips over her fingertips. She was drawn to him now as she had once been before, like a moth to a flame, and she didn't care anymore about the past. She opened her eyes and felt she was ever so slowly melting into him, as his arms circled her waist pulling her closer, ever so tightly against him. He was taking her breath away with every slight, yet deliberate, move of his body. She felt the power in his arms as he whispered, "I have missed you in a way that there are no words for. I can not wait another day. I will not wait another lifetime, to hold you. . to touch you, the way I've dreamed of." As shades of Zan passed through him, his hands slipped up her back where they met with her bare skin just above the waistband of her shorts, and he felt he would lose all control. "Liz, I love you." His mouth pressed down onto her lips, gently at first, then with a passion and urgency that spoke volumes between them. A reckless abandonment of all the heartache, all the trials and dangers that had come before this very minute. I am yours, it said. And I need to make you mine.
She eagerly placed her body into his hands, and matched every movement to his. His fingers stroked through the light barrier of her clothes, slowly and then deliberately. He couldn't not touch her. "Max?," she whispered against the smooth warmth of his neck, She found it difficult to form another word as she felt herself floating. Her head fell back as his lips kissed her throat, her neck, her soft shoulders. When the words finally came, she spoke them slowly, but with the most clarity that she had ever before felt. "This is where we belong. Right here, right now. Everything," she repeated, "everything has been leading up to this one single moment of time, here with you here with me." She felt as if a weight had been lifted from her heart.
"I love you, Liz," he said again breathlessly into the smell of her hair.. that smell that he had always loved so much. He gently fitted his mouth over hers and tasted the sweet wetness of what he had missed so badly. He couldn't live without her taste. ..without her touch. .without this, all of it. "This moment in time, is a new beginning for us. A second,” he corrected himself, "…a third beginning." He smiled, and Liz saw a flash of Zan there in his face, right before he raised her chin and kissed her forehead. "A beginning with so much more to share than ever before." His mood changed for a second and he jokingly cocked his head to the side thinking, then pulled back slightly. "Kal, of course would say third time is always the charm." He smiled down at her.
She laughed, pushing him gently away and then tugging back at the front of his t-shirt, almost throwing them both off balance. "You wouldn't be trying to change the mood now, would you Max Evans? Cause if that's your game. . . it isn't going to work. Nope," she shook her head back and forth, smiling. Ever so slowly her hands ran down the curves of his body as she knelt to the floor of the chamber, urging him down toward her.
"Wait..," he whispered quickly. He turned to grab something that was on the cave floor, just out of sight. As Liz looked curiously, he returned and shook out the small army blanket that he had brought with him, flipping it and laying it out flat in just one try. He couldn't keep a shy grin from spreading across his still glowing face.
"You've been practicing that," she said with a smile. "..so you came prepared did you?" her eyes sparkled mischievously. As her mood changed back to a serious one again, she smiled up at him and her eyes spoke to him in a way that he loved so much. She slowly pulled him down to the blanket in front of her.
"Completely prepared," he answered and grabbed her, rolling over onto his back, pulling her gently on top of him. They laid there closer than they had been for such a very long time. His hands were on her constantly, needing to gently touch a part of her. .any part, every part.
It was peaceful here, and Liz became very conscious of the slow rise and fall of his chest as she laid her head there, listening to his heartbeat. She lifted her head and watched his eyes, watching hers. He was all she had ever wanted, all she had ever wished for. She remembered the little girl who had searched the heavens and wished on that shooting star when she was so very small. She knew it was destiny that she felt, it was surrounding and protecting them here. She also knew that this was to be the beginning of an amazing time in her life.
She slowly slid up over him pressing her weight against him, as she kissed him deeply. Max could wait no longer. The girl he had loved for so long, his heart, was here with him and he would make sure that they were never apart again. Then, as if reading her mind, he leaned her to the side as he slid her tank top up over her head, then paused looking at the tanned and perfect body beside him. He rolled over on top of her, as her arms closed around him. She slowly ran her fingers up under the back of his shirt and subconsciously traced a design of infinity, over and over again there.
She felt him shiver and then ever so carefully he rolled to one side, grabbing his shirt by the bottom and helping her to release it over his head. He ran his hands into her hair and pressed his mouth hard to hers. Their hands worked in unison, slowly discarding all their clothing that remained, holding each other tighter, never wanting to let go. As the colored lights returned shining on the ceiling and the walls as if from hundreds of dancing candles, the chamber became literally alive, and they knew they were not alone.
He felt her smooth soft skin under his hands and his mind floated back to a time that now seemed so long ago. He took her with him, as she breathlessly closed her eyes and placed herself into his hands. The scent of her remained both there and here in his mind, as time and space slipped each others bonds. She moved under his touch, longing to feel his weight on her body again. She ran her hand into his hair and her eyes caught his. She held his face there, not wanting him to ever look away. As his hands caressed her breasts and brushed softly over her nipples, her body lifted and pushed against his, beckoning for more. She could see her reflection there in his eyes as he pulled her gently into his soul, and she was home again.
Their breathing was strong and rhythmic. They moved together as they had always loved, together, constant and without hesitation. He kissed her neck again and again, as his hands explored every inch of the body he had come to dream so much about. She moaned as her lips brushed against his cheek and again her mouth met his. She gave in to the undertow that was pulling her deep inside of him. In return she guided him to the place that would make her his. The magic that had bound them was stronger than ever, and the images that glided in and out of their dance took them to places that had come long before, and to new places that were yet to be.
It seemed forever that they had been forced to wait; through heartbreak, through doubt and separation and yes, through lifetimes. She loved him more than her life itself, and there could be no doubt that she was his total reason for being. "I love you, you are my heart," he whispered breathlessly into her ear. "Know this, for it is the only thing that will ever be true."
It was Max who then looked back into Liz's eyes. "You are mine," he said in breathlessly, "Not just my heart, but my soul, Liz, they belong to you. And I'll do everything in my power, anything that I have to, to keep you by my side forever. I love you today, Liz Parker, as I have always loved you, with all of my heart and all of Zan's soul." As their fingers interlocked in a promise that they both knew would never again be broken, she kissed him hard and deep, and felt the heat there, rising between them.
Liz's heart raced, as Max raised himself above her again, and then slowly paused, as the soft blue light passed over her body. He could do nothing but soak every part of her into his very being. He could barely breathe. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever known, and he had found her again. Their bodies joined in an extraordinary rhythm of untamed passion, and somewhere overhead Venus moved into her rightful place, forming the fifth star in a V formation of a galaxy far away. Destiny was at last complete; and somewhere out there far above them, a prophecy at long last was fulfilled.
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EPILOGUE
Inside a small chapel high in the hills of North Carolina, a small but very special ceremony was taking place. Three stood before the alter this day. John bent and kissed her on the cheek, as his fingers tightened momentarily around hers. Liz thought she caught a glimpse of tears in his eyes, as he placed her hand securely into Max's.
She glanced back behind her, and saw Kal, Michael and Maria sitting in the first pew, Maria nervously on the very edge of her seat. Liz smiled, so glad that they were here to share this day with her. She smiled an extra smile to Michael and felt the strength of his spirit respond in kind. She turned back looking into Max's eyes and again saw her world, just as she had that day he had leaned over her and saved her life..the day that had truly made this day possible. Whatever was to come, whatever the fates would hand them, there were the two of them now. Her heart was beating loudly in her ears as she began.
"I, Liz Parker, take thee Max Evans, to be my wedded husband, and my partner." He squeezed her hand, as a smile he couldn't hide took over his face. "To have and to hold from this day forward. For better or worse, I will stand by your side. In good times and bad, in sickness and in health. I will honor my love for you and yours for me. You are my past and my present and my eternity. This I promise you." There were tears in her eyes as she finished. Sparkling tears of happiness. This was the day she had dreamed of and there was nothing ahead of them now but all the years of their lives.
"I, Max Evans," he reached up to gently brush her tears aside, "take thee Liz Parker, to be my wedded bride, and my partner. To have and to hold from this day forward. In whatever may come, I shall stand by your side, for better or worse, in sickness or in health. I will honor you and your love for me, and I promise I will love you until the day that I die, and I'm pretty sure for a long time afterward," he added in a whisper, as she smiled up into his eyes. "You are the other half that makes me whole. You are my past, my present, my eternity. This I promise you."
It took a few seconds until Maria realized that she had been holding her breath. She was beautiful, Maria thought with tears welling up in her eyes. She didn't believe that at any point in all there years together that she had ever seen her friend as beautiful as she was at this very minute, or this totally happy. She looked over at him, as she felt Michael's fingers squeeze firmly around her hand.
Max slipped the ring carefully onto her finger, as his own fingers shook nervously. His eyes too were moist and shining, as they looked deep into hers. There was complete silence in the chapel as Max slowly leaned to kiss her forehead. As her arms instinctively wrapped around his body, he lifted her chin. Then as if discovering her face for the very first time, his lips moved down to kiss her closed eyes, then several smaller kisses helped him to slowly find their way to her lips. Her arms tightened in response as she kissed him in return, hard and full. The length of their first kiss as husband and wife was cut short as the rice began to fly and everything returned to the reality of the moment.
Darting out of the chapel, they tried to sneak in another kiss, as the rice continued to fall on them. Michael opened the front passenger door, and Max again placed his hands together, lacing his fingers. "Your chariot awaits...my Lady."
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Dear Readers: Thanks so much for reading Smoke and Mirrors. It was a lot of fun for me to write last year., and very therapeutic too. I kind of looked at S&M as a cleaning up of the past, of me just needing horribly to put some things in order. Thanks for bearing with me and thanks for all your wonderful feedback.
This is the first fic in what came to be the Smoke and Mirrors Trilogy. For those who might want or need more, I will be posting the sequel which is called "Here and Now" and is also a completed fic here on Fanatics in the next few days. It picks up at the beginning of their road trip. Hope you join me for it.
Just another reminder, the completed Trilogy is posted in its entirety at Fics4Fans
*Smoke and Mirrors
*Here and Now
*Retribution
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
She had so much time on her hands after dinner, she didn't know what to do. Her bags were packed and sitting by the bedroom door. She started nonchalantly to clean some of the things from her desk. An accumulation of things that you tend to collect and never get around to throwing out. She found the Beth Orton tickets that had belonged to Alex, the concert that he had never gotten to see, a library card, and a few old movie stubs.
As she dug down deeper in the pile she came upon an old chemistry notebook. Over the cover, scrawled in a rainbow of colors, was written... LIZ PARKER and MAX EVANS FOREVER. She smiled remembering the joy and hope she had had for the future when she had drawn that there. It had been just the beginning back then, back when everything was new and shiny and unspoiled, back before the dirty pieces of reality did their very best to pull them apart. She pushed the notebook aside and found a scribbled note that he had given to her right around the same time. Eraser room, 6th period, it read. She slowly traced his letters with her finger as she remembered how it used to be...once. She knew what Max had meant when he said that there was a time.. once, when they had both been better.
At the back of her desk, she saw her grandmother's book and decided quite at the last minute to take it along with her. She had discussed the book and her grandmother's message on the back cover with John right after she had found it, but she hadn't said a word about it to Max. Besides, she thought, there was going to be a lot of driving in the next few weeks, with plenty of time for her to read the book through in its entirety. Before placing it in her backpack, she again opened to the back page, and read the advice her grandmother had put there for her. Follow your heart, for it will always lead you to the truth. Closing the book and zippering up the pack, she placed it back onto the floor along with the other bags.
She sat down on the edge of the bed, looking around her. This anticipation was driving her crazy. She guessed that if she really wanted to, she could go to bed right now and just wake up a little earlier than she originally planned. But she wasn't really tired enough to do that, besides it was only seven. Something was calling to her, it was making her feel very unsettled. What is it Ava?, she asked herself, to no response. She walked to the window pushing it open all the way, feeling the fresh rush of the early evening air into her lungs.
It had been so horrible, it had all been so cruel for too long now. She only knew that she couldn't go on like this. She couldn't go on just being friends with him. She needed to move them on, to finally and completely put it all behind her. She violently shook her head trying to scatter the thought. What I need, she thought, is to get the hell out of here. It would be nice outside now that the thundershowers had ended and the fresh early evening air had been washed clean.
Passing her father on the steps, she paused. "Can I borrow the car for a little while, Dad. I've got some place I'm supposed to be,” she said in a puzzled way, grabbing her sweater off the hook by the back door.
"Sure thing, the keys are over on the counter in the kitchen. Be careful." He watched as she absentmindedly picked up the keys and headed out the back door.
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She drove and drove, with no destination in mind. She had decided early on not to go over to Maria's, and she knew that Max was more than likely still at John's. She couldn't help thinking about him even though she was trying so hard not to. She could almost hear him in her head every now and then. It sounded something like his voice, but she couldn't quite put the words together.
She stopped the car and walked around in the park for a while, then sat out on a picnic table there, while time ticked slowly away. Then getting back into the car she drove again, first with the radio on, then with the radio off. The sun had already set with pink and orange splashes across the sky, painted in an odd beautiful way that Liz hadn't remembered ever seeing before. She pulled to the side of the road and sat there watching the colors until they completely disappeared into dusk.
What am I doing? she asked herself desperately running her fingers through her hair. Driving again as twilight changed rapidly into night, she stopped at a small grocery store for a cold bottle of soda. It was when she returned to the car, that things became clear, and she no longer had any doubts of where she was going.
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~~As now, cannot reveal the mystery of tomorrow,
but in passing will grow older every day
Just as all is born is new, do know what I say is true,
that I'll be loving you, always.
Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky,
until the ocean covers every mountain high.
Until the dolphins fly and parrots live at sea,
until we dream of life and life becomes a dream.
Until the day the earth starts turning right to left,
until the earth just for the sun, denies itself.
Until mother nature says her work is through,
until the day that you are me, and I am you.
Always.~~
The night sky was the blackest and the deepest that she had ever witnessed it, making the brilliant blanket of stars appear as if they were right above the tips of her fingers, as she reached her arms high to the sky. The picturesque mountain that had housed the podchamber for more than fifty years stood as it always had. Tonight it was but a silhouette against a starlit sky. It had been a starting off point for four very special people.
Liz steadily climbed the rocks up to the entrance door, looking back down for only a brief moment. There would be no turning back for her now. No more time wasted in looking backward. The future was forward. There was much to do yet here. And out there, worlds were waiting, beckoning them back; back to a beginning from where they had once started. It was a legacy that might need attention one day, but not now, not yet; this was their time now. For tonight, this was the only place she wanted and needed to be. It felt like a sanctuary to her.
As she stepped through the opening, she felt an odd cool presence pass over her. She took a few more steps inside; the old pods still hung on the far wall just as they had all along. But tonight she saw them differently. A faint glow from the granolith chamber bounced off of them now, seeming to illuminate them from the inside.
Slowly she walked toward them, closer than she had ever allowed herself to come before. Slowly and carefully she stepped up and reached out her hand, touching the remnants of the pod on the lower right side. She saw that it looked different from the other three, older maybe. Liz thought that it felt emptier. This had been where Ava was to have been born into this world, right along with Zan, and Rath and Lonnie.
As her hand ran down what was left of the older empty sack, she felt everything in her mind rush by her at an amazing speed. She felt a strength come from within her, an assurance of all her beliefs, a certainty in her heart. She startled herself when a small piece of the fragile shell disintegrated between her fingers, and she stepped back slowly. She felt suddenly radiant, full. She was feeling so full of life, more so than she had ever remembered feeling before. She couldn't stop the tears from running down her face. Tears for all the years that had come before this moment, for loves shared and loves lost. She couldn't be that strong anymore. She needed him, because she loved him so. No matter what her doubts had been, she only knew that through it all she had never stopped loving him. She knew there was a reason, and she knew now that it was this.
She reached out again, this time touching the top pod with her finger tips. Just then a familiar spirit passed through her; she felt every bit of him, he was telling her that it was alright. Colors of unimaginable shades whirled around her, dancing in the air over her head, then spinning up and down surrounding her body, then slowly fading into the blue hues that lit the room, and then the chamber was still again.
A familiar voice spoke from behind her, ever so slowly breaking the silence and faintly echoing inside the chamber. "You have always looked beautiful to me, but here and now in this place, you look more beautiful than I have ever imagined."
She hadn't expected anyone else to be out here at this time of night. She turned around ever so slowly as her eyes met his in the blue subdued light. Her heart raced and she found that she couldn't look away this time, even if she had wanted to. He smiled and walked slowly toward her.
"Hey," she hesitated. "You're here," she whispered quietly with surprise, and somehow with a great feeling of relief. "How did you get here?"
He couldn't take his eyes off of her, as he nodded his head. She had an almost uncontrollable need to run to him, but took a deep breath instead.
"I walked," he said, still almost in a whisper.
"You walked??" She couldn't believe it. "You're not kidding are you?" She tilted her head slightly with the question.
"No, I'm not. I needed the air. I needed to think." I needed to see you, he thought, and ..somehow I knew that you'd be. .here. He took a step closer to her.
"I could have given you a ride," she nervously laughed. The silence then grew for a handful of moments, as the gaze shared between them deepened. "This place, " she started, paused and took a breath still not being able to look away, "it's really special here. I've needed to come back here for the longest while now. I thought I needed to do it alone, but now I'm glad that you're here."
"I've always been here," he said tenderly, as he carefully reached out his hand toward her. She hesitated only for a brief moment, and then he was there in front of her. She closed her eyes and thought she felt his body blending with hers. She had missed him for so very long. He held both of her hands in his now and gently brushed his lips over her fingertips. She was drawn to him now as she had once been before, like a moth to a flame, and she didn't care anymore about the past. She opened her eyes and felt she was ever so slowly melting into him, as his arms circled her waist pulling her closer, ever so tightly against him. He was taking her breath away with every slight, yet deliberate, move of his body. She felt the power in his arms as he whispered, "I have missed you in a way that there are no words for. I can not wait another day. I will not wait another lifetime, to hold you. . to touch you, the way I've dreamed of." As shades of Zan passed through him, his hands slipped up her back where they met with her bare skin just above the waistband of her shorts, and he felt he would lose all control. "Liz, I love you." His mouth pressed down onto her lips, gently at first, then with a passion and urgency that spoke volumes between them. A reckless abandonment of all the heartache, all the trials and dangers that had come before this very minute. I am yours, it said. And I need to make you mine.
She eagerly placed her body into his hands, and matched every movement to his. His fingers stroked through the light barrier of her clothes, slowly and then deliberately. He couldn't not touch her. "Max?," she whispered against the smooth warmth of his neck, She found it difficult to form another word as she felt herself floating. Her head fell back as his lips kissed her throat, her neck, her soft shoulders. When the words finally came, she spoke them slowly, but with the most clarity that she had ever before felt. "This is where we belong. Right here, right now. Everything," she repeated, "everything has been leading up to this one single moment of time, here with you here with me." She felt as if a weight had been lifted from her heart.
"I love you, Liz," he said again breathlessly into the smell of her hair.. that smell that he had always loved so much. He gently fitted his mouth over hers and tasted the sweet wetness of what he had missed so badly. He couldn't live without her taste. ..without her touch. .without this, all of it. "This moment in time, is a new beginning for us. A second,” he corrected himself, "…a third beginning." He smiled, and Liz saw a flash of Zan there in his face, right before he raised her chin and kissed her forehead. "A beginning with so much more to share than ever before." His mood changed for a second and he jokingly cocked his head to the side thinking, then pulled back slightly. "Kal, of course would say third time is always the charm." He smiled down at her.
She laughed, pushing him gently away and then tugging back at the front of his t-shirt, almost throwing them both off balance. "You wouldn't be trying to change the mood now, would you Max Evans? Cause if that's your game. . . it isn't going to work. Nope," she shook her head back and forth, smiling. Ever so slowly her hands ran down the curves of his body as she knelt to the floor of the chamber, urging him down toward her.
"Wait..," he whispered quickly. He turned to grab something that was on the cave floor, just out of sight. As Liz looked curiously, he returned and shook out the small army blanket that he had brought with him, flipping it and laying it out flat in just one try. He couldn't keep a shy grin from spreading across his still glowing face.
"You've been practicing that," she said with a smile. "..so you came prepared did you?" her eyes sparkled mischievously. As her mood changed back to a serious one again, she smiled up at him and her eyes spoke to him in a way that he loved so much. She slowly pulled him down to the blanket in front of her.
"Completely prepared," he answered and grabbed her, rolling over onto his back, pulling her gently on top of him. They laid there closer than they had been for such a very long time. His hands were on her constantly, needing to gently touch a part of her. .any part, every part.
It was peaceful here, and Liz became very conscious of the slow rise and fall of his chest as she laid her head there, listening to his heartbeat. She lifted her head and watched his eyes, watching hers. He was all she had ever wanted, all she had ever wished for. She remembered the little girl who had searched the heavens and wished on that shooting star when she was so very small. She knew it was destiny that she felt, it was surrounding and protecting them here. She also knew that this was to be the beginning of an amazing time in her life.
She slowly slid up over him pressing her weight against him, as she kissed him deeply. Max could wait no longer. The girl he had loved for so long, his heart, was here with him and he would make sure that they were never apart again. Then, as if reading her mind, he leaned her to the side as he slid her tank top up over her head, then paused looking at the tanned and perfect body beside him. He rolled over on top of her, as her arms closed around him. She slowly ran her fingers up under the back of his shirt and subconsciously traced a design of infinity, over and over again there.
She felt him shiver and then ever so carefully he rolled to one side, grabbing his shirt by the bottom and helping her to release it over his head. He ran his hands into her hair and pressed his mouth hard to hers. Their hands worked in unison, slowly discarding all their clothing that remained, holding each other tighter, never wanting to let go. As the colored lights returned shining on the ceiling and the walls as if from hundreds of dancing candles, the chamber became literally alive, and they knew they were not alone.
He felt her smooth soft skin under his hands and his mind floated back to a time that now seemed so long ago. He took her with him, as she breathlessly closed her eyes and placed herself into his hands. The scent of her remained both there and here in his mind, as time and space slipped each others bonds. She moved under his touch, longing to feel his weight on her body again. She ran her hand into his hair and her eyes caught his. She held his face there, not wanting him to ever look away. As his hands caressed her breasts and brushed softly over her nipples, her body lifted and pushed against his, beckoning for more. She could see her reflection there in his eyes as he pulled her gently into his soul, and she was home again.
Their breathing was strong and rhythmic. They moved together as they had always loved, together, constant and without hesitation. He kissed her neck again and again, as his hands explored every inch of the body he had come to dream so much about. She moaned as her lips brushed against his cheek and again her mouth met his. She gave in to the undertow that was pulling her deep inside of him. In return she guided him to the place that would make her his. The magic that had bound them was stronger than ever, and the images that glided in and out of their dance took them to places that had come long before, and to new places that were yet to be.
It seemed forever that they had been forced to wait; through heartbreak, through doubt and separation and yes, through lifetimes. She loved him more than her life itself, and there could be no doubt that she was his total reason for being. "I love you, you are my heart," he whispered breathlessly into her ear. "Know this, for it is the only thing that will ever be true."
It was Max who then looked back into Liz's eyes. "You are mine," he said in breathlessly, "Not just my heart, but my soul, Liz, they belong to you. And I'll do everything in my power, anything that I have to, to keep you by my side forever. I love you today, Liz Parker, as I have always loved you, with all of my heart and all of Zan's soul." As their fingers interlocked in a promise that they both knew would never again be broken, she kissed him hard and deep, and felt the heat there, rising between them.
Liz's heart raced, as Max raised himself above her again, and then slowly paused, as the soft blue light passed over her body. He could do nothing but soak every part of her into his very being. He could barely breathe. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever known, and he had found her again. Their bodies joined in an extraordinary rhythm of untamed passion, and somewhere overhead Venus moved into her rightful place, forming the fifth star in a V formation of a galaxy far away. Destiny was at last complete; and somewhere out there far above them, a prophecy at long last was fulfilled.
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EPILOGUE
Inside a small chapel high in the hills of North Carolina, a small but very special ceremony was taking place. Three stood before the alter this day. John bent and kissed her on the cheek, as his fingers tightened momentarily around hers. Liz thought she caught a glimpse of tears in his eyes, as he placed her hand securely into Max's.
She glanced back behind her, and saw Kal, Michael and Maria sitting in the first pew, Maria nervously on the very edge of her seat. Liz smiled, so glad that they were here to share this day with her. She smiled an extra smile to Michael and felt the strength of his spirit respond in kind. She turned back looking into Max's eyes and again saw her world, just as she had that day he had leaned over her and saved her life..the day that had truly made this day possible. Whatever was to come, whatever the fates would hand them, there were the two of them now. Her heart was beating loudly in her ears as she began.
"I, Liz Parker, take thee Max Evans, to be my wedded husband, and my partner." He squeezed her hand, as a smile he couldn't hide took over his face. "To have and to hold from this day forward. For better or worse, I will stand by your side. In good times and bad, in sickness and in health. I will honor my love for you and yours for me. You are my past and my present and my eternity. This I promise you." There were tears in her eyes as she finished. Sparkling tears of happiness. This was the day she had dreamed of and there was nothing ahead of them now but all the years of their lives.
"I, Max Evans," he reached up to gently brush her tears aside, "take thee Liz Parker, to be my wedded bride, and my partner. To have and to hold from this day forward. In whatever may come, I shall stand by your side, for better or worse, in sickness or in health. I will honor you and your love for me, and I promise I will love you until the day that I die, and I'm pretty sure for a long time afterward," he added in a whisper, as she smiled up into his eyes. "You are the other half that makes me whole. You are my past, my present, my eternity. This I promise you."
It took a few seconds until Maria realized that she had been holding her breath. She was beautiful, Maria thought with tears welling up in her eyes. She didn't believe that at any point in all there years together that she had ever seen her friend as beautiful as she was at this very minute, or this totally happy. She looked over at him, as she felt Michael's fingers squeeze firmly around her hand.
Max slipped the ring carefully onto her finger, as his own fingers shook nervously. His eyes too were moist and shining, as they looked deep into hers. There was complete silence in the chapel as Max slowly leaned to kiss her forehead. As her arms instinctively wrapped around his body, he lifted her chin. Then as if discovering her face for the very first time, his lips moved down to kiss her closed eyes, then several smaller kisses helped him to slowly find their way to her lips. Her arms tightened in response as she kissed him in return, hard and full. The length of their first kiss as husband and wife was cut short as the rice began to fly and everything returned to the reality of the moment.
Darting out of the chapel, they tried to sneak in another kiss, as the rice continued to fall on them. Michael opened the front passenger door, and Max again placed his hands together, lacing his fingers. "Your chariot awaits...my Lady."
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Dear Readers: Thanks so much for reading Smoke and Mirrors. It was a lot of fun for me to write last year., and very therapeutic too. I kind of looked at S&M as a cleaning up of the past, of me just needing horribly to put some things in order. Thanks for bearing with me and thanks for all your wonderful feedback.
This is the first fic in what came to be the Smoke and Mirrors Trilogy. For those who might want or need more, I will be posting the sequel which is called "Here and Now" and is also a completed fic here on Fanatics in the next few days. It picks up at the beginning of their road trip. Hope you join me for it.
Just another reminder, the completed Trilogy is posted in its entirety at Fics4Fans
*Smoke and Mirrors
*Here and Now
*Retribution
rosssli, polarvixen, milla and kittens, I'm so glad you liked this. As I mentioned earlier I never intended on writing two stories let alone three, but I just felt there was so much more to tell.
This Trilogy has never been posted on Fanatics before so you wouldn't have seen it here. It's original home is a Dreamer Friendly Fiction site called Fics4fans that is run by myself, DevilKitty and DMG527. All three stories mentioned above are there complete, along with a followup story called Free which is currently in progress; but they all found their roots in the first story Smoke and Mirrors. BTW, there are many amazing stories over there, come check us out if you can.
One note: The wedding ceremony that is written in this epilogue is a flash ahead of sorts into the second story, Here and Now ;and their big trip to the southeast coast, where they run into a flurry of new an unexpected people and a knowledge that while destiny was fulfilled that night in the podchamber...the prophecy has only just begun.
An explanation about the music links. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of bandwidth at the sites where the songs are being hosted, and so you may get an error message that basically explains that all bandwidth has been used try again in an hour (or something like that.) All I can say is that you try again...and most especially for the live version of We Haven't Turned Around by Gomez which btw really was recorded at the Wireless. It's GREAT.
rosssli, was it the music links you were referring to when you said it wasn't working?
This Trilogy has never been posted on Fanatics before so you wouldn't have seen it here. It's original home is a Dreamer Friendly Fiction site called Fics4fans that is run by myself, DevilKitty and DMG527. All three stories mentioned above are there complete, along with a followup story called Free which is currently in progress; but they all found their roots in the first story Smoke and Mirrors. BTW, there are many amazing stories over there, come check us out if you can.
One note: The wedding ceremony that is written in this epilogue is a flash ahead of sorts into the second story, Here and Now ;and their big trip to the southeast coast, where they run into a flurry of new an unexpected people and a knowledge that while destiny was fulfilled that night in the podchamber...the prophecy has only just begun.
An explanation about the music links. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of bandwidth at the sites where the songs are being hosted, and so you may get an error message that basically explains that all bandwidth has been used try again in an hour (or something like that.) All I can say is that you try again...and most especially for the live version of We Haven't Turned Around by Gomez which btw really was recorded at the Wireless. It's GREAT.
rosssli, was it the music links you were referring to when you said it wasn't working?