Defying Destiny (UC,Mi/L,TEEN/MATURE) Ch 42 6/30 [WIP]

[Polarchica516]

Chapter 30: Sing Your Heart Out
Liz
“What are we doing in here?” I asked cautiously.

Tristan grinned. “I’ve heard about these on Antar. I’ve always wondered what it was like to actually be in one of these.”

Raising an eyebrow questionable, “Trust me, Tristan. A karaoke bar was the farthest thing from my mind when I said I wanted a night of fun.”

I examined the small karaoke bar. It had a smoky comfortable atmosphere and a small stage was in the front with the usual karaoke equipment. Tristan grabbed my hand and dragged me to a table. “C’mon, Liz, live a little.”

I scoffed. “Right,” I remarked sarcastically. “In a karaoke bar. This is going to be interesting. How do you even know Earth songs?”

Rolling his eyes, he clicked his tongue teasingly. “Well before we sent the ship to Earth, we wanted to scope Earth out. Turns out Antarians became addicted to Earth entertainment. I must have watched Grease a thousand times.”

Liz couldn’t help but laugh. “Grease? I watched that movie once when I was little. Maria always loved that movie.”

“Maria?”

“Yeah. Old friend. But anyway, what other movies did you watch?”

“Um, Dirty Dancing and My Best Friend’s Wedding.”

“Oh my god,” I squealed. “I absolutely love My Best Friend’s Wedding. I love the part when they start singing at the table. Y’know when Julia Robert’s gay friend comes down--”

“Pretending to be her boyfriend,” we both said in unison.

We talked about our favorite movies and then I excused myself to go to the bathroom. Tristan really was a cool guy. If he showed this side to other people, maybe everyone would get along better.

I headed out to our table and was surprised when Tristan wasn’t there. It didn’t take long for me to find him on the stage with a microphone in head. “There she is, lady and gentlemen, my lovely singing partner-- Elizabeth Parker!”

Everyone in the place turned their attention to me and clapped. I turned beet red in embarrassment and I went up to Tristan. “What are you doing?” I hissed.

Shoving the microphone into my hand, he grinned ear to ear. “Proving to you that karaoke is fun.”

Before I could say anything, the familiar first beats of ‘Summer Nights’ from Grease filled the building. I turned to Tristan in terror. In return, he pulled me on stage. Everyone applauded again. “I’m going to kill you in your sleep, Tristan,” I joked threateningly.

He made a pout. “I’m not Tristan. I’m Danny Zuco.”

I burst out laughing and covered my face with my hands.
Tristan turned to me and sang out, “Summer lovin’, had me a blast.”

Giggling at hearing his terrible voice, I joined in. “Summer lovin’, happened so fast.”

Tristan batted his eyes at me and put an arm around my waist. “I met a girl--crazy for me.”

I batted my eyes back and half-sang half-laughed in a fake voice, “Met a boy--cute as can be.”

Placing my arm on his shoulders, we swayed back and forth as we sang the next line. “Summer days, drifting away. To uh oh those summer nights.”

The next three minutes were filled of Tristan and mine terrible singing at the audience singing in on some parts. Finally, we reached the end.

Turning to face Tristan, I crooned with a pout on my face. “It turned colder. That’s where it ends.”

“So I told her we’d still be friends.”

“Then we made our true love vow.”

Tristan grabbed my hand and spun me. The crowd went wild and I had to keep myself from laughing. “Wonder what she’s doing now,” he sang as he looked into my eyes with a strange look on his face.

“Summer dreams ripped at the seams,” we sang together. “But uh oh.”

Taking a deep breath and letting out a small laugh, we belted out the last line. “Those summer *nights*!”

We both had our arms outstretched with goofy smiles on our faces. The audience stood on their feet and clapped. Tristan and I bowed. “Thank you!” he said.

We stumbled off the stage. “I have to admit, that was fun.”

Tristan nodded, “Didn’t I tell you it would be?”

“You also didn’t tell me you were a sucky singer, Danny Zuco,” I teased as I poked him in the chest with my finger. He laughed and we ordered drinks.

After I took a sip, I smiled at him. “Thanks. I would have been sulking all night if I weren’t here. That and I would still have my dignity.”

He grabbed the bottom of his straw and flung some iced tea at me. “You have plenty of dignity left.”

“Good point. You just had no dignity to begin with.”

He sipped his iced tea and I noticed that he didn’t pour Tabasco sauce in it. “Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“The rest of the aliens put Tabasco sauce and extra sugar in their food. I mean, do you not do that?”

He shook his head. “Nope. But be a half-alien thing. *Real* Antarians don’t do that,” he said jokingly.

“Oh, you got jokes, huh?”

Tristan laughed heartily and than finished his drink. “Let’s get out of here.”
****
An hour later, we sat in the Roswell Park eating ice cream. The stars were beginning to come out and the air was a bit chilly. “Liz?” Tristan asked.

“What?”

“You kinda spaced out. You have to finish telling me what happened next.”

“Well then I came into my room with Doug and there’s Kyle and Max in my room and drunk as all hell. And get this--Kyle is going through my underwear drawer and Max has this *glowing* heart on my balcony wall that says ‘LP and ME’. Then Max whisked me away while Kyle and Doug were wrestling on my bed.”

“You have an interesting life, Liz Parker,” Tristan concluded.

“You’re telling me,” I snorted. “Have you noticed anything different about Serena?”

Tristan nodded. “She’s distant. It’s strange. We’ve been inseparable for a long time and now she can barely look at me.”

“When I healed her, I think that she saw something.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I got the normal flashes and then everyone just got really fast. It seemed like the flashes were going *backward*. That’s never happened before.”

“What do you think she saw?”

“I have no idea,” I said frowning.

When Tristan didn’t speak for a while, I saw him watching the stars with a troubled expression on his face. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I’ve made a decision,” he said in a serious tone.

“About what?”

He directed his gaze towards the sky. “It’s not worth it.”

Realizing what he was talking about, I shook my head fervently. “Don’t say that.”

“But Liz, it’s true. I haven’t seen my parents in six Earth years and I think just recently, I’ve been accepting that they’re really gone. So I think I’ve come to terms with it enough so that I don’t think that it’s worth it. When it’s someone truly amazing and wonderful and--just beautiful inside and out that‘s at stake here, I don’t see how it’s worth it.”

Trying to lighten the mood, I teased. “I bet you say that all the girls you sing Grease with.”

“You’re not like any other girl I’ve met before.”

Beginning to feel a little bit uncomfortable but flattered at the same time, I decided to tell him what had been on my mind since I left the hospital. “When my Grandma Claudia was dying--she had a heart attack--and I asked Max to heal her. He said that he wasn’t God and he saved me because it wasn’t my time. I mean, now I realize that it wasn’t my time when I was shot but when he tried to heal my Grandma, it didn’t work and she died anyway. The way I see it, is that you heal the people you’ll supposed to heal. I tried my best to heal my Dad and it didn’t work. Either he’s supposed to pull out of this on his own or I’m not meant to save him and I don’t think I’m ready to even think about the second option.

I was just so mad at myself. I have all these powers and the one time that I really wanted to use them and it can’t save him. I don’t understand how I can be so powerful and helpless at the same time. I really don’t.”

Tristan just nodded and squeezed my hand. “I can’t really say anything optimistic because we don’t know if your father will be alright. Let’s just hope that he is.”

I wiped away the moisture from my eyes. “Enough of this depressing talk. It’s getting late. We should probably head home.”

His eyes lingered on my face. “Home,” he echoed. “Let’s go home.”
*******
Michael
The minute I got back to the apartment, I tossed my keys on the shelf and pushed my shoes off. Something was definitely up with Serena. She seemed really distant. She was pretty shy before but now she just really kept herself in. What surprised me most was her need to see Kyle.

I wondered briefly if maybe there was something going on there. Hey, even Buddha Boy needs some lovin’.

“Liz?” I called out. No answer.

“Tristan?” I tried again.

I peeked into the bedroom to see no one was in there.

{Hey, Liz? Are you out?} I asked, hoping to find her with my mind.

{Yeah. Tristan and I are on our way home. Do you want us to pick us some pizza?}

Tristan was with her? Pushing the bad thoughts away, I responded to her question. {No thanks, babe. See you soon.}

I flopped down on the couch and turned on the television. The phone rang just when I found a good channel. “This better be good,” I mumbled.

“Hello?” I asked once I picked up the phone.

“Hey, man. It’s Kyle. Can we meet tomorrow before school under the bleachers?”

“Sure, why?”

“It’s not really my place to tell,” came his hesitant reply.

“Does this have anything to do with Serena?”

“Yeah, Michael. Just tell Liz to bring Tristan with her. He needs to hear this too.”

“Kyle, what’s this about?”

“Don’t tell anyway I said anything, but has Liz mentioned anything about Serena’s lack of childhood memory?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, she remembers.”

I took a deep calming breath. I knew that this was going to be bad. Somehow I just knew.
******
I had fallen asleep on the couch last night watching the Food Network. I woke up with a horrible crick in my neck and a sore back. Groaning from the mild pain, I noticed it was six in the morning. I smacked my head when I realized it was Monday.

A school day.

I growled angrily at the clock.

“Liz!” I yelled. “It’s six! Wake up!”

I stumbled over to the coffee maker and started to make some coffee. “Liz! Are you still sleeping? What time did you get in last night?”

I tore myself away from the intoxicating scent of the coffee and made my way towards Liz and I’s room. “Liz?”

I searched the room and I didn’t see Liz anywhere.

“Tristan? Serena?”

When the phone rang, I ran over, praying it was Liz. A sigh of relief escaped my lips when it was.

“Liz? Where are you?”

“Michael, I’m at the hospital. Something’s happened.”

[Polarchica516]

Chapter 31: When You’re Down
Michael

I rushed over to the hospital as soon as I could. Isabel, Kyle, and Serena were already at the front desk yelling at the lady behind the desk.

“I’m not permitted to let anyone except family in that unit,” the lady was saying.

Coming up behind Isabel, I asked what was going on.

Isabel whirled around and said, “Liz called us to come down but this little *monkey* over here won’t let us up to the ICU ward.”

The lady crinkled her nose in obvious disgust at Isabel. “I’m sorry, Miss, but those are the rules.”

Then the nurse from yesterday, Mrs. Tikons, came out from a room and waved at us. She strode over to us and said to the lady, “Betty, they’re with me.”

As Mrs. Tikons led us away, Isabel turned around and waved sweetly at Betty. Kyle tried to stifle a laugh.

Mrs. Tikons said to us, “I’m so glad you guys came. Elizabeth has been here all night.”

That’s when we saw them. Liz sat cross-legged on a chair while Tristan and Alex sat on either side of her. Liz had her head on Alex’s shoulder. Her eyes were tired and had bags underneath of them and her face was streaked with tears.

I rushed over and the minute Liz saw me, she ran into my arms, holding me tightly. “Liz, what happened?”

Liz hiccupped and said through her tears, “My dad started having these seizures. They think that it was a reaction to the medication but they aren’t sure. Michael, these doctors keep coming in and out of the room and they refuse to tell me anything!”

Her anger, worry, and frustration floated into my head. “Hey, it’s going to be alright.”

Liz just sniffled. I let her go so Kyle and Isabel would hug her too and offer their words of support. I sat down in between Alex and Tristan. “She’s been here all night?” I asked Tristan.

He nodded. Even he looked tired. “Yeah. I couldn’t get her to sleep or anything. She’s just been pacing and yelling at the doctors.”

“You obviously haven’t slept either,” I said, taking in his worn appearance. As much as I didn’t like the guy, I was grateful that he looked after Liz in my absence.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “No, man, I haven’t.”

Dr. Lionel emerged from Liz’s dad’s hospital room and looked at Liz. Liz immediately began to bombard him with questions. “What’s going on? How come no one is telling me what’s going on?”

Dr. Lionel gestured at us. “Maybe we should speak alone, Ms. Parker.”

Liz shook her head. “They’re here because I asked them to be. Whatever you say to me, they can hear too.”

Dr. Lionel took a deep breath. “It seems as though the seizures were in fact induced by the medications. However, the medications we gave him were supposed to sustain his brain activity. We are trying to keep him from going deeper into a coma because the longer you’re in one, the less chances you have of waking up.”

Liz rubbed her forehead in a nervous gesture. “So what are you trying to say?”

“Because of his seizures combined with a lack of medication, it seems as if your father may not wake up at all. It’s a very slim chance. And we also got the tests back today and it seems that some parts of his brain were swelling but we managed to prevent that from becoming a huge problem but several are permanently damaged. I’m so sorry, Ms. Parker.”

Liz’s hand flew to her mouth and she looked like she was about to collapse. I stood behind her and put an arm around her waist to steady her. Liz turned around and buried her face in my chest, her warm tears soaking into my cotton shirt. I stroked her hair and whispered comforting words to her even if neither one numbed her pain any less.

Dr. Lionel cleared his throat and said, “If you want to see him, Liz, you may. Would you like me to send a note to your school excusing your absence?”

Liz said yes and pulled away from me but kept her arm around my waist as if she didn’t want to part from me. Dr. Lionel walked away and Liz turned to everyone else. “You guys probably should go to school. I mean someone has to get me the work right?” she joked lightly.

Isabel sent me a questioning look and I nodded. Isabel said to Liz, “I’ll be back after school.”

Isabel, Kyle, and Alex reluctantly went to school and Kyle offered Serena a ride back to the apartment. Tristan said he was going to take a walk before he headed back to the apartment. When he was about to leave, Liz called out to him. “Thanks for staying with me last night.”

He gave her a small smile and left the ICU.

I guided Liz over to the chairs and she slipped onto my lap, her arms encircled around my neck. “I can’t believe this is happening,” she whispered.

“Shh,” I replied. “How about I take you home so you can take a nap?”

Liz raised her head. “No, I want to see him first.”

“Are you sure?“ I asked, eyeing her carefully.

“Yes,” she said in a shaky voice.
*****
Liz

With Michael holding my hand, I stepped into my mom and dad’s hospital room. My dad now had more machinery hooked up to him. The doctor had mentioned last night that my mom should be waking up soon. I just wish he could have said the same about my father.

I pulled out the chair from the corner and put it by his bed. I sat down and looked at Michael.

“Do you mind, uh, giving me some time alone?”

Michael nodded in understanding. “Just get me when you need a ride home.”

“Thanks. I love you.”

Michael tenderly kissed me on the forehead. “I love you too, Angel.”

I watched Michael’s retreating back as he closed the door behind him. Once I was sure he left, I gently took my father’s hand and enfolded it with my two much smaller ones.

“Hey, Dad. I know that you probably can’t hear me but I have some stuff that I would like to say to you. I guess the first thing would be that I’m so sorry for doing this to you. If it means anything to you, what is happening to you has nothing to do with you but with who I *am*. It’s strange how I was the one who wanted you to accept me for what I was but now all I can think about is how much that’s hurting you. I tried to heal you--to make things better--but it didn’t work. I don’t know why but it didn’t.

The doctor is saying that you might not make it through this. And I’m trying to be optimistic but I have this really bad sinking feeling that you aren’t going to make it. But the good thing is that you might get to come back. I don’t know exactly how it works in detail but I might be able to bring you back. But, uh, until then, I’ll take care of Mom and I’ll do good things with my life. And you’ll always be with me no matter where I go or what I do.”

I began to fold the sheet corner to keep myself from totally breaking down. I took a shuddering breath and continued. “I just want you to wake up. I *need* you to wake up. God, I need *you*. I’m not going to be mad at you anymore. You can never talk to me again and be disgusted by my presence--I don’t care if you just *wake up*. Please. I love you so much.”

I watched his closed eyes and tight lips as I continued to hold his still hand. I don’t know long I sat there--waiting for him to open his eyes or even just move his hand. All I know was that he didn’t.

I finally gave up and was about to leave the room when I heard a raspy voice. “Liz?”

I turned around to see my mother struggling to open her eyes. “Mom?”

I scurried over and hugged her tightly. Happiness flooded through my veins. “Liz, just because I’m on oxygen doesn’t mean that I can’t be suffocated,” she joked in a weak voice.

I pulled away. “Sorry. Mom, I’m so happy that you’re alright.”

My mom’s eyes lit up in fear. “Liz, how is the Crashdown?”

I looked away. “You want an honest answer?”

She nodded.

“It’s destroyed,” I choked out. Between dealing with my father and mother, it never really hit me that my home was gone. The Crashdown meant so much to me and everybody else also.

Her eyes fluttered closed. “Oh, honey, I’m just happy that everyone is fine.”

My silence made her look at me with concern in her eyes. “Everyone is fine, right?”

Instead of answering, I grabbed her hand and held it tightly. “Turn to your left.”

She slowly turned her head and let out a low groan. “Oh my god, Jeff. Liz, is he going to be alright?”

I didn’t know what to tell her. Lowering my hand, I let out a deep breath that I wasn’t even aware that I was holding. “He’s in a coma, Mom. The doctor is saying that he may not wake up.”

“No,” she protested, her eyes watering with tears. “No.”

We held each other closely or at least as much as we could with all the equipment in the way. We both cried. My mom for her husband and me for my father.

*****

When I stepped out from the hospital room, Mrs. Tikons was walking past. When she saw me, she pulled me over. “The young man who was waiting for you went home. He said that he had to take care of something.”

Too exhausted to even form thoughts, I simply nodded and began the walk home. As happy as I was that my mother was awake, it was bittersweet. My father still wasn’t and my house was burned down.

When I opened the door to the apartment, I gasped.

Michael was standing in the middle of the room with a bouquet of roses. My heart swelled. “Michael, what’s this for?”

He held out the flowers. “I know you’ve had a rough day so I figured that I’d give you a little surprise to make your day go a little better.”

“Michael..” I sighed, tears beginning to brim my eyes. “This is so sweet and wonderful.”

Michael smiled widely. “This is only half of it. Well, don’t just stand there, Parker.”

Laughing lightly, I took the flowers and held them up to my nose. “They smell beautiful.”

Michael leaned forward and kissed my lips briefly. “You *look* beautiful.”

Rolling my eyes, I chuckled. “Michael, I haven’t slept in like twelve hours so I know that I have some serious baggage under my eyes. I have not showered and my hair is a mess. I’m the farthest thing from beautiful.”

He grabbed my hand and led me towards the kitchen, “You could be wearing a trash bag and still be beautiful to me.”

Sitting on the kitchen table were three pints of vanilla ice cream. “Michael, you went out and bought me ice cream?”

“Well you did eat all of it last night and I figured you’d need it tonight.”

I placed the roses in a vase and turned around to see Michael holding a pint and a large spoon. “Shall we get started?”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Have you ever seen me turn down vanilla ice cream?”

“Good point. And I rented your favorite movie. But only one because I knew you were tired,” and he popped My Best Friend’s Wedding in his VCR.

We sat on the couch cuddling together and eating vanilla ice cream. I told him about my mother waking up. Half way through the movie, I fell asleep. I was awakening my Michael’s strong arms lifting me up effortlessly. He laid me down in the bed and removed a lock of hair from my face in a gentle motion.

“Good night, Angel. I love you.”

“I love you too, Michael.” And then I succumbed to slumber.

[Polarchica516]

Chapter 32: Remembrance
Michael

Liz was already in the kitchen making coffee the next morning when I woke up. She was already dressed for school and stood in front of the coffee machine, humming softly. Without turning around, she said. “Well it’s about time that you got up.”

Rubbing my forehead, I sat down in a kitchen chair. “How late am I?”

She poured coffee into two cups. The one she handed me was the one with Tabasco and extra sugar. “Not that late, but you better hurry up and drink that if you want to go to school.”

Rolling my eyes, I took a sip of the coffee. “I never want to go to school. Wait. You’re going?”

Liz nodded and leaned against the kitchen counter. “I’m no use at the hospital. My mom said that anyway. Besides, they are moving her to a normal room for observation. She should be out by tomorrow night.”

“Where is she going to stay?” I asked in curiosity.

“She wants to stay in Roswell until we get some news on my dad. I told her to get out of town.”

“Liz, you what?”

She put her hand up to stop any arguments on my part. “I have to keep her safe. If she’s in Roswell than she’s an easy target for Khivar.”

I dropped the subject. It was her decision not mine. “Actually, Kyle wanted to call a meeting this morning at school. We were supposed to do it yesterday so I don’t think we should put it off any longer.”

“What was the meeting about?”

Scratching my head, I avoided Liz’s gaze. “Well, I’m really not allowed to say.”

“Does this have anything to do with Serena?”

I looked up at her in surprise. “You can’t tell Kyle I told you but Serena remembers her past.”

Liz’s eyes lit up. “I knew something was up! When I healed her, the flashes were weird. It must have made her remember. Wait. Why does Kyle know?”

“I have a feeling that when I dropped her off and his house, that’s what they talked about.”

Liz got an amused expression on her face. “You don’t think that Kyle and Serena are y’know involved, do you?”

“They might be. I wouldn’t put it passed them.”

“They’d make a cute couple,” Liz mused with a small smile on her face.

Laughing, I teased, “Don’t start making wedding plans yet, Parker.”

“Wedding? Who’s getting married?” Tristan asked as he emerged from his ‘room’. His hair was sticking up in all the wrong places. It was kind of funny.

Liz laughed. “No one, Tristan. You’re up early.”

Tristan yawned. “Yeah. I know. I couldn’t sleep. I kept dreaming about Grease.”

Liz almost doubled over laughing. I didn’t get it though. “Why were you dreaming about Grease?”

Him and Liz shared a look. “He dragged me to a karaoke bar and we sang this Grease song together,” Liz explained. “He was Danny.”

Tristan smiled. “And she was Sandy.”

Great. Now my girlfriend was role-playing with Tristan. Wonderful. Someone shoot me now. It’s bad enough the guy gets on my nerves but he has to live in my apartment and ogle my girlfriend too. “Actually,” I said. “Kyle called a meeting this morning. You should come with us.”

Liz poked me in the ribs. “You won’t be able to come unless you shower first, Michael. Get ready for school. I don’t want to be late.”

I mock pouted as I got up. “Why, Liz, I’m beginning to think that school is more important than me.”

Liz laughed. “Go shower, Michael.”

“You could always join me,” I teased, wiggling my eyebrows.

Liz threw a cooking mitt at me in response. Tristan smirked at me and batted his eyelashes dramatically. “I’ll take a shower with you, Mikey Boy.”

Did he just call me Mikey Boy?

*No one* calls me Mikey Boy.

Ever.

“How about not?” I shot back.

Tristan sighed. “You’re loss, Michael. You know you want me.”

Liz stifled a giggle and I glared at her. “Tristan, I’d rather have a hole in my head.”

Liz finally stood between the two of us and said, “Can you guys please stop? There is way too much testosterone in the air.”

“How can there be with Michael’s estrogen levels over there?” Tristan said.

Clenching and unclenching my fists, I headed towards the bathroom.

******
Liz
“So what is this meeting about?” Alex asked. The eight of us gathered under the football field’s bleachers.

Serena shuffled her feet back and forth and she tucked her auburn hair behind her ear nervously. Kyle went over to her and put an arm around her shoulder as if to support her. Michael and I shared a look and Tristan scowled at the obvious display of affection.

Serena’s hazel eyes met ours and she said. “I didn’t remember anything before Tristan found me when I was little. There was this blank void between my birth and him and Henroz finding me after the attack. When I was shot, I remembered who I was. What I did. And I think that you guys should know before you find out some other way.”

Tristan tensed up and Serena refused to meet his gaze. “My mother was an very highly respected government figure on Antar. She was married to a man who I never met. They were both Antarian. Um, my mom ended up having an affair and I was the result of it. My father was a skin. At that time, the skins were our allies. So, no one would have really thought much of it if it weren’t an affair. And it didn’t help that my father was the King of the Skins. Well it got out and it was so highly controversial that my mom lost her position. But my mom and the Skin were very much in love. So they ran off together. The both of them raised me and I was very much loved. But the Skin was married too and he already had a son.

When he ran away from his family, his ex-wife was left with her son. He was much older than I was. And both of them hated my father very much and hated me even more because to them, I’m what tore their family apart. When the alliance between the Skins and Antarians broke, my father had to be on the run. That was the last time that I saw him --when I was ten. My stepbrother, if you would even call him that, over the years had developed this pure hatred for my father and I--and even my mother.

So his hatred went from being one person to hating all Antarians. When he became old enough to rule the Skins, he declared war on us. His hatred made him a terrible person and he became very power hungry. The night of the attack, I saw him kill my mother but she had hidden me in a room to keep me safe. But somehow, I got hit with something and my head got messed up and I didn’t remember anything.”

We all stood in awe at her story. Isabel looked at Serena in confusion, “How could we have found out some other way?”

Serena took a deep shuddering breath. “Because Khivar is my step-brother. We have the same father. I’m the direct product of what started the war. Of what killed millions. Of what’s going to kill all you now.”

Silence overcame the group at this revelation. Finally Tristan asked, “Why didn’t you tell me before?” his voice slightly angry.

Serena looked down in shame. “I wanted to, Tris, but it was really hard. All you have ever talked about was much you hated Khivar. I didn’t want you to hate me too. And when I was going to bring it up, we found out that Khivar burned down Liz’s house and put her parents in the hospital. I’m sorry but that doesn’t have the best timing.”

“Serena,” I said. “I don’t hate you. It was Khivar’s actions, not yours. No one is holding you directly responsible.”

Serena gave me a small smile and then turned to Tristan. “What about you, Tris?”

Tristan sighed. “I’m not mad at you for being who you are. You may be related to Khivar but you’re the complete opposite of who he is and I don’t blame you for anything. I just wish you would have told me sooner.”

Serena hugged Tristan tightly. “You’re always going to be my sister, Ena. No matter what.”

Serena pulled away and wiped away her tears. Isabel smiled. “Well I think that you’re now officially in our group.”

“How do you figure that, Iz?” Max asked in curiosity.

Alex smiled. “Well she’s revealed some shattering life-altering secret. Like say, you’re an alien or you’ve been healed and then brought back to life. Then we all cry about it and everything is right in our little dysfunctional group.”

“Dysfunctional?” I joked. “We are hardly dysfunctional.”

Everyone laughed. Serena smiled widely at us. I had a feeling that Serena could open us to up more now. She seemed like a cool girl and I would really like to get to know her better.

Kyle scowled. “I could have revealed some life-altering secret but instead I had to down Tabasco.”

Michael groaned. “That’s because we knew you were going to be trouble. When Serena plays the Spice Girls the whole time we are driving in a car, then she can down Tabasco too.”

Serena burrowed her eyebrows together in confusion. “What are the Spice Girls?”

“The worst travesty of music on this planet,” Alex muttered under his breath.

Kyle’s eyes lit up. “I could let you listen to them sometime,” he said to Serena.

We all groaned. If he makes her into a Spice Girl junkie, I’ll kill him.

The sound of the first period bell ringing made all of us go to our classes. Serena and Tristan were going to head back to the apartment, probably to get some much needed talking done.

******
In the middle of biology, I was called down to the office. Michael and I shared a worried glance. I was panicked because I thought it was about my father.

My stomach went into knots. I opened the door of the office and the last person I expected to see was sitting in the chair.

“Hey there, Princess,” Cal Langley said as he smiled at me.

His black beret and dark sunglasses drew my attention. Man, did he look Hollywood. That and out of place in Roswell. “Cal, what are you doing here?”

“We need to talk. I convinced the secretary here that the hospital needs you so you’re free for the rest of the day,” he said as he got up and dusted off his designer pants.

I raised an eyebrow at him. It’s not that I didn’t trust him because I knew he couldn’t hurt me. “I’m in the middle of biology,” I tried to reason.

Cal chuckled and said knowingly, “Are you honestly going to tell me that you want to go back to class?”
******
We were walking down the streets of Roswell ten minutes later. Finally I asked him the question that had been on my mind since I had met him. Taking a quick glance at him, I asked.

“So why Hollywood? It’s not exactly the best way to be low profile.”

Cal laughed. “Because I didn’t want to be low profile. I was one of the orginal protectors on the ship that crashed. I was sent to Earth to find you, the vessel. Well around the sixties, I gave up. I got a permanent identity, house, and stuff like that and moved to California. Over the years, I had gotten word of other protectors who had been killed. I was scared so I decided to blend in as best as I could. I haven’t used my powers in thirty years. The whole director/producer thing wasn’t my idea. I got discovered and life became good. I made a lot of money.”

“How come you never dated? Rich guy like you. I’m sure you had all the girls tossing themselves on you,” I joked.

Cal’s eyes darkened. “My wife died in the war. I know that I should move on but I don’t want to. But anyway, then you came along. I saw you and I basically could hear everything I had worked for crumpling apart. I thought you were going to rip me away from my life. Stop me from being human--or at least pretending to be. But you didn’t.”

“So why are you here? If you like that life so much, than why are you in Roswell?”

Cal sighed. “Because I’m not human. I’m alien and I have to start accepting that. I’m your protector so I need to be where you are especially no w that you aren’t invincible anymore.”

“How did you know that?”

“I have connections, Princess. But anyway, I’m moving to Roswell. I’m giving up my career and finally accepting my real one. But first I want to thank you for being so understanding,” and he pulled out a large envelope and held it out to me.

I shook my head. “Cal, I’m really happy that you’re realizing who are you but I assure that I had nothing to do with it.”

“But you did. Take it,” he said and held the envelope out farther.

When I grabbed the envelope, I almost dropped it it was so heavy. “What is this?”

He didn’t answer but instead gestured towards the envelope. I opened the envelope and almost passed out.

My eyes wide, I turned to my protector. “There has to be at least three million dollars in here!” I yelped in shock.

Cal smiled at me. “Actually, it’s twenty million. It’s in thousand dollar bills. Did you think that you were going to rebuild that café of yours with your nonexistent salary and the deficit of the hospital bills?”

Staring at the money in the envelope, I fell deeper into shock. “Well no, but I guess I haven’t thought about it.”

“Well, now that you are, I should probably also tell you that I’m flying in the finest doctors to help with your father. And anything else you need, I’ll be a phone call away. That and across the street. The place I bought was the UFOcenter.”

“Oh my god, Cal. This is too much.”

He waved his hand to dismiss my words. “It’s only a bit of money, Princess.”

“A bit of money?!” I yelped incredulously. “No offense or anything, Cal, but you aren’t doing this because you have to, are you?”

Cal feigned hurt. “It’s the first thing that I’ve done with no ulterior motive, Princess.”

“Thank you. It means a lot to me,” I said sincerely.

“Now, we have to work on this invincibility thing.”

“We can’t. The seer who blessed me has been killed.”

“We can find another one.”

I shook my head. “Most of them are dead and the rest of them are scattered in hiding. There’s no way to contact them.”

Cal stopped walking and looked at me with wide eyes. “He didn’t tell you?”

“What? Who didn’t tell me?”

“A seer has to have a apprentise, a predecessor if you will. Because of the war, most of the seers didn’t have children left.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“There’s only two predecessors in the whole seer community. With their teacher dead, the power shifts to them.”

I gasped when I realized what he was saying. “Tristan and Serena. They’re the predecessors.”

Cal nodded. “That’s why Henroz sent them to you. Seers know when they are going to die ahead of time but it’s out of their power to stop it. Tristan and Serena are here on Earth so they can bless you again.”

Cal looked at his watch and groaned. “Look, I got to go and meet with the contractors. I’m having a crew brought in a couple days to discuss the floor plan for the Crashdown. I’ll call you before they come. Bye, Princess.”

I watched him go and looked at the envelope again.

Things were finally starting to get better.
*******
Michael

Since Liz was at the hospital with her mother, I decided to make some dinner before she came home. Balancing groceries on my arms, I fumbled to get the keys out of my pockets. When I pulled them out, I dropped a bag and all of its contents fell messily to the floor. Groaning, I bent over to pick up the food when I heard soft voices from inside the apartment.

“So you an d Kyle, huh?” Tristan was asking Serena. They must still be talking about earlier. Deciding to get the dish on Buddha boy and Serena, I pressed my ear to the door.

“Yeah, kinda. We’re going out tomorrow for dinner. So what about you and Liz?”

What about him and Liz? I thought angrily and focused so I could hear what he was saying.

“It’s complicated, Serena,” he mumbled.

Damn right it’s complicated.

“I mean I have feelings for her but she’s with Michael. I don’t stand a chance. But at the same time, there are times when I swear to god that we have moments.”

I’d be happy to give the asshole a moment of *pain*.

The sensation of my hands growing hot registered briefly in the back of my head. All I could think about was he was talking about *my* Liz. I had a feeling that he had feelings for her but hearing him talk it confirmed my worse fears. Combine that the fact that they had gone off in the middle of the night a couple of times and had that stupid Grease inside joke and I was one pretty jealous angry alien.

I wasn’t thinking clearly.

So it would make sense that I should have turned around and cooled off. Which is exactly why I left my groceries in the hall, pushed the door open, and stomped inside. Smart, huh?

Serena and Tristan both stood up from the couch and their wide eyes met mine. My gaze on Tristan never wavering, I gestured towards the door. “Bye, Serena.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Serena toss Tristan a questioning look. He gave her a small nod and she left the room. The sound of the door closing reached my ears.

Tristan’s icy blue eyes locked on mine with an evident attitude in them. “What do you want, Michael?”

I scoffed. “Apparently the same thing you want.”

He briefly looked at me in surprise and than regained his defiant posture. “You aren’t exactly a stupid person, Michael. I try not to let the hair fool me.”

Gritting my teeth, I tried to begin to think clearly. “This obession of yours has got to stop.”

“Obession?” Tristan yelped.

“That’s right. Obession. This whole hero worship thing was kind of cute in the beginning but now it’s getting out of hand.”

Tristan threw his hands up in the air. “Is it so impossible for you people to believe that it’s more than that? It started out that way but now it’s more.”

“Either way, it has to stop. Give it up. She doesn’t love you.”

Tristan’s eyes flashed with fire. “Don’t you think I know that, Michael? I get it. She sees me as a friend. You have no idea what I’m feeling right now.”

“But I do. Because I felt the way at some point too. But I got over it. I got *her* before you did and that’s why you hate me.”

“Trust me. I hate you for other reasons, Michael.”

We were both stubborn and neither of us was going to back down. We both knew it. The point was to see who would give up first. I knew it was happening but I couldn’t stop it. “I don’t really care why you hate me. Just stay away from her.”

“That‘s not an option. Why are you so scared, Michael? That’s why you’re so angry. Because you’re insecure and think that I’m going to take her away from you. Well guess what? You don’t have to worry because every time she’s with me, she doesn’t smile half of much as she does when she’s with you. I want to be the one who makes her smile but it’s you. It’s always *you* and it’s always going to be *you*.”

For a brief moment, his eyes flashed with pain. “It’s never me. It never has been,” he said in a small voice.

Shocked by his show of emotion and vulnerability, I realized how much he really did care about her. How much he kept inside. He really was like me. He both had grown up with loss all around us and a need to find our family. But I had Liz for my family. Through her, I began to realize that my family wasn’t on a faraway planet. Tristan never had that. “Tristan,” I began.

His face twisted in anger. I could tell he was growing defensive. “No!” he shouted. “I don’t want your pity. I don’t *need* you to pity me! I’m just the broken little boy who lost his parents, right?”

“No, Tristan. You’re not.”

“You don’t know half the stuff I’ve been through.”

“You don’t know a damn thing about me, Tristan. I didn’t have parents either. I never even knew them. I didn’t even have them to lose them. Believe it or not, I understand you better than you think.”

Tristan laughed mockingly. “How do you figure that?”

“Because I was you. I used to be angry at the world and defensive just like you.”

Tristan rolled his eyes. “I don’t need a pep talk, Michael. In fact, I’m leaving.”

I watched as he went towards the door. Before he left, he turned around. “I’m not giving her up, Michael.”

And then he closed the door.

I had a sinking feeling I had just made things worse between Tristan and I.

[Polarchica516]

Chapter 33: Deal
Liz

~~Three Months Later~~

“Somehow I doubt there is actual meat in this crap,” Kyle complained. His nose scrunched, he watched as his ‘mystery meat’ dropped off his spoon with an audible plop. Kyle looked upon the substance in distaste and dropped his fork on his tray. “Definitely not meat.”

“Who cares?” Tristan asked from the other side of our lunch table. “I like it,” and he continued to shovel the vile food product into his mouth. Thanks to Cal and some forged documents, Serena and Tristan were now enrolled at our high school. They had moved out of Michael and mines apartment and moved into a guest room at Cal’s UFOcenter/home.

Serena frowned. “Tristan, that is so disgusting.”

Kyle put his arm around Serena and she smiled contently, leaning against his shoulder. The two of them had become sickening. They were a walking talking PDA waiting to happen. Besides, it was nice to see Kyle so happy and Serena also.

Tristan smiled, mystery meat around his mouth. “You should try it, Ena.”

Alex laughed from next to me. “Serena, just say *no*.”

The four of us erupted in laughter and saw Isabel, Max, and Michael walking towards us. I moved over so Michael could sit next to me. Alex situated himself next to Isabel and Max went on the other side of Tristan.

Isabel took one look at Tristan and groaned. “I forgot it’s mystery meat day.”

Without looking up from his food, Tristan replied. “Every Tuesday, Iz. Boy, do I *love* Tuesdays.”

Isabel tore her eyes away from Tristan began to pick at her pizza. Turning my attention to Michael, I smiled at him. “Hey.”

Leaning over to kiss me on the cheek, Michael grinned widely. “Hey to you too.”

We were about to kiss again when a moan escaped Tristan’s mouth. Michael glared at Tristan. “What are you-- the human shovel?”

We all went ‘eww’ at the same time when Tristan dramatically opened his mouth leaving his lunch exposed to us. He smiled smugly and went back to eating his food.

I patted Michael’s arm gently. “I don’t think we should disturb him.”

“Hey, Liz, what time do you want us to come down today to work on the Crashdown?” Max asked.

We had just recently finished the blueprint for the layout of the Crashdown and the seven us wanted to help put it up. The new design of the Crashdown was a mix of ideas from all of us. We had changed the layout of the place considerably but had decided early on the name had to remain the same.

“Six is good. I’m working until five tonight,” I replied. I still can’t get past the irony that I still work as a waitress. Cal had a portion of the UFOcenter turned into a small restaurant so I was working there currently. Michael was still a cook and Serena and Tristan were waiting tables like me.

The seven of us ate and engaged in light conversation. When the bell rang, Michael and I headed off towards English together. His hand intertwined with mine. “So, I was thinking that maybe tonight after we are done at the Crashdown, you and me could do something,” Michael said, a hint of nervousness in his voice. I thought it was adorable.

“Why, Michael Guerin, are you asking me out on a date?” I teased and nudged his side playfully.

He blushed slightly and I tried my hardest not to laugh out loud at him. “Actually, I am but you can’t say anything to anybody or my girlfriend might find out,” he joked.

“I think I could take her.”

Michael raised an eyebrow. “I doubt that. You see she’s a really powerful alien.”

“But aliens don’t exist, Mr. Guerin,” I said with a pout.

He smirked. “I’ll show you alien,” he said in a husky voice that I felt go right through my body.

“We‘re going to be late to class,” I whined as the bell rang.

“Who needs English anyway? I speak the language just fine.”

I rolled my eyes at his antics. “It’s shutting you up that’s the problem. So this date tonight--where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

Before I could get any more information out of him, we arrived at our class.
******
“Hey, Parker. Why you leaving so early?” Jose asked me from behind the cashier. I was on my way out to go to the Crashdown because it was almost six. I had ended up working a bit later than I intended to.

“I was supposed to leave at five but we had that big party come in. I’m heading over to the Crash to help put some stuff up.”

Jose smiled. “You guys are really working hard to get that up soon. It just seems kind of surreal. Everyone just kind of transferred over here. The only thing that changed was the enviroment and the bossman.”

I agreed with him. The layout for the UFOeatery was definitely different than the Crashdown’s but with Jose, Michael, and Agnes still working with me, it felt like nothing had really changed. “Besides, I’m beginning to miss the Crashdown uniforms,” I joked.

“Are you making fun of our uniforms?” Cal asked from behind me with a smirk on his face. He looked laid back in his t-shirt and worn jeans. The first month Cal had arrived, Roswell was running a muck to have such a big celebrity in our small town. But since Cal rarely left the restaurant and the UFOeatery had become the temporary local hangout, everyone had gotten used to him by now. It was ironic how Cal had turned into a normal joe in such a short amount of time.

Cal had become a father figure to all of us aliens and was like our supervisor of sorts. He was really cool once you got to know him. “That we are, bossman,” Jose said. “I hear you’re over working our Lizzie.”

Cal snorted. “As if I could. Liz, can I talk to you for a second?”

I nodded and followed him to the back room. “What’s going on?”

He took a deep breath and smiled widely. “We got the test results back.”

My dad had undergone a surgery a month ago that was supposed to reduce his brain to its normal size and take care of the swelling. They said it would more active and sending out more signals. “How did it go? Was it good?” I asked in anticipation.

“His brain is two times more active. The doctors said that it they put him back on some strong medications, they can induce him to wake up.”

Tears streamed down my face. “Are you serious? This is great! Thank you so much for putting him through that surgery, Cal.”

“No problem, Princess. You should probably call your mom and tell her the news.”

My mom was with my uncle down in Arizona and had been for about two months. Getting her out of Roswell was like pulling teeth. It suddenly crossed my mind that if my dad did wake up, he would have to go to Arizona with my mother. He was going to wake up just to be miles away from me.

Cal waved his hands in front of my face to break me out of my stupor.

“Yeah. I’ll call her tonight but right now I have to get over to the Crashdown. Do you want to help out? I’m sure you can leave the restaurant up to Jose for a couple of hours.”

Cal thought it for a moment. “I’m sure Jose won’t mind. Is everyone going to be there?”

“Yeah. I’m going to head over. Come whenever.”
*******
Michael
Kyle, Serena, Isabel, and Alex were already at the Crash when I arrived. The framework of the café was already established; the walls had been put up too and all that was left was furnishings and painting. That and electrical matters. Kyle and Serena were painting when I came in.

“Hey, guys. Liz isn’t here yet?”

Kyle wiped his hands on his pants and put down his paintbrush. “No but Isabel, Alex, Tristan and Max are out picking up the door. They should be back soon. Pick up a brush and help us paint.”

I rolled up my sleeves and examined the salmon pink wall. Scowling in distaste, I shook my head. “This color has got to go.”

Serena laughed and wiped her brow. “Trust me, Michael. We tried but Isabel picked it out.”

My eyes went wide with fear. “Than the color stays. I know better than to mess with the Alien Nazi.”

“Yeah. Max warned me of that.”

“Imagine my surprise when I got a zap in the butt when I tried to paint the other room blue,” Kyle complained while rubbing his butt. “Max obviously didn’t warn *me*.”

Crossing my arms, I examined the color again. “This place looks like a nursery. The pink has got to go. Maybe we can get rid of it before Isabel sees it.”

Kyle groaned. “I really don’t want to repaint the whole wall again, Michael.”

I walked over the wall and placed my hand over it. The salmon pink changed to a pastel green immediately.

Kyle grinned. “Nice. I did that to my car once. Turned ol’ Sally from red to bright blue.”

His eyes glazed over and he smiled blissfully. “She was beautiful.”

Serena scowled. “Kyle, can you save your sexual fantasies involving your car for your bedroom? I mean really. And I thought we agreed to not use our powers to do this place over again.”

Kyle and I protested when she changed the color back. “Besides, I like the pink.”

When Kyle and I both groaned dramatically, Serena sent a death glare in Kyle’s direction. “Well deal with it, Valenti. The wall is going to be pink and you are going to like it.”

Kyle nodded in defeat and I burst out laughing. “Wow Kyle, you’re like her prison bitch or something.”

“Like you aren’t whipped,” Serena quipped. The girl was sassy.

I held up my hands. “Seeing as I have a strong sense of masculinity, I will admit that I am whipped and proud of it.”

“Good answer,” Liz said as she ducked under the tarpe that covered where the door was going to be. “But you knew I was coming didn’t you?”

I laughed and slipped an arm around her waist when she stood next to me. “You betcha. You’re bitchy when I get on your bad side.”

Liz giggled lightly. “Cal is coming over soon. So what are we doing?”

“Serena was yelling at us for using our powers.”

Liz placed her hands on her hips and stared Kyle and us down. “Good. We shouldn’t be using our powers. This is about rebuilding the Crashdown the old fashioned way. Y’know there was a time when we didn’t have powers,” she pointed out and looked at Kyle.

Kyle sighed heavily. “Whatever, Junior Nazi. All we were trying to do is change the color of the wall.”

“Why? I kind of like it. Besides, I have some good news,” LIz said excitely, bouncing on her toes.

“Hold the good news,” Max grunted as he, Tristan, and Alex hoisted the new door inside the makeshift entrance. Isabel trailed after them with a scowl. “This door is heavier than it looks.”

Isabel shot him a glare. “Well if you guys had let me help then you wouldn’t have had a problem.”

The two males placed the door against a nearby wall. Alex gulped in fear at Isabel’s expression and quickly changed the subject. “I heard something about good news. What’s the good news?”

Liz smiled widely, barely containing her excitement. “My dad’s surgery did really well and they might be to induce him to wake up!”

Everyone hugged Liz in congratulations and was very happy for her. We were all huddled together in a mass when we heard the ruffling of the tarpe being lefted. Since we all thought it was Cal, we turned to greet him with smiles on our faces. They quickly disappeared when we saw a teenage boy standing there with a grin filled with malice.

Tristan took a dangerous step forward. “Nicolas,” he growled out.
*****
Liz

Ignoring Tristan’s comment, Nicolas turned to me. “Let’s hope that the news of your father doesn’t get to Khivar. He might kill me when he finds out that I didn’t kill your parents like I was supposed to. Sometimes I forget a fire can leave survivors.”

Anger began to boil in my veins. He must be a henchman of Khivar’s. “I suggest you leave now, Nicolas or Khivar killing you will be the last of your worries.”

“Take a look around, Nicolas. Seven against one--there’s no way you can win,” Max said.

Nicolas chuckled. “Don’t tempt me, your Majesty.”

“For someone in the body of a pre-adolesant boy, you talk a lot of crap,” Michael chided.

Nicolas narrowed his eyes and pointed an accusatory finger at me. “Well your girlfriend over here destroyed fifty of our finest husks. It was either this or a woman.”

Tristan stroked his chin and gave Nicolas the once over. “You’ve made one hell of an ugly woman. What brings you to Roswell?”

“I’m here to make a deal. It would be awfully stupid to attack when Liz here is obviously invincible. By the way, good work, Tristan and Serena. Didn‘t know you had it in you. Henroz must have taught you well.”

“The answer is no,” Tristan immediately said, ignoring his comment about Henroz.

“The deal isn’t for you. It’s for Liz. Khivar sent me here on his behalf.”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “Because he knows we could kick his ass.”

Nicolas smirked. “You’re one sassy group. I’m going to enjoy watching you die but the time will come for that. Khivar wants the granolith.”

We all protested immediately. Nicolas held up a hand. “But he knows that you will never give it to him. Khivar will not attack Earth if you agree to his terms.”

“What are your terms?” I asked in curiosity.

“All he wants is Antar back. He wishes for a home planet for his people. To restore Antar you will not have to use all of your energy. Your life will remain intact and your planet will be safe. If you agree to this, Khivar promises to leave Earth and its people alone. Why save a planet that you don’t know? Why leave the people you love?”

I hated Nicolas. Mostly because he was playing on all of my doubts--all of my fears. Before I could speak, he said. “Think about it. You have twenty four hours and then I’ll be back.”

Then he left. Everyone’s eyes fell on me.

Michael put a hand on my shoulder. “Liz? You’re going to say no, right?”

My silence lingered dangerously in the air.

[Polarchica516]

Chapter 34: Rain
Michael

I could tell by the myriad of emotions swirling around in her head that she was conflicted. Her eyes darted around the room as the seven of us looked at her , waiting for her to say something.

I could understand the temptation. Khivar was offering her the one thing she couldn’t have. Life. It came with an awfully hefty price though. Liz looked at me with shame in her eyes.

“He said I have twenty four hours, Michael. I have to think about it.”

Tristan turned red in the face. “Liz, are you out of it?”

Liz hung her head and I glared daggers at the alien. “Tristan,” I warned.

He shook his head. “Liz, you can’t seriously be considering this.”

Liz’s eyes flashed with irritation. “Tristan, this isn’t just a decision that you can take a chance with. I need to think about it.”

“Think about what? You can’t just give him Antar!”

“Well you know what, Tristan? It isn’t that black and white!”

Tristan crossed his arms and shook his head. “Don’t you think I understand that?”

“No, Tristan, you don’t. This is *my* life!”

“It’s all of our lives. This affects us all.”

Liz shook her head. “No, you just don’t get it do you? Do you know how bad I feel that I’m even considering this? Do you! Quite frankly, I don’t want to die. I’ve just been offered a way out of it. What do you want me to tell you?”

Tristan stood speechless.

Liz looked at him sadly. “Exactly.”

Liz turned on her heel and left the Crashdown. I was about to run after her when I heard her say to me in my head, {Just give me a minute, OK?}.

Understanding that she needed to be alone, I decided to yell at Tristan. “Are you happy now?”

Tristan scowled. “I don’t need it, Michael. I feel bad enough already. I shouldn’t have said those things to her. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Damn straight,” and despite Liz’s words, I went towards the door to run after her.

Isabel’s gentle hand on my shoulder stopped me. “You know that I can’t let you do that.”

My desperate eyes flew to hers. “Isabel, she needs me.”

She smiled sadly at me. “I know she does, Michael. But right now, she need to think clearly. You aren’t going to help with that. She needs time.”

“Isabel, I understand what you’re saying but you aren’t feeling what she’s feeling in her head. She needs someone,” I pleaded, trying to get her to understand.

******
Liz
I always thought it was beautiful when it rained. I never understood how I got into a state of mind where much a common thing mystified me. It was one of those things that you could imagine to.

All it really was was built up water particles falling from a cloud. Surely there was nothing amazing about that. I always saw it, however, as much more. When I was little, I thought there were rain makers--fairies that made the rain. And suddenly something as austere as falling water become beautiful.

At some point, I realized that it was a symbol of frustration. The beauty of fairies turned into the rain angrily falling to the ground as they escaped the prison of the common cloud.

You’re probably wondering why I’m telling you this. Right now, I didn’t want the rain to be magical or angry. I just wanted it to rain. I watched as the rain hit my shaking skin and slid off gracefully. I basked in the fact that the rain could touch me--that I was real. That I was alive

It didn’t matter that it was in the middle of December and the air was chilly. I could barely feel myself trembling from the cold. Here I stood, Liz Parker, standing in the rain at Roswell Park being alive.

And just maybe I was experiencing a life altering moment where I was beginning to realize that it could rain forever but I couldn’t live forever.

I didn’t even know what would happen when I died. Would anyone remember me? Or would I just be a distant memory?

I didn’t want to be a memory.

The rain mixed with my tears and the salty combination fell down my face.

“Liz?” I heard someone ask softly from behind me.

I closed my eyes tightly. “Isabel, just go away.”

“I had enough trouble convincing Michael to stay away. You really should talk to him.”

“I don’t want to talk.”

Isabel stood next to me. “I think I got that hint when I found you standing out here in the freezing cold as it rains. Which, just out of curiosity, why do you insist on soul searching at an observatory? You must be a geek all the way through, Liz.”

She nudged me lightly and smiled. “Come on, Liz, it would make me feel much better if you laughed at my pathetic excuse of a joke.”

When I didn’t answer, she pulled her heavy coat closer to her body and frowned. “Liz, you can’t stand out here forever.”

“Isabel, I don’t know what to do,” I choked out.

She shook her head. “I refuse to listen to this. I refuse to let you give up like this.”

“I’m not giving up.”

“Really? Because the Liz Parker I know infiltrated a government building and convinced the government to help us. The Liz Parker I know has risked her own neck on many occasions for a group of people who has never asked her to protect them. You’re a fighter, Liz. I know that right now I can’t truly understand what you’re thinking but I do know that you can get through this. And I also know that you will make the right decision.”

I snorted. “There aren’t any choices. Just what you’re meant to do and what you know you won’t do. Cal told me that when I first met him. I guess he was right.”

“If you really believed that then you wouldn’t have made it this far.”

“Isabel, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“When you found out about this whole prophecy, Liz, you had this idea that we had no control over our lives. All you talked about was how destiny had won. If you really believed that, Liz, then you wouldn’t still be fighting against it. Even if it’s in false hope that something will change the outcome of all of this. You aren’t wrong by wanting to live. Tristan didn’t mean what he said back there. If any of us were in your position, we would have done the same thing. Despite what you think a choice really is--whether its real or a dillusion--it doesn’t change the fact that this is *your* choice.”

I began to slowly see past the fog of grief that consumed me. Maybe she was right. Had I really given up?

“I don’t want to let you guys down.”

Isabel laughed. “You aren’t perfect, Liz. We don’t expect you to be.”

“Well thanks, I guess.”

Isabel placed her arm around my shoulders. “You ready to go home?”

“I guess it beats being out in the rain. It’s cold out here.”

Isabel rolled her eyes. “It’s about time you noticed.”

“I was probably too busy wallowing in my self-pity. I seem to pick the worse times to do that.”

She pat me on the back. “Well, it’s one of those quirky things we love about you, Liz.”

I eyed her. “You have been hanging out with Alex too much. You’re suddenly making jokes and off-hand comments. I think he’s gotten to you.”

“You make it sound like he’s a disease.”

We both laughed.
*****
Michael
When the door slowly opened, I jumped to my feet. I had been worried sick about Liz since she left the Crashdown and hoped that it was her at the door. My happiness to see Liz was quickly pushed aside when I took in her appearance.

Her hair was wet and matted to her face and her small body was skaking with small tremors. “Oh my god, are you alright?”

Liz wrapped her arms around me and fitted her wet frame to mine. Her small hands clutched at my back. Glancing at Isabel from over Liz’s head, I mouthed ‘thank you’.

Isabel smiled and left.

Liz finally pulled slightly away. “I’m sorry if I scared you.”

“You’re home. That’s all that matters.”

Liz laughed meekly. “I’m kind of cold though.”

Without thinking, I led her over to the couch and draped a blanket over her. “Better?”

She gave me a small smile and leaned on my shoulder, the blanket being held in her tiny fists. “You always make it better, Michael.”

I ran my eyes over her body to make sure she had no injuries and Liz narrowed her eyes at me. “Will you stop it?” she asked. “I wasn’t mugged or anything. I didn’t lift any heavy objects. I just happened to stand in the freezing rain as I reevaluated my life. Worse things could have happened.”

Tapping her forehead lightly, I frowned. “It’s what’s going on in there that I worry about. The one place that I know I can’t heal.”

Liz shook her head and laced her fingers with mine. “You do even if you don’t know it. I’ve been pushing this whole prophecy thing aside for the past three months. With my father and the Crashdown and everything, I guess I wanted to focus on the things that I could change. Suddenly, I have this chance to change the one thing in my life that I don’t want. Tristan was right to yell at me. I may be the center of all of this yet at the same time, it’s so much bigger than that.

On one hand, I can’t risk Antar. These people shouldn’t have had to die and I *know* that I should give them a second chance. It’s not just Tristan’s parents but yours and Max and Isabel’s parents. How can I take that away from you guys? Deep down, I know you guys want that family and want that planet. And I think of all of this, all the people who are depending on me and than I realize that I’m a junior in high school. I *want* to be a senior and I *want* to go to Harvard just like I always dreamed I would. But the fact is that I won’t live to graduate and I won’t go to Harvard and become that famous scientist that I’ve always pictured I would be. And that scares the crap out of me. So tell me what to do, Michael, because I have no idea what I’m going to tell Nicolas tomorrow.”

Her doe brown eyes glistened with tears and my heart broke for her. “I can’t do that, Liz. Everything that you’re saying is valid but you have to make a choice. I’ll support you either way. You know that. How come you never told me any of this earlier? I mean I know you’ve been thinking about this for a while.”

Liz twidled her thumbs in a nervous gesture. “It’s just that we both have been really busy. I’ve been at the hospital a lot lately and you’ve been working or something. Like tonight, we were supposed to go out and now look what happened.”

“Well we still could.”

Liz rolled her eyes. “I’m soaking wet and might have pnemounia. And I also smell like wet dog. Sounds romantic to me.”

I laughed. “You can take a shower, aliens don’t get sick, and you smell like vanilla like you always do.”

Liz crinkled her nose and gave me a strange look. “Since when do you sniff me?”

“I don’t. You kind of just smell,” I tried to explain.

Liz giggled. “You are so lucky that I understand what you’re trying to say.”

Getting up from the couch, I reached out for her hand. “Let’s go to bed.”

Liz smiled softly and then yawned. She got up and leaned on me. “Michael?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad I’m home.”

“Me too, Liz. Me too.”

[Polarchica516]

Chapter 35: Powerless
Liz
I woke up the next morning to the savory aroma of bacon. Stretching languidly, I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and pulled the covers closer to my body. Slinging a leg over the side of the bed, I pulled a robe on and tugged on my boxer shorts. On the way out to the kitchen, I used to my powers to rid myself of bed hair and morning breath.

Got to love those alien powers.

I stopped in my tracks when I saw the kitchen.

Or better yet, what Michael had done to the kitchen.

Candles were littered everywhere and a soft glow encased the room. Rose petals covered the floor and music was playing in the background. Michael stood in front of the stove in his sweat pants and an old beat up t-shirt. My mouth was agape and my heart swelled.

“Michael, what is all this?”

Michael didn’t turn around but continued to cook. “A surprise,” he said cryptically over his shoulder.

“Did I miss something? An anniversary or something?”

He turned around and smirked. “No, but you forget that I am capable of being sweet and endearing for no reason at all.”

“That’s because you *can’t* be sweet and endearing,” I joked.

Placing the spatula over his heart, he feigned hurt. “You’re killing me, Parker.”

“Why are you in such a good mood, anyway? Not that I’m complaining.”

His smile grew even larger and he walked up to me. I met him half way and gave him a kiss. “Just because I want to be. Now sit down, breakfast is almost ready.”

Smiling radiantly, I sat down and eyed Michael as he placed the food on the table. I noticed the mischievous look on his face. “You wouldn’t happen to be up to something, would you?”

Michael just winked. “Food first. Surprise later.”

“Ooooh! A surprise?” I squealed. “What is it?”

Michael gave me a look. “I can’t tell you.”

Jutting out my bottom lip and giving him puppy eyes, I inwardly smiled with triumph when his gaze softened. “Please, Michael, pretty *pretty* please.”

He held out the spatula and waved it menacingly. “That’s not going to work, Parker.”

“Really?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Resting my head on my elbows, I sighed. “Fine then-- be that way. I guess I’ll have to wait then.”

We ate and had pleasant conversation. I realized how much effort Michael had put into this whole thing so I pretended to not care about the surprise. When Michael was putting away the dishes, I came up from behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Is it surprise time yet?”

Michael chuckled and his whole body vibrated. “I have to finish cleaning the dishes.”

I waved my hand over the dishes and they were spotless. I gave Michael a grin. “All done.”

“You’re feisty today,” he commented as he wiped his wet hands off on his pajama bottoms and turned around to face me. I moved my arms so they encircled his neck and he kept a tight grip on my waist. “I like it,” he teased, wiggling his eyebrows.

Blushing slightly, I rolled my eyes. “You have a sick mind, Michael.”

Michael dipped his forehead so it was leaning against mine. “You know you love it.”

Lightly brushing my lips against his, I sighed and began to pull away. “Surprise time yet?”

Michael pulled me flush up against his body and made a low growling noise. “Not until you finish what you started,” he said and attacked my mouth. Pressing him up against the kitchen counter, my hands ran through his hair as his tongue gained entrance into my mouth.

Kissing Michael had to be a drug--I could never get enough.

Michael suddenly pulled away and I frowned at the loss. “*Now* it’s surprise time.”

“But…” I stammered. “Kiss first. Surprise later.”

Michael laughed and extracted himself from me. “Don’t tempt me, Parker. I have all of this planned out.”

Letting my curiosity get the best of me, I crossed my arms and watched as he went looking in the drawer for something. “Have what planned out?”

Michael held something behind his back. “I figured that last night we’d have a romantic night on the town *but* we had a bit of a change in the plans. So I figured, why not bring the date to you?”

God, do I love this man.

“You should have told me this was a date. I’m hardly dressed for it.”

“Neither am I, but you have to work with what you’re dealt with. Now close your eyes,” he instructed.

“Fine. But this better not involve handcuffs,” I joked.

“You are spending *way* too much time with Alex and Kyle,” he said. “Close your eyes.”

I closed my eyes and I felt Michael place something in my hand.

“Open them.”

I opened my eyes to find myself holding a small box. My heart stopped. “Michael,” I began.

“Open it,” he said, his eyes looking into mine. In the box was a beautiful silver ring with three small diamonds in the center. Twirling it around, I saw that it said *Always and Forever* engraved on the inside. Tears sprung to my eyes.

“Michael, this is beautiful. I….you aren’t…” I began to ask.

Michael chuckled. “No. I’m not proposing to you. Just let me talk, alright?”

I nodded and watched with slight amusement as he took a deep breath in preparation. Michael took my hands in both of his and looked me in the eyes.

“I’ve been rehearsing this over and over again so you can’t talk or interrupt me because then I’m going to forget. Elizabeth Parker, when I first got on that bus on with you, I was an angry mentally unstable hybrid of an alien. You tolerated me and offered me your friendship. You made me realize that I don’t have to be alone in this small town. You made me see that even though I was on this search to find my family that I had my real family right in front of me and didn’t realize it. By some stretch of a miracle, I returned to Roswell a better man and in love with the most beautiful girl in the whole entire galaxy.”

By now, I was openly crying in joy. I gave him an encouraging smile and he continued.

“Destiny has tried to destroy you, Liz. You deserve to be a princess in a beautiful city full of people who worship you because you have the biggest heart I’ve ever seen. You deserve to fall in love with Prince Charming and have this amazing fairytale. But instead you live in Roswell, New Mexico and you’ve had the one only home you’ve known burnt down. And you don’t have a Prince Charming--you have me. You don’t know how much it means to me that you look at me as if I were that Prince Charming.”

He raised his hand and placed it on my cheek. I sniffled and almost stopped breathing at the raw emotion shining in his eyes amongst his tears.

“So this ring symbolizes my promise to try my hardest to be the one thing in this town--in this world-- that can give you what you deserve. I will stand by you and support you for whatever you do. I promise to love you and keep you safe until the day that I am unable to. I promise to give you a new memory everyday--something that you can hold on to when I became a memory. And most importantly, I promise to wait for you. No matter where you are or where I am, I *will* wait for you,” and he gently placed the ring on my finger.

The morning sun shone on the ring. Not knowing what say, I reached out and wiped his cheeks. “You’re crying.”

Michael smiled and kissed me on the lips. “I’m in love.”

Resting my forehead against his, I tried to compose myself. My heart was bursting right now.

I realized that Michael was looking at me expectantly and cleared my throat. “I love this ring and I love you and I love *us*. I just…can’t believe all this is happening.”

Michael captured his lips in mine.

Just then the phone rang. Michael and I glanced at each other through heated eyes. “Let it ring,” I said against his mouth.

Michael, in no mood to object, teased my mouth open with his tongue. The sound of my mother’s voice broke through my haze. “Elizabeth Parker, pick up the phone right now. You better not be doing what I hope you aren’t doing!”

Michael gave me amused smile and leaned in for another kiss. There was a pause and then my mom spoke again. “Michael Guerin, so help me god if you don’t get off of my daughter, I’ll rip off your--”

“Mom!” I shrieked as I dashed over the phone. Michael laughed and went over the kitchen to put the dishes away.

“Morning, sweetie. Did I wake you?” she asked in an innocent voice.

I opened my mouth to make a smart ass remark but the door knocking stopped me. Michael went to answer it and I turned my attention back to my nagging mother. “No, of course not. How’s everything---I‘ll call you back, Mom.”

I froze when I saw Cal standing at the door. I hung up the phone without tearing my gaze away from him. He looked like he hadn’t slept and regarded me with a sad expression. “Cal, what’s wrong?”

Cal wringed his hands together and wouldn’t look me in the eye. “Princess, I don’t know how to tell you this.”

I dropped the phone in shock. My world spun off of it’s axis. I knew what he was going to say before the words left his lips.

I shook my head passionately. “But you said he was getting better, Cal. You said they could wake him up!” I shouted, my voice unintentionally getting louder.

“I know. The doctors can’t figure out how it happened. He was doing so well.”

I allowed anger to overtake me. Anger I could deal with. “Well we’ll try another operation!”

Cal took a step towards me. “Princess, I got a call last night that his brain activity level had slipped to below to lower than it was in before the operation. The thing is, your father signed an agreement that said when he is incapable of *functioning*, he didn’t want to be on life support. Since he was on wait for an operation, we worked around that clause. I told the hospital that you and mother would like to see him before…”

I took a step back and held up a shaking hand. “No! There is nothing else we can do? I mean, are we really sure about that?”

“The last surgery was the best that the medical world has to offer. I flew in the best doctors and equipment,” he said. “Liz, I know this is hard for you.”

My hands flew into the air, a mere symbol of what chaos was taking place in my heart. “Dammit, Cal. This is my *father*. You can’t just stand there and tell that I have to let him die!”

“Liz,” Michael said from behind Cal. Tears shimmered in his eyes. Realizing that he could feel all of my emotions, I shut the connection off.

“No,” I said, already knowing that he was thinking. “I will not cry for someone is not dead.”

“He signed that agreement knowing what it meant, Liz,” Cal tried to explain. “It was his choice.”

“But it wasn’t his choice to be in this situation! It’s because of me that he’s even in a coma. This happened to him because he’s my father, not because of any god damn choice.”

Michael and Cal just looked at me expectantly. They were waiting for me to break down. I couldn’t afford that right now. The mere thought of my dad being dead sent my whole world spinning. “I want to try again,” I said softly.

They didn’t say anything to stop me or argue. “Michael can give me a ride to the hospital. Can you just call my mother and tell her what’s going on?” I asked Cal. “Tell her to meet me at the hospital as soon as possible.”

Cal looked hesitant. “Are you sure you want me to tell her?”

With a wave of my hand, I transformed my pajamas into sweatpants and a t-shirt. “I don’t think that I can,” I said quietly. Cal nodded mutely in understanding.

“Princess, I really hope you can save him but just be aware--”

“That maybe I can’t?”

Cal just regarded me with a solid expression. I hung my head. “Michael, you coming?”

Michael stared at me for a moment. {Liz…}

{I can walk there, you know.} I thought back curtly. Upon seeing Michael’s semi-hurt expression, I tried again. {I can’t do this without you.}

At my admission, he walked over and put an arm around me shoulders. “You won’t have to.”

********
“I want an explanation, Dr. Lionel,” I said simply as I sat in his office. Michael sat next to me in the chair closet to mine. Dr. Lionel’s weathered face creased with anxiety.

“I can’t provide you with one, Ms. Parker. I’m so sorry for your loss but sometimes things like this happen.”

I shook my head ferociously. “Well that’s unacceptable. We’ve made my father undergo the best surgery for his condition by the finest doctors. How can he be doing so well and then slip below functioning level?”

“Sometimes operations do not work the way you want them to--”

“But the tests..” I began, struggling for common ground.

“They can be faulty. You and I both know that this hospital has done all that it can for your father. But it is also the hospital’s duty to respect a patient wishes in the clause that he signed. In all honesty, if the operation performed on him didn’t help him then nothing else can.”

I closed my eyes tightly. That exactly what I didn’t want to hear. Michael squeezed my hand. “Can I see him?”

Dr. Lionel looked uncertain. “Are you sure you don’t want to wait for your mother?”

“She won’t be here for another hour.”

Dr. Lionel sighed and got up from his chair to escort us out of his office. “Of course you can see him. You’ve been quite the regular around here, Ms. Parker. I truly wish that we could have saved him.”

Once Dr. Lionel was gone, Michael and I began towards my dad’s room. “Are you alright?” Michael asked gently.

“You keep asking me that,” I growled out. Maybe I was developing Michael’s patience.

“Because you aren’t answering,” he reasoned. “I hate to see you like this. I know you’re holding everything, Liz. You must think that I can’t feel what you’re feeling.”

I stopped when we reached the door of my dad’s room. “I know you mean well, Michael. But if I feel something then it makes all of this real. I don’t think I can deal with that yet. Right now, I need you to watch the door for me.”

Michael’s eyes searched my face. Before he could say anything, I slipped inside the hospital room.

“Daddy?” I whispered when I got into the small austere room. I don’t know why I talked to him as if he could talk back but I’ve always done it. Maybe in hopes that one day he’d answer back. But I always got the same reply--the sharp beeping of his monitor.

I pulled over a chair next to his bed. “Daddy? I know that this is probably a long shot but I need you to wake up now. I’ve asked you this a thousand times already but now is *really* the time to wake up.”

When he didn’t answer, my breath caught in my throat. “I mean, can you even hear me?”

My hand wiped at the tears that I didn’t even know were falling down my face. That’s when it clicked. Make him hear me. I can make him hear me. With shaking hands, I gripped his cold ones in mine. Using all of my energy to connect with him, I held on his energy and forced myself into the recesses of his mind. It was similar to mind-warping only I held on to his subconscious instead of altering it.

When I felt my energy balance I found myself standing in the old Crashdown. It was busy and then I saw him whistling to the Grateful Dead. “Dad?” I stammered.

He turned around and smiled at me. “Lizzie! There you are! Table twelve needs a Space Burger.”

He was breathing and smiling. He was full of life. But this wasn’t real. “Liz? Can you hear me?”

I ran up to him and smothered into into a hug, tears streaming down my face. I basked in his warmth, in his smell. “You have no idea what’s happened, do you?” I asked him incredulously.

“What are you talking about?” he asked with a puzzled look on his face.

“This isn’t real, Dad. You’re stuck in your mind. You’ve been in a coma for about three months now. You have to come back with me!”

He searched my eyes for a moment. Seeing that he wasn’t going to believe me, I sent him flashes of the past three months. He just looked at me with wide eyes. Suddenly the Crashdown was empty.

“How are you here?” he asked slowly, assessing the situation.

My heart began beating rapidly in my chest. “I used my powers.”

My father cast his eyes down in shame. “About that. I’m sorry about the way I treated you. I’m your father and I love you no matter what species you are. You’re still my litle girl. I’m sorry that I lost sight of that.”

“You have no idea how much it means to me that you said that,” I said, happiness bursting in my chest.

“So your mother is alright?” he asked. “I saw it in my head what has happened and….is she OK?”

“I sent her away. I’m trying to protect her so that what happened to you doesn’t happen to her,” I said, guilt settling thickly in my stomach. I sensed that my energy was beginning to fade. “Dad, the reason that I’m here is because they want to take you off of life support.”

“Oh,” he said, his eyes downcast.

I waited for him to say something else. “Are you happy here?” I asked numbly. “Because *if* I can bring you back, I’ll warn you now. Things have really changed.”

My dad laughed a bit and raised an eyebrow. “Like this Michael fellow? Don’t worry. I’m not going to grill you. I could feel how happy you are. He’s taken very good care of you.”

“The Crashdown is burnt down but we’re rebuilding it. Life is about to get very complicated,” I continued. “But mom and I miss you so much.”

“I’ll miss you too,” my dad said quietly.

“What?” I asked, my throat suddenly becoming dry.

“Liz, baby. You’ve tried so hard. All the operations and medications. Nothing human or alien can bring me back. Deep down, you know that. Deep down, you know that this is goodbye.”

“No,” I whimpered. From him, I accepted the words no matter how hard I tried to ignore them.

“Take care of your mother for me,” he said, enveloping me in a tight hug, his own tears dripping on my neck.

“No,” I protested, closing my eyes tightly.

“I’m so proud of you, Liz.”

“No. Don’t leave me,” I choked out. My grief was like a force pressing down on my heart. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe.

“Shh,” he whispered into my hair. “Are you going to be my little girl forever?”

Suddenly I felt like he was a thousand miles away. When I opened my eyes, I realized that I was in the hospital room.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

My eyes flew to the inert body of my father on his hospital bed. Then it all came crashing down. The guilt, the loss, the pain, everything. In an act of desperation, I tried to heal him. And tried.

And tried.

*Are you going to be my little girl forever?*

“Forever,” I whispered and I allowed myself to collapse into tears.

[Polarchica516]

Chapter 36: Solace
Michael

I wanted so badly to run in there and comfort her but I knew this was something she had to do alone. I had felt her trying to use her energy and I had lent her some of mine without her knowing. But when I opened that barrier to fuse our energy, I got the raw reality of what she was feeling what now.

It was then that I understood why she was holding it back. When that much pain and suffering was residing inside of your head, you can’t think of anything else. For that one second when the onslaught of her emotions was within me, it was like I couldn’t move or breathe. It was a very hopeless feeling.

I was relieved when I had felt that Liz had given to those feelings. She needed to let them out.

Just when I was about to give in and go into the room, my cell phone rang. I glanced at the Caller ID and took the call.

“Iz?” I immediately asked after picking up the phone.

“My god, Michael. Cal just told me what happened. Is Liz with you?” came her worried reply.

“She’s in the room with her dad right now. Her mom should be here soon.”

“Do you think I should come to the hospital? Or does she want to be alone?”

I sighed. “She *wants* to be alone but she’ll need you here.”

“I’ll call everyone. We’ll be there soon.”

Isabel hung up and I finally went into Mr. Parker’s room about a half a hour later. Liz’s head immediately shot up and she wiped her face with her hands. “Liz,” I whispered, my heart breaking for her.

“I saw him. I got into his mind and he said goodbye,” she squeaked out.

At a loss for words, I just send comfort through our connection. Without looking at me, Liz spoke. “You said that you’d support me no matter what, right?”

“Yeah, Angel. Of course.”

“I want revenge,” she ground out. I remained quiet. Now was neither the time or place to argue with her and this was one thing I did not agree with her on.

“The gang is coming soon,” I said, changing the subject.

“They’re already here,” Serena said in a hushed voice as she opened the door. Liz smiled at her through her tears and sat up.

“I’ll be out in a minute,” she said. Together we walked outside to the waiting area.

Isabel got to her first. She hugged Liz tightly. “Sweetie, I’m so sorry.”

Liz embraced the taller girl just as tightly. “I’m so glad you guys are here.”

“Good,” Tristan said. “Because now you are stuck with us. I come baring gifts.” He tossed a bag of snacks at Liz’s chest.

“And coffee,” Max added, gesturing to the cups of coffee in the holder on a nearby seat.

Liz laughed. “You guys are amazing. Which one is mine?”

After distributing snacks and coffee, we had situated the waiting room into our own niche. Max was sitting cross legged on the chair across from Isabel and Alex. Serena and Kyle were on the floor, there fingers interlocked. Tristan was pacing because he can never sit down for too long. Liz was on my lap and I was trying my best to keep her mind off of the current situation.

“So what do you guys want to do for your anniversary?” Tristan was asking Kyle and Serena.

“I, personally, think that after the two month anniversary, it just goes down hill,” Kyle joked and Serena smacked him in the back of the head.

“You’re just mad because I demand gifts,” she said.

“Isn’t my manly body enough?”

“It can’t sustain a girl forever,” she said with a coy smile. Serena was a sweet girl once you got her to come out of her shell. She and Liz had grown very close. Tristan and Kyle had even developed quite the friendship.

Sensing that Liz had something else on her mind, I looked at her questionably but she spoke before I could ask her. “I think we should attack the skins.”

Everyone froze and looked at her as if she had grown another head.

Tristan shook his head. “You aren’t thinking clearly.”

Liz narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re doing it again, aren’t you?”

One pesky power that Tristana and Serena had developed due to their seer positions was mind reading. After a very embrassing episode, we decided as a group that they weren’t allowed to do it anymore. Serena hadn’t done it since but Tristan did it occasionally.

“Because I have to,” Tristan shot back. “I’m not going to sit back and allow you to start something just because you want revenge. You could put everyone at risk.”

Everyone darted their eyes. Tristan and Liz were both very stubborn people. They cared about each other a great deal but when they disagreed on something, their fights were notorious.

“I can go by myself,” Liz argued.

“I’m not telling you who you are taking. I’m telling you that you *aren’t* going to do it. I understand how you feel,” he said, sympathy in his voice. “Khivar killed my father too and don’t think that I don’t feel the same way you do every single time I think about him. But if you or myself do to him what we want to then that makes us just as bad as he is.”

Liz softened.

“Honey?”

Liz turned to see her mother behind us. “Mom. You’re here!” and she launched herself into her mother’s arms.

Her mother held Liz tightly, tears beginning to form in her eyes. “Did it work?” she asked, searching her daughter’s face. “Cal said that you were going to try again.”

“We’re going to go get some food,” Max said, and the rest of the gang got up as well. “We’ll be back soon.”

Once they were gone, I looked at Liz questionably. {Stay. Please.}

My eyes met hers and I saw the distraught look on her face. She turned to face her mother again. “No, it didn’t.”

Mrs. Parker’s hand flew to her mouth and she choked back sobs. “Oh, Liz. I’m so sorry.”

Liz seemed to ignore the comment and gestured towards the hospital room. “Do you me to go in with you?”

*******
Liz
“Don’t beat yourself up over this, baby,” she advised once she got in the room with me. Light tears shimmered in her eyes.

“I’m trying not to but it’s getting very hard. Why are you so calm about this?” I asked in curiosity.

She shook her head. “Calm? I’m glad I appear that way to you but I’m far from it. I’m just *prepared*.” My mom sat next to my father and held his hand. “I guess it’s different for you. All you want is your father back. I forget sometimes that despite your new life, you still are a little girl. A little girl who doesn’t want her father to leave her. I’ll miss your father very much, Lizzie. You know that but you also know how your Father is. He is a strong man who loves life and we both know that we wouldn’t like to be in this hospital any more then we like this situation.”

I already knew that. I had seen it in his head. Composing my thoughts, I cleared my throat loudly. “Then you’ll understand that this doesn’t mean that you can come back to Roswell.”

She nodded slowly. “You don’t want me to get hurt. This doesn’t come as a shock to me, Liz. Which is why Cal and I have already made arrangements to have you stay in Roswell. Even though I’m a couple towns away, we’ve slipped by social services but once your father dies, you don’t have a legal guardian that resides in Roswell. You would have to live with me but I know that you can’t do that. I’ll have to tie up some loose ends in Roswell for a while with this whole situation but once I have to leave, Cal will be a temporary legal guardian. Just for a year and then we’ll have to work the rest of the kinks out.”

“Thanks,” I said softly.

“Now all you have to do to repay me is go home and rest. I’ll call you if anything new happens.”

I was about to protest but then I considered what my mother was really asking. I had never seen my mother really cry before in front of people. She just wanted to be alone with my dad so she could let it out.

I left the room and faced Michael. “She wants me to get some rest. But I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep right now. Eating, however, is a whole different story. I’m going to run and get some food. Can you stay here with my mom?”

He looked uncertain. “Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?”

I smiled softly. He was just worried about me. “No. I just need to be alone right now.”

I give him a quick kiss and went out to the parking lot to get to the car. Tristan was leaning against it with his arms crossed. “I thought you went out to eat.”

Tristan chuckled. “I have a higher calling. Apparently my hunger means nothing to the people up there.”

We used to joke how Tristan being a seer was eerily reminiscent to being a white lighter on Charmed. We went through a phase when we called him Leo for a while but eventually he just got pissed off. “And what higher calling would that be?”

“Let’s go for a ride.”

Once we both got in the car and pulled out of the lot and onto the road, Tristan spoke. “Sorry if I yelled at you back there.”

“It’s OK.”

“But I’m right, Liz, and you know it,” came the kicker.

I rolled by eyes. “You probably are but I don’t care. There needs to be some form of justice here.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Justice or revenge? You aren’t thinking this through, Liz.”

I began to grow frustrated about how he was fighting me on this. “This isn’t your decision,” I ground out.

Tristan didn’t say anything for a while. “I can help.”

“Help with what?”

“You aren’t normal, Liz. Even though I think that you need to figure this out on your own, the Council doesn’t want you to jeaporidize the bigger picture. They want me to give you peace.”

“What kind of peace?”

“The kind that can give you balance. Something like that,” he huffed. You could say Tristan was not the typical seer. If only the Council could see him now with his torn jeans, worn grey t-shirt, and ruffled hair. “It wouldn’t take away the pain but it would help you accept the situation.”

“Can I think about it?”

He sent me a confused look. “Why would you, Liz? I mean, don’t you want--”

“You wouldn’t understand, Tristan. Over the past few months, I’ve developed a new life. My mom even said so and I can’t help but feel like I’m losing hold on the old me. I was completely different. I was shy and quiet and somehow the minute I got my powers, I morphed into this strong confident person of an entirely different species. I don’t want to take that back but my emotions-- who I am on the inside-- they make me feel human. I know that that is probably stupid but I don’t want to have that taken away from me.”

Tristan frowned. “But you aren’t human. In essence, you kind of are but---once again, you aren’t *normal*. You have a lot depending on you and the Council needs to be insured that you can do what you have to do. I, however, could care less about that. I know what it feels like to lose your father and I don’t want you to go through that. You don’t deserve to go through that.”

“I remember a time when I didn’t think normal was so great. Now, it’s like it’s so far from my reach…” I said wistfully.

Tristan gave me a sympathetic look. “Maybe you should let go then.”

We pulled up to a small coffee shop. I unbuckled my seat belt and faced Tristan. “Let’s do this.”

He placed his hands on either side of my head and I closed my eyes. That’s when I felt it. I felt *everything*. I felt my pain and my loss but I also could see all of the things I had failed to see beyond my pain. My dad wouldn’t have wanted to be hooked up to those damn machines for the rest of his life and my mom and I would be just fine without him. Suddenly, I began to see my father’s death as a blessing for him--he could find real happiness, not just a made up diner in his mind. He’d be back but until then I would have to let him go. And now I knew that this was the right thing.

My eyes flew open. Tristan gave me a hopeful look. “Did it work?”

I nodded. “Yeah but I still want to go after Khivar. We’ll figure it out as a group later. It’s like every thing in my mind is balanced. I’m sad but I see the good in all of this. Right now, I am really hungry.”

I began to get out the car and I heard Tristan laugh. “You seem less down. Hold up. What’s that on your finger?”

I waited until he got out of the carand smiled. “You will not believe what Michael did this morning…”

******
Michael
“Michael, can I talk to you for a moment?” Mrs. Parker asked as soon as she came out of the hospital room. My throat went dry and I scooted over so she could sit next to me.

“Sure.”

“My daughter loves you,” she said simply.

I gave her a confused look, not knowing where she was going with this. “Now I don’t have to give you the whole ‘if you hurt her’ speech but I have a feeling that both of us are past that. If I thought that you would hurt my daughter, she wouldn’t be living with you without parent supervision. I like you, Michael. You’re a nice boy and you love her just as much as she loves you. And I must admit, I am quite jealous of you sometimes. You get to spend all of this time with her--see her smile, hear her laugh-- but I know that you take good care of her.”

I actually became to blush at her sincere words and she laughed. “Don’t worry, Michael. Your masculinity is safe with me.”

“As much as I love the ego boost, Mrs. Parker, why are you telling me this now?”

She waved a hand in nonchalance. “Just to tell you. You’ve come a long way, Michael, and truth be told, I like you better than I liked that Max fellow.”

Mrs. Parker patted my knee and grinned. “So where is my daughter anyway? I doubt that she’s at the apartment sleeping.”

I shook my head and gave her a crooked smile. “She went to get some food.”

Mrs. Parker frowned and a sad look passed over her face. “Do you think she’ll be OK, Michael?”

Just when I was about to answer, I felt something strange. Liz’s practically nonexistent side of the connection roared to life. But unlike last time, her emotions weren’t overwhelming. They were sad and comforting at the same time.

“She’ll be fine, Mrs. Parker. She’ll be just fine.”

[Polarchica516]

Chapter 37: The Bigger Picture
Michael

“Hey, where did my mom go?” Liz asked when she returned with Tristan. She tossed a bag at my chest and I couldn’t help the droopy smile that crossed my face.

“She’s working some stuff out with the doctors,” I explained but the last word was muffled as I stuffed the sandwich into my mouth. Liz groaned in disgust and Tristan laughed.

“Geez, Liz. Don’t you train him?” he quipped.

Liz shrugged. “I try but some things never change. You forget, I have to live with him.”

“I was stuck with him too before I moved in with Cal,” he pointed out.

“And what a beautiful day that was,” I muttered. Liz smacked my arm.

“You’re telling me.”

Once Tristan got over Liz, he and I began to get along most of the time. Didn’t mean he still doesn’t annoy the hell out of me sometimes.

Liz sat cross legged in front of me and leaned her head on my knee. I felt relieved that she was finally letting me in. I smiled down at her and stroked her hair. “Do you want to tell me what happened?” I asked gently.

Tristan and Liz shared a look. “You felt it?” Liz asked, her eyebrows scrunching together.

“Yeah. It was like your mind…I don’t know how to explain it. I knew you weren’t in any danger though.”

“I don’t know exactly how it works but Tristan did something to me so I could see past my grief. I think I just scared the Council when I mentioned going after Khivar,” she explained.

“About that…” I began.

“I know, Michael. I do but this just doesn’t seem right to let him slide free on this one,” she said with a frown.

“Khivar will get what’s coming to him,” I assured her.

“Speaking of Khivar, Liz, Nicolas is supposed to come back tonight and I think he’ll be expecting an answer.”

I glared at Tristan over Liz’s head for bringing it up. “Don’t you think this is a bad time?”

“No, it’s OK,” Liz said. “In all honesty, today has helped me make my decision. I can’t trust Khivar as far as I can throw him. And I can’t let anybody else lose their family if I know that I can prevent it. Besides, everything happens for a reason and I think that Khivar offered me this deal so I could finally accept my destiny once and for all.”

“You’re beginning to sound like Cal with your talk of destiny and happenstance,” I teased.

She titled her head up at me. “Maybe because I’m beginning to believe it. I mean all of these bad things have happened to me only to make me stronger. Maybe that was the point all along. To test me--make sure I was strong enough.”

“So does that mean that you’re going to decline his offer?”

“Yeah.”

I didn’t know whether feel relieved or kind of depressed. “We’ll find another way out,” I soothed.

Liz remained quiet. Just when Tristan was about to say something else, Max, Serena, Kyle, and Isabel came back. “You guys don’t have to hang out here all day,” Liz said.

“Neither do you,” Mrs. Parker said to her daughter as she rounded the corner.

“Mom…” Liz began.

She held up a hand. “No, Liz. Have a day with your friends,” she said with a tight smile.

“Okay,” Liz said slowly. She turned to the gang. “Michael and I will meet you downstairs in a minute.”

They took the hint and left. Liz’s mom sent her a warning look. “Don’t you dare, Missy. I’ve allowed you to protect me for a while now. Now let me protect you.”

Liz hung her head. “You’re going to do it today, aren’t you?”

Liz’s mom just looked at her. “It’s for the best.”

“Call me when you need me to pick you up. You can stay with Michael and I tonight,” Liz said as she turned on her heel and began for the elevator. I ran after her.

“Wait. That’s it?” I asked her.

“I’ve said goodbye, Michael. I don’t think I could do it again.”

*****
Liz
After finally getting everyone gone, I went into work. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy their company but they kept giving me those looks. I had gotten Michael to tidy up the apartment for my mother’s stay and the minute I said ‘cleaning’ Isabel volunteered and dragged Alex with her. The UFOeatery wasn’t too busy. Cal came in around five and pulled on his worn cap, patting it on his head a couple times.

“How you holding up?” he asked once we were in the back room.

I dropped the cleaning towel I had been holding on a nearby counter. “I’m OK,” I partically lied.

“OK enough to be working?” he questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“OK enough to get on with what’s left of my life,” I replied. “I know you guys are worried about me but sitting in the apartment thinking about him all day isn’t going to make me feel better or bring him back.”

He nodded in understanding. “You must be pretty deep in denial if you actually want to work,” he joked lightly.

I sighed. “Yeah, well, thanks to some alien technology, I’ve gone right past denial into eerily accepting.”

Cal chuckled. “Let me guess. They gave you the whole ‘we need you to be stable’ speech.”

I tilted my head to one side. “More or less, yeah. How do you know all this?”

“Because I know the Council. They offered the same thing to me before I was assigned to Earth. They do that to a lot of people as long as it benefits them. The Council can be confusing at times. Sometimes you think they are doing things from the kindness of their alien hearts. All they have ever wanted was to accomplish the big picture.”

“So did you take it? The offer?”

Cal frowned. “I probably should have now that I look back on it. But things were different back then, the Council didn’t want stable. They wanted mindless soldiers to fight in the war. The chances of them completely wiping my memories of my wife were too big--and not worth the risk.”

Shocked at his newly revealed information about the mysterious Council, I immediately had more questions. All we knew about the Council was that they occasionally told Tristan to pass information to us. “Who are they?”

“I’m just in the dark as you are. There used to be rumors they were dead seers or dead high political figures. No one is quite sure. I guess they just traffic control up there and keep an eye on us.”

I had never seen in that kind of light before. “Do you regret it? Not letting them give you peace?”

He looked thoughtful for a moment but then waved a hand dismissively. “It’s doesn’t matter now.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“So how’d you get those friend of yours to leave you alone?”

“I told them to help Michael clean up the apartment because my mom is staying with me tonight.”

“I take it your mother told you about the whole temporary agreement,” he said.

“Yeah. She did. Thanks, by the way. Not just for that but everything. You’ve done a lot for me and my family.”

Cal frowned. “I wish I had done more.”

“You couldn’t have,” I said with a deep sigh. “I wish you would have met him.”

Cal lowered his eyes. “You’ll get through this, Princess,” he said in an assuring voice. “I promise.”

Suddenly I felt guilty because of my lack of attention to Michael today. Come to think of it, our morning ‘date’ had been cut short. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the front bell dinging, signaling the entrance of a new customer.

“I should get that.”

Cal smirked. “You aren’t getting paid to stand here, Princess.”

“Very funny,” I said dryly on my way out. “How far would the Council go, Cal?” I asked suddenly, my wariness beginning to grow.

“They want the bigger picture--the end product,” he said simply.

“If these people are really just interesting in the bigger picture with no care for the expense of others, then that does help me. I just let them do something to my mind!”

Cal gave me a sad half-smile. “They’d never hurt you, Princess. You *are* the bigger picture.”

*****
*You are the bigger picture*

Cal’s words haunted me as I drove back to the apartment. I didn’t ask to be. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if I even wanted it. My frustration began to overflow and I gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter then I intended to. Even Tristan had said the Council didn’t want to jeopardize the bigger picture.

Every thing happened for a reason, and I was beginning to believe that. What I wasn’t willing to believe was that that reason was me.

My life was being dictated for me and I couldn’t do anything about it.

A red Honda beeped its horn at me as I went through a red light. Should’ve been paying attention.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Were the Council the ones who made all of this up?

Why hadn’t I seen it before? If the Seers worked more or less for the Council….dammit! When I had asked Henroz why all of this was happening to *me*, he said I was selected. I had been selected by the Council.

Those bastards *chose* me.

I pulled the car over abruptly, and jumped out. Luckily I found a deserted alley quickly and emptied out the contents of my stomach. My hands rested on a gritty brick wall and tears streamed down my face. A part of me was relieved that I finally had someone to blame. But the rest of me was seething in anger.

And accepting my fate was no longer an option for me. Had Isabel been right before? Had I given up?

It was time to start fighting again.

I was going to do this on my own terms.

And I already knew what I was going to do first.

[Polarchica516]

Chapter 38: Control
Michael

“Isabel! Liz said to help clean--not redecorate!” I complained as Isabel started to move the couch with her powers.

Isabel shrugged innocently. “I’m just trying to make it more feng shui, if you will,” Isabel replied with an innocent smile on her face. “You know where the window has to face the bed or something like that,” she tried to explain.

“That’s nice. All I want is *my couch* facing *my television* so I can watch TV, have the remote close, and scratch my ass whenever I please.”

She scrunched her nose up in disgust. “How does Liz tolerate you?”

“Once Michael stops drugging her, she’ll leave him real quick,” Alex quipped as he finished wiping down the counter. Isabel gave him a high-five and I glared at him.

“Funny, Alex,” I said. “Now move the couch back, Isabel. Now.”

Isabel rolled her eyes at me. “Fine,” and with a push of her powers, my couch was where it was supposed to be. Alex frowned as he glanced at the clock.

“Shouldn’t Liz be home by now?” he asked, biting his lip nervously.

“She probably just needs to be alone right now,” Isabel reasoned. “She’s been through a lot today.”

Alex frowned. “I know,” he said sadly. “I just wish she’d realize she needs us.”

“She doesn’t know what she need right now,” Isabel said sadly.


******
Liz
“Did you know?” I asked immediately when Tristan answered the door. Tristan scratched his head in confusion and gestured to the inside of his room.

“I’m watching a game, Parker,” he began. His eyes took in my appearance: tear tracks, tightly clenched fists, a less then friendly expression. “What happened?” he asked in concern. “Do you want to come in?”

“No. I want you to answer my damn question, Tristan.”

Tristan regarded me with a stony stare. “Come in.”

Once the door was closed, I sighed heavily. “They told you not to tell me, didn’t they?” I asked softly, my anger at Tristan dissipating a bit.

Tristan roughly rubbed his forehead, his face contorted in frustration. “If I told you, they’d take away my jurisdiction over you. I couldn’t let that happen,” he said firmly as he reached out to me.

“No!” I shouted as I moved from his grip. “You’ve been lying to me! How long have you known?”

“Just since when I inherited my powers as a Seer. I wanted to tell you but I knew that my position as your Seer could keep them from completely controlling you!”

I shook my head in disbelief. Tristan reached out again and caught my elbow. “I was doing what I thought was best,” he said in a low voice.

As much as I tried to push back my angry feelings of betrayal towards Tristan, they rose to the surface when he touched me. “If you touch me again, I’ll kill you,” I ground out and jerked my arm away from him. His face flushed with pain and my heart lurched. I wrapped my arms around myself. “I’ve been looking for answers all of this time, Tristan. I never understand why it was *me*--why I finally found all that I wanted and it was still *me*! What did they do, Tristan? Just randomly pick a person whose live they wanted to play puppet with. Those bastards chose me to die! They’ve been controlling my life!”

“They can’t control you,” Tristan said quietly.

“Cal said--”

“They can’t control *you*. They have control over Antar and its people. You have Antarian powers and Antarian cells but you’re human. If they could control you, Liz, you wouldn’t need me. They’ve been manipulating you into believing in what you should do.”

I threw up my hands. “I am so sick and tired of hearing about what I *should* do!”

“You did it on your own will, Liz!”

I froze. “What?”

“They can see the future, Liz. All they can see are the big moments and in the end, Liz, you chose to die! They showed me, Liz, because I didn’t believe them.”

“I would *never* choose--” I began.

“You weren’t supposed to. That’s why they have me here guiding you. That’s why they’ve been keeping such a close eye on you. All they know is that somewhere along the line, they lost control and you had more power then they did.”

Shock radiated through my body. “Why would I do that?” I asked in a small voice. “Why would I-- I’m so confused. I don’t know if I’m one step ahead by knowing this or if all of this is *supposed* to happen or…”

“If this is what they were trying to avoid,” Tristan said. I blinked at him through my tears. “What if this was the point they lost control?”

I sat down in a nearby chair. “I don’t know what to believe,” I said weakly. “If all they want is control, why would they pick someone who they have none over.”

“Because obligation doesn’t always work with people. You didn’t except your fate because the Council gave it to but because you want to help people. Because your heart is too attached to the cause. Because, even if you don’t believe what I told you, only you would still choose your fate when you had a choice. I know that your selection looks like a punishment but they didn’t do it because you were a bad person. They did it because they know you aren’t.”

Taking a deep breath, I grasped desperately for answers. I knew that I couldn’t find any. “I know that you just wanted to help me, Tristan, and eventually I’ll be OK with what you did. But honestly, right now--”

“You don’t have to explain,” he said. “So what are you going to do now?”

“I have an idea but I want to go over it as a group first,” I said, being a bit vague. “I also want to tell them about everything I figured out today but not about the whole….” I trailed off, not believing it enough to say it. “It would hurt Michael.”

Tristan nodded. “I’m sorry, Liz.”

Ignoring him, I stood up and began for the door. “I’m going to get to the Crashdown. I have a meeting with Nicolas.”

“You alright going by yourself?”

I smiled weakly. “Superwomen, remember?”

“Liz…” he began.

I shrugged. “I have a couple of aggressions to work out.”

“A couple? Considering the day you’ve been having, you might kill him.”

‘ “That’s kinda of the point, Tris.”

Tristan’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t you think that would piss Khivar off?”

“Once again, Tristan, that would be the point.”

********
“The answer is no, by the way,” I said with nonchalance as Nicolas tried to get up. I took in his bloodied lip with satisfaction. The minute he walked past the make-shift Crashdown door, he went flying into a nearby wall. Hard. Now his eyes looked up at me in surprise.

“Boy did you catch me on a bad day, Nicolas. Sucks to be you,” I quipped as I sent a strong blast to his abdomen and he screamed in pain.

Nicolas met my eyes with all the loathing in hatred he could summon. “Killing me won’t do any good.”

I laughed and Nicolas frowned at my response. “Who said anything about killing you? I could always keep you here.”

I saw Nicolas began to reach for his lower back for his detonator button. I shook my head and him and used my powers to freeze all of his muscles. “That would be too easy, don’t you think? Too painless. Face it, Nicolas, you’re going to be here for a while.”

“I won’t give you any information,” he gritted out.

“I hardly expected you to. You’re just a victim of circumstance. You see, as much as I hate your little guts, it’s not so much about killing you as much as it the look on Khivar’s face when he finds out that you aren’t coming back. That is if he even cares. I guess it’s the principle that really matters here. You see, I’m quite sick and tired of waiting around for orders from a bunch of old guys up there. And for some reason they don’t want me to mess with Khivar. I figure sending him your dead carcass will piss everyone off or at least I hope.”

All the while I was talking, I had knelt next to Nicolas and placed my hand to his head. His skin began to shrink and whittle as I took out all the water from his husk. His face contorted in pain. “NO! Spare me, please!” he shouted in out in an last attempt at salvation.

“You didn’t spare my father, did you?” I tossed back, sending out a bit more energy.

“Is that what this is about? I was given orders!”

“Does it look like I care *why* you did it?” I growled out. “He was innocent.”

“He was your father! I attacked him for the same reason you’re attacking me. Whatever sick pleasure you’ll get from seeing the look on Khivar’s face, believe me he felt the same about the fire. What do you think the purpose of burning down your beloved house was? Your father was a victim of circumstance. You’re just as bad as Khivar--as bad at me.”

I jerked away from Nicolas as if he had burned me. He turned his to side and grasped at his dry, wrinkly skin. “That’s a lie,” I said weakly. Nicolas grimaced in pain and pinned me with a glare.

“Is it? You and Khivar are connected. The same essence is contained in both of you. Both of you had potential for either good or evil and you chose your path. He chose his. There is a such thing as a balance of good and evil, Liz.”

Considering this, I kicked him in the side. “I’m good.”

“The hero, right? You’re going to selfishly give up your live to save others,” he said mockingly.

“That’s more than I can say for you,” I said, inwardly cringing at his words.

“I mean what can you really accomplish? So you piss off those Council bastards but it doesn’t change your future. It doesn’t change a single damn thing. Once you get caught up with what’s meant to be and what’s not, things get very confusing don’t they? Are you *supposed* to kill me? Was your father *supposed* to die? Why are you *supposed* to die?”

His face froze with fear when he saw me raise my hand. Before he could scream, he was a pile of ash. I stared at the remains of Nicolas with a bittersweet feeling swelling in my chest. It was revenge--justice really. But everything he said was right. I had gone no where. It felt good to hurt him. But I still felt lost--alone.

Taking a deep shaky breath, I felt a tear fall down my cheek.

*Are you *supposed* to kill me? Was your father *supposed* to die? Why are you *supposed* to die?*

Because I wanted to.

He didn’t deserve it.

Because I choose to.

[Polarchica516]

Chapter 39A: Reality
Liz
By the time I got back to the apartment, I was numb. The constant ringing of my cell phone had echoed in the night streets. I knew it was probably my mother. Michael was too busy trying to get into my head. Either way, when I stepped through the door, I knew both were waiting for me. Two pairs of eyes flew to my face, concern and anger written all over them.

“Where were you?” my mother asked, her lips in a tight line.

“I had something to take care off,” I answered curtly.

“That just isn’t a good enough answer,” she reprimanded. “Do you know how late it is?”

I didn’t answer. I hadn’t even noticed what time it was. All I knew was that it was dark outside. All I had been able to think about was the look on their faces when they found out that I chose to leave them. “I’m going to bed,” I choked out.

I began to walk past them but Michael grabbed my elbow. The physical contact sprung the connection to life and I tried to pull away from him but he gripped my elbow tighter. I concentrated on pushing him out before he could see everything. Michael jerked back and the pain flashed brazenly in his eyes. He hated it when I blocked our connection.

I had intentionally hurt him and I knew it. God, I had to get out of here.

“Don’t walk away from me, young lady!” my mother shouted.

“Mom, you wouldn’t understand,” I began but she cut me off.

“Well maybe it’s time you *made* me understand. I’ve been nothing but supportive by accepting your new lifestyle. I even swallowed my better judgment by letting you push me out of Roswell to protect me. Don’t think I don’t know that you’re hiding things from me. Maybe it’s for my own good, maybe it’s not. I don’t know. But I do know that I want honest answers starting right now. I won’t lose you. You’re all I have left.”

Taken aback by my mother’s speech, I blinked back tears. I couldn’t give her what she wanted. I refused to tell her that I had to leave her too.

Disgust at myself racked my body. It was inevitable to hurt her…to hurt all of them.

A sharp sob rose in my throat. The noise echoed throughout the apartment. “I have to go,” I said and darted for the door as fast as I could.

I once again roamed the dark streets until I reached my destination. I knocked on the window and waited until the light came on. “Liz, what are you doing here?” Max asked, wiping the sleep out of his eyes.

“Can I just stay here tonight? On the floor or something?” I asked, as I tried to wipe away my tears.

He shook his head slowly and I could tell he was trying to figure out what was going on. I stumbled blindly into his room. “Do you want me to get Isabel?” he asked tentatively.

I shook my head fervently. “She’ll tell Michael I’m here.”

Max frowned. “Did you have a fight with Michael?”

“Maybe. I don’t know,” I said tiredly. “I just…” and I sat on his bed, burying my head in my hands. Max kneeled in front of me and regarded me with warm eyes.

“Liz, what’s wrong?”

Grappling for a correct answer to such a loaded question, I closed my eyes. Too many things were running through my mind.

“Start from the beginning,” he coaxed.

I took a deep breath and began the story of today’s events.

*********
“You should tell everyone,” Max said quietly. My head shot up.

“How can I? All of this has just made everything really real. Today, I was so *hurt* because of my father dying. It literally felt like I couldn’t breathe and Tristan did this *thing* to my head. It brought me peace and I understood. To lose him was just so hard. When I die, Max, I don’t know what will happen to you guys. Will you be forced to deal or will you forget me? Will I just be erased from everybody’s memories? I have so many questions.”

“And no answers,” he added.

I nodded and pushed back my tears. “I don’t know what to feel.”

Max sat next to be on his bed. I just looked at him from my cross legged position, waiting for his insight. “Just forget about everything, Liz. Forget about what’s supposed to happen. Do what *you* want. You’ve always followed your heart and it’s lead you to some pretty great places.”

I remained silent. Was it really that easy?

“All of these things haven’t happened yet. I’m not disillusioned enough to tell you that some things can be completely avoided but you can still change things. You still have a choice.”

I rolled my eyes. “I learned a while ago that choice is just an illusion.”

“Maybe nothing I can say can help you, Liz. Maybe this is something you have to deal with by yourself. You just have to figure out how to do that. It’s obviously not to today, Liz. These are some issues that you’ve had pent up for a while.”

I looked away from him. “It’s not like I’ve been free-time girl lately,” I quipped.

Max nodded in understanding.

“I guess I’m just waiting for a moment of clarity,” I explained, trying to put some of my emotions into words. “Because finding a solution seems impossible. I’m hurting Michael by blocking him--by keeping this from him. How do I solve this? Solve *me*? How can I make sense of myself as a person?”

Max just looked at me for a moment. “Do you see this moment of clarity coming any time soon?” he half-joked.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I guess I should get some sleep.”

Max handed me a pillow and a blanket. “I’m all for comfort and all but Michael won’t be too happy with you and I sharing a room. Good thing my parents are out of town tonight.”

I gave Max a quick hug. “Thanks for listening to me venting.”

“Anytime,” he replied and I made my way downstairs, careful to be quiet. As soon as I hit the couch, I quickly fell asleep.


~~Dream~~
“And miles to go until I sleep,” came the comforting words from behind me. I whirled around to find my dad sitting in a chair with his reading glasses on, reading from a thick book. He gave me a surprised look and smiled warmly at me. “You’re here.”

“Are you? Really here, I mean?”

Dad chuckled and placed the book on the ground. Standing up, he gestured at the background. “I’m not here but you are.”

“This is,” I began as I took in the room I was standing in.

“A dream but a very important one. You recognize this place, don’t you?”

I nodded. My eyes took in Michael and mine Florida hotel room with fondness. “How could I forget?” I said wistfully.

“You have questions,” Dad said in a solemn voice.

I narrowed my eyes. “What do you really look like?”

“I’m afraid I can’t answer that,” came the quick response. “You don’t understand what great lengths I’ve gone through to contact you.”

Realization dawned on me. “What is this? You’re from the Council, aren’t you?”

“No. Although they are quite angry with you. Which is why I’m here.”

“And you would be?” I asked impatiently.

“I have no name, not really. I keep the balance of good and evil.”

“Are you kidding me?” I exclaimed. “This is getting way to science fiction for me.”

“This is hardly science fiction. It’s the natural order of things. The balance is in danger of being disturbed.”

“Well it’s the Council’s problem now,” I shot back. “And I haven’t done anything.”

“Not yet,” he slightly scolded.

“No! If I have to hear about what I’m *about* to do, one more time,” I yelped in frustration.

Suddenly the room began to shake and my ‘Dad’ glared at me angrily. “There is a difference between manipulation and necessity! The Council’s methods have jaded you, I’m sure, but you have to heed my warning. I’ve been watching you for a long time and I’ve seen that you are either a great source of good or destruction. Destruction is what you’ll be heading for if you don’t listen to me.”

I decided maybe I should listen to him and crossed my arms across my chest.

“The Council has no control over you, as you already know. I can seen your confusion over your situation. All I can tell you is that the only thing you can completely trust in is the prophecy itself. Believe what you wish about the rest of it. Today, as you suspected, is the last day you’ll take any advice from the Council. They have lost control of you and this is the time to either flourish or burn, Ms. Parker. I would suggest that you avoid the latter.”

“What is it that I do to disturb the balance?”

“You are unstable and you could become reckless.”

“So you came here to tell me to get over myself?” I asked incredulously. “You sound more and more like those….”

“I am a neutral party, I assure you. Believe me when I tell you that your emotional distress could have dire consequences if you do not find peace.”

“Isn’t that the Council’s department?”

“No. It is yours.”

I ran a hand through my hair roughly and ignored the urge to blast this guy. “Then give me the answers to my questions.”

“You have them. You know why you were chosen. You know your purpose on this planet.”

“Who am I?” I croaked out.

“I don’t know. Who *are* you?”

I rolled my eyes. “That isn’t an answer.”

“Then let me rephrase that. Who are *you* without *them*?”

I looked at him in confusion. When he opened his mouth again, I swear he sounded just like Isabel. “Wake up, Liz. Wake up.”
“What?”

“Wake up….”


“Liz! Wake up!”

With a sharp intake of breath, I jerked upright and the blanket flew off of me. My eyes adjusted to the familiar setting of the Evans’ living room. “Isabel?” I mumbled in confusion.

“Not just Isabel,” a male voice said from behind her.

“Oh god,” I muttered as I hurried to fix my bed hair. It was already morning?

Kyle and Serena were standing by the door with worried looks on their faces. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. Kyle crossed his arms. “We’ve been searching high and low for you all night. Michael and your mom were worried sick.”

Isabel eyed me. “You were here the whole time?”

I caught sight of Max who was standing behind them. He gave me a small nod. “I needed to be alone. Max said I could stay here.”

“Max? Why would--”

“Because she didn’t want an intervention,” Max said.

Isabel whirled on him. “Everyone was looking for her!” she shouted incredulously.

Max clenched his jaw. “I don’t see why. Liz can take perfect care of herself. Besides, she didn’t want to be found.”

Isabel sent me a questioning look. “I just wanted to be alone,” I said one last time. Isabel rested her hands on her pajama bottoms and sighed heavily.

“You should call Michael. Him, your mom, and Tristan have been out looking for you. I didn’t know until they called and Max told me you were down here.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling bad for having everyone worry. Feeling uncomfortable under everyone’s scrutinizing looks, I quietly excused myself to go to the bathroom. Isabel was about to protest but her cell phone rang and I slipped out of the room.

I went into the nearest bathroom and braced myself on the sink. What the hell had that dream meant? Was it even real?

I frowned when I felt the sensation of Michael trying to get into my head again. I felt guilty for making him send out a search party for me. Trying to break my thoughts away from Michael, I turned the faucet on and splashed some water on my face.

*I guess I’m just waiting for a moment of clarity*

*Then let me rephrase that. Who are *you* without *them*?*

The light sound of the door being knocked, sent me back to Earth. Max slowly cracked the door open. “You decent?”

I laughed dryly. “I’m getting there."

Max pushed the door open entirely. “Michael, Tristan, and your mom are coming over. Maybe it would be a good time to tell him about everything.”

I just looked at my reflection. Something was within my reach but it felt like I missing it. “I’m going to, Max. By the way, thanks for defending me down there.”

He shrugged and smiled. “Sometimes you just need to be alone to process things.”

I scoffed. “And you can see how much a disaster that was. I’m surprised my mom didn’t call SWAT in.”

Max ducked his head. “Can I ask why you’re avoiding Michael?”
“I told you why. I don’t want to hurt him.”

“Well it seems to me that blocking him is hurting him just as much. I know you’re trying to the right thing--”

“No, you don’t. You *can’t*. I know you guys want to help me through whatever it is that this is but I don’t know if you can.”

Max flinched a bit at my admission. “It’s not like we can relate to the situation.”

“Don’t get me wrong it means a lot that you guys support me but nothing you can say will help me. All I’m doing is doing crazy thinking about how my feelings will hurt you guys. The Council may have tried to screw me over but they were right about one thing. I’m too important to everything to have a breakdown.”

Max opened his mouth to speak but I held up a hand to stop him. “Max, I’m not *normal* and I’m not *OK*. I need to deal with this or else my sanity is in serious danger here.”

“I’ll be here to help you,” he offered.

“But you won’t be helping. You’ll only be making it worse.”

The door bell of the house rang loudly. The faint sound of the door opening made my heart slam inside of my chest. I knew what I had to do to save myself. Max glanced into the hallway and frowned. “You ready?”

*******
The minute I stepped into the living room, my mother smothered me into a hug. “What you did scared the crap out of me…but I’m so glad you’re alright…if I could ground you right now…”

I laughed lightly and pushed her away. “I’m fine, Mom. I promise. But I have to ask you a huge favor. I need you to leave so I can talk to my friends alone.”

She looked puzzled and shook her head. “I thought I told you that I didn’t want to be left in the dark.”

“I know and I’ll tell you later but right now, it will be a bit overwhelming.”

Tristan and I locked eyes and he knew I was going to tell everyone. Everyone knew that I had yet to tell my mother about the whole prophecy. Tristan put his hand on my mother’s shoulder gently. “I’ll drive you over to Cal’s,” he volunteered.

My mom gave me a strange look, obviously debating whether or not she should stay or not. She slowly nodded and her eyes met mine full on. She looked older, worn. “Why can’t you just stop? All the secret group meetings? The secrets? Why can’t you just *stop*?”

I knew that she was just being honest and a bit desperate. But at her words, a huge lump formed in my throat and tears clouded my eyes.

“Don’t you think I want to?” I replied in a small voice. My mother just looked at me for a moment. “Can we talk about this later?” I asked, wiping the tears from my eyes.

She looked at me in disbelief. “Really talk?”

“Yeah. I promise.”

Tristan gently pushed my mother out of the door and gave me a weak smile before he closed the door. The second the door clicked shut, I became painfully aware of what I knew I had to do next. Kyle and Serena were on the couch, holding hands, looking at me expectantly. Max and Isabel just looked concerned. My eyes landed on Michael.

He looked like he hadn’t slept all night. His eyes pierced into mine as if he were looking for something. I swallowed thickly and looked away. “I found out some news yesterday.”

Everyone perked up in interest. “The Council isn’t what we think we it is. Cal said some things that made me realize that their intentions weren’t as golden as we thought. They chose me to do what it is that I have to do. I was *selected* for lack of a better term and--”

Everyone began to speak at once, angry at the Council’s actions. I held up a hand to quiet them. “Tristan explained to me that it wasn’t a punishment and I believe him. He said that it was because I was a good person. We don’t work for the Council anymore and I’m sure you understand why.”

I took a deep breath now that that part of my speech was out of the way. Then all hell broke loose.