Here and Now ~ML~ (Seq to Smoke&Mirrors) ~ {COMPLETE}

[Diehard]

CHAPTER FIFTY


Kyle rounded the corner at Citrus and Vine and started dropping back in speed. It was another glorious sunny day. It was shady through the alleyways, he might as well enjoy the coolness while he could, he thought. He knew the rest of the jog back home was going to be in full sun.

Picking up speed as he came to the place where the shadow of the building again met with the sun, he jogged left and began picking up speed. It was a blur, a short ways in front of him for just a second. Someone walking up ahead and to the right, on the sidewalk in front of the UFO Museum.

It couldn't be, he thought to himself, trying to keep his pace steady, as he squinted and looked again. The figure turned slightly glancing to the opposite side of the street, and he was left with no doubt, no doubt at all. It was her. It was plainly Tess. She was standing on the sidewalk right here in the middle of town, right here in Roswell.

He had to get this news to Max! Oh my god, Liz, you were right!, his mind screamed out. He remembered his Dad's frantic search for him a few days earlier after Liz's vision.

His legs began to feel numb, as he forced them to veer to the left down the side of Scotto's Pizza. He ran like there was no tomorrow, not knowing if she had spotted him or not. He was afraid to look back. He turned the corner and was almost hit by an oncoming car. He screamed out loud in a sheer panic as he tried to thwart the glancing fender. He forced himself to check back over his shoulder. Nothing.

As the alleyway ended onto 14th street behind the business section, his pace slowly came to a halt. He was breathing so heavily now, placing his hands on his knees and bending over with his head down. Finally getting a normal sinus rhythm going with his heart again, he looked back one last time. Tess stood at the start of the alleyway, looking right at him. His feet were moving before his thoughts directed them to. He had gone two blocks, the beating of his heart pounding in his ears. He swerved out and around a parked car and heard a car horn blowing. Frantically looking up he saw the police car. "Thank you Budda," he yelled out loud breathlessly, his face frantic. The car pulled quickly to the curb, just missing him as he ran right for it.

At the end of the alley, the small angry figure stood watching. As Kyle jumped into his Dad's car and sped off, she stood staring after the car.


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Everyone gathered around an old pillow that served as home plate. "Teams are… girls against guys," Liz announced loudly. Voices broke out around her.

"That's not playing fair." Larek yelled. "We're gonna slaughter ya. You should make it just a little more challenging than that."

"Okay, I've got the royals with me," Emily announced, picking her two first team members. Liz looked over quickly to see if Angelique had heard Emily's innocent remark, and found her thankfully distracted by Lucas and Sierra on the sidelines. "Larek you can head up the other team," Emily said organizing everything.

"Well, technically, Larek is a royal too, having grown up in the royal household on Adia," Michael mused, in a whispered but brat like fashion, down into Emily's ear.

"Whatever," she answered. "Let's go… pick your teams, so we can beat your butts!"

Nicole looked up quickly from the sidelines. "Emily! Be nice or you won't be playing at all." Michael winked down at Em, and the choosing of sides continued. Within ten minutes, the seemingly colossal task was finally completed as fairly as possible, and the game began.

Emily's team was up to bat. Liz stood at the plate waiting for the next pitch to decide a 3 and 1 call by Kal. Sierra came running over from the sidelines to give Emily a high five for having scored the last run. Lucas was close behind her.

"Sierra, be very careful with that bat," Larek said as Sierra swung around holding onto a bat as long as she was tall. "You shouldn't be swinging near someone with that thing or one could get hurt." Larek looked down again at the little one beside him. "Tell ya what, Sierra, maybe next summer we can do this again, and you'll be big enough then to play too." Sierra smiled up at him, as her father frowned at both of them.

"Lucas," Larek continued, "why aren't you playing out there? Not into sports?"

"It's the competition that I'm not into," he said sarcastically. Larek shot him a look, as Sierra ran back toward her mom on the sidelines.

"It's not about competition, it's about responsibility," Larek answered slyly. He had switched gears quickly and Lucas didn't like the subject that was coming to the surface.

"Look, I have nothing against you personally, against any of you. As I have tried very hard to make clear, this has never been good for me, the loss of my family or the situation I find myself in as a Landau. I'm not ready for any of this. I will not live in fear."

Something familiar was happening and Larek was temporarily confused. The feeling of deja vu was evident in his mind.

Nicole looked up as she heard her husband raise his voice to Larek, and something inside of her stomach flipped. I'm not ready for any of this, she had heard him say. Her dream came instantly to her mind, and she looked around to find Maria quickly. Liz had struck out and her team had already started to run out into the field, Maria was already in the field, covering first base.

The score was now five to four, the royals were winning but by a narrow margin. As the sun shone down on the newly mowed hay in the outfield, Emily took her place fidgeting somewhat out in right field. Katain was in centerfield. Liz was pitching, with Max covering third base. Emily took a second to pull her ponytail up through the back of her baseball cap, and tilted the brim to block the glare of the sun.

Maria yelled out from first base, "Could those cheerleaders on the sidelines over there bring us something cold to drink, before we all dehydrate out here?" she laughed to the infield.

Nicole turned to Angelique, "I'll get them drinks."

The old woman smiled up at her. "No, Lucas will go. He'll handle the drinks. Won't you, Lucas? While you're in there can you grab my folding fan from my handbag?"

Lucas took Sierra's hand heading for the house begrudgingly. "Everything's in the fridge. There are a few pitchers of lemonade already made up. Just don't forget to grab the ice. Sierra can carry it," Nicole added over her shoulder as they walked away.

As the father and daughter reached the side of the barn, yelling was heard from behind them, followed by sudden shrill screams.

"NO!!" Liz was screaming out, running instinctively from the pitchers mound toward right field where Emily stood unaware and motionless. She confusingly watched the onslaught of both Liz running toward her, and Katain diving in quickly from her right.

Tess stood with legs widely spread directly behind Emily and slowly smiled as she placed both of her hands upon Emily's shoulders. Within seconds, and way before Emily could even think of reacting, they were both gone.

Katain hit the ground hard on her stomach, reaching out frantically into the emptiness where Emily had just stood. Liz screamed out again and again, joined by Maria's cries behind her.

Angelique and Larek were both up on their feet instantly. Max was running breathlessly, still in shock at seeing her, here... and now. He ran with all his might to the outfield. He felt as though weights were shackled to his ankles. Tears blindly filled his eyes.

Michael managed to pass by him. It seemed to Max that it had taken forever, but he finally managed to reach Liz just in time to grab at her arm, slowing her fall to her knees on the ground along side of Katain.

"NOO!" Liz screamed out again, bending both arms up and over her head in utter disbelief. She rocked back and forth as she knelt there.

Lucas came running around the corner of the barn, just in time to see Nicole fainting to the ground.


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John and Max sat alone in the study. The sun had set only hours before, leaving a strange orange glow in the room. The mood of the room was a solemn one.

A slight knock came at the door, as Larek quietly entered, closing the door behind him. "She's sleeping," he said, referring to an emotionally crushed Nicole. "And uhh.. I thought you two should probably know, Lucas has left. He's taken Kal's jeep. Kal's none to happy about that, the jeep I mean," Larek said quietly.

"Well, we all saw that one coming," Max replied, "he was a ticking time bomb. I hope he finds a life with his conscience somewhere out there in this world."

Larek took the empty chair by the desk next to Max. The three sat silent, until Michael finally entered the room. "Sorry," he apologized for his lateness. "Sierra's still pretty upset. Maria and Liz just got her settled down. I didn't want to leave them alone." Again an unnatural quiet filled the air, it was almost suffocating to the four men sitting there.

John looked up at Max, who at first hesitated, but then simply nodded his head twice signaling back to him. John picked up the phone and dialed. "Yes," he said into the receiver. "I need to talk to Evan Prost. Tell him John Brown is calling, and we have a Stage 4 emergency."


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EPILOGUE

*words by Cat Stevens

~ It's not time to make a change, just sit down take it slowly
You're still young, that's not your fault, but there's so much you have to go through.
Find a girl, settle down, if you want you can marry
Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy.

All the times that I've cried,
Keeping all the things I knew inside
It's hard, but it's harder to ignore it.
If they were right, I'd agree,
But it's them they know..not me.
There's a way and I know that I have to go away.
I have to go.~


It was dark and Max stood alone on his old front steps at the house on Murray Lane. He could hear the television still on inside, and he imagined his mom lying half asleep on the sofa as she always did this time of the night. He knew his dad would be in the kitchen, catching up on all the news in the day's newspaper. Funny how some people read their paper first thing in the early morning hours. His dad had always done it differently..

He looked around him there, outside the house where he'd grown up. The rhododendrons were blooming, as they had every year at this time in all their deep purple radiance. Even in the darkness here tonight, they seemed to illuminate the front of the house. The house… he thought to himself. This was the place that he had called home for thirteen years.

He remembered back when he had first come here from the orphanage. He and Isabel had been so excited, yet he had always felt so lost… and always apprehensive about what would lay ahead for both of them here in their new life. He had little idea back then. If nothing else they had been two hopeful children then. And now? Isabel was gone, and he was about to weave a story for the sake of their parents.

He could never tell them the truth about it all. No, especially not now after the events of the last week, most especially after the events of just the last six hours of his life. They would never be able to accept it all now, nor would they be able to understand any of it quick enough.

It was changing, this life of his; yet again. He was even now so apprehensive about all that was yet to come, just as he had been on that first day he had walked through this door so many years before. But he had to tell them something, even now standing just outside the door, he wasn't sure just what. He was here to say goodbye to two wonderful people who had been so very special in his life up to the here and now... people that would always remain special to him… always.

He slowly raised his arm and knocked lightly before turning the knob and slowly entering the place he had once called home.


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It was sunrise, and Liz was glad they had decided to come out here and do this. It was beautiful at the quarry at this time of the early morning hours. The morning light was magically changing right before their eyes, signaling a brand new day for both of them... for all of them.

Maria held a clear glass bottle in front of her, while Liz carefully rolled up the small white paper in her hands, sticking it carefully down deep into the bottle. After much thought the two dear friends had only come up with one written word…one word that said it all.

Taking a small cork plug from her jean jacket pocket, Liz secured it into the neck of the bottle. The two best friends stood holding hands as the light continued to change, growing brighter and stronger over the horizon before them. "Shouldn't we say something?" Maria asked softly.

Liz shook her head. "Everything we needed to say is on this paper... in this bottle, Maria." This was about leaving go of everything that had come before.

She knew that in just a short time she would have to do just that. A big part of Liz Parker, and even of Liz Parker-Evans, would need to be left behind; for how long, she had no way of knowing. A chill ran through her as the word forever came to mind. The Liz and Max of the past, the magic of their first meeting and of everything that had made them Max and Liz of Roswell, New Mexico... all their trials and all their soulful battles. All that would fade now, fade away into only memory. That's why she and Maria had come here, she reminded herself. A small gesture, so that maybe all that had come before would never be forgotten.

"Here, you do the honors, Maria," Liz said handing the bottle over to her dear friend. They had shared so very much together over the years behind them. All the incredible changes that they had both been through, and yet still they had stayed steadfast and loyal to each other. And Liz knew one other thing; that no matter what was to come now, no matter how dangerous… or how wondrous this stepping off place was to be for them all, she knew that Maria would be fighting right by her side, in whatever they were to find ahead of them.

"Ooh, Liz. No. I just can't… I don't think I can." Maria said quietly as tears started. She grabbed Liz's hand in a tighter grip.

"Don't cry Maria," Liz squeezed her hand. "We will not cry," she tried very hard to convince herself of her own words.

Liz paused a moment before stepping back and throwing the bottle out with all of her might. They watched in the surrealness of slow motion, as the sunrise glinted off the glass in a way that seemed to illuminate it from the inside out, sending it glowing and splashing into the very deep blue water below.

They both stood there for a few minutes, saying nothing at all.

"Come on, Maria," Liz said finally, putting her arm around her best friend. As they both began to walk away, Liz found herself wiping absentmindedly at the wetness on her cheeks.

Puffing up her chest, Maria cleared her throat as best she could and tried hard to see through her own tears. She held her chin a little higher, "Let's roll." She smiled and nodded to Liz. "Ava and Zan are going home."






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Other lives...other worlds...
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