Roswell Fanatics

Lindsay, I love the poem. I think you should leave all your feedback in poem form now.

Ok, so by "this weekend" I really meant "next Thursday". You forgive me, right? Hope you guys like this next part...and remember: things are not always as they seem. Muahahaha...

Part 70

Khivar is concerned. He stands in front of the large, heavy door that leads to his son’s quarters. Since the hybrids arrived, Zellock has been keeping more and more to himself. Granted, his son has spent the majority of his life out of the public eye. It’s been a necessity. One that might have become too much for his son.

Pressing the com, Khivar says, “Zel, may I enter?” Khivar knows he doesn’t really need to ask, he could have the door opened. But he prefers to be invited in. There’s a long pause before Khivar hears the hiss of the lock disengage.

He enters the large room and the door quickly closes behind him. His son’s quarters are very luxurious. He has everything he could ever want or need. Khivar envies him…his solitary life.

“Come for your obligatory visit?” Zellock steps into the main room and Khivar is struck, as he always is, by how much Zellock takes after his mother. The way he holds himself. His ability to make it seem a gift to be in his presence is one he inherited solely from her.

“Do I actually need a reason to visit my own son?” Khivar walks to the balcony that overlooks the vast fields between the palace and the rebel city. The suns have finally gone down and lights are twinkling throughout the ever-darkening night.

Zel doesn’t say anything. He’s always been quiet. Like he spends more time taking things in. The unfortunate boy has just never been very eloquent.

“I just received word that we’re having a visitor soon. I came to ask you to join us,” Khivar says, trying to communicate his sincerity.

“The hybrids are coming again, I suppose.” Zellock doesn’t try to hide the disgust in his voice. “And what would be the point in my presence? I have no wish to indulge you in your sick self-satisfaction and mockery.”

Khivar turns to face his son. “I mearly thought…”

“You thought wrong,” Zel interrupts him.

“Would it matter if I told you it was Vilondra? And that she will be alone?” Khivar asks, seeing the instant curiosity in his son.

Zel doesn’t say anything for a moment. He seems almost ready to agree, but instead raises his chin slightly and says, “No. It wouldn’t.”

Before Khivar can say anything else, Zel walks toward the other room and says, “You can see yourself out.”

~~~~~~~~~~

With a hand protectively resting on her stomach, Liz watches the passing scenery slow until they stop at a busy area that looks much like an airport. “What is this place?”

Cal turns to both of them and says, “Liz will be safe with them. It’s the only option right now.”

“With who?” Max asks, ready to shoot down any crazy idea Cal has of sending Liz away.

“The outworlders.” Cal holds his hand up to stop Max from saying anything and continues, “Your father’s brother rules them. He will provide save passage for Liz.”

“But, I was told the outworlders are the skins. Don’t they want me dead?” Max protests.

“Who told you that?” Shaking his head, Cal says, “Nevermind. We don’t have time. Some skins do live outworld, others live on Illyad.” He looks out toward what looks like an airfield and Liz follows his gaze.

She sees several large ships, if that’s what they should be called. They look a little bit like what she would expect a spaceship to look like. All smooth metal and sophisticated contours, she turns to Cal and asks, “What’s happened? Why the sudden escape?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Max demands, not liking any of this. Liz can see that he’s unraveling and seconds away from blowing up.

“I don’t know, ok? But I know something is going on. And I know that Liz isn’t safe anymore. That’s all that’s important right now, right?” Cal challenges Max, clearly not prepared for long drawn out explanations.

Pausing, reluctantly agreeing that Cal is right, Max asks, “So these outworlders…my father’s brother…how can you be sure we can trust them?”

“He left this planet after your death in protest of Khvar’s rule. He and your father were close. You can trust him. I contacted him before I picked you up and he knows Liz is coming.”

“We’re coming. If Liz is going, so am I,” Max says. “You can’t think that I’m just gonna send her off to a strange place alone? No way.”

“What about the others?” Liz asks, voicing her concern about those they left behind.

Cal doesn’t answer her immediately and she glances at Max, worried. “We should go back and get them.”

“I doubt they’re there. Look, I told you I don’t know what’s going on. My job is to protect you and that’s what I’m doing. After you leave, I’ll go back and see who I can find. But you should prepare yourselves for the worst.” Cal opens the door then and gets out, expecting them to follow.

Liz has a hand over her mouth, horrified at the thought. “Max, we just…we left them. We should go back.”

Max looks out toward the various ships parked in front of them, busy aliens tending to their service and he glances back at Liz. The words Cal said about Liz being in danger are reverberating in his head. If Cal is right, Liz shouldn’t be here. And there’s no way he’s sending her anywhere alone. But then he thinks about Isabel…Michael…Ava and Zan. Where are they? Have they been killed? If he stays and goes back, will he be killed or captured as well? Then Liz would be alone.

But how can he leave his sister? Michael? Feeling torn in two, all he can imagine is what kind of horrors Isabel and Michael may be going through right now. He would never be able to live with himself if anything happened to him because he left them here. But then he looks at Liz, his heart and soul…his life…and fear forms as a heavy ball in his stomach at the thought of sending her off to the unknown alone.

Making a decision, he reaches out his hand and helps Liz from the car. “Who do you trust more than anyone?” he asks Cal.

“Myself,” he answers, before continuing when Max gives him an impatient look. “Warek. As Larek’s liaison on this planet, he’s proven himself to be trustworthy. But he won’t leave to escort Liz offworld.”

“I don’t want him to go with Liz. I want you to go with Liz,” Max says and feels Liz move closer to him and grip his hand tighter.

“You’re not planning on staying here and going after the others, are you?” Cal clearly thinks this is the worst plan ever.

“With Warek’s help, yes. You will go with Liz and make sure she’s safe.” Max delivers this with a steady voice as he looks directly at Cal, making sure he knows this is an order.

~~~~~~~~~~

Michael watches the palace get closer and closer from his position in the transport. His two captors haven’t said anything to him since they paralyzed him and stuffed him in here. He’s never felt so helpless in his life. And at the moment he’s feeling the bitter irony of driving through the large gates to the inner palace grounds.

It was these exact gates, the same heavy iron and stone fence that he and Zan stood outside of a few weeks ago. He wanted to get inside so badly. Well, he got what he wanted. Not exactly the way he was picturing it in his head, but beggars can’t be choosers, right?

As the car eases around to the side of the palace, Michael guesses they won’t be going in through the front doors. He thinks about Isabel and is thankful that at least they didn’t get her, too. Isabel will be able to tell Max what happened when he gets back and they can mount a rescue. Of course, he’s counting on Isabel to have heard something.

They come to a stop and he’s shoved out of the car and through a small side door in the building. He doesn’t get much time to look around. Plus, he’s lying down on some kind of floating stretcher because he can’t move. So his view’s slightly distorted.

Inside, it’s eerily silent and he starts to really wonder if these aliens communicate telepathically and just never told them. He watches the walls and ceiling and think that it looks like they’re going through the lower bowels of the palace. And he starts thinking…remembering things that were off. Where were their guards? They usually have a couple of guards posted around their quarters outside at all times. He didn’t see any guards when they shoved him into the car.

Obviously, the shapeshifters have decided Max is the enemy. Or there’s a group of shapeshifters that have splintered off from the rest. He remembers Isabel saying Cal came by earlier to see Max. Did Cal know? Did he take Max and Liz somewhere? To keep them safe? Or not?

And where in the hell were Zan and Ava? The further they go, the deeper into the palace, the questions in Michael’s head are replaced with thoughts of Maria. He never thought it would go down like this. He thought he’d be fighting, defending the downtrodden, giving justice back to people who deserve it. Being trapped like a rodent and taken prisoner was not the scenerio he envisioned for the end of his life.

Maybe he should have sent a longer message to Maria.

He’s jolted out of his thoughts when a door opens and they unceremoniously dump him on the floor and close the door behind him. Lying helplessly on his stomach, the cold stone pressed against his cheek, all he sees are shadows. He’s in a cell.

“Don’t worry, it’ll wear off.” Michael jolts in surprise, well not really jolts since he can’t move, but he’s surprised to hear that he’s not alone. “That’s some nasty shit. I just hope you don’t go pissin’ yourself cuz we’re in tight here. Don’t know if I could deal with that smell.”

“Zan, shut up! Michael, don’t listen to him,” Ava says. “You’ll be fine in a little while. I guess they got you at the house. They got us earlier this morning.”

Ava and Zan help him into a sitting position on the floor and Michael feels like a rag doll. Especially when he keeps leaning to the side, threatening to end up back on the floor, until they get him sitting up correctly. He tries to roll his eyes, but it goes unnoticed.

“So where’s Max?” Zan asks but Ava slaps his arm.

“He can’t answer you.” Turning to Michael, she says, “Just blink once for no, twice for yes. Can you do that?”

He blinks twice and she nods, crossing her legs Indian style in front of him. “Did they get Max, too?”

No blinks.

“Was Max home when they grabbed you?”

One blink.

“Ok, so either Max and Liz went somewhere, or they’ve already been taken.” Ava muses to herself and asks Michael, “Isabel?”

One blink.

“They didn’t take her?”

One blink.

“Where’s Max? What about Liz?” Zan asks this irritably but all Michael can do is stare at them. He’s waiting for them to ask the right questions, but he can’t tell them they left with Cal. Do Zan and Ava know what’s going on? All he can do is wait. Hopefully this paralysis will go away soon.

“Are they together?” Ava asks, sensing that Michael wants to tell them something more.

Two blinks.

“So they left the house together. With someone?”

Two blinks.

Ava starts to get excited and asks, “Larek?” One blink. “Cal?” Two blinks. “Well shit, Cal’s a shapeshifter, he could be in on this whole thing.”

Zan sits next to Ava after looking through the small window in the door. “Here’s what we know. The shapeshifters are rebellin’ against Khivar. We don’t know why. But we kinda get the feelin’ we were brought here for our safety, not as prisoners. Don’t know much more than that, though.”

Michael thinks about what Zan’s said. If that’s true, then why would Cal leave with just Max and Liz? Where is he taking them? Is Cal even on their side anymore? And what the fuck are the sides?

“We got ourselves dumped in the middle of a shitstorm, man,” Zan says as he leans back and looks toward the door again.

~~~~~~~~~~

She tries not to gape at the enormity of it. The stone entryway they pass through is at least five stories high and looks as if it’s been there for a very long time. As if reading her thoughts, she can see the solid granite twinkling as they pass. The history of this place calls to her like nothing she’s known before. She feels a strong sense of déjà vu as they near the palace.

The huge stone staircase looms before her as she gets out of the vehicle and instantly feels the heat from the suns on her back. She’s not sure, but it feels like the suns have been getting hotter and hotter since they’ve been here. She thought they’d get more used to it by now. But she definitely hasn’t.

As she’s led up the stairs, she sees an alien waiting for her at the top to meet her. “Welcome.” He bows his head. “Follow me, please.”

Isabel thanks him and follows him through the huge double door entryway into a grand forum. She imagines Max walking through here and reacting just as she is to the enormity and opulence of it all. No doubt he was intimidated, like her, by the elaborate stone work and intricate designs conveying that many years and a lot of wealth went into the creation of just this entry forum.

Ignoring the pointed looks from the aliens around her, Isabel leans her head back in order to take in the grand scope of the building. The ceiling is so far up that she can barely see the artistry of it. Ringing the walls are what looks like walkways from higher floors of the building that overlook the cavernous forum that makes up the entryway.

Spilling over the edges are what look like plants and flowers, some of them seeming to glow from within and casting a warm glow over the stone walls.

“This way, please.” Her wonderment is cut short by the alien leading her. Having apparently waited long enough for her to take in her surroundings, he seems to be impatient.

As he leads her through a series of wide hallways, she’s reminded of an office building. If it weren’t for the aliens she could almost imagine she was in any ordinary building in Manhattan.

“What’s your name?” she asks the alien in front of her.

“Bentrel,” he answers shortly.

His gaze lingers on her a few long moments after he gives his name and she gets the feeling he’s expecting her to recognize him. But when she only smiles at him, he turns around and continues leading her down a long hallway.

Isabel’s heart starts pounding harder as they approach a large door at the end of the hallway. Is Khivar behind that door? What has she gotten herself into? The longer she’s inside the palace, the more uneasy she feels. Unable to pinpoint the source of her uneasiness, she tries to push it aside as Bentrel ushers her through the formidable wooden door.

Watching Bentrel leave and shut the door behind him, she catches a glimpse of someone at the other end of the hallway. An alien, yet she feels a sense of recognition. Whoever it is, she loses sight of them as the door closes behind her guide.

“Isabel.” She hears a voice behind her and she turns slowly to face Khivar. She knows it’s Khivar even though she’s never met him. Not in this life, anyway. “I learned from your brother that you prefer your human names.”

“Yes.” She nods slowly and studies the alien in front of her. He’s standing next to a large desk and she really can’t see anything distinguishing about him. He looks like every other alien on this planet. “Thank you.”

“I must say that I was pleasantly surprised when I received word you were on your way here to see me.” Khivar moves toward a small table displaying bottles of various sizes and colors.

“You didn’t expect me to accept your invitation?” Isabel asks, wondering again at the point to this meeting.

He turns to face her then and she finds it impossible to read any emotion on his face. But he seems taken aback, surprised and at a loss for words. He quickly recovers, though, and she wonders if surprise was what she really saw.

“I admit, I was not expecting it.” His words seem to hold a double meaning and Isabel suddenly takes her odd feeling more seriously.

Something strange is going on here and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see this incredible palace. The history intrigues me.”

Khivar nods and motions her toward the door. “Then allow me to give you a tour.”

She was hoping he would offer. Right now, getting out of this office is her top priority. Maybe as she tours the palace, she can figure out what’s going on and why she has this strange feeling that Khivar isn’t the one who invited her here.

~TBC~

Ok, so everyone needs to grab onto their panties and keep your jaws off the floor. Because I have an update! It only took me 4 months! Thank you to all who have had the patience to stick with me so long and through many many lags. I hope to get you your next update before December. I'm taking this pact with Kath very seriously, you know.

So thank you for all the feedback! I hope it's worth the wait! *smooches*

Current score:
Kath = 2
Angel = 1


Part 71

He can’t believe he left her. The possibilities of what could happen are spinning through his mind and causing adrenaline to shoot through his body like never before. He needs to calm down and be at peace with the decision he just made. If not, he’s going to get himself killed. Then what good will he be to anyone?

But if anything were to happen to Liz… No, he can’t even consider that. “Jesus, get a grip,” he mutters to himself in disgust as he gets the hang of driving on an alien planet.

After three near-accidents, he finally reaches the rebel city and slowly makes his way to their quarters. He feels the car bump into something as he tries to stop it and curses before getting out to inspect the damage. It’s not too bad. He’s just parked half on a walkway and half in the road. Shrugging, he looks around for Warek who is supposed to be meeting him here.

The streets seem quiet as he waits. Too quiet. He already knows things aren’t as they should be. There are no guards standing outside their door. Tai, the only guard he’s really become comfortable with, is not at his usual post and that worries Max. He’s gotten to know the taciturn guard and knows that Michael had formed a kinship with him. Max fears the worst for their friend.

“Max Evans.” Max spins around and recognizes Warek by the triangular emblem on his arm. He’s learned over the weeks that leaders wear triangles, and soldiers wear circles. The shapeshifters also wear emblems, a sun-shaped patch with a symbol in the middle. Cal, as the king’s protector, has a unique symbol. It matches the one his golden statue wore in the Hall of Kings, only smaller. “We should go inside,” Warek says and quickly ushers Max through the door.

As they step inside, Max immediately rushes upstairs in search of Isabel. She’s the last person he saw before Cal came for them. She has to be here. But when he reaches the hallway where all the bedrooms are, he knows that there’s no one in this building besides himself and Warek. Just to make sure, he pushes all the doors open as he walks. Each one revealing the empty room behind.

“Where’s Larek?” Max asks as he enters the living room where he left Warek.

“On Illyad meeting with Sero,” Warek answers quickly. “Do you wish me to contact him?”

“Yes. I want to talk to both of you, alone,” Max says as he glances around the room, searching for surveillance devices.

“Then I suggest we relocate,” Warek says and makes his way to the door, assuming Max will follow him.

Max glances around the house he’s gotten so used to over the weeks and gets the feeling it will be the last time he sees it. Before leaving, he rushes up to the room he shares with Liz and searches through their things. What he’s looking for isn’t there, so he breathes a sigh of relief and joins Warek.

Outside, Warek pointedly looks at the car Max haphazardly parked and says, “Might I suggest that I drive?”

“I think that’s an excellent idea,” Max answers, embarrassed to see that the car is covered in wet grass that’s hanging off the bottom in messy green clumps.

Once they’re on their way, Warek pulls out an oval communication device from the dashboard and makes arrangements to meet Larek. They both seem aware that there’s a situation and Max is hoping they’ll have answers as to what exactly the situation is.

And that’s the entire problem right there. Ever since he arrived on this planet, he’s felt that everyone but him has all the answers. Right now, he’s beyond the point of really caring. He just wants everyone safe.

~~~~~~~~~~

She feels curious gazes trained on her as Cal leads her toward a nearby ship. Everything has happened so quickly that she feels uncomfortable with the series of rash decisions that have been made. Going off world with Cal, Max going back to the rebel city by himself…she has a sick feeling that they’ve made a horrible mistake.

“Are you sure we should be doing this?” she asks Cal. “Are you sure we’ll be safe up there?”

“No,” Cal answers in his characteristic way.

She rolls her eyes and hesitates briefly before struggling up the steps leading inside the ship she assumes will whisk her away. Her pregnancy is just beginning to be uncomfortable and unwieldy and she grimaces as she realizes she has to go to the bathroom again.

“But you’ll be safer up there than you will be down here,” Cal adds as they move down a corridor that opens up to what looks like the flight deck.

Cal points Liz toward a chair and she sees three aliens turn around in their seats to look at her. She tries to smile and hears Cal tell them to get back to work. Before long, her stomach drops as the ship takes off. It doesn’t take long for them to clear the atmosphere and the view to change to darkness outside the windows.

Her only other space flight was in the Granolith on the way here and she didn’t see anything other than darkness. But now, spread out before her, are thousands of stars framing a magnificent orange moon. In times like this, she’s wished she had a camera to capture the beauty of this planet and the things she’s seen. Although she knows she’ll never forget any of it.

Looking closer at the rapidly approaching moon, she sees that there’s a structure between their ship and the moon that looks like some sort of large space station. When she was younger she saw pictures of the International Space Station but this is nothing like the one orbiting around Earth. This is huge and the closer they get to it the more impressed she is by its size.

“Beta class two requesting permission to dock,” the pilot says, which gets Liz’s attention. She subconsciously grabs the smooth material of the chair she’s sitting in as if bracing for a landing. When she realizes what she’s doing, she loosens her grip and glances sideways at Cal. Of course he’s watching her and as usual, his expression is unreadable. She has the feeling he’s laughing inside at her, though.

“You are cleared for docking port F67,” a voice echoes from the control panel. “Do you have any contaminants on board?”

There’s a long pause and Liz knows the pilot is thinking of her. Finally he responds. “Negative. No contaminants.”

As the ship rumbles and the sounds of the engines scream as they pull them toward the massive structure floating in space, Liz watches and waits for the sound of metal slamming against metal that she somehow knows must be coming. But it doesn’t. It takes her a few moments to realize that they’re docked and she never even felt it.

She feels a change in the air and hears the sound of a door opening. Who will be waiting on the other side? Will she be met with curiosity, or disdain? Sighing, she stands and turns to follow Cal toward the back of the ship and the open doorway leading her to the Outworlders.

Expecting more cold metal and dingy corridors reminiscent of old Alien movies she watched as a kid, she’s taken completely off guard by the reality and her steps falter. As she clears the doorway and takes her first step onto the space station, her mouth falls open and her eyes widen in shock. No, this is not what she was expecting at all.

~~~~~~~~~~

It doesn’t take long for Michael’s paralysis to wear off. When he feels his legs and arms start to tingle, he struggles to stand up and walk around the small room in an effort to restore his limbs to full use.

“We need to get out of here,” he says to no one in particular. Zan and Ava have also stood and the three of them gather around the door, instinctively knowing this is probably their only way out.

“Maybe the door is unlocked, we never even tried,” Ava offers as she moves to grab the handle of the door.

Zan rolls his eyes. “Right, like they gonna just leave the door unlo…” His mouth falls open as he stares, dumbfounded, at the now open door.

Ava steps back and gives Michael and Zan a triumphant look. “What would you do without me?”

“Why would they just leave it open?” Michael wonders suspiciously. “It doesn’t make sense to kidnap us then throw us in an unlocked room.”

Zan takes a step forward and says, “Well, I ain’t stayin’ here to figure it out. Let’s go.” He takes a cautious look outside the cracked door and sees nothing but an empty hallway so he hesitantly opens the door wider and steps out.

Michael and Ava follow silently and they make their way toward what they hope is an exit. Along the way, they pass several closed doors, most with what they assume is some sort of one-way glass. Most of the rooms are empty, but they see a few scattered occupants. All aliens.

“Keep an eye out for the others,” Michael whispers and they scatter across the wide hallway to better view the rooms on either side while still trying to keep an eye in front and behind them for any surprise visitors.

About halfway down, they come to a smaller passageway that branches off to the left. Not even hesitating, Michael turns and sees that the small hallway turns again a few feet down. As he quickly and cautiously makes his way around many turns and decoy dead ends, he starts thinking it’s some sort of maze he’ll never return from.

Suddenly, the route ends and he thinks it’s another dead end at first. But as he’s turning, he catches a glimpse of movement from the corner of his eye and turns back around. The wall in front of him looks like any other wall in this place. Cold, hard stone. He concentrates for a moment, then sees the barest flutter of movement and he places his palms on the stone and concentrates.

When the mirage completely disappears, he finds himself standing only inches away from an alien on the other side of the now transparent wall. He stumbles back a couple of steps and starts to turn to run. But something about the way the alien is holding its hands up to the glass that Michael interprets as pleading.

He hesitates a moment. He’s not here to rescue any aliens. He needs to find his family and get out of here. But he can’t resist this unexplainable pull toward the alien in front of him.

“Come on!” He hears Zan’s echoing whisper ricocheting off the stone corridor. “What are you doing?”

Michael glances back in the direction he came from before turning back around and searching the wall for some kind of seam or handle. It doesn’t look like a door, just a wall of glass. He’s not sure if his powers will do any real damage here, but he motions for the alien to step back further into the room and he raises his hand toward the wall.

Concentrating, letting the power build inside him for as long as he can, he lets loose a blast of power that he hopes is enough to shatter the glass. It’s not. He manages to just crack it in the middle, but raises his hand for another shot. If this doesn’t do it, he’s going to have to leave. The use of power is surely going to attract attention here.

Aiming once again, he sees the alien inside close its eyes moments before he lets go with another blast. This time, it’s enough to create a three foot hole in the middle. Both he and the alien survey the damage and apparently the alien decides it’s enough to get out. It reaches up toward Michael as he thrusts his arms though the hole and grasps its arms.

He’s never been this close in physical proximity to one of the aliens and it unsettles him for a split second as he carefully pulls the small being carefully through the small opening in the glass. When the alien is cleared, he lowers it to the ground to stand on its own.

“Thank you,” the alien says and from its voice, Michael guesses it’s a female.

“Who are you?” he asks and turns to go back the way he came, expecting the alien to follow.

When he doesn’t hear an answer, he glances back at the alien and raises his eyebrows in question. She’s still following him, but just not answering his question. A strange, nagging feeling starts invading the back of his mind and he feels like he has to know who this alien is. He gets the feeling she’s someone he knows very well.

Impatient, he stops and turns toward her and she apparently thinks he’s about to attack because she throws her suddenly glowing hands up in front of her in a defensive posture. In response, he automatically throws his hand up toward her and says more forcefully, “Tell me who you are.”

The alien hesitates and seems to look Michael up and down before finally saying, “My name is Serena.”

~~~~~~~~~~

It’s a Friday afternoon and as Alex’s last class of the day ends, his gaze drifts to the windows of his classroom. He’s barely aware of the noisy sound of retreating students, most chattering about their weekend. His summer semester classes are usually more casual and on Fridays he likes to let class out early.

But his thoughts aren’t on his class, they’re on the upcoming weekend…and Maria. Sighing loudly, he turns from the window and starts gathering various papers and memory cards scattered across his desk. Maybe if he concentrates on grading these programming assignments hard enough, he won’t think about her. Because he can’t think about her. That way lies guilt, horrifying guilt.

For weeks he’s though about it. Really, he’s thought of little else. The only conclusion he can come up with is that because of the pregnancy, his inner caveman is coming out and insisting he have protective feelings toward Maria. And maybe he’s confusing those intense protective feelings for something else. Something more than friendship.

To anyone on the outside, they would appear to be the perfect domestic couple. She cooks dinner, he accompanies her on shopping trips, they go to movies and plays. Basically, they do everything together. This domesticated trap they’ve fallen into could be another explanation for these new flutters in his stomach when he thinks about her or sees her.

She’s completely oblivious, of course, to the fact that he’s trying to avoid her more and more. Or that he closes his bedroom door at night in an effort to keep her from slipping into his bed at night. To her, it’s an innocent gesture meant to ward off their loneliness. To him, it’s torture. He ends up awake and frustrated all night with a raging hard-on that he tries to hide by always sleeping with his back to her. And his torture increases when she ends up pressed to his back, spooning him as his skin shivers at the feel of the little puffs of breath that escape her mouth and tickle his neck while she sleeps.

He loves Isabel! These burgeoning feelings for Maria are not real! And Michael. God, he can only imagine the ass kicking he’d get from Michael if he knew what was going on in Alex’s head.

“Hey, what’d those books ever do to you?” A voice from the doorway startles him and he looks up, suddenly aware that he’s been violently shoving papers and books into his bag. He also has the embarrassing realization that he was angrily mumbling to himself while he did it.

Taking a deep breath, he relaxes his tense features and says, “Hey, what are you doing here?” He can’t control himself as his gaze sweeps over the white sundress she’s wearing, down her much larger breasts and over the bump that’s been growing more and more each day. Her small feet are decorated with jeweled sandals and he notices that she’s just had a pedicure. He quickly glances back to his desk in private shame before looking her in the face once again.

Noticing that she looks flushed from the heat, he springs into action and grabs a bottle of water from the mini fridge he keeps under his desk. “Here, sit down. You look like you’ve had too much of the heat outside.”

He guides her to his chair and perches on the side of the desk, watching as she gulps down half the water. “Thanks. I was uh…yeah, it’s pretty warm outside.”

He quirks up an eyebrow in question, still wondering why she came here. Usually on Fridays, they have an early dinner at home before going to see a movie. “So…”

She shrugs and says, “I just thought I’d walk home with you today. I was bored.”

“Maria, it must be at least 95 degrees out today. You need to…”

“Take better care of myself, I know, Dad,” she finishes with a smirk and an eyeroll.

“Just saying,” he shrugs and gathers his book bag. “Let’s go.” He puts his hand casually on her lower back to guide her toward the door before turning out the lights. “Did you want to do something different tonight?”

They make their way out off the building and into the intense heat and sunshine. Maria puts on her oversized sunglasses and grabs Alex’s arm. “I feel like…getting out of the city.”

He glances down at her and sees her watching him slyly with a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “Uh oh. I know that look and it’s never good. This isn’t going to involve a large man massaging me with hot stones while I’m lying naked on a table, is it?” He shudders as he remembers when Maria drug him to a spa for a weekend.

“Nope. But if you’d rather do that again, we can,” she teases and leans into him, turning he face up to his with a big smile.

“Uh…no.” He tries to put some distance between them when he feels her new curves press into his arm and hip. What does she think? That he’s made of stone?

On their way home, they stop in at Starbucks and get a friendly greeting from Joe. “Hey, you two!”

“Hey, Joe,” Alex says with a smile. “The usual, please.”

Joe rings them up and smiles at Maria. “You look beautiful and glowing, my dear. How’s the little one.” He nods toward her expanding waistline and smiles when her hand raises to cover it automatically. A move he’s seen his wife do countless times over the years.

“The baby’s good, just making me fat.” She grimaces as she spreads her sundress out over her belly. “Look at that!”

Joe chuckles and passes their order down the line. “I always thought pregnant women are sexy,” he smiles and winks at Alex.

If Alex had been drinking anything at the moment, it would now be spraying out over the counter. Instead, he smiles back and shrugs, avoiding looking at Maria for fear she’ll read him like an open book.

“Right,” Maria drawls and rolls her eyes, not noticing Alex’ discomfort.

They collect their Frappacinos and say goodbye to Joe before stepping back out into the heat. If possible, Alex thinks it must have gotten even hotter since they stopped in for their drinks. He hopes that whatever Maria has in mind for the weekend involves lots of air conditioning.

That night, after a small dinner and no answers from Maria about where they’re headed early the next morning, Alex slips out of bed as quietly as he can hoping he doesn’t wake Maria up and he climbs up to the roof.

There’s a lounge chair up here that some other resident in the building uses for sunbathing during the day. He lays back and looks up at the stars…what few of them he can actually see through the light pollution. And he thinks about Isabel, hoping she’s safe and that she’ll be coming back soon.

~TBC~

Pigs do fly..Tinkerbell is alive because I believe..Bears do shit in the woods and God Damn..Angel has updated.
Now..I can understand Liz and Max being seperated. Maybe it's for the best right now. I'm a little stunned about Serena and the fact that Michael and the others were able to get out of the room they were in. Smells fishy though.
I never saw the twist coming with Alex and Maria, however. Well..it has been 4 months and he's missing Isabel..so maybe it's just displaced feelings being transmitted to Maria's close proximity.
As always, you bring us wonderful goodies. Please don't make us wait till Christmas for our next chapter.
*smooch* Angel, My Goddess.
Yes, Ma'am, I can kiss ass if necessary

<center>Angel, Get Yo' Lazy Ass Back</center>

Angel, get yo' lazy ass back
It's time you gots back on track
Last update wuz two months ago?
Don't make me cuts off yo' little toe
Like Michael Scofield. Like Michael Scofield.

Angel, get yo' lazy ass back
It's like yous Lost like Jack
'cept no Kate around to bug yo' ass
Hows 'bout an update, fast?
Before we all dead in our graves.
Before we all dead in our graves....

Oh my God, Lindsay, that poem. Heelarious! *snort* Like Michael Scofield, indeed. Sorry folks. As a lot of you know, I've become completely obsessed over Prison Break...going so far as to make a complete website that has now gotten out of control and is taking up mucho amounts of my free time. Here, let me pimp it.

PrisonBreak-Online

Anyhoodle, that's what I've been doing. No, I'm not abandoning this fic. I will finish it. I HAVE to finish it. I won't be able to rest or be free of this giant rock of guilt hanging around my neck until I finish it. I'm sure I've lost most of my faithful readers and I'm sorry for it. But thank you to those who have stuck around and for those of you still giving me nudges to get busy. It is much appreciated.

I'll finish it!! I swear! I swear on my big toe! Or Michael Scofield's pinky toe.

Don't get all excited...I'm just here to drop off some awards. Look at all the pretties Happenstance got this round! Thanks to all of you who voted for me, and for those of you who didn't, I hope you get crotch itch that never goes away.

Kidding.

Seriously, thank you all so much for sticking with me and being patient and giving me nudges from time to time. You are the best readers EVAH! *smooch*




Best Future Fic

Ok, I'm officially ashamed...



At least I tied with Kath, so we can be embarrassed together. *lol*

Hey hey hey! So I don't normally do this whole...pimping thing. Because it's kinda tacky. But since it's for FORGET, and not Happenstance, I thought I'd pimp away. For some odd and delightful reason, Forget got nominated for an award! Forget was my very first Roswell fanfic...way back in the day. Before indoor plumbing. So it holds a little place in my heart for that reason. I didn't have very many readers at the time, so I'm pretty sure not a lot of people know about it. And my writing style is certainly a lot less mature and developed than it is now. But I still think it's a good story.

So go check it out! It's so old it's in the archives. But you can find it though the link in my signature. Check out Ruins and Normal while you're there. Normal, BTW, is my absolute FAVORITE fic that I've written. A lot of people didn't like it when I first wrote it because it's not your traditional fluffy/happy ending type of fic. But it's the one I'm most proud of.

So there you go. Some reading to tide you over until I finish this thing. ENJOY!




ETA: I don't know whether to be happy or sad that this fic has over 150,000 views. I'll choose to be happy about it instead of extremely embarrassed that this fic has been around long enough to GET 150,000 views.