Unbreakable - A Beautiful Lie (AU M/L ADULT) COMPLETE 5/5/17 + A/N 5/5/19

[keepsmiling7]

Intrigue continues.....
Sean's powerful father will continue to be a force to be dealt with.
It's hard to watch the troubles between Maria and Liz. That just isn't right.
Michael did pull a Max by kidnapping.
Can't wait to see what happens next.
Carolyn

[Morning Dreamgirl]

It's gonna be Monday sooooonnnn! Yay!!

EDIT: And now it's like trying to go to sleep on Christmas Eve. You're not gonna leave us with a short chapter and a gut-wrenching cliffhanger right? Remember - you love us. Therefore you want us to feel happy happy joy joy. Right? Good.

[max and liz believer]

I just want to make a general shout out and thank you all so much for reading, for leaving me feedback, for being so understanding when my updates turn a bit more infrequent. I love to have you with me on this journey. You're the best, each and every one of you.

Thank you!

xx
Jo


Ashley (Morning Dreamgirl)

Gosh I love you! You just helped me postpone physical labor.

Sometimes I love to have (accidentally) impeccable timing

Umm... Jo? Where's the rest?? Gah!

It's coming... There was just a "delay"

Cliffhangers. I'm going to get you a t-shirt that says "Queen of Cliffhangers" on it. I expect you to wear it with pride.

I would sooo wear it. Really!

I'll put on a target on the back of it though.

Then again...

Well, well, well... So Philip wasn't aware that Michael was going to get Maria? Hmm... I have a feeling then that it was not something that was pre-approved. Michael actually likes Maria! I don't know who is going to be more shocked by that but I have a feeling that Max will be pretty high up on that list.

Your feeling is probably right. No. Philip was not aware of Michael's abduction plans. And for Michael (who always wants to please his superiors) to not get a green light before blowing both Liz's and the Evans family's covers and bringing Maria to a secret hide-out... Only something important would make him do that. Could it just be Maria?

Perhaps him inviting Liz to the party wasn't just to shock the "insignificant humans" or to try and "bed her" in the manner Max thinks he was attempting. But perhaps his first thought was to slowly integrate Maria into the alien society. And of course if Liz was there he probably thought that Max would be happy about it instead of acting the way he did. After all he had to know - or at least had a suspicion - that Max loved Liz.

Perhaps.

I am curious as to why the alien population would allow the Evans family to leave?

Okay. No one has "allowed" the Evans family to leave. The alien community is in upheaval at the moment. It's not really safe for anyone, even the ones that have not taken "a side" in this. There's no system to keep track on the going and coming of aliens any longer. And since the capture of Max - Philip's own flesh and blood - it would not come to a surprise to many to "assume" that Philip might join the rebels (if he wasn't already part of them) and hence "disappear" to avoid getting captured and punished by Command. Especially since there might be suspicions that he was part of rescuing Max and Liz.

The cover stories given to the humans (to the school, to the regular society, to workplaces) are mostly for humans. The cover stories are not for the aliens. They basically know what's going on. That the aliens who have "disappeared" are in some way part of the rebellion. Everything is done under the surface, to keep it secret from the human population, but since it's a whole community of aliens, they still know what's going on. To some degree. Then, of course, they don't know the details to where the "vanished" aliens are even if they can guess the reason behind their disappearances.

And something that always bothered me but that I never brought up: why do the Whitman's take so many trips?

I have an explanation for this. There is a reason for this, and it's not just vacation. But I'm not going to tell you just yet

I think when Liz finally is able to tell her the truth that it it it's going to heal a lot of their relationship.

It will certainly come as a shock for Maria. As it would for anyone. But Maria's a smart girl. An emotional and temperamental one, but still - she has a good head on her shoulders. Considering that she'll hopefully understand that Liz lied because she had to and not because she chose to, she'll hopefully come to "forgive" Liz for doing what she's done.

The Max and Maria dynamic will be an interesting one. He is still aloof to Maria because that is how he is always been with her. And his main goal is to keep Liz safe and happy. So if Maria and Liz are fighting, even if it's no one's fault, he's not really going to be welcoming her with open arms. It's just not his nature way to Liz is concerned. (Not that he dislikes Maria he's just more protective of Liz.)

You are so correct.

And lastly I'm curious as to why they are moving.

Aren't we all?

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And... I'm impressed at the early feedback

Eve (begonia9508)

I never thought that Maria would react this way, without even giving a thought of why Liz lied to her, all this times!

Maria is feeling abandoned and lied to. She's been settling into the idea that Liz might have just been away to grieve, but to find out that this might have been a lie completely surprises her. So her initial reaction is to be upset. She hasn't had a chance to analyze/consider this new information yet.

What is not clear to me is if Maria is alien or human like Liz is?

According to Liz's research, Maria is completely human. So we should stick to that. Plus, let's hope that Max would have told Liz if her best friend was alien. Especially after Liz found out that Alex was not human.

Thank you so much for the feedback!


L-J-L 76

How did Maria get there?

Michael brought her there.

Why is Maria there?

Maybe we'll get some answers to this in the next chapter.

Will Maria stay with Liz or leave?

At the moment, Maria might not have an option. She might be "forced" to stay.

Will Max and Liz practice their power thing? Will Max and Liz be ready for command?

They probably need to practice some more, but let's hope that they'll be "ready".

Will Max and Liz live through the war? Will Mr. Evans, Mrs. Evans, Michael, Maria, Alex and Isabel all live through the war.

I can't make any guarantees, but let's hope so.

Thank you so much for the feedback!


Natalie36

a pissed off maria is never good

Nope

Thank you


Helen (roswelllostcause)

Maria is none to happy. Now I got the feeling that she is going to be stuck with this group weather she likes it or not.

Your feeling might just be spot on. Maria might not have a choice but to stay right now.

Thank you for the feedback!


Carolyn (keepsmiling7)

Sean's powerful father will continue to be a force to be dealt with.

Just want to clarify something : Sean's father was the Sergeant (Steven Carter) and was killed alongside his son by Liz (or maybe the connection). Command is not related to Sean in any way. Because I presume that it's Command you're referring to in the above quote But yes, Command is a powerful force to deal with. Hence, why they need Liz and Max and their connection.

It's hard to watch the troubles between Maria and Liz. That just isn't right.

Hopefully, there'll be a change to this soon.

Thank you so much for the feedback!



From EIGHTY-EIGHT:

”I’ve missed you so much,” I whispered brokenly, biting into the inside of my bottom lip to prevent my own disintegration.

Emotion flashed over her face before she looked away. Towards the closed door. I could see the round shape of her tears as they slowly, singularly, rolled down the cheek that was facing me.

At her stoic behavior, I confessed softly, ”I can’t tell you why I didn’t say goodbye. Why I left so abruptly. It had to do with Sean and that whole thing I was trying to tell you about, but I’m not allowed to tell you much more than that.”

The corner of her mouth tightened in her profile as anger fell upon her again.

”I love you,” I said quietly, feeling exposed and vulnerable. I could almost see my bleeding heart pounding on the floor in front of her, completely exposed, expecting her to stomp angrily at it. ”I would never willingly leave without saying goodbye. Without giving you an explanation as to why.”

Maria turned her head in my direction, sadness in her eyes that infused me with hope. She was letting me see her. Just a glimpse, but it was still her. My best friend.


She opened her mouth to say something, my body already leaning forward to catch her every word, when Max opened the door.

His eyes immediately landed on me, scanning down my seated body, before he met Maria’s angry face. She hadn’t moved an inch. Not even at his sudden entrance.

Instead she was challenging him. To speak. To attack her. To…something.

Max quickly left her stubborn face and his eyes softened as they landed on my face again.

We have to move.

____________________________________

EIGHTY-NINE

His anxious order threw me for a spin. My questioning was understandably breathless, ”What?”

”What?” Maria echoed, sounding demanding and irritated at my question about nothing.

Max ignored her, closing the door behind him and stepping in front of the lock with his hand behind his back. It was not rocket science to figure out what he was doing, locking us into the room with his powers. It was only a second later that he steered his steps towards me, still not looking at Maria.

A quick glance in her direction told me that this annoyed her more than anything else. She was the newcomer here. The one that needed answers. And the one person that might possess those answers was completely ignoring her.

Maria’s life was threatened, Max explained.

”What?” I breathed and looked up into Max’s emotional eyes as he stopped in front of me reaching out to slowly roll a strand of my hair between his fingers.

Maria was staring at us. I could only assume that she was finding more and more questions rather than answers.

That’s why Michael brought her here.

I frowned, confusion fueling me with a mixture of irritation and a sense of feeling like I had missed something.

”Why would he make that decision?”

I knew why I would. But Michael was Michael. Michael barely protected the guy he was supposed to protect. He invited me and Maria to a dangerous party filled with aliens and he had never shown a tendency of warmth. Not to my knowledge, at least.

”I don’t know,” Max replied softly and I felt his own confusion now. But it was faint and brief in the pool of his fear that was easily, at our increased proximity, pulsating into me.

”What are you doing?” Maria interrupted.

For a second, I had forgotten that she was there. It didn’t take me long to realize that I had spoken out loud while Max had spoken to me telepathically. Meaning that our conversation had not only been one-sided but it had made Maria incredibly suspicious.

Max didn’t pay Maria any attention, his eyes still on me, as he let go of my hair and brushed his hand along the line of my jaw, making my body shiver in delight at that simple fleeting caress, before he turned away, took a sideway step and came to tower over Maria.

I opened my mouth to say something (without having a plan as to what), when Max beat me to it.

”Listen to me carefully.” His voice was even and controlled. Stern even. Making Maria immediately straighten, her scowl falling off her face. ”I’m sorry for what I’m about to say. I realize that this will come as a shock to you, but we don’t have much time.”

Maria stared at him silently, her face paling.

”You will see a lot of weird things during your stay with us, and it will all be explained eventually. For now, you need to know that Michael, my father, Isabel, Alex and I are all aliens. Extraterrestrials.”

My chin slowly dropped, opening my mouth in a perplexed ’O’, while I watched Maria react in the same exact way. His words might have caused Maria to laugh on any other occasion, but there was something about how Max said it. Something about the intensity of his stance, about the authority surrounding him, about the graveness to his voice, that made you not question a single word coming out of his mouth.

He would have been able to tell Maria that he was the Easter Bunny and she would have believed him.

”We are part of a secret society of aliens, having co-lived with humans since 1947, when our ships landed here. Some of us want to be integrated with humans and attempt to lead normal human lives. Others want to remain superior over humans, using humans any way they can to enhance their own race.”

He paused, looking over at me. I swallowed at the intensity of his eyes, at the barely concealed emotions swirling in his pools of amber. I saw Maria’s frightened look out of the corner of my eye as she turned to look at me as well.

She looked back at Max as soon as he let me go, the pause only lasting for one second. ”Liz is one of those methods my race use to become stronger. She’s, what we call, a gaea. So was her mom. So was her grandmother. According to my race, she is to be chronically harvested for her life energy. To sustain and support the growth of power of a chosen military man.”

Maria had paled to the shade of a corpse and I could feel my heart beat slowly in my chilled body.

”From the age of six, she has been promised to Sean Carter.”

I gasped, noticing the subtle flinch in Max’s body at the sound. I hadn’t known that. He had never told me that I was ’betrothed' at such a young age.

”During Liz’s upbringing, she’s been repeatedly tested on. Her blood has been taken by my father and her mind has been bent and erased by Sean. So that he could get to know her mind. I’ve been participating in these visits. My job…” For the first time since he had started this monologue of ’confessions’, Max’s voice wobbled and his guilt ripped through my abdomen, ”My job was to heal Liz. So that I would grow familiar with both her body and mind. How she works. To be able to heal her quickly were she to be depleted of her life energy by Sean in the future.”

I reached out and folded my fingers around his hand. Except the momentary wobble to his voice just now, his body language revealed nothing of the distress and anxiety I was drowning in, coming from him through the connection.

Maria’s eyes fell silently to my hand as I laced my fingers with Max’s. Her face was screaming with fear, her upper body unconsciously leaning away from us.

”When Liz was ready - physically and mentally - she was to have sex with Sean - voluntarily or not, to create the bond that would allow the energy to be transferred whenever Sean needed it. This is what happened to Liz’s mother. That taking of energy weakened Nancy, made her sick beyond our healing abilities, and started to affect her mentally. She was..” Max hesitated, licking his lips, before adding, ”…eliminated when it became clear that she was a threat to Liz.” His words sliced sharply through my heart. ”She was planning to kill Liz to save her daughter from a life serving aliens.”

Maria inhaled sharply, blinking large eyes to me. I wanted to reach out and grab her hand with my free one. But the distance in her body language stopped me.

”Being bonded to Sean, feeding him energy, might have resulted in the same mental instability in Liz. If his ’borrowing’ her energy didn’t kill her first.”

Max’s hand was warm in mine. I focused on that warmth. Focused on the slow stroke of his thumb over the hill of the knuckle to my thumb. His words were pulling out all of the monsters. They were lining up all around me, baring their teeth and growling menacingly. Waiting to pounce as darkness was creeping around behind those monsters, pulling the shadows closer.

”Liz was fatally injured when trying to save her mother from their burning house. The fire that was set to conceal Nancy’s already dead body.” He paused before stating his personal secret. ”I healed her.”

The memory of what he had done to me made the monsters take a step back, made the space of light around my body briefly expand.

”I had to form a connection to her mind to heal her. I never broke it. I was supposed to. Instead I had acquired the connection to her mind that Sean had been after.”

I could see Maria’s mind working, trying to put the pieces together. It was not an easy puzzle to assemble. The facts were science fiction while fear was standing right in front of you, asking you to trust him.

”The connection protected her from Sean. At least, until our council found out what I had done.”

His mouth set into a grim line as he said darkly - letting me know that he had heard our conversation, ”Liz didn’t say goodbye to you because she was being held captive at the hands of our leader. She was refused food. She was not allowed to sleep. She was beaten and mentally abused by both Sean and his father.”

Max was squeezing my hand so tightly that it was taking everything inside of me not to let out any sounds of pain, but his face still revealed nothing of the boiling anger inside of him.

”Sean attempted to rape her on several occasions and she was saved only by her own strength.”

And the connection, I added silently, making Max throw me a heated glance. 

He was still at war with the connection, apparently.

”Sean and his father are no longer alive.”

I was grateful that he didn’t tell Maria who was behind the death of those two.

The connection, Max readily corrected my guilt, but I could already feel the hot breath of the monsters breathing down my neck, nipping at my knees, brushing against my stiff back.

”But Command - our leader - wants to capture Liz and I to either use the strength of our connection as a weapon, or he aims to annihilate us altogether, to prevent his enemies from using us against him.”

Maria was trembling now, looking ready to faint.

”Command - who can basically kill with a well-directed thought - is now after you.”

I watched her break. I watched, millisecond by millisecond, Maria disintegrate into tiny pieces in front of me. I watched the trembles intensify, moving from her hands out into the rest of her body, before she stumbled to put her arms around her middle before her body would break in two.

”No…” Her voice was a faint imitation of a whisper. That broken barely there whisper was her first word since Max’s words most likely had shifted her whole world view.

The darkness was closing in around me, closing in around Maria.

I swallowed back my own fear and whispered, ”It’s all true, Maria.”

”Michael intercepted men who were about to break into your bedroom and he didn’t want to waste any time on consulting us first,” Max said, his voice gentle now. Careful. ”He wanted to get you out of there as soon as possible.”

Maria’s lip trembled as she looked up at Max. ”Why?”

Max hesitated. He obviously didn’t want to give her the same answer he had just given me. That he had no idea why Michael suddenly had decided that Maria’s life was worth saving. He couldn’t tell Maria that. Maria needed more. Maria needed comfort.

”Because he’s trying to do the right thing.”

And just like that, Michael had - in my eyes - stepped out of the shadows and joined the light. But while my opinion of Michael had improved, whatever the reason behind his actions might be, my friend was slowly disappearing next to me.

”Liz,” Max said gently, his eyes tracing Maria’s face. ”Go get Alex.”

Maria’s eyes snapped to my face and the first of her previously paralyzed tears rolled down her cheek as she with a trembling bottom lip, whispered fearfully, ”You’ve got Alex too?”

I felt Max’s eyes on my face as I failed to let Maria go with my own. ”Now, Liz.”

I inhaled sharply, as if sprung from a trance, and got off the bed.

”No,” I heard Maria croak at my impending departure.

Max’s voice was gentle, soothing as he mumbled, ”It’s okay.”

But his consoling had no effect on my best friend.

”Liz!” she screamed after me and my own tears tumbled down my cheeks as I struggled painfully to ignore her, and left the room in search of Alex.

I wouldn’t realize until later that in order to get out of the room, I had unconsciously unlocked the door which Max had previously sealed with his powers.

The lock that was basically password-protected with his genetic stamp.

*****

I found Alex in the common room.

Apparently, he had joined the rest of the group for the discussion about Maria’s future role in this whole thing, while I had been in the bedroom with Maria.

Six pairs of eyes flew to my face as I stormed into the common room, and Alex’s semi-controlled feelings slammed into me from across the room, making it easy for me to immediately pinpoint his location.

”Alex,” I got out breathlessly, while Michael shot from his chair and barked, ”What happened?!”

I ignored Michael. Sure, he might have just saved Maria’s life, but I was far away from being anything remotely close to nice to him already.

Alex was already moving towards me as I hurriedly explained, ”Max needs you, Alex.”

He came up really close to me and grabbed my arm. His eyes were large and worried as he hovered over me. ”How is she?”

Since we were a bit pressed for time, I dismissed his question with a shake of my head. ”Let’s go.”

He gave me a brief nod, his eyes scanning my profile as I turned to head back the way I came from. His concern about the situation, about our mutual friend, hung heavily from his many unanswered questions.

His feelings were so heavy that I had to stop him a couple of feet outside of the room and sharply order him to, ”Pull yourself together.”

His eyes widened in surprise; I could even feel his shock at my order rolling off him in waves.

”I can feel everything you’re feeling,” I said, forcing my stressed voice to soften. I knew that he couldn’t help it. He was worried sick about this whole situation. But he really couldn’t let his own feelings feed into Maria’s very real fear. ”And Maria doesn’t need to feel that. It’ll make matters worse.”

”Of course,” Alex said thinly, the annoyance at himself for losing control brushing my emotions, before he pulled back and I was left with only my own - and Max’s - feelings.

I took a deep breath, loosening the fists I hadn’t been aware of tightly clenching.

Experiencing the emotional span of two people (Max and I) was overwhelming enough. Experiencing the emotions from three people was draining.

My body tightened with fear as I prepared myself for what I would see when I pushed the door open.


TBC...

[Morning Dreamgirl]

Happy happy joy joy! A new part! Off to read. Who needs sleep? Not moi!

[Roswelllostcause]

So didn't expect Maria to not flip out over the fact that aliens are real! Hope Alex can help with Maria.




Helen

[Natalie36]

i love this story

[begonia9508]

Wow! For Maria, it was certainly the shock of her life!

It is one thing, saying that ''we are not alone in the world", but another one when the aliens are living with them and some are or were good friends!!

She will certainly not really believe it, I guess, maybe even needing proof for it!

Anyway, great new part and already waiting impatiently for more! EVE

[keepsmiling7]

Thought I left FB earlier, but where is it?
Anyway, thanks for setting me straight regarding Sean's father and the Command.
Now the Command will be a force to be reckoned with.
Thanks for this wonderful story,
Carolyn

[Morning Dreamgirl]

Well since It's update day I should probably post my feedback, huh?

First off - it's interesting to see the attraction still there between the two of them. I have a feeling the "quickie" was just to help balance them medically and that there's still a lot going on besides that. But the connection isn't pushing it as strongly. Let's hope that helps Max's ruffled feathers.

Secondly - good job keeping it so succinct, Max. I imagine it's not the easiest thing to do to expose yourself again. Especially to someone who is reacting the way Maria was during his explanation. Especially when bringing her in might have caused more harm (in the immediate future) to Liz. And then there's the whole guilt over being involved...

He did amazingly well though. I just hope that Alex is able to calm Maria down enough for Max and Liz to get more information from Max's father together. Maybe during the car ride/move? Or maybe afterwards so they can have all their eyes on the lookout for the move. I'd prefer for them to find out before the move though. Strategically it makes the most sense. That way if something happens during transport Max and Liz have all the information. Hmm...

Considering it's literally been just an hour or two since the connection "took over" it's probably not something Max is "over" yet. Maybe in a day or two - given his special ability he'd be able to tell by then if Liz is pregnant or not. I still think the connection wouldn't allow that to happen right now. It might be something that encourages Antarians to procreate but that doesn't necessarily mean it would do so right now against their will. Though, historically, in times of war their is an increase of pregnancies right before troops left. Usually resulting in an increase in male children as well. Hmm...

I imagine that Liz (and everyone else) will give Maria a slightly different view of Max and Liz's connection than what Max will right now. In some ways I can see that being an "ice cream" session topic between the two of them where Liz talks about all the good it's done. Once Max accepts that the connection wasn't trying to do anything that can harm them he'll come around again as well.

Sometimes to gain control you have to temporarily give up control. I think that's the part Max and Liz are at in their connection. They have to fully experience it to know it - and therefore be able to control it. Max just doesn't realize that yet on top of everything else that's going on. Given that Liz is still healing in many ways it's easy to understand how he could see it as a potential harm to her.

Maria's not really taking it well considering she "forgot" Alex is an alien at the end. It's really not sinking in well. In some ways accepting that the trio are hybrids is probably easier. Liz has been saying for awhile that there was something off about them. I hope for all their sakes she's able to gain control of herself soon. It's such a bad reason to find out. Thankfully she isn't dead though. It beats that.

Opening the door doesn't surprise me given that Liz can access Max's special gifting. What it does make me curious about though is if it means they're linked enough yet for the connection to finally "snap" into place. It seemed to do that immediately when they were little.

Michael's reaction was interesting. Makes one wonder as to his motives. If she were just another human (even if he were trying to do the right thing) I don't think he'd have done that. He tipped his hand a bit there.

Oh Alex, Alex, Alex... In some ways I think he was always half prepared for Liz to find out his secret. But the chances of Maria ever learning about it? I don't think he ever assumed that would happen. Couple that with how she found out (during a time of war because she was going to be attacked) and it makes sense that he's nervous, anxious, etc. Let's hope he's able to help Maria - and that she's not too terrified of him right off the bat to prevent that.

Sooo... Ready to post yet?

[begonia9508]

Where has the autor disappeared? That's the question I am asking for...

Because I miss this story and I am waiting impatiently for more! EVE