Delicate (XO,SN,UC,Mature) COMPLETE

[vaifeal]

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Title: Delicate

Disclaimer: Don't own it, just appreciate it.

Category: XO/Roswell/Supernatural/UC

Rating: Mature

Summary: Liz goes to Stanford at the same time as Sam. Things get... complicated.

A/N: This is Liz/Dean NOT Liz/Sam so no worries.

“It's not that we're scared
It's just that it's delicate”
- Delicate, Damien Rice

“Elizabeth Parker, right?” the tall, leggy, brunette standing in the door opposite to her room was smiling widely at her parents, hazel eyes alight. She nods disjointedly. She'd made it. She was actually here. It was unbelievable. “Welcome to Stanford. It's so nice to meet you finally and you must be her parents.”

“I'm Jeff and this is my wife Nancy,” her father shakes the girls hand, her mother next.

“Oh, sheesh I didn't introduce myself did I?” she laughs, “You have to forgive me it's been a long day. I'm Serena.”

“Are you Liz's roommate?”

“No, that's Jess. She's actually unpacking right now,” there's a small blond girl in her room. Several dufflebags spread everywhere. It took her parents and her over an hour to unpack all her stuff, it would've been less if she'd been alone. She stifles a laugh as the girl pulls out a light blue quilt almost identical to the one neatly spread on her own bed. “I'm just the suitemate and the RA.”

“Oh, you're not a freshman?”

“Nope, I'm a junior.”

“What's your major?”

“Mathematical physics with a minor in communications. I know, I know they don't seem to make any sense but someone has to woo the funding out of the big wigs,” her parents laugh and continue talking to Serena.

Liz walks to the window and leans on the cool glass watching all the new students lug their belongings into the dorm. It's so painfully normal her insides are bursting with joy. She made it. This is it. The first step along the road to the rest of her life.

Her parents laugh again and she briefly wonders if they realize that Serena is 'wooing' them.

She doesn't think so.

It's been over year since Max and her called it quits but it seems longer. The eraser room conversation that marked the end of their relationship and the beginning of a friendship is barely a memory.

They've made progress but he still doesn't know about Future Max and the sham that was her sexual relationship with Kyle.

A girl's gotta have her secrets.

Not that it matters at this point. So much happened that it would hurt more that a secret was kept than the content of that secret. Things she never imagined have happened. The FBI tried to rear its head only to be dealt with quickly. Nickolas was killed by a car of all things, his death made it into Weekly World News.

Tess followed Kyle to Texas to go to school together. He chose the school because of the football scholarship. She chose it because of Kyle. KYLE. The sheriffs son. When the group had found out there had been a collective sigh of relief.

She really was over chasing after Max.

Maria was in New Orleans singing in seedy bars and in only two short months managed to gain a following that was making local agents wake up and take notice. Liz couldn't be happier for her. This was Maria's dream. She was going to be a famous musician. The only thing missing was Alex there to ride her coattails to fame like he always joked he would.

Alex. It had been a year since he was killed. Murdered. By Nickolas in a last ditch attempt to get to the Royal Four. They'd discovered his role when Ava had come back into town early in their senior year having tracked the skin back to Roswell.

They weren't the only ones to suffer at his hands.

Michael, well Michael was still Michael. The grumpy, closed off, half alien who was head-over-heels in love with her best friend but who couldn't seem to find a half way point between being there for her and being there for his family.

He was still in Roswell playing watchdog.

Liz gave him another month before he was in New Orleans living with Maria. First on her couch then in her bed.

Isabel was happily married to Jesse Ramirez and had an internship at 'In Style' magazine while attending New School University. They lived in New York City in an apartment that cost more per month than Liz paid a semester. No where near the place dupes had resided.

And Max.

Max had a son. And was married. To Ava of all people. No one was sure how the relationship had developed but one day Max had come to them and asked for help. Ava was pregnant and it was progressing faster than humanly possible. The lies the group had weaved for them were mind boggling.

But he did tell his parents the truth.

They deserved that much.

It had hurt when she had found out. Liz had fought desperately against thoughts of destiny and sacrifice. She raged against the ending of those last threads of what she had wanted for two years. All she kept thinking was why Ava? Of all the people he had to find love with why did it have to be the clone of the woman she had broken his heart for?

But then Luca was born. With wide blue eyes and wild black hair. Chubby baby fingers and feather soft skin. She looked at him once and had known that nothing as perfect as he was should ever cause pain.

He was loved. He was wanted. He was Max and Ava's. Max, Ava, and Luca Evans. They were happy.

Liz was his godmother. Ava had wanted her 'cornball' to be there for her son if anything ever happened. It was a responsibility that Liz took seriously after he was born. After she had held him for the first time.

It didn't hurt anymore.

Max had moved on and so had she. To Stanford. Not Harvard, especially after that horrible interview she'd had when her powers had started to evolve, but she had wanted to be closer to Luca than Boston.

So here she was. Entering her freshman year at one of the most prestigious schools in the country. Having unpacked her belongings and bought her books. Her mom was crying hugged goodbye.

They were going on their second honeymoon on their way home.

The door clicked shut and she was left by herself with two strangers. Liz shook hands with Jess and exchanged pleasantries. The girl seemed nice enough.

“Ok, here's the rules,” Serena had lost the nice, complacent tone that she had used previously. A sardonic smile danced on her lips. “Number one, no sex in the common room.”

Jess choked on the water she had been sipping.

“Don't laugh, it's scaring. Definitely not something you want to walk in on. Trust me. Number two, if anyone asks when I'm not here. I'm in the library. They can't yell at me if they think I was in the library. Number three, try not to get caught drunk. I'm the RA, it would look really bad if my own underaged suitemates were inebriated. I think that's it. I don't give a shit what you do, hell I can guarantee that most bad ideas that are followed through are gonna be mine. So I'm not one to judge. Just no drunken hospital visits please. You're in college. Relax. Have fun. Try not to flunk out.”


Next post won't be until 11/25 because I won't have internet until I get back from break.

[vaifeal]

A/N: Information about Stanford comes from my imagination.

“The autumn leaves
Falling in the breeze
Are not my fault”
- Aftertaste, Ben Lee

She didn't understand why she was nervous, she was attending a school function not breaking into a secret government laboratory but her heart was still beating faster than when she had done the latter.

The hall was well lit. Small circular tables with white linen and silver ornaments were scattered in an organized mass. People were milling about, professors and students alike. All dressed to the nines in business wear. Her parents would be so proud that she was being included in something like this.

Liz's heels clicked on the ground as she entered the room passing the 'Honor Student's Banquet' sign on the way in. Several of the professors greeted her and made small talk as they caught sight of her.

As one of only five new students who had received an honors scholarship but one who still had work-study to cover expenses she had spent a lot of time in the chemistry office working with some of them. Filing. Photocopying. Begging for extra time in the lab.

None of that changed the fact that despite that she had been at Stanford for a month the only people she socialized with were Jess who was just as quiet though more likely to make friends and Serena who almost always had people over the suite but who, if Liz was completely honest, was intimidating.

She had no scruples.

“Hi,” a girl said walking up to her, “you're Liz Parker?”

“Yes.”

“I'm Daniela I think we're in biology together.”

“Professor Roberts?”

“Yeah. Thank god you're here, I need normal conversation. I keep getting cornered and asked questions about my prospects. I'm a freshman, I just hope I don't fail.”

“I know. I work in the chem office and they keep asking me where I want to go for my PhD.”

They found a table and Liz felt herself relax and the bundle of stress she had carried in her gut since being dropped off dissipate as they spoke about how bad the food was in the dining halls and what it felt like to live on their own without their parents checking up on them every two seconds. Not that her mom didn't call them every night.

“Mhh,” Dani purred.

“What?” she asked her voice laced with amusement.

“Do you see him? They don't make them like that in Portland,” Liz turned to where her new friend was staring and was met with a tall young man. He was standing with his face away from her so she could only see his profile but she could make out light eyes and a strong jawline. There was something boyish about him as he spoke to one of the other students, the same feel that Alex use to have.

“Why don't you go talk to him?”

“Are you kidding me? A guy like that is either an asshole or has a girlfriend.”

“That's not fair. He could be a great guy who's looking for a nice girl to spend time with,” they caught each others eyes and started to laugh.

An hour later as the reception ended the pair made their way to the doors but just as they got to them a pair of broad khaki covered shoulders did as well. The collision almost knocked Liz over but she managed to keep her feet under her.

“I'm sorry,” the voice washed over her and she could hear Dani laughing. It was the guy that they had been admiring earlier. “I'm Sam.”

“Liz,” they stood awkwardly. “Uh, I got to go.”

-

Liz walked into her suite having made plans to meet up with Dani the following day for coffee and still hiccuping. It had taken ten minutes for them to calm down enough to leave the campus center and another twenty to finally say goodbye.

She had finally made a friend.

Serena and Jess were in the common room when she entered with another girl that she didn't know. A bottle of vodka and a bottle of juice on the table surrounded by shot glasses and playing cards.

“Hey it's Lizzie,” Jess said loudly her words slurring together. She tried to stand but was pushed down by the unknown girl.

“Liz this is my sister Carlene. Charlie this is our suitemate Liz,” Serena made the introductions as she pulled out another shot class. “Come join us Liz.”

She hesitated then pulled up a chair. After all she was in college, she might as well live the experience. The last thing that she wanted was to look back in twenty years and say that she was too afraid to live.

“Charlie was just telling us about her old roommate,” she took the shot and winced as it burnt its way down. The chaser didn't come fast enough.

“Oh, you go here?”

“Nah, I'm over at Notre Dame de Namur.”

“She followed her big sis all the way across the country.”

“More like nowhere back home would take me. Where was I? I got it. So she walks in right. Pink polo, pearls, the works. She spills her crap over the floor and leaves. So when she came back I was like, listen Skipper you clean it up or I toss it. She got really offended. Went to the RA. Wouldn't sleep in the room. Tried to get me in trouble for breaking the rules which I was but I'm not stupid enough to get caught.

"Finally they just put a new girl in with me. She seems cool but I wanted to make sure we were on the same page so first thing I said was,” she turned and looked Liz straight in the eye “I like to drink. I like to fuck. You my friend will only be subjected to one.”

Liz felt her cheeks warm. She wasn't sure if it was the liquor or Charlie.

“Oh, she's shy. How cute. Don't worry you'll get over it living with Serena.”

“Charlie leave her alone.”

“You've had to say that a lot since Charlie got here. We should all take a shot when you do,” Jess timed in from the couch.

“Your freshman is trashed.”

“Shut up Charlie.”

They drank.

[vaifeal]

“It’s a stupid situation now
Where everything goes wrong
If you can't tell if I’m lying
Then you do not belong”
- The Rat Within the Grain, Damien Rice

Their voices were raw from talking over hours of intoxicated company and exhaustion was beginning to weave its way through their bodies. It had been a long day which had consisted of drinking and more drinking but damn if they weren't exuberant. Fuckin' hell, what a brilliant day.

The song the band was playing was being lost over the fray of others singing along. Liz and her friends were no different. All in a state of drunken bliss as they laughingly screamed the lyrics, hanging over the table and each other.

“AND IT'S NO, NAY, NEVER”

Together their hands beat on the table. Sending them into another fit of giggles. They barely recovered in time to follow along.

“NO, NAY, NEVER, NO MORE
WILL I PLAY THE WILD ROVER
NO, NEVER, NO MORE”

The song came to a close and bar calmed down. To an extent. It was much too late on too special a day for there to be anything but chaos. It was her second Saint Patrick's Day in Palo Alto and the year before she had still been paranoid that people would call her on her fake id. She barely resembled Serena and Charlie's cousin.

The girl was practically a Dominican supermodel. Luckily no one had looked at the height.

Liz definitely wasn't 5'10”.

Hey, the bouncers didn't have a problem with it and they didn't ever go anyplace where id's were scanned so all was good. Of course that meant that half the people that Serena worked with knew her as Betty. But as Charlie would say, 'who cares as long as they serve you?'

She gulped down the rest of her Guinness with a wince, how Serena drank the stuff was a mystery. Even Charlie only drank it when they were doing Carbombs. Placing the glass on the counter she pushed her chair back.

It was just Jess, Dani, Charlie, and herself. Serena was on her way having just finished her shift.

“I'm going to get another drink, you want?”

They all nodded and tossed bills on the table.

“White Russian,” Dani rarely drank anything else. Though she did have a soft spot for Mojito's.

“Make that two.”

“Jameson's on the rocks,” leave it to Charlie to drink the heavy stuff.

Squeezing through the crowd she managed to get the bartenders attention almost immediately. It didn't hurt that Charlie came there all the time. Her arm lightly brushed the man next to her and she peeked out of the corner of her eye to see who it was.

Familiarity itched at the back of her mind. Tall, fairly light coloring. Attractive but not her type. He turned and their gazes caught. It clicked. They had taken a Business Law class together the previous semester. He'd sat right in front of her.

“Sam right?” she said extending her hand, he took it in a strong but light grip.

“Yeah... you're Parker.”

“Comma Liz, got it in one.”

“So what are you up to this fine St Pat's?”

“Just hanging out with some friends, you?”

“Same,” a heavy arm draped across her shoulders, Liz turned ready to yell at them. But a cheeky smile and sparkling hazel eyes stopped her.

“It's my last St. Pat's and you're not even going to say hi?”

“Hello Serena.”

“So I dragged poor little Travis Corning across town, made him sit in my death trap of a car with all my friends because I know you got the hots for him and your macking on someone else. Aren't you even going to introduce us.”

She rolled her eyes, “Serena, this is Sam. Sam, this is my slightly unhinged dating consultant.”

“Ignore her Sam, she's just jealous that I'm so pretty.”

“If I was Chewbacca that would be true,” nimble fingers pinched her arm, “OW.”

He smiled in amusement, “It's nice to meet you.”

“So Lizzie are you going to point me in the direction of my dear dear sister.”

“She over...” she looked in the direction of the table and was met with a rising ruckus. Jess was pressed against the wall trying to make herself as small as possible. Dani was smiling widely into her cup and positioned at the edge of her seat, ready to jump up at any moment.

And Charlie... well, Charlie was in the face of some Spears clone and posse, who just as they caught sight of her stupidly shoved the Inwood native.

“Shit,” Liz and Serena said at the same time. They both slammed their glasses on the bar and started shoving themselves through the growing crowd. Just as they made it over the fists started flying.

They jumped into the fray barely aware of the over six foot tall accessory dealing with the boyfriend of the barbie doll. She wasn't sure how long they fought. The posse kept scratching and pulling hair making it difficult to get clean shots but there was no question that Liz and her friends had the upper hand.

At some point she felt tugging on her shirt and slipped away from the chaos. Once outside and blocks away, they stopped to get their breaths. Dani was hysterically laughing. Serena and Charlie were looking pissed and victorious at once.

Liz couldn't believe that they had just done that.

She looked over at Sam where he was standing checking on Jess. He had a blossoming bruise on his cheek but that had been a lucky shot. Considering that they had just started a bar brawl the fact that he had gotten them out of there before the police showed up and stopped Charlie (and Serena but mostly Charlie, Serena had some self control) from putting one of their opponents in the hospital, Liz was forever grateful.

Would you know it. They'd gotten barred from entering the Fuze Box for the rest of the year but they had made a new friend.

Go figure.

-

[vaifeal]

A/N: I know. I know. This was suppose to go up yesterday but it's finals week so I'm lucky I remember that today is Monday. There's also the fact that my laptop is busted. I don't know when the next post will be. At latest probably next Monday because be near an computer again with enough time to write.

“But I’m near the end and I just aint got the time
And I’m wasted and I can’t find my way home.”
- Can’t Find My Way Home, Eric Clapton


The airport was crowded. People were pushing and shoving their way through stagnant groups created by what the government was calling increased security measures but where a pain in the ass.

Liz and Charlie watched as Serena’s plane took off down the runway on its way back to New York. She had a job at some ad agency that had nothing to do with her physics degree that she got for her four years at Stanford but the last they talked she hadn’t given a fuck.

It was sad that she left.

Dani had called it the end of an era but Liz wasn’t sure if she would take it that far.

Four of the five, well six with Sam, where still in Palo Alto the traditions they had formed of complete insanity would remain but with only Jess there to temper the stupidity. Sam was too easily swayed or ignored so Serena had really been the only one that could stop them from doing something they’d regret later.

Not that she ever listened when it was her turn to be sensible.

Take when she decided that bungee jumping was a great idea… without the bungee.

Thank god it had been off a short pier at high tide.

Things were definitely going to be different. Liz was looking forward to the experience. Even if she was a little afraid. Maybe the whole live life to its fullest thing should be tempered.

-

Liz was sprawled out across one of her couches. Jess next to her. Sam and Charlie on the couch across from them. They were watching the Bourne Identity bowls of popcorn and chips spread around them. Normally on a Friday night they would all be out but since Charlie broke her foot jumping from the lofted bed of some freshman she had hooked up when intoxicated they had unanimously decided to curb their drinking habits.

That and they were all broke.

It was December after all. The semester was over. Finals hadn’t started yet and they had all exhausted whatever financial resources that they had.

“Jesus Sam you have huge feet,” Charlie said from where she was staring at them. “You know what that means.”

She gave a wicked grin and they all collectively rolled their eyes.

“That I wear big shoes?”

“That you have a big cock,” Liz choked on the popcorn she’d been chewing and Sam sat sputtering. They should have known that she wouldn’t just say the old cliché.

‘Charlie!” Jess screamed horrified. Her face flaming pink.

Sweet, innocent Jess.

“I'd ask you to drop draw and prove it if I thought you would,” She shrugged. “Oh, come on I'm just saying what you're all thinking.”

-

Jess was sitting on Liz’s bed as she folded clothes. It was a routine they had gotten into freshman year. They did laundry together while they studied and then after they would have dinner together. The night was always relaxing and normal and reminded her of girls nights with Maria.

They didn’t invite Charlie or Dani just because they were the two that were the most unhinged.

Besides it was nice to have a relaxing break from studies.

But Jess wasn’t as lively as she usually was. Instead she was chewing at her lip, compulsively flattening her hair, and all together acting supremely suspicious.

Dread sunk into her stomach. Maybe she had found out. Maybe she had seen Liz’s casual use of her abilities.

Ah, fuck.

“Liz?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“You know Sam, right?” She breathed a sigh of relief. So that’s what this is about.

“He’s one of my best friends so yes I know him.”

“Is it alright if I go on a date with him?”

“He asked you?”

“Yes.”

“Way to go Jess, I know you weren’t so sweet for nothing.”

“So you don’t have a problem with it?”

“No, why would I?”

“You two are so close I thought you…”

“Please. No. I’ve done the good boy thing. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

-

“You're my best friend
and I love you”

Maria and Liz were in Liz’s car, the one that Serena had ‘sold’ to her for a bag of chips and a the leftover fettuccini alfredo they had had in the fridge from a failed date.

“and I love you
Yes I do”

Sam was in the passenger seat rolling his eyes and looking embarrassed to be stuck in such a junker of a car with two crazy little people who were belting out Weezer.

But that’s what friends were for. If they couldn’t mortify you, who could?

-

The water spilled over Liz making her breath catch in her throat. It was cold so fucking cold. Dani and Charlie cackled from their positions on the couch still holding a bunch of water balloons.

Fucking April Fools day.

“I hate you. I hate you all.”

“No you don't you love us,” Charlie said between hysterical fits.

“You want to have our babies,” Dani managed before rolling off the couch.

Liz shook her head and left the room. She waited until her door was closed before laughing.

Crazy ass people.

[vaifeal]

“Did he just go crazy and fall asleep?”
- Wash, Firefly

Glitter was sticking to her face, pressed there by the arm draped over her shoulder. Ruby red fingernails matched the sparkling shoes on the floor. More glitter. Charlie pressed her dark head into Liz’s back. She was supposed to be Dorothy and it was the only innocent costume that she had worn in four years they'd known each other but that didn’t stop that she was still completely hammered.

Liz pulled at the hood of her red sweatshirt, sending the droplets of spilled beer sailing into the air. The neck of Charlie’s bottle was pressed into the soft fabric, the brown liquid precariously sloshing and threatening to once again stain.

That would be bad.

Of all the alien related costumes that she had ever worn, and she’d worn one every year on Halloween since she was no longer around for the Crash Festival, this had to be her favorite. It was simple, comfortable, warm, and reusable. Not even her Ripley costume was this good.

Hell, to add to its benefit, she’d only had to tell a handful of people what she was. Everyone knew Elliot.

There was some confusion but that happened with every costume, well… except Jess’s since she was a nurse and Charlie because she was Dorothy and Dani because she was… Ok, so no one knew what Dani was. But there had been some questions about Serena's from the picture she'd sent of her dressed up as Miracle Max for her company party.

She still said that any confusion about her costume would have been overcome simply by Jess, as the second shortest person, agreeing to dress as ET.

That would have been crazy awesome.

Sam waved to them from the table he’d grabbed with the kid who she could never remember the name of despite that he spent almost as much time in Jess and Sam’s apartment as she did and she as of Monday would be living there. Damn bugs making her landlord fumigate her place.

It would be closed for a week. A week!

What took a week these days?

Plopping Charlie down in one of the chairs she was disappointed to find that neither Sam nor random kid were in costumes. So, alright it wasn’t really Halloween, that wasn’t until Monday (yes the day she had to move) but they were celebrating tonight dammit. She had thought that they had had him trained.

“Sheesh Sam way to let a girl down,” she said as he smiled at her sheepishly.

Charlie grinned wobbly and slapped her hand down, “This seems to be a reoccurring theme.”

“What? You drunk or Sam’s fulfillment issues?”

“I am not drunk-”

Sam and Liz shared a look and finished the statement, “I’m just a little buzzed.”

She was drunk and would admit it in the morning when she was nursing a hangover.

“Trust me there are no fulfillment issues,” Jess said as her and Dani placed the groups’ drinks on the table. The latter let out a wolf whistle, “and yes Charlie you are drunk but that’s ok. It’s nice to see a Pinto go down first.”

“HEY! Serena would resent that.”

They chuckled and shoved the glass of water at the dark head where it was rested against the table. The curls that Jess had so painstakingly put in her hair had fallen out leaving the long locks a sea of waves in a mass around her.

“So lovebirds excited about having your bestest friend moving in with you on Monday.”

“But I’m staying with Charlie,” Dani said with a smirk before being distracted by the man walking by. “I’m just gonna…”

“Wait” she paused and turned to Sam. “What are you?”

“Not what, who… Jane Goodall,” she looked at them like they were crazy as she walked away.

“Where’s your chimp?” random kid yelled at her back. She just flipped him the bird. “You got some weird ass friends Sam.”

“I resent that,” Liz said slapping him upside the head. Jess saved him from any further abuse by inviting him to dance since her boyfriend wouldn’t. “Seriously though, thanks for giving me a place to crash Sammy.”

“Must you call me that?”

“Yes. Cause you’re a teddy bear,” she patted his cheek, “a big lanky teddy bear.”

He shook his head ruefully, “Why do I put up with you?”

“Because you love me and I‘m an irresistible cornucopia of love”

“Where'd you get that?”

“Potter Puppet Pals.”

Charlie blearily picked her head up before dropping it down again. In the morning it would be lesson on why one did not go out drinking after only drinking a gallon of coffee all day and having nothing to eat. Sam held his hand out to steady her on the stool. She always recovered fast, a quick nap and next thing they knew she’d be trying to convince them to go skinny dipping.

Again.

It was her senior year philosophy that it was their last chance to do all the stupid crap they could think of without it being held against them. The class of May 06 would leave its mark by leaving behind a legacy of embarrassing memories.

“Someone should really take her home.”

Liz shrugged watching Dani smooze with some hottie in the corner and Jess dance with random kid, wide smiles on both their faces.

“In a little bit.”


*

[vaifeal]

"I can't get laid in this town
Without these pointy fucking shoes.
My feet are so black and blue and so are you."
- Woe, Say Anything

The keys land with a thump as they skidded noisily across the coffee table and landed on the floor. Fucking keys. Never listening. They had a mind of their own. They weren't under human control. The lock snicked into place and she did a little happy dance since she’d won the battle of trying to figure out how the little switch thingy worked.

Liz might be drunk.

The world slanted. Really kinda drunk. The music from the club was still thumping in her head oddly in tune with the slapping of her bare feet on the wood floor and the dropping of her clothes on the way to the shower. The beautiful, beautiful shower that she was just about orgasmic over.

Cause she reeked.

Like sweat. Smoke. Liquor from some jackass who spilt his drink down her shirt so that he could cop a feel while 'helping' her clean it up. And body odor, not all of it hers. BO. People need to buy more deodorant. They should go to BJ's.

Why did they name it BJ's?

Why call a superstore BJ's unless the motto is 'come in to be serviced' or they handout knee pads, it didn't make sense. Didn't the CEO's know that BJ means blow job? Of course they are old and stuffy and probably never experienced one before but...

They needed a BJ.

Then BJ's would be a happy place. For guys. Cause girls don't get BJ's, they get eaten? That's so wrong. Why eaten? Liz didn't want to get eaten. She wanted to get blown, it sounded so much better. Sounded... windswept. Hmmm, wind. Cool, caressing wind.

She should open a window.

The water in the shower was warm. Or cool. She was hot and the water felt cool but it was more lukewarm so what is it? A conundrum of the highest degree... She probably should've stopped drinking after the Jägerbomb but damn, Dani was paying and Liz was almost finished with her last paper before her final 'real' semester was over. And dammit it had seemed like a good idea.

She hadn't meant to go to the club. It was suppose to be a quick night. Go to the Post with Dani and Charlie, a sorta single girl’s night out. Watch in hysterics as some overeager freshmen tried to sneak themselves into the upperclassman bar and maybe if they were lucky pick up some poor unsuspecting male to use unabashedly.

She didn't remember where that turned into going to a club.

It had to be somewhere after her sixth beer because she was really bad at saying no when she got to that point. They knew it too. Evil friends.

Her stomach rumbled, she should eat before she went to bed. Something with cheese. Was the pizza place still open? She didn't think so. Damn. Oh, Liz might have Cheetos in the cabinet. If Sam hasn't eaten them yet. She'd castrate him if he had. Jess would be upset with her but she'd eventually get over it.

Life as a eunuch wouldn't be so bad. He'd have more time to focus on other things. Let his upstairs brain be in control. Many women are denied orgasms their whole lives it's time to turn the tables.

She stumbled over a bundle on the floor and laughed. Shit she remembered to bring clothes in. She was a genius. Brilliant. She slid the underwear up her legs still nodding to the club music.

Thump.

It took a minute for her to realize that it wasn't from her head. Pulling the tank over her head she cracked the bathroom door open. Still black, lights were off. A louder crash. Fuck. Intruders. Did she lock the door? She couldn't remember. Liz grabbed a pair of pants off the floor and the closest weapon she can find in the kitchen.

A spatula... it was doable.

“Sam?” that's Jess, fuck. Her mind yelled: Don't speak to the intruders Jess, didn't you attend Freshman Orientation? Freakin' trusting people.

Her head was still swimming but just because there was gonna be two of them doesn't mean she can't take them. She could so take them.

Just aim in the middle Liz, the middle one.

“I love the Smurfs,” what kinda thief hits on their mark? “You know, I gotta tell you, you are completely out of my brother's league.”

“Will you look at that Jess,” the words are out of her mouth before she can stop them. Damn inhibitions flying out the window, “you've managed to pick up a groupie in your own living room. I told you, you got it,” a groan from the corner. She knew that groan. That was a familiar groan, “Hiya Sammy.”

The fourth inhabitant of the room was watching her in amusement, eyes raking up and down her. Like a piece of meat. Tender. Willing. Meat. She had to stop herself from staring. He was gorgeous. His eyes paused at her waist.

Liz looked down. Her pants are falling down, her small hand grab them. When did she lose weight? They were huge. And long. What the hell happened to her pants? Damn dryer making things larger.

Wait...

“... These aren't mine,” a quick look at the tag confirms it. Definitely not hers. “I think these are yours Sam. Haha, I finally got into your pants.”

“Liz,” Jess hisses out.

“What?” a chuckle reminds her that they're not alone. That's right, Mr. Six-Feet-of-Walking-Sex was in the room. He could watch she didn't mind.

“Are you drunk?”

“Just a little bit,” she tries to show Jess how much but her fingers keep touching, “this much.”

Maybe a bit more than that.

Sam moves around the room to stand by his girl, “Dean this is my girlfriend Jess and our friend Liz. This is my brother Dean.”

She frowns, it was best friend damn it. She had put in a lot of hours of quality time to earn the best. How could he forget the best?

“Hiya Dean,” Jess buries her head in Sam's chest. What'd she do now?

“Nice to meet you but I have to talk to Sammy here,” ok. Talking was doable. Not at the top of her list but it was doable, “alone.”

“No,” Sam knew the word no? “No,” there it was again, “whatever you wanna say, you can say it in front of them.”

Why did she suddenly feel as if she was in the middle of a lovers’ spat?

“Okay... um,” awkward, “Dad hasn't been home in a few days.”

“So he's working overtime on a Miller Time shift. He'll stumble back in sooner or later,” Miller Time? Isn't Miller a beer? She's pretty sure that she's drank Miller in the past... right? Was it the beer with the funny labels or was that Molson?

...

Yep, she was drawing a blank there.

“Dad's on a hunting trip,” hunting’s bad. It wasn't fair. A semiautomatic shotgun against nature, the buck didn't have a shot in hell, no pun intended, “and he hasn't been home in a few days.”

A little shorter than Sam, kinda scruffy, comparatively light hair.

Was she drooling?

Walking-Sex that was going to be his name and he shall be known by no other, “Liz,” again with the hissing. When did Jess turn into a cat. Liz stares at her blankly. She thinks it's blankly, it could be consternation. “Stop staring.”

She tries to whisper, “But he's so pretty.”

Jess covers her eyes with her hand, smiling. She smiles. Wow.

Mr. Sexalot is still locked in a battle of wills with Sam and Liz is stuck in a conundrum: Who to root for? Best friend or best sex fantasy?

“Excuse us. We have to go outside,” don't go. It wasn't fair for them to go. Damn they left. She flopped down on the couch followed by the little blond pixie.

“I don't believe you,” Jess was full out laughing. At her. She was almost hurt. “You’re insane.”

“Am not,” she just shakes her head. Liz didn't even do anything.

“I take it you had a goodnight.”

“Oh yes,” her eyes droop a little. Sleep would be good. “Charlie hooked up with one of the Sanders brothers.”

“Older or younger.”

“Older,” wait. Was it Sanders? “Sanders is the one with the Mohawk right?”

“Yeah,” she grins at Liz in that way that means she's feeling adventurous. “Way to go Charlie.”

The door opens before she can respond. Sam and Denis... was that his name? Or was it Stephen? Something with an S. A name to go with Sam. Wouldn't be the first family to stick with the same letter. Jess's family did. Her dad Justin. Her mom Jane.

With barely a nod Sam walked back to his room, Jess follows. Liz is on the edge of sober up but they still leave her alone with Sexton?

... that didn't sound right.

“So you're the brother,” her mind was in there somewhere. He nods and offers a sexy ass grin. Sex kitten? No, that was supposed to be her. Damn. “Good deal.”

She lays back on the couch. Her bed. Freakin' bug bombs. Liz wants to turn on the charm but she's passed out before he can reply.

*

A/N: this is the first chapter I wrote for this story and I had to change it from first pov to third, so if it reads a little weird... thats why.

Next post on New Years Day

[vaifeal]

A/N: I'm not going to be able to post until the 13th. Check out http://oddended.livejournal.com/ for more info.

“'Cause I don't really want to be safe
It must have been the way I was raised
Sleep with one eye open I say”
- Shadow on the Wall, Brandi Carlile

Her head felt like a midget had taken a dental drill to it while beating her senseless with a rubber mallet. There is a cotton farm growing in her mouth and the world is much too bright. Not to mention that she hadn’t realized that Sam’s apartment was so loud. Every time she’d been there previously it had seemed like it was disturbingly quiet but then the couple had always been freakishly old.

Liz landed with a crash as she tried to get off the couch, her feet having gotten tangled in the pants – so obviously not her own – that had been pushed down to her knees.

What the hell had happened last night?

Trying to be subtle she pressed her fingers to her temple and let the faint glow spring forward. Instantly the vice on her head lifted. That trick had to be the best thing she had ever been taught by the pod squad. Granted it came with the usual hang ups of using the otherworldly gifts (ex psychotic FBI agents ramming your door down) but who the fuck really cared when the leprechauns had sledgehammers.

“Good morning sunshine,” Jess said walking into the living room. Liz dropped her hands with a groan but took the can of sprite she was being offered instead of flipping off her friend.

They always really did have the worse timing.

“Thanks,” she took a sip, feeling the cotton wash away. “Why am I wearing Sam’s pants?”

“I meant to ask you that last night but you passed out.”

“I put them on?”

“Yeah, right before you started calling his brother pretty?”

“His bro- Dean? He was here?”

“You know Dean?”

“I know of Dean,” she glanced toward the kitchen expecting Sam or the infamous brother to come through. “Where’s Sam?”

“He left with he-who-I-have-never-met, something about their dad missing.”

“His dad?” last Liz had heard they hadn’t spoken to each other in years because of some clash-of-the-titan-esque argument over him attending school. Sam had never really explained why his dad had had a problem with him going to one of the most prestigious universities on the west coast.

“Yes the man whose sperm helped to create him.”

“What the hell happened last night?”

“You really don’t remember?”

“Last thing I remember is thinking that I needed a glass of water. That might have been when we were at Chubby’s, I’m not actually sure.”

“Serena would be so proud.”

“Oh, hush you at least I’m not an old maid,” she slipped her own sweatpants on and flopped back down on the couch. “Doesn’t Sam have that law school interview?”

“Yes he does but he promised he would be back by then.”

“Because his dad went missing?”

“Sam said he probably drank too much and forgot to call but Dean thinks that he was in a hunting accident or something like that.”

“I didn’t even know that they were still talking.”

“They weren’t, haven’t in two years.”

“And he just showed up here?” Jess nodded. “What a jerk.”

“That’s not what you were saying last night.”

Liz felt the color in her cheeks rise, “What did I say?”

“Oh you know something along the lines that you wanted to jump his bones.”

“Oh god.”

“Don’t worry he didn’t hear that but I think it was the drool that gave you away.”

“I need to stop listening to Charlie.”

“Like you ever will.”

“Never said that I heeded the smarter half of my brain.”

“Did Charlie really hook up with the older Sanders brother?”

“The Sanders brothers were there?”

_

[vaifeal]

A/N: You lot are great, thanks for putting up with me and my crazy ass schedule. I'll try to be better. Oh, and if you tell me what your favorite supernatural episodes are I'll do my best to write them in especially since I haven't decided which ones to do. I was originally going to do every other one but I realized just how many that would really be.

“All I ever wanted, it comes with a price”
- Cat and Mouse, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Sweat dripped down her back and chest forming little puddles where her bra touched skin. Stumbling up the stairs Liz once again cursed her luck. Her trusty dusty crap car that she had inherited from Serena had proven to be not so trusty, choosing instead to stubbornly refuse to turn over when it was instructed to.

And now she was fifteen minutes late for a girl’s dinner that she had had to blackmail Jess into. The woman was still surprisingly reserved considering who her friends had been the last four years.

She hastily opened the apartment door and dropped her books on the floor.

Maybe if she was nice enough Jess would let her take a shower.

Really really nice.

“Jess,” she called out into the apartment searching her duffle bag for a clean shirt, “sorry about being late. Blue wouldn’t start and the bus was late. It’s only fifteen minutes we can still make our reservation.”

Her body breathed a sigh of relief as she covertly waved her hand over her skin refreshing it. The clean cotton of her tank felt even better. Pulling her sweatshirt from the back of the couch she paused.

The sound of cars rumbling down the street filled the room accompanied by the dripping of water from the faulty sink that she wanted to fix but that Sam kept saying he’d take care of but no response from Jess or any sounds that would indicate that she was there.

Liz knew Jess; the apartment shouldn’t be that quiet. Jess hated the quiet when she was by herself. It scared her. There was a possibility that she just wasn’t there but again: Liz knew Jess, that girl wouldn’t bail on plans without giving notice.

The type of cold fear that she had lived with constantly when the FBI had come for Max all those years ago but this time she was without the firepower she had had previously. Max and Isabel had always known how to control what they could do and even Michael could call on his abilities when he needed them.

She had never been so lucky. Her gifts were always more unpredictable the more she needed them.

“Jess?” careful to take in her surroundings she stepped into the kitchen and grabbed a butcher knife from the counter. “If you don’t want to go I’ll call the others.”

Just keep talking. She just had to keep talking. If there was something wrong it might make the attacker think they could catch her unaware and if everything was ok than Jess had something to make fun of her for.

The bedroom door was open and she could see a dark figure up against the wall. Petite. Darkly shadowed but still lightly colored. As her eyes adjusted to the lack of light she could make out the delicately featured face and full lips which curved around her name.

Liz.

“JESS,” she screamed and abandoning prudence ran into the room. In a move she didn’t see coming her body slammed into the wall near where Jess was and then fell to the floor. Blindly she threw up her hand was rewarded with a startled stumble.

Yellow eyes stared at her moving with her body as it moved up the wall.

“You’re not one of mine,” the man said placing his hand on her face. “We’ll just have to see how you work.”

Her eyes darted around the room as the man tried to get into her head. He wouldn’t. Thanks to Tess’s early ill-will no one would. Once his concentration was all on trying to do the impossible she grabbed at him. One hand wrapped around his wrist the other on his face.

For once her abilities worked as she wanted them to as a familiar burn lit up her hands.

The man stumbled back but she didn’t let go. Not at the pain lacing through her. Not as the heat in the room built. Not as she tried to divide her attention as Jess screamed from where she was pressed against the ceiling.

There was a crash and the pounding of feet, she found herself once again flying across the room. Stumbling to her feet and choking on smoke she tried to find Jess. Her eyes were burning but she managed find Jess unconscious on the floor, her skin was burned but Liz couldn’t tell how bad it was.

She couldn’t even tell where the door was.

“Jess!”

“SAM!”

“Liz!?”

“SAM! We’re in here!”

A moment of coughing and he was in front of her, pure panic written across his face. He quickly picked Jess up and she struggled to stumble behind him. The smoke was too thick. Her body too tired.

Strong arms wrapped around her and she fell into them letting them support her. Even when they were outside with the police rushing around them, the fire department trying to control the blaze, and Jess being rushed off while words like flatlined and critical were being tossed about, Liz just kept on leaning on those arms.

They were the only things keeping her grounded.

[vaifeal]

A/N: Because I've been so bad about posting lately: here's the part you would have gotten yesterday if I hadn't gone away.

“You don’t know what it is you’ve done”
-Are You Still Having Fun, Eagle Eye Cherry

“We all keep secrets right? It’s not just me?”

“It was never just you,” Serena replied from where she was leaning on the doorframe.

Liz was sitting in the chair next to Jess’s bed, her hand wound together with her injured friends. It was the chair that Mr. Moore had been forced to abandon by his wife so that they could get some sleep. Sam was out too; his brother had forced him to leave. He hadn’t really slept since before it had happened. He was over due. So for now it was just the five.

Jess. Charlie. Dani. Liz. Serena.

Charlie and Dani were in the waiting room making sure that Sam didn’t come back until morning.

Liz and Serena were sitting watch over Jess.

Because no one wanted to rest. Because Jess hadn’t woken up since it had happened.

Not in one week, two days, and four hours.

“It was all black. I’ve never felt something so dark.”

“Humans aren’t all good.”

“That wasn’t human.”

It wasn’t fair that it was Jess. Jess who had done nothing wrong. Who was completely normal. Who didn’t have a bad or deceitful bone in her body. Jess who was still bashful when Charlie regaled them with her sexual exploits.

Of all of them she was still an innocent.

“Sam isn’t going to stay. As soon as he knows if she’s going to be ok, he’d going to leave.”

“To find who did this.”

“Yeah.”

“And you want to go with him.”

She didn’t respond, she didn’t have to. All of them would jump at the chance to go at this thing. It had attacked one of them and as Serena always said: you protect your own. Liz hadn’t protected Jess. She’d been late.

If she had shown up on time they would have been out of the apartment when that man had come. If she wasn’t still afraid of what Max had gifted her with she would have been able to protect Jess rather than to barely distract him. She’d surprised him. That’s it.

Next time he wouldn’t let her. There would be a next time.

“You’re gonna need this,” Serena reached under her jacket and pulled out a gun. Liz stared but didn’t reach for it. “Come on. You didn’t really think I was in advertising, did you?”

She took it and slipped it in to her bag, “It did seem out of character.”

“Do you want us to come?”

“No,” Serena nodded. Sometimes things needed to be done alone, “but I’m going to need your help with something.”

”Whatever you need.”

“Can you get Charlie and Dani?”

She was going to have to pull out of school; her mom wasn’t going to like that.

Serena poked her head out of the room and a minute later their two friends were with them. Each of them immediately sat at the foot of Jess’s bed.

He had come after one of them.

“I’m going with Sam and Dean.”

Charlie snorted, “I don’t see them agreeing to that.”

“They don’t get a say.”

“Can I watch when you tell them that?”

“Sure.”

Dani shifted where she was sitting and finally looked away from Jess. Despite that her and Charlie were always getting in trouble together, her and Jess were closer. Dani was Jess’s Maria. They studied together and talked about Dani’s problems with her crazy 'family'. Dani made Jess try new things. Jess kept Dani from getting arrested or expelled.

Liz felt her eyes burn again at how close to falling apart her friend was.

“What do you need?”

“I’m about to do something that is going to make a lot of people hate me and I need your help.”

“Are you going to kill who did this?”

“If I can.”

“ok.”

She took a deep breath and started talking.

[vaifeal]

“Living in a fantasy but it's way too far,
But this kind of loneliness is way too hard,
I've been Wandering feeling all alone,
I lost my direction and I lost my home...”
- The Rolling Stones, Laugh I Nearly Died.

She was trying not to shake but was failing miserably.

Everything was just too much. The alarms were blaring. Nurses and doctors were shoving the Moore family into the waiting room. No one would say what the hell was going on. Dani was hysterically crying, the tremors wracking her were so severe that Charlie had to hold her. Sam was staring blankly into nothing, his brother beside him.

Liz couldn’t move.

The world was falling apart and she couldn’t do anything but lean on the wall hoping that her legs wouldn’t give out.

Sounds, yells, beeping. They didn’t need the doctor to say anything when he came out. The expression on his face, the one of pure dread, was enough. Mrs. Moore started wailing and Mr. Moore kept saying ‘No, no, no’ over and over again.

Their baby girl was gone.

Serena nodded to her from across the room and motioned that the brothers were now gone. Shaking herself out of the cloud of pain building up around her, she followed them out through the halls and into the parking garage.

They stopped at an older car, a Chevy. Her father would have been disappointed that she couldn’t name which one it was. Years of sitting on his lap as a girl watching car shows were going to waste. Thinking about her father made her want to cry even more.

“Going somewhere?” her voice ricocheted around the garage stilling the brothers.

“Go back upstairs Liz,” Sam replied not even turning to look at her. She ignored him.

“I’m going with you.”

“He said go back up stairs.”

She glared at Dean, everything about her dripping venom, “and I said I’m going with you. Obviously one of us isn’t going to get what they want.”

Sam stepped in front of his brother where the man’s mouth had open to respond and she got a clear view of his face. His eyes were red rimmed, his skin pale. He looked like shit. There was that quality around him too, like his grip was slipping.

He had to hold it together.

‘Cause he was Sam. Sam held it together. Sam found solutions. If Sam fell apart then everyone else would. Liz needed him to keep it together. It was selfish. His almost-fiancé (she had gone with him to pick out the ring) had just died; he was entitled to a breakdown.

But Liz really needed him to keep it together.

“We’re not going anywhere.”

“I know, you won’t till after the,” her voice caught making her stumble over the word, “funeral and when you go after the bastard that killed Jess I’m coming with you.”

“No you’re not.”

“I wasn’t asking.”

“This isn’t your fight,” for the first time since meeting him, she wanted to hit Sam.

So she did. The sound of the slap landed on dead air, “don’t you ever say that again.”

He stared at her and she watched as his veneer cracked. Don’t break Sam, she thought fiercely, just don’t break. All she wanted to do was take him home. Take him home and have Jess there and all their friends.

This shouldn’t’ve happened to them.

“There are things you don’t understand about what’s about to happen. It’d be best if you weren’t around.”

“If you don’t take me with you; I’ll go after it myself.”

Dean stepped between their staring contest, “Listen the guy who killed your friend is a nasty fuck. We don’t need someone wet behind the ears putting us in danger.”

“I could help.”

“I really doubt that, can you even handle a gun?” he held a pistol out to her as Sam stood back silently. She didn’t take it. He was right. Her experiences with weapons were limited. "That's what I thought."

But then her friends didn’t exactly use traditional methods to defend themselves.

Careful to be at an angle where the security cameras wouldn’t pick what she was doing, they were already in an isolated area so it wasn’t difficult, she let her hand glow. It wasn’t the green bolts that use to popup when she was upset, those were long gone, this was a faint yellow-white glow right under her skin: something similar to what Michael was capable but much smaller and based purely on touch.

It was an ability that she had gotten from the more stoic of her teenage companions.

A symptom of her larger gift because this was what she could do. She adapted the gifts of others. Not exactly but as close to their form of ability that her body could mimic.

Thanks to Max.

“But then I don’t really need a gun, now do I?”

They both took a step back. It hurt to see the look on Sam’s face; even more when he did nothing as his brothers’ hand automatically went to his gun. She extinguished her hand.

“Oi!” Charlie strutted over to them in that cocky ‘I take no shit’ kinda way she had. Liz felt the tension in her back ease. “If you’re particularly fond of that hand I’d move it pretty boy.”

Dean dropped it, if only because of the security car that turned into their aisle and drove past them.

“What are you doing here?”

“I told you,” she smiled cheekily, “I wanted to watch.”

The way she subtly tipped her head towards the brothers belied the fact that despite being surrounded by the aftermath of loosing one of her closest friends, Charlie held true to the heart of their friendship: you take care of your own.

“We need your help with Jess’s family. They’re not doing so well,” she looked over at Sam significantly; “we need both of you.”

He nodded and closed the trunk on the Impala (she’d finally figured that one out). The brothers stood back as the girls walked away. He’d come. Sam always came.

Safe in the knowledge that the argument wasn’t over (Dean’s “What the hell was that?!” was all the more telling to that fact), Liz got into the elevator with Charlie and leaned against the wall.

“You know you’re asking for trouble there,” she raised her eyebrow at her friend, “with Dean… You aren’t so good anymore about holding your tongue and I know his type: on a good day being around him would be playing with fire. He’s all temper and sex, you are definitely going to get burnt.”

“I’m starting to get that impression.”

The elevator stopped and they got off. Charlie held her back with a serious gaze.

“Are you sure we’re doing the right thing?”

“It’s all we can do.”

Later after holding together for the sake of others, when they had all separated for the night and she was back at the motel that she and Sam had been staying at since the fire, she lay next to him and made sure he could hear her.

“I’m still going with you and there is nothing you can do about it.”

It was something he needed to know. She wasn’t going anywhere. When the gloves came off and the real fighting started they weren’t going to get rid of her.

Then she held him as it finally hit him.

Jess was gone.

*