Roswell Fanatics

Winner Round 14





So I’ve been spending a lot of time reading on Twisting the Hellmouth lately and was inspired by the Mommy Anita Challenge. Since my other Roswell/AB fic is on the fritz right now I’ve decided to do a Roswell Crossover using the elements of the challenge and the result is this story; Wander Into Darkness. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Anita Blake Universe I’ve included a few helpful links (Plus you should totally go read them!) and am quite willing to answer any questions you may have either just posted in this thread or sent to me in a personal message.

Anita Blake/BtVS crossover. (Now Roswell , we’re taking over the world!)

At some well-established point pre-Chosen, one of the major players in the Buffy verse is, for reasons that are up to you, sucked into the alternate dimension of Anita Blake. Unfortunately, cross-dimensional travel has its side effects, and aforementioned character undergoes age reversal and some additional power attributions while crossing over, so that they arrive in St. Louis as a young child with a lot of power. One of the Anita verse characters finds the child and takes him/her in.

AB Links - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_blake- The Anita Blake Entry in Wikipedia, lots of good overview information.
http://www.anitablakewiki.com/?t=anon- If you want to go more in depth or just see some more fun things this is a good fan made site.

Also, as a fair warning before you get your hopes up on characters; the three I am sending over are Liz, Alex, and Tess. So, if you hate Liz or Tess stop now and read another story, I don’t think anyone hates Alex...not sure if that’s even possible but on the off chance you don’t like him, once again, stop now and go read someone else’s fic. I mean this with love.

So for those of you familiar with the AB series I am screwing with the timelines and characters just a bit, nothing too dramatic. This is set soon after Blue Moon but with several changes that did not occur until later in the series, or in some case I’m removing things that happened.

She is taking a break from her relationship with Richard and Jean Claude but she’s not ignoring the rest of her people or responsibilities so most of the things that went wrong because of time she avoided everyone aren’t going to be in here. One of the most important things for my story is that she’s going to have had more time to bond with the leopards, including Nathaniel so his backbone is going to appear sooner than it did in Canon. For now the most important thing to know is that Nathaniel and the leopards are closer to Anita sooner than they were in the books. There may be a few other things but I will do my best to either address the changes in the story or in notes before chapters.

Anyways, I think that’s enough out of me. On with the story!



Title: Wander Into Darkness
Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing, all characters and original Roswell/Anita verse settings belong to other very lucky people.
Pairings/Couples/Category: UC/Crossover. The main characters are Liz, Tess, and Alex from the Roswell verse and all the main Anita verse characters. As this will largely be set with the three Roswellians as children pairings will not be set until later on in the story or in the sequel, for Anita the pairings will be canon.
Rating: Adult, there will be violence and references to sex; this is crossed with Anita Blake after all!
Summary: What happens when three of our beloved Roswellians are dropped into the Anita verse as adorable, powerful, six year olds.
Author's Note: For the Roswell timeline this is set just after The End of the World and goes completely AU from there. For Anita this is set soon after Blue Moon and therefore almost a year before Obsidian Butterfly with several AU elements as described above the story.








Tess turned away from the blankly staring boy in front her, trying vainly to blink back the tears that burned in her eyes. This was wrong, horribly wrong, and she didn’t think she could go through with it. Nasedo would have been furious if he knew she had allowed herself to care for the humans, but it was too late to change that now.

He had pushed her towards this plan after she had mentioned how smart the boy was, something she now cursed herself for ever bringing up. ‘Maybe something good can come of these despicable connections they have formed with the humans; you shall use him to translate the book. If nothing else these humans can be satisfactory as tools.’

Choking back a strangled croak that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob, she dug her nails into her palms until drops of blood started trickling down her fingers. Turning her hands over she watched the red drops dry into rust brown streaks, a newfound determination bubbling inside of her. Nasedo’s blood wasn’t red but hers was and so was the boy’s. She liked her human side better than her Antarian side right now, and it was time she started making decisions for herself instead of following someone else’s plan. Especially a someone who, as she had begun to realize, had never cared for her at all.

Turning sharply on her heel she reached out and tugged with her mind, the dark haired young man following silently behind her as she left the house and slipped behind the wheel of Nasedo’s car; it was time for a change.

The drive to the cave was disturbingly quiet, only his breathing indicating that the vacant body next to her was in fact alive. It gave her time to think however, and for this she was grateful, making the decision to be her own person was relatively easy when compared to the actuality of it. Nasedo may have been dead but Khivar wasn’t going to accept this without a fight, and she needed to ensure not only her own safety, but the safety of the rest of the group that against her will she had become strangely attached to.

As they headed up the side of the cliff she tried to steel herself for what she was about to do, hoping that despite a million reasons to the contrary that the boy behind her wouldn’t hate her. Waving her hand over the stone she pressed it against the silver symbol that appeared and waited rather impatiently for the telltale groan of the rock wall sliding open.

Now that she had decided to do this she found herself rather eager to get it over with. This was a whole new chapter of her life she was starting, and despite the fact that she knew it had a high chance of going horribly wrong, she was still unable to stop hoping that it would turn out to be the first good chapter yet.

Finally they were safely ensconced inside the stone chamber, the power of the Granolith humming behind her, and gritting her teeth she pulled herself out of Alex’s mind, watching as the life flooded back into his soulful blue eyes just before they narrowed suspiciously at her.

~

“What’s going on Tess?” The boy asked flatly, his usual good nature suppressed by the unusual circumstances he found himself in. He remembered being pleasantly surprised when Tess came to visit him at his house, asking for his help with a project in her computer class, and then not much else before suddenly coming to himself here, in what he could only assume was the cave where the four aliens were hatched.

Unlike Maria he had chosen not to judge the strange girl who attached herself rather forcefully to their group. Even after the revelations that had left his best friend heartbroken, he had done his best to be friendly with the small blond. After all due to those same revelations she didn’t have any friends left.

Isabel avoided her like the plague, hating her for the reminder that she wasn’t a normal girl, Michael appreciated her knowledge but didn’t trust her and made it clear, and Max in his avid pursuit of Liz did his best to ignore her. Liz was the only one who like him seemed to try and be friendly, but Maria was downright cruel to her, and despite the cold front Tess presented to the world he couldn’t help but think that like Isabel, it was just a façade hiding the insecure girl inside. However being friendly to her didn’t mean he trusted her, and knowing what he did about her abilities, he found his good feelings dwindling. “What did you do to me?”

“I mind warped you. I was going to convince you and everyone that you were going on that exchange student trip and use you to translate this.” She said quietly but firmly as she pulled a strange metal book out from her bag. Holding up her hand to stop him from speaking she continued as if afraid that if she was interrupted she would never finish. “The book would tell me how to use the Granolith to take us back to Antar. It was part of a plan that Nasedo devised with Khivar, the one who killed us. They wanted me to get pregnant with Max’s baby and then return with the other three to Antar. Max and the others would be killed and my child would become Khivar’s heir, his royal blood ensuring the loyalty of the people.”

For the first time in his young life Alex felt he understood the phrase ‘jaw hitting the floor’ as that was what his was currently attempting. “Why…why are you telling me this?”

The petite girl’s lips trembled slightly “Because I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to hurt anyone, and I don’t want to be used as a brood mare, and I don’t want to use you!”

At the beginning of her brief yet impassioned speech she looked about to cry, but by the end her blue eyes were blazing with a fierce determination, and for a moment Alex got a glimpse of what she must have been like in her prior life; a Queen trying to guide her people and her King safely through a war.

“Well as I like not being hurt or used myself I think I’m glad you told me.” He said after a few quiet moments, and then gave a wry grin at the shocked look on her face. “I hope you didn’t expect me to hate you.”

A hint of personality flashed across her face and she replied with good humor “Well yes, but I was hoping you wouldn’t. I need your help.”

He cocked his head to the side and raised a curious eyebrow. “What do you need my help for? I am just a human after all.”

Tess smiled, “You are not just anything Alex, you are incredibly intelligent and you actually care about people, even me who has done everything possible to try and tear down your world.” Her grin widened at his now shocked face, something inside of her dancing up and down at the freedom she felt. “Even Nasedo acknowledged your intelligence and it’s that intelligence that I, that we all, need in order to stop Khivar’s plotting without any of us ending up dead.”

Alex nodded slowly, his mind already turning the problem over as it searched for a solution. “I will help but I think there’s someone else we need to bring into this. I’m not the only smart human after all and I think she’ll be grateful for something to do, plus three minds are better than two and she’s the only one who won’t freak out when she hears what you have to say.”

“Liz.” The hybrid said softly, a statement not a question. “Did you know she’s been trying to help me get Max’s attention?” She shook her head, “I don’t think I could do that if I was in her place.”

“That’s my Lizzy.” Alex replied with a proud smile, “Always doing what she thinks is right even if it means hurting herself.” Then his smile changed and became a little less nice, and a lot more protective, “She deserves a chance to help with this, she’s done more to earn your guys’ trust than any of us and she’s had the worst luck, maybe helping you with Khivar will give her a chance to fight back.”

Tess nodded sharply, not letting herself pause to think or worry. “Well then call her, the sooner we can figure something out the better. Khivar isn’t here but Copper Summit can’t have been his only forces on Earth, sooner or later he’s bound to figure out I’m not following the plan anymore and decide to take matters into his own hands.”

Reaching into his pocket Alex pulled out his cell phone, surprised to see that he actually had reception in the depths of an alien made cave. It rang twice before Liz’s soft voice came on the line, a lot shakier than he was used to hearing.

“Alex? Are you ok?”

“Yeah Lizzy I’m fine, I need your help. Can you meet me at the cave?”

There was a pause before she replied, voice suddenly suspicious, “How do you know where the cave is Alex? You weren’t there this summer, is someone there with you?”

“Tess is here with me, we both need your help and no, this isn’t a mindwarp talking.”

There was silence and then her voice, much calmer and colder than before, came across the line. “I’ll be right there, don’t go anywhere.” Then there was a click and silence.

He could tell she was coming more out of fear for him than anything else, and could only hope she came alone. He didn’t trust the rationality of the rest of their group when it came to Tess or any of the alien crap.

Pushing the cell phone back into his jeans pocket he smiled weakly at the blond, “She’s coming but she’s expecting the worst so let’s try and be gentle with the news.”

“I’m not sure that’s possible.” Tess said with a wry smile before turning to face the Granolith, her hands hovering just above the glowing surface. They were silent for several minutes before Alex approached her, unable to suppress his curiosity.

“What is it exactly?”

“I’m not sure exactly,” she stated with a wry smile, “My memories aren’t as complete as I’d like them to be. I know the Granolith is important I just don’t know why.” Looking over her shoulder at him she continued, “I was hoping the book could tell me.”

He was more than little surprised at her acknowledging weakness, surprised and pleased, if she was willing to be human than maybe this would work out. “Why would they send you here with a book you couldn’t read? That doesn’t make any sense if they want you to come back home.”

“Well I think we’ve learned that they weren’t exactly thinking clearly when they sent all of you here.” A new and slightly bitter voice filled the cave as Liz stepped through the opening, her eyes dark as she watched the two of them.

“Liz!” Alex exclaimed with a smile that belied the worry in his eyes as he pulled her into a warm hug. Her body was tense against his and after a moment he pulled away. Still holding her arms he frowned as he saw the pain and exhaustion radiating from her face. “What happened?”

Liz ran her hand through her hair and gave him a weak smile. “Oh you know, my future husband came back using an alien time machine and told me to make him fall out of love with me so that the world wouldn’t end; nothing out of the ordinary.”

Seeing the two gape jawed faces in front of her Liz started to laugh, the slightly hysterical giggles quickly dissolving into sobs as Alex once again pulled her into his arms, turning so he could stare worriedly at Tess over her head. What the hell had happened to their lives?










A/N: The next chapter will be posted in two weeks (I'm alternating with my When Dreams Change updates) and I hope you all enjoy and review!
Edited on 04/04 to add the banner, isn't it pretty?

Ava: Intrigued is good! Thank you for reviewing and we will see AB and crew soon, I promise.
KiaraAlexisKlay: Thank you! I love it when you review This chapter and the next one are going to tie up the Roswell loose ends and then you will see who they all end up with . Anyways here’s another chapter and I hope you continue to enjoy! (And maybe post more of your stuff soon *hint hint*)
Yasmania: Wow thank you so much. It is so encouraging to hear a compliment on my writing and not just the story, seeing your review totally made my day. I also love Anita Blake (moreso at the beginning than the current books although I still enjoy and read the literary porn ) And I am definitely glad to help with the withdrawal although unfortunately we won’t see AB and crew for two more chapters. Thanks again for your feedback and I hope my stories continue to engage you.



A/N: So I’ve changed my mind and from here on out the updates will be every week, I’ve been really inspired lately and have quite a bit of this written, the whole thing and a sequel plotted and am still going strong so with the warning that as Yas pointed out RL sometimes intrudes these should be rolling out on a weekly basis. That said please enjoy and I am sorry that there will be one more chapter plus this one before we get to the wonderful AB world.









Her sobs finally ceased and Liz wiped the tears from her face before grimacing up at her best friend, “Sorry I got your shirt all wet.”

Alex just squeezed her tighter, “Don’t worry about it; I ruined more than one of your outfits when we were younger.”

Liz giggled, this time with no hysteria. “Like the time you decided that you and I should try a mud bath when you got your first pimple?” When his face reddened she laughed outright and then rested her head against his chest. “Oh I’ve missed you Alex, I’m sorry I haven’t been such a good friend lately.” Her voice sobered as she spoke and she tilted her face back up at him, eyes large with guilt.

“It’s ok; you’ve had a lot on your plate.” He replied, dropping a kiss on her forehead, “And I missed you too.”

They were silent for a few seconds, just enjoying the moment, before Liz reluctantly pulled away and smiled at the blond girl who was watching them nervously. “Hey Tess, I guess we’ve both got some explaining to do.”

The other girl seemed surprised at her genuinely friendly tone but quickly smiled back. “I’ll go first since, amazingly enough; I think my story is going to be shorter than yours.”

Waiting for Liz’s nod she gave a slightly sadder smile and continued, hoping the brunette’s friendliness wasn’t about to disappear. “Nasedo worked out a deal with Khivar, I’m not sure exactly when just that it was after we left Antar and before the four of us hatched. Nasedo was going to raise me loyal to him instead of to Zan and the others. I was supposed to seduce Max and get pregnant with his child, then return with the others to Antar. They would be killed and I would be wed to Khivar, thus ensuring that the rightful heir was raised by him, making him acceptable to the people and loyal to Khivar.”

Liz was looking paler by the minute and seemed to be more shocked than she had expected after Alex’s reaction so she hurried to finish, wanting to get the worst of it over with. “There was a problem though because Nasedo couldn’t read the book and neither could I, so we didn’t have a way home. He wanted me to warp Alex and use him to translate the book. I realized after I warped him for the first time that I couldn’t go through with it, and so I brought him here to ask for his help, and then we called you.”

“You were supposed to save them, save us. He didn’t know, they never knew. Is that why we died?” Liz was muttering to herself after the blond finished her recitation, pacing back and forth in front of them until her head snapped up and her eyes burned into Tess’s. “Can we trust you? Are you really ready to switch sides even though it could mean that you die, that we all die?”

Her voice was urgent, more urgent than the distant threat of Khivar warranted, and Tess felt her heart rate speed up as she answered “Yes,” in a much firmer tone of voice than she had expected.

The other girl seemed to relax somewhat at her words, and she resumed pacing with much less frenzy in her steps. “Three days ago Max was waiting for me in my room. Only it wasn’t our Max, it was Max from fourteen years in the future, and he had come to warn me. In his timeline he and I got back together that night and because of that you left town. Everything was fine for a while, we even eloped in Vegas, but eventually our enemies showed up and without you to complete the foursquare, they weren’t strong enough to defeat them.”

Liz eyes lifted to meet Tess’s as the blond struggled for breath, the weight of her choices, in this life and apparently another, nearly crushing her. “Everyone but Max and I had died and we, along with a friend of ours named Serena, altered the Granolith to send it back in time. He told me I had to make him fall out of love with me, to fall for you, so that you wouldn’t leave.”

Her lips quirked up in a smile; “Obviously they had no idea of Nasedo’s deal. I tried helping you and telling Max I didn’t love him anymore, but nothing worked so last night I pretended to sleep with Kyle and set Max up to catch us.”

Sighing, she wearily rubbed at her forehead, clearly trying to hide her pain. “It worked and future Max disappeared, I successfully altered the timeline.” Her smile was grim as she stopped pacing and eyed the two of them consideringly, “Time will tell if I made it better, or worse.”


~


Weeks later and Alex was still shocked over everything Liz had revealed, shocked and angry. He had to resist the urge to punch Max every time he saw him, reminding himself that it wasn’t the other boy’s fault that his future self was an arrogant prick who dumped the responsibility for the world’s end on his best friend’s all too fragile shoulders.

The three of them had been plotting in secret ever since, bonds forming that surprised even him with their strength. Last year he never would have pegged Tess for becoming one of his best friends but that had quickly become the case, and he knew Liz felt the same way.

Things had gone speedily if depressingly since he woke up to find Tess staring at him. That day in the cave they had made a surprising breakthrough;



The three of them were now sitting in a circle on the stone floor, Tess flipping distractedly through the metal pages of the book as they discussed their options. “It must have been translated at some point.” Liz said, the wrinkle between her eyebrows indicating deep thought.
“I doubt I could have managed to alter the Granolith without the book.”

“It’s just so stupid to send us here without the ability to read our own language!” Tess burst out, surprising the others and herself with her intensity before blushing at the looks the other two gave her.

“You tell em Tess.” Liz said with a wry grin as Alex pulled the book out of Tess’s lap.

He held it up to his face and gave it his best glare. “Now listen me to you alien thing-a-ma-bob, we need your help so you better shape up and become readable, you hear me?”

The girls giggled and chimed in with a “Hear hear!”

Then Alex swore as the book suddenly turned hot in his hands and dropped it, now glowing, onto the cave floor. Waving his scorched fingers in the air he grimaced. “I think we pissed it off.”

Tess grabbed his hands, healing them with a soft golden glow and Liz hesitantly picked up the book, relieved to find it now cool to the touch. Her continued silence caused the other two to simultaneously reach over and pull the top of the book down so they could see, both of them gasping as they saw the now English lettering covering the page.



Alex grinned, apparently alien technology was more like his TV than he would have expected, yell at it and maybe give it a good thump and it worked like a charm. His smile disappeared quickly, unfortunately the book hadn’t held the best of news when it came to their chances against Khivar, and so they had formed the desperate plan they were currently enacting.

Between the book and Tess’s knowledge from Nasedo they had pieced together a somewhat accurate picture of Khivar’s forces, and it was terrifying. He had hundreds of thousands of soldiers, both shapeshifters and regular Antarian troops that would use husks, available to send after them. Thousands of those soldiers had abilities that could match those of the Royal Four, if not in individual strength than in numbers.

Not to mention technology that far outstripped what they had available to them here on Earth. To stop the only remaining threat to his power Khivar was willing to use all of the resources available to him, even if it meant destroying an entire planet. Their own abilities were no were near powerful enough to defeat him, regardless of what future Max had implied.

However, Khivar’s only interest in Earth was in the royal four and the Granolith, remove those and he had too much on his plate to waste time and resources on the far away planet. There were allies and enemies far closer to Antar that he needed to focus on. Therefore they had decided that in order to ensure their families, and their home’s, safety, they needed to be removed from the equation.

They were going to fake their deaths, all of the royal four’s as well as Liz and Alex’s, and Maria and Kyle’s if they so chose. In reading the book Liz had found a way to alter the Granolith again only this time they weren’t going to use it; they were going to destroy it.

The shockwaves of that destruction would be noticed by Khivar’s forces on Earth, even as the humans would write it off as strange seismic activity in the desert. With the royal four dead and the Granolith gone Khivar should recall his forces and leave Earth in peace, leaving all of them to start new quiet lives. If at some point the others chose to try and return to Antar they were free to find other methods, although Tess had already made it clear to he and Liz that she liked her human life and had no intention of giving it up.

The only obstacle in this plan involved informing the others, something he was not looking forward to.


~


“Are you kidding?” “We can’t trust her!” “What do you mean we’re all going to die?!” “You saw me, from the future?”

Liz rested her head in her hands and tried to ignore the four people yelling at her, and the one just staring in shock, instead focusing on the two comforting bodies next to her on Michael’s couch.

She was very glad they had decided to leave out a few details; like the fact that Tess had actually planned on going ahead with Nasedo’s plan instead of the version where she was just waiting for the right time to tell them. Not to mention the fact that all she told them about future Max was that he warned her about the world ending, and the importance of the foursquare, and that she and Max ‘hadn’t worked out’ which led to her pushing Max away. She couldn’t bear to tell him the full truth, not when he looked so hopeful and she was already moving on.

They weren’t handling the news well, not that she had expected them to, but the headache she hadn’t been able to get rid of for the past three weeks was not appreciating their hysteria.

Kyle was just staring in shock; partly at the news of just why she had used him the way she had, and partly at just how crazy his life had gotten. Maria was hysterical, Michael was glowering, Isabel was scared and being sarcastic to cover it, and Max couldn’t get past the least important part of it all; the fact that she hadn’t slept with Kyle. Which she had only told him so that he would shut up and listen to the rest of it.

It was Tess who finally had enough and clapped her hands with a bright flash of light that silenced the room. “We. Do. Not. Have. A. Choice.” She said quietly, enunciating each word carefully. “Khivar, with the help of our protector, has been plotting to kill us for fifty years. We know he succeeds thanks to Liz and we know from the book, and common sense, that despite what our future selves thought we have no chance of defeating a planet full of soldiers. If we want our families and friends to survive we need to disappear. That’s it; there are no other options unless you want their blood on your heads.”

The room was still, only Maria’s muffled sobs breaking the silence. “Maria and Kyle are probably safe if they want to stay although Kyle will need to hear a few things later but the rest of us have to go, I don’t think any of us want our parents to suffer for this.” Alex said gently, hoping to soften the blow somewhat.

“Why...why do you and Liz have to go?” Maria asked, her voice breaking over the words.

“When Max healed me he changed me, at least that’s what the book said, and so Khivar’s forces would be able to detect me just like they can the Royal four.” Liz explained, shooting a look at Kyle that said they would talk later. “As for Alex, he refuses to let me and Tess alter the Granolith alone, and tampering with it will alter him just like Max’s healing altered me.”

Seeing the worry and fear still in her friend’s eyes Liz stood up and pulled her into a hug. “It’s going to be hard Maria, I won’t lie. I’m going to miss you and my parents so much, but I couldn’t bear it if you died because I wasn’t strong enough to do this.”

Alex joined them in the hug, wrapping his arms around both of his original girls, the rest of the room watching them silently as individually they each decided that they too would be strong enough.







A/N: Sorry if it feels like I’m rushing through the Roswell parts but I really want to get to the AB parts. If you have any questions about anything you think I’ve glossed over or missed please ask and I will either answer them in notes above the story or try to incorporate them into the next chapter.

Ava: Thank you for the feedback! And the Anita verse is now just a week away I hope you keep enjoying the story.
KiaraAlexisKlay: Have I mentioned how much I love seeing your reviews? They're always long and a wonderful stroke for my ego! Lol, thank you for the reassurance on the transition chapters. I was originally planning on them meeting there in the first chapter and the Granolith just popping them over there but knew that while we wouldn't mind the three characters would never give up trying to get back especially for Liz after TEOTW.
I am definitely loving writing Alex and I was trying to channel the Alex who punched Michael for hurting Maria. As for Liz to me this is how she should have been after TEOTW, at least one way she should have been other than basically forgetting about it less than a year later. I too love Tess and did want to spend more time on their relationship but knew if I did it would be at least three more chapters before we got to AB and I'm impatient too!
Thank you for your lovely feedback and I hope you enjoy this part too
Adian: That is such a compliment that you would read it even without knowing the Universe so I hope my story lives up to that And you should totally go read Anita Blake! LOl, anyways thank you so much for reviewing and I hope you continue to enjoy.
Yasmania: I debated with a few options but this was the only one that gave enough resolution in a short enough period of time that I thought the three who disappeared would realsitically be able to settle into new lives without constantly worrying about those left behind. And I'm glad you liked my portrayal of Max, that's totally how I picture him even when I'm on a pro Max kick just completely oblivious to the big picture. I mean really, his best way to stop the world ending was to break up with his highschool girlfriend? Bad Max...bad. I love seeing your reviews and I hope you enjoy this last part before AB land!







Maria had decided to stay, as had Kyle, neither of them thought that their single parents would be able to handle losing them. Michael had refused to be with Maria since the end of last year, and Kyle had the least tie to the alien mess. Liz and Tess had taken him aside to explain the changes he might experience, but given the length of time it would take for them to manifest and his lack of connection with Max, they both thought he should be safe from their enemies.

The rest of them had been given one week. One week to prepare themselves to never see the ones they loved again, to try and say goodbye without being obvious. It was the most heart breaking week any of them had ever lived through, at least in this life.

Isabel spent as much time with her mom as possible, while Max actually joined in the family evenings for the first time in a long time. Alex and Liz both had close relationships with their family so spending a little extra time with them went largely unnoticed, although both Alex’s father and Liz’s mother commented on how affectionate their children were lately, and how glad they were that the two best friends were spending time together again. Tess hung out with Kyle, it was somewhat awkward but it was better than sitting alone in the empty house Nasedo had purchased. All too soon the week came to an end.


~


A car accident was the simplest and most likely way for them to die, so they planned a camping trip the next weekend for all of those slated to disappear, a bonding trip. Maria’s mom had a convention that weekend so she had a perfect excuse not to attend, and Kyle wasn’t close enough to any of them to be expected to go, not to mention the game was that weekend.

Isabel and Tess were going to manipulate the structure of some logs from Frasier woods to be their bodies; they had been practicing for several days now and were quite disgusted with the process. Max and Michael were working on Nasedo’s car, as well as their planned site for the accident, a deep gully that ran next to the woods where they were going to camp.

Pulling off a believable two car wreck was much harder than one so they had decided to leave the jeep at the camp site, and have all of them pile into Nasedo’s large suburban for the dive off the road. Tess and Liz had gone to Albuquerque one day after school and mindwarped a car salesman to see two Hispanic men as they purchased their getaway vehicle, and then Liz had driven the car to their hiding spot in the woods while Tess held a warp over the car of a completely different make, model, color, and license plate.

Other than that one trip Liz and Alex had spent most of their time outside of work and school in the Granolith chamber with the book, perfecting their plan to destroy it without taking out the town as well.

Packing for the camping trip gave them the excuse to pack for a much longer trip, and since they planned to stage the accident the first day out, completely torching the car, it shouldn’t be suspicious that only a few bags were found at the campsite. The rest were stashed in the third vehicle, hidden in a small copse of trees a couple miles from the camp site, but not too far from the actual crash site. The crash site itself was also only a couple miles from the Granolith Chamber.

Liz and Alex were going to be at the cave the morning of the Crash, with Tess there in case anything went wrong. At a set time they were going to program the Granolith and leave while the other three waited for the explosion before pushing the suburban into the ravine and hiking to the new car, then driving it to the next destination.

Meanwhile the other threesome, with Tess warping if anyone saw them, were going to have a longer walk to meet them at the fourth site that was farther from the Crash, but closer to the Granolith chamber where they would all join up and leave.

Max hadn’t been happy about it, but he and the others had reluctantly agreed that if they had no contact three hours after the explosion, to leave and assume something went wrong. They would stay nearby for a few days and then move on, most likely to Canada. No cell phones could be used after the crash, and in fact were going to be left with the ‘bodies’ in the car to prevent temptation.

The plan was detailed and well thought out with contingencies in place in case anything went wrong but as we all know, even the best laid plans sometimes go awry.


~


That Friday Liz stared around her room, trying to memorize every detail. It would be far too suspicious to take all of her personal mementos so she had been limited to just a few pictures, and of course her journal. Guilt was eating through her heart at what she was about to do to her parents, and only the fact that she had refused to think at all had enabled her to get through that week without bursting into tears every time she saw them. Instead she had limited herself to a couple more hugs than normal, and thanked the stars that it had been inventory week when her father expected her to hole up with him in his office for two hours every day. It had been hard to balance her time with the Granolith, but it had been worth it for those few more precious moments.

A tap on the window startled her and she jumped, turning to see Alex’s somber blue eyes staring at her from the other side. Opening the window she pulled him into a hug almost before he got his feet on the floor, not bothering to speak, just holding him as they grieved for everything they were giving up. After a few minutes a throat was cleared behind them and their heads tilted towards the window where Tess was perched hesitantly on the sill. Reaching out as one they pulled her into the hug too, all three of them quietly reveling in the closeness that they hoped would get them through the days to come.

They left that day after school, all of them knowing how much harder it would be to say goodbye if they waited until the next morning. They were largely silent that night as they made camp, none of them in the mood to talk as they moved about their various duties.

Max, Michael and Isabel were still surprised by the closeness that the other three had developed, and occasionally shot glances at them over the fire where the two girls were curled into Alex’s sides, staring into the flames and occasionally whispering quiet comments to each other.

Max and Isabel were both dealing with jealousy at watching someone they had considered theirs be so close to someone else, while Michael was just bemused at how quickly the two humans had thawed Tess’s shell, something the rest of them hadn’t managed, or even really tried to accomplish over the past year.

This plan they had concocted, the general in him admired it. It’s swiftness and finality, as well as how many details they had taken in to account, given their age and life experience it was nothing short of amazing and Michael was finding himself quite glad that they were on his side.


~


The next morning dawned hot and clear, the tension in the air wrapping itself around them with bone crushing strength. When they separated at the caves Michael was the only one to speak, wishing the other three a “Good luck,” The soldier in him feeling guilty for letting three civilians handle the most dangerous job.

Liz smiled at him and surprised him with a quick hug, before turning back to the others and ignoring Max’s eyes as they burned into the back of her neck. They ascended the cliff side at a steady pace, each of them listening to the sounds of the car fading into the desert. They were confident in their ability to destroy the Granolith, what they were not as confident about was their ability to survive the destruction.

They hadn’t shared those doubts with the others, only mentioning the contingency plan as if it was an afterthought rather than a very real fear, because they knew they would have been stopped otherwise, and they couldn’t afford to fail.

Liz had been plagued with nightmares every night since future Max left, nightmares of a future that woke her screaming into her pillow. Tess and Alex were the only ones who knew of these nightmares, and they were all determined to prevent them from becoming reality, again.


~


Tess stood behind them as the two humans shifted the crystals around the Granolith’s base, removing some and merely moving others. After what seemed like hours although she knew it wasn’t even one, they signaled that they were ready and she stepped forward. For the final interface with the device they needed her as an Antarian. They could direct it, guide it, but they needed her for the connection.

Standing directly in front of the glowing pillar she raised her hands until they were almost touching the surface. Alex and Liz each had one hand on her back, their fingers interlaced and the other hand hovering like hers over the surface of the Granolith. Glancing first to her left at Alex, and then to her right at Liz who smiled warmly, she took a deep breath and pushed her hands against it as her companions did the same.

There was a humming in her head, a humming she could feel in her bones and suddenly she was hearing Liz and Alex, all three of them were jumbled in her head and it was hard to tell whose thought was whose.

The humming grew louder until her whole skull was vibrating and she couldn’t hear Liz and Alex thinking anymore, she couldn’t hear anything but the buzz, and then something was tugging on her and she felt the fear through a suddenly forged bond. They had made a mistake, the Granolith wasn’t a device, it was an entity, and it had its own plans.

Now the buzzing had a feeling of amusement to it and then a fourth voice was in her head, both quieter and louder than anything she had ever heard before. It spoke, and while there weren’t words as such, she understood the meaning very clearly. “Don’t worry little ones, they will all be safe. You have somewhere else to be.”

Silence, deafening silence and then a rushing light, not white but somehow every color she knew and every color she didn’t know all around her. The light went through her and touched every molecule inside of her and she could feel Liz and Alex as they too were invaded by the sparkling energy. Then there was nothing and she was at peace.

Adian: I'm glad I surprised you! I couldn't think of any other way to get them to the AB verse plus I love showing the Granilith as a sentient being. I hope some of the chapters to come answer some of your questions.
Yasmania: I promise this thread will not die and your reviews definitely couldn't cause that. If anything it would be the opposite since your reviews are always so flattering that they inspire me to write more. I definitely didn't want to destroy the Granilith and while I'm not planning on ever sending them back for a visit its good to have options open. As for the memories yes I have already written that and the chapters head will show my take on it. Thank you again so much for your reviews and I hope you enjoy this part!
KiaraAlexisKlay: LOL, I loved your description of Tess, totally cracked me up. It is definitely not wrong to wish Michael was going along, I was tempted myself but thought that four kids would be a little bit of overkill, lol, and you're right Max and Isabel definitely need Michael. I am so glad you liked the plan because I was worried either I would miss something or it would come across as overly expositional. You're funny when you take medicine by the way...and I always saw the Granilith as having a good sense of humor and its own idea of what should happen.
One shot! One shot! You know how to make me happy!
ashesfall01: Yay your back! You Yas and Kiara are my favorite reviewers and having you all in a row totally made my day. I'm glad I'm completing my plan to make you a Tess lover. Excluding Michael the three of them are my favorite characters most of the time and I wanted all three of them to be close which is rare to see in fanfic. I'm glad you liked the humor, that was one of my favorite lines too. As for hookups, well they're going to be children for a while so all of that is going to have to wait. Please enjoy and keep reviewing!






Anita was having a bad day, that wasn’t exactly unusual, but that day she was particularly frazzled, and her black scowl had the people in front of her quickly dodging out of her way as she headed for the doors. Craig, the night secretary, paled at the look on her face, and forewent his usual good morning in favor of hiding his face behind some files. Anita ignored him and stalked to her car, slamming the door with a less than satisfying thud.

Six zombie raisings in seven hours; she was covered in blood, exhausted, and extremely annoyed. The last group had brought along a priest to counsel the bereaved, a priest who made it quite clear he thought she was the spawn of Satan. Growling under her breath Anita threw the car into gear.

The sun was just barely starting to creep over the horizon and it was still grey and cool, Jean-Claude was probably just now seeking his coffin. If she wanted she could reach out and check…shaking off those thoughts and reminding herself that she had closed the marks for a reason, she pulled onto the freeway that was the most direct route to her house.

Grabbing her travel mug she took a sip of the day old, cold, coffee, and made a face but continued drinking, the caffeine a soothing balm to her frayed nerves. Twenty-five minutes later she was on the last stretch of road leading to her house, and feeling a tiny bit better, when a glowing ball of energy appeared in front of her car. Swearing loudly she slammed on the breaks and swerved, barely managing to stop before her car entered the crackling ball of light.

Remaining in the relative safety of her vehicle she watched the phenomenon expand and contract before dissolving with a flash of blinding white light that sent waves of energy rolling over and through her. Gritting her teeth to hold back a scream as the energy pulled against her own power, she collapsed over the steering wheel and moaned as it finally dispersed. Blinking dizzily she managed to sit up, what the hell was that? Peering through the windshield at where the energy had been her mouth dropped open as she saw three small children, curled in a pile in the middle of the road.

Opening her door she staggered towards them, hand on the side of her car to keep her balance as she knelt down on the asphalt. There were two girls and one boy, all three looking to be about five or six years old. They were breathing, thank God, and were either sleeping or unconscious, arms wrapped around each other, and bodies limp.

Sitting back against the front of her SUV she reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone, grateful that the energy storm, or whatever it was, hadn’t fried it. She could barely stand so she was definitely going to need some help getting them into the car and back to her house. Whatever had just happened wasn’t normal, and she had a feeling her life was, once again, about to get a lot more complicated.

It was Nathaniel who answered the house phone, his soft voice making her smile despite the situation. “Hey I’m about three miles from the house on the side of the road, can you come meet me? I have some…packages that need special handling.”

Once he had agreed and her phone was back in her pocket, she resumed studying the children. The little boy had dark hair and fair skin with a few visible freckles. Of the two little girls one was a tiny blonde with pale creamy skin, and the other was an equally tiny brunette with duskier skin, possibly indicating a mixed heritage. All three of them were wearing clothes that looked a little out of place on children, more like something teenagers would wear.

Why, or maybe more importantly, how were they here? The energy was something she could only assume was magical in nature, was it an accident or were they sent here intentionally? If it was the latter were they sent to her? That thought got a weary chuckle from her, who in their right mind would send her children? Her life was full of violence, and death, and monsters; children had no place there.

None the less she couldn’t stop a small stirring of maternal warmth at the sight of the three children cuddling in front of her, a tiny and quickly repressed part of her wishing that her life did have room in it for something as innocent as a child.

Nathaniel saved her from her thoughts when he appeared loping up the road, not having bothered to borrow anyone’s car for the short distance. His long auburn hair was up in a ponytail streaming behind him as he ran; as he got closer she could see the concern in his warm lilac eyes, as well as the shock when he noticed the children.

Stopping next to her without any indication of tiredness he cocked his head to the side curiously, reminding her of a kitten. She definitely needed more coffee. With a tired sigh she accepted his help up.

“I don’t know where they came from; the way they appeared…well it was special. I’m going to call Marianne once we get them to the house.”

“They’re magical?” Nathaniel asked in surprise, pausing mid-bend, his arms still stretched out towards the children.

Anita frowned. “I don’t know, but they way they appeared was,” reaching out with her other senses she frowned again, “They do have power I just don’t know what kind, they don’t feel completely human.”

Shaking her head she smiled wanly at him, “Either way they need our help and I need more coffee.”

He smiled back but raised a stern eyebrow, “And food.” When she pouted he just continued to stare until her resistance wilted.

“Fine, and food, I’m sure they’ll be hungry as well when they wake up.”

Satisfied he nodded, finishing his bend and scooping up all three, his deceptively petite frame looking a little strange with the large bundle. None of the children so much as twitched as he carried them to the car and settled them into the backseat. He and Anita separated them and buckled them each into different seat belts, then exchanged a bemused smile as even unconscious they found each other’s hands and held on tight.

The drive back was silent, Anita watching the road and driving much slower than normal while Nathaniel watched the children. It still surprised her how quickly she had accepted Nathaniel as part of her life. The pard was hers, they didn’t officially live with her but spent so much time at her house they might as well.

They were hers to protect and she was beginning to accept their presence in her life as well as slowly getting more comfortable with just how physical of a presence that was. But Nathaniel was the only one she saw as family, somehow in the months since she saved his life he had wormed his way more firmly into her heart and life than she liked.

Unfortunately, as her relationships with both Jean-Claude and Richard proved, you couldn’t just turn feelings off when you wanted to.

So Nathaniel was the first, and so far only, leopard to officially move in and become part of her life. He was even developing a backbone, at least when it came to her and the other leopards, which currently involved trying to improve her eating habits.

Pulling into the driveway she saw Zane and Cherry waiting on the front step, the others were most likely at work. The look on their faces when Nathaniel ducked into the backseat and pulled out three small children was almost comical.

Feeling her headache grow, she followed Nathaniel into the house and headed straight for the phone, after directing him to lay the children down on her bed. First call to make was Dolph, just in case there was a missing persons out, and then she could call Marianne.

The station told her to call his car phone; he answered that with an abrupt. “Anita.”

Biting her tongue to hold back her curiosity at how he always knew it was her, she skipped straight to the problem. “I found three children in the road outside my house, no ID’s and they haven’t woken up yet although there doesn’t appear to be any physical trauma.” Mentally she added in a call to Lillian to her to-do list, wouldn’t hurt to get them checked out.

She hesitated, debating whether to mention how they appeared, before deciding what the hell. “How they appeared Dolph, well someone pretty powerful did it and there was a lot of energy used. Don’t just check for missing persons but anything big with a preternatural flag on it.”

“Were any of them bleeding?” Dolph asked; his voice sharp with tension.

Anita frowned “No, none of them were bleeding and they don’t have any recently closed wounds.” Even closed the marks gave her enhanced senses, and she would have smelled the blood, as would the Shifters in her house, their reactions would have been clear and immediate.

He grunted and thought for a moment. “Ok I’ll get some people on it, are you keeping them for now?” His voice sounded like he couldn’t decide between hoping that she said yes so he wouldn’t have to deal with it, and telling her not to so the children wouldn’t be around all of her monsters.

She had had some of those same thoughts herself, but what she said was true, someone pretty powerful had to have done this and that could mean that there were some not so nice people after these kids. Unfortunately she couldn’t think of anyone better qualified to protect them than her.

“Yeah, I’ll keep them. They might be in trouble and if they are I don’t think social services could handle the kind of things they’re likely to attract.”

He seemed to accept this and gave her another abrupt “Okay, I’ll get back to you” before hanging up without saying goodbye, she was too used to this to even feel mildly offended.

Sending a soft glare Nathaniel’s way as he returned to the kitchen and threw some bacon in the pan, she dialed Lillian’s number and after a brief chat, the doctor promised to be there within the hour.

She accepted a cup of coffee from Nathaniel gratefully even as she frowned when he added pancakes to the breakfast he was making, then made her third and hopefully last call. “Hey Marianne, any chance you could take a trip up here for a few days? No, it’s not me. I found some children, or maybe they found me. I could really use your help...That will work, thank you so much. Bye.”

Nathaniel slid a plate in front of her, his eyes asking if everything was ok.

“Lillian will be here soon and Marianne will be here Tuesday, so with any luck we’ll only have to play babysitter for three days.” Picking up her fork she gave him a faint smile. “Thank God tonight is my night off, Bert would be pissed if I missed any more work.”

Zane and Cherry were happily digging into Nathaniel’s cooking and she forced herself to eat a few bites, and then smiled as she heard a sound from the other room. “I think our guests have woken up.” She said, far more cheerily than she actually felt at the excuse to escape the table.

She felt the other three behind her in the hallway, their curiosity a palpable presence in the air. All three of the children were awake, the two girls were sitting on the end of her bed and the boy was standing in front of them, glaring at the adults in the hallway and looking decidedly protective. It would have been adorable if it didn’t make her heart break at the thought of what they might have gone through.


~


Alex blinked groggily, his head was fuzzy and he felt like he should have a headache, although he didn’t know why. There was sunlight coming in from the window and it made him squint, the Granolith chamber had been so dark. He paused in his thoughts, window? Sitting up he looked around and saw that he was in a bedroom, not his bedroom. Everything seemed awfully large too, as if made for people bigger than he was. Turning he saw two children lying on the bed next to him, what were kids doing here?

Liz’s head was throbbing and she had an extreme feeling of disorientation, a flash of the Granolith hit her and she sat up abruptly, then clutched her head as the pain increased. Were Tess and Alex ok? What had happened? Had it exploded? Her thoughts were all muddled and she couldn’t piece together her memories into any coherent picture. Realizing that she was staring into space she shook herself and looked around, she had this vague feeling that they weren’t anywhere near home. Scanning to the left she saw a normal bedroom, to the right she jumped as she saw Alex staring at her. Only it wasn’t Alex as she had just seen him, but the Alex she remembered from first grade, with a little snub nose, and large pale eyes, and a faint smattering of freckles. What the hell was going on?

Tess still felt like her body was humming, she couldn’t feel the Granolith anymore but she could feel Liz and Alex and herself, and their power was so strong, it was intoxicating. In fact she felt a little drunk; like that time she had taken a sip from the weird bottle she found in Nasedo’s nightstand. Opening her eyes she stared at the smooth white ceiling, but made no move to sit up, afraid that if she did she would pass out again. The Granolith, it had spoken to them, something important. The memory was like a word on the tip of her tongue, almost there but just out of reach. Tilting her head to the side she saw Liz and Alex engaging in a staring contest. After a moment she giggled, they were so little!

KiaraAlexisKlay: Of course you’re one of my favorite reviewers! And Writers! I’m glad you liked Anita, I was worried about finding the voice of the Anita characters not having experience writing them like I do the Roswell ones so I’m glad my version of her is readable, definitely liked early Anita more than later Anita. I definitely think Anita has more of a personality that bitch/nympho so I plan on showing that although obviously those aspects will display at times.
The Granolith is definitely a smart cookie, don’t want to say too much but I totally pictured it laughing as it dropped them in front of Anita. As for effects on her and her bonds that will be explored…later…
I’m having a lot of fun writing the kids and you’re right it is similar to the three pod squadders. I know I totally missed describing the clothes earlier and almost left that line out but decided to keep it. I did put some pic ideas in the banner of what the little Roswellians look like, Elle Fanning is who I picked for Tess and some random online little boy for Alex (couldn’t find one I really liked so…use your imagination on that one!)
And can I just say Yay!!!! For your latest AB ficlets! They rock!
girl_saint86: Thank you for reviewing! It’s so nice to see new faces. I did consider going that way but decided to have them keep their memories, for now
Adian: Well minLiz will ask that question in one or two chapters from now but a Pard is a group of wereleopards, just like a Pack would be a group of werewolves. There will definitely be more revealed in the chapters to come but the Granilith’s intentions will probably remain vague for a while, I’m glad you’re enjoying!
garcia88: Nathaniel is one of my favorites too and he will defiitely have a large part in this story as it continues . Thank you for the feedback and I hope you continue to enjoy!
Yasmania: Thank you! I love words like awesome I’m really glad you liked Nathaniel and the other characters, definitely want to write them well so if you see anything out of character let me know! Sorry for the wait on this chapter but I hope you enjoy!
.JusTaGirl.: Yay for more feedback! Thank you for the review and here’s some more!


A/N: So so sorry for the late chapter, I totally spaced on the days of the week and by the time I realized I missed an update it was so close to today that I just decided to wait. But here it is!








Alex broke the silence first, his voice sounding oddly high pitched to their ears. “So anyone else notice something weird?”

Tess giggled again, finally sitting up, and Liz just stared at him in shock, her scientific mind unable to process what was happening. “Are we having a group hallucination, or?” Staring at her suddenly tiny hands, the minute fingernails still painted the dusky red they had been before, she blinked, hard, and then pouted when they didn’t get any bigger. “Did the Granolith do this? Could the Granolith do this?”

The blond frowned, her voice hesitant and ridiculously adorable in her opinion as she answered “I guess so, its power…it has a lot of it so if it wanted to.” She shrugged. “I know it stopped us, it was sending us somewhere, I think.” Pausing she smiled weakly at them. “Everything’s kind of fuzzy.”

“Why make us kids though?” Alex asked, more rhetorically than anything else. “I mean I kind of get sending us somewhere else, and if the others are ok then that’s ok I guess, but I have no desire to go through puberty again.”

The last statement made Tess and Liz grin, Liz’s grin dying quickly as she thought of another worry and tried to ignore the clamor in the back of her head that just wanted her mommy.

“Where are we?” She asked, and then hurried to explain. “I mean I know we’re not where we were and we’re in a house but I feel a little like Dorothy, I don’t think we’re anywhere near home and I don’t mean just a different city.”

A sudden sound from the other side of the door made all three of them fall silent, Alex sliding off the bed to stand protectively in front of them as the door opened. Liz’s last thought before a woman came in the room was that Tess should be in front, if they were really stuck as kids, she was the only one who could protect them.


~


Anita smiled gently and walked slowly into the room, her hands held loosely at her sides in what she hoped was a non threatening position. She stopped several feet from the children and spoke softly. “Hi, my name is Anita Blake. This is my house and you’re safe here, what are your names?”
The three glanced at each other and she could see they were weighing whether to trust her or not. The look in their eyes spoke of wisdom beyond their apparent years, and she added a few more questions to her list of things she wanted to know about them. It was the brunette little girl who slid off the bed and stepped forward to answer her, her young voice soft and sweet. “My name is Liz, this is Alex and Tess. How did we get here?”

Her little girl voice sounded so suspicious and Anita had to fight to keep a gentle smile on her face, anger rising in her at whoever could make such a young child so jaded. “I brought you in my car, I…found you in the road. Do you remember anything that happened to you?”


Liz thought hard, part of her wondering what to say to the woman, and part of her worried about how dull the memory was already becoming, so she decided to stick with the basics, they were supposed to be kids after all. “We were in a cave and there was a big flash of light and I was dizzy and then we woke up here.” Her voice sounded plaintive even to her own ears and she felt a sudden jolt of fear as she realized that it wasn’t just her body that felt like a child.

She scooted back towards the bed, grabbing Tess and Alex’s hands as she tried to fight the terror that was suddenly overwhelming her, were they really stuck like this? Were they going to get more and more kidlike until they barely remembered who they were? Everything was fuzzy and it seemed to be getting worse, not better.

The woman seemed to sense her fear and took a few steps closer, kneeling down in front of them. “Hey, it’s going to be ok. We’ll figure it out and until we do you’re safe here, I’ll take care of you.”


The wave of maternal protectiveness that was flowing over her startled Anita, but the look in the girl’s big brown eyes had tugged on her heart string, and she couldn’t not reassure her.

Nathaniel chose that moment to come into the room as well, and he knelt down beside her as Zane and Cherry hovered in the doorway and watched the scene with wide curious eyes. “Hi Liz, Tess, Alex. I’m Nathaniel and I’m a friend of Anita’s, are you guys hungry?”

The boy nodded energetically, then stopped abruptly, looking surprised at his own enthusiasm which caused the blond to giggle, a merry tinkling sound that brought a real smile to Anita’s face.

The brunette seemed to shake off her fear and stepped forward, hesitantly reaching forward to touch Nathaniel’s hair as the blond slid off the bed and spoke for the first time. “You’re hair is really pretty.”

“Thank you.” Nathaniel said with a genuine warm smile, making an effort to not move as Liz continued to stroke his hair.

Suddenly the girl blushed and pulled away. “I’m sorry, it looked so soft.”

He took her hand before she could step away and smiled gently. “It’s ok, I didn’t mind. Are you hungry too?” She nodded and bit her lip, lifting her eyes to meet his and giving him a smile.

He stood up slowly, careful not to startle her and kept her hand in his, offering his other hand to the little blond, Tess. “Want to help me make breakfast? I have pancakes and bacon.” He grinned, and got a sneaky look on his face, “Maybe if we ask nicely Anita will let us use some of the strawberries and whip cream she hid in the back of the fridge.”

Then it was Anita’s turn to blush, those hadn’t been bought by her, nor had they been bought with pancakes in mind. Damn Jean-Claude. All three of the children were looking at her with hopeful expressions on their faces and she nodded, wishing that her face wasn’t beet red, and glad they wouldn’t understand why. “That would be fine.”

“Yay!” Tess exclaimed, and clapped her hands, before taking the one Nathaniel offered. “I’ve never made pancakes before, is it hard?” She asked him as he led them towards the door and into the hall.

“Are you coming?” Anita asked Alex, reaching out her own hand and smiling in spite of herself as she felt his small fingers grip her own.


~


Alex sat at the table and watched the goings on in the kitchen with a big grin, occasionally giggling when he didn’t think anyone was watching. Liz was cracking eggs carefully and looked very serious, while Tess had managed to coat both herself, and Nathaniel in flour, and was laughing uncontrollably as he tried to clean her face with the dish towel. Zane and Cherry were sitting on stools on the other side of the counter, eyes wide with amazement and amusement, shooting occasional glances at Anita as if they weren’t quite sure that it was really happening.

Anita realized she hadn’t stopped smiling in almost five minutes and wondered at herself, she liked kids and had thought of having one or two someday in the misty future, but had never really considered herself a kid person. Yet the children had already tied themselves to her affections and they had only been here for an hour. How was she going to feel after three days?

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts, and she realized she had forgotten about Lillian in the excitement of the children waking up, and Nathaniel’s second breakfast. The children seemed to be fine but a doctor’s opinion never hurt and this way if the police asked she could honestly say she had had them looked at.

Lillian smiled at her from the doorstep, her salt and pepper hair gleaming in the morning sun. “Where are my patients?” She asked, in a no nonsense tone of voice that managed to be warm and friendly at the same time. Anita let her in and pointed to the children, earning herself a raised eyebrow. “They look fine to me.”

“Me too.” Anita said, “But since I found them in the middle of the road I’d like to have them looked at. Considering how they were found I thought you would be a better choice than the hospital.”

The wererat looked at her sharply, but nodded her understanding, heading towards Alex first as he was the only child not doing anything. She set her case on the table next to him and smiled with the practiced ease that only years of experience brought. “Hi Alex I’m Dr. Lillian, I’m going to give you a little checkup, is that ok?”

He started to nod and then stopped, his eyes widening in sudden fear as he slid off the chair and backed away.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” She said gently, not making any move towards him, but shooting a concerned glance at Anita, who shrugged helplessly, just as surprised as the doctor at his sudden reaction.

He shook his head and walked sideways towards the girls in the kitchen, his eyes never leaving them as he bent down next to Tess and whispered in her ear, not realizing that everyone in the room had enhanced senses and could hear everything he said. “We’re different now, like you, is that going to show up on the tests?”

The girl stiffened, her smile dropping as she too backed away from Nathaniel and pulled Liz with her, the three of them huddling together.

The adults exchanged glances, unsure how to react. It was Nathaniel who broke the silence, kneeling down in front of the children again and giving them his warmest smile. “We don’t care if you’re different, we’re different too.” He said softly.

They were all quiet for several moments, just staring before Liz finally spoke up. “I don’t think you’re different like we’re different.” She shot a glance at the others before continuing. “People have tried to hurt us before; we don’t want to go away.” Her voice got higher as she talked, the whites of her eyes now showing and all three of the children looked terrified. “They’ll test us and make us do things and hurt us!”

Anita’s heart was pounding in her ears as her rage simmered back to the surface and threatened to break free. She could read between the lines and someone had tried to experiment on these children, to test them, what kind of monster would do that? She wasn’t naive, far from it, and she knew that there were people out there who would do unspeakable things to the preternatural community in the name of science but children? That was a whole new level of depravity and one that threatened to destroy her already shaky self control.

Stepping forward she sat down on the ground next to Nathaniel, her head now on level with the children. “I am not going to let anyone hurt you ok? I promise, no matter what that I will protect you. No one will take you away from me.”

Tess started crying first, big glistening tears running down her cheeks, but Liz soon joined her and Anita found herself pulling both of them into her lap and holding them close, murmuring soothing nonsense as she stroked their hair. Whatever had already happened to these children Anita was determined that nothing else would, she had promised that they would be safe and she kept her promises.

A/N: Well I hate these three letters but OMG I am sooo sorry about the long wait, I promise I really was planning on posting once a week. My mom out of the blue is getting married in two days, my sister's mom, also out of the blue, got married last weekend and I just started college again for the first time in three years and started a new project at work so I've been going a little crazy. Hopefully after this weekend's wedding things will settle down a little bit. I have been working on it so it's not that I don't have the chapters written just finding time to post has been dificult. But, thank you for your patience and here's some more! I live for the feedback!!!

garcia88: I think they're cute too! That's one of the reasons I picked those three, I could picture them as adorable children instead of annoying children more than the other Roswellians. Although mini Kyle and Michael would both be adorable And I didn't hurry back but here's some more!
Fallin Angels: Exactly! I couldn't agree more, I love Anita (Or did early on, now I'm iffy) and wanted to showcase that, I've never understood why someone would want to write an unlikeable character that's supposed to be a 'good guy/main character.' And LOL, that was one of my considerations in making them kids that there wouldn't be any conflict over the males in the series, which can be done well but I wanted to avoid at least in this fic. Richard will definitely be in here and I don't want to say too much but I despise that man so he won't be a happy character that's for sure As for the other guys...we will see! Thank you so much for your feedback, I love seeing new reviewers and ones who type a paragraph or two! It's a beautiful thing
Yasmania: Mmm...me too, and Ha! I only wish I'd been playing with Nathaniel That totally cracked me up. And I'm quite sure your imaginiation doesn't suck but thank you for the compliment I hope you continue to enjoy, I definitely enjoy the feedback and I am sorry for the loooong wait.
booktv-girl2310: Thank you! I'm glad you love it and I don't know about soon but here's some more!








All three children had eventually consented to the exams, and Lillian had proclaimed all of them healthy, taking a blood sample from each child for further testing.

The breakfast had gone off without any further interruptions, and only a couple more messes, ending very satisfactorily with the three children, Nathaniel, and Zane, eating and attacking each other with the rest of the whipped cream.

When bath time was mentioned they got strangely shy, especially Alex who had turned beet red, and all three of them had insisted that they preferred showers and could do it themselves, Tess and Liz just needing to stand on something to turn the water on and off as they were too short to reach the knob.

They had just seemed embarrassed not afraid which Anita was grateful for. It was bad enough that she was sure they had been physically abused or threatened, and it made her furious, but if she learned that there had been sexual abuse as well she would be sick and then someone would die.

Luckily there was more than one bathroom in the house and Alex generously offered to let the girls go first, Cherry helping Tess and Anita helping Liz.


~


Alex was in the living room sitting on the couch next to Zane, while Nathaniel cleaned up the mess in the kitchen. Kicking his heels against the couch he stared at the blue haired man, before realizing what he was doing and forcibly stilling his feet. Just because he looked six didn’t mean he had to act that way. “Why do you have fangs?”

The man smiled, revealing all four of the dainty, white, very sharp, teeth. “I remained in my leopard form too long; it causes permanent changes when you do that.” His voice was dry and amused with a lacing of something else, something darker that Alex didn’t understand.

“Your leopard form? What does that mean, are you like a werewolf or something?” He asked, trying to fight the sudden fear and surprise he felt. He knew these people said they were different but he hadn’t had a chance to think about just what that could mean.

Zane nodded, his eyebrow raised at the evident surprise on the boys face. “I can feel your power, can’t you feel mine?”

Alex shook his head instinctively before frowning. “I’ve never tried.” He said thoughtfully. Part of him was aware that when the Granolith sent them here it changed more than just their ages, he felt different and had assumed that he and Liz were like Tess now, but maybe there was more to it.

Closing his eyes he concentrated, trying to feel inside and out at the same time. His eyes popped back open with surprise when he realized he could feel a warm tingling sensation from Zane, and an even stronger one from Nathaniel where he was puttering about the kitchen. He could also feel a colder spot rippling with power that he determined was Anita, while Cherry felt like the two men.

Liz and Tess however were like bright hot golden lights when he closed his eyes, and if he focused he could feel them in his head, like listening to them from across a room. “Whoa.”

Zane just grinned and reached out to ruffle his hair, “See? We’re all a little different here but that’s ok, I kind of like it that way.”


~


Warm tears ran down her face and mingled with the water from the shower. Guilt was swamping her, nearly matching the pain radiating from the core of her being. She was glad they were here, she was even glad they were children. After everything she couldn't have faced Max again, she couldn't have handled day after day on the run with him. The hurt she felt from betraying him, the anger and betrayal at what he made her do, at everything he put on her shoulders, made her want to scream. The thought of romance, of loving someone again and holding the responsibility for their happiness in her hands, terrified her, and that wasn’t just her six year old mind talking.

This new place, this new life, she thought maybe it was the Granolith's way of letting her, letting all of them start over. Tess's life with Nasedo must have been horrible, she had seen glimpses in her eyes of things she knew she couldn't imagine and knew that she deserved this just as much if not more than Liz did. As for Alex, he had always been there for everyone else and maybe this was his chance to have a life for himself.

So she cried, cried for everything they had lost, and everything they might gain.

When her tears had stopped and she stepped out of the shower, she felt a sudden overwhelming wave of love and warmth wash over her. The inside of her mind tingled and she could feel Tess and Alex, it was like a big mental hug and she couldn't help but smile. This new world might be strange, and from Alex she got the impression it was stranger than they could have imagined, but she wasn't alone and she never would be again.

Pulling away from them she sent a brief reassurance that she was okay, before closing what felt like a mental door. She could still feel them and knew that they were okay, as well as having a vague sense of where they were, but it no longer felt like they were there in the bathroom with her.

Anita had given her one of her smallest long sleeved shirts and it still came past her knees. Climbing up on the toilet seat so she could see in the mirror she stared at herself thoughtfully. Her hair was longer now, reaching all the way to her waist, and her eyes looked too large in ridiculously tiny face. The shirt bagged around her unattractively and she pursed her lips, turning from side to side before smiling as an idea hit her. Reaching behind her she gathered the loose material and tied it into a knot, a lot harder than it would have been before. Not only were her hands smaller, but her fine motor skills seemed to have deteriorated along with her age.

Placing her hands on her hips she eyed herself critically before giving a satisfied smile, it still looked a little odd, but she looked less like an orphan and more like a little girl trying to copy mommy’s fashion. Folding her towel neatly she left in on the toilet seat and carried her dirty clothes out into the bedroom where Anita was waiting for her.

Climbing up onto the bed she sat down next to the brunette woman, wondering how much longer she was going to keep them, and where they would go after that. Anita looked at her and smiled, before opening her mouth and telling her she was pretty. She heard the words through a long echoing tunnel as she fell into Anita’s eyes and drowned; she was swimming in a pool of blood and there were dead things swimming with her.


~


The whip cream floated on top of the water as it swirled down the drain, making funny shapes and bringing a smile to her face. She knew she wasn’t really a six year old and that she should be freaking out and trying to find a way to fix it but she was having so much fun she didn’t want too. In this life she hadn’t had a childhood; her formative years had consisted of constant traveling and training, while her Guardian stole and murdered his way across the country in search of answers. She had never made pancakes, or had a whipped cream fight, or even been allowed to giggle without punishment, and she was loving every minute of it.

Her powers still hummed in the back of her mind, but they felt different, and she knew they had changed, and that she should be figuring out how, and why, and what she could do now. Her knowledge was still the same, emotionally part of her still felt like the sixteen year old she had been, but overlaying that were the emotions and mind of a six year old.

The Granolith hadn’t just altered their bodies, it had in every way that mattered turned back the clock, and unless it changed its mind she highly doubted that they were going to reach their prior ages in any way but actually growing up. Strangely enough that didn’t make her sad, or angry, or anything but happy and maybe a little relieved.

Alex and Liz had become the two people she trusted and cared for most in this life, the others weren’t the same as they had been, and in the past few weeks she’d had a few honest heart to heart’s with herself and realized that they never were going to be the same. In this life they didn’t trust her, they didn’t love her, they didn’t even want her, and that was ok. She was ok without them, and she was grateful to her new family for helping her figure that out.

When they were planning their disappearance she had already been plotting to discuss with Alex and Liz the possibility of separating from the other three and going their own way, apparently the Granolith had something similar in mind.

Suddenly there was a tug in the back of her mind and she collapsed on the floor as a pool of darkness swallowed her.



Downstairs Alex fell off the couch, Zane barely managing to catch him before his head hit the coffee table.



Liz was convulsing in Anita’s arms, her tiny body shaking violently, and the animator had never felt so helpless. Screaming for Nathaniel she tried to hold the little girl still, holding her finger between her teeth so she didn’t bite her tongue off. Just as suddenly as the seizure had begun it stopped, the small body hanging limply in her arms.

Nathaniel ran through the doorway, eyes serious. “Alex collapsed,” his gaze reached Liz’s body and widened in concern, “Is she ok?”

“I don’t know, she was looking at me and then she just started shaking.” The little girl moaned and her eyes cracked open, causing Anita to jump, the stress having frayed her nerves past their usual breaking point.

Nathaniel sat down on the bed next to her and rested his hand on Liz’s forehead, “She’s not warm, she’s cold.” He said to Anita, voice calm for Liz’s sake, but his eyes showed his worry. “Are you okay sweetie?” This was directed to the child, her brown eyes now fully open and staring at them both.

“I saw...” She trailed off, shooting a glance at Anita, before her eyes turned back to Nathaniel’s. “I saw blood and death and a graveyard and a man, I think he was a vampire.” Tilting her head towards Anita again she smiled a smile that had no place on a six year old, “I think your life is crazier than ours.”








A/N: Also as a side note I edited Anita's conversation with Dolph in Chapter 4 (Pg 2) to make it flow with something that's coming up so you might want to reread that bit if not now than before reading Chapter 7 I think it is.

garcia88: Thank you for the feedback! And I definitely agree that seeing Anita's life all at once like that would be scary, even if you had been a member of the Alien Abyss! As for them being sent back it won't really give too much away to say no, this is now their life, however that doesn't mean we've seen the last of Roswell or the other Czechloslovakian's
booktv-girl2310: Anita's life is definitely crazy, and now it will be crazier Lol, thanks for the review and I hope you continue to enjoy!
Yasmania: That’s me, fighting off boredom everywhere! Lol, sadly with the exception of a few stories that I follow that’s usually when I read fanfic too. I love reading your reviews, their always so flattering I definitely wanted to showcase that Anita had emotions and obviously feels protective of people given her reaction to Nathaniel and the Pard, I couldn’t help but think that her reaction would be even bigger to someone as helpless as a child.
I also definitely wanted to show that despite the Alien Abyss this new world is still a big shock and this chapter will show a little more of how scary this all is for them, then the chapters to come will show more of their lack of prejudice.
I definitely want having the children around to affect Anita not just for her powers but everything she ends up going through, keep her the nice semi-soft Anita we loved versus the bitter harpy.
And Tess won’t drown! I promise!



A/N: So a little late but not a week late this time! I hope you all enjoy and I live for the feedback!












The three children were now downstairs curled up on the couch, Alex, and Anita’s showers finished, and all three of them sipping hot cocoa with Zane while the other adults conferred.

“How many kinds of shapeshifters are there?” Liz asked the spiky haired were leopard, the scientist in her already trying to learn and categorize this new world. The images she had seen in Anita’s head had shaken her, and the more she knew the less afraid she would be.

“Oh lots; here in St. Louis we have the leopards, the wolves of course, hyena’s, rats, there’s the lions, and we have a few individuals that don’t have enough members to really be considered a group, there’s a tiger, we used to have a swan.” He shrugged, grinning at their huge eyes. “Just about anything you can think of.”

“Can you shift anytime?”

“Yes we can, but it takes a lot of energy, and we always have to on the full moon.”

After that Liz fell silent, clearly contemplating all of the information he had given her. Her suddenly six year old brain wasn’t as good at thinking things through as it had been, or she would have had more questions; things she had always known seemed to be gone and in their place were things she hadn’t cared about in years, since the last time she was this age.

“And vampires?” Tess asked after a moment, she had seen the image in Liz’s mind and was desperately curious to see if they were real. Shapeshifters she got, she had seen similar things after all, but the walking undead seemed completely weird.

“What about them?” Zane asked, truly puzzled. The shifter questions he could understand as there wasn’t a lot of public knowledge about them unless you knew someone who was a shifter. Vampires however had been a hot topic ever since Addison vs. Clark and even children shouldn’t be at all surprised over their existence.

Apparently however these children really were different, as Tess exclaimed. “They exist?! Do they really drink blood? Do they kill people?”

“Yes they exist and yes they drink blood.” Anita’s voice cut in as she walked into the living room, her voice sober. She hesitated over the next answer before deciding on a vague, “Some vampires kill people, but you shouldn’t meet any of those.”

If they were staying here it was inevitable that they were going to meet Damian and Jean Claude, if not more vampires, and she didn’t want them terrified. It went against the grain to sugarcoat the dangers of vampires, but she kept reminding herself that they were only six years old; they had plenty of time to learn the true face of the monsters.

Anita sat gently on the coffee table in front of the three children, her mind swirling with questions. The children were different that much was clear, and she needed to find out what they knew, they didn’t act like any six year olds she had ever seen.

She was pretty sure that Liz at least was psychic, the things she had seen after looking at Anita, and the violent reaction to it, were very similar to how Evans, their neighborhood clairvoyant, reacted when he touched things. The other two collapsing as well indicated a strong metaphysical bond between the three; they might even be psychic as well.

There were nasty people in this world and true psychics were rare, ones as young as these children and therefore as malleable were even rarer. If some of those nasty people learned about these kids...it would be bad, very bad and it was possible someone already knew given their obvious fear of being shown as different.

“I know that you’re afraid that bad people will come for you if they know what you can do, but I promise I will protect you, to do that I need to know what you can do.” The three children looked at each other, and she had a feeling that they were conferring in the same silent way that she and Jean-Claude did. As one they turned back to her and, once again, Liz took the position of spokesperson.

“What are your powers?”

The tone the little girl used was far too cautious and adult, and Anita once again had to remind herself that wherever these children had been, in many ways they aged past their apparent years. The question was the oldest trade in the book, you show me yours and I’ll show you mine.

Gesturing to the two adults standing behind her she said, “Nathaniel and Cherry are wereleopards like Zane; they’re all part of the same Pard.”

“What’s a Pard? Is that like a pack for wolves?”

The question came from Alex and she nodded with a smile. “Yes, they’re sort of like a family.” A massively violent dysfunctional family she thought with a sarcastic mental snort.

“You’re not a leopard but they listen to you, why?” Liz asked, her brown eyes sharp with intelligence as she glanced at the three Shifters, then back to Anita’s petite form.

Anita frowned slightly, that wasn’t something a six year old would have noticed, at least not any of the six year olds she had met, and she wasn’t quite sure what to say. It wasn’t like she could tell them that she had shot and killed their previous leader, and left them vulnerable to every other Shifter in town until she had stepped in with her protection; protection that amounted to her willingness and ability to kill anyone who threatened them.

“They didn’t have anyone in the Pard strong enough to protect them so I stepped in.” Reluctantly, grudgingly, but she had stepped in, and until a stronger leopard appeared that she trusted to take over, she was stuck with it.

“Why are you strong enough?” Liz asked intently, biting her lip as a wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows.

Alex piped in again before she could answer. “I felt your power, you’re all cold and tingly, not warm like them.” His hand waved towards the shifters as he fell silent, all three children watching her with wary eyes; their smiles disappeared into a cold little masks that didn’t quite hide their fear.

Hoping that she wasn’t about to scare them further, she kept her voice soft, and her face as warm as he could manage, “I’m a Necromancer, I raise the dead.”

“That’s not possible.” Liz said flatly, and Alex nodded, their child faces grim.

Tess just looked wary, now tempered with curiosity. “You bring them back to life? Does anyone really die here?”

“No, it’s not life. They’re zombies but not like in the movies, they don’t eat brains.” Most of the time, she added inwardly. “I raise them for a living, sometimes lawyers want to clarify a will, or settle a case that they need the deceased’s testimony on. Sometimes a family member wants to know where they hid the family jewels, all sorts of things.” She tried to keep her voice light and inject a bit of humor, wishing she didn’t have to tell them these things, and knowing lying would be worse.

“That’s weird.” Alex said, his voice getting squeaky.

Tess remained silent, but Liz shook her head slightly, her little face still worried although she too refrained from speaking again.

Wanting to soothe them, and feeling guilty for bringing more fear into their lives, she hurried to add “It’s not dangerous if,” Anita’s reply was cut off by the shrill ring of her cell phone. She jumped nearly off the table and pulled it out of her pocket, glaring at the Caller ID screen. It was Richard.

Gritting her teeth she resisted the urge to chuck the phone, knowing she really did need to take the call, and tilted the phone so that Nathaniel could see the display, then gave a resigned sigh and stood. “I’ll be right back okay?”

The children nodded, clearly still thinking over everything she had said, and she headed for the back of the house. They didn’t need to overhear what would probably be a loud and unpleasant conversation.

“What the hell happened this morning Anita?” Richard ground out, his voice gravelly with anger. “I was running and suddenly it felt like I had stuck my finger in socket, or a lightning bolt.”

Anita rubbed her forehead and bit her tongue to hold back her immediate response; she should have realized that even with the marks closed, Richard and Jean-Claude would have felt that energy surge. Closing her eyes she reached for that part of herself and dropped the phone. The marks weren’t closed, not anymore.

Realizing that Richard was still yelling into the phone, she bent down and picked it back up. “I’m sorry Richard, something happened this morning and I didn’t realize what it meant. Can you meet me here tonight? Around nine?” Before he could reply she hung up the phone, tapping it against her hip as she stared sightlessly down the hallway. The marks were open but they were different, otherwise she would have felt Richard long before now, ever since whatever happened this morning.

She was sure that as soon as he awakened she would be receiving a call from Jean-Claude as well, and she would ask him to meet her here too. Richard and he might not like each other very much right now, but this affected all of them.

That gave her just over six hours to learn more about the children, get them some clothes and things for their stay, and get them in bed before the fireworks started. Not to mention preparing herself to have both of the men in her life standing in her living room. Oh joy.

A/N: I'm a terrible terrible person....but I'm back! And I think i need to just officially say I have no idea on a specific timeframe between updates since its ranged from one week to three and has nothing to do with how much I've written...WAAYY to many special projects at work right now. So anyways, sorry for being horrible, and here's some more!!

booktv-girl2310: Thank you for the feedback and I hope you continue to enjoy!
Yasmania: As always I loved your review, and sadly I have yet to read Skin Trade...I have had no time to read lately which just sucks. I miss books! Anyways..That is totally how I read so I'm glad I'm not the only one. Also glad the backstory flowed, I definitely wanted to show more of the AB verse for those not familiar but not in such a way as too irritate those of you who have read the books and yes dear God that's the only way I could talk to Richard, lol. And here's more Nathaniel so yay! There will be Richard unfortunately but mostly for bashing purposes. Also glad you're liking how I'm portraying the mini Roswellians, the next few chapters will definitely show more of that mix between adult and child as they adjust to this world. Thank you for your fabulous feedback!
garcia88: Thank you so much for the review and there will be more Anita/Richard moments to come, I just can't resist showing a few exposive scenes
KiaraAlexisKlay: You're back! Yay! Hopefully that means more of yours soon! I am totally with you and Yas about Richard, I liked him at first and then just wanted to kill him....Maybe I should kill him...hmmm..*plots* LOL I totally agree, need new Ulfric! I definitely didn't want them to be confident young adults who just jumped in with both feet, doubts and hesitation do make it more real and aliens is totally different than vampires and werewolves and magic. Glad you like Zane and Anita, I feel pretty confident in my character voices for the Roswellians but this is my first time writing AB verse characters and I want to keep them sounding like LKH, at least earlier LKH. As for the ardeur and all of that...we shall see! I have a few ideas but nothing set in stone so feel free to make suggestions! Again, Yay! for your review and I hope you enjoy this chapter, hopefully the next one will be out sooner....
thetvgeneral: I'm glad you wandered in too! Maybe I should change the ABVH to just say Anita Blake...hmmm. Anyways I'm glad you're enjoying it and hope you continue to do so, thank you for the feedback and here's some more!









Clenching her fists, Anita ignored the phone that was vibrating again in her pocket, and walked back down the hall to said living room, forcing a smile on her face. “Nathaniel and Cherry, do you think you can take them shopping for some clothes and necessities?”

They both nodded and Zane pouted. “I want to go shopping.”

Anita rolled her eyes, but smiled faintly at him, “I need you here in case any of the Pard, or anyone else, stops by. I need to go to the station to talk to Dolph and run a few errands.” Like telling Bert she needed some days off, and begging Marianne to come up sooner. When were the fates, or God, or whoever, going to stop dropping messes in her lap? Even if they were adorable messes which between Nathaniel and the children most of them seemed to be.

Shaking her head, she tried to focus, and knelt back down in front of the kids who were still sitting on the couch. “I know you’re afraid but I promise you can trust me, us, and I will protect you. I still want to talk to you but there are some things I need to take care of, would you like to go shopping with Nathaniel and Cherry?”

All three of them nodded after a moment, and Liz surprised her by leaning down and giving her a hug, quickly followed by the other two. “Thank you for taking care of us, I know you don’t have to.”

Blinking back a sudden urge for tears Anita hugged them back and smiled, “I want to. Now go have fun and maybe after shopping you can get some ice cream.”

“Yay!” The little blond said, clapping her hands, before linking her arms with Liz and Alex and tugging them over to the two waiting wereleopards. Anita grinned and stood, feeling the strain in her knees, and reminded herself to call her Judo instructor. She had missed too many classes in the past few months and her job, her life, depended on her staying in shape.

Pulling a credit card out of her purse she handed it to Nathaniel, then remembered that Cherry’s car could barely seat two adults and handed him her car keys as well. “How about we trade cars for the day and maybe the first stop you should make is to get some car seats?”

Immediate protests filled the air as Cherry handed her the keys to her little red Mazda with a grin.

“We’re too old for car seats!”

“Only babies use those!”

Anita put her hands on her hips and surveyed their impressive pouts, “How about boosters then, so you can see out the window?”

The three children exchanged looks before Alex gave an only slightly sullen, “Fine.”

The Animator repressed a snort although her lips twitched suspiciously, “Good, well then I will see you later today ok?” She wanted to add in a warning to behave, but had a feeling that would go over even worse than the car seat suggestion.

All three of them nodded, and she gave Nathaniel and Cherry a look that was part gratitude, and part warning, then turned the same look on Zane who just smirked at her, before she turned and left, wondering when this annoyingly large house had become home.


~


Luck was with her, and there was a parking spot right in front of the doors leading to RPIT’s main office. Zerbrowski was leaning on the counter flirting with the receptionist when she walked in, and she hid a smile, at least there was one friendly face here.

“Missing me again Anita? I would have dressed up if I knew you were coming.” The cop said with a lecherous smirk when he noticed her presence, gesturing towards his mismatched stained green shirt with mustard colored tie and faded brown slacks.

Anita just raised an eyebrow, “Like you own anything to dress up in.”

Zerbrowski gave her his irrepressible grin and took a step down the hallway, “Dolph’s waiting for you, although fair warning I don’t think he found anything.”

Anita frowned, but followed him; if she was honest with herself, she hadn’t really expected him to find anything. Anyone powerful enough to pull off something like that, was also probably powerful enough to cover up their tracks, but it hadn’t stopped her from hoping.

She had no intention of trying to send them back to wherever they had been, but the opportunity to beat whoever had given them their emotional and mental scars would be welcome, and it would be nice to know if anyone would be coming after them.

“That’s the second little girl in two weeks; don’t tell me that’s not a pattern.” Dolph was growling into his phone as they reached his office door, and they both paused, exchanging a worried glance.

“What’s going on?” Anita asked flatly, her gut filling with the tension she associated with every bloody crime scene she’d stepped foot on.

“Last week a little girl, six years old, was snatched out of her bedroom in the middle of the night, with no trace of disturbance; no open windows, broken locks, nothing but a little bit of the girl’s blood. We figured one of the parents for it until last night when it happened again. They’re trying to keep it quiet up the chain and want Dolph to declare them unrelated, don’t want a reporter getting wind of it and declaring it a serial case.”

“Stupid.” Anita said in a low tone, angry at the way the system worked even as worry tightened her throat. At least that explained Dolph’s question on the phone, but she wanted confirmation. “What did the girls look like?” The last thing she needed was to be accused of kidnapping, and while none of the children had been bleeding, and there had been no mention of a little boy, given the timing it didn’t hurt to be sure.

“The first was an African American girl, last night they took a redhead. No physical type match, so no way to track a pattern there.”

Anita breathed a sigh of relief, definitely not Tess or Liz. She would have fought returning them their parents given the indications of emotional abuse, and it was good to know that at least for now that wouldn’t be an issue.

“I take it that doesn’t match any of the kids you picked up.” Zerbrowski said, more statement than question, his pale blue eyes not twinkling for once in indication of the seriousness of the situation.

Anita shook her head as she looked back at Dolph, still arguing into the phone. She hoped that ‘her’ kids were safe, hearing about a kidnapper on the loose had never affected her so personally before, and she was finding her fear for the children hard to handle especially given the short time they’d been in her life.


~


Nathaniel and Cherry were watching said children in bemusement, Nathaniel was beginning to think that he should get used to that feeling around them.

Liz had requested a pen and paper before leaving for the store, and between the three children they had compiled a very detailed list of all of the necessities they would need. To his and Cherry’s surprise the list had not included a single frivolous item or toy, and had in fact included things they wouldn’t have thought of, like kid safe shampoo and body wash, children’s medicine, a small stepstool so they could reach the counter, and several other things that impressed the two adults with their thoroughness.

Right now Tess and Alex were standing on the end of the cart grinning excitedly as Cherry pushed them down the aisles, Liz following more docilely behind as she checked her list and occasionally had them stop so they could pick up things.

They had received the occasional disparaging look from fellow shoppers; Nathaniel standing out with his ankle length auburn hair pulled into a ponytail and his tight leather pants, while Cherry looked liked a blond wet dream come to life in fishnets and dark makeup. Nathaniel knew the looks would be more than disapproving if their Shifter status was known, and was grateful that the children seemed to lack the inborn prejudices of most people in this world.

He looked down when Liz tugged on his pants, her big serious eyes staring up at him. “Why do you look so sad?”

“Just thinking about people.” Was all he said as reached down and picked her up, propping her on his hip. With his slight form it looked incongruous but then again she was a very tiny little girl.

“What about people?” She persisted, tilting her head to the side as she stared directly into his eyes.

Nathaniel thought carefully about his words before replying, “Some people don’t like anything different. People know about all the weird stuff now, and there are laws saying they have to treat everyone the same, but sometimes when they find out about someone different, well they aren’t happy about it.”

Liz nodded, nibbling on her bottom lip with a sad expression on her face before surprising him with a smile and a hug around the neck. “Well I like you, and I know you’re different, and I promise I won’t ever stop liking you.”

When she pulled back Liz saw that Nathaniel was smiling again, even if his eyes looked a little misty, and she turned her face forward, scanning along the shelves with a satisfied smile of her own. ‘We need to talk when get back to the house.’ She thought at Tess and Alex, and nodded when their blue eyes turned towards her over Cherry’s shoulder. It was time to sort out what they knew and what they wanted, as it seemed that they might be here to stay.










A/N: When Anita says bloody in reference to the crime scenes she’s not swearing but actually indicating how gory most of the scenes she goes to usually are. Also I could not find a single reference to Zerbrowski’s eye color or Cherry’s car anywhere so just picked what that I thought fit, if you disagree or can find a reference in the books let me know

garcia88: Yay for being the first to review! We will find out more about the little girls next chapter, lots of plans! Thank you for the feedback!
thetvgeneral: Glad I don't disappoint! Always a good goal, lol and I am definitely glad you're still enjoying the story, this chapter is more about character development but the next one will start answering those questions and kick the plot into full gear!
booktv-girl2310: I know, we really do need to meet the vampires already...soon I promise! Thank you for posting
ashesfall01: I totally understand, computers are evil like that but I'm very glad your back! Yay for more reviews! I love Nathaniel too and I'm glad I'm managing to pull off his character since a lot of the you lovely readers seem to love him, lol. I thought of all of the characters he would identify with and want to take care of the children the most given his background and the fact that really he's like 19 I think at this point in the story so still young. I'm definitely trying to keep the kids personalities and I don't want to clarify too much but you can see in the past chapters and this one how they are becoming more childlike. No matter what else I do though they will always clearly be Liz, Tess, and Alex though, after all that's why we love them!
And yes someone noticed the strawberries and whipped cream! I was so sad when no even commented on that little tidbit Lol, as for the ardeur well I've got some thoughts but it will be clarified if not in this story than in the sequel. We will see one of the two men next chapter and then the chapter after that should be the big confrontation where we will learn more, I'm getting rather anxious to see them too. Anyways that's enough chatter out of me before the chapter, I'm glad you are still loving the story and here's some more, I look forward to your feedback!
Yasmania: You are the most consistent feedbacker ever, I love it There will more Nathaniel is this one too, me loves my Nathaniel! And that totally makes sense and I'm glad you said that because I've been worrying that maybe I'm going to slow since this is all happening in the space of one very long day so far (although the whole story will be longer than a day!) and it's good to hear that the pace is working for the story. I definitely wanted to show the developement of the relationships with the mini Roswellians as well as kind of establish where we are in the Anita verse. Hope you enjoy this chapter to and as always looking forward to your review!










Anita had a headache again, and going to see her boss just meant it was going to get worse. After she confirmed that neither of the little girls she picked up were the missing children, and that she could stop by to look at the crime scenes as soon as she was done with Bert, Dolph had brusquely told her he hadn’t found anything, and that it was taking a back seat to this case, then dismissed her.

She hadn’t taken it personally as she knew all of his attention was focused on the kidnappings, the time frame for survival of kidnap victims wasn’t nearly long enough, and when they were children it made everyone more intense.

In a way however, the case was going to help her, as between that and ‘her’ children, she had plenty of ammunition to back up her request for a few days off. It had been her boss’s idea for her to work with the police in the first place, and if necessary she was fully willing to point that fact out.

Anita made sure to smile at Mary, the day secretary, on her way in. She had a vague recollection of Craig looking frightened when she walked by that morning, and wanted to leave a better impression this time. Besides, if you were about to piss off the boss, it was always a good idea to have another friendly face in the office.

Bert was alone in his office, so she went right in and made herself comfortable in the plush chair across from his desk. He frowned at her, but continued his phone conversation. His voice had that too natural jovialness that signified a client, and rather than listening in she found herself tuning him out as her thoughts turned to the children, and wondering how the shopping was going.

She hoped that Cherry or Nathaniel had a good idea of what kids needed; maybe she would hit Zerbrowski up for advice once she got to the crime scene. Then again maybe not, she thought with a grimace, she wasn’t sure if the teasing would be worth it.

A click brought her back to the present and she saw Bert eyeing her over his desk, hand on the phone he had just hung up. “Did you need something Anita?” He asked dryly, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands on the desk.

“The cops need me for a kidnapping case and I have temporary custody of three children, I need the next week off.” While Anita hoped that the situation with the children and the case would have resolved itself sooner, she knew better than to expect it. Lately things never resolved quickly, or without bloodshed. In fact she couldn’t remember the last time a problem cropped up that didn’t almost kill her.

That was probably a bad sign.

Bert was quiet for a long moment. His eyebrows had risen at the children comment, but his face was calm as he stared at her, if she wasn’t used to Jean-Claude’s impassive face it probably would have unnerved her. As it was it just made her impatient.

“Fine, you can have the week off, but provided this case goes well I will be arranging an interview to promote you, and you will cooperate.”

Anita glared, “Don’t you mean an interview to promote Animator’s Inc?” she said sarcastically. He just smiled and she sighed, she should be used to the press in her face by now anyways, and she really did need the week off. “I’ll do it but during my normal office hours and it will be here, not at my home or anything like that. I will not answer any personal questions or reveal any details the police don’t want released.”

Bert nodded, “Agreed, enjoy your week off.”

The animator rose to her feet, eying him suspiciously. That had been too easy and she was worried that he had something up his sleeve. Finally she turned to go, Dolph was waiting for her and she was anxious to get home. Whatever he had planned she could deal with later.

Lillian called her while she was in the car. “Do you have a minute Anita?” The wererat’s voice sounded odd and Anita frowned.

“I have twenty minutes actually what’s up?” That was how long it would take her to get to the crime scene, a house in a nice suburban area of town quite a ways away from the business district where Animator’s Inc had offices.

“I analyzed the blood of the children.” Lillian said, her voice sounding strangely hesitant for the usually confident doctor. “They are triplets, fraternal.”

That wasn’t common, and went a long ways towards explaining the tight bond between the three children, but was hardly unusual enough for the doctor to sound this strange, so Anita remained silent, assuming there was more.

“I’ve never actually seen blood like theirs before. The structure is completely different from regular human blood, although the basic components are the same, and it has certain similarities to were blood.”

“Are they shifters?” Anita asked incredulously. It wasn’t thought that children that young could be shifters, and she was pretty sure that even if she hadn’t noticed that in their scent, that the Pard would have.

“No just similar, the blood had no reaction to silver, or any of the other tests we use to confirm shifter status. There’s something else though.” The doctor paused then sighed, “This is going to sound crazy Anita, but their cells…they glowed.”

“What?”

“I thought it was the equipment at first, so I moved to my backups, then I thought it was my eyes so I had two other were’s take a look, and they both saw it too. It’s faint, wouldn’t be as noticeable to a non shifter, but they definitely glow. It’s not radiation or anything like that; I honestly don’t know what could cause that reaction.”

Anita was quiet for a few moments, trying to process what she had just heard. It definitely confirmed that the children were special, and a vague suspicion that had been growing in the back of her mind that someone had experimented on these children, maybe even bred them specifically to try and get their abilities. Shaking off her thoughts to deal with later she focused back on Lillian.

“Anything else?” When the doctor replied in the negative she continued with, “Are they healthy? No diseases or anything like that?”

“No, they’re perfectly healthy, and other than what I already told you, there are no anomalies.”

“Ok, thank you for calling Lillian. Could you keep everything quiet but on file? If they get sick or something I’ll be taking them to you as long as I have them, and if they’re taken in by someone else on a permanent basis then we may need to turn over the results.” Lillian agreed and she thanked her again before hanging up.

Glowing. What the hell did that mean?

It wasn’t until she was pulling up the curb at the crime scene that she realized she had said if someone else took them, rather than when. Before she could put too much thought into what that meant, it was time to work, and she gratefully pushed those thoughts aside.

Her life was complicated enough already.


~


Liz licked the little pink spoon with a hum of enjoyment. Tess had given her an odd look when she ordered strawberry instead of vanilla, but Liz hadn’t felt the need to explain that just because vanilla was her favorite, didn’t mean she didn’t like other flavors.

Nathaniel left the kitchen to go start some laundry and then they were alone for the first time since waking up. ‘You first Tess.’ She thought at the blond, still twirling the spoon in her mouth.

‘Well I don’t think we have any way of getting back unless the Granolith did it. You guys definitely have powers now and mine aren’t the same, I tried some stuff in the car. I think we’re stuck like this.’

Alex nodded, his container of chocolate ice cream now empty and sitting on the table in front of him, some of it still lingering at the corners of his mouth. ‘We need to make sure we stay together, whether it’s here with Anita or somewhere else.’

Liz sobered, setting the pink spoon back into the last melting remnants of her treat and pushing it away. The thought of being separated from Tess and Alex made her stomach upset. ‘I agree, and I think we should tell Anita about what we can do once we figure it out.’ She wanted to add that she thought they should try and convince Anita to keep them, but she didn’t know how they could do that, or even if they should.

Just because she was willing to help them now, didn’t mean that she was ready to take on three kids full time, even if they were special.

Being little meant less responsibility, and that was nice, but it also meant that they were largely helpless in a world that catered to adults. They had no control over where they would go and that was scary, very scary.

Alex reached out and took her hand, smiling at her. “It’ll be ok Lizzy; we won’t let them split us up.”

Liz just tightened her grasp on his hand as her eyes met Tess’s serious blue gaze, they might not have a choice.


~


Nathaniel watched the three kids from the doorway to the basement, his violet eyes sad with memory. Anita liked the kids, maybe she would keep them, maybe they wouldn’t have to go through what he did. If he could spare them the horrors of the foster system, or life on the streets, he would.

Reentering the kitchen he made sure to step loudly enough that they would notice him, not wanting to frighten the already tense children. He smiled down at the three of them, doing his best to keep the sadness out of his eyes. “All done?”

They nodded and Alex collected the empty containers, sliding out of his chair and carefully carrying them over to the trashcan.

Nathaniel had discovered that holding the children was a great outlet for his need for physical affection, Anita wasn’t quite comfortable yet with casual touch, even when there was no sexual motive, but the children seemed to need the cuddling just as much as he did. So he reached down and picked up Liz propping her on one hip before taking Tess’s hand to help her down from the tall chair.

“I think if we asked nicely Zane would be willing to play tag with us in the back yard, does that sound fun?”

Alex and Tess nodded enthusiastically and Liz giggled as he lightly tickled her side. Tess skipped along side of him, small hand clutching his tightly, and Alex ran ahead into the living room shouting “Zane! Come play with us!”

Liz hugged him close, resting her head on his shoulder, and Nathaniel found all his sadness melting away. Finding Anita had been like coming home for him, and these kids had made it feel like a real family. He would figure out a way, even beg on his knees, if that’s what it took to get Anita to consider keeping them. It was too late to not get attached and he tried to ignore the sliver of icy fear that stabbed through his heart at the thought of Anita saying no.







A/N: So sorry for those of you out there hoping for an Alex/Tess pairing, which I do love, but in this one their siblings and I don't go for incest. Someday though I will write an Alex/Tess story...someday...
Also sorry if it feels like Nathaniel is getting attached awfully fast but given the lack of love in his life and how quickly he attached himself to Anita I thought it fit with his character.

A/N: Wow life's been crazy lately, especially work, and on top of that its like 110 degrees on average right now where I live so that makes you lose the urge to do anything at all. But hey, silver lining, no fires yet this here so I haven't been evacuated twice already like last year! Fingers crossed it will stay that way.
Anyways thank you all so much for your patience and reviews and I will reply to the reviews themselves later but wanted to get a chapter out so here we are! I hope you all enjoy








Zerbrowski poked his head into her side window as she pulled up to the curb, “About time Anita, we’re all waiting on you.” His voice was teasing, but she could see the strain around his eyes, and knew this case was hitting him hard as well.

“You know you like waiting for me.” Anita taunted with a smirk as she got out of the car and headed for the back, trying to keep her tone light as she pushed her problems and the thought of what might be happening to the two kidnapped children out of her mind.

Zerbrowski clapped his hands to his heart. “You see right through me, I’m madly in love with you and wait with baited breath for your presence.”

She laughed as she pulled her crime scene gear out of her vehicle, just pulling out her gloves as they had already indicated there was only a faint trace of blood so there was no need for her suit to protect her clothes, and her hair was already twisted into a tight bun to keep any of her loose hairs from contaminating the scene.

“Try holding your breath next time, might work better.”

He showed her a wounded expression before turning towards the house. “Little girl’s room is the back left bedroom, there is a window but it was locked from the inside and showed no signs of tampering. Same with the front door. The blood was found on the floor next to her bed, enough that it was more than a scratch, but not enough to be life threatening.”

Anita frowned, it could definitely be something preternatural, although there were people well trained enough to get and out of a room with no trace left behind, Edward came to mind as an example. The blood though, it felt ritualistic.

There were a few officers still at the scene along with the CSI’s, the two guarding the door nodded at her and she nodded back, glad that her reputation wasn’t shot to hell enough to make the cops stop respecting her.

She caught a glimpse of the parents in the living room, husband holding the sobbing wife as they talked to a detective, before they were moving down the hall towards the only open door.

The blankets on the bed were in disarray and there were two stuffed bears and a Barbie doll on the floor, but other than that the room looked untouched. Anita stood just inside the doorway and examined the room with her regular senses first; eyes running over the room and pausing on the small blood stain on the carpet before moving on. Looking up she scanned the ceiling as well but saw nothing, then she reached out with her other senses.

Power rolled over her in waves and she reached out a hand to steady herself, her fingers landing on the doorknob. It felt slimy and she yanked her hand away, staring at her fingers, there was nothing there. Whatever she was feeling was metaphysical in nature and not visible to the naked eye. It felt like death in the room but not recent, it felt like a death far too ancient to have happened in this modern manufactured home. Moving forward she ran her eyes over the room again and noticed a faint shadow on the ceiling, just above the bloodstain, that hadn’t been visible before.

Frowning she looked around again but didn’t see any other suddenly visible marks. “Can you get me a step stool Zerbrowski? I need a closer look at the ceiling.”

He gave her an odd look but silently complied, leaving the room and coming back a minute later with a small step ladder. She moved it until it was right over the blood stain, careful not to put any of the legs on the actual spot, and then climbed up. She still wasn’t as close as she would like given her small stature, but she could see the mark more clearly now.

It wasn’t just a dark shadow; there was a distinct mark underneath the greasy haze. It was hard to get a clear look at it, it seemed to blur the more she focused on it. Glaring stubbornly she pulled on her power, feeling the cold wash over her as the hair on her arms rose. Now she could see it clearly, although she still didn’t know what it was, just that it looked vaguely familiar. “Pen and paper?”

Zerbrowski muttered as he dug through his pockets, finally handing her a small pad of white paper and a pen with a chewed end. She grimaced but took it from him, holding it up in the air as she sketched the symbol, trying to get it as exact as possible.

When she was finished the climbed back down and sat for a moment on the top step of the stool as she tore off the page and sketched another copy of the symbol before handing the pad back to Zerbrowski.

“This was definitely a preternatural crime. Whoever did this feels human but has a lot of power, I’m pretty sure that’s an occult symbol, maybe demonology, but I’ll need to do some research. I suggest you have Tammy look at it as well, she may recognize it.”

He nodded and took the paper and pen back, studying the drawing she had made. “Anything else?”

“The little girl was alive when they took her. I don’t know if she still is or not but,” She paused and looked him in the eye. “This isn’t my official opinion but given the ages of the two girls, and the possible demonology connection, they may have been taken for a sacrifice. If they were how long they live depends on how many sacrifices they need. I don’t think this is going to be the last kidnapping.”

All twinkle was gone from Zerbrowski’s eyes and his face was grim. “I’ll let Dolph know, call us if you learn more.”

She nodded and turned to leave, rubbing at her hand to try and rid it of the slimy feeling. Why the hell would people mess with a demon? She hoped she was wrong; she had barely survived the last one she had come up against.







Anita stared at the symbol during every red light on the way to the Circus, its familiarity tugged at her mind. She knew she had seen it before, but where? She still hadn’t figured it out when the she pulled into the employee parking lot and tucked it in her visor to look at later. Anita smiled involuntarily when she saw Jason just as she reached the bottom of the stairs, she had planned to leave a message for Jean-Claude with whoever was there, but she’d rather it be a friendly face.

Jason was frowning at her, unusual for the normally flirtatious blond, and she raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“Jean-Claude nearly woke up a couple hours ago and every wolf in the building was called to his room, you know anything about that?”

“Maybe.” Anita said evasively after a moment, turning that information over in her mind with a slight tingling of dread. The marks had been affected more than she realized, it took a lot to wake a vampire in the middle of the afternoon, quite a lot.

He didn’t look convinced, but let it slide, and for once she blessed the fact that he was a submissive. “Can you ask Jean-Claude to meet me at my house once he wakes up?”

See she could ask instead of order, sometimes.

If he showed up before Richard and she was able to do a bit of explaining, it might make the evening go more smoothly. Of course it would probably piss Richard off that she spoke to Jean-Claude first, but so did everything these days, and she was tired of coddling him.

She noticed absently how pale the blue of Jason’s eyes were when compared to Jean-Claude as he nodded. “Will do. Are you ok Anita?” He asked, the concern in his voice making her smile slightly.

“It’s just been a long day.” It would have been an exhausting day even if she’d had a full night’s sleep, and as it was, it had been over twenty four hours since she’d last slept. “Just let Jean-Claude know I’ll explain what I can when I see him.” She stated, before turning to head back up the stairs. She needed more coffee.


~


The children, and Zane, and Nathaniel, had played outside for two hour. By the time they went back inside they were drooping with exhaustion, and were quite content to curl up on the couch with Zane to watch cartoons while Nathaniel started dinner.

By the time Anita arrived home dinner was ready and they all sat down to eat. It gave Anita a strange feeling to sit at the head of her table and see six faces staring back at her, three of whom were children. After so many years of living alone and eating out, it had taken some getting used to just eating more regular meals and having the pard around the house, but even so they had rarely all eaten at the same time.

It was a decidedly domestic scene and while part of her was reveling in the sense of home she hadn’t really felt since her and Richard’s relationship went sout,h the other part of her wanted to go screaming for the hills before this all exploded in her face.

She resisted the urge and when dinner, and the subsequent desert Nathaniel had made with the leftover strawberries, was over, she followed the children to the living room to finally get some answers. They had just gotten settled on the couch with Zane, Cherry, and Nathaniel a waiting and rapt audience when there was a knock on the door.

Dinner had been late and the sun had set a little over half an hour ago so she was unsurprised to see Jean-Claude on her doorstep, dressed in his customary ruffled white silk shirt and painted on black pants. She also wasn’t surprised by the surge of lust she felt, and knew by the glow of his sapphire eyes that it hadn’t gone unnoticed.

His voice was rich with hidden meaning and sent sensual shivers curling down her spine as he spoke. “It’s a pleasure to see you again ma petite, we have much to discuss.”