Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: This story takes place after Max’s rescue from the White Room, and deals with the aftermath of his ordeal there. In this story there is NO Royal Four. Max was not a King in a previous life, and Tess was not his wife. In fact, none of them lived a previous life. The message in the cave said Max was a ‘leader’ and that’s true in this story, but the question is, leader of what? What is their reason for being on Earth? And what’s it going to take for the truth to come out?
Aftermath
Part 21
Tess walked to her next class, ignoring the stares she got from the immature human boys that littered the hallways, deep in her thoughts about what she had seen this morning. Max must be far stronger mentally than she had initially thought, after seeing him so cozy with Liz in the biology lab. With the things she’d planted in his mind, full grown men would be basket cases by now, drooling on the floor, but Max was still drooling over Liz. Damn her anyway. She’d heard through the school rumor mill that Liz and Max didn’t show up for second period, and based on the amount of eraser room time they’d been logging lately, they’d probably spent the whole period fucking like monkeys. It made her blood boil.
Why couldn’t Max just accept her as his destiny? Then everything would go according to plan. No one would have to get hurt, well, except the humans, and who gave a fuck about them anyway? Their days were numbered.
Tess turned the corner and without conscious realization, her face brightened. She could spot his distinctive walk anywhere, and the sound of his voice was like honey to her ears.
And then he opened his mouth and called out her name.
“Hey, Liz!” Kyle shouted. “Liz! Wait up!”
Tess slunk back against the wall, watching Kyle run after Liz, refusing to acknowledge the pang of jealousy it caused. She told herself to concentrate on Liz, wondering if there was any ammunition she could garner here to use against her rival, but her eyes kept darting to Kyle. He really had a cute butt, and an even cuter smile. She wished he’d smile at her that way.
“Kyle,” Liz acknowledged him and slowed her pace. It’d been a long time since he’d called out to her in the school halls like that. Things had been a little strained between them these past few months, what with their breakup, and then her becoming involved with Max, and Kyle’s jealousy, and then he got shot, and Max had to heal him, and now he was a not so happy member of the ‘I Know An Alien Club’.
Kyle had been through a few changes.
“What’s up?” Liz asked, and stopped in front of her locker. She opened it deftly and put away her Biology book, and then reached for English Lit.
“Not much,” he answered.
He shifted from one foot to the other, and Liz noticed him concentrating on his fingernails. He wasn’t usually this nervous around her, she though wryly, and waited for him to continue, which didn’t take very long.
“Hey, you’re a girl, right?” It was a rhetorical question.
“Yeah, last time I checked,” Liz joked and stuffed her book in her backpack.
“What?” Kyle stared at her and then mumbled, “Oh, right.” He flashed a smile and added, “Anyway . . .”
When he still didn’t spit it out, Liz leveled a gaze at him. “What are you trying to say, Kyle?”
“If you were a girl,” he started, and then back-peddled before she could deck him. “I mean – you are a girl, and since you’re a girl –”
“Kyle,” Liz interrupted. “I think we’ve established that. I’m a girl. Move on.”
“Right. Right,” he repeated nervously. “Shit. Anyway.” He folded his arms over his chest and got to the point, kind of. “If you were a girl, and you snapped a guy’s underwear . . . what would it mean?”
“What?” Liz stared at him in disbelief, trying not to laugh. “You mean – like give him a wedgie?”
“No, not a wedgie,” Kyle stood up straighter, like he’d been on the receiving end of one of those before. “Just, you know . . .” he pantomimed how Tess had snapped his boxers the other morning.
“That depends,” Liz fought back a smile, wondering why Kyle was asking her about this. “She could be saying ‘She likes what she sees’,” Liz teased, noting his pleased expression, “or she could be making fun of your –”
“Okay, stop right there!” Kyle held up his hands. He didn’t need Liz Parker talking about making fun of his assets.
“What do you think it means?” Liz chuckled.
“I don’t know,” he pushed off from the locker he’d been leaning against. “I don’t know how to read alien yet.”
Liz was just about to ask what he meant by that, when tall, dark, and handsome interrupted.
“Hey,” Max said in his soft voice, moving to stand close to Liz, looking back and forth between her and Kyle. He always felt a little awkward around the Sheriff’s son, and since the shooting and the revelations about his alien status, that awkwardness had increased. Liz leaned into him, looking at his face closely to see if he was okay. His eyes still looked wary, but he was trying to hide it.
“Oh, Evans,” Kyle blanched. “Yeah – well, hey,” he snapped his fingers and pointed vaguely down the hall. “I gotta –”
And that’s when Kyle saw her, beyond Max’s shoulder, standing on the far side of the hall, looking in their direction.
“– go!” Kyle brushed past Max and elbowed his way through the crowded halls.
Max and Liz watched him go, with Max asking curiously, “What was that all about?”
“I’m not sure,” Liz was stumped.
Max stood close to her, feeling the warmth of her body leaning in to his. The two of them watched Kyle hurry across the hall – straight to Tess. Kyle said something they couldn’t hear, which made Tess laugh. She hit him on the chest, which in turn made Kyle grin.
“Are they flirting with each other?” Maria joined them and all three looked at the spectacle across the hall.
“Who’s flirting?” Michael joined them from the other direction.
“Kyle and Tess,” Max, Liz, and Maria all said at the same time.
“Interesting,” Michael glanced over and dismissed it. He focused on Max instead, silently relieved that his friend was acting normal again. “Let’s go to lunch.”
They turned as a group to walk down the hall, Max and Liz in the middle holding hands, with Michael and Maria flanking them. Tess was laughing so hard at another of Kyle’s jokes, she didn’t notice them go.
* * * * *
The four teens walked into the cafeteria together, Liz and Max in front, and Michael and Maria behind them. Liz picked up an orange colored tray and lifted another to hand it to Max, who waved it off. With a smile and a twinkle in his eyes, he said in a silky voice, “I’ll just share yours.”
Liz felt herself melting inside, the way she always did when he spoke that way. His hand brushed across her cheek, and he was just starting to lean close to kiss her, when a tray dropped to the floor behind him with a loud report, almost like the crack of a gunshot. Max grabbed at Liz in a panic and pulled her to the floor.
“What is WRONG with you Michael!” Maria spit out with her hands on her hips. “I try to do a simple thing like hand you a tray –”
“Shut up!” Michael pushed past her, reacting quickly to the sight of Max cowering on the floor. Other students were starting to turn around and stare. “Max!” he hissed, trying to keep his voice low. “Max, get up!”
Maria stared at the sight with her hand frozen over her mouth. She knew Max had been through hell at the hands of the FBI, but she never realized how bad it was until now. He was crouched over Liz, holding her down, and when Michael reached toward him, he struck out defensively.
“Don’t touch her!” Max cried out, with his eyes looking as wild as a feral animal. “Don’t you dare touch her!”
A cook dressed in white came out from behind the steam table, staring at the two teenagers on the floor. Max raised his hand toward her trying to shield Liz from a threat that wasn’t really there. Liz grabbed him just in time before he could hurl the unsuspecting woman across the room. She brought his trembling hand to her chest.
“Max!” Liz called his name urgently, keeping her tone as low as possible. She held on to his hand and cupped his face, hoping the contact would break him out of whatever nightmare he was living in his mind. “Please, Max. We’re at school. No one can hurt you here.”
“School?” Max’s glazed eyes began to clear. He looked around at all the faces staring at him and then locked his eyes on Liz. “What happened?” He felt Michael’s hand tightening around his upper arm as the taller boy pulled him to his feet.
“Let’s get out of here,” Michael led a shaken Max away. Liz stayed glued to his right side, with Maria trailing behind them.
* * * * *
Max leaned against the fender of the jeep, barely feeling the warmth of the metal against his back. His eyes were cast down, looking at the pebbles that covered the ground around his feet, while Liz sat on the jeep beside him with a comforting arm around his shoulders. They were parked in the quarry, eating the take out lunch Michael had bought at the Burger Palace, but Max couldn’t eat a thing. His stomach was too tied up in knots.
“So Pam Troy got caught going down on Brice Turner in the band room,” Maria rambled on between sucking down loud gulps of a Royal Vanilla milkshake.
“Band room, huh?” Michael kept up the chatter, trying to act like everything was normal. “That’s because no one can clock any time in the eraser room anymore.” He pointed a French fry at Max and Liz and said, “Not the way these two hog it all the time.”
“Please!” Isabel covered her ears, trying to make a joke of it but Max didn’t even look her way. They were all together now, the six of them here in this familiar gathering place, but Max looked like he was lost in his own little world.
Michael waited, hoping for some kind of reaction out of Max, a smirk, or a smile, or a ‘fuck you’ even, but Max acted like he didn’t hear a word. Liz wasn’t paying attention either. She was too worried about Max. The way she looked at him, touching his shoulder, his arm, quietly supporting him without pressure, just being there for him without asking for anything in return, made Michael feel ashamed for the way he had treated her for so long.
For years he’d thought of her as the enemy, a human who would turn them in to the police, or the FBI, in an instant if she ever learned their secrets, but he’d been wrong. Max had been right to trust her.
Michael now realized he’d been wrong about a lot of things. Had he actually thought at one time that it would have been better for them if Liz had died that day in the Crashdown? Had he really been that callous? She had protected them over and over again, even gone to jail to cover for them. She’d lied for them, to her parents, to the Sheriff, to the FBI, and he had treated her like shit in return. Barely more than a week ago he’d even gone so far as to try to keep Max from going after her out at the rocks, knowing that she was devastated by what she’d seen in the cave. He just hadn’t cared.
But he did now. Max was a basket case, and coping poorly with what had happened to him at Pierce’s hands, and as far as Michael could tell, Liz was the only thing he could cling to, hold on to, to bring him out of these psychotic episodes he kept sinking into. Michael couldn’t even imagine the things they’d done to Max, but he knew Liz knew. The two of them, Max and Liz, had some special kind of – connection – and that might be all that was keeping Max sane right now.
A doctor couldn’t help him; they’d avoided doctors their whole lives. A psychiatrist wouldn’t do any good; he could never be told what really happened to Max, or the reasons why. They were alone in this, just the six of them, or rather, the nine of them, if he counted the Valenti’s . . . and Tess.
Michael still wasn’t sure how he felt about their latest alien addition. A part of him wanted to – needed to – cling to the alien connection she represented. Life on Earth hadn’t been pleasant for him; he’d lived in his own private hell under his foster father’s abusive hand. He’d always clung to the hope of something more out there waiting for him, and Tess’s presence opened up the possibilities of a better life. It was why he’d pushed Max so hard to work with Tess, to try to open up the secrets that were hidden in his mind, to embrace their alien side.
Now he wondered if that had been such a good idea. Max didn’t need any more pressure than he already had, and Michael was starting to doubt their alien side had anything better to offer. His life was different now since his independence from Hank, and he was just starting to understand that. The humans he’d once scorned or feared as the enemy, like Liz and Maria and the Sheriff, he now considered his trusted friends. Some, even more than friends.
And Tess? He wasn’t sure exactly where to put Tess.
“You know what!” Maria said brightly, bubbling with plans. “We need a day of fun! Forget about school. The hell with finals. Screw the teachers. Let’s skip school tomorrow and spend the day at the lake!” They needed to do something to get Max out of this funk, to cheer him up, and get his mind off of Pierce.
“Skip a whole day of school?” Liz turned toward Maria.
“Hell, yes!” Maria pumped her fist. “We deserve it! We took on the freaking FBI and lived to tell about it! Let’s celebrate!”
“School’s out in a week,” Alex tried to be the voice of reason. “We could do something then.”
“We’ll all be juggling work schedules then,” Michael objected. He worked two jobs just to stay afloat, and was thinking about taking on a third in the summer. He needed to earn as much money as he could during his down time. He was seriously wondering if he was going to make it through junior year, or if he was going to turn into a statistic, a high school drop out.
Max appeared to be deep in thought, with his mind far away, but he was actually listening closely to the voices around him. He was tired of doing everything that was expected of him, following what he was told to do. Fuck that shit. He’d never ditched a day of school in his life, not to just screw around. Sure, he’d missed that day last week because the government had him locked up at Eagle Rock, while they yanked teeth out of his head, and shoved probes up his ass and, oh yeah, cut him open like an animal.
He deserved a fucking day to just relax. They all did.
There was an edge to all of them and it showed, in their stances, their plaintive tones, in their eyes. They might be a group of teenagers, but they were older than their years would indicate. The things they’d lived through weren’t kid stuff, and the future was likely to get worse. Max felt the weight of it pressing on him. He hadn’t spoken since they arrived at the quarry, but he did now, with his arms still folded over his chest and his eyes trained on the ground.
“Let’s do it,” Max slowly lifted his head and swept his gaze around the group, his band of aliens and humans. He saw each of them in turn warm to the idea. Isabel who always wanted to adhere to the rules, and Michael who always wanted to break them. Maria, the wackiest ‘girlfriend’ he would ever know, and Alex who would do anything in the name of friendship, even when he didn’t know how high the stakes were.
And Liz. His Liz. She deserved it most of all. He’d turned her life upside down last September when he healed a bullet hole just below her ribs, and she’d stood steadfastly beside him ever since. These were his closest friends, his family, the people that he loved, and they’d all been through the wringer these last few weeks.
For the first time since they arrived at the quarry, Max let his defenses relax, and he smiled. “Let’s have some fun for a change.”
* * * * *
Max sat at his desk studying for a Trig final that he wasn’t even going to take. It was scheduled for tomorrow, and he wasn’t planning on being at school, but he couldn’t sleep and studying was so ingrain that he just did it automatically, like on auto pilot. None of it mattered though. What was the point? He was never going to get to go to college. He was never going to leave Roswell. Hell, he could be back in a padded cell, compliments of the US Government, by the end of the week. Studying seemed a little absurd, after what he’d been through.
A part of him knew he’d never felt that way before – so hopeless – and he didn’t like the feeling. There’d always been a spark inside him before, a belief that his life had meaning, purpose, but Pierce had extinguished that light. He didn’t know if he could get it back again. A knock on his door made him jump and his first instinct was to hide under his desk.
“Max?” his mother’s voice drifted through the wood door. “Are you still awake?”
“Yeah,” he forced himself to relax, but his hand wouldn’t stop shaking.
“Sweetie,” Diane poked her head in the door. “I saw your light. Do you realize what time it is?”
“Sorry,” he glanced at the clock on his desk, noticing it was after one a.m. He tapped the book that lay open in front of him and shrugged, “Final. Tomorrow.”
“If you don’t get some sleep, honey,” Diane lightly admonished, “you won’t be able to stay awake to take the test.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Max closed the book and pushed back from the desk. He climbed into bed and Diane came over to sit beside him, something she hadn’t done in a long time.
“Is everything alright, honey?” she asked, and brushed his bangs back from his forehead. “You’ve seemed a little stressed lately.”
“I’m fine, Mom,” Max lied. “Just busy at school.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t work so hard,” she suggested. “Cut back your hours at the UFO Center.”
“School’s almost out, Mom,” Max reminded her.
“Are things going okay with you and that girl you’ve been seeing?”
“Liz?” his face perked up. “Liz is great. Really great.”
Diane couldn’t help but notice how his eyes had taken on a sparkle, and his lips curved in the first smile she’d seen from him all night. “That’s good to know,” she beamed at him. “For a while there, I thought you two had broken up, and you were seeing that new girl, Tess. Isabel’s friend.”
“Tess?” Max practically choked on the name. “You’ve got to be kidding me! I’d never go out with her!”
“Well, she seemed like a nice girl,” Diane patted his hand, and then leaned forward with a smile. “But not your type.”
“Not my type at all,” Max smiled with her. He watched his mother rise from his bed and cross the room. When she reached the door, he said, “Mom?”
Diane turned back expectantly, seeing the way his fingers plucked nervously at the blanket. For some reason, tonight he reminded her of that little lost boy they’d found wandering in the desert so long ago. He looked up at her with those melancholy eyes of his, and said haltingly, “I don’t think I’ve ever really said . . . well . . . you know, how much you and Dad – I mean, you’ve done so much for me, and Isabel. I just want you to know . . .”
Diane looked at her son, so secretive and reserved, and she said softly with a mother’s smile, “We love you too, Max.”
An answering smile crossed his lips and he lay down as she closed his bedroom door, hoping sleep would come, a dreamless peaceful sleep, but Max was never that lucky.
* * * * *
Tess sat on her bed staring at the yearbook lying open on her lap, growing frustrated with her lack of progress. She’d been trying to dreamwalk Max all night, but he was either still awake, or simply not dreaming. Word had gone out today through the rumor mill that Max had had some kind of meltdown in the lunchroom, and she wanted to walk inside his head, to see what kind of state he was in. Was her subliminal tampering working? She had to know. She put her finger on his picture and tried again.
This time, she found what she was looking for . . .
Max walked around the White Room, touching the walls, slamming his hand against the white surface, trying to find a way out, but there was nothing, no seam, no doorway, no means of escape. He was trapped.
Tess could hear his breaths coming out in panicky gasps, and he made little animal noises in his throat, whimpers of fear that showed his weakness. Their race was supposed to be stronger than this. Human emotions were going to be his downfall. If he would just cast off his human side and accept his alien destiny, he could become the leader he was meant to be, but if he insisted on giving in to his human frailties, it would only lead to his demise.
She watched him slide down the wall and wrap his arms around his legs, sitting on the floor in a tight little ball, waiting, listening for the sound of a footfall, or the squeak of a door opening announcing that they were coming for him, but there was only silence. He closed his eyes and rested his head on his knees, but not before she saw the lone tear fall down his cheek.
Tess knew this was more than just a dream for Max. It was a memory that his mind couldn’t let go. It manifested in his dreams, visiting him nightly to remind him of the hell he had lived through. The sight of him huddled on the floor caused a memory of her own to stir inside of her, a memory she would have preferred to keep buried.
The room darkened as the memory took hold and Max faded away. She was lost in her own mind now, and what she saw caused her to draw in a sharp breath. Movement in the corner drew her attention to a small child sitting next to the wall, rocking back and forth in the dark, not making a sound, even though there were tears streaming down her small round cheeks. Her crystal blue eyes were swimming in tears and her lower lip jutted out, quivering from the emotions she was trying to hold back.
Nasedo said emotions were bad, and she’d have to stay in the punishment room until she learned how to control them –
Tess came out of the dreamwalk with a start, feeling her heart beating frantically in her chest. Those memories had been buried for years, the conditioning Nasedo put her through to prepare her for her destiny. There was no room in her life for human emotions, they would only get in the way, and he’d spent years forcing her to learn how to suppress her weak human traits.
She knew if Nasedo were here now, he would make her go back into the dream, but she didn’t have the stomach for it tonight. Max’s memories of the White Room were hitting too close to home, too close to the things she’d long ago buried. She pushed the yearbook off her lap and let it clatter to the floor.
Gathering up the blanket, she silently stole from the bed and snuck into the closet. She huddled in a corner, like she’d done so many times as a child hiding from Nasedo, but he always found her, and the punishment would begin again. She closed her eyes and rocked back and forth, forcing away the memory of the young girl she had once been. She’d been human then, but Nasedo had stripped that away from her.
She was alien now, with a job to do, and she was bound to do it. It was what she was created for, to ensure the survival of their race.
Across town, Max was still locked in his nightmare. His hands battled the air, trying to keep the white clad men away from him. His covers twisted around him, trapping his legs the same way his attackers held him trapped in his dream . . .
He struggled but there were too many and they were too strong, and the drugs they’d been injecting into him had taken a toll. He wasn’t sure how much fight he had left in him. They carried him across the room, and it wasn’t until they reached the other side that he saw it, the tub of water, full of ice. He struggled, reaching deep inside for the last of his strength, but they were too strong, and he was too weak, and he was forced into the water.
The ice clinked against his skin, so cold it almost burned, and then his face was forced under. Water filled his mouth and his nose and his vision blurred. He could hear garbled sounds and it took him a moment to comprehend that the sounds were coming from his own throat as he screamed, and choked, and thrashed in the water. Dark spots began to obscure his vision, and just when he thought he was about to pass out, the hands pulled his head above the surface.
Pierce’s face swam into view with the veins in his neck standing out prominently. He screamed in Max’s face, “How long till the invasion force arrives? Where will they land!”
Max barely had time to register the question before his face was pushed under again and he was forced below the freezing water. Fingernails dug into his flesh, holding him down, while he fought a losing battle. Spots flared in his eyes as his oxygen deprived brain shut down and he sank into oblivion . . .
His eyes flew open and Max sucked in a deep breath as the dream faded, but the terror didn’t fade with it. He turned onto his side curling into a fetal ball with his trembling shaking the bed. Shivers coursed through his body. Goosebumps rose on his flesh. His teeth chattered in his mouth.
No amount of blankets would keep him warm tonight.
Stop by next Sunday for the next part
Aftermath (ML / Adult) (Complete)
Moderators: Itzstacie, Forum Moderators
-
Breathless
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 254
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm
- Location: Somewhere in ficland
-
Breathless
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 254
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm
- Location: Somewhere in ficland
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: This story takes place after Max’s rescue from the White Room, and deals with the aftermath of his ordeal there. In this story there is NO Royal Four. Max was not a King in a previous life, and Tess was not his wife. In fact, none of them lived a previous life. The message in the cave said Max was a ‘leader’ and that’s true in this story, but the question is, leader of what? What is their reason for being on Earth? And what’s it going to take for the truth to come out?
Aftermath
Part 22
Liz woke early to bright sunshine streaming in her window. She stretched leisurely, languishing in the warm bed, knowing that today she was going to be doing a very un-Liz like thing. She was the science geek, the wiz kid, the straight A student with her sights set on Harvard in a few short years, and she was about to skip an entire day of school for the first time in her life. There was something kind of thrilling about that.
She pulled back the covers and climbed from bed, hurrying to her dresser to pick out her clothes for the day. She reached for the top drawer, the one full of lingerie, and then changed her mind and opened the bottom drawer instead. She sorted through cut-offs and shorts until she found her bathing suits and pulled them out; trying to decide which one she should wear.
The black one piece looked a little too severe, she decided; so she dropped it back in the drawer. She eyed the two bikinis next, the ones she’d bought last summer, knowing both of them would still fit this year. She hadn’t really grown any on top in the last year, much to her displeasure. She wasn’t exactly flat, thank god for small favors, but she didn’t have the curves that Tess had either.
She scolded herself for the thought, telling herself for the hundredth time that Max wasn’t attracted to Tess, or her curves. Hadn’t he proven that enough, with the touch of his hands, and the feel of his lips on hers? And she couldn’t forget how it felt to have those lips on her throat, and on her breast, and touching her with his tongue. She could be wrong, but she thought she satisfied him. Didn’t she?
She looked back and forth between the yellow floral print, and the white string bikini. The yellow one was pretty, but not very sophisticated. The white one looked great against a summer tan, but she worried that it might be a little too skimpy. On second thought, maybe skimpy was what she needed. She put the yellow one back in her drawer and took the white one into the bathroom. Time to take a shower first.
* * * * *
Max lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling with his hands behind his head. Since his return from Eagle Rock, he dreaded the morning nearly as much as the night. Morning meant he had to get up and face another day, go out of the house and act like everything was normal. Every unfamiliar face he saw made him wonder if it was someone from the FBI tailing him, waiting to make his move, biding his time to snatch him again and take him back – to that place.
But it wasn’t just the FBI he had to worry about. The message in the cave said ‘Your enemies are legion’. Did that mean they were being hunted by both sides, alien and human? Was the new clerk in the grocery store really a middle age woman or an alien hiding behind a human skin? Was the new lawyer in his dad’s office just a hot shot attorney on the rise, or an FBI agent trying to infiltrate his family? Could he ever look at anyone again without wondering who they really were?
“Max?” Isabel knocked on his door and opened it a crack. “Are you up?”
“Yeah,” he answered and sat up, scratching his hand through his bed hair.
“Are you going to take a shower first? Or should I go ahead?”
“I’ll go first,” Max drew his covers aside. Sharing a bathroom with his sister was an art form. If he didn’t time it right, he’d be waiting forever for her to get out of there.
* * * * *
Alex flexed his ‘muscles’ in the classic ‘Hulk’ pose and then rolled his eyes at his ineptness. Who did he think he was kidding? He was pathetic, a geek with a capital G. His dad walked by on the way down to breakfast, and the awful truth sank in. It was in his genes. He was never going to be a hunk. Isabel was never going to notice him.
“Alex!” his mother called out from the kitchen. “Breakfast is ready! I made your favorite, blueberry pancakes. I even made the little faces you like!”
“I’m not five anymore, Mom,” Alex grumbled under his breath, and then thought about it. Blueberry pancakes with smilie faces?
“I’ll be right down!”
* * * * *
Maria stood in front of the bathroom mirror putting the finishing touches on her makeup, careful to apply just the right amount of foundation, eye shadow, mascara, lipstick to cover her full lips. She dried her freshly shampooed hair, and gave it some lift with a curling iron.
When she was done she looked at her reflection in the mirror, turning from side to side, checking out her new bikini, the one she bought with Michael in mind. If this little number didn’t crumble that stonewall of his, nothing would.
* * * * *
Michael rolled out of bed yawning and scratching his ass. He shuffled into the bathroom and relieved his bladder, took a look at the shower, shrugged, and headed back to the bedroom. Why take a shower when he was just going to get wet in the lake anyway? Why waste the water?
* * * * *
The alarm went off and Kyle bolted off the couch. He fell to the floor immediately, vigorously performing his morning ritual, 50 push-ups to get his body pumped and his blood flowing. When he was done, he bounced to his feet and made his way to the bathroom. He barged right in the door without a second thought, and then froze at the sight before him.
“KYLE!” Tess shouted and clutched the towel to her naked body.
“TESS!” Kyle’s eyes were bugging out of his head.
He knew he should look away, and he did, for a second, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. She’d just gotten out of the shower and her skin was still dripping with moisture. Her cheeks were flushing a rosy color of red, her blue eyes were flashing with anger, and was there a hint of interest there too? Did she just look him up and down?
“Don’t you know how to knock?” she yelled and threw a wet sponge at him. It splattered against his naked chest and fell to his bare feet.
“I – I,” Kyle stuttered and then shot back, “I never had to knock to go in my own bathroom before!”
“Well excuse me for trying to be clean!” Tess pushed him out of her way and marched toward ‘her’ bedroom. Kyle just stood there staring at her, wearing nothing but his Calvins. When she reached the doorway, she spun around with her hands clutching the towel. “I suppose this is yours, too, huh? Huh? Well you can have it back!”
She threw the damp towel at his face and it covered his head, blocking out everything, but not before he got an eyeful. He heard the bedroom door slam closed, but the image was burned in his brain. No doubt about it, Tess was a real blonde.
* * * * *
Max pulled to a stop in front of the Crashdown and Liz came rushing out with her backpack slung over her shoulder. She scrambled into the front seat feeling excited about the coming adventure and Max greeted her with a warm kiss. She thought he had an eager look in his eyes too, like the world wasn’t weighing so heavily on him today. Isabel sat in the back seat pretending not to see them.
“Hi,” Max mumbled against her lips with a smile.
“Hi,” Liz gushed back.
“You sure you want to do this?” he asked in that honey tone of voice he only used with her.
“Of course,” she leaned into him. “We deserve to have some fun.”
“Let’s go, then,” Max kissed her one last time, and then the roar of a motorcycle distracted them. It pulled to a stop beside the jeep and Michael raised the visor of his helmet. Maria, sitting behind him, did the same.
“We ready?” Michael asked.
“I’ve gotta swing by and pick up Alex before we head out,” Max answered. Isabel bit back a smile in the back seat.
“And then?” Michael arched an eyebrow.
“Let’s take 285 southbound, cut over to Dexter where we can stop for some breakfast, then go north to Lea Lake. It’s too early for tourist season, and school isn’t out yet. We’ll probably have the place all to ourselves,” Max finished with a smug smile.
“What if a park ranger tries to kick us out or something?” Maria asked.
“We’ll tell ‘em it’s Senior Skip Day,” Max shrugged, unconcerned.
“They’re gonna believe we’re seniors?” Maria snorted.
“That’s what our ID will say if we get asked,” Max grinned. He’d played by the rules for so many years; he was getting a kick out of stepping outside the box. He realized skipping school was just kid stuff, but that was okay. He wasn’t the Bonnie and Clyde type anyway. Pushing the limits just a little bit was enough for him. A bright red Mustang pulled up and joined their little impromptu meeting, and Max’s good mood began to evaporate.
“Hi,” Tess plastered on a smile when she rolled the passenger window down. Kyle lifted his hand and gave everyone a self-conscious wave. “You guys are late,” Tess said. “School’s about to start.”
“Um . . .” Max scrunched up his face and looked at the others. They all looked as uncomfortable as he did. “We’re not,” he started to say and then let out a deep breath. “We’re kind of skipping school today.”
“Skipping school . . .?” Tess was nearly shocked speechless. Max skipping school? Liz? They must be kidding!
“We’re going to spend the day at the lake,” Liz piped up, confirming the impossible. She saw Tess staring at them in disbelief, and Liz just shrugged her shoulders. “It’ll be fun. You want to come?”
Maria and Isabel looked at her like she’d lost her mind, but Liz felt like it was the right thing to do. Whether she liked it or not, Tess was a part of this and there was no sense denying it. Either they learned how to all get along together, or they were going to tear each other apart.
Tess looked at Kyle, wondering if he was game. On one level, she knew it shouldn’t even matter what he thought, but it did. She didn’t stop to wonder why. He nodded, and Tess turned her steely blue eyes back to Liz. “We’re in.”
* * * * *
Tess sat at the table pushing eggs around her plate with a fork, trying not to show her irritation. Max sat across from her with his arm around Liz, kissing her forehead and whispering things in her ear. When their breakfast arrived, they even went so far as to feed each other, Liz giving him bites of her strawberry crepes and Max letting her try his Tabasco laden omelet. It was disgusting, watching them moon all over each other.
It only served to remind her that she had been excluded from this little adventure, and if it hadn’t been for Kyle driving by the Crashdown this morning, she wouldn’t have known anything about it. It made her burn inside, the way the others – Max, Isabel and Michael – had stronger ties to these humans than they had to her. It wasn’t fair. She was one of their kind, so why did they always shut her out?
Max lifted another bite of his omelet to Liz, while she speared a fresh strawberry to share with him. He opened his mouth wide, savoring the taste of the sweet fruit, then couldn’t hold back a laugh when Liz scrunched up her nose. The omelet wasn’t as sweet.
“I must be getting used to the taste of Tabasco sauce,” Liz leaned in to Max. “At least it doesn’t make me gag anymore. In fact,” she kissed him on the lips, “I think I’ve acquired a taste for it.” Max’s eyes flashed at her suggestive tone, until Isabel opened her mouth and put a damper on it.
“Will you two just eat your breakfast instead of each other?” she glared at her brother.
“Sorry,” Max and Liz mumbled together, looking properly embarrassed. Max reached for a glass of water to take a drink but the sight of the ice floating in the clear liquid made the hair on the back of his neck rise. His hand froze in the air, then started to tremble. The dream from last night came back with a rush, the memory of the ice against his skin when they forced his head underwater, the cold chilling him to the bone, the scream trapped in his throat –
“Max?” Liz said his name softly and watched his eyes refocus. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he forced a smile, pretending nothing was wrong. He reached for the coffee instead and took a sip, but the warm liquid couldn’t dispel the shiver that went up and down his spine. He glanced around the table noticing how everyone had stopped talking and were all looking in his direction. To turn their attention away from him, he asked, “Are we ready to go?”
“Yeah,” Michael tossed a napkin onto his plate and grabbed for the bill. He was relieved that Max had averted another meltdown, but the fact that it looked like it had almost happened again wasn’t a good sign. “Okay everybody, fork over the dough and let’s get this show on the road.”
The eight teens opened purses and wallets and tossed their money on the table, ready for a day of rest and relaxation at the lake. On the way out of the restaurant, Max glanced back at the water glass on the table, wondering if he was ever going to get his life back, or if he would spend the rest of it living in fear.
* * * * *
Max set the cooler down on the bench of a picnic table while Isabel spread out a tablecloth. Alex pulled bags of chips and cookies out of a couple of grocery bags when she was done, while Michael and Kyle scoped out the beach.
“The sand, the sun, now all we need is babes in bikinis,” Kyle sent a leer toward the girls.
“Keep dreaming, Kyle,” Isabel shot him a deadly look and took a can of soda out of the cooler.
Maria took that as her cue to shed her short sleeve top and wiggle out of tight jeans. Michael took one look at her string bikini and fought back the urge to run over there and tackle her to the sand. Instead, he pulled his shirt over his head and dropped his own jeans, exposing a pair of loose fitting swim trunks.
“Do you know how to swim?” Liz asked Max. She knew him so well, but some things about him were still a total mystery.
“Yeah,” Max walked back toward the jeep and Liz followed. “My mom took us for lessons when we were eight.” He reached into the back seat of the jeep and grabbed a beach towel. Rolled up inside of it she could see what looked like a pair of board shorts. “You?”
“I swim like a fish,” Liz beamed at him and they rejoined the group standing around the picnic table. She didn’t remind him that it had been her lifesaving skill in the water that had kept him afloat when they jumped off the bridge, the night they were running from the Special Unit.
“So everyone’s got something to wear but us?” Kyle waved his hand between him and Tess. Sometimes last minute plans sucked. He was way overdressed for a day at the lake.
Tess sidled over to him with her crystal blue eyes locked onto his. “Need a change, Buddha Boy?” she asked seductively. His face went slack when her hand grabbed the waistband of his jeans. In the blink of an eye his pants changed from a faded pair of blue jeans into brightly colored swim shorts.
“Don’t DO that!” Kyle jumped back, while the others laughed at him.
* * * * *
“Man,” Kyle muttered under his breath from his perch on the end of the picnic table. He was watching Tess, who had used her alien mojo to turn her clothes into the hottest little bikini he’d ever seen. Pale blue just like her eyes, exposing yards of voluptuous skin. Alien chicks were definitely stacked.
“Yeah,” Michael was foaming at the mouth over Maria’s string bikini. How was he supposed to keep his distance when she looked like that? She wasn’t playing fair.
Alex was hyperventilating at the table watching Isabel sitting across from him in a sleek one piece suit. The girls on the swim team never looked like that.
Max walked hand in hand with Liz along the water’s edge, enjoying the feel of the sun warming his skin and the sand between his toes. He’d shed his shirt and shoes, and changed into the dark knee length board shorts, and for the first time in more than a week he could feel his tension easing. Liz walked along beside him with her feet splashing in the water, wearing just her bikini covered by a thigh length t-shirt. She’d shed her Capri pants some time ago.
“I’m glad we came . . .” Max looked into her dark eyes, and then went back to studying the sand in front of his feet.
“Me too,” Liz squeezed his hand a little tighter. She thought he felt a little more relaxed now than he had earlier at the restaurant in Dexter. She was so worried about him, but she didn’t want him to know. He was trying to cope as best he could, in his own way. All she could do for him was be there when he needed her. Deciding a little water play might be just the distraction he needed; Liz took a step into the lake and tried to pull him in.
“No,” Max resisted, shaking his head and smiling at her.
“C’mon,” she tugged on his arm, grinning happily at him.
Max stumbled forward into the water and the smile fled his face. Inside, he fought the rising panic. The water felt cold against his feet. Cold and wet and icy. She was trying to pull him in, trying to drown him in the water. The cold water. She was standing in it up to her knees, pulling him in, forcing him into the ice filled water. He couldn’t stand the feel of the water. It was up around his ankles but it felt like it was up around his neck, ready to rise up and cover his face. He couldn’t breathe.
“NO!” Max shouted, fighting the blinding terror. He forcefully pulled his hands away from hers and stumbled back.
“Max?” Liz followed him out of the water, instantly regretting her lapse in judgment. She should have known better. The memory of what she’d seen that night in the van, the flash of what they’d done to him in the White Room, came rushing back at her. How could she have been so stupid, trying to force him into the water?
“Sorry,” Max turned away from her and raked a trembling hand through his hair. “I, ah . . . I just don’t,” he grasped for something to say. “I don’t feel like swimming right now.”
“Okay,” Liz walked up behind him and touched his back, wanting to reassure him, but instead causing him to jump in fright. Chills ran up and down his spine while he desperately fought to regain his composure. She took a step back, giving him some space, and asked in a soft voice full of concern, “Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” he said unconvincingly. He glanced up the beach feeling relieved that the others hadn’t heard his outburst. They weren’t looking his way. “Let’s go up here.” Max slipped his hand into hers and led her up the beach, far away from the shoreline.
He found a spot that had once been a campfire, enclosed on three sides with fallen tree trunks and rocks, lending them some semblance of privacy from the others. Max sat on the sand and pulled Liz down into his lap. He smiled for her benefit, shaking off the incident, trying to convince himself it was nothing, that everything was going to be fine, but the chill inside him wasn’t going away.
Tess stood near the picnic table watching the distant figures of Max and Liz disappear behind a pile of rocks and tree stumps, fuming inside over what they were probably doing now. He’d barely even looked her way when she came back from the women’s room after changing her underwear into a revealing pale blue bikini. She’d created it just for him, making sure it just barely covered her assets, but instead of feasting on her the way she thought he would, he had quickly looked away and dragged Liz down to the water. Like he was running away from her. Bastard.
“You look hot,” Kyle came up behind Tess and swept her off her feet. He grinned at her surprised expression and carried her down to the water. “In fact, you look so hot, I think you need to cool off.”
“What are you doing!” Tess squirmed but Kyle was even stronger than he looked. His muscles flexed and bunched and held her fast. He walked out onto the dock and stood at the edge, right above the smooth, dark surface. “No!” she cried. “Don’t you dare!”
“Or what?” Kyle teased. “You’ll disintegrate me with your death ray eyes?”
“You don’t think I will?” she challenged, but she wasn’t fighting him any more. In fact, she felt pretty comfortable in his arms. Of course, she couldn’t admit that to anyone. Not even herself.
“It’s worth the risk,” Kyle smirked and jumped in. Tess screamed until they were swallowed by the water.
“Is something going on between them?” Alex asked aloud, sitting at the picnic table with a potato chip poised in front of his mouth.
Isabel tore her attention away from the fashion magazine she was reading and followed the direction of his gaze. Kyle and Tess were splashing at each other now, laughing and carrying on like kids.
“That would be good, right?” Alex turned to look at Isabel. “I mean, if she stopped chasing after Max?”
“Good for Max, bad for Kyle,” Maria reached across the table to grab the suntan lotion.
Michael stood a few feet off with his arms folded over his chest, feeling a confusing jumble of emotions. His brain was at odds with itself, on one hand certain that the four of them, his alien compatriots, should isolate themselves from the humans and seek out the destiny they had been created for. But at the same time, all of them together like this, all eight of them, somehow felt right, like this was how it was supposed to be.
“Here,” Maria broke into his thoughts and shoved the bottle of lotion at him.
“What’s this for?” Michael scowled at her.
“The sun, the sand, my skin,” Maria said in a singsong voice. “Lather me up, Spaceboy, I don’t want to burn.”
“Great,” Michael muttered and took in the sight of her bikini-clad body. This was going to be torture.
Down the beach, Liz lay snuggled securely in Max’s arms. The sun felt warm on their skin and the sand was soft underneath them. Max was content to spend the rest of the day right here, holding Liz, kissing Liz, making love to Liz. If only he could, he mused about that last thought, wishing they were on a deserted island together, instead of just down the beach from their very watchful friends.
They lay side by side in their little enclosure, his arm around her, her hand touching the warm muscles of his chest, with his cheek resting against her forehead. They stared up into the blue sky, content to just let the day drift away, to let the world go on without them, to live only in this moment. She snuggled in a little closer, and lifted her leg to rest on his thigh.
His stomach let out a loud grumble.
“Are you hungry?” she lifted her head with a laugh bubbling inside her.
“Very,” his eyes stared back at her, turning darker with desire.
The look on his face made the laughter die on her lips. He raised his hand to her throat, drawing her closer to him, needing to kiss her, to touch her, to taste her. She gave him no resistance, wanting the contact just as much as he did. His lips covered hers and he pushed her down into the sand letting his hand slide under her t-shirt.
Liz sighed against his lips and let her hand do some traveling of its own. The hard muscles of his chest were captivating, mesmerizing, thrilling to touch, making everything around them fade into the background. His mouth covered hers possessively, kissing her hard, just the way she liked it, and the moan that escaped her throat told him so.
“Take this off,” Max grappled with her shirt, tugging it up and over her head. Liz didn’t resist. The rich color of her skin struck him first as he pulled the shirt free, making his body react strongly, and then his brain had an equal, yet opposite reaction when he saw the color of her bathing suit. The stark white made his hackles rise and he nearly bolted away from her.
“Max?” Liz watched the color drain from his face. “What is it?”
“Um,” he couldn’t quite look at her. “Can I . . . can I change . . . the color?” he fingered the strap of her bikini.
“Change . . .?” she repeated in confusion, and then it struck her when she looked down and saw things through his eyes. White. She was wearing white. It wasn’t a color that he liked anymore. She slowly nodded her head and smiled.
Last week or the week before he might have wanted to see her in red, but now that only reminded him of the color of blood. He touched the top of her bikini, cupping the swell of her breast, changing the material to black. He moved his hand lower and changed the bottom to black as well.
“Better?” Liz asked him.
“Yeah,” Max nodded, looking at her with a self-conscious smile.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she urged him to open up, to share what he was feeling. She’d seen the things inside his mind, she knew the torture he’d been through, but knowing it and talking about it were two different things. He needed to let it out, so he could move past it.
“No,” Max dropped his eyes from hers. “Not yet. I’m sorry –”
“Don’t apologize, Max. You have nothing to feel sorry for. We’ll get through this,” she gently touched his face. “Together.”
Max lifted his eyes to hers and the stress and the strain of the day fell away. How could he worry when the one person that he loved more than anyone in the world was looking at him with love shining in her eyes? As long as he had that, he could live through anything. His loving gaze traveled over her face and then focused on her lips. Her rich, full, beautiful lips. He’d spent years wanting to kiss those luscious lips, and he wasn’t going to waste another moment without them. He leaned her back into the sand and kissed her with everything he had.
* * * * *
“I’m starving,” Michael stood near the table with his hands on his hips. “What’s for lunch?”
“Are you kidding?” Maria gawked at him. “We just had breakfast.”
“Yeah, a couple hours ago,” Michael couldn’t keep his eyes off her sun kissed skin. “I’ve worked up an appetite since then.” Applying lotion to all that skin she was showing was hard work. Very hard work. Damn.
“Someone go find Max and Liz and tell them its lunchtime,” Isabel ordered and opened the cooler.
“I’ll do it,” Tess quickly offered before anyone could beat her to it. She tossed her beach towel aside and sauntered off in the direction she’d last seen them.
* * * * *
Liz could feel the warmth of the sand beneath her, and the heat of Max Evans on top of her. His thigh pinned her legs down while his hand cupped her breast and his lips burned a trail down her throat. He kissed along the swell of her breast, nuzzling aside the strap of her bikini so he could taste all of her. He wanted her in the worst way, a physical and emotional need to be as close to her as he could.
“Max,” she sighed against the top of his head. “We shouldn’t do this here. Someone might see . . .”
“I know,” he mumbled into her breast. God, did he know. He ached to be inside her again, and it was taking all of his will power not to drag her off into the trees and have his way with her. The drive was strong, to slide into her depths again and mate their souls together. His lips searched out her mouth again, claiming her with unspoken words, shifting his body more fully onto hers.
A shadow loomed over the two lovers, blocking out the sun. Tess stared down at them with venom burning inside her, watching Max grope Liz, and fondle her, and practically fuck her right there on the sand. Frustration raged through her, knowing she was supposed to be breaking his ties to the humans, not standing by and watching them grow stronger. What did she have to do to force his alien side to the surface? Did she have to destroy him? Crush him completely?
The shadowed presence seeped through Max’s sexual haze and he broke apart from Liz with a start. He shot his hand out to ward off an imminent attack; and it was only Liz’s quick reaction that kept him from hurling Tess back across the sand. She grabbed his hand before he could release his pent up power.
“Max, it’s just Tess,” Liz soothed him.
“What are you doing here?” Max barked at Tess and moved his arm to shield his eyes from the sun’s glare. He was tense and on edge and just the sight of her made his irritation rise. She was damn lucky Liz kept him from blasting her with his powers over her unwelcome intrusion.
“Lunch is ready,” Tess plastered on a fake smile. “Isabel sent me to tell you.”
“Thanks,” Liz replied, while keeping her focus on Max. “We’ll be right there.”
Tess stood there for a moment longer, and then backed away. The rage she’d seen on Max’s face had startled her. She’d never seen that look before, not on him. It seemed so out of place, so foreign, so . . . alien.
It was what she wanted. What she strived for. What she’d worked so hard to achieve. She’d finally seen the first glimmer of Max’s buried alien side.
So why did that suddenly seem so bad?
Come back next Sunday for the next part
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: This story takes place after Max’s rescue from the White Room, and deals with the aftermath of his ordeal there. In this story there is NO Royal Four. Max was not a King in a previous life, and Tess was not his wife. In fact, none of them lived a previous life. The message in the cave said Max was a ‘leader’ and that’s true in this story, but the question is, leader of what? What is their reason for being on Earth? And what’s it going to take for the truth to come out?
Aftermath
Part 22
Liz woke early to bright sunshine streaming in her window. She stretched leisurely, languishing in the warm bed, knowing that today she was going to be doing a very un-Liz like thing. She was the science geek, the wiz kid, the straight A student with her sights set on Harvard in a few short years, and she was about to skip an entire day of school for the first time in her life. There was something kind of thrilling about that.
She pulled back the covers and climbed from bed, hurrying to her dresser to pick out her clothes for the day. She reached for the top drawer, the one full of lingerie, and then changed her mind and opened the bottom drawer instead. She sorted through cut-offs and shorts until she found her bathing suits and pulled them out; trying to decide which one she should wear.
The black one piece looked a little too severe, she decided; so she dropped it back in the drawer. She eyed the two bikinis next, the ones she’d bought last summer, knowing both of them would still fit this year. She hadn’t really grown any on top in the last year, much to her displeasure. She wasn’t exactly flat, thank god for small favors, but she didn’t have the curves that Tess had either.
She scolded herself for the thought, telling herself for the hundredth time that Max wasn’t attracted to Tess, or her curves. Hadn’t he proven that enough, with the touch of his hands, and the feel of his lips on hers? And she couldn’t forget how it felt to have those lips on her throat, and on her breast, and touching her with his tongue. She could be wrong, but she thought she satisfied him. Didn’t she?
She looked back and forth between the yellow floral print, and the white string bikini. The yellow one was pretty, but not very sophisticated. The white one looked great against a summer tan, but she worried that it might be a little too skimpy. On second thought, maybe skimpy was what she needed. She put the yellow one back in her drawer and took the white one into the bathroom. Time to take a shower first.
* * * * *
Max lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling with his hands behind his head. Since his return from Eagle Rock, he dreaded the morning nearly as much as the night. Morning meant he had to get up and face another day, go out of the house and act like everything was normal. Every unfamiliar face he saw made him wonder if it was someone from the FBI tailing him, waiting to make his move, biding his time to snatch him again and take him back – to that place.
But it wasn’t just the FBI he had to worry about. The message in the cave said ‘Your enemies are legion’. Did that mean they were being hunted by both sides, alien and human? Was the new clerk in the grocery store really a middle age woman or an alien hiding behind a human skin? Was the new lawyer in his dad’s office just a hot shot attorney on the rise, or an FBI agent trying to infiltrate his family? Could he ever look at anyone again without wondering who they really were?
“Max?” Isabel knocked on his door and opened it a crack. “Are you up?”
“Yeah,” he answered and sat up, scratching his hand through his bed hair.
“Are you going to take a shower first? Or should I go ahead?”
“I’ll go first,” Max drew his covers aside. Sharing a bathroom with his sister was an art form. If he didn’t time it right, he’d be waiting forever for her to get out of there.
* * * * *
Alex flexed his ‘muscles’ in the classic ‘Hulk’ pose and then rolled his eyes at his ineptness. Who did he think he was kidding? He was pathetic, a geek with a capital G. His dad walked by on the way down to breakfast, and the awful truth sank in. It was in his genes. He was never going to be a hunk. Isabel was never going to notice him.
“Alex!” his mother called out from the kitchen. “Breakfast is ready! I made your favorite, blueberry pancakes. I even made the little faces you like!”
“I’m not five anymore, Mom,” Alex grumbled under his breath, and then thought about it. Blueberry pancakes with smilie faces?
“I’ll be right down!”
* * * * *
Maria stood in front of the bathroom mirror putting the finishing touches on her makeup, careful to apply just the right amount of foundation, eye shadow, mascara, lipstick to cover her full lips. She dried her freshly shampooed hair, and gave it some lift with a curling iron.
When she was done she looked at her reflection in the mirror, turning from side to side, checking out her new bikini, the one she bought with Michael in mind. If this little number didn’t crumble that stonewall of his, nothing would.
* * * * *
Michael rolled out of bed yawning and scratching his ass. He shuffled into the bathroom and relieved his bladder, took a look at the shower, shrugged, and headed back to the bedroom. Why take a shower when he was just going to get wet in the lake anyway? Why waste the water?
* * * * *
The alarm went off and Kyle bolted off the couch. He fell to the floor immediately, vigorously performing his morning ritual, 50 push-ups to get his body pumped and his blood flowing. When he was done, he bounced to his feet and made his way to the bathroom. He barged right in the door without a second thought, and then froze at the sight before him.
“KYLE!” Tess shouted and clutched the towel to her naked body.
“TESS!” Kyle’s eyes were bugging out of his head.
He knew he should look away, and he did, for a second, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. She’d just gotten out of the shower and her skin was still dripping with moisture. Her cheeks were flushing a rosy color of red, her blue eyes were flashing with anger, and was there a hint of interest there too? Did she just look him up and down?
“Don’t you know how to knock?” she yelled and threw a wet sponge at him. It splattered against his naked chest and fell to his bare feet.
“I – I,” Kyle stuttered and then shot back, “I never had to knock to go in my own bathroom before!”
“Well excuse me for trying to be clean!” Tess pushed him out of her way and marched toward ‘her’ bedroom. Kyle just stood there staring at her, wearing nothing but his Calvins. When she reached the doorway, she spun around with her hands clutching the towel. “I suppose this is yours, too, huh? Huh? Well you can have it back!”
She threw the damp towel at his face and it covered his head, blocking out everything, but not before he got an eyeful. He heard the bedroom door slam closed, but the image was burned in his brain. No doubt about it, Tess was a real blonde.
* * * * *
Max pulled to a stop in front of the Crashdown and Liz came rushing out with her backpack slung over her shoulder. She scrambled into the front seat feeling excited about the coming adventure and Max greeted her with a warm kiss. She thought he had an eager look in his eyes too, like the world wasn’t weighing so heavily on him today. Isabel sat in the back seat pretending not to see them.
“Hi,” Max mumbled against her lips with a smile.
“Hi,” Liz gushed back.
“You sure you want to do this?” he asked in that honey tone of voice he only used with her.
“Of course,” she leaned into him. “We deserve to have some fun.”
“Let’s go, then,” Max kissed her one last time, and then the roar of a motorcycle distracted them. It pulled to a stop beside the jeep and Michael raised the visor of his helmet. Maria, sitting behind him, did the same.
“We ready?” Michael asked.
“I’ve gotta swing by and pick up Alex before we head out,” Max answered. Isabel bit back a smile in the back seat.
“And then?” Michael arched an eyebrow.
“Let’s take 285 southbound, cut over to Dexter where we can stop for some breakfast, then go north to Lea Lake. It’s too early for tourist season, and school isn’t out yet. We’ll probably have the place all to ourselves,” Max finished with a smug smile.
“What if a park ranger tries to kick us out or something?” Maria asked.
“We’ll tell ‘em it’s Senior Skip Day,” Max shrugged, unconcerned.
“They’re gonna believe we’re seniors?” Maria snorted.
“That’s what our ID will say if we get asked,” Max grinned. He’d played by the rules for so many years; he was getting a kick out of stepping outside the box. He realized skipping school was just kid stuff, but that was okay. He wasn’t the Bonnie and Clyde type anyway. Pushing the limits just a little bit was enough for him. A bright red Mustang pulled up and joined their little impromptu meeting, and Max’s good mood began to evaporate.
“Hi,” Tess plastered on a smile when she rolled the passenger window down. Kyle lifted his hand and gave everyone a self-conscious wave. “You guys are late,” Tess said. “School’s about to start.”
“Um . . .” Max scrunched up his face and looked at the others. They all looked as uncomfortable as he did. “We’re not,” he started to say and then let out a deep breath. “We’re kind of skipping school today.”
“Skipping school . . .?” Tess was nearly shocked speechless. Max skipping school? Liz? They must be kidding!
“We’re going to spend the day at the lake,” Liz piped up, confirming the impossible. She saw Tess staring at them in disbelief, and Liz just shrugged her shoulders. “It’ll be fun. You want to come?”
Maria and Isabel looked at her like she’d lost her mind, but Liz felt like it was the right thing to do. Whether she liked it or not, Tess was a part of this and there was no sense denying it. Either they learned how to all get along together, or they were going to tear each other apart.
Tess looked at Kyle, wondering if he was game. On one level, she knew it shouldn’t even matter what he thought, but it did. She didn’t stop to wonder why. He nodded, and Tess turned her steely blue eyes back to Liz. “We’re in.”
* * * * *
Tess sat at the table pushing eggs around her plate with a fork, trying not to show her irritation. Max sat across from her with his arm around Liz, kissing her forehead and whispering things in her ear. When their breakfast arrived, they even went so far as to feed each other, Liz giving him bites of her strawberry crepes and Max letting her try his Tabasco laden omelet. It was disgusting, watching them moon all over each other.
It only served to remind her that she had been excluded from this little adventure, and if it hadn’t been for Kyle driving by the Crashdown this morning, she wouldn’t have known anything about it. It made her burn inside, the way the others – Max, Isabel and Michael – had stronger ties to these humans than they had to her. It wasn’t fair. She was one of their kind, so why did they always shut her out?
Max lifted another bite of his omelet to Liz, while she speared a fresh strawberry to share with him. He opened his mouth wide, savoring the taste of the sweet fruit, then couldn’t hold back a laugh when Liz scrunched up her nose. The omelet wasn’t as sweet.
“I must be getting used to the taste of Tabasco sauce,” Liz leaned in to Max. “At least it doesn’t make me gag anymore. In fact,” she kissed him on the lips, “I think I’ve acquired a taste for it.” Max’s eyes flashed at her suggestive tone, until Isabel opened her mouth and put a damper on it.
“Will you two just eat your breakfast instead of each other?” she glared at her brother.
“Sorry,” Max and Liz mumbled together, looking properly embarrassed. Max reached for a glass of water to take a drink but the sight of the ice floating in the clear liquid made the hair on the back of his neck rise. His hand froze in the air, then started to tremble. The dream from last night came back with a rush, the memory of the ice against his skin when they forced his head underwater, the cold chilling him to the bone, the scream trapped in his throat –
“Max?” Liz said his name softly and watched his eyes refocus. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he forced a smile, pretending nothing was wrong. He reached for the coffee instead and took a sip, but the warm liquid couldn’t dispel the shiver that went up and down his spine. He glanced around the table noticing how everyone had stopped talking and were all looking in his direction. To turn their attention away from him, he asked, “Are we ready to go?”
“Yeah,” Michael tossed a napkin onto his plate and grabbed for the bill. He was relieved that Max had averted another meltdown, but the fact that it looked like it had almost happened again wasn’t a good sign. “Okay everybody, fork over the dough and let’s get this show on the road.”
The eight teens opened purses and wallets and tossed their money on the table, ready for a day of rest and relaxation at the lake. On the way out of the restaurant, Max glanced back at the water glass on the table, wondering if he was ever going to get his life back, or if he would spend the rest of it living in fear.
* * * * *
Max set the cooler down on the bench of a picnic table while Isabel spread out a tablecloth. Alex pulled bags of chips and cookies out of a couple of grocery bags when she was done, while Michael and Kyle scoped out the beach.
“The sand, the sun, now all we need is babes in bikinis,” Kyle sent a leer toward the girls.
“Keep dreaming, Kyle,” Isabel shot him a deadly look and took a can of soda out of the cooler.
Maria took that as her cue to shed her short sleeve top and wiggle out of tight jeans. Michael took one look at her string bikini and fought back the urge to run over there and tackle her to the sand. Instead, he pulled his shirt over his head and dropped his own jeans, exposing a pair of loose fitting swim trunks.
“Do you know how to swim?” Liz asked Max. She knew him so well, but some things about him were still a total mystery.
“Yeah,” Max walked back toward the jeep and Liz followed. “My mom took us for lessons when we were eight.” He reached into the back seat of the jeep and grabbed a beach towel. Rolled up inside of it she could see what looked like a pair of board shorts. “You?”
“I swim like a fish,” Liz beamed at him and they rejoined the group standing around the picnic table. She didn’t remind him that it had been her lifesaving skill in the water that had kept him afloat when they jumped off the bridge, the night they were running from the Special Unit.
“So everyone’s got something to wear but us?” Kyle waved his hand between him and Tess. Sometimes last minute plans sucked. He was way overdressed for a day at the lake.
Tess sidled over to him with her crystal blue eyes locked onto his. “Need a change, Buddha Boy?” she asked seductively. His face went slack when her hand grabbed the waistband of his jeans. In the blink of an eye his pants changed from a faded pair of blue jeans into brightly colored swim shorts.
“Don’t DO that!” Kyle jumped back, while the others laughed at him.
* * * * *
“Man,” Kyle muttered under his breath from his perch on the end of the picnic table. He was watching Tess, who had used her alien mojo to turn her clothes into the hottest little bikini he’d ever seen. Pale blue just like her eyes, exposing yards of voluptuous skin. Alien chicks were definitely stacked.
“Yeah,” Michael was foaming at the mouth over Maria’s string bikini. How was he supposed to keep his distance when she looked like that? She wasn’t playing fair.
Alex was hyperventilating at the table watching Isabel sitting across from him in a sleek one piece suit. The girls on the swim team never looked like that.
Max walked hand in hand with Liz along the water’s edge, enjoying the feel of the sun warming his skin and the sand between his toes. He’d shed his shirt and shoes, and changed into the dark knee length board shorts, and for the first time in more than a week he could feel his tension easing. Liz walked along beside him with her feet splashing in the water, wearing just her bikini covered by a thigh length t-shirt. She’d shed her Capri pants some time ago.
“I’m glad we came . . .” Max looked into her dark eyes, and then went back to studying the sand in front of his feet.
“Me too,” Liz squeezed his hand a little tighter. She thought he felt a little more relaxed now than he had earlier at the restaurant in Dexter. She was so worried about him, but she didn’t want him to know. He was trying to cope as best he could, in his own way. All she could do for him was be there when he needed her. Deciding a little water play might be just the distraction he needed; Liz took a step into the lake and tried to pull him in.
“No,” Max resisted, shaking his head and smiling at her.
“C’mon,” she tugged on his arm, grinning happily at him.
Max stumbled forward into the water and the smile fled his face. Inside, he fought the rising panic. The water felt cold against his feet. Cold and wet and icy. She was trying to pull him in, trying to drown him in the water. The cold water. She was standing in it up to her knees, pulling him in, forcing him into the ice filled water. He couldn’t stand the feel of the water. It was up around his ankles but it felt like it was up around his neck, ready to rise up and cover his face. He couldn’t breathe.
“NO!” Max shouted, fighting the blinding terror. He forcefully pulled his hands away from hers and stumbled back.
“Max?” Liz followed him out of the water, instantly regretting her lapse in judgment. She should have known better. The memory of what she’d seen that night in the van, the flash of what they’d done to him in the White Room, came rushing back at her. How could she have been so stupid, trying to force him into the water?
“Sorry,” Max turned away from her and raked a trembling hand through his hair. “I, ah . . . I just don’t,” he grasped for something to say. “I don’t feel like swimming right now.”
“Okay,” Liz walked up behind him and touched his back, wanting to reassure him, but instead causing him to jump in fright. Chills ran up and down his spine while he desperately fought to regain his composure. She took a step back, giving him some space, and asked in a soft voice full of concern, “Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” he said unconvincingly. He glanced up the beach feeling relieved that the others hadn’t heard his outburst. They weren’t looking his way. “Let’s go up here.” Max slipped his hand into hers and led her up the beach, far away from the shoreline.
He found a spot that had once been a campfire, enclosed on three sides with fallen tree trunks and rocks, lending them some semblance of privacy from the others. Max sat on the sand and pulled Liz down into his lap. He smiled for her benefit, shaking off the incident, trying to convince himself it was nothing, that everything was going to be fine, but the chill inside him wasn’t going away.
Tess stood near the picnic table watching the distant figures of Max and Liz disappear behind a pile of rocks and tree stumps, fuming inside over what they were probably doing now. He’d barely even looked her way when she came back from the women’s room after changing her underwear into a revealing pale blue bikini. She’d created it just for him, making sure it just barely covered her assets, but instead of feasting on her the way she thought he would, he had quickly looked away and dragged Liz down to the water. Like he was running away from her. Bastard.
“You look hot,” Kyle came up behind Tess and swept her off her feet. He grinned at her surprised expression and carried her down to the water. “In fact, you look so hot, I think you need to cool off.”
“What are you doing!” Tess squirmed but Kyle was even stronger than he looked. His muscles flexed and bunched and held her fast. He walked out onto the dock and stood at the edge, right above the smooth, dark surface. “No!” she cried. “Don’t you dare!”
“Or what?” Kyle teased. “You’ll disintegrate me with your death ray eyes?”
“You don’t think I will?” she challenged, but she wasn’t fighting him any more. In fact, she felt pretty comfortable in his arms. Of course, she couldn’t admit that to anyone. Not even herself.
“It’s worth the risk,” Kyle smirked and jumped in. Tess screamed until they were swallowed by the water.
“Is something going on between them?” Alex asked aloud, sitting at the picnic table with a potato chip poised in front of his mouth.
Isabel tore her attention away from the fashion magazine she was reading and followed the direction of his gaze. Kyle and Tess were splashing at each other now, laughing and carrying on like kids.
“That would be good, right?” Alex turned to look at Isabel. “I mean, if she stopped chasing after Max?”
“Good for Max, bad for Kyle,” Maria reached across the table to grab the suntan lotion.
Michael stood a few feet off with his arms folded over his chest, feeling a confusing jumble of emotions. His brain was at odds with itself, on one hand certain that the four of them, his alien compatriots, should isolate themselves from the humans and seek out the destiny they had been created for. But at the same time, all of them together like this, all eight of them, somehow felt right, like this was how it was supposed to be.
“Here,” Maria broke into his thoughts and shoved the bottle of lotion at him.
“What’s this for?” Michael scowled at her.
“The sun, the sand, my skin,” Maria said in a singsong voice. “Lather me up, Spaceboy, I don’t want to burn.”
“Great,” Michael muttered and took in the sight of her bikini-clad body. This was going to be torture.
Down the beach, Liz lay snuggled securely in Max’s arms. The sun felt warm on their skin and the sand was soft underneath them. Max was content to spend the rest of the day right here, holding Liz, kissing Liz, making love to Liz. If only he could, he mused about that last thought, wishing they were on a deserted island together, instead of just down the beach from their very watchful friends.
They lay side by side in their little enclosure, his arm around her, her hand touching the warm muscles of his chest, with his cheek resting against her forehead. They stared up into the blue sky, content to just let the day drift away, to let the world go on without them, to live only in this moment. She snuggled in a little closer, and lifted her leg to rest on his thigh.
His stomach let out a loud grumble.
“Are you hungry?” she lifted her head with a laugh bubbling inside her.
“Very,” his eyes stared back at her, turning darker with desire.
The look on his face made the laughter die on her lips. He raised his hand to her throat, drawing her closer to him, needing to kiss her, to touch her, to taste her. She gave him no resistance, wanting the contact just as much as he did. His lips covered hers and he pushed her down into the sand letting his hand slide under her t-shirt.
Liz sighed against his lips and let her hand do some traveling of its own. The hard muscles of his chest were captivating, mesmerizing, thrilling to touch, making everything around them fade into the background. His mouth covered hers possessively, kissing her hard, just the way she liked it, and the moan that escaped her throat told him so.
“Take this off,” Max grappled with her shirt, tugging it up and over her head. Liz didn’t resist. The rich color of her skin struck him first as he pulled the shirt free, making his body react strongly, and then his brain had an equal, yet opposite reaction when he saw the color of her bathing suit. The stark white made his hackles rise and he nearly bolted away from her.
“Max?” Liz watched the color drain from his face. “What is it?”
“Um,” he couldn’t quite look at her. “Can I . . . can I change . . . the color?” he fingered the strap of her bikini.
“Change . . .?” she repeated in confusion, and then it struck her when she looked down and saw things through his eyes. White. She was wearing white. It wasn’t a color that he liked anymore. She slowly nodded her head and smiled.
Last week or the week before he might have wanted to see her in red, but now that only reminded him of the color of blood. He touched the top of her bikini, cupping the swell of her breast, changing the material to black. He moved his hand lower and changed the bottom to black as well.
“Better?” Liz asked him.
“Yeah,” Max nodded, looking at her with a self-conscious smile.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she urged him to open up, to share what he was feeling. She’d seen the things inside his mind, she knew the torture he’d been through, but knowing it and talking about it were two different things. He needed to let it out, so he could move past it.
“No,” Max dropped his eyes from hers. “Not yet. I’m sorry –”
“Don’t apologize, Max. You have nothing to feel sorry for. We’ll get through this,” she gently touched his face. “Together.”
Max lifted his eyes to hers and the stress and the strain of the day fell away. How could he worry when the one person that he loved more than anyone in the world was looking at him with love shining in her eyes? As long as he had that, he could live through anything. His loving gaze traveled over her face and then focused on her lips. Her rich, full, beautiful lips. He’d spent years wanting to kiss those luscious lips, and he wasn’t going to waste another moment without them. He leaned her back into the sand and kissed her with everything he had.
* * * * *
“I’m starving,” Michael stood near the table with his hands on his hips. “What’s for lunch?”
“Are you kidding?” Maria gawked at him. “We just had breakfast.”
“Yeah, a couple hours ago,” Michael couldn’t keep his eyes off her sun kissed skin. “I’ve worked up an appetite since then.” Applying lotion to all that skin she was showing was hard work. Very hard work. Damn.
“Someone go find Max and Liz and tell them its lunchtime,” Isabel ordered and opened the cooler.
“I’ll do it,” Tess quickly offered before anyone could beat her to it. She tossed her beach towel aside and sauntered off in the direction she’d last seen them.
* * * * *
Liz could feel the warmth of the sand beneath her, and the heat of Max Evans on top of her. His thigh pinned her legs down while his hand cupped her breast and his lips burned a trail down her throat. He kissed along the swell of her breast, nuzzling aside the strap of her bikini so he could taste all of her. He wanted her in the worst way, a physical and emotional need to be as close to her as he could.
“Max,” she sighed against the top of his head. “We shouldn’t do this here. Someone might see . . .”
“I know,” he mumbled into her breast. God, did he know. He ached to be inside her again, and it was taking all of his will power not to drag her off into the trees and have his way with her. The drive was strong, to slide into her depths again and mate their souls together. His lips searched out her mouth again, claiming her with unspoken words, shifting his body more fully onto hers.
A shadow loomed over the two lovers, blocking out the sun. Tess stared down at them with venom burning inside her, watching Max grope Liz, and fondle her, and practically fuck her right there on the sand. Frustration raged through her, knowing she was supposed to be breaking his ties to the humans, not standing by and watching them grow stronger. What did she have to do to force his alien side to the surface? Did she have to destroy him? Crush him completely?
The shadowed presence seeped through Max’s sexual haze and he broke apart from Liz with a start. He shot his hand out to ward off an imminent attack; and it was only Liz’s quick reaction that kept him from hurling Tess back across the sand. She grabbed his hand before he could release his pent up power.
“Max, it’s just Tess,” Liz soothed him.
“What are you doing here?” Max barked at Tess and moved his arm to shield his eyes from the sun’s glare. He was tense and on edge and just the sight of her made his irritation rise. She was damn lucky Liz kept him from blasting her with his powers over her unwelcome intrusion.
“Lunch is ready,” Tess plastered on a fake smile. “Isabel sent me to tell you.”
“Thanks,” Liz replied, while keeping her focus on Max. “We’ll be right there.”
Tess stood there for a moment longer, and then backed away. The rage she’d seen on Max’s face had startled her. She’d never seen that look before, not on him. It seemed so out of place, so foreign, so . . . alien.
It was what she wanted. What she strived for. What she’d worked so hard to achieve. She’d finally seen the first glimmer of Max’s buried alien side.
So why did that suddenly seem so bad?
Come back next Sunday for the next part
-
Breathless
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 254
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm
- Location: Somewhere in ficland
Aftermath Part 23
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: This story takes place after Max’s rescue from the White Room, and deals with the aftermath of his ordeal there. In this story there is NO Royal Four. Max was not a King in a previous life, and Tess was not his wife. In fact, none of them lived a previous life. The message in the cave said Max was a ‘leader’ and that’s true in this story, but the question is, leader of what? What is their reason for being on Earth? And what’s it going to take for the truth to come out?
Aftermath
Part 23
Max lay on a beach towel on the wooden dock with his eyes closed, feeling warm and relaxed with the sun soaking into his skin. He could smell the fresh air, and the scent of flowers on the breeze, and then a new scent wafted his way. It was a comforting scent, familiar, and arousing, and belonging all to Liz. He smiled as her welcome shadow fell across his face and he opened his eyes to take in his favorite view.
“You’re gonna burn,” Liz stared down at him.
“I am?” he sat up, leaning back on his elbows to look down at his chest. Was he starting to turn pink?
“Let me put this on you,” she knelt down beside him and unscrewed the lid to the sunscreen.
“You don’t have to do that,” Max watched her squirt a generous amount onto the palm of her hand. “If I burn, I’ll just heal it.”
“Are you going to deny me the pleasure of rubbing this all over your body?” Liz arched an eyebrow at him.
“What the hell was I thinking?” Max laughed and lay back down.
The lotion was cold when it hit his hot skin, but the feel of her hand working it into his muscles was wonderful. She took great care coating his throat and his shoulders and the tight muscles in his arms. He watched her through shuttered lids, enjoying the sight of her breasts swaying above him, though he had to admit he was secretly pleased that her bikini was more modest than what Maria and Tess were wearing. She had a beautiful body, but that didn’t mean he wanted the other guys to see it.
Liz took her time smoothing the lotion over his chest and then moved lower, over the ridges of his abdomen. He quietly enjoyed the feel of her soft hands massaging his tight muscles, and then her fingers dipped teasingly below the waistband of his shorts.
“Hey,” his eyes opened wider and his lips curled with a devilish grin. “The sun’s not shining there.”
“Too bad,” Liz retorted with a suggestive smile of her own. She squirted a small amount of lotion on her palm again and leaned over his face, working it gently over his cheeks. He grabbed her hand and the teasing tone in his voice disappeared, replaced by one of hunger.
“Meet me at Michael’s tonight,” Max implored. He stared up at her, wanting to tell her how much he wanted her, needed her, how he only felt right when he was with her, but he didn’t need to put it into words. She could read it all in his eyes.
“Okay,” she answered softly with her hand cupping his cheek.
The sexual tension between them was thick, hanging in the air, both of them wanting the closeness they had shared only once before. She leaned down and kissed him, giving him a promise of more to come. When their lips parted their eyes remained locked together. She settled down on the dock beside him, with their shoulders touching and their hands laced together, and after one last lingering kiss, the warmth of the sun lulled them both into sleep.
* * * * *
Tess chose her spot carefully, not too close to Max to be obvious, but not too far away to hinder her view. He appeared to be resting now, sleeping peacefully with Liz at his side, holding her hand like some love sick puppy, still just as smitten with Liz as he had been when she first came to town. If she didn’t see some results soon, she was going to have to step up her efforts. She unfurled the brightly colored beach towel and spread it over the wood dock, then settled down to wait.
Kyle watched Tess from the water, admiring her luscious little body. She had curves in all the right places, most of which were barely covered right now. The way the water beaded on her skin reminded him of how she looked this morning in his bathroom, with only a towel around her, and then not even that after she threw it at his head. She could be a little spitfire when she was angry, and he had to admit, he found that pretty exciting.
“Hey,” he hoisted himself up onto the dock and stood over her, dripping on the wood next to her. “Come back in the water.”
“Not now,” she lifted her hand to block the glare of the sun. “I’m cold, so I’m going to lay here in the sun and let it warm me up.”
“I could warm you up,” Kyle leered at her suggestively. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes off her bikini-clad body.
“I think it’s your turn to cool off,” her eyes flashed and she used her powers to push him off the dock. Inside, she felt oddly warmed by the attention he was giving her. It was a sensation she wasn’t used to, and she wasn’t sure what to make of it.
Kyle hit the water with a loud splash and came sputtering up to the surface, crying out, “You don’t play fair!”
“You’re right, Buddha Boy. I don’t!” She closed her eyes in concentration and moments later the fin of a shark appeared in the water right in front of him. Kyle back peddled, splashing wildly to get away from it, almost screaming like a girl, making Tess giggle. Men! One minute macho, the next minute wuss.
Nearby, Michael and Maria sat side by side on the dock with their feet dipping in the water. His hands curled around the edge of the wood, holding it tightly so that he wouldn’t give in to weakness and hold her hand instead.
“So,” Maria broke the tense silence that hung between them. “School’s out in a couple more days. What are you gonna to do all summer long?”
“Work,” Michael shrugged. “In my spare time try to figure out what we’re doing here.”
“Are you . . . and Isabel . . . going to . . .?”
“No,” Michael answered quickly. He glanced at Maria for just a moment and then turned to concentrate on the water. They hadn’t really talked about this since the revelations that day at the cave. In fact, they hadn’t really talked much at all since he broke things off with her, the day he killed Pierce. What he said that day was still true now. Maria was safer without him.
“We were waiting to see how Max and Tess did with the memory retrieval,” he lifted his eyes and stared off in the distance.
“And?” Maria pressed. “Liz hasn’t said much about how that’s going.”
“They’ve only tried it a couple of times,” Michael shrugged. “And after yesterday, maybe now’s not a good time.”
“I thought you were all gung ho for it. God knows, you pestered him non-stop about it.”
“Yeah, well, I guess I can change my mind. We’ll figure out another way.”
“Liz said the other way was . . .”
“Yeah,” Michael shifted uncomfortably.
“Why would your people do a stupid thing like that?” Maria blurted out, working herself into a mini rant. “This ‘advanced race’ you come from sounds more like a bunch of perverts –”
“Perverts?” Michael’s mouth fell open.
“Well, what would you call it? Tying your memories to sex?”
“First of all,” Michael shot back. “I think they planned it this way because they didn’t want us to remember anything until we were mature enough to handle it. If we fell into the wrong hands when we were kids . . .”
Michael let the sentence hang. They both darted a look at Max, sleeping a few yards away on the dock. What might the Special Unit have done to 6 year old kids found wandering in the desert? The memory block was a built in protection, to keep their secrets safe until they were old enough to understand their reason for being here.
“Okay,” Maria softened the tone of her voice. “But if all it takes is sex, then why didn’t it work for Max and Liz?”
Michael looked at her sharply. “You know about that?”
“Hello?” Maria stared at him incredulously. “Best friends, like, for-ever! Of course I know about it!”
“Yeah, well,” Michael hunched his shoulders. It felt weird talking to Maria about sex. Especially about Max and Liz having sex. That was just not an image he wanted to see in his mind. “Tess told us it’s chemical. That when two hybrids mate, it causes a chemical reaction in the brain that breaks down the memory block. We were made to be this way.”
“So maybe you just need to recreate this chemical.”
“And how do you propose we do that?”
“Well,” Maria waved a hand along her bikini clad body, “I could offer my services, all in the name of science, of course . . .”
Michael gaped at her slack jawed. She couldn’t possibly be serious . . . could she?
Further down the dock, Max and Liz lay side by side in the warm sun, slipping deeper into sleep, into the world of dreams, but for Max, his dreams weren’t very peaceful . . .
The hands grabbed him and pulled him across the room, dragging him to the water for another round of torture. His struggles to get away were ineffective, there were too many and he was too weak to fight them, and the ice water stole his breath away as soon as it touched him.
Pierce grabbed a handful of his hair and shouted in his face, “How many are coming? Where will they land!” He shoved his head underwater before Max could answer and held him down while his lungs screamed for air.
The dream shifted and now it was Liz standing in front of him, pulling on his arm, dragging him into the lake. Laughing at him. Forcing him into the water. Then Pierce again, yanking hard on his hair, pulling his head above the ice water, then pushing him down again before he could get a chance to breathe. Then Liz, tugging on his arms, pulling him into the water, then Pierce, holding him under.
The hand in his hair jerked his head up and his face broke above the water. His desperate lungs sucked in a deep breath of life sustaining air, but when his vision cleared, it wasn’t Pierce trying to drown him anymore. His heart froze in shock, and dread, and terror, staring up at the face that hovered above him, a face that had never looked at him with so much hatred before.
Her fingers pulled at his hair, nearly tearing it from the roots, and she shouted in his face, “Why are you here? Where do you come from?”
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know,” he cried, begging her to stop. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know!”
“Wrong answer!” Liz shoved his head under water again.
Kyle stood poised on the edge of the dock unaware of how agitated Max had become just a few feet behind him. He jumped and lifted his legs up to curl into a cannonball. The backsplash when he hit the water sent a cold spray across the sleeping couple. They bolted awake, Liz sputtering in surprise, and Max reacting to the attack in his dream. In his mind, he was still in the White Room, only now his hands were free, and his attacker was right there next to him. He grabbed Liz by the throat, cutting off her air supply.
“WHY!” he shouted in her face, pinning her down with his body. “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME!”
Tess jerked upright with a start, shocked by what she was seeing. Her subliminal tampering was working beyond her wildest dreams, and she should be delighted . . . but she wasn’t. Seeing Max viciously attacking Liz was making her sick, knowing she had caused it.
“MAX!” Michael scrambled to his feet and raced down the dock, shocked by what he was seeing. “MAX! STOP!”
Isabel dropped the drink she was holding, stunned into immobility by the sight of Max strangling Liz. Maria raced past Michael and up behind Max. She grabbed at his shoulder, trying to pry him off Liz but he was too strong and his swift elbow sent her reeling backwards. Kyle scrambled out of the water and launched himself at Max just moments before Michael and Alex arrived. It took all three of them to pry Max’s hands off Liz’s throat, while his tortured cries echoed across the lake.
“You’re killing me! You’re killing me! STOP KILLING ME!”
Liz rolled away choking and coughing when his hands were pulled free. She sucked deep breaths of air down her burning throat, crouched on the dock in a tight little ball. Points of light spun in front of her face but she knew she’d been lucky. If Max had used his powers, instead of just his hands, she would be dead now.
“LIZ!” Maria fell to her knees beside her best friend. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
Max fought against the hands trying to restrain him. He thrashed and arched his body, screaming like an animal howling in pain, and then suddenly went limp when reality resurfaced in his mind. He felt Michael’s arms around him holding him in a bear hug, Kyle looking ready to kill him, and Alex staring at him like he was a monster. He looked at their faces, trembling with growing dread, his breaths coming in labored gasps.
“Wh - what happened? Where’s Liz?”
“You fucking tried to kill her!” Kyle shouted and released him in disgust. He hurried across the dock and crouched beside Maria who was holding a very stunned and frightened Liz.
“Liz?” Max whispered, with shock turning to alarm at Kyle’s words, and then horror at the sight of her small body huddled on the dock. “Liz?” he tried to sit up but Alex and Michael were still holding him down. The haze lifted from his mind and the reality of what happened hit him, making his world shatter apart.
“Liz,” Max’s voice cracked and he tried to go to her.
“STAY AWAY!” Maria hissed at him. Michael grabbed his shoulder and held him back.
Max stared at Liz, seeing her tear streaked face and the angry red marks starting to form around her throat. Marks that he had put there, when he . . . when he . . . oh god, what had he done?
Liz sucked in air past her tortured throat and tried to make sense of what just happened. Max had suffered another breakdown, that much was obvious, and for some reason he had seen her as the enemy. She looked across the dock at him and tried to speak, but no sound passed through her damaged throat.
“Liz,” Max choked on a sob. Michael pulled him to his feet and Isabel hovered next to him, checking to see if he was all right.
“Max,” she whispered harshly, “what did you do?”
“I don’t know,” his voice trembled. His eyes filled with tears watching the others hover around Liz. He could hear her coughing and wheezing, and he grabbed his sister’s hand, pleading with her, “Go help her. Make sure she’s okay.”
He watched Isabel cross the dock, pushing past Kyle and Alex to kneel down beside Maria. The two girls shared a look, both frightened by what they’d just seen. She reached down to touch Liz, who was still crouched in a tight ball on the dock with her knees drawn up to her chest.
“Let me help you,” Isabel brushed Liz’s long dark hair back and gasped at the sight of the angry red handprint around her throat. She jumped in fright when Liz shot out her hand and grabbed her around the wrist.
“Not his fault,” Liz choked out in a hoarse whisper. “Tell Max . . . wasn’t his . . . fault.”
Isabel glanced back at Max, seeing the devastated look on his face. Michael held him up to keep him from collapsing on legs too unstable to support his weight. What he’d done to Liz was destroying him, shattering the tenuous hold he had on his ravaged psyche.
Isabel turned back to Liz, knowing the only way she could help her brother right now was by helping the girl he loved. She touched Liz’s throat, noticing the way she flinched at the contact. The bruising went deep and Isabel shuddered at how close Max had come to causing irreparable harm. She concentrated hard on the damaged area, but she wasn’t very good at healing, not like Max.
Her hands glowed with the effort, but her power was limited and the healing was inadequate. The wheezing coming from Liz’s throat lessened, but didn’t go away. Isabel looked at Maria, then up at Alex and Kyle who were standing over them. The look on her face told them she couldn’t fix it.
Kyle shot a look at Max, knowing he shouldn’t be any where near Liz right now. He was too out of control. Michael wasn’t any better at that healing shit than Isabel was, but there was one person here who might be. His eyes swept over the dock until he found Tess, standing silent and watching them from several feet away.
“Can you help her?” Kyle asked.
“Me?” Tess said in a small voice. She stood alone, feeling the weight of all their stares, Kyle and Isabel, Maria and Alex, Michael and Max. Normally they ignored her as much as possible, but now? Now they were all silently asking – even begging – her to help the one person that stood between her and everything she wanted.
“Tess?”
Her eyes settled on Kyle, seeing the worried look on his face. He wanted her to heal Liz. Everyone wanted her to heal Liz. It wasn’t fair. What had Liz ever done to deserve all their love and loyalty, while all she got was suspicion and distrust? Liz wasn’t even their kind! She was just a human. A weak human.
She turned her gaze to Max who was literally falling apart in front of her eyes. He couldn’t even stand on his own; he was so shaken by what he’d done. Yet, despite his meltdown, all he could think about was Liz.
Why did he do it? He was the leader. He was supposed to be first. Everyone else should defer to him. So why did Max always put Liz first, even above himself?
Was this what it was like to be human? Putting the welfare of others above your own? If she healed Liz now, is that what it would take to get Max and the others to look at her differently?
Tess stepped forward until she stood above Liz’s huddled form. She knelt down and the two rivals came eye to eye. Tess reached out and placed her hand on Liz’s throat, feeling the labored breaths rasp through her damaged air passage, seeing the ashen color of her skin. It would be so easy to send a bolt of hidden power through her throat, to finish what Max had started.
Through eye contact, she willed Liz to open up her mind, and the connection that formed shook Tess more deeply than anything she’d ever felt before. Images raced through her mind, one flash blending into another . . .
Liz lay on the floor of the Crashdown with blood spreading over her uniform. Max hovered above her, pleading with her to look at him, so he could heal her fatal injury. Never once did he contemplate not saving her. He was willing to sacrifice his secret, his safety, his very life if need be, just to let her live.
***
“Alex,” Liz whispered into his ear, “I need your blood.”
“Liz, what I just did I could get arrested for.”
“Alex –”
“Okay, you are going to tell me exactly what has been going on with Max and Topolski and the actual FBI, or I swear, Liz, this is the end of you and me being friends.”
“Oh, Alex, don’t say things –”
“What? Something that I won’t go through with? Liz, I’m not kidding. Now either you tell me the truth, or I walk.”
“Alex. I can’t.”
Her heart broke watching Alex walk away, but she couldn’t risk Max’s safety, not even for him. Her loyalty to one of her oldest friends was in direct conflict with her pledge to keep safe the man she loved, and for her there was no choice. Max would always come first. It was what love did to you, making you care more about the person you loved than you cared about yourself.
She would sacrifice everything, to keep him safe.
***
Liz stumbled through the house of mirrors, trying to find the way out so she could go to Max and warn him. His safety was all that mattered. The FBI was after him, and Nasedo had proven to be a murderer. Max needed to be protected. She saw him up ahead and ran to him with her heart leaping in her chest. She hit a wall of clear plexiglass first, and they stared at each other through it, so close, yet so far apart. Their palms pressed against the glass, both afraid they’d never feel the touch of the other again.
“Get out of here,” Max begged her to go.
Her whispered reply spoke volumes, telling of the love she felt for him, of the sacrifices she would make for him, of the life she would give for him.
“Not without you.”
***
Max and Liz raced across the road with no escape behind them, no escape in front of them. They climbed onto the stone wall and looked into the water far below. As their pursuers neared, they kissed, both wondering if it was the final kiss they would ever share, and then they held each other tight and jumped into the raging waters below.
If they were going to die tonight, they would die together . . .
Tess came out of the flash sensing that the damage to Liz’s throat was successfully repaired; yet she was the one who suffered in the aftermath. Nasedo had never taught her about this, about how human emotions could leave her confused, debilitated, questioning everything she had ever learned. Nasedo had spent years conditioning her so that human feelings could never interfere with what had to be. Now, in just these few days, everything she’d ever learned was being called into question.
When Tess pulled her hand away from Liz’s throat, Kyle crouched down and asked Liz, “Are you okay?”
Liz nodded her head and tested her throat. “Yeah,” she said softly. “I think so.” She turned to Tess, saying words that she never thought she’d say. “Thank you.”
Tess silently stepped back.
“Let’s go home,” Maria helped Liz to her feet.
Tess turned away but Kyle stopped her with a hand to her arm, looking at her with total sincerity on his face. “I know I talk a lot of shit about you guys, you know, being alien and all, but . . . when you do something like this, when you save somebody’s life,” he shot a quick look at Max, “or when you heal someone who’s hurt, you guys really are . . . special. Thanks.”
Tess didn’t know what to say. Connecting with Liz had been upsetting, and unnerving, and the emotions she had swirling through her were unfamiliar and disturbing. Everything had always been so clear before, but now her mind was just a jumble of confusion. Nasedo had drilled it into her from the time she emerged from the pod, to shun human emotion, to be strong and focused. But how could she be focused when these emotions were tugging at her like this?
“Max –” Liz took a step toward him but he shied back toward Michael.
“Don’t,” his voice trembled. She had to stay away from him. He was dangerous, an animal. She wasn’t safe around him. He hated himself for what he’d done to her. How could he ever expect Liz to forgive him for this? How could he forgive himself? How could he ever be close to her again, or alone with her? How could he trust himself to be near her ever again, when he’d almost – almost – oh god, he’d lost control and almost killed her.
Liz leaned into Maria and Alex, who were both helping to hold her up. Her throat was fine now, but her legs were trembling so hard she could hardly stand, and her stomach was churning in turmoil. Max wasn’t responsible for what he’d done, but it didn’t change the fact that he’d done it. It wasn’t something he could take back, or pretend never happened. And just like yesterday after the incident with the frog in the bio-lab, he didn’t want her near him. How could she ever hope to help him if he wouldn’t let her close?
The two groups stood facing each other on the dock, aliens on the left, humans on the right. The leader of each group stood wounded, with mental scars causing deep-rooted pain.
The space between them was only a matter of a few feet, but the distance stretched for miles.
Come back next Sunday to see what happens next
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: This story takes place after Max’s rescue from the White Room, and deals with the aftermath of his ordeal there. In this story there is NO Royal Four. Max was not a King in a previous life, and Tess was not his wife. In fact, none of them lived a previous life. The message in the cave said Max was a ‘leader’ and that’s true in this story, but the question is, leader of what? What is their reason for being on Earth? And what’s it going to take for the truth to come out?
Aftermath
Part 23
Max lay on a beach towel on the wooden dock with his eyes closed, feeling warm and relaxed with the sun soaking into his skin. He could smell the fresh air, and the scent of flowers on the breeze, and then a new scent wafted his way. It was a comforting scent, familiar, and arousing, and belonging all to Liz. He smiled as her welcome shadow fell across his face and he opened his eyes to take in his favorite view.
“You’re gonna burn,” Liz stared down at him.
“I am?” he sat up, leaning back on his elbows to look down at his chest. Was he starting to turn pink?
“Let me put this on you,” she knelt down beside him and unscrewed the lid to the sunscreen.
“You don’t have to do that,” Max watched her squirt a generous amount onto the palm of her hand. “If I burn, I’ll just heal it.”
“Are you going to deny me the pleasure of rubbing this all over your body?” Liz arched an eyebrow at him.
“What the hell was I thinking?” Max laughed and lay back down.
The lotion was cold when it hit his hot skin, but the feel of her hand working it into his muscles was wonderful. She took great care coating his throat and his shoulders and the tight muscles in his arms. He watched her through shuttered lids, enjoying the sight of her breasts swaying above him, though he had to admit he was secretly pleased that her bikini was more modest than what Maria and Tess were wearing. She had a beautiful body, but that didn’t mean he wanted the other guys to see it.
Liz took her time smoothing the lotion over his chest and then moved lower, over the ridges of his abdomen. He quietly enjoyed the feel of her soft hands massaging his tight muscles, and then her fingers dipped teasingly below the waistband of his shorts.
“Hey,” his eyes opened wider and his lips curled with a devilish grin. “The sun’s not shining there.”
“Too bad,” Liz retorted with a suggestive smile of her own. She squirted a small amount of lotion on her palm again and leaned over his face, working it gently over his cheeks. He grabbed her hand and the teasing tone in his voice disappeared, replaced by one of hunger.
“Meet me at Michael’s tonight,” Max implored. He stared up at her, wanting to tell her how much he wanted her, needed her, how he only felt right when he was with her, but he didn’t need to put it into words. She could read it all in his eyes.
“Okay,” she answered softly with her hand cupping his cheek.
The sexual tension between them was thick, hanging in the air, both of them wanting the closeness they had shared only once before. She leaned down and kissed him, giving him a promise of more to come. When their lips parted their eyes remained locked together. She settled down on the dock beside him, with their shoulders touching and their hands laced together, and after one last lingering kiss, the warmth of the sun lulled them both into sleep.
* * * * *
Tess chose her spot carefully, not too close to Max to be obvious, but not too far away to hinder her view. He appeared to be resting now, sleeping peacefully with Liz at his side, holding her hand like some love sick puppy, still just as smitten with Liz as he had been when she first came to town. If she didn’t see some results soon, she was going to have to step up her efforts. She unfurled the brightly colored beach towel and spread it over the wood dock, then settled down to wait.
Kyle watched Tess from the water, admiring her luscious little body. She had curves in all the right places, most of which were barely covered right now. The way the water beaded on her skin reminded him of how she looked this morning in his bathroom, with only a towel around her, and then not even that after she threw it at his head. She could be a little spitfire when she was angry, and he had to admit, he found that pretty exciting.
“Hey,” he hoisted himself up onto the dock and stood over her, dripping on the wood next to her. “Come back in the water.”
“Not now,” she lifted her hand to block the glare of the sun. “I’m cold, so I’m going to lay here in the sun and let it warm me up.”
“I could warm you up,” Kyle leered at her suggestively. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes off her bikini-clad body.
“I think it’s your turn to cool off,” her eyes flashed and she used her powers to push him off the dock. Inside, she felt oddly warmed by the attention he was giving her. It was a sensation she wasn’t used to, and she wasn’t sure what to make of it.
Kyle hit the water with a loud splash and came sputtering up to the surface, crying out, “You don’t play fair!”
“You’re right, Buddha Boy. I don’t!” She closed her eyes in concentration and moments later the fin of a shark appeared in the water right in front of him. Kyle back peddled, splashing wildly to get away from it, almost screaming like a girl, making Tess giggle. Men! One minute macho, the next minute wuss.
Nearby, Michael and Maria sat side by side on the dock with their feet dipping in the water. His hands curled around the edge of the wood, holding it tightly so that he wouldn’t give in to weakness and hold her hand instead.
“So,” Maria broke the tense silence that hung between them. “School’s out in a couple more days. What are you gonna to do all summer long?”
“Work,” Michael shrugged. “In my spare time try to figure out what we’re doing here.”
“Are you . . . and Isabel . . . going to . . .?”
“No,” Michael answered quickly. He glanced at Maria for just a moment and then turned to concentrate on the water. They hadn’t really talked about this since the revelations that day at the cave. In fact, they hadn’t really talked much at all since he broke things off with her, the day he killed Pierce. What he said that day was still true now. Maria was safer without him.
“We were waiting to see how Max and Tess did with the memory retrieval,” he lifted his eyes and stared off in the distance.
“And?” Maria pressed. “Liz hasn’t said much about how that’s going.”
“They’ve only tried it a couple of times,” Michael shrugged. “And after yesterday, maybe now’s not a good time.”
“I thought you were all gung ho for it. God knows, you pestered him non-stop about it.”
“Yeah, well, I guess I can change my mind. We’ll figure out another way.”
“Liz said the other way was . . .”
“Yeah,” Michael shifted uncomfortably.
“Why would your people do a stupid thing like that?” Maria blurted out, working herself into a mini rant. “This ‘advanced race’ you come from sounds more like a bunch of perverts –”
“Perverts?” Michael’s mouth fell open.
“Well, what would you call it? Tying your memories to sex?”
“First of all,” Michael shot back. “I think they planned it this way because they didn’t want us to remember anything until we were mature enough to handle it. If we fell into the wrong hands when we were kids . . .”
Michael let the sentence hang. They both darted a look at Max, sleeping a few yards away on the dock. What might the Special Unit have done to 6 year old kids found wandering in the desert? The memory block was a built in protection, to keep their secrets safe until they were old enough to understand their reason for being here.
“Okay,” Maria softened the tone of her voice. “But if all it takes is sex, then why didn’t it work for Max and Liz?”
Michael looked at her sharply. “You know about that?”
“Hello?” Maria stared at him incredulously. “Best friends, like, for-ever! Of course I know about it!”
“Yeah, well,” Michael hunched his shoulders. It felt weird talking to Maria about sex. Especially about Max and Liz having sex. That was just not an image he wanted to see in his mind. “Tess told us it’s chemical. That when two hybrids mate, it causes a chemical reaction in the brain that breaks down the memory block. We were made to be this way.”
“So maybe you just need to recreate this chemical.”
“And how do you propose we do that?”
“Well,” Maria waved a hand along her bikini clad body, “I could offer my services, all in the name of science, of course . . .”
Michael gaped at her slack jawed. She couldn’t possibly be serious . . . could she?
Further down the dock, Max and Liz lay side by side in the warm sun, slipping deeper into sleep, into the world of dreams, but for Max, his dreams weren’t very peaceful . . .
The hands grabbed him and pulled him across the room, dragging him to the water for another round of torture. His struggles to get away were ineffective, there were too many and he was too weak to fight them, and the ice water stole his breath away as soon as it touched him.
Pierce grabbed a handful of his hair and shouted in his face, “How many are coming? Where will they land!” He shoved his head underwater before Max could answer and held him down while his lungs screamed for air.
The dream shifted and now it was Liz standing in front of him, pulling on his arm, dragging him into the lake. Laughing at him. Forcing him into the water. Then Pierce again, yanking hard on his hair, pulling his head above the ice water, then pushing him down again before he could get a chance to breathe. Then Liz, tugging on his arms, pulling him into the water, then Pierce, holding him under.
The hand in his hair jerked his head up and his face broke above the water. His desperate lungs sucked in a deep breath of life sustaining air, but when his vision cleared, it wasn’t Pierce trying to drown him anymore. His heart froze in shock, and dread, and terror, staring up at the face that hovered above him, a face that had never looked at him with so much hatred before.
Her fingers pulled at his hair, nearly tearing it from the roots, and she shouted in his face, “Why are you here? Where do you come from?”
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know,” he cried, begging her to stop. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know!”
“Wrong answer!” Liz shoved his head under water again.
Kyle stood poised on the edge of the dock unaware of how agitated Max had become just a few feet behind him. He jumped and lifted his legs up to curl into a cannonball. The backsplash when he hit the water sent a cold spray across the sleeping couple. They bolted awake, Liz sputtering in surprise, and Max reacting to the attack in his dream. In his mind, he was still in the White Room, only now his hands were free, and his attacker was right there next to him. He grabbed Liz by the throat, cutting off her air supply.
“WHY!” he shouted in her face, pinning her down with his body. “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME!”
Tess jerked upright with a start, shocked by what she was seeing. Her subliminal tampering was working beyond her wildest dreams, and she should be delighted . . . but she wasn’t. Seeing Max viciously attacking Liz was making her sick, knowing she had caused it.
“MAX!” Michael scrambled to his feet and raced down the dock, shocked by what he was seeing. “MAX! STOP!”
Isabel dropped the drink she was holding, stunned into immobility by the sight of Max strangling Liz. Maria raced past Michael and up behind Max. She grabbed at his shoulder, trying to pry him off Liz but he was too strong and his swift elbow sent her reeling backwards. Kyle scrambled out of the water and launched himself at Max just moments before Michael and Alex arrived. It took all three of them to pry Max’s hands off Liz’s throat, while his tortured cries echoed across the lake.
“You’re killing me! You’re killing me! STOP KILLING ME!”
Liz rolled away choking and coughing when his hands were pulled free. She sucked deep breaths of air down her burning throat, crouched on the dock in a tight little ball. Points of light spun in front of her face but she knew she’d been lucky. If Max had used his powers, instead of just his hands, she would be dead now.
“LIZ!” Maria fell to her knees beside her best friend. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
Max fought against the hands trying to restrain him. He thrashed and arched his body, screaming like an animal howling in pain, and then suddenly went limp when reality resurfaced in his mind. He felt Michael’s arms around him holding him in a bear hug, Kyle looking ready to kill him, and Alex staring at him like he was a monster. He looked at their faces, trembling with growing dread, his breaths coming in labored gasps.
“Wh - what happened? Where’s Liz?”
“You fucking tried to kill her!” Kyle shouted and released him in disgust. He hurried across the dock and crouched beside Maria who was holding a very stunned and frightened Liz.
“Liz?” Max whispered, with shock turning to alarm at Kyle’s words, and then horror at the sight of her small body huddled on the dock. “Liz?” he tried to sit up but Alex and Michael were still holding him down. The haze lifted from his mind and the reality of what happened hit him, making his world shatter apart.
“Liz,” Max’s voice cracked and he tried to go to her.
“STAY AWAY!” Maria hissed at him. Michael grabbed his shoulder and held him back.
Max stared at Liz, seeing her tear streaked face and the angry red marks starting to form around her throat. Marks that he had put there, when he . . . when he . . . oh god, what had he done?
Liz sucked in air past her tortured throat and tried to make sense of what just happened. Max had suffered another breakdown, that much was obvious, and for some reason he had seen her as the enemy. She looked across the dock at him and tried to speak, but no sound passed through her damaged throat.
“Liz,” Max choked on a sob. Michael pulled him to his feet and Isabel hovered next to him, checking to see if he was all right.
“Max,” she whispered harshly, “what did you do?”
“I don’t know,” his voice trembled. His eyes filled with tears watching the others hover around Liz. He could hear her coughing and wheezing, and he grabbed his sister’s hand, pleading with her, “Go help her. Make sure she’s okay.”
He watched Isabel cross the dock, pushing past Kyle and Alex to kneel down beside Maria. The two girls shared a look, both frightened by what they’d just seen. She reached down to touch Liz, who was still crouched in a tight ball on the dock with her knees drawn up to her chest.
“Let me help you,” Isabel brushed Liz’s long dark hair back and gasped at the sight of the angry red handprint around her throat. She jumped in fright when Liz shot out her hand and grabbed her around the wrist.
“Not his fault,” Liz choked out in a hoarse whisper. “Tell Max . . . wasn’t his . . . fault.”
Isabel glanced back at Max, seeing the devastated look on his face. Michael held him up to keep him from collapsing on legs too unstable to support his weight. What he’d done to Liz was destroying him, shattering the tenuous hold he had on his ravaged psyche.
Isabel turned back to Liz, knowing the only way she could help her brother right now was by helping the girl he loved. She touched Liz’s throat, noticing the way she flinched at the contact. The bruising went deep and Isabel shuddered at how close Max had come to causing irreparable harm. She concentrated hard on the damaged area, but she wasn’t very good at healing, not like Max.
Her hands glowed with the effort, but her power was limited and the healing was inadequate. The wheezing coming from Liz’s throat lessened, but didn’t go away. Isabel looked at Maria, then up at Alex and Kyle who were standing over them. The look on her face told them she couldn’t fix it.
Kyle shot a look at Max, knowing he shouldn’t be any where near Liz right now. He was too out of control. Michael wasn’t any better at that healing shit than Isabel was, but there was one person here who might be. His eyes swept over the dock until he found Tess, standing silent and watching them from several feet away.
“Can you help her?” Kyle asked.
“Me?” Tess said in a small voice. She stood alone, feeling the weight of all their stares, Kyle and Isabel, Maria and Alex, Michael and Max. Normally they ignored her as much as possible, but now? Now they were all silently asking – even begging – her to help the one person that stood between her and everything she wanted.
“Tess?”
Her eyes settled on Kyle, seeing the worried look on his face. He wanted her to heal Liz. Everyone wanted her to heal Liz. It wasn’t fair. What had Liz ever done to deserve all their love and loyalty, while all she got was suspicion and distrust? Liz wasn’t even their kind! She was just a human. A weak human.
She turned her gaze to Max who was literally falling apart in front of her eyes. He couldn’t even stand on his own; he was so shaken by what he’d done. Yet, despite his meltdown, all he could think about was Liz.
Why did he do it? He was the leader. He was supposed to be first. Everyone else should defer to him. So why did Max always put Liz first, even above himself?
Was this what it was like to be human? Putting the welfare of others above your own? If she healed Liz now, is that what it would take to get Max and the others to look at her differently?
Tess stepped forward until she stood above Liz’s huddled form. She knelt down and the two rivals came eye to eye. Tess reached out and placed her hand on Liz’s throat, feeling the labored breaths rasp through her damaged air passage, seeing the ashen color of her skin. It would be so easy to send a bolt of hidden power through her throat, to finish what Max had started.
Through eye contact, she willed Liz to open up her mind, and the connection that formed shook Tess more deeply than anything she’d ever felt before. Images raced through her mind, one flash blending into another . . .
Liz lay on the floor of the Crashdown with blood spreading over her uniform. Max hovered above her, pleading with her to look at him, so he could heal her fatal injury. Never once did he contemplate not saving her. He was willing to sacrifice his secret, his safety, his very life if need be, just to let her live.
***
“Alex,” Liz whispered into his ear, “I need your blood.”
“Liz, what I just did I could get arrested for.”
“Alex –”
“Okay, you are going to tell me exactly what has been going on with Max and Topolski and the actual FBI, or I swear, Liz, this is the end of you and me being friends.”
“Oh, Alex, don’t say things –”
“What? Something that I won’t go through with? Liz, I’m not kidding. Now either you tell me the truth, or I walk.”
“Alex. I can’t.”
Her heart broke watching Alex walk away, but she couldn’t risk Max’s safety, not even for him. Her loyalty to one of her oldest friends was in direct conflict with her pledge to keep safe the man she loved, and for her there was no choice. Max would always come first. It was what love did to you, making you care more about the person you loved than you cared about yourself.
She would sacrifice everything, to keep him safe.
***
Liz stumbled through the house of mirrors, trying to find the way out so she could go to Max and warn him. His safety was all that mattered. The FBI was after him, and Nasedo had proven to be a murderer. Max needed to be protected. She saw him up ahead and ran to him with her heart leaping in her chest. She hit a wall of clear plexiglass first, and they stared at each other through it, so close, yet so far apart. Their palms pressed against the glass, both afraid they’d never feel the touch of the other again.
“Get out of here,” Max begged her to go.
Her whispered reply spoke volumes, telling of the love she felt for him, of the sacrifices she would make for him, of the life she would give for him.
“Not without you.”
***
Max and Liz raced across the road with no escape behind them, no escape in front of them. They climbed onto the stone wall and looked into the water far below. As their pursuers neared, they kissed, both wondering if it was the final kiss they would ever share, and then they held each other tight and jumped into the raging waters below.
If they were going to die tonight, they would die together . . .
Tess came out of the flash sensing that the damage to Liz’s throat was successfully repaired; yet she was the one who suffered in the aftermath. Nasedo had never taught her about this, about how human emotions could leave her confused, debilitated, questioning everything she had ever learned. Nasedo had spent years conditioning her so that human feelings could never interfere with what had to be. Now, in just these few days, everything she’d ever learned was being called into question.
When Tess pulled her hand away from Liz’s throat, Kyle crouched down and asked Liz, “Are you okay?”
Liz nodded her head and tested her throat. “Yeah,” she said softly. “I think so.” She turned to Tess, saying words that she never thought she’d say. “Thank you.”
Tess silently stepped back.
“Let’s go home,” Maria helped Liz to her feet.
Tess turned away but Kyle stopped her with a hand to her arm, looking at her with total sincerity on his face. “I know I talk a lot of shit about you guys, you know, being alien and all, but . . . when you do something like this, when you save somebody’s life,” he shot a quick look at Max, “or when you heal someone who’s hurt, you guys really are . . . special. Thanks.”
Tess didn’t know what to say. Connecting with Liz had been upsetting, and unnerving, and the emotions she had swirling through her were unfamiliar and disturbing. Everything had always been so clear before, but now her mind was just a jumble of confusion. Nasedo had drilled it into her from the time she emerged from the pod, to shun human emotion, to be strong and focused. But how could she be focused when these emotions were tugging at her like this?
“Max –” Liz took a step toward him but he shied back toward Michael.
“Don’t,” his voice trembled. She had to stay away from him. He was dangerous, an animal. She wasn’t safe around him. He hated himself for what he’d done to her. How could he ever expect Liz to forgive him for this? How could he forgive himself? How could he ever be close to her again, or alone with her? How could he trust himself to be near her ever again, when he’d almost – almost – oh god, he’d lost control and almost killed her.
Liz leaned into Maria and Alex, who were both helping to hold her up. Her throat was fine now, but her legs were trembling so hard she could hardly stand, and her stomach was churning in turmoil. Max wasn’t responsible for what he’d done, but it didn’t change the fact that he’d done it. It wasn’t something he could take back, or pretend never happened. And just like yesterday after the incident with the frog in the bio-lab, he didn’t want her near him. How could she ever hope to help him if he wouldn’t let her close?
The two groups stood facing each other on the dock, aliens on the left, humans on the right. The leader of each group stood wounded, with mental scars causing deep-rooted pain.
The space between them was only a matter of a few feet, but the distance stretched for miles.
Come back next Sunday to see what happens next
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Breathless
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- Location: Somewhere in ficland
Aftermath Part 24
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: This story takes place after Max’s rescue from the White Room, and deals with the aftermath of his ordeal there. In this story there is NO Royal Four. Max was not a King in a previous life, and Tess was not his wife. In fact, none of them lived a previous life. The message in the cave said Max was a ‘leader’ and that’s true in this story, but the question is, leader of what? What is their reason for being on Earth? And what’s it going to take for the truth to come out?
Aftermath
Part 24
Liz toyed with the food on her dinner plate but she wasn’t really hungry. The hamburger Maria put in front of her was typical Crashdown fare, and though usually tasty, Liz didn’t have the stomach for it tonight. She glanced at the clock again, waiting anxiously for Michael to arrive.
“Eat something,” Maria urged.
“Maria,” Liz sighed and pushed the plate away. “I already have a mother.”
The bell above the front doors chimed and Liz turned quickly, tensing as soon as she saw him. Michael entered the restaurant, hesitating only briefly at the girl’s worried stares before walking up to join them.
“How is he?” Liz asked urgently.
“How are you?” Michael countered.
“I’m fine,” she brushed off his inquiry. “What about Max? Is he okay?”
“No,” Michael sagged onto the stool next to Liz. “He’s not okay.”
Liz threw her napkin on the countertop and slid off the stool with determination stamped all over her face. She held her hand out to Maria and demanded, “Give me your keys. I need to borrow your car.”
“Whoa, wait a minute,” Maria stiffened.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Michael asked sharply.
“I have to see him,” she turned from the counter. “He needs me.”
Michael grabbed her arm to stop her. “Liz, he tried to kill you.” He looked around the restaurant quickly to make sure no one was listening and lowered his voice when he spoke again. “You can’t go near him until we figure out what’s wrong with him.”
“I know exactly what’s wrong with him,” Liz pulled her arm from Michael’s grasp. “Has he told you what Pierce did to him? No? Well I’ve seen it! I’ve seen the things they did to him. They tortured him to make him talk. They cut into his chest when he was wide awake. He felt every inch of the blade slicing him open, all the way down to the bone. They put electrodes on his forehead, on his temples, on his testicles, and electrocuted him!”
Michael sat down hard on the stool, feeling sick to his stomach. No wonder the poor bastard wouldn’t talk about it. Jesus.
“It’s festering inside him and it comes out in his dreams,” Liz’s venomous tone softened. “I don’t know why he sees me as the enemy, but he’s only dangerous when the dreams take hold. When he’s awake, I know he could never hurt me. I need to help him. I may be the only one who can.”
“Liz,” Michael cringed inside. “I didn’t know.”
“I have to go to him,” her tone left no room for discussion. She held out her hand and Maria surrendered her keys without saying another word.
* * * * *
“Max, just come home and we can talk, or not talk,” Isabel said miserably, watching her brother standing stiffly in front of the window in Michael’s apartment. He stood with his arms folded in front of his chest and just stared through the glass not saying a word.
“Max, please –”
“Go home, Isabel,” Max finally spoke. “I want to stay here.” He couldn’t go home. He couldn’t look at his parents knowing he’d almost killed someone today. And it wasn’t just a faceless ‘someone’. It was Liz. Oh God, his body shook again, he’d almost killed Liz today.
Isabel looked at Tess for help, but the petite blonde just looked away. She was lost inside her own thoughts. She’d always thought Max was meant for her. Even before she knew what his name was, Nasedo had told her there was a mate out there for her, an alien like her that would be as anxious to find her as she was to find him. They’d searched for him for years, for all three of them, and it wasn’t until the shooting in the Crashdown that their search had focused on Roswell. She’d come to town, certain that he would know her at first sight. That he would love her. That he would be hers.
It was what she’d always been told. That Max belonged to her. She’d clung to it her whole life, because it was the only thing she had to hold on to. It was the only way to survive the things Nasedo had made her do. But when she finally found him, when her life should have finally been complete, he hadn’t wanted her – because of Liz.
At first she had been angry. Livid. It was the one human emotion that Nasedo hadn’t taken away from her. He used her anger to make her focus. When they’d first come to Roswell, when Max first rejected her, her anger focused on him. Then later, she shifted that hatred to Liz. It was her fault Max didn’t want her. She’d lain awake many nights plotting Liz’s demise, but today, when it almost happened for real, she found herself sickened by it. She didn’t know why. It was what she wanted, wasn’t it? Liz, out of the picture for good? So she could have Max.
She did want Max, didn’t she? Or was there someone else who made her heart race?
“Isabel,” Max turned from the window. “Go home. Please. Both of you,” his gaze included Tess.
“Call me, if you need me?” Isabel insisted.
“I will,” he placed his hand on her shoulder and herded her toward the door. Tess joined them and his hand touched her as well, gripping her upper arm companionably. “Tess,” his eyes locked onto hers. “I want to thank you for what you did for Liz today. I . . . I hurt her, and you were able to help her. I’ll never forget that.”
His arm went around her shoulders and she felt his lips brush against her forehead. She was stunned by the contact, the first real intimate gesture he had ever given her without her using a mind warp to make it happen. It confused her, but when he stepped back the reason he’d done it was clear. It was all about what she’d done for Liz Parker. Always Liz Parker.
Only this time, it didn’t seem to hurt as much.
* * * * *
Liz stood outside Michael’s apartment with her hand poised in front of the door. Would Max talk to her, she wondered, or would he back away from her in fright, like he’d done at the lake. The same way he’d slapped her hands away from him yesterday in the bathroom at school.
She hesitated, knowing she hadn’t been entirely honest with Michael and Maria back in the Crashdown. It wasn’t just during the dreams when Max was dangerous. The bio-lab incident had been triggered by visual stimulation. He’d seen her cut open the frog and his mind had slipped back into the White Room. He’d seen her as his torturer, and struck out at her, trying to protect himself.
Simply put, it meant that any visual stimulation that reminded him of what they’d done to him in the White Room had the potential to send him over the edge again. And since for some reason he was seeing her as his attacker, it wasn’t safe for her to be near him, especially not alone with him. But she couldn’t help him if she wasn’t near. It was a risk she was willing to take.
She knocked on the door knowing she had no other choice.
Max sat on the couch in the dark with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. He felt emotionally drained and physically exhausted, but he was afraid to close his eyes. What would he see? What would he dream? Who would he dream about?
He ignored the first knock on the door, hoping whoever it was would just go away. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. He shouldn’t be near anyone. He was a danger, a threat, a potential killer just waiting to happen. No one was safe around him.
The knock came again and he covered his ears to keep out the sound.
Liz sorted through the keys on Maria’s key chain and selected the one decorated with a green alien head sticker. She knew Maria had browbeaten Michael into giving her a key to his apartment, and this one seemed like the most likely candidate. She inserted it in the lock and it turned easily. She stepped into Michael’s darkened apartment knowing Max was there, somewhere.
“Max . . .?”
Max bolted to his feet at the sound of her voice, with his hands shaking and his stomach twisting in knots. What was she doing here? How did she get inside? Didn’t she know what he was capable of? After this afternoon at the lake, how could she stand to be near him?
“Max? Are you here?” Liz stepped into the apartment and closed the door behind her, sending the room back into shadows. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the meager light coming in through the shuttered blinds and she saw his darkened silhouette standing stiffly on the far side of the room.
“Don’t,” Max’s voice hitched in his throat, “Don’t come any closer . . .”
The sound of his voice made her heart cry. Was he afraid of her doing something to him, or was he afraid of hurting her again? She needed to set his mind at ease, that she wasn’t there to hurt him, and that what happened today on the dock wasn’t his fault.
“Max, we need to talk about what happened,” she took a step toward him but stopped when he stumbled back.
“No, you have to leave, Liz. It’s not safe for you to be here. I’m not . . . safe,” his voice quivered.
“I want to help you,” Liz moved forward. “Please let me help you.”
“You can’t,” Max turned his back on her. He dropped his head forward and whispered, “No one can help me.”
* * * * *
Tess pushed through the front door into the Valenti home and tossed her backpack on the floor. She was tired and confused, and didn’t know what was right and what was wrong anymore.
“So how’s your fearless leader?” Kyle leaned against the kitchen door jam with his arms folded over his chest. He didn’t try to hide the anger he was feeling.
Tess sank down onto the arm of the couch. “You don’t like him, do you?”
“No,” Kyle said quickly, and then shook his head. “I don’t know. I should be grateful because he saved my life, but . . .”
“But he also took your girl away from you.”
“It’s not even about Liz,” Kyle pushed off from the door jam and stepped inside the living room. “Sure, I was pissed for a while. Who wouldn’t be? Liz dumped me for him. But . . . I mean, anyone can see what those two mean to each other. She never looked at me that way.”
Tess looked down at her hands in her lap, knowing the same was true for her. Max had never looked at her the way he looked at Liz. And he was never going to. She couldn’t make him feel things that weren’t in him. She’d tried, that night in the rain outside the Crashdown. She’d used her mindwarping power to make him kiss her, but even as he was doing it, even as his lips were crashing against hers, she knew his heart wasn’t in it. His mind was crying out to make it stop.
At the time it didn’t matter. Nasedo had given her instructions and she’d followed them to the letter, just like she always did. There’d never been a reason to question it before. But the more time she spent in Roswell without Nasedo around, the more she came to question the things she was doing here.
“Kyle,” Tess looked up at him. “Do you think Liz will forgive him?”
“What? For trying to kill her?” Kyle asked and Tess nodded. He leaned back against the television and slowly nodded his head. “Yeah, she’ll forgive him.”
“Why?”
Kyle shrugged his shoulders, as if the answer was obvious. “Because she loves him.”
* * * * *
“Max,” Liz came up behind him. Even in the dark she could see his back was stiff with tension. His head hung forward with a tortured expression on his face, until she touched him and he jerked upward.
“Liz,” the shock of her touch made his heart race. He warred with himself, wanting to fall into her arms, to let her love soothe him the way only her touch could, but . . . but what if he hurt her again?
“Tell me about the dream,” she said softly, with her hand stroking gently along his shoulder. “Tell me what you saw out at the lake.”
“No,” his voice was barely above a whisper. “I can’t . . . I don’t want you –”
She stepped around him and they came face to face, Liz looking into his haunted eyes and Max looking away, wanting to hide. Her arms wrapped around him, holding him tightly, pressing her face into his chest, hearing the rapid beating of his heart. His stiff body suddenly sagged and he collapsed into her, grasping her hair in his fisted hand. He dropped his head forward to rest on top of hers.
“I was – dreaming,” Max said in clipped words. “Pierce was – the water was so cold – I – I couldn’t breathe – I – he was drowning me – then – we were at the lake and you were pulling me into the water – and – and – then –”
Oh God, Liz closed her eyes. She’d been so stupid to try to drag him into the water.
“Then I was back in – in the White Room – and – and Pierce was holding me under the water – and – it was so cold – and – and then – he pulled me up – but – it wasn’t him anymore . . .”
His voice cracked and his lungs heaved with the effort to hold everything back. Tears trickled down her face as she asked into his chest, “Who was it, Max? Who did you see?”
“It –” his voice broke. She lifted her head to look at him, seeing his jaw tremble as their eyes made contact. “It – it was you. It was your face I saw.” His tenuous hold cracked and his head dropped forward to cry against her shoulder. His entire body shook, wracked with sobs. “You hated me. You were trying to drown me. You wanted to kill me. I – I know it wasn’t real – but – but, God Liz – I’m sorry – I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault, Max,” Liz cried with him. “It’s not your fault.”
“It is!” Max tore away from her, leaving her standing all alone. “I almost killed you, Liz!”
“Max, don’t –” she reached for him but he backed away.
“You have to stay away from me,” Max swiped at his tears with the back of his hand. “It’s not safe for you to be near me. I’m not safe.”
Max ran for the door and fled the apartment.
* * * * *
Tess slid in behind the wheel of her car and slammed the keys into the ignition. She had to fix this. Fix Max. She’d tampered with his mind, with his memories, and now she needed to make it right. She would just connect with him, and take the planted memory of Liz in the White Room out. Then maybe the horror she’d put him through would stop, and he could heal.
She turned the ignition and put the car in reverse, shifting her eyes to look in the rear view mirror. The sight that greeted her made her gasp in fright, and her blood freeze in her veins.
Ed Harding sat in the back seat with a smug smile on his face. He opened his mouth and asked, “Did you miss me?”
TBC . . .
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: This story takes place after Max’s rescue from the White Room, and deals with the aftermath of his ordeal there. In this story there is NO Royal Four. Max was not a King in a previous life, and Tess was not his wife. In fact, none of them lived a previous life. The message in the cave said Max was a ‘leader’ and that’s true in this story, but the question is, leader of what? What is their reason for being on Earth? And what’s it going to take for the truth to come out?
Aftermath
Part 24
Liz toyed with the food on her dinner plate but she wasn’t really hungry. The hamburger Maria put in front of her was typical Crashdown fare, and though usually tasty, Liz didn’t have the stomach for it tonight. She glanced at the clock again, waiting anxiously for Michael to arrive.
“Eat something,” Maria urged.
“Maria,” Liz sighed and pushed the plate away. “I already have a mother.”
The bell above the front doors chimed and Liz turned quickly, tensing as soon as she saw him. Michael entered the restaurant, hesitating only briefly at the girl’s worried stares before walking up to join them.
“How is he?” Liz asked urgently.
“How are you?” Michael countered.
“I’m fine,” she brushed off his inquiry. “What about Max? Is he okay?”
“No,” Michael sagged onto the stool next to Liz. “He’s not okay.”
Liz threw her napkin on the countertop and slid off the stool with determination stamped all over her face. She held her hand out to Maria and demanded, “Give me your keys. I need to borrow your car.”
“Whoa, wait a minute,” Maria stiffened.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Michael asked sharply.
“I have to see him,” she turned from the counter. “He needs me.”
Michael grabbed her arm to stop her. “Liz, he tried to kill you.” He looked around the restaurant quickly to make sure no one was listening and lowered his voice when he spoke again. “You can’t go near him until we figure out what’s wrong with him.”
“I know exactly what’s wrong with him,” Liz pulled her arm from Michael’s grasp. “Has he told you what Pierce did to him? No? Well I’ve seen it! I’ve seen the things they did to him. They tortured him to make him talk. They cut into his chest when he was wide awake. He felt every inch of the blade slicing him open, all the way down to the bone. They put electrodes on his forehead, on his temples, on his testicles, and electrocuted him!”
Michael sat down hard on the stool, feeling sick to his stomach. No wonder the poor bastard wouldn’t talk about it. Jesus.
“It’s festering inside him and it comes out in his dreams,” Liz’s venomous tone softened. “I don’t know why he sees me as the enemy, but he’s only dangerous when the dreams take hold. When he’s awake, I know he could never hurt me. I need to help him. I may be the only one who can.”
“Liz,” Michael cringed inside. “I didn’t know.”
“I have to go to him,” her tone left no room for discussion. She held out her hand and Maria surrendered her keys without saying another word.
* * * * *
“Max, just come home and we can talk, or not talk,” Isabel said miserably, watching her brother standing stiffly in front of the window in Michael’s apartment. He stood with his arms folded in front of his chest and just stared through the glass not saying a word.
“Max, please –”
“Go home, Isabel,” Max finally spoke. “I want to stay here.” He couldn’t go home. He couldn’t look at his parents knowing he’d almost killed someone today. And it wasn’t just a faceless ‘someone’. It was Liz. Oh God, his body shook again, he’d almost killed Liz today.
Isabel looked at Tess for help, but the petite blonde just looked away. She was lost inside her own thoughts. She’d always thought Max was meant for her. Even before she knew what his name was, Nasedo had told her there was a mate out there for her, an alien like her that would be as anxious to find her as she was to find him. They’d searched for him for years, for all three of them, and it wasn’t until the shooting in the Crashdown that their search had focused on Roswell. She’d come to town, certain that he would know her at first sight. That he would love her. That he would be hers.
It was what she’d always been told. That Max belonged to her. She’d clung to it her whole life, because it was the only thing she had to hold on to. It was the only way to survive the things Nasedo had made her do. But when she finally found him, when her life should have finally been complete, he hadn’t wanted her – because of Liz.
At first she had been angry. Livid. It was the one human emotion that Nasedo hadn’t taken away from her. He used her anger to make her focus. When they’d first come to Roswell, when Max first rejected her, her anger focused on him. Then later, she shifted that hatred to Liz. It was her fault Max didn’t want her. She’d lain awake many nights plotting Liz’s demise, but today, when it almost happened for real, she found herself sickened by it. She didn’t know why. It was what she wanted, wasn’t it? Liz, out of the picture for good? So she could have Max.
She did want Max, didn’t she? Or was there someone else who made her heart race?
“Isabel,” Max turned from the window. “Go home. Please. Both of you,” his gaze included Tess.
“Call me, if you need me?” Isabel insisted.
“I will,” he placed his hand on her shoulder and herded her toward the door. Tess joined them and his hand touched her as well, gripping her upper arm companionably. “Tess,” his eyes locked onto hers. “I want to thank you for what you did for Liz today. I . . . I hurt her, and you were able to help her. I’ll never forget that.”
His arm went around her shoulders and she felt his lips brush against her forehead. She was stunned by the contact, the first real intimate gesture he had ever given her without her using a mind warp to make it happen. It confused her, but when he stepped back the reason he’d done it was clear. It was all about what she’d done for Liz Parker. Always Liz Parker.
Only this time, it didn’t seem to hurt as much.
* * * * *
Liz stood outside Michael’s apartment with her hand poised in front of the door. Would Max talk to her, she wondered, or would he back away from her in fright, like he’d done at the lake. The same way he’d slapped her hands away from him yesterday in the bathroom at school.
She hesitated, knowing she hadn’t been entirely honest with Michael and Maria back in the Crashdown. It wasn’t just during the dreams when Max was dangerous. The bio-lab incident had been triggered by visual stimulation. He’d seen her cut open the frog and his mind had slipped back into the White Room. He’d seen her as his torturer, and struck out at her, trying to protect himself.
Simply put, it meant that any visual stimulation that reminded him of what they’d done to him in the White Room had the potential to send him over the edge again. And since for some reason he was seeing her as his attacker, it wasn’t safe for her to be near him, especially not alone with him. But she couldn’t help him if she wasn’t near. It was a risk she was willing to take.
She knocked on the door knowing she had no other choice.
Max sat on the couch in the dark with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. He felt emotionally drained and physically exhausted, but he was afraid to close his eyes. What would he see? What would he dream? Who would he dream about?
He ignored the first knock on the door, hoping whoever it was would just go away. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. He shouldn’t be near anyone. He was a danger, a threat, a potential killer just waiting to happen. No one was safe around him.
The knock came again and he covered his ears to keep out the sound.
Liz sorted through the keys on Maria’s key chain and selected the one decorated with a green alien head sticker. She knew Maria had browbeaten Michael into giving her a key to his apartment, and this one seemed like the most likely candidate. She inserted it in the lock and it turned easily. She stepped into Michael’s darkened apartment knowing Max was there, somewhere.
“Max . . .?”
Max bolted to his feet at the sound of her voice, with his hands shaking and his stomach twisting in knots. What was she doing here? How did she get inside? Didn’t she know what he was capable of? After this afternoon at the lake, how could she stand to be near him?
“Max? Are you here?” Liz stepped into the apartment and closed the door behind her, sending the room back into shadows. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the meager light coming in through the shuttered blinds and she saw his darkened silhouette standing stiffly on the far side of the room.
“Don’t,” Max’s voice hitched in his throat, “Don’t come any closer . . .”
The sound of his voice made her heart cry. Was he afraid of her doing something to him, or was he afraid of hurting her again? She needed to set his mind at ease, that she wasn’t there to hurt him, and that what happened today on the dock wasn’t his fault.
“Max, we need to talk about what happened,” she took a step toward him but stopped when he stumbled back.
“No, you have to leave, Liz. It’s not safe for you to be here. I’m not . . . safe,” his voice quivered.
“I want to help you,” Liz moved forward. “Please let me help you.”
“You can’t,” Max turned his back on her. He dropped his head forward and whispered, “No one can help me.”
* * * * *
Tess pushed through the front door into the Valenti home and tossed her backpack on the floor. She was tired and confused, and didn’t know what was right and what was wrong anymore.
“So how’s your fearless leader?” Kyle leaned against the kitchen door jam with his arms folded over his chest. He didn’t try to hide the anger he was feeling.
Tess sank down onto the arm of the couch. “You don’t like him, do you?”
“No,” Kyle said quickly, and then shook his head. “I don’t know. I should be grateful because he saved my life, but . . .”
“But he also took your girl away from you.”
“It’s not even about Liz,” Kyle pushed off from the door jam and stepped inside the living room. “Sure, I was pissed for a while. Who wouldn’t be? Liz dumped me for him. But . . . I mean, anyone can see what those two mean to each other. She never looked at me that way.”
Tess looked down at her hands in her lap, knowing the same was true for her. Max had never looked at her the way he looked at Liz. And he was never going to. She couldn’t make him feel things that weren’t in him. She’d tried, that night in the rain outside the Crashdown. She’d used her mindwarping power to make him kiss her, but even as he was doing it, even as his lips were crashing against hers, she knew his heart wasn’t in it. His mind was crying out to make it stop.
At the time it didn’t matter. Nasedo had given her instructions and she’d followed them to the letter, just like she always did. There’d never been a reason to question it before. But the more time she spent in Roswell without Nasedo around, the more she came to question the things she was doing here.
“Kyle,” Tess looked up at him. “Do you think Liz will forgive him?”
“What? For trying to kill her?” Kyle asked and Tess nodded. He leaned back against the television and slowly nodded his head. “Yeah, she’ll forgive him.”
“Why?”
Kyle shrugged his shoulders, as if the answer was obvious. “Because she loves him.”
* * * * *
“Max,” Liz came up behind him. Even in the dark she could see his back was stiff with tension. His head hung forward with a tortured expression on his face, until she touched him and he jerked upward.
“Liz,” the shock of her touch made his heart race. He warred with himself, wanting to fall into her arms, to let her love soothe him the way only her touch could, but . . . but what if he hurt her again?
“Tell me about the dream,” she said softly, with her hand stroking gently along his shoulder. “Tell me what you saw out at the lake.”
“No,” his voice was barely above a whisper. “I can’t . . . I don’t want you –”
She stepped around him and they came face to face, Liz looking into his haunted eyes and Max looking away, wanting to hide. Her arms wrapped around him, holding him tightly, pressing her face into his chest, hearing the rapid beating of his heart. His stiff body suddenly sagged and he collapsed into her, grasping her hair in his fisted hand. He dropped his head forward to rest on top of hers.
“I was – dreaming,” Max said in clipped words. “Pierce was – the water was so cold – I – I couldn’t breathe – I – he was drowning me – then – we were at the lake and you were pulling me into the water – and – and – then –”
Oh God, Liz closed her eyes. She’d been so stupid to try to drag him into the water.
“Then I was back in – in the White Room – and – and Pierce was holding me under the water – and – it was so cold – and – and then – he pulled me up – but – it wasn’t him anymore . . .”
His voice cracked and his lungs heaved with the effort to hold everything back. Tears trickled down her face as she asked into his chest, “Who was it, Max? Who did you see?”
“It –” his voice broke. She lifted her head to look at him, seeing his jaw tremble as their eyes made contact. “It – it was you. It was your face I saw.” His tenuous hold cracked and his head dropped forward to cry against her shoulder. His entire body shook, wracked with sobs. “You hated me. You were trying to drown me. You wanted to kill me. I – I know it wasn’t real – but – but, God Liz – I’m sorry – I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault, Max,” Liz cried with him. “It’s not your fault.”
“It is!” Max tore away from her, leaving her standing all alone. “I almost killed you, Liz!”
“Max, don’t –” she reached for him but he backed away.
“You have to stay away from me,” Max swiped at his tears with the back of his hand. “It’s not safe for you to be near me. I’m not safe.”
Max ran for the door and fled the apartment.
* * * * *
Tess slid in behind the wheel of her car and slammed the keys into the ignition. She had to fix this. Fix Max. She’d tampered with his mind, with his memories, and now she needed to make it right. She would just connect with him, and take the planted memory of Liz in the White Room out. Then maybe the horror she’d put him through would stop, and he could heal.
She turned the ignition and put the car in reverse, shifting her eyes to look in the rear view mirror. The sight that greeted her made her gasp in fright, and her blood freeze in her veins.
Ed Harding sat in the back seat with a smug smile on his face. He opened his mouth and asked, “Did you miss me?”
TBC . . .
-
Breathless
- Addicted Roswellian
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Aftermath Part 25
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Aftermath
Part 25
Liz sat at a table in the commons watching the double doors that led to the outside, nervously picking at the edge of her notebook without even realizing she was doing it. She had too much on her mind to notice how her right leg wouldn’t stop bouncing, or how she chewed at her lower lip. If only he would walk through those doors, then she knew everything would be all right. Everything would be fine if she could see his face, or feel his hand clasped in hers.
If only he would walk through those double doors –
“He’ll be here,” Maria tried to reassure Liz, covering her friend’s hand with her own to lend her support. “He always comes to school. Always. He never skips school.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth Maria regretted saying them. Hadn’t Max and the rest of them skipped school just yesterday – with disastrous results?
“Who’ll be here?” Kyle asked from right behind them. Maria jumped at the unexpected sound of his voice, but Liz didn’t move a muscle, still intently staring at the doors. “Oh,” Kyle followed her line of sight. Liz was waiting for Max. He should have known. “Any word from our illustrious leader?”
“Kyle,” Maria spoke his name as a sharp warning.
Kyle met her gaze feeling none too happy himself. The aliens had turned all their lives upside down and he thought they had a right to be a little testy. He and Liz might owe Max a debt of gratitude for saving their lives, but that didn’t give the aliens a right to screw with them for the rest of their lives.
“What’s the matter with you?” Maria asked harshly.
“Nothing,” Kyle looked away.
He didn’t want to talk about it. He was in a pissy mood after spending most of the night tossing and turning, thinking about what happened at the lake yesterday . . . and the fact that Tess hadn’t come home last night. His mood kept swinging wildly between worrying about what might have happened to her, and wondering if she was off somewhere trying to – well, he didn’t want to think about where she might have spent the night, or with who.
“What’s going on?” Alex joined the group, shifting his gaze from one to the other. He could feel the strain in the air.
“There they are!” Liz suddenly sat upright, back stiff with tension. Her grasped tightened around Maria’s hand as Isabel pushed through the door, animatedly talking to Michael as they stepped into the commons. Liz watched with increasing anxiety as the doors closed behind them with no Max – and no Tess, in sight.
“Oh God,” Liz breathed out and scrambled to her feet. She raced across the commons straight to Isabel, who momentarily froze at the sight of Liz coming her way.
“Liz . . .” Isabel uttered the name so softly Michael could barely hear it. She sagged under the realization that their trip to school this morning was turning out to be another dead end. She darted a look toward Michael and saw the same dejected look on his face.
“Where is he?” Liz begged Isabel to tell her when she reached the taller girl’s side. “Where’s Max?”
“We don’t know,” Isabel gave Liz the bad news. She looked at Michael, desperately seeking his support. How many times over the years had she scolded Max, ridiculed him, browbeaten him over his feelings toward Liz and yet here Liz was, less than a day after Max had almost killed her, and all she cared about was the safety of her brother. It filled her with remorse to see that kind of love and devotion, knowing how long she had fought to keep Max away from her.
“We, um . . .” Michael stuttered uncharacteristically. “We were hoping . . . that he was with you.”
“No,” Liz almost sobbed. “I haven’t seen him since he ran out of your apartment last night.” The other humans joined Liz, flanking her in a silent show of support.
“Where’s Tess?” Isabel asked Kyle.
“I was going to ask you that,” Kyle shot back.
“You haven’t seen her?” Michael barked.
“Not since last . . . night . . .”
Five sets of eyes turned toward Liz, with their obvious thoughts etched across their faces. Max had been missing since last night. Apparently Tess had too. Had they spent the night . . . together?
* * * * *
Max lay on the cold floor of the cavern with only the residual green glow of the pods illuminating his face. The thin blanket beneath him did little to cushion the hard ground, or to keep the chill of the air at bay. He shivered in his sleep, unable to keep warm, without the energy to even try.
Tess stood in the shadows watching him, seeing him toss and turn from unpleasant dreams. She listened to the sounds of his muffled cries, hearing the name he called out in his sleep, the name he sought for comfort, his safe harbor, his love. Liz. It always came back to Liz.
His thoughts, his dreams, his every moment, waking or asleep, were consumed with his thoughts of Liz. It was why she’d chosen to place Liz in his nightmares of the White Room, hoping that the horror of those memories would somehow taint her perfect image in his mind, but no matter what she tried, she couldn’t break the bonds that held Max and Liz together.
The mindwarp in the Biology lab when she’d first come to town had backfired, resulting in him cringing back from her in revulsion. That night in the rain outside the Crashdown, she’d had to force him to kiss her, using every ounce of her power available, while he fought desperately against it. She’d been the stronger one in the end, exerting her power over him, yet the victory had been hollow. His mind screamed against it the entire time his lips were on hers.
And now? Now she was expected to force from him something more than just a kiss, something more than just a mindwarp. Was she strong enough to force from Max what Ed Harding said she must?
Tess moved out of the shadows with her mission directive plain and clear.
Soldiers weren’t allowed to feel, or let emotions get in the way of what had to be done.
* * * * *
“What time did she leave your place?” Michael demanded, unconsciously assuming the role of leadership in Max’s absence.
“It was early,” Kyle felt the weight of all their stares. “6:00? Maybe 6:30? Dad wasn’t home from work yet.”
“And what time did Max disappear?” Michael asked Liz, knowing the answer just by the look on her face.
“About the same time,” Liz said in a small voice with a chill running down her spine.
“Liz,” Maria stepped close to her friend, touching her gently on the shoulder. “That doesn’t mean –”
“I know that Maria,” Liz said quickly, doing a poor job of hiding her own doubt. “Max wouldn’t – Max would never – Max . . .”
Her voice trailed off uncertainly. Could she be sure of anything anymore? Until yesterday, she would have sworn Max could never hurt her, but after what happened on the dock all her beliefs were called into question. Was Max somewhere with Tess? Was his alien mate giving him the comfort that she couldn’t?
* * * * *
“Tess?” Max’s voice cut through the quiet of the chamber. “What are you doing here?”
Max lay on the ground with only the thin blanket underneath him. The floor of the cavern was hard and uncomfortable, but he hadn’t come here last night seeking solace. He wanted answers to what was happening to him, why he felt something stirring inside him, something frightening, something violent, something . . . alien.
Tess sat down on the blanket next to Max, feeling the tension emanating from him. “Everyone is worried about you. I came to see if you were okay.”
“How did you know I was here?” he asked. He was acutely aware of how close she was sitting to him. Too close.
“Just a feeling . . .”
“Why aren’t you in school?” Max shifted away from her.
“Max,” she let out a small laugh. “We don’t really need school. You know that.” She lifted her hand to gently caress his cheek.
“Don’t,” he said softly, covering her hand with his and pulling it away.
“Don’t fight it, Max,” Tess leaned closer. “Don’t fight us.”
“Tess, this isn’t –”
“It’s our destiny, Max,” Tess drew her hand along his thigh. She used all the mental power she possessed to break through his defenses, to force the reactions his mind fought against. “Love me . . . ” she whispered against his ear.
“I can’t,” he tried to pull away from her but couldn’t. He fought to hold on to the only truth that mattered. “I love Liz.”
Tess leaned closer, with her lips just inches from his. “I can make you forget all about Liz.”
* * * * *
“Did you dreamwalk him?” Liz grabbed Isabel’s arm.
Isabel shook her head. “He’s blocking me.”
“You have to try harder!” Liz demanded.
“I did! He won’t let me in!”
Liz forced herself to calm down. Flying off the handle and yelling at Isabel wasn’t going to help Max. “Where have you looked for him?”
“We checked the quarry –” Isabel answered.
“And the train tracks,” Michael cut in. “He likes to go there to think, but,” he shook his head. “He wasn’t there.”
“What about the cave, out at the reservation?” Maria asked.
“Checked it,” Michael shook his head again. “Last night.”
“What about the pod chamber?” Liz asked.
“Went there too,” Michael had no good news to offer. “I didn’t see the jeep anywhere.”
“Did you go inside?” Liz pressed.
“No. I told you, the jeep wasn’t there.”
“Maybe he hid the jeep, Michael!” Isabel fumed.
“Or maybe it was there and you just couldn’t see it,” Liz stared hard to the two aliens.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Isabel bristled, and then Liz’s meaning became clear. “You think Tess –”
“We should go there. Now,” Liz cut her off. She turned quickly, and ran right into Principle Forrester.
“Nice to see you all today,” Ed Harding hid behind the face of the Principle. His hands rose to steady Liz, helping her regain her balance before taking a step back. “I take it you all had a case of the 24 hour flu yesterday, and now you’re ready to finish your last days of school?”
“Um,” Liz spoke when the others automatically deferred to her. “Well, you see . . . we had a case of . . . food poisoning . . . from the . . . pizza! We ate pizza the other night, and it made us – all of us – sick. From the pizza.”
“It’s good to see you’re all better now. You’d best be heading off to class, then,” Mr. Forrester folded his arms over his chest. He wasn’t about to let these little pod people, or their human friends, interfere with what Tess was doing out at the pod chamber.
“Class. Right,” Liz nodded, wilting under his stare. There was no way they could sneak out now, not while the Principle was watching. He would stop them before they ever reached the parking lot. The six turned as a group walking down the hall, feeling Forrester’s piercing eyes on them.
“Liz,” Maria whispered. “You are such a bad liar. You should let Isabel or Michael do the lying. They’ve made a science out of it.”
“I resent that!” Isabel retorted.
“Well it’s true, isn’t it?” Maria shot back. “You’ve spent your whole lives lying, to your parents, to your friends, to us –”
“Just stop it!” Liz came to a sudden stop in the middle of the hallway. “Arguing among ourselves isn’t going to help Max.” Over Kyle’s shoulder she could see Forrester still staring at them, causing a shiver to run up her spine. She wasn’t sure if she was just being paranoid, but something didn’t feel right about him. When he’d touched her a minute ago, it’d given her the creeps.
“I think I should go –” Michael started to suggest but Liz cut him off.
“You can’t go anywhere right now! He’s watching us!” Liz hissed. Five sets of eyes turned back to look at the Principle, causing Liz to growl, “Don’t look!”
“I think we need to study our ‘stealthy’ skills,” Kyle muttered, earning him a glare from everyone.
“Look,” Liz took charge. “We better go to first period and act like nothing’s wrong –”
“You sound just like Max,” Michael grumbled.
“Yeah?” Liz stood her ground. “That’s good, because Max is usually right in these matters!”
Michael closed his mouth in a grim line but he didn’t argue with her. Liz let out a tired sigh and tried to formulate a plan.
“Everybody go to class. Maria, give me your keys. Michael, meet me at the Jetta in,” Liz glanced at her watch and checked the time. “Meet me there in twenty minutes. Everybody else, cover for us, and try to act normal.”
“I don’t think I know what ‘normal’ is anymore,” Kyle groused.
“When did my car become communal property?” Maria slapped her keys into Liz’s hand.
“Michael and I will find Max,” Liz said, as much to convince herself as to convince the others. “We’ll bring him back –”
“Intruder alert,” Kyle sent out a warning. Forrester was headed back their way.
“Shit,” Liz hissed under her breath, garnering her a look from the others. She didn’t usually swear.
Harding made a pre-emptive move to separate Liz from the others. She was the brains of the group, and taking her out of action would stifle the rest of them.
“Liz,” Harding placed his hand on her shoulder, turning her down the hall. “I’ll walk to class with you. I’d like to talk to you about your academic plans for next year.”
Liz cringed at his touch but tried to keep her face neutral. There was something wrong with Forrester, something in his eyes that wasn’t normal.
As the Principle lead her away, Liz looked over her shoulder, silently praying that the others wouldn’t do anything stupid without her.
“Give me your keys,” Michael demanded.
“I gave them to Liz!” Maria's voice took on a tense edge. “Liz wants you to wait for her. Don’t screw this up by running off trying to be some superhero. Follow the plan.”
* * * * *
Max felt the heat of her breath on his face, the weight of her body pushing him down, the force of her will dominating his. Tess was making him see things, trying to force him to do things, trying to make him want things, pushing at him with the power of her mind. He fought against it with everything he had, reaching into the place where he drew his strength, grabbing onto the only thing that could save him.
He reached into the corner of his mind where he kept Liz safe, drawing on her image to protect him. He’d given his heart, his mind, his body and his soul to Liz, and no other woman could ever take her place. Tess couldn’t even come close.
Just like during his ordeal in the White Room, his thoughts of Liz were what he clung to, what kept him fighting to survive, what kept his sanity in place. He could feel Tess trying to push Liz out, warping his memories of Liz into a likeness of her own, dark hair replaced by blonde curls, brown eyes turning to blue. Just like the dreams –
“NO!” Max shouted and reached deep inside for the strength to fight her. His hands clamped around her face, his palms glowing an angry red, turning her power back on herself, sending it back into her head until he was the one in control. He reared up and pushed Tess backwards, straddling her now, his weight crushing her into the ground.
“You did this to me, didn’t you? Didn’t you! You did something to my memories! My dreams!”
“Max,” Tess tried to twist away from him. “You’re hurting me –”
“Didn’t you!” Max shouted in her face.
His eyes bore into hers, through hers, using a power he didn’t even know he had. His mind battled against hers, refusing to let her win this time. She struggled against him but he was the stronger one now.
Max felt it the moment she broke, when her power slipped and her walls came tumbling down, exposing her inner mind. Her thoughts raced at him, pieces of memories, scattered images, until one memory flashed over him in sharp focus, all too hauntingly familiar . . .
A young Tess sat on the floor, humming softly, playing with a child’s toy. She turned the doll over and it spoke to her again, issuing a word, a name, from the mechanical box hidden in its middle.
“Ma - ma . . .”
She giggled and hugged the doll to her chest.
“What are you doing, Tessa?” Ed Harding suddenly towered over her, staring at her with his cold eyes, making her cringe back in fright. She hid the doll behind her back.
“Nothing,” Tess shook her head. She held her breath, afraid to move.
“Nothing?” Harding circled his hand around her small arm and pulled her to her feet. “I heard you laughing. Laughter is a human trait, caused by human emotion. We don’t tolerate human emotion.” He turned and led Tess down the hall.
“No,” she whimpered, dragging her feet. Her doll slipped out of her hand and fell unnoticed to the floor. The door at the end of the hall loomed large. Beyond that door was a room without windows, a room without light, a room where he took her to learn her lessons. She pleaded with him not to take her there.
“I’ll be good. I promise. I’ll be good! Don’t make me go in there!”
Her plea fell on deaf ears. Ed Harding opened the door to the punishment room and took her inside.
“Jesus . . .” Max pushed away from Tess, shocked and horrified by what he’d seen.
Tess covered her face with her hands.
“Was that real?” Max asked. His lungs worked overtime, drawing in deep breaths of air, taxed by his struggle with Tess, but he didn’t need to wait for a response to know the answer to his question. There were subtle differences between a mindwarp and a memory flash, and he could sense that now. What he’d seen in her mind had been all too real.
“I wanted to stop, but he wouldn’t let me,” Tess whimpered into her hands. “He wouldn’t let me! Don’t send me away. Please don’t send me back to him!”
Max stared at Tess, and for the first time since she came to Roswell he felt like he knew her. They’d both been victims of monsters, his a human one, hers an alien, and they had the mental scars to prove it. He reached out his hand to touch her, instinctively knowing what she needed more than anything else in the world, giving her the human contact she’d been craving her entire life.
* * * * *
Liz stood anxiously in the commons, watching for the others after an excruciatingly long first period ended. Forrester had stayed in her Biology class the entire period, silently watching from the back of the room, preventing her from leaving. Her plan was still in effect, that is, if Michael hadn’t run off already, and as long as Forrester didn’t catch them again. If Michael didn’t show soon, she was going to have to go without him.
“Mr. Santore is a sadist,” Kyle walked up behind her.
“Math getting the best of you?” Liz asked, keeping her eyes open for the others.
“That’s an understatement,” Kyle sneered. Math was always a little more enjoyable when Tess was there to look at, but she wasn’t, and knowing where she might be, and who she might be with, made his mood border on cranky. “School’s over. We should be signing yearbooks and shit.”
Just then Michael’s grumbling preceded his presence. “Where have you been?” Michael glared at Liz when she turned around. “I got busted in the parking lot waiting for you.”
“You okay, chica?” Maria ignored Michael’s comment and concentrated on Liz. She could see the strain on her friend’s face. Isabel and Alex were only a few feet behind them, bringing their compliment to six.
“Yeah,” Liz nodded and looked at Michael. “Forrester wouldn’t let me leave Biology. I was afraid you might have gone off on your own.”
“I tried,” Michael grumbled. “You have the keys and I couldn’t get the car started without ‘em.”
“Great skills there Guerin,” Kyle snarked, earning him a glare.
“Let’s go,” Liz turned quickly and then stopped short when she saw Max push through the outer doors, ushering Tess in front of him. The two were deep in conversation, until his gaze swept through the commons and their eyes met. The look of guilt that filled his face was telling. Her insecurities about her place in Max’s life came racing to the surface.
Max paused in the doorway and quickly dropped his eyes, not knowing what to say to Liz, or even how to talk to her. What did you say to the girl you almost strangled the life out of the day before? He followed behind Tess as they made their way across the commons to join the group.
“Jesus Max!” Isabel threw her arms around her brother, asking what they all wanted to know. “Where have you been? You had us worried to death! We looked for you everywhere!”
“I’m sorry,” Max said to his sister, but his eyes were drawn to Liz. Her face looked tired, like she hadn’t slept well. He wanted to take Liz in his arms. He wanted to hold her and never let her go. He wanted to take back what he’d done to her yesterday on the dock, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t do any of those things.
“Max?” Liz moved closer, looking up into his honey colored eyes. “Are you okay?”
Just the sound of her voice made his stomach grumble. He hesitantly reached for Liz’s hand, saying her name softly, “Liz . . .”
Tess ventured a look at Kyle, but when their eyes met he looked away. She could feel the group shunning her, or maybe it was her own guilt talking. She unconsciously stepped closer to Max. Their encounter in the pod chamber had changed their relationship, opening a new level of understanding between them, but the movement only reinforced what the others were already thinking.
Liz felt a chill go up her spine seeing the way Max and Tess stood so close together. She took a step back, bumping into Kyle, unconsciously leaning into him for support.
Max let his hand fall away from Liz, not for the first time thinking she would be better off without him. It was his responsibility to keep Liz safe, and right now, safe probably meant being nowhere near him. Her life was a mess because of him. Knowing what he knew now didn’t change that. He loved her too much to keep putting her through this. The truth was, understanding what had caused his meltdown on the dock yesterday didn’t change the fact that it had happened, or guarantee that it wouldn’t happen again.
The air around the group felt awkward and uncomfortable, tense and unnerving. The bell rang for second period to begin, causing them all to jump.
“We should all go to class,” Max resumed the role of leadership. “Act like normal.” He said the words, even though it felt like nothing would ever be normal again.
“That’s what Liz said,” Michael remarked.
Max gave Liz an unsteady smile, not surprised she would think the same thing.
“We should get out of here,” Michael disagreed. “We need to talk about this.”
“We’ll talk at lunch,” Max overruled him. “We’ve missed enough time already.”
His implication was clear. They shouldn’t skip any more classes. Besides, he wasn’t ready to talk yet, especially to Liz. He needed time to come to grips with what he needed to do.
Forrester stood in the shadows, watching his charges across the commons. Tension permeated the air around them. When Max and Liz were at odds, the group dynamic fell apart, and that’s what he was seeing now. The hesitant looks, the lack of physical contact, all indicators that their relationship was strained.
The group broke apart, Michael and Isabel going off together, Alex and Maria going the other way. Max backed away from Liz and led Tess down the hall to their second period class, while Liz and Kyle stood side by side, watching them go.
Principle Forrester watched them from the shadows with an inhuman smile of his face.
Author note: I know most of you are probably asking why Max didn’t just kill Tess in the pod chamber and get it over with. That would have made most of you happy, huh? Well, there are reasons why he was lenient with her. Hopefully you’ll understand his motivations as the parts unfold. This part might have ended on a low note between Max and Liz, but don’t despair. Next week’s chapter has some interesting developments. And yes, alienmom, things will get better.
Category: Max and Liz CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Aftermath
Part 25
Liz sat at a table in the commons watching the double doors that led to the outside, nervously picking at the edge of her notebook without even realizing she was doing it. She had too much on her mind to notice how her right leg wouldn’t stop bouncing, or how she chewed at her lower lip. If only he would walk through those doors, then she knew everything would be all right. Everything would be fine if she could see his face, or feel his hand clasped in hers.
If only he would walk through those double doors –
“He’ll be here,” Maria tried to reassure Liz, covering her friend’s hand with her own to lend her support. “He always comes to school. Always. He never skips school.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth Maria regretted saying them. Hadn’t Max and the rest of them skipped school just yesterday – with disastrous results?
“Who’ll be here?” Kyle asked from right behind them. Maria jumped at the unexpected sound of his voice, but Liz didn’t move a muscle, still intently staring at the doors. “Oh,” Kyle followed her line of sight. Liz was waiting for Max. He should have known. “Any word from our illustrious leader?”
“Kyle,” Maria spoke his name as a sharp warning.
Kyle met her gaze feeling none too happy himself. The aliens had turned all their lives upside down and he thought they had a right to be a little testy. He and Liz might owe Max a debt of gratitude for saving their lives, but that didn’t give the aliens a right to screw with them for the rest of their lives.
“What’s the matter with you?” Maria asked harshly.
“Nothing,” Kyle looked away.
He didn’t want to talk about it. He was in a pissy mood after spending most of the night tossing and turning, thinking about what happened at the lake yesterday . . . and the fact that Tess hadn’t come home last night. His mood kept swinging wildly between worrying about what might have happened to her, and wondering if she was off somewhere trying to – well, he didn’t want to think about where she might have spent the night, or with who.
“What’s going on?” Alex joined the group, shifting his gaze from one to the other. He could feel the strain in the air.
“There they are!” Liz suddenly sat upright, back stiff with tension. Her grasped tightened around Maria’s hand as Isabel pushed through the door, animatedly talking to Michael as they stepped into the commons. Liz watched with increasing anxiety as the doors closed behind them with no Max – and no Tess, in sight.
“Oh God,” Liz breathed out and scrambled to her feet. She raced across the commons straight to Isabel, who momentarily froze at the sight of Liz coming her way.
“Liz . . .” Isabel uttered the name so softly Michael could barely hear it. She sagged under the realization that their trip to school this morning was turning out to be another dead end. She darted a look toward Michael and saw the same dejected look on his face.
“Where is he?” Liz begged Isabel to tell her when she reached the taller girl’s side. “Where’s Max?”
“We don’t know,” Isabel gave Liz the bad news. She looked at Michael, desperately seeking his support. How many times over the years had she scolded Max, ridiculed him, browbeaten him over his feelings toward Liz and yet here Liz was, less than a day after Max had almost killed her, and all she cared about was the safety of her brother. It filled her with remorse to see that kind of love and devotion, knowing how long she had fought to keep Max away from her.
“We, um . . .” Michael stuttered uncharacteristically. “We were hoping . . . that he was with you.”
“No,” Liz almost sobbed. “I haven’t seen him since he ran out of your apartment last night.” The other humans joined Liz, flanking her in a silent show of support.
“Where’s Tess?” Isabel asked Kyle.
“I was going to ask you that,” Kyle shot back.
“You haven’t seen her?” Michael barked.
“Not since last . . . night . . .”
Five sets of eyes turned toward Liz, with their obvious thoughts etched across their faces. Max had been missing since last night. Apparently Tess had too. Had they spent the night . . . together?
* * * * *
Max lay on the cold floor of the cavern with only the residual green glow of the pods illuminating his face. The thin blanket beneath him did little to cushion the hard ground, or to keep the chill of the air at bay. He shivered in his sleep, unable to keep warm, without the energy to even try.
Tess stood in the shadows watching him, seeing him toss and turn from unpleasant dreams. She listened to the sounds of his muffled cries, hearing the name he called out in his sleep, the name he sought for comfort, his safe harbor, his love. Liz. It always came back to Liz.
His thoughts, his dreams, his every moment, waking or asleep, were consumed with his thoughts of Liz. It was why she’d chosen to place Liz in his nightmares of the White Room, hoping that the horror of those memories would somehow taint her perfect image in his mind, but no matter what she tried, she couldn’t break the bonds that held Max and Liz together.
The mindwarp in the Biology lab when she’d first come to town had backfired, resulting in him cringing back from her in revulsion. That night in the rain outside the Crashdown, she’d had to force him to kiss her, using every ounce of her power available, while he fought desperately against it. She’d been the stronger one in the end, exerting her power over him, yet the victory had been hollow. His mind screamed against it the entire time his lips were on hers.
And now? Now she was expected to force from him something more than just a kiss, something more than just a mindwarp. Was she strong enough to force from Max what Ed Harding said she must?
Tess moved out of the shadows with her mission directive plain and clear.
Soldiers weren’t allowed to feel, or let emotions get in the way of what had to be done.
* * * * *
“What time did she leave your place?” Michael demanded, unconsciously assuming the role of leadership in Max’s absence.
“It was early,” Kyle felt the weight of all their stares. “6:00? Maybe 6:30? Dad wasn’t home from work yet.”
“And what time did Max disappear?” Michael asked Liz, knowing the answer just by the look on her face.
“About the same time,” Liz said in a small voice with a chill running down her spine.
“Liz,” Maria stepped close to her friend, touching her gently on the shoulder. “That doesn’t mean –”
“I know that Maria,” Liz said quickly, doing a poor job of hiding her own doubt. “Max wouldn’t – Max would never – Max . . .”
Her voice trailed off uncertainly. Could she be sure of anything anymore? Until yesterday, she would have sworn Max could never hurt her, but after what happened on the dock all her beliefs were called into question. Was Max somewhere with Tess? Was his alien mate giving him the comfort that she couldn’t?
* * * * *
“Tess?” Max’s voice cut through the quiet of the chamber. “What are you doing here?”
Max lay on the ground with only the thin blanket underneath him. The floor of the cavern was hard and uncomfortable, but he hadn’t come here last night seeking solace. He wanted answers to what was happening to him, why he felt something stirring inside him, something frightening, something violent, something . . . alien.
Tess sat down on the blanket next to Max, feeling the tension emanating from him. “Everyone is worried about you. I came to see if you were okay.”
“How did you know I was here?” he asked. He was acutely aware of how close she was sitting to him. Too close.
“Just a feeling . . .”
“Why aren’t you in school?” Max shifted away from her.
“Max,” she let out a small laugh. “We don’t really need school. You know that.” She lifted her hand to gently caress his cheek.
“Don’t,” he said softly, covering her hand with his and pulling it away.
“Don’t fight it, Max,” Tess leaned closer. “Don’t fight us.”
“Tess, this isn’t –”
“It’s our destiny, Max,” Tess drew her hand along his thigh. She used all the mental power she possessed to break through his defenses, to force the reactions his mind fought against. “Love me . . . ” she whispered against his ear.
“I can’t,” he tried to pull away from her but couldn’t. He fought to hold on to the only truth that mattered. “I love Liz.”
Tess leaned closer, with her lips just inches from his. “I can make you forget all about Liz.”
* * * * *
“Did you dreamwalk him?” Liz grabbed Isabel’s arm.
Isabel shook her head. “He’s blocking me.”
“You have to try harder!” Liz demanded.
“I did! He won’t let me in!”
Liz forced herself to calm down. Flying off the handle and yelling at Isabel wasn’t going to help Max. “Where have you looked for him?”
“We checked the quarry –” Isabel answered.
“And the train tracks,” Michael cut in. “He likes to go there to think, but,” he shook his head. “He wasn’t there.”
“What about the cave, out at the reservation?” Maria asked.
“Checked it,” Michael shook his head again. “Last night.”
“What about the pod chamber?” Liz asked.
“Went there too,” Michael had no good news to offer. “I didn’t see the jeep anywhere.”
“Did you go inside?” Liz pressed.
“No. I told you, the jeep wasn’t there.”
“Maybe he hid the jeep, Michael!” Isabel fumed.
“Or maybe it was there and you just couldn’t see it,” Liz stared hard to the two aliens.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Isabel bristled, and then Liz’s meaning became clear. “You think Tess –”
“We should go there. Now,” Liz cut her off. She turned quickly, and ran right into Principle Forrester.
“Nice to see you all today,” Ed Harding hid behind the face of the Principle. His hands rose to steady Liz, helping her regain her balance before taking a step back. “I take it you all had a case of the 24 hour flu yesterday, and now you’re ready to finish your last days of school?”
“Um,” Liz spoke when the others automatically deferred to her. “Well, you see . . . we had a case of . . . food poisoning . . . from the . . . pizza! We ate pizza the other night, and it made us – all of us – sick. From the pizza.”
“It’s good to see you’re all better now. You’d best be heading off to class, then,” Mr. Forrester folded his arms over his chest. He wasn’t about to let these little pod people, or their human friends, interfere with what Tess was doing out at the pod chamber.
“Class. Right,” Liz nodded, wilting under his stare. There was no way they could sneak out now, not while the Principle was watching. He would stop them before they ever reached the parking lot. The six turned as a group walking down the hall, feeling Forrester’s piercing eyes on them.
“Liz,” Maria whispered. “You are such a bad liar. You should let Isabel or Michael do the lying. They’ve made a science out of it.”
“I resent that!” Isabel retorted.
“Well it’s true, isn’t it?” Maria shot back. “You’ve spent your whole lives lying, to your parents, to your friends, to us –”
“Just stop it!” Liz came to a sudden stop in the middle of the hallway. “Arguing among ourselves isn’t going to help Max.” Over Kyle’s shoulder she could see Forrester still staring at them, causing a shiver to run up her spine. She wasn’t sure if she was just being paranoid, but something didn’t feel right about him. When he’d touched her a minute ago, it’d given her the creeps.
“I think I should go –” Michael started to suggest but Liz cut him off.
“You can’t go anywhere right now! He’s watching us!” Liz hissed. Five sets of eyes turned back to look at the Principle, causing Liz to growl, “Don’t look!”
“I think we need to study our ‘stealthy’ skills,” Kyle muttered, earning him a glare from everyone.
“Look,” Liz took charge. “We better go to first period and act like nothing’s wrong –”
“You sound just like Max,” Michael grumbled.
“Yeah?” Liz stood her ground. “That’s good, because Max is usually right in these matters!”
Michael closed his mouth in a grim line but he didn’t argue with her. Liz let out a tired sigh and tried to formulate a plan.
“Everybody go to class. Maria, give me your keys. Michael, meet me at the Jetta in,” Liz glanced at her watch and checked the time. “Meet me there in twenty minutes. Everybody else, cover for us, and try to act normal.”
“I don’t think I know what ‘normal’ is anymore,” Kyle groused.
“When did my car become communal property?” Maria slapped her keys into Liz’s hand.
“Michael and I will find Max,” Liz said, as much to convince herself as to convince the others. “We’ll bring him back –”
“Intruder alert,” Kyle sent out a warning. Forrester was headed back their way.
“Shit,” Liz hissed under her breath, garnering her a look from the others. She didn’t usually swear.
Harding made a pre-emptive move to separate Liz from the others. She was the brains of the group, and taking her out of action would stifle the rest of them.
“Liz,” Harding placed his hand on her shoulder, turning her down the hall. “I’ll walk to class with you. I’d like to talk to you about your academic plans for next year.”
Liz cringed at his touch but tried to keep her face neutral. There was something wrong with Forrester, something in his eyes that wasn’t normal.
As the Principle lead her away, Liz looked over her shoulder, silently praying that the others wouldn’t do anything stupid without her.
“Give me your keys,” Michael demanded.
“I gave them to Liz!” Maria's voice took on a tense edge. “Liz wants you to wait for her. Don’t screw this up by running off trying to be some superhero. Follow the plan.”
* * * * *
Max felt the heat of her breath on his face, the weight of her body pushing him down, the force of her will dominating his. Tess was making him see things, trying to force him to do things, trying to make him want things, pushing at him with the power of her mind. He fought against it with everything he had, reaching into the place where he drew his strength, grabbing onto the only thing that could save him.
He reached into the corner of his mind where he kept Liz safe, drawing on her image to protect him. He’d given his heart, his mind, his body and his soul to Liz, and no other woman could ever take her place. Tess couldn’t even come close.
Just like during his ordeal in the White Room, his thoughts of Liz were what he clung to, what kept him fighting to survive, what kept his sanity in place. He could feel Tess trying to push Liz out, warping his memories of Liz into a likeness of her own, dark hair replaced by blonde curls, brown eyes turning to blue. Just like the dreams –
“NO!” Max shouted and reached deep inside for the strength to fight her. His hands clamped around her face, his palms glowing an angry red, turning her power back on herself, sending it back into her head until he was the one in control. He reared up and pushed Tess backwards, straddling her now, his weight crushing her into the ground.
“You did this to me, didn’t you? Didn’t you! You did something to my memories! My dreams!”
“Max,” Tess tried to twist away from him. “You’re hurting me –”
“Didn’t you!” Max shouted in her face.
His eyes bore into hers, through hers, using a power he didn’t even know he had. His mind battled against hers, refusing to let her win this time. She struggled against him but he was the stronger one now.
Max felt it the moment she broke, when her power slipped and her walls came tumbling down, exposing her inner mind. Her thoughts raced at him, pieces of memories, scattered images, until one memory flashed over him in sharp focus, all too hauntingly familiar . . .
A young Tess sat on the floor, humming softly, playing with a child’s toy. She turned the doll over and it spoke to her again, issuing a word, a name, from the mechanical box hidden in its middle.
“Ma - ma . . .”
She giggled and hugged the doll to her chest.
“What are you doing, Tessa?” Ed Harding suddenly towered over her, staring at her with his cold eyes, making her cringe back in fright. She hid the doll behind her back.
“Nothing,” Tess shook her head. She held her breath, afraid to move.
“Nothing?” Harding circled his hand around her small arm and pulled her to her feet. “I heard you laughing. Laughter is a human trait, caused by human emotion. We don’t tolerate human emotion.” He turned and led Tess down the hall.
“No,” she whimpered, dragging her feet. Her doll slipped out of her hand and fell unnoticed to the floor. The door at the end of the hall loomed large. Beyond that door was a room without windows, a room without light, a room where he took her to learn her lessons. She pleaded with him not to take her there.
“I’ll be good. I promise. I’ll be good! Don’t make me go in there!”
Her plea fell on deaf ears. Ed Harding opened the door to the punishment room and took her inside.
“Jesus . . .” Max pushed away from Tess, shocked and horrified by what he’d seen.
Tess covered her face with her hands.
“Was that real?” Max asked. His lungs worked overtime, drawing in deep breaths of air, taxed by his struggle with Tess, but he didn’t need to wait for a response to know the answer to his question. There were subtle differences between a mindwarp and a memory flash, and he could sense that now. What he’d seen in her mind had been all too real.
“I wanted to stop, but he wouldn’t let me,” Tess whimpered into her hands. “He wouldn’t let me! Don’t send me away. Please don’t send me back to him!”
Max stared at Tess, and for the first time since she came to Roswell he felt like he knew her. They’d both been victims of monsters, his a human one, hers an alien, and they had the mental scars to prove it. He reached out his hand to touch her, instinctively knowing what she needed more than anything else in the world, giving her the human contact she’d been craving her entire life.
* * * * *
Liz stood anxiously in the commons, watching for the others after an excruciatingly long first period ended. Forrester had stayed in her Biology class the entire period, silently watching from the back of the room, preventing her from leaving. Her plan was still in effect, that is, if Michael hadn’t run off already, and as long as Forrester didn’t catch them again. If Michael didn’t show soon, she was going to have to go without him.
“Mr. Santore is a sadist,” Kyle walked up behind her.
“Math getting the best of you?” Liz asked, keeping her eyes open for the others.
“That’s an understatement,” Kyle sneered. Math was always a little more enjoyable when Tess was there to look at, but she wasn’t, and knowing where she might be, and who she might be with, made his mood border on cranky. “School’s over. We should be signing yearbooks and shit.”
Just then Michael’s grumbling preceded his presence. “Where have you been?” Michael glared at Liz when she turned around. “I got busted in the parking lot waiting for you.”
“You okay, chica?” Maria ignored Michael’s comment and concentrated on Liz. She could see the strain on her friend’s face. Isabel and Alex were only a few feet behind them, bringing their compliment to six.
“Yeah,” Liz nodded and looked at Michael. “Forrester wouldn’t let me leave Biology. I was afraid you might have gone off on your own.”
“I tried,” Michael grumbled. “You have the keys and I couldn’t get the car started without ‘em.”
“Great skills there Guerin,” Kyle snarked, earning him a glare.
“Let’s go,” Liz turned quickly and then stopped short when she saw Max push through the outer doors, ushering Tess in front of him. The two were deep in conversation, until his gaze swept through the commons and their eyes met. The look of guilt that filled his face was telling. Her insecurities about her place in Max’s life came racing to the surface.
Max paused in the doorway and quickly dropped his eyes, not knowing what to say to Liz, or even how to talk to her. What did you say to the girl you almost strangled the life out of the day before? He followed behind Tess as they made their way across the commons to join the group.
“Jesus Max!” Isabel threw her arms around her brother, asking what they all wanted to know. “Where have you been? You had us worried to death! We looked for you everywhere!”
“I’m sorry,” Max said to his sister, but his eyes were drawn to Liz. Her face looked tired, like she hadn’t slept well. He wanted to take Liz in his arms. He wanted to hold her and never let her go. He wanted to take back what he’d done to her yesterday on the dock, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t do any of those things.
“Max?” Liz moved closer, looking up into his honey colored eyes. “Are you okay?”
Just the sound of her voice made his stomach grumble. He hesitantly reached for Liz’s hand, saying her name softly, “Liz . . .”
Tess ventured a look at Kyle, but when their eyes met he looked away. She could feel the group shunning her, or maybe it was her own guilt talking. She unconsciously stepped closer to Max. Their encounter in the pod chamber had changed their relationship, opening a new level of understanding between them, but the movement only reinforced what the others were already thinking.
Liz felt a chill go up her spine seeing the way Max and Tess stood so close together. She took a step back, bumping into Kyle, unconsciously leaning into him for support.
Max let his hand fall away from Liz, not for the first time thinking she would be better off without him. It was his responsibility to keep Liz safe, and right now, safe probably meant being nowhere near him. Her life was a mess because of him. Knowing what he knew now didn’t change that. He loved her too much to keep putting her through this. The truth was, understanding what had caused his meltdown on the dock yesterday didn’t change the fact that it had happened, or guarantee that it wouldn’t happen again.
The air around the group felt awkward and uncomfortable, tense and unnerving. The bell rang for second period to begin, causing them all to jump.
“We should all go to class,” Max resumed the role of leadership. “Act like normal.” He said the words, even though it felt like nothing would ever be normal again.
“That’s what Liz said,” Michael remarked.
Max gave Liz an unsteady smile, not surprised she would think the same thing.
“We should get out of here,” Michael disagreed. “We need to talk about this.”
“We’ll talk at lunch,” Max overruled him. “We’ve missed enough time already.”
His implication was clear. They shouldn’t skip any more classes. Besides, he wasn’t ready to talk yet, especially to Liz. He needed time to come to grips with what he needed to do.
Forrester stood in the shadows, watching his charges across the commons. Tension permeated the air around them. When Max and Liz were at odds, the group dynamic fell apart, and that’s what he was seeing now. The hesitant looks, the lack of physical contact, all indicators that their relationship was strained.
The group broke apart, Michael and Isabel going off together, Alex and Maria going the other way. Max backed away from Liz and led Tess down the hall to their second period class, while Liz and Kyle stood side by side, watching them go.
Principle Forrester watched them from the shadows with an inhuman smile of his face.
Author note: I know most of you are probably asking why Max didn’t just kill Tess in the pod chamber and get it over with. That would have made most of you happy, huh? Well, there are reasons why he was lenient with her. Hopefully you’ll understand his motivations as the parts unfold. This part might have ended on a low note between Max and Liz, but don’t despair. Next week’s chapter has some interesting developments. And yes, alienmom, things will get better.
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Breathless
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Jane, I wasn't surprised by your feedback. Actually, the first draft of part 25 was much "worse" than the final version. My friend Sammy wanted to tear Max's balls off when she read it, mainly because I didn't let her know what happened in the cave. After that reaction, I decided to let the reader know what happened between Max and Tess in the cave, even though Liz and Kyle didn't. It made the part a little easier to take, though I knew people would be mad at Max for not talking to Liz the moment that he saw her.BelieveInTrueLove wrote:Before I go into my tirade, I'm wondering if this part is drawing as much flack as you thought it would, or has the reaction gone in a direction you never expected?
Jane
Now, on to the next part . . .
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Author note: I’ve stated this before, but I think I should remind you again: This story only follows the events in the series up through The White Room. In Aftermath, there is NO Royal Four. Max and the other podsters did NOT live previous lives. Tess was NOT Max’s former wife.
Posted in 2 parts due to length . . .
Aftermath
Part 26
Liz picked up an apple from the fruit tray and then set it back down. She chose a banana next but put that back too. Nothing looked appealing. She didn’t have an appetite. All she could think about was the way Max and Tess had looked earlier, walking through the school doors. Together.
“Are you gonna eat one of those?” Kyle asked from behind her. “Or were you just planning on touching ‘em all and putting ‘em back?”
“Kyle!” Liz jumped at his sudden presence. She was edgy, and it showed. She took an apple from the tray, but she couldn’t force herself to eat it.
“You okay?” Kyle asked, concerned about her. He’d always cared about Liz, and it looked like she was hanging on by a thread.
“Yeah,” she said, but the quiver of her chin gave her away.
“Right,” Kyle wasn’t sure what to say to her. Max was the one who was good at all that ‘talking’ shit. “If you need . . . someone to, you know, listen or something . . .”
“Thanks, Kyle, but . . . no . . .”
“Right,” Kyle nodded. Only one person could heal Liz. Everybody knew that. He tweaked her chin, giving her a heartfelt smile. “If you ever do . . .”
“You’ll be the first.”
They picked out sandwiches to go with the fruit, talking about inconsequential things in an effort to avoid what was really on their minds, but their brief moment of normalcy didn’t last long. The easy familiarity between them shattered as soon as Max and Tess walked into the cafeteria. Liz felt him before she saw him, and knew he wasn’t alone. His shadow was clinging to his side.
Max faltered as soon as he saw Liz. She stood in the food line with Kyle, the two of them looking closer than he’d ever seen them before. The unselfish side of him thought that maybe this was what was best for her, being with a human. Kyle wasn’t a bad guy. He could probably even make her happy. And he knew Kyle would never try to strangle the life out of her.
Maria and Michael entered the cafeteria together, followed moments later by Alex and Isabel. Kyle paid for his food and made his way to an empty table in the corner while Liz hovered in front of the soda machine. She couldn’t make up her mind. She couldn’t concentrate. Everything felt wrong.
Michael and Maria moved into the food line, as silent as the rest of them. Their usual banter was swallowed by the black cloud that hovered over all of them. The group dynamic was off, and they all felt it.
Tess watched Kyle maneuver through the lunchroom crowd. Max noticed, and a knowing smile graced his lips.
“Go ahead,” Max urged her to join their friends at the table.
Tess looked up at him. “I can wait for you.”
“No,” Max shook his head. He knew he had to talk to Liz. He couldn’t avoid it. He and Liz were tied together. Always had been. Always would be. The events of yesterday were like an open wound, festering between them, and they needed to talk about it. He saw the others heading toward the table Kyle had claimed and urged Tess to follow. “Go on.”
“You sure?” Tess shifted uncertainly. She was feeling vulnerable, and none of them looked happy to see her. The irony wasn’t lost on her, that Max was the one she’d done the most damage to, yet he was the most forgiving. The others were going to hate her when they found what she’d done.
“Yeah,” Max watched Liz fill a cup with ice. He could do this. He had to do this.
Tess made her way to the table, watching Max’s hesitant progress toward Liz. She sat down in the empty space next to Kyle feeling Maria’s hostile glare.
Max came up behind Liz, watching her fill the cup with cherry coke. She startled at his sudden presence, spilling the soda down her fingers and almost dropping the cup.
“Stupid machine,” Liz muttered and set the cup down.
“Here,” Max handed her a napkin.
“Thanks,” she took it and wiped off her fingers.
“Sure,” Max slid his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and hunched his shoulders.
Liz continued to wipe her fingers long after they were dry. Max stood silently beside her, not knowing where to start. He had so many things he wanted to say, and no idea how to say them. She dropped the napkin onto her tray and pushed it down the food line.
“Liz, wait –”
His hand shot out of his pocket and wrapped around her upper arm before pulling it back sharply. He didn’t really have the right to touch her, not after yesterday at the lake. The tension between them thickened. Her dark eyes stared up at him looking hurt and frightened.
Max dropped his gaze to the floor. “We need to talk.”
Liz stood stiffly waiting for the ax to fall. This was it. What she had feared ever since Tess came to town. He’d spent the night with his alien mate, and now he was here to tell her it was over. How could she compete with Destiny?
“Maybe we could go someplace after school –”
Mark Metcalf stood in line behind Max waiting to pay for his drink. He got hit from behind by Sheila Powers when she tripped on a loose shoelace. His drink flew out of his hand splashing cold rootbeer and ice all over Max’s back. Max reeled from the shock of it. Liz watched in horror as Max spun around and grabbed the slightly built 9th grader, lifting his 110 pound frame off the floor and holding him in the air like a rag doll.
“Max, don’t!” Liz cried out. “Max! Stop!”
Michael jumped to his feet but he was too far away to do anything. The others sat too stunned to move. Max’s chilling roar of rage drew the attention of the entire lunchroom.
“Max!” Liz grabbed at his arm. He didn’t know what he was doing. If he hurt Mark, here, in front of everyone, there’d be no way to hide it. “Max!”
The touch of her hand on his arm broke Max out of the spell. His rage cleared, seeing Mark’s frightened face suspended above him, causing the color to drain from of his face. He dropped his hands quickly and Mark fell uninjured to the floor. Max stepped back, feeling like the animal he was turning into. A hundred pairs of eyes staring at him confirmed it.
“I’m sorry,” Max whispered, stumbling backward. “I – I’m sorry.”
He turned in a circle, seeing all the faces staring at him. He had to get out, away from all those eyes, before they could see what kind of monster he really was. He reeled around at the comforting hand that touched his arm, coming face to face with the only person that could save him.
“I have to go,” Max pulled away from her. “I can’t be here anymore.” He turned away from Liz and ran from the room.
“Max!” Liz cried out after him.
Tess grabbed Michael’s arm when he moved to chase after Max. “Don’t.”
“What do you mean, ‘Don’t’?” Michael hissed. Max was in meltdown again. He couldn’t stand by and do nothing.
“Aren’t you going to run after him?” Kyle lashed out at Tess.
“It’s not my place,” Tess answered. Hadn’t the others noticed how Max’s rage stopped as soon as Liz touched him? Only one person could help Max now. She finally understood that. She’d done all she could before they left the pod chamber to repair the damage that she’d caused. What Pierce did to him could only be healed by Liz.
“I think you better explain that,” Michael sat down hard, staring at Tess while the others sat in stunned silence, watching Max flee the cafeteria with Liz running after him.
* * * * *
Max unzipped his backpack and dropped the contents on his bedroom floor. Books and pencils and paper flew everywhere but he didn’t care. There was only one thing he could do now, and he had to do it fast. Before anyone could stop him. He was a danger to everyone around him.
Liz arrived in his bedroom doorway straining to catch her breath. It’d been a long run from school but she was too relieved that she’d guessed right about him coming here to feel the ache in her side. Max reeled around at her sudden presence, but kept on his task. He opened his dresser drawer and removed a stack of t-shirts. He took them over to his bed and shoved them in his backpack, then went back for more.
“What are you doing?” Liz watched him.
“I’m leaving,” Max forced the words out.
“Why?”
“Why do you think?” Max shot her a pained look. “I have to get out of here, before I . . . before . . .”
Before he killed someone. He couldn’t control himself, and it was only a matter of time.
“Where will you go?” her hand fell away from the doorframe as she stepped into his room.
“I don’t know,” Max paused by his bed, holding a handful of socks. “Away. Where I can’t hurt anyone.” Where he couldn’t hurt her.
“Will you take Tess with you?” Liz stood next to his dresser, fingering the socks left in the top drawer.
“Tess?” Max looked at Liz in surprise. “No. Why . . .?”
“Aren’t you together now?” Liz said in a small voice. She kept her back to him, not wanting to see the confirmation on his face.
“What?” Max dropped everything he was holding. All thought of leaving was gone, stripped away by her shocking question. “Why would you think . . .?”
“You spent the night with her . . .”
Her head tilted forward, with her hair covering her face like a curtain. He thought she must be joking, but the tone of her voice told him she wasn’t.
“No. I didn’t.”
“You didn’t?” Liz turned to him. Hope and despair warred on her face.
“No,” the shock of it was evident in his voice. “Why would you think that?”
“You were gone all night. So was she. When you came to school this morning, you both looked so . . .” Her voice trailed off and she dropped her head, turning away from him.
“No,” Max crossed over to her and turned her around. He held on to her arms, telling her, “You’ve got it all wrong. I didn’t spend the night with Tess. She found me this morning, out at the pod chamber, but nothing like that happened.”
Liz wanted to believe him, but doubts plagued her. “You looked so . . . close . . .”
“Oh god, Liz,” Max cupped her face with his hand. “I’m sorry. I never meant to give you that impression.” He pulled her closer, telling her in a trembling voice, “I could never be with anyone but you. I could never love anyone but you.”
“If you love me,” Liz leaned into him, whispering against his throat, “then how can you leave me?”
Max closed his eyes and held her tight. Leave her? How could he ever leave her? He’d convinced himself it was the only safe thing for him to do, but in his heart he knew it was folly to even try. He would die without her.
“I’ll never leave you,” Max whispered against her ear.
* * * * *
Michael unlocked the door to his apartment and the gang filed in behind him. They were skipping another afternoon of school, and if they weren’t careful, he wouldn’t be the only one attending summer school this year, but this was more important. He wanted answers, and by god, he was going to get them.
Tess walked into Michael’s living room feeling his eyes boring into her. All of them were staring at her, and now the truth was going to come out about the horrible things she’d done. She could only imagine how they were going to react.
“What aren’t you telling us?” Michael demanded.
Tess fidgeted, unable to delay the inevitable. “Something happened between Max and me this morning.”
“I knew it,” Kyle turned away, feeling like punching something out. Or someone. Damn that alien bastard.
“It’s not that,” Tess took a step in his direction and then stopped. She was only now beginning to understand why Kyle’s opinion of her mattered so much.
“Then what is it?” Michael demanded.
“What did you do to him?” Maria growled like a lioness defending her young. Liz was her best friend and Max was like the brother she never had. If Tess did anything to hurt them she was dead meat.
“You have every right to hate me,” Tess started, dropping her gaze to the floor. “When I came to Roswell, I manipulated Max and made him see things, trying to separate him from Liz –”
“You bitch!” Maria lunged at the blonde. Michael could barely hold her back.
“I mindwarped Max trying to make him fall in love with me. I manipulated his dreams, putting Liz in his nightmares working with Pierce. I dreamwalked him to seduce him.”
“Oh God,” Isabel sagged against Alex. She’d taught Tess how to dreamwalk and she’d used it against her brother. “How could you?”
“It was wrong,” Tess felt their hostility. She knew they’d never forgive her. “I know that now.”
“Wrong?” Maria screamed at her. “WRONG?”
“Please, just listen –”
“LISTEN?” Maria shouted. “Why should we listen to a thing you have to say? Haven’t you said enough already?”
“Believe me,” Tess looked at them, “that’s not the half of it.”
* * * * *
“You shouldn’t be here,” Max gently touched her throat. Just yesterday, he’d done the unthinkable to her. What if it happened again?
“This is where I belong,” Liz stepped closer; close enough to feel his breath on her face.
“What if –”
“No ‘what ifs’,” Liz whispered, looking up into his darkly sensual face. “I need you, Max. We need each other. We’re stronger when we’re together.”
He couldn’t deny that what she said was true. He only felt whole when he was with her. But his fear was crippling.
“I can’t bear hurting you, Liz.”
“You only hurt me when you pull away from me, Max. When you shut me out. I don’t want to be protected, or put in some lofty tower to keep me safe. I just want to be with you. I know I can help you, if you let me.”
His mind fought a war that his heart didn’t want to lose. The protective side of Max knew she was safer when he wasn’t around to throw her life into turmoil. But the passionate side of him couldn’t live without her. His eyes focused on her mouth, her hand pressed on the back of his neck, urging him closer.
With their lips almost touching, Max whispered, “I can’t . . . not . . . kiss you . . .”
Their lips drew together, touching softly at first, but the tension Max and Liz had been living under for the last few days had their emotions on the ragged edge. The comfort they sought from each other couldn’t be held back. Their gentle kiss soon became urgent, demanding, an explosion of desire to touch each other, to love each other, to become one.
“Liz?” Max pulled back with a start, swallowing hard. His lungs worked hard to replace the air he’d stopped breathing.
“Don’t stop,” Liz breathed out, still holding him tightly. “Please don’t stop. Trust me. Trust us.”
His heart won the battle.
* * * * *
“You manipulated Max?” Isabel stood horrified, staring at Tess in the middle of Michael’s apartment. “By using his dreams against him?”
“Yes,” Tess answered weakly.
“You lied to us!” Isabel screamed. “You manipulated us all!”
“Why?” Alex tried to hold Isabel back before she could do something she’d regret. “Why are you telling us this now?”
“Because there are things you need to know. Things you need to prepare for.” She looked around the room, at Maria and Alex and Kyle, for the first time in her life not trying to exclude the humans. They were a part of what was coming. A big part.
“What things?” Michael towered over Tess. Of everyone in the room, he felt her betrayal the deepest. She was an alien, like him, and he’d believed in her. He’d never trusted humans, but it was shocking to find out the biggest treachery of his life had been committed by one of his own kind.
“Max should –”
“What things!” Michael cut her off. He wasn’t going to let her manipulate him anymore.
“The message, out at the pod chamber,” Tess admitted. “It wasn’t real.”
“What?” Michael and Isabel shouted in unison.
* * * * *
Back with the rest in a minute . . .
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Aftermath
Part 26 con’t
Max’s mouth flew at hers, plundering Liz with his lips while his arms crushed her body against him. Her hands tore through his hair, holding him so he couldn’t pull away.
An unstoppable force was upon them, one that was days, weeks, years in the making.
Without conscious thought they tore at each other’s clothing, desperate to feel skin on skin. They needed it. They wanted it. They’d die without it. All other thought was gone. The drive was all consuming, a biological imperative with a life of its own.
His hands pulled on her shirt, tugging the material up and over her breasts, past her shoulders, over her head. He threw it aside and their lips flew back together while Max fumbled with the clasp of her bra. He worked at the hooks, but his unskilled fingers failed him. With the swipe of his hand he used a little alien magic instead. Her bra fell to the floor to join her shirt.
His hands roamed over her naked back consumed by the need to touch her. Her skin glowed beneath his palms but neither of them noticed. Their mouths nearly fused together by the heat of their kiss, only broken by necessity to rid him of his shirt. They dove back together, Liz digging her fingers into the muscles of his back, Max dragging his hand around her side and up her ribs to cup her breast. The contact made them both moan aloud.
His tongue swept across her mouth, tasting her before thrusting between her lips. She moaned again, needing more of him, wanting all of him. His fingers fisted in her hair and pulled her head back, exposing the tender skin of her throat. He tore his lips away from her mouth and attacked her there, feeling her moans vibrating against his lips now, inflaming him even more.
Her hard nipples pressed into his bare chest while an answering hardness in his own body made its presence known against her stomach. Her hands reached for that hardness, making him moan loudly when she cupped him through his jeans.
“Liz,” he hissed and pulled back slightly to give her more room. He glanced down between their bodies to see her tearing at the button of his jeans, then pulling at the zipper. He toed his shoes off while she tried to tug his pants down, which wasn’t easy. Her frantic gestures caused his shorts to hang up on his erection. He groaned again when he sprang free and his clothes pooled around his feet. Her pants joined his only seconds later.
Their lips flew together once more; the length of their naked bodies pressing together now, their arms wrapping tightly around each other. Max took a step, walking her backwards toward his bed, leaving their clothes abandoned on the floor behind them. He waved his hand through the air using his alien powers to toss his backpack off the bed, followed seconds later by the bedspread and blankets. In one swift move he lifted Liz off her feet, dragging her up against him, supporting her butt with his arm. Her legs parted to wrap around his hips bringing her sex into direct contact with his rigid length.
“Liz,” he hissed again with his forehead against hers. His hand on her butt pressed her harder against him, feeling his sex part her wet lips, coating him with her desire. Their mouths crashed together as Max crossed his bedroom floor and lowered her to his bed.
Nothing could stop them this time.
* * * * *
Tess sat down heavily on the couch, sensing the hate flowing through the room. Hate for her. It didn’t matter that Nasedo forced her to do it. She was the one they would blame, and rightly so.
“The message wasn’t real?” Isabel said in shock.
“It was a mindwarp.” Tess admitted. She closed her eyes briefly, wishing she hadn’t seen the look of disgust that crossed Kyle’s face.
“How could you!” Isabel screamed. Maria stood beside her looking furious.
“What was the real message?” Michael demanded. He was angry, bordering on homicidal.
“I don’t know,” Tess looked up at him. “Nasedo told me what to allow you to see. He said you weren’t ready to know the truth.”
Michael grabbed her arm and yanked Tess to her feet. With his face inches from hers he shouted, “WHAT ‘TRUTH’?”
“We should wait for Max!” Tess cowered back.
“I’m not waiting for anything,” Michael released her arm and Tess dropped back to the couch. He headed for the door, motioning Isabel to follow him. “Let’s go get the orbs –”
Michael tripped over the backpack Tess had dropped by the door when she came in his apartment, the same backpack she carried everywhere she went. In a fit of temper, Michael used his powers to blast it out of his way. It flew across the room and hit the wall, which caused the gleaming silver orb inside to spill out onto the floor.
“What the fuck?” Michael stared at it and then turned around to glare at Tess. “You stole it? You stole the orb? We hid it out at the pod chamber, and you took it without telling anyone? Without asking?”
“I wanted to know what it said,” Tess hurried across the room to retrieve it from the floor. She held it in her hand, staring at it like it was gold. “I tried to activate it, but it didn’t work. It takes two.”
Michael grabbed the orb away from Tess and fixed his eyes on Isabel. “I guess that means us.” The time was now, and nothing was going to stop him from finding out its secrets.
Isabel hesitantly moved across the living room to join Michael. She stared at the orb, wishing none of this were happening, that she’d never seen the damn thing, or Tess, or Nasedo, or any of it. She wanted the nice simple life she had before.
“You try any mind games this time,” Michael warned Tess, “it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”
“I won’t interfere,” Tess promised, and then pointed at the orb with a warning of her own. “It should give you the answers, the real answers, if you think you’re ready to hear them.”
* * * * *
Max kissed Liz hard, relishing the feel of her body beneath him, like this was where she belonged. He had felt her this way before, under him like this; that night in Michael’s apartment before Maria interrupted them, and later when they went out into the desert, but they’d never reached this point those times. They’d only gone this far once before, the night they spent in the van, but their connection that night had been hindered by the drugs Pierce had used to suppress his powers. They hadn’t shared this that night. Their awareness of each other had never been stronger.
He couldn’t get enough of her taste, her essence, the sweetness of her lips. When they kissed like this she was deep inside him, in his mind, in his heart, inside his skin. His tongue slipped into her mouth, mating with hers, sliding over it, under it, around it, driven by his need for this dark haired siren. She called to him without ever uttering a sound, with just a touch, or a kiss, or a look and he was unable to resist.
Their need was strong. Alive. A driving force that filled their senses. Their naked bodies rocked together, not yet joined, but the desire was too strong to be denied.
Liz opened up completely, giving all of herself to him, her kiss more than just an emotional expression of her love, more than just a physical joining of their lips. Their kiss was a declaration, combining physical, emotional, and spiritual, all rolled into one.
The flashes started immediately . . .
His body hovered over hers, shielding her blood soaked uniform from the rest of the restaurant. He tore her dress open, with his shock turning to fear at the sight of the blood welling up from the wound.
“Liz. You have to look at me . . .”
His hand pressed against her bloody stomach, healing a bullet wound and changing their lives forever . . .
The flash switched from the Crashdown to her balcony on a warm December night. He stood nervously in front of her, dropping his eyes away from hers.
“I better go.”
“Why?”
“Cuz if I don't go right now, things are gonna change.”
“Change, how?”
“I'm gonna have to touch your hair . . . cuz it's so soft . . . and I'd have to tell you that . . . no matter what we go through, it's all worthwhile for me, because we're together.”
“And then?”
“And then . . . I'd have to do . . . this . . .”
The flash of their first kiss turned from sweet innocence to sexually charged, with Liz standing under the spray of the showerhead in the girl’s locker room. The sound of her thoughts filled the air.
‘Lately I’ve been having these feelings, like I’m changing. Inside. It’s like I have no choice. It’s like . . . chemical.’
The steam filled locker room changed into the equally steamy kitchen of the Crashdown, where Max grabbed her, and spun her around, sending strawberries flying while he attacked her lips, her throat, for the first time in his life giving in to uncontrollable desires . . .
Max tore his lips from Liz and stared down into her face. Her cheeks were flushed, he was certain as pink as his own, both of them nearly overwhelmed by what was happening between them.
“Did you see?” Max breathed heavily. “The flashes?”
Liz nodded, breathing in ragged breaths. “When you healed me.” When you changed me.
“The first time we kissed,” Max brushed her hair back from her face. That incredible moment when everything changed.
Her fantasy. Primal. Chemical. Like she was changing . . . inside.
The memory of their night in the van came flooding back to them, their declaration of love, their desire, their need spilling forth, culminating in the joining of their bodies and their hearts. But they both knew, sensed, there was one more step they needed to take. They could feel it. They were driven by it. The unstoppable force demanded it.
“Liz,” Max groaned out her name and then he was on her, his lips attacking hers, his knee pressing between her legs, begging her to let him in. Just like that night in the kitchen of the Crashdown, they couldn’t control it and they didn’t want to. This was different than the night in the van, when they had needed to share love and support and comfort. This was a primal urge that was driving them.
There were no drugs flowing through his veins now. No impairment of his powers. His alien senses where alive like never before, unrestricted and energized, counting down to the explosion, like the ticking of a time bomb.
* * * * *
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Maria asked. “I mean, without Max being here?”
Michael stood in the middle of his living room holding the alien orb in his hand. Isabel stood beside him looking just as unsure as Maria.
“We can’t wait for Max to show up. We need answers. Now.” Michael held out the orb, cradling it in his palm.
Isabel stared at it, wishing she wasn’t going through this again. She was afraid to know what the orb said. If the first message was a mindwarp, then this one would be different, maybe better, but Isabel had a sinking feeling that it wasn’t. In fact, she feared it would be worse.
“Let’s just do this,” Michael pushed and Isabel surrendered. She cupped the orb with her hand, joining Michael’s. They felt the vibration within moments and a white light shot out of the emblem in the center. The light twisted and turned in the center of the room, like a tornado spinning on a destructive path, spinning into the hazy shape of man, dark and indistinct. It slowly cleared, with his eyes growing larger, elongating, turning into something else. Something dark. Something sinister. Something alien.
It spoke, sending a chill through everyone in the room.
“Unit 454, Sector7, Quadrant 228. Confirmation pending . . .”
Michael darted a look at Isabel. Already he didn’t like the sound of what he was hearing. It was too controlled, too malevolent, too militaristic. A chill went down his spine.
“Unit designation Zulu Alpha November, compliment 4 by 4. Your mission has been assigned priority status. Your target has been ascertained and confirmed through Granilith Protocol Alpha 007. Your mission directive has been concealed at the pre-selected coordinates, 33 18 north, 104 32 west.”
“Jesus,” Michael whispered. He knew those coordinates. He’d been studying maps for years. Their ‘mission directive’ was hidden in the Roswell Library, which meant only one thing. The Destiny book. Their reason for being on earth was written on the pages of a book they couldn’t read.
“Acquisition and elimination of assigned target is key to attaining global conquest. Full-scale invasion awaits successful completion of you mission.”
The image of the alien hovering in the air raised its hand, showing three elongated fingers. The fingers spread, leaving the left and right at odd angles, giving the impression of a distorted looking V, a signal for victory, or perhaps a symbol of something else, something vaguely familiar, something alien.
The image faded away, leaving a room filled with shocked and frightened people.
Isabel covered her mouth with her hand, letting out a strangled, “No!”
Michael whirled on Tess, shouting, “What the fuck was all that?”
Mission? Invasion? Conquest?
Tess looked at her fellow hybrids, confirming what she’d always known. “It’s why we’re here.”
* * * * *
“Max,” Liz cried softly, willing to let this feeling take them to someplace new. Her legs parted and he settled between them, pressing her down into his bed, kissing her wildly, passionately, touching her intimately, feeling her touching him back.
“Oh, God, Liz,” he moaned, pinning her down with his ravenous kisses consuming her mouth while his hands roamed freely. His whimpers of need, of love, of lust and desire, filled his room, mingling with her moans of want, driven by an unquenchable hunger to be joined with him again.
His need double, quadrupled, squared to infinity, driving him beyond the limits of restraint. His hands cupped her butt from beneath, lifting her up to his engorged cock. Her wet lips parted to his rutting advancement, coating his length with her nectar, calling him home. In one swift move he buried his cock to the hilt inside her, causing them both to cry out in sexual intoxication, ecstatic to be joined again.
“God, Liz,” his mouth stilled against hers, both of them gasping for air. His hands clenched her hips, crushing their bodies together, while her fingers dug into the muscles of his butt. Her slick walls gripped him tightly, holding him in her depths. His hard chest pressed down against her much softer one with their pounding hearts now beating in a synchronized rhythm. Two had become one.
“Max,” Liz whispered into his ear. “You fill me completely.”
He sighed against her throat, knowing she wasn’t talking about just physically. He filled her emotionally too, just as she did him. Her cheek pressed against his, with her throaty whisper saying, “Now Max . . . take me now.”
Take her where, she didn’t know, only that this time their journey would be different. They could both feel it, something under the surface that they couldn’t resist. The power straining to be set free.
Light began to glow where their bodies were joined at their sexes, where their lips met and devoured each other, where their hands laced together. Light raced under their skin along their nerve endings in an ever-changing pattern, changing them as well.
His lips never left her skin, one minute on her mouth, then on her cheek, on her throat, behind her ear, sucking on her earlobe. His thrusts went deep, matched in pace by her hips rising up to meet him, filling her inside with the full length of him. Her hands clutched at the skin of his shoulders, his back, pressing harder on his butt, urging him deeper with each thrust, grinding her sex into his body with each forward surge.
Her back arched with growing waves of pleasure building inside her, allowing his wandering lips to find a new target. He kissed across the soft curve of her breast before sucking in the hard round bud of her nipple. Her throaty moans intensified while her movements beneath him neared fevered pitch, demanding that he give her what she wanted, what she needed, what she begged for.
The heat at the center of their bodies escalated with the rising speed of their coupling. His hands moved along her skin, neither of them unaware of the glow he emitted from his palms, or the answering reaction in her body wherever he touched her. His lips made their way back up her throat and crashed into her mouth while his cock crashed into her molten passage.
Their sexes flowed together, merging, joining, his sex pounding inside her, her inner walls pulling him in, both feeling the coming changes. Her legs wrapped around him holding him tightly, his arms did the same, their bodies no longer separate entities but now one, climbing toward the same lofty precipice. The tension spiraled tighter and tighter, the exquisite torture centered where they physically became one, and then the fireworks exploded.
Flashes filled their minds, of every kiss, every touch they had ever shared, their minds open and receptive on a level beyond intimate, beyond physical. His body poured into hers, filling her with his essence, filling her with his mind. She took everything he had to offer, welcoming his spirit into her body, into her heart, into her soul. He filled her to overflowing nearly sending her into sensory overload, but the changes that had been slowly growing inside her since the day he healed her flowed through her as well.
Changes that their loving had awakened. Changes that their intimacy had sharpened. Changes that would bind them forever.
“Max!” Liz cried out, shuddering with a sensation beyond pleasure.
“Liz,” Max groaned into her throat, still pinning her body beneath him. He drove into her again, and then again, drenching her inner passage until he was drained. When it was over he collapsed his weight onto her, sated and spent, and more alive than he had ever felt before.
“Liz. God, Liz . . .”
He slowly lifted his head from her throat, both of them feeling the beads of their sweat mingling and flowing over their heated skin. Her body throbbed around him, glowing in vibrant radiance beneath him, both their minds and spirits awakened by this alien mating.
* * * * *
“What the fuck does that mean?” Michael venomously spit out as he paced across the living room. Mission directive? Granilith protocol? Target ascertained? What target? What protocol? WHAT MISSION?
The color left Tess’ face as the words from the message became clear. Nasedo had told her an invasion was coming, but not what her role in it would be. Now she thought she knew. She rose from the couch and ran across the room.
“What?” Isabel demanded. “What is going on? I don’t understand!”
“Our Mission,” Tess tore open her backpack and reached inside. “We’re here for a reason, a mission, to eliminate the obstacles the Granilith has found that can hinder our success.”
“What obstacles!” Isabel cried out. “What Granilith?” This was all too much for her.
“This obstacle,” Tess rooted around in her backpack until she found what she wanted. It all made sense to her now. Perfect sense. They were here for a reason, a team of soldiers to eliminate a target that threatened their conquest of this world.
Tess pulled a metallic object from her backpack, a page from the Destiny book that the others had never seen. Their target was clearly defined, unmistakable, and absolutely undeniable. She turned the metallic page to the others, showing them the object of their mission, the human they’d been sent here to seek out and destroy.
Liz Parker.
* * * * *
“What did you see?” Liz cupped his cheeks and brought his face up to hers.
“I saw everything,” Max panted between labored breaths. It was all so clear now. Why he was here. What his purpose was. He looked down at Liz lying naked beneath him, with his weight pinning her to the bed. “I know exactly what I have to do.”
TBC . . .
Part 26 con’t
Max’s mouth flew at hers, plundering Liz with his lips while his arms crushed her body against him. Her hands tore through his hair, holding him so he couldn’t pull away.
An unstoppable force was upon them, one that was days, weeks, years in the making.
Without conscious thought they tore at each other’s clothing, desperate to feel skin on skin. They needed it. They wanted it. They’d die without it. All other thought was gone. The drive was all consuming, a biological imperative with a life of its own.
His hands pulled on her shirt, tugging the material up and over her breasts, past her shoulders, over her head. He threw it aside and their lips flew back together while Max fumbled with the clasp of her bra. He worked at the hooks, but his unskilled fingers failed him. With the swipe of his hand he used a little alien magic instead. Her bra fell to the floor to join her shirt.
His hands roamed over her naked back consumed by the need to touch her. Her skin glowed beneath his palms but neither of them noticed. Their mouths nearly fused together by the heat of their kiss, only broken by necessity to rid him of his shirt. They dove back together, Liz digging her fingers into the muscles of his back, Max dragging his hand around her side and up her ribs to cup her breast. The contact made them both moan aloud.
His tongue swept across her mouth, tasting her before thrusting between her lips. She moaned again, needing more of him, wanting all of him. His fingers fisted in her hair and pulled her head back, exposing the tender skin of her throat. He tore his lips away from her mouth and attacked her there, feeling her moans vibrating against his lips now, inflaming him even more.
Her hard nipples pressed into his bare chest while an answering hardness in his own body made its presence known against her stomach. Her hands reached for that hardness, making him moan loudly when she cupped him through his jeans.
“Liz,” he hissed and pulled back slightly to give her more room. He glanced down between their bodies to see her tearing at the button of his jeans, then pulling at the zipper. He toed his shoes off while she tried to tug his pants down, which wasn’t easy. Her frantic gestures caused his shorts to hang up on his erection. He groaned again when he sprang free and his clothes pooled around his feet. Her pants joined his only seconds later.
Their lips flew together once more; the length of their naked bodies pressing together now, their arms wrapping tightly around each other. Max took a step, walking her backwards toward his bed, leaving their clothes abandoned on the floor behind them. He waved his hand through the air using his alien powers to toss his backpack off the bed, followed seconds later by the bedspread and blankets. In one swift move he lifted Liz off her feet, dragging her up against him, supporting her butt with his arm. Her legs parted to wrap around his hips bringing her sex into direct contact with his rigid length.
“Liz,” he hissed again with his forehead against hers. His hand on her butt pressed her harder against him, feeling his sex part her wet lips, coating him with her desire. Their mouths crashed together as Max crossed his bedroom floor and lowered her to his bed.
Nothing could stop them this time.
* * * * *
Tess sat down heavily on the couch, sensing the hate flowing through the room. Hate for her. It didn’t matter that Nasedo forced her to do it. She was the one they would blame, and rightly so.
“The message wasn’t real?” Isabel said in shock.
“It was a mindwarp.” Tess admitted. She closed her eyes briefly, wishing she hadn’t seen the look of disgust that crossed Kyle’s face.
“How could you!” Isabel screamed. Maria stood beside her looking furious.
“What was the real message?” Michael demanded. He was angry, bordering on homicidal.
“I don’t know,” Tess looked up at him. “Nasedo told me what to allow you to see. He said you weren’t ready to know the truth.”
Michael grabbed her arm and yanked Tess to her feet. With his face inches from hers he shouted, “WHAT ‘TRUTH’?”
“We should wait for Max!” Tess cowered back.
“I’m not waiting for anything,” Michael released her arm and Tess dropped back to the couch. He headed for the door, motioning Isabel to follow him. “Let’s go get the orbs –”
Michael tripped over the backpack Tess had dropped by the door when she came in his apartment, the same backpack she carried everywhere she went. In a fit of temper, Michael used his powers to blast it out of his way. It flew across the room and hit the wall, which caused the gleaming silver orb inside to spill out onto the floor.
“What the fuck?” Michael stared at it and then turned around to glare at Tess. “You stole it? You stole the orb? We hid it out at the pod chamber, and you took it without telling anyone? Without asking?”
“I wanted to know what it said,” Tess hurried across the room to retrieve it from the floor. She held it in her hand, staring at it like it was gold. “I tried to activate it, but it didn’t work. It takes two.”
Michael grabbed the orb away from Tess and fixed his eyes on Isabel. “I guess that means us.” The time was now, and nothing was going to stop him from finding out its secrets.
Isabel hesitantly moved across the living room to join Michael. She stared at the orb, wishing none of this were happening, that she’d never seen the damn thing, or Tess, or Nasedo, or any of it. She wanted the nice simple life she had before.
“You try any mind games this time,” Michael warned Tess, “it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”
“I won’t interfere,” Tess promised, and then pointed at the orb with a warning of her own. “It should give you the answers, the real answers, if you think you’re ready to hear them.”
* * * * *
Max kissed Liz hard, relishing the feel of her body beneath him, like this was where she belonged. He had felt her this way before, under him like this; that night in Michael’s apartment before Maria interrupted them, and later when they went out into the desert, but they’d never reached this point those times. They’d only gone this far once before, the night they spent in the van, but their connection that night had been hindered by the drugs Pierce had used to suppress his powers. They hadn’t shared this that night. Their awareness of each other had never been stronger.
He couldn’t get enough of her taste, her essence, the sweetness of her lips. When they kissed like this she was deep inside him, in his mind, in his heart, inside his skin. His tongue slipped into her mouth, mating with hers, sliding over it, under it, around it, driven by his need for this dark haired siren. She called to him without ever uttering a sound, with just a touch, or a kiss, or a look and he was unable to resist.
Their need was strong. Alive. A driving force that filled their senses. Their naked bodies rocked together, not yet joined, but the desire was too strong to be denied.
Liz opened up completely, giving all of herself to him, her kiss more than just an emotional expression of her love, more than just a physical joining of their lips. Their kiss was a declaration, combining physical, emotional, and spiritual, all rolled into one.
The flashes started immediately . . .
His body hovered over hers, shielding her blood soaked uniform from the rest of the restaurant. He tore her dress open, with his shock turning to fear at the sight of the blood welling up from the wound.
“Liz. You have to look at me . . .”
His hand pressed against her bloody stomach, healing a bullet wound and changing their lives forever . . .
The flash switched from the Crashdown to her balcony on a warm December night. He stood nervously in front of her, dropping his eyes away from hers.
“I better go.”
“Why?”
“Cuz if I don't go right now, things are gonna change.”
“Change, how?”
“I'm gonna have to touch your hair . . . cuz it's so soft . . . and I'd have to tell you that . . . no matter what we go through, it's all worthwhile for me, because we're together.”
“And then?”
“And then . . . I'd have to do . . . this . . .”
The flash of their first kiss turned from sweet innocence to sexually charged, with Liz standing under the spray of the showerhead in the girl’s locker room. The sound of her thoughts filled the air.
‘Lately I’ve been having these feelings, like I’m changing. Inside. It’s like I have no choice. It’s like . . . chemical.’
The steam filled locker room changed into the equally steamy kitchen of the Crashdown, where Max grabbed her, and spun her around, sending strawberries flying while he attacked her lips, her throat, for the first time in his life giving in to uncontrollable desires . . .
Max tore his lips from Liz and stared down into her face. Her cheeks were flushed, he was certain as pink as his own, both of them nearly overwhelmed by what was happening between them.
“Did you see?” Max breathed heavily. “The flashes?”
Liz nodded, breathing in ragged breaths. “When you healed me.” When you changed me.
“The first time we kissed,” Max brushed her hair back from her face. That incredible moment when everything changed.
Her fantasy. Primal. Chemical. Like she was changing . . . inside.
The memory of their night in the van came flooding back to them, their declaration of love, their desire, their need spilling forth, culminating in the joining of their bodies and their hearts. But they both knew, sensed, there was one more step they needed to take. They could feel it. They were driven by it. The unstoppable force demanded it.
“Liz,” Max groaned out her name and then he was on her, his lips attacking hers, his knee pressing between her legs, begging her to let him in. Just like that night in the kitchen of the Crashdown, they couldn’t control it and they didn’t want to. This was different than the night in the van, when they had needed to share love and support and comfort. This was a primal urge that was driving them.
There were no drugs flowing through his veins now. No impairment of his powers. His alien senses where alive like never before, unrestricted and energized, counting down to the explosion, like the ticking of a time bomb.
* * * * *
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Maria asked. “I mean, without Max being here?”
Michael stood in the middle of his living room holding the alien orb in his hand. Isabel stood beside him looking just as unsure as Maria.
“We can’t wait for Max to show up. We need answers. Now.” Michael held out the orb, cradling it in his palm.
Isabel stared at it, wishing she wasn’t going through this again. She was afraid to know what the orb said. If the first message was a mindwarp, then this one would be different, maybe better, but Isabel had a sinking feeling that it wasn’t. In fact, she feared it would be worse.
“Let’s just do this,” Michael pushed and Isabel surrendered. She cupped the orb with her hand, joining Michael’s. They felt the vibration within moments and a white light shot out of the emblem in the center. The light twisted and turned in the center of the room, like a tornado spinning on a destructive path, spinning into the hazy shape of man, dark and indistinct. It slowly cleared, with his eyes growing larger, elongating, turning into something else. Something dark. Something sinister. Something alien.
It spoke, sending a chill through everyone in the room.
“Unit 454, Sector7, Quadrant 228. Confirmation pending . . .”
Michael darted a look at Isabel. Already he didn’t like the sound of what he was hearing. It was too controlled, too malevolent, too militaristic. A chill went down his spine.
“Unit designation Zulu Alpha November, compliment 4 by 4. Your mission has been assigned priority status. Your target has been ascertained and confirmed through Granilith Protocol Alpha 007. Your mission directive has been concealed at the pre-selected coordinates, 33 18 north, 104 32 west.”
“Jesus,” Michael whispered. He knew those coordinates. He’d been studying maps for years. Their ‘mission directive’ was hidden in the Roswell Library, which meant only one thing. The Destiny book. Their reason for being on earth was written on the pages of a book they couldn’t read.
“Acquisition and elimination of assigned target is key to attaining global conquest. Full-scale invasion awaits successful completion of you mission.”
The image of the alien hovering in the air raised its hand, showing three elongated fingers. The fingers spread, leaving the left and right at odd angles, giving the impression of a distorted looking V, a signal for victory, or perhaps a symbol of something else, something vaguely familiar, something alien.
The image faded away, leaving a room filled with shocked and frightened people.
Isabel covered her mouth with her hand, letting out a strangled, “No!”
Michael whirled on Tess, shouting, “What the fuck was all that?”
Mission? Invasion? Conquest?
Tess looked at her fellow hybrids, confirming what she’d always known. “It’s why we’re here.”
* * * * *
“Max,” Liz cried softly, willing to let this feeling take them to someplace new. Her legs parted and he settled between them, pressing her down into his bed, kissing her wildly, passionately, touching her intimately, feeling her touching him back.
“Oh, God, Liz,” he moaned, pinning her down with his ravenous kisses consuming her mouth while his hands roamed freely. His whimpers of need, of love, of lust and desire, filled his room, mingling with her moans of want, driven by an unquenchable hunger to be joined with him again.
His need double, quadrupled, squared to infinity, driving him beyond the limits of restraint. His hands cupped her butt from beneath, lifting her up to his engorged cock. Her wet lips parted to his rutting advancement, coating his length with her nectar, calling him home. In one swift move he buried his cock to the hilt inside her, causing them both to cry out in sexual intoxication, ecstatic to be joined again.
“God, Liz,” his mouth stilled against hers, both of them gasping for air. His hands clenched her hips, crushing their bodies together, while her fingers dug into the muscles of his butt. Her slick walls gripped him tightly, holding him in her depths. His hard chest pressed down against her much softer one with their pounding hearts now beating in a synchronized rhythm. Two had become one.
“Max,” Liz whispered into his ear. “You fill me completely.”
He sighed against her throat, knowing she wasn’t talking about just physically. He filled her emotionally too, just as she did him. Her cheek pressed against his, with her throaty whisper saying, “Now Max . . . take me now.”
Take her where, she didn’t know, only that this time their journey would be different. They could both feel it, something under the surface that they couldn’t resist. The power straining to be set free.
Light began to glow where their bodies were joined at their sexes, where their lips met and devoured each other, where their hands laced together. Light raced under their skin along their nerve endings in an ever-changing pattern, changing them as well.
His lips never left her skin, one minute on her mouth, then on her cheek, on her throat, behind her ear, sucking on her earlobe. His thrusts went deep, matched in pace by her hips rising up to meet him, filling her inside with the full length of him. Her hands clutched at the skin of his shoulders, his back, pressing harder on his butt, urging him deeper with each thrust, grinding her sex into his body with each forward surge.
Her back arched with growing waves of pleasure building inside her, allowing his wandering lips to find a new target. He kissed across the soft curve of her breast before sucking in the hard round bud of her nipple. Her throaty moans intensified while her movements beneath him neared fevered pitch, demanding that he give her what she wanted, what she needed, what she begged for.
The heat at the center of their bodies escalated with the rising speed of their coupling. His hands moved along her skin, neither of them unaware of the glow he emitted from his palms, or the answering reaction in her body wherever he touched her. His lips made their way back up her throat and crashed into her mouth while his cock crashed into her molten passage.
Their sexes flowed together, merging, joining, his sex pounding inside her, her inner walls pulling him in, both feeling the coming changes. Her legs wrapped around him holding him tightly, his arms did the same, their bodies no longer separate entities but now one, climbing toward the same lofty precipice. The tension spiraled tighter and tighter, the exquisite torture centered where they physically became one, and then the fireworks exploded.
Flashes filled their minds, of every kiss, every touch they had ever shared, their minds open and receptive on a level beyond intimate, beyond physical. His body poured into hers, filling her with his essence, filling her with his mind. She took everything he had to offer, welcoming his spirit into her body, into her heart, into her soul. He filled her to overflowing nearly sending her into sensory overload, but the changes that had been slowly growing inside her since the day he healed her flowed through her as well.
Changes that their loving had awakened. Changes that their intimacy had sharpened. Changes that would bind them forever.
“Max!” Liz cried out, shuddering with a sensation beyond pleasure.
“Liz,” Max groaned into her throat, still pinning her body beneath him. He drove into her again, and then again, drenching her inner passage until he was drained. When it was over he collapsed his weight onto her, sated and spent, and more alive than he had ever felt before.
“Liz. God, Liz . . .”
He slowly lifted his head from her throat, both of them feeling the beads of their sweat mingling and flowing over their heated skin. Her body throbbed around him, glowing in vibrant radiance beneath him, both their minds and spirits awakened by this alien mating.
* * * * *
“What the fuck does that mean?” Michael venomously spit out as he paced across the living room. Mission directive? Granilith protocol? Target ascertained? What target? What protocol? WHAT MISSION?
The color left Tess’ face as the words from the message became clear. Nasedo had told her an invasion was coming, but not what her role in it would be. Now she thought she knew. She rose from the couch and ran across the room.
“What?” Isabel demanded. “What is going on? I don’t understand!”
“Our Mission,” Tess tore open her backpack and reached inside. “We’re here for a reason, a mission, to eliminate the obstacles the Granilith has found that can hinder our success.”
“What obstacles!” Isabel cried out. “What Granilith?” This was all too much for her.
“This obstacle,” Tess rooted around in her backpack until she found what she wanted. It all made sense to her now. Perfect sense. They were here for a reason, a team of soldiers to eliminate a target that threatened their conquest of this world.
Tess pulled a metallic object from her backpack, a page from the Destiny book that the others had never seen. Their target was clearly defined, unmistakable, and absolutely undeniable. She turned the metallic page to the others, showing them the object of their mission, the human they’d been sent here to seek out and destroy.
Liz Parker.
* * * * *
“What did you see?” Liz cupped his cheeks and brought his face up to hers.
“I saw everything,” Max panted between labored breaths. It was all so clear now. Why he was here. What his purpose was. He looked down at Liz lying naked beneath him, with his weight pinning her to the bed. “I know exactly what I have to do.”
TBC . . .
-
Breathless
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 254
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm
- Location: Somewhere in ficland
Man Isis, all those bouncy things! My eyes are going nuts. This next part might leave you with more questions than you had before!
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: Aftermath begins after the harrowing events in The White Room, with these significant changes: There is NO Royal Four. Max and the other podsters did NOT live previous lives. Tess was NOT Max’s former wife. So what’s Max & Co.’s true reason for being on Earth?
Aftermath
Part 27
“C’mon, let’s go,” Michael ordered everyone out of his apartment. They all looked shell-shocked, and with good reason. They’d just witnessed the most horrifying thing they’d ever seen.
“This can’t be real,” Isabel stood unmoving with her hands covering her face. “It can’t be!”
Michael wished that it wasn’t, that it was all just another mindwarp on Tess’s part, but he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his gut that what they’d seen was all too real.
“Isabel,” Michael said gruffly, “we better find Max before –”
Maria shot him a look full of fear. No one had said it aloud yet, but they all were afraid of the same thing. What would Max do to Liz if he remembered on his own? Would he follow through with the mission directive? Would he be able to fight it, or would he succumb to what was implanted in his mind? Was the incident out at the lake just a harbinger of what was to come?
“C’mon, let’s get out of here,” Michael repeated. He glared at Tess as she walked by and reached out to stop her by clamping his hand around her upper arm. He squeezed tightly, nearly lifting her off her feet. “When we find Max, you have a lot of explaining to do.”
Tess nodded in silent assent.
Once outside they broke into two groups; Michael, Maria, Isabel and Alex going to the Jetta, Kyle and Tess climbing in his Mustang. Michael settled behind the wheel and started the car to lead the way. The pulsating sounds of Stabbing Westward blasted from the CD player.
I won’t become the thing I hate
I won’t become the thing I hate
I won’t become –
“Damn right,” Michael hit the eject button and grabbed the CD. He tossed it out the window and hit the gas pedal, making the Jetta lurch forward. He wasn’t a monster, and nothing was going to make him one. Not a mission directive. Not a message from an orb. Not an impending invasion.
He might be part alien, but he was also part human, and he’d already chosen his side.
* * * * *
“So, you knew all about this?” Kyle’s hands white knuckled the steering wheel as he drove behind Michael. She had the orb, and the page from the Destiny book with Liz’s image. Everything pointed to her as being the enemy. He wasn’t even sure why he was letting Tess sit in his car.
“No,” Tess shook her head. “I only knew part of it.”
“What part?” Kyle looked at her, not wanting to think he’d misjudged her, but the evidence against her was strong. She didn’t answer for a minute, but when she did, it wasn’t what he expected.
“I never knew what it meant to be human,” she said softly, “until I came here. Until I met . . . you.” She turned to him, but the startled look on his face made her retract. “All of you. Until I met all of you.”
Kyle felt her tensing and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. Emotional scenes weren’t his forte. She spoke again, but this time her head hung low, not looking at him.
“I lived my whole life with a man – no, not a man – a thing, who wouldn’t let me. Every time I showed any human traits he did things. Bad things.”
“Like what?” Kyle wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but he wanted to understand what made her turn out so different from the others.
“I brought a puppy home once,” she looked up, smiling wistfully at the memory of it. “He was the cutest little thing.” Her smile faded quickly and her face clouded over again. “We’d just moved to a new place, and a neighbor was giving them away. I brought him home, so excited to have something of my own, but Nasedo said we didn’t consort with lower life forms. He snapped its neck and made me bury him in the back yard.”
“Oh shit,” Kyle felt a wave of nausea sweep over him.
“I was seven at the time,” Tess turned toward the window again, lost in her memories. “We moved all the time, trying to stay ahead of the Special Unit. A year or so later we moved to a new town. Nasedo caught me playing with a neighbor boy. Tommy went missing the next day. His picture got posted all over town. His disappearance even made the national news, but I knew exactly where he was.”
“No,” Kyle fought back the bile that was rising in his throat.
“Nasedo said I hadn’t learned my lesson yet,” Tess turned back to face Kyle. “You see, to them . . . humans are lower life forms, too.”
* * * * *
“What are we gonna do about Tess?” Michael asked as he drove.
“We have to let Max decide,” Isabel said from the back seat.
“Max is in no condition to decide anything,” Michael shot back.
“I’ll pull the trigger,” Maria offered from the seat beside Michael.
“We can’t just kill her,” Isabel cried. “We’re not animals!”
“Isabel’s right,” Alex wrapped his arm around her shoulders trying to comfort her.
“That message says there’s a war coming,” Michael’s tone was deathly ominous, “and right now she’s looking like one of the enemy.” He looked in the rear view mirror, making sure Tess was still behind them. If she tried to get away, he’d have to stop her. It was his job to protect the group, by whatever means necessary. He pulled to a stop in front of the Evans’ house hoping Max was home.
Max was the leader, the decision maker, and Tess’s fate was one decision Michael preferred not to make on his own.
Isabel jumped from the Jetta and raced toward the house with the others following quickly behind. She burst through the door, shouting out her brother’s name.
“Max! Max, where are you? MAX? MAX!”
She ran through the living room, the kitchen, but the house felt empty. She raced down the hall to his bedroom and flung the door open, gasping at what she saw. The others crowded behind her.
“What the fuck?” Michael looked at the bed.
“That’s what it looks like,” Kyle muttered under his breath.
The bed was stripped bare of everything except the rumpled sheets. The blankets and bedspread were strewn about the floor. Papers and textbooks littered the carpet. A backpack lay cast aside with assorted clothing spilling out.
Maria picked up a rumpled shirt from the floor, asking, “Wasn’t Max wearing this earlier?”
“Not any more.” Kyle hooked his finger under the strap of a little black bra and held it up. “Please tell me our illustrious leader isn’t a cross dresser.”
“Oh no,” Tess covered her mouth with her hand. Five sets of eyes turned to stare at her.
“What?” Isabel harshly demanded.
“We might be too late.”
“I want you to tell me everything!” Michael grabbed her arm. “Everything you know!”
“Hey!” Kyle stepped between them with a threatening stance of his own. “Let go!”
“Back off,” Michael towered over him, but Kyle wasn’t intimidated. The alien hybrid might have special powers, but the human had some moves of his own. Kyle wasn’t state champion in Greco Roman Wrestling for nothing.
“I’ll tell you everything,” Tess implored them not to fight, “but we have to go.”
“Where?” Isabel asked the question they all wondered.
“The pod chamber. I think Max might have taken Liz there.”
* * * * *
“C’mon,” Max pulled Liz up the rock ledge.
“Max, wait!” Liz slipped on the loose shale. She went down on one knee.
“Are you okay?” he dropped down beside her. His hands caressed her throat, checking her pulse point for any injuries in her body. He relaxed when her vibrations felt normal.
“I’m fine,” her hand cupped around his, smiling at his over protectiveness. “You just kind of . . . wore me out today.” First she’d chased after him, all the way from school to his house, now he was dragging her up to the pod chamber. In between, he’d worn her out in other ways.
The color rose in his cheeks at her insinuation. What happened between them in his bedroom had been amazing. More than amazing. And it was the reason why they were here.
“Max,” she gripped his hand. “Back in your room, you said you ‘saw everything’. What did you mean by that?”
His gaze shifted from her to the stony face of the rock wall they were climbing. “We’re almost there.”
There was a sense of urgency about him that couldn’t be denied. His hand tightened around hers and she climbed back to her feet to follow him.
* * * * *
“Nasedo didn’t tell me much,” Tess sat wedged between Kyle and Michael in the front seat of the Jetta. They were driving all together this time; the six of them like sardines in a tin can, so they could all hear her explanation. “He said if the Special Unit caught us, he didn’t want me to be able to tell them anything.”
“So tell us what you do know,” Michael demanded. He wasn’t swayed by her lost little girl look.
“He said humans were too weak to recognize the latent power in their minds, but that it wouldn’t always be that way.”
“He said our powers were human,” Michael’s tone turned thoughtful. “Back at Eagle Rock. Advanced, but human.”
“Yes,” Tess nodded. “He said the potential of the human brain was too big a threat to leave alone so the decision was made to wipe them out in their infancy, before they could learn to use the power stored in their minds.” She lifted her eyes to look at Kyle and added, “Before you could learn to fight back.”
“Great,” Kyle grumbled. “That’s just great.”
Tess watched Kyle stare out the side window with his jaw clenching. She opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off.
“So you came to Roswell to turn them to the dark side,” Kyle indicated the other aliens with a quick jab of his chin, “and then what? Wipe the rest of us out? Just like that?”
“Nasedo told me there was an invasion coming, but that’s all.” Tess felt the weight of their penetrating stares. “He taught me how to use my powers, but not about what our ultimate purpose was here. I don’t think he knew. He barely got out of the crash alive, with no means of contacting our home world. Everything was either lost or destroyed. Everything except us. Our pods were programmed to feed us everything we needed to know. Our mission parameters. Our goals and objectives. Everything implanted into our subconscious minds. That’s why it was so important to find you. When we were all together, we were supposed to bond and form a unit, and that’s when everything would come out. That’s why Nasedo pushed so hard for me to be with Max. He’d waited more than 50 years to learn what our mission was.”
“How could he not know?!” Michael snapped.
“Michael,” Isabel spoke up from the back seat. “She may have a point. Remember back in the cave? Nasedo didn’t even know how to activate the orbs. Maybe he doesn’t know anything.”
“He’s our protector –” Michael argued.
“Maybe that’s all he is,” Isabel spoke over him.
Michael thought that over but he still wasn’t satisfied. “So why did you play all those mind games on us? Because you knew we wouldn’t be any part of it?”
“I . . .” Tess looked down at her hands. She couldn’t take the look in their eyes, especially Kyle’s. A month ago it wouldn’t have mattered. Now everything was . . . different. “Nasedo said you’d become too human. Growing up with humans had made you all weak. He said because we were born too young –”
“What do you mean by that?” Michael glared at her again.
“We were supposed to emerge from the pods fully developed, not as kids. It was all planned out on a cosmic scale. When the constellations aligned in a certain way the pods were designed to awaken us, but something went wrong. We were born too young. Nasedo said you were tainted because of it, because you were raised by humans, and the only way to prepare you for your destiny was to strip your human side away from you, and force the alien side out. I was just doing what I was told to do.”
“And you never once saw how sick that was?” Maria wanted to bitch slap her into tomorrow. “Don’t you have a conscience?”
Alex shook his head slowly and spoke up from the back seat.
“She wasn’t raised to have one.”
* * * * *
“This way,” Max tugged Liz’s hand, hurrying into the depths of the chamber. “I hid it over here.”
He released her hand to reach into an alcove above their heads. Liz watched him pull out a bag and set it on the floor at their feet. Inside were the healing stones and a silver egg shaped object. An orb. Max picked it up and cradled it in his hand.
“This is the one we found out in the desert,” Max held it close for her to see. “You and me. Remember?”
Liz nodded against his arm, taking comfort in the closeness of his body. That night out in the desert had been wondrous. So full of promise. But the last time she’d seen the orb, right here in this cave, had been one of the worst days of her life.
“What are you going to do with it?” she looked up at him.
“Activate it.”
“I thought it took two of you to do it,” Liz frowned in confusion. “You and Tess.”
“You and me,” Max said softly.
Liz stared at him, even more confused than before. How could she help him activate the orb?
“Can’t you feel it Liz? I can.” His hand slipped into hers and brought it up in front of them. In the low light of the chamber she could see it now, the glow that emanated from their palms. From both of them. “Did you feel the change, Liz? In my room. When we made love. I can feel you inside me now. Can you feel me?”
Liz thought about it for a moment and then slowly nodded her head. “Yes,” a smile spread over her face. His presence was there, like a fluttering deep inside. Butterfly wings brushing against her soul.
“Are you okay with this?” the smile suddenly fled his face. His alienness had caused changes inside her, something she hadn’t asked for. What if she didn’t want it?
“Am I okay with it?” she arched her eyes in surprise. “I don’t think I have a choice, but yes,” she threw her arms around his shoulders, “yes, I’m okay with it. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Thank god, Max closed his eyes as relief swept through him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, knowing without a doubt how right this was. She was the one. He’d known it his whole life; he just hadn’t known what it meant.
“But what about the orb?” Liz pulled back. “Why did you want to come here?”
Max dropped his attention back to the orb in his hand. “That message we saw before . . . it was wrong.”
“How ‘wrong’?” Liz asked. “In what way?”
“We need to listen to it again. We can activate it. Together.”
“Okay.”
He’d raced them out here to the desert without explaining why, but Liz trusted him implicitly. Doubting him never crossed her mind.
* * * * *
Michael came to a screeching stop on the loose dirt just a few feet away from Max’s jeep. It sat abandoned at the base of the rocks but there was no doubt where Max was right now. He grudgingly gave Tess points for guessing right that they’d be here.
“We have to get to him before he does anything stupid,” Isabel flew out of the car and raced up the incline to the hidden pod chamber. She wasn’t prepared for the sight that greeted her there.
In the middle of the chamber, Max and Liz stood in a lip-lock to rival all lip-locks. Isabel had seen her brother kiss Liz before, but this was way more than kissing. They were almost consuming each other. Thank god they were still dressed. If that kiss were to get any hotter, their clothing would burst into flame.
“Max!”
“Isabel!” Max startled at his sister’s sudden presence in the chamber. He held Liz protectively as the others filed inside. “Michael . . . Mari – what are you guys doing here?”
“Trying to save you,” Michael scowled at the two of them. “What the –”
“Guys, you’re never gonna believe this,” Max pulled the orb out of his pocket. “Liz and I acti –”
“You saw it?” Isabel blurted out at the sight of it. “You saw the message? How can you stand there so calmly after hearing that?”
“What?” Max looked at them, perplexed. “Well, yeah, the message was startling, but –”
“Startling?” Isabel shuddered. “Startling? More like horrifying! Assassins! God, Max! We were sent here as murderers!” Of all the scenarios that had played out in her mind over the years, stone cold killers had never been one of them. She wondered how Liz could stand there looking so serene about it.
“Wait,” Max held up his hand for quiet. “What message are you guys talking about?”
“The orb,” Isabel pointed at the one he was holding. “We activated the other one, in Michael’s apartment.”
Max looked down at the orb in his hand. “I don’t know anything about assassins.”
“According to today’s ‘message in an orb’,” Michael’s voice came out harsh, “we’re the advance wave of an alien invasion, sent here to eliminate certain key humans something called the ‘Granilith’ has targeted.” He looked directly at Liz, causing her to shiver from the intensity of it.
“Whoa!” Max’s mouth dropped open. “That’s not what this orb said!” His eyes narrowed and he stared at Tess.
“I swear,” she held up her hands. “No mind games. That’s what it said.”
Max shared a look with Liz and she nodded her assent. They cupped the orb between them and Max said to the others, “Well listen to this . . .”
A white light shot up out of the orb and coalesced into the familiar figure of a woman in white. Silence fell over the chamber as she spoke.
“If you are seeing me now, it means that you are alive and well. I take this form because it will be familiar to you, and it will help you to understand what I am about to say. You were sent to Earth on an urgent mission, to save our dying world.”
“This part is the same,” Max told the others. “It changes in a minute.”
“Each of you was carefully selected for the skills you possess, paired so that you would enhance one another, and sent to this new world. Your essence was duplicated, cloned and blended with human genetic material so that you could survive here. Activation of this orb means that your Unit has reached maturity and you are ready for the next phase to begin.”
“Okay, listen to this part,” Max said excitedly.
“You come from a world called Antar, in a sector of space known to you as The Whirlwind Galaxy.”
Michael’s mouth dropped open when a constellation appeared above the woman’s head, with its stars lining up in the distorted shape of the letter V. Just like the cave map out at the reservation . . . and eerily similar to the hand signal he’d seen in the message from the other orb.
“Our world fell victim to invaders, parasites who have traveled from one galaxy to another for millennia, leaving destruction in their wake. Our natural resources have become depleted; our planet has been stripped bare. Your Unit holds the power to save our world, and to keep Earth from meeting the same fate.
“You were sent to Earth by design, according to the protocol set forth by the Granilith. The oracle has decreed your mission is to find this human.”
“Look!” Max pointed excitedly.
An image of a small girl appeared before them, playing dress-up in front of a mirror. The image changed, the child growing into a young woman. The others gasped when her image became clear.
Liz.
“You must protect this human at all costs. The leader of your Unit has been imprinted with the trace signature that will lead you to her. Her survival is critical to the future of both our worlds. The teaching pods have encoded your leader with the mission objectives to be enacted once contact has been made. Until that time, hone your skills for the coming battle. Follow your biological directives to combine and enhance your active and latent powers.
“Know this. You hold the key to the survival of an entire race. Be careful. Your enemies are legion.”
The image faded and the light from the orb blinked out.
Max faced the group with a smile lighting his face. “We’re not here as assassins, we’re here to protect Liz, and save the human race!”
Come back next week to see what happens next.
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: Aftermath begins after the harrowing events in The White Room, with these significant changes: There is NO Royal Four. Max and the other podsters did NOT live previous lives. Tess was NOT Max’s former wife. So what’s Max & Co.’s true reason for being on Earth?
Aftermath
Part 27
“C’mon, let’s go,” Michael ordered everyone out of his apartment. They all looked shell-shocked, and with good reason. They’d just witnessed the most horrifying thing they’d ever seen.
“This can’t be real,” Isabel stood unmoving with her hands covering her face. “It can’t be!”
Michael wished that it wasn’t, that it was all just another mindwarp on Tess’s part, but he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his gut that what they’d seen was all too real.
“Isabel,” Michael said gruffly, “we better find Max before –”
Maria shot him a look full of fear. No one had said it aloud yet, but they all were afraid of the same thing. What would Max do to Liz if he remembered on his own? Would he follow through with the mission directive? Would he be able to fight it, or would he succumb to what was implanted in his mind? Was the incident out at the lake just a harbinger of what was to come?
“C’mon, let’s get out of here,” Michael repeated. He glared at Tess as she walked by and reached out to stop her by clamping his hand around her upper arm. He squeezed tightly, nearly lifting her off her feet. “When we find Max, you have a lot of explaining to do.”
Tess nodded in silent assent.
Once outside they broke into two groups; Michael, Maria, Isabel and Alex going to the Jetta, Kyle and Tess climbing in his Mustang. Michael settled behind the wheel and started the car to lead the way. The pulsating sounds of Stabbing Westward blasted from the CD player.
I won’t become the thing I hate
I won’t become the thing I hate
I won’t become –
“Damn right,” Michael hit the eject button and grabbed the CD. He tossed it out the window and hit the gas pedal, making the Jetta lurch forward. He wasn’t a monster, and nothing was going to make him one. Not a mission directive. Not a message from an orb. Not an impending invasion.
He might be part alien, but he was also part human, and he’d already chosen his side.
* * * * *
“So, you knew all about this?” Kyle’s hands white knuckled the steering wheel as he drove behind Michael. She had the orb, and the page from the Destiny book with Liz’s image. Everything pointed to her as being the enemy. He wasn’t even sure why he was letting Tess sit in his car.
“No,” Tess shook her head. “I only knew part of it.”
“What part?” Kyle looked at her, not wanting to think he’d misjudged her, but the evidence against her was strong. She didn’t answer for a minute, but when she did, it wasn’t what he expected.
“I never knew what it meant to be human,” she said softly, “until I came here. Until I met . . . you.” She turned to him, but the startled look on his face made her retract. “All of you. Until I met all of you.”
Kyle felt her tensing and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. Emotional scenes weren’t his forte. She spoke again, but this time her head hung low, not looking at him.
“I lived my whole life with a man – no, not a man – a thing, who wouldn’t let me. Every time I showed any human traits he did things. Bad things.”
“Like what?” Kyle wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but he wanted to understand what made her turn out so different from the others.
“I brought a puppy home once,” she looked up, smiling wistfully at the memory of it. “He was the cutest little thing.” Her smile faded quickly and her face clouded over again. “We’d just moved to a new place, and a neighbor was giving them away. I brought him home, so excited to have something of my own, but Nasedo said we didn’t consort with lower life forms. He snapped its neck and made me bury him in the back yard.”
“Oh shit,” Kyle felt a wave of nausea sweep over him.
“I was seven at the time,” Tess turned toward the window again, lost in her memories. “We moved all the time, trying to stay ahead of the Special Unit. A year or so later we moved to a new town. Nasedo caught me playing with a neighbor boy. Tommy went missing the next day. His picture got posted all over town. His disappearance even made the national news, but I knew exactly where he was.”
“No,” Kyle fought back the bile that was rising in his throat.
“Nasedo said I hadn’t learned my lesson yet,” Tess turned back to face Kyle. “You see, to them . . . humans are lower life forms, too.”
* * * * *
“What are we gonna do about Tess?” Michael asked as he drove.
“We have to let Max decide,” Isabel said from the back seat.
“Max is in no condition to decide anything,” Michael shot back.
“I’ll pull the trigger,” Maria offered from the seat beside Michael.
“We can’t just kill her,” Isabel cried. “We’re not animals!”
“Isabel’s right,” Alex wrapped his arm around her shoulders trying to comfort her.
“That message says there’s a war coming,” Michael’s tone was deathly ominous, “and right now she’s looking like one of the enemy.” He looked in the rear view mirror, making sure Tess was still behind them. If she tried to get away, he’d have to stop her. It was his job to protect the group, by whatever means necessary. He pulled to a stop in front of the Evans’ house hoping Max was home.
Max was the leader, the decision maker, and Tess’s fate was one decision Michael preferred not to make on his own.
Isabel jumped from the Jetta and raced toward the house with the others following quickly behind. She burst through the door, shouting out her brother’s name.
“Max! Max, where are you? MAX? MAX!”
She ran through the living room, the kitchen, but the house felt empty. She raced down the hall to his bedroom and flung the door open, gasping at what she saw. The others crowded behind her.
“What the fuck?” Michael looked at the bed.
“That’s what it looks like,” Kyle muttered under his breath.
The bed was stripped bare of everything except the rumpled sheets. The blankets and bedspread were strewn about the floor. Papers and textbooks littered the carpet. A backpack lay cast aside with assorted clothing spilling out.
Maria picked up a rumpled shirt from the floor, asking, “Wasn’t Max wearing this earlier?”
“Not any more.” Kyle hooked his finger under the strap of a little black bra and held it up. “Please tell me our illustrious leader isn’t a cross dresser.”
“Oh no,” Tess covered her mouth with her hand. Five sets of eyes turned to stare at her.
“What?” Isabel harshly demanded.
“We might be too late.”
“I want you to tell me everything!” Michael grabbed her arm. “Everything you know!”
“Hey!” Kyle stepped between them with a threatening stance of his own. “Let go!”
“Back off,” Michael towered over him, but Kyle wasn’t intimidated. The alien hybrid might have special powers, but the human had some moves of his own. Kyle wasn’t state champion in Greco Roman Wrestling for nothing.
“I’ll tell you everything,” Tess implored them not to fight, “but we have to go.”
“Where?” Isabel asked the question they all wondered.
“The pod chamber. I think Max might have taken Liz there.”
* * * * *
“C’mon,” Max pulled Liz up the rock ledge.
“Max, wait!” Liz slipped on the loose shale. She went down on one knee.
“Are you okay?” he dropped down beside her. His hands caressed her throat, checking her pulse point for any injuries in her body. He relaxed when her vibrations felt normal.
“I’m fine,” her hand cupped around his, smiling at his over protectiveness. “You just kind of . . . wore me out today.” First she’d chased after him, all the way from school to his house, now he was dragging her up to the pod chamber. In between, he’d worn her out in other ways.
The color rose in his cheeks at her insinuation. What happened between them in his bedroom had been amazing. More than amazing. And it was the reason why they were here.
“Max,” she gripped his hand. “Back in your room, you said you ‘saw everything’. What did you mean by that?”
His gaze shifted from her to the stony face of the rock wall they were climbing. “We’re almost there.”
There was a sense of urgency about him that couldn’t be denied. His hand tightened around hers and she climbed back to her feet to follow him.
* * * * *
“Nasedo didn’t tell me much,” Tess sat wedged between Kyle and Michael in the front seat of the Jetta. They were driving all together this time; the six of them like sardines in a tin can, so they could all hear her explanation. “He said if the Special Unit caught us, he didn’t want me to be able to tell them anything.”
“So tell us what you do know,” Michael demanded. He wasn’t swayed by her lost little girl look.
“He said humans were too weak to recognize the latent power in their minds, but that it wouldn’t always be that way.”
“He said our powers were human,” Michael’s tone turned thoughtful. “Back at Eagle Rock. Advanced, but human.”
“Yes,” Tess nodded. “He said the potential of the human brain was too big a threat to leave alone so the decision was made to wipe them out in their infancy, before they could learn to use the power stored in their minds.” She lifted her eyes to look at Kyle and added, “Before you could learn to fight back.”
“Great,” Kyle grumbled. “That’s just great.”
Tess watched Kyle stare out the side window with his jaw clenching. She opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off.
“So you came to Roswell to turn them to the dark side,” Kyle indicated the other aliens with a quick jab of his chin, “and then what? Wipe the rest of us out? Just like that?”
“Nasedo told me there was an invasion coming, but that’s all.” Tess felt the weight of their penetrating stares. “He taught me how to use my powers, but not about what our ultimate purpose was here. I don’t think he knew. He barely got out of the crash alive, with no means of contacting our home world. Everything was either lost or destroyed. Everything except us. Our pods were programmed to feed us everything we needed to know. Our mission parameters. Our goals and objectives. Everything implanted into our subconscious minds. That’s why it was so important to find you. When we were all together, we were supposed to bond and form a unit, and that’s when everything would come out. That’s why Nasedo pushed so hard for me to be with Max. He’d waited more than 50 years to learn what our mission was.”
“How could he not know?!” Michael snapped.
“Michael,” Isabel spoke up from the back seat. “She may have a point. Remember back in the cave? Nasedo didn’t even know how to activate the orbs. Maybe he doesn’t know anything.”
“He’s our protector –” Michael argued.
“Maybe that’s all he is,” Isabel spoke over him.
Michael thought that over but he still wasn’t satisfied. “So why did you play all those mind games on us? Because you knew we wouldn’t be any part of it?”
“I . . .” Tess looked down at her hands. She couldn’t take the look in their eyes, especially Kyle’s. A month ago it wouldn’t have mattered. Now everything was . . . different. “Nasedo said you’d become too human. Growing up with humans had made you all weak. He said because we were born too young –”
“What do you mean by that?” Michael glared at her again.
“We were supposed to emerge from the pods fully developed, not as kids. It was all planned out on a cosmic scale. When the constellations aligned in a certain way the pods were designed to awaken us, but something went wrong. We were born too young. Nasedo said you were tainted because of it, because you were raised by humans, and the only way to prepare you for your destiny was to strip your human side away from you, and force the alien side out. I was just doing what I was told to do.”
“And you never once saw how sick that was?” Maria wanted to bitch slap her into tomorrow. “Don’t you have a conscience?”
Alex shook his head slowly and spoke up from the back seat.
“She wasn’t raised to have one.”
* * * * *
“This way,” Max tugged Liz’s hand, hurrying into the depths of the chamber. “I hid it over here.”
He released her hand to reach into an alcove above their heads. Liz watched him pull out a bag and set it on the floor at their feet. Inside were the healing stones and a silver egg shaped object. An orb. Max picked it up and cradled it in his hand.
“This is the one we found out in the desert,” Max held it close for her to see. “You and me. Remember?”
Liz nodded against his arm, taking comfort in the closeness of his body. That night out in the desert had been wondrous. So full of promise. But the last time she’d seen the orb, right here in this cave, had been one of the worst days of her life.
“What are you going to do with it?” she looked up at him.
“Activate it.”
“I thought it took two of you to do it,” Liz frowned in confusion. “You and Tess.”
“You and me,” Max said softly.
Liz stared at him, even more confused than before. How could she help him activate the orb?
“Can’t you feel it Liz? I can.” His hand slipped into hers and brought it up in front of them. In the low light of the chamber she could see it now, the glow that emanated from their palms. From both of them. “Did you feel the change, Liz? In my room. When we made love. I can feel you inside me now. Can you feel me?”
Liz thought about it for a moment and then slowly nodded her head. “Yes,” a smile spread over her face. His presence was there, like a fluttering deep inside. Butterfly wings brushing against her soul.
“Are you okay with this?” the smile suddenly fled his face. His alienness had caused changes inside her, something she hadn’t asked for. What if she didn’t want it?
“Am I okay with it?” she arched her eyes in surprise. “I don’t think I have a choice, but yes,” she threw her arms around his shoulders, “yes, I’m okay with it. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Thank god, Max closed his eyes as relief swept through him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, knowing without a doubt how right this was. She was the one. He’d known it his whole life; he just hadn’t known what it meant.
“But what about the orb?” Liz pulled back. “Why did you want to come here?”
Max dropped his attention back to the orb in his hand. “That message we saw before . . . it was wrong.”
“How ‘wrong’?” Liz asked. “In what way?”
“We need to listen to it again. We can activate it. Together.”
“Okay.”
He’d raced them out here to the desert without explaining why, but Liz trusted him implicitly. Doubting him never crossed her mind.
* * * * *
Michael came to a screeching stop on the loose dirt just a few feet away from Max’s jeep. It sat abandoned at the base of the rocks but there was no doubt where Max was right now. He grudgingly gave Tess points for guessing right that they’d be here.
“We have to get to him before he does anything stupid,” Isabel flew out of the car and raced up the incline to the hidden pod chamber. She wasn’t prepared for the sight that greeted her there.
In the middle of the chamber, Max and Liz stood in a lip-lock to rival all lip-locks. Isabel had seen her brother kiss Liz before, but this was way more than kissing. They were almost consuming each other. Thank god they were still dressed. If that kiss were to get any hotter, their clothing would burst into flame.
“Max!”
“Isabel!” Max startled at his sister’s sudden presence in the chamber. He held Liz protectively as the others filed inside. “Michael . . . Mari – what are you guys doing here?”
“Trying to save you,” Michael scowled at the two of them. “What the –”
“Guys, you’re never gonna believe this,” Max pulled the orb out of his pocket. “Liz and I acti –”
“You saw it?” Isabel blurted out at the sight of it. “You saw the message? How can you stand there so calmly after hearing that?”
“What?” Max looked at them, perplexed. “Well, yeah, the message was startling, but –”
“Startling?” Isabel shuddered. “Startling? More like horrifying! Assassins! God, Max! We were sent here as murderers!” Of all the scenarios that had played out in her mind over the years, stone cold killers had never been one of them. She wondered how Liz could stand there looking so serene about it.
“Wait,” Max held up his hand for quiet. “What message are you guys talking about?”
“The orb,” Isabel pointed at the one he was holding. “We activated the other one, in Michael’s apartment.”
Max looked down at the orb in his hand. “I don’t know anything about assassins.”
“According to today’s ‘message in an orb’,” Michael’s voice came out harsh, “we’re the advance wave of an alien invasion, sent here to eliminate certain key humans something called the ‘Granilith’ has targeted.” He looked directly at Liz, causing her to shiver from the intensity of it.
“Whoa!” Max’s mouth dropped open. “That’s not what this orb said!” His eyes narrowed and he stared at Tess.
“I swear,” she held up her hands. “No mind games. That’s what it said.”
Max shared a look with Liz and she nodded her assent. They cupped the orb between them and Max said to the others, “Well listen to this . . .”
A white light shot up out of the orb and coalesced into the familiar figure of a woman in white. Silence fell over the chamber as she spoke.
“If you are seeing me now, it means that you are alive and well. I take this form because it will be familiar to you, and it will help you to understand what I am about to say. You were sent to Earth on an urgent mission, to save our dying world.”
“This part is the same,” Max told the others. “It changes in a minute.”
“Each of you was carefully selected for the skills you possess, paired so that you would enhance one another, and sent to this new world. Your essence was duplicated, cloned and blended with human genetic material so that you could survive here. Activation of this orb means that your Unit has reached maturity and you are ready for the next phase to begin.”
“Okay, listen to this part,” Max said excitedly.
“You come from a world called Antar, in a sector of space known to you as The Whirlwind Galaxy.”
Michael’s mouth dropped open when a constellation appeared above the woman’s head, with its stars lining up in the distorted shape of the letter V. Just like the cave map out at the reservation . . . and eerily similar to the hand signal he’d seen in the message from the other orb.
“Our world fell victim to invaders, parasites who have traveled from one galaxy to another for millennia, leaving destruction in their wake. Our natural resources have become depleted; our planet has been stripped bare. Your Unit holds the power to save our world, and to keep Earth from meeting the same fate.
“You were sent to Earth by design, according to the protocol set forth by the Granilith. The oracle has decreed your mission is to find this human.”
“Look!” Max pointed excitedly.
An image of a small girl appeared before them, playing dress-up in front of a mirror. The image changed, the child growing into a young woman. The others gasped when her image became clear.
Liz.
“You must protect this human at all costs. The leader of your Unit has been imprinted with the trace signature that will lead you to her. Her survival is critical to the future of both our worlds. The teaching pods have encoded your leader with the mission objectives to be enacted once contact has been made. Until that time, hone your skills for the coming battle. Follow your biological directives to combine and enhance your active and latent powers.
“Know this. You hold the key to the survival of an entire race. Be careful. Your enemies are legion.”
The image faded and the light from the orb blinked out.
Max faced the group with a smile lighting his face. “We’re not here as assassins, we’re here to protect Liz, and save the human race!”
Come back next week to see what happens next.
-
Breathless
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 254
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Aftermath Part 28
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Author note: I think it’s important at this point to remind everyone that Aftermath has a mythology all its own. As I’ve said before, there is NO Royal Four, NO prior lives, NO Kings, Oueens, or Palaces. Any “preconceived notions” you have should be left at the door.
This part may answer some of your questions, and will probably make you ask a whole lot more.
Aftermath
Part 28
Liz stood on the rocks outside of the pod chamber looking into the late afternoon sun, inhaling deeply the warm summer air. The day’s events were closing in on her, almost enough to smother her. It was crazy, insane, to think that someone would want to hurt her. She was just a small town girl, nothing special, about as normal as they came, or at least she had been, until Max came into her life.
Could life ever be normal again?
“Hey,” Max walked up behind her. He turned her around, stroking his finger gently over her cheek. “How’re you holding up?”
“Fine. I guess. For a girl who just found out an alien race wants to kill her.”
“Liz –”
“It’s okay,” she pressed her fingers to his lips. She could see the guilt all over his face, blaming himself for something he wasn’t responsible for. If it wasn’t for him, she’d be dead already.
“You shouldn’t be out here,” Max scanned the desert terrain with a watchful eye.
“I can see it now. You’re never going to leave me alone, are you?”
“Do you want me to leave you alone?” he leaned down and nuzzled his nose behind her ear.
“No fair,” Liz felt her knees turn to jello.
“All’s fair in love and war,” he nibbled at her, smiling at the moan he coaxed from her throat. When he straightened up, the humor slowly disappeared from his face, replaced by the all too familiar Overprotective Max, going into hyper drive.
“Seriously, Liz. You shouldn’t be out here alone.”
“Max,” Liz sighed. “I can’t live my life under a rock, hiding from the world.”
“I know that, but . . . we have to be careful. Until we figure this out.” All his life he’d thought he was a monster, an alien freak, but now he was glad of what he was. What better purpose in life could there be than to use his alien powers to keep Liz Parker safe?
“Max, we’re teenagers, in Roswell New Mexico. How are we supposed to stop an invasion from another world?”
“Good question,” Max let out a long breath. It was a question he didn’t have an answer for. Not yet.
“It must be a mistake,” Liz told him. It was the only reasonable explanation she could come up with. How could she, Liz Parker, be a threat to an invading race of aliens? She wasn’t experienced, or powerful, and she certainly didn’t know anything about space or interstellar travel to warrant aliens targeting her as Enemy #1.
Max fervently wished she was right, that it was all a mistake, but he knew that it wasn’t. She was the one. He could feel it, deep inside. He’d known it from the moment he laid eyes on her, and now that he understood it, he realized the need to protect her had always been a part of him. He’d watched her for years, reacting to every scraped knee, or bruise, or scratch she’d ever gotten, but it wasn’t until the shooting that he’d acted on it, when her life hung in the balance.
“C’mon,” Max took her hand to lead her into the cavern, but Liz resisted, holding him back.
“Max, wait,” she said, and then looked away.
“What is it?” he stepped closer. He could tell something was bothering her, but he didn’t know what.
“Max,” she looked up at him with uncertainty clouding her face. “When you look at me . . . what do you see?”
“What do I see?” Max looked at her in surprise. Did she really need to ask?
“Never mind,” she started to turn away, feeling embarrassed.
“Liz,” his hand closed around her upper arm and gently pulled her back. His fingertips brushed over her face, touching her with tenderness. “When I look at you, I see the person who makes my heart skip a beat when she looks at me. Who makes my stomach rumble every time she’s near me. When I look at you, I see the one I know I was meant to be with. It’s always been you, Liz. I love you.”
His words should have soothed her, but a growing sense of apprehension kept her heart on edge.
She looked up into his gentle gaze, asking the hardest question she’d ever faced. “How do you know what you’re feeling is real, Max? How do you know you weren’t just programmed to feel this way? What if . . . what if one day . . . you wake up and your programming has gone away? What if you wake up and you realize you don’t –”
His lips swooped down on hers silencing her words. He opened his mind and his heart, showing her everything he felt, chasing away all her doubts. The boy on the playground might have been programmed to recognize her, but he hadn’t been programmed to love her. He did that all on his own.
Max held Liz in the circle of his arms, parting his lips from hers slowly to say, “I learned a lot of things about myself today, and one of those things is that love can’t be programmed. What you and I have, what we are together, isn’t something anyone can tell us to feel. It comes from our hearts.”
The apprehension she’d been feeling dissipated into the warm summer air. When he touched her, when he kissed her, his emotions were plain to see. She melted into him, but there was one more thing she needed to know.
“Tell me about this morning,” she whispered into his chest.
“This mor . . .” he started to say and then paused. “You mean between me and Tess?” He touched his finger to her chin and lifted her face to his. “I told you earlier. Nothing happened. Tess and I . . . when Tess found me in the pod chamber this morning, she . . . she came there to seduce me.”
“But –”
“But it didn’t happen,” Max cupped her face between his hands. “She couldn’t get through. I concentrated on you, and she couldn’t get in.”
“Really?” Liz looked up at him hopefully.
“Really,” Max smiled at her, but Liz could see the underlying tension he was trying to hide. She cocked her head and he caved. “I won’t lie to you. Tess has done some terrible things. To me. To us –”
Liz felt her stomach clench. “What kind of things?”
Max took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Tess used the memory retrieval to get inside my mind. She tried to drive a wedge between us by twisting some of my memories, making it seem like – like you were in the White Room, doing to me the things Pierce did.”
“That BITCH!” Liz exploded with anger, her dark eyes turning black. “She caused those nightmares? How DARE she do that to you!” She spun around, heading back into the cavern, intent on kicking some alien ass.
“Liz, don’t,” Max stopped her with a hand around her arm.
Liz whirled on him, with fire burning in her eyes. “Why is she still here? Why is she still breathing!”
“Listen to me,” Max tried to calm her down. “When she tried to get into my mind, I got into hers instead. I saw things there that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”
“Max, what she did was unconscionable –”
Max cut off her rant with his fingertips to her lips. When he spoke, his voice was low and somber.
“You know what they did to me in the White Room.”
Liz curled her hand around his, softening her own voice. “What’s that got to do with this?”
“Can you imagine living that way for years? Liz, I was in that place for just over 24 hours. It scarred me, probably for life, but I had you to hold on to. The thought of getting out of there, of coming back to you again, it’s what kept me alive.”
“But Max. Tess –”
“Tess grew up in her own private White Room, courtesy of Ed Harding. Remember when you kissed him, when you thought it was me?”
“Yes,” Liz shuddered. The flash she’d gotten from him was a bleak wasteland. Dark. Frightening. Soulless.
“Can you imagine what it must have been like to be raised by him? No love. No comfort. No human emotion at all. This morning, when I got inside her head, you can’t imagine the horrible things I saw there.”
“How do you know she’s not manipulating you right now, or mindwarping you to feel this way?”
“She can’t,” Max smiled without humor. “I was able to feel the power of her mindwarp when we were connected, and I turned it back on her. And then I learned to do a little subliminal tampering of my own. I’m not sure if it’s permanent or temporary but, at least for now, she can’t lie to us.”
“How can we ever trust her?” Liz asked
“I don’t know that we can. She’s just now starting to learn what being human means, from us. Maybe that will make the difference. I don’t know if we can fix her, but we have to try.”
“Why?”
Liz didn’t mean to sound heartless, but their lives had been a nightmare ever since Tess arrived. She couldn’t imagine ever forgiving her for the things she’d done.
“We need her.”
Liz felt the hair rise on the back of her neck. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure,” Max admitted. “A lot’s happened today, things I haven’t sorted out in my mind yet, but I have this feeling that we need her, to survive. We’re a Unit, and we need all the parts to make it work.”
“The four of you,” Liz felt a pang of jealousy.
“No,” Max shook his head. “The eight of us. We’re all in this together.” He saw the doubt coloring her face and he shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t ask me how I know that, ‘cause I can’t answer it. I just do.”
“I trust you, but I don’t trust her.”
“None of us can. Not yet. She has to earn our trust. You know the old saying, ‘Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.’ I think it applies here.”
“I’ll hurt her, if she tries to do anything to you again,” Liz warned.
“A cat fight? Over me?” Max joked to ease the tension.
“Max!” Liz hit him on the chest. Hard.
He caught her hands, letting out a small laugh before turning serious. “It’ll be alright Liz. I’ll make sure of it.”
* * * * *
Max led Liz back into the pod chamber noticing everything was still the same as he’d left it a few minutes ago. Michael was still pacing the cavern, Isabel was still nervously raking her hand through her hair, and Tess was still standing off to the side by herself trying not to be noticed. Her face filled with relief when she saw Max enter the room. Liz noticed it too, and slipped her hand into his.
“It’s about time you got back,” Michael challenged.
“Michael,” Max shot back. “We were only gone for five minutes!”
“This is important, Max! How can there be two orbs, with two distinctly different messages?”
“I think I can explain that,” Max stood near the pods, keeping Liz close to his side. Jumbled thoughts swirled around in his mind, secrets his connection to Liz had released, but he was still trying to make sense of them.
“Please do,” Michael huffed.
“Pierce had one of the orbs, the one the Special Unit recovered from the crash. It had the original message, the one you guys saw. The one that said we were here to . . .”
“To kill Liz,” Isabel finished for her brother.
“Right,” Max took a deep breath, struggling with that horrible thought. He felt Liz squeeze his hand, a private show of her support, and smiled at her gratefully. “The second one is the one Liz and I found out in the desert. We went there after she drew the image of the radio tower and I recognized it as a place near the crash site. It felt like we were led to it. Like someone wanted us to find it.”
“Did you have anything to do with that?” Michael whirled around, glaring at Tess.
“No,” Tess shook her head adamantly. “The last thing Nasedo wants is for Max and Liz to be together. He’s on the other side.”
“And whose side are you on?” Maria hissed at the blonde. Why hadn’t they killed her yet?
“Stop it.”
Max’s words were spoken softly, but with such authority, all other conversation stopped. Everyone stared at him.
“Tess is a part of this. We need her. Her power, her skills. We’re a Unit, and without her we don’t have the strength to complete the mission we were sent here to do.”
“You mean kill Liz?” Michael sneered.
“No, I mean save her!” Max shot back. He would willingly become best friends with the devil himself, if that’s what it took to keep Liz safe.
“Well that depends on which message you believe,” Michael wasn’t convinced. “Maybe it’s all bogus.”
“No, the messages are real,” Max said with conviction. “Both of them.”
Michael threw up his hands in exasperation. “How can they both be real? One says we’re supposed to kill Liz. The other says we’re supposed to save her.”
“I have a theory,” Liz spoke up. She shifted slightly as they all turned to stare at her, the focus of everyone in the room now. “Last spring, before we found the orb, Max and I . . . well, Max and I got pretty close. Really close.” She saw the smirks on some of their faces and cried out, “Not that close!”
Max chuckled beside her and she elbowed him in the side.
“Oowww!” he rubbed his ribs, trying to hold back a smile. Would everything have been different if he and Liz had given in to their desires last spring? They’d been so close to unlocking the secrets in his mind, and they hadn’t even known it. But maybe this was the way it was supposed to be. They needed Tess, and last spring she hadn’t been on their side.
“Anyway,” Liz continued. “When we kissed, I saw things. Visions. Flashes. Things locked in Max’s mind. One of those visions was of your ship – crashing.” She turned to Max. “Remember?”
“I remember,” he nodded. It was their first visit to the eraser room. She saw his ship crashing. He got the flash of her playing dress-up as a little girl, just like the image they saw from the orb today.
“Some of the things I saw then make more sense now,” Liz went on. “I think there was a power struggle on your ship that caused the crash, two factions fighting for control.”
“You think fighting on our ship caused the crash?” Isabel asked.
“She’s right,” Max said with certainty.
“How can you know that, Max?” Isabel blurted out. “We weren’t even born yet!” The stress she was feeling was almost too much to take. She wanted to be prom queen. She wanted to organize the annual Christmas Pageant and the Easter parade. She didn’t want to be a murderer, and she didn’t want to have the responsibility of trying to save the world.
Max’s heart went out to his sister, but there was nothing he could do to make this easier. They’d always known there had to be a reason why they were brought here. That it wasn’t just some random act. Their lives had never been normal, and never would be.
Max’s thoughts turned inward, trying to sort through everything flowing through his mind. A memory of his first visit to the UFO Center resurfaced, with Milton’s speech in front of a group of tourists striking a cord . . .
‘But on that fateful night something went terribly wrong, and one, though some say more than one, of the alien crafts crashed onto our planet . . .’
Images rushed at Max, small bodies with thin arms and legs racing around a control room while the ship plummeted, the ground growing closer and closer on the view screen. Jumbled bits played out in his head like clips from an old movie.
“We were sent to Earth by the Skins,” Max released Liz’s hand and began a careful inspection of the chamber walls.
“The Skins?” Isabel said the name fearfully.
Everyone watched Max, listening to him recount things he shouldn’t know, while he moved around the chamber looking for . . . something.
“No one knows what they really look like. They’re parasites that live inside a husk. A living skin. They can’t tolerate the atmosphere without one. That’s why they made us, to come in first, to pave the way for invasion.”
“Invasion?” Isabel crossed her arms over her chest, feeling a chill deep inside. “But you said –”
Max turned away from his inspection of the wall to look at the others. He looked different now. Stronger. More confident. The leader he was always meant to be. “I told you. The first message was real.”
Maria, Alex, and Kyle all exchanged a fearful look. Had they been led here? By four evil aliens, to carry out a planned invasion of their world? Were they all about to die? Liz was the only human that didn’t look scared. She moved closer to Max, with their hands automatically lacing together.
“But so was the second one,” Max continued. The intimate look he gave Liz helped ease everyone’s tension. “Antar developed the technology that created us, but it was the Skins that used it to send us here. It was supposed to be an experiment, to see the effect of combining Antarian and human DNA.”
“You mean cloning,” Liz offered.
“Exactly,” Max nodded. “They found out combining Antarian and human DNA caused some of the dormant areas of the human brain to become active. When the Skins took over Antar, they subverted the technology to create a super soldier, human on the outside, but with powers the human brain wouldn’t evolve for hundreds, maybe thousands of years.”
“A perfect fighting force,” Michael conceded and Max nodded once again.
“The Skins sent us here with four shapeshifters who were supposed to protect us until our bodies matured and the pods finished our programming. But not all the shapeshifters were on the Skins’ side. Nasedo was a member of a resistance group –”
“Nasedo?” Michael spit the name out. “Even Tess said Nasedo wasn’t on our side!”
“Ed Harding isn’t Nasedo,” Max told them, causing the room to fall into a stunned silence. Even Liz’s eyes grew wide in surprise.
“How . . .? Who . . .?” Isabel stuttered.
“The alien that River Dog befriended, the one he helped heal in the cave, that wasn’t Ed Harding. Ed Harding has always been on the Skins side. Nasedo was on ours. Nasedo was the one who altered our programming, changing our directive to protect Liz, not to kill her.”
“Max,” Michael shook his head. “How do you know this?”
“It was all locked in my head,” Max turned an intimate look toward the dark haired girl beside him. “Liz was the key to releasing it.”
“So what caused the crash?” Liz asked, wanting to know more.
“Nasedo was caught altering the pods. A struggle on board destabilized the ship. When we crashed, debris was spread for miles. Our pods got separated.”
“He’s right.” Tess said softly, bracing herself. “It all makes sense . . .”
“What makes sense?” Michael asked. None of this made sense. He could barely remember coming out of the pods, and nothing about the ship. How did Max know this stuff?
“Originally . . .” Tess bit her lip before finishing. “Our pods weren’t together.”
“What do you mean, we weren’t together!” Isabel shouted, pointing across the room. “All four pods are right there!”
“What are you trying to pull?” Michael accused.
“HOLD IT,” Max shouted out over the others. When they quieted, he turned to Tess, just as eager for an explanation as the rest of them. He had no knowledge of what happened after planetfall. “Explain.”
Tess took a deep breath, steeling herself for their reactions. “I know Na – Ed Harding – rescued my pod from the crash, but for ten years, we didn’t know where the rest of you were. He monitored the Special Unit for years, and when we heard the rumors after Liz got shot and Max healed her, that brought us here. We studied you for a while, until we were sure it was you. It took us months to find the pod chamber, and when we did, we set the stage to make it look like all four pods had always been here together.”
“But I remember coming out of the pod,” Max said softly. “I remember seeing you floating in yours.”
“You remember what I made you remember,” Tess dropped her eyes, feeling the weight of his stare. She felt Kyle turn his back and walk away from her, which hurt even more than the look on Max’s face. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? You’re sorry!” Isabel spit out. “How could you!”
“Isabel,” Max said harshly.
“You’re defending her?” Isabel turned on her brother.
“It’s in the past,” his voice softened, but his tone was more commanding than ever before. “Let it go.”
Max looked at Isabel’s and Michael’s stunned faces, knowing they didn’t understand what he did. They needed Tess if they wanted to win this fight. Alienating her for past mistakes wasn’t going to help their cause. Their mission to protect Liz was all that mattered.
He turned his back, returning to his inspection of the walls. “This is what I think happened. Two protectors survived the crash. Ed Harding is obviously a member of the invasion force. He escaped the crash with Tess’s pod. The second survivor, Nasedo, recovered our pods and installed us in the pod chamber. Then for some reason, he left us there. Abandoned us to fend for ourselves.”
“Max,” Liz said gently. She continued when he turned to look at her. “Maybe you weren’t abandoned at all. Maybe your protector wanted the Evans to find you that night in the desert. Maybe he wanted you to live with humans, to learn what it was like to be human.”
Max faced Liz drawing comfort from her theory. Maybe they hadn’t been abandoned on purpose, like last weeks garbage.
Michael couldn’t contain the question that had been bothering him since he heard it from the first orb. He blurted out, “What’s the Granilith?”
“It’s a religious icon,” Max answered without thinking about it. All eyes turned to him and he realized what he said.
“A what?” Isabel asked.
“It was built by the ancients,” Max turned back toward the chamber wall. “It warps time and space. It can show the future, or the present, or the past, if you know how to read it.”
“God, Max!” Isabel stared at her brother like she’d never seen him before. “How can you know all this?”
Max stopped in front of a solid rock and waved his hand over the flat surface. He turned around to look at the others after a silver handprint appeared. “I just do.”
With an encouraging look from Liz, Max pressed his hand against the handprint. Within seconds the wall shimmered, then simply disappeared. He took Liz’s hand and they stepped into a second cavern, smaller than the first, but it wasn’t the size that they noticed. A conical shaped device filled the chamber, capturing all their attention.
“Is that . . .?” Kyle’s voice trailed off.
“The Granilith,” Max confirmed what they all were wondering. It stood silent, dormant, waiting. The eight teens circled around it, awed by its majestic beauty.
“Does it work?” Alex’s eyes lit up. He ran his hand over the smooth surface, much to Isabel’s consternation.
“Don’t touch it! What if it zaps you!”
Alex snapped his hand back.
“It won’t hurt you,” Max assured everyone.
He wasn’t sure how he knew all these things, except that the knowledge had always been there, hidden inside his mind. Liz had seen glimpses of it in the flashes, bits and pieces of memories that contact with her had brought to the surface.
But there was something more he wasn’t remembering, something on the periphery of his memory that he sensed was important, but he just couldn’t grasp it. A passage from the orb message stuck with him, buzzing at his subconscious mind.
Your essence was duplicated, cloned and blended with human genetic material . . .
duplicated and cloned . . .
duplicated . . .
Liz squeezed his hand and Max shook off his worrisome thoughts. They had enough problems to worry about as it was. He didn’t need to invent more.
As the group circled around the Granilith, thoughts continued to tumble through Max’s brain. Too many to sort through, but one thing was clear. The number 8 stood out in his mind, telling him the importance of them all working together, 8 working for a common goal. Invincible.
4 aliens and 4 humans.
What other purpose could the number 8 mean?
* * * * *
The dwindling rays of the setting sun lanced through the dirty kitchen window illuminating the lone figure at the table. The spoon in his hand scraped against the cereal bowl, catching the last of the chocolate flavored Cocoa Puffs. It wasn’t much of a dinner, but he didn’t give a shit. He cast aside the spoon and lifted the bowl, slurping up the last of the milk. Finished, he pushed the bowl aside and wiped his hand over his scruffy chin to remove the drops of milk that had dribbled there. He let out a deep belch just as the phone rang.
“Fuck.”
He pushed back from the table and stalked across the kitchen. A swastika-like tattoo on his muscular bicep flexed as he lifted the handset from the wall and brought it to his ear.
“Yeah?” he scratched his hand through his unkempt hair. The uneven ends fell around his shoulders, giving him an untamed air, like a lion on the prowl.
“You have a new assignment. Get the others together.”
“Where?”
“The target is being relayed to the orb now.”
“’Bout fuckin’ time. I’m goin’ apeshit in this rathole.”
“The latest indications are this is a big one. Important. An unidentified orb sent out a signal in the vicinity of a primary target. Female. Her status has been elevated to high priority. We’re still trying to track the orb’s origins, but the signal was garbled. Possibly blocked. Confirmation failed. It could mean an orb’s fallen into the wrong hands. You may be facing resistance.”
His eyes flashed. Resistance? Interesting. He was itching for a good fight. The last three kills had been boring. No fuckin’ fight in ‘em at all.
“You want backup on this one?”
“No,” his curt answer left no room for argument. His Unit had gotten along fine without backup for the last ten years, he didn’t need any now.
“So where we goin’ this time?” he asked again, itching to get on the road again.
“Roswell. Roswell, New Mexico.”
“Fuck! You gotta be shittin’ me.”
The voice on the other end of the line snorted a laugh. “Alien capital of the world.”
“Fuck me,” his face twisted in a derisive sneer. Roswell, New Mexico. Who woulda fuckin’ guessed they’d end up back there?
He hung up the phone and turned back to the table, with the dwindling rays of the evening sun highlighting his features. On another man, that face was considered handsome, with his chiseled jaw and sensuous lips. But on this man, the dark hair framed a harsh mouth inside a cruel and rugged face.
And without the humanity behind them, his amber colored eyes were as cold as ice.
As always, come back next week for more.
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Author note: I think it’s important at this point to remind everyone that Aftermath has a mythology all its own. As I’ve said before, there is NO Royal Four, NO prior lives, NO Kings, Oueens, or Palaces. Any “preconceived notions” you have should be left at the door.
This part may answer some of your questions, and will probably make you ask a whole lot more.
Aftermath
Part 28
Liz stood on the rocks outside of the pod chamber looking into the late afternoon sun, inhaling deeply the warm summer air. The day’s events were closing in on her, almost enough to smother her. It was crazy, insane, to think that someone would want to hurt her. She was just a small town girl, nothing special, about as normal as they came, or at least she had been, until Max came into her life.
Could life ever be normal again?
“Hey,” Max walked up behind her. He turned her around, stroking his finger gently over her cheek. “How’re you holding up?”
“Fine. I guess. For a girl who just found out an alien race wants to kill her.”
“Liz –”
“It’s okay,” she pressed her fingers to his lips. She could see the guilt all over his face, blaming himself for something he wasn’t responsible for. If it wasn’t for him, she’d be dead already.
“You shouldn’t be out here,” Max scanned the desert terrain with a watchful eye.
“I can see it now. You’re never going to leave me alone, are you?”
“Do you want me to leave you alone?” he leaned down and nuzzled his nose behind her ear.
“No fair,” Liz felt her knees turn to jello.
“All’s fair in love and war,” he nibbled at her, smiling at the moan he coaxed from her throat. When he straightened up, the humor slowly disappeared from his face, replaced by the all too familiar Overprotective Max, going into hyper drive.
“Seriously, Liz. You shouldn’t be out here alone.”
“Max,” Liz sighed. “I can’t live my life under a rock, hiding from the world.”
“I know that, but . . . we have to be careful. Until we figure this out.” All his life he’d thought he was a monster, an alien freak, but now he was glad of what he was. What better purpose in life could there be than to use his alien powers to keep Liz Parker safe?
“Max, we’re teenagers, in Roswell New Mexico. How are we supposed to stop an invasion from another world?”
“Good question,” Max let out a long breath. It was a question he didn’t have an answer for. Not yet.
“It must be a mistake,” Liz told him. It was the only reasonable explanation she could come up with. How could she, Liz Parker, be a threat to an invading race of aliens? She wasn’t experienced, or powerful, and she certainly didn’t know anything about space or interstellar travel to warrant aliens targeting her as Enemy #1.
Max fervently wished she was right, that it was all a mistake, but he knew that it wasn’t. She was the one. He could feel it, deep inside. He’d known it from the moment he laid eyes on her, and now that he understood it, he realized the need to protect her had always been a part of him. He’d watched her for years, reacting to every scraped knee, or bruise, or scratch she’d ever gotten, but it wasn’t until the shooting that he’d acted on it, when her life hung in the balance.
“C’mon,” Max took her hand to lead her into the cavern, but Liz resisted, holding him back.
“Max, wait,” she said, and then looked away.
“What is it?” he stepped closer. He could tell something was bothering her, but he didn’t know what.
“Max,” she looked up at him with uncertainty clouding her face. “When you look at me . . . what do you see?”
“What do I see?” Max looked at her in surprise. Did she really need to ask?
“Never mind,” she started to turn away, feeling embarrassed.
“Liz,” his hand closed around her upper arm and gently pulled her back. His fingertips brushed over her face, touching her with tenderness. “When I look at you, I see the person who makes my heart skip a beat when she looks at me. Who makes my stomach rumble every time she’s near me. When I look at you, I see the one I know I was meant to be with. It’s always been you, Liz. I love you.”
His words should have soothed her, but a growing sense of apprehension kept her heart on edge.
She looked up into his gentle gaze, asking the hardest question she’d ever faced. “How do you know what you’re feeling is real, Max? How do you know you weren’t just programmed to feel this way? What if . . . what if one day . . . you wake up and your programming has gone away? What if you wake up and you realize you don’t –”
His lips swooped down on hers silencing her words. He opened his mind and his heart, showing her everything he felt, chasing away all her doubts. The boy on the playground might have been programmed to recognize her, but he hadn’t been programmed to love her. He did that all on his own.
Max held Liz in the circle of his arms, parting his lips from hers slowly to say, “I learned a lot of things about myself today, and one of those things is that love can’t be programmed. What you and I have, what we are together, isn’t something anyone can tell us to feel. It comes from our hearts.”
The apprehension she’d been feeling dissipated into the warm summer air. When he touched her, when he kissed her, his emotions were plain to see. She melted into him, but there was one more thing she needed to know.
“Tell me about this morning,” she whispered into his chest.
“This mor . . .” he started to say and then paused. “You mean between me and Tess?” He touched his finger to her chin and lifted her face to his. “I told you earlier. Nothing happened. Tess and I . . . when Tess found me in the pod chamber this morning, she . . . she came there to seduce me.”
“But –”
“But it didn’t happen,” Max cupped her face between his hands. “She couldn’t get through. I concentrated on you, and she couldn’t get in.”
“Really?” Liz looked up at him hopefully.
“Really,” Max smiled at her, but Liz could see the underlying tension he was trying to hide. She cocked her head and he caved. “I won’t lie to you. Tess has done some terrible things. To me. To us –”
Liz felt her stomach clench. “What kind of things?”
Max took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Tess used the memory retrieval to get inside my mind. She tried to drive a wedge between us by twisting some of my memories, making it seem like – like you were in the White Room, doing to me the things Pierce did.”
“That BITCH!” Liz exploded with anger, her dark eyes turning black. “She caused those nightmares? How DARE she do that to you!” She spun around, heading back into the cavern, intent on kicking some alien ass.
“Liz, don’t,” Max stopped her with a hand around her arm.
Liz whirled on him, with fire burning in her eyes. “Why is she still here? Why is she still breathing!”
“Listen to me,” Max tried to calm her down. “When she tried to get into my mind, I got into hers instead. I saw things there that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”
“Max, what she did was unconscionable –”
Max cut off her rant with his fingertips to her lips. When he spoke, his voice was low and somber.
“You know what they did to me in the White Room.”
Liz curled her hand around his, softening her own voice. “What’s that got to do with this?”
“Can you imagine living that way for years? Liz, I was in that place for just over 24 hours. It scarred me, probably for life, but I had you to hold on to. The thought of getting out of there, of coming back to you again, it’s what kept me alive.”
“But Max. Tess –”
“Tess grew up in her own private White Room, courtesy of Ed Harding. Remember when you kissed him, when you thought it was me?”
“Yes,” Liz shuddered. The flash she’d gotten from him was a bleak wasteland. Dark. Frightening. Soulless.
“Can you imagine what it must have been like to be raised by him? No love. No comfort. No human emotion at all. This morning, when I got inside her head, you can’t imagine the horrible things I saw there.”
“How do you know she’s not manipulating you right now, or mindwarping you to feel this way?”
“She can’t,” Max smiled without humor. “I was able to feel the power of her mindwarp when we were connected, and I turned it back on her. And then I learned to do a little subliminal tampering of my own. I’m not sure if it’s permanent or temporary but, at least for now, she can’t lie to us.”
“How can we ever trust her?” Liz asked
“I don’t know that we can. She’s just now starting to learn what being human means, from us. Maybe that will make the difference. I don’t know if we can fix her, but we have to try.”
“Why?”
Liz didn’t mean to sound heartless, but their lives had been a nightmare ever since Tess arrived. She couldn’t imagine ever forgiving her for the things she’d done.
“We need her.”
Liz felt the hair rise on the back of her neck. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure,” Max admitted. “A lot’s happened today, things I haven’t sorted out in my mind yet, but I have this feeling that we need her, to survive. We’re a Unit, and we need all the parts to make it work.”
“The four of you,” Liz felt a pang of jealousy.
“No,” Max shook his head. “The eight of us. We’re all in this together.” He saw the doubt coloring her face and he shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t ask me how I know that, ‘cause I can’t answer it. I just do.”
“I trust you, but I don’t trust her.”
“None of us can. Not yet. She has to earn our trust. You know the old saying, ‘Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.’ I think it applies here.”
“I’ll hurt her, if she tries to do anything to you again,” Liz warned.
“A cat fight? Over me?” Max joked to ease the tension.
“Max!” Liz hit him on the chest. Hard.
He caught her hands, letting out a small laugh before turning serious. “It’ll be alright Liz. I’ll make sure of it.”
* * * * *
Max led Liz back into the pod chamber noticing everything was still the same as he’d left it a few minutes ago. Michael was still pacing the cavern, Isabel was still nervously raking her hand through her hair, and Tess was still standing off to the side by herself trying not to be noticed. Her face filled with relief when she saw Max enter the room. Liz noticed it too, and slipped her hand into his.
“It’s about time you got back,” Michael challenged.
“Michael,” Max shot back. “We were only gone for five minutes!”
“This is important, Max! How can there be two orbs, with two distinctly different messages?”
“I think I can explain that,” Max stood near the pods, keeping Liz close to his side. Jumbled thoughts swirled around in his mind, secrets his connection to Liz had released, but he was still trying to make sense of them.
“Please do,” Michael huffed.
“Pierce had one of the orbs, the one the Special Unit recovered from the crash. It had the original message, the one you guys saw. The one that said we were here to . . .”
“To kill Liz,” Isabel finished for her brother.
“Right,” Max took a deep breath, struggling with that horrible thought. He felt Liz squeeze his hand, a private show of her support, and smiled at her gratefully. “The second one is the one Liz and I found out in the desert. We went there after she drew the image of the radio tower and I recognized it as a place near the crash site. It felt like we were led to it. Like someone wanted us to find it.”
“Did you have anything to do with that?” Michael whirled around, glaring at Tess.
“No,” Tess shook her head adamantly. “The last thing Nasedo wants is for Max and Liz to be together. He’s on the other side.”
“And whose side are you on?” Maria hissed at the blonde. Why hadn’t they killed her yet?
“Stop it.”
Max’s words were spoken softly, but with such authority, all other conversation stopped. Everyone stared at him.
“Tess is a part of this. We need her. Her power, her skills. We’re a Unit, and without her we don’t have the strength to complete the mission we were sent here to do.”
“You mean kill Liz?” Michael sneered.
“No, I mean save her!” Max shot back. He would willingly become best friends with the devil himself, if that’s what it took to keep Liz safe.
“Well that depends on which message you believe,” Michael wasn’t convinced. “Maybe it’s all bogus.”
“No, the messages are real,” Max said with conviction. “Both of them.”
Michael threw up his hands in exasperation. “How can they both be real? One says we’re supposed to kill Liz. The other says we’re supposed to save her.”
“I have a theory,” Liz spoke up. She shifted slightly as they all turned to stare at her, the focus of everyone in the room now. “Last spring, before we found the orb, Max and I . . . well, Max and I got pretty close. Really close.” She saw the smirks on some of their faces and cried out, “Not that close!”
Max chuckled beside her and she elbowed him in the side.
“Oowww!” he rubbed his ribs, trying to hold back a smile. Would everything have been different if he and Liz had given in to their desires last spring? They’d been so close to unlocking the secrets in his mind, and they hadn’t even known it. But maybe this was the way it was supposed to be. They needed Tess, and last spring she hadn’t been on their side.
“Anyway,” Liz continued. “When we kissed, I saw things. Visions. Flashes. Things locked in Max’s mind. One of those visions was of your ship – crashing.” She turned to Max. “Remember?”
“I remember,” he nodded. It was their first visit to the eraser room. She saw his ship crashing. He got the flash of her playing dress-up as a little girl, just like the image they saw from the orb today.
“Some of the things I saw then make more sense now,” Liz went on. “I think there was a power struggle on your ship that caused the crash, two factions fighting for control.”
“You think fighting on our ship caused the crash?” Isabel asked.
“She’s right,” Max said with certainty.
“How can you know that, Max?” Isabel blurted out. “We weren’t even born yet!” The stress she was feeling was almost too much to take. She wanted to be prom queen. She wanted to organize the annual Christmas Pageant and the Easter parade. She didn’t want to be a murderer, and she didn’t want to have the responsibility of trying to save the world.
Max’s heart went out to his sister, but there was nothing he could do to make this easier. They’d always known there had to be a reason why they were brought here. That it wasn’t just some random act. Their lives had never been normal, and never would be.
Max’s thoughts turned inward, trying to sort through everything flowing through his mind. A memory of his first visit to the UFO Center resurfaced, with Milton’s speech in front of a group of tourists striking a cord . . .
‘But on that fateful night something went terribly wrong, and one, though some say more than one, of the alien crafts crashed onto our planet . . .’
Images rushed at Max, small bodies with thin arms and legs racing around a control room while the ship plummeted, the ground growing closer and closer on the view screen. Jumbled bits played out in his head like clips from an old movie.
“We were sent to Earth by the Skins,” Max released Liz’s hand and began a careful inspection of the chamber walls.
“The Skins?” Isabel said the name fearfully.
Everyone watched Max, listening to him recount things he shouldn’t know, while he moved around the chamber looking for . . . something.
“No one knows what they really look like. They’re parasites that live inside a husk. A living skin. They can’t tolerate the atmosphere without one. That’s why they made us, to come in first, to pave the way for invasion.”
“Invasion?” Isabel crossed her arms over her chest, feeling a chill deep inside. “But you said –”
Max turned away from his inspection of the wall to look at the others. He looked different now. Stronger. More confident. The leader he was always meant to be. “I told you. The first message was real.”
Maria, Alex, and Kyle all exchanged a fearful look. Had they been led here? By four evil aliens, to carry out a planned invasion of their world? Were they all about to die? Liz was the only human that didn’t look scared. She moved closer to Max, with their hands automatically lacing together.
“But so was the second one,” Max continued. The intimate look he gave Liz helped ease everyone’s tension. “Antar developed the technology that created us, but it was the Skins that used it to send us here. It was supposed to be an experiment, to see the effect of combining Antarian and human DNA.”
“You mean cloning,” Liz offered.
“Exactly,” Max nodded. “They found out combining Antarian and human DNA caused some of the dormant areas of the human brain to become active. When the Skins took over Antar, they subverted the technology to create a super soldier, human on the outside, but with powers the human brain wouldn’t evolve for hundreds, maybe thousands of years.”
“A perfect fighting force,” Michael conceded and Max nodded once again.
“The Skins sent us here with four shapeshifters who were supposed to protect us until our bodies matured and the pods finished our programming. But not all the shapeshifters were on the Skins’ side. Nasedo was a member of a resistance group –”
“Nasedo?” Michael spit the name out. “Even Tess said Nasedo wasn’t on our side!”
“Ed Harding isn’t Nasedo,” Max told them, causing the room to fall into a stunned silence. Even Liz’s eyes grew wide in surprise.
“How . . .? Who . . .?” Isabel stuttered.
“The alien that River Dog befriended, the one he helped heal in the cave, that wasn’t Ed Harding. Ed Harding has always been on the Skins side. Nasedo was on ours. Nasedo was the one who altered our programming, changing our directive to protect Liz, not to kill her.”
“Max,” Michael shook his head. “How do you know this?”
“It was all locked in my head,” Max turned an intimate look toward the dark haired girl beside him. “Liz was the key to releasing it.”
“So what caused the crash?” Liz asked, wanting to know more.
“Nasedo was caught altering the pods. A struggle on board destabilized the ship. When we crashed, debris was spread for miles. Our pods got separated.”
“He’s right.” Tess said softly, bracing herself. “It all makes sense . . .”
“What makes sense?” Michael asked. None of this made sense. He could barely remember coming out of the pods, and nothing about the ship. How did Max know this stuff?
“Originally . . .” Tess bit her lip before finishing. “Our pods weren’t together.”
“What do you mean, we weren’t together!” Isabel shouted, pointing across the room. “All four pods are right there!”
“What are you trying to pull?” Michael accused.
“HOLD IT,” Max shouted out over the others. When they quieted, he turned to Tess, just as eager for an explanation as the rest of them. He had no knowledge of what happened after planetfall. “Explain.”
Tess took a deep breath, steeling herself for their reactions. “I know Na – Ed Harding – rescued my pod from the crash, but for ten years, we didn’t know where the rest of you were. He monitored the Special Unit for years, and when we heard the rumors after Liz got shot and Max healed her, that brought us here. We studied you for a while, until we were sure it was you. It took us months to find the pod chamber, and when we did, we set the stage to make it look like all four pods had always been here together.”
“But I remember coming out of the pod,” Max said softly. “I remember seeing you floating in yours.”
“You remember what I made you remember,” Tess dropped her eyes, feeling the weight of his stare. She felt Kyle turn his back and walk away from her, which hurt even more than the look on Max’s face. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? You’re sorry!” Isabel spit out. “How could you!”
“Isabel,” Max said harshly.
“You’re defending her?” Isabel turned on her brother.
“It’s in the past,” his voice softened, but his tone was more commanding than ever before. “Let it go.”
Max looked at Isabel’s and Michael’s stunned faces, knowing they didn’t understand what he did. They needed Tess if they wanted to win this fight. Alienating her for past mistakes wasn’t going to help their cause. Their mission to protect Liz was all that mattered.
He turned his back, returning to his inspection of the walls. “This is what I think happened. Two protectors survived the crash. Ed Harding is obviously a member of the invasion force. He escaped the crash with Tess’s pod. The second survivor, Nasedo, recovered our pods and installed us in the pod chamber. Then for some reason, he left us there. Abandoned us to fend for ourselves.”
“Max,” Liz said gently. She continued when he turned to look at her. “Maybe you weren’t abandoned at all. Maybe your protector wanted the Evans to find you that night in the desert. Maybe he wanted you to live with humans, to learn what it was like to be human.”
Max faced Liz drawing comfort from her theory. Maybe they hadn’t been abandoned on purpose, like last weeks garbage.
Michael couldn’t contain the question that had been bothering him since he heard it from the first orb. He blurted out, “What’s the Granilith?”
“It’s a religious icon,” Max answered without thinking about it. All eyes turned to him and he realized what he said.
“A what?” Isabel asked.
“It was built by the ancients,” Max turned back toward the chamber wall. “It warps time and space. It can show the future, or the present, or the past, if you know how to read it.”
“God, Max!” Isabel stared at her brother like she’d never seen him before. “How can you know all this?”
Max stopped in front of a solid rock and waved his hand over the flat surface. He turned around to look at the others after a silver handprint appeared. “I just do.”
With an encouraging look from Liz, Max pressed his hand against the handprint. Within seconds the wall shimmered, then simply disappeared. He took Liz’s hand and they stepped into a second cavern, smaller than the first, but it wasn’t the size that they noticed. A conical shaped device filled the chamber, capturing all their attention.
“Is that . . .?” Kyle’s voice trailed off.
“The Granilith,” Max confirmed what they all were wondering. It stood silent, dormant, waiting. The eight teens circled around it, awed by its majestic beauty.
“Does it work?” Alex’s eyes lit up. He ran his hand over the smooth surface, much to Isabel’s consternation.
“Don’t touch it! What if it zaps you!”
Alex snapped his hand back.
“It won’t hurt you,” Max assured everyone.
He wasn’t sure how he knew all these things, except that the knowledge had always been there, hidden inside his mind. Liz had seen glimpses of it in the flashes, bits and pieces of memories that contact with her had brought to the surface.
But there was something more he wasn’t remembering, something on the periphery of his memory that he sensed was important, but he just couldn’t grasp it. A passage from the orb message stuck with him, buzzing at his subconscious mind.
Your essence was duplicated, cloned and blended with human genetic material . . .
duplicated and cloned . . .
duplicated . . .
Liz squeezed his hand and Max shook off his worrisome thoughts. They had enough problems to worry about as it was. He didn’t need to invent more.
As the group circled around the Granilith, thoughts continued to tumble through Max’s brain. Too many to sort through, but one thing was clear. The number 8 stood out in his mind, telling him the importance of them all working together, 8 working for a common goal. Invincible.
4 aliens and 4 humans.
What other purpose could the number 8 mean?
* * * * *
The dwindling rays of the setting sun lanced through the dirty kitchen window illuminating the lone figure at the table. The spoon in his hand scraped against the cereal bowl, catching the last of the chocolate flavored Cocoa Puffs. It wasn’t much of a dinner, but he didn’t give a shit. He cast aside the spoon and lifted the bowl, slurping up the last of the milk. Finished, he pushed the bowl aside and wiped his hand over his scruffy chin to remove the drops of milk that had dribbled there. He let out a deep belch just as the phone rang.
“Fuck.”
He pushed back from the table and stalked across the kitchen. A swastika-like tattoo on his muscular bicep flexed as he lifted the handset from the wall and brought it to his ear.
“Yeah?” he scratched his hand through his unkempt hair. The uneven ends fell around his shoulders, giving him an untamed air, like a lion on the prowl.
“You have a new assignment. Get the others together.”
“Where?”
“The target is being relayed to the orb now.”
“’Bout fuckin’ time. I’m goin’ apeshit in this rathole.”
“The latest indications are this is a big one. Important. An unidentified orb sent out a signal in the vicinity of a primary target. Female. Her status has been elevated to high priority. We’re still trying to track the orb’s origins, but the signal was garbled. Possibly blocked. Confirmation failed. It could mean an orb’s fallen into the wrong hands. You may be facing resistance.”
His eyes flashed. Resistance? Interesting. He was itching for a good fight. The last three kills had been boring. No fuckin’ fight in ‘em at all.
“You want backup on this one?”
“No,” his curt answer left no room for argument. His Unit had gotten along fine without backup for the last ten years, he didn’t need any now.
“So where we goin’ this time?” he asked again, itching to get on the road again.
“Roswell. Roswell, New Mexico.”
“Fuck! You gotta be shittin’ me.”
The voice on the other end of the line snorted a laugh. “Alien capital of the world.”
“Fuck me,” his face twisted in a derisive sneer. Roswell, New Mexico. Who woulda fuckin’ guessed they’d end up back there?
He hung up the phone and turned back to the table, with the dwindling rays of the evening sun highlighting his features. On another man, that face was considered handsome, with his chiseled jaw and sensuous lips. But on this man, the dark hair framed a harsh mouth inside a cruel and rugged face.
And without the humanity behind them, his amber colored eyes were as cold as ice.
As always, come back next week for more.
-
Breathless
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 254
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- Location: Somewhere in ficland
Aftermath Part 29
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Author note: Here come the Dupes. That’s what many of you astute readers commented on after part 28. The introduction of a character with ‘amber colored eyes’ was a sure giveaway.
Zan had about a minute and a half of screen time, but he lives on as a major presence in fanfic. Sometimes he’s a substitute for Max (after Max was ruined). Sometimes he’s a street smart trash talker, but basically good. Sometimes he’s the wild one, but like a brother to Max. Unlike the other Roswell characters, Zan is completely open to interpretation. His minute and a half of screen time didn’t really show his character or reveal his personality. He was ‘The Man’. That’s almost all we know. In fanfic Zan can be anything we want him to be without being accused of writing him ‘out of character’.
I’ll admit I haven’t read that many Zan fics, but the ones I have read show him as basically good. Street smart tough, but good. Don’t expect to see that here. If you’re a diehard Zan lover, I’m warning you now, the rest of this fic may be hard to take. If you thought Lonnie and Rath were nasty, just wait until bring you up close and personal with Zan.
I will NOT be using street talk here. No lines like “We’s gots ta bounce” and no “Dis best be kepts on da low Q”. The Dupes in Aftermath might be from the mean streets, but they’re not punks.
Just remember, season 2 and 3 didn’t happen here.
Aftermath
Part 29
The after hours party at the Crashdown was a private affair, celebrating the end of the school year and the start of summer vacation. Only members of the I Know an Alien Club were invited, and they were all in attendance, except Kyle who was trying to hold on to the last vestiges of his normal human life.
Liz stood in front of the jukebox picking out the next set of songs. Max stood behind her with his hands on her hips, leaning in close. He couldn’t dance for shit, not fast anyway, but he sure enjoyed swaying to the music.
Michael sat on a stool leaning back against the counter. He couldn’t take his eyes off Maria dancing with Isabel in the middle of the restaurant. The girls were bumping hips and shaking their asses and his temperature was rising. Maria wasn’t playing fair. She turned in his direction and winked, making Michael’s cheeks flush. He shifted uncomfortably and looked away.
Alex sat in a booth with his mouth hanging slack, drooling over Isabel. When she looked in his direction he snapped his mouth closed and went back to studying the Destiny Book, flipping the metallic pages one by one, sneaking more glances at her when she wasn’t looking.
Tess sat alone at one of the middle tables watching the others having a good time. If she went home, would they even notice she was gone?
“Where’s Kyle?” Michael asked when Max and Liz turned away from the jukebox. They walked back into the center of the room, front to back, plastered together like they were one entity. Jeez. Get a room.
“What?” Max shouted over the top of Liz’s head.
“KYLE?” Michael raised his voice over the sound of the music. “WHERE’S KYLE?” It was his responsibility to keep them safe. All eight of them.
“Ben Baker’s bash,” Liz answered. “He has a party every year when school gets out. Everybody goes.”
“Did you want to go?” Max turned Liz around, feeling guilty. He never stopped to think that she might want to do normal things, with normal people.
“I’m right where I want to be,” Liz stretched up to brush her lips over his. Her grin became infectious, chasing away his guilt, curving his lips in a matching grin before their kiss deepened.
Tess looked away feeling like the odd man out. Max had Liz. Michael had Maria. Isabel had Alex. She had no one. Kyle didn’t want to be anywhere near her. Didn’t his going to Ben’s party prove it? Human emotions just . . . hurt.
A red Mustang came to a lurching stop in front of the Crashdown drawing everyone’s attention. They all stared through the front windows as the driver’s side door opened and a body half climbed, half fell out, bracing his hand on the pavement before staggering to his feet. He rose to his full height, grinning at the restaurant with his arms thrust up in the air in a victory salute.
“Hey space cadets!” Kyle shouted. “Did ya miss me?”
“Is he drunk?” Isabel’s face turned white.
Michael was already moving toward the door, with Max and Liz right behind him. Tess moved closer to the window, watching Kyle stumble over the curb on unsteady feet.
“Whoa,” Kyle muttered as he regained his balance. “Gotta watch that curb monster. It’s always layin’ there waitin’ ta trip ya.”
“Kyle,” Max hurried across the sidewalk and grabbed Kyle around his upper arm while Michael scanned the street. No one appeared to be watching.
“Hey Maxie,” Kyle patted him on the chest while Max tried to lead him into the Crashdown. “Have ya found the evil alien invaders yet?” He closed one eye and pointed his finger in Max’s face like a gun. He wiggled his thumb and said, “Pow! Pow pow!”
“Get him inside,” Michael hissed.
“Where’s yer ray gun?” Kyle looked Max up and down.
“I don’t have a ray gun, Kyle,” Max muttered, while exchanging an apprehensive look with Michael. Liz held the door open and they all filed back inside.
“Why not?” Kyle shook off Max’s hand and almost lost his balance again. He stumbled right into Tess. He put his arm around her shoulders and grinned, “Ahhhh. It’s my favorite Martian.”
Tess helped steady Kyle, confused by his drunken display of affection. Why did he leave the party? Why did he come here? Why did he call her his favorite alien?
“Kyle, you’re drunk,” Liz told him the obvious.
“But I only had a liddle sip,” he fumbled in his jacket pocket and pulled out a silver flask. Liz took it and turned it upside down, showing the others it was empty.
“Just a sip, huh?” she admonished.
Kyle pointed at Max and turned back to Tess, telling her, “He ruined me.”
“Max didn’t ruin you,” Liz scolded. She helped Tess get him into a booth while Maria poured him a hot cup of coffee.
“Here,” Maria put the steaming cup in front of him. “Drink this.”
“Don’t want no coffee,” he pushed it away. His skin took on a definite green tint and he cupped his face with his hands. “Why’s the room spinning?”
“I think I should get him home,” Tess spoke up, looking at Max and Liz for approval.
“I think that’s a good idea,” Liz agreed. Max silently nodded his assent.
“Okay,” Michael stepped forward. “Party’s over.” He dragged an unresisting Kyle outside to his car and poured him into the passenger seat. He fastened Kyle’s seatbelt around him while Tess climbed behind the wheel. “Do you want me to follow you, to help you get him inside?”
“I’m not a helpless hu –” her voice cut off suddenly. It was hard to let a lifetime worth of beliefs go. She started the car and said, “I’m not helpless.”
“Right,” Michael eyed her closely. She put the car in reverse and Michael stepped back to let them go.
Inside the Crashdown, the music had been silenced and the party was coming to an end. Maria and Isabel helped Liz clean up their mess, while Max lifted the chairs and set them on top of the tables. The bells above the door chimed when Michael returned and he joined Alex in the booth.
“They okay?” Max asked.
“Kyle made it to the car without puking,” Michael shrugged.
“That’s a first,” Alex quipped and then sat upright, with the Destiny Book open on the table in front of him. He glanced over at Max and said, “So, you haven’t suddenly remembered how to read this?”
“No,” Max stepped closer, looking down at the book on the table. “The symbols don’t make any sense to me. I keep trying, but . . . nothing.”
“Maybe it’s an instruction manual,” Alex quipped, flipping to the page showing Michael and Isabel together, and Max and Tess. “A loooove manual.”
Max snatched it away, wishing it was a manual to teach them how to make the Granilith work. He brushed his fingers over the metal pages of the Destiny Book, touching the strange symbols. “I wish there was a way to decode it.”
“I might be able to help with that,” Alex offered.
“Help?” Max asked, sitting down next to him. “How?”
“My cousin goes to school at UNM. He’s working in the computer lab this summer, which gives him access to their supercomputer. If he can get me inside, I can scan in the Destiny book and run it through a decryption program. We might be able to decipher it.”
“Do you really think you can get in?” Max eagerly jumped on the idea.
“Yeah. It shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll call him tomorrow,” Alex beamed; glad to be able to help out.
“Great!” Max slapped Alex affectionately on the shoulder.
* * * * *
Tess shouldered the front door open while doing her best to support Kyle’s weight. He hadn’t sobered up yet and he was still unsteady on his feet. It was a good thing Jim wasn’t home yet. The house was dark and quiet. She flipped on a light, making them both squint. Kyle lifted his hand and started patting her head.
“Where are they?”
“Where are what?” she maneuvered him over to the couch where they fell onto the sofa cushions.
“Your antennas,” Kyle leaned against her, parting the strands of her hair searching for them.
“I don’t have any antennas,” Tess pushed him back. She should be pissed at him, for insinuating she had antennas growing out of her head, but he was too cute to be mad at.
“Do you have a third eye hiding in there somewhere?” he pawed at her hair some more. “I saw that on the Twilight Zone once. The cook had a third eye,” Kyle poked his finger against her forehead. “Right there. Is that why Michael wears a bandanna when he cooks? To hide his third eye?”
“We don’t have a third eye,” Tess batted his hand away.
“Are you sure?” he inspected her forehead closely.
“Yes, I’m sure!” she slapped him on the chest, trying to push him off, but giggling all the same.
“What kind of alien are you without antennas or a third eye?” Kyle snickered, laughing against her throat. Hmmm. She smelled good.
“The kind that will zap you with her death ray eyes if you don’t get off me!” Tess pushed on his chest again, but not very hard. His breath on her throat made her pulse quicken.
“Death ray eyes, huh?” he lifted his head. When their eyes met his smile slowly faded. Her blue eyes were really pretty, and she was absolutely right. She didn’t have three eyes. She had four. No, make that six. All spinning around and around. She had three mouths, too. Maybe he could catch one.
“Kyle?” Tess blinked in surprise as he leaned closer.
“I meant what I said,” his breath whispered across her face. “You are my favorite Martian.”
Tess was surprised his breath didn’t smell like booze, like she’d expected. In fact, it actually smelled sweet. The world started spinning as his lips grazed hers, and then his head fell forward to nuzzle into her throat. She was so caught up by the feel of his sweet warm breath against her skin, it was a minute before she recognized the sounds he was making.
“Kyle?”
He didn’t answer.
“Kyle?” she leaned back, trying to see his face.
Still no answer. Except his soft snore. She leaned back further and saw he was passed out cold, with his cheek pressed against her chest.
She slid off the couch and Kyle settled into the cushions, wrapping his arms around a pillow and holding it tightly. He looked so relaxed lying there, and she thought the smile on his lips was the cutest damn thing she’d ever seen. She draped a blanket over him and after a brief hesitation she kissed him once on the forehead before floating off to bed.
* * * * *
“Are you coming Max?” Isabel reached across the booth to grab her sweater. The restaurant was spotless, no thanks to the guys who’d been sitting on their butts for the last half hour while the girls did all the work.
“No, not yet,” Max pushed the Destiny Book back toward Alex. He turned to the boy beside him and asked, “Are you comfortable taking that with you?”
“You trust me with it?” Alex asked in surprise.
“Of course,” Max answered. He trusted Alex with his life.
“Well. Gosh. Thanks,” Alex stuttered. “I mean, yeah. I’m comfortable taking it.”
“Just keep it hidden,” Max cautioned.
“Hidden. Got it,” Alex nodded. He pulled the book close like it was gold. He tucked the loose page into the back of the book, the one with Liz’s picture, and was just about to close the cover when his senses told him something wasn’t right. Were the symbols different? The ones under Liz’s picture? Had they . . . changed? Kyle jokingly referred to it as Liz’s Wanted Poster, and Alex had a sudden unwelcome thought come out of left field. Had the price on her head just gotten higher?
“What?” Max asked, concerned by the look on his friend’s face.
“Come on! Let’s go,” Michael stood impatiently by the door, ready to usher everyone out.
“Alex?” Max asked. “Would you rather I keep it?”
“No. No, I’ll take it,” Alex gathered the book together and slid from the booth. He rubbed his hand over his eyes thinking he must be more tired than he thought. There was no way the symbols carved on a page of a metal book could change.
* * * * *
Tess gave up the idea of sleeping and sat up in bed, turning on the bedside lamp. There were so many things running through her head, she wasn’t sure she would ever be able to sleep again. She was thinking things, and feeling things, that up until recently had been completely foreign to her. Friendship. Camaraderie. Love. No. Not love. No one had ever loved her. No one ever could. Not with the things she’d done. The others tolerated her, because Max said they needed her.
Except . . . Kyle had kissed her tonight. He’d been in the process of passing out at the time, but still. Did it mean anything?
A knock on her door startled her out of her thoughts.
“Who is it?” she clutched the blanket to her chest.
“Just me,” Jim Valenti opened the door a crack. “I saw your light on.”
“Come on in,” Tess felt a warm glow spread through her belly.
“It’s late,” Jim poked his head inside the door. “Is everything okay?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” Tess answered vaguely.
“Anything you want to talk about?” he crossed over and sat on the end of the bed, not too close to crowd her. He wasn’t used to having a girl in the house.
“No,” Tess shook her head. She wished she could talk to Jim, but she didn’t know how. There were so many questions in her head; she didn’t know where to start. Besides, he couldn’t help her. He was only hu – No! She had to stop thinking that way.
“Well, if you ever do want to talk, you know where I am.” He gave her a wink, and smiled, “As long as it’s not girl stuff. I’m not very good at girl stuff.”
“I never would have guessed,” Tess giggled.
“That obvious, huh?”
“Oh, yeah,” Tess nodded vigorously.
“Well,” Jim tweaked her chin in a gesture similar to one his son used. “Get some sleep. Tomorrow will be here before you know it.”
“I will,” Tess slid down between the sheets. Jim stood up, and then leaned over, planting a quick kiss on her forehead. It was one of the best feelings she’d ever had. Two Valenti kisses in one night.
“Jim?” she called out as he reached the door.
“Yeah?” he turned around to face her.
“Thanks. For letting me stay here.”
“You’ll always have a home here,” Jim smiled at her. “For as long as you need one.”
Jim closed the door but his kind reassurances didn’t dispel a sudden sense of foreboding. Where was Ed Harding now? When was he going to show up again? What would he make her do when he came back? She’d always clung to him as her ‘father figure’, in a sick kind of way, but now she was afraid he was going to come back for her and try to take her away.
Feeling restless, she drew the blanket aside and wandered around Kyle’s room. She could feel his presence everywhere, from the Biker Babes magazine hidden under his bed, to the book on Buddha on his desk. She lifted a trophy from his bookcase, feeling his pride at becoming State Welterweight Champion in Greco Roman Wrestling. She set it back beside the other trophies, one for Football and Basketball and even State Junior Rifle Champion.
Her fingertips touched a photograph of Kyle in his football uniform, down on one knee posing for the camera, smiling with that infectious grin of his. It made her heart do funny things. Strange things. Wonderful things.
On the next shelf down Tess saw a dog-eared book, a classic children’s fairy tale, one that she had never seen, or read, or listened to. Human fairy tales hadn’t been part of her upbringing. She opened the pages and walked back toward the bed, touching the words on the pages. She stopped in mid step when the flashes hit her . . .
The small boy raced into his bedroom with his pajama bottoms all askew, giggling as a woman chased after him.
“Kyle!” she laughed. “Come back here!”
She swept the boy into her arms, tickling his naked tummy just to hear his delightful screams.
“Stop, Mommy! Stop!” he giggled and screamed and pushed at her hands.
She sat down on the bed shifting the boy to her lap, maneuvering his arms into the sleeves of his pajama top.
“Read me a story, Mommy?” Kyle sat patiently while she fastened his buttons and smoothed his damp hair.
“Just one,” she tapped him on the nose.
“I get it!” he scrambled off her lap and raced for the bookcase.
The 3 year old boy in the memory flash morphed into a 6 year old, standing mournfully in front of the bookcase. His hand pulled the dog-eared book off the shelf, but now there was no one to read it to him. He carried it back to the bed and climbed under the covers, cradling it on his lap. He opened the pages and looked at the pictures, but it wasn’t the same. He tried to read the words, but he wasn’t very good at it.
“Once . . . once up – upon a time . . . once . . .”
His chin began to tremble and a lone tear fell from his eye. It coursed down his cheek and splashed against the page of the book. Another soon followed. He rubbed at it with his elbow, but the sleeve of his pajama top wasn’t thick enough to soak up the flood. Kyle turned on his side and curled his small body around the book, the only thing he had left to remember her by.
He cried himself to sleep again . . .
Tess touched the rippled page with her fingertip, the tearstain over ten years old but still heartbreakingly vivid. She sat down hard on the side of the bed, holding the book close to her chest.
“Oh Kyle,” she whispered. “You don’t have a mother either . . .”
“You don’t need a mother,” Ed Harding stepped out of the solid wall. “I’m all you need.”
* * * * *
“Max?” Liz snuggled into his chest. The night was warm, and the stars were shining above them. The light from her bedroom just a few feet away couldn’t dim their grandeur.
“Hmmm?”
“I hate to say this, but you should probably go home.”
“I am home.” He turned on the lounger, tucking her closer to him.
“Max,” she lifted her head. “You can’t stay here every night. Your parents are going to notice you’re not sleeping at home.”
“Isabel’s covering for me,” Max opened his eyes. He nudged Liz over onto her back, hovering over her with a devilish look on his handsome face. His hand snaked under her shirt, resting comfortably on her stomach.
“And what if my dad finds you here?”
“Your dad?” Max snatched his hand away and sat up quickly, darting a look toward her bedroom window. She grabbed his shirt to keep him from jumping to his feet.
“Max, you’re so funny,” Liz laughed. “My dad isn’t that scary!”
“That’s what you think,” Max tried to settle back down.
Liz, with a devilish look of her own, slid her hand under his shirt. His stomach muscles tightened and he let out a groan.
“That’s not fair,” Max grabbed at her hand, “mentioning your father, and then doing that.” He felt her hand on the button of his jeans and heat washed over him. “Um, Liz? What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” she said innocently while playing with the line of hair just below his navel.
“Nothing?” he squeaked. “That feels like something –” He suddenly sat up straight, staring down at his abdomen. “Liz?”
“Relax, Max,” she purred. “You feel so tense.”
“Liz? Look.”
His shirt was pushed halfway up his stomach, his fly halfway down, but that wasn’t what had Max speechless. His abdomen was glowing. So was her hand.
“Wow,” Liz pulled her hand back quickly. The glow faded on both his skin and hers. She looked at his face and he silently urged her to try it again. She hesitantly touched his stomach, and gasped when his skin began to glow again.
“Max . . .”
“You can make me glow, Liz.”
* * * * *
“What, no goodnight kiss for me?” Harding taunted.
“Why did you come here?” Tess crossed the room and slid the book back into its spot on the bookcase. She kept her back to him so he couldn’t see her face. “I thought we agreed – you’d stay away from here so Jim and Kyle wouldn’t get suspicious.”
“Maybe I’m the one who should be suspicious . . .”
Tess’s back stiffened. “Don’t you trust me?”
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t trust any of you little pod people. You were created so you could move around here freely, but you’re all a little too human for me.”
He watched her gaze linger on a photograph of a boy, the one who was right now sleeping out in the other room. He picked up the picture, staring at it with a deadly glint in his eye.
“My little Tessa. Have you got yourself a new pet?”
“No!” Tess grabbed for the photograph, then snatched her hand back, too late. The color drained out of her face, knowing she’d given herself away.
“Emotion?” Harding stared at her hard. “Feelings? I thought I taught you better than that. Do you need another lesson?”
“No,” Tess cringed back.
“What was that other boy’s name . . .?” He drummed his fingers against his cheek in mock contemplation.
“Tommy . . .” she whispered in a little girl’s voice.
“Yes,” Harding’s eyes lit up. “Tommy Wilson. You did a fine job dissolving his bones. What shall we do with this one?”
“No,” panic filled her. “You can’t. People will notice if the Sheriff’s son is missing!”
“I’ll take his place. I’m tired of this body anyway.” Harding’s features started to shift, morph, his voice changing, turning into Kyle right in front of her eyes. She shivered when he flexed his hand and leered, “I like being 17.”
“No!” Tess cried out. “NO! I won’t let you!” She raised her hand and pressed it against his chest, watching him taunt her, laugh at her, denigrate her. She was no match for him, or so he thought. Rage took over, from somewhere deep inside her, years worth of agony pouring out of her palm, straight into his chest. He was the one who taught her how to kill, and she used that knowledge now.
The sneer on his face – Kyle’s face – turned to surprise, then shock, then pain. He fell to his knees, blinded by the light being emitted from her hand, a light too bright to look at. When she pulled her hand back the light faded, and Harding lay dead on the bedroom floor with a smoldering hole in his chest.
Kyle stood in the doorway, slowly lowering his hand, no longer needing to shield his eyes from the blinding light. He stared at the body on the floor – his body – then turned to Tess.
“Did – did you just kill me?”
* * * * *
Max crouched over the body with his hands against Harding’s chest. His brow dripped with sweat, his body trembled, but the body below him didn’t stir. With a gasp and a grimace of pain, he fell away from it.
“I can’t . . .” Max drew in a ragged breath. “He’s gone . . .” He leaned into Liz, feeling her comforting arm around his back.
Tess sat down hard on the bed, feeling the shock of what she’d done setting in.
Kyle ran a trembling hand through his hair. He shot a confused look at Tess and then wandered over to the window. The alien abyss was swallowing him whole.
“What about the healing stones?” Michael asked from the doorway. They still needed answers and Ed Harding might be the only one who had them. Isabel stood beside Michael hugging her arms around herself.
“No,” Max struggled to his feet with Liz’s help. He looked over at Tess, not knowing whether to sympathize with her, or be horrified by what she’d done. “He’s dead. There’s no bringing him back.”
Jim Valenti moved into the room looking at the body, then at Tess. He sidled over to Max, keeping his voice low. “I think this was a clear case of self defense. Ed Harding came in here, threatened her, threatened Kyle, she was just defending us. I don’t think she actually meant to kill him. She was scared, and just reacted . . .” his voice trailed off.
“What do we do with the body?” Isabel asked. “We can’t just – bury it – can we?”
“Maybe out at the pod chamber?” Jim suggested. “No one will find it there.”
Tess rose from the bed and stood above the man she had lived with almost her entire life. The man who had fed her, and clothed her, and taught her everything she knew. She held out her hand, and used that knowledge now, melting his body, turning him to dust.
Near the door, Liz leaned into Max as they watched Harding’s body disintegrate. “Maybe it’s over now,” she said hopefully. “If everyone from the crash is dead, then no one’s left to come looking for us. Maybe we can be safe now.”
“Maybe,” Max held her close with his arm around her shoulders. Maybe they could relax for a while. An invasion force might be headed their way, but maybe they had time now, to formulate a plan and prepare.
* * * * *
The door to the ramshackle apartment opened and three figures entered. The taller two sauntered in like they owned the place, arm in arm, predators on the make. The shortest one of the three quietly closed the door, trying not to be noticed.
“’Bout fuckin time you got your asses back here,” amber eyes flashed with fire. “Where ya been?” He slammed a fully loaded magazine into a 9 mm Glock and set it on the table.
“Out,” the taller male challenged. He was pushing it, and he knew it, but he was bored.
“Not you,” amber eyes jeered. He picked up another magazine and a handful of bullets. “You,” his gaze focused on the short blonde. She wilted under that intense stare.
“I was with Lonnie, and Rath. We was checkin’ out –”
“Get over here,” he growled at her. “Do what you fuckin’ do best.”
“Zan –”
“Now!”
She jumped at the sharpness of his tone. He was tense, on edge, in need of relief, and she would have to give it to him. She looked to Lonnie and Rath, but they were already on the couch, grabbing at each other, tearing at each other’s clothes.
“Go easy on ‘er Zan,” Lonnie twisted away from Rath long enough to eye the blonde with disdain. “Ava was leaky befo’ she was born.”
“Shut up,” Zan hissed at her. He didn’t accept excuses.
Ava crossed the room hesitantly, cautiously, but knowing she had no choice.
Zan grabbed her by the hair and forced her to her knees in front of him. She let out a sharp cry of pain and squeezed her eyes shut, knowing her mistake. Zan didn’t like weakness, and he wouldn’t tolerate defiance. His fingers closed around her chin, squeezing like a vise.
“This is the only reason I keep you around,” Zan growled, disgusted by the frightened look on her face. This and her powers were all she was good for. Releasing her chin, he sneered, “They musta fuckin’ mixed you wrong or somethin’.”
Ava tried to keep her hands steady as she lowered the zipper on his jeans. “Maybe – maybe we could go in the bed–”
Zan silenced her, grunting in satisfaction as he filled her mouth. Ava closed her eyes and performed her job while Zan watched the other two going at it on the far side of the room. Lonnie and Rath fucked like bunnies, day and night, night and day, whiling away the boredom between assignments. Zan preferred it this way. Controlling. Dominating. In charge. He got what he wanted and that’s all he cared about. When he was finished he withdrew from Ava’s mouth and pushed her away, done with her until next time.
“Pack your things,” Zan zipped up and stomped out of the room. “We ride in the morning.”
“Assignment?” Rath raised his mouth from Lonnie’s generous cleavage.
Zan smirked. “Sweet meat. In Roswell.”
TBC . . .
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Author note: Here come the Dupes. That’s what many of you astute readers commented on after part 28. The introduction of a character with ‘amber colored eyes’ was a sure giveaway.
Zan had about a minute and a half of screen time, but he lives on as a major presence in fanfic. Sometimes he’s a substitute for Max (after Max was ruined). Sometimes he’s a street smart trash talker, but basically good. Sometimes he’s the wild one, but like a brother to Max. Unlike the other Roswell characters, Zan is completely open to interpretation. His minute and a half of screen time didn’t really show his character or reveal his personality. He was ‘The Man’. That’s almost all we know. In fanfic Zan can be anything we want him to be without being accused of writing him ‘out of character’.
I’ll admit I haven’t read that many Zan fics, but the ones I have read show him as basically good. Street smart tough, but good. Don’t expect to see that here. If you’re a diehard Zan lover, I’m warning you now, the rest of this fic may be hard to take. If you thought Lonnie and Rath were nasty, just wait until bring you up close and personal with Zan.
I will NOT be using street talk here. No lines like “We’s gots ta bounce” and no “Dis best be kepts on da low Q”. The Dupes in Aftermath might be from the mean streets, but they’re not punks.
Just remember, season 2 and 3 didn’t happen here.
Aftermath
Part 29
The after hours party at the Crashdown was a private affair, celebrating the end of the school year and the start of summer vacation. Only members of the I Know an Alien Club were invited, and they were all in attendance, except Kyle who was trying to hold on to the last vestiges of his normal human life.
Liz stood in front of the jukebox picking out the next set of songs. Max stood behind her with his hands on her hips, leaning in close. He couldn’t dance for shit, not fast anyway, but he sure enjoyed swaying to the music.
Michael sat on a stool leaning back against the counter. He couldn’t take his eyes off Maria dancing with Isabel in the middle of the restaurant. The girls were bumping hips and shaking their asses and his temperature was rising. Maria wasn’t playing fair. She turned in his direction and winked, making Michael’s cheeks flush. He shifted uncomfortably and looked away.
Alex sat in a booth with his mouth hanging slack, drooling over Isabel. When she looked in his direction he snapped his mouth closed and went back to studying the Destiny Book, flipping the metallic pages one by one, sneaking more glances at her when she wasn’t looking.
Tess sat alone at one of the middle tables watching the others having a good time. If she went home, would they even notice she was gone?
“Where’s Kyle?” Michael asked when Max and Liz turned away from the jukebox. They walked back into the center of the room, front to back, plastered together like they were one entity. Jeez. Get a room.
“What?” Max shouted over the top of Liz’s head.
“KYLE?” Michael raised his voice over the sound of the music. “WHERE’S KYLE?” It was his responsibility to keep them safe. All eight of them.
“Ben Baker’s bash,” Liz answered. “He has a party every year when school gets out. Everybody goes.”
“Did you want to go?” Max turned Liz around, feeling guilty. He never stopped to think that she might want to do normal things, with normal people.
“I’m right where I want to be,” Liz stretched up to brush her lips over his. Her grin became infectious, chasing away his guilt, curving his lips in a matching grin before their kiss deepened.
Tess looked away feeling like the odd man out. Max had Liz. Michael had Maria. Isabel had Alex. She had no one. Kyle didn’t want to be anywhere near her. Didn’t his going to Ben’s party prove it? Human emotions just . . . hurt.
A red Mustang came to a lurching stop in front of the Crashdown drawing everyone’s attention. They all stared through the front windows as the driver’s side door opened and a body half climbed, half fell out, bracing his hand on the pavement before staggering to his feet. He rose to his full height, grinning at the restaurant with his arms thrust up in the air in a victory salute.
“Hey space cadets!” Kyle shouted. “Did ya miss me?”
“Is he drunk?” Isabel’s face turned white.
Michael was already moving toward the door, with Max and Liz right behind him. Tess moved closer to the window, watching Kyle stumble over the curb on unsteady feet.
“Whoa,” Kyle muttered as he regained his balance. “Gotta watch that curb monster. It’s always layin’ there waitin’ ta trip ya.”
“Kyle,” Max hurried across the sidewalk and grabbed Kyle around his upper arm while Michael scanned the street. No one appeared to be watching.
“Hey Maxie,” Kyle patted him on the chest while Max tried to lead him into the Crashdown. “Have ya found the evil alien invaders yet?” He closed one eye and pointed his finger in Max’s face like a gun. He wiggled his thumb and said, “Pow! Pow pow!”
“Get him inside,” Michael hissed.
“Where’s yer ray gun?” Kyle looked Max up and down.
“I don’t have a ray gun, Kyle,” Max muttered, while exchanging an apprehensive look with Michael. Liz held the door open and they all filed back inside.
“Why not?” Kyle shook off Max’s hand and almost lost his balance again. He stumbled right into Tess. He put his arm around her shoulders and grinned, “Ahhhh. It’s my favorite Martian.”
Tess helped steady Kyle, confused by his drunken display of affection. Why did he leave the party? Why did he come here? Why did he call her his favorite alien?
“Kyle, you’re drunk,” Liz told him the obvious.
“But I only had a liddle sip,” he fumbled in his jacket pocket and pulled out a silver flask. Liz took it and turned it upside down, showing the others it was empty.
“Just a sip, huh?” she admonished.
Kyle pointed at Max and turned back to Tess, telling her, “He ruined me.”
“Max didn’t ruin you,” Liz scolded. She helped Tess get him into a booth while Maria poured him a hot cup of coffee.
“Here,” Maria put the steaming cup in front of him. “Drink this.”
“Don’t want no coffee,” he pushed it away. His skin took on a definite green tint and he cupped his face with his hands. “Why’s the room spinning?”
“I think I should get him home,” Tess spoke up, looking at Max and Liz for approval.
“I think that’s a good idea,” Liz agreed. Max silently nodded his assent.
“Okay,” Michael stepped forward. “Party’s over.” He dragged an unresisting Kyle outside to his car and poured him into the passenger seat. He fastened Kyle’s seatbelt around him while Tess climbed behind the wheel. “Do you want me to follow you, to help you get him inside?”
“I’m not a helpless hu –” her voice cut off suddenly. It was hard to let a lifetime worth of beliefs go. She started the car and said, “I’m not helpless.”
“Right,” Michael eyed her closely. She put the car in reverse and Michael stepped back to let them go.
Inside the Crashdown, the music had been silenced and the party was coming to an end. Maria and Isabel helped Liz clean up their mess, while Max lifted the chairs and set them on top of the tables. The bells above the door chimed when Michael returned and he joined Alex in the booth.
“They okay?” Max asked.
“Kyle made it to the car without puking,” Michael shrugged.
“That’s a first,” Alex quipped and then sat upright, with the Destiny Book open on the table in front of him. He glanced over at Max and said, “So, you haven’t suddenly remembered how to read this?”
“No,” Max stepped closer, looking down at the book on the table. “The symbols don’t make any sense to me. I keep trying, but . . . nothing.”
“Maybe it’s an instruction manual,” Alex quipped, flipping to the page showing Michael and Isabel together, and Max and Tess. “A loooove manual.”
Max snatched it away, wishing it was a manual to teach them how to make the Granilith work. He brushed his fingers over the metal pages of the Destiny Book, touching the strange symbols. “I wish there was a way to decode it.”
“I might be able to help with that,” Alex offered.
“Help?” Max asked, sitting down next to him. “How?”
“My cousin goes to school at UNM. He’s working in the computer lab this summer, which gives him access to their supercomputer. If he can get me inside, I can scan in the Destiny book and run it through a decryption program. We might be able to decipher it.”
“Do you really think you can get in?” Max eagerly jumped on the idea.
“Yeah. It shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll call him tomorrow,” Alex beamed; glad to be able to help out.
“Great!” Max slapped Alex affectionately on the shoulder.
* * * * *
Tess shouldered the front door open while doing her best to support Kyle’s weight. He hadn’t sobered up yet and he was still unsteady on his feet. It was a good thing Jim wasn’t home yet. The house was dark and quiet. She flipped on a light, making them both squint. Kyle lifted his hand and started patting her head.
“Where are they?”
“Where are what?” she maneuvered him over to the couch where they fell onto the sofa cushions.
“Your antennas,” Kyle leaned against her, parting the strands of her hair searching for them.
“I don’t have any antennas,” Tess pushed him back. She should be pissed at him, for insinuating she had antennas growing out of her head, but he was too cute to be mad at.
“Do you have a third eye hiding in there somewhere?” he pawed at her hair some more. “I saw that on the Twilight Zone once. The cook had a third eye,” Kyle poked his finger against her forehead. “Right there. Is that why Michael wears a bandanna when he cooks? To hide his third eye?”
“We don’t have a third eye,” Tess batted his hand away.
“Are you sure?” he inspected her forehead closely.
“Yes, I’m sure!” she slapped him on the chest, trying to push him off, but giggling all the same.
“What kind of alien are you without antennas or a third eye?” Kyle snickered, laughing against her throat. Hmmm. She smelled good.
“The kind that will zap you with her death ray eyes if you don’t get off me!” Tess pushed on his chest again, but not very hard. His breath on her throat made her pulse quicken.
“Death ray eyes, huh?” he lifted his head. When their eyes met his smile slowly faded. Her blue eyes were really pretty, and she was absolutely right. She didn’t have three eyes. She had four. No, make that six. All spinning around and around. She had three mouths, too. Maybe he could catch one.
“Kyle?” Tess blinked in surprise as he leaned closer.
“I meant what I said,” his breath whispered across her face. “You are my favorite Martian.”
Tess was surprised his breath didn’t smell like booze, like she’d expected. In fact, it actually smelled sweet. The world started spinning as his lips grazed hers, and then his head fell forward to nuzzle into her throat. She was so caught up by the feel of his sweet warm breath against her skin, it was a minute before she recognized the sounds he was making.
“Kyle?”
He didn’t answer.
“Kyle?” she leaned back, trying to see his face.
Still no answer. Except his soft snore. She leaned back further and saw he was passed out cold, with his cheek pressed against her chest.
She slid off the couch and Kyle settled into the cushions, wrapping his arms around a pillow and holding it tightly. He looked so relaxed lying there, and she thought the smile on his lips was the cutest damn thing she’d ever seen. She draped a blanket over him and after a brief hesitation she kissed him once on the forehead before floating off to bed.
* * * * *
“Are you coming Max?” Isabel reached across the booth to grab her sweater. The restaurant was spotless, no thanks to the guys who’d been sitting on their butts for the last half hour while the girls did all the work.
“No, not yet,” Max pushed the Destiny Book back toward Alex. He turned to the boy beside him and asked, “Are you comfortable taking that with you?”
“You trust me with it?” Alex asked in surprise.
“Of course,” Max answered. He trusted Alex with his life.
“Well. Gosh. Thanks,” Alex stuttered. “I mean, yeah. I’m comfortable taking it.”
“Just keep it hidden,” Max cautioned.
“Hidden. Got it,” Alex nodded. He pulled the book close like it was gold. He tucked the loose page into the back of the book, the one with Liz’s picture, and was just about to close the cover when his senses told him something wasn’t right. Were the symbols different? The ones under Liz’s picture? Had they . . . changed? Kyle jokingly referred to it as Liz’s Wanted Poster, and Alex had a sudden unwelcome thought come out of left field. Had the price on her head just gotten higher?
“What?” Max asked, concerned by the look on his friend’s face.
“Come on! Let’s go,” Michael stood impatiently by the door, ready to usher everyone out.
“Alex?” Max asked. “Would you rather I keep it?”
“No. No, I’ll take it,” Alex gathered the book together and slid from the booth. He rubbed his hand over his eyes thinking he must be more tired than he thought. There was no way the symbols carved on a page of a metal book could change.
* * * * *
Tess gave up the idea of sleeping and sat up in bed, turning on the bedside lamp. There were so many things running through her head, she wasn’t sure she would ever be able to sleep again. She was thinking things, and feeling things, that up until recently had been completely foreign to her. Friendship. Camaraderie. Love. No. Not love. No one had ever loved her. No one ever could. Not with the things she’d done. The others tolerated her, because Max said they needed her.
Except . . . Kyle had kissed her tonight. He’d been in the process of passing out at the time, but still. Did it mean anything?
A knock on her door startled her out of her thoughts.
“Who is it?” she clutched the blanket to her chest.
“Just me,” Jim Valenti opened the door a crack. “I saw your light on.”
“Come on in,” Tess felt a warm glow spread through her belly.
“It’s late,” Jim poked his head inside the door. “Is everything okay?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” Tess answered vaguely.
“Anything you want to talk about?” he crossed over and sat on the end of the bed, not too close to crowd her. He wasn’t used to having a girl in the house.
“No,” Tess shook her head. She wished she could talk to Jim, but she didn’t know how. There were so many questions in her head; she didn’t know where to start. Besides, he couldn’t help her. He was only hu – No! She had to stop thinking that way.
“Well, if you ever do want to talk, you know where I am.” He gave her a wink, and smiled, “As long as it’s not girl stuff. I’m not very good at girl stuff.”
“I never would have guessed,” Tess giggled.
“That obvious, huh?”
“Oh, yeah,” Tess nodded vigorously.
“Well,” Jim tweaked her chin in a gesture similar to one his son used. “Get some sleep. Tomorrow will be here before you know it.”
“I will,” Tess slid down between the sheets. Jim stood up, and then leaned over, planting a quick kiss on her forehead. It was one of the best feelings she’d ever had. Two Valenti kisses in one night.
“Jim?” she called out as he reached the door.
“Yeah?” he turned around to face her.
“Thanks. For letting me stay here.”
“You’ll always have a home here,” Jim smiled at her. “For as long as you need one.”
Jim closed the door but his kind reassurances didn’t dispel a sudden sense of foreboding. Where was Ed Harding now? When was he going to show up again? What would he make her do when he came back? She’d always clung to him as her ‘father figure’, in a sick kind of way, but now she was afraid he was going to come back for her and try to take her away.
Feeling restless, she drew the blanket aside and wandered around Kyle’s room. She could feel his presence everywhere, from the Biker Babes magazine hidden under his bed, to the book on Buddha on his desk. She lifted a trophy from his bookcase, feeling his pride at becoming State Welterweight Champion in Greco Roman Wrestling. She set it back beside the other trophies, one for Football and Basketball and even State Junior Rifle Champion.
Her fingertips touched a photograph of Kyle in his football uniform, down on one knee posing for the camera, smiling with that infectious grin of his. It made her heart do funny things. Strange things. Wonderful things.
On the next shelf down Tess saw a dog-eared book, a classic children’s fairy tale, one that she had never seen, or read, or listened to. Human fairy tales hadn’t been part of her upbringing. She opened the pages and walked back toward the bed, touching the words on the pages. She stopped in mid step when the flashes hit her . . .
The small boy raced into his bedroom with his pajama bottoms all askew, giggling as a woman chased after him.
“Kyle!” she laughed. “Come back here!”
She swept the boy into her arms, tickling his naked tummy just to hear his delightful screams.
“Stop, Mommy! Stop!” he giggled and screamed and pushed at her hands.
She sat down on the bed shifting the boy to her lap, maneuvering his arms into the sleeves of his pajama top.
“Read me a story, Mommy?” Kyle sat patiently while she fastened his buttons and smoothed his damp hair.
“Just one,” she tapped him on the nose.
“I get it!” he scrambled off her lap and raced for the bookcase.
The 3 year old boy in the memory flash morphed into a 6 year old, standing mournfully in front of the bookcase. His hand pulled the dog-eared book off the shelf, but now there was no one to read it to him. He carried it back to the bed and climbed under the covers, cradling it on his lap. He opened the pages and looked at the pictures, but it wasn’t the same. He tried to read the words, but he wasn’t very good at it.
“Once . . . once up – upon a time . . . once . . .”
His chin began to tremble and a lone tear fell from his eye. It coursed down his cheek and splashed against the page of the book. Another soon followed. He rubbed at it with his elbow, but the sleeve of his pajama top wasn’t thick enough to soak up the flood. Kyle turned on his side and curled his small body around the book, the only thing he had left to remember her by.
He cried himself to sleep again . . .
Tess touched the rippled page with her fingertip, the tearstain over ten years old but still heartbreakingly vivid. She sat down hard on the side of the bed, holding the book close to her chest.
“Oh Kyle,” she whispered. “You don’t have a mother either . . .”
“You don’t need a mother,” Ed Harding stepped out of the solid wall. “I’m all you need.”
* * * * *
“Max?” Liz snuggled into his chest. The night was warm, and the stars were shining above them. The light from her bedroom just a few feet away couldn’t dim their grandeur.
“Hmmm?”
“I hate to say this, but you should probably go home.”
“I am home.” He turned on the lounger, tucking her closer to him.
“Max,” she lifted her head. “You can’t stay here every night. Your parents are going to notice you’re not sleeping at home.”
“Isabel’s covering for me,” Max opened his eyes. He nudged Liz over onto her back, hovering over her with a devilish look on his handsome face. His hand snaked under her shirt, resting comfortably on her stomach.
“And what if my dad finds you here?”
“Your dad?” Max snatched his hand away and sat up quickly, darting a look toward her bedroom window. She grabbed his shirt to keep him from jumping to his feet.
“Max, you’re so funny,” Liz laughed. “My dad isn’t that scary!”
“That’s what you think,” Max tried to settle back down.
Liz, with a devilish look of her own, slid her hand under his shirt. His stomach muscles tightened and he let out a groan.
“That’s not fair,” Max grabbed at her hand, “mentioning your father, and then doing that.” He felt her hand on the button of his jeans and heat washed over him. “Um, Liz? What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” she said innocently while playing with the line of hair just below his navel.
“Nothing?” he squeaked. “That feels like something –” He suddenly sat up straight, staring down at his abdomen. “Liz?”
“Relax, Max,” she purred. “You feel so tense.”
“Liz? Look.”
His shirt was pushed halfway up his stomach, his fly halfway down, but that wasn’t what had Max speechless. His abdomen was glowing. So was her hand.
“Wow,” Liz pulled her hand back quickly. The glow faded on both his skin and hers. She looked at his face and he silently urged her to try it again. She hesitantly touched his stomach, and gasped when his skin began to glow again.
“Max . . .”
“You can make me glow, Liz.”
* * * * *
“What, no goodnight kiss for me?” Harding taunted.
“Why did you come here?” Tess crossed the room and slid the book back into its spot on the bookcase. She kept her back to him so he couldn’t see her face. “I thought we agreed – you’d stay away from here so Jim and Kyle wouldn’t get suspicious.”
“Maybe I’m the one who should be suspicious . . .”
Tess’s back stiffened. “Don’t you trust me?”
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t trust any of you little pod people. You were created so you could move around here freely, but you’re all a little too human for me.”
He watched her gaze linger on a photograph of a boy, the one who was right now sleeping out in the other room. He picked up the picture, staring at it with a deadly glint in his eye.
“My little Tessa. Have you got yourself a new pet?”
“No!” Tess grabbed for the photograph, then snatched her hand back, too late. The color drained out of her face, knowing she’d given herself away.
“Emotion?” Harding stared at her hard. “Feelings? I thought I taught you better than that. Do you need another lesson?”
“No,” Tess cringed back.
“What was that other boy’s name . . .?” He drummed his fingers against his cheek in mock contemplation.
“Tommy . . .” she whispered in a little girl’s voice.
“Yes,” Harding’s eyes lit up. “Tommy Wilson. You did a fine job dissolving his bones. What shall we do with this one?”
“No,” panic filled her. “You can’t. People will notice if the Sheriff’s son is missing!”
“I’ll take his place. I’m tired of this body anyway.” Harding’s features started to shift, morph, his voice changing, turning into Kyle right in front of her eyes. She shivered when he flexed his hand and leered, “I like being 17.”
“No!” Tess cried out. “NO! I won’t let you!” She raised her hand and pressed it against his chest, watching him taunt her, laugh at her, denigrate her. She was no match for him, or so he thought. Rage took over, from somewhere deep inside her, years worth of agony pouring out of her palm, straight into his chest. He was the one who taught her how to kill, and she used that knowledge now.
The sneer on his face – Kyle’s face – turned to surprise, then shock, then pain. He fell to his knees, blinded by the light being emitted from her hand, a light too bright to look at. When she pulled her hand back the light faded, and Harding lay dead on the bedroom floor with a smoldering hole in his chest.
Kyle stood in the doorway, slowly lowering his hand, no longer needing to shield his eyes from the blinding light. He stared at the body on the floor – his body – then turned to Tess.
“Did – did you just kill me?”
* * * * *
Max crouched over the body with his hands against Harding’s chest. His brow dripped with sweat, his body trembled, but the body below him didn’t stir. With a gasp and a grimace of pain, he fell away from it.
“I can’t . . .” Max drew in a ragged breath. “He’s gone . . .” He leaned into Liz, feeling her comforting arm around his back.
Tess sat down hard on the bed, feeling the shock of what she’d done setting in.
Kyle ran a trembling hand through his hair. He shot a confused look at Tess and then wandered over to the window. The alien abyss was swallowing him whole.
“What about the healing stones?” Michael asked from the doorway. They still needed answers and Ed Harding might be the only one who had them. Isabel stood beside Michael hugging her arms around herself.
“No,” Max struggled to his feet with Liz’s help. He looked over at Tess, not knowing whether to sympathize with her, or be horrified by what she’d done. “He’s dead. There’s no bringing him back.”
Jim Valenti moved into the room looking at the body, then at Tess. He sidled over to Max, keeping his voice low. “I think this was a clear case of self defense. Ed Harding came in here, threatened her, threatened Kyle, she was just defending us. I don’t think she actually meant to kill him. She was scared, and just reacted . . .” his voice trailed off.
“What do we do with the body?” Isabel asked. “We can’t just – bury it – can we?”
“Maybe out at the pod chamber?” Jim suggested. “No one will find it there.”
Tess rose from the bed and stood above the man she had lived with almost her entire life. The man who had fed her, and clothed her, and taught her everything she knew. She held out her hand, and used that knowledge now, melting his body, turning him to dust.
Near the door, Liz leaned into Max as they watched Harding’s body disintegrate. “Maybe it’s over now,” she said hopefully. “If everyone from the crash is dead, then no one’s left to come looking for us. Maybe we can be safe now.”
“Maybe,” Max held her close with his arm around her shoulders. Maybe they could relax for a while. An invasion force might be headed their way, but maybe they had time now, to formulate a plan and prepare.
* * * * *
The door to the ramshackle apartment opened and three figures entered. The taller two sauntered in like they owned the place, arm in arm, predators on the make. The shortest one of the three quietly closed the door, trying not to be noticed.
“’Bout fuckin time you got your asses back here,” amber eyes flashed with fire. “Where ya been?” He slammed a fully loaded magazine into a 9 mm Glock and set it on the table.
“Out,” the taller male challenged. He was pushing it, and he knew it, but he was bored.
“Not you,” amber eyes jeered. He picked up another magazine and a handful of bullets. “You,” his gaze focused on the short blonde. She wilted under that intense stare.
“I was with Lonnie, and Rath. We was checkin’ out –”
“Get over here,” he growled at her. “Do what you fuckin’ do best.”
“Zan –”
“Now!”
She jumped at the sharpness of his tone. He was tense, on edge, in need of relief, and she would have to give it to him. She looked to Lonnie and Rath, but they were already on the couch, grabbing at each other, tearing at each other’s clothes.
“Go easy on ‘er Zan,” Lonnie twisted away from Rath long enough to eye the blonde with disdain. “Ava was leaky befo’ she was born.”
“Shut up,” Zan hissed at her. He didn’t accept excuses.
Ava crossed the room hesitantly, cautiously, but knowing she had no choice.
Zan grabbed her by the hair and forced her to her knees in front of him. She let out a sharp cry of pain and squeezed her eyes shut, knowing her mistake. Zan didn’t like weakness, and he wouldn’t tolerate defiance. His fingers closed around her chin, squeezing like a vise.
“This is the only reason I keep you around,” Zan growled, disgusted by the frightened look on her face. This and her powers were all she was good for. Releasing her chin, he sneered, “They musta fuckin’ mixed you wrong or somethin’.”
Ava tried to keep her hands steady as she lowered the zipper on his jeans. “Maybe – maybe we could go in the bed–”
Zan silenced her, grunting in satisfaction as he filled her mouth. Ava closed her eyes and performed her job while Zan watched the other two going at it on the far side of the room. Lonnie and Rath fucked like bunnies, day and night, night and day, whiling away the boredom between assignments. Zan preferred it this way. Controlling. Dominating. In charge. He got what he wanted and that’s all he cared about. When he was finished he withdrew from Ava’s mouth and pushed her away, done with her until next time.
“Pack your things,” Zan zipped up and stomped out of the room. “We ride in the morning.”
“Assignment?” Rath raised his mouth from Lonnie’s generous cleavage.
Zan smirked. “Sweet meat. In Roswell.”
TBC . . .