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Title: Weight of the World Author: Annie E-Mail:anniepoo98@hotmail.com Rating: Mature Summary: CC... The Granolith Keeper challenge from Rachie. Basically, there are a number of mass family murders across the country. However, at the last and most horrific one of all, there is a lone survivor. Serena Ross comes to Roswell under the order of her lawyer, Phillip Evans. The question is where or not the murderers will follow her. Takes place after Off the Menu. The title comes from the song “Changes” by Three Doors Down Disclaimer: You know I don’t own them. I just have the habit of borrowing them. Trust me, I’ll put them back as they should be!
Author's Note: Yes.... I am reposting this once again. Sorry to everyone who was reading this. I know... I am a lazy slacker who should get her butt in gear. Isn't the first part of recovery admitting you have a problem?
I'm not supposed to be scared of anything, but I don't know where I am
I wish that I could move but I'm exhausted and nobody understands (how I feel)
I'm trying hard to breathe now but there's no air in my lungs
There's no one here to talk to and the pain inside is making me numb
I try to hold this Under control
They can't help me 'Cause no one knows
Now I'm going through changes, changes
God, I feel so feel so frustrated lately
When I get suffocated, save me
Now I'm going through changes, changes
I'm feeling weak and weary walking through this world alone
Everything you say, every word of it, cuts me to the bone
I've got something to say, but now I've got no where to turn
It feel like I've been buried underneath the weight of the world
I try to hold this Under control
They can't help me 'Cause no one knows
Now I'm going through changes, changes
God, I feel so feel so frustrated lately
When I get suffocated, save me
Now I'm going through changes, changes
I'm running, shaking
Bound and breaking
I hope I make it through all these changes
Now I'm going through changes, changes
God, I feel so frustrated lately
When I get suffocated, save me
Now I'm falling apart, now I feel it
Now I'm going through changes, changes
God, I feel so feel so frustrated lately
When I get suffocated, I hate this
But I'm going through changes, changes
“Changes” by Three Doors Down
Prologue:
“Keep going,” her father yelled at her. “Don’t look back.”
Death, chaos, and destruction surrounded her. The sound of glass shattering clamored in her ears as she hurdled over strewn chairs. The exit was only a few feet away. We’re going to make it, she thought to herself.
Suddenly, a pair of large arms surrounded her, grasping her so tightly that the air rushed from her lungs in a loud gasp.
“No one escapes,” a demanding voice hollered over the commotion. “Find the one with the symbol. She’s the one we need. Kill the rest.”
“No,” she cried out, yet in the world around her, it was barely an audible whisper. She started to struggle, to fight against the man binding her arms to her sides. “No!”
The more she struggled, the more her shoulder peeked out from the top of her dress, revealing a swirling mark. The man grunted his excitement at the discovery he contained in his arms.
Closing her eyes, she tried to reach out, to find a path through the hatred and darkness surrounding her, but it was too much.
“What do we have here?” She could feel her captor’s breath on her ear. The heated rush of it swept over her neck, sending heinous chills down her spine.
The girl dropped her head in defeat. I’ve let them down, she cried, allowing the tears to build in her green eyes.
“I’d say we have a big pile of dust,” a male voice called out.
The man holding her jerked forward as a heavy object came crashing into his lower back. She heard the echo of the seal breaking before losing her balance with the sudden movement and falling to the floor. A cloud of dust rained down on her a moment later.
“Are you okay?” Gentle hands took her arms, helped her to her feet.
“Rory,” she croaked, throwing herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around her cousin.
Taking the comfort for only an instant, he shrugged off her arms. “We don’t have time for this now. We have to get you out of here. All the exits have been blocked.”
Taking in the banquet hall around her, she saw the fires being used to entrap them within its walls. Bodies were strewn on the ground, others were still struggling to live as the enemy closed in. Then, she noticed it.
“Over here,” she yelled, grabbing Rory’s hand. They ran to the nearest wall as she pointed to a vent. “Through this,” she told him.
Using his powers, Rory dissolved the screws and the cover fell to the ground. “You first,” he ordered, clasping his hands together so he could give her a boost.
She placed her foot in them, using all of her might to hoist herself up. The metal bent under her knees, snapping back when she moved. “Go,” she heard Rory’s voice echoing in the ventilator shaft.
Crawling on her hands and knees through the wandering maze, she hurried, trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and the slaughter she was escaping. Everyone she loved was in that room. Her mother, father, aunt and uncle. Now, they were gone. She could feel it.
Spying light seeping through another vent, she waved her hand behind her, motioning for Rory to follow her. He’s all I have left, she told herself. Making her way to the registers, she used her powers to melt the screws. However, when she turned to look for her cousin, no one was there.
“Rory,” she let out a loud whisper. The name repeated itself, bouncing off the metal, but no answer return.
She hesitated, waited for his head to peek from around a corner. Any sign that he had made it too. A minute passed, then another. Calling out again, she felt the ripple of pain.
It tore at her gut, leaving anguish in it’s wake. “He’s not there,” she muttered unbelievably to herself. “There’s no one now.”
It was the last conscious thought that passed through her head.
When Serena Ross woke up, she was surrounded by police, investigators, and medics. Someone had stumbled across her body lying in a pile of trash just below a broken register. She was alone, scared, and under suspicion of murder.
Last edited by Anniepoo98 on Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:54 pm, edited 19 times in total.
Maria glanced down at the newspaper that was currently adorning the sidewalk, stopping to pick it up. “Liz isn’t going to like this,” she whispered to Alex as they made their way through the doors of the Crashdown. “Not at all.”
“What is it,” Alex asked, glancing over Maria’s shoulder. Then, he noticed the story absorbing the front page.
A Family Reunion Turns Deadly
Seventh Group Murder in a Series of Cult Killings-One Survivor
“Oh damn,” he muttered, quickly grabbing the paper and shoving it behind his back as he saw Liz behind the counter. She was pouring a cup of coffee with a dazed expression on her face.
“Morning,” Alex greeted her, abnormally cheerful.
Maria laid her book bag on the counter. “I thought you hated coffee?”
Liz took a sip, wincing at the bitter taste. “I do, but I have to keep awake somehow.”
“Here,” Maria sympathized, passing Liz the sugar. “Add a lot of this.”
Tipping the cylinder, Liz watched as the tiny granules flowed into her coffee, like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
“So…” Alex trailed off. “Are you going to tell us what is going on with you, or do you want to play 20 questions?”
Liz stopped pouring the sugar. “There’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Sure,” Maria scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief. “And I’ll believe that the second Michael turns into a romantic and starts buying me flowers.”
“I thought that wasn’t going to happen until pigs learned to fly,” Alex joked, playfully bumping Maria in the shoulder with his own.
Maria nodded her head. “Yup. It’s a sign that the end of the world is coming.”
Those words rang though Liz’s mind and her head snapped up. “What did you say?” The coffee mug slipped from her fingers as she gasped the words. It shattered the second it made contact with the tile.
“Liz,” Maria called out, rushing behind the counter. “Are you okay? You didn’t get cut?”
Liz shook her head. “No,” she mumbled, grabbing a washcloth and carefully got her knees to gather up the broken glass. She made cautious sweeping moves, using the cloth to protect her hands the shards started to form a pile. Anything to keep her mind off the slight embarrassment she was feeling. “I was just startled for a second.”
“Awww Parker.” Sean Deluca’s head appear over the counter. “Does my presence unnerve you that much?”
“I know that it makes me nauseous,” Maria mentioned, rolling her eyes at her cousin.
Sean returned the gesture. “Was I talking to you?”
Maria shook her head. “No, but because you’re family, I feel the obligation to occasionally address you in public. Feel lucky?”
“Sure,” Sean muttered sarcastically. “Maria Deluca talked to me. I need to go buy that winning lottery ticket.”
“Speaking of tickets, I saw that you got one for speeding last night. Mom’s going to kill you,” Maria informed him. “And what were you doing out on 380 anyway?”
“She has to find out first,” Sean retorted. “And none of your business.”
Maria stuck her tongue out at him.
“Real mature,” he commented before mimicking the same action.
Alex ignored them, turning his full attention to Liz, who seemed to be ignoring everyone. She’d quickly dumped the broken glass into the trash and stood. Then stopped. Her eyes focused, even sharpen, on what was happening on the other side of the window. The second the bell rang on the door to the restaurant, Alex knew just what had caught her attention. He didn’t even need to turn around. The sound of two mingling voices was enough.
Max Evans had just walked into the Crashdown with Tess Harding right beside him, chatting.
He watched as Max and Liz’s glance met across the room, igniting the tension that could probably rival the desert heat outside. Or maybe that was the passion that still burned between the two. Alex wasn’t sure, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to do a thing to stop it. He knew that whatever was happening between Max and Liz needed to come to a boiling point sooner or later. After all, they had barely spoken three words to each other since the night Brody held them hostage.
Alex was just hoping it would happen sooner.
But not that day. “So, Parker?” Sean’s voice cut though the moment.
Liz blinked as if returning to the world around her, than slowly moved her head to face him.
“When are we going to go on that date you promised me?” It was said smoothly. Alex could tell from the smile on his face that he’d recognized the tension, and was enjoying the little ribbing he was getting in. “It’s almost been a month. You shouldn’t keep a guy hanging like this.”
“No,” Maria interjected. “When he smells as bad as you, I would just cut the line and toss him back in the river.”
“Shut up Deluca,” he told her, keeping his eyes focused on Liz. “So how about Friday?”
Sneaking one last look at Max, Liz nodded her head. “Whatever… sure. I’ve gotta go… school.”
Liz gathered her books in a hurry and rushed out the front door of the café, brushing right past Max and Tess in the process. Maria grabbed her bag, then took off right after her, but not before muttering ‘bastard’ under her breath when she went past Max. Alex just grabbed his stuff, following like he always did.
One thing was for sure. Even though Liz was gone, the tension was still present because Max’s eyes followed Liz out the door, down the sidewalk, until she disappeared. Then, he turned them to Sean, who was doing the exact same thing. For a brief moment their gazes met and a smile crept across Sean’s lips, almost like he was challenging Max to do something.
“Tell me again why you didn’t punch his lights out?” Michael eased back on his couch as he fiddled with the remote to his television. But his eyes never left his friend. “After all, you know that all he wants to do is…”
Isabel laid a hand on Michael’s shoulder roughly. “Don’t finish that sentence.”
Michael shrugged off the hand. “What? I was going to say respect her as a woman,” he retorted.
She looked down at him, thoroughly unamused. “I’ll believe that the second you turn into a romantic and buy Maria flowers.”
“I’m with Isabel on this one,” Tess commented. “Personally, I want to avoid all possible scarring images that would have come if you had finished the sentence.”
Everyone turned to look at her.
“Hey,” Tess said, shifting a bit uncomfortably in the recliner. When three sets of eyes stayed on her, she felt her own begin to narrow. “I joke. It does happen people.”
“So that’s what that was,” Michael said sarcastically. His face lit up with amusement, then quickly, it faded away. “Nope. Still not funny. Besides, I still don’t get why Sean gets to be part of the I-Know-An-Alien club in the first place.”
Tess rolled her eyes. “Because perfect Parker had to…”
“Enough,” Max ordered, cutting her off abruptly. “It wasn’t Liz’s fault, Tess. In fact, she was right that night. It’s my fault Sean got shot and I had to heal him.”
“Just because she has the ability to make you feel guilty for everything that has ever happened, doesn’t mean it’s actually your fault,” Tess argued.
Max’s head dropped, swaying side to side as if he was racking his brains for a way to explain it to her. “Liz doesn’t have to make me feel guilty. I do just fine on my own.”
Isabel let out a long sigh. “As interesting as this is to talk about, there are still more important things we should discuss… like all these murders.”
“And what makes you think it has anything to do with us,” Tess questioned. “All the papers are just calling them weird occult killings.”
“Nothing to do with us?” Isabel threw the words back at her. “Each and every one of the crime scenes and bodies are covered in alien symbols.” She took a deep breath. “I recognize the markings, Tess. So does Max. We all know them.”
“Doesn’t mean that it has anything to do with us,” Michael countered.
All three of them just stared at him.
Michael shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, maybe it does.”
“What do we do now Max?” Tess asked, glancing over at Max, concern in her eyes.
Max ran a hand thought his hair. “I don’t know,” he told them. “I really don’t know, but we have to figure out something. This latest one was in Albuquerque. Whoever they are, they’re getting closer.”
When no one spoke up, Michael decided he needed to throw out an idea he was mulling over, let them decide what they thought of it. “The girl. I think the news said something about a girl surviving. She might know something, so why don’t we ask her?”
Tess scoffed. “Like we can get to her,” she said, shooting the idea down. “The police have been questioning her ever since it happened. They’re never going to just let us walk in there and talk to her.”
“Can’t you just… you know,” Michael said, rapidly blinking his eyes.
A puzzled look appeared on Tess’s face. “Blink them to death?”
“Signal them with Morse code?” Isabel asked, equally confused.
His shoulders dropped. “Mindwarp them, Tess. Mindwarp them,” Michael exclaimed.
“My powers are still on the fritz from our brief hostage situation,” she sighed, leaning back in the chair. “I wasn’t even able to fix a bowl I knocked over last week. The second the Sheriff finds out, I’m in deep trouble.”
“But it’s been a month,” Isabel commented in disbelief. “The incident with Brody happened a month ago, and you only mindwarped Maria’s mom then. No offense, but the woman doesn’t have much in the way of deep thoughts running around up there.”
“Besides,” Michael jumped in. “After Max, healed those kids, it only took him a couple of weeks for his powers level out again. What’s different about this?”
“Damn,” Tess retorted. “Why doesn’t everyone just gang up on me? I save our asses and I get hell for it.” She turned to look at Max. “Have anything you want to add?”
Max just shook his head, keeping it hung low.
“Come on Maxwell,” Michael egged on. “Thoughts, comments, suggestions. Hell, I’d settle for a quip. We’re in deep shit here, great leader of ours. Lead.”
Slowly, Max stood up and walked towards the door.
Isabel watched him. “Where are you going?”
“Home,” he told them plainly. “And my suggestion is that we all do the same. Right now, nothing is going to get decided if we keep fighting.”
“Great,” Michael grunted. “Once again, we’re waiting. Superior leadership.”
“I don’t want to fight,” Max told Michael. “And I’ve never wanted to be the leader.” With that, he walked out the door.
“Perfect,” Isabel groaned, running after her brother.
“What was that all about,” Michael asked Tess, who was just as stunned as he was.
“One guess,” Tess offered.
Michael nodded his head. “Liz.” Of course it was Liz. With Max, it was always Liz.
“Yeah,” Tess confirmed. “She made a date with Sean Deluca right in front of him, like he was nothing. And he is still hung up on her,” she blurted out, frustrated.
Michael heard her take a deep breath, than another. “I don’t get why he lets her just do things like that to him,” The words were muttered softly, but he could still hear them. And something about the tone of their delivery had him commenting.
“It’s not like they’re dating,” Michael informed her, shocked at the sound of his own voice defending Liz Parker.
Reaching out, she grabbed her purse, heading in the direction of the door as well. “The way he acts, they might as well be.”
~~~~~~~~
“I don’t like this at all, Phillip,” Diane protested, following her husband down the staircase. “You’re actually planning to bring that girl back here!”
Phillip shook his head, turning to face his wife in the process. He needed for her to understand. “I can’t leave her there, Diane. The media frenzy alone would be enough to drive a person crazy. Now add that on top of everything she has suffered. Her family is gone...”
“Probably by her own hand,” Diane argued. “She’s suspected of killing all those people. If she isn’t guilty, then why hasn’t she talked to anyone since they brought her in for questioning?”
Taking a deep breath, Phillip tried to keep his temper in control. “She’s lost everything,” he replied, the edge of his rising anger cutting though his voice. “And she needs my help… our help. Please understand, Diane, that I have to do this.”
Diane shook her head. “I need a reason first. Why is this so important? What about her has struck this cord in you?”
Searching for the words to explain it to her, Phillip found his thoughts interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. “Mom? Dad?”
“In the living room,” Diane answered Isabel.
Watching as both Max and Isabel appeared in the archway, Phillip found himself looking at the answer to Diane’s question. His beautiful children. The gifts God had bestowed upon them so many years ago that night in the desert.
“They’re why I have to do this,” he stated simply, looking from Max and Isabel to Diane.
The confusion Diane felt because of that statement quickly became apparent on her face. “What do you mean ‘they’re why’?” she demanded, pointing to Max and Isabel, who were now equally confused.
“What’s going on?”
Diane saw on Max’s face, heard it in his voice when he spoke. And she knew why. They’d witness very few disagreements between her and Phillip, and never ones where they yelled at each other. He was probably sensing tension between them.
Phillip didn’t turn to face his son, or make a move to answer his question. His gaze remained focused on his wife. “The look in her eyes. All the pain, sadness, and loneliness. It reminded me of the night we found Max and Isabel in the desert. It’s the same look, Diane. I can no more turn her away than I could have left them.”
Diane stood stunned for a moment. The words she had been preparing failed to come when she opened her mouth. Max and Isabel were her one weakness and Phillip knew it. She didn’t know whether to be furious at him for using it against her or to love him more for his kindness. All she knew was that she still wasn’t happy he was bring Serena Ross to Roswell.
Knowing that her children were still standing there, not having a clue as to what was going on, Diane turned to look at them. “Kids, can you go wait in the car? We’re having dinner at the Crashdown.”
“What about Dad?” Isabel asked, worry haunting her eyes.
“I’m leaving for Albuquerque. I won’t be back until late,” Phillip explained, reaching for Isabel and giving her a quick reassuring hug. “Go, have fun eating space burgers with your mom.”
“Okay,” Isabel said, hovering near her father for a moment before moving back towards Max. “We’ll be out in the car.”
Diane nodded, walking around Phillip to grab her purse on the table. “So Jeff Parker agreed to do this out of nowhere?”
He shook his head. “No, I ran into Jeff earlier. He was reading about the murders in the paper. We started talking about it. Said he wanted to help, and I had a feeling you wouldn’t be to wild about me bringing her here.”
Letting out a deep sigh, Diane fumbled around in her purse, searching for her keys. “I assume that Nancy knows nothing about this.”
Phillip shrugged a bit. “I don’t know if Jeff has told her. That was up to him. I do know that he trusts me about this. He believes Serena is completely innocent, and so do I.”
“I hope you’re both right for all our sakes,” she sighed, heading out the door.
Thanks for the feedback. Yup, my current plan is to finish this, and I like to keep my plans.
Annie:)
Part Three:
Max, Isabel, and Diane quickly made their way to a booth the moment they entered the Café. The restaurant was quickly filling up with the dinner rush. Max knew that if they’d gotten there twenty minutes later, finding a booth would be next to impossible.
Only that wasn’t what was causing their quick movements, or the sudden fidgetiness everyone experienced when they sat down. His mom occupied herself with a menu. Isabel started stacking the creamers, forming them into a pyramid. As for himself, Max found what was going on at everyone else’s table more interesting then what was going on at his own.
Nope, none of them wanted to bring up whatever it was that was happening at the house just before they left. In fact, when Max saw Maria approaching them a few minutes later, he could have jumped for joy at the distraction.
Then, he noticed the smile on her face. Sharp, a bit angry. And, aimed at him.
“Welcome to the Crashdown Café. I’m Maria and I’ll be your waitress for the evening. Can I start you off with a drink?”
Great, he thought. A fake greeting, delivered in the tone she saved for the particularly annoying customers. What did I do this time? He couldn’t help but wondering.
He felt Isabel’s elbow jab sharply into his side. “Cherry Coke,” Max groaned, and twisted to eye his sister.
“Sprite,” Isabel requested, a phony smile plastered on her face.
Max saw his mother’s gaze drift back and forth between him and Isabel before she ordered. “I’ll just have water.”
Without making a single scribble on her order pad, Maria nodded. She spared Max on last scathing look, than turned towards the kitchen.
Diane made a noise somewhere between clearing her throat and the word wait. Maria stopped instantly, twisting around to face her. “Did you need something else, Mrs. Evans?”
For a moment, Max thought his mom was going to say no. it looked to him like she was really considering it. Yet, when she opened her mouth, just the opposite came out.
“Yes,” Diane replied, trying to sound cheerful. “Is Nancy around? I really need to talk to her about something.”
Maria offered her a smile, somewhat confused, but sincere. “I’m not sure. I think she went with Mr. P somewhere.”
“Then never mind.” Diana offered her a smile. “It wasn’t important.”
With another nod, Maria walked away.
“Okay,” Isabel said the second Maria was out of earshot. “What is going on? What was going on when we got home? Why do you have to talk to Mrs. Parker?”
Diane shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s just something about a case your father is working on,” she answered gently, laying a reassuring hand over one of Isabel’s. “Nothing for you to worry about.”
Max looked over at his sister and she back at him. They weren’t buying it. “You and Dad never argue, but you were when we got home. Why?” Isabel questioned further.
“We weren’t arguing,” Diane countered.
“It seemed intense, Mom,” Max chimed in. He was just as eager as Isabel to find out what was going on. It was rare that his parents kept secrets from them, at least not the major ones.
Diane let out a hefty sigh of tension that had been building in her chest. She hated to worry her children. Both Max and Isabel always seemed like they had the weight of the world on their shoulders and she despised adding to it. Yet, it only seemed right that they knew the truth.
“Your father is bringing one of his clients to Roswell,” she explained. “She’s going to be staying here, with the Parkers, at least until the media frenzy dies down.”
“Why would you argue about that?” Isabel pushed. Max saw she was staring straight at their mother, searching her eyes for the truth.
“Is she dangerous?” Max asked. He could feel fear ebbing at his conscious. He had a feeling that he really didn’t want to know the answer to the question.
“You’re father doesn’t think so,” Diane continued. “I’m not so sure.”
“Not quite encouraging,” he mumbled. Running a hand through his hair, Max let out a deep breath. “Can you tell us who she is?”
Looking down at the table top, Diane nodded. “The girl they’re questioning for family reunion murders up in Albuquerque.”
Isabel’s head instantly turned to toward where her brother was sitting. “Max,” she gasped, but it was too late.
Max quickly got up from the booth, making his way to the back of the restaurant. I have to see Liz, he thought over and over again, as he pushed aside the door leading to the breakroom.
And there was where he encountered the barrier otherwise known as Maria.
“Where do you think you’re going?” she demanded, pressing a hand firmly against Max’s chest to stop him.
“I have to talk to her,” he told her.
Maria shook her head. “I don’t think so. That’s the last thing she needs right now.”
“I’m not here to fight or argue, but I need to talk to her,” Max attempted to reason with Maria.
With one eyebrow raising on instinct, Maria folded her arms across her chest. “Really Max, about what? Cause unless I hear the word apology come out of your mouth, there is no way you’re getting into that apartment.”
“I’m sorry about what happened in the museum.” It was a confession that had been weighing on him for a month. After all, how do you apologize for almost getting a group of people killed. Hallmark didn’t make a card for it. “About Sean getting hurt, your mother witnessing it all, that Brody took you all hostage…”
“Not the right things,” Maria interrupted him. “You’re not being sorry about the right things, Max. Sean got himself hurt, I can take care of myself, and my mother sure as hell can. What about Liz?”
A smile tugged at one corner of Max’s mouth, despite everything that was going on. Typical Maria, the thought ran unbidden through his mind. For and foremost with her was protecting a friend.
“What are you smiling about?” Maria scolded.
“Nothing,” Max replied simply.
“Liar,” Maria called him on it. “Let me tell you something, Max. Your chances of getting up there are not looking to good. God, aren’t you even the least bit sorry about what happened to Liz when we were taken hostage? Brody almost killed her. She had to watch you cuddle with Tess. Hell, she has to go on a date with my cousin of all people to cover your butts again.”
Max looked Maria dead in the eyes. “You know that I never wanted any of that to happen. I would do anything to keep Liz safe. That is why I have to see her.” Then he paused for a second, thinking about the things Maria had listed off to him. “And I never cuddled with Tess,” he refuted.
“Sure,” Maria retorted. “Then how do you explain the two of you this morning, buddy boy? After all, you and Tess have been getting awfully friendly lately.”
Falling back on his nervous habit, Max ran a hand through his hair again. “She’s been helping me remember things that happened back on Antar. This morning I gave her a ride to school.”
“After she spent the night at…,” Maria continued in her interrogation.
Max found himself a little weirded out at the implication. “The Valentis,” he replied quickly.
Maria reached out and gave Max a tiny slap on the arm. “Now those answers are much better. I guess I can let you go see Liz.”
Letting out a deep sigh of relief. “Thank you,” he said, moving past her to the staircase.
“Just one more thing,” Maria said, grabbing onto his sleeve, giving it a yank.
Max’s eyes widened, but he turned to face her. “What?”
“Hurt her,” Maria began, “and I will rip your heart out with a pair of salad tongs… okay?”
Nodding, Max sped up his assent to the Parker apartment.
~~~~~~~~~
Liz sat on the couch, cradling her knees under her chin. In front of her, the television played the evening news broadcast.
“Even thought details are still sketchy, a reliable source from the Albqurgue courthouse has made a statement that the girl held for questioning in a string of occult murders will be released tonight into her lawyer’s custody,” the man relayed.
Closing her eyes, Liz leaned her head back, resting it on the back of the couch. Tell me something I don’t know, she thought as her fingers fumbled for the remote. “But you’re wrong about one thing buddy,” she muttered, pressing the off button. “She’s not going to the Evans’ house. Nope, she coming here.” With a quick flick of her wrist and a little remote magic, she clicked the set off. “So there.”
So caught up in her thoughts, Liz almost didn’t hear the knocking on the apartment door. It started out like a gentle rapping, polite and even. Then it quickly escalated, as though the person on the other side was growing more and more desperate for an answer.
“Who is it?” She wasn’t moving from her spot if wasn’t someone important. Sean... not so much. Max... well then she would...
“Max,” was the simple reply.
Liz’s eyes shot open. Instantly, she got off the couch, moving across the living room towards the door. Undoing the latch, she turned the handle, opening the door wide.
“Hello,” his voice filled her ears, low and quiet as his eyes met hers.
“Hi,” she whispered back, a confused expression appearing on her face. “What are you doing here?”
Max swallowed hard. Seeing her standing there, that particular look clouding her features, reminded him how strained things had become between them. “Can I come in?” he finally managed to ask.
Liz nodded her head, moving aside as he took the tentative steps into her home. “So, what brings you by?” she questioned, trying to force her voice to sound cheerful. Yet, it came out strained, sending the urge to hide through her entire body. After all, it was easier to hide than face him, to face all the things she had done to him.
Hell, it was easier to hide rather than admit all the secrets she still kept from him.
“We need to talk,” Max said, a hint of panic lacing his words.
A slightly forced smile spread cross Liz’s lips. “I kinda figured. Just tell me what’s going on?”
“Are you really going to go out with Sean Deluca?” Max blurted out before he had a chance to think.
She took a step back. There was an urgency in his tone that caught Liz caught off guard. Out of all the things she expected to come out of his mouth, that was certainly the last on the list. “I…I don’t see where I have much of a choice.”
Max stood there for a moment, considering what he was going to say next. All he could tell Liz was the truth. “I don’t like it, Liz.”
“That really doesn’t matter, now does it?” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Frustration had her moving even farther away from him. “If I don’t, he tells everyone about you. Isabel, Michael, and Tess too. We both know that can’t happen.”
She made her way into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator door. “You want?” she asked, holding up a bottle of water.
Shaking his head in response, Max followed her into the kitchen. Another long pause followed. “I don’t trust him,” he admitted, breaking the silence.
Liz slammed the bottle of water down on the counter causing some of the water to splash out. “What else do you expect me to do?” Didn’t he understand that there was no other choice here.
Leaning against the counter, head hung low, Max let out a long sigh. “I don’t know.”
Glancing over at him and he could see the flair of irritation in her eyes. “Fine. Then we stick with my plan,” she said evenly, pushing away from the counter. “Anything else?”
Max took a deep breath. “My father is bringing one of his clients to stay in Roswell. She going to be…”
“Staying here,” Liz finished just before taking a sip of water. “I know. My parents told me.”
“Be careful,” Max said softly. The pleading look in his eyes caused a shiver to descend her spine.
“Why,” Liz questioned, searching his eyes for the answer. “After all, your father wouldn’t have even asked if he thought she was dangerous. Right?”
Max ran a hand through his hair. God, how he hated doing this to her. Seconds passed, then minutes until he finally opened his mouth to speak, but by that time Liz had already figured it out.
“She’s not an alien?” she joked slightly, hoping that he would tell her she was wrong. However, when she saw his mouth close instantly, jaw tightening slightly, her hope was dashed. “Is she?”
“She might be,” Max confessed, looking away. “We think she might be.”
“We,” Liz retorted. “Whose we?”
“Michael, Isabel, Tess, and I,” Max replied.
“I see,” Liz said, her eyes darting furiously around the room. “Can I ask when you were going to tell the rest of us? After all, it’s been almost two days since it’s happen, and the first family was murdered more than three weeks ago.”
“We didn’t think…,” Max started to explain, but Liz was far beyond explanations.
“That’s true,” she snapped harshly. “Max, we had the right to know. Even if your father wasn’t her lawyer, how long to you think it would have been before they found us. Albuquerque. The latest murders were in Albuquerque. That’s too close for us not to know anything about it.”
Max crossed the distance between them till she was only a few inches away. “We weren’t even sure ourselves until now.”
Liz tilted her head to the side. “How?”
“The symbols,” Max admitted. “Isabel and I sort of recognized them. I think Michael and Tess did too, but they aren’t that eager to say.”
“So they’re not occult markings,” Liz muttered to herself. “They’re alien.”
“Yeah,” Max sighed. Then, the tone in his voice turned more urgent. “That’s why I want you to stay as far away from her as you can.”
“It will be kinda hard seeing as how she’ll be sleeping three feet away from me,” Liz exclaimed. She took a step away from Max, moving till her back was facing him. “Maybe this is a good thing,” she whispered, so low, he could barely hear her. “I can keep an eye on her. Find out what she is up to.”
“No,” Max demanded. “It’s too dangerous. I won’t let you do that.”
Liz stiffened. “It’s not your decision.”
The next thing she knew, Max came up directly behind her. Placing a hand on one shoulder, he quickly turned her to face him. Liz felt her body come almost flush against his, and she saw the anger burning in his eyes.
“It’s too dangerous,” he repeated, emphasizing every word. “Hell, we don’t even know what she is.”
Liz could feel the heat from his palm radiated though the material of her shirt. “Well I,” she trailed off, distracted by how close he was. “I might be the only way to find out.”
Max features softened until they became almost pleading. “I can’t lose you,” he told her.
“You won’t,” Liz attempted to reassure him. “I’ll be careful.”
Shaking his head, Max looked down. “That’s not what I mean. God Liz, we haven’t spoken in weeks.”
Liz’s eyes found themselves wandering down to the floor as well. “I know.”
Max’s fingers started to play with the ends of her hair on their own accord. “Nothing make sense anymore and it’s driving me crazy. Everything that has happened between us, or to us seems to be pushing us further apart.”
“Max,” Liz started to say. Yet, she could sense his fingers tangling with her hair, while his other hand began to trail from her shoulder up her neck, finally coming to a stop against her lips. His thumb pressed gently there, keeping Liz from finishing her sentence.
“I want it to stop,” he declared. “I need you, Liz.”
Tears started to form in her eyes, burning with the desire to pour down her cheeks. However, she fought them back, willing them not to come just yet.
“You need her,” she forced out, shaking her head. “You need Tess, not me.”
“That’s not true,” Max insisted. “The only person I’ve ever wanted, needed, was you. I don’t care about what happened in a past life or this one for that matter. I love you.”
A gasp escaped her lips. “No…. no. Please don’t do this Max,” she whimpered, pulling away from him.
Max’s hope simply crumbled when he hear her protests. Rejected, he took a step back, allowing her the space she needed.
“I think you should go,” Liz asked, closing her eyes tight. “Please go.”
Her plea was answered as she heard his receding footsteps, then the door closed.
Isabel watched from the sofa in the employee lounge as her brother descended the steps from the Parker apartment. The guilt-ridden looked on his face made her wonder if he’d just kicked a helpless puppy, or three. “That bad?” she commented, searching his face.
“Understatement,” Max scoffed as he made his way towards her.
She crunched her nose at him. Her brother, she thought. Mr. Elaborate he was not. “I sorta figured,” she retorted. “At least, it sounded that way to me.”
A horrified expression appeared on Max’s face. “You were listening?”
Isabel pointed at the clock on the wall behind her. “You were gone for like... forty minutes. Mom was getting ready to send out a search party.”
Max collapsed down next her on her the sofa. “So, how much did you hear?”
She gave him a reassuring pat on the arm. “Not a lot.” She paused for a moment, a long sigh escaped her lips. “You’re still in love with her, huh?”
“Not a lot,” Max repeated, only with an sarcastic edge in his voice. “I think you and I might have to have another discussion about invading other people’s privacy.”
Isabel rolled her eyes. “Dreamwalking doesn’t count. I have a gift, and I must use it. After all, it’s a talent that shouldn't go to waste.”
Even as Max’s narrowed at her, she tilted her head, brought it to rest on his shoulder for a moment. “I didn’t mean to overhear, Max. I swear. But when I did, I couldn’t help but wonder...”
“Wondering what?”
“That if you and Liz are so right, then how come everything keeps going wrong?”
Max glanced over at her. “Is that a rhetorical question?”
A slight smirk crossed her lips. “Possibly. But really, think about it. Things between the two of your have been getting worse and worse. After all, she slept with Kyle.”
“Yeah,” Max conceded. “Maybe.”
Isabel’s head straightened, her eyes widening a bit. “You don’t think she did?”
“If she wanted out of the alien abyss so bad, then how come she is still so deep in it.” Max wondered aloud, leaning his head against the back of the sofa. “For example, take our current situation.”
Now, Isabel was confused. “What do you mean?”
“I asked Liz to say away from dad’s client.” There was frustration in his voice. “She refused. Instead, she wants to help us figure out what this girl is up to.”
A look of pure shock appeared on Isabel’s face. “Did you explain that we think she might be…”
“Who might be what?” Maria’s head poked out of the kitchen. “Please fill in the blanks with ‘Tess’ and “bitc…”
“Maria,” Michael cut her off, giving her a tiny shove into the breakroom.
Maria rolled her eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh at the same time. “Fine,” she conceded. “But at least tell me who you are talking about, if it’s not Tess. I mean you all look as though this huge checkslovain threat…”
The realization dawned on her before she finished her sentence. “That’s it, isn’t it!” She whirling around instantly to face Michael. “And you didn’t tell me?”
Michael took a step backwards. “We didn’t know for sure. We still don’t.”
Maria moved with him. “But you suspected. You had hints and clues some big bad was coming that you never told me about,” As she ranted, her index finger started doing its best to drill a hole in his chest. “Well buster, you’re going to tell me about it this instant.”
Isabel took a deep breath. “We think that those family murders in Albuquerque might be universally related.”
“Okay,” Maria said as she pondered the thought. “Still, they think that all these strange killings are related, and the others started about three weeks ago.”
Michael watched carefully, judging what Maria’s reaction was going to be. However, he wasn’t prepared for her to suddenly turned to him again, hitting his arm with all her might.
“Three weeks!” The statement was made at the top of her lungs. “You knew for three weeks and said nothing. “That’s it. You all are on the top of my grrr list. In fact, I’m going to go make a list right now just so you can be on the top of it. Hell, Sean is rating higher then all of you now.”
“It wasn’t like that.” Michael held up both of his hands when her eyes narrowed on him. “We seriously didn’t suspect anything until week ago.”
“The family in Tucson,” Maria muttered.
Michael nodded. “Yeah. The newspapers showed a photo of the crime scene with all those symbols.”
“Isabel and I recognized them.” Maria whirled around to glare at Max when finally spoke up. The gleam in them could only be described as a slow angry burn. “They’re not occult. They’re…”
“Otherworldly,” Isabel finished for him, hoping to direct some of the heat away from her brother. Only, Maria was so intent on Max that she barely registered the fact that Isabel was speaking.
“So,” she hissed lightly. “What did you have to see Liz about, Max? It does have something to do with this, doesn’t it?”
Max swallowed hard, finding it difficult to meet her eyes. “The girl the police have been questioning in Albuquerque is a client of our dad’s. He’s bringing her to Roswell.”
“Shit,” Michael grumbled. “When the hell did this happen?”
“This afternoon,” Isabel answered. “We found out when we got home.”
“This is perfect,” Michael scoffed. “This is just dandy. What are we suppose to do now?”
Max shrugged his shoulders.
“God, do all aliens have the indecision gene?” Maria mumbled, steady tap resonating through the lounge as she repeatedly tapped her tennis-clad foot on the floor. “What else,” she demanded expectantly, like she could read their minds that there was more.
“What do you mean what else?” Michael went off, beginning to pace back and forth. “A new, probably homicidal, alien is coming to live with Max and Isabel. Isn’t that enough, Maria?”
“She’s not staying with us,” Isabel admitted.
Michael feet came to a stop instantly. “Then where is she staying?”
Clearing his throat, Max leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Here.”
“Bastard,” Maria yelled, turning on one heal and storming off into the restaurant.
Hesitating for a moment, Michael’s eyes met with Max, sort of asking for a solution. Max simply shrugged his shoulders, having no other solution. With a quick roll of his eyes, Michael ran off after Maria.
Isabel let out a light snort. “God, I never thought the day would come when I’d be afraid of Maria Deluca.”
“She’s dating Michael,” Max remarked. “Enough said.”
“True.” Isabel tried to laugh a little, but she hear a hint of her own fear lacing the sound of it. God, she thought. What’s going to happen next?
For a moment, neither of them said a word. Over the sounds of the restaurant, Isabel could heard Michael trying to make peace with Maria, and failing miserably. She couldn’t blame the other girl for being mad. She was worried and scared and concerned for her best friend.
And to tell the truth, so was Isabel. “ So, you’re going to let this happen?” she asked, breaking the silence. “Let that girl stay with Liz?”
Max rubbed at his eyes, finally giving up and covering them with his hands. “Liz was right about one thing. I really don’t have a choice. She is going to do whatever she feels is right.”
Isabel stared at him with a shocked expression donning her face. “And you’re letting it go at that?”
“No.” The hand fell way from his face. There was a light in his eyes now, one that Isabel hadn’t seen in quiet awhile. The one saying that despite all of his protests, Max was the leader. “She’ll do what she has to, and I’ll do what I have to.”
“Meaning…” Isabel trailed off, “you’re going to watch her every move.”
A ripple a laugher bellowed. Isabel looked over at her brother like he had lost his mind.
“Not like I didn’t have years of practice,” he thought aloud, still chuckling ridiculously.
“This is not funny,” Isabel told him in disbelief. “I cannot believe you are laughing at a time like this.”
“I made one little joke,” Max retorted. “Let me hold on to the tiny sense of disillusionment that allowed me to make it.”
Isabel rolled her eyes. “Whatever. So, I guess you’re staying here.”
Max sobered up instantly. “I need to see what we’re up against.”
~*~*~*~*
Thanks for the feedback!
Last edited by Anniepoo98 on Thu Mar 31, 2005 9:19 am, edited 2 times in total.
Thanks for the feedback... I'm glad that you're liking this. Well, I got the next part revised, so here you be.
Annie:)
PS... hey Kathy. I was so excited to see that your reading this.
Part Five:
“GO COMETS!!!”
Kyle watched as Jarod Stamm threw both his arms in the air, as he and of the half the football team entered the Crashdown. He could understand the excitement. So far they were 0-6 this season, and with the way practices had been going lately, the were set to whomp on the next team.
“Go comets,” Kyle grumbled, trudging in behind his teammates. He was trying to put on a good show. To give the football team his all. Yet, over the last year, his world had grown beyond footballs and girls. You could almost say it had gone galactic. Now, the rest just didn’t seem that important.
Not football... not girls... Okay, all except for one girl.
“Valenti, snap out of it.” Kyle felt an arm go around his shoulders. Jarod fell into step beside him, trying to urge Kyle toward a booth. “You better get yourself out of this funk before Friday cause we have serious Hornet ass to kick.”
Even as he nodded his head in agreement, Kyle was scanned the restaurant, looking for someplace else to sit. At the moment, he didn’t think he could take any more ‘go, team, go’ togetherness. He noticed Michael and Maria standing behind the register, obviously having another little love spat. Max was perched on a stool on the other end of the counter, constantly glancing over at the door.
Then, he noticed Alex. The guy was sitting in his usual booth, sulking as he dipped a fry into the heap of ketchup on his plate.
Perfect, Kyle thought. Now there’s a person with the right attitude.
Shrugging off Jarod arm and mumbling something along the lines of an apology to the rest of his teammates, Kyle made his way over to Alex’s booth. Without even waiting for an invitation, he plopped himself down onto the bench. “Really concentrating on dunking those fries in ketchup?”
“Yup,” Alex replied, picking up another potato.
Kyle watched as the fry slowly made it’s decent into a glob of ketchup. “Did you suffer some injury that is impairing your hand/eye coordination?”
Alex tossed the fry into his mouth. “Nope.”
“Join a cult that worships cavemen and only allows you to speak using monosyllabic words?”
Shaking his head, Alex picked up another fry. “Negative.”
Unable to help himself, Kyle reached across the table and stole a fry. “Then what’s with the impression of me? It’s very anti-Alex, and a just bit disturbing.”
A minute passed, then another. “Am I a hottie?” Alex suddenly asked, out of the blue.
The fry dropped instantly from Kyle’s hand. “What?!?”
“You know,” Alex said, finally becoming animated. “The kind of guy whose always a friend or the one girls’ drool over?”
Kyle pushed back as far into the seat as he could get. “Why the hell are you asking me? Isn’t this what Maria and Liz are for?”
Alex shrugged, turning his face back down to the plate of fries. “I already know what they’ll say. We don’t think of you that way,” he mocked.
Nodding his head in agreement, Kyle relaxed a little. “Even though I really don’t want to get into this more than I already am, may I ask what brought this on?”
“Isabel,” Alex admitted as he resumed drowning fries in a tomato bath.
“Figures,” Kyle groaned.
Alex’s eyes narrowed and one of his hands bunched into a fist. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Kyle put up both of his hands in defense. “I come in peace, I swear.” He took a second, glanced awkwardly around the room. “I only trying to say that if something weird is going on, they’re behind it. They always are.”
The hand relaxed, but the eyes remained sharp. “Not always.”
“Give me one example where they had nothing to do with the weirdness,” Kyle challenged.
Alex thought for a moment. “Well, I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but I’m sure there are some.”
Kyle rolled his eyes. “Yeah right.” He considered for a moment, than grabbed another fry. “So tell me, what did she do this time.”
“The usual.” Alex shrugged his shoulders. “I know things have been tough for her lately. First, the thing with Whitiker. Now she’s deal with the Sorensen situation…”
“Ahhh,” Kyle sighed, remembering the incident. “When funky alien crystals tried to kill us.”
Alex threw him a look.
It was Kyle’s turn to shrug. “Just clarifying.”.
“Besides, I think Roswellians will be talking about our cover of “American Pie” for years,” Alex joked.
“Sure,” Kyle scoffed. “That’s what will make us famous.”
“Anyway, I was saying,” Alex said, shifting gears back to their previous topic. “Isabel’s been kind of distant since then. But, a few weeks ago, she called me up and we hung out. Nothing big. I thought maybe this was another chance, especially after we went out a few more times. Only now she’s backing off again.”
Kyle nodded his head in understanding. “And you’re wondering why.”
Alex took a drink of his soda. “Pretty much.”
“Just chalk it up to some alien thing that we’ll never understand,” Kyle advised, trying to appear unfazed about it.
One glance at his friend told Kyle that Alex wasn’t buying it for a second. “Is that what you do?”
He couldn’t help the disguised look that crossed his face at being found out. “Trying to.”
“How’s that working for ya,” Alex asked sarcastically.
“How do you think?” Kyle turned, looked at the football team sitting across the room. “I’m over here, sulking with you instead of being over with my buddies doing normal things like belching the alphabet or something.”
Alex turned his attention back to his plate. “Gotcha. So what did Tess do now?”
Kyle ears perked the instant he heard her name. Not even questioning how Alex knew who he was talking about, Kyle flung himself into his problem. “Just tell me something. Why is it that every girl I start to like develops an obsession for Max Evans?” Kyle grumbled.
Letting out a little snort of laughter, Alex leaned back in the booth. “It can’t be that bad.”
“First, there’s Liz.” To illustrate his point, Kyle started counting off on his fingers. “Now Tess, who is in no way over him. I swear, the next girl I say is cute will probably throw herself at his feet.”
“I doubt that,” Alex reassured.
Almost on cue, the bells on the restaurant door chimed. Mr. and Mrs. Parker walked in, a girl trailing behind them. Her long, arrow-straight auburn locks hung around her face, obviously in an attempt not to be noticed.
However, it didn’t work. Several people in the café were watching her walk by. Kyle figured that it could be for a number of reasons. She was tall, yet not quite as tall as Isabel, but the same regal stance was there. Even with her head hung low, her back was straight, shoulders square with tension.
“She’s not bad,” Kyle commented as they trio walked past.
That was the only instant the girl looked up. But, instead of glancing at Kyle, or anyone else in the room for that matter, she locked eyes with Max, who had been watching her movements even since she entered the Crashdown.
Kyle threw his hands up in defeat. “See what I mean? I give up.”
The Parkers and company continued to the backroom and soon they were out of sight.
A ghost of a smile flashed across Alex’s mouth. “At least she didn’t throw herself at his feet.”
Maria choose that moment to appear beside the booth. “Who?” she asked, plopping down in the booth besides Alex.
“The girl with the Parkers,” Kyle informed her. He study her for a moment. Color was still riding high in her cheeks and there was more than a hint of anger in her eyes. “So I take it that you and Michael are not on speaking terms.”
“How perceptive of you,” she snapped.
Alex looked over at his friend, concern in his eyes. “Why? What happened?”
She started gesturing towards the back of the restaurant. “That girl with the Parkers.”
“Is she one of those freaky Michael worshipers?” Alex questioned, stiffening a bit. “Cause I’ll kick his ass.”
Maria shook her head. “Nope, unfortunately.”
“That’s good,” Alex said. Then it dawned on him what Maria had just said. “Huh?”
Kyle agreed completely. “Explain, because right now you’re making a sense that’s not.”
Maria leaned forward, folding her arms on the table and rested her chin on them. “Let’s put it this way boys. Someone has turned the intergalactic vacuum on full speed and sucked us even deeper into the alien abyss.”
Okay... apparently I fibbed. I didn't get it out last week. I'm sorry. But I have part six now. Does that count?!?
Well, here it is. I'll do everything in my power to get part seven out ASAP.
Annie:)
PS... used a bitty bit of dialogue from EOTW in here. Just FYI!
Part Six:
Serena followed the Parkers up the staircase. With each step, the knot of tension in her belly tightened. They were leading her towards… something. Granted, she didn’t have a clue what it was, but the feeling, a sudden awareness was there.
The fact that the Parker’s were nice people went a little way to ease her apprehension. Opening up the connection with them allowed Serena a glimpse into psyche. At the core, both Mr. and Mrs. Parker were solid, caring people, in love with each other and devoted to their child. Yes, she’d sense the bond deep within each of them that was reserved for parent to child. Serena was sure that it was the only thing keeping her from bolting. In fact, it gave her the slightest sense of comfort.
But comfort was a long way from being comfortable.
Serena wanted her home, her things, her family. Knowing it was impossible, what was left in her want to throw herself to the ground, scream and cry out her grief. She was alone, a stranger in a strange place, therefore, couldn’t allow herself the luxury. She had to lock it down, put it away, and deal with the hand fate had dealt her.
This sucks, Serena thought, letting out a deep sigh.
“Not use to stairs,” Jeff said, attempting to break the tension with a silly joke.
Despite the lameness, Serena found herself smiling, silently thanking him for the attempt.
“Here we are,” Nancy chiming in, opening the door in front of them. Serena watched as she walked in first, calling out for someone. “Lizzie. Are you here?”
There was a pause, a moment of complete silence. Then, a small voice answered back. “Yes.”
Serena turned, looking down the hallway, and concentrated on forming a connection with the person who belonged to the voice. Suddenly, she was hit with such an emotional force that it knocked her back a step. Damn it, she cursed herself. She’d meant to ease open the connection, not blow it wide open. This is what she got for ignoring it the last few days. Maybe she needed the void, the absence of emotion that not connecting allowed her, but the magnet force had refused to die back down after she used it on the Parker’s.
Her father would have scolded her for the oversight. Even now, Serena could imagine what he would say, the tone of his solid baritone forming the word. A valence, he would tell her. You can never forget how powerful it is. Like atoms draw together by attraction and fusing. Something is always lost, but, for the most part, there is so much more to gain. Some people can only find that with one person, others can’t find it at all. See, that’s where you’re special like the connection. You’ll always have it.
Feeling tears, Serena shut down against them, allowing her gaze to wander around the apartment. It was cozy looking, well-worn and happy as a home should be. The kitchen lay out in front of her, living room just off to the side. Then, a hallway branched off to the side, leading to a few more doors. Just as Serena glanced down it, a petite brunette emerged from her room.
“Lizzie,” Nancy sighed. “There you are. Come here and meet Serena.”
The shock on the girl’s face was instant, and slightly alarming. Again, Serena felt the nagging suspicion that there was more going on here.
Moving forward cautiously, the girl, Lizzie, stared directly at her, as if trying to take it all in. Then, she opened her mouth to speak. “Serena.”
She’d gasped the word, and Serena knew. Somehow, someway, Liz knew her.
~~~~~~~~~~
She’d never been this tired in her life.
That was all Liz could think as collapsed backwards on her bed. Or confused, she admitted to herself silently. Every time she thought she had something figured out, three more questions popped up to take its place. And the biggest one at the moment was now sleep just a few feet away.
Turning her head, Liz glanced at her new roommate. So this was the girl Future Max had told her about. After all, it wasn’t like Serena was a common name, and Liz no longer believe in coincidences. That didn’t stop the situation from being surreal.
Now, she was here. What did that mean? Liz had never been sure she would meet up with Serena since she’d changed the future. The whole thing left her feeling queasy. And Serena, herself, did nothing to ease it.
Nothing. Not one word the whole night. And every time Liz ventured to look at her, there Serena was, staring. Hell, studying her. It was… disconcerting. What did she do now? What was she suppose to do now? There were too many possibilities, too many risks if she picked the wrong direction.
God, she needed some advice.
You’re at a juncture, babe. Liz smiled to herself as she pictured what Maria’s reaction would be. She knew her best friend so well that she could imagine exactly what Maria’s advice would be. At one moment, your life is going in one certain direction. Then, you hit a juncture… sort of like a fork in the road, except these are unavoidable. Suddenly, life shoots you off in an entirely different direction. When that happens, you just have to wander around for a bit, get your bearings about where you going.
The smile faded a bit. Liz wasn’t so sure she liked the idea of wandering without a clear path. She was a planner. Roadmaps were her friend. With another glance at Serena, Liz let out a sigh. A compose maybe? She’d settle for one of those right now.
“Damnit,” she sighed, pulling the covers over her shoulder. “What the hell does this all mean?” she demanded to know.
A moment passed, followed by another. Liz shifted, and gave up. It was no use winding herself up at this point. There was no one to answer her. No divine intervention for the utterly lost.
With another sigh, she allowed exhaustion to finally take her over and draw her down into sleep. Little did she know that answers often came in dreams.
She was standing on her balcony. Liz turned around, examining all angles. She could feel another presence. Someone else was hovering in the shadows.
“From now on, the future is to be determined. It's what've always said to you, Liz. We create our own destiny.”
“Max,” Liz gasped, moving closer to the sound of his voice.
He stepped into her sight. The light from the streetlamp illuminated his face. The future version of her beloved stood before her now, a deeper sadness marring his face than the night he had begged her to help destroy them.
“I need your help,” he whispered. “I need you to help me fall out of love with you.”
Liz stood there for a moment, most definitely confused. “I did,” she reminded him. A sudden lick of desperation went up her spine. No, she couldn’t do it again. He couldn’t make her go through that again. “I did everything I can think of. It had to be enough. I just had to be,” she pleaded.
He looked at her, confused and almost as desperate as she felt. “I don't know anything now. This is a different world.”
His obvious emotions sparked hers, lighting a fire of frustration deep within her. Running on it, Liz crossed her arms over her chest and began to pace. “That doesn’t help me, and I don’t have time to cover old ground right now. The world would have ended in fourteen years. Got it. None of that explains why Serena showed up on my doorstep tonight. I just didn’t think I’d ever meet her after we changed things. Please, tell me something, anything that will help.”
He reached out, gently laid a hand on her arm to stop her movements. Liz glanced up and felt that deep pull of longing she always had when he was near. “I don't know anything now,” he repeated, his voice almost desperate now. “This is a different world.”
Liz eyes widened. “Tell me what we did was right,” she pleaded. “Tell me the world doesn’t end.”
He pulled back abruptly. “I'm sorry.”
Before she could think of a response, a flash of light suddenly exploded between them, blinding her for a moment. Liz stumbled back, her back hitting something solid. Thinking it was the brick ledge of the balcony, Liz ran her fingers down the surface. It wasn’t made of brick.
She quickly opened her eyes, blinking a few times to adjust. The room was dark, only vague purplish light casting over the metal surface of the chamber. “The granolith,” Liz gasped, seeing the colander shaped rock standing dormant in front of her.
Hesitating slightly, she crossed the room, her hand outstretched. The cool surface seemed to ignite the second she touched it. Flaring with energy, Liz felt herself being hurled backwards, only it wasn’t the chamber wall that broke her fall.
Liz felt the fuzzy texture of carpeting tickling the back of her neck. Heat seemed to surround her, engulf her. “What the…,” she began, sitting up. Then she saw it all.
The flames. It seemed like everything around her was on fire. Needing to get out of there, Liz whirled around, only to find herself facing them. Bodies were lying across the floor, not moving. Each had a strange marking etched somewhere.
“They’re alien,” her own words echoed through her mind.
Distance. She needed to put as much distance between herself and this place as she could. However, it wasn’t possible. The flames were closing in on her, licking at her skin.
“NO,” she cried out. “This can’t be… it can’t be.”
I am back with part seven. I should also have part 8 up in an hour or so, possibly part nine. I made a big push on this today. Thanks for sticking with me! I know I a slacky poster...
Enjoy!!!
Annie:)
PS... some dialog is borrowed from our beloved Roswell episodes. They will be in italics...
Part Seven:
Liz was literally gulping for air. Breath after deep breath, trying to relax her body. The oxygen almost burned as it went down her throat.
A moment later, a knock came at the door. “Lizzie,” her mom called through just before opening it. “Are you okay?”
Liz took another deep breath. “Yeah,” she sighed, exhaling at the same time. “Just a nightmare. I’m fine now.”
Nancy glanced over her daughter, than at Serena laying on a few feet away. Out of the corner of her eye, Liz saw that the other girl was awake, sitting straight up on the cot with her eyes wide. A bit of guilt crept over Liz. She must of scared Serena witless waking like that.
“Okay,” Nancy said, turning Liz’s attention back to her once more. “If you’re sure...”
Managing a tiny smile, Liz crept out of bed and walked over to her mother. She place a light kiss on Nancy’s cheek. “I’m sure. I’ll just go get ready for school.”
Nodding, Nancy then turned her attention back to Serena . “Mr. Parker and I will take you over to the school later today to register. If you want, Mr. Evans can meet us there.”
Serena shook her head as she eased to sit on the side of the bed.
“Okay,” she conceded and left the room, shutting the door behind her.
A minute passed, than another. Neither girl spoke, but Liz felt the particular sensation of someone watching her. Since there was only one other person in the room, it was easy to figure who it was. Now what, she could help thinking. What am I suppose to say to her now? Sorry, but really don’t want you here. It’s not that I think you’re a bad person. It’s just that you and I meeting might be a sign of the apocalypse.
Like that would go over well. Hell, at this point Liz doubted she would even get a response.
Still, Liz turned to face Serena, and she couldn’t help the but feel a bit of sympathy for her. She’d lost pretty much everything, was stuck in a stranger town, with strange people. Granted, part of her was screaming that she didn’t know the other girl, and coincidence was not a happy creature in Liz’s world, but the feelings were still there.
Acting on them, Liz finally spoke up. “You can use the bathroom first, if you want. Everything you need is in the cabinet underneath the sink.”
Without a word, Serena got up off the bed. Quickly, she moved around the room, gathering what she would need to take into the bathroom. Settling back on the edge of her bed , Liz observed every movement, trying to comprehend what to do next.
There was no way in her mind that the dream last night was just a plain old nightmare. Regular nightmares left you grouchy or uncomfortable when you woke from this. That wasn’t how she felt.
Liz felt shaken to the very core of her being.
She’d had nightmares before. When she was little, after seeing her first scary movie, several times after the incident with the FBI and Agent Pierce, but this was completely different. Since the first one a month ago, they’d grown more frequent, more vivid every time she had one. And, last night’s had been the worst by far.
The whole thing was seemed so real. Everytime she had it, the flames got a little closer, scorching her skin. The air there was more stifling each night she found herself there. The screams. They were still ringing in her ears.
Moving to her mirror, Liz stared at the reflection look back. Her eyes looked worn and tired, with dark circles underneath. “What am I going to do?”
The murders, the dreams, the future version of Max returning to haunt her within them... what did it all mean? Every fiber in Liz’s being knew that they were all connected in some way. The question was: how?
Turning away from her reflection towards the cot, Liz instinctively knew that Serena was the key to figuring it all out.
Moving across the room, Liz glance over the little corner of her room that Serena was occupying. The cot was unmade, the sheets wrinkled from the tossing and turning she mostly suffered from during the night. Liz’s eyes made there way up to the pillow, noticing a stain there, near the top. Two saturating marks a short distance from each other.
“Crying,” Liz said to herself. Serena had cried during the night.
Hearing the shower in the background, Liz knew that Serena wasn’t dangerous. She wasn’t sure of much else, but of that she was certain.
~~~~
Serena sat cross legged on the cot, running her fingers through the thick damp strands of her hair. If she were at home, she would have simply used her powers to dry it. But she wasn’t. She wouldn’t ever be again.
Any use of her powers were now a calculated risk. Someone could walk in, freak out... find out.
Such a big difference. Thinking about it, even for a second, had tears burning her eyes. She was on her own. No home. No family. The only thing she had left was a mission.
She needed to find the Royals. Her father had been certain they were in Roswell. It was why he’d moved them from Los Angeles to New Mexico a month ago, when the killings began. The skins were moving in, hunting down any allies they could find, and taking out entire families in the process. It had been time for her to take her proper place with the others.
And she had no idea how to find them.
She could start with the family she’d been placed with. The girl, Liz, was about the age the Royals should be. She might know them, had to go to school with them. If she could get her to open up...
Shaking her head, Serena wondered if that right way to do this. There was just something a little off about Liz. She’d been afraid, seriously afraid, when they’d been introduced last night. The second Mrs. Parker said her name...
Serena let out a shaky breath when the realization hit her. Her name. That is when she felt the fear from Liz, when she found out her name. Somehow, Liz had known her name. Serena was sure of it.
But how? How in the world had she known her?
She needed to think. Closing her eyes, Serena began rehashed any and everything that stood out about the night before. Nothing off when the Parkers picked her up, or the ride to Roswell. Then came the restaurant.
“Oh God,” she gasped. One of the four had there. She remembered now, the pull of power. She’d been too distracted then to recognize it. It had to be the boy, the one with dark hair and eyes that watched her, she thought. It had to be. She felt his fear, deepened with a sadness and confusion. But, above all, there was love.
Serena smile slightly at how much love surrounded the boy’s very nature. Without a doubt in her mind, she was certain she had encountered the reincarnated version of her king.
Yet, as exciting as it was, those were not the memories crucial to her at that point in time. Searching a bit deeper, she recalled the walk up to the apartment, the silly joke Mr. Parker made to ease her tension. Then, came Mrs. Parker’s voice, her gesture towards Liz. Serena remembered... the look on Liz’s face when her name was mentioned... the emotions that slammed into over the connection. Fear, almost absolute panic, as a matter of fact. Mixed in with it was worry, guilt, and love again.
She’s not dangerous, Serena thought to herself, trusting in her judgement instantly. It was instinct.
Rory always said it was the only thing that we could actually trust, she thought.
So what was what she was going to do. Trust it. Serena’s eyes opened slowly, looking keenly around the bedroom. “Now, I need to know why,” she whispered. “I need to know how she knew my name.”
Liz had only left for school about ten minutes before, and it was a matter of time before the Parker’s would come to get her for registration. “What to look for,” she wondered aloud, getting up off the cot. Quickly, she moved over to Liz’s dresser, gently letting her finger glide across the surface and allow her mind to open.
Top drawer. Always lingerie. Dare I? The secrets of femininity, so close. Who knows what I may discover.
Another smile spread across her lips at the sight of a drunken boy, but her fingers continued to trace along the top of the dresser. The first object her finger came into contact with was a pocketknife.
Max, this is yours. I gave it to you last Christmas.
I'm giving it back. I'm...I'm going to New York with Rath and Lonnie and...and Tess...to the summit.
Are you gonna come back?
I don't know. I can't think that far ahead.
Wait, um, Max...um...when...when you're at the summit, the granolith, ok? It's powerful, and it could be really dangerous if the wrong people get their hands on it...
A gasp escaped from Serena. Liz knew... about aliens... about the granolith.
“Serena, we’re going to leave in a few minutes,” Mr. Parker’s voice broke her train of thought.
Wordlessly, she slowly moved away from dresser, her arm brushing accidently against the brick wall off to the side of it.
October 28th. I've missed a few days. But in my absence I've been thinking about some things, about life before Max Evans saved me, of how I used to pray for something to happen, something to just break the routine, you know, of school and work...something that would make a small town feel bigger, that would make a small town girl feel bigger, too. And ever since I got my wish and Max Evans patched a bullet hole 2 inches below my ribs, I realized one thing...that the bigger your world gets, the bigger your problems get, too.
The image accompanying the words showed Liz, placing a book into the wall, securing it in place with a brick. A diary, Serena’s mind screamed. The key.
And it was just behind one little brick. Serena raised her arm, placing her hand on the wall, intent on getting what laid behind there.
A knock came at the bedroom door, and Nancy Parker quickly entered the room. “Are you ready?” she asked Serena.
With a deep sigh, Serena dropped her hand, turning to face Mrs. Parker, and nodded her head in response.
“Okay,” Nancy replied. “Well, let’s get you all registered.”
Liz glanced up and down the hallway by her locker, making sure that no one was waiting for her. She simply wanted to make it though this day without any complications, run-ins, or discussions. Truth be told, she just didn’t know if her brain had the mental ability to handle them.
Slipping behind a group of students, Liz moved quietly to her locker, still undetected. Letting out a deep sigh of relief, Liz entered in her combination. Victory, she thought, grabbing her earth science book.
“Liz,” a voice came up from behind her.
Her eyes slammed shut as the word rang in her ears and her entire body tensed up. Liz would know that voice anywhere. Turning slowly, she found herself looking into Max’s concerned face. She knew it was stupid, but all she could do was stand there, staring.
He repeated her name, softly, when he receive no answer.
One word popped into her head. “Defeat,” she said, actually, groaned it aloud.
Max’s eyes turned from worried to confused instantly. “Huh?”
“Nothing.” She shook her head, trying to clear out the fog clouding her brain. “What is it, Max?” It came out a bit harsher than she meant it to. Liz mentally chided herself for it, especially after he winced slightly from the tone. None of this is his fault, she reminded herself.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he muttered as his eyes found the floor.
Liz managed a smile, even though her jaw simply wanted to drop with shock. He was worried about her, after everything she had done... said to him. The fact that he could still be concerned after what happened the night before, left her in awe. Not to mention aching because she might have to hurt him again.
That was the one warning which her dream last night had instilled in her mind. The end of the world could still happen. Liz knew she had to prevent that, and to do so was going to hurt him in the process.
“I’m fine,” Liz finally reassured him. She spread out her arms, put on her best game face. “See... alive and kicking.”
She felt it the second his eyes came back up, landing on her face. He studied it, intently, as her gaze searched for another focal point. The intense scrutiny unnerved her. “What?”
“Did she do anything... you know...” He trailed off, waiting for to fill in the blanks.
Liz shook her head. “Different.” When he nodded, she continued. “No. I think that we might have the wrong idea about her. Hell, she hasn’t said a word since she’s gotten here.”
Obviously, that didn’t lay his fears to rest completely because he still watched her, studied for any signs to the contrary. “But you look tired?”
Swallowing hard, Liz forced herself to answer, at least somewhat, truthfully. “I didn’t sleep well.”
The next thing Liz knew, Max had a firm hold of her arm and was dragging her down the hallway. “What the...”
“Let’s talk in here,” Max suggested as he pulled Liz into a room.
Taking a look at her surrounds, Liz felt a shutter run up her spine. “The eraser room?”
Max shrugged and shut the door firmly behind him. “It was the first place I thought of,” he told her. “Now, tell me the truth. Did she do anything to you?”
Liz shook her head. “No, nothing. I really believe that she is more scared about being here that we are about having her here.”
Max started shaking his head, trying to put things together. “But you said that you didn’t sleep.”
Liz let out a deep sigh as she brought a hand up to rub her temple. She could feel a headache coming on. “I had a nightmare. No crisis, just a nightmare.”
She could feel him watching her, judging her reaction. Finally, Max’s curiosity got the better of him. “About what?”
Her head snapped up. “Huh?”
“What was your nightmare about,” he asked softly, moving closer.
“I don’t remember.” The words came too quickly, sounded too defensive.
A groan of frustration escaped his lips. “Have I made it so hard for you to tell me the truth?”
The question was so softly spoken, that with her ears straining, Liz barely heard it. And honestly, she wished she never had. The tone.... the resignation... It simply broke her heart.
“I swear, Max,” she began, desperately searching for the right words. “What has been going on with me has nothing to do with you. Not in the way that you think.”
“If that was all there was to it, than you would talk to me,” Max countered, sounding a bit irritated. Liz just couldn’t tell who he was irritated at.
So, she decided that it should be at her rather than himself. Swallowing hard, she rubbed harder at her temple as the words were forced out. “Get over yourself, Max. Not everything in my life revolves around what is going on between me and you.”
Without warning, Max took another step towards her. Liz found herself moving backwards, clutching tightly at her books as each of her own steps trying to reverse the effects of each one of his. It didn’t work. After a few seconds, she found herself backed against the door.
Max stopped just a few inches away from her. It took all of her strength to keep her breathing even. To calm her heart as it pounded in her chest.
Then, he did the last thing she would have ever expected. Slowly, he raised his head to her cheek. He caressed the skin there gently for a moment before his fingers traveled upwards. They came to rest against her temple, the one she had been rubbing instantly.
Liz could feel the warmth radiating from where his fingertips rested against her. The headache eased, than faded, until it finally disappeared completely.
He healed me. For a moment, Liz felt a panic rise in her, worried that he might have stumbled on to something he could never know. She waited for his reaction. A minute passed and another follow with no reaction from him. Yet, none came.
“Why did you do that,” she whispered, not even realizing what she was saying. The sense of relief had washed over her so suddenly, that she was shaking. It had been too close.
“Don’t worry.” His voice was tight as he took a step back. “I didn’t see anything that you’re hiding.”
Relief was gone. Anger replaced it so quickly there was no room for anything else. “Stop accusing me of things you know nothing about! What could I possible be keeping from you?”
He took another step back at her outburst. “What about your dream?” As his frustration rose, so did his voice. “Or the real reason you were with Kyle that night.”
“You saw what it looked like,” Liz retorted. “Draw your conclusions from that.”
Max ran his hand through his hair. “But it doesn’t make sense. None of this does. I asking you to explain it to me.”
Liz loosened her grip on the load of books in her arms, and with a trembling hand, reached back for the doorknob. “It doesn’t have to make sense, Max. And I can’t explain it any better. I’m sorry, but I... I have to go.” With that, she flung the door open, bolting out into the hallway as the warning bell rang.
~~~~~~~
Isabel watched as her brother practically dragged Liz into the eraser room. A few snickers could be heard down the hall, followed by even louder whispers. That certainly didn’t help Liz’s reputation, Isabel thought to herself as she turned back towards her locker.
Not that she really cared at this point. It didn’t matter if something really happened between Liz and Kyle. They’d been in bed together. Max saw it. No matter how hard he tried not to believe what he saw, Isabel couldn’t work past the simple fact that he was crushed by it. She just hoped for Max’s sake he would prove her wrong.
“What was that all about?”
Turning her head, Isabel saw Tess walking up to her. “I guess he wanted to check on her,” she offered, shrugging her shoulders in the process.
“About that girl,” Tess wondered.
“Yeah.” Isabel felt a little sheepish. It wasn’t that she forgot… okay, she did forget. “So Michael told you?”
Nodding her head, Tess pulled a piece of gum out of her backpack. “He called last night. Filled me in.”
“I wonder if Liz found out anything.” Isabel sighed giving the eraser room door one last, long look. “I mean it is safe to assume that the girl didn’t hurt Liz, seeing as how Liz is at school and all.”
Tess leaned against a couple of lockers. “Hell, I’ll settle for any information. Like a name. That would be nice. Calling her ‘the girl’ is getting a little redundant.”
Isabel let out a tiny laugh. “No kidding.”
“So,” Tess began, letting her voice trail off. “How long did Max stay there last night?”
Isabel tilted her head, studied Tess for a moment. There was a look in eyes, one that Isabel just couldn’t put her finger on. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. “It had to be sometime after closing. I fell asleep waiting up for him.”
Tess’s eyes fell to the floor. “Oh.” There was just a hint of disappointment in her voice.
“It bugs you, doesn’t it?” The vulnerability she now sensed from Tess had Isabel curious, and little concerned. Tess never seemed vulnerable.
“Sorta,” Tess confessed. “I just don’t see how he can just be so oblivious to everything she’s done to him. I mean, what makes her so special that he can just shove aside everything that’s happened?”
Isabel pushed her locker door close. “He’s not oblivious. He just in love,” Isabel informed the other blonde. “It’s always been Liz, ever since we were in third grade. God knows that I don’t understand it, but that’s how it is.”
“The question is whether or not that’s how it will always be,” Tess muttered.
“I don’t know.” Again, Isabel sighed. “I just don’t know.”
Tess pushed herself away from the lockers, starting down the hall. “Well, I’ve got to get to class.”
“Yeah. English is calling my name,” Isabel attempted to joked. “See you later.”
With a little wave of her hand, Tess continued on her way. Isabel watched her go for a moment, mulling over their little conversation. She was started to wonder just how much Tess wanted to believe in her destiny with Max and how much see needed to believe it.
Suddenly, the warning bell rang, and Isabel hurried off to class. She didn’t even notice Liz fleeing from the eraser room, running blindly into the hall.
