Surprisingly Isabel and Liz managed to put off their parents initial questions, telling them that they would explain what was going on. Liz and Isabel settled their shaken and dazed parents in the living room while Maria went into the kitchen to make tea and secretly called Michael.
Liz sat their parents on the loveseat while they took the couch across from them while Maria brought in the tea. Liz looked over and saw her sister nervously playing with a piece of her hair. It was unusual to see Isabel so unhinged but Liz knew it was because she was scared. True, she had always wanted their parents to know but right now she was unsure of what their reaction would be. Would they still love them? Or would they look at them different and push them away.
Liz reached out and took her hand, squeezing it before turning to their parents, “I know that you’re confused and stuff but like I said upstairs, we’ll tell you what you want to know. But you have to promise to keep an open mind.”
“Elizabeth,” Her dad said sternly. It was obvious that he was at the end of his rope and was ready for answers. “Your mother and I have been patient, concerning this and all the other strange stuff that has been happening this summer. The disappearances, the fights, the detachment, and your nightmares, and we want an explanation.”
But before any more could be said, the side door open and Michael came stumbling in, dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top. Liz and Isabel could tell that he had been asleep, he looked rumbled and tired. But he had come over when Maria called him. That was probably why she had offered to make tea. Her parents looked straight at the new arrival and said, “Michael, right now isn’t a good time.”
“Daddy, it’s okay. This concerns Michael too.” Liz stated. Michael made his way over to them and sat down on the arm of the couch. They could tell he was nervous too even if he hid it better. Liz took a deep breath and started. “I guess the best place to start is to just tell you. Michael, Isabel, and I are aliens.”
The two parents just looked at them for a minute in shock before her dad exploded. “This is not acceptable, I’m not going to have you sit there and lie to your mother and I. Telling us some outrageous story.”
“Daddy, it’s the truth.” Liz stated. Her dad kept ranting on so she decided to just prove it. She waved her hand over one of her mother’s teacups, transfiguring it into a ball then back again. When she did that her mother finally spoke up, “Philip, sit down and shut up.”
Their dad did exactly what he was told and took his seat back on the couch. Liz saw a slight smirk on Michael’s face as she said, “Like I said, we’re aliens, actually we’re hybrids. Half-human, half alien. We were in the ship that crashed outside Roswell in 1947. But we weren’t actually born yet. We were in incubation pods for forty-two years and came out looking like six-year-olds. The night you found us in the desert was only our second night out of the pods.”
“That’s why you two were out in the desert.” Their mom gasped in understanding. “And why you couldn’t talk, you didn’t know how.”
“That’s right.” Isabel confirmed her line of thinking. “Before you and Daddy found us, the three of us just wandered around the desert.”
“Michael was with you?” Diane inquired before looking over at Michael. “We didn’t know you were there or we would have taken you too.”
Michael wasn’t sure what to say. The Evans was the closest thing he had ever had to parents and now that he knew they would have adopted him, it made him feel things he hadn’t before. Like he belonged. He nodded to her, in acknowledgement but didn’t say anything as Liz continued.
“The three of us got separated in the desert when you pulled up and at the children’s home but we found each other again when we started school. We knew we were different right away and we swore that we wouldn’t tell anyone. So we did our best to blend in and learned how to use our powers in secret. It worked for years, until there was a shooting at the Crashdown and I used my powers to heal Max.”
“Max was shot?” Their dad asked speaking for the first time.
Surprisingly Maria was the one that answered. “Yeah. And it was a good thing that Liz was there or Max would have died. But she healed him and he was okay.”
Philip and Diane took a minute to take in the news that their daughter had the ability to rescue someone from death. “How is this possible?”
“It’s one of my powers.” Liz said trying to explain things well. “The way Nasedo has explained it, I connect to people on a mental level and heal them from the inside out. It takes a lot of energy but I’ve been working on them and it doesn’t take as much out of me as it used to.”
“Whose Nasedo?” Diane asked.
“I’ll explain that in a minute, I’m getting a head of myself.” Liz stated. “By my healing Max, I exposed us. Max was the first person I ever told who I, we really were. He accepted it and that was a good thing because he wasn’t the only one I exposed us to. The Sheriff didn’t know out right but he had an idea and started investigating me. Thanks to us working with Max, and Alex, who Max told, we managed to slow down his investigation. But it put out flags on me, only we didn’t know about that for months. In the mean time, the three of us adjusted to living with two humans knowing out secret. Alex and Isabel got closer and Max and I got…closer. Max and Alex accidentally let everything slip and Maria was let in on everything.”
“I knew something weird had happened during the shooting, I just didn’t expect that it had anything to do with aliens.” Maria butted in. “I kind of freaked out about the whole power thing but then I talked to Liz and felt better. After our talk, I didn’t think that they would use their powers to poof me into nothing.”
Maria’s comment broke some of the tension in the air, and their parents let out a chuckle. Liz took it as a sign that they were accepting it well. At least enough to hear them out. “During all this, Michael…acquired some information that there could still be more of us in the area. So we decided to look into it.”
“We found markings out in the woods that were unlike anything we had seen before but they were familiar to the three of us.” Michael explained glad that Liz had left out the part about him breaking into the Sheriff’s office. “So we went camping in Frasier Woods and found a cave with more writing as well as some objects ended up being ours. Leads on who we were after that went kind of dry until Kyle came to town.” Michael didn’t think they needed to tell them about the whole alien hormonal episode. It might be a little bizarre for them to handle.
“Kyle? The new kid that you’ve been hanging around with?” Diane asked.
“Yeah, he’s one of us but we didn’t know that when we met him. He had been with us in the pod chamber but hatched later and was left behind. Now this is where things get weird.” Liz stated.
“Now things get weird?” Philip asked.
“Well yeah.” Liz said shrugging nonchalantly. “When I first met Kyle, I got this strange feeling from him. The next day it increased and I even had this like vision of him, with me. It was like something was pulling me towards him, despite how I felt about Max. The visions got more intense, I even ended up kissing him. I knew something was wrong so I asked Michael to look into it. He found some unusual stuff at Kyle’s house that made us think he might be an alien. So I confronted him.”
“Liz.” Her mom gasped. “That’s dangerous.”
“It worked out.” Liz assured her. “That’s when we found out about him being left at the podchamber. And he explained that the visions I was having were because we were meant to be together, romantically. He was supposed to be my mate. I told him that I wouldn’t go along with it that I was involved with Max. I told Max the same thing; he, Michael, and Isabel had followed us to the chamber. Kyle told us that his father was a protector of ours and that he would explain everything but he didn’t get a chance, not before…”
Maria, Michael, and Isabel watched with baited breath to see what Liz would say about her disappearance. She seemed to struggle a minute before taking a deep breath. “Before we could get any explanation. I was taken.”
Philip understood a little more about the conversation he’d overheard between Michael and Liz weeks before but couldn’t help but ask, “Who took you Liz?”
“The FBI.”
“Why?” Diane asked.
“To research me.”
PART 13
Silence enveloped the living room after Liz’s words. The Evans’ tried to grasp what her statement implied while the others gave Liz free range on what she would tell. When she was ready, Liz spoke again. “The Sheriff’s investigation threw flags up that made the FBI suspicious. They set up surveillance on me and figured out what I was.”
“I can’t believe that these are the people who are supposed to protect the public.” Philip grumbled. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, the government that were supposed to be there for their safety had taken his daughter and did God knows what to her. By the look on her face, it hadn’t been anything good. He understood the nightmares now.
“In their warped minds, they were” Liz stated. “They had captured two survivors from the crash and wanted to keep up their research. But like I said, I’m a hybrid so I was different then the aliens that they had obtained before. Because of their previous research, they knew how to surpress my powers so I had to wait for someone to rescue, luckily someone did.”
Isabel took that as her queue to tell her side of things. “Max saw Liz get taken and told us. We weren’t real sure where to begin so we decided the Sheriff might know so we broke into his house to find out. But we didn’t do it too well and got caught. Michael ended to use his powers in front of them so more people were let in on our secret. Michael thought Kyle and our protector might be able to help but only found Kyle. He had an idea where she was so we went after her.”
“When we got there, we found out that our protector was already working on a way to get Liz out. It took some planning and his knowledge of the building but we got her out. We hid in the old soap factory that night, we weren’t sure if it was safe to go back to Roswell. The next morning, after Kyle insisted that we go, we went to the podchamber with the exception of Maria and Alex. Our protector was there, with these silver orbs that came from our planet. He told us to use our powers on them and we would get some of the answers we wanted.”
“So they were some kind of communication devices?” Philip asked.
“More like a tape of a message.” Isabel explained. “The image of a woman appeared who we found out was our birth mother. She told us that we had been cloned. We had died on our planet and they took samples from humans and our predecessors and mixed them together. They wanted to recreate us because of a war that was on our planet.”
“But why recreate the four of you?”
“Because Liz had been queen.” Michael answered. “Of the whole planet. Isabel was her sister and her advisor while Kyle had been her husband. And I was Liz and Isabel’s brother and the commander of her armies.”
If the Evans’ had been shocked before, they were completely taken aback with the newest revelation. Not only were their children aliens but also royalty. And the boy that had always been so close to them was actually their brother. It was a lot to take in. But in a way, it explained so much. Like the bond between the three children through the years and how Liz had always seemed to be the one in charge although at first glance she was the smallest and timid. It even explained their reserveness when it came to any one else. They had to be careful who they trusted.
Liz waited until she saw acceptance on her parents’ face before she went on despite the pain she was feeling from reliving the memories. “After we heard the message, Max left the cave. He said he had to give me up so that I could fulfill my destiny despite my objections. He went home then took off for California. Meanwhile the four of us questioned our protector. He gave us a history lesson, which we can talk more about later, that’s a whole other conversation in itself and more about our powers and we started our training.”
“Why did you need to train if you already know about your powers?” Diane asked.
“We only knew some about our powers, as a matter of fact we each discovered that we had one more power a piece than we thought we did.” Liz stated. “I found out that I have a power called mindwarping. The simplest explanation is that I can make people see stuff that isn’t there.”
She closed her eyes and concentrated. Suddenly the room was bathed in the roses that resided in their mother’s garden. They were everywhere, on the furniture and even falling from the ceiling. She waited for them to touch the petals that were covering them before she ended the illusion. The roses disappeared and their parents looked astounded by what she had done. It took a few minutes to compose themselves.
“We know you can heal, mindwarp and change the cup like you did earlier but what can Michael and Isabel do? What are their powers?” Philips inquired.
Liz looked at her siblings to explain; figuring that it would be better if they explained. Isabel was the first one to speak. “Actually we can all do what Liz did with the cup. We call it manipulating molecular structures.”
“Sounds complex.”
“Not really, that’s just the fancy term Liz came up with.” Isabel said affectionately. “It was one of the first things we figured we could do. As for me, my powers include dreamwalking and astral projection.”
“I’ve heard of astral projection.” Diane butted in.
“Well this is the alien version.” Isabel explained. “I can project my consciousness to other places and see things that are there. I have limits, like I can’t touch things when I’m there. It’s kind of like my other power, dreamwalking. I can go into people’s heads and see what they’re dreaming about. I can’t do anything to the dream but the person dreaming can become aware of what I’m doing if I don’t hide.”
“Have you ever dreamwalked your mother or me?”
“Once, but I didn’t mean to. It was when I first figured out I even had the power. I was so shocked by what I had done that I woke up.” Isabel explained. “That’s about it for my powers.”
Michael cleared his throat knowing it was his turn and started. “My powers are different then the girls. More defensive. I can focus my energy into a blast that can be used as a weapon. It can also work like explosives. I don’t think I should show you though, not in here.”
From Michael’s description, Philip and Diane decided that it was a good idea. So he went on. “But there is a power that I have that I can show you.”
Michael held up his arm and concentrated. The Evans’ watched as a blue shield came out of Michael’s outstretched hand and separated the kids from the parents. “From what we know and tested. It’s pretty much impenetrable. We’ve thrown everything Kyle and Nasedo have and they can’t get through it.”
Maria looked at the shield in awe. She’d heard about it but hadn’t seen it before. “Totally cool Spaceboy.”
Michael reddened a little at Maria compliment as he pulled the shield back in and sat down. He couldn’t help but gaze at her. Even so late at night, actually early morning she looked wonderful. She was dressed in a tanktop and shorts that left a lot of flesh for him to look at and her hair was mused. But to him, she looked gorgeous. And it hit him again how much he missed her. He pulled his attention to the pixie next to him and to his sisters’ parents.
“Well that’s about it.” Liz said. “That’s our story.”
“All these years, and we never knew.” Diane said shaking her head.
“We hid it well.” Liz said.
“We had hiding ourselves down to a fine art.” Isabel added. “Do you think you can accept us? Even if we lied to about what we are?”
Diane glanced at her husband for a minute before moving to sit by her daughters and their brother. “Girls, you are our children, we would never turn you away. I just hope that this brings us closer together. That includes you too Michael.”
Michael nodded as Diane hugged the girls. That had gone better than he thought.
PART 14
The rest of the day was a lot less eventful than the morning had started out. After reassuring the kids that their parents wouldn’t abandon them, Diane had made a large breakfast for them to eat. It was just a typical breakfast and not one of her tries at a new recipe so they actually ate what was in front of them. It was an enjoyable breakfast for all of them, and when it was done Michael went back to his apartment to sleep for a few hours before he had to go to work.
Despite the nap he took, Michael was tired but he felt good. For once he was glad that he’d been mistaken about how their parents would take their and that the Evans had been so accepting, he didn’t want to think what it would do to his sisters if they hadn’t. More and more he realized that the girls had proven him wrong about the reactions of the humans that cared about them. If at this point last summer, someone would have told him that things were they way they were now, he’d laughed in their face. He’d never believe that the Evans, and three human friends, the Sheriff and his daughter would know their secret and keep it.
Maria walked into the backroom of the Crashdown and saw Michael standing in front of his locker. He was putting up his stuff and getting ready for his shift. She saw he was unaware of her presence so she took a moment to really look at him. The time spent out in the desert had tanned his skin causing his deep brown eyes to stand out even more. His chest looked more developed, from a combination of manual labor and she was pretty sure that he had started working out. She knew he wanted to make sure he was prepared for what came at them next. Despite how angry she was at him for pushing her away, she still cared about him. She still wanted to be with him. Deciding not to embarrass herself by getting caught staring at him, she announced her presence. “Hey Michael.”
Michael’s head snapped over in her direction and saw Maria smiling at him. “Hey Maria.”
“It’s slowed down so you shouldn’t be overloaded by orders when you take over the grill.” Maria informed him trying to be helpful. She moved over to her locker to retrieve the hair tie that she’d come for originally.
“Thanks, I’m not really energized to take on a bunch of orders.” Michael said.
“Yeah, what a morning huh?” Maria asked.
“Not how I pictured starting mine no.” Michael stated. It was odd talking to Maria; their conversations lately had consisted of either talking about work or who was staying with Liz that night. It was nice.
“I was freaking at first, thinking it was totally my fault, if I had woken up earlier or been able to wake Liz up then the Evans’ wouldn’t have found out. But then they seemed okay with it and I didn’t feel as bad. I know Liz didn’t like lying to them.” Maria said. “I’m happy things worked out for you guys.”
“Yeah, me too.” Michael agreed. “I think it’s going to help Liz. When I left her and Isabel are going to fill them in on some of the stuff we left out and spend the day doing the whole family bonding thing.”
“How do you feel about them knowing though? I know you don’t like people knowing.”
“It’s not that I don’t like it, it just leaves us open and vulnerable.” Michael tried to explain but quickly realized he’d chose the wrong words.
“So you’re saying that we’re liabilities?” Maria snapped. “I cannot believe you, after all the help we’ve been, you think we’re just some weak little humans that can’t do that.”
“Stop putting words into my mouth Maria.” Michael retorted. “I’m didn’t mean that you’re liabilities, I just meant that the more people that know something, the greater chance that the secret could get out. And before you say anything, I know that you guys wouldn’t tell. Not if you had a choice. But what if you didn’t Maria? What if one of our enemies took you? We don’t know what they are capable of, you’ve seen what Isabel and Liz can do with their minds, what if there was someone out there that could read your mind? They would know everything about us. I don’t like putting you in danger like that. I care about you too much to have you hurt like that because of us.”
Michael slammed his locker shut and stomped into the kitchen leaving a dazed Maria in his wake. She knew she had pushed him to far with her words and felt horrible about it. But a small part of her was happy that he still cared about her. She was going to have to make it up to him.
(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(**)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)
For the rest of their shift, Maria tried to be as nice as she could be to Michael, which was hard because he was in foul mood. She didn’t get upset though because she knew it was because of their talk earlier. She felt like such a bitch saying what she did, for lashing out at him.
When the last customer was gone Maria went and locked the door. She went over to the drink fountain and filled two cups before heading into the kitchen. She had already cleaned the café as she waited for the café to empty out; she had already planned everything out. As she entered the kitchen, she saw Michael cleaning the grill. She set one of the drinks on the preparation table and said, “I thought you might want something to drink.”
“Thanks.” Michael mumbled before he chugged it.
“Michael, I’m sorry for running my mouth earlier.” Maria said. “It’s hard for me, knowing that because I don’t have powers, I can’t be with you.”
“What?” Michael said spitting some of his drink out. “What are you talking about?”
“Exactly what I said.” Maria stated. “You told me that you have to protect everyone and that I was a distraction. I can’t help but think that if I had powers, maybe I could be useful to you, help you protect everyone and we’d be together.”
Michael’s mouth opened and shut, giving the appearance of a fish. Her words shocked him. “Maria, I never meant for you to think that.”
“How couldn’t I?” Maria asked.
“Having powers doesn’t make you more useful.” Michael explained. “Yes, I feel responsible to protect everyone but powers don’t always work. Liz has powers and that didn’t help her.”
“I just can’t help but think it. After all during this summer you’ve been preparing yourself, and you’ve ‘alienated’, excuse the pun, yourself from everyone in the group that is human.”
“I have not.” Michael argued.
“Really?” Maria asked, eyebrow raised.
“Not intentionally. Alex and I have never as you say bonded, Max isn’t here, and you know why you and I haven’t been together.” Michael reasoned. “And you being human has never been an issue for me.”
Maria plopped down on a stool nearby. She was confused. Even though Liz had told her she was crazy, Maria had convinced herself that Michael didn’t want to be with her because she was human. Now she knew that wasn’t true. “Sorry for dumping all of this on you.”
“It’s okay,” Michael said.
“Well I’m going to go back out front, I still have one or two things to clean before I head for home.” Maria said before getting up from her stool.
But before she could make her way out of the kitchen, Michael’s lips dropped onto hers in a greedy kiss. She was shocked for a minute but quickly kissed him with all of the passion she felt. Keeping away from each other for so long had driven them to the point that the kiss was hard and desperate. Maria felt a mind-boggling fire pour though her as his tongue thrust past her parted lips. They continued for a few minutes until their lungs burned from lack of oxygen. Once they were apart, Maria’s brain started to function again. “Michael, as much as I liked that, you can’t do that. You have to make a decision, either you want to be with me or you don’t.”
Michael looked at her and knew she was right. It wasn’t fair. “I’ve realized something while we’ve been apart, as distracted as I thought I was when I was with you, I’m more so when I’m not with you. I know I’ve messed up, I know that I have no right to expect you to be…”
Maria put her finger to his lips to shush him. “How about we clean up here, and go back to your apartment and talk?”
Michael didn’t remove her finger as he nodded. He would never admit it to anyone but he had some major groveling to do.
PART 15
Michael did indeed do quite a bit of groveling over the next few evenings. The first night they were up for awhile talking and Michael apologizing. It was a new experience for him but he had realized that he wanted to be with Maria and if that was what he had to do to get her, then he’d do it. But he wouldn’t let it get around.
After their first night, he worked on making things up to her. He even broke down and went to Liz for some advice on some romantic ideas. He figured what was the point in having sisters if he couldn’t get some help from them. He knew that Maria would eat that stuff up and with some help, they had several very nice evenings.
Things improved immensely in the Evan’s house without all the lies and fears. Liz and Isabel spent most of their time with their parents, catching up and telling them more things about their secret lives. The parents felt like they should have known something before and were walking around with blinders on. But no longer.
While Maria and Alex were happy for the girls, they missed them too. They didn’t see much of them during the days Liz and Isabel spent with the Evans. Michael saw them more since Diane insisted that he come over whenever he was home. She was completely mothering him. She had always been there for him but now she was different. It was like she was trying to make it up to him that they hadn’t taken him when they had adopted the girls. He would never admit that he liked the attention but he did.
Maria was just finishing up her shift when she heard a creek on the staircase that led to the Parker apartment. She turned to see who it was and almost fell over. “Max?”
“Hey Maria.”
“All I get is a ‘Hey Maria’?” Maria exclaimed in outrage before closing the distance between them and hugging him. “When did you get home?”
“A few hours ago. You were in the middle of your shift and I didn’t want to bug you.” Max said sheepishly knowing that Maria wasn’t going to like his answer.
“I can’t believe that you would think you would have bugged me. But I thought you weren’t going to be home until a few days before school.” Maria inquired. She wondered why Max changed his plans, and if it had anything to do with a certain brunette alien they both knew and loved.
“That’s what I had planned to do, but I changed my mind and decided to come home early.” Max answered. “So how are things here?”
“Depends on what you’re talking about. If you mean plain ordinary Roswell, there’s not much to tell. The café’s been busier than hell and I’ve gone home with a ton of tips and just as many blisters. Tourists have been coming through none stop. Oh! Pam Troy was at Tommy’s pool party a few weeks ago and the best thing happened. She was wearing this yellow bikini and she accidentally slipped and sat on some of Tommy’s Jell-O shots. They were red and it completely embarrassed her.” Maria said unable to hold back giggles.
“You saw it?”
“Well no. But I heard about it when Tommy and his friends came in and that was good enough for me.” Maria answered him. “Now if when you asked your question you meant about the secret life of Roswell then lots have been going on. Including that Michael and I are back together.”
“Really?” Max asked.
“Hey don’t sound so surprised. I’m hard to resist.” Maria said.
Max smiled, he’d missed her. “You’re right, I was insane to think other wise.”
“That’s what I thought.” Maria said. “Anyway it’s only been for a few days but things are really good. He apologized and has been like super sweet.”
“This is Michael right?
“Yes it’s Michael.” Maria claimed.
“Just wanted to make sure, it didn’t sound like him.” Max joked. He was about to say more when suddenly the door from the café swung open and the person who had invaded every waking moment and most of his dreams walked into the room, looking more beautiful than the last time he’d seen her.
“I came to see if you wanted to go shopping. Dad gave me his credit card.” Liz said as she walked in. Despite the fact that she had just come from a practice session with Nasedo, she was in a good mood. She had effectively ignored him as he lectured them yet again about their responsibility and stuff during practice. Her good mood faded when she noticed the other person in the room. Max looked as surprised as she did as he asked. “What are you doing here?”
“I think you just heard what I was doing here. I came to talk to Maria,” Liz said as she turned to face Max. He was sitting on the armrest of the couch. He stood to talk to her, his arms crossing over his muscular chest. Liz tried to restrain herself from gaping openly at him. The summer had been kind to him, his skin was tanner, causing his eyes to stand out more. He looked as if he had been working out more as well, his chest looked even more muscular.
“Yes, I heard that. But, why?” He questioned again, looking past her to Maria. He was wondering why his friend hadn’t told him about Liz stopping by so much. In her defense, he had always steered the conversation away from Liz when she tried to talk about her.
“Liz and I hang out all of the time, we’re friends.” Maria said in way of an explanation. Maria stood close by with an amused look on her face as she looked at her two friends facing each other.
“How often do you come visit?” Max asked, ignoring Maria. He couldn’t help but rake his eyes over her. She wore a pair of knaki shorts and a dark green tank top that set off her tanned skin beautifully. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail that allowed him to see her face unhindered. She looked beautiful, but different.
“All of the time,” Liz snapped.
“Why?”
“For your information, I happen to be great company,” Maria interjected the two’s argument with a playful smile. Max snorted in disbelief.
“It’s true, far better company than her friend,” Liz added. She looked everywhere around him, trying to ignore his piercing amber gaze.
“There was a time, Liz, when you didn’t mind my company,” Max whispered as he stepped closer to her.
“We all make mistakes,” Liz countered as she unconsciously closed the gap between herself and Max, her temper rising, her heart beating.
“Yes, we all make mistakes,” he agreed in a pained voice. They stood very close, breathing deeply, suddenly unaware of Maria, as they faced each other.
“Right, well, how about something to drink?” Maria asked, snapping Max and Liz out of their trance.
“Thanks but I won’t be staying, Maria. I'll just talk to you later.” Liz said, using her most diplomatic voice as she headed out the door.
Max had a hold of her arm in an instant. Liz gasped softly at the effect his touch had on her. It had been so long. She took a steadying breath when he let go quickly. “Sorry.”
“Whatever. Maria, call me later.” Liz said as she tried to walk away but now it was his words that stopped her. “I don’t want you to hate me.”
“I don’t hate you Max.” Liz whispered as she finally made it out of the café.
Max watched her go out through the café before jumping into her jeep before turning to Maria, “She’s a completely different person. She’s so distant.”
“A lot has happened Max, stuff you didn’t want to hear about when you’d call.” Maria informed him. She could see that he was feeling lost about what was going on. He was clueless about how much he had hurt Liz when he had walked away from her moths ago.
“Will you tell me?” Max asked.
Maria thought about it for a minute, she had seen the momentary spark in Liz’s eyes when she’d first laid eyes on Max. That made Maria hopeful that things between her friends weren’t dead yet. And maybe with a little nudge. “Get comfortable Max, this is going to be a long story.”
PART 16
Liz didn’t know how she managed to make it out of the café and to her jeep knowing that Max’s eyes were on her the whole way. It had came as quite a shock to her when she had spotted him. She had been so used to him being gone that she hadn’t paid attention to the tingling siren she felt from their connection when she had entered the café. She knew part of it was that she had thought that the connection might have disappeared. Although she should have known that it probably never would. Keeping her eyes away from the front of the café, Liz started the jeep and took off quickly. She needed to get away quickly.
She drove erratically as she headed for home. Her first meeting with Max after his arrival had not gone the way she had envisioned it would. She had played it in her head many times especially as of late. All different ways and different places, none of them like it had ended up being.
It had been a surprise to find out that he was suddenly home and she had not been prepared. That was why she had been so spiteful and malicious towards him. She didn’t like surprises like that much and it had thrown off the control she had been working so hard on since he left. But what upset her most was that as disturbed as she was by his appearance, what she had wanted the most was to run into his arms. To just curl up in the tenderness that was Max and not crawl out.
As she pulled into her driveway she saw that her parents were still gone and Alex’s car was parked in the driveway. Isabel had wasted no time meeting up with Alex after leaving the earlier training session. Liz hoped she wouldn’t walk in on anything as she headed through the front door. The living room and kitchen appeared empty as she walked through to go up to her room. When she reached her room she heard faint music wafting in from her balcony and she headed outside to check it out.
The sight that met her when she came out onto the balcony was of a bikini clad Isabel and a shirtless shorts clad Alex. They were lying on a large towel blanket that herself and Maria had used the other day and appeared to be trying to get some sun. She couldn’t help but smile at the laid back attitude the two had. Alex spotted her then.
“Hey Liz.” He said smiling.
Isabel turned over and around so she could face Liz. “You’re back earlier than I figured. I thought you and Maria were going to go shopping?”
“We were but there was a change in plans.” Liz informed them. “Max’s back.”
Twin looks of surprise appeared on Alex and Isabel’s faces at Liz’s news. “Max is back from LA?”
“Yep, saw him myself.” Liz answered.
“But he wasn’t supposed to be back for awhile yet.” Alex stated. He was astonished to find out Max was back. The last he had talked to him, he still planned on not coming home for until the day before school started and that was still two weeks away.
“He must have come back early.” Liz stated.
Isabel looked at the expression on her sister’s face but couldn’t get a reading as to what exactly she was feeling so she couldn’t help but ask. “Are you okay?”
“Sure.” Liz said shrugging.
“You’re lying Liz.” Isabel called Liz’s ruse.
Liz’s shoulders slouched slightly as she said. “It was a shock to see him. I didn’t react well. I went to find Maria in the breakroom and walked in on him and Maria chatting. He seemed just as stunned to see me I think, as I was to see him. I guess he didn’t know that Maria and I had become closer friends.”
“Max wouldn’t let us tell him anything that was going on here in Roswell when we’d talk to him.” Alex explained. “So he wouldn’t have known.”
Liz nodded not surprised by what Max had done. She didn’t blame him; she probably would have done the same thing if it were her. “Anyway I wasn’t on my best behavior.”
“Which translates to you acted like a bitch.” Isabel translated.
“This coming from the original ice princess.” Liz said teasingly.
Isabel glanced over at Alex, smiled slightly before looking back at Liz. “Yeah well ice melts.”
“That it does.” Liz stated.
“Did you and Max talk at all?” Alex asked.
“No, not really. He asked me what I was doing there and I explained that I was visiting Maria.” Liz answered. “I left after a few more words and came home.”
Isabel could see that Liz was about to try and retreat to her room so she decided to try and cut her off. “Why don’t you get into your suit and join us?”
Alex knew what his girlfriend was doing and supported it wholeheartedly. “Yeah Liz. I would love to be in the company of two beautiful half naked women.”
Liz smiled at his sweetness and nodded. “Okay. Let me just get changed.”
Liz withdrew into her room in search of her swimsuit and Alex looked over at Isabel. “That was a nice idea, keeping an eye on Liz so she doesn’t retreat again.”
Isabel just shrugged. “I’m not loosing her all over again.”
“And you think Max coming back could set her off again?”
“I think its possibility.” Isabel said. “Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Max. It’s just how complicated their relationship can get.”
“No, it’s okay. I understand.” Alex said agreeing with her. “And you’re right. Max and Liz’s relationship has always been full of twists and turns, no reason why now should be any different. I can’t wait to hear from Maria later, she should have some interesting things to say.”
Liz came out then and settled down on her own towel. The conversation between Alex and Isabel was dropped and another one between the three of them began.
PART 17
Maria changed into her street clothes before the two headed upstairs to Max’s room. That way they knew they’d have complete privacy. Maria could see Max was chopping at bit and dying to find out everything but she took a minute to figure out where to start. Max wasn’t so patient. “Tell me what happened this summer with Liz. I want to know why she’d like this, is it because of being with Kyle or something?”
Maria shook her head. “No, it’s not. I hate to sound cold but it’s sort of because of you. I mean, you and her breaking up and you leaving is part of it.”
“What?” Max asked. He felt terrible that he was the cause of Liz’s distantness. This wasn’t what he had wanted to happen when he left, he didn’t want to be her way while she did what she was born to do. And he knew he would have been.
“Let me explain.” Maria stated. “After that day at the cave, Liz pulled away from everyone and I do mean everyone. She wouldn’t talk to Alex, me, Michael or even Isabel. Truthfully I think this was because of you leaving. When you left, she felt like you abandoned her. That you gave up on the love you two have.”
“But that’s not true.” Max argued. “I left because I thought I was doing what was best for her.”
“She doesn’t see it that way Max. She sees it as she needed you and you left. She had been through several traumatizing experiences and the person she thought she could count on the most left.” Maria explained.
“Anyway back to what was happening. When she pulled away, it was like she locked herself up inside. All she did was work her ass off learning her powers or on her off-hours, hole herself up in her room. We all knew things with her were bad, she looked horrible but like I said she wouldn’t talk. It wasn’t until weeks after that I found out part of the reason why she was looking so tired, she wasn’t sleeping well. She was having nightmares about when she was taken.”
“The White Room.” Max said.
“Yeah. Alex was over at the Evans’ when he heard her screaming. He asked Isabel about it later and found how bad things had gotten." Maria said. “From what Isabel told us, she was having nightmares almost every night and bad reactions to certain things when she was awake.”
“Like what?”
“Like the color white. Isabel said she can’t stand to look at anything white. She’s used her powers to change colors on everything she owns to something other than white. And for some reason I’ve seen her freak out when she accidentally washed her hands in really cold water.” Maria explained.
“Ice bathes.” Max clarified about the cold water. “I saw a flash from her that showed they woke her up by dumping her in a tub of ice and water.”
“Oh God.” Maria exclaimed. “I didn’t know. She still won’t talk to anyone about it. And Isabel said that if Liz wasn’t talking about it that she didn’t think she should tell anyone what she had seen.”
Max saw the expression on her face and realized the extent of Maria and Liz’s friendship. “You two have really gotten close haven’t you?”
“Yeah, we have. I mean we were friends before but not like we are now. It’s nice.” Maria stated. “Anyway after Alex found out about her nightmares, he convinced Isabel to have me come talk to her. When I did, she wasn’t too happy and slammed the door in my face.”
“That doesn’t sound like Liz.”
“No it doesn’t. It only mad me more determined but I didn’t press her right then, just decided to give her a few days but I didn’t have to wait that long, she came to me the next morning.” Maria said then became uneasy about the conversation.
Max could see that his friend’s body language had changed and couldn’t help but ask. “What happened Maria? Did something bad happen when she came to talk to you?”
Maria shook her head. “No, nothing like that. I’m just not sure if I should tell you this part Max. It’s something personal between you and Liz that I think she should tell you.”
“But she won’t. You saw how she was earlier, she’ll barely speak to me let alone have a deep conversation with me.” Max disputed. “Come on Maria, tell me.”
“Fine. But if Liz gets pissed at me for this, I’m sending her and her formidable alien powers after you.” Maria said pointing her finger at him. “Okay, here goes. Liz called me first and apologized, then asked me for help. She came to me because she thought she might be pregnant.”
To say he was shocked was an understatement. Max felt like someone had just taken a sledgehammer and slammed it into his chest. “Pppregnant?”
“Yep, the whole bun in the oven.” Maria answered him then narrowed her eyes. “And if you ask if it was by you, I’ll reach over there and smack you.”
Max shook his head. The thought hadn’t even crossed his mind, he knew that if Liz were pregnant, it would have been his. “Was she pregnant?”
“Do you think we would have kept it from you for this long if she was?” Maria exclaimed. “Liz might be pissed at you but she’s not heartless.”
Max shook his head to show that he didn’t think they’d keep it from him. “How did you guys find out?”
“Well first we did the normal thing and she took a test. But of course that would have been too easy, the test was inconclusive. Liz thought about asking someone who would know how to tell for their kind.” Maria wasn’t looking forward to what she said next, “We went and talked to Kyle.”
Max’s jaw clenched tight but he didn’t make any comments about the fourth alien. “What did Kyle say?”
“He said that their kind has connections to their kids and could feel them. Since Liz couldn’t feel anything, we knew she wasn’t pregnant.” Maria explained. “But the scare had a positive turn, it pulled Liz out of her depression. She apologized to everyone and that was when her and I got close. She even got Kyle to snap out of his aliens are better than humans thing and I can actually stand to be around him now.”
“Really?” Max asked surprised.
“Yeah. He acts human now.” Maria stated.
“What about he and Liz?” Max asked.
“They’re friends, nothing more. I think he’s pretty much given up on any hope that she would be with him, especially after the whole pregnancy thing.” Maria explained.
Max tried to concentrate on Maria’s words instead of the fact that he knew now that Kyle and Liz weren’t together as she continued to explain what he’d missed. “Any way she got a lot better over the next few weeks at least with us. Her and I would talk a lot about you and Michael, about stuff that she’s found out about her people but she never touched on her capture. And although physically she looked better, we could tell she was still torn up inside. I offered to help Isabel with Liz at night, you know, staying with her and stuff so I could wake her up because she was still have nightmares and their parents were getting suspicious.”
“Getting suspicious of what?”
“That they were hiding something and that something was seriously wrong with Liz. After they said wanted to take her to a psychiatrist and Isabel did her best to keep how bad things were from them but it didn’t work and they found out.” Maria informed him.
“You mean their parents know about them?” Max asked wide-eyed. He couldn’t believe how much he had missed in just the few months he had been gone.
“Yep. The whole long tale starting from when our little pod people hatched.” Maria answered. “I was there when they found out. As a matter of fact, I was part of why they found out. I was staying with Liz so that I could wake her up from her nightmare. But when it came time, I couldn’t wake her. Isabel came in and Liz freaked out so much that she used her powers to toss us away, right in front of her parents. She kind of had to explain after that.”
“How did they take it?”
“Not bad. They thought at first that they were joking until Liz gave them a little display of her powers, then they knew that they were serious. Ever since, Liz and Isabel have been spending a lot of time with their parents, making up for time lost and explaining things better.” Maria explained. “Them finding out was even how Michael and I got back together. But that’s a whole other weird and wonderful story.”
“I feel like I’ve missed so much.”
“Well Max, you have.” Maria said point blank. She thought that she should be honest with Max about what was going on. “And what are you going to do now that you’re back?”
“I don’t know. I just know I was miserable when I was away from her and realized how stupid it was to leave. I want to be in Liz’s life, even if she’ll only have me as a friend. I want to be more but from what I know now, I don’t know if that’s going to be a possibility.” Max stated.
“We’ll see, Max. But I have to say, you have your work cut out for you.”
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