Liz had been living with the Parkers for a month when she first met Maria. Her and Kyle had adjusted to life rather well except for a few incidents. Although both kids still had nightmares. Jeff or Nancy would come in and soothe Liz but she never talked about them. She liked the Parkers and didn’t want them to know all the dark details of her time in Manticore. She didn’t want them to know what she had done.
The Sheriff’s wife, Michelle, had excepted Kyle with open arms and lavished affection on him, something that took a while for Kyle to get used to. The sheriff had told her that he found Kyle wondering around the park, not able to remember who he was or his parents. Everyone who didn’t know the truth assumed he had come from a bad home and out of respect for the Sheriff the town people didn’t say anything. No one thought twice about Liz, since the Parkers had moved away ten years ago. The only people they had really kept up with was Jim so everyone thought Liz was theirs.
Liz was sitting on one of the stools by the counter while Jeff and Nancy were puttering around the restaurant. Liz was drinking a coke, enjoying it thoroughly. In the last month she had tried all kinds of new food, mostly junk food, luxuries that Manticore would never give them. Liz as well as Kyle had pitched in and helped around the restaurant. It was almost time for the Grand Opening and they were meeting with someone to buy alien stuff. Liz normally would have stayed upstairs but when they were done they were taking her to see Kyle. She was going to have lunch with Kyle, the Sheriff, and Michelle, then the Sheriff would take them out to train. Liz heard the bell over the door, and noticed that two people came through. It was a dark haired woman and a young blonde girl that looked about her age. Liz watched quietly as the Parker talked to them.
She had started calling the Parkers Mom and Dad since the first night. It had started so that it would keep her cover but after a week it had just felt right. Kyle and her had a home for the first time in their lives, and they loved it. She sat there, continued to sip on her coke when she noticed the blonde pop up next to her. “Hi.” She said in a perky voice.
Liz looked the girl up and down before answering, “Hello.”
“My name’s Maria, what’s yours?” She asked with a smile.
“Liz.” She answered as she looked over the other girl. Maria started to chatter on endlessly. Liz had never been around other kids except her siblings and the other X5s so she wasn’t sure what to think of this girl. She seemed friendly and nice. Her scrutiny ended when she noticed Maria waving her hand in front of Liz. “Liz? Earth to Liz?”
Liz realized she hadn’t heard a word Maria had said, “Yes?”
“You’re awful quiet.”
“Just thinking.”
“I bet it’s cool to live over a restaurant. Our house is full of alien stuff my mom sells.”
“This place is different. Not like any place I’ve lived in.” Liz said truthfully.
“Roswell is such a boring town, it’s nice to have someone new move here. The last kid to move here was a boy our age named Michael. But he’s weird, and really grumpy.” Maria said. “Do you know anyone else here?”
“The Sheriff and his family. Their friends of my parents.”
“I’ve seen the Sheriff but my mom and I don’t really talk to him.” Maria continued to talk about different things. She asked Liz her favorite color, food, etc. They talked for a little while until Maria said, “Now that you know me you won’t be by yourself on your first day of school. We might even be in the same class. That would be cool.”
Liz was starting to like Maria, she was so alive. And as much as she loved her brother, it was nice being around another girl. She missed her sisters. “It would be nice.”
“Do you want to come to my house and play tomorrow?”
“Play?”
“Yeah, play. You know with toys and stuff. So do you want to?”
“I’ll have to ask my parents.” She walked over to where the adults were and waited for them to finish and notice her.
“Liz? What is it Honey?” Nancy asked.
“Maria asked me if I could go to her house and play tomorrow, can I?” She asked.
Nancy looked over at Jeff’s smile and smiled back. “Sure, I’ll talk to Ms. Deluca and set it up.”
“Thank you.” Liz said and headed back over to Maria.
Nancy watched her go and heard Jeff’s voice in her ear, “It seems Liz made her first friend.”
Part 5: Alex
Liz and Maria were sitting under a tree eating their lunch. They were in fourth grade and had been friends ever since that day in the Crashdown. Liz and Kyle had been in Roswell for over a year and so far no sign of Manticore. Their parents had kept their promise and kept them safe but it had come at a cost. Kyle’s adoptive mother had gotten tired of the Sheriff working late hours, some of which he was tracking down the hunt Manticore was doing, and had left. Kyle acted like it hadn’t affected him but Liz knew better. The first few nights after she left, Ky snuck up to Liz’s room and slept next to her. He wanted to make sure that Liz wasn’t going to leave him too.
Liz looked over to where her brother was sitting with his friends. They had different sets of friends. Kyle kept friends that he could keep at arms length while Liz became close to Maria. Well as close as she could without telling their secret. Kyle constantly warned her about getting too close to her, but Liz didn’t listen. Kyle usually stayed away from Liz when Maria was around and they met in secret.
As she watched him talking to his friends she noticed someone. It was the new kid that their teacher had introduced to the class earlier, and he was being picked on by two fifth graders. They were far away enough from the other kids that the teachers weren’t even noticing them. “Maria, look over there.”
Maria poked her head up and looked in the direction Liz had pointed to. “Stupid bullies. I can’t stand it when they pick on people.” They pushed Alex around until one of them shoved harder and he fell face first onto the pavement. “That’s it.” Maria said getting up but Liz was already up and going.
They got there at the same time; Maria went straight to Alex to check on him while Liz’s anger took over her. She kicked the back of one boy’s knees causing him to fall then punched him in the face. Not hard, just enough to stun him. She then turned to the other boy and swept his feet out from under him. The boy hit the ground hard and just stared at her. It was then that Liz realized what she had done. True, she could have done far worse but most nine-year old girls couldn’t fight two ten year old boys and win. She looked over at Kyle who was scowling at her; he had seen the whole thing. She knew he would ream her for it later but she pushed that thought to the back of her mind as she turned to where Maria was tending to Alex.
“Is he alright?” Liz asked.
“He’s a little banged up. His arms are skidded up, and he’s got a couple bumps and bruises on his face. We should take him to the nurse.”
“No. If we go to the nurse, she’ll want me to tell her who did this. Then they’ll come after me for telling.” Alex said speaking for the first time.
“Come on. I can bandage him up.” Liz said. She ran over, grabbed both her and Maria’s backpacks and followed the other two inside. Maria checked for teachers before pulling them into the girls’ bathroom.
Liz pulled out a small ziploc bag that she kept a small first aid kit in. She pulled out the things she needed and started cleaning Alex up but not before he saw the blood. “I think I’m going to be sick.” He said.
Liz couldn’t believe how squeamish Alex was being; he wouldn’t have lasted five minutes at Manticore. “Alex, its just a little blood from a scrape. It’s not like you tore an artery.”
“What’s an artery?” Maria asked.
“Um, it’s like a vein, you know what your blood is in.” Liz mumbled chastising her self for the slip.
“Wow, how do you know that?” Alex asked.
“I read about it in a magazine when I went to the doctor.” Liz lied quickly. She couldn’t tell them that she knew a lot about the body, about field medicine, and more about genetics than she cared to. Her parents and Kyle’s dad were still shocked when the kids showed how much 'grown-up’ stuff they knew. “There all done.”
“Thanks, I owe you.” Alex said. “How come you’ve got all that stuff in your bag.”
“I just like to be prepared.” Liz explained. The three of them headed out of the bathroom and ran right into Kyle. He didn’t look happy. Liz knew that he was just trying to scare Alex and Maria but his intimidating looks didn’t scare her. She was there when he learned them, right by his side.
“I need to talk to Liz for a minute about Math.” Kyle said.
“Go on out and finish eating. I’ll be there before the bell rings.” Liz told Alex and Maria. Once they were out of earshot, Liz said, “I know you’re lying about the Math. You’re smart, you just don’t use it.”
“I do what I have to get by. Just an average student but you’re right that’s not what I want to talk about. What did you think you were doing out there?” Kyle said starting in on her.
“I was helping someone who needed it. Those kids could have really hurt him.”
“So you beat them up? That was smart, what if one of the teachers had seen you? They would have become suspicious and our cover might have been blown.”
“Kyle, it’s not like I did anything that could have completely given me away. I moved at normal speed, and I took them down simply, nothing fancy.”
“Just the fact that you were able to do it, gives you away.” Kyle said worriedly.
Liz nodded. She knew he was just looking out for her just like she did for him. “I won’t do it again, Kyle.”
“Okay, sorry I got so nasty.”
“Don’t worry about it. Are you still coming by tonight?”
“Yeah, Dad and I will be by for dinner then we’ll head out.”
“Good, I want to try out that new gun your dad got me. If I like the way it handles, then I’ll replace the one in my bag with it.” Liz said hefting her bag on her shoulder. They still carried their backpacks everywhere with them just like when they had come to Roswell. Their parents and them were the only ones who knew that they were always armed. The two siblings walked out to join their two groups of friends. Right now it didn’t look strange if they spent time together since their parents were such good friends but when they got older they knew it would be harder. But they would figure out how to spend time together.
Liz walked over to where Alex and Maria sat. She talked to Alex and found him funny. After that day the three of them became the three musketeers. Liz kept her promise to Kyle and no one ever suspected them of not being what he or she appeared. The smallest of small town girls and the all-American athlete. They continued to be close sharing everything with each other like the siblings they were. At least until the events of September 1999.
The End
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