Sorry this is a day late, but hey, better late than never right
Grace: I agree, Tess was a good character before she turned to the dark side.
Ginger: Ha ha I love Amy Deluca, she is such a great character.
Katie: I completely agree with you.
Neodeu: Ha. Do you really think after crazy-Amy with a non-pregnancy Maria would tell her about the proposal! Anyway we will address the issue of what happened when they were unconscious. Thanks, as always.
Carolyn: Thanks and yes, complete understatement.
Chapter 21
The next morning, Maria walked briskly down the school corridors, her eyes falling upon her fellow students as they snickered and giggled behind their hands at her.
She knew this was going to happen. Ashley Thompson had obviously remained true to her persona and told everyone that she had seen about Maria buying pregnancy tests at the store yesterday.
As she neared her locker, she could see something hanging from the lock. She quickened her pace and removed the offending object before anyone else saw it. She placed her books inside the small space and then went on the hunt for her boyfriend. If she was taking this shit from the other students, then she was definitely going to share it with her other half.
She found Michael by his own locker, clutching something blue in his hand. As she approached he turned her with a wry grin.
“Is there something you need to tell me, Blondie?” he asked as he held up the blue object for her to see. It was a onesie and worse than that, one that her mother sold in her small souvenir shop. It was blue with green writing on it, saying ‘Daddy’s Little Alien’.
“Ashley Thompson saw me yesterday buying a pregnancy test so she obv….”
“What?” Michael interrupted her, grabbed a hold of Maria’s arm and pulling her around the corner. “Why did you need to do that? Are you….? Are we…..?”
“I told you yesterday, Michael. My mom freaked when I asked about her pregnancy and forced me to take a test. Ashley was in the drug store when we bought them.”
“So now the whole school thinks you’re pregnant?”
Maria held up the baby pink pacifier that had been hanging from her locker. “Ya think?”
“It could be worse,” Michael said with a shrug.
“How, Michael?” Maria huffed. “How could this possibly be worse?”
Michael leaned over to her and kissed her cheek before whispering in her ear, “You could actually be pregnant.”
Maria pulled back from him shock, inhaling sharply and her eyes wide. She then hit him with the pacifier. “Do not even joke about that, Spaceboy.”
Michael just smirked at her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and they set off down the hallway together, both actively ignoring the looks they received from their fellow students.
“This is bad, Michael,” Maria continued. “The whole school is gonna be talking about this by second bell.”
“Let them,” Michael answered simply.
“I don’t like people talking about me,” Maria lamented. “Unless they are saying good things, obviously.”
“Yeah, well, I’m used to it. And you should be by now. You know the whole school has an opinion on our relationship. They’re just jealous, anyway.”
“Jealous of what?” Maria asked him skeptically.
Michael smirked down to her, “That I’m off the market.”
“Pretty sure of yourself there, Spaceboy,” Maria laughed.
“I’m every girl’s fantasy,” he answered simply.
“If you so say,” Maria returned with a knowing grin.
“Oh, I do say so, and you know it.”
Maria did know it. She had actually overheard some of the girls taking about her often badly groomed boyfriend. She knew he was desired, and many members of the female population at West Roswell High had the hots for him, but she wasn’t going to stroke his ego with that knowledge. She figured one of his greatest appeals for the girls was his bad boy image, and he was really trying to move pass that to be something better for her.
“Have you not entertained the notion that it might be because of me?” she asked him.
“Oh, constantly, babe. I’ve read the writing on the wall in the boy’s locker room.”
“Really? What does it say?”
“Oh, look here’s my classroom,” Michael acted surprised, though his half grin told her something completely different.
“Michael! What does it say?”
“Well, let’s just say, I can guarantee that 95% of what is written there is truth. I’m still working on the other 5%.” Then he winked at her and entered the room while she stood at the door, her mouth hanging slightly and her mind a whirl at what could be immortalized in the boy’s locker room.
Maria and Michael spent the rest of their day being questioned by the students at West Roswell High about their baby, Maria vehemently denying the existence of said child whilst Michael simply eluded the questions.
For Maria, the high point of the day came when she was approached by Ms. Flescher wanting to enroll her in the life experience program for expectant mothers held at the local community college. It had taken Maria half an hour and a phone call to her mother to finally get the guidance counselor to accept that fact Maria wasn’t pregnant.
***************
By 7 that evening, the humans and aliens were assembled at the UFO Center under the pretense of a school project. Brody had laughed at them, saying he didn’t mind if they used his establishment for their school work as long as they didn’t mess with any of the exhibits and then returned to his office.
“When will we actually meet Larek and not his proxy?” Liz asked Jackson.
“Soon,” Jackson answered. “Though travel between the two worlds is now instantaneous, Larek is needed back on his own world.”
Maria looked nervously around to the others. What was she expected to say to the guy?
“It will be ok,” Michael reassured her, sensing her discomfort.
“That’s easy for you to say. You actually know your sister.”
Michael looked over to Isabel and smiled. Yes, he had known her his entire life, but they had yet to actually discuss the changes in their relationship. Sure, they had brushed upon the fact they were blood brother and sister, but that had been as far as the conversation had gone. He felt that they needed to talk without Max being there, as they were both too worried about upsetting Max and making him feel like he didn’t belong. Even though Michael was still at odds with Max and his recent treatment of Maria, he still didn’t want to cause the guy any pain. Max had been his brother, blood or not, throughout his entire human life, and he didn’t intend for that to change now.
Jackson walked past them heading toward Brody’s office, indicating that now was the time.
A few minutes later, he returned with Brody in tow.
“Mia,” Larek said with Brody’s voice, and a smile spread across his face as he walked eagerly over to her.
Maria smiled shyly at the man she knew, trying to just imagine it was Brody talking to her and not some alien brother from another planet.
Brody turned to Michael. “Thank you,” he said sincerely, his eyes showing more emotion that his voice did.
“What for?” Michael asked.
“For keeping my sister safe, in this world and your own. From what I understand, even on Antar, you were
always looking out for her.”
Michael looked at Maria and smiled to her. He held out his hand, and she took it, returning his grin. She had known this through her dreams of their life on Antar.
Larek stepped a little closer to her. “You must have a lot of questions?”
“Not really,” Maria answered. “I’m sorry, but this is all a little strange to me. I’ve never been anything other than me, Maria Deluca. I’m not like Michael, Max, and Isabel. I didn’t awake in a pod and instantly know I wasn’t from around here or that I was different.”
She paused, noting the dejected look on Brody’s face.
“But you will return home? You and Rath. To rule your planet?”
Michael and Maria looked at each other. They had yet to discuss this. Maria knew Michael wanted to see his mother and to have that connection with her that he had always needed. But Maria didn’t want to leave her mom. Not in a never going leave home way, but more a I’m not going to leave my mom alone on this planet thing.
“That is something we need to talk about,” Michael offered diplomatically.
“Maybe we could visit?” Maria asked hopefully.
“I think that would be most acceptable for the immediate future. Though the situation needs to be more stable before you return.”
“My Lord,” Jackson interjected. “Maybe a visit from the royal family would help boost the fighters.”
Larek flashed his eyes in anger at the young man. “You expect me to put my sister in danger again? To give Kivar a chance to kidnap her?”
Michael swung his head back and forth between the two men. “That is not going to happen. If there is a slightest possibility that she could be in danger, then she stays here.”
“I have a name, you know. And you’re not going without me,” Maria stated sternly.
“Then we won’t go at all.”
“Michael,” Isabel said, interrupting them.
“If you want to go, Isabel, that’s fine, but I’m not putting Maria in danger.”
“But it’s ok if Isabel’s in danger?” Maria asked, disgusted with Michael’s lack of regard for his sister.
“That’s different, Maria,” Michael answered her, exasperated.
“I don’t see how,” Maria huffed.
“Maybe it’s because Isabel has powers, and you don’t,” Liz offered, hopefully diffusing an argument.
Maria understood what Liz was trying to say, she really did, but all she heard from Liz’s comment was, “we are special, and you’re not.” It brought forth her insecurities that she would never be good enough for anyone, let alone a king from a distant planet. She looked from Liz to Isabel and then to Michael before taking a deep breath.
“If you go, Michael, I want to go with you.” Then she hit where she knew it would hurt Michael the most.
“Surely, I’ll be safer near you than millions of miles away. What if there was an attack?”
She turned to Jackson. “Does the enemy have to same travel technology?” she quizzed him.
“Well, yes,” Jackson said, looking uncertainly at Michael.
“See,” Maria gloated, “They could be here in an instant, and who would be here to protect me then?” She hated using the damsel in distress tactic, but she was willing to try anything to stay with him.
“I could stay,” Max offered. He wasn’t sure if he actually wanted to go back to Antar. Go back to what?
“No,” Michael answered all too quickly. There was absolutely no way on this Earth or any other planet that he was going to leave Maria alone with Max. He shifted his eyes to Maria, silently acknowledging that she had won. “You can come along.”
Maria smiled as Michael continued. “It will have to be next weekend. I can’t miss any school time.”
Kyle laughed a little too loudly at Michael’s comment. The others all looked at him in surprise at his outburst.
“I’m sorry, I just found that highly amusing,” he said.
“Why?” Isabel asked, her eyes narrowing at him.
“Well, considering all the times we have all skipped school for some crazy alien conspiracy, Michael picks now to the responsible member of the group,” Kyle explained.
“If I miss any more unexplained time from school, I’ll be out on my ass,” Michael huffed.
Brody/Larek moved a little closer to Maria, who was watching with amusement as Michael and Kyle quarreled the benefits of skipping school.
“Mia,” he started.
She turned quickly to him. “Maria,” she said simply.
“Of course, I’m sorry,” he answered her quickly. “Maria. Can I ask? Are you happy? Were you happy? On Antar, I mean.”
Maria smiled to him and took him gently by the hand to lead him over to some seating that Brody had provided for his customers.
“She, Mia or Maya, whatever you want to call her, she was very happy. I admit, there were times when I’m remembering certain parts of her life that she was scared and lonely, but all that changed when he entered her life,” and she indicated to Michael with her head.
She saw the sadness in the Brody’s eyes and could only imagine how Larek was feeling at that moment.
“She missed you,” she said with a small smile. “Sometimes, you were all she could think about: You and your parents.”
“Why?” Larek asked softly. “Why did she never tell anyone who she was?”
“The details are all sketchy at best,” Maria answered him, knowing he needed answers but unsure she could provide them adequately. “As far as I can remember, and you have to know this information is only from dreams, someone called Jessina told her to keep her identity a secret, and Mia took that to heart.”
Larek nodded. “Jessina was her protector. Mia had been taught from a very young age to always listen to her instructions and obey without hesitation.”
Maria was a little taken back when Larek confirmed this Jessina person really had existed. There was no escaping the fact that her dreams were those of this dead girl.
“Jessina must have been in great fear for Mia’s life for her to instruct her to keep her identity hidden,” Larek finished.
Maria nodded, unsure what further to say.
“And,” Larek started again, nervously. “Do you have any idea who killed Mia?”
Maria shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry, but I haven’t remembered anything about that.” She didn’t want to remember the feeling she had when she briefly visited Mia’s lost moments on Antar while unconscious. The pain had been unbearable and, to be truthful, she didn’t want to know who had killed Maya.
Larek nodded in understanding. “When you come home, that is, when you come to Antar for your visit,
would you be willing to meet our parents?”
“They are still alive?” Maria asked, shocked and little concerned that she hadn’t thought about them before now.
“Yes,” Larek beamed. “And most eager to meet you.”
“I don’t know,” Maria answered uncertainly. “That might be a little bizarre.”
“Well, maybe on your next visit then?” Larek concluded.
“Maybe,” Maria agreed with a small smile.
“I would appreciate it if you would seriously consider it,” Larek returned her smile.
“OK.”
“I have to say, those Antarians are really good with developing their technology. You are my sister, Maria, down to your very fingernails. You even have the golden glint in the green of your eyes that Mia had.”
“I always wondered why I looked nothing like my mother,” Maria laughed.
“You look like our mother,” Larek told her gently.
Maria nodded, unsure what to do with that information. The fact that she looked like some stranger was disconcerting. She almost imagined this was what people felt like after hearing they are adopted. But her mother still gave birth to her; she was still conceived in the old fashioned way.
“I’m sorry,” Larek said, noting the sad look on her face. “I’ve upset you.”
“No, it’s ok, really,” Maria said quickly. “It’s just……it’s hard for me to imagine having another mother. I have a mom here in Earth and for the longest time, it’s been just us. Now I suddenly have this whole other family in a far-away place, it’s……..weird.”
“I understand. Almost like discovering your long – lost sister, who died decades ago, is living and breathing on Earth.”
Maria smiled a genuine smile to her brother, “Yeah, exactly.”
“We’ll progress at which ever pace you choose, Maria. I’m content to know that you are happy. You are happy, aren’t you?”
Maria answered without hesitation. “Yes. I’m as happy here as Mia was on Antar.”
“Good, because I have no problems with having a few words with His Majesty,” Larek responded with a smile.
“That won’t be necessary,” Maria laughed.
Michael looked over to Maria and Brody/Larek talking and hoped she was doing ok. When he saw her smile and laugh, he knew he had nothing to worry about. A few minutes later they returned to the group.
“I really should be going. I have used this body for too long,” Larek said, then turned to Max. “He may need a little more rest than normal after this visit.”
Max nodded, understanding Larek’s instructions.
Isabel took a step forward and placed her hand on Larek’s hand. “Please, will you tell my mother, if you see her….” She paused, what did she want to say to the person she most desperately wanted to see?
“I will tell her that you are as beautiful as ever, that you are happy and will see her soon,” he answered knowingly.
“Thank you,” Isabel smiled.
“Until next weekend then,” he said with a nod of his head in the direction of Michael and Maria.
He then turned to Jackson. “I will inform the Dowager Queen of your planned visit.”
“Thank you, my Lord,” Jackson answered with a slight bow, then he followed Larek back into Brody’s office.
“Well, that went well,” Kyle piped up. “Are we all invited along on this intergalactic getaway?”
“I don’t see why you all can’t tag along,” Maria answered looking at Michael. “We are all in this together, right?”
“Right,” Michael affirmed.
“And royalty are supposed to have an entourage, aren’t they?” Maria added with a grin, then wished she hadn’t as Liz’s hurtful words of her wanting to world to bow before her echoed in her head.
“I’d better start practicing my bowing skills,” Kyle smirked before Maria shot her eyes to him, and he too remembered the cruel and hurtful things Liz had yelled at Maria in his car.
“Hey, we’re probably all held in high esteem thought, right?” he concluded with a look to Isabel, his own eyes shifting nervously to Liz.
“Don’t worry, Kyle,” Isabel laughed. “I’m sure the ladies will be falling at your feet.”
“Oh no, Is,” Maria added. “Just remember, Kyle was forbidden to touch the women in his old life.”
“That won’t still stand though, will it?” Kyle asked, looking between the two girls. “We are all different people, really. Surely, there could be some Kyle loving along the way.”
“Geez, Kyle, is that all you thinking about?” Liz asked.
“No. Only 95% of the time,” he reasoned with a look to Michael.
“Hey, don’t bring me into this,” Michael smirked as he headed for the stairs, his arm falling around Maria’s shoulders. Kyle, Isabel, and Liz falling into step with them.
“So what do you think about the other 5%?” Maria asked goodheartedly.
Kyle looked at Michael, and they both grinned and said at the same time. “Food!”
*******************
