Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.
Chapter 9: Plans Come Together
After a busy week at school, the gang found themselves back at Michael’s apartment for another Friday night meeting. Much of the tension present at the last meeting was thankfully absent. Alex, Isabel and Maria had all agreed to keep their lunchtime discussion from Monday quiet for the time being, so the main topic on the agenda for tonight’s meeting was the translation of the Book.
“OK, so now we know the supercomputer over at Las Cruces should be able to translate the Book, but the problem is we don’t know how to get in there yet. Any ideas?” Max looked around the room at seven teens and one sheriff in turn.
Alex sat up straight and prepared himself to deliver the news he knew no one would take well. “Max, it’s going to have to be me that goes in there to do the translation…”
The room exploded into loud protests. Alex raised his hands in an attempt to quiet the masses.
“Let’s think rationally about this guys. I’m not trying to insult anyone here but I’m pretty sure I’m the only one in this room who knows anything about computer programming, data encryption or network security. I think we’ll have to hack in from one of the other campus network terminals. We can’t risk trying to do it from the supercomputer lab itself because someone might see us. I’m the only one here that can do that.” The group went silent at that revelation, until Michael added his two cents.
“OK so if Alex has to go, then I go with him.” Alex began to protest, saying that it would look too suspicious having both of them sneaking around the campus computer labs but Maria quickly cut him off.
“I have an idea guys. What if we get Alex signed up for one of those weekend tour things where you tour the campus during the day and then spend the night in the dorms. The idea is to give high school students sort of a feel for college life, so usually you’re allowed access to all of the common campus areas…like the computer labs…” Maria trailed off when she noticed that everyone was staring at her shocked.
“What?! Mom made me do some research…Is it so unbelievable that I might think about going to college?! It’s not like I plan on being a waitress in Roswell forever…” Tess snorted in response, earning her a death glare from Maria. Everyone else was smart enough to keep silent when faced with the wrath of Maria. Max steered the conversation back toward Alex.
“Alex, do you think you could do this in just one weekend?” Off Alex’s affirmative nod, Max continued. “OK then we have one problem solved. Alex and I will sign up for the next Las Cruces tour so he can work on the translation…” Max’s last comment sent the room into loud protest again.
“How come you get to go but I don’t? If you guys run into trouble, you’ll need me there!” Michael bit out.
“Max, did you ever think that maybe the rest of us would want to go too?!” Isabel demanded.
Max sighed. “Alright. I suppose we can all go. It wouldn’t look too unusual if we were all there for a school tour. We’re all in the same class.”
Kyle smirked, rolling his eyes and said, “Gee, thanks for your permission El Presidente…” After seeing the groups triumphant smiles, Max decided to plunge right into the next item of business.
“One last thing before we go. I think we need to set up regular weekly training schedules. Future Max didn’t exactly paint a pretty picture of things to come so we should start preparing now.” A loud snort from Michael practically echoed around the room when Max made his ‘royal decree’.
“It’s about time Maxwell. How long have I been telling you that?” With a shake of his head, Max chose to just let the comment go. Michael was right after all. Max just pushed on with his plan instead.
“Everyone is usually free on Sunday evenings right? I think we should start meeting out at the quarry on Sundays to practice our powers. I mean that we all should meet at the quarry. Liz and Maria have developed powers and we have no idea if or when the rest of you will so it’s probably best if we were all there.” As Max said this, Isabel and Alex shared a quick knowing look. It was only a matter of time before Alex developed powers too.
After agreeing on a training schedule, everyone was ready to call it a night. Most of the group left feeling slightly empowered. They felt like they were starting to take control of their own destiny.
The Power of Love (CC,M/M,M/L,TEEN) Complete pg.11 - 9/17
Moderators: Anniepoo98, Rowedog, ISLANDGIRL5, Itzstacie, truelovepooh, FSU/MSW-94, Forum Moderators
Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.
Chapter 10: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
The next day at the Hometown Café in Hondo, Tess waited impatiently for her companions to arrive for lunch. They were supposed to meet at noon, but it was already 12:30 and she had grown tired of fending off her irate waitress about twenty minutes ago. Suddenly, the Café door swung open and Tess looked up to see two people swaggering up to her booth.
“You’re late! What took you guys so long?!” Tess frowned at the spectacle that was Lonnie and Rath.
“Yo Queenie…don’t getcha undies in a bunch ov’a couple minutes. We’s here. Nuff said.” Rath growled at Tess in his usual eloquent manner. Lonnie put a restraining hand on his shoulder.
“So get down to it Queenie. What's got you so worked up you got to drag us out here to Mayberry? I’s sure I told you how much I hate dis place…” Lonnie gave Tess one of her patented cruel grins.
Tess spilled out the story of the others’ plans for translating the Destiny Book. Lonnie and Rath just sat there; unsure of why translating the Book would be a problem.
“I don’t see how that’s our prob, Queenie” Rath grunted. He couldn’t stand that simpering, spoiled little blonde girl but if keeping her around would buy him a ticket back to his home planet then so be it.
“That’s a good thing, yo. Maxie reads about his destiny, comes runnin to you and you’s work your mojo on ‘im. Then we all go home in the Granolith. Works for me Queenie.” Lonnie didn’t like Tess but she was sure that she could convince the naïve girl to stick with their original plan.
Lonnie knew the Granolith was much more than a religious icon. Long ago, Nasedo had come and told them all about their destiny. She and Rath welcomed the information. Anything was better than spending the rest of your dismal life in a sewer. She’d come up with the plan to use Tess and Max to recreate their ‘Royal Four’ when she, Rath and Ava had come to Roswell a few weeks ago for the Summit. Lonnie knew Ava wouldn’t go along with the plan after they killed Zan, so instead she turned her interests to Tess and Max. If they could come together and create the four-square, they’d be able to use the Granolith to get home and live in luxury, like the Royals they were.
“What if Nasedo was wrong?! We don’t really know what that book says. Not really. The others…those humans…they have started getting powers. Our powers. How is that possible? The mouthy one, Maria, has everyone convinced that we pass our powers on to humans when we bond with them. She’s almost got them convinced that we were actually sent here to mate with humans on purpose!” Tess was so distraught at the thought of losing Max and her destiny forever that she whispered the rest of her story out practically in one breath. Destiny was all she’d ever known. Nasedo said it was her purpose in life…her only purpose.
“Queenie, slow down yo! Maxie probably screwed ‘em up when he healed ‘em or somethin. No big. Let ‘em translate that book and they’ll see how it is.” Lonnie had no patience for this whining. She was starting to think this girl was no better than Ava.
“Max never healed Maria. Never.” Tess just glared back at the two punks in front of her waiting for some logical explanation.
“Whateva Queenie. You want I should take care of that Maria chic?” Rath’s speech had now deteriorated to mere grunts between mouthfuls of food but his point was very clear. He had no qualms about killing Maria if it meant he still got to go home. Lonnie shot a warning glare at Rath before telling the simpering blonde how to handle the situation.
“Here’s whatcha gonna do. Let ‘em translate that book. If it doesn’t make it perfectly clear that you and Maxie are supposed to go home and do the deed, then you’s make them see it that way. You got da power girl. Make ‘em see whateva you want ‘em to see.”
Chapter 10: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
The next day at the Hometown Café in Hondo, Tess waited impatiently for her companions to arrive for lunch. They were supposed to meet at noon, but it was already 12:30 and she had grown tired of fending off her irate waitress about twenty minutes ago. Suddenly, the Café door swung open and Tess looked up to see two people swaggering up to her booth.
“You’re late! What took you guys so long?!” Tess frowned at the spectacle that was Lonnie and Rath.
“Yo Queenie…don’t getcha undies in a bunch ov’a couple minutes. We’s here. Nuff said.” Rath growled at Tess in his usual eloquent manner. Lonnie put a restraining hand on his shoulder.
“So get down to it Queenie. What's got you so worked up you got to drag us out here to Mayberry? I’s sure I told you how much I hate dis place…” Lonnie gave Tess one of her patented cruel grins.
Tess spilled out the story of the others’ plans for translating the Destiny Book. Lonnie and Rath just sat there; unsure of why translating the Book would be a problem.
“I don’t see how that’s our prob, Queenie” Rath grunted. He couldn’t stand that simpering, spoiled little blonde girl but if keeping her around would buy him a ticket back to his home planet then so be it.
“That’s a good thing, yo. Maxie reads about his destiny, comes runnin to you and you’s work your mojo on ‘im. Then we all go home in the Granolith. Works for me Queenie.” Lonnie didn’t like Tess but she was sure that she could convince the naïve girl to stick with their original plan.
Lonnie knew the Granolith was much more than a religious icon. Long ago, Nasedo had come and told them all about their destiny. She and Rath welcomed the information. Anything was better than spending the rest of your dismal life in a sewer. She’d come up with the plan to use Tess and Max to recreate their ‘Royal Four’ when she, Rath and Ava had come to Roswell a few weeks ago for the Summit. Lonnie knew Ava wouldn’t go along with the plan after they killed Zan, so instead she turned her interests to Tess and Max. If they could come together and create the four-square, they’d be able to use the Granolith to get home and live in luxury, like the Royals they were.
“What if Nasedo was wrong?! We don’t really know what that book says. Not really. The others…those humans…they have started getting powers. Our powers. How is that possible? The mouthy one, Maria, has everyone convinced that we pass our powers on to humans when we bond with them. She’s almost got them convinced that we were actually sent here to mate with humans on purpose!” Tess was so distraught at the thought of losing Max and her destiny forever that she whispered the rest of her story out practically in one breath. Destiny was all she’d ever known. Nasedo said it was her purpose in life…her only purpose.
“Queenie, slow down yo! Maxie probably screwed ‘em up when he healed ‘em or somethin. No big. Let ‘em translate that book and they’ll see how it is.” Lonnie had no patience for this whining. She was starting to think this girl was no better than Ava.
“Max never healed Maria. Never.” Tess just glared back at the two punks in front of her waiting for some logical explanation.
“Whateva Queenie. You want I should take care of that Maria chic?” Rath’s speech had now deteriorated to mere grunts between mouthfuls of food but his point was very clear. He had no qualms about killing Maria if it meant he still got to go home. Lonnie shot a warning glare at Rath before telling the simpering blonde how to handle the situation.
“Here’s whatcha gonna do. Let ‘em translate that book. If it doesn’t make it perfectly clear that you and Maxie are supposed to go home and do the deed, then you’s make them see it that way. You got da power girl. Make ‘em see whateva you want ‘em to see.”
Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.
Chapter 11: Playing With Fire
The whole group gathered out at the quarry together on Sunday for their first official training session. Sheriff Valenti was doubtful that his presence was necessary for the actual training but his curiosity overrode his feeling of being out of place. It unnerved him to think that these kids were out here preparing for war when they should’ve been home doing homework or relaxing with friends though.
“I guess we need to decide if we’re going to concentrate on honing our strengths or improving our weaknesses first. I was thinking we should start with our weaknesses…” Max looked around at his band of friends as he tried to bring the training session to order.
“We should do both Maxwell. First we do a quick trial run where everyone tries some basic stuff like moving rocks and maybe changing the color of their shirt or something. Then when we have an idea what everyone is capable of, we work on our strengths for a bit and then focus on our weaknesses. Next week we can start with our weaknesses and then switch to our strengths. That way we don’t drain our powers every week exercising our strengths, leaving nothing for us to use on our weaknesses.” Michael laid out his simple plan with an air of authority that surprised everyone. He was truly in his element here.
“OK then. First of all, I think we should quickly go over the things we know we can do and then get that out in the open. We can proceed with Michael’s plan from there. Liz, why don’t you start” Max declared.
“I really don’t know if I can actually do anything on my own. Isabel helped me contact you in New York. Future Max said that in his timeline I was able to get premonitions so maybe that’s something I could work on?” Liz was uncomfortable with the way everyone’s eyes narrowed at the mention of Future Max. It was still a sore subject for many of them.
“OK, that’s something to keep in mind.” Max said. “Maria, what about you?”
Maria snorted. “Well it seems Michael shared his more…explosive…powers with me. So far it seems like I’m great at blowing things up, setting things on fire and boiling stuff. Oh and things start flying if I’m mad enough.” The group just stared at Maria with their mouths wide open. Michael was the only one not surprised since he’d witnessed all of this first hand more than once in the last week. Their typical ‘heated’ arguments had moved on to a whole other freaky level now that she had powers.
“Oh Buddha save us. A nuclear Deluca. Why am I not surprised?” Kyle seemed to be the only one in the group that found Maria’s tale amusing.
“Maria! Why didn’t you tell us it was that bad? How did you manage to hide that for over a week?!” Isabel was so stunned by Maria’s revelation that she didn’t know whether to admire the girl or slap her.
“Actually, Kyle helped me.” When Maria said that, Michael’s face immediately dissolved into a scowl.
“Wait, what? How exactly did I help you? I didn’t even know you had powers until you dropped the bomb over at Michael’s the other night!” Kyle was becoming increasingly uneasy about the way Michael was glaring at him.
Maria told her story quickly, with her hands flying around in true Maria style. “Why do you guys think I hid out in my house for two days straight last week?! Every time I’d get upset, stuff would blow up! My mom left Thursday morning for some convention, so I figured the safest place for me would be my own house…not to mention the fact that the humans and the Czechs weren’t speaking at that time because of the Future Max fiasco. I couldn’t exactly just waltz over to your house for a visit, Isabel.” The whole group cringed at the way they’d reacted to the news of Future Max. They all knew they should’ve handled the situation better.
Maria continued. “Since it mostly only happened when I was upset, I tried some simple meditation techniques out of total desperation and it seemed to help keep the explosions at bay. So, Buddha Boy…that’s how you helped. I just copied the meditation stuff I’ve seen you do and it worked.”
After that revelation, the rest of the group discussed their limited powers and Michael decided it would be better if they broke up into two groups to practice.
“Isabel, Tess and Liz, you’ll be in one group working on your mental powers first. Kyle, why don’t you go with them? Maybe your meditation stuff will be useful somehow. Max, Maria and I will go practice our physical powers. After about half an hour or so we’ll switch.” Michael’s plan, while logical, didn’t sit well with Liz, Tess or Max. The group overruled their protests and practice began.
For the first half of practice, Alex and Kyle sat back observing the female trio. In the beginning, their interactions were tense at best so Kyle suggested some basic meditation to help them relax. They refused, rolling their eyes at him. Their mutual amusement at the picture of them meditating together out in the desert actually eased some of the tension and they were able to start focusing on the task at hand.
By the end of the session, Isabel found she was able to enter into people’s conscious thoughts in a similar way to dreamwalking. Oddly though, it only seemed to work well with Alex for the time being. Liz was still struggling with defining her powers and Tess put forth almost no effort into this portion of the practice session since she couldn’t very well go around mindwarping the others.
Michael, Maria and Max made much more progress than the others. While Michael was struggling to aim his blasts, Maria struggled to control the immense power she unleashed with hers. Max’s blasting was poor at best but he got in a great deal of practice using his shield by acting as Michael and Maria’s live test subject. He was able to fend off multiple blows from Michael before his shield would falter but he could barely hold his shield through one of Maria’s.
When the groups switched, it was a disaster. Of the female trio, only Tess managed to muster a noteworthy blast. In the other group, the results were even worse. Maria was able to get small mental vibes off her friends but they were vague at best. One such vibe from Tess had her concerned enough to make a mental note to talk to Michael and Isabel later. After the second phase of their training was finished everyone was happy to call it a day and head for home.
Chapter 11: Playing With Fire
The whole group gathered out at the quarry together on Sunday for their first official training session. Sheriff Valenti was doubtful that his presence was necessary for the actual training but his curiosity overrode his feeling of being out of place. It unnerved him to think that these kids were out here preparing for war when they should’ve been home doing homework or relaxing with friends though.
“I guess we need to decide if we’re going to concentrate on honing our strengths or improving our weaknesses first. I was thinking we should start with our weaknesses…” Max looked around at his band of friends as he tried to bring the training session to order.
“We should do both Maxwell. First we do a quick trial run where everyone tries some basic stuff like moving rocks and maybe changing the color of their shirt or something. Then when we have an idea what everyone is capable of, we work on our strengths for a bit and then focus on our weaknesses. Next week we can start with our weaknesses and then switch to our strengths. That way we don’t drain our powers every week exercising our strengths, leaving nothing for us to use on our weaknesses.” Michael laid out his simple plan with an air of authority that surprised everyone. He was truly in his element here.
“OK then. First of all, I think we should quickly go over the things we know we can do and then get that out in the open. We can proceed with Michael’s plan from there. Liz, why don’t you start” Max declared.
“I really don’t know if I can actually do anything on my own. Isabel helped me contact you in New York. Future Max said that in his timeline I was able to get premonitions so maybe that’s something I could work on?” Liz was uncomfortable with the way everyone’s eyes narrowed at the mention of Future Max. It was still a sore subject for many of them.
“OK, that’s something to keep in mind.” Max said. “Maria, what about you?”
Maria snorted. “Well it seems Michael shared his more…explosive…powers with me. So far it seems like I’m great at blowing things up, setting things on fire and boiling stuff. Oh and things start flying if I’m mad enough.” The group just stared at Maria with their mouths wide open. Michael was the only one not surprised since he’d witnessed all of this first hand more than once in the last week. Their typical ‘heated’ arguments had moved on to a whole other freaky level now that she had powers.
“Oh Buddha save us. A nuclear Deluca. Why am I not surprised?” Kyle seemed to be the only one in the group that found Maria’s tale amusing.
“Maria! Why didn’t you tell us it was that bad? How did you manage to hide that for over a week?!” Isabel was so stunned by Maria’s revelation that she didn’t know whether to admire the girl or slap her.
“Actually, Kyle helped me.” When Maria said that, Michael’s face immediately dissolved into a scowl.
“Wait, what? How exactly did I help you? I didn’t even know you had powers until you dropped the bomb over at Michael’s the other night!” Kyle was becoming increasingly uneasy about the way Michael was glaring at him.
Maria told her story quickly, with her hands flying around in true Maria style. “Why do you guys think I hid out in my house for two days straight last week?! Every time I’d get upset, stuff would blow up! My mom left Thursday morning for some convention, so I figured the safest place for me would be my own house…not to mention the fact that the humans and the Czechs weren’t speaking at that time because of the Future Max fiasco. I couldn’t exactly just waltz over to your house for a visit, Isabel.” The whole group cringed at the way they’d reacted to the news of Future Max. They all knew they should’ve handled the situation better.
Maria continued. “Since it mostly only happened when I was upset, I tried some simple meditation techniques out of total desperation and it seemed to help keep the explosions at bay. So, Buddha Boy…that’s how you helped. I just copied the meditation stuff I’ve seen you do and it worked.”
After that revelation, the rest of the group discussed their limited powers and Michael decided it would be better if they broke up into two groups to practice.
“Isabel, Tess and Liz, you’ll be in one group working on your mental powers first. Kyle, why don’t you go with them? Maybe your meditation stuff will be useful somehow. Max, Maria and I will go practice our physical powers. After about half an hour or so we’ll switch.” Michael’s plan, while logical, didn’t sit well with Liz, Tess or Max. The group overruled their protests and practice began.
For the first half of practice, Alex and Kyle sat back observing the female trio. In the beginning, their interactions were tense at best so Kyle suggested some basic meditation to help them relax. They refused, rolling their eyes at him. Their mutual amusement at the picture of them meditating together out in the desert actually eased some of the tension and they were able to start focusing on the task at hand.
By the end of the session, Isabel found she was able to enter into people’s conscious thoughts in a similar way to dreamwalking. Oddly though, it only seemed to work well with Alex for the time being. Liz was still struggling with defining her powers and Tess put forth almost no effort into this portion of the practice session since she couldn’t very well go around mindwarping the others.
Michael, Maria and Max made much more progress than the others. While Michael was struggling to aim his blasts, Maria struggled to control the immense power she unleashed with hers. Max’s blasting was poor at best but he got in a great deal of practice using his shield by acting as Michael and Maria’s live test subject. He was able to fend off multiple blows from Michael before his shield would falter but he could barely hold his shield through one of Maria’s.
When the groups switched, it was a disaster. Of the female trio, only Tess managed to muster a noteworthy blast. In the other group, the results were even worse. Maria was able to get small mental vibes off her friends but they were vague at best. One such vibe from Tess had her concerned enough to make a mental note to talk to Michael and Isabel later. After the second phase of their training was finished everyone was happy to call it a day and head for home.
Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.
Chapter 12: Bitter Rivals
“Why didn’t you tell me you could read minds Lonnie?” Tess got straight to the point when she arrived at the café in Hondo to meet with Lonnie and Rath again. It was late Monday night by the time she could finally sneak away to meet the evil pair.
“I don’t know what you’s talkin’ bout Queenie.” Lonnie shrugged her shoulders as if she didn’t know what Tess was talking about. If Tess wanted to think dreamwalking and mind reading were her only powers, then far be it from Lonnie to correct her. If Tess only knew…
“We had our first training session last night and Isabel found out she can read minds. She’s not that good at it yet, but she’s catching on quickly.” Off Tess’ statement, Rath fixed her with a dangerous scowl. She quickly added, “I was able to block her easily though.”
“You betta’ hope you blocked her. I aint missin my ride home because you couldn’t keep ya head on straight.” Rath punctuated his threat with a low growl.
Lonnie again put a restraining hand on Rath’s arm. “Tell me everything…they any good? We got no time for surprises yo.”
“Their powers aren’t anywhere near as strong as they should be. Michael has terrible aim but his blasts are pretty powerful when they actually hit their mark. Isabel practiced reading minds. Like I said, she’s learning quickly but I think we could block her. Max couldn’t very well practice healing, so he worked on his shield. He’s getting really good with that.” She paused for a moment, thinking about Max…her Destiny.
“Liz didn’t do anything at all. I still don’t believe she has powers. She just made that up to get closer to Max. Alex and Kyle don’t have powers so they just hung around with their feet up while we did all the work. Maria…well she could be a problem.” Tess wasn’t sure how to explain Maria’s powers. It didn’t fit in with their Destiny so Tess didn’t even want to talk about it.
“No holdin out yo. Michael found hisself a live one then?” The hungry look in Rath’s eyes was very unsettling to Tess.
“Her blasts were twice as strong as Michael’s and I think she was trying to hold back some. She fired her first blast at the rock wall on the other side of the quarry and I’m not kidding you…the entire ground shook. The wall totally collapsed…she nearly brought the whole place down on our heads! It doesn’t make any sense though…where are her powers coming from?!”
While Tess spilled as much information as she could remember from the training session, back in Roswell someone else had unknowingly become a witness to her treachery. A lone human watched the scene unfold, completely unseen by the trio.
“Do whateva’ you want with that Liz chic…the live wire’s mine. Too bad my dupe won’t be around to watch…” Rath’s chilling grin struck fear in the heart of their reluctant witness.
“Yo…have your fun but remember why we’s here. Nobody makes a move till we get rid of our dupes. Afta dat, do what you want with the humans. Maxie boy goes untouched…got it?” Lonnie asserted her authority and her companions nodded in agreement. The bloodlust in Rath’s eyes terrified their onlooker.
Back in Roswell, Liz suddenly shot up in bed, reeling from the worst nightmare she’d ever had.
Chapter 12: Bitter Rivals
“Why didn’t you tell me you could read minds Lonnie?” Tess got straight to the point when she arrived at the café in Hondo to meet with Lonnie and Rath again. It was late Monday night by the time she could finally sneak away to meet the evil pair.
“I don’t know what you’s talkin’ bout Queenie.” Lonnie shrugged her shoulders as if she didn’t know what Tess was talking about. If Tess wanted to think dreamwalking and mind reading were her only powers, then far be it from Lonnie to correct her. If Tess only knew…
“We had our first training session last night and Isabel found out she can read minds. She’s not that good at it yet, but she’s catching on quickly.” Off Tess’ statement, Rath fixed her with a dangerous scowl. She quickly added, “I was able to block her easily though.”
“You betta’ hope you blocked her. I aint missin my ride home because you couldn’t keep ya head on straight.” Rath punctuated his threat with a low growl.
Lonnie again put a restraining hand on Rath’s arm. “Tell me everything…they any good? We got no time for surprises yo.”
“Their powers aren’t anywhere near as strong as they should be. Michael has terrible aim but his blasts are pretty powerful when they actually hit their mark. Isabel practiced reading minds. Like I said, she’s learning quickly but I think we could block her. Max couldn’t very well practice healing, so he worked on his shield. He’s getting really good with that.” She paused for a moment, thinking about Max…her Destiny.
“Liz didn’t do anything at all. I still don’t believe she has powers. She just made that up to get closer to Max. Alex and Kyle don’t have powers so they just hung around with their feet up while we did all the work. Maria…well she could be a problem.” Tess wasn’t sure how to explain Maria’s powers. It didn’t fit in with their Destiny so Tess didn’t even want to talk about it.
“No holdin out yo. Michael found hisself a live one then?” The hungry look in Rath’s eyes was very unsettling to Tess.
“Her blasts were twice as strong as Michael’s and I think she was trying to hold back some. She fired her first blast at the rock wall on the other side of the quarry and I’m not kidding you…the entire ground shook. The wall totally collapsed…she nearly brought the whole place down on our heads! It doesn’t make any sense though…where are her powers coming from?!”
While Tess spilled as much information as she could remember from the training session, back in Roswell someone else had unknowingly become a witness to her treachery. A lone human watched the scene unfold, completely unseen by the trio.
“Do whateva’ you want with that Liz chic…the live wire’s mine. Too bad my dupe won’t be around to watch…” Rath’s chilling grin struck fear in the heart of their reluctant witness.
“Yo…have your fun but remember why we’s here. Nobody makes a move till we get rid of our dupes. Afta dat, do what you want with the humans. Maxie boy goes untouched…got it?” Lonnie asserted her authority and her companions nodded in agreement. The bloodlust in Rath’s eyes terrified their onlooker.
Back in Roswell, Liz suddenly shot up in bed, reeling from the worst nightmare she’d ever had.
Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.
Chapter 13: Do You See What I See?
It wasn’t until Tuesday that Maria could arrange a private meeting with Michael and Isabel about the vibes she’d gotten from Tess at their training session. Ironically, it was Isabel who suggested the meeting before Maria even had a chance to bring it up.
“Hey Maria. Do you think we could meet up at lunch today? There’s something that’s been bothering me about last Sunday…” Isabel looked really concerned as she said this. She wanted to talk to Maria specifically because she knew Maria would give her an honest, uncensored opinion about her concerns…now was not the time for beating around the bush.
Maria knew this would be the perfect opportunity to talk to Isabel and Michael about her concerns from their training session so she quickly agreed. “Actually, I was hoping to talk to you too. Can I bring Michael? My thing sort of involves both of you.” Off Isabel’s shocked look, Maria backtracked. “No, no! Not in a Destiny kind of way…”
Isabel sighed with relief and said, “That’s fine then. Alex will be there too if that’s OK with you…” She trailed off abruptly when she saw Tess approaching from the other end of the hallway.
Maria looked up to see Tess’ approaching form and quickly said “That’ll be perfect. Meet us at the place we were last week when we talked about the other thing. Bye!”
Maria turned and quickly made her way toward her first period class before Tess could come up and make a nuisance of herself. She hadn’t trusted Tess from the beginning and after their training session the other day; she was starting to wonder if her intuition had been right on all along.
At lunch, the four friends met up at the bleachers for what would prove to be a very interesting conversation.
“OK Isabel. What’s on your mind?” Maria wanted to get this meeting on the road so that she’d have enough time to tell the others about her concerns too.
“Alright. When we were out at the quarry the other day, I couldn’t very well practice dreamwalking so Alex suggested I try to enter into a person’s conscious thoughts. He figured it was a logical progression of my dreamwalking abilities so I gave it a try. I was able to contact Alex easily and I think I succeeded a little with Kyle but when I tried with Tess, it was like she was purposely blocking me out. I asked her why she was blocking me but she insisted she wasn’t. She was lying. I know it!” By the time Isabel finished her story she was red faced and obviously irritated.
Michael looked doubtful. “Why would she block you Isabel?”
Maria saw this as the perfect opening for her concerns. “Because she has something to hide. When the groups switched training positions, I wasn’t sure if I’d have any special mental powers like you and Tess. I’ve always had pretty good intuition about people so I just tried to open my mind to see if I could get any vibes off you guys. I got mostly the usual impressions off you guys but from Tess I got this really awful feeling. I can’t even describe it. It had something to do with you and Michael.” Maria looked up at the others, practically willing them to believe her.
“Not to be the voice of dissent here or anything but how do you know this was the real thing Maria? I mean, you’ve hated Tess since the day she set foot into town.” Alex looked guilty for even suggesting that he didn’t believe Maria but he was concerned about what she said about Isabel. They had been keeping their relationship quiet so far because Isabel was still afraid their enemies would try to use Alex to get to her. If she was in danger though, he wasn’t going to just sit back and let it happen.
“Honestly, I wasn’t even sure myself at first. I tried to pawn it off as me just hating the little gerbil as usual but the more I thought about it, the more I started to believe they were real things I was picking up on.”
Michael had an idea. “Maria, focus on Isabel. Do whatever you did at the training session and tell us what she’s thinking.”
Maria started to protest, “That’s not how it worked Michael! I didn’t read people’s thoughts exactly. It was more like catching an impression of their feelings.”
“Well do that then. See if you can read Isabel or Alex. It won’t do any good to try to read me because you already know what I’m thinking half the time anyway.” Michael said with a smirk.
Maria rolled her eyes and then turned to Isabel. When she ‘read’ Isabel during their training session she caught on to her love for Alex and Maria didn’t want to be the one to spill the beans before Isabel was ready to tell everyone. “I have a better idea. Isabel, I want you to read me for a second. Like you did with Alex. Can you do that? I’ll try to show you what I saw yesterday.”
Isabel nodded and closed her eyes. It was almost as easy to enter Maria’s conscious thoughts as it was to enter Alex’s because she was practically dragging Isabel in. Isabel was able to see the events of the training session almost as if they were her own memories. When she realized that Maria had seen her true feelings for Alex, Isabel almost stopped but she was immediately overcome with feelings of hatred from Tess. It was like being doused with cold water. Isabel opened her eyes in fear.
“Oh my God. She got in. The stuff Maria sensed really did come from Tess! How did you get in when I couldn’t?!” Isabel was visibly shaken by what she saw or rather ‘felt’ from Tess.
“Maybe Tess knew you’d have the power to enter her mind but it probably never occurred to her that Maria could too so she only blocked you.” Alex said with a shaking voice.
“Michael, she has some kind of plan for us. I couldn’t catch any details but it’s not good.” Isabel was shaking with fear now. Michael didn’t know what to make of the vague vision.
“She’s been after Max since she set foot in Roswell, constantly babbling about Destiny crap and the four-square. Of course she has plans for us…” Michael was now wearing his most intimidating scowl. If this was a Destiny thing again he was going to give Tess a big piece of his mind the next time he saw her.
“I don’t think her plans have anything to do with you and Isabel living happily ever after, Michael.” The whole group jumped at the sudden appearance of Liz.
“Liz! I think you scared like ten years off my life!” Maria moved over to give Liz room to sit.
“What did you mean by that? What do you know?” As always, Michael skipped the pleasantries and got straight to the point.
Liz’s eyes scanned Isabel and Michael with uncertainty. Suddenly she realized that it could be Lonnie and Rath in front of her and she’d have no way of telling the difference. Last time, no one knew until they got them all in the same room. With a bit of quick thinking, she came up with a plan.
“Isabel, remember the time you kissed Joey Edmonds in gym class?” The group stared at Liz like she had two heads.
“What?! Oh please! Who told you that? I wouldn’t even kiss Joey with someone else’s lips. That greasy hair, the horrible smell that follows him everywhere…” Isabel abruptly stopped when Liz reached over and gave her a huge hug.
“OK, what’s going on chica?” Maria was concerned for her best friend. She was acting completely out of character.
“I’ve been waiting to talk to Maria and Alex all day. At lunch, you guys weren’t at our usual table so I came out here hoping to find you. As I walked up, I overheard some of your conversation.” Liz paused, trying to collect her thoughts. She took a deep breath and started her story.
“Last night I had this really weird nightmare…It felt so real though. I can’t shake the feeling. I was hoping you guys would tell me it was all just some crazy dream…too much Crashdown food or something. When I walked up though, I realized it couldn’t have been a dream.”
Michael stared at her in disbelief. “You interrupted us to tell us all about some dream?!” Maria cuffed him on the back of the head and told Liz to continue.
“OK. In my dream, I was sitting in a booth at some restaurant and when I looked up I saw Lonnie, Rath and Tess having some kind of meeting. Tess was telling them everything that happened at our training session. Lonnie said something about getting rid of us. They were planning on killing everyone but Max. They need him for something. Lonnie told them to go after Isabel and Michael first.”
“How do you know it wasn’t just a dream?” Isabel wasn’t trying to be difficult but things were starting to get very serious now and they needed all the information they could get.
“I don’t know how to explain it. It didn’t have the same surreal feeling that regular dreams do and when I woke up, I felt like I’d just run a marathon. I was more exhausted than I’d been before I fell asleep. Then when I heard you guys talking about Tess and some plan she had for Michael and Isabel, I knew. She has a plan with Michael and Isabel’s dupes…for Michael and Isabel’s deaths.” As Liz finished her startling revelation, the bell rang. It was time to go back to class.
“We have to tell the others about this. What if she’s planning on mindwarping you guys or something?!” Maria asked.
As the others were thinking the situation over, Alex said, “How are we going to tell the others without her catching on? I mean she’s living with the Valentis…it’s not like we can call some big meeting without her finding out. If she’s dangerous, they need to know about it though.”
Michael slipped back into the same take-charge role he assumed at their training session. He was a great strategist when given the chance. “Here’s what we’re going to do. Isabel, you tell Max everything tonight when you get home. Maria and Liz can tell Kyle at work tonight. Kyle practically lives at the Crashdown so I’m sure we’ll see him there after school. Kyle can tell his dad later. Does that cover everyone?”
“Not quite. Don’t I get an invitation to the party?” Everyone gasped when they saw Tess.
Chapter 13: Do You See What I See?
It wasn’t until Tuesday that Maria could arrange a private meeting with Michael and Isabel about the vibes she’d gotten from Tess at their training session. Ironically, it was Isabel who suggested the meeting before Maria even had a chance to bring it up.
“Hey Maria. Do you think we could meet up at lunch today? There’s something that’s been bothering me about last Sunday…” Isabel looked really concerned as she said this. She wanted to talk to Maria specifically because she knew Maria would give her an honest, uncensored opinion about her concerns…now was not the time for beating around the bush.
Maria knew this would be the perfect opportunity to talk to Isabel and Michael about her concerns from their training session so she quickly agreed. “Actually, I was hoping to talk to you too. Can I bring Michael? My thing sort of involves both of you.” Off Isabel’s shocked look, Maria backtracked. “No, no! Not in a Destiny kind of way…”
Isabel sighed with relief and said, “That’s fine then. Alex will be there too if that’s OK with you…” She trailed off abruptly when she saw Tess approaching from the other end of the hallway.
Maria looked up to see Tess’ approaching form and quickly said “That’ll be perfect. Meet us at the place we were last week when we talked about the other thing. Bye!”
Maria turned and quickly made her way toward her first period class before Tess could come up and make a nuisance of herself. She hadn’t trusted Tess from the beginning and after their training session the other day; she was starting to wonder if her intuition had been right on all along.
At lunch, the four friends met up at the bleachers for what would prove to be a very interesting conversation.
“OK Isabel. What’s on your mind?” Maria wanted to get this meeting on the road so that she’d have enough time to tell the others about her concerns too.
“Alright. When we were out at the quarry the other day, I couldn’t very well practice dreamwalking so Alex suggested I try to enter into a person’s conscious thoughts. He figured it was a logical progression of my dreamwalking abilities so I gave it a try. I was able to contact Alex easily and I think I succeeded a little with Kyle but when I tried with Tess, it was like she was purposely blocking me out. I asked her why she was blocking me but she insisted she wasn’t. She was lying. I know it!” By the time Isabel finished her story she was red faced and obviously irritated.
Michael looked doubtful. “Why would she block you Isabel?”
Maria saw this as the perfect opening for her concerns. “Because she has something to hide. When the groups switched training positions, I wasn’t sure if I’d have any special mental powers like you and Tess. I’ve always had pretty good intuition about people so I just tried to open my mind to see if I could get any vibes off you guys. I got mostly the usual impressions off you guys but from Tess I got this really awful feeling. I can’t even describe it. It had something to do with you and Michael.” Maria looked up at the others, practically willing them to believe her.
“Not to be the voice of dissent here or anything but how do you know this was the real thing Maria? I mean, you’ve hated Tess since the day she set foot into town.” Alex looked guilty for even suggesting that he didn’t believe Maria but he was concerned about what she said about Isabel. They had been keeping their relationship quiet so far because Isabel was still afraid their enemies would try to use Alex to get to her. If she was in danger though, he wasn’t going to just sit back and let it happen.
“Honestly, I wasn’t even sure myself at first. I tried to pawn it off as me just hating the little gerbil as usual but the more I thought about it, the more I started to believe they were real things I was picking up on.”
Michael had an idea. “Maria, focus on Isabel. Do whatever you did at the training session and tell us what she’s thinking.”
Maria started to protest, “That’s not how it worked Michael! I didn’t read people’s thoughts exactly. It was more like catching an impression of their feelings.”
“Well do that then. See if you can read Isabel or Alex. It won’t do any good to try to read me because you already know what I’m thinking half the time anyway.” Michael said with a smirk.
Maria rolled her eyes and then turned to Isabel. When she ‘read’ Isabel during their training session she caught on to her love for Alex and Maria didn’t want to be the one to spill the beans before Isabel was ready to tell everyone. “I have a better idea. Isabel, I want you to read me for a second. Like you did with Alex. Can you do that? I’ll try to show you what I saw yesterday.”
Isabel nodded and closed her eyes. It was almost as easy to enter Maria’s conscious thoughts as it was to enter Alex’s because she was practically dragging Isabel in. Isabel was able to see the events of the training session almost as if they were her own memories. When she realized that Maria had seen her true feelings for Alex, Isabel almost stopped but she was immediately overcome with feelings of hatred from Tess. It was like being doused with cold water. Isabel opened her eyes in fear.
“Oh my God. She got in. The stuff Maria sensed really did come from Tess! How did you get in when I couldn’t?!” Isabel was visibly shaken by what she saw or rather ‘felt’ from Tess.
“Maybe Tess knew you’d have the power to enter her mind but it probably never occurred to her that Maria could too so she only blocked you.” Alex said with a shaking voice.
“Michael, she has some kind of plan for us. I couldn’t catch any details but it’s not good.” Isabel was shaking with fear now. Michael didn’t know what to make of the vague vision.
“She’s been after Max since she set foot in Roswell, constantly babbling about Destiny crap and the four-square. Of course she has plans for us…” Michael was now wearing his most intimidating scowl. If this was a Destiny thing again he was going to give Tess a big piece of his mind the next time he saw her.
“I don’t think her plans have anything to do with you and Isabel living happily ever after, Michael.” The whole group jumped at the sudden appearance of Liz.
“Liz! I think you scared like ten years off my life!” Maria moved over to give Liz room to sit.
“What did you mean by that? What do you know?” As always, Michael skipped the pleasantries and got straight to the point.
Liz’s eyes scanned Isabel and Michael with uncertainty. Suddenly she realized that it could be Lonnie and Rath in front of her and she’d have no way of telling the difference. Last time, no one knew until they got them all in the same room. With a bit of quick thinking, she came up with a plan.
“Isabel, remember the time you kissed Joey Edmonds in gym class?” The group stared at Liz like she had two heads.
“What?! Oh please! Who told you that? I wouldn’t even kiss Joey with someone else’s lips. That greasy hair, the horrible smell that follows him everywhere…” Isabel abruptly stopped when Liz reached over and gave her a huge hug.
“OK, what’s going on chica?” Maria was concerned for her best friend. She was acting completely out of character.
“I’ve been waiting to talk to Maria and Alex all day. At lunch, you guys weren’t at our usual table so I came out here hoping to find you. As I walked up, I overheard some of your conversation.” Liz paused, trying to collect her thoughts. She took a deep breath and started her story.
“Last night I had this really weird nightmare…It felt so real though. I can’t shake the feeling. I was hoping you guys would tell me it was all just some crazy dream…too much Crashdown food or something. When I walked up though, I realized it couldn’t have been a dream.”
Michael stared at her in disbelief. “You interrupted us to tell us all about some dream?!” Maria cuffed him on the back of the head and told Liz to continue.
“OK. In my dream, I was sitting in a booth at some restaurant and when I looked up I saw Lonnie, Rath and Tess having some kind of meeting. Tess was telling them everything that happened at our training session. Lonnie said something about getting rid of us. They were planning on killing everyone but Max. They need him for something. Lonnie told them to go after Isabel and Michael first.”
“How do you know it wasn’t just a dream?” Isabel wasn’t trying to be difficult but things were starting to get very serious now and they needed all the information they could get.
“I don’t know how to explain it. It didn’t have the same surreal feeling that regular dreams do and when I woke up, I felt like I’d just run a marathon. I was more exhausted than I’d been before I fell asleep. Then when I heard you guys talking about Tess and some plan she had for Michael and Isabel, I knew. She has a plan with Michael and Isabel’s dupes…for Michael and Isabel’s deaths.” As Liz finished her startling revelation, the bell rang. It was time to go back to class.
“We have to tell the others about this. What if she’s planning on mindwarping you guys or something?!” Maria asked.
As the others were thinking the situation over, Alex said, “How are we going to tell the others without her catching on? I mean she’s living with the Valentis…it’s not like we can call some big meeting without her finding out. If she’s dangerous, they need to know about it though.”
Michael slipped back into the same take-charge role he assumed at their training session. He was a great strategist when given the chance. “Here’s what we’re going to do. Isabel, you tell Max everything tonight when you get home. Maria and Liz can tell Kyle at work tonight. Kyle practically lives at the Crashdown so I’m sure we’ll see him there after school. Kyle can tell his dad later. Does that cover everyone?”
“Not quite. Don’t I get an invitation to the party?” Everyone gasped when they saw Tess.
Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.
Chapter 14: Friend or Foe
Alex sputtered, “Tess! I didn’t hear you walk up!”
Liz’s eyes narrowed at the small blonde girl in front of her. “There’s something different about you…”
The small blonde looked at her and said, “Yeah…is there somewhere else we can go talk?” Her eyes darted nervously around the group.
Michael shifted uneasily in his seat. Liz was right, there really was something different about Tess. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was though. Suddenly, an outburst from the girls told him exactly what was different.
As one, Liz, Maria and Isabel said, “Ava!” Maria grabbed Michael to prevent him from blasting Tess’ double.
Ava gave them a quick nod before saying, “How could you tell? I copied Tess’ look hoping to blend in here.” She narrowed her eyes and studied the other girls. “You have the sight don’t you?”
“You feel different than Tess. I can’t believe I didn’t see it when you were here with Lonnie and Rath. You’re so…not Tess.” Maria said.
Ava looked back and forth between Michael and Maria. “You bonded. Well that changes everything then…” Ava trailed off in thought for a moment.
“Why are you here? What happened to your accent?” Michael was as blunt as ever. He wasn’t entirely convinced that this wasn’t Tess.
“I’m here because something bad is going down and you need to know about it. My accent was mostly put on for Lonnie and Rath’s benefit. It made me sound stupid…easily overlooked. It kept em’ off my back.” Ava answered both of Michael’s questions with only the slightest hint of a New York accent.
“What’s so important that you had to come all the way out here to tell us? I thought you were going back to New York or something?” Michael, as usual, was not the most patient one in the bunch.
Ava looked around for potential eavesdroppers. “Isn’t there somewhere else we can go to talk about this? Not exactly a good topic for a high school campus, you know?”
Everyone decided it would be best if they left school and regrouped at the quarry. They knew they were taking a risk leaving school with a virtual stranger but they needed to hear what Ava had to say. If she got out of line, Michael and Maria could take her down.
After everyone arrived at the quarry, Ava looked around at the group for a minute before telling her story. “Years ago Nasedo paid us a visit and tried to fill our heads with this four-square destiny crap. Kept telling us that we’re destined mates and the four of us make up some special unit blah, blah, blah. Lonnie and Rath bought it hook, line and sinker. I never really believed it. I loved Zan, but the whole destiny bit…it didn’t feel right, you know? I think Zan knew it was wrong all along.” Ava paused for a minute remembering Zan.
“Anyways, after that Rath and Lonnie wanted to go home. When the emissaries came to tell us about the summit, Zan said it was a trap and he wanted no part of it. Lonnie and Rath killed him and came up with the idea to dupe Max into going in his place. When we got here I met Tess and I could tell she was bad news just like Lonnie and Rath. I knew I was just as disposable to them as Zan was so I stayed behind when they left for the summit.” Ava took a deep breath before continuing.
“They assumed I was never coming back so I was able to slip back into the hood later without them noticing. I wanted to be close enough to keep an eye on them. Keep your enemies close and all that jazz. Before your friends came back here, Tess made a deal with Lonnie and Rath. I didn’t catch all the details but I know that it had something to do with Tess seducing Max and then somehow using the granolith to go home. Lonnie and Rath are planning on leaving with them. I’m thinking Lonnie and Rath intend to step in as you two. Max wouldn’t know until it’s too late.” Ava looked at Michael and Isabel as she finished her story.
Liz was silently fuming. Tess actually thought she would seduce Max so easily? Tess had been flaunting her assets at Max for months and it didn’t do her any good. Liz remembered how hard she’d tried to get Max to accept his ‘destiny’ but even her efforts hadn’t worked. Tess’ betrayal of her supposed ‘family’ kindled a quiet fury in Liz.
“How do we know if we can even believe anything you say Ava? You grew up with Lonnie and Rath but now you expect us to just blindly trust you? How do we know they didn’t send you here?” Michael wasn’t ready to trust the blonde girl in front of him. When they last met, she hadn’t exactly seemed smart enough to be the secret agent type. Lonnie and Rath were dangerous, that he was sure of, but he wasn’t entirely sure if Ava was with them or against them.
“Ask Isabel and Maria. They know…they can see.” When Ava said this, Maria and Isabel both nodded in response. They knew she was telling the truth because they had both tried to scan her mind as she was talking. Oddly enough, Maria picked up on an intense fear in Ava. It was like she was just as afraid of them as she was Lonnie and Rath.
Michael scowled at the small blond in front of him. “You’re going to have to give me more than that. You could be warping them.”
“Look, I know you have no reason to trust me but this situation is going to end badly for all of us if we don’t work together.” Ava let out a sad sigh. “I always knew I was different than the others. I never really fit in. From the day we came out of the pods there was something off about them you know? Like they were born evil or something. I felt the same thing the first time I met Tess. I think she came out wrong too.” Ava looked so lonely as she said this.
“Hey, wait a minute! Michael, didn’t that air force guy tell you that there were eight pods on your ship?” Maria asked.
“Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?” Michael looked at Maria with a frown.
“Oh my God you’re right!” Isabel exclaimed. “Lonnie said that they had to make two sets because the first one was defective somehow. Something was wrong with them from day one!” Isabel was clearly shocked that they’d missed something so obvious until now.
“I can’t believe we didn’t see it when she was here before. I mean, it was right in front of our faces the whole time!” As Liz added her own comment, Michael looked around at the girls in utter confusion.
Alex had a better chance of catching on to what the girls were saying due to years of practice dealing with Liz and Maria. “OK, slow down a minute here. So you’re saying that one set of Royals was made wrong or something. When the ship crashed, the protectors put the good Ava with the New York crew and the bad one with you guys. Now, the bad guys have joined forces to dupe Max into hitching them a ride home on the granolith. Do I have that right?” As the three girls nodded in response, Michael looked at Alex with an expression of awe.
“I don’t even want to know how you figured that out man. I’m not even going there. What I want to know is, does the granolith actually work for space travel? How would they know their plan was going to work?” Michael looked around at the group for an answer.
Ava jumped in with her theory. “Some weird little guy named Nicholas told her all about it. The Granolith is really powerful. That’s why Kivar wants it so bad. I think Lonnie believes the ‘four-square’ can control the granolith…make it do whatever they want.” Ava waited for a reaction from the others.
“Guys, I hate to break up the party but it’s three o’clock already. If we don’t get going, people are going to start to wonder where we are.” Alex pointed out.
Isabel turned to Ava, “Ava, do you have somewhere to stay? Tess can’t see you or she’ll know something’s up.”
Maria jumped in, “You could stay at my place for a few days. My mom’s out of town at another one of her buyer’s convention thingies. You won’t catch Tess anywhere near my house…we’re not exactly close if you know what I mean.” She did a pretty good impression of Michael’s devilish smirk as she said that.
“I don’t know…are you sure Maria?” Ava’s doubtful tone made Maria feel bad for her. It was obvious this girl really wasn’t used to people being kind to her.
“I’m sure. We can take your car over to Michael’s apartment building. It’ll blend in there and no one will notice it. Then we’ll get you set up over at my place.”
“Where did you get that car anyway? You didn’t have one when you were in Roswell last time. You can’t just leave it sitting at my place if it’s stolen.” Michael glared over at Ava, waiting for her answer.
“It’s not stolen.” Ava mumbled, hurt that he thought so little of her. “I had a little cash stashed away for emergencies. I bought that car from the junk yard for fifty bucks and fixed it up…” Ava trailed off, wiggling her fingers to indicate she’d used her powers to bring the vehicle to life.
The group made plans to sneak Ava back into town. Michael was not thrilled at the thought of Ava staying at Maria’s house because he just wasn’t ready to trust her completely yet. He made a silent vow to camp out at Maria’s for the duration of Ava’s stay to keep an eye on her.
They all decided it would be best to follow the original plan about telling the others. Liz and Maria would tell Kyle the latest developments tonight at work and Isabel would tell Max later at home. Now however, there was so much more to tell.
Chapter 14: Friend or Foe
Alex sputtered, “Tess! I didn’t hear you walk up!”
Liz’s eyes narrowed at the small blonde girl in front of her. “There’s something different about you…”
The small blonde looked at her and said, “Yeah…is there somewhere else we can go talk?” Her eyes darted nervously around the group.
Michael shifted uneasily in his seat. Liz was right, there really was something different about Tess. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was though. Suddenly, an outburst from the girls told him exactly what was different.
As one, Liz, Maria and Isabel said, “Ava!” Maria grabbed Michael to prevent him from blasting Tess’ double.
Ava gave them a quick nod before saying, “How could you tell? I copied Tess’ look hoping to blend in here.” She narrowed her eyes and studied the other girls. “You have the sight don’t you?”
“You feel different than Tess. I can’t believe I didn’t see it when you were here with Lonnie and Rath. You’re so…not Tess.” Maria said.
Ava looked back and forth between Michael and Maria. “You bonded. Well that changes everything then…” Ava trailed off in thought for a moment.
“Why are you here? What happened to your accent?” Michael was as blunt as ever. He wasn’t entirely convinced that this wasn’t Tess.
“I’m here because something bad is going down and you need to know about it. My accent was mostly put on for Lonnie and Rath’s benefit. It made me sound stupid…easily overlooked. It kept em’ off my back.” Ava answered both of Michael’s questions with only the slightest hint of a New York accent.
“What’s so important that you had to come all the way out here to tell us? I thought you were going back to New York or something?” Michael, as usual, was not the most patient one in the bunch.
Ava looked around for potential eavesdroppers. “Isn’t there somewhere else we can go to talk about this? Not exactly a good topic for a high school campus, you know?”
Everyone decided it would be best if they left school and regrouped at the quarry. They knew they were taking a risk leaving school with a virtual stranger but they needed to hear what Ava had to say. If she got out of line, Michael and Maria could take her down.
After everyone arrived at the quarry, Ava looked around at the group for a minute before telling her story. “Years ago Nasedo paid us a visit and tried to fill our heads with this four-square destiny crap. Kept telling us that we’re destined mates and the four of us make up some special unit blah, blah, blah. Lonnie and Rath bought it hook, line and sinker. I never really believed it. I loved Zan, but the whole destiny bit…it didn’t feel right, you know? I think Zan knew it was wrong all along.” Ava paused for a minute remembering Zan.
“Anyways, after that Rath and Lonnie wanted to go home. When the emissaries came to tell us about the summit, Zan said it was a trap and he wanted no part of it. Lonnie and Rath killed him and came up with the idea to dupe Max into going in his place. When we got here I met Tess and I could tell she was bad news just like Lonnie and Rath. I knew I was just as disposable to them as Zan was so I stayed behind when they left for the summit.” Ava took a deep breath before continuing.
“They assumed I was never coming back so I was able to slip back into the hood later without them noticing. I wanted to be close enough to keep an eye on them. Keep your enemies close and all that jazz. Before your friends came back here, Tess made a deal with Lonnie and Rath. I didn’t catch all the details but I know that it had something to do with Tess seducing Max and then somehow using the granolith to go home. Lonnie and Rath are planning on leaving with them. I’m thinking Lonnie and Rath intend to step in as you two. Max wouldn’t know until it’s too late.” Ava looked at Michael and Isabel as she finished her story.
Liz was silently fuming. Tess actually thought she would seduce Max so easily? Tess had been flaunting her assets at Max for months and it didn’t do her any good. Liz remembered how hard she’d tried to get Max to accept his ‘destiny’ but even her efforts hadn’t worked. Tess’ betrayal of her supposed ‘family’ kindled a quiet fury in Liz.
“How do we know if we can even believe anything you say Ava? You grew up with Lonnie and Rath but now you expect us to just blindly trust you? How do we know they didn’t send you here?” Michael wasn’t ready to trust the blonde girl in front of him. When they last met, she hadn’t exactly seemed smart enough to be the secret agent type. Lonnie and Rath were dangerous, that he was sure of, but he wasn’t entirely sure if Ava was with them or against them.
“Ask Isabel and Maria. They know…they can see.” When Ava said this, Maria and Isabel both nodded in response. They knew she was telling the truth because they had both tried to scan her mind as she was talking. Oddly enough, Maria picked up on an intense fear in Ava. It was like she was just as afraid of them as she was Lonnie and Rath.
Michael scowled at the small blond in front of him. “You’re going to have to give me more than that. You could be warping them.”
“Look, I know you have no reason to trust me but this situation is going to end badly for all of us if we don’t work together.” Ava let out a sad sigh. “I always knew I was different than the others. I never really fit in. From the day we came out of the pods there was something off about them you know? Like they were born evil or something. I felt the same thing the first time I met Tess. I think she came out wrong too.” Ava looked so lonely as she said this.
“Hey, wait a minute! Michael, didn’t that air force guy tell you that there were eight pods on your ship?” Maria asked.
“Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?” Michael looked at Maria with a frown.
“Oh my God you’re right!” Isabel exclaimed. “Lonnie said that they had to make two sets because the first one was defective somehow. Something was wrong with them from day one!” Isabel was clearly shocked that they’d missed something so obvious until now.
“I can’t believe we didn’t see it when she was here before. I mean, it was right in front of our faces the whole time!” As Liz added her own comment, Michael looked around at the girls in utter confusion.
Alex had a better chance of catching on to what the girls were saying due to years of practice dealing with Liz and Maria. “OK, slow down a minute here. So you’re saying that one set of Royals was made wrong or something. When the ship crashed, the protectors put the good Ava with the New York crew and the bad one with you guys. Now, the bad guys have joined forces to dupe Max into hitching them a ride home on the granolith. Do I have that right?” As the three girls nodded in response, Michael looked at Alex with an expression of awe.
“I don’t even want to know how you figured that out man. I’m not even going there. What I want to know is, does the granolith actually work for space travel? How would they know their plan was going to work?” Michael looked around at the group for an answer.
Ava jumped in with her theory. “Some weird little guy named Nicholas told her all about it. The Granolith is really powerful. That’s why Kivar wants it so bad. I think Lonnie believes the ‘four-square’ can control the granolith…make it do whatever they want.” Ava waited for a reaction from the others.
“Guys, I hate to break up the party but it’s three o’clock already. If we don’t get going, people are going to start to wonder where we are.” Alex pointed out.
Isabel turned to Ava, “Ava, do you have somewhere to stay? Tess can’t see you or she’ll know something’s up.”
Maria jumped in, “You could stay at my place for a few days. My mom’s out of town at another one of her buyer’s convention thingies. You won’t catch Tess anywhere near my house…we’re not exactly close if you know what I mean.” She did a pretty good impression of Michael’s devilish smirk as she said that.
“I don’t know…are you sure Maria?” Ava’s doubtful tone made Maria feel bad for her. It was obvious this girl really wasn’t used to people being kind to her.
“I’m sure. We can take your car over to Michael’s apartment building. It’ll blend in there and no one will notice it. Then we’ll get you set up over at my place.”
“Where did you get that car anyway? You didn’t have one when you were in Roswell last time. You can’t just leave it sitting at my place if it’s stolen.” Michael glared over at Ava, waiting for her answer.
“It’s not stolen.” Ava mumbled, hurt that he thought so little of her. “I had a little cash stashed away for emergencies. I bought that car from the junk yard for fifty bucks and fixed it up…” Ava trailed off, wiggling her fingers to indicate she’d used her powers to bring the vehicle to life.
The group made plans to sneak Ava back into town. Michael was not thrilled at the thought of Ava staying at Maria’s house because he just wasn’t ready to trust her completely yet. He made a silent vow to camp out at Maria’s for the duration of Ava’s stay to keep an eye on her.
They all decided it would be best to follow the original plan about telling the others. Liz and Maria would tell Kyle the latest developments tonight at work and Isabel would tell Max later at home. Now however, there was so much more to tell.
Thanks to Timelord31, Gretita and Grace for the awesome feedback. 
I'm really glad you guys like my spin on the 'one set was defective' thing. Lonnie, Tess and Rath all seemed so manipulative to me but we didn't really see that with Ava. I thought, hmmm...wonder why that is? Next thing I know, I'm incorporating that question into a fan fic. 
Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.
Chapter 15a: Forming Alliances, Part I
That night the whole group, minus Tess, met up at Maria’s house. As luck would have it, Tess had made other plans for the evening so she never even clued in to the meeting. Most of the group found Ava’s presence unnerving but Isabel, Liz and Maria trusted her. The others had now heard about the theory of the mixed up Ava pods but not everyone was ready to believe it.
“So you went back to New York to spy on Lonnie and Rath? I thought you wanted to get away from them?” Max asked. Ava was so different than Tess and Liz trusted her so he was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt.
“I wanted to get away, really I did, but I couldn’t just hide out for the rest of my life never knowing where they are or what they were doing. They’re dangerous and they hurt people whenever it suits them. I couldn’t just disappear and pretend they don’t exist. Someone had to keep an eye on them…” Ava looked so tired as she said this.
“How do you know they made a deal with Tess? You were here when we were in New York so how would you know what happened?” Max was not willing to just accept Ava’s story on faith. There was too much at stake here.
“I got back there right after you guys left. I learned to block Lonnie and Rath years ago so they never knew I was nearby. I hid out in the sewer tunnels so I could keep an eye on them. From what I could hear, Tess is planning on getting pregnant with your baby and then convincing you that the baby can’t survive here. Assuming that you wouldn’t risk the life of your child, you’d be forced to go home to Antar with her. Lonnie seemed convinced that the four-square could use the Granolith to get home. Somehow she and Rath planned on being the other pair in that four-square. I couldn’t hear everything but I assume they plan on stepping in as Michael and Isabel at some point.”
The group was silent for a moment as they all thought about the implications of Ava’s story. If Lonnie and Rath were nearby, no one was safe anymore.
“So those nut jobs are here in Roswell then?!” Kyle was never known for being subtle.
“They’re here.” Liz said with a nod. The group had all heard about her strange dream and now it seemed that Ava was confirming everything she had seen.
“I followed them as far as Hondo. I know they were planning to meet Tess out there somewhere last Saturday but I had to stay away because I wasn’t sure if Tess would sense me. Tess is probably with them right now.” Ava said.
“How do you know Tess won’t sense you here at Maria’s?” Alex asked.
“I don’t. I think that I might be able to block her just like I do Lonnie and Rath. If that doesn’t work maybe she’ll assume it’s Maria she’s picking up on…you know, because of her new powers.” Ava replied, shrugging. Maria had already filled her in on recent events within their group, including the tale about her powers and her theory about their origin.
“When you were here before, you told Liz that she would be different now…because I healed her. What exactly did you mean?” Max had wanted to ask that question ever since he heard about Ava’s prediction.
“In order to bring her back from the brink of death, you would’ve had to form a bond with her. I only remember random bits and pieces of our other lives but I do remember that much. That kind of healing requires a really strong connection. I don’t think you would’ve been able to form a strong enough connection without bonding with her first. If it had been anyone else who was shot that day, you might not have been able to save them.” Ava noticed the way Liz sneaked a glance at Max.
“So you think Liz’s powers came from the bond, not the healing then?” Max asked urgently. If she could confirm Maria’s theory, it could bring him one step closer to a life with Liz.
“Like I said, I only remember bits and pieces. I get these vague memory flashes once in a while but they’re never very clear. I think that when our people bond with their mates, their powers sort of adjust to each other.” The others looked at her skeptically.
“I know I’m not explaining this very well. OK, it’s like how roommates who’ve lived together for a long time start to develop the same kinds of mannerisms, biological rhythms and stuff. I think our powers are sort of like that…they adjust.” Ava looked around, trying to gauge the others’ reactions to her explanation.
There was a short period of silence as the group tried to assimilate what Ava had told them. It certainly would fit with what little they knew about the cause of Liz and Maria’s powers so far.
Jim decided now would be a good time to ask one of the questions that had been nagging at him ever since Kyle had come home and told him about the current situation.
“I have to admit, it’s a little unnerving to see you sitting here looking so much like Tess. How will we tell you apart?” He asked. Jim was taking the news of Tess’ treachery very hard. He and Kyle had accepted her into their home and into their family.
“Wait a minute! We’re actually going to let her stay here?! How do we know she’s even telling the truth?!” Kyle was taking the news even harder than his father. He and Tess had become very close lately, or so he thought. The idea that he was just a pawn in some creepy plot to seduce Max and steal the Granolith made his veins boil with anger. He just didn’t want to accept Ava’s story.
“Maria and Isabel can tell the difference. They can sense it. As for the rest of you…I don’t know. Maybe a code word that I have and she doesn’t?” Ava was intimidated by the animosity she felt rolling off Kyle. She was trying to be strong but after years of abuse from Lonnie and Rath, she just wanted a break from all the hatred. Why did she have to be the hated one?
Liz pointed out, “It has to be something we could ask either one of you without looking suspicious. Oh I know! We could ask ‘How are you doing today?’ and you could answer ‘I think I’m coming down with the flu.’ Tess would never say that!” Liz looked around for a reaction from the others.
Max smiled at Liz’s quick thinking. “Yeah, that could work. Michael and Isabel, we’ll need you to use those code words too so we know you’re not Rath or Lonnie. They waltzed right into my house undetected last time they were here…that can’t happen again.”
“I am NOT babbling about the flu every time someone asks me how I’m doing Maxwell.” Michael barked, scowling.
Max fell back into leader mode and began issuing orders. “You would only have to say that when one of us was asking. It’ll be fine Michael. If any of you run into Lonnie or Rath, try to get to a public place immediately. In fact, maybe we should think about getting cell phones. That way we could contact the rest of the group right away if they make trouble.”
“Oooh good idea! We could get a bunch of those prepaid cell phones for everyone.” Isabel already had a cell and used it so much it nearly became a permanent part of her anatomy.
Sheriff put a damper on Isabel’s glee. “With your doubles running around, what are you going to do about your parents Max? They’ll have no way of knowing that they’re dangerous.” The group sucked in a collective breath as the startling realization hit them.
To be continued....
I'm really glad you guys like my spin on the 'one set was defective' thing. Lonnie, Tess and Rath all seemed so manipulative to me but we didn't really see that with Ava. I thought, hmmm...wonder why that is? Next thing I know, I'm incorporating that question into a fan fic. Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.
Chapter 15a: Forming Alliances, Part I
That night the whole group, minus Tess, met up at Maria’s house. As luck would have it, Tess had made other plans for the evening so she never even clued in to the meeting. Most of the group found Ava’s presence unnerving but Isabel, Liz and Maria trusted her. The others had now heard about the theory of the mixed up Ava pods but not everyone was ready to believe it.
“So you went back to New York to spy on Lonnie and Rath? I thought you wanted to get away from them?” Max asked. Ava was so different than Tess and Liz trusted her so he was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt.
“I wanted to get away, really I did, but I couldn’t just hide out for the rest of my life never knowing where they are or what they were doing. They’re dangerous and they hurt people whenever it suits them. I couldn’t just disappear and pretend they don’t exist. Someone had to keep an eye on them…” Ava looked so tired as she said this.
“How do you know they made a deal with Tess? You were here when we were in New York so how would you know what happened?” Max was not willing to just accept Ava’s story on faith. There was too much at stake here.
“I got back there right after you guys left. I learned to block Lonnie and Rath years ago so they never knew I was nearby. I hid out in the sewer tunnels so I could keep an eye on them. From what I could hear, Tess is planning on getting pregnant with your baby and then convincing you that the baby can’t survive here. Assuming that you wouldn’t risk the life of your child, you’d be forced to go home to Antar with her. Lonnie seemed convinced that the four-square could use the Granolith to get home. Somehow she and Rath planned on being the other pair in that four-square. I couldn’t hear everything but I assume they plan on stepping in as Michael and Isabel at some point.”
The group was silent for a moment as they all thought about the implications of Ava’s story. If Lonnie and Rath were nearby, no one was safe anymore.
“So those nut jobs are here in Roswell then?!” Kyle was never known for being subtle.
“They’re here.” Liz said with a nod. The group had all heard about her strange dream and now it seemed that Ava was confirming everything she had seen.
“I followed them as far as Hondo. I know they were planning to meet Tess out there somewhere last Saturday but I had to stay away because I wasn’t sure if Tess would sense me. Tess is probably with them right now.” Ava said.
“How do you know Tess won’t sense you here at Maria’s?” Alex asked.
“I don’t. I think that I might be able to block her just like I do Lonnie and Rath. If that doesn’t work maybe she’ll assume it’s Maria she’s picking up on…you know, because of her new powers.” Ava replied, shrugging. Maria had already filled her in on recent events within their group, including the tale about her powers and her theory about their origin.
“When you were here before, you told Liz that she would be different now…because I healed her. What exactly did you mean?” Max had wanted to ask that question ever since he heard about Ava’s prediction.
“In order to bring her back from the brink of death, you would’ve had to form a bond with her. I only remember random bits and pieces of our other lives but I do remember that much. That kind of healing requires a really strong connection. I don’t think you would’ve been able to form a strong enough connection without bonding with her first. If it had been anyone else who was shot that day, you might not have been able to save them.” Ava noticed the way Liz sneaked a glance at Max.
“So you think Liz’s powers came from the bond, not the healing then?” Max asked urgently. If she could confirm Maria’s theory, it could bring him one step closer to a life with Liz.
“Like I said, I only remember bits and pieces. I get these vague memory flashes once in a while but they’re never very clear. I think that when our people bond with their mates, their powers sort of adjust to each other.” The others looked at her skeptically.
“I know I’m not explaining this very well. OK, it’s like how roommates who’ve lived together for a long time start to develop the same kinds of mannerisms, biological rhythms and stuff. I think our powers are sort of like that…they adjust.” Ava looked around, trying to gauge the others’ reactions to her explanation.
There was a short period of silence as the group tried to assimilate what Ava had told them. It certainly would fit with what little they knew about the cause of Liz and Maria’s powers so far.
Jim decided now would be a good time to ask one of the questions that had been nagging at him ever since Kyle had come home and told him about the current situation.
“I have to admit, it’s a little unnerving to see you sitting here looking so much like Tess. How will we tell you apart?” He asked. Jim was taking the news of Tess’ treachery very hard. He and Kyle had accepted her into their home and into their family.
“Wait a minute! We’re actually going to let her stay here?! How do we know she’s even telling the truth?!” Kyle was taking the news even harder than his father. He and Tess had become very close lately, or so he thought. The idea that he was just a pawn in some creepy plot to seduce Max and steal the Granolith made his veins boil with anger. He just didn’t want to accept Ava’s story.
“Maria and Isabel can tell the difference. They can sense it. As for the rest of you…I don’t know. Maybe a code word that I have and she doesn’t?” Ava was intimidated by the animosity she felt rolling off Kyle. She was trying to be strong but after years of abuse from Lonnie and Rath, she just wanted a break from all the hatred. Why did she have to be the hated one?
Liz pointed out, “It has to be something we could ask either one of you without looking suspicious. Oh I know! We could ask ‘How are you doing today?’ and you could answer ‘I think I’m coming down with the flu.’ Tess would never say that!” Liz looked around for a reaction from the others.
Max smiled at Liz’s quick thinking. “Yeah, that could work. Michael and Isabel, we’ll need you to use those code words too so we know you’re not Rath or Lonnie. They waltzed right into my house undetected last time they were here…that can’t happen again.”
“I am NOT babbling about the flu every time someone asks me how I’m doing Maxwell.” Michael barked, scowling.
Max fell back into leader mode and began issuing orders. “You would only have to say that when one of us was asking. It’ll be fine Michael. If any of you run into Lonnie or Rath, try to get to a public place immediately. In fact, maybe we should think about getting cell phones. That way we could contact the rest of the group right away if they make trouble.”
“Oooh good idea! We could get a bunch of those prepaid cell phones for everyone.” Isabel already had a cell and used it so much it nearly became a permanent part of her anatomy.
Sheriff put a damper on Isabel’s glee. “With your doubles running around, what are you going to do about your parents Max? They’ll have no way of knowing that they’re dangerous.” The group sucked in a collective breath as the startling realization hit them.
To be continued....
Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.
Chapter 15b: Forming Alliances, Part II
Isabel started to bring up the same sore subject she’d broached hundreds of times before.
“We have to tell them Max! They’ll be defenseless…they won’t even see it coming if Lonnie and Rath attack! Leaving them in the dark like this will harm them more than it will help them, you have to see that…” Isabel trailed off, as Max shook his head no.
“We’re not telling them…yet. We need to slow down and figure out exactly what’s going on first. Things could get even more complicated if we start telling more people and that’s the last thing we need right now. Michael…if the need arises…would you rather we don’t tell them about you?” Max looked to Michael expecting the grouchy alien to make a scene. Michael scratched his brow nervously.
“Here’s the thing Maxwell. Your parents aren’t the only ones that would be fooled by Lonnie and Rath. If they’re working with Tess, then she’s probably told them everything about us by now. We have ties to Maria’s mom and the Parkers too.” Michael paused as Max’s face crumbled at the realization.
Isabel jumped up, fearing that Michael was about to protest telling her parents. “Michael, we have to tell my parents! It’s different for them…we live with them. They’ll welcome Lonnie right into the house without a thought!”
“I know that Iz. And the Parkers will welcome Rath right in to the Crashdown because I work there. Maria’s mom would let Rath into the house thinking it was me. They wouldn’t even stand a chance alone…unless they knew they weren’t alone. If they all knew…” Isabel abruptly cut off Michael by pulling him into a huge hug. The rest of the group just stared at him in shock.
Ava asked, “You would risk telling them all just to keep them safe? Even though you know that exposing yourselves could buy you a one way ticket to the FBI labs?” She looked around at the others with an expression of awe. No one knew what to do when they saw the tears start to spill down her cheeks. Isabel narrowed her eyes and began trying to subtly read Ava’s thoughts.
“Ava, if we tell them about Max, Michael and Isabel, we might not have to tell them about you. You have to understand though. These people are our friends and families. We have to think about their safety too.” Sheriff tried to explain to the sobbing blond girl but was cut off by Isabel.
“It’s not that she’s afraid of being exposed. Up until just now she didn’t know if she could trust us. She grew up with a group of sociopaths wearing our faces. We’re doing exactly what she would’ve done…now she knows that we really aren’t like the others at all.” Maria nodded in agreement and the group fell into a stunned silence.
As Liz and Maria smothered Ava in a group hug, her tears subsided a bit. “If you tell your parents about this you’ll have to tell them about me too. They have to know everything or we aren’t really helping them.” As Ava said this, Kyle took a really good look at her for the first time.
“You would trust a bunch of strange humans with your secret? You’re not even going to argue?” Kyle was waiting on the edge of his seat for her answer.
“Look, I have to trust your judgment on this one. All I know is that you guys were willing to completely expose yourselves just because you want them to be safe. You’re doing it for them, not really for yourselves. That’s the big difference between you guys and the others. They never do anything for other people unless it somehow benefits them. You have no idea what it was like living with them…” Ava trailed off puzzled as Kyle started laughing.
“Actually, maybe we do. That’s exactly what Tess is like. She would never have agreed to tell the others. She sees humans as insignificant and has been known to point that out, loudly, on a regular basis. I thought maybe she felt differently about my father and I but now…” The pained look in Kyle’s eyes was enough to finish his point. He believed Ava was one of the good guys and deep down he knew that Tess couldn’t be trusted.
As the meeting wound down, the group agreed to watch Tess and proceed with the plan to translate the Book. For the time being, Ava would continue to stay at Maria’s. They all agreed that the parents would be told after Maria’s mom got home from her convention on Thursday. Maybe if everyone were told at once, there would be less of a chance of the parents having a meltdown.
Chapter 15b: Forming Alliances, Part II
Isabel started to bring up the same sore subject she’d broached hundreds of times before.
“We have to tell them Max! They’ll be defenseless…they won’t even see it coming if Lonnie and Rath attack! Leaving them in the dark like this will harm them more than it will help them, you have to see that…” Isabel trailed off, as Max shook his head no.
“We’re not telling them…yet. We need to slow down and figure out exactly what’s going on first. Things could get even more complicated if we start telling more people and that’s the last thing we need right now. Michael…if the need arises…would you rather we don’t tell them about you?” Max looked to Michael expecting the grouchy alien to make a scene. Michael scratched his brow nervously.
“Here’s the thing Maxwell. Your parents aren’t the only ones that would be fooled by Lonnie and Rath. If they’re working with Tess, then she’s probably told them everything about us by now. We have ties to Maria’s mom and the Parkers too.” Michael paused as Max’s face crumbled at the realization.
Isabel jumped up, fearing that Michael was about to protest telling her parents. “Michael, we have to tell my parents! It’s different for them…we live with them. They’ll welcome Lonnie right into the house without a thought!”
“I know that Iz. And the Parkers will welcome Rath right in to the Crashdown because I work there. Maria’s mom would let Rath into the house thinking it was me. They wouldn’t even stand a chance alone…unless they knew they weren’t alone. If they all knew…” Isabel abruptly cut off Michael by pulling him into a huge hug. The rest of the group just stared at him in shock.
Ava asked, “You would risk telling them all just to keep them safe? Even though you know that exposing yourselves could buy you a one way ticket to the FBI labs?” She looked around at the others with an expression of awe. No one knew what to do when they saw the tears start to spill down her cheeks. Isabel narrowed her eyes and began trying to subtly read Ava’s thoughts.
“Ava, if we tell them about Max, Michael and Isabel, we might not have to tell them about you. You have to understand though. These people are our friends and families. We have to think about their safety too.” Sheriff tried to explain to the sobbing blond girl but was cut off by Isabel.
“It’s not that she’s afraid of being exposed. Up until just now she didn’t know if she could trust us. She grew up with a group of sociopaths wearing our faces. We’re doing exactly what she would’ve done…now she knows that we really aren’t like the others at all.” Maria nodded in agreement and the group fell into a stunned silence.
As Liz and Maria smothered Ava in a group hug, her tears subsided a bit. “If you tell your parents about this you’ll have to tell them about me too. They have to know everything or we aren’t really helping them.” As Ava said this, Kyle took a really good look at her for the first time.
“You would trust a bunch of strange humans with your secret? You’re not even going to argue?” Kyle was waiting on the edge of his seat for her answer.
“Look, I have to trust your judgment on this one. All I know is that you guys were willing to completely expose yourselves just because you want them to be safe. You’re doing it for them, not really for yourselves. That’s the big difference between you guys and the others. They never do anything for other people unless it somehow benefits them. You have no idea what it was like living with them…” Ava trailed off puzzled as Kyle started laughing.
“Actually, maybe we do. That’s exactly what Tess is like. She would never have agreed to tell the others. She sees humans as insignificant and has been known to point that out, loudly, on a regular basis. I thought maybe she felt differently about my father and I but now…” The pained look in Kyle’s eyes was enough to finish his point. He believed Ava was one of the good guys and deep down he knew that Tess couldn’t be trusted.
As the meeting wound down, the group agreed to watch Tess and proceed with the plan to translate the Book. For the time being, Ava would continue to stay at Maria’s. They all agreed that the parents would be told after Maria’s mom got home from her convention on Thursday. Maybe if everyone were told at once, there would be less of a chance of the parents having a meltdown.
Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.
Chapter 16a: Day of Truth, Part I
Wednesday after school, Isabel, Maria and Liz went on a shopping spree to pick up prepaid cell phones for the group. Ava was shocked when they came back from the trip with a phone for her too. Tess continued to stay at the Valentis’ like there was nothing wrong.
The group had planned to gather at the Crashdown at closing time on Thursday to tell the parents and they didn’t have to worry about Tess trying to tag along because conveniently, she told Valenti she’d be out late doing some power shopping over in Hondo. Thursday night, all the families showed up at the Crashdown as planned for the meeting.
“What’s this all about Maria? So help me God, if you’re dragging me down here to tell me you’re getting married…You’re not pregnant are you?!” Mrs. Deluca was talking a mile a minute as they walked into the restaurant.
Maria rolled her eyes. “No one is pregnant and none of us are getting married, OK?”
She leaned over, gave Michael a quick kiss on the cheek and said; “I know you’re doing this for me. Thank you.” Michael nodded, blushing. He noticed Amy Deluca glaring ferociously at him so he rushed over to the nearest booth and sat down.
The Evans family entered right on the heals of the Delucas. Dianne Evans appeared to be just as nervous as Max was. His father on the other hand was unusually subdued. He was hoping to finally hear what had caused the immense changes in his son recently.
Max crossed to the front of the room and addressed the group. “If everyone is here now, we should probably get started.”
When he looked around and saw all the faces staring at him in anticipation, he started to lose his resolve. What could he possibly say to these people to make it OK that he’d been lying to them for years?
Liz moved to stand by his side and took his hand in a gesture of comfort. He smiled down at Liz and then began addressing the group.
“I know you’ve all been concerned about us keeping secrets lately. I know my parents have been trying to get us to open up for a long time…” Max began to tell the group his tale. He was so scared and the only thing that kept him going was Liz’s small hand clutching his. There were only a few interruptions while Max spoke.
“This is a nice story but…aliens? Are you guys on drugs, is that it?” Nancy Parker didn’t believe for one second that the kids sitting in her restaurant were anything other than angsty teenagers.
“You’ll have to show them Max.” Liz rubbed Max’s arm in comfort, knowing that she was asking him to do something that terrified him. She knew deep down that he was afraid of being rejected by his family and friends because he was different.
Isabel walked up to Max and touched his black T-shirt, turning it white. The parents crowded in closer and demanded that she do it again. She touched Michael’s grey shirt and turned it blue. Gasps could be heard around the room. Since it was apparent that the parents believed them now, Max continued his story.
“Wait a minute! You mean to tell me that my daughter really was shot?!” Mr. Parker turned his wounded gaze on Liz. “Lizzie, why would you keep something like that from us?”
Liz took a deep, shaky breath before responding. “Dad, the fewer people that knew, the better. You have no idea what the FBI would do to them…they don’t care that they’re just kids like the rest of us.” Max’s pale face and pained expression tipped the parents off to the fact that there was so much more to the tale that they had yet to hear. Mr. Parker gave Liz a weak smile and then nodded for Max to continue.
Max finished the story, with a few side notes added from Michael and Isabel. For the most part, the parents sat listening in a stunned silence. Before he knew it, Max had spilled forth the whole story. He left very little out. The parents didn’t necessarily need to know every detail about how he and Liz found the Orb in the desert or Future Max’s comments about them ‘cementing’ so he left those parts out.
Amy Deluca’s voice shattered the silence. “So you’re telling me that my Maria bonded with Michael? Define ‘bonded’ because from where I’m sitting…” She was glaring furiously at Michael.
“Mom, we think bonding is like this psychic connection where you can see the other person’s hopes, fears, memories…no sex involved, I swear. It’s like when you completely open yourself to another person.” Maria trailed off as her mother approached Michael, backing him into a corner.
“Do you love my daughter, Michael?” Amy asked through clenched teeth. Michael shuffled his feet, struggling to remain calm. He realized that if he ever wanted to see Maria again, he’d have to be completely honest with her mother.
“I do. I swear, I never wanted her to be mixed up in all this. I tried to stay away from her…I thought she’d be safer. She wouldn’t let me though. I love her with everything I have Mrs. Deluca.” Michael laid his heart bare for Amy, and the rest of the room, to see. They were all stunned by his honest confession.
“So you didn’t disrespect her or use sex to lure her into all this? Tell me that you didn’t trick her into being some loyal subject Michael. She always had a choice right?”
“Maria can leave at any time.” He looked away with pained eyes and whispered, “I would completely understand if she wanted to get away and live a normal life.” He quickly wiped at his eyes, hoping that no one saw the tears.
Amy leaned in close to him so that only Michael and Maria could hear her. “You just told me all I needed to hear Michael. BUT…no more secrets you guys. I mean it. I understand that your lives are rather…unconventional, but I’m still Maria’s mom and you WILL keep me in the loop. Are we clear?!”
Michael and Maria silently nodded as Amy fixed them both with a stern look. She had every intention of continuing this discussion with Maria at home but for now, she had Michael in her sights.
“Now Michael, why don’t you tell me more about those powers of yours.” Amy took his arm and steered him away from Maria, his lifeline. Maria looked around the room to survey the fallout from their confession.
Jeff Parker’s first instinct was to drag Liz upstairs and make her start packing for the private school in Vermont he and Nancy had looked into. Much to his surprise, Nancy was furious at his reaction and said he was being irrational.
“Are you crazy?! We can’t send her away now! They said she’s changing…getting powers. How is she supposed to handle that alone in Vermont?” Nancy crossed her arms and gave her husband a deadly look.
“It’s not safe for her here anymore! They nearly got her killed rescuing Max from the FBI! It’s our job to keep her safe and we obviously haven’t been doing a very good job of it.” Jeff stood toe to toe with Nancy, not ready to back down.
The entire room could hear their angry rants. Nancy leaned forward and barked, “You need to cool down for a second and remember that Max saved her life. Our daughter would have died, on the floor right over there, if Max hadn’t risked everything to save her. We didn’t protect her that day…Max did. You remember that.” She punctuated every sentence with a poke to the chest. Jeff stomped off, leaving the building through the back exit.
Maria saw Liz frowning at her parents from across the room. “Don’t worry babe. Your dad will come around.” Maria enveloped her in a big hug. The girls sat down for a chat, while the rest of the parents resumed grilling their own teens.
Jeff was outside, cooling off, when he realized that he had been letting his temper get the best of him. He quietly went back into the restaurant to have a talk with his daughter. The girls never even saw him walk up.
“It’s not that he’s being unreasonable I guess, but I’d hoped…I don’t know what I was hoping for. Maybe I wanted them to just accept Max with open arms so that I could too." Liz blushed. "I know that sounds stupid.”
Maria smiled. “It’s not stupid. You still love him...you probably always will. Your mom didn’t completely freak out. And no offence Liz, but I'm really surprised about that." Liz giggled.
Maria continued. "I think they’re just worried about you throwing your whole future away on some boy. Alien King or no…you’re their daughter so they’ll worry no matter what.”
Jeff interrupted, surprising the girls. “Well said Maria. Can I have a minute alone with my daughter?” As Maria walked away, Jeff took a good hard look at his daughter.
To be continued...
Chapter 16a: Day of Truth, Part I
Wednesday after school, Isabel, Maria and Liz went on a shopping spree to pick up prepaid cell phones for the group. Ava was shocked when they came back from the trip with a phone for her too. Tess continued to stay at the Valentis’ like there was nothing wrong.
The group had planned to gather at the Crashdown at closing time on Thursday to tell the parents and they didn’t have to worry about Tess trying to tag along because conveniently, she told Valenti she’d be out late doing some power shopping over in Hondo. Thursday night, all the families showed up at the Crashdown as planned for the meeting.
“What’s this all about Maria? So help me God, if you’re dragging me down here to tell me you’re getting married…You’re not pregnant are you?!” Mrs. Deluca was talking a mile a minute as they walked into the restaurant.
Maria rolled her eyes. “No one is pregnant and none of us are getting married, OK?”
She leaned over, gave Michael a quick kiss on the cheek and said; “I know you’re doing this for me. Thank you.” Michael nodded, blushing. He noticed Amy Deluca glaring ferociously at him so he rushed over to the nearest booth and sat down.
The Evans family entered right on the heals of the Delucas. Dianne Evans appeared to be just as nervous as Max was. His father on the other hand was unusually subdued. He was hoping to finally hear what had caused the immense changes in his son recently.
Max crossed to the front of the room and addressed the group. “If everyone is here now, we should probably get started.”
When he looked around and saw all the faces staring at him in anticipation, he started to lose his resolve. What could he possibly say to these people to make it OK that he’d been lying to them for years?
Liz moved to stand by his side and took his hand in a gesture of comfort. He smiled down at Liz and then began addressing the group.
“I know you’ve all been concerned about us keeping secrets lately. I know my parents have been trying to get us to open up for a long time…” Max began to tell the group his tale. He was so scared and the only thing that kept him going was Liz’s small hand clutching his. There were only a few interruptions while Max spoke.
“This is a nice story but…aliens? Are you guys on drugs, is that it?” Nancy Parker didn’t believe for one second that the kids sitting in her restaurant were anything other than angsty teenagers.
“You’ll have to show them Max.” Liz rubbed Max’s arm in comfort, knowing that she was asking him to do something that terrified him. She knew deep down that he was afraid of being rejected by his family and friends because he was different.
Isabel walked up to Max and touched his black T-shirt, turning it white. The parents crowded in closer and demanded that she do it again. She touched Michael’s grey shirt and turned it blue. Gasps could be heard around the room. Since it was apparent that the parents believed them now, Max continued his story.
“Wait a minute! You mean to tell me that my daughter really was shot?!” Mr. Parker turned his wounded gaze on Liz. “Lizzie, why would you keep something like that from us?”
Liz took a deep, shaky breath before responding. “Dad, the fewer people that knew, the better. You have no idea what the FBI would do to them…they don’t care that they’re just kids like the rest of us.” Max’s pale face and pained expression tipped the parents off to the fact that there was so much more to the tale that they had yet to hear. Mr. Parker gave Liz a weak smile and then nodded for Max to continue.
Max finished the story, with a few side notes added from Michael and Isabel. For the most part, the parents sat listening in a stunned silence. Before he knew it, Max had spilled forth the whole story. He left very little out. The parents didn’t necessarily need to know every detail about how he and Liz found the Orb in the desert or Future Max’s comments about them ‘cementing’ so he left those parts out.
Amy Deluca’s voice shattered the silence. “So you’re telling me that my Maria bonded with Michael? Define ‘bonded’ because from where I’m sitting…” She was glaring furiously at Michael.
“Mom, we think bonding is like this psychic connection where you can see the other person’s hopes, fears, memories…no sex involved, I swear. It’s like when you completely open yourself to another person.” Maria trailed off as her mother approached Michael, backing him into a corner.
“Do you love my daughter, Michael?” Amy asked through clenched teeth. Michael shuffled his feet, struggling to remain calm. He realized that if he ever wanted to see Maria again, he’d have to be completely honest with her mother.
“I do. I swear, I never wanted her to be mixed up in all this. I tried to stay away from her…I thought she’d be safer. She wouldn’t let me though. I love her with everything I have Mrs. Deluca.” Michael laid his heart bare for Amy, and the rest of the room, to see. They were all stunned by his honest confession.
“So you didn’t disrespect her or use sex to lure her into all this? Tell me that you didn’t trick her into being some loyal subject Michael. She always had a choice right?”
“Maria can leave at any time.” He looked away with pained eyes and whispered, “I would completely understand if she wanted to get away and live a normal life.” He quickly wiped at his eyes, hoping that no one saw the tears.
Amy leaned in close to him so that only Michael and Maria could hear her. “You just told me all I needed to hear Michael. BUT…no more secrets you guys. I mean it. I understand that your lives are rather…unconventional, but I’m still Maria’s mom and you WILL keep me in the loop. Are we clear?!”
Michael and Maria silently nodded as Amy fixed them both with a stern look. She had every intention of continuing this discussion with Maria at home but for now, she had Michael in her sights.
“Now Michael, why don’t you tell me more about those powers of yours.” Amy took his arm and steered him away from Maria, his lifeline. Maria looked around the room to survey the fallout from their confession.
Jeff Parker’s first instinct was to drag Liz upstairs and make her start packing for the private school in Vermont he and Nancy had looked into. Much to his surprise, Nancy was furious at his reaction and said he was being irrational.
“Are you crazy?! We can’t send her away now! They said she’s changing…getting powers. How is she supposed to handle that alone in Vermont?” Nancy crossed her arms and gave her husband a deadly look.
“It’s not safe for her here anymore! They nearly got her killed rescuing Max from the FBI! It’s our job to keep her safe and we obviously haven’t been doing a very good job of it.” Jeff stood toe to toe with Nancy, not ready to back down.
The entire room could hear their angry rants. Nancy leaned forward and barked, “You need to cool down for a second and remember that Max saved her life. Our daughter would have died, on the floor right over there, if Max hadn’t risked everything to save her. We didn’t protect her that day…Max did. You remember that.” She punctuated every sentence with a poke to the chest. Jeff stomped off, leaving the building through the back exit.
Maria saw Liz frowning at her parents from across the room. “Don’t worry babe. Your dad will come around.” Maria enveloped her in a big hug. The girls sat down for a chat, while the rest of the parents resumed grilling their own teens.
Jeff was outside, cooling off, when he realized that he had been letting his temper get the best of him. He quietly went back into the restaurant to have a talk with his daughter. The girls never even saw him walk up.
“It’s not that he’s being unreasonable I guess, but I’d hoped…I don’t know what I was hoping for. Maybe I wanted them to just accept Max with open arms so that I could too." Liz blushed. "I know that sounds stupid.”
Maria smiled. “It’s not stupid. You still love him...you probably always will. Your mom didn’t completely freak out. And no offence Liz, but I'm really surprised about that." Liz giggled.
Maria continued. "I think they’re just worried about you throwing your whole future away on some boy. Alien King or no…you’re their daughter so they’ll worry no matter what.”
Jeff interrupted, surprising the girls. “Well said Maria. Can I have a minute alone with my daughter?” As Maria walked away, Jeff took a good hard look at his daughter.
To be continued...
Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.
Chapter 16b: Day of Truth, Part II
“Lizzie, you know that I love you very much right?” Off her nod Jeff continued. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate that he saved you and it’s not that I don’t see how much you two love each other. The thing is, I don’t want to see you lose yourself in all this.” Liz started to protest but Jeff cut her off.
“I know you don’t want to believe this, but you guys are still kids. I want you to have a long, prosperous life. I’m not willing to let you give that up. I know you’re a part of this now but that doesn’t mean you have to give up absolutely everything for the cause.” Jeff looked at his daughter and was startled to see the brave young woman staring back at him. How could he have not noticed everything that was going on in her life?
“About those powers of yours…what is it that you can do?” Jeff needed some kind of confirmation that she could defend herself before he could agree to let her stay in Roswell. The FBI hunted these kids and he had no doubt that Liz was on their radar now too.
“Well Max told you what the others could do. Max heals, Isabel dreamwalks, Michael blasts and Ava mindwarps. Maria picked up Michael’s defensive powers. Dad, she’s amazing! Kyle calls her Nuclear Deluca. I don’t know what I can do yet though. There was the astral projection thing when Max was in New York but Isabel was helping me so who knows which one of us did it. Future Max said I started to get premonitions in his timeline but we don’t know if that’ll happen this time around. The dream I had the other night could have been an extension of that or some kind of remote viewing type of thing maybe.” Liz shrugged her shoulders helplessly.
“Isabel said the powers might have something to do with emotions. If you want to learn…you know, to see what you can do, maybe you need to do some soul searching. You’ve been holding so much back Lizzie…from everyone.” Jeff looked away to hide the hurt look on his face. After an uncomfortable moment of silence, he continued.
“You’re so much like me sometimes. In case you hadn’t noticed, I can be a bit stubborn too.” Jeff gave her a sheepish grin before continuing.
“Maybe you need to let go a bit and listen to what your heart is telling you.” He inwardly flinched at the thought of telling her to follow her heart when he knew that it would ultimately lead her to Max. He wasn’t against her finding love, but the danger would follow Max everywhere was undeniable.
“I know you’ve made your choice to be a part of this…you made that choice a long time ago. If you can learn how to do whatever it is that you’re capable of now, maybe it’ll keep you safe.” Jeff didn’t know if he truly believed what he was saying but he was too overwhelmed at the moment to say much else.
The Whitmans reacted much the same as Alex had. They moved from disbelief to momentary fear, and then immediately to awe.
“Is that…is that their real form?” Gloria Whitman was mortified when she realized she had asked that question a little too loudly. Across the room, Kyle very unsuccessfully tried to cover a snicker with a cough.
“Yes mom.” Alex turned thoughtful for a second. “I think so anyway. They don’t know what they looked like in their last life. That doesn’t really matter though does it?”
“No, I guess it doesn’t. I imagine your girlfriend over there could turn heads no matter what planet she was on.” Gloria laughed, watching the furious blush flood over her son’s face. Alex hadn’t come right out and declared his love for Isabel, not to his parents at least, but it was quite obvious anyway.
Philip and Dianne Evans accepted their children’s otherworldly status just as Isabel suspected they would. That closely guarded secret wasn’t enough to stop the love they felt for their children.
“It makes so much sense now. That video Max, the one where you healed the bird…I understand why you wouldn’t answer my questions after the kitchen fire. You thought we would turn you in, didn’t you?” Dianne Evans looked at her son with a wounded expression.
“No! That wasn’t it at all! I never thought you would tell. I just thought that you would be better off not knowing. Our enemies couldn’t use you for information that way…” Max tried to leave it at that, though it was obvious to his parents there was much more to it.
“You didn’t think we would look at you the same way anymore…you thought we would be afraid of you. Am I right?” Philip hit the nail on the head with that comment. Max’s uncomfortable look confirmed his father’s suspicions.
“We will always love you Max, no matter what. We always knew you guys were special. I thought maybe it was a psychic thing. I’ll admit, I was a bit thrown to find out you were aliens, but that doesn’t change how I feel about you. Your father and I love you guys for who you are, not what you are.” Dianne pulled Max into a tight hug.
From across the room, Alex and Maria watched the scene between the Evans family. They both laughed when they heard Isabel tell her brother, “I told you so Max!”
The parents put their foot down about all the secrecy. They insisted that everyone meet weekly talk about any new developments with Lonnie, Rath, Tess and their future. Amy swatted Michael upside the head when she heard him mumble, “Just what we need…more meetings.”
Every parent in that restaurant left vowing to protect the kids and carry their secrets to the grave if need be. It was decided that Ava would be allowed to stay at the Deluca household for now. Amy felt horribly that the girl had never had a real family to speak of. She knew what it was like to feel alone and scared and she wasn’t about to let this girl feel that way any longer.
Chapter 16b: Day of Truth, Part II
“Lizzie, you know that I love you very much right?” Off her nod Jeff continued. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate that he saved you and it’s not that I don’t see how much you two love each other. The thing is, I don’t want to see you lose yourself in all this.” Liz started to protest but Jeff cut her off.
“I know you don’t want to believe this, but you guys are still kids. I want you to have a long, prosperous life. I’m not willing to let you give that up. I know you’re a part of this now but that doesn’t mean you have to give up absolutely everything for the cause.” Jeff looked at his daughter and was startled to see the brave young woman staring back at him. How could he have not noticed everything that was going on in her life?
“About those powers of yours…what is it that you can do?” Jeff needed some kind of confirmation that she could defend herself before he could agree to let her stay in Roswell. The FBI hunted these kids and he had no doubt that Liz was on their radar now too.
“Well Max told you what the others could do. Max heals, Isabel dreamwalks, Michael blasts and Ava mindwarps. Maria picked up Michael’s defensive powers. Dad, she’s amazing! Kyle calls her Nuclear Deluca. I don’t know what I can do yet though. There was the astral projection thing when Max was in New York but Isabel was helping me so who knows which one of us did it. Future Max said I started to get premonitions in his timeline but we don’t know if that’ll happen this time around. The dream I had the other night could have been an extension of that or some kind of remote viewing type of thing maybe.” Liz shrugged her shoulders helplessly.
“Isabel said the powers might have something to do with emotions. If you want to learn…you know, to see what you can do, maybe you need to do some soul searching. You’ve been holding so much back Lizzie…from everyone.” Jeff looked away to hide the hurt look on his face. After an uncomfortable moment of silence, he continued.
“You’re so much like me sometimes. In case you hadn’t noticed, I can be a bit stubborn too.” Jeff gave her a sheepish grin before continuing.
“Maybe you need to let go a bit and listen to what your heart is telling you.” He inwardly flinched at the thought of telling her to follow her heart when he knew that it would ultimately lead her to Max. He wasn’t against her finding love, but the danger would follow Max everywhere was undeniable.
“I know you’ve made your choice to be a part of this…you made that choice a long time ago. If you can learn how to do whatever it is that you’re capable of now, maybe it’ll keep you safe.” Jeff didn’t know if he truly believed what he was saying but he was too overwhelmed at the moment to say much else.
The Whitmans reacted much the same as Alex had. They moved from disbelief to momentary fear, and then immediately to awe.
“Is that…is that their real form?” Gloria Whitman was mortified when she realized she had asked that question a little too loudly. Across the room, Kyle very unsuccessfully tried to cover a snicker with a cough.
“Yes mom.” Alex turned thoughtful for a second. “I think so anyway. They don’t know what they looked like in their last life. That doesn’t really matter though does it?”
“No, I guess it doesn’t. I imagine your girlfriend over there could turn heads no matter what planet she was on.” Gloria laughed, watching the furious blush flood over her son’s face. Alex hadn’t come right out and declared his love for Isabel, not to his parents at least, but it was quite obvious anyway.
Philip and Dianne Evans accepted their children’s otherworldly status just as Isabel suspected they would. That closely guarded secret wasn’t enough to stop the love they felt for their children.
“It makes so much sense now. That video Max, the one where you healed the bird…I understand why you wouldn’t answer my questions after the kitchen fire. You thought we would turn you in, didn’t you?” Dianne Evans looked at her son with a wounded expression.
“No! That wasn’t it at all! I never thought you would tell. I just thought that you would be better off not knowing. Our enemies couldn’t use you for information that way…” Max tried to leave it at that, though it was obvious to his parents there was much more to it.
“You didn’t think we would look at you the same way anymore…you thought we would be afraid of you. Am I right?” Philip hit the nail on the head with that comment. Max’s uncomfortable look confirmed his father’s suspicions.
“We will always love you Max, no matter what. We always knew you guys were special. I thought maybe it was a psychic thing. I’ll admit, I was a bit thrown to find out you were aliens, but that doesn’t change how I feel about you. Your father and I love you guys for who you are, not what you are.” Dianne pulled Max into a tight hug.
From across the room, Alex and Maria watched the scene between the Evans family. They both laughed when they heard Isabel tell her brother, “I told you so Max!”
The parents put their foot down about all the secrecy. They insisted that everyone meet weekly talk about any new developments with Lonnie, Rath, Tess and their future. Amy swatted Michael upside the head when she heard him mumble, “Just what we need…more meetings.”
Every parent in that restaurant left vowing to protect the kids and carry their secrets to the grave if need be. It was decided that Ava would be allowed to stay at the Deluca household for now. Amy felt horribly that the girl had never had a real family to speak of. She knew what it was like to feel alone and scared and she wasn’t about to let this girl feel that way any longer.