The Antarian Timetravellers (CC,MATURE) COMPLETE - 12/24/13

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maipigen
Enthusiastic Roswellian
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The Antarian Timetravellers (CC,MATURE) COMPLETE - 12/24/13

Post by maipigen »

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Huge, ginormous credit goes to dreamer19, this is exactly how I imagined it! And also, a shout out to Jake17 for helping me achieve it in the first place:) You both rock:)
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Title: The Antarian Timetravellers
Author: Maipigen
Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and I mean no harm.
Couples: Canon
Rating: TEEN for now MATURE later on.
Summary: Max, Michael and Isabel have given up after losing the last of their human friends in the heated alien war. Then Max remembers how Liz once told him that the Granolith could be used as a timemachine...
A/N: This is the first time posting on RF and I must admit, I'm not entirely sure whether or not I'm doing it right...If you think I'm way off base, please let me know. Also, all thoughts are in italics.

CHAPTER ONE

Isabel's POV

The flaring pain woke Isabel up and she sat up with a hoarse gasp, clutching at her chest as her heart raced wildly. Her head pounded and all she wanted was to close her eyes and forget that horrible, impossible dream she'd had.

Wait, this isn't the podchamber? Isabel thought and looked around with disbelieving eyes.

The almost forgotten setting that met her gaze made her eyes burn and she forced herself to swallow through the big lump in her throat.

Suddenly, she heard a fast approaching sound and just as she turned her head towards her door – my door! – It burst open and Max all but fell through it uncharacteristically ungraceful in his haste.

If Isabel had had any doubts about the success of their plan, the vision of her brother in the doorway to her old bedroom in the Evans house, vanished them immediately.

This young man looked like Max before he'd been burdened with the responsibilities of a born again King. Before the White Room happened, before Liz's death...

"Oh my-"Isabel began, but couldn't continue as her eyes scanned her younger looking brother with a hunger she could feel in her very being.

"It worked," was all Max muttered.

The two siblings broke their staring contest and let their eyes linger around Isabel's bedroom. A moment later, Isabel was on her feet and she hurried over to the full length mirror by her closet.

Unable to stop herself, Isabel grinned foolishly and grabbed a chunk of her long, silky locks and turned back to the still immobile Max. "I'm blonde again."

Max didn't return the smile, but simply nodded seriously in agreement – and it was at that moment that Isabel truly realized that young they might look, but their experiences had aged them and come along with them.

"Do-Do you know when we are?" Isabel could hardly get the question through her lips and she grabbed a brush and began attacking her long, filtered locks, trying to distract herself.

Max sighed and looked behind him, obviously checking that they weren't being overheard and stepped fully inside her room. "Not yet – but I figured we'd stop by Crashdown and make some subtle observations."

"Okay," Isabel agreed and finally having done all she could to her hair, she turned back to Max and asked, "What happens now Max?"

Max's jaw clenched for a second and Isabel nearly cursed herself. Once again, I automatically put all the responsibility on Max's shoulders – no wonder, he's always so serious.

"We fix things."

"MAX! IZZIE!"

The two hybrids instantly tensed and then had to fight off their instinctive battle formations when they recognized their mother's voice. "There's a phone call for you, it's Michael, and he says it's important!"

Isabel slapped her forehead unladylike and heard Max curse softly. "I can't believe we forgot about him!"

Michael's POV

"Argh damn it! That stupid boy messin' 'round with the food. Boy! Where's the food at?"

Michael woke with a start and instantly groaned in pain. It was burning through his entire body and he gritted his teeth for a second.

"What a weird ass dream," he muttered and rubbed his eyes. In the next second, he realized two things; one he wasn't in the podchamber where he'd been last time he checked, and two; he was in a so called bedroom in a trailer he had never expected to see again.

The thin door into said room banged open and another person walked in, a person who Michael certainly hadn't wanted to see again. Ever.

"Boy! Answer me when I'm talking to ya."

Michael blinked. "Hank?"

Hank, Michael's once upon a time foster dad, who'd been killed by Nasedo, stood wobbling in the doorway looking anything but sober.

Apparently Michael's confusion served to placate the older man and he snorted in disgust and walked away without another word.

Michael slowly sat up and looked around the room again. It was like he remembered it. Small, smelly and messy with books and half finished papers lying around in-between empty take out boxes and Tabasco sauce. His dirty clothes were thrown around the place and Michael smirked before he could help himself.

Maria would have a cow if she saw this, he thought, but then his mood darkened immediately and his heart clenched in agony. Maria wouldn't see him mess up his room, she was dead and gone – which was why he was having this extremely vivid dream of the past. I'm probably passed out drunk in the podchamber, Michael surmised.

Oh crap! The pod chamber!

Max, Isabel and he had been hiding out in the one place where no one could reach them, let alone Khivar's men. Hurting desperately over the loss of the last two human's in their family. They'd broken all their own rules in their massive grief. They'd been drinking and been violently ill because of it of course, but for a few hours their memories of the past didn't hurt, so they kept doing it.

Then one day, while Khivar's soldiers had paused in their never-ending attempt of getting inside to them, Max had mentioned something about Liz telling him about using the Granolith as a time machine.

Wait – if I'm here so are Max and Iz. The thought slid through the painful memories that struggled to surface and Michael immediately reached for the cell phone, he always kept in his jeans pocket, but then he rolled his eyes at himself. Like I had enough money back then to own a cell phone…or now, I guess.

The idea of having succeeded in their time traveling plans threatened to give the half alien a massive headache and he sighed and got up. "Wonder if I can track down a payphone?" he muttered and opened the door to the so called living room.

Hank, thank God, was already passed out in his recliner and Michael used some of his future acquired skills of sneaking by soldiers out to kill him and slipped by his foster parent easily.

Once outside, Michael squinted upwards at the sun and then found a shadowy path to keep himself as unnoticed as possible. Michael smirked at his antics a moment later. If I'm really back to the past, I can afford to lose the Rambo skills just a little bit.

Michael took a deep breath and stepped out of the shadow and let the warm sun illuminate his large body. He only allowed himself a few moments though and then turned back to his search for a phone.

It took him ten minutes to remember where the trailer park had its old pay phones and when he stepped inside the booth, Michael cursed softly when he saw the out of order sign. With a quick glance around he shrugged and placed his hand on the broken machinery. A few seconds later, Michael dialed the Evans' home number.

"Evans residence." Dianne Evans' voice was cheerful and it instantly reminded Michael of Maria and he swallowed a lump of sadness before he cleared his throat and tried to remember how he'd acted as a teenager.

"It's Michael. I need to talk to Max or Isabel; it's important."

Dianne didn't respond to him, she simply let go of the phone and screamed for her children.

Michael smiled fondly. A few seconds later, the smile vanished when Max's deep voice asked, "What did you and I do the last day in Vegas?"

Good ol' cautious Maxwell, Michael's smile turned fond again, but he quickly replied to reassure his leader, his family, "We watched Braveheart – still the greatest movie ever made."

Max's sigh was loud and Michael heard him mutter to Isabel that it really was him before he asked if Michael was all right.

"I'm fine – woke up in my old trailer, that was neat."

Max again muttered something to his sister and a second later, Michael listened as she tore the receiver from Max's hands and said, "Has Hank tried anything? 'Cause I'll come over there and kick his deadbeat little behind."

Michael felt a rare twitch of his lips forming into a half smile. "No need Iz, I'm fine."

Isabel was like the rest of them, changed by the events of the last few years. Admittedly her change had started when Alex had been killed, but having to leave her husband and then watch her best friend die to protect her was just too much for the beauty and she'd grown ice cold and deadlier than ever. Now for the first time in years, she sounded human and Michael could admit that he really liked the sound of that.

"Put Max back on."

When he heard the sounds of Max being handed back the phone, Michael asked, "So what happens now Max?"

Max was silent for a few moments on his end and Michael frowned; His friend and King never hesitated – hesitation got people killed. "What's up?"

"I think we should figure out just exactly when we are and then take it from there."

Michael nodded. "Sounds cool. So will you come and pick me up? I can't exactly hotwire a car out here without anyone finding out."

Max agreed and Michael ended the call and walked out to the main road to wait. It's gonna be odd seeing them like teenagers again. All of them.

Max's POV

Max stepped out of the house and froze momentarily at the sight before him. My old jeep – we really are back, aren't we?

"Max, what's wrong?"

Isabel's voice was tense and Max shook himself out of his weird mood and shrugged as he made his way over to the vehicle he'd once ruined completely in an effort to hide some of his numerous secrets.

"Nothing, I'm just a bit freaked out, I guess." This time around, I'll be honest to my family. No matter what. The unspoken oath rang through his body and Max felt a bit better as he slid into the jeep and started the engine.

The royal siblings drove in silence towards the trailer park where Michael had lived before Hank's death. Max could feel the pull of Liz's presence growing stronger in his body every minute that went by and he still hadn't checked up on her. He fidgeted uncomfortably and shifted gears to try and hide it.

Isabel of course wasn't fooled and placed her hand on top of his on the gearshift. "Max, I'm dying to see them all too. We'll go right after we've picked Michael up, okay?"

Max nodded and sped up the car in his eagerness. Then something hit him and he glanced over at his sister with a small frown on his face. "There's one thing we haven't really thought through."

Isabel raised her eyebrows and Max elaborated with a sigh. "The whole bond between us and them were in part due to all the dangers we faced off together. This time around I'm not really gonna let all of that happen to her…I mean us."

The memory of Liz's blood from her gunshot wound so long ago propelled through Max and he quickly continued talking before the newest memory of Liz managed to fight its way through. Remembering a dead Liz wasn't something he could handle yet, even though she technically wasn't dead in this time.

"And what about Michael and Maria? They've been through so much together. At this point in time Maria is afraid of Michael's bad reputation and Michael supposedly hates her guts…Well, anyone's guts really. And you have Alex to worry about too."

Isabel smiled. "Don't worry Max. Alex was in love with me before any of this even started. At least that's what he used to tell me before Tess…" Iz's eyes darkened at the memory of Alex's murderer before she continued with a faked brightness. "And Liz and you are meant to be. As for Michael and Maria – well, something tells me that after he buried Maria back in our time, he is totally fine with being nice to her now."

Max laughed a forced laugh after his sister mentioned the burial. He fought down the picture of Michael and his own bloodied hands as they dug a grave for their wives without using their powers.

"There he is." Isabel pointed a well manicured hand forward and Max couldn't help but let a rare smile grace his features at the sight that met him.

Michael looked exactly as he used to at the height of his bad ass period. His hair was slicked upwards in several spikes and Max could barely recognize the youth in the other male's face. "This is a really weird experience," he muttered and heard Isabel's chuckled agreement.

A moment later, the jeep pulled up next to Michael and Max nodded silently. Isabel, who seemed more and more at ease in her younger body, greeted his second in command with a smirk. "Love the hairdo."

"Shut up," was Michael's response while he slid back in the jeep. "I'm going back to my regular style tomorrow."

Max pulled out on the road again and turned the vehicle around. The urge to see Liz kept growing with each passing minute.

"Are we going to Crashdown?"

Max nodded. "I have to see her alive. I can't explain it, I don't care that she barely knows me yet, but I have to make sure she's alive and well. Oh crap," the curse left his lips before he could censor it.

Isabel and Michael, who were still very used to unexpected surprises tensed up immediately and looked around to check for attackers, although rationally they both knew it wasn't likely to happen. "What?"

"I still don't know what date it is."

Michael frowned and leaned forward – at once much more relaxed. "Why's that so important Maxwell?"

Max let Isabel answer as he changed the station on the radio – suddenly anxious to find out.

"Because we have to know if Liz is gonna get shot soon."

Michael quickly understood and didn't say another word as the trio raced towards the Diner.

Ten minutes later, they drove in to the parking lot that belonged to the Crashdown and for a moment Max was afraid to go any further. What if something has gone wrong? What if she won't love me in this time? It doesn't matter; he answered his scared thoughts in the next second, as long as she's still alive, I can handle anything. As long as they're all alive and well.

He took a deep breath and finally exited the car. Michael and Isabel followed suit. After a quick look at their pale faces, Max realized that they were just as anxious and eager as he was. Especially Michael seemed almost desperate and Max reminded himself that Michael had lost a wife too in their dark future.

The other two reached the door before him and entered. Max hesitated momentarily in the doorway to give his eyes time to adjust to the different lighting.

The smell of fried food, sweat and soda rummaged in the air and Max swallowed a lump of fierce sadness at the rush of memories. We've had some good times in here…

"Max, over here!" Isabel's voice reached his numbed state of mind and Max shook himself out of the memories and quickly walked over to the booth where his sister and best friend sat.

Just as he was sitting down, Max noticed an older man folding his newspaper to leave and he hurried over to him and asked politely, "Sir, would it be okay if I borrowed your paper for just a second?"

The old man looked up at Max, who in return tried to look as unassuming and charming as possible. "Here you go young man, keep it." The man handed over the paper and exited the diner with a friendly nod to Max, who barely noticed in his hurry to check the damned paper for the date. September 18th.

"Dammit!"

The other customers looked up from their plates and Max quickly slid back into the seat next to Isabel, who looked at him with worried eyes. "So?"

Max scanned the diner with determined eyes and they landed on two quietly arguing men. That's them – that's the men who shot Liz.

"Max!" Michael's frantic voice reminded him that he still hadn't answered the question.

"It's September 18th. It's the day Liz was shot…"

The gasps from his fellow aliens were absorbed by the two men's arguing in quiet whispers. Max eyed them warily until Michael's second gasp alerted him to something else.

Two women, two young girls in fact, had just come out from the backdoor next to the kitchen. One was blond and she had a short wanna be Meg Ryan style to it and she looked teasingly down at the slightly shorter brown-haired girl next to her.

Max's breath caught in his throat as his eyes swallowed Liz Parker. His wife, his lover, his soul mate. Who doesn't know me at all yet… The thought brought some of his senses back to him and Max looked away.

His eyes landed on Michael, who was looking at Maria Deluca with the eyes of a starving man. Max discreetly kicked his best friend's shin.

"Aw, what the hell Dude?" Michael's angry eyes turned to him and Max smiled briefly.

"You two are supposed to loathe each other right now. If you keep looking at her like she's the best thing in the world, she's probably gonna hit you with a dose of pepper spray."

Isabel nodded in agreement and smirked. "It's true Mikey. Keep your tongue in your mouth until she learns to like you again."

Michael looked surprisingly stern at her and Max grinned when Michael said darkly, "I'm gonna remind you of this moment when you see Alex for the first time."

Isabel laughed and Max couldn't help but do the same. For the first time in a very long time, he felt alive again.

And then things got even better when Liz walked over to their table to serve them. She was carrying a plate of cherry cola's and Max repressed the urge to help her with her load when she juggled with the glasses as she placed them in front of each of them.

"Hi guys – I'm sorry I didn't wait for your drink order today, but you usually order this and we're really busy today so…" Liz's wonderful brown eyes looked nervously at Michael as she said this.

Max smiled widely. He could see her surprise at Michael's greeting smile. He must really look different than she's used to at this time. Maybe I should ask Isabel to help her out and see how she reacts to that?

"That's fine." Iz answered and continued with a secret smiled to Max. "We'll just have some pie when you're ready. No rush, we can wait."

Or I could just watch her do that and get the same reaction, Max thought with an even bigger smile as Liz's surprise turned to full on shock at their unusual friendliness. He remembered vaguely that before the shooting, he'd been the only one remotely polite to her and Maria by association. Judging by the looks of it, that's another thing that's gonna change this time around…

"Uhm, sure…I'll be right back." Liz muttered and hurried away. Max watched her with eyes that swam with pure adoration and longing.

"This is the best idea we've ever had," Michael whispered while his own eyes kept tracking Maria, who was weaving in and out between different customers with practiced ease.

A few minutes later, Liz returned with three slices of pie and walked away with a friendly smile to another customer.

And then the moment arrived. The arguing men at the other side of the room started arguing louder and louder just after Maria had offered them another cup of coffee. Max felt Michael tense up when one of the men stood up with a gun in his hand and they began to struggle until the gun went off.

In the next second, Michael was across the room and had pulled Maria out of the danger. Isabel used her natural authority to keep people calm and Max was already by Liz's side – healing her just as he'd done the first time. He hated himself for not reacting sooner. This shouldn't have happened, oh baby I'm so sorry.

When her eyes blinked slowly up at him with growing confusion, Max decided to go with the inevitable and use his former excuse. He reached for a ketchup bottle, broke it and poured it on her bloody belly. "You broke the bottle and you fell. Please trust me…"

Isabel grabbed his shoulder and pulled him with her. Michael followed after shooting a last look at an equally confused Maria.

They hurried over to the parked jeep. "Wow," Isabel's voice was a tad sarcastic. "We really changed things in there, didn't we?"

Michael sighed and ran a hair through his spiky hair and didn't say anything. Max shrugged and drove away with squealing tires. "At least we can try to get a better relationship with Valenti this time around now. Stop him from sending in the uniform and stuff like that."

Michael and Isabel nodded and Max turned the car around towards the Evans' house. I just hope he doesn't think we're raving lunatics instead…

TBC...
Last edited by maipigen on Tue Dec 24, 2013 8:17 pm, edited 50 times in total.
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maipigen
Enthusiastic Roswellian
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:22 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: The Antarian Timetravellers TEEN. 2.CH. 07/20/10

Post by maipigen »

A/N First off; thanks to all of you who reviewed this story, it really assured me that this piece of work is original and interesting. I just hope that you'll still like the story after the update, because, let's face it; not a whole lot happens... Secondly, I have about nine chapters written and am working full speed on the tenth. so I'll start updating twice a week from now on until I've caught up. As always thoughts are in italics.

CHAPTER TWO

Michael's POV

The trio of time traveling alien hybrids was sitting in Max's bedroom silently. As soon as they'd reached the Evans house they'd rushed inside, mumbling a brief hello to Diane, before all but running up the stairs to talk about their situation with their loved ones

Except they weren't really doing much talking, it was more like sitting in a tomb in Michael's opinion.

Michael had spent the last thirty minutes switching moods faster than he'd ever done when he'd been an actual moody teenager. He dove between being elated that he'd actually laid eyes on his wife for the first time in what felt like forever, let alone touched her skin, and then back to being extremely worried that Liz's shooting hadn't been prevented, thus leaving the door open for the likes of Topolsky.

And I'm not exactly jonesing for my having to kill Agent Pierce again, no matter how much that asshole deserved it, Michael thought with an inwardly grimace, remembering Max's trembling form the night they'd all rescued him from the White Room with Nasedo.

He glanced around the familiar room, stopping momentarily at the closet where he knew that Max at this point in time was still keeping an extra sleeping bag for whenever Hank got too much to drink.

Although time and trials had taught Michael patience, he finally couldn't take it anymore and he abruptly stood up from his seat, saying bluntly. "So, now that the brooding is out of the way, what's the plan Maxwell?"

Isabel suddenly sent him a scorching glare, which confused the hell out of Michael.

"What? What did I say?"

For one moment Max looked equally confused, but before he got a chance to answer Michael's first question, Isabel stated with a dignified huff, neither of the two men had seen in years. "I just think we should remember this time around that Max might be King of an Alien breed, but he's human too. And right now he's a human teenager, so let's not pressure him like we've done in the past."

Recognizing the look of steel that Isabel normally only ever wore during battle, or during Christmastime, Michael nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Max probably doesn't want to carry everything alone this time around."

Suddenly Max's deep voice cut through the other two's conversation. "Max is sitting right here, listening to every word. Iz," his brown eyes, so like his sister's, almost glared in her direction, "I've been doing this for a long time and I'd appreciate if you'd stop treating me like I'm made of glass. Michael, to answer your question; I think we should use our knowledge to prevent Valenti from sending Liz's uniform to the F.B.I. I want to prevent having Topolsky around and God forbid, Pierce and possibly Nasedo and Tess."

Speaking the name of the fourth member of their alien group made the other two hybrids cringe, but Max uttered the name solemnly and without any apparent hate.

Which is such a prime example of Max's maturity, Michael realized, sitting back down on the desk chair. I know for a fact that he hates her guts, but he's willing to look beyond that now and try to come up with a plan. I don't care what Isabel thinks, I'm thrilled he's my King.

Over the years Michael's friendship with Max had evolved. Instead of arguing and questioning every one of Max's usually pretty decent ideas or orders, he'd fallen into place behind the brown haired man, contented enough with his status as Max's second in command.

Of course that didn't mean he wouldn't point out the obvious. "Tess? Shooting aside, don't you think we need a battle plan for her and Nasedo?"

Max's eyes darkened, making Michael instantly regret his bluntness but before he could change the subject again, Max relaxed. "I know that Tess and Nasedo aren't our most favorite persons on the planet. I also know that despite everything we might end up needing their help in the future."

"Hell no!"

Isabel rose from the bed with a scowl on her face. "I don't care about how much help they might be able to give us, she killed Alex and I won't ever forget that."

Michael found himself agreeing with the blonde, but uncharacteristically chose to remain silent and observe the siblings talk it out.

Max remained seated at the bed, watching intently up at his sister. "I understand that Isabel and-"

"No! You obviously don't!" Isabel cut through Max's placating sentence, crossing her arms angrily.

Out of the corner of his eye, Michael noticed that a few of the fixtures on Max's computer desk were trembling and knew it was due to Isabel lack of emotional control. Fortunately she too noticed and took a deep breath, forcing the movements to stop.

Her anger however, didn't diminish and she continued coldly a moment later. "I won't tolerate Nasedo in our midst again. He made a deal with Khivar, remember! And Tess's presence is totally unacceptable, don't you care what she did? Or is it all about protecting your little human!"

The temperature in the bedroom instantly decreased and Michael could feel his muscles tense up as though he was about to be attacked. He looked over at Isabel, who'd slapped her hand over her mouth the moment the words had left her, looking shameful and frightened all at the same time.

Max was sitting immobile staring blindly up at her. Michael swallowed nervously as a choking power rose steadily in the room.

The power that Max wielded so effortlessly was another reason that Michael knew he'd never be able to take over his King's duties. Without a doubt Max was truly the strongest one of them all – Nasedo included.

"Max…I…" Isabel managed to struggle out the words, but Max didn't seemingly react and as the pressure rose to an almost unbearable height, Michael slowly stood back up.

"Iz, walk slowly outside while he gets everything back under control."

Isabel nodded minutely and edged her way past the bed and out the door.

The pressure in the room was nothing short of strangling now and Michael used the only technique that he knew from previous experiences would work. He walked over to his frozen friend and unceremoniously punched his arm.

Max fell a bit back on the bed, and blinked out of his frozen state of mind. When he looked around, his eyes going impossibly wide when he realized Isabel was no longer present, Michael hurried to explain. "She just stepped out of the room Man, don't worry, she's not incinerated or anything like that."

The look of self-loathing on Max's face told Michael that he hadn't forgotten the last time his temper had caused him to lose control. I have to pull him back to the present.

"So now that the drama is over, I need an answer to my question. What do we do now?"

"I'm gonna go talk to Iz," Max muttered and got up. "Let's talk about Nasedo and Tess tonight. I'll tell the parents that you're spending the night, okay?"

Michael nodded silently, watching as Max walked out in search of his sister. "Well, that just leaves me with the perfect opportunity to see if Maria is okay," Michael said to himself and he quickly bent down and scribbled a note before exiting the room through Max's bedroom window, following the growing pull to his wife.

Max's POV

The guilt roared like a wounded beast in his chest and for once nothing but his sister was on Max's mind. He walked quickly towards her bedroom, stopping in the open doorway to watch Isabel pace back on forth by her window looking more like her future troubled self than he really liked to see.

"Iz," Max began quietly, but he never finished his apology because a second later, all six feet of Isabel was in his arms.

"I'm so sorry Max, I didn't mean it. I'm just so freaked out about being back all of the sudden, and I haven't seen Alex alive yet, and I'm just so afraid that everything is gonna fall to pieces if Nasedo comes back. But you're right; we might need them in the future."

Sighing, Max gently removed his frantic sister from his arms and looked her seriously in the eyes. "I'm sorry too, Isabel. I didn't know my control was still so bad . And considering we all agreed to share the burden of our knowledge this time around, I'm the one who should be apologizing for immediately jumping back into the leadership role. Let's just talk about it tonight. Michael's staying, so we should be able to get a few more details cleared up."

Isabel smiled with a nod. The smile turned into a chuckle and she answered his unasked question. "It's just that, I can't remember when you've actually spoken so much before."

Max shook his head, leading the way back into his room a moment later only to find it empty. Why am I not surprised?

"Where's Michael?" Isabel's voice had a twist of fear in it, like the few minutes they'd left the third hybrid alone was enough for him to get into trouble.

Which, Max thought realistically, isn't completely out of line considering his track record.

Before Isabel could go into a full scale panic attack, Mac spotted the hastily scribbled note on the bed and picked it up. "Say's he's gone over to Maria's to make sure she's not freaked out about the day she's had."

Just like that Isabel's worry turned to reluctant understanding. "I should have known. He was so calm, probably just waiting for me to freak out long enough for him to sneak out and stalk his wife. Who, by the way, is terrified of him in this time."

Max actually gave one of his rare grins at those words, nodding in agreement. Now that the tension from earlier was broken and they'd set a time and place for further debate, he was beginning to feel the pull towards his own wife. I can't go to her today, if I remember correctly from what she once told me, she's gonna go out with Kyle tonight or tomorrow and then he'll discover the handprint, which will of course lead to Valenti finding out, piqueing his interest in me and that will start the whole thing off again. I can't jeopardize that now that she's been shot. At least this way I'll know what will happen.

"Max!"

Max snapped back to the present, meeting his sister's frustrated gaze. "I'm sorry Iz, I'm just worried about Liz and how things are going to play out after the shooting."

Isabel's irritation seemed to diminish a bit and she reached out and grabbed his chin gently. "I know you are Max, but you have to focus on the fact that we're all invested in this. Michael's got Maria to worry about, I've got Alex and then there's the whole Nasedo and Skin thing. Don't even get me started on the other set of us running amuck in New York City right now."

Max sighed, bridging his nose before nodding resolutely. "I know and I'm sorry. I'll go get Michael and we'll figure out how to steer off Valenti before he goes all alien hunter on us."

Isabel nodded, her mood seemed better the moment Max provided a plan of action, and he swallowed down a mix between amusement and mild annoyance. They say that I don't have to be King anymore, but they're still acting as though I'm their leader. If only Liz was with us, she never saw me as anything other than her lover.

Max blinked, forcing himself to remember that his wife wasn't dead yet. In the deep corners of his mind, Max had to admit that he feared for the new future he and his siblings had embarked upon in their desperate attempt to right past wrongs. I might not get my wife Liz back, he finally settled on as he turned to go pick up Michael. But I still have a shot at getting my girlfriend Liz back and that's why I did this whole thing in the first place…

To Max's embarrassment, he had to go look up Maria's address in a phone book he found at a local payphone. He justified it by reminding himself that it had been quite some time since he'd spoken to Maria about her Roswellian life, and that he'd never actually been one to hang around her place all that much.

Finally having succeeded with his mission, Max pulled up next to the tiny two bedroom apartment that housed Maria Deluca and her frenzied mother, Amy.

Max smiled briefly when he spotted the shadow that was undeniable Michael's next to what could only be Maria's bedroom window. He watched in silence for a few more minutes before exiting his car and walking over to his second in command.

Michael had obviously felt his arrival, judging from the sudden tension in his shoulders that was visible to Max, but he didn't speak until Max was right next to him, looking in at the window where Maria was pacing the floor with a tiny bottle in her hands, seemingly conflicted about something.

"I knocked earlier," Michael explained quietly, with a hint of defensiveness in his tone as though Max would berate him for his need to talk to his wife. "She froze in the doorway, scared out of her mind about my presence. I mumbled something about making sure the shooting hadn't freaked her out, but that seemed to freak her out even more." Michael chuckled and ran a hand through his messy hair. "I swear I saw her making the sign to ward off evil behind her back before I left. And now she's taken out the calming drops..."

Max chuckled in sympathy, "I'm not going to say anything about the cleverness in that idea, because I'd have done the same thing."

Michael glanced over at him with a small smile. "Really?"

Max nodded and crossed his muscular arms. "Yes, in fact I'm planning on going over to the Parkers, to make sure that she's all right as soon as you're ready." As soon as he spoke the words, Max knew he'd been planning to go to Liz's place despite his own plans and he suppressed an eye roll.

Michael sighed and straightened up, the reluctance to leave Maria's side was clear to see. "I'll just wait here then."

Max shook his head and took a gentle hold of Michael's shirt. "No way Man, I'm going to need you to keep me sane when we get there. I don't want her to have a Maria reaction over my presence."

Rolling his eyes, Michael finally allowed Max to drag him over to the car and they quickly took off towards Liz Parker's home.

It didn't take them long to get there and Max parked just below the terrace that he knew to be Liz's. He couldn't see her outside, but the feeling in his stomach informed him that Liz was inside in her bedroom.

The ability to feel his wife's presence inside him had come not long after their escape from Roswell in the original timeline. After Liz's death it had felt like a part of his soul had been ripped out of him and Max wasn't used to feeling her so intently anymore. It's even weirder now, because right now she's not even my wife. We haven't even kissed each other yet. Max thought, gripping the steering wheel a bit harder than necessary as there was a pull inside him that demanded that he go to Liz and sooth the confusing emotions she had running through her.

I can't go to her now, Max tried to calm his desires. She won't understand, she's too rational right now, too hung up on things being logical. Maybe she won't even feel the same way about me because my being here will change the course of the future! No, that can't be true, not when I can already feel her so easily. I just have to be in control, come on Max you've survived without her before, you can do it again; it's only temporary!

"MAX!"

Max snapped his head to the side, meeting Michael's widened ones with a growl on his lips that brought him back to reality. He shook his head, trying to clear it of all the thoughts and theories. "I'm sorry; I guess I just got a bit caught up for a second there."

Michael smirked and patted his shoulder once. "Yeah, I understand. I'd knocked on Maria's door before I even realized I was doing it. I can't believe the pull is still there or there at all seeing as we're not even paired up yet."

Max gave a sigh of relief, suddenly remembering with a sheepish smile, that he wasn't the only one who'd shared the bond with a human. Michael and Maria had always shared a very hot and cold relationship in their teen years, but when they'd all left Roswell after graduation, something had changed for the couple and they turned out to be the most stabile couple second only to Max and Liz. Their bond was strong and when Maria had died, Michael had broken down completely from the sudden loss of it.

"I think our bond must transcend time and space," Max finally muttered, glancing one last time up at the terrace, before starting the jeep and driving back to the Evans' house and a no doubt anxious Isabel. "I don't really know how it can be like that and I don't think it's worth worrying over. We really need to think about some strategies, because with our luck Valenti is already suspicious and tomorrow I'm not only going to have a curious Liz Parker on my hands, but I'll have to face high school again."

Michael groaned at the high school part and both men shared a grin as they hurried back to their fellow hybrid. Neither of them mentioned the fact that the pull towards their loved ones were getting more uncomfortable the father away they got from them.

Liz's POV

Elizabeth "Liz" Parker walked into her room and quietly closed the door for privacy. Then and only then did she sigh loudly and collapse on her bed.

"This has got to be the weirdest thing ever to happen to me," she muttered and ran a hand over her taut belly. When her finger grazed the bullet hole, Liz froze. There was an odd sensation just under the ruined fabric and she got back up on her feet and walked over to her full length mirror by the wall.

She took in the tired look in her eyes before focusing on her task at hand. She reached down and unbuttoned her dirty uniform, pulling it to the side to reveal her upper body clad only in a bra.

Liz gasped when she spotted an unfamiliar sight, just where she'd been shot. A glowing, silver handprint was etched into her skin.

Liz shook her head, trying to test out whether or not she was dreaming. "This can't be happening – this can't be happening." She felt the sting of tears in her eyes and before she knew it, she'd ripped off the bloodied uniform and thrown it on her bed. A moment later it was stuffed inside her book bag, hidden away under her bed for the time being.

Suddenly there was an unfamiliar feeling in her chest, almost a subtle burning, and without knowing why, Liz had an urge, no, a need to go outside on her terrace through her window. The odd, but somehow comforting emotion inside her, distracted Liz from her panic attack and she grabbed her robe, pulling it on and ran over to the window. A moment later, she stood out on her secluded balcony, but there was nobody there.

Liz sighed and pulled the robe tighter around her body, shivering a bit in the night air. The feeling in her chest was growing a bit more uncomfortable, almost as though something was pulling at her from the inside. She rubbed the spot absentmindedly, trying to absorb everything that had happened that day.

"There's got to be a rational explanation for all of this." She said out loud, thinking of the handprint and the confusing need inside of her. When she got no immediate answer, Liz slowly turned to head back into her bedroom to try and catch some much needed rest.

The last thing Liz thought about before giving into sleep was the look of frantic desperation on Max Evans' face as he had bent over her. I have to talk to him in school tomorrow and I'm sure he's got a reasonable explanation for everything…

TBC...


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Re: The Antarian Timetravellers TEEN. 3.CH. 07/23/10

Post by maipigen »

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A/N I've used one line from the Pilot in Liz's section at the end that doesn't belong to me. I've had people ask me about pairings etc. This is strictly Canon. I will not switch or anything like that. Isabel is paired with Alex in this story, but Jesse Will show up later and play a significant role for our Gazers.
This story isn't fast paced, I'm very interested in setting the stage so to speak and I have no intention of rushing this adventure:) That said, I'm very eager to hear your thoughts:)

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CHAPTER THREE

Isabel's POV

The next morning Isabel was awake before her alarm went off. In fact she'd been awake for several hours, just waiting for the darn thing to allow her to get up and start getting ready for her first day back in high school.

The moment the blaring sound of the alarm echoed through her room, Isabel was halfway through her room and she quickly grabbed a towel and ran past an equally eager looking Max to get to the shower first.

Fifteen minutes later, Isabel stepped out of the shower and dried off her hair. Too impatient to go through the hour long routine she'd firmly established as a teenage girl, Isabel simply used her powers to make the water disintegrate, before waving her hand before her face, applying her own unique brand of makeup.

"Iz, aren't you done yet?" Max's voice echoed through the door and with one final glance in the mirror, Isabel wrapped her towel around her and opened the door.

"All yours Max, I'll go get dressed. Don't take too long, please."

Max nodded and closed the door behind him quietly. Isabel ran into her room and immediately jumped over to her closet, suddenly anxious about what to wear.

And the fact that clothes is horribly out of style for my current taste isn't helping any, Isabel thought with a grimace, watching the bright colors she'd been in love with in 1999.

Suddenly her eyes fell on an almost forgotten piece of clothing, a tight, bright red top. In the next second Isabel had to fight back a sudden urge to weep like a baby, when she recognized the top as the one she'd worn while trying to seduce Alex into not revealing his alien knowledge.

"He always did like me in red," Isabel muttered softly, fingering the fabric almost reverently as the memories of that time overpowered her.

Eventually, Isabel finished getting ready for the day and walked down to the kitchen, where her mother and Max were eating breakfast. Or Diane was at least, Isabel noticed with an understanding smile as Max was simply stabbing his eggs absentmindedly while looking out the window.

Grabbing a piece of dry toast and kissing Diane on the cheek, Isabel headed for the door. "I'm ready to go when you are, Max."

With another smile Isabel watched her brother, the King of an alien race they'd fought with against Khivar's forces, act like an eager child. Well, King of a race that at least wasn't already brainwashed or dead, Isabel amended, her appetite lost as the memories of various battles flew through her mind.

Suddenly something else entirely entered her mind and Isabel turned to Max as he started the jeep. "Wait, where's Michael? When I left after our meeting, you guys were getting ready for bed."

Max smiled with a sudden sad glint in his brown eyes as he backed out of the driveway. "He woke up early and decided to head back to Hank's to grab some of his things."

Isabel nodded. Waking early had become the trio's code for something else entirely; woke up with a scream.

"So," Max's voice brought Isabel back from the dark mood she was entering and she looked over at her brother, "are you excited to see Alex?"

Isabel's mood turned changed back to its happy level from earlier and she smiled widely. "Yeah, I was awake for hours last night; just thinking about how lucky we are to be back here. I just hope that he'll want to be with me."

Max smiled and shifted gears while he stated calmly, "Iz, if there's one thing I'm sure of in this new world we're in; it's the fact that Alex Whitman is really not going to have a problem being with you."

Calmed by Max's words, Isabel leaned back in her car seat and watched the familiar scenery fly by. A nagging thought kept trying to bring her down and finally she turned back to Max, who raised an eyebrow inquiringly at her sudden serious expression.

"Max, I just can't help think about the fact that we're not teenagers in spirit anymore. Take away the whole miracle of us actually being back here and think about it. They're barely sixteen years old and when we left our own time we were in our late twenties. That's a huge age gap and I…"

Max drove into the high school's parking lot, automatically parking in the spot Isabel recognized as their old one, before he turned sideways and looked her intently in the eyes. "I know what you mean, Iz. After you went to bed yesterday, Michael and I actually touched the subject, but you know what we decided in the end?"

Isabel shook her head, with her bottom lip between her teeth.

"It doesn't matter and as Michael said in his own unique way; let's just be happy we're not dealing with all this crap in our childhood bodies."

Laughing, Isabel leaned forward and embraced Max, who smiled a lot wider than he usually did. "Thanks Max. Come on; let's take on high school again."

They exited the car and started making their way inside the building. Isabel barely managed to set foot inside the hall, before she was literally torn away from her brother's side and looking into the faces of her old clique, whom she hadn't thought about in years; Michelle and Cindy.

"Oh my God, Isabel; Tommy Jenkins totally asked me about you earlier; he's so into you that it's not even funny!" Michelle squealed and grabbed Isabel's arm, while starting to jump up and down in her excitement.

Cindy followed suit, and Isabel looked over her shoulder at her brother, feeling the plea in her eyes. He too looked taken aback by the greeting that she'd been given, and didn't move for a long second. Eventually he snapped out of it and stepped in-between Isabel and her "friends", unconsciously taking on a much more dominate aura than he was known for at that point in time.

In a response to his silent dominance, Michelle and Cindy immediately backed away without even realizing it. "Ladies," Max said, taking a gentle hold on Isabel's arm himself, "I need to borrow Isabel for a while."

Michelle eyed Max with far more appreciation than Isabel had ever seen in her eyes before as she hurried to comply with his request, letting go of Isabel.

The siblings quickly made their way over to a more discreet corner. "Thanks," Isabel said as they tried to act as normal as possible. Inwardly she was nothing short of embarrassed about herself. I used to be called the Ice Princess and now I can't even discard two teenage girls? What is going on with me?

"Iz?"

Max's voice brought the troubled hybrid back to the present and she looked over at her brother with a frown marring her beautiful features. "I don't think I can do this," she blurted out a second later.

Max crossed his muscular arms and for the first time that morning, Isabel noticed that Max had dressed outside of the teenage comfort zone he'd never wavered from in their past. No sweater was hiding the fact that he was in good shape for his age. He was wearing a tight, black T-shirt that really showed off his physique. Maybe it just wasn't his aura that turned Michelle on? Isabel pondered, suppressing a shudder of disgust.

"You can do this, Iz," Max said and with a jerk of her body, Isabel was brought back to reality for the second time in just as many minutes. "You're not shallow Isabel Evans anymore. You won't have any problems."

For a second, Max's brown eyes darkened even further and he added almost inaudibly, "at least you don't have to worry about a time transcending bond."

But maybe I'll make my own bond just by staying with Alex, keeping him alive, Isabel thought, taking a deep breath as a sudden flow of hope grew inside of her.

"Hey, look."

Isabel followed her brother's widened gaze and just for one short moment, everything was right in her world again. Walking towards her were Alex Whitman, he was looking down at a frantic looking Maria, seemingly not noticing that the Evans kids were staring holes through his skull.

"Alex," Isabel breathed out the name, all of a sudden nothing else mattered to her but the tall, gangly boy in front of her.

Before she really understood her own intentions, Isabel was on the move.

Alex's POV

"I'm telling you; something fishy is going on, Alex! I can't get in touch with Liz, we always walk to homeroom together and to top it all off; that Guerin kid is stalking me! He's really starting to weird me out! Will you focus here?"

The slap on the back of his head, barely registered in Alex's mind, he was busy trying to act as though he hadn't noticed that they were about to walk past the living Goddess that was Isabel Evans.

"Sure, Maria, but come on," he eventually turned to look down at his small, female friend, fulfilling his duties as her friend. "You've always seen drama where there just isn't any. Remember last week at Chuck E Cheese? I kept telling you that that kid wasn't about to explode, he was just heavy and I'm pretty sure his supposed growling was him having an astma attack or something."

"Then how do you explain that Guerin freak showing up at my house? I swear he was giving me the evil eye or something."

Alex rolled his eyes and expertly avoided a second head slap with a small grin. If there's one thing I can always count on; it's Maria's drama gene going into overdrive, he thought amusedly.

"H-Hi Alex."

The soft spoken words reached Alex's distracted mind and he instantly recognized the speaker, snapping his head back to the front to stare completely gobsmacked into the dark brown eyes of Isabel.

"Hey, Isabel." He managed to say, inwardly congratulating himself for not stuttering. "Was I in your way? I can move." Of course the moment the words left his mouth, Alex knew that to be the truth. There was no way that living deity would ever speak to him voluntarily.

To his surprise, Isabel immediately looked dejected as though his offer hurt her in some way. She glanced sideways down at a staring Maria, before looking back into his eyes. There's something different about her, Alex realized, fighting off a peculiar feeling inside of him. There was a light in her eyes that had never shined in his presence before.

She looks like she genuinely cares about me…but that can't be right? Alex was a smart guy, but this was a puzzle he just couldn't figure out.

"No, Alex. It's nothing like that. I just…" Isabel hesitated, thus adding to the surreal moment Alex was having, "I just wanted to say hi. And now I have, so bye."

In the next second, Isabel was gone and Alex could breathe in again. He tried, but couldn't get his voice to work properly. Next to him, Maria didn't have the same problem.

"See? I told you things are getting weird around here! What was that all about? Maybe she and her popular jock friends have a bet going about humiliating you or something." Maria looked serious for a second, "if that's the case, I promise I'll give them all a big talking too. Liz can probably get Kyle to slip them some diarrhea tablets or something. Are you okay, Alex?"

Alex nodded unconvincingly. The fact that the woman of his dreams had spoken to him out of her own free will, didn't seem so special anymore, the distrust that Maria had spoken off quickly manifested itself into his brain, driving a huge, painful seed of suspicion into it. "Yeah, I'm fine, Maria." He eventually said with a sigh. "I just didn't think that Isabel would use those kinds of tricks. She always seems so…"

"Cold? Evil? Snooty?" Maria certainly didn't lack adjectives, but then again, Alex reasoned internally, she had never really taken to the tall blonde, always spouting something about her being, "evil incarnate," or of that nature.

"Let's just get to class," Alex muttered gloomily and started making his way through the student filled hallway. He felt Maria following him closely, eying him with worried eyes. He didn't care, but he knew that despite all her blustering, Maria truly was one of the most loyal friends a person could have.

When he reached the door to his class, Alex stopped and looked down at Maria, whose eyes still showed her concern for his dilemma. "I'm gonna be fine, Maria. I'll meet you in the quad for lunch," with some effort he managed to procure a decent smile as he added, "and then we can track Liz down and force her to spill everything. Okay?"

Maria nodded and leaned forward to envelope him in a quick hug, before she quickly ran toward her own class.

Alex watched her until she turned the corner and then walked into the room, settling into his usual seat in the back of the class. He was in the middle of digging through his bag for his pencil case when he felt someone sit down in the seat next to him.

Knowing that the seat usually remained empty in this class, Alex looked up to satisfy his curiosity and instantly wished he hadn't. Next to him, staring closely at him was one of the only people in the school that truly unnerved him. Michael Guerin.

There was also something different about the withdrawn boy, Alex noticed as he tried unsuccessfully to look away from the angry teenager's eyes. Then it suddenly hit him and Alex finally managed to look up at the blackboard where the teacher was busy writing quotes from the latest novel they were going through.

He doesn't look angry at all. The truth in that statement was almost as unusual as having Isabel talk to him, possible joke or not. Michael was known for two things. One, he only ever hung out with Isabel and Max Evans. Two, he really didn't have the most amiable social skills.

Frankly, Alex thought as he quickly copied the quotes down on his note pad. Maria is right; he really is acting out of the ordinary. I wonder why he's looking at me. I haven't spoken to him since fifth grade where he told me to be a look out for the teacher while he scratched her car.

"Hey, Alex?"

Alex looked over at Michael, realizing that the other boy still hadn't looked away from him. It really was beginning to creep him out. "What?"

"Got a pen I could borrow?"

The polite request was almost the last straw for Alex, but he reached out his pencil case, letting the other guy pick for himself. While Michael was looking through Alex's pencil case, the human noticed something else that was different about Michael.

His hairstyle wasn't the spiky mess he'd paraded around with for the last few years. Instead it was flat and for once it looked absolutely clean, like Michael had actually cared about his personal hygiene for once. The very idea was jaw dropping to Alex, who had once witnessed the bulkier Michael beat the crap out of a classmate during gym for mocking him about his gelled hairstyle.

"Thanks, man." Michael returned the pencil case and Alex nodded mutely, eager to get back to class and hopefully have a more normal day from then on.

He was so busy trying to put, not only Isabel's, but Michael's out of character behavior towards him out of his mind, that he didn't notice that once he'd turned around, Michael had continued studying him with an uncharacteristic smile on his face.

Max's POV

Max walked into his first period of the day. His eyes automatically scanning the room as he'd been taught after having lived through a war, and he noticed the looks people were giving him without caring. He knew that the moment he'd chosen to put on something formfitting and easy to move in, he was stepping out of his former geeky role.

Max Evans had no intention of blending into the walls as long as there was a possibility for danger towards the people he loved. Not this time around.

As he made his way through the tables, Max noticed Isabel sitting in the front, once again cornered by her former friends. That's one good thing about being me, Max thought with an internal smug smile, at this point in time in my life, I have no friends besides Iz and Michael.

As though she'd heard his thoughts, Isabel turned her head and looked at him with a half-hearted glare. Max took in the sight of her with pleasure. It was obvious that beneath the cool mask that Isabel was known for already in high school, she was very happy.

Max had witnessed her bumbling attempt to chat with Alex, feeling incredibly happy and for once completely sure that their journey had not been in vain. If nothing else, Alex would not die by Tess's hands. Max would see to that.

The thought of the fourth hybrid forced reality back into Max's mind and he took his seat with a sigh. While the teacher was droning on about the Second World War, Max was writing down everything he needed to take care of in his usual meticulous manner.

First off, Max thought, writing down Liz's name, I have to tell my secret so she can ponder about that for a while. I gotta tell her not to bring her uniform to school. Maybe I can make her give it to me, so I can burn it that way Topolsky will never arrive and cause Pierce to know about us. I'm not eager to re-visit the White Room.

The very thought sent chills down Max's spine as his memory took him back to the time he'd been tortured the first time. Although he'd suffered more extensive damages after for example a few days in one of Khivar's lieutenant's hands, Max still felt that the White Room was the hardest one to live through. Realistically he knew that it was due to it being the first time he'd ever been through something like that, and the fact that Pierce had threatened him with a lot more than bodily harm; he'd threatened the people Max loved and that was the scariest thing Max had ever been through; aside from the day Liz had died in his arms in the future.

Suddenly, Max could barely breathe, the horrifying mental image of a bleeding, dying Liz wouldn't let itself be pushed away. He clenched his fists on the table, feeling his nails scrape against his palms painfully. It's not real, I won't let it happen, Max kept repeating desperately silently, swearing that he'd never again see Liz bleed.

"Mr. Evans!"

With a start Max looked up at the teacher. The moment his concentration was broken, Max felt a flash of power rush through him and he heard the window next to him explode in a million pieces. People immediately started screaming, diving out of the way of the impending glass.

The teacher looked dumbstruck, and Max's overloaded mind suddenly couldn't come up with a reason for the incident. Fortunately his sister didn't have the same problem, because just as the surprised screaming was dying down and people were looking curiously at the window, Isabel stood up with a dignified giggle on her lips.

"Whoops."

The teacher spun around, glaring at her and Max wanted nothing more than to jump in and take the blame, seeing as it had been his fault. "Ms. Evans? What did you do?"

Isabel's ice mask fell into place, like Max, she too had changed over the course of the war and the stare she subjected their angry teacher to, was the one some of their enemies had dubbed, "the glare of death". It worked as well on the teacher as on the aliens that he instinctively took a few steps backwards, waiting for Isabel's answer from a safer distance.

Max swallowed a smirk. Although he didn't enjoy the way Isabel's war face looked on her teenage self, he was pleased to note that it still worked perfectly.

"I'm sorry Mr. Pearson. I saw a spider on the window and threw my lucky rock at it. Apparently I hit the glass harder than I intended. I'll pay for the repairs of course. I just really don't like spiders."

Mr. Pearson blubbered something about detention, but fortunately seemed to buy the story and didn't give her one.

Max sent Isabel a grateful look and followed her outside, when Mr. Pearson ended the class early to help the janitor with the clean up.

"What happened in there?" Isabel immediately whispered, as soon as they'd sat down at the table in the quad where they normally spent their lunch.

He didn't get a chance to respond, because they were both distracted by Michael running out into the quad, looking murderous and ready for anything. When the large hybrid realized that there was no immediate danger, he slowed his run to a fast walk, reaching their table within seconds.

"What the hell just happened?" Despite the harsh tone in Michael's voice, Max could easily spot the concern, so he hurried to explain.

"I lost control for a second, but Isabel managed to scare the teacher into not caring."

Michael glanced over at Isabel with an approving glint in his eyes, but then he refocused on Max when Isabel added, "Yeah, well, lucky for all of us, all the attention was on Max because of his sudden meltdown that no one realized that my story was a load of bull."

"Meltdown?" Michael's face paled, obviously remembering the last time, Max's powers had exploded unexpectedly out of him. "What meltdown?"

Max sighed, running a hand through his hair awkwardly. "I just thought about something and it surprised me, that's all. Now, I have to go meditate somewhere before my biology class with Liz."

Isabel and Michael didn't say anything and Max elaborated quietly, "I'm okay again. I won't lose control like that anymore, I promise. I'll see you guys later."

Max literally jumped to his feet in his eagerness to leave his family and their concerned glances behind. He walked around the empty hallways, trying to find an empty classroom, before coming to a stop in front of the door to the eraser room. There's no way, I'll think about bad stuff in there, Max reasoned and slid inside, locking the door and adding his own shield, so it couldn't be opened no matter what.

The moment he sat in the darkened room, happier memories enveloped him and Max sighed in relief, not realizing that he'd been so tense in the first place. The feel of Liz's lips against his was on the forefront of his mind and as he sat down on the floor, Max quickly felt his calm return. Which is good, he thought,taking a deep breath, because I can't afford to lose it again. Especially anywhere near Liz.

Liz's POV

Her heart was hammering as she walked into the biology class. The one class where Max and she always partnered up because they were the only one even remotely interested in the stuff they were doing.

And then she basically deflated in disappointment, when she realized that Max hadn't even bothered to show up yet. I don't get it, Liz frowned at the closed door while her teacher started her lecture, I saw him getting out of his car with Isabel earlier this morning, so I know he's here. Is he avoiding me? Maybe he's planning to do something to me after school? Whatever he did to me wasn't normal, maybe he has to kill me now. Rolling her eyes at herself, Liz rationalized internally, Okay maybe not; if that was the case he wouldn't have saved me like he did.
The door suddenly slid open and Liz had to force herself not to flinch when Max walked into class. In that moment Liz could feel that odd sensation in her chest expanding, all but visibly reaching out toward the dark haired boy.

Over the renewed pounding of her heart, Liz barely heard the teacher's disapproving, "Mr. Evans, so nice of you to join us." A second later, Liz tried to listen to the teacher, who was continuing with her lecture, while Max was sitting down next to her. …"take a sample from your cheek."

Out of the corner of her eye, Liz felt Max tense up and she quickly looked over at him. To her confusion however, he didn't look tense. Instead he looked oddly happy and as she watched silently, he reached out and put his pencil in his mouth for a second, almost deliberately chewing a bit on it.

The teacher reached their table, handing Liz the slides they were going to need and then Max stood up and started to exit the room again, muttering something a bathroom break.

Liz frowned at the door, completely mystified for a moment, before sighing and starting up her assignment alone. After a few seconds of looking into the microscope at her own cells, Liz spotted Max's abandoned pencil.

She bit her lip in hesitation, looking quickly around the busy room. The yellow piece of wood was glaring at her curiosity, challenging her to confirm her suspicions. A second later, Liz reached out and took the pencil in her hands…

TBC…


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A/N Hope you liked it. Share your thoughts and expectations with me, please ;) Next time in Antarian Timetravellers: Liz learns the truth, We finally hear a bit from Maria and Valenti makes an appearance.

Until next time
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maipigen
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Re: The Antarian Timetravellers TEEN. 3.CH. 07/23/10

Post by maipigen »

A/N Thanks for all your kind comments and theories on what's gonna happen. I hope you'll enjoy this next installment. It hasn't been betaed, but I hope that the errors aren't too many. Thanks for reading:) Edited A/N : Mary Mary pointed out a serious booboo about the DNA thing - as she correctly pointed out, it's not possible to take DNA tests in a normal high school lab, so I've edited that bit out. Thanks Mary Mary for helping me keep this story as "real" as possible:)

CHAPTER FOUR

Liz's POV

There has to be some kind of logical explanation for this. Liz thought, not for the first time, as she made her way to the restroom after her class the day after she'd stolen a that cell sample from Max Evans. She was eager to get a moment for herself, the entire class had been spent sitting next to Max, who was glancing at her with a bemused smile and a peculiar look in his eyes every now and again.

She splashed some cold water on her face and watched the droplets fall down her face into the sink. Her reflection told anyone bothering to look that Liz Parker was definitely going through something. Her face was pale and her body trembled slightly as she bent over to grab some paper towels to dry her wet face.

Fortunately for Liz, no one was bothering to look at her, probably just figuring that the A+ student had received an A minus and was having a nervous meltdown like a good little girl.

Liz swallowed a hysterical giggle, she was having a meltdown, just not for the reason other people might think.

With a sigh, she straightened back up and eyed herself in the mirror again. She bit her lip and tried to get over her momentarily lack of calm. Okay, she thought and glanced around the restroom, making sure no one else was present. Max Evans' cell structure isn't like mine. Why is that? Is there a reasonable explanation for this?

Ever since she'd looked into the microscope and found that inhuman green cells, Liz had been possessed, as the night wore on she grew more and more convinced that she'd made the whole thing up somehow. She'd spent the whole evening in bed, ignoring phone calls from Maria and Kyle, whom she was supposed to go on a date with. The only time she'd left her room had been to go down to the diner and grab some fries. As she reached over the counter for something, her shirt had ridden up and she'd hurried to cover up the mysterious handprint that was still lingering on her skin.

The unusual sample mixed with the reminder of the handprint was enough to make her abandon her pitiful attempt at food and she disappeared back upstairs to mull things over.

Ten minutes later, Liz was interrupted in her intense thought process by the door opening to the restroom to reveal three girls she normally wouldn't even look twice at. Today though, things would have to change, Liz told herself firmly, grasping her book bag as though her life depended upon it. The reason for that was the fact that one of the three girls was an extremely bored looking Isabel Evans.

Max's sister.

Maybe I can ask her to let me test her cheek cells, just to make sure that I made a mistake? Liz had to roll her eyes at herself at the thought. Oh yeah, I'll just ask her to let me take a sample from her mouth, because I'm freaking out about her brother, who may or may not even be completely human. That's bound to go over well, Liz added sarcastically, remembering the few other times she'd actually interacted with the blonde female that put the word Ice Queen to a whole new level.

Evidently she'd been staring at Isabel a bit too long, because one of her side kicks, Michelle, trailed off from her narration of her latest date and eyed Liz with nothing but contempt. "Err, excuse us, do you have a problem? It's rude to stare, Diner girl."

Liz sighed, hoisting her book bag on her shoulder. She didn't bother using her superior intellect to point out that Michelle wasn't being very polite either; too occupied with her other drama to care about the old taunts about her job in her family's diner.

Just as Liz started to walk past the glaring girl, Isabel spoke up and gave the word `cold´ a whole new meaning. "Michelle, don't talk to Liz that way."

Liz blinked; she had a feeling that the dumbfounded look on Michelle's face was only surpassed by her own. Isabel had never talked to her, except at the diner occasionally, and even that had been sparse conversations about what to eat and drink, and maybe the weather if Isabel was feeling generous.

"Izzy, are you okay? You've been, like totally weird today and I don't want to catch anything if you're getting sick. I have a date with Matt tonight, remember?"

Isabel raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow and stared the shorter girl down, much to Liz's amusement. Cindy was standing forgotten next to the glowering Isabel, eying her two friends with shock.

"Um," Liz interrupted the showdown and stepped closer to the exit, "it's fine, don't worry about it. I have to go anyway."

A few seconds later, Liz finally managed to escape the other girls. She sighed in relief and was about to start mulling over her Max Evans issues when a long, slender arm wove itself in-between her book bag and her arm and she looked up and meet Isabel's now much warmer eyes.

"I hope you don't mind me getting in the middle in there," Isabel said and gently squeezed Liz's arm. Liz didn't reply, frankly she didn't know how to respond to this new Isabel.

Undeterred, Isabel kept talking. "I've actually wanted to talk to you before this, I'm sorry if I've seemed…sort of cold in the past, that's not me anymore." Liz spotted something dark flash through Isabel's eyes, but didn't get a chance to comment on it before Isabel smiled brightly and looked down at her. "So, what's new with you?"

"I'm just doing what I always do. Work in the diner, spend time with Maria – she's my best friend, who-"

"I know who Maria is," Isabel interjected, once again surprising Liz, especially when she mumbled, "didn't I even act human towards them back then?"

Unable to contain her curiosity, Liz asked quietly "What do you mean?"

Isabel froze, it was suddenly clear to the brunette that she hadn't intended for the last part to be spoken out loud. She's a bit peculiar, isn't she? Liz thought to herself.

The awkward moment was stopped by the one person that Liz really didn't want to deal with at that moment.

Kyle Valenti.

He showed up out of thin air, stopping just inside her personal space. The look in his eyes was the usual mix between genuine affection, teenage lust and a bit of disappointment as well.

The last part threw Liz off and she didn't know how to react. She knew why he had a good reason to be disappointed in her. Before the summer vacation they'd been an item and she hadn't exactly been the most clinging girlfriend as of late. In fact, she admitted inwardly, I don't think I've thought about him since the shooting.

"Hey Liz," Kyle said, obviously tired of waiting for her reaction to his presence. To his credit, his eyes never strayed to the teenage goddess next to her and Liz vowed to at least hear him out. "I've tried to call you a bunch of times. I wanted to know if you were okay. We were supposed to meet yesterday, right?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" the words left her mouth before Liz could control it, ignoring the last of his questions guiltily.

Kyle frowned, rubbing his neck in an exasperated manner. "Well, because of the shooting that happened, of course. My dad's the sheriff, remember? It's not like he'd come home from work and not let his son know that his girlfriend was almost killed."

Liz bit her lip and looked down briefly, before locking her eyes back into Kyle's. "I'm sorry, I guess, I've just been so focused on getting things back to normal that I simply didn't think…So, err, are we good?"

Kyle's eyes warmed, almost excessively so, and Liz bit back a groan of irritation. "Yeah sure. Wanna hang after practice?"

Happy that she had a genuine excuse, Liz informed him that she had to work at the Crashdown. When his eyes quickly dimmed in displeasure at the rejection, Liz remembered Isabel's presence and realized she'd been having a conversation with Kyle and completely ignoring the school's most popular girl. She turned her head to look up and apologize and felt her jaw drop not for the first time that day.

Isabel Evans was staring at Kyle with something raw in her coffee eyes. She looked as though she was dying of thirst and Kyle was that cup of water just one step out of reach. Her eyes were bright and her lips were pressed together in what appeared to be an attempt to not cry.

"Isabel, are you ok-?"

"Hey Isabel."

Liz looked over Kyle's shoulder and spotted Michael Guerin. He was eying Isabel closely; evidently her emotional state wasn't lost on him either. To her surprise his eyes didn't sweep over herself with the usual look of disdain. In fact she could swear that they'd stopped on her a little longer than strictly necessary before sliding back over to Isabel.

Liz didn't turn back to look at the unexpected new friend she'd gained, she was suddenly aware of the fact that in front of Michael stood her best friend and she looked absolutely furious.

And why wouldn't she be? I've ignored her ever since the incident at Crashdown, Liz scolded herself with an internal wince.

"Hey Maria."

"Don't you, `hey´ me," she spluttered and before anyone could react, Maria had started walking toward her. When she reached Liz, she unceremoniously pushed Kyle out of the way, stating that best friend trumped boyfriend anytime and started dragging Liz away to a less crowded area, which turned out to be an unused classroom across the hall.

As she meekly followed Maria, not that the iron grip the blonde had on her arm led her to believe that she had any kind of choice in the matter, Liz looked over her shoulder. Isabel seemed to have regained her senses as she, alongside Michael, was helping Kyle off the floor with a small smile on her full lips.

This day just keep getting weirder and weirder, Liz managed to think before Maria suddenly spun around and stated, "Now I'd like some explanations!"

Maria's POV

A little while earlier:

There was only a few minutes left until the bell rang and Maria was literally bouncing in her seat. On her notepad were nothing but doodles; a clear sign of her participation in the class. Her attentive span in school weren't usually the best, but neither was it this bad.

But for once there was a legitimate reason for her inability to pay attention to her droning teacher; actually there were two very good reasons, one of which were sitting right next to her and was seriously creeping her out.

Isabel Evans.

As if having Guerin wigging me out isn't bad enough, I have to have the Ice Queen staring holes into me whenever she thinks I'm not looking.

Maria swallowed down the rising panic that threatened to overwhelm her. She tried to act as though Isabel's looks weren't literally making her skin itch. What's with people these days? Maria wondered, squirming uncomfortably in her seat when she felt Isabel's stare yet again. First there's Guerin, who suddenly goes all stalker on me, then the Ice Queen is suddenly not only interested in me, but Alex too? If they've got some sort of bet going on to humiliate us, I'll kill them. And I can get Liz to help me out; she's smart enough to make it undetectable…

The thought of Liz, caused Maria to pause briefly in her vengeance plans. She's been avoiding me ever since the shooting. I have to find her and show her that bloodied notepad I took from the floor from the diner, maybe then she'll stop ignoring me and we can focus on whatever is going on with the adopted trio…
Finally the bell sounded, interrupting her in her scheming, and Maria was halfway out the room, before Isabel even managed to grab her things. Good, Maria exhaled a breath of relief, that's one, who can't follow me. Then I only have to avoid-

"Holy crap," Maria was so deep into her own head that she didn't see the hard body in front of her, and she slammed into it with enough force to send her to her butt. Before she found herself on the cool linoleum floor, a pair of large hands took a gentle hold of her, stopping her fall effortlessly.

Maria didn't bother looking up. As if the size of that body didn't reveal who her victim/helper was; that odd feeling in her chest gave it all away. Ever since the moment in the Crashdown, where the shooting had tilted her world around and Michael unexpectedly showed up, shielding her from harm, Maria had gotten a peculiar feeling in her chest whenever he was nearby.

"Are you okay?" his voice sounded remarkably concerned and despite her reluctance to do so, Maria looked into his eyes.

"I-I'm fine," she stuttered, trying with all her might to ignore the sudden fluttering in her belly. Why is he affecting me like this all of the sudden? He's a weirdo, a dangerous, good for nothing weirdo, who's never been afraid to make my life hell since he showed up in Roswell…

For some reason Maria couldn't tear her eyes away from Michael's. He was staring at her with that new look in his eyes. The memory of the moment in the diner when the gun had gone off suddenly flashed through Maria's mind.

She'd the one closest to the two arguing men and the moment the gun was visible, her first instinct had been to call out to Liz, because Liz always knew what to do. Before the word had entirely left her mouth, Maria felt a shadow of warmth next to her and in the next second, Michael Guerin was shielding her with his own body, looking at the strangers with nothing but death in his eyes.

The protectiveness he'd shown had put Maria at ease and she'd completely forgotten that on a normal day, the angry teen scared her out of her mind with his dangerous wibe. She hadn't had a lot of time to process her feelings before she looked over and spotted Liz lying on the floor. And then things happened too fast for Maria to keep track.

The one thing she did remember was the obvious reluctance that Michael had shown when he followed his two friends out the diner.

"So," Michael's voice ripped Maria back to the present time and she repressed a flinch with great force. "I kindda wanted to apologize to you."

Maria frowned, her frown increasing when she noticed just how close they were standing in the otherwise almost abandoned hallway. She took a step back to put some distance between them, ignoring that odd sensation just above her navel that seemed to grow whenever Michael wasn't within arm's reach.

"Apologize? For what?" Internally Maria added sarcastically, for stalking me and creeping me out more than I've ever been?

Oddly enough, Maria felt like Michael had read her mind, because he sent her a smile that was a mix between mild annoyance and sheepishness. "For showing up at your house after the shooting, I know that must have seemed weird. I mean," Michael ran a hand through his hair, looking frustrated all of the sudden, "Look, I'm not good with this kind of stuff. Words and all that…"

Maria swallowed a smile, suddenly she remembered a time from when they were kids and Michael had beat up the seventh grader that always picked on her. Maybe he isn't all bad, she amended to herself.

"Had this been a normal time, I would never have noticed you."

And then he goes and reminds me why he is such an ass. Maria fumed, crossing her arms.

Michael swallowed; apparently he realized that he'd messed up. "No, that's not what I meant," he hastened to explain. "I just…You're you and I'm…I was just gonna apologize for weirding you out, you probably had to take a lot of drops to keep calm and I'm sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were all right, that's all."

"I don't think I've ever heard you talk so much." Maria commented and uncrossed her arms when Michael stopped for breath. She smiled halfheartedly and continued, "Apology accepted, just promise me not to start an apology like that ever again."

Michael grinned and the effect it had on Maria nearly made her legs turn to jelly. He looked absolutely beautiful and she had a sudden rush of…something, to her nether regions.

Michael's grin turned feral and Maria had a sinking feeling that he might know what was flashing through her mind and she started to walk down the hallway, eager to avoid any more words – and more importantly thoughts about the tall boy.

As she walked around the corner, Maria stopped at the sight before her. She barely acknowledged that Michael was standing extremely close behind her as she took in all the details.

Kyle Valenti was standing with his back to her, in front of Liz, but that wasn't the surprising thing. Maria had grown used to the jock's near obsession with her best friend over the summer. No, the thing that had literally stopped her in her tracks was the fact that Liz was standing next to Isabel Evans, looking for all the world like it was an everyday occurrence.

"Hey Isabel," Michael spoke behind her and Maria jumped when the three people in front of her suddenly turned their attention towards them.

Maria met Liz's eyes and she could clearly see that her friend was as confused about the whole thing as she was. For one brief moment, Maria felt sympathy for Liz and wanted nothing more than to lend a friendly ear to what had to be an interesting story, but then Kyle moved an inch to the right and Maria noticed that Isabel was holding on to Liz as though they'd been best friends forever.

Oh, Maria thought as she felt a wave of annoyance coming over her, this day just keeps getting weirder and weirder. I'm gonna make her explain everything!

Max's POV

Max was wondering the halls, waiting for Liz to come seek him out to get some answers to the questions she'd more than likely build up since their biology class the day before. He was in the middle of trying to remember every little detail of that day when he almost crashed into Kyle Valenti.

Kyle Valenti, who had pushed him and Isabel aside and taken the killing blow from their common enemy, who'd died screaming before Max could run over and heal him, whose death had scarred his sister like nothing else had before –even Alex's murder.

"Watch it," Kyle muttered angrily and stomped away with a blush staining his cheeks. Max blinked out of the horrid memories of the future; the future that he'd do anything to keep from happening again, and looked in the direction Kyle had been coming from.

A part of him longed to go after the man who'd grown into one of his closest friends and make sure he was in fact breathing, the other, more realistic part, reminded Max just how their relationship had been in high school and he sighed, noticing his family behind him.

Michael and Isabel stood closely together next to the lockers; they too were eying Kyle's retreating form with shadows on their faces. Apparently I'm not the only one remembering; Max thought to himself and made his way over to his fellow hybrids.

"Hey Maxwell. Ready for things to heat up?" Michael asked when Max came to a stop beside him.

Max nodded and looked at his sister with furrowed brows. She looked paler than usual and it was clear as day that the sight of her best friend had gotten to her, maybe even more than the sight of Alex. After all they'd spent more years together than she ever did with her first love. Kyle and Isabel had been the single duo and their friendship had morphed into something extraordinary until his too early death.

"Izzy," Max waited until her matching eyes met his before continuing seriously, "it's not going to happen again. I won't let it."

Michael nodded his agreement and placed a finger on Isabel's exposed arm and another on Max's and thought out to them, `We won't let it happen.´

The ability to speak silently through touch had developed between the group in the original timeline. The ability had been discovered by Liz and Max one day during a battle between some of Khivar's men and the rest of the hybrid/human group of fugitives.

Between the couples, the ability was just a matter of concentration and practice. When it was needed between the non-lovers the ability required touch, which was why it wasn't used that many times, although the unexpected power had come in handy once or twice when the group needed to come up with plans quickly and silently.

Max mentally shook off the memories that were struggling to come to the surface and nodded sincerely at Michael's words, reminding himself that he didn't need to take responsibility for everything this time around, that the others could be trusted to come up with plans of their own.

"Why haven't you talked to Liz yet?" Isabel seemed to shake off her own turmoil and focus on the next step in their discussed plan.

Max sighed. "She hasn't sought me out yet. Before, she found me and demanded answers. I don't want to risk changing too much."

Michael shrugged and gestured to an area behind Max. "Well, I say you go in there and rip her away from Maria's claws, before my wife changes too many things her own self."

Max looked questioning over at his sister, who quickly explained. Max took a deep breath and prepared to go in-between Maria and her current target. I'm an alien king and I've killed more people than I can ever count –there's no logical explanation as to why I'm hesitating to interrupt Maria Deluca's interrogation…

Again memories of the future came seeping into Max's brain. He remembered the drama queen Maria had been as a teen, her loyalty and fierce protectiveness over the years. He recalled with an internal cringe how the sweet and carefree Maria had slowly turned into their interrogations expert whenever they managed to catch one of their enemies alive.

Max used to be the best at the torture, due to his own experiences, but a few years after the group had left Roswell, Maria had developed her own ability after one time where Max had healed a stab wound to her neck.

Maria's powers had been to look into a person's eyes and show them their greatest fear and then promise to make their nightmares come true. No old fashioned torture was needed after that had developed. The horrible images that Maria was subjected to changed her into a hard shell of the warm person she used to be. She still loved them all without question, but after a time only Michael and Liz could make her laugh.

Max swallowed a lump of regret, hoping that should he ever need to heal Maria again, her ability wouldn't be the same. With one more deep sigh, Max walked over to the door that Isabel had pointed out.

As he came closer, Max felt the bond reach out from inside him as Liz got nearer and he had to stop momentarily in front of the door to get the urge to passionately attack his soulmate under control. Feeling somewhat himself again, Max quickly knocked on the door and entered the normally unused classroom.

He managed to catch Maria's hiss of, "I thought best friends told each other everything Liz Parker," before the girls realized they were no longer alone and looked over at him. To his chagrin, Liz immediately paled, looking almost scared of him and Maria crossed her arms with a fierce scowl.

"We're kindda in the middle of something here, Evans. Come back later if you need to use the room, we'll be done then."

Liz gasped and instantly seemed to fall out of her scared persona, when she slapped Maria on the arm, muttering something about behaving herself.

Max wanted to smile and use one of the usual comments he always used whenever Maria was in a bad mood, but knowing that she hadn't spent any real time with him in this timeline stopped him.

"I was looking for Liz actually." He managed to say instead and instinctively placed his feet a bit further apart, prepared for anything from the blonde.

Maria rolled her eyes and turned to Liz. "Look, I'll call you tonight, okay? Let's just talk about everything there. No, wait;" she corrected herself with another eye roll, "I'm working after school so we'll talk then."

Liz was glancing over at Max and nodded absentmindedly, it was obvious that she was feeling conflicted. Max recognized the signs easily and before she could get a chance to somehow convince Maria to stay so he couldn't corner her, he looked over at Maria and said, "I think Michael's looking for you."

Maria froze and bit her lip. She suddenly looked nothing like the torture expert Max remembered and he couldn't quite stop himself from smiling fondly at her. To his surprise he noticed that Liz suddenly looked angry and he frowned in confusion.

Before he knew it, Maria had opened a window and was busy climbing out, apparently dignity wasn't a factor as she tried to avoid the other male hybrid. Max's lips twitched again and he couldn't wait to see how Michael could get her to fall for him this time around. In their other past, the ride had not been without bumps.

At least I know I won't have the same problems; Max thought with a little arrogant internal smirk, Liz once told me she had a crush on me for years before the shooting. His eyes left Maria's undignified exit and traveled over to Liz. Okay, maybe not…

The last thought flew into his mind when he spotted the way Liz had crossed her arms and was clenching her jaw and he knew that she was trying her hardest not to yell at him. What did I do? He thought and was about to ask the same thing out loud, but Liz straightened up and seemed about to speak herself so he kept quiet.

"I need to talk to you," she stated in an unusually cool voice.

Max nodded, eager for his past to morph into his new future, but a moment later he was the one struggling to keep on to his dignity when Liz spoke and he felt his jaw go slack in shock.

"Do you have feelings for Maria? I'm only asking because I do know she's never said anything about crushing on you and I don't want you to get your hopes up."

After a few more seconds of trying his best to look unaffected, Max asked with forced calm, "Why do you say that?" And aren't you itching to ask about the DNA sample?

Liz blinked and looked down, but not before Max caught a glimpse of her burning cheeks. What is going on here? Has Maria talking to her really altered that much? I was so careful to follow my memory yesterday in biology class…

"Um," Liz finally began to talk and Max stared intently down at her, not really realizing that he'd stepped closer to her until now. "You just looked a lot happier to see her than I've ever noticed before."

What? Max was completely perplexed until he remembered how fondly he'd been watching Maria's haste to avoid Michael. Oh no – she can't possibly think? I love you Liz, more than anything else…

"Okay, judging from that shell-shocked look on your face, I might have gotten things mixed up a bit." Liz muttered and fidgeted on her feet, looking for all the world as though she wished the ground would swallow her whole.

"So," she took a deep breath and seemed to shake the allegations and subsequent embarrassment off, "why were you looking for me?"

"Well," Max thought quickly on his feet, coming up with a lame excuse, "you just sort of looked a bit weird today in class so I just wanted to check up on you, that's all."

Liz's eyes widened and it was apparent that she suddenly remembered about the discovery she'd made and she placed her book bag on the table, looking decidedly uncomfortable. "Actually, I'm glad you mentioned that…we kindda need to talk – about everything. I have some questions."

Max nodded and knew with a fast beating heart that she was about to finally breach the subject of the healing and DNA. "Ask me anything."

Seemingly surprised about how easily he'd given in, Liz nodded resolutely and began pulling a piece of paper out of her jeans pocket. Max had a hard time not grinning like a fool when he remembered the last time they'd been in this position, even then she'd scribbled down various questions.

"All right," Liz started, "here we go. Where did you come from?"

Max smiled and took a deep breath and started answering the question. This time he was almost eagerly waiting to tell her things that hadn't even occurred to him before –especially about his powers, due to the fact that he now had a lot more knowledge about them then the first time around.

And the best part of all of this, Max thought as he delved into a more complex explanation that Liz was listening rapidly too, is that there's no way Sheriff Valenti is gonna come after us as long as I warn her about the dead bodies beforehand.

Sheriff Valenti's POV

Sheriff Jim Valenti was staring hard down at the photos in front of him. His eyes never strayed from the image of body after body branded with an odd silver handprint. A silver handprint his old man had talked about as a sign of aliens.

A belief that had shattered his family and a belief that Jim had sworn never to succumb to himself. But it was getting harder and harder and he knew why.

At first there had been the shooting with no bullet in the local diner, an occurrence he'd written off as something a little weird, but not unexplainable. Then he'd been having his after work meal at the Crashdown the night before and he'd watched as Liz Parker's shirt had ridden up and revealed the exact same handprint that he was now staring at on a picture of a dead body from the fifties.

With a sigh of frustration and disgust, Jim threw the pictures on his desk and grabbed his phone. A moment later he quietly said, "Sheriff Valenti, I need to talk to someone about something regarding a chain of unsolved and peculiar murders in Roswell."

The silence in his office was uncomfortable and Jim suddenly longed for a radio of all things to listen to, when a businesslike female voice stated, "This is agent Topolsky, how may I help you, Sheriff?"


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TBC... Next time in The Anterian Timetravellers: Michael and Max bonds with Alex in gym, Maria tries to get to the bottom of things and Isabel gets a job.


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A/N I hope you liked. I know there's a few timeline issues, and I know that Valenti didn't know Topolsky until after the whole Atherton deal, but that's why it's an AU. You never know what little things can change. This time Jim was the one spotting the handprint, not Kyle and when he called the FBI, it just so happened that Topolsky was the only one in that department available...good enough reason to handle the divergences? Goody;)

Now, please review, it really makes me want to keep writing and we all know it doesn't take that long anyway;)

Until Next Time
Last edited by maipigen on Mon Jul 26, 2010 6:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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maipigen
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Re: The Antarian Timetravellers TEEN. 4.CH. 07/26/10

Post by maipigen »

A/N Thanks for the great and interesting comments. I am slowly starting to develop the story and I hope you'll stay interested. Now, please enjoy chapter five.

CHAPTER FIVE

Alex POV

When Alex woke up that morning, he had a distinct feeling in his gut telling him that he should seriously consider just rolling over and get back to sleep. Of course, the second he was beginning to entertain the thought, his bedroom door opened and his ever-eager father stuck his head through the door and reminded him that he was supposed to get up.

Alex groaned and swung his long legs out of the bed, wiping his tired eyes. He hadn't slept very well and the only time he'd actually managed to sleep long enough to dream, he'd had a weird feeling throughout the entire thing.

Walking into his tiny bathroom to get ready for the day, Alex thought back to the dream itself. It had been about Isabel Evans; they usually were, but this time it had been different. At first it had been a regular dream come true scenario with her showing up in a beautiful, tight red blouse that really showed off her voluptuous figure. Some of the guys that usually gave Alex a hard time in real life were crowding her and he'd appeared like a knight in shining armor to beat those bullies into submission. Isabel had swooned and gasped at all the appropriate moments and just as he'd moved in for a kiss of gratitude and unparalleled passion, things turned strange.

Isabel's voice sounded from behind him and Alex found himself turning around, locking eyes with another Isabel. This one looked just as perfect as the one he'd rescued from the jocks, but there was something in her eyes that alerted him to the fact that she wasn't particularly proud of him at that moment.

"Really, Alex? Damsel in distress? I had no idea you thought of me that way."

Made braver by the fact that he just knew it was a dream, Alex smiled confidently. "You looked like you needed a hand, Isabel."

Isabel's answering smile had caused him to twitch a certain place that even his dream self could feel. "I'll always need you to help me," she whispered, almost inaudibly as she took a step closer.

Alex was enraptured by those big coffee eyes that looked into him as though she was staring into his very soul. "I'll always try to help you…" The promise left his lips before he could control it and he frowned. Realistically he knew that, seeing as he was aware that he was dreaming, he should be able to control everything that happened, but a part of him also knew that he had nothing to do with what had just happened.

Isabel was suddenly right in front of him, gazing intently at him. She looked like he was the best thing she'd ever laid her beautiful eyes on and he felt a bit uncomfortable in his dream self's tight pants and in the next second he was wearing loose sweats. Thank God for dream powers.

"I really want you to remember this Alex," Isabel slowly said, "I'm not inapproachable, you can talk to me and I swear I won't turn you down."

Alex swallowed, this was a dream, he had to remind himself about that, and said quietly, "I'll try to remember that, but I just have to turn around and kiss the damsel I just saved before I wake up. Okay?"

Isabel's brown eyes turned mischievous and she tilted her head teasingly. "That's just a weaker version of me; you can kiss me instead, I won't mind."

Alex felt a brief flare of intense hesitation and remained rooted in his spot. To his surprise, something darkened in Isabel's eyes for a moment before she smiled again. "I know this won't be as good as the real thing," she told him and stepped even closer, "but I just really need this to live on until it can happen in real life. I hope you understand."

Isabel's slender arms came up around his neck and Alex felt himself being gently, but firmly pushed even closer to the human deity in front of him. Isabel made sure Alex's eyes were trained on hers and just before she moved the last inches to kiss him, she whispered sincerely, "I love you, Alex Whitman."

Then her full, warm lips were on his and Alex's life turned upside down. His entire being turned into a ball of fire, fire that didn't burn, but heated up his insides almost painfully – he didn't know how long it took, but he mentally roared for relief, the unexpected ecstasy was just too much. The fire slowly made its way down his body and settled just above his navel, and the second before he jolted awake in his own bed in the middle of the night, Alex remembered meeting Isabel's eyes yet again and they were widened in shock that echoed his own.

"Alex, are you up yet?"

Alex's flinched out of the memory of the peculiar dream and concentrated on his father's voice through the door. "Yeah, I'm coming down in a minute."

"Okay," Mr. Whitman's muffled reply reminded Alex that he really shouldn't be standing with his toothbrush in his mouth anymore and that he didn't have a lot of time before school.

Fifteen minutes later, Alex reached the school's parking lot and jumped off his bicycle. He was in the middle of locking it to the stand, when he was interrupted in his task by some of the jocks that Kyle Valenti hung around with, the very same he'd dreamt about.

"Oh, Whitman, you're just so cool for daring to show up with that thing. What's the matter? Too afraid to pollute the world with a car?"

Alex mentally rolled his eyes, grabbed his book bag and headed towards the school building without as much as a grunt in reply to the usual taunt. A part of him wished he could just smack them around as effortlessly as he did in his dreams, but Alex was nothing if not realistic. He wouldn't stand a chance against the much beefier guys, so he opted for staying away from them as much as possible.

But then Alex remembered that gut feeling he'd had before getting up earlier and groaned quietly. It was going to be a bad day today; not only because of that unusual dream he'd had, not because ever since he'd shared that kiss with dream Isabel, he'd had an irritating itch above his navel that kept throbbing almost painfully as though waiting for something to relieve it. No, the main reason Alex was convinced the day would suck was due to the fact that he had gym today and it was a class he shared with the before mentioned pack of jocks.

Kyle's POV

Kyle was not having a great day, hell; his entire week hadn't exactly been a picnic. First Liz hadn't kept her promise to go out with him, ending up ignoring his calls and making him feel like a fool. Then he'd been humiliated in front of her by her best friend. And as though that wasn't enough, his dad was being way more secretive than he normally was. He'd tried his hardest to get the man to talk about whatever it was that was bothering him, but his dad just kept saying that it was official police business and not for kids.

And now this; Kyle sighed and tried to ignore the fact that his good friend, Johnny and some other teammates was in the midst of their daily ritual to mock the gangly Whitman. Not for the first time, Kyle wished he had the courage to step in-between and put an end to things. But he didn't, there was a part of him that just wasn't ready or brave enough to face the outcome of loser status if he did in fact interfere.

I'm just a big coward when it comes down to it, Kyle thought to himself and followed Johnny to the first class of the day, I'll never be brave enough to step in-between anything, let alone a guy being picked on.

As the day went on, Kyle's mood lifted a bit and he was laughing along with his friends over some stupid joke when he entered the locker room to change for gym class. He high fived Johnny and went over to his locker and started changing into the school's mandatory uniform.

A shadow fell over him while he was busy tying his shoelaces for his sneakers. He looked up and immediately looked back down again at the sight of Alex, who was in the middle of changing into the uniform. The look on the tall teenagers face clearly revealed that he was just waiting for Kyle to say something, anything to him.

Kyle swallowed a sigh and straightened up, feeling his fragile hold on his good mood fly out the metaphorical windows in his mindscape. He turned his back on Alex, without acknowledging his presence and walked over to Johnny and launched into a conversation about some movie he'd seen. He didn't even realize that he was distracting Johnny from noticing the nerdy Whitman until Alex rushed by them and into the gym and Johnny exclaimed loudly, "Aw man, you made me miss my dose of `get on Whitman's nerves´."

Kyle tried to smile a friendly smile, but even he could feel the tension in his lips. "Well, Johnny boy, you'll just have to find another opportunity, I guess. Come on before we're late."

When they entered the big room, Kyle found himself seeking out Alex and he quickly looked over at some of the other students present, annoyed at himself for his sudden interest in the local geek boy. The gym teacher didn't show up despite the fact that the bell had already sounded and most of the students were getting edgy. Kyle included.

Just as Johnny suggested that they should bail the class to go play some hoops, the door opened in the end of the room and one of the less popular teacher's strode in, Mr. Grayson. Overweight, pushing fifty and bald; this was a guy who was getting more and more bitter with each passing day and for once all cliques in the class were in complete agreement. They all groaned noisily and tried to ignore the content smile on their hated teacher's face, knowing that he would most assuredly put them through the ringer.

"Well, the coach couldn't make it in today. So seeing as I'm the only option available, you'll just have to deal with that. Now, you there!" Mr. Grayson pointed a beefy finger at some small, trembling guy, who was standing next to Michael Guerin, "Go fetch some dodgeballs and hurry up!"

"Dodgeball?" Kyle muttered and crossed his arms in resignation, next to him Johnny was hollering in delight. Despite the fact that he was athletic and fast, Kyle hated the sport. He had a sudden memory of how he'd once been hit in the face as a young kid in elementary school and how Alex had comforted him and gone with him to the school's nurse.

Why am I obsessing over geek boy all of the sudden? Kyle wondered internally, sitting down on the bleacher closest to him. It's not like we're even friends, I just feel bad for him sometimes.

The poor kid, who'd been sent after the cursed red balls, came running back a few minutes later with the net trailing behind him. He was wheezing hard and muttering something about asthma. Johnny and a few of Kyle's other friends laughed hard when Mr. Grayson simply turned his back on him after ordering him to grow a spine.

Kyle didn't laugh, for some reason he just didn't possess the will to be the mocking jock today. To his surprise he watched silently as the normally so withdrawn Max Evans walked over to the wheezing guy and patted him consolingly on the shoulder. Oddly enough, the asthma attack seemed to blow over in the next minute. Maybe he just needed some reassurance, Kyle concluded before turning his attention on Mr. Grayson, who was reminding them all about the rules of the game.

"Now that I've spelled things out for you all, let's get going with this time honored tradition. And to keep it even more old fashioned why don't we divide the two teams into popular versus unpopular kids. You do the dividing." Mr. Grayson had an almost evil look in his eyes and Kyle thanked the heavens that the older man wasn't their regular gym teacher.

Some of the students stood idly by, ignoring the protests given by others. Kyle was of course put in with the popular crowd within mere seconds and he sat quietly waiting for the selection to be completed.

It went by smoothly for the most part, although Kyle's attention was caught by one of the other jocks going over to Max Evans and Michael Guerin. "Oh man, I can't believe he's that stupid," Johnny chuckled as he sat down next to Kyle, also looking at what was taking place.

"What are you talking about?" another one of Kyle's teammates asked from the sideline and Kyle automatically answered, without looking away from the sight in front of him.

"Guerin never plays against Evans. Don't ask me why, even when we were kids, he pitched a fit whenever he was placed on another team. If he didn't get his way, he didn't play. Or got aggressive about it." Kyle added as an afterthought as he watched Guerin send his patented glare down at the popular jock, who barely reached his chin.

Max Evans, being the typical peacemaker, a real bore, if one asked Kyle, stepped in-between the growing tension and at first Kyle thought the dark haired Evans would silently convince them all to just get along or whatever, but to his surprise, Evans' glower matched Guerin's and even from his location, Kyle could see the threat in Evans' brown eyes.

Okay, maybe not so boring after all, Kyle amended and shook himself out of his pensive mood when Mr. Grayson blew the whistle to start off the game.

The red balls flew everywhere and it was obvious that the "popular" kids were having a blast targeting the people they ridiculed on a daily basis; knowing that their teacher wouldn't object to anything they did.

Kyle caught a ball sent his way and immediately threw it at the closest target, which just happened to be Michael Guerin. The bigger teenager wasn't even looking his way, so Kyle was already beginning to search for another ball, when Guerin's hand snapped the ball inches away from making contact with his face.

"Sorry Kyle," Guerin called over his shoulder, looking genuinely rueful, a look Kyle hadn't expected at all, "you'll be out soon."

Kyle went to stand by the other "casualties," waiting to be sent back in the game. As he surveyed the floor, he noticed that Guerin's team now was down to three players; Michael, Max and Alex.

Whereas the other team had more than double the amount of players, Kyle rolled his eyes, knowing that things would undoubtedly turn a bit ugly now.

A few seconds later, Kyle recognized the predatory gleam in Johnny's eyes as they locked on Alex and he sighed. Now just hit him and let's end this stupid game, Kyle thought as Johnny started verbally taunting the lanky teenager, who was halfway covered by Evans and Guerin's bodies.

"Whoa there," Johnny mocked, twirling a ball casually on his finger, "when did you get bodyguards, Whitman?"

Alex looked as surprised about his helpers as Kyle was, he kept casting glances their way, while tensing in preparation for the ball in Johnny's hand to hit him.

"He doesn't need bodyguards," Evans said, causing Kyle's eyebrows to rise at the sound of legitimate anger in the quiet boy's voice, "I just don't want you to forget there are other players on this team."

Guerin nodded in agreement and smirked. Kyle had a distinct feeling that the roles were reversed and Johnny was the last one to notice. They look as though they're playing with him; like he's nothing but a squashed bug under their shoes.

Eventually, it seemed to hit Johnny that the two normally so reclusive guys were on a whole other level than what he used to hunt for bullying wise and he lowered his arm hesitantly. Kyle repressed a smile when in the next moment, Alex sent a hard ball right into Johnny's face. It looked like it hurt and Johnny was scowling when he made his way over to Kyle. Behind him, Kyle watched the trio decimate the rest of the other team and end up winning, much to Mr. Grayson's visible chagrin.

The bitter teacher blew his whistle and ended the class. Kyle started walking to the locker room slowly trailing the other students, but stopped when he realized that Johnny wasn't next to him anymore.

Kyle turned around and saw Evans and Guerin was now standing in front of Johnny, looking extremely different than how they normally did. They look like they wouldn't care if they had to kill him.

Swallowing down a hint of irrational fear, Kyle walked back and stopped next to his annoying friend, catching the end of Guerin's words, "…again and I'll personally see to it that you'll never have a good day ever again."

Alex was standing next to Evans, looking decidedly uncomfortable about the tension. "Look guys, let's just forget today and go change…"

Kyle hated to admit it, but he really was in complete agreement with Alex. He crossed his arms, trying to show off the muscles he'd worked so hard to gain, "Look, I'm with Whitman on this. Let's just stop it, okay. Johnny's learned his lesson, right?" Kyle sent a warning glance at the other guy, who was still locked in a staring contest with Evans.

"Evans!" Kyle interrupted the stare down and added when Evans blinked out of it and focused his dark eyes on Kyle. "Enough, all right. I'm sorry that-"

"Don't apologize for him," Guerin demanded abruptly. "You didn't do anything wrong; he did."

"Whatever, he's my pal," Kyle stated, "he might be an idiot, but I'm not gonna stand here and watch you threaten him. Like you apparently, I'll protect my friends too."

The words seemed to cause some kind of double flinch in the two guys, their eyes turned dark, as though they were seeing something only they could see and Kyle fought back an urge to fidget uncomfortably. They blinked in tandem and re-focused on Kyle, suddenly looking a lot older than their sixteen years of age.

"Try to choose friends that deserve your loyalty," Evans muttered and nodded before turning to leave. Guerin nodded, almost respectfully, at Kyle too, and followed Evans and Alex without another word. In the distance Kyle heard them invite Alex to the Crashdown to hang out, but he was too far away to hear the reply.

Johnny huffed next to him, gently touching his swollen nose. "What was that all about, man? They looked like they wanted to kill me for a second there."

Kyle shrugged and made his way towards the changing rooms again, "I don't know."

Johnny was right next to him, still caught up in the memory of the confrontation. "And what about that weirdo way they looked at you? I mean, they looked like they wanted you to join their loser cult or something like that."

Again, Kyle shrugged and started getting ready for the shower. A part of him was just as confused as Johnny, but there was a bigger part that had felt an unexplainable longing to just go with the other guys, something inside him felt as though he was betraying them for not going with them to the diner. The longing was something he usually only felt whenever he was in Liz's presence.

Shaking off the peculiar feeling, Kyle walked to the showers; I'm probably just tired; there's no way I'd ever willingly hang out with those losers.

Max's POV

After the eventful gym class, Max and Michael led Alex to the jeep, promising to drive him to school the next day, so he didn't have to walk over later and collect his bike.

Michael chatted with Alex good humouredly, expertly ignoring the slightly panicked look in the other boy's eyes. Max wished he could just blurt out everything and be done with it, but he knew that would most likely cause Alex to jump out of the moving vehicle and run for the hills.

With a sigh, Max pulled into the Crashdown's parking lot. The throb from the bond he shared with Liz was growing, as though it could feel her presence nearby and he was halfway through the parking lot before Alex had even taken off his seatbelt. A quick glance behind him, told Max that Michael was just as eager to go inside because of Maria, but he was keeping pace with Alex and Max briefly scolded himself and slowed down.

"So," Alex began as he opened the door to the Crashdown, "not that I'm not happy for the help today, but I gotta ask what brought this on? I can't really help you with your homework or anything. I'm not that smart; I guess, I could always ask Liz, but-"

Max's heart thumped at the mention of his soulmate, but he quickly interrupted Alex's babbling, "No, Alex. We just wanted to hang out with you. We've heard many good things about you from Isabel." There, Max thought smugly, let him chew on that for a while.

As Max had already suspected would happen, Alex went bright red and he smiled hesitantly. "I-Isabel? As in your sister, Isabel? Isabel Evans, I mean?"

"Somebody say my name?"

Max, who was already aware of his sister's presence due to some of the future expertise that he'd taken with him to the past, didn't flinch at the unexpected interruption. He merely nodded and gestured for her to take a seat next to a smirking Michael. He acted as though he didn't notice the sudden tension in Alex, nor how the youth's eyes were firmly trained on Isabel's with an almost adoring look in his eyes.

Max's keen observational skills caught Alex's hand rubbing his stomach, as though something irritated him. That's what the rest of us do when our bond itches for touch. But Isabel never bonded with Alex; they never had the chance to. What have you been doing, Iz?

Forcing the questions out of his mind, Max concentrated on Isabel instead. Her face had developed a brief frown and she quickly glanced behind her to the table she came from. "I'd love to join you in a minute; I just have to let my so called friends know."

I wonder when she'll manage to get rid of them, Max thought, while his eyes all by themselves sought out the magnificent vision that was his wife in the background. When they were friends in the original timeline, she got frozen out because of something with Maria; she never did say what happened…

Thinking about the blonde, who'd turned into one of his best friends, Max's eyes reluctantly slid past his love and onto Maria, who was standing behind her. To his mild indignation, Max realized that the look in Maria's eyes weren't the least bit trusting. She looks like she wants to rip my head off and fill it with potpourri. She never looked like at me like that before…

There was an inkling suspicion as to why Maria wasn't feeling all friendly toward him, now that Max thought about it. In the original timeline, Liz had learned of his alien status and within half a day, Maria had somehow learned the truth. But now it had been a few days since Max had revealed everything to Liz and by the looks of it, she hadn't spoken a word of it to her friend.

Max sighed inwardly, trying to come up with a solution. He felt weary, not only due to this new problem, but because there was a part of him that didn't know what Liz was really thinking about everything. Every since he'd confessed the alien story, Liz had been trying to avoid him. He knew, realistically speaking, that she was just thinking things over, contemplating all the pro's and con's of his tale, before involving herself, just like last time. But the other part of him wanted nothing more than to force her to realize that they were meant to be and that he wasn't dangerous at all.

Well, Max amended, smirking slightly, at least not to her.

Suddenly all thoughts of building something with this "new" Liz vanished, because Max watched how Maria stomped towards their table with a plate of cherry cola's, he watched how she passed Isabel's table and how one of his sister's ditzy followers put out her leg from under the table and tripped Maria with an evil giggle.

A second later, Maria was on the floor, splattered in soda and glass shards from the broken glasses. To Max's horror, she was holding her right hand with her left; it was bleeding fiercely down her uniform and onto the floor. It didn't surprise him, though, because in the middle of her hand was a big piece of glass that completely penetrated her skin.

Maria POV

School was over, it hadn't been a normal day; in fact it hadn't been a normal week, Maria determined. She watched the reason for the one of the abnormalities with a frown.

Liz was avoiding her, doing her best to act frantic and busy, which, Maria had to admit, they were right now with the rush of after school customers pouring in at the Crashdown, but still. Watching her dark haired friend grab another pair of Will Smith Specials and quickly make her way through the tables to deliver them, Maria decided that she'd had enough.

As Liz handed over another order from one of the newly filled tables to the cook, Jose, Maria huffed and grabbed her best friend firmly by the arm and literally dragged her out to the backroom.

"So Liz, what gives? Did I suddenly turn radioactive without anyone telling me?"

Liz, being the incredible and annoyingly smart girl that she was, seemed to have anticipated Maria's question and acted as though it was a ridiculous question. "Are you okay, Maria? Have Dad been working you too hard, 'cause I think you're getting delusional."

Narrowing her eyes, Maria tried to act just as casual as the brunette. "That's funny. You know, I have been seeing things lately; you hanging around with a girl that usually scares the crap out of us. Especially me; your best friend, who showed up with your homework last month when you were sick, even though I had to read up on my history for a pop quiz the next day."

Liz rolled her eyes and smiled a little. "Don't even go there De Luca, because of my notes you aced that quiz, remember that?"

Damn, Maria thought, trying to come up with another way to guilt Liz into confessing whatever it was that she was obviously hiding.

"Look, Liz," Maria went with honesty after a brief internal debate, "I'm actually getting worried here. You never avoid me, you're not yourself. You haven't been this mean to anyone ever; not even Pam Troy. I just," a sigh escaped Maria's lips before she continued, "know that the shooting changed something between us and I don't want that. Whatever's going on, I can totally handle it. Trust me."

Liz's eyes glinted with something for a second, she looked like she was on the verge of breaking and Maria swallowed a smug smile and waited. Just as Liz opened her mouth, the door behind her was banged open and Mr. Parker reminded them that they were in fact working and that they weren't being paid to stand around talking about boys.

"Argh, Mr. Parker," Maria practically growled when Liz seemed to snap out of her hesitation and all but run back out to the diner floor to serve the customers. "You just can't help yourself, can you?"

Mr. Parker raised his eyebrows, looking completely confused over the harsh tone in his daughter's best friend's voice, but Maria brushed by him, eager to catch Liz unaware again as soon as possible.

I hope she's not in any kind of trouble, Maria thought worriedly as she absentmindedly placed a soda in front of the guy she had been crushing on. Except, Maria suddenly realized, forgetting about Liz for a fraction of a second, he's not doing anything for me anymore. That's odd, even for me; I normally don't jump from crush to crush like this.

Unexpectedly, an image of a smirking Michael erupted inside her mind and Maria placed her hand on the added throbbing just above her navel at the thought of the strange boy. I can't waste my time thinking about him right now, Maria scolded herself and quickly ran over to take another person's order, I have to make sure Liz isn't having problems that her brilliant mind can't get her out of.

For the next half hour there was so much to do, so many customers that Maria barely had time to breathe, let alone concentrate on interrogating her best friend. She did however manage to send the confused Mr. Parker a glare every now and then, which served to lift her mood to a somewhat tolerable level.

Of course the mood took a complete dive the moment she spotted Isabel Evans entering the diner, along with her two stupid friends. Maria briefly entertained the thought that she should go over and take their orders, so that Liz wouldn't get involved with yet another Evans, but fortunately for Maria's peace of mind, the third waitress, Agnes, strolled over and took the table. I guess that's for the best, Maria thought, Isabel does scare the living daylights out of me anyway.

A few minutes later, Maria was standing behind Liz, waiting impatiently for her finished order from the flirty Jose, when she suddenly felt a pang of…something in her belly and she placed her hand on her stomach with a soft gasp escaping her lips. To her surprise, Maria noticed that Liz had turned around; looking over her shoulder with her hand placed the exact same place as Maria's.

Full of trepidation, Maria copied Liz and turned around slowly, ignoring her every impulse to flee. When she saw just who had entered the Crashdown, she had to repress the instinct on a whole other level. Why is he always around so much these days? Maria mentally moaned and straightened up when Michael made his way over to an abandoned booth, followed closely by Max and to her big surprise, Alex.

Alex looked oddly comfortable amongst the two boys, but even Maria could see the confusion pouring out of the tall teenager. It shone like a beacon of light in the middle of the night. Or, Maria reasoned with an internal eye roll over her unwanted poetic side, like a geeky teenager being suddenly befriended by two mysterious loners.

Liz brought her back from her perusing by turning her head a fraction to let her gaze linger on Max. She looked like she was battling both some fear and some longing. Maria's protective instincts immediately kicked in and ignoring the uncharacteristically wide smile that Michael sent her way, she glared venomously at Max.

He seemed to be able to feel her stare, because his eyes slowly turned from Liz's to hers instead. His deep brown eyes widened a bit at first before narrowing as he calmly returned her gaze. If you're some evil doer out to hurt Liz, I'll get my mom's pepper spray and make sure your eye sockets will forget they ever had eyes!

"Maria," Liz's voice reached Maria in the middle of some pretty detailed fantasy and she blinked out of her staring contest with Max and focused on Liz.

"What? I didn't do anything." She defended, but Liz merely raised a brow in obvious disbelief. "Fine, whatever," Maria muttered, "I'll just get them their stupid cherry cola's."

Liz bit her lip, looking for all the world as though she wanted nothing more than to go over to Max's table herself, but Maria didn't give her a chance to say so. A moment later, she was weaving her way through the tables toward Alex, Michael and Max.

The closer Maria got to the table, the more her stomach started to itch. If this doesn't go away soon, I'll have to go to Mom's healer and see if she can't get me some calming drops that actually work for once. Oh, Michael has pretty eyes. Wait, Maria furrowed her brows; where did that come from? I really need to-

A movement out of the corner of her eyes, was all the warning Maria got before she felt herself trip over a tanned leg and she stumbled forward and pain erupted violently from her hand.

As though in a daze, Maria looked down and saw a big piece of the now broken glass piercing her skin, right through her hand. Blood was oozing out of the wound from around the glass. Vaguely she heard a sound and glanced up.

Michael was running towards her, pushing people out of the way without mercy, he looked almost feral. Isabel literally dragged the girl, who'd tripped her out the door and didn't come back right away. Liz was already sitting next to her, cooing calming nonsense in her ear. Alex was making sure people didn't crowd her and Max was right behind Michael, looking extremely unlike his normal blank self.

"Maria, Baby, are you okay?" Maria heard Michael ask with a frantic tone in his voice. "Max, do something, please!"

Maria blinked, the pain was distracting her too much to really care about what was happening around her. She did, however, hear Mr. Parker say that he would take her to the hospital. Michael offered to take her himself, while Liz stated that she was coming with her to the hospital.

Michael hovered next to her and Maria found herself soothed by his presence alone, a notion that would probably have scared her senseless before her injury, but now it was merely that; soothing. "That's okay," she muttered, interrupting Mr. Parker, "I'll be fine."

"No, that looks bad, it'll be fixed right up, I promise Baby." Michael's voice again. Maria briefly wondered about the pet name, but didn't mention it, because Michael had turned to Max again, "Max, help her. It looks bad; I don't wanna see her bleed again. I can't. Please."

The pain flared up again and Maria couldn't quite contain a groan of agony; she was sorry that Michael had such a bad reaction to her blood, and thankful for the fact that he seemed to think Max could actually help her, but he was just a young man and not a doctor. So, she turned to Mr. Parker, about to agree to the hospital idea, when Michael spoke again, this time sounding both pleading and extremely angry.

"You'd do it in a heartbeat, if it was your-"

To her astonishment, Max suddenly seemed to radiate authority and power; instinctively she felt herself cower next to Liz, who'd also tensed up the moment Michael spoke. Instead of ramming Michael as she'd expected him to, Max simply placed his hand on Michael bare arm and looked him intently in the eyes.

Michael deflated a few seconds later and looked away with an almost shamed expression on his face. Then Max finally spoke. "Mr. Parker, please go get me a towel."

The much older man quickly returned with the demanded cloth and handed it down to Max, who was crouching in front of Maria. He looked her deeply in the eyes and stated gently, "This won't hurt more than a second after I'm done."

Maria gasped in pain when Max suddenly grabbed the piece of glass in her hand and yanked it out, looking as though blood and injuries were a part of his everyday life. He quickly wrapped the towel around her bleeding hand and for one nanosecond, Maria could swear she felt a warmth spreading in her hand before all pain simply disappeared.

"What the…"she whispered and glanced down at Max's big hand on top of the towel. There was still a wound, no question about it, she could feel the cut in her hand, sense the blood flowing, albeit slower now, but there was undoubtedly still an open wound. What she couldn't feel was any kind of pain; any at all.

"She'll need stitches," Max said and got up, pulling Maria to her feet effortlessly, "Michael and me will take her to the hospital, Mr. Parker." He didn't give the older man a chance to protest as he started making his way through the other customers towards the door.

Just as they reached the door, it opened and Isabel stepped back inside. She looked murderous and Maria stopped moving in shock. She vividly remembered all the sneers and superior looks Isabel had given her over the years and would much prefer to receive one of those looks then the one she was being given now.

She looks like she's gonna kill me, Maria decided and swallowed, all her confusion about the painless injury momentarily pushed aside. Behind her, Maria heard Liz arguing with her dad about coming with them to the hospital. Eager to avoid the glare of death from Isabel, Maria turned her head and watched Mr. Parker run a hand through his dark brown hair.

"Look, Lizzie, I'm sorry, but I can't handle the diner without you. Agnes is going home, said she couldn't handle all the blood, so you're all I've got. I'm sorry Sweetie."

"I can help."

The words froze the arguing family members and Maria turned back and looked at the speaker with incredulity shining out of her eyes – and a little bit of fear, to be honest.

Isabel Evans was standing with her arms crossed, her vicious glare was slowly turning back into the blank mask she usually wore and she looked genuinely sincere. "You don't know how to wait tables," Maria protested meekly and Isabel looked down at her, scaring her even more by actually smiling.

"It was my…friend, who did this and I feel bad. I've done this once before, and although it's been a while, I think I'll manage. Besides, Liz will help me out with everything I might need. Right, Liz?"

Maria's attention snapped back to Liz, who was – for once – looking just as afraid as Maria felt. Again Maria had the distinct feeling that there was obviously something going on that she didn't know about. After a long minute, Liz straightened up with a small smile. "Sure, Isabel. Let's go see if there's a uniform in the back that you can use. Call me as soon as you're home, Maria." Liz demanded, leading the way for Isabel.

Maria caught the almost amused look Isabel sent back to Max and the still hovering Michael. Maria also noticed how her eyes softened more than just a little at the sight of Alex, who had placed himself next to Maria, obviously completely determined to follow her to the hospital.

Michael's touch brought her back to the present and a few moments later, they were all sitting in Max's jeep. Michael's arm was around her shoulders and he kept asking her if she was okay. Maria felt like she was dreaming. All her worries and theories were in the back of her mind at the moment, the only thing she worried about now was whether or not Isabel would become a regular waitress at the Crashdown.

If that's the case, Maria thought, leaning into Michael, unconsciously seeking his protection and warmth, I think I might die from stress before I even graduate high school. If Queen Amidala doesn't kill me first, I mean.

TBC…


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A/N Not a lot of Alien thinking this time, but I hope you all enjoyed it regardless. I worried about the interaction between all the characters – after all I had two ´action` sequences this time he he. Also, Max did not heal Maria at this point in time. He merely did something and removed the pain. If you like my story, Please take a moment to review, it really means the world to me! Thank you all.

Until Next Time
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maipigen
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Re: The Antarian Timetravellers TEEN. 5.CH. 07/30/10

Post by maipigen »

A/N I'm so happy for all your comments. Things are slowly picking up now and I hope you'll keep enjoying my story.

If you see any glaring mistakes in grammar etc. please let me know so I can correct it:)

CHAPTER SIX

Max's POV

They had been driving for nearly ten minutes and were just pulling into the parking lot at the local hospital. Max killed the engine and turned to look behind him at Michael. The sight of his second in command covering the smaller blonde with his large frame was something he honestly hadn't thought he'd see so early in this new life they'd embarked upon. A small part of him was envious of the way Maria seemingly just allowed his friend to touch her without any reservations. The more realistic part of him knew that Maria was probably just in shock and would return with vengeance at the earliest opportunity.

At the same time that his emotions were wrecking havoc inside him, Max was also cursing himself out. Hating the fact that he hadn't expected anything like this incident to happen and he couldn't help but worry over how much it could potentially alter the timeline.

"Come on, Maria and let's get someone to look at that hand." Alex said and broke the heavy silence in the car, opening the door. Max noticed absentmindedly how the taller teen was rubbing his stomach with an almost annoyed look on his face before he focused on Maria.

Max decided to worry about his rising suspicions later about that familiar movement and caught Michael's eyes, nodding in Alex's direction. "You go with him and we'll be right behind you."

Michael frowned, "Max, I can take her in. I think she'll be more comfortable with-"

Max interrupted calmly, "I just need to talk to Maria for a few seconds; it won't be long and Maria won't mind; will you, Maria?"

Maria's dazed looking eyes finally turned in his direction and for one small moment, Max could see the iron will she had possessed in his time, giving her the strength to face anything. "Sure," she muttered and started making her way out of Michael's firm embrace.

Michael looked nothing short of tortured, but conceded his hold on Maria when Max sent him a unyielding look. "We'll be waiting just inside the entrance," he told Max and finally left.

Maria took a deep breath and asked quietly, "so what's up, Evans? I kindda need to go in there before I bleed out or whatever."

Max ran a hand through his hair and turned around to fully face her. His eyes must have portrayed his seriousness, because Maria's breath hitched and she tensed temporarily before leaning back against the car seat.

I can't tell her anything until she's seen a doctor, Max decided and said softly, "Maria, I need you to trust me on this. Don't say anything about the numbness in your hand, okay? Act like it hurts when the doctor starts prodding you, before you'll be stitched up."

Maria furrowed her brows and leaned forward a bit, "I don't understand; what are you talking about?"

"I know this sounds weird, but I need you to trust me; I'll tell you everything later. I promise."

Maria eyed him for a long time and for one second, it was like she'd somehow gained her horrific ability to see into him and make his worst nightmares come to life. Max bore the stare, reminding himself that he'd suffered through a lot worse than a pissed off Maria Deluca.

"Okay," Maria eventually agreed and exited the car slowly, holding her injured hand close to her. Just as Max followed her, she suddenly turned around and pointed at him with a severely intense look in her eyes, "but I'm so keeping you to that promise, Max Evans; I have to know whatever it is that's going on so I can help Liz."

That's the girl I remember, always thinking about others, Max thought with a fond smile. The smile quickly disappeared though, when she glared and turned back toward the hospital.

Fortunately it was a slow day at the hospital, so they didn't have to wait more than fifteen minutes; okay, maybe Max had sent Michael over to work his charm on one of the nurses, but still, it didn't take as long as expected.

When Maria had suffered through having her hand stitched, and Max promised himself to never let her go through that ever again, future ability be damned, they started making their way back to the jeep in silence.

On the way there, Max spotted a group of three people stopping near the entrance to the hospital, and he immediately tensed up, preparing to fight if need be. Next to him, Michael was looking just as prepared, clenching his fists.

A second later, Max felt like a complete idiot, when the boy in front yelled out, "Yo, Whitman; what's up, man? Haven't seen you around the volunteer unit lately? Too busy with school, babes and what not?"

He felt Michael briefly touch his own clenched fists and heard his mental voice inside his mind, ´We really need to remember that we're not in the middle of a war yet; don't think Roswell is ready for a couple of aliens with post traumatic stress disorder.´

Despite himself, Max couldn't help but smirk a bit at the sarcasm and forcibly shook off his initial reaction to the strangers.

The three guys were running up to them and a few of them slapped Alex on the back in greeting. "Look man, we kindda need your help today; one of the regulars called in sick. You in?"

Alex looked decidedly uncomfortable as he glanced back at them and Max had to admit he was confused. It was Maria, who ended the confusion in her own unique way, "Don't worry about me, Alex, go be a clown in the children's ward; I promise I won't sneak back in and take pictures."

Alex nodded, shrugged off his obvious embarrassment and followed some of his fellow volunteers after giving Maria a quick hug.

"I never knew Alex worked as a volunteer," Michael said as they started for the car again. Max nodded mutely, he too had never known that particular thing about his friend.

Maria, still looking tired and dazed after her ordeal, let loose a girlish giggle. "Well, you weren't supposed to know. Only me and Liz do. He swore us to secrecy under the Best Friend clause when he started last year. Can we just head home, I'm beat."

It seemed as though in her exhaustion Maria had forgotten about Max's promise and he had to resist the urge to not keep it; but as he got in the car and started the engine, he already knew that he would tell her everything. Well, he amended silently, everything except the time travelling business; I haven't even told Liz that…

They'd been driving for a few minutes, when Max decided that they were in the most private place he could think off; in the outskirts of town where there wasn't a lot of traffic. He sighed heavily and pulled over. After one long second, he turned to face Maria, who was once again, shielded by Michael.

"Maria," Max began, "I'm ready to keep my promise now."

"Max, let me do it, okay?" Michael interrupted with an almost pleading glint in his eyes and not for the first time, Max was reminded of the fact that his second in command had changed just as much as he himself had. There had been a time where Michael would simply demand to do certain things, not caring about Max's orders or the bigger picture. Now, Michael was truly his second; he never disrespected Max's authority anymore, and therefore Max knew that Michael wouldn't go to pieces because of what was about to happen.

"Michael, I'll prefer to do it. I promise, I'll get her right back to you."

Maria looked between them, obviously confused, but still too shocked to really take it in and Max needed to talk to her before she started to panic again. An old memory of a giggling Liz telling him just how Maria had reacted discovering their secret originally surfaced and he banished it with an internal wistful smile. Well, that definitely won't happen again, she's already more comfortable around us than in the original timeline.

Five minutes later, the near abandoned road echoed with a piercing scream and a frantic looking Maria Deluca pushed by Max and stormed out of the jeep, waving her uninjured arm at the very few other vehicles on the road, obviously begging for a ride.

"That's why I should have talked to her," Michael stated somberly, getting out of the car in a more sedate pace, his eyes following Maria closely, "despite the fact that you were best friends, I know my wife and really saw this coming a mile away."

Max gritted his teeth and gestured out on the road where Maria was still running and screaming. "Be my guest, try to calm her down." Oh, Liz, what I wouldn't give for your calm right now…

Liz's POV

"Liz, calm down!" Mr. Parker's voice reached Liz as his hand landed firmly on hers, stopping her from wiping the already clean counter yet again. "I haven't seen you this jumpy since we found that spider in your bathroom."

Liz forced a smile, and walked over to the kitchen, eager to collect an order and keep her mind busy. She couldn't stop thinking about the shocked expression on Maria's face just after she'd been injured and on top of that, her eyes kept drifting over to Isabel, who was looking as though she'd been born for the waitress job.

As Jose handed Liz a freshly made plate of curly fries, she walked past Isabel and couldn't help but tense her entire body in the process. I can't believe I'm suddenly so uncomfortable around her, Liz thought, trying to calm down, she's Max's sister and they have never done anything to harm me…why is she scaring me now all of the sudden?

She remembered the kind way Isabel had looked at her the other day, how she seemed uncharacteristically eager to form some kind of bond between the two of them. Maybe she knew that Max was gonna tell me everything and wanted to make sure I would at least see her good side?

Apparently Liz's stiff posture didn't go unnoticed by the tall blonde, who glanced in Liz's direction and for one short moment, Liz could have sworn that Isabel looked hurt. Why is she hurt? I barely know her.

The latest rush of customers over with, Liz decided to go outside for a little break; she was almost done for the day, but she had a sudden need to go outside for a few minutes. As she walked through the backroom and out the back door, Liz wasn't surprised to see Isabel following her.

"Hey Liz," Isabel greeted her with a small smile, pulling off the antennas with a relieved sigh. "I forgot how hard this job can be."

Liz nodded, but didn't say anything; truthfully she didn't know what to say. Having known Isabel since childhood as this cool popular supermodel wannabe and then finding out she was not only sort of nice, she was an alien, it was kindda hard to make small talk.

"Liz, don't take this the wrong way," Isabel said after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. "But I don't bite and I'm not your enemy, so please stop looking at me like I just killed your puppy or I might have to hurt you."

Liz's heart rate immediately accelerated hearing the last few words, but she calmed down when Isabel smiled once more. "Just kidding; but I'd really like it if we could be friends."

"Because I know about you?" Liz couldn't help but ask. To her surprise, Isabel's face clearly showed the hurt she felt this time and didn't bother covering it up.

"No, because I've known you for a long time and genuinely want to be your friend. I can't believe you'd think that about me. I might be a Czechoslovakian, but-"

"Wait," Liz held up a hand, "Czechoslovakian? Really, who came up with that lame name?"

Isabel grinned, looking her age for once in Liz's opinion, "Well, you kind of had to be there…" Liz mentally rolled her eyes, but listened silently as Isabel continued softly, "Like I said; I might be…you know, but I'm also very human and have been for all my life, and I want you as a friend. I know I might not have acted like it growing up, but Max isn't the only Evans you could form some kind of relationship with."

She looks like my friendship means the world to her, Liz thought, eying the beautiful teen closely, she's never looked so vulnerable before; like I'm important to her all of the sudden. I've already given Max a chance; I should do the same with her.

"Okay," Liz eventually decided and straightened up, "I'm a rational human being, no pun intended, and I'll be logical about this and I know you've never hurt me before and won't do it now, so," she slowly reached out her hand and waited for Isabel to grab it. "I'll be your friend, Isabel Evans."

The smile Isabel sent her lit up her entire face and Liz couldn't even begin to regret her decision, seeing the blatant joy on the other girl's face.

Later that night, Liz was just getting out of the shower when her door was slammed open and Maria stormed in, looking as though she wanted nothing more but to kill the first person she met.

"Maria? Hey, are you okay?"

"Don't you dare ask me if I'm okay, Parker," Maria sneered, banging the door closed behind her, "I'm so far from okay, it's completely not okay to ask me that! Okay?"

"Okay," Liz answered slowly, toweling her hair, but she forgot all about that when Maria spoke again. "So I had a nice little chat with your out of town friends today."

Liz gently sat down on her bed, folding her now wet towel into a cube. She bit her lip and didn't look up at her best friend. "Oh?"

"Yep," Maria's voice was dripping with mockery, "oh. So, why haven't you, who're supposed to be my best friend in the whole wide world, told me anything? I could have helped you, we could've…I don't know, called the feds, the men in black or whatever to help us before it's too late."

Liz quirked a brow and finally looked up, "too late for what, exactly?"

"You know, before they like finish making us into their slaves or…or before they start sucking out our brains? Hello, aliens!"

"Czechoslovakians," Liz muttered, thinking of the exposed look in Isabel's eyes earlier. "I think they'd prefer if we didn't go around Roswell, New Mexico screaming about aliens."

Maria plumbed down on the bed next to her, "I'm sorry Liz, but how is it you're not freaking out right now? Granted, you've been all weird lately but there's been no freaking out on your part. I on the other hand ran screaming from Max's jeep and didn't stop until Mic-Guerin forced me to calm down. Of course," Maria continued with an almost sheepish looking shrug, "I kicked him in place where one shouldn't kick a boy and ran off regardless, but that's beside the point."

"The point is?" Liz asked and fell back on the bed with a plumb.

Maria followed suit with a heavy sigh. "The point being, you're not freaking out like a normal teenage girl!"

Liz couldn't help but grin at that, and seeing the slightly offended look, Maria sent her, she quickly elaborated, "Maria, I'm sorry I'm not acting like you, Roswell's drama queen, but I promise you that I've been freaking out big time. I've wanted to call you so many times, but I didn't know how to start that particular conversation and then there was this whole internal fear about, what if the phone's were tapped and I'd unknowingly send some kind of alien hunter on him…I mean, them."

Maria frowned and rubbed her bandaged hand for a long second. "What are we gonna do, Liz? I don't know what to do; all I want is to run away for a while and come back when they've phoned home and been picked up or something like that. But then…"

Liz turned sideways, propping her head on her hand as she watched Maria seriously, "but what?"

Maria sighed again, smiling a bit at herself, "but then there's this weird feeling that if I did do that, I'd be betraying them. It's like I've somehow connected with them lately without really realizing it. It's weird, especially with Guerin. Whenever I used to look at him, I was slightly creeped out. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm still creeped out, but there's something about him that I just…"

"Like he's supposed to be by your side, right?" Liz added and Maria nodded mutely and Liz continued softly, "I know the feeling. I've been scared and slightly stunned ever since the shooting, but whenever I'm close to Max it all just seems to slip away into nothingness. I never felt that way around Kyle, that's for sure."

Maria grinned. "Well, he's a poodle; Max is like a rare wolfhound or something. I get it. But boy talk aside, I really need you to tell me what to do, because I don't think I can act completely sane around them right now. Especially Isabel, she gives me that heeby jeebies."

"Isabel isn't so bad," Liz defended, but gave up when Maria simply glared at her in disbelief. "Okay, moving on, here's what I've decided to do."

Maria sat up, looking more eager to follow orders than Liz had ever seen the temperamental blonde, "Go on, Parker." She gestured with her uninjured hand.

"Tomorrow, we go to school like always and," Liz waited a second before continuing quickly, "and act like nothing is wrong. Simple as that; no drama or fuss."

Maria crossed her arms, "I'll try, but if I wind up being enslaved to an alien race, you're so gonna do my homework for the rest of the year."

Liz punched Maria lightly in the shoulder, happy that her friend was at least trying to calm down for once. "Deal. Now go home and I'll see you in school first thing tomorrow."

After Maria had left, Liz was laying awake thinking about everything she'd learned lately. With a huff, she gave up on sleep and took out her journal, writing everything down as she'd done ever since she'd learned to write. It was a great way to clear her mind, and had helped to control her freak out a bit.

An hour later, Liz closed her journal with an exhausted sigh and snuggled deep under the blankets. She thought about Max's relieved smile the day he'd told her about his origins and couldn't help but smile. She suddenly felt an unexpected warmth in her belly and placed her hand on it. If she'd been asked to describe the unusual feeling, Liz would have said that it felt like love; love was somehow enveloping her and calming her down enough to finally fall asleep.

Fortunately for Liz, no one was begging for a description and she fell asleep with a peaceful smile on her lips, with her hands gently placed around her navel area, while a voice that was eerily familiar sounded in her mind, `sleep well, my love.´

Michael's POV

The alarm clock rang, jolting him out of a nightmare that was a memory he had no intention of ever revisiting again. The day he'd buried Maria with his bare hands. Seeing her bloody and shocked the day before had obviously triggered some pretty horrifying feelings in his chest and even though everything had been fixed at the hospital and with a little of Max's special touch, Michael hadn't been able to shake off the nightmares.

He sat up from his small bed, rubbing his eyes with a big yawn. A quick peek through the door, revealed an unconscious Hank on the recliner with the TV running and a beer can in his hand. Opting to not risk waking the drunk, Michael simply waved his hand around his body, using his ability to manipulate molecules to change his appearance into something resembling a cleaned teenager.

Ten minutes later, Michael exited the trailer with his worn book bag slung carelessly over his shoulder. He was munching contentedly on a donut that had probably seen better days, but considering Michael's upbringing, he could eat anything that didn't have mold on it. And if it did, I'd just make it go away, he thought to himself in a rare moment of satisfaction, popping the last bite into his mouth.

Michael ignored the few other kids from the trailer park, who, like him, was making their way up to the main road to catch the school bus. He'd never had any kind of relationship with them when he'd been an actual teenager and he sure as hell wasn't about to form any now.

Only a few minutes after he'd arrived at the bus stop, the old school bus rumbled into view, stopping abruptly in front of him. Michael got on, wishing the whole iPod thing was around, when people started chatting and genuinely annoying him and his peace and quiet.

When he arrived at the high school, Michael unceremoniously pushed his way through his fellow students, making sure to be one of the first ones off the yellow monstrosity.

Max showed up next to him as soon as he set foot on the ground, "'Morning Michael. Is my healing still in effect?"

Completely unlike him, Max was smirking devilishly with a teasing glint in his dark brown eyes. Michael on the other hand, had to use all his military training not to blush like a shy virgin. Just the mention of that pain, brought a flare of phantom pains to his groin, where Maria so mercilessly had kicked him yesterday before fleeing as though she had the Devil on her heels.

"Not funny, Maxwell," Michael opted to state when he felt in control again, "I'd managed to block that particular incident. Now, stop talking about it before I remind you of your bachelor party."

Max's smirking face instantly went blank and Michael cursed himself. "Sorry man, I didn't mean to…"

"Don't worry about it, Michael. I just haven't thought about those times in a while. Being back here isn't making it easier. Now, let's get to class; according to Iz, it's Geometry today, maybe you can change your standard F's into A's just to shake things up."

Michael snorted and followed his king inside the high school. Still unable to keep his combat training at bay, his eyes tracked every movement on their way, ready for anything at a moment's notice.

"Loosen up," Max cautioned as they slipped into the classroom where Michael's eyes instinctively sought out Maria, who was sitting next to Liz, eying Isabel with nothing short of fear in her eyes. As the two hybrids sat down and Michael tried not to think of a way to somehow make Maria not fear them, Max continued with a rare smile on his face, "It's just math class, how bad can it be?"

A moment later, Michael forgot everything about his calm, all his thoughts about Maria's fear flew to the back of his mind, because in that moment his eyes landed on a sight he really hadn't expected to see ever again; especially since they were supposed to have stopped this from happening this time around.

Next to him, Max's face transformed into the deadly mask of his warrior king, and Michael had trouble concentrating enough to look even remotely boyish. Isabel's gasp behind him, alerted him to the fact that she too, wasn't doing a good job in acting clueless.

Well, that's understandable, Michael amended, trying to unclench his fists and not lose control of his powers, so he didn't accidentally commit murder in broad daylight.

"Hi. I'm Kathleen Topolsky. I'll be substituting for Mr. Singer who's out sick for a couple of days." Her eyes portrayed only kindness and eagerness to get along with everybody, showing nothing of the F.B.I agent that she truly was.

Liz's POV

Okay, what is going on? Liz's intelligent eyes were darting from the unexpected substitute teacher with the kind smile, to the small trio of aliens that she'd slowly come to care about. The minute she walked in, the entire atmosphere darkened in here and…

Liz looked down at her left hand, which was covering her stomach. The thing that confused and worried her the most was the fact that the odd pull just above her navel had started burning, and in some way she just knew that someone was seriously angry. And another quick glance over to the side later, Liz just knew that she was somehow feeling Max's anger.

What is going on? Why am I feeling his emotions? Is this some kind of residue from the healing? I have to ask him later, wha-

Liz was interrupted in her chaotic thoughts by Maria, who leaned closer and whispered, "I'm very close to turning into my dramatic alter ego right now, Liz. Please tell me, why my stomach and chest are aching and why I just know that it has something to do with Guerin?"

Okay, so it hasn't got anything to do with the healing, Liz thought, while shrugging minutely to Maria to let her know that she wasn't the only one completely confused.

While she'd been consumed by thoughts, Topolsky started taking attendance. A fact that irked Liz, she turned minutely to Maria, "which teacher takes attendance?"

"I'm sorry, are you in the middle of something," Topolsky's light voice asked, she looked down at the papers in her hand, "Miss Parker? If not, I'd appreciate it if you'd concentrate until the bell rings, okay?"

The burning inside her turned outright painful, and Liz barely managed to swallow a gasp. She nodded quietly and as Topolsky continued on, Liz sought out Max. When she saw him, she couldn't quite stop from making a sound of surprise.

He was looking absolutely livid. Why? Liz wondered, rubbing her belly furiously in an attempt to lessen the burning. She just talked to me; it shouldn't be such a big deal. He looks ready to kill, right now he really resembles one of those evil alien types that Maria is afraid off. I wish I could somehow calm him down

One breath later, Liz suddenly remembered how she'd been feeling warmed up from the inside the night before in her bed; like she was loved and cherished. Maybe he had a way of somehow knowing I was feeling restless. Maybe he can feel me just as clearly as I can feel him…Is this some kind of alien power he didn't tell me about? Wait, this has got to mean that I can push my feelings back at him.

Having come up with a tentative plan, Liz leaned her head forward, shielding her face with her dark locks as she closed her eyes tightly, trying with all her might to feel composed and using that to send it through to the still mentally raging Max. Relax Max; she thought out to him, hoping despite the fact that she was a firm believer of science, not science fiction, that she would somehow reach him. It's okay now, just relax

Bit by bit the burning subsided and Liz breathed a sigh of relief when it finally turned into something that reminded her of embarrassment of all things. She chanced a quick look over at Max, nearly flinching when she locked eyes with the boy.

He wasn't looking angry anymore, more like relieved and tired. His usually tanned skin still had a pale taint to it, but it was getting better. He seems like he's seen a ghost, Liz thought and broke the stare when Maria whispered her name.

"Liz, I think I'm coming down with something dangerous. My stomach really hurts, it's burning. Can you take me to the school nurse, maybe a few painkillers will take the edge off until he gets himself under control again?"

Liz shook her head and bent over to write a note to Maria on her notepad. Just try to relax and try to calm yourself, it should do the trick.

Maria raised a brow in question, but a moment later, when the lecturing Topolsky wasn't looking, she snuck a sniff of one of her calming draughts and closed her eyes. Liz didn't notice; her eyes were trained on Michael. Like Max, he had been looking extremely angry, shocked and above all things petrified, ever since the teacher had entered the room. But now, just as she'd suspected, he was calming down and sending long looks over at the still Maria.

Well, isn't this interesting? Liz thought and turned towards the black board to at least act as though she was paying attention to Topolsky. I think there's a few things you haven't told me Max Evans, but rest assured that I'm gonna find out what they are.

When the class ended, Liz grabbed hold of Maria and stated, when the blonde asked in confusion what they were doing, that they were in fact stalking three Czechoslovakians. Obviously Isabel's nickname had stuck, much to Liz's internal chagrin.

To her annoyance, they lost sight of the trio when the other students began flooding out in the halls, blocking their view. It took her a few minutes, but eventually she spotted them. She just caught the sight of Isabel's long frame as she closed the door to the eraser room behind her.

"Come on, Maria, we have to figure out what's going on."

"Liz," Maria panted as she was dragged behind Liz ruthlessly, "I hate to say this, but you're acting a lot like me right now and it's not exactly comforting, you know."

"Shh," Liz hissed and leaned her ear up against the closed door. She only managed to catch a few words, like, "Not supposed…" "…hunt us…" "…change things this time…", "… used our bond."

"What are they saying?" Maria whispered loudly next to her and Liz flinched in surprise, banging her head into the wooden door, instantly quieting the conversation inside the small room.

"Maria," Liz said the name through clenched teeth and quickly dragged her apologetic friend over to the nearest corner to hide. "Did you hear anything?" she asked, when she realized they weren't being followed.

"Not much," Maria answered, rubbing the wrist that Liz had grabbed. "Why are we being so sneaky all of the sudden?"

Liz rubbed her eyes and sighed. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I guess I just wanted to know what was going on with them; I mean, didn't you see them when the teacher walked in? I almost felt like I had to hide before they took out a gun or something."

Maria chuckled, "and you call me the dramatic one. Look, maybe they just really like Mr. Singer; ever thought of that?"

"Oh, come Maria, like I said earlier; what kind of teacher-"

"Takes attendance?" The unexpected voice startled the two friends. Maria actually let out an undignified shriek when the speaker interrupted them. The shriek abruptly died, when she realized that Max and the two other aliens were standing just behind them.

Liz tried to smile, ignoring the usual flutter she felt in her chest whenever Max was near her. "Hi, guys. Interesting class today, huh? I really learned a lot about triangles. Didn't you learn a lot about triangles, Maria?"

Maria didn't answer; she seemed too busy staring deeply into Michael's eyes. Liz nudged her back to reality and she quickly murmured an agreement.

Max's face softened and for the briefest of moments, Liz felt more loved than anything she'd ever experienced before, but then it was gone. "So, I take it that you noticed our less than enthusiastic behavior towards Topolsky." He stated after a tense second.

Liz nodded, "yeah; are you all right? You looked like she was the Devil incarnate. Is she …you know," Liz looked around her and muttered, "An evil Czechoslovakian?"

Isabel laughed out loud at the look of surprise on Max's face and smiled widely, looking a lot more relaxed than she'd been during class. "It's a long story, Liz, but let's just say that we've heard of her. She's a special kind of guidance counselor…Uhm…"

Michael, unexpectedly took over when Isabel seemed to hesitate, "She's a quack; eager to find the dirt about everyone and good at it too, so don't trust her despite her kind appearance. You should know that that kind of thing can be deceiving after all."

"Yeah," Maria sent a mild glower at him, seeming to momentarily forget her fears as she stepped closer to Liz, "we know all about that, don't we?"

Liz barely heard her, she was too busy looking into Max's eyes, again she was having this weird feeling inside her; she just knew he wasn't being entirely truthful towards her. Special guidance counselor? What aren't you telling me, Max? You can trust me, please tell me.

"We just heard that she's a bit too nosy for her job. We do trust you not to take your knowledge further, but she might be cleverer than you think, so please just be careful, okay?" Max said and with one last look, he turned around and walked to the next class.

As they drifted away, Liz heard Isabel say with an obviously forced tone of cheer in her voice, "that went well; now we only need to suffer through her visiting Hank and our day will be complete."

Maria slipped her arm around Liz's shoulder and exhaled deeply, "now, I might not be the smart one of us, but even I know they're not being completely open with us."

Liz nodded with a small, sad smile. The smile vanished when Maria quickly continued, "And now I think it's time we bring Alex up to speed."

Liz shook her head vehemently, "no way; we can't go telling everyone. It's not our secret to tell."

Maria nearly whined, "But I need him. I'm just so close to snapping right now, it's not even funny. I'm probably infected with some weird Czechoslovakian disease, 'cause my insides are acting all strange lately and Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome only has to look at you once, before you turn into goo. We need Alex."

"You got a point," Liz agreed, but added seriously when Maria's eyes lit up, "but are you really willing to bring him into this mess? It's so beyond confusion and we've obviously just begun to scratch the surface."

Maria pouted, but nodded her head a moment later. "I guess so, but we can't keep him in the dark forever, he's too observant for that."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Liz sighed and started making her way to her next class, followed by Maria, who was roaming through her backpack, and muttering something about upping the dosage on her drops if things kept going this way for her.

Topolsky's POV

She entered her new office, let go off all her files and sat down in her admittedly comfortable chair. She eyed her files for a bit and then took out five from the bunch. Then she grabbed the phone and waited for it to take her straight through to her superior.

"Hello agent Pierce, I'm in, and I've made first contact with the suspects, although, I have to add two more to the ones that the sheriff mentioned."

Kathleen glanced down at the two pictures in front of her and answered firmly, "Liz Parker and Maria Deluca. I suspect that their involvement might be more detailed than originally suspected. I will Sir; I'll let you know more in my report by the end of the week when I've had a chance to observe them a bit more."

There was a brief silence, before Kathleen spoke again. "I won't let you down, Sir. I will make sure they are in your hands as soon as possible. We just need the final bit of proof."

Kathleen ended the call and leaned back in her chair, eying the images of Max, Michael, Isabel, Maria and Liz in front of her with a smile that no longer seemed kind and inviting, but dangerous and sinister.

TBC…


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A/N Lame ending, I know, but it really needed something and I could't get it quite right, so this is what I came up with. Hopefully this chapter won't turn you off the story; i did throw in a bit of frantic Maria after all and who doesn't love frantic Maria? hehe. Please take a second to review, and tell me your thoughts and theories;)

Until Next Time
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maipigen
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Re: The Antarian Timetravellers TEEN. 6.CH. 08/02/10

Post by maipigen »

CHAPTER SEVEN

Max's POV

They were stumbling along, both of them spent, exhausted and wounded in more places than one. Suddenly he felt her trip forward a bit too roughly for him to prevent and they both tumbled to their knees.

"I'm sorry," she gasped, an ominous looking blood trail falling from her mouth, "just leave me and get out before it's too late."

Noises from behind them were getting closer and there wasn't a doubt in either of their minds that death was coming for them. "No," he said, stubborn to the end. "We're gonna be okay; I'll think of something."

Her kind, yet old, eyes landed on him and for a brief moment she looked like the very young woman she was, and not one of his closest friends and more importantly, the girl, whose knowledge had helped them take down Khivar's second in command just mere thirty minutes ago. "It's no use…Liz wouldn't have wanted this, she would have wanted you to come back; they all would…Just, please, Max."

Max swallowed, ignoring the excruciating pain in his own limbs, "Forget it, I'll try to heal you again, this little break might have helped me." He held out a trembling, bloody hand and from it a slight glow started to come forth, but before he could use his powers, the glow fluttered and went away like a candle blown out by a gust of wind.

She smiled sadly, "It's no use, Max – you've used the last of your resources fighting Caden, while I took care of Caden's men."

The noise level grew louder and they heard footsteps. She blinked and suddenly got a very determined look in her eyes, "I'm not sorry for any of this, Max – Please don't be sorry. I'm grateful for the chance to know you and having you heal me that time. It was an honor to serve you, my King."

Max never saw it coming; suddenly she launched to her feet and started running towards their roaring pursuers, who'd been just about to reach them, "I'll kill you all, you sons of bitches!"

A moment later, there was a loud, deafening boom, from the one grenade they hadn't used and Max flew backwards several feet. Blood spattering his face and pieces of something and someone was all around him, but Max didn't notice at the time, his entire being was consumed with grief over losing the last of his precious, human loved ones.

"SERENA!"


"No!" His eyes opened with an almost audible snap and he sat up, gasping from the emotional turmoil his nightmare had brought to the forefront of his mind. Absentmindedly, Max realized that once again, his control was waving when he spotted his entire bed was trembling approximately one foot above the floor.

With an effortlessness that could only come from vast amounts of practice, Max took a deep breath and regained control of himself. The bed gently settled down on the floor and the trembling around him came to an abrupt halt.

A few minutes later, Max exited his room and walked down to the kitchen, where he could hear Isabel and his mother chatting amiably. It was still a very surreal experience being around his mother in his sixteen year old body.

"…going away for a business trip, so you better be ready to see some home movies soon," his adopted mother warned Isabel with a happy smile on her face, just as he entered the kitchen. "Oh, good morning, honey."

A second later, the happiness dimmed a bit and she looked at him with a bit more seriousness in her eyes, "did you sleep okay?"

Isabel was eying him with too much interest and knowledge as well, but Max simply shrugged it off, muttering something about a bad dream as he reached over and took a plate, filling it up with a huge amount of chocolate chip pancakes. Inwardly he briefly lamented the lack of Tabasco sauce, but it didn't stop him from giving a rare smile of satisfaction at the first bite.

Dianne was smiling at his palpable contentment, before turning her attention back on her daughter, "Anyway, like I was saying; I'm not looking forward to spending my next four evenings alone, so you better help me occupy my time. I'm not seeing enough of you lately; either of you. Whatever it is you're spending all your time with Michael for, it can't be more important than your mother."

The royal siblings shared a brief look, but simply shrugged with a smile. Dianne rolled her eyes at their obvious dismissal and kept talking.

A few minutes later, Max breathed a sigh of relief when the phone rang, momentarily putting a stop to his mother's renewed, not too subtle attempt at coaxing out the story of his nightmare. When Dianne walked into the living room to gossip with one of her girlfriends, Max decided to ask about something that had been bothering him. Inwardly he knew that his rough night was a contributing factor to his sudden quest for information, he was eager to think about something else than what he'd experienced in his other lifetime.

He slowly turned to Isabel with a serious look in his dark eyes.

She blinked and raised a brow in question when he didn't say anything right away. Max remained silent, and she sat down her coffee cup and asked with a defensive tone in her voice, "What?"

Max glanced once behind him, making absolutely sure that Dianne wasn't about to walk in on them. "What's going on with you and Alex?"

Instantly, Isabel lost her haughty expression and looked down at the table. Her cheeks slowly, but unmistakably, turned a dark shade of crimson. "What about me and Alex?"

"Why is it that he's been looking oddly confused lately and whenever I've been looking at him, he's been rubbing his stomach?"

"Maybe he's got a mosquito bite, ever think of that? It could be serious, infected even."

Copying his sister's earlier movement, Max raised an eyebrow and didn't say anything to that absurd suggestion.

Isabel sighed in defeat a few seconds later, "I don't know what happened, honestly. I was just dreamwalking and then…I don't know."

Max frowned, his interest piqued, he leaned forward. "Dreamwalking? Did anything happen?"

"I might have kissed him." Isabel confessed, quickly adding before Max could get a word in, "and then there was this warm sensation in my whole body and light and…"she trailed off and then looked at him with wide, accusing eyes, "You didn't tell me that happened with you and Liz. Michael didn't either for that matter. Do you think it's the bond? And why didn't I ever have that with Jesse? I mean, I did marry him and I loved him, so…"

Max got up, walked over to the cabinet and took out an already opened bottle of Tabasco sauce. Only after he'd drippled a fair amount on their plates, and had put it back in its place, did he speak again. "I honestly don't know how it happened, Isabel, but I'm positive that you've created a bond with him somehow. If you're starting to feel emotions that aren't yours then you'll know for sure."

Isabel looked thoughtful, chewing a bite of her now perfectly seasoned meal, "Now that you mention it, I have been feeling a bit weird for a little while. But still, why didn't I have the bond with Jesse? I always wondered, but didn't wanna bring it up after Liz and Maria died."

Max forced himself not to react at the mention of that horrible day when he'd cradled Liz's lifeless body in his arms, and tried to think about what his sister was asking. "I think the reason you never bonded with Jesse was because you were already in a bonded relationship with Alex."

"What? No, I wasn't." Isabel argued and Max tried to explain.

"You once told me that you saw Alex after his death; could feel him as though he was next to you, right? I think that you were starting the bond around the time he died. I mean, Michael and I didn't know about our bonding until after we left Roswell, and S-Serena mentioned something about our," he looked around again to make sure they weren't being overheard, "alien side having to grow up and acknowledge our mates, but you've always been more mature than Michael and me, so I'm actually not surprised that you started to bond with your soulmate before we even left Roswell."

Isabel looked completely gobsmacked. That's roughly how I looked when I first discovered the complexities of the bond. I'd probably still be thoroughly confused if Serena hadn't sorted it out for me.

Max froze internally, Serena's last scream of defiance still very vivid in his mind. "What's wrong, Max?" Isabel had finally gotten over her surprise.

"Nothing," he muttered and got up to rinse his plate. "I'm going for a run." Why is it that I have barely thought about her since waking up here, and now she's in my head all the time?

"Max," his sister's solemn tone, made him pause and he looked up from where he was crouching to put on his running shoes. She was looking at him with a mixture of sadness and exasperation. "Please don't shut me out. We need to stand together this time from the beginning. Whatever it is, I'll handle it."

Max sighed and straightened up. He walked over to Isabel and gently placed his hand on her warm cheek. 'I'm sorry, Iz. I just dreamt about Serena tonight, I guess I've been focusing so much on getting back to Liz that my conscience wanted to remind me what I have to prevent this time around.'

He showed her his dream in flashes and Isabel nodded gravely with a small glint of guilt in her eyes. Apparently she too had been focused on finding her lost love and not much else since returning. "I'm sorry," she muttered.

Max ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Yeah, me too. I still have to get used to the whole idea about not keeping things bottled up. Usually Liz was the only one, who could make me see sense and now with the whole Topolsky thing-"

"Who's Topolsky?"

Dianne's cheerful voice snapped the two hybrids from their serious conversation and they turned to their mother. "No one." They said in unison and a few minutes later, Dianne watched in confused amusement as her children literally ran out the door for a jog.

Alex's POV

He awoke with a start, gasping for air, frantically clutching his stomach. Glancing down with a frown, Alex sighed. That makes it the third time I've woken up like this; this is getting ridiculous.

Ever since that strange dream where he'd kissed Isabel Evans, he'd been walking around with an odd feeling inside. His stomach kept itching at the most inopportune moments and he was really getting sick of it. The only time the sensation seemed to calm was, ironically enough, whenever he was within viewing distance of Isabel.

Deciding to stop thinking about the girl of his dreams (literally), Alex sighed and got ready for the new day. His focus slipped from Isabel to a new problem, two problems in fact. Liz and Maria were hiding something from him. A lot could be said about Alex, but he wasn't unobservant.

Liz had been acting strange ever since the shooting at the diner and Maria had developed a weird looking tic whenever he came near them. She acted like she did when they were kids and she was trying her hardest to act casual while keeping secrets from him.

Like then, it wasn't really working out for her this time around and Alex was getting mighty sick of all the stopped sentences and guilty glances whenever he was around either of them. And then there was the whole thing with Max and Michael.

The two boys had stuck around him like glue ever since the gym incident; they were complete mysteries and for some weird reason they seemed to want to hang out with him. For a boy, whose only real friends had always been girls, this was a new phenomenon.

And then there's the whole thing about them staring at me whenever they think I'm not looking. It's creeping me out. Alex finished his last spoonful of soggy cereal and sighed. Maybe Maria was right; they're on to something, worming their way in somehow…but for what reason?

Alex shook off his dark thoughts and with renewed determination; he left the house and made his way to the Crashdown, knowing that his two best friends were working the morning shift. I won't move until they've talked to me, the tall teenager swore to himself.

Alex was distracted halfway to his goal by a sight that made him eternally grateful for having put on some loose pants. Isabel Evans was running towards him, wearing a tight black top and some sweatpants. She was jogging next to her brother. To Alex's mild envy they looked like they could keep going forever, like they were made for it.

A moment later, Isabel spotted him and started running a little faster towards him. Alex's heart rate increased and he remembered his dream, where Isabel had said so softly, "I'm not inapproachable, you can talk to me and I swear I won't turn you down."

"Good morning, Alex," Isabel's voice brought him back to the present and he looked into her beautiful eyes and felt a peculiar lurch just above his navel. Excitement that didn't seem to actually come from him, but the emotion matched his own enough so he quickly forgot about it.

"Hi, Isabel." He was proud that he didn't stutter. His eyes slid over to the silently watching Max. He really does looks way too old to be a teenager, Alex thought, unconsciously taking a small step backwards as his instincts acknowledged that the male before him was stronger.

"So," Isabel didn't seem to notice Alex's discomfort, "I'm just out running with my brother."

"Yeah," Alex smiled, "I kindda noticed that."

Isabel had a brief look of mortification on her face, before she realized that he wasn't mocking her for stating the obvious. She sent him a wide smile. "I was wondering if you'd like to meet at the Crashdown for some early lunch later?"

Max coughed and stepped a few steps away, evidently willing to give them their privacy. Something Alex was grateful for, although he was now sort of friends with the quiet Evans, it wasn't a secret that he was extremely close to his sister and thus very protective.

"Sure, I'm just on my way there, actually." Alex finally replied when Isabel seemed to get a bit worried about his lack of answer. He was rewarded with another big smile that lit up her entire face. Alex practically drooled at the sight. Is she interested in me? Alex Whitman, the King of dorks in Roswell?

"Well, I'll just run home and take a shower," Isabel stated, "I'll meet you there in an hour or so, okay?"

When Alex nodded, a bit distracted by the doubled feeling of jubilant joy in his belly, Isabel caught Max's eye and they hurried onwards in the direction of their house.

As Alex walked the rest of the way to the Crashdown, his determination to question his friends were put in the back of his mind, he was much more interested in asking them for advice in how to act around the stunning girl that was Isabel Evans.

When he stepped into the Crashdown, the familiar smell only heightened his mood. There was just something about the smell of fried foods that spoke to him. His eyes immediately landed on Liz, who was leaning on the counter, looking bored out of her mind. Maria stood next to her, looking, if possible, even more bored.

Alex could understand that, the diner was practically empty. "Hey Liz, hey Maria" he waved at them. They actually flinched in chorus at his greeting and Alex frowned. And we're back to the reason I wanted to go here…

With a deep sigh, Alex strode up to the two young women, placing himself on one of the stools. "So," he began, casually looking through the menu he knew by heart already, "what's up?"

Maria shrugged and started wiping the counter. Liz busied herself by filling the salt shakers, not looking at him as she answered, "not much, you?"

Deciding not to pressure them right now, Alex smiled happily, "Well, I think I've got a lunch date with Isabel."

The salt shaker in Liz's hand slipped from her grasp, and fell to the floor and shattered. Liz didn't care apparently, she simply continued looking at him with big eyes. "Isabel as in Isabel Evans? What? Tell me everything?" Maria stood frozen with her mouth opened in disbelief, obviously just as curious and dumbfounded as Liz.

For just one little moment, Alex felt the wall they'd raised between them crumple to the ground in their eagerness and he quickly dove into his tale about how the magnificent Isabel had actually been the one to ask him and not the other way around. The three of them were so busy talking that neither of them noticed that they were all gently rubbing their stomachs.

Isabel's POV

Today has been a great day, Isabel decided as she sat quietly next to a pensive Max. In the backseat, Michael was eying the landscape with an equally thoughtful look on his face. Isabel knew that she should try and be a bit more serious too, usually it was something she excelled at; her nickname in the war had been Ice Queen after all, but after the day she'd had, Isabel wasn't really in the mood to go to the desert to try and come up with some plans for avoiding the F.B.I or anything alien related.

Realizing that the two other hybrids were not willing to listen to her babble about what a wonderful time she'd had with her lost love, Isabel leaned her head back on the headrest and closed her eyes with a contented sigh.

The way Alex's face had brightened when she walked into the diner caused her insides to tingle; his shy grins whenever he was joking and realized that she in fact understood and liked his humor. The best part, Isabel thought with another unusually happy sigh, had to be when I kissed his cheek before I left. His whole face turned red, it was so adorable.

As Max drove them to their destination, Isabel refused to remember the last time she'd been here. She really didn't want to remember Khivar's furious expression as they closed the path into the cave with their powers, how he swore to kill them and especially her, his old lover, slowly and painfully.

Isabel shook her head, trying to let go of the hated memories that just seemed to slip in regardless of her struggles. Alex, think of Alex and his goofy smile; his warm eyes and the fact that you finally have a bond with someone!

Her mood restored, Isabel followed her family out the jeep and walked next to them as they made their way to the hidden cave that concealed the granolith. She looked over at Michael, curious to see how he was taking being back in a place where they had so many nightmarish memories. He was looking pale, but his jaw was clenched and he was clearly not going to let their bloody past overwhelm him. Good, she thought proudly.

Isabel smiled a small smile before looking over at her brother; her smile froze on her face and her steps faltered a bit. The Max Evans she'd been seeing ever since returning to the past, the Max Evans who'd tried his best to fit in as a sixteen year old again, was no more. His face was a blank mask, the same emptiness that he'd shown ever since Liz's death was back. This was the face of her King. Not good, Isabel thought with a frown.

"Max?"

Michael seemed to notice the same thing as she did and shook off his own gloom and walked up right next to Max, who was looking at Isabel with a raised brow, just like he'd done this morning. Only that time it didn't scare me like it does now

"Yes, Isabel?" He asked when she didn't speak after saying his name.

Isabel hesitated, but ultimately decided to be blunt, "don't turn into him again, okay?"

Max blinked in confusion, but when he saw that Michael was nodding in agreement with Isabel, realization seemed to dawn on him and his eyes turned warmer; more alive. "Sorry, I was just remembering."

"I know," Michael spoke for them both and shrugged, "me too. But let's go do what we came here for and stop stalling."

Max nodded and Isabel silently followed while she was secretly very relieved to see the human side of Max reappear. The war had changed them all; the deaths of their friends and the people, who fought for them, had been one of the major reasons for that change. The kills they'd had to make to survive and stay one step ahead of Khivar was another. Ultimately, none of them had changed more so than her brother.

He'd always been idealistic and somewhat hopeful for their success, especially after Serena and the Unit had entered their lives, but after Kyle, Serena, Maria and Liz had all died in some way or form to protect him; the biggest hope for the Antarians, Max had literally turned into another person. He killed without mercy, living only for vengeance. He no longer gave a damn about saving his home planet; he just wanted to see Khivar dead. Along the way, Max had transformed into someone that quite frankly scared the crap out of Isabel and she was not happy to see any kind of sign of his return.

No matter what, Isabel swore, not for the first time, I'm not letting that happen again!

A few minutes later, the trio had reached the podchamber and Max mutely placed his hand where it needed to be and before long the heavy stone slid aside, allowing them entrance.

It was odd being back in the chamber and Isabel's skin was itching in discomfort. Her eyes landed on the spot where she'd mercilessly killed the only one of Khivar's men that had ever managed to gain entrance to the podchamber, just moments before waking up in her bed in this timeline.

"It's okay, Iz," surprisingly, the comforting voice belonged to Max, "if you'd be more comfortable, we'll go outside."

"No," Isabel shook her head, "I think it's good for us to see this again and focus on not making the same mistakes. Let's just start planning before I lose the last of my good mood, please."

They sat down on the cool stone floor and Isabel and Michael looked at Max, unconsciously doing what they had promised not to, placing all their expectations on his shoulders. Fortunately, Max was so used to this that he didn't seem to realize what they were doing.

"I have an idea, but I'm not sure you're gonna like it," he began after a small pause.

Isabel crossed her arms; she suddenly had a very bad feeling in her chest. Michael, on the other hand, gestured for Max to continue without saying anything.

"I suggest that we initiate contact with Nasedo and then proceed to kill Pierce so Nasedo can do what he did the first time around and take down the Special Unit from the inside."

"No!" Isabel's hate for Nasedo flared to life and she jumped to her feet. "We can't do that, it's asking for trouble!"

Max calmly nodded, "Yes, but at least we know what to expect from him and…"for one brief moment, something dangerous flashed in Max's eyes, "Tess. We now know that he has to follow my orders, remember? And whether we like it or not, Tess hasn't actually done anything yet, so we can't go on hating her."

"Oh yes we damned well can," Michael joined the discussion with a dark expression on his face. "Khivar wouldn't have known half of what he did about us, if that two-faced bitch hadn't ratted us out to save her own neck."

Max got to his feet, he looked at them with disappointment and Isabel suddenly couldn't bear to face him. Judging from the fidgeting Michael was doing, he was having similar difficulties, "Don't forget that I know firsthand just how much she betrayed us, but," Max held up a hand, "if I'm willing to try and get past it so we can save everything and everyone we hold dear, you two should try and do the same. Especially you Michael…"

There was a long silence and then Michael slowly stood up, facing Max. Isabel watched with amazement, how he gave a short bow and stated seriously, "You're right, Max. I'm not willing to risk Maria's life again, so I'll follow you like I always have."

Max nodded once and locked eyes with Isabel. She still couldn't look him in the eye and looked away. It was true that Max had suffered the most from Tess's betrayal; not taking into account what had happened during their time in Roswell, Tess had leaked information during her pregnancy on Antar and Khivar had used that knowledge ruthlessly to capture Max and torture him in an attempt to lure out the rest of the rebels, but even after two weeks, Max hadn't broken from the pressure, and when Liz led Serena's Gifted Unit in a rescue attempt, only Max, Serena and two from her unit had made it back out alive.

The memory of watching the extremely battered Max cling to Liz's body and sobbing was still one of the worst ones she'd ever lived through. And then we lost Maria only a few hours after that, Isabel sadly recollected. Losing Alex was one of the hardest things I've ever had to go through, but I can't let any of that happen again; it's not only his life that's on the line

Finally, having made her decision, Isabel looked back up and met her brother's eyes confidently. "I'm in."

Max's POV

It was late in the evening and Max was about to begin the first phase of his plan. He felt Michael's presence behind him, watching his back in case of trouble. For a person like him, a locked door didn't pose much difficulty, but in this case, he didn't even have to use his powers; his photographic memory already made sure that he knew the code to enter the building.

"It's kindda weird doing this again," Michael whispered with a silent grin, "considering that last time you were chewing me out for breaking in here."

Max rolled his eyes and closed the door to the UFO center quietly behind him, "Don't start, okay?"

After having finally come up with a battle plan, Max was almost eager to get it underway. He couldn't wait to get the F.B.I out of their lives – especially agent Pierce. This time he's not gonna get one chance to go near Liz and the rest of them, Max promised inwardly as he soundlessly walked into the computer room where his former boss, Milton and later Brody had stored some pretty neat stuff, considering it was just human technology.

Five minutes later, Max looked up at the impatient Michael. "I found it; he's actually easy to find once you remember what Serena taught us."

Nodding, Michael said, "Great, now finish what you have to do and let's get outta here before-"

The light was suddenly turned on and both hybrids tensed, preparing themselves for a fight; only to deflate slightly when Milton stepped inside the office with an angry expression on his face. "What are you two doing? I'm gonna call the cops!"

Michael looked like he wanted to flatten the pompous little alien believer, but Max quickly intervened. He still remembered how to handle the fanatic curator. "Please don't Mr. Ross. We're sorry. I swear I'm not doing anything dangerous." Not yet anyway, Max added on the inside.

Milton frowned, still looking angry and Max continued, acting every bit as fanatic as Milton usually did, "I just…I heard about a UFO sighting in the area and I know that this place is the best place to find information and I'm just so sorry; please don't call the cops! My parents will kill me!" Unnoticed, Max pressed the last few keys and finished his self-appointed mission.

Michael couldn't quite conceal the shock on his face, seeing Max acting like a kid caught with his hand stuck in the cookie jar, but he tried his best; nodding along to Max's explanation.

Fortunately all of Milton's attention was on Max so he didn't notice Michael's less than stellar acting abilities. "What sighting? The scanner I have didn't mention any UFO sightings," he asked after a brief pause.

Max swallowed a curse, he'd forgotten about Milton's police scanner. "Well, it wasn't really a confirmed sighting," he slowly said, looking down bashfully, "I mean; I read about it in my school paper and thought I'd just check it out. I'm just so eager. We're so eager, right?" Max glanced at Michael, who nodded fervently.

"Well," Milton said, almost reluctantly letting go of the phone in his hand, "I can understand your enthusiasm kid and even respect it as an enthusiastic believer myself, but trust me, there hasn't been any sightings around here. And I'd appreciate it a lot if you'd come around during business hours in the future."

Max breathed a sigh of relief when Milton stepped aside, allowing them to pass. They were almost at the front doors and Michael had just whispered, "That was a bit too close, even for me, Maxwell," when they heard the curator call out to them, or more specifically Max.

"Hey kid, can I talk to you?"

Max nodded and stepped away from Michael, so the older man could talk to him in private. "Look, I like you," Milton began, "like I said, you've got something I can relate too. Fire and drive. Unlike that big loaf over there," he pointed none too discreetly at Michael, "I can only offer you minimum wages and the hours aren't all that good, but I've got a lot of things a believer such as yourself might find interesting."

Fifteen minutes later, Max exited the UFO center, loaded with books, followed by an outright grinning Michael. "Oh, man, this is priceless," Michael declared. "We learn all about our heritage from our little healed girl genius, discover about unknown abilities due to all our dangerous adventures, travel through time itself and still you end up working for an obsessed extremist."

"Shut up."

"Like I said," Michael repeated, "priceless."

"Well," Max tried to think of the bigger picture, "at least we succeeded in our job. Now all we can do is wait."

For one short moment, Michael regained his seriousness. "Yeah and hope to hell it doesn't blow up in our faces."

"That too." Max said evenly and unloaded all Milton's alien books in the back of his jeep. "Wanna sleep at my house tonight?" he then asked, trying to think of something else.

Michael ran a hand through his hair, "maybe later; right now I just sort of feel like I need to spend some time around Maria. Don't worry," he continued, "I'll behave."

Max smiled briefly. "I know. I'd go watch over Liz if it wasn't because Isabel needs to know how everything turned out. I have a feeling that all the emotions of today will have filtered through the bond. Just remember to actually get some sleep."

Michael agreed and Max quickly started the jeep and drove home to tell Isabel of their success and his new, yet old, job. At least she won't mock me; he thought with a grimace, she's working part time at the Crashdown now, so she isn't allowed to point fingers...

Maria's POV

Maria was sitting by her window, looking out the glass onto the empty street. Why, she didn't really know, she just had a feeling that she should do that. There was a sudden stagger in her belly and Maria groaned loudly, placing her hand on her abdomen.

This time it was pure amusement that filtered through to her. At least it's changing into something bearable now, Maria thought sourly. All through the day, her mood had jumped up and down; she'd felt that odd pull inside her that somehow let her know of Michael's emotions.

Earlier in the day, it had been almost painful, a wave of sorrow, anger, guilt and then unyielding respect flew at her. She almost felt like she'd been hit in the stomach with a bat or something like that. One look at Liz's pale face, told her that her best friend was living through something of the same; except for the fact that Liz had actually run past her into the toilet where she'd been sick for a pretty long time before Mr. Parker had sent her upstairs with a firm order to rest.

How long she'd been sitting there on the windowsill lost in thought, Maria didn't know, but suddenly she noticed a familiar shadow on the other side of the road. Unexplainably she suddenly felt a mental image flash through her mind, like déjà vu; the same shadow lurking in the dark, staring at her through the heavy rain with big puppy dog eyes.

Maria scrambled to her feet, opening the window and sticking her head out. "What are you doing here, Guerin?"

Michael stepped closer and the nearby streetlamp enveloped him in light, allowing her to see him much clearer. He really is quite handsome, Maria thought, but she forced the traitorous thought back, not willing to feel even the slightest bit of attraction to an alien; no matter how cute he was.

"Nothing," Michael answered with a small smile on his lips. Maria tried not to look at them and instead focused on his eyes. "I guess I wanted to make sure you were alright after…everything."

Biting her bottom lip, Maria thought about how she'd kicked him in the groin, how hurt he'd looked at her for just one second before the real pain set in and he fell to the ground with a moan of agony.

"I'm coping," she settled on saying and then said in a rush, "and I'm sorry about lashing out on you and I hope you're not permanently injured."

Michael smiled, it was a slow, wide smile that re-invited the thought about his looks into Maria's mind, "I'm fine now, thanks. Like I said, I just wanted to check up on you. Make sure, you're not sniffing too many drops and trying to cope with everything on your own."

"I've got Liz," Maria stated quietly, not really noticing that she was leaning further and further out the window.

Michael nodded. "Yeah, you two have always been quite a pair, haven't you?" Maria could suddenly feel a short stab of grief and determination inside her and she frowned, pondering its meaning.

"Well," Michael's voice brought her back to the present. "I'm gonna go now. I'll see you in school first thing Monday, DeLuca. "

Before she knew it, Michael had taken the last few steps to reach her and his warm hand touched her neck gently, almost reverently and he had pressed a quick, chaste kiss on her right cheek. "Sleep well."

A moment later, he was gone and Maria slowly stumbled back into her room. She was completely confused. On one hand Michael Guerin was the kid, who she'd always loathed. The guy, who'd had the audacity to say that she was a crappy waitress because she told him that tips wasn't a city in Russia. The guy, who'd turned out to be a freaking alien!

And then…Maria sighed, on the other hand, Michael Guerin was the guy, who'd jumped in and shielded her with his body at the day of the shooting, the guy, who'd comforted her after getting injured at the diner and called her baby of all things.

I need to bring out the big guns, Maria decided after having tossed and turned in her bed for nearly an hour, still wholly awake. She turned to her nightstand and took out the bottle of calming drops that her mom had made her swear only to use in dire emergencies.

And if this isn't an emergency, Maria thought resolutely, I don't know what is! Five minutes later, she was fast asleep.

Somewhere in Seattle

A continuous beep resonated all through the small, unfurnished house. Feeling surprised for once, he reached out, grapping the device and looked at it with furrowed brows before pressing a few of the glowing buttons. The sound abruptly stopped and a message came spilling forth in a code that he hadn't seen since his days as an active soldier.

"Well, isn't that interesting," he muttered quietly, reading the whole thing with an intense look in his eyes. He had waited a long time for some kind of sign from the King, but nothing like this. "Interesting indeed."

"What are you doing, Nasedo?"

Nasedo looked up from the message and smirked coolly at the pretty, young, blond girl standing in the door. "I think it's time we moved back to the rest of our family," he simply stated, ignoring her surprise. "Start packing, we leave in the morning."

TBC…


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A/N *peeks out from behind the sofa* Hope you're not disappointed ;) I know I've written a lot of Michael and Maria, but I'm using the canon as a reference. Those two were always explosive and quick to get things going; whereas we waited a looong time for Max and Liz to even kiss. Don't worry, I'm planning to go into depths with all the couples eventually; but like I said, this story is not going to be rushed.

As for Serena, you'll learn about her background in a future chapter; I can reveal that you have met her before though in the canon, but I don't think you'll know who I'm hinting at -I'm trying to be original after all;)…lol. Please take a moment to award my quick update (and it's still a long chapter too!) with a little review ;) Until next time
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maipigen
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Re: The Antarian Timetravellers TEEN. 7.CH. 08/04/10

Post by maipigen »

A/N Thanks to all your reviewers. You're giving off some interesting theories, I must say. In this chapter, there's gonna be a little bit of BadMax:) Just a smidge, but he's justified. Enjoy:)

CHAPTER EIGHT

Liz's POV

"This has got to be the biggest waste of time ever," Maria whispered in her ear and Liz had to fight hard to suppress a giggle.

Apparently she hadn't succeeded, because she noticed that both Kyle and Max had turned halfway in their seats to look at her.

The look Kyle sent her was a mixture of his usual longing and bitterness. And she quickly looked away, knowing that he still carried a torch for her. But how can I even think about being with him anymore, now that I'm

Unable to finish her thought, Liz's gaze trailed over at Max who'd turned back to listen to Topolsky's lecture about their future possibilities. He really is quite handsome, she thought, fighting off a blush, that dark hair and his eyes and not to mention his-

"Liz," Maria's voice reached her and she jumped a bit. "You're spacing out. That's usually my job. Especially in this scholastic environment."

Smiling ruefully, Liz paid attention for the rest of the class, nodding every now and again whenever Maria muttered something none too politely about the lecture and those career sessions they'd been suffering through the entire day.

When the class finally ended, Maria dragged Liz past Max, not giving her a chance to do more than say hello. Liz had a pretty good suspicion that the quickness was because of Michael's presence next to Max. And Maria was doing almost everything in her power these days to avoid the other teenager.

Just as they exited the classroom, Kyle's voice reached them. "Hey. Uhm, could I maybe talk to Liz for a little bit?"

Maria rolled her eyes, but released her death grip on Liz and went in search of Alex. Liz smiled politely at the guy, whom she'd practically been dating before the shooting. "Hey Kyle."

Kyle smiled, looking oddly shy all of the sudden and Liz recognized the signs with an internal sigh. He's gonna ask me out again. How do I reject him without hurting his feelings? He's such a nice guy.

Suddenly there was a flash of something that burned hotly in her stomach and Liz frowned, placing her hand on the spot. Anger? No, that's not it. What's going on?

Liz looked over Kyle's shoulder and locked eyes with Max. He looked, if not mad, then at least not in a positive mood. He broke the stare a few seconds later and turned around to talk to a smirking Michael. What is going on?

"…so, what do you say?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

Kyle's eyes darkened at her obvious lack of interest in his words and Liz smiled, "I'm sorry, I was just spacing out for a second there. What did you say?"

"I asked if you wanted to go to a movie with me tomorrow night? There's this great one playing…or we could just rent some movies instead. I'd really like you to go out with me. It can be casual and everything, I won't expect anything, I just want to hang out with you, Liz. You know, like we used to."

Biting her lip, and trying her best to ignore the increasing burn in her stomach, Liz couldn't make herself decline. After all, she reasoned internally, he's been my friend a lot longer than he ever was my boyfriend. I miss our friendship.

"Okay, Kyle. I'm free tomorrow. How does seven o'clock sound?"

A few minutes later, they'd settled on the time and place and Liz made her way to her next class. It was an odd class; the subject was boring as always, but throughout the entire period, Liz could sense Max's emotions churning in her belly. It ranged between annoyance, amusement and something else that she just couldn't put her finger on. She didn't share the class with Max, so she couldn't watch his face to determine what was going on.

Instead she kept looking over at Michael, who, quite uncharacteristically, was once again present in class. He was sitting a few seats in front of her, allowing Liz to watch him closely. I wonder if he knows what going on? She thought, at the same time writing down the notes on the blackboard without really thinking about it. It's no secret that he's Max's best friend. I should try and ask him more about the whole alien business, but, Liz glanced over at the large teenager again, he's never made any secret about not liking me. I bet he won't even talk to me, especially if I mention the whole feeling things from Max

"Miss Parker?"

With a jolt, Liz returned to the present, realizing with flaming cheeks that the entire class was staring at her. Some were even giggling at her predicament. "Yes, sir?" she asked, praying that the earth would open up and swallow her.

"I'd appreciate it, if you'd pay attention to my lecture." The stuffy, middle-aged, tweed wearing man said with a superior look in his beady eyes.

Chastesed, Liz nodded and tried to put her thoughts behind her.

When the class ended, Liz was one of the first ones out the door. She ran to her locker and changed her books for her next class and was in the middle of toying with the zipper of her book bag when a shadow fell over her and she looked up.

Immediately, she felt a greeting smile break out on her lips at the sight of Max. "Max, hi," Liz said as her hands kept trying to close the uncooperative zipper on her bag. A second glance at the boy she didn't completely admit having a crush on, told Liz that he was being more serious than usual.

"What's wrong?" Concern laced her words and she put the still opened book bag back in her locker to focus on him instead.

To Liz's surprise, Max's fidgeted, shifting his weight from one leg to another without saying anything at first. Liz was about to repeat the question when Max finally spoke. "You shouldn't go out with Kyle Valenti. It's a bad idea."

"Uhm, excuse me," Liz began with a frown marring her features, "but that's not really your business, is it Max."

Max swallowed, before answering, "It's just not a good idea for you to be with him, especially since you don't feel the same thing for him as he does for you." Max's lips moved up into a smirk that made Liz suddenly want to punch him, "I didn't think you'd be one of those girls playing with a guy's heart."

Liz took a deep breath, trying to ignore both her growing anger and the tiny spark of amusement and annoyance that she was pretty sure was coming from the boy in front of her. It wasn't working and Liz grabbed her book bag, and slammed the locker with a loud bang that echoed through the halls.

People stared a bit, but quickly averted their attention when Liz sent the onlookers a glare of death, which was completely uncharacteristic for the mild mannered brunette. Finally having acted out a bit of her anger, Liz met Max's eyes.

"I'm not using Kyle. He's my friend and like it or not, Max Evans, it's got nothing to do with you. I see who I wanna see, and that's that. Now, excuse me, I'm late for class."

Liz pushed her way past Max, making sure to bump roughly into him just to be annoying and walked to the classroom. She was practically seething with anger. How dare he say those things to me? And that smug look on his face? Urgh!

Liz wasn't typically a hot tempered girl, her anger seldom lasted long, but one those rare occasions where something irked her, it was dangerous to be around her. And in that moment, her anger showed no signs of diminishing.

It was all made worse when she rounded a corner and accidentally bumped into someone. "Hey watch it, Dinergirl!" someone hissed and Liz looked up and froze.

The girl she'd barreled into was the one who'd so maliciously tripped Maria in the Crashdown the other day, Michelle something. Liz knew that Isabel had taken her own anger out on the ditzy teenage girl, but Liz had never gotten a chance to talk to her herself. And boy am I in the mood to "talk" to her, Liz thought as she straightened herself back up and crossed her arms.

"Original name calling there, Michelle. I'm proud to see that several years in school have made you so ingenious."

Michelle's eyes nearly popped out of her eyes, but she didn't get a chance to respond, before Liz continued, "I've been meaning to talk to you ever since you hurt my best friend. If you ever even look at her again, I'm gonna make sure that you get food poisoning from every take out place in town for the rest of your miserable life. "

Michelle snorted, and glanced back at her waiting friends, who were watching the confrontation with eager eyes. When she looked back at Liz, the brunette noticed a spark of fear in her eyes. Apparently she isn't too keen on public mocking when she's the victim…Well, too bad!

"Having fun?" Isabel's voice suddenly sounded from behind Liz and the latter noticed genuine horror in Michelle's entire stance at the sight of the tall blonde. If she wasn't so mad at the moment, Liz might even have felt a bit sorry for her, but fortunately she wasn't and she turned halfway around to speak to Isabel.

"I was just reminding Michelle to watch where she puts her feet in the future. Wouldn't want people to get hurt again, now would we?"

Isabel looked almost shocked over Liz's abnormal display of bloodthirstiness, but she quickly covered it up and grinned evilly down at the now visibly shaking Michelle. "Oh, I'm happy to see you looking out for other people, Liz. I'll help you whenever you need it."

Isabel's eyes narrowed and she asked, with a none too concerned smirk on her lips, "Did you sleep okay last night, Michelle? You look a bit worn out… Are you having bad dreams? You should take better care of yourself you know. Sleep is very important."

Isabel took a gentle hold of Liz's arm and all but dragged her into the class they shared together, before Liz could say anything else. They settled down next to each other and Liz, whose bad mood wasn't growing any better, crossed her arms and looked down at the table in front of her.

"What's up, Liz? Not that I didn't enjoy watching Michelle almost pee herself, but this angry vibe you're giving out, isn't like you."

Liz clenched her jaw for a second, grinding her teeth as she fought off her initial desire to say something less than positive to her new friend. After a few seconds, Liz opened her mouth, fully prepared to spew something boring and unimaginative about having had a rough night, but instead she spilled everything without the slightest pause.

As she finished giving the rundown of her talk with Max, Liz wondered why she'd told Isabel about it. It's not like me to whine about something like this? Especially to a girl I've barely ever talked to…Besides, she's his sister; she's bound to try and defend him at all costs no matter how big of an idiot he seems to be.

Isabel surprised her though, a little. For a brief moment, Isabel looked like she couldn't quite decide whether to laugh or growl. She muttered something that Liz swore sounded like, "he just couldn't keep himself in check for one little date," before speaking in a normal tone of voice. "Look Liz, I'll be the first to admit that my brother is a little on the possessive side. But-"

Liz interrupted with a sigh, rubbing her tense neck soothingly, "Look, Isabel. I'm not gonna stop being angry at him; I know I'm being dramatic and I bet when I'm a bit more calm, I won't…Well, I just need to calm down first. So, let's just focus on getting through the day and I'll talk to you later at our shift at the Crash, okay?"

Despite looking as though she desperately wanted to say something, Isabel held her tongue and turned toward the front of the room to concentrate on the just arrived teacher. Liz was grateful and leaned forward, resting her head in her hand while silently wondering just why Max was infuriating her so.

It can't all be me, she thought, gnawing on her bottom lip, I guess the feelings I get from him are feeding my own anger and multiplying it…Well, too bad, I'm too mad to calm down just yet…Max isn't the boss of me and I'll act like any normal teenage girl and be mad at him until he caves in.

In the back of Liz's mind, she briefly considered how Max had managed to rile her up with so little effort and if her feelings just might expand beyond a common crush, considering the pang of hurt she realized belatedly that she'd felt when Max hadn't come after her to apologize immediately.

Max's POV

Max wasn't in the best of moods when he followed Michael into the Crashdown that evening to pick up Isabel after her shift. They'd arrived a bit early to get something to eat, since Dianne was at a friend's house bonding over their traveling husbands and hadn't cooked for them.

Max had been feeling less than positive ever since he'd witnessed Kyle ask out his wife. Well, future wife, but that's beside the point, Max reluctantly amended. Add to that, Liz's sudden burst of anger that was completely blown out of proportion in his opinion; he hadn't been having the best of days.

The familiar smell of fast food and heat reached Max's sensitive nose and he took a deep breath, trying to relax. It was made even more difficult when his eyes met Liz's and she almost immediately frowned and turned away to take a finished order from a yawning Jose.

Why is she so mad at me? Max wondered, not for the first time that day. The entire day had gone by with her anger and disappointment rolling through him like a wildfire. He hadn't felt her so angry at him since…well, there was only the time after Alex's death in the original timeline that came close and he couldn't see how his possessive behavior that time was anything like him warning her to not break Kyle's heart. He was only looking out for the guy, after all.

"Max?"

Max blinked out of his thoughts, realizing he'd been standing motionless ever since Liz had turned away to ignore him, and met his sister's gaze. For one second, his mood lightened a fraction. The sight of his very beautiful sister in the Crashdown uniform never failed to make him smile. "Hey Iz," he greeted and slid into the booth across from Michael, who was looking closely at the menu.

"She's still pretty mad at you," Isabel warned when Max's eyes trailed after Liz, who was now taking orders from some of Kyle's friends, including that wanna be tough guy, Johnny that loved to harass Alex, over at another booth.

"Yeah, I know," Max muttered and finally looked away when Johnny leered smugly at him. "I just think she's overreacting a bit."

Michael snorted, placing the menu on the table, "Dude, don't take this the wrong way, but you're an idiot. Take it from someone who's more used to hot tempered women than you are; just save yourself the hassle and apologize."

Growing exasperated by his fellow hybrids ganging up on him, Max leaned back and glared mildly at them. "I'm not gonna apologize for something that isn't worth doing it for. It's a real problem, Kyle isn't meant for her and she shouldn't play with his heart."

"And you shouldn't interfere when you're not needed," Liz's ice cold voice stated as she suddenly appeared next to Isabel with a tray of Cherry cola's. Setting them down on the table with a slam, she turned to Max and continued, "Also, I'm not "playing" anything. Like I said at school; Kyle is my friend and that's that!"

Jealousy flared through Max's insides and he took deep breaths to control it. I think my teenage self's emotions are showing up; I know I'm being irrational, but I'm not able to stop it.

"Liz," Isabel interjected between them, trying to stop the tension from mounting, but it was futile.

A moment later, Liz spoke again and her words caused the trio to freeze in shock, and in Max's case, unbelievable hurt and sadness.

"And by the way Max, I need you to somehow put a stop to that whole feeling your emotions thing. It's distracting me and I don't like it. It's frustrating enough to deal with my own feelings without having this weird Czechoslovakian thing going on between us."

What? But you said you loved our connection! That is made us complete! Max roared on the inside, suddenly unable to move a muscle. He tried reminding himself that it was the Liz from his other life that had stated her love for their bond and not this one. But it was hard; because her words caused an agony his torture at Khivar's hands hadn't managed and it very nearly ruined him.

"Liz, chill and go get us some food," Michael roughly demanded, looking closely at Max, who still couldn't make himself act normal.

Liz's brown eyes looked a bit guilty for a second, but then she turned around and left. Max swallowed hard, trying to fulfill his love's request. It took a tremendous amount of effort, but eventually, Max felt the thrumming web between them subside, turning into just a dull imitation of its original state. It felt horrible, like a piece of him was missing, but Max fought the urge to reopen the bond, not willing to suffer through any more of those cold looks from Liz. It's only temporary, he tried consoling himself.

The smell of food brought Max back from his mind and he stared blindly down at a plate of fries. The aroma of Tabasco sauce, some of which Michael seemed to have sprinkled on them, reached him and suddenly Max felt nauseous.

Before he realized it, he was moving; muttering to Michael that he had to leave. He reached the door and practically ran outside, gasping for some fresh air. Max walked a bit away from the diner and leaned up against a wall in a nearby alley, fighting the need to throw up. He had no idea how long he stood there, repressing dry heaves.

"Whoa, what have we here?"

Max looked up and when he recognized the speaker, he sighed tiredly. This day can't get much worse, he thought in a rare bout of self-pity. I can't believe I didn't remember this

It seemed that Max had been so preoccupied with his love life, or resounding lack thereof, that he'd failed to recognize the group of Kyle's friends in the Crashdown as the group that once upon a time ganged up on him in an alley similar to the one he was standing in, to beat him for flirting with "Kyle's girl."

"Look, guys," Johnny mocked, "he's all petrified of us. Hey, Evans, I think you need to remember that you shouldn't be talking to other people's girls."

"Liz isn't Kyle's girl," the words left Max's mouth in a snarl and he straightened up. He could feel the control on his anger slipping and he knew he had to leave before he really snapped and did something these children weren't ready for.

"Oh yes she is," Johnny said and cracked his knuckles in a would be threatening way. It might have worked if his victim hadn't fought a war. "Now, Evans. You're gonna stay away from Parker, so Kyle can get a chance to do her before he moves on to the next one."

Don't kill him; don't kill him, Max frantically thought to himself, forcing his rage down as he tried to walk past the five jocks without resorting to violence. Unfortunately, Johnny took it a step too far for the alien king, who was not only pushed hard in the back, but as he stumbled forward in an attempt to regain his balance, Johnny spoke again, "Maybe after he's done with her, I'm gonna try out for a chance between those milky thighs. I bet she's all tight and-"

In that moment, Max boiled over. It wasn't his alien side that snapped; there was no visible aura of power around him. It was his human side that couldn't take it anymore and he turned around in one swift movement and punched Johnny in the face hard enough for the athlete to go down with a moan of pain, blood sprouting from his broken nose.

The other jocks instantly crowded Max, intent on taking him down with their numbers, but Max was now a sea of boiling rage, so those few opponents was next to nothing but punching bags to him. He spun around and landed a hard kick in the stomach on one guy, while he simultaneously snapped the bone in another one's arm and as Max crouched down to the asphalt he swepped his leg out and made sure the remaining two jocks fell hard to the ground.

As he was making his way to the nearest jock, Johnny's arm went across Max's neck and he punched him repeatedly in the kidneys with the other. It was obvious to the hybrid that Johnny had done these kinds of attacks before and was too confident in his own strength.

The pain the punches brought Max, didn't even faze him. He simply reached behind him and threw Johnny over his shoulders, twisting out of his grip as the other boy landed on the ground with a thump. Max only got to kick the downed Johnny in the ribs once, before the two remaining guys were on him. They tried to hit him hard enough for Max to fall down, but they only succeeded in pissing him off even further.

A few seconds later, Max had turned around enough to grab their heads and slam them into the nearest brick wall with a loud bang. They slid to the ground, bleeding and very much unconscious. A quick glance behind him, told the enraged timetraveller that the one with the broken arm had fled from the scene. The other, was still kneeling on the ground, trying his damndest to catch a breath after the devastatingly hard assault on his gut.

Casually, Max strolled over to the gasping teenager and without further ado, he simply drew back his hand and hit him with enough force to knock him out. In the background, Max heard Johnny groan and curse him out as he watched him attack his friends with a different kind of strength he'd never shown before.

Max turned back, his vision still almost red with anger, and started kicking Johnny in the ribs relentlessly. "Don't. Talk. To. Me. About. Liz. Ever. Again." He demanded with each brutal thrust of his leg. Johnny had curled into a ball to try and protect himself, but Max was having none of that, so he bent down and started raining down punches in Johnny's face. His knuckles were red with blood; his own and that of his opponents.

In his haze, Max didn't even notice the muscular arms around him, desperately trying to pull him off the now clearly unconscious Johnny. He simply continued hitting with a feral grin on his lips.

Isabel's POV

Isabel was in a mood to yell. She watched her brother's face crumble momentarily before he slammed his familiar blank mask into place. A few moments later, Michael and she watched him leave as though he was being chased, eager to get away from them to seek out some much needed privacy.

In that moment, Isabel felt protective of her brother and she turned to find Liz. Michael seemed to have the same desire, but Isabel gestured to the cooling food on the table. "Eat and let me deal with this." She didn't even wait for Michael to agree verbally before she walked over to Liz, who was standing at the counter, filling up the salt shakers with a peculiar look on her face.

"We need to talk," Isabel stated gripping Liz's arm and unceremoniously leading her into the empty backroom.

"Isabel, I'm working." Liz tried to get out of Isabel's firm grip, but it was in vain and Isabel merely waited until she realized that too.

It didn't take long and as soon as Liz stopped struggling, Isabel said, "Why would you even say that to Max? It's gonna cause him pain and I hate to see my brother in any kind of pain; I don't care how close you and I are getting, I will kick your ass if you don't stop acting like a spoiled brat."

Liz sighed and looked up at Isabel. The look in her eyes made Isabel pause in her scolding. She looks sad. Why? She got what she wanted didn't she?

"Isabel, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…It just slipped out, I've been so angry all day, it's been eating away at me and I just knew he was…that it was his fault somehow and then I said it and I could see how hurt he was."

Isabel watched the guilt and genuine remorse in Liz's dark eyes as she continued softly, "but I don't regret asking him to close the bond because, no wait," Liz held up her free hand when Isabel was about to interrupt, "I don't regret it because, although it has its perks, I barely know Max and having our emotions out in the open like that scares me a little…But I am sorry that I hurt him, that's the last thing I ever wanted to do. From now on we'll get to know each other like normal people. No matter how un-normal he really is. Give me that at least."

Isabel let go of Liz's arm with a heavy sigh. Liz rubbed her arm, making Isabel realize that she might have held on a bit too tight in her quest for justice. "Sorry about that," she pointed at Liz's arm.

Liz smiled a small smile, "It's okay. Listen, Isabel; I'm gonna go out with Kyle tomorrow and hopefully have a little fun and after that I'll talk to Max so we can put this whole drama thing behind us. Now, go change, your shift ended five minutes ago and knowing my dad, he's not too fond of paying for overtime if it can be avoided. See ya tomorrow at school."

Isabel nodded; feeling exhausted all of the sudden. Her day had been long. She'd spent most of her night dreamwalking into Michelle's dreams, giving her a healthy dose of fear, and then she'd spent an agonizingly long session with Kathleen Topolsky during the day, trying to remember how she'd acted the first time around, while attempting to see how much the F.B.I. female already knew. And now this whole mess on top of it all.

A part of Isabel could relate to Liz and knew that the brunette didn't have a malicious bone in her body, but the rest of her was conflicted. Her old memories of the Liz who'd led Serena and her group into Khivar's den to save her husband was fighting against the ones of the teenaged Liz that had scarcely scratched the surface of their alien world.

It almost makes me miss the days of battle. Things were much simpler then; kill or be killed, Isabel mused as she changed out of her uniform. The memory of Alex's grin during their short lunch date flashed into her mind, along with the sight of a smirking Kyle in the school's cafeteria earlier that day, and Isabel smiled to herself. No, not really. I'd live through this messy teenage life a thousand times over just to see those two alive and well. To see them all alive

She'd just finished changing back into her regular clothes so she could wait for Max to come back and drive her home, when she felt it.

A swirl of anger, betrayal, and hurt all mixed together with a big dose of pure fury. And it was coming from her brother. There was no doubt in Isabel's mind. She quickly walked back into the diner and searched out Michael, who was sitting with a hamburger halfway up to his mouth, frozen as he too was assaulted by the roaring emotions coming from their former leader.

"Michael!" Isabel brought him back to life and he quickly set down his food and got to his feet. Isabel noticed Liz standing by the kitchen with a confused frown on her face, at the sight of their sudden departure. Apparently, Max had fulfilled her request completely because Isabel had no doubt that had Liz felt what was happening, she'd have been right behind them. No matter how close Max was to her on the surface, she would never let him suffer if she could help it.

Isabel followed Michael out the door and they'd only taken a few steps before Michael started running with a loud curse. When Isabel reached the alley where Michael had disappeared from her sight a few seconds later, she had to fight hard to not react with a curse of her own.

Some of the sporty guys from school were lying on the ground, all of them unconscious and obviously wounded.

"Damn it Max, snap out of it!" Michael's yell, brought Isabel's attention back to her brother and this time she couldn't contain her shock. Michael had wrapped his arms around Max's waist. Max didn't seem to notice; instead he was looking very concentrated as he repeatedly hit that guy, Johnny's face. There was blood all over the boy's face and Isabel had no doubt that he was missing a tooth or two.

"Isabel, he's completely lost it," Michael grunted as he kept struggling to contain Max's deadly movements.

Isabel swallowed hard, but like Michael and Max, she too had seen a war and blood and gore was not new things to her. She quickly shook off her initial surprise and fear, walking over to her brother and yanked Johnny out of his iron grip.

Max literally growled at that and Michael almost lost his grip when Max's resistance intensified. "Max, calm the fuck down!"

Isabel glanced down at the bleeding boy in her arms and placed him gently on the ground, hoping he was still alive, before turning to Max. She hated the bolt of fear she got just by looking at him. No one should be afraid of their own family, but whenever Max was in this kind of mood, he was deadly. And he hadn't even tapped into his powers from the looks of it.

Taking a deep breath, Isabel kneeled in front of the squirming Max and firmly placed her hands on his cheeks. "Max," she began, looking him dead in the eyes, "relax. You're scaring me. Please."

Max didn't react, he just kept trying to escape Michael's hold on him and Isabel did the only thing she could think off. She slapped him across the face; hard.

"Max, we didn't travel through time for you to lose it already," Isabel stated without letting his glare get to her. On the outside at least, inwardly she was fighting off tremors. "What would Liz think if she saw you like this? What if she'd been the one to come out here?"

It took a few more moments, but finally Max's eyes turned back to themselves, losing that crazed, homicidal look. He blinked, slowly returning to normal. A second later, his eyes darted to the unconscious bodies around them and he groaned in shame.

"I'm sorry, I…" Max started and slumped against Michael's hold for a moment, before gently releasing himself. "I'll make it alright again, I promise." He got to his feet and walked over to Johnny, who was still completely unresponsive. Max crouched down and took his pulse. A look of profound relief crossed his features, so Isabel surmised that the other boy was still alive.

Then her eyes widened when Max's hands started to give a familiar glow, "Max, no!" she screamed and ran over to him and roughly pushed him away from Johnny's body.

"Iz, what the hell?" Michael objected as he reached down and helped Max to his feet.

"You can't heal them, Max," Isabel explained, wringing her manicured hands, full of nervous energy. "We don't know these guys. We don't know if they can be trusted and if you heal them, they'll have questions and," Isabel added with a pleading look at Max's stubborn face, "if they can't be trusted to keep all this to themselves, we'll be standing with five guys with abilities in the near future, who can make all our hard work fall apart."

Understanding dawned on Max's face and he glanced guiltily down at the five boys he'd just beaten with ease. "You're right," he whispered and looked back at her. "But no matter what, I'm in a lot of trouble now – especially when they wake up."

Michael gave a half-hearted laugh and shrugged when they looked at him in mild disbelief over his untimely behavior in this serious moment. "Look, guys, I doubt these idiots will go spewing to people that they got their asses handed to them by one person; let alone the somewhat nerdy loner, Max Evans. I bet when they show up at school tomorrow, they'll lie through their teeth about how they fought of a gang of drug dealers or something like that. They're way too proud to admit what really happened, so don't worry."

Isabel smiled and saw how Max copied her with an eye roll. "That actually makes sense."

Michael shrugged again, crossing his arms in self-defense. "Hey, I do have my moments. Now let's stop hanging around here before someone walks by and calls Valenti; we don't need to add him into the mix right now."

Isabel nodded in agreement and was about to help Max and Michael move the high school boys a bit further into the shadows, when she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye.

"Well, I was gonna lend y'all a hand with this whole mess, but judging from what I've just heard and seen, I'm thinking I'm a bit over my head here."

The trio of timetravellers immediately tensed up. Michael got into battle stance and Isabel emulated him, but then she looked over at Max and hesitated.

Max looked awful; the blood had fled his earlier flushed face, leaving him paler than a ghost. His eyes were wide and his mouth was even a little bit open in obvious shock. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he knows her.

Isabel cast a closer look at the speaker. It was a woman; she looked to be in her late sixties, with white-grey hair and what were more importantly; extremely intelligent brown eyes that were watching their every move silently. I've got a bad feeling about this, Isabel decided as she heard Michael mutter to Max in the background.

"Max, what's wrong? Do you know her? What do you want us to do?"

Max didn't immediately launch into an explanation and Isabel felt her heart in her throat, seemingly trying to escape her body. Finally, after what seemed like forever, but probably wasn't more than a few seconds, Max opened his mouth and croaked out quietly, "I…That's Claudia and we're in trouble."

"Trouble how?" Isabel asked, grabbing her throat to try and calm herself down a bit.

Michael stepped closer to Max at the same time, his eyes narrowed and his mouth set in a firm line. "Maxwell, what are you talking about?"

Max licked his lips once before finally speaking again; this time he managed to nod a bit in the direction of the immobile woman in front of them. "We're in trouble because that's Liz's grandma, Claudia…"

"Oh crap," Isabel closed her eyes as if in prayer. Why can't things ever go smoothly for us? Why?

TBC…


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A little Extra Scene Because You All Rock;) (And also, I couldn't fit it into the chapter without ruining the flow)…

Topolsky's POV

"So, why don't you start by telling me what your dream job would be?"

She eyed the youth in front of her and suppressed a shudder. Michael Guerin's eyes would probably not kill her, but it sure looked like he was trying to do just that.

"I don't dream," he answered curtly after a long, tense pause.

Kathleen sighed inwardly, glancing down at her notes. Michael Guerin is one of the suspects; I have to get under his skin. I didn't get anywhere with the Evans' kids, so this is my last shot. The thought about the Evans siblings almost made her skin crawl.

If Michael's gaze looked threatening, the look that Isabel had given her was downright murderous. Not to mention, Kathleen couldn't quite avoid a quick quiver at the memory, Max Evans. He was polite and timid enough when I talked to him, but his eyes…Unlike the other two, there was just something there that scared me on a whole other level.

"Are we done yet?" Michael's drawl, brought Kathleen back to the present and she straightened up; shaking off the memories of her earlier "consultations."

"Not quite yet, Mr. Guerin. I need to ask you; where do you actually see yourself in ten years?" Come on, she urged internally, give me something

Michael's careless attitude didn't waver as he blinked slowly before answering, "On an extended road trip, if all goes well."

Kathleen frowned. "Uhm, that sounds nice; but I was thinking more along the lines of, "what do you actually think you'll be working as" in ten years?"

Michael didn't say anything for a long moment and Kathleen was itching to just scream at him to behave like the alien she very much suspected he was, and not like some surly teenager. "You asked me where I saw myself in ten years and that's my answer. Take it or leave it."

Kathleen was about to spew some of her quickly studied psychology, when Michael got to his feet, "Now, I'm not gonna look at some picture and identify with it, like Max and Iz did; I'm not in the mood for any more psycho babble."

Letting some of her real authority shine through, Kathleen pointed at the chair he'd just vacated. "Sit down, Michael. This session is only over when I say it's over."

Michael didn't move at first, but then he sighed loud enough to show off his boredom and sat back down. "Okay, let's have some more fun together," he mocked and leaned back with a big yawn,

If he hadn't been best friends with the main suspect, I would put him in the pile with the other deadbeats, Kathleen fumed inwardly. On the outside, however, the blond gave a small, friendly smile and held up a picture of kids playing on the playground. "Which one of these do you most identify with?"

"The one who's not there, 'cause he's out buying beer for his guardian." Michael deadpanned.

"Michael," Kathleen tried to act cool and collected, but the boy was making it exceedingly hard on her, "I'm sorry if I'm pushing your limits. Please tell me, why do you find talking to me so difficult?"

Michael's eyes morphed into something that once again reminded the F.B.I agent about Max Evans. In her head Michael just jumped up to suspect number two. She quickly told herself that Michael Guerin had also been one of the children found wandering the desert, butt naked and without any real language.

All thoughts about her suspects and their past flew out of Kathleen's mind when Michael finally answered her earlier question. "I don't like people, who're busy trying to come up with dirt about me to expose me."

Only her training prevented Kathleen from freezing noticeably. How does he know? Did he figure out my true identity?

There was a long, heavy silence in the small office, but for the life of her, Kathleen couldn't seem to move. She was half planning her escape from the special unit; knowing all too well that Pierce wouldn't allow defeat.

Then she released a breath, she hadn't realized she was holding when Michael rubbed his neck and said bluntly, "I mean a guidance counselor is nothing more than a wannabe shrink and I don't like shrinks. They wanna probe me and figure out what makes me tick and I'm not having any of that.

There was a glint of something in Michael's eyes, and if Kathleen hadn't been too distracted by her own relief, she might have recognized it as dark amusement over something she couldn't possibly understand.

"I appreciate your honesty," she eventually stated and made a show of writing something down in her notes, trying to stay in character. "Well, that's all for now, but I think you should know that you can always come to me, Michael. I'm a fairly good observer and listener, if you need one."

Michael sent her a smirk and left without another word. Kathleen sighed and glanced down at her papers. She'd highlighted the five people she'd been following ever since her enrollment as the school's guidance counselor, but there was nothing really striking about her observations.

And there was a small part of her, that had a feeling that Michael had been talking about something completely different when he mentioned being exposed, but she put it in the back of her mind and smiled a friendly smile when her next student walked in. "Take a seat, Miss Parker and let's begin."



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A/N Well, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! And my little Omake/Extra Scene. Until Next Time:)
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maipigen
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Re: The Antarian Timetravellers TEEN. 8.CH. 08/06/10

Post by maipigen »

A/N Sorry if Claudia is a bit OOC, but she only ever was shown in the series in one episode, so give me a breakand let me know if you like my version of her;) Enjoy regardless!

CHAPTER NINE

Liz's POV

I hate growing up, Liz thought as she sat brushing her long dark hair before bed. It makes people realize that the people they've always seen as infallible are humans too… Stubborn humans.

Liz put down her hairbrush and hung her robe on her chair neatly before getting into her bed, pulling the sheets up to her chin, as she thought back on her odd day of realizations and emotional turmoil.

She'd gotten up early and, in an attempt to fight of the continuous guilt about Max, hurried into the kitchen to grab some cereal before showering. She'd stopped dead in the doorway when she'd realized that her parents weren't alone.

"Grandma Claudia!" She'd hurried over and greeted her grandmother with a fierce hug, talking a mile a minute. For a moment, she'd noticed how her grandmother's usually so vibrant eyes were dark with some unfamiliar emotion, but a second later, the elderly Parker had laughed loudly like she always did and everything had been right with the world again.

Liz sighed, trying to get comfortable in the bed, while inwardly going over her day in more detail. She'd been sitting at the breakfast table with her cereal, talking animatedly with her grandmother when she spotted that unusual look in her eyes again.

"Are you okay, Grandma?" Liz had asked, putting down her spoon.

Claudia had laughed again, but even Liz could hear it was a forced effort. "I'm fine girly girl. Just you keep telling me what you've been up too since my last visit? Any cute boys in your life?"

Immediately, an image of Max had fluttered through Liz's mind, and she had looked down at her half eaten breakfast.

"Uh," Claudia had grinned with a slight teasing leer on her face, "tell me everything."

"I'm not involved with anyone right now," Liz had managed to say with quiet dignity before her mother suddenly sat down next to them and had interjected with a raised eyebrow,

"Oh? What about Kyle? Didn't you tell me you were going out tonight?"

Liz was usually a very serene and quiet kind of girl, but in that moment, she had wanted to throttle her mother or at the very least have a Maria freak out at Nancy Parker. Instead, she had settled on a big eye roll and a scowl. "Mom, I wasn't talking to you."

"Well, I guess I should finish the laundry," the pragmatic Parker female had stated and left.

Liz had instantly fought down the tiny spark of guilt over her rudeness, but then looked back at her grandmother and asked, "When did you come? I didn't know you'd made plans to stay until sometime next month."

Claudia's smile and shrug had seemed faked as she'd answered, "I took an earlier flight on a whim and believe me when I say; I won't be regretting it anytime soon."

Frowning over the strange statement, Liz had finished her breakfast quickly and spent the rest of the morning with her grandmother.

Back in the present, Liz groaned and all but pummeled her pillow as she kept trying to get comfortable enough to sleep. She knew that her lack of sleepiness wasn't because of her stupid pillow, but more about the fact that she just knew her beloved grandmother, the one person she'd always been able to count on, was must definitely keeping some sort of secret from her.

Of course, it's a bit hypocritical for me to complain, Liz thought, throwing the abused pillow to the floor and settling down once again, I have my own secrets now too

The entire day had gone by with Liz reconnecting with her grandmother, only to notice that for once, the charismatic woman wasn't completely in the now. Something was bothering her and finally, just a few minutes before Kyle was due to pick her up, Liz had dragged Claudia into her room and asked if something was wrong.

Her grandmother's eyes, so like her own, had taken on an innocent look that didn't fool Liz in the slightest. "Honey, I don't know why you're worrying so much about little ol' me. I'm just focused on my book signing next month and your future love life of course."

"Grandma," Liz had practically pleaded, "you can trust me. I just want to help any way I can."

There was a sad look in Claudia's eyes, but her voice was as light and cheerful as always as she'd replied, "I appreciate that, Sugar, but don't go making mountains out of molehills on my account. Go enjoy your evening with your young man."

Liz had instantly protested having a relationship with the Sheriff's son and it was only after she'd exited the house that she realized that she'd been derailed from her questions.

And then she'd begun her evening with Kyle and to be fair, it had started out nicely enough…

Suddenly, there was a knock on her window and all thoughts about her day flew out of her mind. Liz sat up and glanced over at the window; she could only make out a vague silhouette but somehow she just knew that it was Max.

The moment the realization hit her, Liz was torn between mortification that the guy she barely acknowledged as her crush was about to see her in her PJ's and fierce, unaltered joy that he still sought her out despite her earlier anger.

A few seconds later, Liz was at the window and she quickly opened it with a small smile. "Hi Max."

Max's eyes looked dimmer than usual and Liz understood that he still thought she was angry at him. After all, he can't feel my emotions anymore, she thought to herself.

"I just wanted to have a quick word," Max explained in the awkward silence that had arisen, "I didn't want to call and risk waking you or your parents."

"So," Liz said with an attempt at humor, "you decided to creep over here and stare through my window in the middle of the night? 'Cause that's not creepy at all."

Max chuckled sheepishly and ran a hand through his dark hair. He stepped back, making room for Liz to follow him out onto the balcony. "I guess you're right about that. But I really did want to talk to you…"

Liz grabbed her robe and swung it over her shoulders before making her way outside. All her previous concern about her grandmother was forgotten as her observant eyes noticed the dark shadows under Max's eyes and the almost guilty look that was shining through all of the sudden.

"What's wrong, Max?"

Max looked up at the starry sky for a long minute without replying and Liz took the opportunity to admire his neck. Who knew a guy's neck could be so…sensual? She wondered and then flinched when Max finally started to speak.

"Firstly, I wanted to apologize for trying to control you and," he paused briefly as though the words were painful to say, "You have every right to go out with whomever you wish."

"Okay," Liz agreed, happy that he seemed willing to put the matter behind them and forget her childish overreaction. "What else did you want to talk about?"

Max leaned up against the nearest wall, he sent a weird look at a place on the brick wall that Liz couldn't quite decipher. His hands absentmindedly traced out the form of a heart and Liz crossed her arms and for the first time felt the loss of the bond first hand. I wonder what he's thinking about? He seems really intense right now.

"Max?" Liz urged him back to the present and he turned back to her with another slightly sheepish smile.

"I wanted to explain about the whole thing with Kyle's friends…"

The words caused Liz's memory of her earlier casual date with Kyle to emerge and she sighed, remembering once again just why she'd been in such a depressing mood before Max's arrival.

Kyle had picked her up as per their agreement and Liz had tried to overlook the fact that Kyle was dressed way more formally than he should be to keep things casual.

"Hi Kyle," she'd greeted politely and Kyle's answering smile had been yet another warning that, no matter how he'd phrased it when asking, he clearly expected things to be a bit more date like than Liz was comfortable with.

A few minutes later, they'd arrived at the local movie theater. Liz had once again ignored her own instincts when Kyle had bought tickets to a romantic comedy. She'd even fought past her feelings of uneasiness when Kyle had insisted on paying for everything no matter how much she'd objected.

During the movie, Liz had gone to the restroom a grand total of eight times to escape Kyle's wandering arm around her shoulders. Finally the movie was over and Liz had overruled Kyle's attempt at going to eat anywhere else then the Crashdown.

When they'd walked inside a little while later, Liz's eyes had immediately scanned the area to make sure someone (Max!) didn't see and get the wrong idea. Not that she had anything to feel the least bit guilty for, she repeated inwardly as she'd been doing the entire evening.

Maria had been their waitress and Liz might have engaged in pointless girl talk for a little longer than was strictly necessary until their food had arrived. As Maria walked away, Liz had not been blind to the mixture of annoyance and exasperation in Kyle's eyes.

She'd decided to try to steer things back on the friendship road that she'd thought had been the whole point of the evening in the first place. "So, how are things going with you?"

Kyle had lit up at her so called interest and immediately started talking about his team's upcoming match the upcoming weekend. When he'd slowed down a bit to take a huge bite of his burger, Liz had gone over ways to politely remind him that they could never be more than friends. She had refused to acknowledge the small part of her that told her that Max might have had a point to begin with concerning Kyle.

All thoughts about being polite evaporated, when Kyle had mentioned Max with a half-hearted sneer on his face, "I'm actually glad we went here tonight. At first, I didn't want to, 'cause I might have lost it if I'd ran into Evans, but I'm glad."

"What are you talking about?" Liz had leaned forward, suddenly anxious. She hadn't liked the sudden sour look in Kyle's eyes.

Kyle had finished off his soda before leaning forward himself to answer quietly, "Well, some of my friends ran into him last night and he went all postal on them. Beat the crap out of them, with some judo tricks or whatever. My buddy Johnny had to get fourteen stitches. So I need to find him sometime and let him know that nobody hurts my friends."

Liz had gripped the table so hard that she was vaguely surprised that her fingers didn't leave marks on it. "Why would Max do something like that? What happened?"

Kyle had shrugged, "I don't know. Johnny said they were just walking by and before they knew it, they were getting their ass- Well, it wasn't pretty."

Liz had been confused. "It doesn't sound like something Max would do. I mean, he's not a violent person and-"

"Oh yes he is, Liz!" Kyle's voice had risen and Liz had noticed how Maria stepped out from the backroom, with her protective, "don't hurt my best friend-face" on, but Liz had waved her off discreetly.

Liz had felt her anger grow, eager to defend the guy that had saved her life. This anger was nothing like the one she'd somehow fed off of Max earlier; no this was pure hers.

"Did you ever ask your buddy why Max, who's normally the most passive aggressive guy in school, and have been ever since he showed up in Roswell, felt the need to act the way he did? Also, why would Johnny and the rest of them even go near Max in the first place? Come on, Kyle, even you should be able to see that your story has some holes in it. Max Evans has never done anything without reason and I doubt he'd be starting now. And if you can't see that, I really can't see us being friends at all because no friend of mine, would think violence is okay! Goodbye!"

She'd stormed away from the table, leaving Kyle with a truly dumbstruck expression on his face, and gone up to the bedroom.

Of course, Liz sighed to herself, that's when I spotted Grandma sitting quietly in the living room with the lights off, looking serious and troubled. And when I tried talking to her again, she smiled that fake smile of hers and went to bed herself… When did my life get so complicated?

"Liz?"

Liz flinched and stumbled backwards, but Max's strong arm wrapped around her and straightened her up. Before she even realized it, Max had released her and stepped back a few steps.

"I'm sorry, Max," Liz apologized, "I guess, I'm a little more tired than I thought… so you were saying?"

Max's lips quirked in a tiny smile and he sat down in one of the chairs available. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't angry about the thing with Kyle's friends and the rest of it. I felt we needed some closure of sorts."

Liz copied him and sat down in front of him. She looked him deep into his eyes and for the first time the whole day, she felt at peace. All her anger, an anger she'd come to realize had originated from the boy in front of her, was gone. Her annoyance over her grandmother, and her own guilt over her hypocrisy was gone. Even her irritation at Kyle was completely nonexistent in that moment.

"I'm not angry, Max. I know that the thing with those guys probably has another side to it and that Kyle only has their side of things." Liz eventually said, remembering that she was in fact in the middle of a conversation and not alone to ponder her thoughts. "And I'm sorry for overreacting like I did at the Crashdown. I think I might have hurt your feelings, and that was never my intention."

Max raised a teasing eyebrow and Liz amended with a soft chuckle, "okay, not my whole intention. I was mad and I know it stemmed from you and then I lost my own temper and one thing led to another and even though I'm not ready to open the bond again just yet," Liz pretended not to see the crushed hope in Max's eyes as she continued gently, "I really would like it if we could be friends."

There was a long silence before Max sighed and said barely audible, "I'll take what I can get."

With some effort, Liz reminded herself of Kyle's story and decided to ask Max for his side of the unbelievable tale and she looked up, only to freeze.

The warmth in Max's brown gaze as he looked intently at her, made Liz's face burn and she looked down, trying to catch her breath again.

"I'd better go now. I'll see you in school. Goodnight Liz."

There was a slight movement and a second later, all Liz was able to think about was the feeling of two warm lips touching her forehead ever so gently. When she managed to look up again, Max was gone.

Liz walked as in a daze back into her bedroom, grabbed her journal and proceeded to write down every last bit of her day. When she finally went to sleep, Liz's mind wasn't full of the growing complications of impending adulthood, or annoying ex-boyfriends. All she thought about was the fact that Max Evans had actually, almost, sort of kissed her.

"This day hasn't been completely bad after all," Liz muttered sleepily, not noticing that her door was open and Claudia was standing there looking both happy and worried at the same time.

Claudia's POV

It was supposed to be a vacation, a trip to get some peace of mind. Her doctor had bullied her for a long time until she'd succumbed and agreed to visit her son and his family, preparing to publish her book. All in all; an attempt to rest up beforehand so her darn heart wouldn't act up and quit on her before she was good and ready.

She sighed quietly and carefully closed the door to her beloved grandchild's bedroom and walked down the stairs and outside into the night. The streetlight next to the diner's backdoor was blinding her for a brief moment, but when she'd blinked out of it, she spotted her grandchild's earlier guest standing stationary on the other side of the door.

"Weren't you going home?" she asked casually, wrapping her shall around her shoulders. Dying from a weak heart or not, an old lady like her still needed to avoid getting colds.

Max stepped out of the shadows and smiled a small smile. "I knew you were there and figured you wanted to talk a bit more."

Claudia smirked, crossing her arms to seem imposing, "Well, yeah. I'm glad you didn't rat me out to Liz, she would most definitely not have enjoyed being interrupted by her ol' Grandma. As for the talking bit, shouldn't you wait until the other two get here?"

Max shrugged, "They don't know you. They never met you before so they let me decide whether or not I wanted to talk to you some more."

"Seeing as you pretty much told me everything last night in that alley," Claudia shrugged herself, "I just wanted to know if you were planning on doing any of that mind control thing that make you forget seeing things to me? I mean, that's what usually happens on TV."

She watched the seemingly teenage boy rub his neck tiredly before he answered, "Even if I could, I would never do that."

Claudia sighed and tried to ignore the quick stab of pain in her chest. She had been so caught up in her head the entire day that she hadn't remembered to take any of her medication and now she was paying the price. "I'm happy to hear that. Now, why don't you tell me the real reason you showed up here tonight? I know you say you wanted to allow me to hear more of your unbelievable story, but I'm not buying it."

Max stiffened briefly and Claudia just knew she'd been right on the money and she continued with a little smug smile, "Unless of course, you're using me as an excuse to go stare into Liz's bedroom way over any civilized bedtime."

Oh good, Claudia couldn't suppress a tiny grin from spreading, he can blush.

Max tried to act like his face hadn't just turned crimson and straightened up slightly. To Claudia's surprise, he suddenly looked a lot older. "I came because I wanted to ask you to go to a doctor as soon as possible. You're in danger of a heart attack."

Despite the seriousness, Claudia laughed. Even to her ears, the sound was bitter. "Trust me, Son, there isn't anything any of this town's doctors could say or do to me that would help me in the long run. But I appreciate the concern."

Max blinked, he looked genuinely mystified by her response for a short minute. Then Claudia watched his face darken and without thinking about it, she took a step back. "You mean to tell me that you knew all along that you were sick? Do you have any idea what your death did to Liz?"

Claudia's heart jumped, and again she battled the stab of pain, "Nice way of letting and old woman know of her impending death. Really, young man, ever heard of caution?"

Max didn't seem to appreciate her attempt at humor and she bit her lip. "I don't know what happened to me in your time, but from what you are implying I reckon it isn't something good."

Suddenly, Claudia gasped, her heart started racing as though it wanted to escape her chest and she quickly sat down on an empty crate near the door and tried to catch her breath.

"Mrs. Parker?" Max's voice was no longer dark, but concerned and full of youth. "Are you all right? Should I call anyone?"

"I'll-be-fine-in-a-minute," she spat out and tried taking in a soothing breath, praying her heart's escape wouldn't succeed.

This was bad, Claudia instinctively knew. There was already an unusual pain in her arms, her sight was spotty and she really, really didn't want to die.

Out of the corner of her eye, Claudia saw Max move and all of the sudden there was a pleasant warmth spreading from her chest area out to her whole body. It was like drinking a warm cup of cocoa after being out in the cold all day.

Looking down, she noticed Max had somehow found it necessary to place his hand on her chest, right over her heart and she saw a faint, unearthly glow emanate from his hand. If she hadn't already known about his out of Earth genes, this would have seriously freaked her out.

After a seemingly never ending minute, Max removed his hand and ran it through his hair with a loud sigh. Claudia, on the other hand, never felt better. She took a deep breath, half expecting her body to constrict in spite. But the air went in her lungs as easily as it had in her pre illness days.

She looked down at the kneeling youth in front of her and without thinking she grabbed him and pulled him into an embrace. "Whatever it was you just did. Thank you."

To say that Max didn't respond well to her touch was an understatement. The poor boy froze like she was putting him under torture. It took a while, but seeing as Claudia refused to release him, he slowly relaxed and then suddenly his arms went around her and he was hugging her like his whole life depended on it.

After a while, Max pulled back. His face was crimson again and he wouldn't look her in the eyes. Claudia frowned. "I'm not mad at you," she stated. "Like I said, I'm very grateful. I haven't felt this good in years. Also a good hug never hurt anybody."

Max's eyes met hers at that statement and he muttered quietly, "Let me know in a few years if you still feel the same." He went on to explain something about his healing's side effect being that she would eventually develop some form of power herself.

"I'm not gonna look a gifted horse in the mouth here, but why did you heal me if it apparently is such a bad thing in your opinion? You could just as easily have gotten me to the hospital and let things take its natural course."

Max's solemn dark eyes didn't waver one inch as he said, "I might not be fully human, but not even I am that inhumane. I couldn't let you die right in front of me. Liz would never forgive me."

Claudia chuckled, shook her head with mock hurt. "So you only helped an old lady because you didn't want her grandchild to be sad? I'm touched, really I am."

Max smiled ruefully and for a moment, Claudia could most definitely understand why this young man got her intelligent grandchild's heart racing. "No, that's not…I didn't mean it like that Mrs. Parker."

"Considering what we've been through since meeting yesterday, and what you just did for me, I think you should call me Claudia."

"Okay…Claudia." Max replied, helping her to her feet. "It's getting late; I should be going home. I hope you'll keep your promise and not tell Liz about the time travelling. That's one part of the story she hasn't gotten yet."

Claudia nodded and cupped Max's cheek, "You bet. But I think I'll let my knowledge of your origins slip sometime so she knows that she can always come to me with her worries. And you can too. I'll always be there to help you and the others if it's possible. Good night Max and thanks again."

The young man echoed her nod and stepped away and slipped into the darkness, leaving her alone to try and come to terms with what had just taken place.

Claudia couldn't quite stop the unladylike snort from escaping as she imagined how her doctor would act at their next consultation. "Well, Doctor Jensen, you see, I'm feeling mighty fine now because my grandchild's love interest is a time travelling alien that somehow healed my insides and fixed my heart right up. Thanks for advising me to have a nice peaceful vacation…"

With a heavy sigh, Claudia got back inside and went up to the guestroom that Nancy and Jeff had prepared for her. One quick glance at the clock told her that it would be light soon, so she didn't want to spend too long preparing for bed again. She settled on brushing her teeth, because her own momma always said that one shouldn't go to bed with unwashed teeth. As Claudia rinsed her mouth, she noticed something odd in the small amount of visible skin of her chest. With a frown, she buttoned up her nightgown and then gasped.

There was a glowing handprint right where Max had placed his warm hand. Claudia traced the mark carefully, wondering for just one tiny second if she'd gotten into something she really shouldn't have, but then she scoffed. Closing her gown again, she went to bed. Not only have Max saved my life, but he saved Liz and for that I'm willing to go to the gates of Hell before I turn my back on him; any of them.

Having settled her own, unspoken fears, Claudia fell asleep with a tiny smile on her lips.

Michael's POV

"What do you think it will be like now?" Isabel asked for the tenth time, fidgeting in the middle of the room.

Michael looked up from the comic book, he was pretending to read and answered just as cautiously as he'd done the other nine times, "I don't know."

Before Isabel could continue with her pacing around her bedroom, there was a quiet knock on the door and Max entered.

Michael immediately threw the comic book away and stood up, but Isabel was even faster in her own way. "What happened? Did you talk to her? Is she still willing to keep quiet? I really don't want to hurt and old lady, Max."

Michael watched curiously as Max avoided Isabel's eyes as he answered that the eldest Parker would not betray them.

For some peculiar reason, Michael didn't doubt it. In fact, unlike Isabel, Michael had barely managed to scrounge up any worry about the whole thing to begin with. There was just something about Claudia Parker that made him want to trust her. A feat no one, but his close circle of friends had ever gotten out of him before.

Ever since Claudia Parker had announced her presence in the alley, he'd watched silently as she took in Max's words. Not once did the old woman act like a normal old woman. She barely batted an eye over the alien thing, let alone the whole time travelling deal. After they'd made sure that the kids that Max beat up were safely out of earshot, she'd demanded the full story and stood calmly as it washed over her.

Michael had had a sudden realization about from whom Liz got her silent strength. Isabel of course, had been a nervous wreck ever since they'd escorted Mrs. Parker to the Parker residence. They all knew that if despite everything, Mrs. Parker decided to reveal her knowledge to the wrong people they would have to do something and no matter how many people they'd killed in their old lives, none of them wanted to murder Liz's beloved grandmother.

"What do you think Michael?" Isabel's voice brought him out of his thoughts and he looked over at the siblings.

"About what?"

Isabel rolled her eyes, "Don't you ever listen? I swear it's like going back in time has made you just as inattentive as you were before the war."

"Thank you. Now," Michael smirked, "what do I think about what?"

Max walked over and sat down on Isabel's bed. "She wants to know what you think about me healing Liz's grandmother."

"Tell me you didn't." Michael said and sat down next to his best friend, who looked oddly at ease. "Do you want The Special Unit to come here? We have enough on our hands with Topolsky."

"I know. I couldn't just let her die in front of me. I don't want to be that guy that has to choose whether to save someone or let them die anymore. I just know that we can trust her, so please…" Max paused and looked first at Isabel and then at Michael with such naked emotion in his eyes that Michael could feel his eyes burn, "Please just trust me. I beg you."

Michael caught Isabel's eyes and noticed the same unshed tears in hers that he could feel burning in his. After a moment, she nodded mutely and sat down on the other side of Max and Michael clapped him on the back. "Let's go to sleep Maxwell. We'll worry about everything when we're more levelheaded. "

The relief and gratitude shining on Max's usually so reserved face did nothing to lessen the burn in Michael's eyes, so he quickly muttered goodnight and walked into Max's bedroom and laid down on the sleeping bag that he'd prepared earlier.

Instantly, all thoughts about Mrs. Parker, the unexpected healing and all of those things went away. Instead his mind filled up with the one thing he could never deny himself; Maria. He closed his eyes and pictured her as she'd looked that night by her window. He tested his bond with her and could feel her sleepy, calm response and smiled.

I'm gonna ask her out in school tomorrow. I am done waiting

0o0o0o0

Monday morning, Michael practically jumped out of Max's jeep the second it stopped in the parking lot at the school. He ignored his fellow hybrids puzzled looks and went in search of Maria. Unfortunately she was sitting together with Liz and Alex when he finally found her in the first class of the day.

He knew he'd never been one for the big gestures and words. Oh, he could if he absolutely had to. Treasured memories of a night with Scooby Doo plates and a homemade meal came to mind, but he never really loved doing them.

Come on, Michael said to himself, she's not gonna kill me if she says no. That just means that I have to work harder. Besides, I bet she won't be too mean if Liz is around

Having talked some courage into himself, Michael quickly made his way through the room and settled into a seat at the table next to Maria. "Mornin'."

Maria turned slowly from her conversation with Liz. He could see the nervousness in her eyes and feel it through their bond. "Hello Michael," she greeted carefully. "Did you want anything?"

Michael's gaze darted over to Liz, who was watching with a knowing smile on her lips. Alex was looking from Maria to him with confusion, but remained silent. "Well," Michael started to say, his heart in his throat, "I was just wondering if-"

"Good morning class," their teacher interrupted. Something that normally wouldn't deter Michael from finishing asking out the woman he loved, but the young female standing next to the teacher managed to halt him in his self appointed mission.

Tess Harding had finally arrived in Roswell.

0o0o0o0o0

Michael never managed to finish asking out Maria. Ever since Tess had walked in to the classroom, he'd been staring at the fourth alien as discreetly as he could. Maria kept glancing over at him with a frown; apparently she felt his inner turmoil but couldn't understand it.

Michael had barely had to look at Max and Isabel to know what they were feeling. Despite having initiated contact in the first place, it was clear that Tess's arrival had brought back some unpleasant memories.

Isabel kept following Alex around whenever he wasn't around Liz or Maria, looking for all the world like she would protect him with everything she had. Max was a bit harder to interpret as he simply kept his head down and diligently took notes.

When lunch came around, the trio settled down at a table and tried eating their food without throwing it up immediately afterwards.

A few minutes later, Tess entered the quad with her own, red lunch tray. They were all frozen as they watched the pretty, curly haired blond walk by. She looked timid and nervous; not at all like the betraying female they'd come to know her as. No, Michael calmed himself; she hasn't done anything like that yet…

Taking a deep breath, he looked over at his fellow hybrids. Isabel had turned her head down, letting her long hair shield her face, but Michael could practically feel the hate flowing off of her. She didn't say anything though, and continued to eat her apple quietly.

Michael's eyes slid over to Max; his mood had been off ever since she stepped foot in their class, so this would probably not do anything to help him. To his surprise, Michael didn't sense any anger on Max's face. In fact he didn't sense a damned thing.

Max was staring straight ahead with his blank mask firmly in place. The sight of it didn't really bring Michael comfort, knowing that he only wore that expression when he was trying desperately not to do something.

"Maxwell? Are you okay?"

Max nodded and seemingly shook off his gloom. He reached out for his soda, but before taking a sip, he suddenly spoke. "Michael, I need you to promise me one thing and one thing only." Max's eyes briefly landed on the unknowing Tess.

Michael rolled his eyes. Of course, he'll try to caution us one more time… "What," he said instead of complaining, "to behave around Tess; don't worry, I won't kill her."

To Michael's, and the now watching Isabel's, surprise, Max didn't react visibly to Michael's promise. He simply took a sip of his soda before saying calmly without looking at him, "no, that's not it, Michael. I want you to keep me from hurting her."

Isabel flinched noticeably at the sudden increase of danger emanating from Max, he had briefly transformed in to the killing monster from their dark future. Michael looked at his best friend with shock; too used to the Max, who'd never really wanted to hurt any of his friends or the mother of his now never to be born child.

"Max?"

Max finally blinked out of his cold mask and met Michael's stare head on as he explained gently, "Keep me from taking her, torturing her for fourteen days, five hours and fifty three minutes, before healing her and starting all over again like Khivar did to me because of her betrayal. Promise me, that you'll help me from letting the hate I have for her and Nasedo overwhelm me so we can build a new relationship with them and possibly salvage our lives here in Roswell. I'm not interested in fighting another war."

Michael swallowed roughly and nodded after a heartbeat of silence. "Sure Max. Changing things is good. Like with Mrs. Parker; befriending Tess will be good…Right Iz?"

Isabel's eyes were locked on Alex, who was busy strumming his guitar over in one of the corners of the quad. "Yeah…no more wars, I agree. But if they even think about hurting Alex, I'll show them what I learned in the one I did participate in."

Michael nodded; he felt the exact same thing regarding Maria. "Noted. Now, will any of you give me some pointers on how to ask Maria out?"

TBC…

A/N Thanks for the comments, I really appreciate them. But now there's some bad news, I've caught up to myself, so it will be a little while before I update here again. I will finish, make no mistake about that. Thanks for your time.
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maipigen
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Re: The Antarian Timetravellers TEEN/MATURE. 9.CH. 08/08/10

Post by maipigen »

A/N Well, here's the next installment and I hope you enjoy it. I'd like to give a big and truly heartfelt thanks to those of my readers that take time out of their lives to comment on my story. It really makes every moment count for me.

CHAPTER TEN

Max's POV

It was just after a fairly uneventful school day when he stopped the jeep near the entrance of the Indian reservation. The sun was shining warmly down on them, telling them that summer wasn't too far away. Out of the corner of his eye, Max could see Isabel glance hesitantly at the small group of people standing with big smiles as they tried to sell their merchandise to visitors.

"I never thought I'd see this place again," Michael muttered and got out of the jeep as the first one, "last time I was here, I was a little out of it and the time before that I nearly coughed out my lungs in that damned ritual thing."

Max nodded and followed Michael out of the car, albeit in a slower pace. "Me neither, but we need those stones. Especially since Nasedo has arrived. We might need them sometime soon. We can't keep relying on my healing powers."

Isabel snorted and finally got out of the jeep as the last one. Her dark brown eyes were full of contempt as she stated, "Call me self-centered, but I doubt I'd be willing to use the stones on that backstabbing son of a-"

"Hello, may I interest you in some homemade jewelry?" A kind, female voice sounded behind the trio and they immediately spun around. Apparently their faces gave off their tenseness and annoyance because the poor woman quickly took a few steps back and muttered an apology with downcast eyes.

Max met Isabel's and Michael's eyes and could see they felt a bit shamed about their lack of control and without a word they all quickly walked further into the reservation.

Michael took the lead, being the one who'd actually been inside the grounds. Isabel walked closely behind him, eying the other people present warily while Max stayed a few steps behind, making sure no one paid them too much attention.

As they walked in silence, Max's mind dwelled on the new arrival in their lives. Tess. He still remembered looking up the day before in class and seeing her for the first time since she went and blew herself up to save Zan. Instantly his insides had been burning with a deep, almost wounding hatred and he was honestly happy that Liz had refused their bond and couldn't feel him at that moment.

I was the one who sent for her and Nasedo, Max rationalized, not for the first time, and we'll all go to Nasedo's house tonight to speak to him face to face. The quicker we act the less time he has to settle in and start scheming.

Suddenly, Max bumped into Isabel and only then realizing that the other two had stopped. Blinking back into the present, Max spotted a young man that he vaguely remembered as the man that had led Liz and him to the healing stones. We were so young then, he reminisced with a soft sigh, while simultaneously trying to remember the man's name.

Michael glanced back at him quickly before asking the older man where to find River Dog.

The guy's eyes narrowed and he looked at them one by one, his eyes staying just a hint longer on Max than on the others. "Who wants to know?" he finally asked, crossing his arms.

`Let me try´ Isabel's finger gently touched Max's arm and a second later, she stepped forward with a huge, flirtatious smile on her full lips.

"We're just doing a project about the Native Americans in school and well…" she looked down, trying to look bashful and eager at the same time, "we heard from someone that this man, River Dog, is supposedly an expert on all the legends and stuff. Is that okay? Do you think he'd mind? I really hope not, because these guys," Isabel pointed briefly at Max and Michael, "are complete losers that would rather spend their time playing videogames than do any kind of real schoolwork so I'll be stuck with a lot of work if I can't interview someone in the know. Please Mister; I'll be really thankful for your help."

Even Max, who still remembered fondly how easily Isabel could manipulate boys of all ages ever since childhood, held his breath while the older guy stood immobile for what seemed like forever. Then Max released the air in his lungs in a sigh of relief when the other man smiled a little bit and gave his consent.

"I'll take you to him, but it's not certain that he's gonna want to talk to you. River Dog is a very busy man. I'm Eddie by the way."

Isabel nodded and rewarded her newest victim with a beaming smile and slid her arm through his as they started walking. Max met Michael's amused eyes with a shrug and they hurried to follow after their devious sister.

It didn't take more than a few minutes of walking, before Eddie stopped outside a worn down building that looked more like a child's attempt at carpentry than an actual house. "He's in there," Eddie announced and knocked on the frail looking door before entering.

Michael and Isabel looked back at Max when he didn't move immediately. Isabel shook her head so her long hair fell in a wave down her back and said, "It was your idea, Max, so you go first."

"Michael's the only one who ever really spent time with him," Max protested, but Michael simply crossed his arms and raised a mocking eyebrow until Max sighed and followed Eddie inside.

It was dark, but Max's eyes adjusted to the different lighting fairly quickly. The elderly man, River Dog that Max vaguely remembered, was sitting at a cluttered desk. His entire face was etched in concentration as he was apparently busy writing something with a bright, pink pen.

Max's eyebrows went upwards when his eyes landed on the pen. It wasn't exactly something he'd ever imagined that the older man had in his possession. Apparently, Max's stare had alerted River Dog to their presence, because he looked up with a start.

If Max hadn't spent the last years of his past life learning to take in details in a single glance, he would have missed the way River Dog's eyes narrowed a fraction in suspicion like Eddie's had done earlier. Was he always so suspicious of us? Max wondered, or is it just because we're strangers in general?

It didn't even last a second, before River Dog's lined face melted into a good-natured grin and he gestured down at the pink pen in his hand. "Awful thing, isn't it? I got it from my granddaughter at my last birthday and she insists that I use it every time I write to her. Well," River Dog sighed briefly and put away the pen, "I have only myself to blame. I acted a bit too happy when I got it, so I must endure until she inevitably turns her affections towards another color. I just hope it will happen sooner rather than later."

Max kept his face carefully friendly and smiled. He noticed that Isabel and Michael were copying him. Eddie stepped forward and spoke to River Dog in their native tongue. Again, Max's keen observational skills made sure he didn't miss the quick pointed stare in both his and Michael's direction.

I don't remember them acting like this before, Max thought again. He took a small step to the side and let his hand brush against Isabel's. 'What do you think they're saying about us?'

'I have no idea, but Michael just said that they seem to be very interested in you two and not me'. Isabel replied a few seconds later.

Max thought back to the time when he'd first met River Dog and had a tentative theory. Again his hand touched Isabel's casually. 'It could because he knew that Nasedo was a male and he wants to make sure that we're not like him; that we're just humans. Remember how he put Michael through that test?'

Isabel relayed Max's thoughts to Michael, whose eyes widened marginally before he turned his head towards Max and nodded a fraction in obvious agreement.

The whole silent conversation hadn't taken more than a few seconds and now Max turned his full attention back on River Dog. The old man was still talking quietly with Eddie, but his face was looking welcoming and no longer reserved. Maybe Iz's story has convinced them that we're just three normal high school students, Max thought.

"Well, sorry about that," River Dog exclaimed several moments later and watched as Eddie made his way back outside to do whatever he had been doing before being intercepted so effortlessly by Isabel, "forgive an old man for making sure I knew what you wanted in such a rude manner."

"You know," Isabel drawled and raised an eyebrow, "you could just have asked."

River Dog glanced at her, but it was clear that he had no regrets over what he'd done. Isabel opened her mouth to reply, but in the next instant, both Max and Michael had placed their hands on her wrist. 'Don't make the guy angry,' Michael demanded. 'Let's follow the plan and get a move on.'

Max agreed with Michael and then took a deep breath before stepping forward to River Dog to do as they'd planned all along. "River Dog, I'm sorry for doing this to you, but we are in a hurry and can't afford to wait. I need the stones and I know you have them."

River Dog's tanned face paled as the implications of Max's statement became clear and he got to his feet with an agility that didn't match his age. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Don't," Max said, raising his hands in a placating manner. "We're not here to hurt you or yours. We simply need the stones."

"I will not help a murderer," the old man hissed, showing a much more emotional side than Max ever recalled seeing in his earlier life.

"Look Old Man," Michael suddenly spoke, his entire demeanor clearly showing that he did not appreciate the insult, "like Max said; we're in a hurry, we aren't evil, so pipe down and give us the damn stones. They belong to us."

Max had the insane urge to chuckle. Trust Michael to get right to the point at a time like this. Outwardly, he settled for saying a gentle as he could, "We are not gonna let Nasedo win, so we need what is rightfully ours."

River Dog's intelligent eyes went from Michael to Max when he heard that. "Nasedo? You are not him, but you know of him? You are not with him?"

Max crossed his arms and answered truthfully, "We know him and no, we are not with him. I give you my word that we have no intention of doing anything that isn't justified. Will you give us the stones?"

Not for the first time, Max berated himself for not remembering the way to the cave where Liz and he had gotten the healing stones in the original timeline. Going to River Dog to simply request for them had been his own idea, but right now, he was no longer sure it was such a great one.

River Dog kept silent for a long minute, he simply stared intently at them all, one by one. Max remained motionless, Michael copied Max's stance and crossed his arms and Isabel fidgeted uncomfortably as the tension rose.

Half an hour later, the hybrids left the Indian reservation with a small pouch that was filled with the stones they'd requested. Max started the jeep and they drove back to the Evans residence to prepare for their next big issue; Confronting Nasedo.

At least now we have the stones, Max thought grimly, let's just hope that things go as smoothly tonight…

Isabel's POV

"Can I just say one last time that I'm not happy about this," Isabel said in a near whisper as she followed the two male hybrids up the small path to Nasedo's house.

It was dark, but the light from the windows gave off an intimidating aura that made the hairs in the back of her neck stand out. Isabel was no coward, but still; she was not feeling particularly at ease either.

Max stopped and waited for her to catch up. "I know that, Iz. None of us are, but we need them in our corner. Nasedo has avoided the law for decades and his shape shifting ability is the only way we can destroy the special unit from within without jeopardizing ourselves like before. It doesn't mean that we have to be best friends with either of them."

"I know," Isabel sighed and straightened up, putting on her emotionless mask that she'd mastered in the war. "Lead the way."

They walked as a united front to the door and Michael knocked twice. He looks just as tense as I feel, Isabel thought, clenching her fists as they heard someone walk towards the door.

A few seconds later, the door was opened and Tess Harding stood before them. Isabel bit the inside of her lip so hard that she could taste blood in her struggle to remain unemotional on the outside.

Tess' admittedly pretty face frowned in confusion at the sight of them. Don't act so surprised, Blondie, Isabel thought coldly, Nasedo has been keeping tabs on us our whole lives, so you must already know how we look like. Don't bother with the innocent act.

"Err…Hello, may I help you?" Tess eventually asked when neither of the remaining hybrids spoke.

"We need to talk to your guardian," Max stated blankly, his voice completely devoid of emotions.

"I'm sorry," Tess tilted her head with a friendly smile, "my dad is really busy right now. He's only just beginning to catch up at his new job, so he's really tired. But, if you leave me your names and number, I promise, I'll get him to call you."

Isabel gritted her teeth and was about to spit out something none too ladylike, but Michael stepped forward a bit and sent her a warning look. I'm sorry I'm so confrontational, Isabel thought to out to the other hybrids, but whenever I see her I just want to bash her head in

Isabel managed to send a grateful smile in Michael's direction before she snapped her attention back to her brother when he finally answered Tess.

"You can tell your dad that Rath, Vilandra and Zan are here and we demand to talk to him immediately."

Tess' eyes widened so much that Isabel wondered if her eyes were about to pop out of her head. "Z-Zan?" she stuttered and looked between them as though trying to absorb their features in her memory. "Vilandra and -and Rath?" Evidently, she hadn't counted on them knowing their origins in such detail.

"Yes, Ava" Max said, his eyes cool, "Get Nasedo, we need to speak with him."

Tess quickly spun around and in her befuddlement; she simply closed the door in their faces. It didn't take more than a minute before the door was reopened and the visage of Mr. Harding was standing in the doorway, looking, if not as much then very close to it, as flustered as his charge.

However, he quickly regained his control with a blink of his eyes. Isabel's upper lip curled in distaste. This was the person, whose behind the scene activities had led to Tess' betrayal and ultimately Alex's death. If he makes one wrong move, I'll show him what the Ice Queen is capable of. I can get very creative

"Hello," Nasedo greeted them with an amiable smile. Maybe it was just Isabel, but she thought she saw a spark of genuine unease in the alien's eyes. "This is truly a surprise. Come on in."

Michael walked in first, his large frame tensed noticeably as he passed Nasedo. Isabel went next. She fought down the temptation to give in to her childish urge to bump roughly into Tess, who was standing slightly behind Nasedo and watching them all with confusion. Max entered the house last and he immediately walked over to Isabel's side, thus making sure that she was covered from both sides.

Oh please, the female hybrid thought with an internal huff, while simultaneously ignoring the tiny part of her that was actually thankful for their protection, I've killed and fought just as much as you two have

"Can I offer you something to drink?" Nasedo was the picture of politeness, but Isabel couldn't quite hold back a shudder of discomfort when the old alien closed the door behind them with a quiet snap.

Max looked over at Isabel and she saw the struggle he was having with himself to remain calm and collected so she answered Nasedo instead, "No thanks. We're not here to chit chat. We came here tonight to ask for your cooperation in a matter of great importance."

Michael took over when Isabel didn't quite know how to continue. "There's a man you need to become and dispose of to prevent them from finding out about us."

This time, Nasedo's surprise lasted a bit longer than a second and he walked over to Tess as he stared hard at Michael. "Really? I must admit that, given your life up until now, I'm amazed. I'd expected you three children to be wary of death and its ugly sides."

"Well, we're not," Michael's abruptness was oddly enough soothing on Isabel's nerves and she took over again.

"What he means to say is; we're well aware of the dangers The Special Unit represents. There's already an agent at the school digging around. We can't do anything to her because it'd be too obvious. She's merely a foot soldier anyway and we want you to go to the top and put a dent in the Unit's credibility."

Nasedo's eyes narrowed and he stared at Isabel with such intensity that she had to force herself to remain where she was. "You're not at all what I expected, Vilandra."

"Her name is Isabel. We only used the other names to get your attention." Michael all but sneered and Nasedo nodded once in understanding. His eyes showed that he was not in the least bit frazzled now that he'd overcome his initial surprise.

"Of course. I meant no disrespect. Well, back to business then. I have come here after receiving your message and as you can see, I've brought the last of the Royal Four. She likes to be called Tess, isn't that right?"

Tess smiled, and if Isabel didn't know better, she'd say that the look in her eyes was one of delight. Was she as happy to be reunited with us in our former life? I can't remember; I was too freaked out thinking I was carrying Michael's kid at the time.

The memory of what Isabel now knew to be the very first time, Tess had mindwarped her, brought back a fresh wave of anger. Her anger was derailed into genuine shock a moment later, when Nasedo spoke again.

"Although I respect your idea, I must decline. I have no intention of going undercover. I have my own system and it's worked pretty well so far. I will, however, take care of the before mentioned foot soldier and leave a fresh trail to confuse her peers. That reminds me," Nasedo's polite tone turned judgmental as he looked into Max's eerie blank eyes. "What in the world were you thinking when you decided to risk everything for a mere human? It would have been better if you'd just left the girl to die."

Oh, no. Isabel bit her lip, knowing that Nasedo had just committed a huge mistake. She quickly stepped closer to her brother, seeing out of the corner of her eye that Michael was doing the same.

To Isabel's surprise, Max didn't move a muscle. There was a small increase in the temperature, but that was the only visible sign of the rage that Isabel just knew was lurking inside of him.

A few moments later, Max blinked slowly and then took one, casual step forward; making sure to keep eye contact with Nasedo the whole time.

"Liz and any other human we choose to socialize with are of no concern to you. You will be taking over Pierce's job and you will ruin The Special Unit from within."

Nasedo looked down at Tess for a short second before looking back up at Max with a small smirk in place. "Really, what makes you so sure, Max?" The way he spoke the human name was etched with mockery.

Isabel swallowed down her growing worry when Max simply copied Nasedo's smirk and said with steel in his voice, "Because I'm your king and I gave you an order. And while we're on the subject; the deal you've made is hereby annulled, do you understand. That's an order."

Nasedo paled so fast that it looked like his blood was vanishing completely from his head. Tess looked even more confused as she kept looking from her guardian to Max. "What is going on here? I thought you'd be happy to see us. I'm the fourth alien; we have a destiny to fulfill."

Isabel wanted nothing more but to grab Tess' neck and squeeze the life out of her while laughing, but realistically, she knew that they had to tread carefully. They wouldn't want to change things too much. It took everything she had, but Isabel managed to look Tess in the eyes without letting her burning hatred shine through…At least, she hoped so.

"That destiny isn't going to happen," Isabel said quietly, "we're on Earth now and have formed connections that can't easily be broken."

"That's not…you just haven't been involved with our alien side like I have by growing up with Nasedo. I've learned so much, and Nasedo's helped me all my life and every time I wanted to live a normal life, he'd remind me of my duty. My destiny. Our destiny." Tess argued eagerly, it was clear that she fully believed in what she was saying.

For one tiny second, Isabel wondered if the Tess had ever longed to be normal as much as she had in the original timeline. We never really bothered to ask her about her childhood with Nasedo and then she betrayed us and no one cared.

"We do not need to be paired up, just because we were on Antar," Michael said, interrupting Isabel's thought process. "It's true that we're stronger when we're all together, our abilities fit together like the well-oiled machines we were made to be. Or in this case alien hybrids."

Nasedo was still standing frozen next to Tess, his widened eyes trained on Max with something akin to real fear written over his entire face. Isabel looked over at Max and saw that he too wasn't looking away from the older alien.

Coming to a decision, Isabel stepped in-between them and said coolly, "Well, it's getting late and I think we all have a lot to think about. You," her brown eyes zeroed in on Nasedo, "can send messages through Tess and we'll finalize the plans in the upcoming days. Tess," this time her eyes landed on the gaping blonde, "you are…welcome to join us for lunch at school tomorrow. We'll let ourselves out. Come on guys."

Isabel nodded to the fourth hybrid and her alien guardian before slowly walking out to the jeep, trailed by a silent Max and a tired looking Michael.

Max started the engine and they drove away from the Harding house. The silence stretched over them as each of them tried to come to terms with their day. Isabel was feeling nauseous, the disgust she had over Tess and having to be civil to her, a woman she'd hated for over a decade, was making her stomach turn.

She leaned forward and placed her head between her legs, trying to breathe slowly in and out. She closed her eyes and tried to follow the link from her to Alex, honing in on his soothing and regular emotions.

"Isabel, are you okay?" Max's voice sounded both concerned and exhausted at the same time.

Sitting back up, Isabel nodded. "I'll be fine. Just," she looked out at her surroundings, "please drop me off here and I'll walk the rest of the way home. I just need some time to think."

The understanding in both Max and Michael's eyes was palpable and a moment later, Max pulled in to the sidewalk and Isabel got out of the jeep.

"Be careful, Iz," Max cautioned softly, "I'll wait up for you at home."

"Don't worry, Max," Isabel smiled, "I can take care of myself, as you both know. I'll see you later."

She watched them drive away and didn't move until she could no longer see the jeep in the distance. Only then did Isabel start to make her way over to Alex's house. She was barely aware that she was doing it, but somehow there was a part in her that needed to see that Alex was still alive and well, despite having invited Tess back into their lives.

A little while later, Isabel stood on the Whitman's doorstep and after a brief hesitation, she resolutely rang the doorbell.

Fortunately, Alex was the one opening the door. He looked extremely shocked to see her, but there was also a clear hint of pleasure that made Isabel smile. I've always loved the way his emotions are written on his face. I don't even need the bond to tell me what he's feeling.

"Isabel, hi!" Alex nearly yelled his greeting and he quickly looked behind him with a sheepish grin. "Whoops, sorry about the noise level…Let me try again; hey Isabel. What brings you here?"

Before she knew what she was doing, Isabel put her arms around Alex's neck and hugged him tightly. Her nose was buried in his collar and she breathed in that scent of his that she'd never really forgotten.

"Oh, okay," Alex mumbled and she felt him battle through surprise, desire and concern before he settled on caring confusion. After a long second, he slowly put his arms around her, bringing her closer to him, something which Isabel didn't object to in the least. "What's going on, Isabel? Are you all right?"

"It's nothing," Isabel's reply was muffled because she didn't move her head from the crook of his neck. "Can I just, please stand here for a little while? I promise I'll leave in a minute…"

The soothing sound of his beating heart calmed Isabel in a way she had never imagined. He's alive; he's not lying in the back of a van with those empty eyes and that cold skin… The dreaded memory of the night he'd died crept into Isabel's mind and she hugged Alex even tighter. If she could, she would have crawled into him, she was that desperate to be close to him.

Alex placed his hand on the back of her head and gently caressed her hair, stroking it as though he wanted to calm her like a wild, scared animal. "It's okay; I'll just stand here with you for as long as you need it, Isabel. Take all the time you want, I'm not going anywhere."

No you're not; Isabel thought and blinked away the burning in her eyes that threatened to turn into tears. I'll see to that.

Outwardly, Isabel simply sighed and whispered, "Thank you, Alex," before allowing herself to just relish in the fact that Alex was with her and alive and well.

Michael's POV

Having had his very first, all round exhausting day after his trip with the granolith express, Michael was not in a very good mood.

Therefore the morning after the visit at Nasedo and Tess' house, Michael was tired and grumpy. He'd never really been great at the whole cheerful thing, especially when he was tired. His mood wasn't made any better when he was rudely awoken fully by a pounding that the fragile door to his so called room in Hank's trailer couldn't quite handle. A moment later, the door banged open and slammed into the wall with a bang.

Hank stepped inside and by the looks of him, he was extremely intoxicated. "You! Boy!" he roared and stomped over and hauled Michael off the pitiful excuse for a bed and dragged him through the living room area and threw him out the door and onto the patch of dirt that made up their entire garden area.

"Hank, what the hell!" Michael yelled; he was wide now awake and ready for anything. Having lived through a war with unexpected twists and horrors, Michael's training made him instinctively tense up and prepare for blood.

Hank himself, stood swaying in the doorframe for a second, before jumping down on the ground in front of him. "Don't you sass me, Boy," he spat and his arm lunged out to hit his foster child as he'd done so many times before.

Except, this time things were about to happen a little differently. The second before Hank's fist would have connected with Michael's chin; Michael's left hand snapped up and grabbed a firm hold on Hank's wrist.

"Don't even think about it," Michael stated with an uncanny calm that managed to ruffle Hank momentarily.

Hank tried to wrestle his wrist away from the iron tight grip his foster son had on him, but it was without success. "Let go of me, Boy," he finally ordered angrily.

Michael knew that although he'd probably enjoy it for about five seconds (or more), it wouldn't be a good idea to pound his abusing foster parent into the ground for all the neglect and violence he'd suffered in his childhood. Instead he took a deep breath and settled for asking calmly, "Now, tell me why you felt the need to throw me out of my bed? Now Hank."

Hank swallowed, making his prominent Adam's apple jump. It was obvious that he was feeling intimidated by the much more mature Michael in front of him. As they stood at their impasse, Hank realized with an internal start that Michael was actually taller than him. "You've grown so much," he murmured after yet another long moment.

Michael rolled his eyes and released Hank. "Good observation Hank. I'm still waiting for your answer."

"I-I got a call from your school yesterday and this lady wanted to talk to me Monday afternoon. Sounded like you've been misbehaving and," here Hank's insecure tone turned determined, "I won't allow any kid of mine to mess up his chances at school. You're gonna finish high school no matter what, ya hear?"

"I didn't know you cared," Michael said, still oozing with a calm that seemed to almost scare the sobriety back into his foster dad.

"Your ma' would've wanted you to graduate and I want to make her proud of you." Hank responded after a brief thought period, there was something that resembled guilt and regret showing in his red rimmed eyes.

Michael blinked; he honestly couldn't remember when he'd last thought of the woman that had been married to Hank when he first came to live with him. Marianne Guerin had been a complete opposite to her husband; quiet, intelligent and extremely happy about having him in her life.

The almost forgotten memory of his foster mom, reminded Michael of a time when Hank had been sober, hardworking at the factory where he'd been employed for over fifteen years. Then Marianne had fallen ill and died after a short battle with cancer. It had been the start of Hank's current way of life.

Marianne had been the only human that Michael had ever opened up too before Maria, and when she left him all alone with a man that had transformed from a decent guy to an angry drunk, that had been the start of his own journey into self-preservation and caution towards letting people in.

Blinking out of the unexpected memories, Michael ran a hair through his hair with a sigh. "Look, Hank; I'm not sure what Topolsky told you, but I've got no plans to quit school. Now go back inside and sober up while I get ready for school."

Hank stared at him for a long while, and for a moment it was as though the haze of alcohol and stupidity slipped away to reveal the man he'd once been. "I'll do that Mike. And I'm…sorry, ya know for-"

Michael nodded mutely and walked back inside the trailer. He paused at the door to send a one fingered salute to their nearest neighbor, who'd been watching the whole thing with rapt, nosy attention.

Michael grabbed a fresh pair of clothes and walked into the tiny room that made up their shower. He quickly showered and dried off. He didn't look in the mirror as he brushed his teeth, still not used to seeing his naked torso without all the scars. Instead, he thought about how much his own negativity and anger had prevented Hank from getting decent help in the original timeline.

He used to be a good guy, Michael remembered as he dressed and went into his room to pack his worn book bag. Maybe I could try and convince him to go to some sobering up thing and get back on his feet.

It spoke of Michael's growth that he didn't entertain thoughts about making Hank relieve his past misdeeds. He no longer carried around that resentment and anger that had shaped him into the young hot head that had been so desperate to get out of Roswell that he'd kidnapped Maria to get answers. Hell, Michael thought with a wry smile, those beatings he stumbled through are nothing compared to what I've lived through since leaving this shitty place.

Finished with his preparations for the day, Michael reentered the living room area, where Hank was now sitting on his recliner with an unopened can of beer in his hand. It was obvious that something that Michael had said and done had somehow reached him and he was now looking thoughtful.

Silently, Michael walked over to the refrigerator and poured a glass of clumpy, smelly and clearly long expired milk. He shielded the glass as he placed his hand over it and changed it back into fresh milk. Then he walked back over to Hank and mutely replaced the can of beer with the milk.

Hank looked at the white liquid for a long time before looking up at the still silent Michael. Eventually, he nodded and drank half of the glass in one go. After wiping off the milk from his lip, Hank stood up with a new look in his eyes that were mixed with a bit of trepidation. "Got time to help me take out the beer? I don't think I can do it alone."

For the first time in years, Michael Guerin smiled a little at his foster parent. "Sure, Hank. I got time."

The two men then started taking out the trash. Michael took the trash bag filled with alcohol with him when Max and Isabel pulled up in front of the trailer, that way making sure that Hank wouldn't just go back to the trash and reclaim his beer once Michael had left for school.

The Evans kids eyed the bag in Michael's hand with interest clearly written on their faces and Isabel curiously asked, "What's that?"

Michael threw the bag in the back and jumped in next to it. He looked back at the trailer where Hank was now standing in the doorway looking at them driving away. "Hope for a man that didn't use to have any."

"What?" Isabel frowned in confusion and Michael looked back at her.

"I'll explain later, let's just go to school so we can see if Tess has any messages from Nasedo. Also, I need to have a quick chat with Topolsky."

Max and Isabel cast a hesitant look at him, clearly they didn't understand what was going on with him, but they didn't say anything and for that, Michael was grateful.

TBC...



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A/N Things are slowly changing and I hope you don't find them too unbelievable. I know that Hank's turnaround might seem sudden and without any reason, but having grown up in a family of alcoholics, I've gone through some of the same things as Michael and the scene with the trashbag etc (not the manipulated milk for obvious reasons) are something that happened to me and that's why I think it's a believable path for Hank to go now...BTW Marianne Guerin is a complete figment of my imagination, if there's ever been written something about Michael's foster mom, this is obviously AU. Let me know what you think about this, it'd mean the world to me:)

Until Next Time, which I don't know will be due to time issues in RL.
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