Informed consent (M/L ADULT) [COMPLETE]

Finished stories set in an alternate universe to that introduced in the show, or which alter events from the show significantly, but which include the Roswell characters. Aliens play a role in these fics. All complete stories on the main AU with Aliens board will eventually be moved here.

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Re: Informed consent AU M/L ADULT 05/04/2010(2)

Post by greywolf »

Jeff watched the boy's eyes flare slightly – then he sighed in apparent resignation. He walked by Jeff as if he didn't even see the shotgun and went outside, leaving Jeff Parker with a very vexed looking daughter.

“Do not EVER call Max a monster – not ever again – or it will be the last you ever see of either of us. And for your information, I have every intention of carrying his child - our child, until it is old enough to walk on its own,” she said moving her right hand to her lower abdomen which she covered protectively. “What's more, everything is alright – or it will be when Max and I get a few things straightened out. As long as Max and I are together everything can't help but being alright. Do you have any idea what he's been doing these last six months? Look at this,” she said, moving her armas and making a fist and opening it again. “Do you have any idea how much physical therapy it takes to keep someone in a coma for eighteen months from getting frozen joints? I doubt it. Max did range of motion exercises on me three times a day – when he wasn't feeding me – or washing me – or changing my diapers – or using his powers to do MY laundry.. He spent twelve hours a day taking care of me and six hours a day trying to find a way to either cure me or put me in suspended animation – like he was for all those decades he was an embryo before he was finally incubated. And what little time he had left he either joined me in any dreams I had to keep me company so I wouldn't go insane – or spent every sleeping hour looking for my dream and hoping he'd be able to join me. Max gave up a year and a half of his life to try to help me, he loves me and I love him, so don't you EVER speak like that about him again.”

Jeff Parker wasn't a stupid man. He wasn't a cruel or bigoted man either. All he was was a father who loved his daughter – a father who had been driven to the edge himself by grief and guilt and the fear – no, worse than fear, the certain knowledge that he had lost his daughter forever. When he heard the second word that his daughter had spoken to the boy – check that, to the young man – Jeff had realized that he had badly misjudged his daughter's feelings for him. And objectively, Jeff had to admit that the young man who was waiting outside had put his life on hold for a year and a half – had taken care of his daughter far better than she would have likely been cared for in the nursing home. OK, getting Liz pregnant while she was in a coma was way out of line even if in his obsession Max had really believed they were married – well, it was still out of line but if Liz was this attached to him – even if it was that she'd merely bonded to him in her loneliness – even if it was some variant of Stockholm syndrome, Jeff knew he needed to tread lightly. If he didn't he could easily lose his daughter.

“Liz, I'm sorry. I don't want to anger you and I certainly don't want to drive you away. I am so happy to find you conscious and out of your coma – and I am sorry I said what I did. I obviously misinterpreted your feelings about this – and I even have to agree with a lot of what you've said about Max. He worked hard – getting you to see the best specialist in the world. I have to admit that I don't understand these machines – or what he was trying to do – but I have to admit that this place isn't what I expected to find. Your physical condition – excepting the pregnancy – is far better than I would have ever anticipated, and that couldn't have been easy for Max to do. I have to be honest with you though, I think his idea to have sex with you while you were in a coma – even if he thought you were married – goes beyond appropriate.”

There – it was said – and it was the truth. Maybe, Jeff thought, he had misjudged the young man – maybe the young man really had Liz's best interest at heart – but what he had done as his daughter lay comatose and unable to even know what was happening to her – let alone consent, although he was starting to doubt that the latter would have been an insurmountable problem for the young man had she actually been awake...

Liz looked at her father and shook her head, a small indulgent smile finding its way to her lips.

“Daddy, do you have any idea how much you and Max are alike? I mean I know you can't heal people, or move things with your mind, but in the ways that really matter – do you have any idea? It wasn't Max's idea to get me pregnant – or even to have sex with me. It was mine.”

“Yours...?”
Last edited by greywolf on Thu May 06, 2010 9:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Informed consent AU M/L ADULT 05/05/2010

Post by greywolf »

“Mine,” Liz nodded. “It's a little involved. Isabel told me that Max has loved me since the third grade. I'm not altogether sure just when I started loving him. It was sometime in grade school though. I remember because in seventh grade we were lab partners and when they announced that in junior high school there were actual dances.... Well I hinted that he should invite me – then I used all the feminine wiles that a thirteen year-old girl had – not all that many, of course. I was too new to the game - to try to tempt him into inviting me. All I got for my efforts was humiliation. I promised myself that I'd never do it again – that Max would have to make the first move before I'd ever let myself even seriously consider becoming romantically involved with him.” She looked down at her lower abdomen and took a deep breath. “The irony of THAT is a little overwhelming, I guess” she said with a wide-eyed half smile.

“But the point, Daddy, is that Max did love me – even if he couldn't bring himself to show it. He loved me all those years but – he really didn't believe I could love him. He thought he was too different. He didn't show me his feelings because he didn't want to cause any pain – either for me or for him - the pain of allowing me to become close to him and then me being horrified and him being crushed when I found out the truth. He couldn't stop himself from loving me but he couldn't show it while I denied even to myself how much I cared for him. The accident changed all that.

When I was in the coma – when I had those REM sleep EEGs, I was sort of dreaming. Isabel could reach me in those dreams – even from quite a distance – through something she calls dream-walking. Max didn't have that much ability, but Isabel could bring him into my dream with her. The point is, once I was hurt, Max's love for me overcame his fear of exposure and – worse – his fear of rejection. Having their company was all that kept me sane and – more than that – it partially stabilized my injury. The nerves in my brain that normally allow you to be awake were too badly injured to allow me to be conscious – they were barely enough to let me dream – and they were dying.

Max has the power to heal people – but to do that he needs to make a mental connection and he couldn't do that while I was in the coma. That's why he spent so much time trying to get me the best treatment. He thought if he got me conscious – even for a little time – well, he could at least stabilize me. But it turned out the damage I had – well the treatment couldn't fix. He also knew that I was starting to fade away – that the times when my damaged nerve cells would even allow me to dream were getting fewer and shorter – even with both him and Isabel dreamwalking me. He decided that – to keep me going longer – that he'd dreamwalk me one shift and Isabel would dreamwalk me the next, but Max's range for dreamwalking is from about here,” Liz said, indicating the half of the bed she wasn't occupying, “...to here,” indicating the part of the bed she WAS occupying. That's one of the reason he reminds me of my rather prudish father.”

“I am NOT prudish...”

“Call it what you like but that was when Max started courting me – Isabel was chaperoning then – but the guy who had never even considered asking me to a dance wound up asking me to marry him. I thought it was all a dream of course. I thought the whole thing was my imagination – just the idle ramblings of a battered brain in someone injured in a car accident. Even then I could tell I was fading and that my time was getting shorter and shorter. So I decided to take that dream and enjoy it – to at least have in my dream the happiness that life was going to deny me. It was funny, sort of, Max knew I didn't believe he was real but still courting me because he wanted to kidnap me and sleep in the same bed with me and thought it would somehow dishonor me if we weren't married.”

“What's funny about that?” asked Jeff with a puzzled look.

“I told you that you and Max thought alike. Even after we were married I don't really think he expected me to accept him quite as thoroughly as I did. He never had any intention to actually consummate the marriage physically - at least not until he was absolutely certain I was awake and understood all of this was real. If he did manage to save me he intended for me to be – uh – untouched. I think he was surprised when - even in a dream - I wanted him to go through with those vows.

What was funny, though, was that he was so sure that it was ONLY because I thought it was a dream that I accepted him. All I ever cared about was him loving me and I figured if I was going to die without getting the real thing I could at least have my dream – but there was more to it than that.

I think we were both trying to protect ourselves from disappointment – to somehow avoid the loss you have to risk to admit you love someone and want them to love you. When I thought it was only a dream I think what I was doing was putting out of my mind how much I wanted that – to be his wife someday. If I didn't believe it was real – well I wouldn't REALLY be losing him when I died. I think he was doing sort of the same thing. If he didn't REALLY believe I would accept him – different or not – he was protecting himself from being hurt b y me when I left him – either by dying or even by walking out of his life forever if I did get cured. In our own different ways, neither one of us could really bring ourselves to ever admit it might be real.”

“That still doesn't explain the – uh – you know,” said Jeff, nodding toward her lower abdomen.

“That's simple. Max was trying to get two of these old pods to work to put us in stasis – to literally stop time – and despite working so hard – despite reading all these books and taking the other unit apart and putting it back together – it wasn't going to work. He was willing to give up everything he has in this world to go with me into the future – to a future where they would have found out how to heal me – but in the end he just couldn't do it. Maybe in another fifty years of study – but maybe not even then. Maybe we just don't yet have the mathematics that lets us understand something so advanced as the stasis units. In any event, Max was sharing with me what he was doing and it was obvious that he and I weren't making any progress. It was also obvious that I was fading fast. On the last time I could dream – when I knew that this would be the last time I would ever see my dream-husband – I found I had to think of more than just myself. 'What if he's real?' I asked myself. And when I asked myself that, I knew the answer. If Max was real I didn't think he would be bound by the 'until death do us part,' pledge in the marriage. I looked at him – at the man who had already devoted over a year to taking care of me and who was willing to give up everything he had to go with me into the future and I just knew. If I died, Max wasn't going to let me go quietly into the night alone – he'd go with me. I didn't believe – not really – but I had to hedge my bet because it wasn't just my destiny I was betting on, it might be Max's destiny as well. I thought about making him promise that he wouldn't do it – wouldn't die with me – but knowing the real Max and knowing my dream-husband.... well, I figured somewhere between the time he promised and the six months or so before my body finally died, he'd find some rationalization to renege on his promise. I couldn't give him that much time. So I made him promise – to swear on the vows we had made and the love that we shared – to try to make a baby with me. I used the excuse that I wanted to live on – that through our child I'd still be here – that you and mom would still have a part of me in your grandchild – but the real reason was that I knew Max. I told him that I wanted him to get me pregnant and when my body started to fail to transfer the fetus inside me into one of the pods – the science for the incubator part we do understand – and to finish the baby and care for it. Max has always been Mr. Responsibility. Max wouldn't kill himself and leave our child alone in the world without both a mom and a dad. But it wasn't about the sex – or even a baby I would never live to see – it was always about Max. So he waited until my first fertile period and had sex with me – twice. I got the impression talking to him earlier that he didn't much enjoy it. He said it was the loneliest experience of his life. Which is funny, because once I had made it obvious I expected our dream marriage to be – uh – consummated, he really seemd to enjoy the dream-sex. But he said it was just not the same without me actually there, or at least that was how he described the experience.”

Jeff nodded his head. Max had been obsessed with his daughter but it hadn't been about sex – it had been about love. The boy – check that – the young man – check THAT – the caring and responsible young man - had been willing to give up anything for her – even his own life. He couldn't blame his daughter for loving a wonderful young man like that – and he couldn't blame such a fine young man for honoring his daughter's last request. Taken in the aggregate – well the whole thing was pretty shocking – but disassembling the individual parts Jeff couldn't find any moral flaws in anything that either Liz or Max had done, even to a relatively prudish father.

“So what did Max say when he saw you had come out of your coma?”

“Actually, we had our first fight, about then. That's why he was late getting to pick up the supplies. He still finds it difficult to believe that I can accept him being different. He thinks I didn't really have the capability to give 'informed consent' when I married him and told him I wanted a baby because I didn't believe it was real at the time – and he said doesn't want me to continue the pregnancy.”

“He wants you to abort the pregnancy?”

“Mr. Responsibility? No way. He wants to use his powers of molecular manipulation and healing to
take the baby out of me and 'finish it' in an incubator. He says that I can go back to having a normal life and he'll stay here until the baby is ready to be born. After that if I still want to we can date – and see what happens.”

“Is that what you want?”

“Of course not,” said Liz, one hand on her abdomen protectively. “I think probably the reason that Isabel and Max have so much trouble accepting that they are worthy of love is because of those machines. They were about six when they were finally released out into the desert – six years when they never heard their mother's heartbeat – never were loved or cuddled or experienced any human affection. No wonder they have such a hard time. I love Max, but he is still a work in progress. He needs a little fine tuning.”

Jeff fought back a smile. He knew where Liz got that expression. Nancy had been calling Jeff a work in progress for over twenty years – usually after he'd fouled up – and generally just before they made up. He understood Liz's concerns. Still, even the offer. Jeff had heard of guys who were willing to support their partners during a pregnancy, but Max was the first one he ever heard who was willing to take over the whole pregnancy so his partner could go back to normal. Of course, Liz obviously didn't care to go back to normal. She wanted Max.

“Fine tuning?”

“I have a plan, of course. It involves my daddy going away – and me seducing my husband. This morning I will have passionate sex with my husband and he WILL enjoy it and then he'll get some badly needed sleep and think more clearly. After that, Max and I will start planning together – on how to put our lives back together. We always were better as a team than either of us was individually.”
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Re: Informed consent AU M/L ADULT 05/06/2010

Post by greywolf »

'This morning I will have passionate sex with my husband and he WILL enjoy it...'

The words seemed to reverberate through Jeff's mind. It wasn't exactly the conversation he'd expected to have with his daughter at 5AM this morning. Of course, he really hadn't expected to be talking with her at all this morning. He'd expected to be listening to Jim Valenti - reading him his Miranda rights after he had killed Max Evans.

His little girl had changed. Oh, under it all she was still his little girl - always would be - but there was a new toughness - a new maturity and determination. It made sense, he supposed. She'd been through an enormous experience - being in the accident - being in her coma - and now being married and pregnant. It made sense that such an experience would change her but even so... Liz had a maturity and determination that Jeff wouldn't have expected from her - not for years. Maybe it was that she had somehow evolved through all this - ceased to be a child - and become a young woman fighting for her child - fighting for her family. And Max was her family too now - Jeff knew that with certainty.

He'd known all his life that she would never be his to keep - he was just sort of holding her in trust until the right guy came along. If Max was that guy - and Liz seemed certain he was - it wasn't his job to get in the way. He'd help that process along - however he could. There just didn't seem much that he COULD do.

"I'm sorry dear," said Jeff. "Usually there's some advice I can give you or something. This problem - well, I think you are on your own. I just don't know what help I can give you."

Liz looked up at her father, a smile on her lips. "Don't worry, daddy, you already have. All your life you have. I told you that Max was a lot like you."

"I don't understand, I guess..?" said Jeff.

"Daddy, what were you going to do with that shotgun? Were you going to kill Max?"

"I uh...," Jeff sputtered. She knew that had been his intention - but after what he now knew - it was hard for him to admit it. He nodded his head.

"The ironic thing is, I think Max would have probably let you - not that he had to - Max is a pretty formidable guy when he wants to be - but he was feeling pretty upset with himself. Do you still hate Max?"

"Of course not, it was just that before..."

"Before, you didn't know how much I loved Max, and even though it wasn't your fault, you felt guilty about my accident, you felt guilty that you hadn't been able to protect me, not from that drunk , and not from some teenage guy you thought was a pervert who kidnapped me - so you wanted to kill Max. Do you still want to kill him?"

"Honey, of course not, but I guess I don't understand what this has to do with you and Max?”

“Because Max feels the same way you did. He worked so hard, Daddy. He held nothing back. Ever since my accident he has done everything he could to help me – he did the very best he could. And he believes in the end it was not only ineffective – but unnecessary. Oh, he was happy when I woke up – overjoyed. The odds of someone coming out of a coma on their own after all the time I spent in it were millions to one – he knows that because he looked up those odds before he ever started this. But as happy as he is he is appalled at the fact that he 'took advantage' my loneliness in the abyss to convince me to marry him – his words not mine. Same thing for actually consummating the marriage in our dreams – again his words and not mine. He thinks that because I really didn't believe it was him present in my dream he violated my privacy – I believe 'raped your mind' was the expression he used. And even though I told him to do it – even though I made him promise by the vows we made and his love for me – to do precisely what he did, he still feels guilty. He still feels we are 'too different' and he is too afraid that my love for him is some sort of 'Stockholm Syndrome' to want me to actually go through with carrying this pregnancy. That's why he wants me to let him put the baby in an incubator and then just date after our child is old enough to be born. He doesn't want to put unfiar pressure on me.”

“Max seems to be a very honorable young man.”

“Honorable? Yes. But his premise is wrong. The things he's being homorable about – they are simply wrong. I do love him. I loved him before my accident – even if I was too pig-headed to tell him – and I love him now that I'm awake – even if HE is too pigheaded to believe me.”

“Well, that would appear to present some problems to your plans to – uh, for your plans for the rest of the morning that is.....”

'Normally, you might be right, Daddy. Oh, it would just be a temporary setback. I can be just as persistent and stubborn as Max. Eventually I would convince him that he really HAD saved my life – because he had. If he and Isabel hadn't been there I would have gone insane in the abyss. If he and I hadn't gotten married – if we hadn't made love in the abyss – if even just the dream of being Mrs. Max Evans hadn't been so wonderful, I never would have survived to today at all. Just those things alone, even if nothing else Max did – all the work he did trying to figure out the pods – all the care and feeding he gave me – even if you ignore all his other effort, I would still love Max and I would still owe him my life.”

“I believe you, Honey, but Max might be harder to convince – especially with the guilt he apparently feels about the pregnancy.”

“Ah yes, the pregnancy... Had he not been so wonderful in the abyss, I never would have hedged my bet when I thought that he was a figment of my imagination – I would have never made him promise - and he never would have given me this wonderful gift of himself,” said Liz, again placing her hand lovingly on her lower abdomen. “But like I said, Max is wrong. He's wrong about everything. But like my Daddy, Max isn't stupid either. Once he understands the reality – he'll be OK. Which is why you need to get out of here before very long.”

“The reality? You mean about your love for him?”

“Yes. Even his way he would have eventually understood. But we are going to do it my way. Like I said, Max is a work in progress and I don't want to waste time getting to work on him. You see after we had our argument – when Max went down to pick up the supplies – I got to thinking. Max's powers – like molecular manipulation and telekinesis and healing and something called powerblasting – wherever his alien DNA came from, it must have been a pretty rough neighborhood.”

“Yes...”

“Well, a parent is important to a child. The child would stand a better chance of surviving if they had two parents. Its mother is an important factor in its survival and – for the first seven or eight months after conception – absolutely vital to it. If that fetus had the ability to manipulate matter – to heal - it would seem logical that over time the chances of that new life surviving would be improved if it evolved so that it corrected any damage to its mother. Anything that increased the mothers odds of survival would increase those of the child.”

“You mean it would want to heal its mother?”

“Not want to – evolution doesn't work that way. It's just that – over time – babies that DID heal their mother would do better than those that didn't and – in a rough enough environment – the selection pressure would be so great that eventually the babies that cured their mothers would predominate. It's not a choice they make – they wouldn't even be conscious of it. They'd just do it – automatically.

Anyway, the more I thought of it, the more it made sense. Max couldn't make a connection to me when I was unconscious to heal me – but our baby shares half my chromosomes. Nobody could be closer. Max didn't know which genes to stimulate to induce my own stem cells to grow a new reticular activating system but it would have been easy for our baby – if it were to somehow sense that mine was gone – to open up my genes with molecular manipulations because its own nervous system would be forming and it would be opening up those same genes of its own. And the timing – 77 days – if my stem cells were growing from both ends they'd grow about two tenths of a millimeter a day. After 77 days they'd be just about the right length to connect to where they were supposed to connect. You see, it wasn't a one in a million chance that I came out of my coma today. I came out of the coma today BECAUSE Max gave me a baby. When I explain THAT he's going to know that it WAS him who saved me - even if a little indirectly.”

“I don't know, Liz. What if Max doesn't believe your story.”

Liz smiled at her father. “It wasn't a story, Daddy, It's called a scientific hypothesis. In this case a testable hypothesis, and by Occam's law – the law of parsimony – I pretty well proved it was right.”

“Occam's law?”

“Yeah. Occam's Law says that the hypothesis that most completely and simply explains something is likely to be true. Max'll understand it, even if you don't”

“Well, your idea – er – hypothesis – explains it, but doesn't Max's idea that it was just blind chance that you somehow got better explain it just as well?”

“Oh, his theory explains me getting well – but it doesn't explain THIS,” said Liz as she held her hand up toward the shelf of supplies.

A plastic bottle of drinking water suddenly wobbled through the air into her hand. She raised it toward her father as if toasting him before sending the bottle wobbling back through the air to the shelf it had come from.

“I suppose since 'Junior' was fixing up my damaged hardware he – or she – took the opportunity to update the REST of my mental hardware to what it considers the current standard. I guess I'm now homo sapiens 2.0, or whatever version Max and 'Junior' are. So Max is wrong – we aren't all that different after all.

Actually I don't think we ever were all that different – or the conception itself never would have taken place.”
Last edited by greywolf on Sun May 09, 2010 9:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Informed consent AU M/L ADULT 05/08/2010

Post by greywolf »

It was about ten minutes later when Jeff left the podchamber. He'd gone less than twenty feet when he saw Max sitting on a rock- watching as Jeff approached him.

Generally, all fathers of daughters tend to use the same three-point checklist in determining the acceptability of a potential son-in-law. The three factors in that check list are these:
1.Is he good enough for my daughter?
2.Will he take good care of her?
3.Will he make her happy?
To pass, the would-be son-in-law will need to score well on at least two out of these three criteria. This test generally requires a damn good score on the last two criteria, since in the opinion of most fathers no prospective son-in-law will ever be good enough for his daughter.

Of course Liz and Max had pretty well rendered moot the whole son-in-law issue in this instance – if not six months ago when they'd made their vows then for damn sure 11 weeks ago when Max had kept his promise to Liz. Even so, it was perhaps unavoidable that Jeff would run through this checklist in his mind as he came out of the podchamber- the shotgun unloaded and held tightly against his back by its sling – as he again saw the young man he'd hated so much – could it really be less than thirty minutes ago? A hell of a lot had happened since then.

Would Max take good care of Liz? Well, Jeff had no doubt he'd certainly do his best. Max had put his life on hold for a year and a half – been willing to put it on hold for God alone knew how long – to take care of a young lady he had no obligation to. Certainly the Albuquerque police hadn't been entirely wrong. Max had been obsessed with his daughter. It just hadn't been about sex – not really – although Liz had certainly made her intention clear that as far as she was concerned it would henceforth be a part of their relationship. No, Jeff had to admit, Max had done a better job of seeing to it that Liz got the best possible medical care than he himself had been able to do. When that wasn't enough he had let nothing – not terrified parents – not law enforcement – not his love for his own family – not even the laws of physics – deter him from doing whatever he believed would give Liz her best chances of surviving a tragedy that he had no part in causing. And even after all that had apparently failed, he hadn't been willing to let Liz go alone quietly into the darkness. Were it not for Liz, he'd have gone with her. She believed it, and listening to his daughter, Jeff thought she probably was right. Hell yes. If anyone in the world would take good care of his daughter, it was the young man sitting on the rock before him.

Would Max make Liz happy? Lizzie sure seemed to think so. How was a father to ever know really? Of course, without Max, Liz would have had no chance at happiness at all. His daughter would be quite possibly dead now - and if not then likely just an empty husk waiting for a critical organ system to fail to make legal death a reality. Certainly Max COULD make Liz happy if he chose to do so - or if Liz maneuvered him into it. Jeff no longer had any doubt about that.

Even the - 'is he good enough for my daughter' category actually didn't look all that bad. Oh, the kid was confused about his relationship with his parents and even with Liz, but despite the kid apparently feeling that he was unworthy of being loved he seemed to be of pretty damn good character. In fairness, it was scarcely Max's fault that his social skills were a little impaired. Heck, Jeff was forty years old and he still remembered kindergarten and first grade pretty well. Max had missed those years - and all that had gone before them. All the loving and cuddling and time spent in the arms of your mother and father - the time where you really became a human being. Max had been catching up in that regard ever since. But was he a good person? Jeff was certain he was. A confused one - a work in process as Liz said, but then weren't we all?

Yep, and this was the young man he'd come up here to kill - what kind of social skills had THAT shown? Everybody had their emotional demons, with help Max could overcome his - and Liz had every intention of giving him a lot of help.

Of course, it wouldn't do to interfere - the kids had to work that out for themselves - but Max was family now - whether he'd quite gotten it through his uncertain and perhaps overly cautious head or not. It wasn't Jeff's job to push in a situation like this but still - he could show his support.

"Hi Max..," said Jeff Parker.
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Re: Informed consent AU M/L ADULT 05/10/2010

Post by greywolf »

Meanwhile, sixteen miles to the south-southeast another conversation was going on, and it was not going at all like Isabel had anticipated.

Did I mention that human intelligence is an over-rated commodity – at least in terms of evolutionary advantage? Well it is, and the problem this time was something that psychiatrists and psychologists call 'transference,' as if the very existence of psychiatrists and psychologists didn't already demonstrate the problem with human intelligence. Tranference is the process by which emotions and desires originally associated with one person are unconsciously shifted to another person. Where this comes in is that dream that Alex had – and Isabel shared – in which she presented him with twin offspring.

Now in fact that was a dream that would have warmed the heart of all but the most callous of males – which Alex certainly was not. It was a dream that – for all he never really believed for a moment Isabel could actually love him enough to do something like that – any honorable and caring male would have cherished. The problem really involved the act of sharing it unknowingly with Isabel. As dreams went, it was a serious 'chick flick.' Alex had been impressed, but what it had done to Isabel...

The dream had jolted Isabel in a way that perhaps nothing else could have. Alex had loved the dream, but Isabel had been affected not just in her conscious mind – not just in her unconscious mind – not just in her midbrain – Hell, the girl had been jolted by the wonder of that dream all the way down to her subcellular level – from her head to the most distal molecule of keratin on her left little toenail. Isabel would have died to make that dream come true for Alex which I guess to an extent is the risk that the females of the species have been taking since the species was evolved. Unfortunately, Isabel shared her brothers history of truncated childhood and emotional alienation. She was absolutely convinced that she couldn't bear Alex's children, and that's where the transference came in. You see, she loved Alex, and wanted him to have that dream and since he couldn't have it with her …. well, you get the picture. Fortunately Alex didn't get it. That's why one of the three most potentially lethal creatures in Chaves county – check that, better make that one of the four and 11/39th most potentially lethal creatures in Chaves county – was sitting in the downstairs living room of her parents house arguing with someone who was turning out to be THE most persistent creature in Chaves county.

It had seemed reasonable to bring him there and explain everything and, once that was done – let him go on his way – hopefully still friend – whereupon she would then wake her parents and give them the news before Jim Valenti and Jaime Sanchez came by to pick her up. The folks might as well hear the news first from her. Of course, that had assumed that Alex would quickly tell her that while he appreciated her friendship he really had a hitherto unknown allergy to alien DNA and scoot for his house. Boy had THAT been an erroneous assumption. Which of course was why the two of them were - still – sitting on the couch next to each other and shouting in whispers trying to get their points across without waking the folks sleeping in the master bedroom one floor up.

“What part of I'm an alien don't you understand...?” asked Isabel, touching her hand to the wall behind the couch and sending the paint through a kaleidoscope of colors.

“What part of you love me and I love you and I want to marry you don't YOU understand?” asked Alex.

“Alex, that's like the eleventh time we've been over this,” Isabel, exaggerating substantially. It was really only the seventh time he'd proposed to her. Whatever other failings the guy might have, lack of persistence wasn't one of them.

“But I explained it to you – I have no reason to believe that I could ever give you children,” she said, shaking her head.

It had been his dream, but she'd been the one that really internalized it. Despite several attempts to get her to understand – she was doing her best to be adamant about this. Alex DESERVED that dream, and since he couldn't have it with her he'd have to find someone else. She wasn't saying no because she didn't love him, but rather because she did. Did I mention that human intelligence was an over-rated commodity? But Alex was certainly being persistent.

“If it comes to that, we can adopt. Your parents never had biological children – and look at the great daughter they got....”

“Alex....” she whimpered, looking up at him with a wide-eyed expression on her face like his assertiveness somehow left her threatened. It was a look that typically melted the heart of Philip Evans and – had it been him – it would have likely been effective in ending the discussion in Isabel's favor. But Alex wasn't buying it. Philip didn't know that his daughter could vaporize a 110 grain 38 Special bullet in less than four feet despite the bullet traveling at almost a thousand feet a second. Alex did.
He wasn't threatening her and he knew it – she did too - therefore it was OK to continue the discussion.

That's what I mean, human intelligence being over-rated. If it wasn't for Isabel's human 'intelligence' there wouldn't have been any 'transference' and she wouldn't have been saying no and they'd have been engaged and making plans for their future together by now. Heck, if Isabel's midbrain had its way – unencumbered by the inhibitory impulses from her so-called 'higher functions,' - she'd be in his arms right now, most likely with her midbrain using her molecular manipulation powers to change both their clothes from cotton into CO2, carbon footprint be damned, - if you can't handle the heat you don't live in New Mexico. Global warming – if it really did happen – would be a problem for future generations to manage in the future. The midbrain's main concern would have been of trying to insure those future generations actually got generated - most likely right there on the couch.

And, believe it or not, Alex was slowly winning. Sure, it would have taken him another day or two to wear Isabel down, but eventually he'd have convinced her to go looking at rings with him – probably would have took another couple of days though . But this argument – such as it was – would wind up continuing for only about another forty-five minutes.
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Re: Informed consent AU M/L ADULT 05/11/2010

Post by greywolf »

Back up north....

The young man looked up at Jeff and nodded, "Mr. Parker..."

"At this point, Max and Jeff is probably more appropriate, Max. I'm sorry about pointing the shotgun at you...."

"Why? If Liz was my daughter I'd have probably used it..."

"I think in your case it would have more likely been this powerblast thing that Liz told me about."

Jeff had meant it as a joke, but it was obvious Max didn't take it that way. Suddenly the young man was taking an intense interest in the appearance of his own shoes. Finally he mumbled, "That's more an outdoor sort of thing. It's kind of unpleasant to do in enclosed places...."

"In any event, I'm sorry about the shotgun. I wish I could say something like, 'Max, if you'd only told me what this was all about....,' but that would be a lie. If you had told me I wouldn't have believed you and if you had showed me I wouldn't have trusted you. The fact is - I honestly can't see us getting to this spot much of anyway other than the way we DID get to this spot - and I guess I'm a little overwhelmed by it all. Am I to understand that you and my daughter are married?"

"It's not her fault, Mr. Parker. She didn't know what she was doing. To her it was just a dream..."

"But you knew what you were doing, didn't you Max? I mean the fact that you were born here - in one of those pods - you knew when you had your sister pronounce those vows that you weren't a figment of my daughter's imagination. You knew when you pronounced them that Liz wasn't a figment of your imagination. You knew that, didn't you? And like I said, Max, you might as well call me Jeff at this point."

"Yes Mr..., Yeah, I knew that Jeff."

"So did you mean those vows, Max? Do you really love my daughter?"

"I've loved Liz as long as I can remember knowing her. I realize that doesn't excuse what I did. Not the kidnapping and certainly not .... you know ... the pregnancy."

"You know, that's the thing that I still can't get my mind around, Max. Two years ago if you'd told me my daughter was going to be married by now - even in some cockamamie ceremony in her head - and pregnant - and about to have some big important discussion with her husband about where their relationship went from here .... well, I'd have been horrified. This morning I wanted to kill you because of all the pain you caused - not to Lizzy because I honestly didn't think that she was in any condition to know what you were doing to her - not even because of the pain the kidnapping caused Nancy."

"Mr.... Jeff, I am so sorry I hurt her like that. I honestly thought I could make a difference.."

"Liz thinks you did make a difference, Max. She thinks that without the extra times you two spent together in that abyss thing she would have faded away altogether - never lasted this long. Never lasted long enough to wake up at all. To tell the truth, I'm not truly sure that it wasn't easier on Nancy having Liz gone than it was watching her fade away day after day, even in the hospital. Watching her in the nursing home would have been more than she could have borne. No, it was mostly me that was bothered by the kidnapping. It was my pain - and my guilt - and I'm honestly not sure it was even about you at all. I was supposed to protect my daughter - supposed to keep bad things from happening to her. I didn't do that and she was injured. Then this pervert boy - that's what I thought then anyway - he steals away what was left of my daughter to do God knows what to her..."

"I am so sorry, Mr. Parker," said Max, his voice shaking with emotion. "I know that I had no right to do that..."

"Max, I'm not blaming you for that. Granting the dying request of someone you love. That wasn't precisely what was going through my mind when I twisted and turned sleeplessly at night thinking about you and my helpless daughter. I mean ... I know... know that the physical part isn't just a hell of a lot different from what I was enraged about, but I thought that you were exploiting her - that's what angered me.... and you weren't, and that makes all the difference in the world.
So somehow, here I stand, my daughter in a situation that would have horrified me two years ago, and instead of being horrified I'm happier than I've been in the last year and a half and struggling real hard to keep from butting my nose into a situation that I know that you and Liz are going to have to decide for yourselves."

"Mr. Parker - Jeff - I can honestly do what I said. It won't hurt her - not a bit - and it won't hurt the baby either. Liz can go back to her old life and I can stay here until the baby is old enough to be born and then - if she still wants - we can start dating. If it doesn't work out, I'll raise the baby alone. I don't want to be unfair to Liz. I know I can't undo what I did, but - well she doesn't have to let it ruin her life."

Jeff sat down on the rock beside Max and looked up into the sky. "Max, you are something. What would you think of someone who used deception and coercion to get someone to have sex with them, then when a pregnancy developed just ran off and left the other one to finish the pregnancy and raise the child alone?"

"Well, he'd be a real bastard, but I wasn't going to do that..."

"I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about Liz. Oh, I'm not saying that she wouldn't have wanted to leave something of herself behind - particularly if it was permanently alloyed with you - but she's the one who pushed YOU to do what you did, I think to keep you occupied after she died so you didn't get any ideas of following her. I mean, how mad can you be at your daughter's guy when she's the one who pushed for the pregnancy and he has promised to not just support the baby, but to actually finish the pregnancy for her? Now THAT is one for the books - not that Liz is going to allow that to happen."

"But she can go back to her old life...."

"Max, things change, and people change with them. I'm not going to push my way into this because it's something that you and Liz will have to settle. I will tell you that Liz is part of my family and that baby is part of my family and nothing will ever change that. You have the opportunity to be part of my family too - but that's for you and Liz to decide. If you do decide you want in - well, you and Liz are going to have to somehow put your lives back together. The upstairs at the Crash where Liz's room is has its own bathroom and the room across the hall - well right now it has a lot of maps and army surplus stuff in it but I'll be getting rid of all that..."

"Are you offering to let me stay there? To be near Liz until she delivers if she won't let me keep the baby in the incubator?"

"No, you idiot, I was thinking the extra room would make a nice nursery - I'd assume you'd be bunking with Liz - although if you do opt for that it would be nice if we could get the marriage sort of redone in the real world - preferably before the baby is born."

"You mean sleep with Liz?"

"Max, you've been sleeping at her side for six months..."

"But you are not talking about me sleeping at her side...."

"Actually, Max, I'd rather not talk about that, if you don't mind. A father has got to have a few illusions - if that baby in my daughter's belly is a little girl, maybe you'll someday understand. Let's just say that if the two of you do decide to try to make a go of your marriage, I'll do the best I can to help you out and I'm sure Lizzy's mom will feel the same way. Your folks too, I'd imagine. Come to think of it they undoubtedly would be the ones to talk to about how we go about getting the marriage legal."

"My folks? They don't know about this."

"The pregnancy? That doesn't surprise me. If they did they'd have probably been out here trying to help too already."

"No. Not the pregnancy - not the marriage - not the not-from-around here part either ..."

"Well Max, you are going to have to tell them. I mean you can't NOT tell them about a grandchild and - no matter what you and Liz decide they are going to want to be around their grandchild. They are going to have to know...

"Maybe I can somehow just tell them about Liz and me and the baby and leave them in the dark about the rest."

"Max, it isn't as if they don't know you are adopted. Besides, they are going to want to baby-sit from time to time. They might become a little suspicious as the baby bottles go levitating off the stove into their grandchild's hands, don't you think? And maybe you were in one of those pods asleep until you were six but I vividly remember when Lizzy went through the terrible twos. The little tyke might forget that powerblasting is an outdoor activity. You really want something like THAT to take your folks by surprise?"

Max just looked off in the distance - wide eyed with anxiety. "But they are going to be upset that I never trusted them before..."

"You are going to be a parent yourself, Max, and it's time you learned. Sometimes we get upset with our kids ... it doesn't mean we don't love them .. and eventually we get over it. Whatever you and Lizzy decide, your folks need to know. Tell you what, I'll go tell them, I'll go right to your house and tell them this morning."

"You could talk to Isabel - get her to come out here on the back road with the jeep. Liz will be OK once she gets a few weeks exercise, but she's too weak to walk down to the highway. Iz could be back here with the jeep and have her back home safe in a couple of hours..."

"Max, I'm not sure that would be a good idea. You and Liz have to have that talk and then you probably ought to - uh - sleep on it for awhile."

"Sleep on it?"

"Well yeah. I mean, look at yourself Max... you look dead on your feet. I'm sure that you aren't going to be able to get any sleep at all until you and Liz sort of hash this whole relationship issue out but after that you are probably going to need a good six or eight hours before you are really thinkinng clearly. I'll tell Isabel to pick you both up sometime around 2PM. In the meantime your folks and I will put our heads together and figure out how you and Liz can both put your lives back together."

Max looked sort of doubtful. "Well, OK I guess. I'll go back and talk with Liz. You don't have to worry - we won't do anything but talk.."

"Max, you have the wrong idea. You don't owe me any promises. You and Lizzy made promises to each other. Maybe she didn't totally understand them at the time - maybe you didn't either. But it's up to the two of you to work that out and decide which ones you still want to keep. Right now I'm going to go and pick Nancy up and take her over to your folks. I'm not going to tell her a damn thing until I have Isabel there to show her I haven't gone insane myself. Then she and I are going to have a good cry and sit down with your folks and talk. You and Liz have to make your own decisions, but whatever those are you are going to have to find some way to get your lives back - either together or individually. Whatever you two decide, I'm sure you'll have all the help we can give you."

"Thank you, Mr. P... Jeff. I still think that - to be fair to Liz - I ought to take care of the pregnancy. Once the baby is old enough - maybe we can start dating an d she can make up her mind fairly once she's back in the real world. I think it'd be better for Liz that way. I'm different - I know that - and whether being with me would make her happy once she fully realizes that...?" Max just shrugged his shoulder.

Jeff walked part way down the path before he turned to watch Max enter the podchamber.

'Can't help but wonder if he realizes how badly he's going to lose that argument? Well, all new husbands go through that. Welcome to the club, Max....,' he thought as he turned and started down the path toward the highway - his car - and Roswell.
Last edited by greywolf on Wed May 12, 2010 12:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Informed consent AU M/L ADULT 05/11/2010

Post by greywolf »

It was far easier going down the trail to the Old Albuquerque highway than it had been either climbing up it or climbing across the face of the slope as he stalked Max - was that really only a half hour ago? Somehow the universe had changed so much in that time for Jeff Parker. In the last half-hour he'd developed a real affection for the young man who loved his daughter. Sure, the kid was a little bit of an idealist - he probably was still trying to talk Liz into letting him handle the pregnancy - but idealism in the young was certainly no sin. Besides - Liz seemed like she was going to be more than capable of persuading him. In fact, to avoid having to visualize exactly how Liz was likely going to persuade him, Jeff turned his thoughts to his next most immediate problem - Nancy.

Now that he wasn't spending the bulk of his brainpower fantasizing about killing Max, it occurred to Jeff that Nancy had been worrying about him for some time. If he went home with the big grin he was now wearing - and that seemed unavoidable - the first thing his beloved wife would think was that he'd found Max - correct - and disemboweled him with a rusty knife - incorrect. The latter was a fantasy that he'd actually entertained - impossible as that seemed now from the perspective of a father - and soon-to-be grandfather - who owed so much to that fine young man. Of course, he couldn't exactly blurt out the truth to Nancy either - 'Our daughter is married to a part-alien kid' or his wife would be rapidly calling 911 to get the people with the poorly tailored white coats with the long arms that wrapped around in back before they haul you off to a well-padded room - not that Jeff would have necessarily blamed her had he not been able to see the truth with his own eyes. It did, however, present an immediate problem - and one he ruminated on as he reached the highway and jogged up it toward his parked car.

You don't lie to your wife - not about something as important as this - but sometimes you could hedge the truth. Jeff was already envisioning the scenario......

  • As Jeff entered the Crashdown Nancy would be there waiting fretfully. She'd see his face and instantly worry.

    "Jeff - tell me you didn't hurt that boy...?"

    "What boy?"

    "Jeffery, you know damn well what boy - I'm talking about Max Evans."

    "Max? Max isn't a boy. He's a young man - a rather fine young man at that and - no, I didn't hurt him but I did see him. I think you ought to sit down, dear."

    "Don't 'sit down dear' me. What DID you do to him?"

    "What I did is find out we had this all wrong, dear. What would you say if I told you the young man really didn't kidnap Liz at all? OK, he broke the restraining order and went in there that night to see Liz but all he was really planning was to give her a kiss. It turns out that they've been in love since - well - practically forever I guess, but Liz got mad at him in seventh grade when he wouldn't invite her to a dance and .... well they were both just too pigheaded to make the first move towards getting back together. That's why Max sort of went off the rails when this happened to Liz. He thought he'd lost her forever."

    "Thought? You said 'thought'? Like as in past tense?"

    "What would you say, dear, if I told you that when he went in and gave Liz that kiss - that she woke up? That she'd been dreaming about him that whole year she was in a coma and that - now that they were really back together again - both of them just sort of lost control. Maybe it was one of those post-traumatic stress things - I'm not a doctor - I don't know - but suddenly they were both terrified of losing one another ever again so they eloped. They went out of the country and got married - I'm not even sure the marriage was even legal - and that they've been hiding out ever since. What would you say if I told you that our daughter was alive and going to be OK - and that we are going to be grandparents in about six months?"

    "Jeff - Don't lie to me about something like that. Don't even joke about something like that..."

    "It's not a joke, dear. That isn't EXACTLY what happened - that's true. It's a lot more complicated than that and I'll have to get Isabel to explain the rest of it to you when she explains it to her parents - I don't think you'll believe me, but I swear to you the important part of that story is correct. Liz is alive - healthy - and pregnant. I've told Max that we want to help the two of them - well three of them pretty soon, I guess - get their lives back together. So right now I want to go over and talk to the Evanses - get Isabel to explain the whole story - and later today you'll see your daughter and her new husband."


It would, Jeff knew, work. Heck - that story - or something like it - might even be a way out of this for Max and Liz. Twelve thousand people had come to town for last summers Crash Festival, and a good 10% of them were nutty as squirrels. The kids - and his grandchild - didn't need all those people poking their noses into their privacy.

'Yessiree,' thought Jeff. 'It's going to be a wonderful day...'
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Re: Informed consent AU M/L ADULT 05/14/2010

Post by greywolf »

Back at the podchamber Max was finishing his explanation.

“Liz, I understand that you may feel an emotional attachment to me now and I admit I'm emotionally attached to you. But I also know that you got in to this not really believing it was real – that you consented but it was not truly an informed consent. Even if it had been it still wouldn't really be fair. I was the only guy in the abyss – it was only logical that you would feel some attraction to me under the circumstances. It simply wouldn't be ethical for me to take advantage of something you did thinking it was merely a dream – any more than it would be to expect you to carry a baby to term that you didn't really expect to ever have – one that you expected to die before the baby was ever born. And lastly, it wouldn't be honorable for me to take advantage of your current affection for me since it was developed under these circumstances. For all those reasons, I really think you ought to let me transfer the baby to an incubator. Once the baby is born – in another six months – then you can decide if you actually want to still have a relationship with either it or me. I'm only trying to be fair to you....”

A concern for 'fairness' is a hallmark of human ethics and human ethics has been described as the crowning achievement of the human intellect. The whole concept of 'informed consent' sort of epitomizes the search of the human intellect for fairness. This search has persisted for over eight thousand years starting with primitive ethical systems such as the Code of Hammurabi and continuing up through the Ten Commandments, the Renaissance, the Magna Carta, and more recently through the Hague Convention, the rise of feminism and civil rights and decisions of the US Supreme Court and other appellate courts.

As the son of not just one, but TWO lawyers, Max was more aware than most guys would have been of the current highest ethical standards as determined by the human intellect. Even the fact - yet unknown to him - that without the interaction of their progeny Liz would even now still be comatose and fading away actually made no difference to this ethic of fairness. Since she was vulnerable when the marriage agreement was made and he was not, the contract was inherently 'unfair' and, according to this cultural norm, he would need to return the situation to the status quo ante - her safe at home, unpregnant, and no longer subject to the intimidation of his presence or even the softer obligation of gratitude for his efforts before he could morally consider an actual romantic relationship with her.

Yes, Max had 8000 years of human thought and ethics on his side in this dispute, and all Liz had was 4 million years of evolution and her feminine wiles. This figures to be a real short argument. Did I mention that human intellect was a somewhat over-rated commodity?
Last edited by greywolf on Sat May 15, 2010 11:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Informed consent AU M/L ADULT 05/15/2010

Post by greywolf »

The human intellectual concept of 'fairness' has never meant much one way or another to evolution. “Fairness,” simply wasn't in evolution's vocabulary. Evolution operated more on a concept of 'all's fair in love an war,' or perhaps, 'if you aren't cheating you aren't REALLY trying.' Human ethics worries about process. Evolution simply cares about results.

This is NOT to say that Liz had no ethics – quite the contrary – it was simply that she knew things that Max didn't. Such as the fact that her interest in him had preceded her accident - she'd cared about him since the fifth grade – and that she knew with utter certainty that her current feelings for him were not going to go away. It was in many respects a simple male/female disagreement of the kind that goes on all the time and was probably destined to end up in any event like most such contests do – with the male getting the silver medal while the female finishes in next to the last place. But due to the fact that Liz's own mind was working in concert with her evolutionary desires, Max's argument really didn't have much of a chance.

"Max, of all the people in this world, you are the last one I want to argue with right now - but you are wrong. If there's one lesson I've learned from this accident, it's that every minute of your life is precious and you shouldn't waste a second of it.

I've loved you since elementary school and I wanted to go with you to that first dance in seventh grade so badly .... but when you said you weren't interested I had my feelings hurt and I swore I'd never ask you again - that you'd have to ask me. So I figure that I cost us those three years we might have had together - years when we could have been more than just lab partners - but I have learned my lesson Max. I almost died without ever being anything but your friend and whether that was because of your uncertainties or mine wouldn't have made a damn bit of difference. Life is to precious to waste time like that now that I know how you really feel about me. "

"But, Liz..."

"No, Max. My turn to talk. You were right about me not really believing it was you - even at the last when I told you I wanted you to give me a baby, I was only hedging my bets. But you were wrong about why that was. You see it was only logical to me that if I was having a dream - well - YOU would be the dream I'd be having. There was nothing surprising to me that - if I was going to be facing oblivion - you were the one I'd be dreaming about. Well, OK, the not-of-this-Earth business was a BIT of a surprise, but it was the only way the dream was coherent - I mean if you couldn't dreamwalk you wouldn't have been in the abyss - but it wasn't like that was anything that was freaking me out or anything. So maybe you are right. When I made my vows to you I didn't think they were real - but that doesn't mean I didn't mean them. I thought they were a dream because they were so much what I wanted to happen. I really didn't want to go into that final darkness without ever having been with you - having been more to you than just a lab partner - without having been part of you - and I know I wanted that so badly that I told myself it had to be a dream. Maybe in the end I wanted desperately for it TO be a dream, because I couldn't face the prospect of losing something so wonderful if it had been real. But I'm awake now Max - and I know my own mind. If it was never really real for you - if you were just humoring a dying girl all along - and you want out of those vows, well I guess I'll release you from them..."

"Liz, that's not it at all. I'm just trying to be fair to you..."

"Well Max, if you did actually mean those vows - well YOU have no excuses. You knew you were there. You knew how I felt. You didn't HAVE to marry me if you didn't want to. Hell, Max, if ever there was going to be an situation of an Earth Girl being easy, that was going to be it. You didn't have to make any sacred vows if all you really wanted was a dream romp in the hay..."

"Liz, that isn't fair. I meant every word I said!"

"Every word??? 'To love, honor, and keep me, in sickness and in health'? Oh, I have to admit, you did a fine job on the sickness, but the moment I get back to health - you start trying to put distance between us again?"

"I'm just trying to be fair to you, Liz."

"You didn't promise to be FAIR to me, Max. What you promised was your love and fidelity, your troth to me for all eternity - forsaking all others - and that we'd be man and wife. So are you going to keep your promise, or not?"

While Max stood their sputtering trying to find words, Liz - no doubt knowing she had the young man on the ropes - continued.

"And another thing - just get out of your mind RIGHT NOW the thought that our children are going to go in one of those incubators - that's just not going to happen."

"But -well, there's only the one child - it's a single aura - but all I want is for you to be able to go back to living a normal life - just until we work things out."

"I know it's a single child, Max, but I wasn't just talking about this pregnancy. Whoops, that's right - we kind of rushed into this. We never did have that discussion about how many and when. I was thinking three - after this one I mean - but I don't want to be unreasonable. If you only wanted two more, I could live with that - or even four or five if it was important to you."

"Uh, no, two or three would be fine," Max said, feeling the ground shift underneath him as he went from debating whether or not they would have an ongoing relationship to how many children they intended to have. Max was losing this argument - the lucky dog - but he was persistent. Not Alex Whitman persistent of course, but he was making one last try, "Uh, if you don't want the baby to go in the incubator, it doesn't go there, but I still think I need to give you time..."

Liz pulled down the sheet and ran her hand down over the hospital gown to her lower abdomen and caressed the small bump lovingly.

"Uh-uh. Did you know, my baby's father spent over six years being incubated after the stasis chambers quit? - six years when he didn't get to hear his mother's voice or fell her hugs - or even know his mother loved him. Maybe that's why he doesn't think he's really worth someone loving him the way that his parents love him - the way that I love him. Our kids are going to know - even before they are born - that they are wanted and loved. This baby - all of our babies - will hear its mothers heartbeat - feel her body around it - nurturing it - and when it is born it will be held and suckled and it will never - not even for a second - be given any reason to think it is somehow unworthy of human love."

Max looked at Liz - her hand protectively placed on her lower abdomen - and that's when the pathways built into his brain by evolution took total control. No sight is as beautiful - as alluring - as awe-inspiring - to any man as the sight of the woman he loves looking up proudly - her face flushed with the outpouring of estrogens and progesterone that was fueling the pregnancy of HIS child.

At that point, the man would do anything - simply ANYTHING for the woman that is the vehicle for their joint immortality. It isn't cultural - such as ethics - it isn't in the software at all. It's hard-wired by evolution and irresistible. As she reached up and took his hand and brought it down to place it under her hand so he could feel the small bulge of the new life within her, any thought of resistance to anything Liz might ask vanished altogether. He bent over and placed his lips on hers and felt the passion in her response to him. in the future, Max would never really remember exactly how he had been overwhelmed by her closeness - he would recall only in passing her hands fumbling at the buttons of his shirt and the belt of his levis before reaching behind her own neck to untie the hospital gown that was the only clothing she was wearing.

He tried his best to go slowly - to be careful of Liz and the baby - and it was like Liz read his mind.

'It's OK, Max. We may have to modify the love-making later - when 'Junior' and I are both quite a BIT bigger - but it's early enough that won't be a problem."

"Are you sure?" he asked sounding somewhat panicked, but before she could do more than smile he was already entering her - helped by a gentle upthrust of her pelvis.

"Oh, I am sure alright," she said before covering his lips with hers and hugging him tightly as the two of them found an easy rhythm that was ancient long before humans walked on Earth.

Even when Liz opened a connection with him - rather than vice versa - Max took it in stride. Well, actually he was almost too occupied with other sensations to notice at first - but soon he was feeling her feelings - realizing how important this was to her. No, she hadn't really believed the vows she had taken were real, but she knew this was, and in this action she was confirming those vows to him in the most unequivocal way she could. She was his and he was hers. He felt her need for him - felt her passion for him - and through the connection she felt his need and passion. Yes, they'd made love in the abyss, but they hadn't been mentally connected then - his pleasure hadn't fed her pleasure in a continual positive feedback loop. For long moments neither of them could even think as their bodies seemed to act without their conscious thought - automatically building to a crescendo of pleasure as their minds and bodies merged.

Finally, it was over and they lay together - still coupled physically and mentally - weak from the exertion of their coupling and covered with a sheen of sweat, still not quite believing the intensity of the final explosion.

'Wow,' she thought/sent to him.

'Likewise wow,' he thought/sent to her.

They lay together for almost ten minutes - waiting for their heart rates to approximate normal - and finally remembering to resume breathing. Max knew to the bottom of his soul that she was his and he was hers - that he did indeed have her troth for all eternity - forsaking all others - just as she had promised. And Liz - Liz definitely knew that it WAS real - that he was indeed her husband - and always would be. For ten long minutes they just lay their together - soaking up the feeling of the endorphins they had generated and knowing that this would always be theirs. In the end it was Liz that broke the awesome majesty of the moment.

'Max,' she thought/sent, her blushing face smiling into his, 'Could I interest you in an instant replay?'
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greywolf
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Re: Informed consent AU M/L ADULT 05/16/2010

Post by greywolf »

As she got in to the car beside her husband, she honestly had no idea what was going on. The last twenty minutes had been an emotional roller coaster for Nancy Parker.
Both she and Jeff had been devastated by the accident that had occurred to their daughter, but at least for that first year they'd pulled together - doing their level best to get her the best care they could. OK, Jeff hadn't agreed with her exactly about the efforts the Evanses had made - or more specifically Max Evans had made - on Liz's behalf, but while there had been hope for a cure they had - if anything - become closer in their pain and more supportive of one another. Six months ago that had changed.

With the apparent kidnapping of their daughter, Jeff seemed to have devoted an increasing percentage of his life to first the capture and finally the punishment of Max Evans. He had become obsessed with finding Max and the obsession appeared to have taken on an increasingly violent nature. As tragic as losing her daughter was, Nancy had become increasingly aware that she was losing her life-partner as well, and that had come to a climax several hours ago when she had come to fully accept her fears for what Jeff intended. That's why she had called the Sherriff's office.

Nancy knew she could never stop loving Jeff, and that she'd stick with him even through this. If he had - as she had feared when she saw him return home - done violence to the man she'd still be supportive - not excusing what he did but trying to make the court understand that it was eighteen months of unremitting worry that had made him irrational. Of course until he'd actually returned home, she hadn't realized what irrational was.

She'd expected the worst when she'd seen him smiling - when he'd told her he had some 'good news.' She had been almost certain that the 'good news' was that Max Evans' dead body was out on the desert somewhere. When he'd said, 'I found Max,' she'd been sure of it. When he'd said,' and he and Liz are doing fine,' she had simply believed he'd finally lost it.

Then he'd started telling her this tale about the two of them together - that Liz had recovered and they'd eloped to get married - probably illegally - in some little village in northern Mexico. She hadn't believed him, of course. The medical personnel had made it plain to both of them how unlikely any recovery was for Liz, and the fact that she'd been able to actually check the shotgun herself and determine it hadn't been fired was the only thing that kept her from calling the sheriff's office immediately.

The curious thing was that Jeff pretty much admitted that what he was telling was not the WHOLE truth, but that only Isabel Evans - a girl who he'd once liked but been increasingly suspicious of since Max had absconded with Liz - would be able to fully explain to her. He'd then gone on to explain that the two of them were goinhg to be grandparents and to talk enthusiastically about gutting the room across the hall from Liz's room - the one she had for the last six months thought of as Jeff's 'war room' - and making it in to a nursery while 'the kids' would use Liz's old room until they could get caught back up in school and graduate and go off to college.

Jeff, she realized, was either now living in a total fantasy world - at least he appeared to be happy there - or something truly amazing was happening. As she entered the car and they started off toward the Evanses she was praying for the latter but fearing for the former.

While what Jeff had explained to her might have made sense to someone who didn't actually know her daughter, she knew that Liz would have never allowed her parents to worry for the last six months if she had actually awakened and run off with Max. Somehow she would have gotten them a message of reassurance - to avoid putting them through what they had gone through - Nancy was almost certain of that.

Still, if given the choice of a comatose or dead daughter or a merely inconsiderate one, she'd definitely take the latter.

Against all odds, Nancy was hoping Jeff was telling the truth and that Isabel would be able to make all this make sense.
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