Roswell Fanatics

Part 21

“So I see that you guys just don’t go for the sweet and spicy combination.” Alex kicked Maria on the shin underneath the table. “What? I was trying to make up some dinner conversation. Is there anything wrong with that?”

“Well have you tried it?”

“What? Tabasco sauce on pizza? No.”

“Well don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.” Michael took another big bite out of his pizza.

“Hand it over.”

“No get your own.”

“I’m not wasting a perfectly good piece of pizza to try some kind of fad that the four you share. So, hand your piece over.”

“I said no. I’m not about to share a piece of pizza with you… Who knows what kind of cooties you are carrying around?”

“Here Maria. Try it… But be careful… It’s awfully spicy…” Liz handed Maria her piece of pizza while she gave Michael one of her evil looks.

“I don’t think you should try it Maria. Remember the last time you tried some of Jose’s famous hot sauce? You had tears in your eyes and there wasn’t a glass of ice water anywhere in the restaurant that you didn’t guzzle. Just let it be.”

“No Alex. If Liz and Isabel can eat Tabasco then so can I… and besides, don’t tell me what to do.”

“Ok. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Maria hesitated… and hesitated. She smelled the piece and wrinkled her nose. “Come on… If little Liz can eat it then surely you can… being the big bad blonde and all.” Michael was just egging her on.

“Michael. Stop it. Maria, you don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to… It’s no big deal. Just to let you know I’ve been eating Tabasco sauce since I was two.” Michael gave Liz a knowing look that there was no way that Liz had been eating Tabasco sauce since she was two… They were six when they came out of the pods. Liz acknowledged the look but continued on anyway. “If you can’t handle hot sauce then this is going to be worse. Trust me… we won’t think any differently of you if you don’t want to take a bite.”

Maria wasn’t one to back down and she was going to prove to the spike headed neanderthal that she was no wussy. She opened up her mouth and took a huge bite. It didn’t’ take but a couple of chews before the tears started running down her cheek… but she was a real trooper. She kept on chewing… and chewing. By the time she had chewed the piece of pizza four times she had lost all feeling to her tongue…”Good.” Everything after that was nothing that anybody could make out. The language was indescribable.

“Maria… are you alright?” Alex had seen this before. The girl was on a mission. She was trying to seriously impress her newfound crush. She shook her head up and down. “Are you sure? I can get you something to drink… a napkin to spit it out in… Anything. Just let me know.” Maria held up her hand doing the ‘ok’ sign with it. Her face was starting to turn colors. Her current coloring was a bright fuchsia; it wouldn’t be long before she turned green and vomited. “Um… Liz could you take her to the bathroom… I’ve seen this look before and it doesn’t get any prettier.”

“Sure. Come on Maria. Let’s go…” Liz stood up and took the saltshaker with her and ran around to gather Maria up. “Come on we can do this.” As soon as the two girls reached the bathroom Maria released everything that was still left in her mouth… “I don’t know what possessed you to do something like that… next time try a smaller bite. Here, put salt on your tongue it will take the heat away… Keep on applying salt until you get feeling back ok… Oh, don’t drink anything that really doesn’t help.”

“Thanks. Liz…”

“Yeah.”

“You know I have to ask.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you guys normal?”

“Well if I told you that I would have to kill you then; now wouldn’t I?”

Maria’s eyes got as big as silver dollars.

“I’m joking. It’s a joke Maria. Of course, we’re just as normal as you or Alex. What were you thinking we were? Aliens or something? Come on … lets go back and eat some pizza.

“Wait… Are you and Michael adopted?”

“We were. Why?”

“Have you ever thought that maybe Max and Isabel are related to the two of you?”

“I do have to say that the thought has passed my mind a time or two. Why.”

“You four have some of the same mannerisms. It’s unexplainable.”

“Come on Maria. Max and Isabel and Michael and I are already thinking about that. Don’t worry nothing bad is going to happen. Anyway how do you expect my brother to like you if you are accusing him of being an alien or something like that? I know he acts strange but believe me underneath that rough exterior is a huge teddy bear and if anyone can get underneath it, it’s you. How’s your mouth feel?”

“Better. How did you know that salt would help instead of drinking water?”

“Anyone that knows anything about hot sauce knows that you use salt to take away the heat. It absorbs stuff. Water just fuels the fire. Come on … Let’s go see what the others are doing.”

“Thanks Liz.” The two walked out to the dining room with there arms wrapped around each other like they had been best buds for a lifetime…

“So, Maria are you going to make it?”

“Of course. It really wasn’t that bad. I think I’m ready for another piece.”

“I don’t think so…” Alex threw the Tabasco bottles to Michael. “Hide them… We don’t want this to get ugly.”

“Can it get any worse? I already lost my appetite.” Michael got up from the table after grabbing the last piece of one pizza and headed for the kitchen.

“Can’t you ever say anything nice to anyone? Do you always have to be so stand offish?” She was following him into the kitchen.

“That’s the way I am if you don’t like it there’s the front door I suggest you use it.” Michael continued to chew the pizza that was in his mouth.

“Why don’t you get some manners? Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to speak with your mouth full?”

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to be rude while you are in someone’s house?” Michael knew that didn’t come out right. There was something about this Maria chick that just rubbed him the wrong way… Wait… didn’t he already establish this the first time he met her at the Crashdown. Michael shook his head. “Leave me alone.”

“What are you going to cry now?” Maria waited for a response and seeing that there wasn’t going to be one she moved on. She went back to the table and grabbed the rest of the pizza boxes and started to crumple them up to throw them away. “Where’s your trash?”

“Give them here. I’ll take them out.” Michael reached for the boxes and as he grabbed them they made actual skin-to-skin contact. They both just stood there and stared into each other’s eyes. “Let go already.”

“Fine.” Maria let go of the boxes and noticed that Michael had turned slightly pinkish… She had finally gotten to him… Who would have thought it? She went into the living room and turned on TV. “What do you guys want to watch?”

Alex came in and plopped next to her. Liz, Isabel and Max walked in after him… He scooted over to make room and to his surprise Isabel sat down beside him… “Well what do you guys like to watch? We have a wide range of movies or we can play a game.” Liz was standing in front of the movie rack. “Take your pick… We’ve seen them all.”

The group settled on a movie and when they were half way into it, Maria stood up. “Oh my god… I didn’t do the delivery… Come on Alex we gotta go.”

“You go… I haven’t seen this one.”

“Well someone has to go with me.”

“I’ll go.” Michael stood up… He couldn’t believe what he had just said. “What? Don’t look at me like I just grew a third eyeball or something. Are we going or not. I’ve seen this movie dozens of time… We’ve already seen the best part. Russell Crowe beats the crap out of everyone and then he dies. What’s the glory in that? Stupid movie. Let’s go.” He held the door open for her to leave.

“Thanks Michael. I really appreciate it.”

“We’ll see. All I ask is that you get off my back now… Ok.”

“Yeah. Ok.”

The movie ended and Max got up and went to the bathroom. Alex and Isabel were in the kitchen cooking popcorn. “You know they make microwave popcorn nowadays. It’s a lot easier and quicker than popping it on the stove.” Isabel was saying to Liz.

“I know. It’s just that’s the way my mom always made popcorn for us. Old habits die hard.”

“Tell me about it. Was anyone else surprised by Michael leaving with Maria?”

“No.” Liz knew that her brother was going to have a hard time being mad at their new friend. It’s amazing how their lives had changed since the death of their parents.

“Why?” Alex had to know.

“He likes her. If he didn’t he wouldn’t give her such a hard time all the time. Easy as that.”

“Oh.”

“Why do all men act like that? If you like a girl just tell her so… Don’t beat around the bush with her until she is so mad at you she could care less if you like her or not. Guys really need to get a clue.” Isabel just had to throw her two scents in.

“So… Isabel… Ummm. I don’t want to beat around the bush or anything but…” Alex was having a hard time saying what he really wanted to say. Liz took her cue and left. She went looking for Max.

He was no longer in the bathroom and she had noticed that the sliding glass door was cracked just a little. She went to go look and sure enough he was out there in her hammock. She went outside. “You know you are in my seat.”

“Oh, sorry. I can get up.” Max started to get up.

“No. You don’t have to. Just scoot over. It’s a hammock built for two.”

Max scooted over and Liz lay down beside him. “I just had to come out here for awhile.”

“It’s ok Max. I think Alex is trying to tell your sister that he likes her.” Max looked over at Liz.

“Really?”

“Yeah, she gave this long speech about how men beat around the bush when they like someone and so he started to tell her what she wanted him to say.”

“It’s about time. He’s liked her for a long time.”

“That’s good. So why did you come out here? Was it because of the company? You know you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”

“How can you say that Liz? Ever since I met you on the Sunday I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind. I’m being pulled in two different directions.”

“Why?”

“My mind is telling me that you are family and I should treat you like… well… my sister.” Max waited to see if Liz had any response to what he was saying. She moved her head so she could look up at the sky… it had started to turn all sorts of pretty colors. The sun had started to go down. She didn’t want to hear him tell her that they were siblings. She was feeling much more that sisterly love towards Max. She almost decided to get up when Max continued but she felt the need to be close to him. “Liz.” She finally turned back so they were lying on the hammock while facing each other.

“Max?”

“But my heart… My heart is telling me that what I am feeling is not brotherly love. Do you know what I am talking about?” Liz nodded her head up and down. Her stomach started doing flip-flops. He felt it. He felt what she was feeling. He laid his hand on her cheek and started to move in for a kiss when…

“Max… Liz… we're getting ready to play twister do you guys want to play?”

The two that were lying on the hammock sat straight up. They were startled that Isabel had interrupted them. They looked at each other. “Ummm. I don’t think so… Liz did you want to go?”

“No… I’m not that coordinated. I think I will pass.”

“Ok… Don’t say we didn’t ask you.”

“It’s ok… we’ll be fine.”

Isabel shut the door with a grin on her face. She couldn’t help the fact that her brother had finally found someone that he liked. She couldn’t be happier. Today is going pretty well. Alex went as so far as to mention that he might like her, which coming from Alex was a huge step for him. Michael and Maria made it back to the house in one piece and were actually still civil with each other and her brother and new friend were out lying on a hammock watching the sunset. All was good with the world for a little while at least.

When Isabel shut the door Max and Liz both laid back down… However, they were no longer looking at each other they were looking up. After a few minutes of silence Liz finally spoke up… “That’s the same way as I feel. I was worried that we could be siblings, but it just doesn’t explain why I can’t feel Isabel and you can’t feel Michael. This is something different.” She turned her body to face Max once again. “Have you ever had any dreams?” She paused for a response. Max turned once again to come face to face with Liz. “Dreams that don’t mean anything to this world but maybe to the world were we came from?”

“No.” Max was shaking his head no while he said it. “Have you?”

“I don’t really know. I’ve had a few but…”

“Tell me about them.”

“Well the first one was the night after my parents’ funeral. Remember the one that I told you about earlier. The king’s funeral. It was weird… It was just us woman attending, but I wasn’t worried because I knew where the men were. They were fighting a war or something like that. The queen handed me the book that I showed you earlier and told me that it had the past, the present and the future in it. She gave me the book and told me that it had not only told her that her husband would be killed but the royal family would soon die as well. It scared me… my knees grew week and I had to sit down… The next thing I knew Michael was storming in my room after some intruder.”

“Wait that guy has been here before?”

Liz looked away…”Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? You guys aren’t safe here anymore.”

‘What do you expect us to do Max. We already have gone over this… If we move to Roswell then we will drag you guys into this chaos. What do you want us to do? Go on the run… That’s not a life I want to live. Don’t ask me to do that.” She started to get up from the hammock but Max placed a gentle hand on her arm.

“Please. I’m sorry. That’s not what I was getting at… I still believe that you guys should come to Roswell. We can handle this together… Maybe we can go to my dad and tell him that someone is posing a threat to you and Michael and maybe we could give you guys a new identity when you move to Roswell.”

“Max. Will you listen to yourself? The only way that we will be safe is if we catch whoever is doing this and we find out why they are doing this to us. Nothing else is going to work.” She continued to get up.

“Wait. You said that you had dreams; tell me about the others.” Liz sat back down on the hammock. Refusing to lie down beside him she turned her body so that her feet were at his head and her head was at his feet. They could still look at each other but it brought distance between them that Max was fully aware of.

“Ok… The other one was when I dream walked you… Right before you entered the dream the queen had given me the book. She said it was mine. She said that it would bring peace to the others and me. I’m assuming she meant the four of us but I’m not for sure. What do you think it meant?”

“Wait. You had that before you met me in the dream?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you didn’t dream walk me…”

“What do you mean I didn’t dream walk you? You were in my dream.”

“Yeah, I know. I was in your dream. Maybe you don’t really have the same ability as Isabel… You brought me into your dream… Maybe I helped a little bit because I was thinking about you, but it definitely sounds like you were the one with the dream not me.”

“Ok… Then what do you suggest we do now?”

“Well as soon as Alex and Maria leave I think we should try a few things… We’ll talk some more a little bit later.” Max got up and then walked around to help Liz up off the hammock. Once they were face-to-face, Max finally worked up the nerve to kiss her. Liz reached up to wrap her arms around his neck while he placed his around the small of her back pulling her closer to him. When they were fully into the kiss the connection that they felt when they first met opened up again and the images began to flash right before their eyes.

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Part 22

Maria’s mom calling her on her cell phone interrupted the game of twister she wanted them back home now. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust them it’s just that she didn’t trust the jetta. After they said their goodbyes the four aliens sat down in the living room in silence. It had been a long time since they had acted like normal teenagers. Maria and Alex were going to be a good influence on them.

“Well the evening is still early. Any suggestions on what to do now?” Isabel was getting antsy and she wanted to get answers as soon as she could.

The phone rang. “Who can that be?” Liz got up and walked into the kitchen to answer the phone. “Hello?”

“Liz?”

“Maria?”

“You will never believe what happened.”

“What happened? Are you ok?” Liz’s side of the conversation had gotten everyone’s attention. Michael had gotten off of the couch and had walked into the kitchen to stand closer to his sister.

He whispered, “What’s wrong?” Liz shooed him away so she could her Maria.

“Well… You promise not to laugh at me?”

“Maria! What happened?”

“Alright. Geez… I ran out of gas.”

“Yeah… She was so flustered about her night with your brother she forgot everything she knew.”

“Alex get back. I told you not to say anything or I was leaving you on the side of the road.” Liz started to laugh. “Hey I told you not to laugh.”

“Where are you at? You can’t be that far, you just left thirty minutes ago.”

“You’re right. We didn’t get but on the outside of Clovis. Do you think that someone can bring us some gas? My mom is going to have a cow if I don’t get home soon.”

Michael was hitting Liz’s arm… “Where are they? What’s wrong? Is she ok? Where’s Alex?”

“Michael if you don’t quit it I’m not going to let you go help her.” Liz was smiling on the inside as well as the outside. The grin was from ear to ear. She was really happy that her brother had finally found someone that he liked well enough to get all bothered.

“Alright. I will give you some room. Just hurry up. I don’t want her out there all by herself. Anything could happen to her.”

“Michael I think you are forgetting that Alex is with her.”

“What? That bean pole couldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Excuse me? Are you talking about Alex? You better not be talking about him that way. You don’t know him… What… you’ve been with him for half a day and you think you know that he couldn’t hurt a fly. Well.” Michael had his hands up in a defensive way motioning her to back up.

“Hey. I didn’t mean to step on your boyfriend’s toes or yours for that matter. Chill ok, princess.”

Isabel jabbed her pointed index finger into his chest with every word. “Don’t. Call. Me. That. Ever. Again. Got it?” She paused and waited for Michael to shake his head up and down. “Good. I would hate to stand by and watch him kick your butt just because I told him to do it.” Isabel couldn’t believe what she was doing. Defending Alex’s honor. Why? She didn’t know. Something about him just called to him. Something that she just didn’t understand. Today was a good day. “Where are they?”

Liz turned her back to the two of them. She couldn’t help but smile. When the conversation had ended and she hung up the phone with Maria she turned around to face the two demanding sets of eyes. “Well.”

“What already?” They said in unison.

“They ran out of gas just outside of Clovis.” Both Isabel and Michael let out the breath they were holding.

They looked at each other and started to laugh. “They ran out of gas. Leave it to Maria to do something as blonde as that. Run out of gas.” Isabel turned towards Michael.

“Hey. Don’t call her blonde. Have you looked in the mirror lately? That’s the pot calling the kettle black. I’ll go get them going.” Michael went for the door and grabbed his keys to the pickup off the hanger that hung by the door.

“I’m going too.” Isabel called out. “I don’t want you to get any bright ideas about hurting Alex just because you can.”

Max and Liz looked at each other. “This is going to be a long night.”

“Yeah.” Max was now sitting on one of the bar stools and had both his elbows on the counter with his head resting in them. He was staring at Liz.

“What? Do I have something on my face?”

Max just smiled. “No. You don’t have anything on your face except two beautiful brown eyes. A petite nose and two luscious lips.” Max’s face flushed with embarrassment.

“Stop Max. You are embarrassing me as well as you by the look of your face.” Liz’s face too had reddened around the edges. “I wonder how long it’s going to take them to rescue their loved ones?”

“I don’t know. They were really having a good time today. They will have to let them go or else Maria and Alex won’t get back to Roswell before midnight.”

“I know that and you know that but that doesn’t mean that Michael and Isabel will like it.”

Max began to flip through the TV channels and Liz sat down beside him. They fell into that comfortable silence that two people have when they have known each other for a long time and words aren’t necessary anymore.

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“Ok, Alex act normal… Don’t do anything stupid or silly. Ok?”

“You are worried about me? You already made us look like fools there isn’t much more damage that I can do. Let’s just get the gas and tell them thanks and get on our merry little way. Alright.” Maria nodded her head in agreement just as a truck pulled up behind them.

“Ok, Alex here we go. Be cool.” Maria leaned up against the jetta nonchalant and in doing so tripped over her own feet.

“Walk much?” Michael couldn’t help himself. The girl just left herself wide open for insult and jabs. He liked the fact that she was always trying so hard to impress everyone. Especially him. He shook his head no. They couldn’t allow themselves to get too close to anyone. They had to be prepared to leave and getting attached to anyone else was too much to accept.

“Yeah, well if you would have turned your headlights off I probably would have been able to walk right. But no. You had to keep them on high and blind everyone and everything.” Michael just smiled. It was hard not to. “What are you smiling at?”

“I have to have the headlights on so I can see where to put the gas into your car. Do you mind?” Michael waited for Maria to get away from the car. He had the gas can from the back of the pickup already in his hands and had the lid off of it.

“You’re going to need these. Mom insisted on us having a gas lid that locks. You just use the key.”

Michael grabbed it and tried to put the key into the hole. “I can do it.”

“No. I will do it, it’s my car.” In the struggle between who was going to unlock the gas tank the key broke in the keyhole.

“Just great. Can’t you let anyone help you? Why do you have to be so stubborn?”

“Me. Stubborn. I don’t think so. It’s my car and now look at what you did. Now I have to call mom and get her to come out here with the sheriff and give me the other key.”

“Wait.” Isabel had an idea. “Let me try my key. We have a locking gas tank cap too. Who knows? It just might work.” Michael gave her a strange look. “Besides, we don’t want your mom to drag the sheriff out here for no reason now do we.” Maria shook her head no as well as everyone else. “Ok. Everyone step back.”

“The tanks not going to blow Isabel we don’t have to step back.” Maria couldn’t understand. Michael grabbed her and the started to walk away. He knew what she was going to do and he couldn’t take the chance of anyone seeing it.

Isabel took out her keys and started to fiddle with them. She had to make it seem real. She ran her hand over the cap and unlocked it. “Wow. It worked.”

Michael and Maria went back to the car. “Now was that so hard. Leave it to a girl to do it.”

“You better watch it sweetheart or I will just take my gas and leave you out here for the coyotes.”

“That’s enough. God. You guys should just kiss and get it out of your system already. This tension that you guys have is driving me insane.”

“Alex!” Maria’s face got bright red. “I don’t… There is no… I’m not kissing him. No way. Hell will freeze over first and he would have to be the last man on earth. Maybe. But right now. No way. No way am I kissing him.”

“You can say that again.” Michael had to add his two cents in too.

Isabel and Alex just looked at each other. Both of them had a smile from ear to ear on their face. “Come on Michael just put the gas in the tank already. It’s going to be close to ten o’clock before they get back home. I wouldn’t want to be out on the highway that late. We won’t tease you anymore.”

“Ok.” Michael started putting the gas into the tank. “What kind of gas mileage do you get out of this car?”

“I don’t know. Why?”

“How much gas was in the tank when you were on your way up here?”

“I don’t know.”

“Alex? Do you know anything about this car of hers?”

“Don’t look at me. I don’t even own a car.”

“Max and I took a half of tank to get here. I would think that this gets better gas mileage than the jeep does. How much does it usually take to fill your tank Maria?”

“About ten bucks.”

“OK. Hey Alex, can you hold this while I go get the other can out of the back of the truck.”

“Sure.” Alex walked around the car and held the can for Michael. “Do you always have this much gas in the back of your truck?”

“No. It’s just that I was supposed to go bike racing this weekend but with my parent’s funeral and all I didn’t make it.”

Maria slapped Alex’s arm. “Just great Alex. Bring up bad memories for him.”

“How was I supposed to know? Hey man, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to drag up bad memories for you.”

“It’s cool Alex. You just asked a simple question and I answered it. I have to get over it sooner or later. Don’t worry about it.”

They put both gas cans of gas into the jetta and put the cap back on the tank. Everyone said their goodbyes and they were finally off.

“See you didn’t need my help to look stupid now did you?”

“Not funny Alex. Not funny at all.” Maria turned on her turn signal to let everyone know that she was entering the highway again.

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Michael and Isabel were in the truck. “How could you use your powers like that in front of them? Her mom is dating the sheriff. We really don’t need them to find out about us. Do you have any idea what will happen to us if the Roswell police department finds out that we are aliens.” Michael waited and then continued. “Goodbye free world. Hello captivity.”

“Well they didn’t see anything now did they. You took care of Maria and Alex was on the other side of the car. There was no way that either one of them could have seen anything. Besides, did you want the sheriff coming up here in the dead of night? They would have had to wait at your house and I’m sure that he would start digging into your past to see what kind of guy you are. Relax Michael. No harm, No foul.”

“Well you better hope so.”

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“Isn’t it strange that Isabel’s key worked in your gas cap?” Alex couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.

“No not really. Do you think that the manufacturer makes a different key for every single gas cap that they sell? I’m sure the ratio isn’t that absurd. I’m just glad that we got gas without calling mom to come pick us up. Thank God for small miracles.”

“You can say that again.”

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Part 23

It wasn’t more than five minutes of sitting in front of the TV before Liz leaned her head onto Max’s shoulder. He leaned up and wrapped his arm around her small body. She scooted into him a little bit more to get more comfortable. She just couldn’t get close enough to him.

Max’s hand was caressing her upper arm; Liz couldn’t resist the urge to look up at him. Of course, he was gazing down at her already. “What are you looking at?” She asked.

“I already told you what I was looking at. When I look at you I see so much more. I mean…” He was searching for the right words. “I feel like there is something that I am missing. Something that I should know.” Liz started to say something and before she could get it out he leaned down and kissed her.

She scooted to a more comfortable position so the kiss could deepen. It did and before anyone knew what was going on Max had her lying on the love seat and he was on top of her.

He took off his shoes along with Liz’s. That seemed to help a little bit but the couch was just too short for both of them to lie on it. Max went down to the floor and was standing on his knees so the kiss wouldn’t be broken. Liz slid down to the floor as well; she knew what needed to be done.

Liz was in heaven. The kiss was everything she wanted it to be and then some. She couldn’t get enough of him. Her tongue was roaming every inch of his mouth; her hands were rubbing up and down the front of his chest. She thought to herself what the skin that was well hidden behind his shirt would feel like. As if he could read her mind Max pulled away and broke the kiss. He looked into her dark brown, almost black, eyes and saw the answer that he was looking for. He took off his shirt and just the mere sight of his bare chest took Liz’s breath away. He was absolutely beautiful. She bent at the waist so that her face was now at chest level and she proceeded to kiss his chest.

Her lips on his chest made his skin burn like it was on fire. This was his heaven. She was everything. He knew at that moment that there would be no other woman for him. He would do everything and anything in his power to make her happy as well as safe.

He looked down expecting to see Liz but that wasn’t the case. Someone else was in front of him. “Charisse?”

“Yes, Zan.”

That was all he needed. Everything was automatic. There was no need to think anymore. Who would have imagined that those two words would have brought on so much need? So much hunger. It was strong. He needed more as well as she did. They needed to be one like they used to be. It took everything that was inside of him to hold back, but it wasn’t helping Liz kept on clawing at him want him closer.

The scene switched from Liz’s living room to a room that he didn’t recognized but knew that it was theirs. Time stood still for a little while but was interrupted by a sweet voice that melted his heart. “Honey, I missed you so much. I was worried when you didn’t return for your father’s funeral. Vilandra took it so hard. You know that she is so dependant on you and besides Rath was with you as well. She is so lost.” He leaned down and quieted her with a kiss.

“Hush my love. I will talk to Vilandra tomorrow for tonight I want to spend with my wife and the one that I love. I have seen so much pain I just want to forget. Please make me forget.”

She kissed him so deep as if his life depended on it.

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“Is your sister afraid of the dark?” Michael and Isabel just pulled into the driveway in front of the Parker residence.

“No. Hardly. You know I could ask the same thing about your brother. He’s in there too.” Michael parked the truck and grabbed the take out food and headed for the house.

“I wonder why all the lights are on in the house then?” Isabel took lead and had to wait by the door to have Michael unlock it with his key. After he had his key in the door she felt stupid it wouldn’t have been the first time she had used her powers to unlock a lock.

“What the …” Michael couldn’t believe what he was seeing with his own two eyes.

“Hell.” Isabel’s jaw was hanging wide open. There was her brother on top of Liz without his shirt on. They didn’t even notice that they had walked in on them.

Michael dropped the two sacks of food right where he stood. “What do you think you are doing to my sister?”

“Michael No! Look…” Isabel pointed at the orb. It was glowing. That was the reason the house looked like all the lights were on in the house. “The orb is glowing. I think it has something to do with what they are doing.”

“It doesn’t matter if the orb wants it or not. No one is getting into Liz’s pants. And that goes for your brother. Especially him… She hasn’t known him but for a couple of days. This is going way too fast. I didn’t even know that she could kiss like that.” Michael shook his head to try and get himself from staring at the sight that lay before him.

“Well what do you have planned for this occasion? I’m not going into that circle of light. You don’t know what that thing is capable of doing.”

“Well I am.”

“Michael. Wait! Let’s try and get their attention first.”

“What?”

“Yell at them.” Isabel cupped her hands around her mouth and proceeded to yell Max’s as well as Liz’s name.

“It’s no use. They can’t hear us.” Max was moving for Liz’s shirt and their kiss broke. She raised her hands to allow him to take off her tank that she was wearing. “Oh, no you don’t…” Michael went head on into the circle of light, Isabel just stood back and watched. Nothing happen. The circle let him in.

Michael grabbed Max by the waistline of his pants and pulled him off of his sister. “Zan!” Liz screamed. Michael threw Max to the wall. He hit it with a loud thud. Max slid down the wall with a dazed look on his face. Confused more like it. “No!” Liz ran to his side. Before Michael could take a step towards her a blue force field encircled him as well as Isabel.

Liz had her arms stretched out towards both him as well as Isabel. She was between Max’s legs and he had his arms wrapped around her and they too were enclosed in a force field but theirs was green. It took a few seconds to take in the ‘big picture’. Michael held his hands up in a defenseless manor. “Look. I’m sorry for the way that I acted. Liz… drop the shield. I was shocked. I’m not going to do anything to hurt him. It’s ok. Really.” Nothing was happening.

Michael started walking towards the two that were up against the wall. “Michael. Look.” Michael turned to look at Isabel. “Just give them a few minutes to see what’s going on. Whatever the orb was doing to them it is still doing it.” So they waited patiently for Max and Liz to get some other expression on their face besides confusion. They really didn’t have any idea what was going on or how they got into the situation that they were in.

The light began to dim and both Max and Liz shook their heads as if they were trying to wake up from a dream. The shield diminished and both Michael and Isabel let out the breath that they had been holding. Max stood up with his hand outstretched for Liz to take hold and pull herself up to a standing position. “What happened Max?”

“I have no idea.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Alex flopped down onto his bed. Smiling from ear to ear. “That was the best night of my life. Who would have thought that Isabel Evans would be playing twister with me? Alex Charles Whitman? Definitely not I.”

The phone rang. “What do you want Maria?”

“Is that any way to answer the phone? Besides how did you know it was me? It could have been Isssssaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbeeeeeeeeeeellllll.”

“Enough Maria. You know I could tease you just as easy.”

“Yeah, I know. Wasn’t it absolutely dreamy Alex?”

“What time zone are you in DeLuca? Wait don’t answer. MST (Michael Standard Time). Get it?”

“Ha Ha… Very funny. Well what do you want to do tomorrow?”

“I don’t know. Does your mom have anything that needs to be delivered to Clovis?”

“I don’t think so. I won’t be going on anymore out of town deliveries for a while. She couldn’t believe that I had stayed in that small town for that long. She knows what it is like to have hormones at the ripe old age of eighteen. That’s how yours truly came into existence you know.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve been at the dinner table once or twice when your mom decided to step onto her trusty soapbox… You don’t need to tell me anymore. Anyway. Was there a reason for the call?”

“No. No reason. Just couldn’t get to sleep just yet. I wonder what they are doing right now? Do you think that he would like Isabel… you know like a girlfriend?”

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about. I have the inside scoop from a pretty reliable source that Isabel Evans has eyes only for me.” He had told Isabel that he really liked her and to his surprised she acknowledged that she liked him too. They had agreed to take things slow, but slow is better than nothing.

“Ooh. Alex and Isabel sittin’ in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

“I’m hanging up now Maria.”

“No wait.”

“Goodbye Maria.”

“Come by the Crashdown in the morning we got to come up with a plan.”

“Bye Maria.”

“Bye Alex.”

They both hung up the phone. It had been a good day.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Part 24

“What do you mean, you have no idea? Hello? Were you or were you not just groping my sister?” Michael was asking Max who was still holding really tight to Liz. She had a stunned look on her face and what Michael was asking wasn’t even registering to her.

“Michael. Look, I’m sorry for what happened I shouldn’t have let myself get so lost in the moment, but it’s not like we were having sex or anything.” Max shuffled Liz behind him in a way of protecting her from her brother’s wrath.

“You probably would have if we didn’t walk in and try and stop you two.”

Liz had heard enough. “Michael. That’s enough. No more. If you continue to yell at Max for what we were doing, you can just leave now. You hear me? No more!” She was now standing between the two men in her life, a stiff finger poking in the chest of her brother. “God you’re acting like I was a child. I’m not a child Michael. You’re not mom or dad. I can make my own decisions and if you don’t like it… well, it doesn’t really matter what you like.” She grabbed Max’s hand and hollered back behind her for Isabel “Come on Isabel.” Liz led the way to her room. She was frustrated with her brother and she didn’t like how he was treating Max.

Michael began to follow. He wasn’t about to let the two of them behind closed doors so soon after what he had witnessed. Liz must have felt that he was following and she turned and stated. “Michael. If you can’t be nice to him, you might as well not even try to follow.” Michael stopped in his tracks and looked at his sister. He knew what would happen if he didn’t let this go. She would be mad at him forever and she was the only person left in his life that he didn’t want to lose.

“I hear you.” He bowed his head in defeat. He loved his sister too much and it finally dawned on him why this was bothering him so much. She was slowly replacing him and he was soon to be faced with the fact that he had no one.

Liz read the body language of her brother and let loose of Max’s hand, “Come on.” Michael looked up and saw his sister’s expression. She was holding her hand out to him as a sign of peace. “If you promise to keep cool you can come too.” He smiled. He pushed his early thought of being alone behind; he knew his sister would never desert him. That was completely ridiculous.

Michael joined the group and just happened to be beside Max when he asked, “Is she always like that?”

“No, not really, but I’ve really pissed her off. She must really like you, man.” Max looked around and noticed that the girls had gone off to the direction of the bathroom. It was just him and Michael and the need to get the air cleared while it was just the two of them.

“Michael, I don’t think it’s a matter of really liking me, but what you walked in on was something different.” Max didn’t know how to bring the subject up. “We had no control over what we were doing. It’s like… It’s like we were two different people.”

“Yeah, right. I’m a guy too Max and I know all the lines to get out of trouble. Just know this. I’m not happy about seeing what I saw when I walked in, you better keep your feelings in check or you are going to deal with me. Got it?” He waited for a reply from Max and when it didn’t come he continued, “Good.”

The boys had come to an agreement and were sitting on the floor when the girls walked in. “So… what’s the plan?” The boys looked up at the girls and waited. They would have to follow their queue since neither one of them were any good on the dream plane.

The two girls looked at each other and then back at the boys. “We were thinking that we should lay on the bed and Isabel would take us all into the dream plane.” Isabel shook her head in agreement with Liz. “That is it unless you two have something better in mind?”

“No. I’ve never been there.” Michael looked at Max to see if he had any better ideas.

“Sounds good to me. The dream plane has always been Isabel’s best ability. Where do you want us? Do we need to be connected in anyway?”

“I think if you are here and I’m here.” Isabel sat down on the bed to show where she was going to be. “Liz is here and then Michael on the other side.” Everyone took their spots where Isabel had directed them. “Everyone join hands and relax. I’ll go in and locate dad and then I will pull you guys in afterwards. OK?”

Everyone settled in and Isabel took it that everyone was in agreement. She lay back on the pillow and closed her eyes. It was late and would be easy to get on the plane. She said a silent prayer hoping that her dad wasn’t working late and still up.

After a few moments she was there. The iridescent bubbles of varying shapes and colors floated all around her. One that she had seen quit a bit floated over to her as if it were drawn to her. “Not right now Alex. I’ll see you later.” The bubble didn’t leave so she pushed it away and it instantly came floating back to her. She played with it and rolled it around in her hands as if she were rubbing a glass ball. “Don’t worry, I’m not mad at you. It’s just that I’ve got things I’ve got to do right now.” She gave the iridescent orange bubble a light kiss and sent it back on its way.

“Now where’s dad?” She looked around and her eyes finally landed on the two familiar bubbles that had always tempted her. There huddling next to each other as if they couldn’t get enough of each other during the day were her parent’s bubbles. She had been in her mom’s dream only once and she swore to herself that she would never invade their dreams again. Her mom didn’t sleep well for a whole month afterwards.

She closed her eyes and called to them and they floated towards her. Once they were next to her she reached for the connection to Max, Liz and Michael. The three were instantly on the dream plane in front of Isabel and were a little disorientated from the leap.

“Wow.” Michael mumbled since he had never actually been on the dream plane. He started walking around and was instantly bombarded by a glittering, sapphire blue bubble that bounced from here to there. “What’s going on?” He looked to Isabel for an answer.

“That’s Maria’s dream orb. Alex’s tends to come to me the minute I enter it. Maria must like you a lot and must want to dream about you. Most dream orbs have a tendency to float to the ones that they care about. Mom and dad’s are always next to each other’s. The Sheriff and Amy Deluca’s are always next to each other. It’s kind of cool how they sort of just float to who ever they like.”

Maria’s orb continued to dance around Michael and he turned with it so he would always be looking at it. It rubbed his face and he was surprised that it wasn’t sticky or anything like what a bubble would feel like. “How do I get it to go away so we can concentrate on what we are here to do?”

“Just whisper to it and tell it what you want it to do. It’s not going to hurt you and whatever you say to it’s not going to hurt its feelings. She’s dreaming.”

Michael looked at the orb. “Can I touch it?” Isabel nodded her head. “It’s not going to burst or anything like that?” Isabel shook her head no. “Because that would really be just my luck busting the dream bubble of the only girl that I could see myself with and she would end up not being able to dream anymore.” Michael didn’t pay any attention to the others who were giggling at him. He gently whispered to the bubble and sent her on her way. The bubble floated to an orange one and the two just danced away. He returned to the others.

“Whose bubble is that orange one?” Yeah, you could say that he was feeling a little jealous.

“It’s Alex, no matter where one is the other isn’t too far away.” Isabel looked on and her facial expression took on a look of distance. She envied Maria Deluca for her friendship with Alex Whitman, she has never been able to have any real close friends. She has leaned on her brother her entire life to be the one constant

Getting back to business Isabel shook her head and looked at the task at hand. What was waiting for her in her dad’s dream orb. She pushed all her anxiety away and walked to where her parent’s orbs were resting. Picking up the one that was her father’s she began expanding it so that she could see what was inside. The bigger it got the more translucent it became. The group gathered around and began to do the same thing. They all peered in to take a look.

“What do we do now?” Everyone looked at Michael who had taken a step back. “What?”

“We step in.” Isabel said. “Everyone stay in the background and when it’s clear I will call you to the front.”

“Wait. We haven’t really discussed what we are going to try and do. How are we going to ask him if he knows if we are aliens or not?” Max has asked his sister.

“Liz is going to be the one to make contact with him. I will change the scenery to his office and then Liz will walk in showing him the contents of what her parents had left. Including the letter that they had left stating that they could trust the Evans’ as well as the orb.” Isabel looked around to everyone making eye contact to make sure everyone knew what the plan was.

Isabel stepped in reaching out for Liz who in turned grabbed onto Max who had grabbed Michael. Once inside the dream switched from a beach scene to the office that Liz and Michael had both been to in Clovis. Liz knocked on the door and took a deep breath.

“Come in.” Mr. Evans said. “Well hello Miss Parker. What do I owe this visit for?” He was smiling as if nothing was wrong. The look in his eye spoke to Liz but she just didn’t know what to expect.

“Well…” She began and then stopped and turned around. Not being able to see the others didn’t make it any easier on her. “I was wondering if you could help me with something that my parents had left us in their safe deposit box.” Liz handed out the letter to him so he could take it.

Mr. Evans took the paper and began reading it.

My Children,
If you are reading this then I guess something has happened to your father and me. I know that we weren’t your biological parents but that didn’t mean that we didn’t love you like our own. We would have given anything to have you be ours forever, but the two of you are special and can never belong to anyone but to the ones that you give your hearts to. We know that now and I hope you understand why we never told you that we knew. Your father and I were afraid that you would leave us if you knew that we knew the truth about you two.

Michael our hearts will always be with you and I hope that one day you will let them in. Liz I am counting on you to help your brother learn to trust others, help him love himself first and then maybe, just maybe he will love another. Your father and I went back to where we found you. Michael went straight for the orb and tried to hide it. He hid it under his bed and I suppose he just forgot about it so I brought it in here for it to be safe. I am unsure what it is but I’m sure it is from your origins. I also have a book in my desk at the house it also has the same emblem on it. I was unable to read anything because all of the pages are blank. I will assume that once it is in your hands that it will all become perfectly clear.

As always we will be with you and if there ever comes a time that you are in trouble go see Phillip Evans in Roswell. It’s hard to explain why I think you can trust him. Maybe it’s the fact that the Evans also adopted their children. I guess what I am saying is that there are at least four of you. The Evans have the other set. There were many a night that your father and I argued about getting the four of you together. It’s sad to say that we were afraid. I know I was scared to introduce you to them in fear that you would know that they were your real family and that you no longer needed us. Please forgive us and know that everything we did was because we thought it would be safer for the two of you, our two children of the stars.

Be careful and remember we love you.

All our love
Your Parents



When he was done reading the letter he looked up at her. “I guess you are here to find out what we know.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Part 25

When he was done reading the letter he looked up at her. "I guess you are here to find out what we know." Liz shook her head yes.

"Why would my mother tell us to come to you if we are in trouble?" Liz watched Mr. Evans adjust in his seat. He looked uncomfortable. "Do I scare you?" Liz asked him.

"No, are you trying to scare me?" He asked.

"No." Liz shifted in her seat. "You just look like you are uncomfortable with me being here."

"I'm just trying to understand what is happening. Is this a dream?"

"Yes."

"So you aren't really here?" He was getting confused.

"I am and I'm not.” Shifting in her chair once again she continued. “Look Mr. Evans that's irrelevant. The important thing is that I need to know who I can trust and who I can't trust. I loved my parents and I hope that their judgement of you is correct. I'm taking a leap of faith in you by doing this."

"I don't mean to interrupt you but is Max and Isabel like you?" His eyes were looking straight at her. She couldn't hold his gaze.

"I don't know." Liz looked away because she was uncomfortable lying to the man. She was asking him for her trust and she was lying to him. “I’m not here to discuss Max and Isabel.” She met Mr. Evans gaze and then continued. “You don't know what it is like knowing that you are different and that any mistake that is made could lead you to a government lab for research purposes. Mr. Evans I’m asking you, do you have or have you seen anything like my mother has described in the letter?” Liz waited for his answer.

“Have you found the book?" He asked as he stood from his desk evading her question.

"Yes."

"Is it still blank?" He began to pace.

"Yes. I was unable to do anything with it. Mr. Evans why would my mother tell us to come to you if we were in trouble?" She asked again.

"I don't know. Are you in trouble?" He said.

"No.” It was another lie but Mr. Evans and his kids didn’t need to know.

“Is Max and Isabel in any danger by associating with you?” He was concerned for his children it was a reasonable question.

“I wouldn’t think so…” Liz shook her head the questions were going in the wrong direction. At this pace Max and Isabel would be barred from seeing them. Liz decided to change the line of questions by the one that she asked next. “Is it true that you and your wife adopted Max and Isabel?"

"Yes." He stopped in mid stride and looked at Liz. His expression took on the look as if he were no longer in the office. "Diane and I were driving home after doing some stargazing. It was a beautiful night. Warm. The stars were bright and it was amazing what we could see. Everything was right with the world." He began to pace as he remembered that night. "We were giggling because we had received some good news. We had been approved to begin adoption of a child so we had gone to celebrate. Diane was finally going to have a child. She wanted one more than any woman I had ever known." A smile crossed his face. "Anyway, we were just about to get on the highway when two kids ran across the road. They were naked and they looked scared. We stopped and Diane immediately wrapped them up in the blanket we had had in the back seat. She was so worried."

He sat back down in his chair. "They didn't say anything. The first thing we thought was that they had been abused and were left out there to die. Who would leave two kids out in the desert to die? So we took them home with us. We called the authorities to find out what needed to be done when we got home. Diane had to hold both children on her lap for neither one would let go of the other." Phillip was silent for a beat and then he continued. "The authorities wanted to take them to the orphanage in case someone came to claim them but Max and Isabel wouldn't let them take them. They clung to Diane and cried whenever anyone tried to take them away from her. It was hard the first week. I convinced the authorities to let them stay with us while they looked for their parents. No one claimed them and they became ours. We adopted them.”

He shifted in his chair and then continued. “Diane worked so hard with them. When we first found them they knew nothing, Diane had to teach them the most basic tasks, speaking, using a bathroom, eating utensils.” Phillip slowly shook his head in remembrance before continuing, “It was like they had been born the day we found them. Diane would take them to the park, to the library, and just spend most of her time helping them, getting to know them. Isabel was the first one to become independent. She began to act more and more like the rest of the children that she saw, but Max just withdrew. He would cry and cry at night. There were some nights that he would just scream."

Liz interrupted him. "What was he screaming about?"

"I can't really remember; something about Charlie? No Charisse. Yeah, Charisse. That was the only word that he spoke for the first month. We asked everyone if they had heard of it and we came up empty." He noticed that Liz's eyes had begun to tear some. "What's wrong? Do you know Charisse?"

"Umm..." Liz thought to herself about how much she should reveal to Mr. Evans. She shook her head no. "It's just I know what they were going through. I remember going through the same exact thing. Sorry. Is there anymore?"

"Not really." He said.

"So Max and Isabel aren't connected to us?"

"Not that I'm aware of. We had tests done and nothing showed up out of the normal." Phillip sat there for a moment remembering the conversation that he had had with his wife just after reading the will that the Parker's had left. He suspected that his kids were different and this conversation with Liz proved that they were different as well.

Liz stood up and held out her hand to Mr. Evans. "I'd like to thank you for talking to me." She smiled as he shook her hand. "Can I come see you again if I have anymore questions?"

"Yes. I'm here for you as well as your brother. I want to remind you that my offer for you to come to Roswell still stands. I think Max and Isabel would like that."

"Thank you. I don’t know if we will but we'll think about it." Liz turned and left the office. Phillip sat back down in his chair as Liz left and wondered if Liz Parker had really told him all that she knew. She seemed to holding back and he had to make the kids know that they could trust him. He didn’t know why, but something told him that it was very important that they come live in Roswell and be close to Max and Isabel.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Honey, wake up?” Phillip leaned over his wife so that he could tell her what had happened.

“What is it Phillip?”

“I was right. The Parker girl just visited my dream. I was right about them.”

“What are you talking about?” Diane sat up and rubbed her eyes as she shifted to look at her husband who had gotten out of bed. He was now pacing the room a sign that she had grown accustomed to. He was thinking really hard and didn’t want to loose his train of thought.

“She must have the power to invade peoples dreams.” He continued.

“Phillip you’re talking nonsense. Are you listening to yourself?” Diane left the room to head for the kitchen. She was going to make a pot of coffee and hope that it would bring some sense to her husband as well. He followed and sat down at the kitchen table.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz walked through the office door and was once again on the dream plane with the others. They knew that the meeting was over and had left the dream orb before Liz had left. They had heard it all. Liz made a straight line to Max’s waiting arms. She nuzzled her head deep into his embrace and just breathed in his warm scent. He held her tight not knowing what she needed. He wouldn’t let her go until he knew that she was ready.

“Liz what’s wrong?” Michael was worried. He had seen and heard it all but didn’t know what had affected his sister so much.

“Hang on Michael. She’ll let us know when she is ready.” Max whispered over her head and then tightened his embrace on her. She was shaking and Max was beginning to get worried about what was going on with her as well.

“Look!” Isabel directed everyone’s attention to the two orbs that had now disappeared from the plane. “They’re awake.” She looked back to her brother with worry in her eyes. “What have we done, Max?”

“I handled it wrong. It’s my fault.” Liz said as she removed herself from the security of Max’s arms. “He doesn’t know anything and if he does he’s hiding it really well. All I’ve done is made him more confused than what he already was.”

“Liz, it’s not your fault. It’s ours.” Max looked at his sister who nodded in agreement. “We weren’t strong enough to face him. We didn’t want to see him deny us once he knew the truth about us.”

“Isabel can you get us out of here please?” Liz asked because she wanted to get away from everything that she had just heard.

The group slowly came back from the dream plane. The girls sitting up on the bed and the boys getting up from the position that they held on the floor.

“Liz you’re crying?” Max asked as he looked on to the angel that had captured his heart in such a short time.

Liz immediately got up and ran for the bathroom that was just down the hall. Isabel slapped her brother for being so insensitive. “Ouch. What did I do?” Isabel didn’t say a word but just followed Liz to the bathroom.

“Liz. Are you ok?” Isabel had a feeling what it was but didn’t want to intrude.

“I’ll be ok. Just give me a minute, please.” Liz was busy running cold water over her hands and then placing her cold hands to her face. She always found that running water soothed her emotions while the cold water relaxed her some.

Isabel returned to the room that she had left to find that the two boys were now gone. She turned around and went into the living room. She continued on to the kitchen and found that Michael had his head in the refrigerator while Max was going through the cabinets. “Is she ok?” Max asked while shutting the cabinet door that he was raiding.

“I think so.”

“What’s wrong?” Max asked his sister.

“I don’t know. Do you know, Michael?” Isabel asked.

“No.” He left the room and went in search of his sister. He found that she was still in the bathroom and the water was still running. “Liz. It’s ok. You didn’t know.” He had realized what was wrong with her only seconds after asking her what was wrong the first time. She had had the same experience when she had come out of her pod. She would wake up in a cold sweat at night screaming for Zan. Michael didn’t know what to think of it at the beginning but by the time he had decided to be worried about it the nightmares had ended and Liz never spoke of Zan again. He continued to talk to the closed door in hopes of comforting his sister. “They had left and we had been separated. We were only kids.”

Michael heard the water turn off and then heard his sister slide down next to the door. Her head was resting on the opposite side as his. “I should have known.” She said. “I’m so confused Michael. I don’t know who I am anymore. I’m not sure I even had any idea who I really was before. Everything has changed and yet everything is the same. What if I screwed things up with Mr. Evans and Max and Isabel end up hating me for what I have done to their family?”

“Liz stop talking like that. Max and Isabel won’t hate you for what happens. It’s not your fault. They were part of it. They wanted answers too.” Michael looked up and saw Max standing just down the hallway asking with silent pleas if he could try to talk to her. Michael stood up and motioned for Max to take his spot.

“It’s not really that, Michael. It’s what Mr. Evans said about Max. He cried for Charisse for the first month.” Liz continued not knowing that the two outside the bathroom door had changed places. Max had placed his hand on the door trying to make her realize that he was there. “I’m upset that he wasn’t calling my name. God, Michael, I’m jealous of a name that I have no idea what it means or who it is and I can’t help but feel that that is who he is meant to be with. Michael, remember, I used to scream for Zan at night? What if we’re both destined to be with someone else?” Liz took a deep breath expecting Michael to say something to reassure her but was surprised when it was Max.

“I make my own destiny Liz and it doesn’t matter who I had cried for when I was little but who I dream about when I go to bed at night.” Max stood up and waited for his words to sink in. He waited for her to open the door. She hadn’t yet so he continued. “Since the first day that I spoke to you on the phone the feeling of emptiness has been gone and been filled with you. There’s not a second that goes by out of every minute that I don’t think of you.” The door unlocked but didn’t open so Max continued. “What happened in the living room earlier tonight only proved that we were meant to be together. Liz, there’s some type of link between us that’s stronger than brother-sister. The orb showed that. Don’t you feel it? Don’t shut us out, don’t shut me out. Please, don’t try and deal with this on your own. I know you’ve had to do that in the past but I’m here now and I will be here in the future. I’m never leaving you again. ” The door swung open and Liz came bounding out and landed in Max’s open arms. Their lips locked in a kiss that sealed Max’s promise to be there and to never leave.

Once again the connection flared between them and this time the images were of Max’s childhood.

~*~FLASH~*~
Diane wrapping the soft southwestern blanket around the two of them.

~*~FLASH~*~
People trying to take them away from each other and the two children crying while clinging to Diane Evans.

~*~FLASH~*~
Diane coming to Max with a ceramic toy house that doubled as a night light and telling him that this is his home now and he was safe with them. But whenever he got homesick and wanted to remember his old home all he had to do was turn on the light. Whoever he was calling for would be there waiting for him. Max quit crying and hugged her for the first time. Pulling away from the woman that was crying.

~*~FLASH~*~
Max turning on the light for the first time and seeing a small figure waiting for him in the window. A sense of knowing that she would always be waiting for him as well as a sense of peace overwhelmed him.

~*~FLASH~*~
Max sneaking out of the Evan’s household in search of something that was left behind in the desert.

~*~FLASH~*~
Finding the orb and going back home. Trying to show Isabel that he had found it but she didn’t want to know anything about it. She was happy to be were she was and she just wanted to be normal.

~*~FLASH~*~
Max putting the orb in the toy house that his new mom had given him that night. Knowing that it would be his only way of finding the one that he seeked.

They pulled away in unison. The knowledge that they had learned from the flashes being so important. “Liz…” Max trailed off.

“Go.” She knew that he had to but sensed that he didn’t want to leave her.

“It can wait. It’s been hidden all this time, what’s one more day going to do?” He reached for her and pulled her into his embrace.

“What can wait?” Michael had rounded the corner to see how Max was doing with Liz. He was surprised that he had gotten her out of the bathroom so soon.

Liz pulled away when she heard her brother’s question. She had turned a little red in the face to be caught in such an intimate position with Max for the second time that night. “Um…” she looked up at Max looking for assistance. Telling him that it was his call about what to tell the others.

“We had a flash.” He said.

“A flash? What the hell do you mean a flash? What’s a flash?” Michael was coming closer to the two of them and Max and Liz took a step back. Neither wanting a repeat of the earlier confrontation.

Liz, while stepping in front of Max to be a buffer between him and her brother tried to explain, “It’s a connection kind of thing. When we are close, depending on our emotions, it just opens up and we see things.” That sounded good, innocent, she thought to herself. Max wrapped a protective arm around her waist letting Liz lean her back on him for support.

“What do you mean, you see things? What kind of things?” Looking directly at Liz, Michael continued, “This doesn’t sound like something new. You’ve had these before and didn’t tell me, right?”

Liz looked up at Max then back at her brother, “We think they’re from our past. They’re memories that we didn’t know we had. A, uh, sub-conscious thing.” Liz tried to explain.

Michael seemed to digest what Liz told him then asked, “So, what did you two see? What can wait?” Michael waited a beat then looked at Liz and continued, “And don’t think you’re off the hook. I want to know why you didn’t tell me. You’ve known this guy, what, two days and already you’re keeping secrets together?”

“Calm down Michael. Yeah, I didn’t tell you. I could just see it now. If I had told you, your paranoia would have had you bouncing off the walls. You would have kept us as far apart as possible.’ Liz looked pleadingly at Michael and continued, “Michael, sometimes you just have to trust someone. I trust Max. I don’t know why but it just feels right. I trust him. Please, if we’re going to learn anything about our past, we need Max and Isabel.”

Michael appeared to think about what Liz just said and replied, “Okay, what did you two see? What can wait?” Leave it to Michael to be direct and to the point. There was no beating around the bush with him.

“I know where the other orb is.” Max said plain and simple.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Part 26

“You know where it is?” No one had noticed that Isabel had entered the hallway. “Where is it Max?” She said.

“It’s at home.” He told her.

“How long have you had it?” She asked him.

“I’ve had it since we were young.” He told everyone. Seeing that his sister was going to get mad at that fact. “But I didn’t remember that I had it. I hid it.”

“How is it that you know this now?” Isabel was the last one that had entered the conversation and Max knew that he had to handle her in a completely different matter than they had handled Michael.

Walking over to where his sister was standing he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t have all the information but there is some force that is taking control of Liz and me. When I’m close to her things just happen.”

“That force is what happens when you have a boy who likes a girl. All boys go through that, its called hormones.” She was smiling up at him.

“No Isabel. This is more than human hormones. This is an alien force. I was able to remember where the other orb was by kissing Liz. We got a flash, some sort of memory from the past. I don’t know if that is her strongest power, the power to help people remember, or if it’s a combination of us both being together.”

Isabel stood there trying to digest what Max had just explained to her before asking, “So are we going home to get it now or what?” Isabel pulled away from her brother so she could see everyone’s expression.

Max let out a relieved breath at Isabel’s ready acceptance that Liz and he had some sort of special connection and told her, “I don’t think so… It’s waited this long it can wait for one more night. All it’s going to do if we go home now is alarm mom and dad even further. I think we should leave tomorrow as we had planned.” Max turned away from the group and walked into the living room. He sat down on the couch and waited for the others to follow.

“Max, what if it’s important? I feel that there is a reason why we are getting the images that we are getting. The sequence. The timing. There has to be a reason for it all.” Liz sat down in a chair that faced the couch that Max was now sitting in.

Michael walked further into the room and then sat down on the arm of the chair that his sister was sitting in. “I think Max is right. If they go home in the middle of the night their parents are going to get suspicious and what possible excuse could they give them for coming home in the middle of the night? I think they should wait til morning and leave like it was originally planned.” Everyone turned to see what Isabel was going to say.

When she sat in a huff on the couch next to her brother she said, “I agree. We should leave tomorrow. Even if mom and dad know about you, they still don’t know about us.” She sunk even further into the couch.

Liz stood up and began pacing. “Ok, so you go home tomorrow. You get the orb and then what do we do?” She stopped and looked at the others. “Should we go to Roswell too?” She asked Michael as she pinned him with her gaze. “Should we stay here and then have Max and Isabel come back?” She now looked at the two on the couch. “What are you going to say to your dad when you get home? Sorry dad, we were just playing around in your dreams? He’s going to ask questions. What if he forbids the two of you from seeing us.”

“He won’t do that. He offered to still help you. He still wanted you two to come and live in Roswell. He’s not going to turn his back on you or on us.” Max stood up and started to approach Liz. She backed up from him.

“You don’t know that Max. That’s what you are assuming but you can’t guarantee that he won’t look at us differently in the real world. That’s the beauty of the dream plane. We expect things to happen that are unreal but once it’s realized in the waking world it’s entirely different. When the two of you leave here tomorrow we need to be prepared to face the fact that we may not be able to see each other. You might have to be prepared to sneak behind their backs. You have to be prepared for the normal life that you have been living to be turned upside down.” Tears were rolling down Liz’s cheek.

“Liz don’t cry.” Max made another attempt to comfort her but she pulled away again.

“You don’t understand. By knowing us we have completely ruined your life. By us being together nothing is going to be normal ever again. It wasn’t fair to you for me to pull the two of you into this. It wasn’t fair.”

“Liz you didn’t pull us in. I came on my own free will. We are here because we want to be here. Nothing that happens now is your fault. It’s ours and ours alone. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Max closed the distance between the two of them and as if Michael and Isabel didn’t exist he embraced her into a kiss. When the kiss broke he gently rubbed the tears away from her cheek with his thumbs as his hands held her face to continue eye contact. “What do you want to do Liz? Just walk away? Forget that we ever existed? I won’t let you do this. I won’t.”

Michael cleared his throat to bring their existence back into the equation between Max and Liz. “She’s got a point. I would have to agree with her. We don’t know what’s going to happen when you two do go back. We need to have a plan in case your parents decide to lock you up and throw away the key.”

“They’re not going to do that.” Isabel spoke up. A hint of hesitation in her voice. Looking at Max. “They won’t do that will they?”

“No. They won’t do that. We have to make them understand.” Max replied, but his tone of voice was as sure as he wanted it to be.

“Max this is like my worst nightmare. Them finding out and then rejecting us. I don’t know what I would do if that happens.” Isabel said with a tremor in her voice. Max looked at Isabel and could see the fear in her eyes.

Max walked over and squatted down in front of Isabel and took her hands in his, “It’s not going to happen, Isabel. It’s not going to happen. We have to believe in them like we want them to believe in us. It’s a two way street and we have to meet in the middle.” Releasing Isabel’s hands he stood up before continuing, “I don’t know about the rest of you but I think I’m tired about worrying about this. What’s going to happen is going to happen and staying up all night worrying about it won’t help.”

“You’re right.” Isabel took a deep breath and stood up. “You’re right Max. All this worrying is going to be for nothing. They are our parents and they love us no matter what. Mom has always said that. You’re right.” Isabel had to say it one more time to make herself believe it because deep down there was a part of her that didn’t and that was the part that had her worried.

Everyone stood up and headed to their separate rooms for the night. “See you guys in the morning.” Max called out as he entered Michael’s room. He paused in the doorway to take one final look at Liz. “Goodnight Liz.”

“Night Max. See you in the morning.” She smiled and walked into her room. She had shut the door and didn’t her what Max was about to say.

“Not unless I see you in our dreams.” He walked in and got situated in Michael’s room.

“Goodnight Max.” Isabel said as she stood in the doorway.

“Night Iz. See you in the morning.” She smiled and then left.

“Night Michael.”

“Yeah. See ya in the morning.” He said as he came out of the bathroom.

The group was finally all in bed and they will have a big day ahead of them tomorrow.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Phillip and Diane Evans had settled back down to bed about two o’clock. Both of them were tossing and turning, sleep just wouldn’t seem to come. All of a sudden, about an hour after returning to bed they heard a noise coming from down the hall in direction of the kids’ rooms. “Honey… I think the kids are home.” Just as Diane had said that they heard a crash. Phillip bolted up out of bed and proceeded down the hall. He reached the door to Max’s room just in time to see a dark figure jump through the window.

“Stop!” He yelled but who ever it was paused for just a moment before disappearing into the darkness of night.

“Who was it?” Diane asked as she came up behind her husband.

“I don’t know.” Phillip and Diane took in the disaster that they had been made of their son’s room. Drawers had been ripped out of the dresser and their contents strewn across the room, the closet had been ransacked, and Phillip saw what had woke them up. Max’s prized microscope was lying on the floor where in had obviously fell from the closet shelf. It appeared that whoever it was had either found what they were looking for and stopped at the closet or heard Phillip coming down the hall. “Did they get into Isabel’s too?”

“I don’t know. I’ll go check.” Diane left her husband in Max’s room. As she left he began to pick through the mess until he found the phone and dialed the sheriff’s station.

“Yes, this is Phillip Evans, I would like to report a burglary.” He answered the dispatcher’s questions and then hung up the phone and went in search of his wife.

As Phillip entered his daughter’s room Diane turned to him and said, “Well, nothing appears to have been disturbed, lipstick still arrange alphabetically by shade and her closet still has the clothes arranged light to dark. It looks like whoever it was must have gone to Max’s room first.”

As they walked back to Max’s room Diane asked, “Do you think we should call and tell the kids to come home and see if they can make a list of what is gone?”

“I think it would be best. The sheriff will be here in about ten minutes; in the meantime the dispatcher said that they would have their patrol cars searching the neighborhood for anyone that looks suspicious.

“Well let me go call the kids and get some more coffee on for everyone. It’s going to be a long night.”

Diane punched the numbers into the phone that Max had written down on the refrigerator. The phone rang and rang and just when Diane thought that nobody would pick up at the other end, Liz finally answered.

“Hello.” She said, still half asleep.

“Liz?”

“Yes.”

“This is Diane Evans, Max and Isabel’s mom. Can I talk to them?”

On hearing who was calling Liz snapped fully awake, “Yeah, sure. Let me get them.” Liz rolled over and gently nudged Isabel. “Isabel… it’s your mom.” Isabel rolled over but didn’t get up. “Isabel!” Liz said a little louder.

“What! I’m trying to sleep.” She said groggily.

“It’s your mom.” Liz had gotten out of bed and was waiting for Isabel to take the call.

“Ok.” She sat up and took the phone from Liz.

“I’m going to go get Max.” Liz left Isabel to go wake up Max. Just as she opened up her door she was face to face with Max.

“Who’s calling so early, what’s wrong?” He asked.

“It’s your mom. She’s on the phone.” Max squeezed by Liz and went to stand beside his sister.

“Are you two ok?” Isabel asked.

“Yes. At first your father and I thought it was the two of you but then we heard a crashing sound and knew that it wasn’t. We’re going to need the two of you to come home tonight. Well this morning. The sheriff is going to want to have a list of anything that could be missing.” Diane told her daughter.

“Who was it? Did you guys get a good look at who ever did all of this?” Isabel asked.

Max sat down next to his sister and began to jab at her. “What’s wrong?” He asked. She turned her back as she continued to listen to her mom. “Isabel, what’s going on?”

Isabel turned back around and covered the mouthpiece. “Someone broke into our house and mom and dad want us to come home now. We’re going to have to fill out a report.” Max immediately got up and left the girls’ room. He squeezed back by Liz who was still standing in the doorway watching everything.

“Max. What’s wrong? Where are you going?” Liz asked as she followed him.

He entered Michael’s room and flipped on the light. “Hello. I’m trying to sleep. What’s the big idea of turning on the light? Michael said as he pulled the pillow over his head until the light was turned off again.

“Sorry Michael.” Max said as he flipped the light back off. “Our place has been robbed and Isabel and I have to go home now to file a report.

Michael sat up and asked, “Do you think it has something to do with us?”

“I’m not sure but I wouldn’t dismiss that just yet. Let us go home and see what’s gone and then I’ll let you know.” Max began pulling on his jeans and went searching for his shirt. Michael had gotten out of bed and was standing in the hall with Liz.

“What do you think?” He asked her.

“If you want to know the truth I think it has everything to do with us.” Liz said as she slid down the wall of the hallway.

“Why?” Michael asked doing the same thing.

“They stopped the person that was doing the exact same thing to our house. The guy drove off but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t look at Max and Isabel’s plates on the jeep. He could have easily found out where they live and then decide to look for what ever he wanted here over there."” Liz looked at her brother.

Michael shook his head. As if it was choreographed Max and Isabel both exited their assigned rooms fully dressed and ready to go. Isabel’s face was etched with fear while Max’s was just lightly laced with concern.

“Ready?” He asked her.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” She said. Michael and Liz stood up and followed the Evans out into the living room.

“Do you want us to come with you?” Liz asked.

“No. I don’t think so… Don’t want to give the police anything to question. We’ll call you when we get there.” Max closed the distance between Liz and him and then took her into his arms and kissed her. Pulling back he reached up and cupped her face in his hands forcing her to look him in the eyes, “It’s going to be ok. None of this is your fault. Push those thoughts out of your mind. You hear me Liz?” Liz shook her head as she rolled her lips into her mouth and then began to bite on the lower one. Max kissed her forehead and then turned to leave.

She knew that he was trying to comfort her but she couldn’t help but believe that this was only happening to them because of her. They had a perfectly normal life in Roswell and then she had to go drag them into hers. A life that had dead parents and alien artifacts. It wasn’t fair to them.

As Max turned to leave he knew that he wasn’t getting through to her. That she was still blaming herself for everything that was happening to them. He wanted to stay and try to convince her otherwise but there just wasn’t time.

Michael opened the door and waited for Max and Isabel to leave he circled his arms around Liz’s shoulders as they both waved at the departing jeep. Liz lowered her head onto his shoulder while Michael squeezed her just a little bit more. “Come on… Let’s try and get some sleep. We’ve had a rough day and an exciting night.” Michael pulled his sister back into the house.

Liz veered away from him and headed for the kitchen. She opened up the cabinet for some of her mom’s flavored coffee. She needed comforting and right now this was the best thing that was available. There were many times that she would wake up in the middle of the night to find her mom sitting at the bar nursing a cup full. They would stay up together and talk about things while the two of them sipped the coffee. Scooping the coffee into the cup she pour the water into the cup and then held her hand over it to warm it to just the right temperature. “Liz this isn’t our fault.” Michael said as he sat down beside her.

“I know Michael, I keep telling myself that, but I just can’t help but think that it is. I know deep down that if they wouldn’t have come by today this wouldn’t be happening to them right now. I’m beginning to see a pattern here. First mom and dad, now Max and Isabel. Everyone that comes near us…..”

“Liz. Quit! You have no right to be thinking like this. THIS – IS – NOT – YOUR – FAULT!” Michael stressed each word with force. He knew where her line of thought was going and he couldn’t see her do it. Not now… when she’s finally found someone that could make her happy.

“Michael. Not now. Don’t yell at me. I’m just thinking. There’s nothing wrong with thinking.”

“No there isn’t. But I know you and I’m not going to let you push them away just when we found them again. There’s a reason we were sent together. You of all people should know that. Things happen for a reason. We just have to look for the reason why the things are happening to us now. You’re not going to protect them if you decide to walk away. And besides walking away is my job not yours.

“Michael you have never walked away from anything. You have always been there for me.”

“If you only knew. Just don’t be so hard on yourself. We’ll work this out.” He kissed the top of her head and then got to his feet and started for his room. “I’m going to get some sleep. Don’t stay up all morning. Who knows what we are going to have to do tomorrow. Oh, don’t forget that we still have to find a job so we don’t go into the foster care system.” He rounded the corner and left Liz by herself to bounce her thoughts back and forth for awhile.

As Michael disappeared from sight Liz got up and grabbed another cup, she added coffee and water but decided to wait until he returned before heating it. Liz knew he would get back up in a little while to make sure that she went back to bed.

As Liz slowly sipped her coffee, she continued thinking, ‘Michael had mentioned looking for a job, but where? Here or in Roswell? Michael said that we shouldn’t push Max and Isabel away, does that mean that he thinks we should be together?’

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Part 27

Liz was sipping on her cup of coffee when she leaned over and warmed the one that she had gotten ready earlier. She couldn’t help but smile with anticipation as she warmed up the extra cup. He actually had taken a lot longer to come back out than she expected him to. Michael strolled into the kitchen his hair standing straight up and his feet dragging the floor. “What took you so long?” She asked.

“I don’t know what made me think that I was going to be able to sleep. Get ready let’s go.” Michael grabbed the cup of coffee and started to sip on it. As he sipped he couldn’t help but see how happy his sister was. He brought the cup down and a grin was on his face. “What? Quit smiling like that and go get ready… We have a lot of ground to make up.” He turned to go back to his room.

Liz hopped off the stool and jumped up and down. “Thank you, thank you.” She had grabbed Michael around the neck and kissed him on his cheek. “Thanks Michael.”

“Hey! Watch the coffee.” He held the cup as far away as he could so she wouldn’t bump his arm and cause him to spill it. “You’re welcome. We have to stick together. We’re all we have now.” Liz unwrapped herself from her brother and then bounded down the hall to the bathroom. Michael still had a smile on his face from her actions. She had known that he wouldn’t be able to sleep. She knew. Shaking his head in disbelief he walked down the hall to his room, and shut the door and got ready.

Slipping into the bathroom she started the shower. Stepping into the stream of hot water her muscles began to relax. She washed her hair and body quickly and stepped out. It wasn’t as long as she expected it to take. She stepped out and began to towel off. Drying the mirror in front of her she looked at the girl in the mirror. No, that was wrong, that had been one change that had happened since her parent's death. She was no longer a girl; she was a woman. There was no one to make decisions for her and Michael anymore.

After dressing she went back out to sit at the kitchen counter to wait for Michael but was shocked to see him holding the door open. “Come on. I won’t be able to take any more of your sulking if I have to wait.” Seeing that his sister wasn’t budging from the spot that she stood in the living room Michael let go of the door and tromped over and grabbed her by the arm. “I know you want to go. So let’s go. Besides I didn’t really get a good look at Roswell the last time I was there. Maybe we do need a change of scenery.”

Liz not believing what she was hearing from her brother just stared at him with a corny smile on her face. “Ok. Who are you and what have you done with my brother?” She said jokingly.

“HAHA.” He said. “Good one. I’ll have to remember that one. Are you going to give me a hard time all the way to Roswell or will we be able to talk about some other things?”

“I’ll be good.” Liz leaned up onto her tiptoes and kissed Michael on the cheek. “Thanks Michael. You’re the best.”

“I wouldn’t go that far… I’m just the brother who loves his sister.” He smiled at her as they climbed into the truck.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Max’s eyes were getting really heavy with sleep. He wishes now that they had gone to bed much earlier; but then again none of them had expected this to happen. ‘Who had broken in and what did they want?’ The same question had been racing through his mind for the entire trip home.

Isabel sensing what was on Max’s mind asked, “Do you think it’s the same guy that broke into Michael and Liz’s house?”

“Yeah. I do. It too much of a coincidence for it to be anybody else.” He said as he rubbed at his eyes once more.

“Do you think they were after the orb?” Isabel was finally voicing her own questions that had been running through her mind.

“Maybe. I don’t know. It’s too soon to tell. We’ll know soon enough.” Max concentrated on his driving for a moment before adding, “I really don’t’ want to think about that right now. If someone is after the orb then that means that they know about us. That they know more about us than we do.“ Max turned the corner and went down Main Street. The town was absolutely deserted. Most everyone was still in bed with the exception of the Crashdown, Amy Deluca was getting ready for the morning breakfast crowd.

Driving the speed limit was driving both Max and Isabel insane. It was like dragging out the inevitable. Isabel was out of the jeep before Max had the chance to come to a complete stop. Opening the door she ran in. “Mom… Dad… we’re home.” She called out.

“We’re in here honey.” Diane had called in from the kitchen. She stood up and her daughter embraced her.

“I was so worried. Are you guys ok? I mean really ok?” Isabel pulled herself out of her mother’s arms and looked at her. She looked ok. Well with the exception of the dark circles under her eyes but Isabel imagined that everyone would have those.

Diane, noticing her son standing in the doorway of the kitchen, sidestepped her daughter and immediately went to him. His room had been the only one that had any damage and she only hoped that everything could be replaced. “Hi, honey. I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks mom. How bad is it?” He wanted to go in search of the orb but he didn’t want to draw any attention to it.

“I don’t know. You’re the only one that will be able to answer that question. You want to go look?” She wrapped her arm around his waist and then turned him in the direction of his room.

“Don’t worry about the microscope. Your father and I have already discussed replacing it. If there is anything else that’s missing that can be replaced just let us know.” Max knew that she was trying to comfort him but she wasn’t really helping anything. Standing in front of the closed bedroom door Max took a deep breath as he reached for the knob.

Turning it slowly and then pushing it forward he entered his room. The first site that hit him was everything had been opened. All the drawers to his dresser were wide open, their contents strewn all over the place. Isabel gasped and Max turned around to see who it was. He hadn’t realized that she had followed him.

Max walked slowly into his room. Accidentally stepping on something and hearing it snap beneath the weight of his step. He backed up and looked down. It was a picture frame that held a picture of him and Isabel on their one vacation to the Florida Keys. He bent down and picked it up and then set it down on the nightstand and then continued forward into his room. “Who would have done this Max?” His mom asked.

“I don’t know mom. I have no idea.” Max walked further into his room not able to comprehend what had occurred here just hours before.

“I’ll need to have a complete list of everything that was damaged and or missing.” Max turned around to see who had said that and noticed the sheriff holding his hat in his hands.

“Sure, sheriff.” Max tried to act casual but had a feeling that he wasn’t doing a good job of it.

“Do you have any idea who would have done this or why they would only search your room and not anyone else’s?” The sheriff had walked in further and sat down at the computer chair that had been shoved away from the desk.

“No sir. I don’t know. I have no idea.” Max shook his head and continued to look around the room.

“I think I can answer that for you sheriff.” Phillip Evans pushed his way through the crowd that consisted of his wife and daughter. “Who ever did this left the room because he had knocked down the microscope and when it hit the floor it made a big crash and had alerted myself and Diane. I think the intruder didn’t have a chance to move to any other room because he had woken us up.”

“I see. Sounds reasonable.” The sheriff got up from the chair. “I don’t think you should touch anything else in here. I’m going to have a crew come in and dust the place for prints. It sounds like it was rookies that did this and if they made this much noise now they may have made more a time before and might have gotten caught a time or two before.”

“When will my son be able to go through and make a list of everything that is broken or missing?” Phillip asked.

“Sometime this afternoon.” The sheriff began to shoo everyone out of the room and then put up the police tape over the door. “Please stay out of this room until further notice. Someone from my department will be here shortly.”

“Wait. Can’t I even go in and get a change of clothes?” Max asked.

“No. I would advise against that at this point in time. Surely your mom has some laundry that hasn’t been put away that you could wear for the meantime.” The sheriff looked to Mrs. Evans for help in the matter of keeping everyone out of the room until further noticed.

“Come on Max. I think I have something that you can wear in the laundry room. The sheriff is right. If we want to catch who did this then we need to wait until they are through with the room. I’m just concerned if you have any clothes to wear to work today or not.” Diane had already started walking to the laundry room and had left everyone else standing outside Max’s room in the hallway. She needed to keep herself busy so she wouldn’t freak out in front of the kids.

Max began to follow her. “Mom don’t worry about work. I’ll call Brody and see if I can get the day off.” Max was now in the kitchen with his dad and sister in-tow. The sheriff was standing in the entryway to the front door.

“Call me if you need anything Phillip.” He put his hat back on his head and walked out the door.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“So what’s the plan when we get there?” Liz asked as she looked at her brother.

“What? I don’t have the plan you’re the one that needs to come up with a plan. I’m just taking you where you wanted to go. Some how we need to contact Max and Isabel and see what is missing. If the break-in was alien related or just dumb luck.”

“Dumb luck?” Liz asked.

“Yeah. Some ordinary Joe wanting to score some cash and just happened to pick the wrong house.”

“I don’t know. I feel like it has something to do with the first one. It has something to do with who we are.” Liz shifted nervously in her seat and pressed her head against the window. It was still cool because the sun had yet to rise.

The cab of the truck was quiet for almost the rest of the trip. The radio played and Michael sang a few bars here and there. Liz didn’t mind because she knew that was his way of staying awake.

The minute they hit Roswell Liz sat up to take in the scenery. Just like Michael the last time she was here she hadn’t really paid that much attention. Which was sad because Max was the one that had given her a tour of the city. She smiled to herself when she remembered that day. “Which way do I go now?” Michael asked. He had never been to the Evans house.

“Umm. Turn right here and then at the stop sign take a left and the house should be on the right hand side.” Once the truck made the left at the stop sign Michael continued driving by. The Evans’ house was crawling with cops. There were three cop cars in the front yard. Michael kept on driving not wanting to bring any attention to them. “Where are you going?” Liz asked.

“I don’t want to stop while the cops are there.”

“Why? We have nothing to hide.” She said.

“I know. It’s just. Well just because. You know, friends arriving at the crack of dawn, wouldn’t that seem a bit strange? Let’s go to the Crashdown for breakfast maybe we can call them from there.” Michael made the lap around the block and headed back to Main Street. They were the first car to pull into the parking spaces located just out front of the Crashdown’s front door.

“You just want to see Maria.” Liz joked.

“No I don’t.” He said back to his sister. “I’m hungry and we have to wait for the cops to leave Max and Isabel’s house, so we might as well kill two birds with one stone.

Michael opened the door for Liz and she walked under his arm. “Sure. Whatever you say.” The bell above the door signaled that they had arrived and the owner and manager, Amy Deluca, instantly greeted them.

“Welcome to the Crashdown. Feel free to sit anywhere. I’ll be with the two of you in just a moment.” She smiled some more and then went through a swinging door. “Maria, I need you to grab the two customers that just came in. I’ll get the grill hot. I don’t know what I’m going to do with Jose being gone.”

“Don’t people ever eat at home anymore? What ever happened to sleeping in during the summer break?” Maria pushed through the door and stopped in mid-stride. “I don’t believe it.” She continued to the two that were waiting for her. “What? Can’t get enough of me Parker?” Maria said to Michael. Michael had sat with his back to the door so he would be able to see everything that went on in the restaurant.

“In your dreams blondie. We’re here to see Max and Isabel.” He said while his face turned a few shades redder.

“Well they’re not here. It’s just mom and me. Jose and Lucia had a family emergency in Mexico and we have to find their temporary replacements like pronto. Do you know how hard it is to find good help around here? Especially help that doesn’t mind the uniform and tourists.” Michael cleared his throat and gave Maria a bored look making her realize that she had been babbling. “ Oh, sorry, do you know what you want to eat or do you want me to come back later.” After all she was their waitress and had to keep any and all business that she could. She couldn’t believe that she had just gone on and on about her problems. She felt like such a dork.

“Umm. I’ll have a cup of coffee and he’ll have a cherry coke if you don’t mind Maria. We’ve had a really long night and we need all the caffeine that we can get.” Liz hated the thought that she was trying to shut her friend up but the less she said the less her head would hurt and Michael wasn’t helping matters at all. Maria left to get their drink orders. “God Michael, can’t you ever be nice to anyone? What’s the idea making her so upset?”

“She just rubs me the wrong way and besides I didn’t ask her to tell us her problems she did that all on her own.” He said.

“Yeah, right. That’s not what you were saying when her dream orb was hovering around you. Don’t think you are fooling me. I know you and I know you like her. So can the bull shit.” Michael looked at Liz like she had grown a third eye.

“What’s up with you?” He asked.

“Nothing.” She said as she rubbed her temples. “Nothing. I’m just tired. Tired and worried.” Liz laid her head down on the table. “I need caffeine and I need it now.”

“Well sorry it took so long.” Liz sat straight up and looked at Maria.

“Oh, Maria. I didn’t mean anything by that. I’m sorry if you took it the wrong way.” Liz sunk deeper into the booth just wanting to disappear completely.

“It’s ok, Liz. I understand. When I get my break maybe we can sit down and talk about things.” Liz nodded her head. “Here’s your menu I’ll be right back to take your order.” Maria turned around to show a few more customers to their table.

“I’m going to go call Max and see what he knows. I’ll be back in a minute.” Liz stood up from the booth and walked over to the pay phone by the bathroom. Michael didn’t say a word because he was too busy ogling Maria from a distance. Liz smiled and punched in the numbers to the Evans’ household. Its funny how she can remember it from heart after only dialing it once before.

“Hello.” Max’s mom answered the phone.

“Hi, is Max available?” Liz asked in a shy voice. Noticing the tone of her own voice Liz thought, ‘How embarrassing.’

“Yes he is, may I ask who is calling?” She is so nice. I bet she really loves her children.

“Umm. Yeah, this is Liz Parker. I was just calling to make sure that everything was ok.”

“Oh, how sweet of you. Hang on let me go get him.” She puts the phone down on the counter and Liz hears the muffled voices that are in the background.

“Liz?” Max picks up the phone.

“Yeah, I was just calling to see if you made it home ok or not. I wasn’t sure if you had called or not.” Liz just wanted to hang up the phone and go to him. Go to him now and comfort him.

“No I didn’t. I’m sorry. I should have called but I forgot with everything going on. Liz, what’s wrong? Why wouldn’t you know that I hadn’t called? Where are you?” Liz could hear the growing concern in his voice.

“I’m ok Max. It’s just that I couldn’t stay at home with everything that was going on. Michael and I are here at the Crashdown. We wanted to come by and see you guys but when we tried there were police all over. We thought that we should wait until everyone had left before we came by. How bad is it?” Liz could hear his sigh of relief come from him when he heard that she was ok.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” He asked.

“Yes, Max. I’m fine. Just tired that’s all but aren’t we all? It’s not like we got a whole lot of sleep last night. Now tell me, how bad is everything?” It was now Max’s turn to hear Liz’s concern come across the phone.

“I don’t know. I was only able to step in my room for a short time. Then the sheriff came in and taped everything up for the forensics team to come in. They’ve only been here a little over twenty minutes now.”

“So you still don’t know if its there or not. You still don’t know if it was a fluke or if it was because of us.”

“Liz. Don’t. If it is because of that then it’s just as much because of us as it would have been if it was you. So don’t be blaming yourself. There’s nothing any of us could have done about it. If anything it’s more our fault than anything. You tried to get us to come home sooner. We should have listened to you. Do you hear me?”

“Yes. Thanks Max. It means a lot to me to hear you say that.”

“Good. Just remember that for the next time you start blaming yourself.”

“I will.”

“Great!” Liz heard Michael yell behind him. “You did this on purpose!” He yelled some more.

“Umm Max. I’ve gotta go. Michael is getting ready to kill Maria and I have to go save her.” Liz could hear Max chuckle and it made her heart yearn for him even more.

“Ok… We’ll come by as soon as we can. You don’t mind hanging out there for a little while longer do you?”

“No. We’ll be here, that’s if Michael doesn’t get arrested first.”

“Ok. Bye.”

“Bye.” Liz hung up the phone and took rather large steps to get back to the booth so that she wouldn’t have to run.

“Hey, hey, hey. What’ going on here?” Liz asked while placing herself in between her brother and Maria.

“I asked for pancakes and bacon and I got some kind of runny slop with burnt strips of rubber.”

“Hey. Watch it buddy. You’re talking about my mother and I never said that she was the world’s greatest cook. She’s a wonder with finances and can organize the crap out of things but she can’t cook worth a hoot. I’m sorry. Let me get you some more.”

“No way. I wouldn’t touch any food that comes out of that kitchen with a ten-foot pole let alone eat it. I can cook better than that with my eyes closed and one arm tied behind my back.” Michael bragged like he knew what he was saying.

“Yeah. And I have ocean front property to sell you in Kansas, Toto.” Maria began to walk off when Michael got up and marched back to the back. “Excuse me you can’t go back there. Employees only.” Maria chased after him leaving Liz standing in a nearly full restaurant.

“Excuse me Mrs. Deluca but I’m about to show your daughter that I don’t say things that I can’t back up.” Michael took an apron off the rack and tied it on. Amy was smiling from ear to ear.

Maria moved between Michael and the grill and held her hands up blocking him. “No. You cannot do this Michael. You aren’t an employee and if you get hurt it could ruin my mother. No! You hear me. No!”

Michael looked at Amy for help. “She’s technically right. I can’t have a patron back here. If my insurance company finds out they’ll shut me down like it happened yesterday.”

“Well I guess the only way I can prove to Maria that I can cook is for you to hire me. What do you say, Mrs. Deluca? How about you let me show her she’s wrong.” There must have been something in Michael’s face because Amy just smiled even bigger and started to shake her head yes.

Maria saw her mother nod her head and exploded, “Mom!! You don’t even know this jerk! How can you just hire him like that?”

“Maria, I don’t have much choice, do I? We need a cook.” Seeing Maria was still mad, she continued, “Maria, I would like you to meet our new cook, Michael. Michael this is Maria and if you so much as hurt my daughter you will be unemployed so fast that you won’t know what hit you. You understand me?” She said as she prepared to walk out of the kitchen.

“Yes, ma’am.” He looked at Maria. “Now if you don’t mind. I don’t like waitresses in my kitchen.” Michael shooed Maria out with a wound up towel and Maria scooted out trying to avoid it.

Maria, being Maria couldn’t let him have the last word, “Ok… We’ll see if you have the job by the end of the shift.” Maria walked out to the front and nearly had a heart attack. The place was swamped and Liz was trying her best to keep everyone happy. Maria was actually a little surprised because Liz was actually doing a pretty good job of it.

“Maria. Help. Please.” Liz couldn’t even get more than one word out without being interrupted. Maria started going from table to table and in the middle of it she tossed Liz an order pad and told her, “You handle the booths, I’ll get the tables and the counter.”

Liz looked at the order pad as if she had never seen one before, “What am I supposed to do with this? I have no idea what’s on the menu.”

“Neither does your brother but that’s not stopping him from cooking now is it? Chop – chop - chica… The crowd is only going to get worse before it gets any better.”

Maria and Liz were doing pretty good and the crowd had died down. It was now nine in the morning and both girls were sitting in a booth when Liz’s cell phone rang. Jumping up from where she had been sitting and running to the counter to where she had stashed Michael and her stuff she reached her phone.

“Hello.”

“Liz?”

“Max?”

“It’s gone.” Liz looked at Michael fear streaking her face.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Part 28

Liz didn’t move from where she was standing, a shocked expression on her face. “Liz are you ok?” Maria asked quickly. Liz didn’t reply to her friend. Her fears were too busy running through her mind for her to concentrate on anything else. “Liz.” Maria tried again. She moved closer and started to reach for Liz when a hand firmly gripped her arm. “Ow.” Maria said as she tried to shake off Michael's hand.

“Don’t touch her.” Michael said as he released her. “Liz. What’s wrong?” Michael slowly pulled the phone out of her hands and then put it to his ear.

“Liz. Liz.” Max was calling to her.

“Hey, it’s me. What’s going on?” Michael asked.

“Is she ok?” Max’s concern was evident to Michael.

“Yeah, just stunned. What did you say to her?” He asked.

“Its gone Michael. I don’t know what we are going to do now.” Michael could feel the fear rolling off his sister. He knew that he had to get things under control. He had to get Liz out of the train of thought that she was in. Knowing her, when she heard that the orb was gone her mind began blaming herself and searching for ways of extricating them from Max and Isabel’s lives. They couldn’t do that any more than she could stop breathing.

“The sheriff and his deputies all left, so when are you guys coming over?” Max asked. Not wanting to listen to the silence anymore.

“Um. We have a problem. We can’t leave just yet.” Michael didn’t know why he was feeling like he couldn’t just come out and tell Max why, but for some reason he thought that it should come from Liz.

“Why? Where are you guys?” Max was beginning to get antsy. Something was going on and they didn’t want him to know about it. “Michael.”

“Uh, well, we have to finish our shifts at the Crashdown.” There he said it. Did it make things any easier? No, not really.

“What? How did that happen?” Max chuckling a little. Images of Michael working at the Crashdown with Maria were a little on the funny side. ‘God, I wish I was there when Mrs. DeLuca hired Michael. Maria must have went nuts.’ Max thought.

“Don’t even ask. Our shift ends at three. If you want to come by before lunch and take our break with us that would be good.” Michael waited for a reply but not for long. “Look, I’ve got to go. The place is really busy. Everything is fine here but we need to talk.”

“Ok. I’ll see if we can get away.” Max hung up and went to search for mom. He didn’t have too far to hunt for her because she walked in and met him in the kitchen. Max looked at her. “Mom I think Iz and I are going to the Crashdown for breakfast. We haven’t eaten anything since last night’s pizza.”

“Why didn’t you guys ask me to make you something to eat? I could have done it. I guess I wasn’t thinking this morning.” Diane looked upset, but Max knew that she wasn’t upset with them but more with herself.

“It’s ok mom, you don’t have to bother. Why don’t you get some rest, you didn’t have a lot of sleep last night and we just need some time away from this mess. I promise, when I get back I’ll work on the list for the sheriff.” She smiled showing her approval and Max left in search of his sister. He was surprised to see Alex with her in the living room.

“Hey Alex. What are you doing here?” Max asked as he sat down on the couch.

“Um. I was just on my way to the Crashdown when I went by your house and saw all the cop cars. I tried to keep on going but I couldn’t do it. I just had to know if you guys were ok.” Alex shifted in his chair when he finished his story.

“That’s cool. I was just on my way out to ask Isabel if she wanted to go to the Crashdown for breakfast. We haven’t had anything to eat since last night.” Max looked at his sister expectantly but could tell by the look on her face that she didn’t want to go. “Come on Iz, I know you are tired but you will never guess who is working at the Crash today.” Max’s smile grew bigger.

“Who?” Isabel perked up.

“Michael and Liz.” Max said grinning from ear to ear

“What? That’s crazy. Why would Michael and Liz be working at the Crash?” Isabel couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“I don’t know but I’m not going to miss the show.” Alex stood up and grabbed Isabel’s hand pulling her to her feet and out the door they went. Max followed after them. Alex led Isabel to his car, well actually his mom’s car. He had gotten up early and had taken her to work so he could have it. He opened the door for Isabel and waited for her to get in before he shut the door for her. He ran around to the driver’s side and got in.

Max couldn’t help but smile at how well Alex treated his sister. He only hoped that Isabel would continue to let him do these things for her. Max started the jeep and pushed in the clutch easing it into reverse and backed out of the drive. On the drive over to the Crash, Max wondered what this new development meant. Michael and Liz having a job in Roswell? Had they decided to move here? Not even five minutes later they were all parked in front of the almost empty restaurant.

He jumped out of the jeep and waited for Alex and Isabel while he held the door open for them. They said their thanks as they passed through and then Max followed after them. The minute he entered the restaurant he could feel Liz’s presence. His eye was drawn to her. She was standing behind the counter trying to keep herself busy. He knew that she knew he was there. Just like he knew she was there before he saw her. She looked up and smiled but something in her eyes made Max nervous.

They didn’t wait for anyone to seat them, the three of them just drifted to one of the empty booths. Amy dropped menus down on the table and tousled Alex’s hair. “Hey Alex. What brings you in this morning?”

“Hi, Mrs. Deluca. The usual I guess. I couldn’t stand to be away from Maria for too long. You know how it is.” He replied as he tried to straighten out his messed up hair. Amy shook her head in acknowledgement. The two of them had been inseparable for as long as she could remember.

“Max… Isabel… It’s nice to see you two here this morning. What brings you here?”

“We’re here to talk to Michael and Liz.” Max supplied.

“Oh, well let me go tell them that they can take their break.” She smiled and then disappeared into the back room. “Michael?”

“In here Mrs. Deluca.” Michael called back from the walk-in refrigerator.

“Oh, there you are. Max and Isabel are here. Why don’t you go ahead and take your break I can take care of the grill for you.” She smiled. ‘Definitely a nice young man, and boy did he rub Maria the wrong way.’ She smiled to herself.

“Thanks.” Michael took off his apron and threw it on the table and went out to where Max and Isabel were waiting. Michael stood in front of the table eyeing Alex, hoping that he would get the message to leave.

Alex finally looked up at Michael and noticing the evil eye said, “Um. Excuse me. I have to go talk to Maria for a minute.” Alex slid out of the booth and Michael took his spot next to Isabel.

“Michael that was rude.” Isabel spat out adjusting herself in her seat as she said it.

“What? I know Max wants to sit by Liz so that left me sitting here.” He said in his defense.

“Well you could have grabbed a chair and sat in it.” She told him.

“Oh, excuse me. I didn’t know you wanted your little geeky boyfriend to hear what we are going to be discussing. Let me go get him so you can tell him all our little secrets.” Michael pretended to stand up but was pleased with Isabel’s reaction. She grabbed his arm and forced him to stay seated.

“Enough.” Max said. He looked over at Liz wondering if she was going to come over or not. He then shifted his attention to Michael. “Is Liz going to take a break?

“Yeah, she’s taking it really hard.” Michael got up to get his sister. “Liz come sit with us. I can guarantee you that this is not your fault and they won’t blame it on you.” Michael reached for her arm but Liz stood her ground.

“I can’t Michael.” She looked up pleadingly. “I can’t. They may not blame me but I do. I do and I can’t look them in the eye because of it.”

Michael was having a real hard time looking at his sister without her playing the guilt trip with him. “You’re being ridiculous. Come sit down. We need to talk to them.” Michael continued to look at Liz and seeing that she wasn’t moving tried, “Liz, we didn’t drive all the way from Clovis to work at the Crash and go home.” Seeing that it looked like Liz was weakening, Michael played his trump card, “Max isn’t going to be able to function if you continue to ignore him.”

Liz smiled she knew he was right. The minute Max walked in she could feel his eyes on her. Liz decided to let Michael lead her to the table but for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to sit beside Max. They had to get this thing straightened out and they wouldn’t accomplish anything if they were to sit beside each other.

She sat down next to Isabel and was instantly hit with the feeling of Max’s disappointment. She glanced down to the table and began making small circles with her finger. Michael stood there for a moment and then got the hint that his sister wasn’t moving from where she had sat down.

Max willed her to look at him so she would be able to see that he felt that none of this was her fault, but she didn’t. “Liz.” Max so wanted her to look at him, but she still kept her head down. “Liz, please.”

“Can I get you guys anything to eat?” Maria interrupted.

Liz taking a deep breath looked up at the blonde, relief showing in her face. “Um I’m ok. Maria. Thanks.” Liz smiled a small smile. Wanting to take the attention away from her and get it on something else she asked, “How about you guys?”

Michael leaned forward and warned everyone, “I wouldn’t eat anything until I get back from break if you know what I mean.” Maria slapped him hard on the arm.

“I can’t believe you said that.” Maria said sternly.

“What? It’s the truth your mom even said so herself when she hired me. So just go do your job.” Michael then made a dismissive gesture with his hand before continuing, “Shoo, leave us alone.” Maria looked like she was about to explode but surprised everyone by turning on her heels and walking over to where Alex was sitting at the counter.

“What, they kicked you out too?” He asked as she sat down on the stool beside him.

“I don’t know but they sure did get attached really quick. Do you know that the Evans’ never make friends and the minute the Parkers walk into their lives they are like connected at the hip. I don’t get it Alex.”

“Neither do I. Last night Isabel was giving me this vibe that I could have sworn meant something and the minute she’s in the same room with them its like I don’t even exist. Looks like it’s just me and you kid.” Alex swung an arm around her shoulder and brought her in for a hug.

Alex glanced back at the four teens in the booth, “But maybe you’re right. All of a sudden they seem to be really close. Do you think there’s any thing going on between Michael and Isabel?”

“What, Isabel Evans and that jerk? No way. Look at him. When was the last time he ever used a comb? Ms “Perfect in every way Evans” dating that fashion disaster? Not in this lifetime Alex. The only way Isabel would be interested is if she saw it as a challenge, you know, bringing fashion to the totally clueless.”

“Boy, you only just met the guy and he’s already gotten under your skin.” Alex made a show of looking back at Michael before continuing, “I’m impressed.” Glancing back at the menu, Alex asked Maria, “How about the breakfast special, eggs over easy, OJ instead of the coffee.”

Maria looked back at Alex, “I’d wait until Michael is off break. Otherwise my mother will try to cook it for you.”

Alex cringed a little, remembering Amy’s tries at cooking in the past, “God, your mother’s back there? Thanks for the warning. I think I’ll just wait.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“So are you guys going to tell us how you ended up working here or are you going to keep us in the dark?” Isabel was trying to get them talking the silence was killing her.

“It’s all his fault.” Liz volunteered while indicating Michael.

“My fault? The woman can’t cook and I was starving. I’m surprised that Maria’s been able to survive her cooking for as long as she has.” Michael said on his behalf.

“Tell them the whole story Michael.” Liz was rubbing it in on him.

Michael told the story of what happened this morning and by the time they were done everyone was laughing. Michael and Liz’s break was over and the restaurant began to get busy again. Amy had found a uniform for Liz and when she came out of the bathroom and walked over to the booth Max’s jaw dropped.

“Don’t even say a word.” She warned him while giving him what she hoped was a nasty look. She walked over to Maria because she felt that she needed to say something to her. The way Michael had dismissed Maria and Alex earlier was wrong and she wanted to smooth things over with them. They needed all the friends that they could get right about now. It was too much of a risk to have people questioning their every move. “Hey Maria. I’m sorry about earlier. It’s just that we aren’t used to having so many people around us at one time. I’m sorry if Michael hurt your feelings. Believe me, he doesn’t really mean to say the things he says most of the time.”

“Whatever.” Maria just walked off and left Liz standing near the counter.

“I would give her her space.” Alex said. Liz turning her attention to him sat down beside him. “Her pride is wounded right now. Somehow, your brother knows how to push all of her buttons and she just needs to cool off. Give her time.”

“Thanks Alex. I think that’s the best advice for all of us. We all need time to adjust. Look I got to go to work. Can I get you anything before I leave?”

“No. I’m good. Maria took my order.”

Liz sensing that Alex wanted to ask something else offered an answer. “I think Isabel and Max wouldn’t mind if you join them now.”

“Thanks Liz.”

“No problem. Oh, and Alex, I’m sorry about Michael, he’s really a nice guy once he gets to know you.” Alex just shrugged and walked over to the booth. Liz busied herself with a few customers that were sitting at the counter while Maria made another attempt to take Max and Isabel’s order. Now that Michael was manning the grill they felt that it was a pretty good chance of getting something good to eat.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The lunch crowd came and went and by the time three o’clock rolled around Liz’s feet were killing her. “I don’t know how you do it Maria. My feet and legs are killing me.” She said as she put her feet up on the couch in the employees lounge.

“Years of practice, chica.” Maria said with a grin.

The swinging door that separated the kitchen from the lounge swung open and Michael strolled through sitting down in a beaten up club chair. Just as he sat down and had adjusted himself Amy Deluca walked in from the dining area. “Good. I’m glad you all are here. I would like to extend the offer to the two of you to continue working here. Michael you were absolutely amazing in the kitchen today. You couldn’t have handled it any better than Jose would have. Liz. Well, with practice I think you and Maria could really work the floor and keep everyone satisfied. What do you kids say?”

Michael and Liz just looked at each other. Each knowing what the other was thinking. Michael was thinking that it could be a good move for them. It would be a chance to be around others like them. While Liz was thinking that it would only jeopardize Max and Isabel’s safety. Liz squirmed on the couch trying really hard not to disappoint anyone, when a thought entered her mind. “Um… Mrs. Deluca… I don’t think we can accept the offer to continue employment here. You see we live in Clovis and the commute it self wouldn’t be feasible.”

Maria interrupted Liz. “Mom what about the apartment upstairs? They can live there until they find another place to live.” Maria’s expression was filled with hope. This was her one chance to finally have a girlfriend that she could talk to. Not ragging on Alex he was a pretty good girlfriend but he was a boy. She needed girl-to-girl talk. And although she had only met her a few days ago, there was something about Liz that just made her trust her. Like she knew her all her life and could be a great friend. Even if she did have that loser brother of hers.

Liz looked to Michael for help. “What could it hurt Liz? Mr. Evans said that we had to find jobs. ” He asked. His eyes were saying so much more. Liz tried a pleading look but Michael refused to see it. “Come on. Let’s try it for the remainder of the summer if you don’t like it then we can move back to Clovis. No harm, no foul.”

“Please, please, please.” Maria was on her knees holding Liz’s hand begging for her to say yes.

“I see there is no point in me arguing is there?” Liz looked over at Michael before letting out a sigh and answering, “Ok. Just through the summer.”

“Thank you, thank you.” Maria was jumping up and down and had Liz standing up in a matter of seconds. “Come on, I’ll show you which room is the coolest. You’re going to love it. Mom and I used to live here but then she got the idea that I needed a real home so we moved out a few years back. We don’t rent it out because we don’t trust anyone to live here with the restaurant.” Maria led Liz to the door and opened it up and hauled her into the apartment.

It was dusty but Liz could see the possibilities. “You haven’t seen anything yet.” Maria said as she pulled her friend down the hallway. “This used to be my room.” The door swung open to a room that was about fifteen by fifteen. As they walked in Maria pointed to the left and said, “You have your own full bath. You won’t have to share with… Well you won’t have to share.” As they kept walking into the room Maria continued talking and pointed to the window that opened up onto some sort of balcony. “This is my favorite.” Maria ran to the window and tried to pry it open. “It must be stuck because it hasn’t been open in so long.” Liz walked over to help her and in an instant the window opened up.

“I used to come out her all the time. Boy I forgot all the good times I had out here. Tommy Wilson…” Maria faded off into a memory with a smile on her face. “You should have seen my mom. She was furious.”

Maria sat down in a lawn chair that was left behind and she pulled Liz down to sit beside her. “What’s buggin’ you chica?” She asked.

“Nothing.” Liz said, as she felt a little uncomfortable about the closeness between the two of them. They sat in silence for a little while.

“I can tell something is bothering you. What did Max and Isabel want to talk about? I thought they were staying the night at your house last night?”

“They were, until around two this morning their mom called and said that their house had been broken into and that they might want to come home.”

“Wow. I had no idea. Does the sheriff know who did it?” Maria asked as she sat up in the chair.

“I don’t think so.”

“Wow. I can’t imagine what it would be like to know that all of your personal belongings have been gone through and that there is nothing private anymore.”

“What makes you say that?” Liz asked defensively. She needed to know what Maria was leading to.

“Nothing. I just assumed that who ever broke in was looking for something, and I assumed that they took what they wanted. Liz what’s bothering you? You haven’t been acting the same as you did yesterday. Talk to me. That’s what friends are for.”

“I know Maria. Its just that I haven’t ever really had any close girlfriends before and I’ve always relied on my mom…”

“But now you can’t. I know. I can relate. When my dad left, I had this void, but everything happens for a reason. Don’t look at you loosing your parents but look at it like you have gained four fabulous friends. Well at least two. I can’t really vouch for the Evans. I’ve never seen them take to newcomers like they have taken to you and your brother. It won’t make the pain go away, but at least it might help knowing you have others around that care for you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. We are all her for you babe and if you ever need me I’m a phone call away. What do you say we go to my house and change and then come back here and start cleaning up your new home?”

“Maria I don’t want you to get your hopes up. We may not stay that long.”

“Yeah, yeah. I hear ya, but you’re here for the summer right?”

“Yeah. At least the rest of the summer.” Liz smiled and that must have given Maria the impulse to hug her for she wrapped her arms around Liz and gave her a big hug. “Thanks Maria.”

“Anytime. Now what’s the deal with that brother of yours…” The two girls walked back through the window and headed back down stairs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Part 29

Max’s head wasn’t in this at all. He wanted to be with the others. If it hadn’t been for Maria practically shoving him out of the Crashdown, after he had finished eating, he would still be sitting in the booth watching Liz float from table to table. He needed to make a mental note to get her back for keeping them away from each other. A mischievous grin began to form as a plan of attack surfaced. Maria Deluca was in for a rude awakening.

His mom hadn’t done anything to his room. She thought it would be better if he did it so he would be able to make an accurate list of what was damaged and what was missing. The first thing on Max’s list was the toy house. He was sure that he had placed it in his closet a few years back but after tearing the remaining remnants out of the closet he found that it wasn’t there. The microscope, of course, was on the list as damaged. After about an hour of picking up and listing it as damaged he realized that who ever came in came in for the orb and that was it.

“Great. If Liz didn’t have enough to worry about this is going to really upset her.” Max didn’t know how he was going to explain it to her, that out of everything that they could have been after the orb was the only thing missing. He had contemplated about adding a few other things to the list just so she wouldn’t think that his room was robbed just because of who they were but decided against it. He would wait until they were a little bit more moved in at the apartment before he actually told anyone what was missing.

Max took the list and headed for the sheriff’s station. His mom and dad needed him to pick up a copy of the police report for insurance purposes as well as make a copy of the list. He hopped into his jeep and headed down Main Street. Thoughts of everything that had happened today were going through his mind. It was hard for him to imagine that he had been up since almost three o’clock this morning. He parked in front of the station and went inside. The shades were pulled down on the doors because of the sun shining in. It was a scorcher of a day and he knew it was only going to get hotter. He ran up the stairs to the second floor and waited for the officer on duty to give him the required paperwork. With that done he headed home and gave his parents what they wanted.

“I’m going to go help Michael and Alex pick up some stuff in Clovis.” He said as he opened up the front door.

His dad stopped him halfway out, “They decided to move here?” he asked.

“Yeah. They came into town to see if everything was ok and Amy Deluca ended up making them work for her. They’re going to see how it works out for the remainder of the summer, but at least they’re staying in town to give it a chance.” Max’s dad noticed the look that his son was wearing. Max was happy that they were going to be staying. That was easy to see. It had been a long time since his son had shown any interest in a girl. The Parker’s knew what they were doing when they pulled him into the will.

“Ok, I imagine that’s where Isabel is then. You guys be careful and if you need any help make sure to call me. Your mother and I will be here all day. We took the day off.”

“Thanks dad. We’ll probably be late since we are getting such a late start to begin with, but I will keep you guys in mind.” Max ran out the door. Glancing at his watch it was three fifteen. Hopefully the guys hadn’t left yet.

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Liz slipped back into the clothes that she had put on this morning. Granted they weren’t really clothes that she wanted to clean in but it was the only thing she had. Liz thought that out of all of them Maria was the most excited about them moving to Roswell. She had told Michael that her mom was the one that could organize like hell but Liz had a deep suspicion that Maria herself was pretty good at it too, if she wanted it bad enough.

It was a good thing that Maria sent Max back to his house after lunch. Liz wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on learning the ropes of waitressing. Max had things to do, she had things to do... and neither one of them would get anything done if they were in each other’s presence. The routine of the day had kept her from thinking about what Max was doing and now that she was changing he returned to her thoughts. She knew what would be missing. She didn’t have to wait for his return. Liz stood up. Gave herself the once over and walked out of the bathroom. Pushing a piece of hair behind her ear she went over to the booth where the gang had rallied.

By three thirty Maria had dispatched the boys, Max, Michael and Alex, to go to Clovis to pick up enough furniture and other necessities to make the apartment comfortable. The girls, Maria, Liz, and Isabel stayed behind to start cleaning. Alex had tried to get out of going to Clovis by ranting about sexual discrimination, and why couldn’t the girls help move furniture. Maria shut him up quickly with threats of having him clean the bathrooms in the apartment.

The hardest part was getting all the cleaning supplies to the apartment. Hauling the vacuum and the buckets up the stairs wasn’t an easy task. Liz could only imagine Michael and Alex trying to haul the couch and TV up them. If they didn’t break a single thing in this move it would be a miracle.

“Well, where should we start?” Liz asked them.

“Well…” Maria started by looking around. “If you’re asking me I think we should start with the vacuuming. Who wants to do that?”

“I’ll do it. You guys worked today. At least I could do that.” Isabel volunteered.

“Good. Liz, you do the windows. I’ll start with the bathrooms and then we can meet in the kitchen.” Maria clapped her hands and then picked up the bucket, mop and some cleaning supplies. Isabel went for the vacuum and discovered that she needed to get an extension cord. The electricity had yet to be turned on.

“Uh, guys… I think someone better work on calling the utilities before we get too involved in our cleaning.” Isabel was holding up the end of the cord to emphasize the fact that they had no electricity.

“Liz. Go downstairs and use the phone in my mom’s office. You’ll find all the numbers that you need on the cork board.”

“Thanks Maria.” Liz started out the door when she remembered that she needed her purse. She walked back in and grabbed it off the kitchen counter. “Things are actually beginning to feel right.” She said to herself as she traveled down the stairs.

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As they entered the town of Clovis Michael asked Max where they should go first, “Do you want to eat something first or go get the truck?”

“What? We only ate a few hours ago. Let’s get the truck first. We can eat after we load it up.” Turning to look at Alex in the back seat, “is that all right with you, Alex?”

“Yeah, no problem. Where are we getting a truck?” Alex replied as he looked at the town around him.

“I know a place on the other side of town. He carries a whole line of trucks. I know his son so maybe he’ll give us a good price.” Michael replied.

Michael drove through town and pulled up to the front of a gas station at the edge of town. There was a small Ryder sign in the window and they could see four trucks in back of the building.

Michael got out of the Toyota pickup and leaned back in, “I’ll go rent the truck. I should be out in a minute.”

Michael walked into the station and looked around, he saw his friend Kevin behind the counter looking bored. He perked up when he saw Michael, “Hey, Michael, what brings you in here?”

“Hey, Kevin. I need to rent a truck. Liz and I will be staying in Roswell over the summer and we have to take furniture and a few other things with us.” Michael explained.

“Okay, great. Which one do you want?” Kevin asked.

“The biggest one you have… I don’t want to be going back and forth.”

“Well.” Kevin began punching in buttons on the computer. “How’s the eighteen footer sound? It should hold a few beds, a couch and a lot of other stuff.” Kevin explained as he reached under the counter for the rental forms.

He handed them to Michael and they shot the breeze as Michael filled out the forms. After Michael was done, Kevin took them into the back to have his father check the forms and ask if Michael could get a lower rate. When his father saw that Michael was only eighteen, he got up from behind his desk and went to talk to him. “Hi, Michael. I’m really sorry, but Rider requires that any one renting one of its trucks has to be twenty-one or older.”

Michael shook his head and thought for a moment. Then it came to him, “I’ll be right back. My friend Max is in the truck. He’s twenty-one and his father is supposed to look after us. I’ll get him to sign. Will that be okay?”

“As long as he’s twenty-one, it will be fine.”

Michael walked up to the truck and leaned in to the window next to Max, “Can you come with me for a minute?” Michael looked at Alex while Max got out of the truck. “It’s only going to take us a minute. They need a co-signer. Why don’t you climb out of the back seat and stretch, you have to be cramped in there.” Michael opened up the door for him and as soon as Alex stepped out Max and him returned to the office.

As Michael and Max walked back towards the station Michael told Max, “I ran in to a little problem. They won’t rent a truck to anyone under twenty-one. So you’ll have to do it.”

“What? I’m not twenty-one either Michael. How am I supposed to rent the truck?”

Michael looked at Max like he had grown a third eye. “Max, don’t tell me that you’ve never gone partying at night? You know, to some dance clubs?”

Max just looked at Michael and shook his head no, “I never have. Like I said I’m not twenty-one.”

Michael shook his head, “You and my sister are so made for each other. Give me your driver’s license.”

“What? Why?” Max asked as he dug the license out of his wallet.

Michael took the license and waved his hand over it. As he handed it back to Max he said, “Congratulations, you’re now twenty-one.” He turned and started to walk into the station. “I’ll pay for the truck, you have to sign the rental agreement.”

“You are going to change this back when we are done. Right Michael?” Max stopped waiting for him to acknowledge him.

“Come on Maxwell, live a little. If you want me to, I will but you know… You could do it yourself. It’s not like you’re incapable of doing it.” Michael jogged back to where his new friend and brother was standing and grabbed him by the arm. Michael was already considering them as family in the short amount of time they had spent together.

Max showed his license to the attendant. The whole time he was afraid that he would get caught. All the worrying was for nothing. Max signed the papers and was handed the keys. No questions asked. The two walked out. Max went to go pick up the truck while Michael went to go tell Alex to follow them.

Alex hopped into the truck and waited for the big Rider Truck to lead the way. This was the first time Alex had felt like he belonged. At first it was hard for him to get comfortable but after awhile two hours in the back of a pick up with two other guys you begin to let the barriers down. He realized now that that was what it was this morning when Michael acted so rudely. That was his barrier. These guys weren’t that bad after all. He just hoped that he wasn’t seeing something that wasn’t there.

Michael backed the truck up to the house. Max hopped out and opened up the back to meet the garage door. When Michael opened up the door the two friends’ mouths dropped open.

“Is this all yours?” Alex asked while he walked between the two vehicles. Once was a 1965 cherry apple red ford mustang convertible and the other was a 1996 Honda dirt bike, Michael’s pride and joy. “Well, the car was my dad’s the bike is mine. I imagine now that they are gone its ours. Liz and I haven’t brought ourselves to come in here since their accident.” Michael continued walking, he grabbed the bike and rolled it out of the way so they could have a clear path to the truck. After a bit of rearranging the guys were ready to tackle the big stuff.

“Lets get the easy stuff first… Alex you grab the coffee tables as well as the end tables. Max and I are going to start with the couch and chairs. We’ll work our way back to the bedrooms.” Michael was taking after Maria. He was visualizing how everything was going to work. If they could get Alex occupied Michael could use some alien voodoo to make the furniture a lot lighter. They just had to make sure that Alex didn’t pick them up. It would totally blow the story.

Three hours later the living room furniture, the kitchen dining room set, the two bedrooms as well as the bathroom was all loaded into the truck. The last few items were taken out of the kitchen. “Don’t grab anymore. Liz and I will come back in the truck and get the food and that later in the week. This should get us by. I don’t want to spend all night here if I don’t have to… Besides the girls are probably beginning to wonder where we are. Surely they are done with the apartment.”

“How about we go get something to eat on the way out of town.” Alex suggested. It was amazing how much Max and Michael had gotten done. They hardly broke a sweat moving all the big stuff. In fact, he was sweating more making all the trips just carrying all the lightweight stuff. Maybe it was just his imagination.

The boys ate and were on their way back to Roswell by 7:00, if everything went to plan they should arrive by 9:00. Michael had called his sister and everything was going as planned. However, there was one hitch. They wouldn’t have any electricity or gas until tomorrow. She assured him that it would be ok, after all Amy had been nice enough to let them string an extension cord from downstairs. They could survive until then. The only problem was bathing. “We’ll talk about that when we get there. See you in a few.”

“Michael…” Liz was hesitant. “Please be nice.”

“Hey, I am. Don’t you trust me? I am your own flesh and blood, Liz.”

“I know and that’s the reason I don’t trust you. We’ve been too much on our own. Working with Maria and Isabel today I realized that this is the first time that I have spent this much time with anyone other than you. Its scary and I know how I’m feeling and I know you. You only have a little bit longer to be in their company. Please, please, please… don’t ruin it.”

“I hear you. Quit worrying. Everything is under control.” Michael pushed the button on his cell phone to end the call. “She’s worried.” He said when he looked over to Max and saw concern on his face.

“I know. I can feel it.” Max didn’t realize what he had said. What was going on? How was it possible for him to know what Liz was feeling?

Michael looked at him in wonderment. “What do you mean, you can feel it? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Look… I don’t know. I think it’s like a premonition or something like that. I don’t know for a fact that she’s worried it’s more of a feeling being passed on to me.” Max adjusted himself in the seat of the big truck. “Quit eyeing me like that.” He said as he leaned his head to rest against the window. ‘Great. Just great.’ He thought to himself, ‘Everything had been going good up until then. Why didn’t he just suggest that he ride in the pick up with Alex?’ Then it hit him. He wanted to be close to Michael in case he heard from Liz.

The remainder of the trip was traveled in silence. When they pulled up the alley behind the Crashdown it was none too soon. Michael hopped out at the same time as Max did and they met in the back. “Make sure no one picks up anything heavy except us. I don’t want anyone knowing what I did to the furniture. Got it?” He asked while crawling into the back.

“Yeah, I got it.” Michael shoved the couch out and Max grabbed hold of it.

As Michael and Max carried the couch into the living room Max asked Michael where he wanted it. Michael selected a spot directly in front of the TV and they both dropped their ends. Max looked around to make sure nobody was looking and waved his hand over the couch returning it to its original weight.

Before they were able to move away from the couch Maria and Alex walked out of the kitchen and Maria asked, “What’s the couch doing there? That’s not where it belongs.”

Michael looked at her with a questioning look before replying, “What do you mean? That’s where all couches belong, right in front of the TV. The cable hook-up is on that wall so the couch faces that wall.”

“God, you’re such a guy. Max, Alex, show him where it’s supposed to be. Come on, pick it up and move it over here.” Maria answered indicating a spot across the room. Alex and Max picked the now heavy couch up and moved it to where Maria indicated, “Okay, now just turn it around. Almost, over another foot. There, isn’t that better?” Maria smiled and turned to Michael.

“NO, no, all wrong. Grab the other end Maxwell.” Michael grabbed an end and started to return it to its original position. “How the heck am I supposed to lay down and watch a hockey game from across the room? This is where it belongs.” And with that Michael and Max put the couch down.

“If you had any inkling about interior design you would know that the couch is the conversational center point of the room. You know when friends come to visit? Oh, I forgot, you don’t have any friends.” Maria stormed at Michael.

“DeLuca, forget about it. The couch stays.” Michael stormed back.

Hearing the argument from the other end of the apartment, Liz raced in to try to settle the argument. “What’s wrong? Why are you arguing?” Liz said as she stepped between Michael and Maria. Looking at Michael she continued, “I thought I told you to be nice!”

Michael glared down at his mad sister, “I was being nice. It’s her fault!” Michael replied indicating Maria.

Liz looked between the two antagonists and asked, “Okay, one at a time, what’s the problem?”

Both Michael and Maria started to talk at once, each of them trying to convince Liz that they were in the right. “Hold it, hold it. I said one at a time.” Turning to Maria she said, “You first.”

“This jerk…” Maria started off before Liz saw Michael’s face start to flush and she stopped Maria, “Whoa, be nice. Okay, start again.” As Maria took a breath to restart her rant she looked at Liz’s upraised eyebrow and quietly continued, “Well, I think the couch should go in the center of the room over there. You know, so that when guests visit.” At the word visit, Maria glared at Michael, “You can sit and have a nice conversation, without distractions. That’s where my mom had the couch.”

“Okay, that sounds reasonable. What’s wrong with that Michael?” Liz turned back to Michael to listen to his response.

“Uh, well, I wanted to use the couch to watch TV.” Michael replied.

As he finished Maria started in again, “Isn’t that the dumbest?” Again, before she could get going Liz stopped her with a look and a raised hand.

Liz turned back to Michael and asked, “Did you bring Dad’s recliner Michael? I don’t see it up here.”

“Yeah, of course I brought it. It’s down in the truck. We were going to get it next but Miss Buttinsky started messing with the arrangement. We could be done already if she….” Michael again was brought to a halt in mid-rant by a look and a raised hand from his sister.

Ignoring Michael’s outburst Liz said, “Why don’t you and Max go get it. I have an idea.”

As Michael and Max disappeared through the front door Liz turned to Maria and Alex, “Come on, let’s move it where you suggested Maria.”

Maria and Liz grabbed one end of the couch while a complaining Alex struggled alone with the other end. They had just finished adjusting the position to Liz’s satisfaction when Max and Michael appeared with the recliner. Liz guided them to a position in front of the TV. “Okay, you can put it here.”

Throughout the argument Max had just stood to the side and marveled at how Liz just naturally took control of the situation. From Maria and Michael being at each other’s throats, she had them calmed down and actually speaking civilly to each other. It was another thing that amazed him about Liz.

By 1:30 the apartment was settled and it was time for the friends to split up. Michael and Maria had had only two more blow-ups. One while putting the stuff away in the kitchen. They had to argue over the best place to store the silverware. Then they argued over which shelf the large towels should be on in the linen closet. Liz finally got tired of the arguments and made sure that they were given jobs at opposite ends of the apartment.

Alex agreed to give Maria a ride home and Max and Isabel also left. Before leaving Max told Liz to stop over at their house in the morning for breakfast and to clean up.

Liz and Michael didn’t bother bathing they just slept on top of the bedding. All in all the group of friends had pulled together nicely and to Liz’s amazement nothing was broken.

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Part 30

Liz tossed and turned. She had been laying in bed for over an hour and sleep had yet to consume her. Getting up, she went to the open window. That was her problem it was too hot for her. Even though it was nighttime, the temperature had to still be in the nineties. Crawling through the window like she had done earlier with Maria she sat down in the old lawn chair that had been left.

This is what she was missing, being able to look up to the stars. She had done it a lot while she lived in Clovis but hadn’t thought about doing it now. Taking a few deep breaths she closed her eyes and began to relax. She wondered if Michael was able to fall asleep or not. She began let her mind reach out to his. She was only able to brush against the edges of his, meaning that he was asleep. He was probably dreaming of Maria. Liz began to giggle at the two of them arguing over the placement of the coach. It was a good thing she had stepped in otherwise the two of them would have killed each other. She knew what was going on between them; she had a knack of knowing what her brother was thinking. He liked Maria and it was only a matter of days in combination with their close proximity before Maria Deluca would win over his heart. The arguing and fighting would still be there but there would also be love.

Liz drew her mind back from him and looked one more time up to the dark July sky. What was she thinking when she agreed to move here for the rest of the summer. She couldn’t believe that Michael’s opinion of moving had changed so drastically. One day he is saying no. The next he’s practically packing her bags for her. Taking another deep breath and relaxing further she couldn’t help that she had the need to reach for Max.

Doing it like she did her brother she closed her eyes and envisioned Max in his bed. Searching for him there, she was shocked to realize that he wasn’t there. Broadening her search for him she tried to remember the streets of Roswell. Going down street after street she had yet to find him. She started to panic and was beginning to withdrawal from her search for him when at the edges of her mind she felt him. He was close. Little butterflies began to flutter in the pit of her stomach. ‘Why had he come to her?’

She got up and looked over the wall to the alley below. Sure enough, there was Max sitting down by the ladder. “Max?” She called quietly out to him. No answer. She threw one leg over the wall and proceeded to descend the rungs. When she finally reached the ground she squatted down so that she could be eye level with him.

“Max.” She said again while gently rubbing the side of his face.

He leaned into her touch and began to smile. “Hey.” He said as his eyes slowly opened and he took a deep breath to realize that she was actually there.

“What are you doing down here? You’ve had a long day and I thought you would have gone home to go to sleep.” Liz knew before he answered why he was here. He had been worried about her. “You don’t have to worry about me Max. I’m ok.”

He looked up at her with a strange look on his face. “Do you always know what I’m going to say?”

“No. I just had this feeling… call it woman’s intuition.” She stood up and held out her hand to him. “I can tell that you aren’t going to go home. You might as well come up and get comfortable and you might as well tell me that I was right about the orb. It’s gone and that was the only thing that was gone.” She pulled him towards the ladder as she began to climb them. She felt his arms go around her waist to make sure that she didn’t fall. Once she was up out of his reach he began to follow after her.

“How did you know I was out here Liz?” He asked as he crawled over the ledge.

She smiled slightly as her face began to flush with embarrassment. “You could say I was just making sure that you were ok. When I realized that you weren’t at home I began to panic. I scanned the streets of Roswell looking for you when I realized you were right here all along.” She stepped halfway through the window and held her hand out to him one more time. She asked him to come into her room silently.

He stepped forward and embraced her outstretched hand and smiled as they made contact. He had the briefest of wonderment on how he had survived almost eleven years without knowing this angel in front of him. He squeezed her hand and then stepped through the window into her room. “I was having trouble sleeping and thought that it was because of the heat.” She said.

“I was feeling bad because I was keeping things from you. I don’t want to ever have to keep anything from you Liz.” Max sat down on the bed and took a deep breath. “You’re right. The orb is the only thing gone. Who ever broke in last night knew what they were going after and knew exactly where to find it.” He looked up to see what she was thinking.

“We’ll find it Max. I always believe things happen for a reason. Who ever has it knows something about us and when we find your orb we will be able to find him as well and hopefully we will be able to get some answers.” Liz sat down beside him.

“I hope you are right. I’m really glad you guys are here.” Max said.

Just as Max was about to lean in and kiss Liz the door burst open and Michael pushed his way in. “What in the hell?” He said out loud. “Don’t you know it’s almost 3:30 in the morning? Can’t you two stay away from each other for one night?”

“Michael what are you doing?” Liz asked as she stood up to distance herself from Max. She knew what Michael was doing but that didn’t mean she had to like it. She was drawn to be with Max there had to be something that they didn’t know about themselves that made them gravitate to each other.

“What am I doing? I’m not the one that has someone in their room and I’m not the one in… in… in…. For gods sake put on your robe.

Liz looked down at herself and finally realized that she was only wearing a pair of men’s boxers and a tank top. Everything was covered but it was appropriate attire to be receiving guests in the middle of the night unless she had plans on doing something else. Liz shook her head to get the dirty thoughts out of her mind. She walked over to the bathroom and grabbed her robe. She really didn’t want to put it on because she was already too hot. “It’s hot in here Michael and I had a hard time sleeping.”

“Sure that explains your attire Liz but that doesn’t explain what he is doing here.” Michael pointed his finger at Max.

“Michael. Please… not right now. I’ve had enough of your over protection for today. I’m a big girl.” Liz tilted her head at her brother.

Michael reached further into the room and grabbed his sister by the arm. “Excuse us.” He said to Max. Max just smiled and waited. He knew and he could understand Michael’s actions. He had a sister of his own and, well even though she had never had a boy in her room, he had acted like Michael once or twice when Isabel’s date came to pick her up. Michael was just being a real good brother and even though he had single handedly thwarted all of Max’s attempts to be close to Liz he understood and respected him for it. He would do the same thing if she were his sister.

“Liz, I know you are a big girl but you have to admit that when the two of you are alone you loose all the self-control that you have. There is something alien between the two of you and I’m only looking out for you. Don’t hate me because I interrupt the two of you all the time. Just think about it ok. I would really hate for you to be in a relationship with someone that you don’t even know and then be stuck. Ok?” Michael was holding her by the shoulders as he talked to her. He wanted to make sure that he got his point across to her.

“I know Michael and I appreciate everything that you are doing for me. I know the reason why you decided to move here to. You did it for me. You did it so I could be close to the others.” Michael started to protest but Liz continued anyway. “And you’re right about there being something alien between Max and I but if we don’t get to the bottom of it then it will forever run our lives. As far as being stuck with him I don’t think that that would be too bad.” Liz grinned wide and then leaned up and kissed her brother on the cheek. “I promise to be careful if you promise to quit babysitting me. Deal?”

“Liz…” Michael started to argue but realized that there was no way that he was going to talk her out of it. “Ok. Deal. Just be careful.”

“I will. Now, go back to bed and dream of Maria.” She smiled.

“There is no way that that’s what I’m doing. I don’t even like her. She rubs me the wrong way. You saw us today. We were at each other throats the whole time.”

“Yeah. I saw you. Goodnight Michael.” She opened up the door and made sure to shut it behind her. Her brother was left in the hallway to stare.

“I should be going home.” Max said as she walked in. He was already standing by the window. If he didn’t leave there would be much left of his control later. He was glad that Michael had interrupted them. His control had begun to falter as he sat in close proximity of her in her pajamas. He hadn’t even realized that that was what she was wearing. To be brutally honest it didn’t matter what she wore. She drew him to her like a moth to the flame. He was hers and all she had to do was curl a finger for him to come and he would be there instantly.

“You don’t have to. He just wanted to make sure to remind me to be careful. He’s right. There’s something between us that’s pulling the two of us together. It’s so hard to ignore.” Liz crossed the distance between the two of them. She was looking into his eyes. “I don’t know about you Max but if we don’t figure this out soon its going to drive me crazy. I have feelings for you that I shouldn’t have and I’ve had them ever since our first touch.” She searched his face to see if she was being to direct with her feelings. Seeing no protest she continued. She wrapped her arms around his neck and in doing so the tie to her robe loosened and it fell open. “Max. I want you to stay with me tonight. I want to get to the bottom of this.” She kissed him on the lips. He responded immediately.

His hands reached into her open robe and grabbed her small waist. He pulled her closer to him so the kiss would deepened. The minute their lips made contact images began racing between them. It was like they were sharing every experience that they had in this lifetime. Liz began to back away forcing Max to follow. Neither one of them knew what was going on but the feeling that they were experiencing was beyond words.

Liz’s calves hit the edge of the bed and she sat down. Still kissing Max he was forced to lean over her. One knee and then the other climbed up onto the bed. Every nerve ending was on fire. They were begging to be in contact with her. “Liz.” Max tried to break away but was only met with more kisses. Her tongue danced over his lips and down his jaw. She wanted to taste him. She wanted all of him. The call of their bond was begging to be heard and there was no denying it any longer. She was determined to find the answers to what was happening to them. She wanted to know everything and the only way that was possible was for her to be one with him.

Liz extended her mind to his and she was instantly rewarded with their joining. ”This is the way we are meant to be. We have always been one. Being here with you now has only made me realize how incomplete my life was without you.”

“Liz – I know I feel the same way as you but this isn’t us. This is something else.” Max tried to pull away. She had no idea what she was doing to him. The feel of her body and mind was absolutely drowning him. Everything inside of him was telling him to stay and to do what they wanted to do. But a small voice that had been buried deep down was telling him to be careful. There is a lifetime ahead of them to experience the full joys of being together as one. They needed to find out who they were before they could go any farther. “Liz. Please. You have to stop.”

His words fell on deaf ears. The pull of having him near her was so strong. She ran her hands up under his t-shirt and felt his hard, sensuous chest. He was hot and everywhere she touched him she burned. The feeling was breath taking and she only wanted more. Max tried again to break the contact between the two of them. He couldn’t let her go any farther for fear that she would hate him after it was all said and done.

“Zan, please I need you.” She called out to him. “It’s been so long since we’ve been together and you will be leaving again before we realize it.”

“Liz. It’s me, Max.” Max didn’t know what she was talking about. She pulled her robe off of her body so all she was wearing was her so-called pajamas. He knew that there wasn’t anything special about them but on Liz they were absolutely sexy. It was hard to try and keep his composure when Liz’s hands were everywhere. Still no response from her.

She pulled at the hem of his shirt and tried to pull it off of him. She was on a mission and had the strength to do almost anything she wanted to do. “Zan, I need you to make love to me. I want to make love to you. I want to make you forget about this war that we are in. Tonight is about us and no one else so quit fighting me and make love to me.” Again she kissed him forcefully and once their lips made contact Max was bombarded with the images that she had been living.

They were in their room. Stonewalls lined with tapestries of landscapes. Charisse’s touch. White satin covered the bed and deep blue pillows were scattered haphazardly. She had made this their haven of peace and tranquility in a world filled with terror and grief. He gave up the hope of fighting her urges. She knew what buttons to push and he let her.

They made love like they had never before. They were bonded together as one. She gave herself completely to him and in return he gave her him. They were the hopes of their people. They were the chance of bringing peace to a world that only knew chaos. He fought beside her brother from the first day they became men and from the first moment he saw her he knew she was the one. His mother used to say that the soul never dies but waits to be reborn again. Each soul was made up of two different parts and when joined to be complete they would forever be bound to one another.

That is what he had with Charisse. His soul had found the other half in her. She was so small and fragile but had a heart and the strength of the fiercest warrior. They complimented one another and only made them stronger.

When they were done making love they laid in bed talking about the future. How one day he would defeat Khivar and free his world and his people from slavery. She believed in him and knew that one day that would be.

They had been through this before because their soul was as old as time. They had loved each other over an eternity and they would continue to love each other for all of time. There was comfort in knowing this. No matter what happened to the other it wouldn’t be long before they would be together once again.

Patience was the key and they had had more than one lifetime to learn it.

When the dawn of a new day was beginning to seep into the window of their suite they fell asleep in each other’s arms. Content with the presence of one another and exhausted by the love making that they had done all night they fell asleep.

Max stirred on the bed as the sunlight filtered in from the window. He had never dreamed like that before. He had seen his previous life as well as his wife. He had loved her his entire life and knew for a fact that he wouldn’t be able to live life without her.

The bed shifted and reality finally hit him. He wasn’t at home in his bed he was at Liz’s and was in her bed. Fear raced through his mind on what had happened. He didn’t want to look at her for fear of finding out that they had had sex. Their relationship was too young to be having sex. There was so much that he wanted to know about her. He wanted to know her favorite color.

“Green.” She said.

He wanted to know her favorite ice cream flavor.

“Vanilla.” She answered his unvoiced questioned.

He wanted to know how she knew everything he was thinking.

“We are connected. Like the dream. Our souls are the two parts of a whole. We were meant to be together.” She said with amusement in her voice.

Max worked up enough courage to finally look at her. She looked so beautiful with the sun shining in on her. Her hair sparkled in the light and shimmered with red highlights. The smile on her face topped it off and made him the happiest man on earth.

“Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are in the morning?” He gently pushed a piece of hair behind her ear so that he could be able to see all of her face. This was the best morning of his life. “If I die right now I would die the happiest man in the world. You complete me Liz Parker and I’m amazed at how much I love you for only knowing you for such a short period of time.”

“We’ve know each other for eternity. Can’t you feel it?” She was now sitting up. Her elbows were propping her up and her chin was in her hands. A smiled played across her face.

Max cupped the side of her face in his hand and gently ran his thumb up and down her cheek. She leaned into his touch marveling at how wonderful it felt. “I know our souls have known each other for eternity but what about the people we are? Surely we’ve changed over the time. I want to get to know you for you. Not what you were.”

“Me too. We have a lifetime of getting to know each other let’s not waste it on the little things.”

“There isn’t anything that is considered little, Liz. Everything is important.” He leaned in and began to kiss her. The hum that was constantly there now began to vibrate louder. The intensity shocked him and he pulled away. “Is this the way it’s always going to be from here on out?”

“I hope so because I think I would be lost without it.” A door outside the room shut rather loudly signaling that Michael was now awake. “Oh my gosh. He’s so going to kill me.”

“You? He’s going to kill me.” Liz practically pushed him out of bed and threw his shirt at him. Max sighed with relief knowing that they hadn’t had sex yet.

“Quit whining and get going. I’ll see you in an hour.” Liz leaned up and kissed him as Max stepped through the window.

“Ok… I’ll see you then.” He turned and practically jumped over the ledge. Liz took a deep breath at his reckless way of getting down the rooftop. Just as he disappeared her bedroom door opened.

“God Michael, you scared me.” She yelled.

“Sorry, I just wanted to see if you were up yet or not.” He smiled because he knew that Max had just left. He could tell because Liz’s eyes sparkled like he had never seen before.

“Yeah, I’m up… Give me a few minutes and I’ll have my bag packed.” After all they were going over to the Evans’ to take a shower and eat breakfast.

“Ok. I’ll meet you downstairs then.” He shut the door and then opened it up again. “You should have had Max wait. We could have taken him home.” Liz knew it. She picked up the closest thing to her and pitched it at him.

“Out!” Michael shut the door and laughed all the way down the hallway.

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Max pushed his window open and tried to quietly sneak back in. The minute he leaned over he saw a slippered foot begin to tap. Great. Isabel had caught him. “What do you think you are doing?” She asked.

“Um… Just making sure I would be able to get out incase there is a fire.” Hopefully that would get her off his case.

“Max. If you were practicing the fire drill shouldn’t you be going out the window instead of in?” She smiled at him. She could tell that he was happy and having him try and lie his way out of this was even better. She could forever hold this against him to get her way.

“Don’t even think about it, Isabel.” He said with a grin.

“What? I wasn’t thinking about anything.”

“Yeah. You are planning on holding this over my head. I know you.” He finished climbing in and then stood up. “I got to go take a shower before they get here. Michael doesn’t know that I was there last night.”

“I bet you twenty he knows Max. Siblings always know what the other is doing. There’s no use trying to hide the fact unless you plan on walking around with your head in a brown paper all day because that smile is really bright.”

Max sidestepped her and went to the bathroom. He was almost undressed when he realized that he didn’t have any clothes to put on. He dashed back to his room and grabbed a pair of khaki shorts and t-shirt along with the necessary undergarments. He began whistling and was just about to get in the shower when the doorbell rang. “Isabel can you get that?” He called out.

“Sure, lover boy. I got the door. You just get in the shower. Breakfast will be ready in an hour.

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