CHAPTER TWELVE
September 6, 2000, 11:30 a.m.
Crashdown Cafe
Liz pulled a cup out of the cupboard and grabbed the coffee pot, hoping her father had made the coffee this morning instead of her mother because she could use a cup of high test right now. Was she really doing this? Had she really just made plans to spy on her new employer? Was she actually going to rifle through the desk of a Member of Congress, rummage through her files, listen to her phone messages? What had happened to "not getting involved"? What had become of that "fresh start"? It had vanished in a puff of smoke the moment she'd envisioned Michael trapped the way Max had been, that's what. All that blather about staying out of it had gone right out the window, and she'd slipped back into the familiar cloak and dagger routine with an internal sigh which had felt suspiciously like relief. Is this what she'd wanted all along, a surefire, un-ignorable reason to jump back into the fray without looking like she was pining after Max? A convenient excuse to be useful that didn't involve admitting that this felt good, that it was exciting to be needed, exciting that he needed her? Because there was no doubt about it—this felt good. It felt right. It felt...normal, she realized with a shiver. Her perception of normal must have been permanently skewed.
"You're back," a voice announced behind her.
Normal...except for that, Liz thought darkly. She'd delayed re-entry until Nasedo's arrival, lurking at the top of the stairs, unsure of her reaction. But seeing her kidnapper again hadn't filled her with fear, it had filled her with disgust. Anger. Rage, almost. She'd had a tough time swallowing it during the discussion about how to proceed. Now she might not bother.
"So are you," she answered tonelessly.
"I'm surprised to see you," Nasedo said.
"Shouldn't be; I live here. What's your excuse?"
And I was doing so well, Liz thought as the flat delivery of those first two sentences gave way to the defiance of the third. Nasedo heard it, as evidenced by his raised eyebrows. "I heard you were away all summer," he went on, apparently doing some swallowing of his own.
"I heard the same thing about you," Liz said. "Your point?"
"Is that I thought you'd gotten the point," Nasedo said deliberately. "Max belongs to Tess, not you."
"This has nothing to do with Max or me," Liz said. "This has to do with Michael. You know, one of those 'Royal Four' you're sworn to protect, but seem to have forgotten because you're too busy playing matchmaker?"
The jab hit home. "Given what you know about me," Nasedo snapped, "is it really wise of you to provoke me?"
Liz glared at him in silence before walking up to him like she had only minutes ago and looking him straight in the eye. "You don't scare me."
They faced off, her steady, him...surprised. That last declaration hadn't been defiant, or angry, or any of those things; it had been calm. Controlled. Merely fact. "Oh, I don't, don't I?" he said, his tone equal parts amusement and curiosity. "Then perhaps you're not as smart as I thought you were."
"You think I'm smart? News to me. But you want to know what does scare me?" Liz went on. "Seeing Max get kidnapped because of your incompetence. You're supposed to be protecting him, and you almost got him killed. That's what scares me, and if you had any working brain cells in that alien head of yours, it would scare you too. But you don't, so it doesn't."
"Do tell!" Nasedo said with mock surprise. "Another performance review? This is becoming a regular feature of our encounters. How does rescuing him from the clutches of the Special Unit not count as 'protecting him'?"
Liz's blood began to boil. "You didn't rescue him—I did. You are the reason he wound up there in the first place."
"He wound up there because he blundered into the trap I set for Pierce," Nasedo retorted.
"He wound up there because you kidnapped me," Liz corrected. "None of us would have been anywhere near your stupid trap if you hadn't taken me. And Max would have been hauled right back there if I hadn't helped him hide while you stayed behind to settle a personal score instead of finishing the job of getting him out! Didn't anyone ever teach you how to prioritize in guardian school? Maybe you were out that day?"
Nasedo was smoldering now, working up a head of steam to match her own. Part of Liz said it was stupid to poke the bear like this, but a bigger part of her didn't care. All that Max had gone through, all that torture, all the risks they'd taken to free him...it was all unnecessary, all caused by one stupid move by a so-called "guardian". It was downright infuriating.
"Maybe," Nasedo said tightly, "the king would have been better off if you hadn't come back."
"Maybe," Liz allowed. "But when it comes to the question of whether he'd be better off if you hadn't come back, there's no 'maybe' about it. If you're the best his world has to offer, then 'maybe' he's better off with us humans."
That got him. "Insufferable brat!" Nasedo hissed. "How dare you—"
"Is there a problem here?"
Two heads jerked sideways. Max was standing in the kitchen doorway, regarding them with deep suspicion. "Liz?" he said slowly. "Is something wrong?"
"No," Liz said flatly.
"Sure looks that way," Max remarked. "Is he bothering you?"
For a brief moment, Liz seriously considered conjuring up some kind of story; from the look on Max's face, he'd believe it. "Not at all," she answered, deciding Nasedo had done himself in far better than she ever could. "I was just having a little chat with your...'guardian'."
No one missed the copious amount of contempt wreathing that last word. "What kind of 'chat'?" Max asked warily.
"Oh, you know," Liz said with a false smile. "The friendly kind. Right, Nasedo?"
"Absolutely," Nasedo said stonily.
Max watched them skeptically, clearly not buying it, and why should he? They both looked ready to kill each other. "Liz, would you excuse us for a moment?" Max said. "I'd like to have a little 'chat' of my own."
"Sure," Liz answered. She paused in the doorway, looking directly at Nasedo.
"Still think I'm 'fantastic company'?"
*****************************************************
It was a repeat of the previous evening, with the Warder, the transfer, and the Rebel Argilian replaced by a Warder, a hybrid king, and a furious human. Zan and Jaddo faced off as the Parker girl left and Brivari lurked in the background unseen, having slipped in behind Jaddo before the drama began. And what a drama it had been, with accusations long hurled from other sources now hurled from a new one, plus an accusation that he'd been neglecting his own Ward. The Parker girl had always shown mettle, mettle which now more closely resembled solid steel. Put simply, when she'd looked Jaddo in the eye and told him he didn't scare her, he'd believed her...and so had Jaddo.
"What was that all about?" Zan asked, his voice quiet, controlled, suspicious.
"Like she said, just a friendly chat," Jaddo answered.
Zan raised an eyebrow. "Is that your final answer?"
"So you think this is a game show?" Jaddo said sardonically.
"What I think," Zan said deliberately, "is that you and I never really had it out about what you did to Liz. I'm a little busy now, so let me make it simple for you. You are not to go near her ever again."
"You're right—we are busy now," Jaddo retorted. "Too busy to waste time on a human—"
"I'm gonna stop you right there because it's pretty clear you just don't get it," Zan said sharply. "Liz isn't a 'waste of time'. Humans aren't a 'waste of time'. Liz kept me alive when you couldn't. All of them—Valenti, Maria, Alex—kept me alive when you couldn't."
"You wouldn't have been around to keep alive if not for me!" Jaddo exclaimed. "I got you out of there—"
"And then left me," Zan said. "It was Michael who got me out, and you stayed behind. You shouldn't have done that. You should have come with us."
Ouch. Brivari watched Jaddo bristle as yet another voice joined the chorus...but this time, it was different. It was one thing to hear this from a fellow Warder, another to hear it from a human ally like Dee...and quite another to hear it from one's king. The rebuke hung in the air, a statement of fact delivered in a tone which brooked no argument. At the end of the day, the only "performance review" which mattered was this one.
"I'm sorry you found me wanting," Jaddo said stiffly. "After you'd been safely rescued, I only sought to remove a long time enemy."
"That's just it—I wasn't 'safely rescued'," Zan said. "It doesn't do any good to remove an enemy while that enemy still has me. Pierce wasn't acting alone, and you knew that; even if you'd managed to take him out, there was no guarantee Michael and I would have made it out of there, and what about the aftermath? What about getting us away from the base and the fact that we couldn't just go home again? We settled all that, but we had to do it without you because you were in a body bag. You should have come with us."
Jaddo's jaw clenched. "Noted."
"None of which changes the fact that none of that would have been necessary if you'd left Liz alone in the first place," Zan went on. "Your taking her is what got me captured. She's the reason I made it out, she and all those other 'wastes of time' who did your job when you couldn't."
"So now you're comparing my service to theirs?" Jaddo said tightly. "Something tells me I've been at this longer than they have. Decades longer."
There followed a long pause. "You're the one Pierce was talking about, aren't you?" Zan said finally. "The alien who was held for 3 years in that white room."
Not exactly, Brivari thought. Major Lewis's white room had come later in Jaddo's captivity, but 3 years was still 3 years no matter how you counted. "I know you've given up a lot for us," Zan went on when Jaddo didn't reply, "and I'm grateful for that. But that doesn't give you the right to use the people I love."
"And there's the problem," Jaddo said in exasperation. "That's what this is really about, you being in love with a human. You heard your mother in the pod chamber. You heard—"
"What I heard was someone I don't know and don't remember telling me how things used to be," Zan interrupted. "What I don't hear is you urging Isabel and Michael to get together like the book suggested. If you want everything the way it used to be, you should want that too."
Jaddo's jaw twitched as he remained silent, his back against the wall of his own argument; he most emphatically did not want Rath and Vilandra together now any more than he ever had. "I understand that it used to be different," Zan went on, "but that was a long time ago, and we don't even remember it. You can't expect everything to turn out the same as it did before. Did I make my own choices the last time?"
Yes, Brivari answered silently. Riall had not interfered with his son's choice of wife, not that he'd had any reason to. "That's what I thought," Zan said when Jaddo didn't answer. "I get to make my own choices this time too."
"As you wish," Jaddo said with obvious disapproval.
"Look at it this way," Zan said. "We have very few friends, people who know who we really are. That 'ever-burgeoning I Know An Alien Club' doesn't seem so 'burgeoning' to me. You may not like Liz, but she's an ally. Throwing away one of the few allies we have doesn't strike me as very smart."
"Fine, she's an ally," Jaddo said impatiently. "But not going near her is going to make tonight's festivities rather problematic. I'll have to 'go near her' if we're to follow the plan."
"I'm not talking about that," Zan said. "I mean on your own. You are not to touch her, or speak to her, or interact with her in any way unless I say so or you're saving her life. Am I clear?"
Warder and monarch stared each other down. "As you wish," Jaddo said finally.
"Good. I'll see you this evening. Don't be late."
Zan left. Jaddo remained in the empty kitchen, silent and stung. "Well," Brivari said slowly. "That was interesting."
Jaddo spun around. "When did you get here?" he demanded. "How much of that did you hear?"
Brivari shrugged. "A long time ago, all of it, and...I'm impressed."
" 'Impressed'? With what? Impudent child," Jaddo huffed. "He only learned he was a king a few months ago, and here he is critiquing my decisions and giving me orders."
"Perhaps," Brivari allowed. "But you left out the part about him being right. Oh, don't look at me like that," he continued when Jaddo looked daggers at him. "Every single person who learns of this has reached the same conclusion—you shouldn't have stayed behind. Is it really such a surprise the king has too?"
"The same king you called 'immature' and—"
"Yes," Brivari broke in. "I did, and he is. But this time..." He paused. "Don't forget, I've watched this once already. His growing up. His ascension to the throne. His teething as he turned into a monarch. The Zan I knew took years to learn how to deliver a rebuke like that without sulking or shouting; this time it's only been months. It's going faster this time."
"Well, bully for him," Jaddo said sourly. "At least it was the king who 'impressed' you, not that insufferable female."
"Oh, she impressed me too," Brivari said. "She's growing on me."
"Right, like fungus," Jaddo said derisively. "Everyone likes the Parker girl; she's everyone's favorite puppy. Too bad she isn't housebroken. Did you hear how defiant she was?"
"Definitely growing on me," Brivari confirmed.
"Joke all you want, but I still say she did this," Jaddo declared. "She turned him against me."
"Right," Brivari said skeptically. "And I suppose she did that while she was gone all summer and not in contact with him? And why bother when you're doing such a bang-up job yourself? Face it, Jaddo, you blew it. Perhaps the best way to impress the king was by rescuing him from murderous kidnappers, not filling up your house with antiques and artwork."
"All right," Jaddo sighed. "Maybe—maybe—I miscalculated."
"Well, glory hallelujah," Brivari said dryly. "Can I get that in writing? No? Not surprised," he went on when Jaddo glared at him. "What exactly did you mean by tonight's 'festivities'? I missed the nitty gritty when I was talking to Courtney."
"I'm to distract Vanessa so Zan and the puppy can rifle through her office to find out what she's done with Pierce's bones," Jaddo answered.
"You're seeing Vanessa again? Is that wise?"
"Doesn't matter if it's 'wise' or not," Jaddo said. "Those are my 'orders'. And besides, I'm the best person to find out anything from Vanessa. I told the king as much, but he insists on showing up himself because the puppy offered to 'help'. But no matter; I'll find out where the bones are long before they're through emptying file cabinets and canoodling in her office."
"Don't you mean 'diddling'?"
Jaddo's expression darkened. "Don't even think it. Honestly, Ava is right here! I thought he'd have come around by now."
"He might never come around," Brivari remarked.
Jaddo stared at him. "You can't be serious."
"Can't I?" Brivari shook his head. "As I mentioned, I've watched this once already. I've seen him fall in love, and that's how I know he's serious."
"So, what, are we going to drag her back to Antar with us?" Jaddo demanded. "Install a human as queen?"
"I think the king has made it pretty clear we're not 'dragging' her anywhere," Brivari noted. "But if the time comes and they're a couple—"
"No," Jaddo said firmly. "This is unacceptable. He's just being stubborn. I am not bringing a human home with them. He can indulge his whims for now, but when push comes to shove, he'll have to face facts."
"Or we will," Brivari murmured.
"This is just an infatuation," Jaddo insisted. "It will pass. It's not passing as fast as I'd like, but it will pass. I will not accept this."
"Like I said," Brivari repeated, "I've seen him in love before. So when 'push comes to shove'...we may not have a choice."
****************************************************
Congresswoman Whitaker's office,
Roswell
"Agent Samuels? Vanessa Whitaker."
There came a deep sigh over the phone Whitaker had pressed to her ear. "Look, I'm sorry to keep calling you, but I'm worried about Daniel," Vanessa rushed on. "I...I thought of something last night, something having to do with what we talked about, about how he's been so different since he came back from Roswell, and I...have you heard anything, Brian? Anything at all?"
"I'm not at liberty to tell you if I had," Samuels answered. "I told you, he's laying low. I have no idea when or where he'll resurface."
A file drawer slammed. Vanessa spun in her chair, turning her back toward her diligent intern and the curious glances she was sending her way. "Well, when he does, will you please tell him I'm concerned about him?"
"Does that mean you've given up wanting to kill him?"
"Actually, yes," Vanessa confirmed. "I think I've figured out why he's so different, and if I'm right, none of this is his fault."
"Why?" Samuels said curiously. "Why do you think he's different?"
"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to go into details," Vanessa said, "but put it this way—if I'm right, I may be the only one who can help him."
"The 'only one'?" Samuels snorted. "Presumptuous, much?"
"Believe it or not, I'm not trying to be presumptuous," Vanessa said. "I'm just stating a fact."
"Don't you get it?" Samuels retorted. "It's the fact that you think you're stating a fact that's presumptuous. You've known Danny for what, a little over a year? I've known him a lot longer than that. Get off your high horse."
"Get off your own!" Vanessa exclaimed, her patience evaporating. "I don't care if you both shit in the same diaper as toddlers; that doesn't mean you know what's wrong now, or how to fix it!"
"Ah, there's the Vanessa I know and love," Samuels said ironically. "You had me going. For a minute there, I thought you actually cared."
"I do care, you little prat—"
"Danny will come up for air when he's ready," Samuels went on, ignoring her. "He'll do it wherever he feels safest, and that's with me. When I see him, I'll be sure and tell him how much you 'care'. Now stop calling me, or I'll block your number."
"Shit!" Vanessa exclaimed, turning back to face her desk...and her wide-eyed intern.
"Is...anything wrong?" Parker ventured.
"Nothing I can't handle," Vanessa said with a brittle smile. "Go home, Parker. You can finish all this tomorrow."
"I'm almost done," Parker said. "I hate to leave a job half done."
You and me both, Vanessa thought darkly as Parker returned to the stacks of files she'd been methodically finding homes for in their newly arrived cabinets. She'd slept fitfully last night, more certain than ever that either Warders or kings or both had gotten to Daniel and thrashing over the best way to help him out from under whatever threats he had hanging over his head. Not to mention that if she was right, Daniel had made actual contact with their sworn enemies and would have invaluable information to share, information which would go a long way toward improving her status with Nicholas. She'd been hoping to coast on Brian's mutual concern for Daniel's well-being, but of course he had to be the top dog. And so do I, she admitted privately. Brian was right; Danny was likely to go to him first, and he shouldn't, because she was the only one who knew how to deal with the people holding a gun to his head.
Slam! "Please," Vanessa said wearily, wanting peace and quiet to think. "I have a headache, and all this drawer slamming isn't helping."
"Oh...sorry," Parker said, abashed. "I'll be sure not to slam. I'm almost done. Please, just let me finish. I literally don't sleep if I leave something like this unfinished. Just 5 minutes. That's all I need."
"Parker, go home," Vanessa said firmly. "It's late."
"No, it's okay," Parker said. "I want to make sure you're organized."
"I don't want to be hit with a child labor suit," Vanessa said.
"I promise," Parker said.
Vanessa smiled faintly; at least someone wasn't abandoning her. She turned around...and caught her breath, hardly able to believe who she saw standing in her doorway.
"Agent Pierce," she breathed.
"Just Daniel," he said quietly. "I'm a civilian now."
And you're here, Vanessa thought triumphantly. "Danny will come up for air when he's ready. He'll do it wherever he feels safest." This was where he'd reappeared, so this was where he felt safest. He'd followed her here. There was no greater testament.
"Uh...this is Liz Parker," Vanessa said as Parker stared while trying to look like she wasn't. "She's my new intern."
"Pleasure," Pierce nodded.
"Hi," Parker said shyly.
"So," Vanessa said, standing very close, drinking him in. "What brings an out-of-work FBI agent to Roswell? Seems like the worst place to be for a recovering alien hunter."
"I might be out here hunting something else," Daniel murmured.
Vanessa's heart skipped a beat. "And what might that be?"
Daniel glanced sideways. "Nothing I could say in front of your new intern."
"Oh, she's a big girl," Vanessa smiled as the intern in question stiffened. "I think she can handle it. Right, Parker?"
"Um...I'm just gonna go get some more folders," Parker said uncomfortably. "Excuse me."
Parker pushed past into the other room, leaving her alone with Daniel, who moved closer. "I needed to see you," he whispered.
"Well, you should have thought of that before you publicly humiliated me on TV," Vanessa countered, trying to dredge up at least a modicum of dignity and resist the urge to jump into his arms.
"Don't let politics come between us," Daniel protested.
Vanessa smiled faintly. "Politics is the reason you slept with me to begin with."
"Well, maybe...at first," Daniel allowed. "But it's more than that now," he went on, his voice dropping as his hand rose, smoothing a strand of her hair. "You showed me a side of myself...I didn't know existed."
His lips brushed her cheek as she shivered slightly. She'd thrilled to the touch of his hand but held her composure; now she practically melted, smelling his breath, his aftershave, that musky smell he always gave off when he was horny. God, if there weren't so many people around, she'd shove him on that desk and...
But there were. Parker reappeared, gaping unabashedly, abandoning all pretense of staring-but-not-staring. "Parker, can you lock up on your way out?" Vanessa said, pulling hastily away and grabbing her things. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah," Parker said awkwardly as her boss fled. "Have a good night."
The air outside was cooler, bracing, almost, and Vanessa breathed deeply; she had to keep a clear head. She couldn't let emotion overwhelm her, not if she was going to convince him to tell her what happened. She really had to keep her mind on...
A hand brushed her arm, and all of a sudden, all those lofty thoughts went right out the window. "God, I missed you," Daniel murmured into her hair. "You have no idea."
"No, I don't," Vanessa said, struggling to hold still. "You ran out of that hearing like your pants were on fire, and I haven't heard a word from you since."
"I'm here now," Daniel said.
"But where have you been?" Vanessa demanded. "Why'd you wait so long?"
"Honestly? I thought you'd kill me."
Vanessa twisted around, but he wasn't smiling, let alone laughing. "Because you had a reason to," Daniel went on. "I knew you were mad. I knew you'd be mad when I realized what I had to do, but it was the only way. The Unit can't survive under Freeh. It has to go underground, deep enough underground that he can't find it, and the only way to accomplish that is to make him think he's successfully killed it."
"Brian said you'd go to him," Vanessa noted with deep satisfaction. "He said you'd resurface where you felt 'safest'. Kind of odd that you feel 'safest' with a woman you thought would kill you."
"Brian," Daniel sighed. "Such an eager puppy, but he doesn't really understand me; he never did. None of them do. I realize that now. That's why they're always mad at me, always telling me I'm doing everything wrong. It's the weirdest thing, but sometimes I'd swear you're the only one who truly understands me."
"Why is that weird?"
Daniel smiled faintly. "If I tell you, I'll have to kill you."
Not that one again, Vanessa muttered silently. "So...you used me. You used me to get what you wanted."
For a moment she thought he was going to deny it...but then he nodded. "Yes. Yes, I used you. I'm sorry it upset you, but I'm not sorry I did it."
The half apology was deeply honest and strangely comforting. "But why not just tell me? We think alike, Daniel. I'd have understood."
"Because I needed it to look real," Daniel said. "I needed all of them to see real shock, real fury. And darling, no one, but no one, does fury the way you do. Which brings me back to why I ran out the door. Because no one, but no one, knows what you were capable of right after that hearing better than I do."
Vanessa arched an eyebrow. "You think I'm not capable of that now?"
"Of course you are," he answered, wrapping his arms around her. "But correct me if I'm wrong...you did just say 'I'd have understood'...right?"
"Right," she said warily.
"Which means you understand now...right?"
"Doesn't mean I forgive you," she informed him. "Or that you're going to get any."
"Of course not," he whispered in her ear. "Isn't that your car over there? In the back? Where no one can see us?"
A split second later they were running, diving into the back seat, fumbling at each other's clothes like teenagers. She hadn't done it fully clothed in ages, but that would have to wait. "Daniel?" she said hastily while she still could. "We have to talk."
"Absolutely," he agreed as the hooks on her bra gave way.
"No...really," she insisted, grabbing his wrists. "I meant it when I said we think alike. I know what you're after, I know what happened to you, and I think we should join forces."
"So do I," he smiled, his hands going south.
"Not what I meant," Vanessa said firmly. "I—"
"Vanessa, darling, stop talking. This could very well be our last time together, so let's not let politics spoil it."
She pushed him away then, sat up straight. " 'Last time'? What do you mean?"
"What I always mean—exactly what I said. I came out of hiding to see you, but that doesn't mean I can re-enter public life. I'm going back underground, and it'll be safer for both of us if we don't see each other again. So let's make the most of—"
"No!" Vanessa exclaimed. "No, you can't just disappear! I know what they did to you, and I'm the only one who can help you!"
He looked at her curiously. " 'Did to me'? You know what who did to me?"
"The aliens," Vanessa said, taking his face in both hands. "I know why you've been so odd since you came back. You said you found them. They threatened you, didn't they? They're watching you, aren't they?"
"Is that what you think?" he said slowly.
"It's what I know," she said firmly. "It's the only thing that makes sense. But you can fight them. I can help you."
Daniel raised an eyebrow. "You can help me fight aliens. How?"
He waited as she sat there, tongue tied. What could she say? She was supposed to be a Member of Congress, not an alien hunter. There was only one way out of this, and an impossible way at that, but what choice did she have? If he disappeared again, she might never find him, might never learn what he'd learned. If she let him out of her sight one more time, this might be the last time she ever saw him. Why was she holding back? He was an alien hunter. Why not give him what he wanted?
"That's what I thought," Daniel said, misinterpreting her silence. "How about we get back to 'joining forces'—"
"Stop!" she commanded. "I can help you because..."
His face hovered over hers, curious, expecting. "Because...?"
Am I really doing this? Vanessa thought. Yes, she decided suddenly. Yes, she was really doing this.
"Because I'm an alien."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'll post Chapter 13 on Sunday, August 17.
And here I imagined everyone would be impatient to be rid of him!