Liz felt like she was in a dream as she comprehended what life had brought her as she stared at the little girl in the hospital bed. A year had gone by and she knew the child looking back at her with wonderment in her eyes yet wariness at the same time. She grabbed Max’s hand as he nodded at her that he was by her side. “Bella” she whispered.
“Is that my nick name,” Isabella asked quietly as she tried to process the woman she was looking at. So familiar but her brain wasn’t completely fully confirming reality. She was worried her mind was playing tricks with her…
“Yes,” Liz said softly as she stepped closer to the bed. “Your given name is Isabella Maria Parker Valenti.”
“But isn’t Max my father?” the little girl asked as she stared at Max as he remained instantly familiar to her and she didn’t know why. “Why don’t I have your name?” she asked quietly.
Liz looked over at Max and he exchanged a Uh oh look.
“That is very complicated,” Max tried. “We can get into it later if you want,” he said softly as she noticed the conflict on Liz’s face. “I promise you that you are loved.”
“What happened,” Bella asked to no one in particular. Why am I here?” she asked as she looked at both Max and then at the woman she instantly felt close to but still was a strange by the fact her memory wasn’t completely back yet. “How did I end up with the Davidsons?”
“I wish we knew,” Max said as Liz nodded. “What do you remember?”
“I told Serena I remember being grabbed…” Bella sighed. “But I don’t remember anything from before that except some memories of you” she whispered as she pointed to Liz who tears became more prominent as she thought of what her little girl must have gone through.
“You do?” Liz asked quietly as she tried to keep calm as she again grabbed Max’s hand in a seeking of support. “What do you remember?”
“I remember being carried out of a room. But I don’t remember anything from what came next,” Bella said quietly. “Those first days with the Davidson’s are a blur and I can’t really remember…”
“You don’t have to push yourself,” Max assured the child. “What matters is you’re away from that home.”
“Am I?” Bella asked.
“Yes, you are,” Max assure the girl. “Neither of us can tell you what the future will hold but you won’t have to go anywhere near the Davidson home ever again. You just need to concentrate on trying to remember and most of all, recovering from your ordeal.”
Isabella nodded.
“What do you remember?” Liz asked.
“I remember two men with brown hair. I remember that they were are great. They always do things with me. I remember two women with blonde hair. And another young girl, even younger than me… I call them by name…”
“They love you too,” Liz smiled at the acknowledge that she was remembering Kyle and Michael along with Maria and Isabel. And especially Betty.”
“Who are they…” Bella asked as she tried to focus her mind.
“They are very close to us,” Liz smiled as she looked at Max who nodded. “Do you recognize the names Michael and Kyle…”
“Uncle Michael. Daddy,” Bella instantly asked as images flooded her mind.
Liz nodded to confirm the memory as she exchanged a look at Max who also nodded even though it was painful to hear Bella call Kyle her ‘Dad’, he silently sighed and looked around as he willed an escape from the pain and was surprised to see Serena staring at them who only nodded.
Max made a sign to Liz that he would be back, and he turned and walked out of the room as Liz had seen the pain on Max’s face at the mention of Kyle as Bella’s dad, and she felt for him at the realization that this was very real and not a dream. It was a piece of reality they would have to live through if they were to make it through.
“I am sorry if I hurt Max,” Bella said quietly as she had seen Serena watching them and knew she hit a sore spot by his reaction once she had seen Max make a hasty retreat.
“It’s okay, Max needed to talk to Serena about something…” Liz lied.
“If Kyle is my Daddy then who is Max?” Bella asked softly as she stared at her mother.
“Max is a very special person…” Liz admitted as Max stood outside in the hall with Serena.
*
“I am sorry for interrupting,” Serena sighed as she saw Max close the door to Bella’s room. “I know you would rather be in there with the two of them…”
“You saw, so I needed a break.”
“It’s got to be rough at the acknowledgement that there is another man who she calls Dad?” Serena asked. “That has to be incredibly rough.”
“It shouldn’t bother me because Kyle was there for Liz and our daughter when I couldn’t be. But yeah to hear her have memories of Kyle and know he’s been her Dad.”
Serena nodded.
“It is probably going to take a while to get used to…” Max acknowledged as he noticed his partner. “What are you doing here, I thought you would be home asleep by now.”
“I couldn’t sleep,” Serene smiled as it was the truth. Going home and having a quiet house was eerie given she knew her husband had taken the girls to the zoo and a movie for the day to give her some space to sleep without interruption. She tried to sleep but found she couldn’t, so she found herself coming to the hospital to check on the situation with Max. “How is it going?”
“She’s remembering some…” Max conceded. “But she really doesn’t remember the attack or what happened to her and why she was at the Davidson home.”
“She remembers being grabbed?” Serena remembered.
Max nodded.
“It still might come to her…” Serena asked.
“It might. But I wonder if it’s better for her to remember the good memories and the pain is better forgotten.”
“She’s young and she’ll bounce back as they often say the youngest do in the end. It’s us adults who could use some forgetting of the past…”
Max nodded as he looked in through the crack of the door and saw Liz bonding with their daughter. He craved to be part of that unit she had with their child and wondered if they miracle they had shared these last days would last. “Thank you for being here Serena while I couldn’t be…”
“She’s precious. She definitely has a personality that is sneaking above the pain…”
“I am glad… Liz tells me she was very out-going. Which is very much like Liz when we were kids. I was more reserved.”
“Why?” Serena asked, curious.
“Just the way I am I guess,” Max admitted. “My sister and I were adopted later in our childhoods by our parents and so our experiences probably shaped us even thought my sister was very different from me.”
“You sound like you have had quite the life…” Serena smiled.
“That would be an understatement,” Max laughed as he looked back into the room, as Serena knew he longed to go back in…
“I know you want to join them, so I think I’ll head on home... If you’re curious, I am probably going to talking to Junior Davidson when I head back to work. I’ll let you know if anything comes from it.”
“Let me know and I might come in for it…”
“Gibson might not like it,” Serena warned. “You’re already testing his patients with your exploits in New York.”
“But it’s worth it if I get any knowledge into my daughter from the kid” Max muttered as he wondered now that they knew the truth about who Molly was, and was starting to color in the gaps, he couldn’t help but wonder…
“Concentrate on your daughter. You’ve been given a miracle of a second chance. You don’t want to lose it…”
“I wouldn’t dare,” Max swore as he saw Serena to the elevator and walked back to the room the long way so to do some thinking.
*
“It’s strange for him,” Liz admitted as she got to know her little girl again. It’s been over a year since she seen her little girl and she’s grown so much, and it showed even with Bella in a hospital bed, and in a hospital gown. The hair was starting to get darker but still not how she remembered, and it took some getting use to know her little girl was ten years old and not the newly turned nine-year-old she remembered.
“Is he my real father?” Bella asked as she warmed up to this woman who was in her dreams and it was surreal to think she belonged to a whole new family, and it made her wonder about the connections that caused her to exist.
“What do you remember?” Liz asked. “I never discussed who Max was to me, or to anyone we knew…”
“I remember I saw a letter,” Bella acknowledged.
“Oh,” Liz sighed as she remembered that horrific letter Sean had sent and her daughter unknowingly to her had intercepted. “I am sorry you saw that… Yeah Betty told me that you did see it.”
“Betty… She would be Elizabeth, right?” Bella asked.
Liz smiled. “Yes, but like you have a nickname. She does too, and she’s always been called Betty. You two were best of the friends…”
“I have memories that seem to make that true,” Bella sighed.
“I am glad. She will very happy that you haven’t forgotten her…” Liz smiled. “You have a Dad.”
“Right,” Bella said as memories of Kyle came to her mind. “He was the best, and he loved me…”
“He still does…” Liz smiled.
“But he wasn’t my real father,” Bella asked as more memories started to surface. “Serena mentioned I had a stepfather. That is him, right?”
“Right?” Liz admitted. “To Kyle, you are his daughter.”
“Where is he?” Bella asked.
“Back home,” Liz smiled but frowned at the knowledge of how much needed to be said and how that would work. She wished she could keep in her cocoon but knew it wouldn’t work, even if it felt nice as Max walked back into the room.
“Can I talk to him…” Bella asked tentatively.
“Sure…” Liz said as Max heard the request as he walked in, and it was a further confirmation that their dream world couldn’t last much longer if it even existed.
*
Kyle was at home looking at some recruiting information for the roster of players they knew they would be dealing with come fall time as he knew Isabel was heading over to Michael's after spending time with her mother and putting some money on her credit card during retail therapy. Smiling at the thought of how his life had come to together over the last few years.
He missed Bella desperately but knew he and Liz had made the right decision to split. But he had been there for their daughter, and she was a special girl and was despondent when she vanished. Being with Isabel he knew he had something Liz hadn’t been able to have in daily support at home. Knowing he had someone in his corner to be his shoulder was what he needed in those days and months after Isabella disappeared and it felt like god was telling himself when he and Isabel had discovered she was pregnant.
Thrilled, they wished they could wait for Bella to come home. But knew they wanted to be married when the baby came. So, they planned a small intimate wedding and it was something the gang could cherish in a dark time. Liz had come out of her funk and had a good time for the wedding even though it brought memories of how excited Bella had been that Kyle and Isabel were engaged. But still it was a cherished moment, and now they just had to pray something would bring Bella back to them.
And for Liz to achieve some happiness. That was one of his greatest wishes once his dream of his daughter coming back came true. He wondered how it would be for his ex to be in California with Max. Max was everything to Liz. There was so much pain and history for the two, and it could never simple for the two, but he prayed they would find their way…
Taking a break, he walked into the kitchen and investigated the fridge to see what leftovers they had to eat for a snack when the phone rang.
Thinking it was Isabel to say she would be later than planned, or even his father to talk about their tickets to see the Texas Rangers the following the weekend.
“Isabel do you need more time?” Kyle asked not asking who it was, but his shoulders went up in tension when he realized it wasn’t his wife calling.
“Liz, sorry. I thought you were Isabel. She’s not home yet,” he smiled. “We were wondering when you would call. Maria’s been worried.”
Kyle laughed. “I know you can handle yourself, but you know Maria likes to worry,” he said of his step-sister. It was remarkable how it all started for the group that he could count on Maria as family. “What’s wrong, why did you call?
His voice trailed off and his face went pale. “What…” he whispered. “Are you kidding?” he asked quietly. “Please tell me you are not kidding…”
*
“What are we going to do” Isabel was asking Michael as he sat in the living room while Betty played a video game on the computer nearby. Amy and Jim were nearby as Jim came by after Michael called and requested his presence.
“I am going to investigate it more…” Michael swore.
“Are we sure this is something?” Isabel asked as she looked around the room and saw the tension in the faces. She couldn’t believe it could all come down to a mysterious on-line comment.
“The IP address tells me it came from California?” Michael said. “I am going to do a deeper investigation tomorrow. But the sender name was something Bella only would name.”
“What was it?” Jim asked as he took a notebook from his pocket.
“Healingaliens” Michael commented.
“No…” Amy asked.
“Yeah…” Michael admitted.
“Bella did know what happened to her mother. We never discussed Max in her presence but it’s possible she overheard but she knew her mother had been healed back when she was a teenager…” Isabel commented.
“So, we think she might be trying to communicate?” Jim asked.
“It’s a guess. I’m open to any idea because now that we know Ava was a snitch in our view sight and Khivar was likely running a long con game, it’s possible. Any kid would know these days how to work or communicate on the computer. My information is that it was a new user so, the handle hadn’t been used before…” Michael commented as he checked his information. “I am going to look more into the user tomorrow when I am at the office.”
“Bella knew Max healed her mother…” Betty admitted from behind them, and the adults groaned because they had forgotten the eight-year-old was in the same room.
“What?” Isabel did a spin and viewed her god-daughter who was eying the adults as the conversation had turned to her friend.
“Daddy is it true that Bella might be trying to communicate?” Betty asked with wide open eyes.
“It’s possible,” Michael said softly. “Honey, about what you said…”
“Daddy, Bella and I like to overhear things and we were generally good at it, so we knew that Aunt Isabel’s brother saved Aunt Liz’s life. You guys might not have talked about his name much, but we knew it happened and plus generally don’t people like us know how to heal…”
“Max is the only one with the specific ability,” Isabel muttered.
“Really?” Betty asked as her eyes went big.
“We all have the ability to help someone, but Max does have the specific ability to heal and that happened with Aunt Liz” Michael muttered. “But you know we have to be careful about it, right?” he asked the little girl.
“Daddy I promise I try to blend in, and don’t use anything funky” the eight-year muttered.
“Good,” Michael smiled.
“Anyways,” Betty eyes got narrowed and the adults knew the girl had something she needed to say.
“What is it Betty?” Jim asked in his sweetest voice to his young granddaughter. He knew he was blessed by his union with Amy allowing their families to blend and knew he was fortunate to have her granddaughter Betty as his own.
“HealingAliens’ was Bella’s private handle when we liked to communicate about something secret in our families.”
“WHAT!” Michael said as his eyes went wide. “You and Bella had a secret communication forum?”
“In a way we did,” Betty sighed.
“Honey you were only seven when we lost Bella from our lives” Amy asked her young granddaughter.
“Grandma, we kids’ can do a lot of things these days you didn’t know how to when you were our ages…”
“Damn,” Isabel muttered as the confirmation that kids these days were very different from when she, Max and Michael were getting used to being on Earth. She didn’t have many memories, but she had a few from those days and Bella and Betty were very different than her generation.
“Did you have a handle Betty?” Jim asked.
“Spacebaby” Betty admitted. “A play on Mommy’s nickname for Daddy.”
“Oh god,” Isabel whispered as Michael gritted his teeth as he thought of how to respond to his daughter’s genius creation of names when there was a knack on the door. Isabel nodded that she would go answer the door while Michael dealt with his daughter.
“Daddy…”
“What!” Michael asked weary of anything his daughter was now going to tell them as he tried to remind himself that his little girl was only seven when this all happened. She was older and wiser now he hoped but then who knows because this was a reminder that the newer generation was just as crafty as their parent’s generation and he hated the glimpse.
Isabel could only whistle under the breath as she went to the door and opened, and her smile went to a frown when she saw Kyle at the door, leaning against the door frame, pale and very shaken.
“What is it!” Isabel asked as she didn’t know what she expected to hear from her husband as she welcomed him into the house. “Come in, come in,
Kyle you need to tell me what is wrong. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I did…” Kyle whispered. “I didn’t see one, but I talked to one… Isabella… Bella…” Kyle whispered.
“Oh god, what is it Kyle, what is it about Bella…” Isabel asked immediately placed on alarm as she tried to figure out why he looked like a ghost….
“Did something happen.”
“Yes…” Kyle whispered. “Something did happen… Isabel, she’s alive…”
“What” Isabel squeaked before being rendered speechless as it hit her what he husband was trying to tell her as the house went completely silent and eerily quiet.
“Isabel, I just talked to her… She’s alive. Bella is alive…”