As ever, I thank you all for leaving me feedback. It has become a little of a ritual for me, responding to you feedack.
I hope the confusion factor is fading away now. You should all be realising that Alison DeLong is the young girl in the coma, and is in fact, Maria. The only thing you need to sonder about is how she got there. I have left a few very subtle hints, and it Will become clear later on in Part 2.
Now, we just need... uhm... someone else, right?
Thank you to the poster I assume wishes to remain annonymous, who pointed out that I had the wrong Disney place (which I have now corrected.) I got my land mixed with my world. LOL
roswellluver - yes, well, it did sort of tickle my sense of humor.
Ellie - Yes indeed. How will the distances affect them all?
BehrObsession - Well, other than my arms, I have some fun coming from my sleeves.
AJK001 - I had to work hard to keep everyone recognizable. Seems it worked.
smokie - Oh, I am pretty sure that like Michael before him, Hans will feel an attraction to a certain feisty spitfire. And as for Liz... I'm sure that if Maria turned up, Liz will too... eventually.
Venus_star2.com - Hmmm... memories. So far, no one has given any indication that they have retained any memory from their previous lives. . . . or have they?
lazza - I hope you like this part then...
Timelord31 - Yes. They did.
frenchkiss31 - Yeah, it was Maria.
Hmmm... how to introduce Kyle, Jesse AND Alex? I mean, all three? tall order. How on earth could I do that? But Liz... Thats the easy one. Just put the two of them in a room and presto! Right?roswell3053 - Yes, it's Maria. You are on the right track and that makes everything that followsd easy
aurorasky - Yup. One down and... how many to go?
tequathisy - Ah yes. How did Maria become Alison? Alison was in a coma while Maria was walking around fighting evil aliens and the FBI in Roswell. Hmmm....
edited to add.. I apologise for not getting the Foster situation quite right, but I have never experianced this, neither do I know anyone who has, And they aren;t exactly legitamet Foster parents, so... But thanks for the comment.
omwf - Pretty natural assumption, Liz and Maira being such good friends and all...
kay_b - No, Kay. This is the SAME timeline. Max, Liz etc all died at the end of September. The aliens invaded New Mexico and Luke Hans and Leia emerged from Pods in North Carolina a few days later. And now, it seems that the coma girl, Alison, has woken up and seems to have Maria's personality. Okay?
mareli - Nah, The nurse is no longer important. Sorry. But you are on the right track
jbcna - Sorta Maria? Okay. LOL!
dreamerfiend - As I said earlier, one down...
Actually, it wasn;t Micky that I had in mind when I wrote that line. cherie - Glad you liked it.
Glad you appreciate my efforts Red Shift
Part 2
Chapter 7
"Come on, boys," Omi's voice called to them from the kitchen door. "Rise and shine!"
The porch was already bathed in morning sunlight doing little to bring relief to the temperature. The night had been hot, even though the windows of the porch only held screen netting. The boys had long since discarded their sheets and were only wearing a pair of boxer shorts. At the intrusion of their grandmother's voice, they buried their heads in their pillows.
"Hey, sleepyheads," she called again. "It's nearly eight already. We need to square away your things so we can all eat breakfast."
This was met with another groan.
"Good luck with that, Omi," Leia rolled her eyes. "You'll never get them up much before ten."
"Well," Omi's voice fell in defeat. "I guess it wouldn't hurt for my senior citizen's Bridge club, who will all be here for breakfast in ten minutes, to see these boys in their skivvies."
Luke and Hans were up in an instant, racing each other for the shower room, accompanied by Leia's laughter.
With their damp hair and dressed in shorts and T-shirts, the boys set about folding their camp beds and restoring the table so that they could eat breakfast together. They sat around the table and helped themselves to toast, bagels, waffles and fruit juice.
"Where's Allan?" Luke looked around.
"He left for work hours ago," Opa chuckled. "Before the day got old."
"Old?" Hans narrowed his eyes with indignation. "It's not even eight-thirty yet."
"Like I said, boy," Opa smirked. "Old. The earlier he starts, the earlier he gets to come back and escape the heat. You're in Florida now. Not the arctic wastes of North Carolina."
"What are everyone's plans today?" Omi asked.
"Well, I was going to run over to that supermarket in Sarasota," Debra added another item to the list she was working on. "Especially since I want to pick up some stuff for the birthday party."
"Whose birthday is that, Mom?" Leia peered over at the list.
"Oh," she looked up, momentarily flustered. "We completely forgot. According to the documents Mr. Lucas left with us, Hans, celebrates his birthday tomorrow while you and Luke, celebrate yours on Saturday. We thought that seeing as we go home the next day, we'd have a big party for the three of you.
Opa frowned.
"Why wouldn't the kids know their own birthdays?"
"We, uh..." Luke saw the look of devastation on Debra's face. She knew she had just made a huge mistake. "We uh... that is, where we came from... we were... we never did anything like that. We've never, uhm, celebrated... our birthdays. We don't even know when they really are. Last Christmas was the first time we celebrated that, too."
"Oh," Opa looked down at the ground. "Sorry, son. I didn't..."
"It's okay, Opa," Luke gave a weak smile. "You weren't to know."
"So, a big party, huh?" Leia gushed. She caught Luke's look of thanks. "So can we invite any friends we make?"
"Of course you can," Omi smiled. "And I'll even invite Richard. Richard Madly. He's the nice young man I pay to do all the things that are too much for Opa and me around the house. You'll like him. He's only in his junior year and he's already some big officer in the ROTC. In fact, Luke, Hans, you should get to know him. He can take you Paintballing."
"What about the rest of you?" Debra looked up from her list. "What will you guys be doing?"
"Not sure," Luke shook his head.
"Thought I'd do a little exploring," Hans bit into another pancake.
"Maybe I'll tag along," Luke shrugged.
"No!" Hans looked up. "No, that's okay. You stick around and have some fun. I just want to..." Hans waved his hand in the air. "I was going to hike up the north end of the island."
"Leia?" Debra continued. "Would you like to come shopping with me?"
"Not food shopping, Mom," Leia scrunched up her nose. "Please! I think I'll stick around and catch some rays."
* * *
"Right here," Leia pointed to the spot where she wanted her beach chair.
Behind her, Luke was struggling to carry the bed, a beach umbrella, an icebox and a huge bag that held everything except the kitchen sink. He collapsed with a groan before letting everything go. He picked up the bed and opened it out for her. As he hammered the lower part of the umbrella into the sand, Leia was laying her towel out on the bed. Luke slid the umbrella open, providing shade for his sister who was sliding out of her sundress, revealing her developing figure in her lime-green bikini. Posing the best way she knew how, Leia started to apply sunscreen to herself.
"I hope you fry," Luke smirked as he headed to the water. He could see all the guys gawking at her.
"Where are you going?" she demanded.
"Swimming," he called back pointing at the water. "Slaving for you is hot work!"
Leia laughed as he retreated to the waterline.
"Hey, babe," she heard a voice close by.
Three boys, her own age she guessed, maybe younger, were strolling toward her with an air of supreme confidence. From the way they looked, she guessed that they were local boys, trying their luck with the tourists. Not one of them had anything that she could describe as style. Each one of them carried a skateboard, wore pants that seemed three sizes too large and wore brightly colored shirts over their white T-shirt. They all wore baseball caps the wrong way and wrap-around sunglasses.
"Lookin' fine," the lead one flicked his hand in some strange gesture.
"Please," she rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. "Come back and see me when you've grown up."
"No need to be like that," the boy came closer.
"Like what?" Leia smirked. "Selective?"
"Hostile much?" the boy rolled his eyes.
"Oooh..." she returned to her magazine. "You thought 'that' was hostile? You don't want to piss me off, then."
"Come on dudes," the boy started to move away. "Bitch is probably a lesbian anyway."
"This 'bitch' isn't even your species," Leia muttered darkly to herself. "Come to think of it. I don't think anyone is 'your' species."
Luke returned a short while later, wet from the ocean.
"Cold?" she looked up at him.
"Not too bad," he shrugged. "Will you be alright? I'm going to..." he nodded over at the houses.
"I'll be fine," she smiled at him. "Just don't mope around the house, okay?"
She watched him leave and then returned to her magazine while she sat in the shade and soaked up the atmosphere. It didn't take her long until she had read the magazine from cover to cover, memorizing all of the make-up tips and accessorizing strategies. Wishing she had the foresight to have brought more than one, Leia sighed, dropped the magazine to the sand and looked up across the beach. In front of her, a large group of boys had started a game of beach soccer. Though not one for watching sports, there was totally nothing wrong with watching sportsmen. Especially the one with the dark hair who seemed head and shoulders better than the rest, yet seemed to be the only one not taking it seriously. Unlike most of the other players, he had not once looked her way.
"They normally play farther up t he beach," a voice startled her.
An older boy stood to one side, looking down on her. He was tall, definitely buff and had the healthy golden tan of a Hispanic. He appeared to be only slightly older than her. Smiling at her looking him up and down, he sat down in the sand.
"They're playing here, hoping you'll be checking them out," he continued to grin. "Which I can see you are."
"What makes you say that?" she rolled her eyes.
"I saw you staring," he shrugged. "At least one of them has caught your eye."
"Maybe," she pulled a non-committal face.
"I've not seen you before," he continued. "You here for Spring Break?"
"Family," she nodded. "My grandparents live over there."
"We're here for spring break, too," the boy nodded. "A whole bunch of us come down most holidays. The parental units take it in turns to chaperone. We have a blast. Most of them are out there," he nodded at the soccer game.
"Don't you play?"
"I prefer to talk," he looked out to sea. "I mean, sure, I can play. But sometimes... it's just all the same you know? What's the point?" He looked at her. "So where are you from?"
"Raleigh," she smiled at him. "North Carolina. You?"
"Columbia," he chuckled. "South Carolina. So... so what's your name?"
"Leia. Leia Skye. And you're dead if you laugh. How about you?"
"I'm Raul," he grinned at her name. "Raul Rodriguez. Hey, listen. Are you busy tonight?"
"Not especially. Why?"
"I was kinda wondering... would you like to, you know, hang out tonight? For a while. Maybe grab an ice cream or something?"
She liked his confidence. Here was a guy who did not turn to jelly around her.
"Sure," Leia nodded. "What time?"
"How 'bout I call for you, say, eight?"
"No," she shook her head. She would not let Luke and Hans spoil her fun. "I'll meet you somewhere."
"Okay," he nodded. "There's an ice cream parlor up the beach," he pointed southward. "Kind of a hangout, called Scoops. I'll be there at eight."
"Eight," she nodded.
"Well, I gotta go now," he rose to his feet. "I'll see you later, Leia."
"Bye," she called to him.
She watched him until he vanished into the crowds of people who took pleasure in walking up and down the beach. Giving a soft smile, Leia wriggled a little to make herself more comfortable and closed her eyes. She soon fell into a light doze as she dreamed about herself walking along a moonlit beach, eating three different flavored ice cream cones, unable to decide which she preferred.
She heard the bounce of a ball first, followed by the tingling of sand hitting her. Then something large and wet hit her legs. With a shriek, Leia was sitting upright, staring at the black and orange soccer ball that rolled from her beach chair back onto the sand.
"Sorry," she heard someone running across the sand toward her. "I got a little carried away."
She looked up, intent on blasting him with waves of ice. It was the good looking jock.
"No harm done," she smiled.
"Well, that's a good thing," he squatted down on his heels. "My name's Lyle. Lyle Collini."
"Well, hello, Lyle Collini," Leia smiled. "You can call me Leia."
"Leia and Lyle," he snorted. "We sound like a comedy act."
"Well," she laughed. "I'll be the comic while you can be the butt of my jokes."
"So you think I'm a butt, huh?"
"You know what they say," Leia's eyes sparkled. "If the shoe fits..."
"Stick it up your butt?" Lyle finished.
"So are you a local?" she continued to giggle.
"Hey, Lyle," someone bellowed. "The freaken ball!"
Lyle stood up, tossed the ball into the air and kicked it back to his friends.
"Nah," he sat down in the sand. "I come from Atlanta. You know... Joe-Jaw."
"You don't sound southern."
"What can I say?" he shrugged. "I'm a regular Colonel Saunders though. How about you?"
"Raleigh."
"Spring break, too, huh?"
"Family. My grandparents live here."
"Yeah. My family comes here every year. It's okay I guess."
"This is my first time here."
"Really? Well, if you want, maybe I could show you around a little."
"I'd like that."
"Sure," Lyle nodded. "We can do that tomorrow, if you want. Listen. I'm a little tied up this afternoon. I promised some guys to help out in a basketball game. But I'll be free at nine. I'll treat you to an ice cream, if you're free."
"That sounds okay."
"Do you know Scoops? It's just up there. I'll see you at nine, 'kay?"
"See you at nine," Leia smiled as he scurried back into the game.
It was only as she watched him twist past the last defender and tap the ball into the goal that she remembered her date for eight o'clock.
"Oops."
* * *
Luke sat in a chair out in the yard, watching another sunset.
"What ya doing, Luke?" Allan called, emerging from the porch.
He crossed the yard and sat in the empty chair next to him. In one hand, he carried a beer, the glass bottle already dripping wet from the condensation that formed on it. In his other, he carried a can of Cherry Coke. This, too, was cold and wet. He handed the coke to Luke.
"Nothing," Luke sighed, popping open the can and taking a deep gulp.
"Where are the other's tonight? They both cleared out pretty quick after dinner."
"I don't know," he shrugged. "I think Leia has a date."
"What about Hans?"
"I think Hans feels a little... I don't know. He disappeared this afternoon, too."
"So how come you haven't made any friends?"
Luke just shrugged again.
"It's not good for you, you know, son," Allan sighed, taking a sip of his beer. "Being alone like this." He paused, taking a sip of beer. "I've seen how you are around the other two."
"They're my brother and sister," Luke looked up. "How else am I supposed to be?"
"It's more than that, Luke," Allan's gaze was intense. "I've seen how they lean on you, how they rely on you, as though they want you to make their decisions for them. And I've seen how they get when they don't like your decisions. They're taking advantage of you, Luke. You can't let them do that. They avoid being responsible for themselves so that they can blame you if it all goes wrong."
"But what can I do?" Luke's shoulders dropped. "Someone has to be responsible."
"I'll tell you what you can do, Luke," Allan placed his hand on his shoulder. "For now, I'll be the responsible one, okay? I'm the adult here. I'm supposed to be the one who tells you what you can and can't do. You're supposed to be the one who tries to test the limits and find ways around my rules and restrictions. Now go out there and act your age. That's fourteen, Luke, not forty."
"Yes sir," Luke finished his drink and rose from the chair.
Allan watched as he headed into town.
"And may God forgive me if he gets into trouble," he groaned. "'Cause Debra won't."
* * *
"Leia," Raul smiled as the tall blonde girl approached him. "Right on time."
"I was going to make you wait," she smirked. "But I have to be back by nine, so..."
"Curfew?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Something like that," she smirked.
"That's okay," he nodded. "I could use an early night myself. We're all heading over to Epcot tomorrow."
"I think we're going on Wednesday."
"So..." he steered her inside the building. "What do you want?"
They sat outside at a small table, for two, eating their ice creams and discussing their lives and their future plans.
"I'm not really sure what I want to do yet," Leia admitted. "But whatever it is, I don't have to worry about it for a while. I mean, I'm still only a freshman."
"Really?" Raul's eyes widened. "I figured you were older. Sophomore, at least. Maybe even a junior. Like me."
"So you're a junior, huh?" she grinned. "Senior next year. Have you got any college plans, yet?"
"Harvard, I hope," his eyes lit up. "I plan to study Law, but I want my future to be politics. Maybe I'll be the first non-Caucasian President."
"Well... that's some dream," Leia hid her laugh with her hand.
"Too grand, you think?" he caught her anyway.
"Well you gotta have ambition, right?"
"I'd just like to make a difference, you know?"
At ten minutes to nine, Leia and Raul rose from their table and headed back up the sidewalk that led home.
"So, can I see you again?" he turned to her and held both her hands.
"Sure," she nodded. "I'll be in the same place tomorrow. Drop by and say hello."
Raul leaned forward and kissed Leia on the cheek. He hurried away up the path. As soon as he was out of sight, Leia glanced at her watch and ran back to Scoops.
* * *
As soon as she slipped out through the Holiday Inn doors, Hans spotted her. She was wearing jeans now, and a strappy white top. Earlier that morning, she had worn a sundress. He had hidden behind a small cluster of palm trees and watched as she had found a beach chair shaded by one of the thatched sunshades. His eyes had almost popped out when she pulled her dress off to reveal her yellow bikini. She just lay there and soaked up the sun. A group of kids with skateboards gave her some hassle around lunchtime, but she appeared to have sent them off with a couple of sand fleas in their ears. She was definitely one scary girl. For lunch, she had bought a cream cheese bagel and a bottle of coke from one of the sidewalk vendors and settled back down to soak up the sun some more. Later, she paddled out into the ocean for a while before she finally packed up her things and returned to the hotel. Hans frowned, wondering if she might have seen him.
"I'll come back later," he nodded. "It was just too convenient that she barged into us like that. Out of all the people, it was me and Luke. And I'll keep an eye on you, Ms. DeLong. And if you are a threat..."
But she had looked so cute. Especially in that yellow bikini. And when she came out of the water, and her... the cold water had... and she was...
"We have to stay detached," he urged himself as he hurried home for a shower. A cold one.
And after having given Luke the slip, he was back. Watching her as she headed for a pizza restaurant. He would keep an eye on her, he had decided, just to make sure she was not working for 'them'.
* * *
"Hey, Leia," Lyle arrived promptly at nine. "Been waiting long?"
"Just got here," she beamed at him.
Behind Lyle, sitting at a table by himself in front of a laptop computer, she noticed the young guy look up and raise his eyebrows at her. She remembered seeing him there earlier, while she was talking with Raul. She ignored him - he looked like a geek anyway, with his top button fastened in this heat - and looked back at Lyle.
"So," he indicated the counter inside the store. "What can I get you?"
Ten minutes later, they were sitting down at the same table she had sat at earlier with Raul, sharing a huge Banana Split
"What do you think of Siesta Key?" Lyle looked up. "Liking it?"
"Yeah," Leia grinned. "It has a certain charm. And the guys are kinda cute."
"Like that one over there?" Lyle used his spoon to point.
She turned to look at the teenager Lyle had indicated. Their own age, she guessed, he was on the large side, with short, spiked hair. His small, round glasses sat on his chubby cheeks, rather than his nose and leant a rather porcine disposition to his eyes. His white T-Shirt had huge dark patches under his arms, and varicolored smears down his front. His hands were currently holding a grease stained wrapper to his mouth as he was currently inhaling some item of fast food purchased from one of the many stalls that lined the road.
"Oh, yeah," Leia turned back, laughing. "Be still, my beating heart. That's... a whole lot of boy."
"I played this game of football, a few weeks ago," Lyle smirked at her remark. "I was, uh, quarterback. They had this lineman who was as big as that. Man, this guy was huge! The first play, he just blew through my line like they weren't even there. Next thing I know, this mountain of lard has me flat on my back and I'm like, suffocating. His buddies pulled him up - or did they have to use a crane? Anyway, he looked down at me and you know what he said?"
"What?" Leia's eyes were sparkling with amusement.
"Get used to it, pretty boy."
"Oh my God," she roared with laughter. "I bet that was a long game."
"For him, it was," Lyle started to laugh with her. "We changed our plays after that. Went with the running game. We just ran left, or right, and had his sorry ass running all over the place. Man, I swear, he must have sweated off at least half his weight. He was puffing and panting..."
"So, you must be, what? A junior? A senior?"
"Heck, no," Lyle shook his head. "I'm only a freshman."
"So you must be kind of good then, huh?" Leia looked at him. "The QB at our school is a senior."
"I'm okay, I guess," Lyle nodded. "Are you a cheerleader at your school?"
"Please," Leia rolled her eyes. "What do you take me for? An airhead?"
"Ah. But a sophomore airhead?" he wondered. "Or junior?"
"Freshman, too, actually."
"No way," he leaned back in his seat. "Really?"
"Really," she nodded. "Hey, listen. Will you be around this Saturday afternoon?"
"Yeah," his eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"It's my birthday. We're having a party and you can come if you want."
"Cool," he nodded. "I'll look forward to it. But I hope this doesn't mean I have to wait that long to see you again."
* * *
"Color me impressed," the boy behind the laptop computer sat up, softly clapping his hands together.
"Excuse me?" Leia turned from watching Lyle walk away to face the geek. She was a little amused that he actually spoke to her.
"Two dates on one night," he chuckled. "That must have taken some organizing."
"Actually," Leia smiled. "It was an accident. I arranged one date in the morning, and then when I arranged the second one, it was only later that I remembered the first."
"But you pulled it off so well," he nodded. "Both of them are so into you and they both think you are into them. That was... wow. But somehow, neither of them really met...you. Did they?"
"Perhaps," she chuckled. "So want to make it three?"
"Huh?" he gaped.
"Yeah," Leia sat down, leaned across and unbuttoned the top button. "Buy me an ice cream and you can be date number three."
"Sure," he rose quickly, knocking over his chair. "Uh. Can you keep an eye on my computer?" He pushed the lid down.
"'Course I can," she placed a protective hand over it. "But can you just get me a drink? A hot chocolate if they have it. Lots of sugar. I've had all the ice cream I can stand for one night."
"Anders Karlvit," the boy sat down, placing the hot drink if front of Leia.
"Excuse me?" she looked up at him with a frown.
"My name," he paused. "It's uh... Anders. Anders Karlvit
Oh," she grinned. "Sorry. I thought you were saying something in a foreign language."
"Well, it is Swedish," he shrugged. "Not that I speak it, of course. And I already heard your name. Leia, right?"
"Right."
"My friends are so not going to believe this," he shook his head. "This 'is' a date, right?"
"If you want it to be," Leia laughed. "But I can't stay long. My brother's are probably freaking right now."
"Brothers?" Anders suddenly looked worried. "Big? Strong? The kind that push us geeks around?"
"Big, strong, yes," Leia nodded with a smile. "But pushing people around? So not their style. So tell me about yourself, Anders, 'cause I expect you know all about me already."
"Only what you wanted to let them know," he nodded.
"So?"
"Okay," he took a breath. "I'm a freshman, too. I come from Birmingham Alabama. As you can see, I'm into computers. I like to play the guitar, too, but I'm not that good. I hope to go to MIT and when I graduate, I plan to be as big a name as my hero. No prizes for guessing who that is. That's the ten cent tour, by the way."
"I can figure out the rest as I go along," Leia chuckled.
"So," Anders raised his eyes. "There's the geek, the jock and the humanitarian. Which one you gonna choose?"
* * *
I love it I love it!