The Story of My Life (CC, Mature) - Chapter 75 - Completed: 04/25/2021

[RoswellFan68]

Hopefully Serena is one of the good guy and is on Max's side.

[Parker1947]

While Isabel drove Olivia back to Roswell. Max in his cell was confronted by the past, and by the sigh of someone he did not know or had any remembrance off as these past seventeen years had been one of blissful ignorance of his true status. He worked to survive in prison each day, but no one knew who he was, and that he could probably escape if he tried hard enough but he did not because he wanted to take the penance for hurting Liz and making sure his family stayed safe. Trying to escape would cause too much heat on his family, because he knew he would not have been able to stay away from his wife. But of course, in the last week since he was allowed the knowledge that he had more at stake then his love for Liz, he constantly wondered if he should have just escape, grabbed Liz and their daughter, and run off to parts unknown.

Life on a desert island would feel better than these bruises he was reminded he had but knew it would not have helped anyone to disappear. Not being able to comeback? It would have been worse than those days on the run. He could not have done that to Liz. Not when she was so close to her family. And he would be hated by them even more than he knew he was today because he would have taken their daughter and granddaughter from them. And he knew he could not have left Michael and Isabel on their own, defenseless. While formative, reducing their squad even more, and taking his ability to heal was not the answer.

Still, it would have felt nice he thought now, but knew he was too upstanding to cause the destruction that would be necessary to break out of this prison. That was Tess, not me he told himself, and knew it was true. Tess would not have been able to be held behind bars for long. It had been useless to even try to restrict her movement. Which is why he did not vote for it in the first place. Sure, he knew he did not want what was done to her, I am not that heartless he told himself. But he knew that chances are given what she had already shown her ability to do, trying to put her behind bars, or even under federal arrest. It was not to help anything and would have caused even more pain and suffering.

He had not wanted that on his conscious even though Tess had not taken them into account when she caused the mayhem she did cause. “I don’t know you?” he asked as he tried to come to terms with the fact, he might have been watched all this time. “You are new around here?”

“In this skin, I am” Serena smiled as she continued to look around to make sure they had privacy. “I go by Scotti here at the prison, and no one has figured out, so I guess I am doing a good job with my disguise?”

“You refer to skins. Are you a skin?” Max said softly as flashes of his acquaintances with the skins when he was back in high school rang through his mind.

“No, but I am part of the resistance,” Serena admitted. “My job is to be a watcher of sorts since Kal abdicated his position?”

“Only two came with us?” Max asked as he looked through the bars to make sure no one was coming and could overhear. “Two males, no females.”

“I didn’t come down with the original two,” Serena smiled. “I came later…”

“When?” Max asked because none of this made sense. “This doesn’t make sense…”

“Much of your existence doesn’t make a lot of sense, but that is the lot we have been dealt with, but you asked a question, and I must answer…” Serena smiled. “I am one of Kal’s illegitimate protégé”

“You’re his daughter?” Max asked of the true meaning of Serena’s words.

“Yes,” Serena replied. “I was left on Antar with my mother when Kal and the one you call Nascedo took on the mission to come to Earth to watch of you, and the others. You know they don’t think much of females on that planet, so my mother and I had reduced status, which became even more reduced with more time that advanced, and life goes slow up there, and I ended up going into the resistance with Courtney and others, as we tried to make for a peaceful return to normal.”

“They didn’t think much of me, I am told?” Max asked.

“They still don’t,” Serena allowed. “But you’re not wanting to return there, right…”

“Nope,” Max muttered. “Even if I could get out of this place?” he asked. “This is my life. My planet and I want to stay here, and I therefore I have no intention of wanting to go back,” he sighed as he thought of his other life, and what he did know of it. Hell, no would I want to go back to that kind of existence. Freedom is all I need “I don’t get, it how did you get here?”

“I came on Tess’s ship,” Serena replied to Max’s surprise. “Before you say that I couldn’t have well, I did, but I only came out once she created the carnage she did, and before the troops were called into investigate.”

“You have been here all this time?” Max asked.

“It took some time to get used this planet you see, as I came in an identity that didn’t have the necessary ability to survive in this foreign environment. Tess didn’t have that problem, because she had spent so much time on this planet, and so she was better suited to make a move with her return even if her moral compass didn’t make a return with her” If she had a moral compass to begin with Serena mused. Ava was not one to think things through, no matter the body she had or the planet she was on?

“She caused a lot of damage?” Max asked.

“Yes, she did” Serena agreed. “Once I knew what was happening and was able to take on a life here on this planet, I could see what she had done, but I came on her ship because I didn’t trust her, and we knew the watchers we did send was only cause confusion and harm on this planet, or not doing anything, as was the case of my father.”

“Did Kal know you were here?” Max asked.

“Yes,” Serena acknowledged. “I made my introduction before he died,” she sighed as it had been sad to see him in the state that Max had left him and he was bitter about it, and his inability to get back to his established life here on Earth. Once that became impossible Kal had to reduce his presence and unofficially but officially retire from Hollywood and go into seclusion before health concerns took his life. “He left me his papers…” she acknowledged. “So, I knew what he had done, or didn’t do, and I knew what he did here in Roswell before we were introduced to each other when he cleaned up the mess that Tess had created.”

“So, he caused the explosion?” Max muttered as his sister’s theories were now making sense. “And he blamed me because he was bitter by how I treated him?”

“It was a bonus,” Serena allowed. “He didn’t know your father and mother had come by evidence that could be used to convict you, and then you foolishly confessed so you were out of the way, and he got his thrills by how screwed up things, and when he died, I inherited his role of making sure everything stayed calm here in Roswell for your wife, and your daughter” she sighed. “I actually took my role seriously, so I sent the material to your boy.”

“Why?” Max asked.

“He’s your heir,” Serena muttered. “Your daughter is too but she has a different life plan. Your son needed to know his origins. You can’t keep unknowing because he has abilities that he hasn’t even attempted to tap into, and so I figured if wanted answers than I would give them to him”

“He was better off not knowing…” Max muttered. “I don’t want either of my children to face the burdens we did as we were growing up”

“That is not on you to decide,” Serena muttered. “He’s your son, your blood, and he needs know who he is?”

“He’s not my son because I gave up that role,” Max sighed. “We might share the same blood but when I chose adoption, I signed over any right to call him my son. And before I did, I was told that he was human, and he was not one of us?”

“He’s blood,” Serena muttered as she thought of Tess or Ava on Antar “Ava needed a reason to come back. The boy did have gifts, and he was declared the worthy heir of you, and your royal line but Ava saw that she was expendable. Khivar was going to take control of the child, and she was not needed anymore because she gave them what they wanted. Your child. She was not a passive person by nature, and they did not want to allow her a chance to control the child, and she saw her time was limited, so she grabbed the child and made tracks back here to Earth. We saw the way things were going, and they installed me on the ship, but neither of us knew how to pilot it, and that is how it crashed.”

“So, Tess was looking out for herself?” Max asked.

“Doesn’t she always?” Serena anyways, but put her hat on to cover up her hair, and heard the calls of “Scotti” and knew she was on, “I have to get back but know we have eyes on you…”

“Are you going to help me get out of here?” Max asked.

“That is something we’re working on,” Serena muttered as she handed Max a package that Max took. “Keep your eyes close to the ground, and don’t make any waves.”

“Why let me stay all this time here if you knew?” Max asked.

“I can do only do so much,” Serena muttered as she walked away without giving Max a firm answer as Max sat down on bed and looked into space and knew he did not know if any of the information he now knew helped or hurt him. Still why anyone would want him here. Max figured why Kal would because he had screwed things up.

So, what was he doing to do with the information?

He did not know as he unwrapped the package and found a phone, a burner phone that was only set up to text. It had his daughter’s name, and his wife’s name, among the contact, and even if did not understand his new lot in life. He was grateful for the ability to contact the outside world as he quickly placed it under his bed, away from prying eyes.

*

Isabel was still driving towards Roswell. Traffic was insane on the highway, and it was taking forever, and she could see her niece was staring into space and not talking. “Are you okay?” she wondered of the teenager. Olivia nodded as she turned to focus on her aunt. Isabel did not think she was because seeing her father in that kind of prison was a nightmare for anyone, and it had been hell for her, and she was not sixteen with the weight of the world. She had been watched the road go by, and the businesses, and the real world that existed out here and she did not know how to handle her first prolonged visit with her father. A man who had been absent all her life, and who was contrary to all the media accounts. Someone who she sensed was a different person than who he had been depicted.

“I am fine,” Olivia acknowledged to her aunt “Thank you for taking me with you”

“No problem,” Isabel smiled and knew her niece had to be troubled because her visit with her brother had been full of conflicting emotion on the teenager and she hated that for Olivia but knew the girl needed to know her father had not been a monster. Max was defined by his love for her mother. Liz had been the one and only for her brother. Some are lucky to get that chance. She knew she herself had to have some false starts before she found her happy ending with her husband. Kyle had been her one. Max had known Liz had been his one, right from third grade. It had taken time for her. “I wanted you to get to know the man who my brother is and try to forget what the media was painting him to be.”

“The media doesn’t know the real man, do they?” Olivia asked. “Regarding my father?”

“No,” Isabel acknowledged as he thought of their burden in this life. “Olivia, I would love to shout to the world who we are because sometimes taking the ability to hold something over us is half the battle. But it was not the answer back then when things could have turned against us if the world knew. Especially since they had to answer for the army base explosion. Knowing what we are, or what we can do, would have gave them a lot of questions, and put us all in danger because of some of the choice we had done. To save us, and stupid stuff.”

“Mom says you all don’t have clean hands?” Olivia asked. “It seems to me that it is unfair to see Dad punished, when…”

“We all got off scot-free?” Isabel asked. “Of course, that is a fair characterization Olivia and don’t think Michael or I, and even your mother do not think about the same thing or how we wish your father was not the fall guy when we all should have been in there too given some of the stuff we did back in the day. Of course, your father could have been in there for other stuff to than what he was convicted of. Unfortunately, we all have a laundry list of crimes that we are darn lucky we did not get caught for, and unfortunately your father did get caught, for something he didn’t ultimately do…”

“It sucks,” Olivia muttered as she thought of her father with all those visible bruises and unable to heal them because of where he was, and forced to live a very different life than the rest of them did, and it didn’t seem all that fair to Olivia and Isabel could see the inner conflict in her niece, and figured this was probably why her brother had made the decision he had all those years before, before of course he knew he had a child. Max did not want Liz coming to the prison and seeing him there. “Which is why it’s unfair to have to go and see someone we love in a place like that…”

“I agree,” Isabel allowed as it was hell.

“Then how can you deal with it?” Olivia thought as she thought of her aunt’s profession. “I mean if you remove your relationship to Dad. It is your job at the end of the day?” Olivia asked. “How can you handle that kind of thing?”

“Because nine times out of ten it is not your father, that I deal with it, in that kind of situation. It is someone else’s brother, sister, father, or even husband” Isabel acknowledged “and knowing I have a brother who is in the same situation, that only makes it all the more personal for me to want to make sure the case is treated fairly, and if they are forced to go to a place like my brother is in, than they deserve that the case was conducted fairly, and they were not railroaded like your father was.”

“Dad confessed,” Olivia muttered.

“To protect the rest of us,” Isabel sighed as she thought back to those times. “He felt he was protecting us by that sacrifice, and maybe he was, because they were coming after us, and I hate to think what might have happened to any of us, and most of you or your mother if they had actually gotten a hold of her, and on you” she sighed. “As I have said before. They would have loved to have your mother in their custody and so yes, your father did the noble thing.”

“That took him out of our lives?” Olivia muttered with irritation that she had to grow up without a father because people had to out for her father, and because he himself confessed to protect them.

“Yeah, that was unfair, and sucks…” Isabel acknowledged.

“But he’s innocent?” Olivia asked as she recalled the tape that showed one thing, but the knowledge of his other crime was something else. “I heard the two of you debating about whether it was Tess, or this Kal person. Who is he by the way?” she wondered as she heard the name Kal and she didn’t know him and couldn’t picture him.

“Kal Langley,” Isabel sighed.

“Mom I think told me a bit of about him,” Olivia asked. “Or I think she did, but he was one of your watchers, right?”

“Yes,” Isabel acknowledged as she knew it was a long story and Max had not looked that great in some of it “Your father had a run in with him in his senior year of high school, and the parting wasn’t sweet,” she sighed Not by a long shot “We did not think he was in the situation because of how things ended, but obvious we thought wrong”

“If Tess was not the one who blew up the building. Was it this Kal person?” Olivia asked.

“No conclusive proof, only some theories at this point” Isabel allowed as she entered Roswell limits. “To get your father to come home to you and your mother, we are going to need hard proof because the government will want the world to continue to think your father is guilty?” she sighed. They are not going to want to look like they shrink at the prospect of getting justice and put an innocent man in prison for life.

“Do you think you can get him off the hook?” Olivia asked as she felt dazed at the prospect of having the ability to have a father. “And to bring him home?”

“I can’t promise Olivia,” Isabel muttered. “As I said the government will not want to be admitting they were wrong, and they knew it from the beginning. They had evidence it was Tess back then, but they didn’t do anything about it?” she sighed. “There was a body. But they could never truly pin it on Tess so they went another way when they had someone else, they could claim was responsible and that was you father…”

“But if you give them a new candidate?” Olivia asked. “They could grab onto that, and plus, they got them to convict my father on charges related to my mother, so it’s not like in the general public he’s going to look like a pawn in all this?” she sighed because she doubted her grandparents on the Parker side of the family would ever look at her father and not see the video tape no matter the times her mother told them that it wasn’t the whole story.

“Someone who is now dead,” Isabel sighed. “They will want someone to blame,” she sighed. “The army base is a bigger deal than those charges related to your mother, and they won’t care they got him convicted on those charges, when they have an army base that got destroyed?”

“Sometimes we don’t get what we want,” Olivia muttered. “If we give them Kal Langly as the guilty person, if you can prove it that is. Then they can still put the blame on him, and they do not have to admit they were wrong because I mean none of you though this Kal person was a legitimate suspect, right?”

“No, you are right about that,” Isabel sighed as she turned onto the Guerin’s street because Olivia had wanted to be dropped off at Michael and Maria’s place so she could talk to Amelia about school related homework. “We do not always get what we want or hope for,” she sighed. “But it has given us more hope than we had a week ago,” she sighed as she stopped the car. “Do you want me to wait?”

“Nope, I am fine, I can walk home. It’s not that far,” Olivia smiled. “Thank you for the drive and letting me talk it out,” she sighed as she watched her aunt drive away. Sighing at the images that flooded her brain of the main who had helped give her life, and who was stuck in a hell hole while people who had been guilty got off scot-free.

It did not seem fair to Olivia, but she was back in her real world, and she did shake it off and rang the doorbell of Amelia’s house.

But Amelia did not answer the bell.

Alex did.

Jeez she muttered to herself. “Alex”

“Olivia,” Alex smiled. “What are you doing here?” he asked as she asked to her to come in, and Olivia nodded. “I didn’t expect you. You should know that Amelia is not home yet.”

“Where is she?” Olivia asked as she remembered her last text message from Amelia to meet her at the house, and she had written when she left the prison that she and Isabel had left, and were on their way, and traffic had kept them, so she was surprised that Amelia had not yet made it home.

“Out with friends,” Alex acknowledged. “She was bored once the on-line thing she was doing was finished with, and I was studying for that math test we have tomorrow,” he sighed. “Mom and Dad aren’t home either.”

“So, we’re alone?” Olivia asked as she was reminded that she had that same exam to study for once she was home, but math did come easy for her, and she knew she did not have much to worry about in the class. Unlike Alex who took it with less ease, and that was always the fun of their study sessions. Sessions that were less frequent in recent days.

“Yes,” Alex nodded. “But I don’t think Amelia will be long. Did she know you were coming by?” he asked as he knew it was now awkward between them since their breakup. Awkwardness had never been their issue before, and now it was. “Are you okay, is everything alright?” he asked because did have concern for his former girlfriend former, that still does not sound right he mused.

“Everything is fine. I was visiting my father with my Aunt Isabel, so I missed the seminar, so your sister offered to share her notes from that on-line seminar thing we had to do,” Olivia sighed “I need to compare them to mine when I download the thing when I get home…” she murmured as she trailed off as they heard the rumble of a motor stop in front of the house, and she was curious because she hadn’t known of that particular sound before, as they opened the door, and were shocked to see Amelia get off back of a motorcycle.

“Whoa,” Olivia whispered as she saw Amelia pass the helmet to her half brother. Zack.

“Damn it,” Alex muttered. “Something tells me that Mom and Dad are not going to be happy about this development,” Alex muttered as they watched as his twin got off the back of the bike and was put off by the ease of their conversation back and forth as he knew his parents would not be happy.

They would not be…

[totallizfan]

Maybe Liz will be Max's next visitor.
They really need to see each other... up close and personal.
Hope Serena can help Max find a way out of this mess.

[keepsmiling7]

Surprise.......Kal's daughter and her arrival......
We agree, Tess had no moral compass.
Kal continues to hate Max and cause trouble.
Now we know how Zack received the material on his origins
Who should arrive on the motorcycle with Amelia.......

[Superman86]

Maybe Liz will be Max's next visitor.
They really need to see each other... up close and personal.
Hope Serena can help Max find a way out of this mess.

Yes totally agree Liz should visit Max again with no barrier, Anyhow can't wait to see how the Serena avenue plays out

[Parker1947]

Red flags did immediately leap into Maria head as she turned the corner as she walked home from Glitter as it was a nice day that day and she wanted to walk as sometimes that allowed her to get out her aggression on life worries and she had a ton at the moment, so she treasured the walk. As she turned onto her street, she saw a motorcycle whip by, and she would not have noticed except she had the strong idea that she recognized the female on the back of the bike. One with long flowing blonde hair, and one who did not have permission to be on such a vehicle. Damn it Amelia Maria muttered to herself. The last thing I need is more problems, and ones coming from you because she knew whose bike it had to be.

Since Amelia’s boyfriend was this semester in England with family, and Greg was not one to be riding a motorcycle. Given Greg Simpson was as upstanding and All American as they come these days, and from what Maria and Michael could gather, their daughter and Greg had been happy since they began to date the year before and been able to handle the distance once Greg was forced to another country due to a short-term parental job transfer. She and Michael had grudgingly accepted the relationship because Amelia had a good head on her shoulder, and she did not imagine two fifteen years could get into much trouble together. Amelia had never been one to give them much of an issue.

Of course, she tended to forget her own time as a fifteen-year-old, and how much trouble she had gotten in with the love of her life. Michael. But most of that time, the trouble had not come from the romantic variety. It had been due to alien chaos, and the fact she had fallen in love with an alien, who had changed her and her friend’s world. Romantically they had more downs than ups until they were eighteen, and she got pregnant, and soon they were committed and were expecting parents.

She remembered those times and she did not want her daughter to face the same angst that had often come to them. Especially when she already had her brother facing adult worries because Alex and Olivia had decided to make things complicated before deciding to put the breaks on their relationship too late.

So, she did not need the reminder of how love can be messy. She saw too much of it in her own life, and in the life of her best friend who was in love with someone who could not be with her, and she did not need it for her children.

And especially not Tess Harding’s son.

The blonde hair was unnerving Maria admitted to herself as she picked up her walking. Sure, her own daughter modeled after her, and had blonde hair, but still, when she looked at Zack, she did not see Max. She saw Tess, and because the boy had been raised away from them; how was she to know if he was the good or bad seed?

Of course, she doubted he was the bad seed. When Max’s DNA was in the equation too, and Max was the definition of a good guy if you ignore the fact he is in prison for murder, and assault Maria told herself. Max is a good guy. He took the bullet for the rest of us or most of all her husband and Isabel.

Whom should be in prison along with Max for the crimes they had done as a teenager? Max had the unfortunate misfortune of being caught for the wrong crime.

Still a mother wanted to protect her only daughter. Amelia had a good head on her shoulder, but still, a girl can be led astray by a good-looking boy. Especially one who was mysterious, and different and vastly different from the life she had led until now. So, Maria could not help but have qualms of the direction she saw her fifteen-year-old going in, especially when she had one child on the cusp of being an adult too early.

“Amelia,” Maria mumbled as she approached the parked bike as Amelia was passing the helmet to the driver, who looked amused to Maria. Amelia realized it was her mother staring at her, while at the door, was her brother and best friend. Not the situation she expected to be in.

“Mom, please don’t say anything, okay” Amelia pleaded to her mother as Maria could only shake her head at the scene being played out this is not how I thought it would go. “Zack was only giving me a ride home?”

“I can see that” Maria muttered. “I don’t get why you would need one in the first place?” she asked. “You know you aren’t supposed to be on a motorcycle. Your father and I have given you those warnings in the past?”

“Sorry Mrs. Guerin,” Zack smiled. “I ran into your daughter on her way home, and she had to meet Olivia here, and she was running late, so I offered her a ride. It is as simple as that. It was purely safe, and not dangerous in the least.”

“Somehow I doubt that” Maria muttered as she remembered her time on Michael’s bike. One of the reasons why she had given her daughter such a warning. Michael went along with it because he did not want his daughter to be any danger and did not want her to run in that crowd. Michael had known full well he had a different life than the one he and Maria had been trying to create for the twins.

“I better go,” Zack smiled at Amelia. “See you around?”

“Thank you for the ride,” Amelia smiled as she watched as the bike drove off as she turned around and faced her disapproving mother. “Mom, seriously, all we’re doing is being friends. And he was being a gentleman in getting me a lift.”

“Honey,” Maria muttered. “You didn’t have to take it, and you had other methods of getting home?’

“God,” Amelia muttered. “Zack is nothing,” she said as she stalked off towards the door that was still open and past her brother and best friend. “It’s simple as I was running late because I had been spending time with Patsy and Lena, and I promised to meet Olivia here to give her the notes, and Zack just happened past…”

“You should be more careful?” Maria sighed.

“Mom, seriously, nothing is going on there” Amelia sighed. “I am still seeing Greg, and everything is good there, so why would I want to start anything else when I have Greg in my life. Greg is even coming to town next month with his mother, and he’s coming to my birthday party because they will be visiting his grandparents that weekend,” she sighed. “You don’t have to worry about anything related to Zack okay,” she mumbled. “Olivia, I have those notes upstairs. Do you want to come and get them?”

“Sure,” Olivia smiled as she saw the concern on Maria’s face, and she shared it too. Still, it allowed her to get away from the awkwardness that reigned between her and Alex, so she took the out and followed Amelia upstairs to her bedroom. While Maria just watched her daughter walk off, now worried about both of her children.

“Mom.” Alex tried.

“Not now Alex, not now” Maria muttered as she stormed into the kitchen for a snack, and a stiff drink.

*

“Really Amelia?” Olivia tried as she walked upstairs and into Amelia’s bedroom and sat on the bed and watched her friend played with her computer, to bring up her notes, so she could print them off as she was taking stock of scene, she had witnessed downstairs. She sensed why Maria was concerned because they really did not know Zack all that well, and whose to say he wasn’t like his mother and not her father, even though he had been adopted by a good family and raised to be normal “That was quite the scene?”

“Mom doesn’t have anything to worry about,” Amelia muttered as she was still annoyed that anyone would question her motives “Zack is not my type”

“Someone who is older, leather jacket hot and he drives a motorcycle, and he’s not your type?” Olivia asked out loud with a laugh as she knew her friend. While she and Greg were going great. She knew in the past that Amelia tended to have her eyes wonder to the bad boys in their classes. “I find that hard to believe Amelia. Anyone with eyes will have to notice him?”

‘Whether he’s good looking or not is beside the point Olivia,” Amelia muttered I have a boyfriend and I am not looking for anything more she muttered to herself. Why do people not trust me? Greg and I are fine, as I told Mom. Greg is coming back for my birthday party?”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t notice someone who is looking your way?” Olivia asked. “Especially when your boyfriend is away and you can only do too much homework, and spend time with only so many friends?”

“Why would I want the trouble?” Amelia wondered. “Greg is a good guy, and loves me, and we have been able to handle him being away, and that is coming to a close?” she sighed because she did loved Greg and miss him. Yes, Zack is cute, and hot as hell, but I am not looking for complications that come from him, because Amelia was not stupid, I know Zack is different, and complex. Why would I want that in my life?

“Are you sure?” Olivia asked.

“Being away was only for the semester, and he is going to be coming back” Amelia smiled. “That was the agreement he had with his parents, and if they can’t come back then he’s staying with his grandparents next year, so he does want to come home, and I can’t wait until he does, and I am not looking for anything with anything else.”

“If you say so?” Olivia sighed.

“Do you want the notes or not?” Amelia asked.

“Yes, I do” Olivia smiled at the diversion tactic from her friend because she Olivia was a master of them too because while she did not doubt Amelia wanted Greg. But Zack was new, and exciting, and she could not imagine her friend not falling for her mysterious half brother’s charm whether it led to anything or not.

“So, how was your big visit with your father?” Amelia asked as she finished printing off the notes and handed them to her friend. “How was it to see him again?”

“Different,” Olivia conceded as she remembered her visit with her father. She did not know how to explain it because she knew she still could not grasp a picture of the man who had helped her mother bring her to life. One thing she was clear that he did love her mother, and yet she still did not completely believe it. “It is complicated and a little hard to explain”

*

After Isabel had dropped off Olivia at Michael and Maria’s house. She drove over to see Liz because she knew they had things to talk about and was pleasantly surprised to find her husband’s car in the driveway. Choosing to take that a good omen. Knocking on the door, Liz came to the door and smiled as she let in her sister-in-law. “Do I see my husband’s car?”

“He stopped in to pay a visit,” Liz smiled as let Isabel into the house. The craziness of their life, and the fact Kyle had been once her boyfriend and how she was married to his wife’s brother was fascinating, and despite the interconnections, she knew Isabel and Kyle were meant to be together. It was something that had gone right over the years. If she and Max could not have their dreams. She wanted them for her friends, even if she did not care much for the concept of love because she had been brutally denied the one, she loved as she looked behind her friend and did not seen a sullen teenager “I don’t see my daughter with you?”

“She had to stop in and pick up some notes from Amelia,” Isabel smiled. “I am sure she won’t be long. So, how are you holding up?” she asked as they walked into the living room as Kyle noticed his wife had arrived, and he got up and approached and kissed his wife. “Where are the kids?” she asked of her husband who handed her the drink he had recently poured and went to the bar and got him another for himself.

“Sleep over with my father and Amy,” Kyle acknowledged as he turned around to face his wife. “Amy was taking them shopping and treating them to a salon visit, and then dinner, and a movie with Jim. So, how did it go with the big visit?” he asked as Liz’s attention zoomed onto the discussion.

“It went well enough,” Isabel muttered as she hated thinking of how her brother was in a big building, with guards and behind bars, and cement walls and they could go on with their daily lives and be happy and carefree and Max could not have that, and it was much more apparent now that she had taken the reopened the wound and engaged with her brother.

“What does that mean?” Liz asked as she took her own drink because she did not know what to expect.

“What do you think?” Isabel sighed. “It’s always hell to go there, and know there isn’t anyway for him to come home with me, and if the prison and the government had their way then they will make sure he spends the rest of his life in that place, and we’ll never get him out of there…”

“Yeah,” Liz muttered because she hated knowing she had a husband who was stuck in such a plate and that she had only seen him once in the nearly seventeen years that he had been in that god awful place since they married. “Is he okay?”

“Better than he was yesterday,” Isabel said as encouragement to her sister-in-law. “That is progress I guess” she smiled. “Yesterday,” Isabel remembered. “The depression was there. The bruises were marginally better, but because of where he is, he can instantly get better but today it was better, and especially since he didn’t reject my visit like I feared, and of course he was happy to see Olivia.”

“How was it with Olivia?” Liz as fearful that this would only confuse and complicate her daughter’s life, and she knew her daughter did not need such complications when her life had enough of them already. “Was it too much for her?”

“I think it was fine. You can ask her when she got home,” Isabel smiled to assured Liz. “But it did get her annoyed that her father has to be in there, and there is very little we can do about it as she doesn’t know why we couldn’t have given them Tess as a suspect or anyone else but her father” she sighed as she thought of her talk with her niece in the car on the drive back to town.”

“There was no proof, and with her dead” Liz muttered as she knew she more than anyone would have loved to say Tess Harding was the guilty party given the havoc the blonde had done to their life, and who she had already taken from their life. She knew that she had been who the government was after before they found the scent that got them Max. But with Tess dead, it was easy to take Max as a credible suspect because he confessed. And then when they found the videotape of Vermont, which meant they had something on them, and Max confessed to save them the danger of them picking them up.

“And it doesn’t help now we have a new suspect” Isabel muttered as she took a sip of her drink and wished for something stiffer. “And there is very little we can do about it?”

“Kal?” Kyle asked as he had known his wife’s suspicions, but Liz did not, and so this was going to be a shock, and both were right because Liz looked confused. “Sorry, I forgot we hadn’t told you of the latest suspicions?”

“What’s going on?” Liz asked as she eyes lifted at the thought of hope creeping into her gut. “Can we pin it on someone else?”

“Unfortunately, no, not at the moment,” Isabel muttered. “Because it’s the same situation as we’re in with Tess. The suspect is now dead, and the government is not going to want someone to pin it on, and they don’t want to admit they were wrong, and they sent someone innocent to prison for life” she sighed. “But we do have a name?”

“Whom?” Liz asked as she could not think of any name that would mean anything to her

“Kal Langley,” Isabel muttered. “And the more I think about it and as I was running it through with your husband the more convinced that we’re right on this regard, and still we can’t do much with it, unless the government will allow blame to be pinned on a dead man?” she sighed. “And before they can make that decision, well, we will need proof that he was the one who did it.”

“Kal,” Liz asked. “The second watcher?”

“Yes,” Isabel acknowledged. “Zack gave us theories that Kal was around this town seventeen years ago, and one thing led to another, and we’re now running with the theory that to clean up for the disastrous re-entry of Tess, Kal made his way here to Roswell to clean up the mess, and he is the one who blew up the building?”

“But they found Tess in the building. Mostly ash, but enough DNA was left to give them an identification that she had been there, and she was now dead?” Liz sighed as she remembered that she had drove the woman there, and suspected Tess was up to something, and she had allowed it to happen. She had not known it would end up being pinned on her husband because Max of all people would confess to the crime.

“That they did,” Isabel nodded as she knew she and Michael had worked in their way to make sure Tess was dead, and she had not put another’s body in the building and was faking her death but no, Tess Harding was indeed dead. Of course, in many ways they wished she had not died because they would have a suspect to feel the government trying to solve the case. Of course, now, they were operating under the assumption that Tess was innocent of at least that monstrous deed. Still, the idea of blaming Tess for all that went wrong in their life was tempting but they also knew she would not have been able to be behind bars without going on a rampage. If she could not even come back to this planet without killing a room full of people. No way was she going to be able to stay in prison to pay for killing Alex and making their lives miserable.

“Why would Kal have done it?” Liz asked as she tried to grasp the new factors in their life. “Why would he allow the blame to go on Max, or for Max to take the blame?”’

“She was our watcher, and he hated Max for forcing him back to his old body, and it would require too much work to try to get his humanity back, and so he blamed my brother for that even though Max was justified in trying to find his son.”

“Yeah, he was,” Liz sighed at the thought of that time, and the resentment she had of the boy and still did in some ways despite trying to make peace with it, knowing the boy was back and not a baby anymore. A grown man who had his own command of his life that was vastly different from his birth parents.

“Sorry,” Isabel muttered because she knew Liz still had issues.

“No, it’s alright, because I am trying to make peace with it” Liz sighed. “It’s part of the past. Our past. Just like I told my daughter. I am not happy with parts of it, but it did happen, and we have to make do with what did happen…”

Isabel nodded. “Still, Kal was our watcher and he probably felt he had to act when it looked like we were being threatened, and yes, Tess was threatening our way of life. So, I can see that he saw what was happening and came to town to clean up the mess that Tess had created for us, and saw you drive Tess to the army base, and acted before Tess could blow up the place. Of course, he would not have known my brother would have confessed nor the fact our parents would have so much incriminating evidence that it would make life difficult for us, and that Max would confess to save us from being discovered. “Allowing Max to take the blame for his crime probably made his day?”

“God,” Liz sighed as she remembered how Max had explained to her that he had ticked Kal off with his conduct, and given at the same time, he was ticking her off by the way he was ignoring her when he was in California, and getting into the mission and forgetting about those he was leaving before, so it did not shock Liz to think that it would leave Kal with a negative impression of her husband, although the watcher had given him one last warning that Max was losing too much, and risking too, and her husband had apparently take the warning to heart and come home groveling to her, so yes, she could imagine a scenario where Kal needing to clean up Tess’s mess unaware what that would set off, and maybe a little aware too, but given all he had lost, he was prepared to make Max’s life miserable “How can we prove it?”

“Hell, if I know,” Isabel muttered.

*

Nearby Olivia was walking home after finishing her visit with her friend and ignoring the elephant in the room with Alex and she knew she had to get home and work on her homework that she had been ignoring so that she could visit with her father, and so she like Maria took the time on her walk home to stew abut her life. Trying to figure out how to make it come together, and give herself a winning hand, than the one she had dealt herself with her conduct in recent months. She had known she had been risking too much, and that risk had come back to haunt her, and so she was stewing, and out of the corner of her eye near the Crashdown, she saw Zack. Oh, great she muttered as she saw her half brother approach instead of staying away, which was how Olivia would rather keep him on this day “Are you following me?”

“Nope,” Zack muttered as it had not occurred to him that his half sister would take this route on her way home, after spending time at the Guerin household. “How was I supposed to know that you would be taking this way home. You are heading home, right?”

“Yes,” Olivia confirmed. She rather not deal with her half brother right now, but knew she had no choice and it allowed her to stew over his little show “You know, I saw your little stunt earlier at Amelia’s place,” Olivia asked of her mysterious half brother as his existence was once more a reminder that life didn’t often go how you expected it to, and it was a new phenomenon for her, but it also existed in the time of her parents, when they were young and in love and before Zack became a reminder of how wrong life could go, but also a reminder how lucky her parents had been to get a second shot before once again, it all went bad Love sucks “What do you think you were doing with Amelia?” she asked as her mind came back to her best friend, and her half brother’s conduct.

“Giving the girl a ride home, so she could meet up with you,” Zack sighed. “Is it a crime to be a gentleman these days. I would think you would relish that than the opposite?” he asked. “In this day and age. You should take a gesture as sincere because it was. I was helping her out…”

“I doubt the last thing you are, is a gentleman?” Olivia muttered as she hated how the guy tended to push her buttons. While Amelia seemed to get on quite well with the guy but to Olivia all she saw was confusion, and the past when she looked at Zack.

“Are you profiling me again Olivia,” Zack muttered. “Blaming me for being the product of whatever closeness my birth mother had with our father?”

“One night,” Olivia muttered. “One night is all she had with my father because he loved someone else, and your mother had to manipulate him to even get him to see her…” she muttered wanting to forget that her mother set up the circumstances of eventual pairing. Why did you have to listen to this future version of Dad she muttered to herself.

“One night. Which is all I am told is what he had with your mother too?” Zack asked. “Although I give him credit because at least he put a ring on her finger?”

“You are an ass…” Olivia muttered.

“I may be an ass but we’re family” Zack smiled. “You will never be able to get rid of me!”

“Even if I can’t for the moment wish you away,” Olivia muttered. “Why don’t you do me a huge favor okay and stay away from Amelia!”

[keepsmiling7]

Mother's will always protect their daughters, the best they can.
Kal is the guilty party......unfortunately Phillip has incriminating evidence.
Olivia and Zack had an interesting argument.

[totallizfan]

Update...yes!
So much angst and turmoil. Lets hope someone will put things right.
Maybe....(Liz&Serena?)

[Parker1947]

“My goodness, you are trying to protect me, are you not?” Zack said with some amusement because he knew the last thing his half sister was trying to do was protecting him because he knew she would rather not deal with him or acknowledge him. “I am touched, really I am,” he muttered with some amusement to the frown and down right scowl on Olivia’s face. “I didn’t know you had it in you…” he laughed at the distrust on her face as he could not tell if they were ever going to know what they were to each other because they still had a long way to go to get rid of the loathing on her face over his creation.

“Jerk,” Olivia muttered. “Of course not, because you and I don’t know each other, and I am not that anxious to change that to be honest with you” she allowed to Zack’s amusement because was also confused by what to do with her, “What I am doing though is I am protecting Amelia. She is family, and you’re only a member of this fraternity because your mother manipulated my father…”

“Hey,” Zack sighed at the reflex of his half sister to blame his biological mother for everything. “Will you stop blaming her please, because it takes two to tango” he muttered with annoyance at his sister’s assumptions. “No one was asking for him to do anything with my mother if he was so in love with his girlfriend, or anyone else for that matter. Given that he chose to go there then it is not all on her”

“You don’t know the situation,” Olivia sighed Tess was asking for it to happen as she was planning it from day one.

“And you do?” Zack asked as he observed her frown as if his question hit on button in her. “I thought so. Neither of us really know what went down during that time. So, stop blaming me for existing. Because neither of us asked for what happened to us.”

“You got a happy family?” Olivia muttered as she stood annoyed that Zack had gotten everything she had wished for, and she had been stuck with a life that only included her mother, and her extended family. A family sure but it was not the same without her father.

“You got a mother and family who loves you,” Zack sighed as if he could read Olivia’s mind, and it continued to irritate her as she stood there unmoving. “You didn’t do half bad if you had someone to love you. So, what if you did not have dear old dad in your life because he chose to confess to something, they say he did not do, and sacrifice himself. “Yes, I had a great family who loved me, and still do. But still, that does not help me when I am different from them. All I want is answers, and I came to this town looking for them. I am not looking to start anything with your friend. It is as simple as it can be between us. She has been friendly. Which is more than I can say about any of you. Your mother barely tolerates me, for good reason because looking at me obviously brings back bad memories for her. But you really do not have any reason to treat me like scum.”

Damn he is right Olivia muttered to herself because he did have a point. Her mother had a reason to be disturbed by his presence, but she really did not because neither of them asked for any of this, and they existed because of their parents, and it is not on them to continue some feud because of what happened more than seventeen years ago, but she was not one to admit it, that he was right.

“Look I am not trying to rain on your parade here,” Zack muttered because he could see that Olivia was conflicted. “I came to town for answers, and to find more about my origins as you shall say, and I know I have stumbled onto a lot of drama, but I don’t want to cause it myself. I gave Amelia a lift, and that is all it is.”

“She has a boyfriend,” Olivia sighed as she dodged on the question about whether she should trust him and not giving him a stink eye. “You shouldn’t try to mess with that…”

“I told you I have a girlfriend, and I do” Zack muttered okay, probably a maybe girlfriend because she has not returned an email to me in like days. “Amelia is friendly, and I am not looking to do anything more with her than just be friends.”

“Good, because we don’t need, and when I said, we, I mean her parents” Olivia muttered what girlfriend wants their boyfriend on the open road for like a year she mused but that is not me, “They have more than enough to deal with and they don’t need you coming in and making a mess.”

“Yeah, right they do, and you do, so are you okay with everything” Zack asked.

“Are you trying to be the big brother?” Olivia asked as she did not like that feeling.

“Maybe I am, maybe I am not or maybe I am just being nice. So, are you going to answer me?” Zack asked.

“I am fine,” Olivia muttered. “I can handle anything,” she sighed I have little choice at this point “As you said I have a family who loves me and supports me” he sighed. “Back to Amelia, Zack she’s fifteen and you’re what like eighteen?”

“Don’t age me sis,” Zack smiled. “I am only seventeen for a few more months,” he sighed. “I know okay, as I said I have a girlfriend. You’re the same age, aren’t you?”

“I am sixteen, last month” Olivia muttered. “So, I have prospective, and I don’t want anything messing with her future, okay?”

“Shouldn’t you have also had the same restraint yourself?” Zack asked.

“I am not talking about me, okay?” Olivia asked. “If I was, then you can say that same prospective also goes to the fact I don’t want her to end up like me, so don’t mess with Amelia!” she warned as she heard a text come into her phone, and she checked because she knew she had to get home and do her homework, and was shocked to see, tell your aunt to check her phone

Olivia was shocked and did not know if it was a prank or not, so she responded. Who are you?

Your father came the response, and it nearly caused her to faint, but she kept upright as Zack grew concerned. “Are you okay?”

“No, everything is fine” Olivia said quietly and quickly as she answered her text How did you get a phone?

If your aunt would answer her phone than she would know, this way of doing things is confusing Max wrote and that caused Olivia to laugh because yeah it would be confusing to her father who was still in the age of 2002 and would find 2019 to be a blast of unique proportions. She looked up and found her half brother looking at her. “What?”

“What is that?” Zack asked.

“None of your business,” Olivia muttered. “I have to get home,” she sighed as she saw the time on her phone and knew she needed to get home as down the street Phillip Evans looked up and saw his granddaughter talking to a blonde male, he did not know him, but he could see the discussion was not that pleasant for his granddaughter, and the male just was looking amused at the whole thing. Phillip was sure he recognized the boy but could not place him. Jeff Parker saw Phillip and approached through the door. “Phillip?”

“Jeff?” Phillip asked. “I was coming into pick up takeout to take home because Diane has come committee meeting, and didn’t want to cook, who is that talking to Olivia up the street?” Phillip asked his daughter in law’s father. Despite Jeff’s well-known reservations to put it mildly about his son they had been able to be cordial with each other even though Phillip was able to tell that the Parkers had not how their son-in-law’s status has created special abilities for their daughter, and they assumed, their granddaughter.

To Philip, it was a unique life because Liz was his daughter-in-law because of marriage between his son and his high school girlfriend, and event that had been on the books for nearly seventeen years, but it was not like he could see his son because he was behind cement walls because he confessed and was convicted of crimes that the government had found out because of his investigation of his children. Isabel had long forgiven him, but Phillip had not forgiven himself. Since Max had outlawed family visits, Phillip had not tried to pull rank due to this career as a lawyer to be able to see his son, but now…

Still to Phillip he could not help but have the regrets If I had only trusted my kids than one of them would not have been sent away. Of course, that was ignoring the fact his son had confessed the army base massacre to protect his daughter, and the families, but still he felt guilty. Diane had never forgiven him, but she allowed it to happen, so she knew she was to blame too and therefore she stayed with him, but it was staining on their marriage as both greatest wish to have their son back in their life. Which made Grace special because she was a treasure their son had given them, because his other child had been put for adoption.

“I don’t recognize him,” Jeff Parker said as he looked at the gathering that broke up as they saw Olivia walking away, and the blonde getting on his motorcycle and flying away. “Don’t tell me?” Jeff muttered thinking what he had learned the night before from his daughter and granddaughter about Max’s son returning town.

“What is it?” Phillip asked.

“That might have been the kid?” Jeff muttered.

“What kid?” Phillip asked.

“Max’s son,” Jeff muttered. “Or so I am told. I hear that he is back in town, and wanting answers?”

“What do you mean, Max’s son is back in town” Phillip Evans asked as he stood upright and thought back the adoption that he had arranged when his son was finishing his senior year, weeks before he would flee town, and before ultimately be was arrested.

“According to my daughter, and my granddaughter. He recently rode into town looking for information, and it has been confusing for them” Jeff muttered. “I believe I heard he took after Tess in looks, so yeah, that was probably the fellow. Olivia is aware of him, and so is my daughter.”

“Oh god,” Phillip murmured as Jeff walked back into the Crashdown. Phillip did not know what to think as his granddaughter disappeared and was headed home and he finished his planned mission to get dinner for his wife and himself and then headed home himself.

*

“If you are not busy tomorrow you can stop by the office, and we can discuss the next step. Do you still want access to see my brother, or did your recent visit erase that temptation?” Isabel asked with a smile as she did not envy her sister-in-law for her completely complicated marriage, and the fact it was obvious Liz was carrying a torch for a man who might not come home to her and all the cards have to be set right for it to happen. She did not know how she was going to her brother out the hellhole he was in and knew it could not be easy for Liz and Olivia to live this kind of life.

“Of course, I want to see him,” Liz murmured because only time has made it more important for them to win this battle, and at least half of it will be to be able to show that she had a marriage and she loved her husband, and they should have just allowed them to live their lives and not try to define or say it was wrong to love a man who had done what he had done.

He was literally a different man, now than he had been on that day in Vermont. She knew the government could not know the truth because they had it out for them and wanted to experiment and torment them and find out why they were different than normal human beings. And she was going to be viewed as changed. She was human, but still she had been saved by an alien. Still, she wanted to see her chance, and to be in the same room as him.

“Okay, call the office or come by because I believe tomorrow is pretty free” Isabel smiled. “Paperwork is going to be my main goal tomorrow since I had to take this afternoon off to go the prison with Olivia” she sighed. “If you come by then we’ll see what we can do, and get you that visit, legally” she muttered because that was the one thing the government was going to give her before this was over.

“Thank you, Isabel, I do appreciate the work you are doing to help us, and taking Olivia with you today,” she smiled as they heard the door slam shut, and the teenager walk by the living room on the way upstairs, “Olivia, is that you, and are you okay?”

“Oh, Hi Mom,” Olivia stopped. “Of course, I am fine,” Olivia mumbled as she did not want to let Zack get into her mind as she had other issues to deal with as she saw her mother in the living room. Along with her Aunt and Uncle. She stopped, and smiled at the two guests to their home, and tried to remove the sullen teen expression she had on her face “I didn’t know you were home as I didn’t see the car?”

“It’s in the shop,” Liz murmured of the planned maintenance. “Are you okay?” she asked as knew when her daughter was stressed about something. “You look tense, and that is the last thing you should be?” she asked as she wondered if visiting Max was too overwhelming for her daughter “Did you have a nice visit with your father?”

“Of course,” Olivia sighed as she thought of her father in prison. Anxiety rang through her, but she knew she could manage that because had long had to compartmentalize that part of her life “Dad isn’t what is bothering me, just other stuff” she mumbled of her normal teenage worries. “Mundane stuff, nothing important.”

“Okay,” Liz said as she was assured for the moment as she then remembered the errand Isabel said her daughter had been conducting. “Were you able to pick up those notes?”

“Yes,” Olivia nodded. As she turned her glance to her aunt. “Before I go upstairs and deal with the seminar thing, Dad sent me a text message when I was walking home and he wants you to check your phone,” she muttered to the surprise in Isabel. “I know, don’t ask me how he got a phone because he wouldn’t tell me, except that you weren’t checking your phone?”

“How did he get a phone?” Isabel muttered to herself heeding her niece’s advice. “I would think that would be the last thing they would allow him, or if he did have one, it would have been confiscated in the sweep last weekend?” she wondered as it also surprised Kyle and Liz too, because Liz had not been able to have a in depth talk with her husband, and none of them thought that he could be up to date in the latest technology since so much had changed since he went into the prison system in 2002.

“How should I know?” Olivia muttered because Zack was still in on her mind, and her worry for her best friend before leaving the room and heading upstairs.

Liz did not know if something was bothering her daughter or not, teen girls are notorious with their moods she mused to herself. She figured she would find out one way or another, so she concentrated on the newest information.

“Oh right, I forgot I turned my phone off at the prison when I finished with my client call that I took while Olivia was visiting with her father. Prison rules” Isabel muttered as she turned on it once again and found several new text messages. She could tell texting did not come naturally to her brother why would it?

Cellphones had barely been in vogue and when they were, well, they were bulky and they did not have the world on the tip of your finger, and so her brother was finding a very different world now that they were 2019. “Ah”

“What?” Liz and Kyle asked in unison.

“Something about some new information on Kal from a surprising source,” Isabel muttered to herself because what her brother wrote didn’t make sense “I need to find Michael and figured out what is going on?” Isabel muttered. “Can I meet you at home?” she asked of her husband who nodded. “Thanks,” she smiled as she glanced at Liz. “Call me tomorrow, and we can set up a time to meet?”

“Sure,” Liz sighed as Isabel quickly vanished. “What was that?’ she asked of Kyle.

“I have no idea,” Kyle muttered.

“Do you want to stay for dinner?” Liz asked. “We’re only having leftovers?”

“No, we have plenty of that at home, and I have a poker game that I am hosting so I’ll head home and prepare for that and also figure out what is going on with my wife or this new information,” Kyle smiled at Liz’s amusement of his poker antics. “You take it easy okay because you have a lot on your shoulders these days. It can’t be easy?”

“It’s not,” Liz murmured as she walked Kyle to the door, and watched as he drove away, and she went upstairs and knocked on her daughter’s door as she heard the music playing in her room. “Honey, can we talk?”

“Can’t, busy” came the teenager in her room.

“Okay,” Liz sighed as once more confirmation that her little girl was growing up and leading her own life, and she was alone. “I’m here if you do want to talk about your father?” she murmured as she thought of her husband, and the dreamy nature of his face. Still, she knew she had a role as a mother, and unfortunately as Olivia had grown up, she had been so busy with medical school and setting up her practice that it was all consuming, and so she knew her daughter was not used to coming to her with her problems and that of course had brought them to the situation where they were. Liz also was not used to having free time, and well, she did not have a husband to spend some of that time with, and it was adjustment for Liz to know her daughter could be out of the house one of these days, and what would she have to show for it?

“I miss you Max,” Liz muttered as she went downstairs and got dinner prepared.

[totallizfan]

Fingers crossed... Isabel gets visitation for Liz to see Max.
Then let's hope Olivia, Zack and Liz get to visit him together.
The kids need to know and understand the whole story.
Serena's phone?