Author: Kath7
Disclaimer: I don’t own either the concepts or characters from Roswell, One Tree Hill, or The Dead Zone. I’m just borrowing them, with thanks. The title of this story comes from the Coldplay song, which can be found on the Roswell soundtrack. Thank you to Anniepoo and Bordersinsanity for the great banners. I couldn’t pick between them, so I decided to post both.
Rating: TEEN
Summary: Crossover - Roswell/One Tree Hill. Based on a challenge by A Rose is True Blue. Liz Parker from Roswell, New Mexico discovers a truth about her family that will change her life forever. Couplings will be all CC from Roswell, and L/P and N/H from One Tree Hill. This isn’t really a shipper story though. The main focus will be on Liz from Roswell, and Lucas and Nathan from OTH.
This fic will also have elements from The Dead Zone TV show. Characters from the show will not be included, but Liz will discover a new talent that is very similar to that possessed by Johnny in The Dead Zone.
Setting: This is set post-Sexual Healing in the Roswell world, and post-Crash Course in Polite Conversation in the OTH world. The Roswellians are sophomores, the OTH characters juniors. We’ll just pretend that Max healed Liz in the fall of 2003, shall we?
Author’s Note: Yes, yes! I know I have four other stories that need updating. I almost have a new part of Born of the Stars ready to go. I just need to finish reposting it on CC. In the meantime, I am writing this one just for fun. I am hoping to update once a week, on Fridays.
Winner - Round 6
Winner - Round 7
Brooke
Winner - Round 8
Lucas
Part 1
Roswell, New Mexico - February, 2004
"Where do you think you’re going, young lady?"
Liz Parker froze. She grimaced before looking over at the window leading into her bedroom. Her father stood framed there, his arms crossed, a stern expression on his face.
"Um, nowhere?" she suggested lamely. The fact that she was standing on the ladder that led down from her balcony, however, clearly indicated that this was not the case. And Jeff Parker was no fool. He sighed heavily, and started to pull himself through the window.
Liz glanced down at her boyfriend, Max Evans, who was hovering at the bottom of the ladder, a panicked expression on his face. She waved her one free hand at him urgently. He melted into the shadows, just as her dad reached her and looked down over the side. Liz let out a breath, her heart starting to slow in her chest.
Her relief was short-lived, however. "Max, I know you’re there," Jeff called down, making Liz close her eyes in frustration. "I suggest you go home right now, and maybe I’ll ignore the urge I’m suddenly having to call your parents."
"Hi, Mr. Parker," Max said ruefully, emerging from his hiding spot. "Uh…I just came by to borrow a book from Liz. For school."
"Let me guess," Jeff returned wryly. "Romeo and Juliet?"
"Um…" Max looked up at Liz helplessly. She had, by this time, returned to the balcony. She shook her head at him, exasperated.
"No, Dad! Biology," Liz snapped. She was so tired of this! If she wanted to see her boyfriend, she should be perfectly able to do so without sneaking around.
"You two more than know that you have one more week of house arrest before we’ll consider letting you see each other outside of school," Jeff continued patiently. "This kind of stuff is not helping your cause. It’s what got you into this mess in the first place."
"Dad, we know," Liz flared. "I mean, Mom reminds me every single minute of the day."
"Go home, Max," Jeff repeated sternly. "We’ll just pretend this didn’t happen, shall we?"
"Thanks, Mr. Parker," Max replied. "I’ll see you tomorrow, Liz."
"I’ll call you later," Liz told him, glancing at her father mutinously.
"Hey, Max, aren’t you forgetting something?" Jeff called down as Max moved away. Liz’s father sounded amused, which only made Liz more angry.
Max turned, looking confused. "I am?"
"Your textbook?"
"Oh, for…" Liz marched across the balcony, and picked up her biology textbook from where it sat on the lawn chair near the window. She returned to the ledge and dropped it down to Max, who caught it expertly. He looked at it for a moment, bemused. She rolled her eyes at him, and he grinned slightly, obviously beginning to find the humour in the situation. She could almost read his mind. He was thinking about how nice it was to have normal teenage problems, like groundings and parental harassment.
Liz was beginning to wonder if she agreed. At least when they were dealing with the alien chaos, or running from the sheriff, they were together. This imposed separation - two weeks and counting - was beginning to slowly drive her insane. She was not typically a rebellious child, her parents knew this, and the severity of this punishment did not fit the crime, in her opinion.
"Bye," Max said again, staring up at her, his dark eyes gleaming in the reflected light of the strings of Christmas lights she had draped around her balcony.
"Bye," Liz replied softly. Her heart started to beat more quickly, as it always did when Max looked at her.
Moments later, she heard the jeep start at the end of the alley, and then drive away. Finally, she turned back to face her dad, who was, by now, leaning against the wall beside the window, arms crossed, the stern expression having returned to his face.
"Liz…" he began, but his daughter cut him off impatiently.
"Dad, I know, okay?" she exclaimed. "It won’t happen again. But, I mean, really! We barely have any chance to talk to each other at school. I miss him!"
"You know that this is for your own good," Jeff argued, following her back through her window. "Your mother and I…"
"Are worried that we’re moving too fast, that we’re going to get ourselves into trouble…blah, blah, blah." Liz whirled, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. "Dad, I know. I just don’t understand why you won’t believe me that Max and I aren’t having sex."
"Liz, you stayed out all night," her father reminded her.
"And, even if we were," Liz continued, ignoring the fact that her dad had spoken. "We’re not complete idiots, okay? We’d be careful."
"Lizzie, this isn’t about that," Jeff told her gently. "You know it isn’t. It’s about us being able to trust you."
"Dad, you can trust me," Liz retorted. "But Max and I love each other. We’re going to be together. I don’t know why you and Mom can’t just accept that!"
"It’s not that we don’t believe you, Liz. But the Evans agree with us. You and Max have been acting very irresponsibly since you got together. We’re trying to teach you a lesson now, so that later, when you are in the position of having to make important choices, you make the right ones."
"Dad! We will!"
"You haven’t demonstrated that you can yet, Liz. If you think that staying out all night with your boyfriend, when you’re both only 16, is acceptable, then you have another think coming. And that’s what these three weeks are for," Jeff retorted, finally beginning to raise his voice. Liz was pleased. It was what she had been going for. She wanted her father to stop pretending that he was doing this "for her own good." He was doing it because he was trying to prevent her from growing up. He was just as bad as her mother.
When Max and Liz had returned from their night in the desert, their parents had clearly not believed that they had just fallen asleep, which was what this was really about. Liz had felt like Mrs. Evans was branding her with a scarlet letter for tempting her innocent little boy, her eyes were so cold. Meanwhile, Liz’s mother had been about ready to murder Max, if the expression on her face had been any indication. But Nancy Parker had also been pleased. She had been the one over-reacting all week to how much time Max and Liz were spending together, and she was happy to finally have the ammunition to separate them for a while.
The dads had been much more reasonable, but since Max and Liz couldn’t exactly tell either set of parents that they had fallen asleep waiting for a signal from an alien, rather than engaging in any illicit activity, (not that the illicit activity hadn’t preceded the sleeping, but they had not gone all the way) they had been forced to accept the grounding that their parents all agreed upon before they came back.
It wasn’t that they hadn’t expected to be punished. Liz, in particular, had known that she was going to be in for it, and that she might even be forbidden to see Max for a while, but it was getting ridiculous! The first week had been bad, the second torturous. Seeing him at school just wasn’t good enough - not when she wanted to be with him every second of the day.
Finally, about to enter the third week of "house arrest" as her father termed it - straight home after school, and no going out except to work in her family’s restaurant, the Crashdown, downstairs - she had had enough. Which was why she had called Max and managed to convince her mostly virtuous boyfriend to sneak out with her. After all, she knew that he missed her as much as she missed him. He had been banned from his usual haunting of the middle booth at the Crashdown, and Isabel, his sister, had told Liz at school yesterday that she was just about ready to zap all of his Counting Crows CD’s into small piles of dust.
But, of course, they had been caught. Since Liz knew she had violated the terms of her punishment, she had already decided in advance that a good offense was better than any lame excuse, should this happen.
And, so, she burst into tears. It was embarrassing, it was unlike her, but she was desperate. If she didn’t get a chance to talk to Max alone soon, to find out if he had ever heard from the alien who had hidden the orb that had gotten them into this mess in the first place, she thought she might lose her mind. "Daddy, please! This is just so unfair!"
"No one ever said life was fair, Liz," Jeff replied, sounding unmoved. "It’s my job to protect you. I was willing to give you and Max the benefit of the doubt, but I think your mother has been proven right. You can’t be trusted, and so, I’m adding another week onto your grounding."
"Dad!" Liz shrieked, disbelieving, her tears disappearing. "No!"
"I’m sorry, Liz. But you’ve brought this on yourself. I think I may have to call the Evans after all, too."
"Daddy, no!" Liz exclaimed, visions of Max’s parents hating her even more than they already did running through her mind. She rushed forward, grabbing his arms desperately. "I’ll do anything! I’ll clean the entire house! I’ll polish all the silverware in the restaurant. Just, please, don’t add another week!"
Jeff folded his arms again, raising an eyebrow. He tilted his head and examined her. Liz felt her heart beating double-time. She could see that he was wavering. She knew her father. He absolutely hated punishing her. He had always been the easy parent, her mother the disciplinarian.
"Dad, I swear! I won’t leave the apartment all week. Please!" Liz pleaded. He was bending, she could tell. She tried to look as innocent as possible.
"I’ll tell you what," Jeff finally said. "All this talk of cleaning has reminded me that we have an attic that needs a good going-over."
Liz felt her heart sink. Was he really going to take her up on her offer? She hadn’t expected that. She wrinkled her nose. "The attic?"
"Your Grandma Claudia left a lot of stuff behind, when she passed away," Jeff continued. "It needs to be sorted out. Your mom and I want to have a yard sale in the spring." He grinned. "It might even be fun. Your grandma had a lot of neat things."
Liz felt a pang, remembering her beloved grandmother, who had died of a stroke in the fall. Recalling that difficult time again reminded her of Max, and how much she missed him. After all, Grandma’s death had brought them closer. "Are you saying that if I clean the attic, then my grounding is over?"
"After it’s done," Jeff replied sternly.
"Can I have help?" Liz asked, already scheming about how quickly she could accomplish this task. She and Max would be back to normal in no time!
"As long as it’s not Max." Her dad raised a finger warningly. "I’m not an idiot, Liz."
"I meant Maria and Alex," Liz told him, offended.
"Okay," Mr. Parker agreed. "Maria and Alex can help out. If you can convince them."
Liz smiled, feeling triumphant. "No problem. You’re right. It might even be fun."
She wondered why her father looked just as certain that he had won this battle. "Well, it might be fun, but don’t think that this is me letting you off lightly, sweetie. It’s a big job."
As she watched her father leave, Liz flopped back on her bed and grinned at the ceiling. She was sure her father was mistaken. After all, how messy could one attic possibly be?
***
"You have got to be kidding," Maria Deluca exclaimed when she pushed her way past a curtain of cob-webs and into the attic. It was the next day and Liz felt her hopes come crashing to the ground as she followed her best friend through the trap door and into the storage space. "Liz, this is going to take forever!"
Alex Whitman, Liz’s other best friend, was shaking his head. "Jeez! Your parents sure don’t believe in throwing anything out, do they?"
Liz stared around in dismay. "I haven’t been up here in a long time," she muttered, already cursing her father again. "Ouch!" she exclaimed, when she stubbed her toe on the baby doll carriage blocking the center of the room.
"What are we getting out of this again?" Maria demanded, turning to glare at Liz. "Michael wanted to hang out today."
"You want to hang out with Michael Guerin, whom you yourself have called a complete moron many times over, when you could be helping your best friend, whom you haven’t seen in weeks?" Liz retorted, linking her arm with Maria’s. "Come on, Maria! You’re the one who said you’d do anything to be able to hang out again."
"I didn’t mean bulldoze an archeological site, Liz," Maria replied. "Besides, I must admit that I’m glad that you’re under house arrest. You and Max were getting a little hot and heavy there. I agree with your parents. You needed to take a step back. We still don’t know what alien mating rituals involve."
"Okay, is there a bucket around here?" Alex demanded. "Because, if you keep talking about this, I may need one in which to hurl. How many times do I have to tell you that the thought of you two with guys creeps me out to the last degree?"
Liz ignored him. "Puh-lease," she said, smacking her best friend lightly. "Max told me on the phone last night that Michael decided to experiment to see if he could give you a glowing hickey."
Maria scowled. "I’m going to kill him," she muttered. "And when were you talking to Max anyway, missy?" she demanded, her face a bright shade of red.
"Nice change of subject there," Liz laughed. "But Max and I are still allowed to talk on the phone."
"I think I’m going to need to talk to your parents," Maria said primly. And, then, in an attempt to really change the subject, she reached out and picked up a pair of flashy bell bottoms, which were draped over a trunk. "Ew." Liz grinned as Maria held them up to her waist and walked over to the dusty full-length mirror across the room. "On second thought, cool!"
"Good Lord," Alex said. He shook his head at Maria, then returned to rummaging in a box nearby. He pulled out a comic book gleefully. "Liz, do you know how much these are worth? Your dad was as big a dork as I am!"
"Hello? Where are you guys?"
Liz started, glancing over at the trap-door. Moments later, Isabel Evans’s golden blonde head poked through it.
"Isabel, you made it!" Alex exclaimed. He rushed forward, helping Isabel the last few feet into the attic.
Liz glanced at Maria, who seemed as surprised as she did. She looked back at Max’s sister. "Isabel?"
"Hey," Isabel replied easily, glancing around. "Wow. You weren’t kidding, Alex. This is a disaster." Liz stared at her. Isabel’s eyes were gleaming. She seemed excited.
"How did you know it was a disaster?" Maria demanded of Alex. "And why on Earth didn’t you warn me?"
Alex shrugged. "I have my sources." When Maria advanced on him threateningly, he held up his hands to ward her off. "Okay! Peace! I happened to be around a couple of months ago when Grandma Parker’s stuff arrived. I helped Mr. Parker haul some of it up here."
"You?" Liz teased. "Since when do you do heavy lifting? Didn’t you once tell me that you were a computer geek for a reason? That physical exertion should never require more than lifting a dodge ball?"
Alex glared at her, glancing at Isabel meaningfully. "I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about."
"Right," Maria said, grinning at Liz. "Anyway, what are you doing here, Isabel?"
"I came for two reasons," Isabel replied. The tall blonde was already rummaging in her large bag and was pulling out more cleaning supplies than Liz had ever seen. "One, my brother is seriously on the verge of driving me insane with his mooning. I mean, I thought you two were bad when you were in each other’s company. But I’m willing to put up with just about anything if it gets him off of my couch while I’m trying to watch The O.C."
Maria and Liz exchanged another amused glance.
"And, two?" Liz asked.
"And, two," Isabel continued, rubbing her hands together, her eyes gleaming in that strange way again. "I love to clean."
***
Two hours later, Liz knew that Isabel had not been kidding. She did love to clean, and she worked hard when she did it. But she had left out the third reason she wanted to help. She also loved to boss people around.
But, if Isabel hadn’t been present, they likely wouldn’t have gotten very far, Liz reflected, as she sat back on her heels, and pushed a lock of hair off cheek wearily. Maria kept getting distracted by the vintage clothing she found, and Alex had tried to sprawl onto Grandma’s old couch with a few comic books, before Isabel ordered him back to work. Thanks to Max’s sister, they had actually started to make a dent.
"What’s in there, Liz?" Isabel asked, passing by behind her. The tall blonde was lugging a box closer to the trap-door, so that it could be more easily moved down for the eventual yard sale. She paused to stare at the chest Liz had uncovered when she’d finished folding all her Grandpa Parker’s old clothes.
Liz pushed her hair back behind her ears. "I was just about to open it," she replied.
"It looks like a hope chest," Isabel told her, setting down the box, and dropping to her knees beside Liz. "My mom has one."
"What’s that?" Maria inquired, coming up behind them. Liz and Isabel exchanged a grin. Maria was the first to jump at any excuse to stop working.
"A lot of girls used to have them," Liz explained, pushing the lid off the dark mahogany chest. "They stored stuff in it that they might need when they moved out on their own, or got married." She stared down at the blue and white pompoms that sat on top of the items in the chest. "I don’t think this is a hope chest though." She pulled out the pompoms, and set them aside. Beneath them sat a yearbook. "I thought so," she exclaimed.
"What is it?" Alex demanded. He had joined them by this time too.
"It’s my mom’s high school stuff," Liz exclaimed. She picked up the yearbook and pointed at the cover. "See? Tree Hill High."
"Where the heck is Tree Hill?" Maria demanded.
"North Carolina," Liz replied. "My mom grew up there." She stared at the pompoms. "I didn’t know my mom was a cheerleader. Weird."
"Yeah," Alex agreed. "You don’t seem like the offspring of a spirit stick devotee." All three girls turned to stare at him. "What? I’ve seen Bring It On!" he exclaimed defensively. When they continued to stare, he glared at Liz and then Maria. "Excuse me! I saw it with you two!" His face was, by now, bright red. "Jeez!" He glanced at Isabel. "Where are Max and Michael? I think I need to find me some testosterone. I’m feeling judged."
Maria grabbed the yearbook out of Liz’s hands and started flipping through the pages. "What was your mom’s maiden name again?"
"Richards," Liz replied. She and Isabel leaned over Maria’s shoulders so that they could see the yearbook, too. Maria stopped on the page where Nancy Parker’s senior class picture could be found.
Alex, who had given up pretending to be uninterested, gave out a low whistle. "Whoa. Your mom was a babe, Liz."
Liz wrinkled her nose. "You think?"
"Totally," Alex replied. There was a pause. "Well, except for the hair of course."
"It was the eighties, Alex," Isabel said. "Give the woman a break."
"Hey, look at this!" Maria exclaimed, giggling. She touched another picture, in the bottom left-hand corner of the facing page. There was a heart drawn around it in red marker. "Your mom must have had a crush."
"I don’t blame her," Isabel put in. "What a hottie."
"Hello? I’m standing right here." Alex pretended to be offended.
"What?" Isabel demanded. "You’re allowed to call Liz’s mom a babe, but I can’t say that…" she paused, reading the name next to the picture, then continued, "Dan Scott is a hottie?"
"But, you see Isabel, you’re not the one with the inferiority complex," Alex told her, grinning.
"Well, I think he’s kind of mean looking," Maria said. "Look at those eyes."
Liz tilted her head, examining the picture of Dan Scott. Her best friend was right. His dark eyes were cold above the half grin.
Liz nudged Maria to continue flipping through the yearbook. They stopped on a full-page spread entitled Ravens Basketball Rocks!
"There’s your mom again, Liz," Maria said, pointing at a picture near the top of the page. The candid shot portrayed Nancy Parker in her cheerleader outfit, laughing with another girl as they stood on the sidelines of a basketball game. The caption read "Nancy Richards and Karen Roe - Two Peas on a Squad!"
They found Nancy on several more pages, including as a member of the Homecoming Court, and the Prom Court.
"Your mom was queen bee, wasn’t she?" Maria said.
"I guess so," Liz replied, a little amazed. She had known that her mom was a cheerleader, but she hadn’t really guessed that she was so popular. But it was very clear that she had been. There were pictures of her everywhere, usually in the company of the same pretty girl from the cheerleading picture, Karen Roe. Liz was surprised that Liz had never heard of her. It was quite obvious that they had been the best of friends in high school.
"You know, I think you’re missing out on an opportunity, Parker," Alex said teasingly. "You could join the Comets’ squad. I mean, it’s in your genes. You and Pam Troy could be best friends!"
"Ew," Liz said, knowing it was the expected reaction, but she was slightly distracted. She had just noticed something a little odd. They were still gazing at the prom page. She looked at the picture of her mother posting with Karen Roe and two boys, one of whom was the same guy her mom had drawn a heart around in the class pictures. Strangely, he was not her mother’s date though. He had his arm around the other girl. Liz frowned. Her mother was not looking directly at the camera, but rather at the boy named Dan Scott. And she looked entirely lovesick.
The truth was so clear, Liz almost couldn’t believe it. Her mother had been in love with her best friend’s boyfriend in high school! It made Liz feel weird knowing this. She wasn’t sure why, but it also made her uncomfortable.
"I recognize that dress," Maria exclaimed, pulling Liz out of her strange reverie. She jumped to her feet and thrust the yearbook at Liz. She hurried across the attic, rummaged through a rack of old clothes and pulled out an aquamarine, taffeta dress. "Tada!"
"Try it on, Liz," Isabel suggested. Liz glanced at the other girl, surprised. "It’ll be hilarious. I mean, look at it!"
Liz wrinkled her nose. The dress was indeed hideous. If she had to describe it only one word, puffy was the only thing that came to mind. "Okay," she said, although she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to. There was something about the dress that repelled her, but it was more trouble than it was worth to try and explain this to her friends. She took the dress from Maria, then disappeared behind the old changing screen in the corner of the attic. She emerged several moments later and stood in front of the full-length mirror next to it.
As she stared at herself in her mother’s dress, Liz felt momentarily dizzy. She reached up and touched her forehead, then glanced at Maria and Isabel in the mirror. Alex had gone back to the couch and his comic books, obviously bored by the fashion show.
"Liz, are you okay?" Isabel asked, sounding worried. "You don’t look so good."
"It’s the colour," Maria suggested. "It doesn’t suit her. She looks better in red."
But Liz barely heard her best friend’s comment. Maria’s voice was fading out. Liz stared into the mirror, then blinked.
Because she was no longer looking at herself. Instead, a much younger version of her mother was staring back at her.
"You look gorgeous."
Liz blinked. She didn’t recognize the voice. She felt a shudder descend her spine when a light kiss was dropped on her exposed shoulder. Looking behind her, she saw that she was no longer in her attic. Instead, she was standing in a classroom with coats piled high on the desks.
"Meet me in the band room in half an hour," the voice whispered.
The scene changed and Liz found herself in what was obviously a music room. "You came," the same voice greeted her.
"I shouldn’t be here," she heard herself say, but it was not her at all. It was, instead, a younger sounding version of her mother’s voice.
"Why not? We both want this," the voice said. He was still in shadow, but Liz knew it was a guy, and she was pretty sure she knew which guy.
It was Dan Scott. He was standing in front of her, wearing a wolfish grin, his eyes smoldering.
"But, what about Karen?" Liz squeaked.
"What about her?" Dan asked. "She has nothing to do with us, Nan. You mean more to me than she ever will."
"I can’t," she said firmly. But she could hear the regret in her voice. "You need to break up with her."
"I promise I will," Dan replied.
"I don’t believe you," Liz said.
"I’d do anything for you, Nan." Liz felt her knees weaken at the sincerity of his tone. But, as she gazed up into his dark eyes, another shiver ran down her spine.
"Liz…LIZ!"
Liz blinked. She shook her head slightly, still staring into the mirror. Her eyes widened when her own reflection, wearing her mother’s very ugly prom dress, stared back.
She turned her head, then blinked again, when she realized that Isabel was shaking her. "Are you okay?"
Liz glanced at Maria, who was hovering nearby, her face white. Alex stood behind her, his jaw clenched.
Liz turned back to the mirror, shaking her head again.
"I don’t think I am," she whispered.
To be continued…
