From what Jacob knew, as long as he had food and a roof over his head and wasn't in danger of exposure, he was being taken care of. Kal should have been asking more questions.xmag said;
Hmm, apparently, Jacob didn't really pay attention to Michael once he found Max and Isabel, if he told Cal that he was well taken care of.
Yep, we will see more and we see a little bit more about Rath in this chapter.nibbles2 said:
(Will we see flashbacks to the others lives on Antar or just Max/Zan? I love the version of Antar you've created.)
Chapter 10
Kal was driving to the studio to tie up some loose ends. He was amazed at how quickly Max had gotten his core people, the people he trusted together, and filled them in on all he had learned. Of course Kal had heard all these names before, had information on all of them provided by a private detective and Jacob. He would have to see where this quarry was when he got to Roswell, because that place was probably the reason why Jacob's information was full of holes.
That, and he had obviously left a lot out. Kal sighed. He knew why Jacob did it. It was precisely the reason why Kal had stayed away from Roswell all these years, and if he hadn't, then maybe things wouldn't be so screwed up now.
Jacob was a little bit of a different situation though, and it made Kal feel a little better. When Kal stationed him at Roswell, Jacob had wanted to settle down. He didn't have as many feelings as Kal had, and a life of solitude fit him. Jacob was content working his farm, watching the pod squad. It never occurred to him that Jacob would be just as afraid of going back to that old life of following orders as he was.
He had to admit to himself that he could have entered Max, Isabel, and Michael's lives earlier. By the time they were 12 or 13 they would realize the dangers involved with exposure. It sounded like they realized those dangers as soon as they entered the world, but Kal knew he did the right thing by sending them in the path of the Evan's. Well, if they all had went with the Evan's that is.
Michael seemed just as unlucky in this life as he was the last. Rath had been uprooted from his home the first time it was realized how much power he had. He was a small child, probably around five or six, and the King had just snatched him from his home, from his family, to groom him. Like Zan, Rath had a lot of human in him - it seemed the more human the more powerful they were. Rath's family was not high born, they were your average, everyday Antarian citizens. They had had Rath the "natural" way which hadn't been done in decades.
He had never seen his family again. The King didn't see a reason for it, being so unfeeling, and while Rath grew up in privilege and with the best training he knew it had been terrible for the frightened little boy that had entered the castle all those years ago, the little boy that wanted his Mom and didn't understand why she didn't come for him.
If only he had met them, told them about their past lives a few years earlier. Max, who seemed to have feelings for Liz since the third grade, would know he shouldn't go back to Antar, would know that he needed to make a life here. He could have gotten Michael out of that home, well trailer park he had now learned. He should have known that as long as he was fed and had a roof over his head Jacob would think he was alright, but Kal never got past the surface, because he was scared.
The scenario that Max described at their last timeline meeting, him demanding to be taken back to Antar, was Kal's greatest fear. He didn't know if Jacob had left out more information in that timeline, that timeline where Nasedo and Tess caused so much havok, or if Kal had just been selfish and hadn't intervened. The sad thing was Kal could see himself being that selfish.
Free will was a powerful thing, and it was even more powerful when you never had it. That Max, the Max from before, was Kal's biggest nightmare. It sounded like he wouldn't listen to him, and also didn't know the right questions. All he had to do was tell Kal to fix the ship and they would have been gone.
And Max would have been dead. Kal too probably. He didn't know how Tess survived. He'd bet that Kivar had sent her back to Earth once the baby turned out human. In fact, he'd bet there was never a deal with Kivar, but with their own people. Kivar didn't want the seal, and he sure as hell didn't want it to return to Antar. He must have saved them and sent them back to Earth. Kal's own people would have killed them, but Kivar wouldn't.
He wasn't the bad guy everyone made him out to be. Kal knew he had a lot of explaining to do about what happened back there, but he had given them enough to digest. If would all come out when they cornered that bastard Jose.
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Serena sat on the small balcony sullenly with her legs pulled up to her chest, listening to the sounds of the movers carrying things out of the apartment. A million thoughts were running through her head.
She knew Courtney wouldn't lie to her. How she could spend the last 22 years, well 16 years conscious, without knowing more about her planet, was beyond her. Courtney had told her about that flash, about that horrible day when Jose had informed her that he thought Max had deep feelings for her and she had allowed a school girl crush to bloom into hope.
Then she dropped the bombshell on why Jose saying Max and her going back to Antar to be King and Queen would be impossible, how the people on their planet wouldn't accept Zan because of his eye color. Imagine if they had shown up in full human form!
For some reason Jose had played her, and had been doing it for a long time. She started remembering little things, like off handed comments he would make about Liz that had burned her sub conscious. Things like pointing out that Liz didn't talk to Max, ever. Things like Liz had told him she never wanted to come back to Roswell. He had fed her a ton of passive aggressive comments that she just let sink in.
Maybe he was like one of the Antarians she had heard about, like Tess or Nasedo, that thought humans weren't worth as much as Antarians. That didn't make sense though, because she might as well be human. What difference would it make if she were with Max instead of Liz? It would probably mean the same thing to their planet.
There was something else going on, and they would have to find out what it was. This was going to be so embarrassing. Why had they created her at all? Courtney said the allies knew Max, Isabel and Michael had turned out human and that it was a huge blow for the resistance, the people who wanted Rath on the throne. It had to of been a huge blow to the Antarians loyal to Max back on Antar, and she knew they were in contact with their planet regularly until recently.
Courtney looked out the patio windows at Serena while she directed the movers. She hadn't told her exactly why Jose had been manipulating her all these years, but she had filled her in on the fact that what he had been telling her was wrong. Courtney knew she would know soon enough, and she had enough information to sort through for now.
They had all carefully avoided any conversations about Antar. Courtney could now see how wrong that was. The Royals had no idea who they were, and Courtney had come to terms with the fact that she would never go home, had come to terms with that long before she had even left her planet. The remaining rebel skins and shifters had banded with The Royals for survival at first, because Nicholas would kill them if they ever found them. They also didn't know what Nicholas would pull on Earth when he realized he wasn't going back.
He needed to be destroyed, and by Courtney's calculations that should be any day now. They would be free. She pulled open the sliding glass doors and sat down by Serena.
"How are you doing sweetheart?" Courtney asked softly. Serena would be the closest thing to a child she would ever have.
"I feel stupid, used, embarrassed," she said looking into Courtney's eyes. "hurt."
Courtney just sighed and put her arms around Serena, giving her a big hug. "It gets better over time, it really does," she said.
"I know," Serena said softly. "It could have been so much worse I suppose. God! Can you imagine if I would have spouted off any of that King-Queen stuff in front of any of them? They'd think I was like Tess."
Courtney cupped Serena's face and forced her to look at her. "But you're not like her. Tess would do whatever it took to be Queen, no matter what would happen to Max."
Serena nodded and they sat in silence.
"Courtney?" Serena asked, finally breaking the silence.
"Yes?" she answered.
"Does it ever hurt when you see Michael and Maria together?" Serena asked.
Courtney closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. "It used to," she said honestly. "I guess Michael and I were a lot like you and Max, back before Maria found out. We had a lot in common, we hung out a lot. I would see glimpses of Rath in him, and it would make my heart speed up. He could be so loyal, so true, so exasperatingly honest," she said with a smile.
"Then Maria came into the picture and things changed, changed big time," Courtney said. "For awhile there, I think he wanted to make sure Maria was comfortable with me being around, as everyone knew I had tried to seduce him in the last timeline," Courtney said blushing slightly.
"But you didn't do that this time," Serena said.
"I know, but it doesn't mean I didn't want to," Courtney said, chuckling at Serena's shocked look. "I was spared a lot of it, because I was at Harvard when their relationship was flourishing. I would spend the summers seeing them at the compound or at Jacobs, at it did hurt Ser, it really did. But each time I saw them together it hurt just a little bit less. Finally my heart caught up with my mind, and I'm glad it did. Maria is one of my best friends now, and I wouldn't trade that for anything."
"Not even Michael?" Serena asked.
"Michael? No..." Courtney answered. "You see, I finally came to the realization that I was in love with this character, this bigger then life character that was the Rath I used to know, but he's not Rath, and Max isn't Zan. I think you might come to the same realization Ser. You'll see that you were more in love with the idea of Zan than with Max."
Serena nodded as all hope of her and Max died in her chest, giving her a chance to start healing.
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Kyle sat in the backseat of the big SUV half listening to Alex, Isabel, Maria, and Michael talk about the recent revelations. Max had called an emergency Scooby meeting and they had all met at the quarry, minus his Father who was working and couldn't get away.
If he counted it up, which he had no desire to do, Kyle had probably lived 60+ years. Sure, most of that had been as a kid or a teenager, but in all those years how had they never managed to learn this? It was almost over, almost to a point where his knowledge wouldn't be needed anymore. David and Keith had been searching for Nicholas, and they had found him and the last remaining skins. They were holed up out in the middle of the desert, probably waiting to die. For now they were just watching them.
The question was, what was he supposed to do now? He wasn't a scientist, and the only missing piece was the virus that would be spread to Earth. Sure, he had fire power, but who knew if that would ever be needed. Kyle had a 22 year old body and had no idea what to do with it now.
"I for one am relieved," he heard Maria say. "But just wait until I get my hands on Jacob," she said between gritted teeth.
"Maria....." Michael said with a warning. "No blame, remember?"
"That applies to US, Michael, US," she said. "If Jacob had been doing his damn job you wouldn't have spent all those years with Hank."
"Maria, you heard what Kal said," Michael said. "Jacob probably thought that was fine. I had room and board and Hank would never realize I was different."
"Yeah, because all he wanted was a damn monthly check!" Maria said fuming.
"Maria," he said sternly. "It's done, it's over, and no one sure as hell is going back to fix it. The fact of the matter is Jacob did watch over us, maybe not in the best way, but he did make sure we were safe."
Maria bit her tongue and nodded. Over the years Michael and her had learned how to deal with each others passionate sides, and she knew when Michael had that tone he had enough. She felt Michael's hand reach out for hers and squeeze it, holding it gently in his two big hands. She had also learned that this meant that he appreciated her concern, her passion, and that it meant the world to him. Their relationship was a tedious balancing act sometimes, but they had learned to walk that tightrope, and they walked it well.
Michael sighed. Now all they needed was a plan to contain Jose when Kal got there. Kal had warned them that all the shifters would feel his presence, and that Jose would try to flee. He looked at Maria, who was obviously trying really hard not to erupt, and he smiled. Even when all alien catastrophes were adverted, he knew his life would never, ever be boring.
He looked to the front of the car and kept catching Isabel and Alex giving each other secret smiles and glances. Michael narrowed his eyes. Something was up with those two.
Even with all these thoughts going through his head he couldn't help but think of that early timeline, the one he had just seen when Kyle and him had been playing basketball. No one had said it, but he was sure everyone had come to the same conclusion as him. The Evan's had learned about their alien powers early because of Michael. He had exposed them, and the Evan's had loved them anyway.
Michael had stayed in the orphanage longer then Max and Isabel, and he went through a procession of homes before he landed with Hank. His alien outbursts hadn't been noticed at the orphanage, with all those kids things breaking was the norm. The homes he had been in between the orphanage and Hank hadn't lasted long, with one lady claiming he had levitated a table.
Hank was always just to drunk to notice anything Michael did, and once he had found Isabel and Max his powers did calm down.
It was no use brooding about that first timeline, because it would never happen. As Kyle snorted at him holding Maria's hand, Michael smiled. Maybe he wouldn't have those parents he had all those years ago, but maybe, just maybe he could have a best friend.
