Hook and Line (CC/UC, MATURE) 1/1; 10/24

[hauntedd]

Title: Hook and Line
Author: hauntedd
Rating: MATURE
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. But I wish they were…
Summary: What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas…

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Something scratches her legs no matter how many times she rolls over in bed, desperate to cling to sleep. She’s cranky and her trip to Vegas has turned into a bust, thanks to Perfect Parker who just had to tag along.

Video games. She spent all night playing video games.

Even though her eyes were closed, she could still see the blinking lights of Pacman and whatever else she wasted her evening playing. Game after game after fucking game, and diet coke after diet coke after diet coke. Of course, after that it was all a blur, but she figured it wasn’t anything too exciting.

Yawning, she grips at the cover and pulls it closer, only to be met with resistance. Annoyed, Tess yanks at it, hoping to free the fabric from the shoes or whatever that were impeding its movement.

However, she’s met with a loud thud and shoots up in bed, palm outstretched with energy pumping through her veins. Frightened, she peers over the side of the bed, only to see layers upon layers of cheap, white tulle and a pair of short, shapely legs peering out from the mille-feuille.

With a start, Tess scrambles up and out of the bed, grabbing the sheet and wrapping it around her, finally realizing that while the intruder is wearing 50 pounds of fabric, she’s not wearing anything at all. Her heart is hammering in her chest as she tries to ignore her embarrassment as a million thoughts run through her mind.

“Ow,” the other girl moans, on all fours, fabric draped precariously over her head. Tess blanches at the noise and watches her try to stand, catching a strand of silky dark hair peak out from beneath the white cloud and her suspicions are confirmed.

Liz Parker slept in her bed last night.

“Why are you in my bed?” Tess snaps, her tone rushed and panicked as she stares down the other girl. There has to be a reason for this – and it’s definitely not that they decided to have a three-way with Max.

“I don’t – are you naked?” Liz returns, her eyes wide and Tess’ cheeks flush at the accusation, gripping the edges of her sheet tighter in the hopes of masking the truth.

No such luck.

“You’re naked?!?” Liz shrieks, and Tess’ hand slips at the accusation, her other palm scrambling to keep the fabric from exposing her breasts.

“I don’t think we’ve dealt with the first thing – why were you in my bed,” Tess bites out, looking at the brunette’s outfit in greater detail, noticing that it’s not just an ugly dress – it’s an ugly wedding dress.

“Wait. Are you wearing a wedding dress?” Tess asks, fumbling around her side of the bed for a bra or a t-shirt, to no avail.

“No,” Liz responds automatically, and glares at the other girl in a challenge. Tess notices the rage lingering behind the other girl’s brown eyes and makes a mental note to get to the bottom of this. Sure, this whole situation is scary and incredibly awkward, but to get this mad over a bridal gown? Seriously?

“Why would I be wearing a wedding dress?” Liz hisses, her voice low and guttural, as if Tess had planned this, which just makes no sense.

“That’s what I want to know!” Tess replies, reaching into the closet for a bathrobe, which she throws on, partially sheltered by the wooden doors. The robe is itchy and she pales as she notices the hearts on the side with the word honeymooners underneath.

“That’s not the logo of our hotel,” Liz adds, catching a glimpse of the embroidery. “Oh my god, are we in a honeymoon suite?”

“That could explain the wedding dress,” Tess sighs, taking note of the mattress, which is completely surrounded by rose petals. “Oh, hell, a heart-shaped mattress?”

“I am not wearing a wedding dress!” Liz stresses, her arms crossed in a challenge, and Tess can’t help but wonder why the scientist is suddenly so willing to forgo logic over a stupid dress.

“Oh, really? I think you should look at yourself in the mirror, bridezilla. There’s a really well placed one on the ceiling to help you out!”

“Why is there a mirror on the—oh ew!” She snaps, while crawling toward the bed and angling for position. Tess can’t help but smirk at her disgust, even as the incredible grossness of it all remains at the forefront of her mind.

At least aliens can’t get herpes! Nasedo had already given her the Antarian version of sex-ed, and it was basically an all clear.

“Oh my god, I am wearing a wedding dress!” Liz says, collapsing to the bed in shock, examining her hand for confirmation. “Tess, there’s a ring around my finger.”

“Isn’t that what normally happens when you get married?” Tess supplies helpfully, incredibly amused that Perfect Parker got married in Vegas. Sighing, she brushes a curl back from her face, wishing that they were back in Roswell already so she could share the good news around West Roswell High.

“Yes, but—Tess, give me your hand,” Liz demands and Tess raises an eyebrow in response. What in the world did she want with her hand?

“Okay,” Tess acquiesces, placing her palm in Liz’s hand and pales as she realizes why the brunette wanted her hand. “No fucking way.”

“They’re a matched set,” Liz observes and Tess rips her hand out of Liz’s grasp, staring at the offending object intently, attempting to will it away. There is just no way – there has to be an explanation for this.

This is going to ruin everything, she thinks, frustrated as a million thoughts and contingency plans rush through her head.

“Ruin what?” Liz asks, and Tess’ eyes grow wide at the question, before attempting to play it off.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tess hisses, glaring at the brunette, hoping that she’ll drop it.

How can Tess look so hot when she’s pissed? Liz wonders and Tess’ eyes grow wide.

“You think I’m hot?”

“What? I don’t –“

“You just said, ‘how can Tess look so hot when she’s pissed?’” she repeats, mocking the other girl’s delivery by drawing out every word and blinking her eyelashes to feign innocence.

“I didn’t say it. I thought it,” Liz clarifies, her skin flushing in embarrassment, and Tess feels her mouth fly open in shock. This was so, so not good.

“Oh shit,” Tess curses, and then stares directly at the brunette, her eyes wild and her voice panicked. “Liz, what am I thinking, right now?”

She focuses on a memory, one that Liz definitely couldn’t come up with on her own and pushes it to the forefront of her mind, making sure not to work it too hard, lest it become a mindwarp and really, really mess things up. And possibly traumatize her new wife for life.

Small minor points, really.

“You want to do that with Kyle?” Liz hisses, her brown eyes wide and questioning. As if she, of all people, hadn’t seen him naked before.

“Correction! I have done that with Kyle, thank you very much,” Tess smirks before she can think better of it, remembering the way that Kyle felt underneath her as they enjoyed each other’s company during a warm night in the desert. Picking up on Liz’s train of thought, she pales, realizing that this bond could have some serious consequences and blackmail potential.

“Wait, wait,” Tess stammers needing an answer to what she’s just overheard. “You never actually had sex with him? But what about last October?”

“I uh—it’s complicated,” Liz stammers, fear radiating from her every pore. Ah, so Liz Parker had secrets, did she? Well, that was going to change quickly.

“What do you mean change,” she accuses, her eyebrows arched skyward and arms crossed against her chest.

“Sweetheart, maybe you haven’t noticed, but there’s nothing sacred between us now,” Tess mocks, annoyed that she has to be the one to point out the painfully obvious for once.

“And you’re okay with this?”

“Of course not! But, unlike you, I don’t have anything to hide,” Tess lies, tying the ends of her robe tighter and pretending to be unaffected by this situation. She has to keep her cool, especially now, when she’s got decisions to make and actions to take.

Nasedo always tried to get inside her head when she was little, and she’d learned, through trial and error, how best to mask it. It was never an exact science, but it could at least protect some of the thoughts that she needed to keep private.

“You’re lying. I can tell,” Liz states, her gaze narrowing and Tess shivers as she feels the other girl’s dark orbs pierce through her, as if she’s able to see directly into her soul.

“Whatever,” Tess shrugs. “So, Kyle,” she adds, trying to change the subject.

“I am not telling you about Kyle. Or anything else,” Liz responds, and Tess rolls her eyes, catching more images and thoughts that she’s certain Liz doesn’t want her seeing – including a dance with a leather-clad guy who looks a lot like Max.

Must be a fantasy. And boy did Liz have quite the attention to detail. Dirty, sweat-stained hair, leather pants that hugged his ass, a defined chest – too bad there wasn’t a ton of action on that front. Ah, well, maybe there’d be a chapter two.

“Not even about your encounter with Max Evans’ scruffy older brother? I never thought he’d be into all that leather, though Isabel has the market cornered on that front,” Tess pries, desperate to keep the focus on Liz’s sexual fantasies and not her own secrets. “I gotta say, I kind of wish your fantasies weren’t so G-rated.”

“Get out of my head,” she bites out, gripping her dark hair for emphasis and Tess’ mouth turns up in a smile. Mission accomplished.

“How—why is this happening?” Liz asks, her voice soft and desperate, and Tess can’t help but sit down next to the girl, in an attempt to awkwardly give her comfort. She’s unsure what this all means, but it’s not the first time she’s given into her humanity and it probably won’t be the last, which makes everything else so difficult.

If Nasedo could see her now. Of course, he was the one who had brought this predicament on her in the first place.

“I don’t know,” Tess answers, honestly. Even though she’s got an inkling of what might have happened, she doesn’t want to scare Liz yet. “Do you remember anything about last night?”

“Just those stupid video games and all the free drinks—wait, that’s it!” Liz says excitedly, her hands waving in the air as if she’d just discovered something big, like a cure for AIDS. “The drinks!”

“The drinks?” Tess questions skeptically, wondering if somehow this telepathy had already started to make the brunette go nuts.

“The drinks! Somebody had to have spiked them. Max completely blacked out last year after one sip of beer, and if you can’t remember anything, that must be it,” Liz adds, her eyes dancing at the prospect of an answer to the cause of this situation.

“Okay, but in case you forgot, you’re human. And you can’t remember anything, either,” the blonde says, not entirely sold on this alcohol thing. But Max got wasted off of a sip of beer? Really? Well, that was going to make the entire college experience really, really dull.

Not that she was sure if she even had a shot at that lifestyle, really.

“Well, Ava did say I was changed,” Liz theories and Tess notices the twinges of nervousness that show on her face. Ah, so she wasn’t entirely pleased with this development after all. Good to know. “Maybe a lowered tolerance to alcohol is a side effect.”

“I dunno, care to test that theory?” Tess asks, picking up a nearly empty champagne bottle from the floor and waving it for emphasis. “Bottoms up, Parker, or should I say, Harding.”

“No thanks, but I think we can definitely add intoxication to the list of possible catalysts,” Liz replies, writing it down on a piece of pink-tinged paper with a heart-shaped pen.

“Catalysts for what, exactly? It’s not like getting wasted forced you to reside in my head,” Tess huffs, irritated by Liz’s reliance on the scientific method. You don’t need to hypothesize and test everything.

“For our lack of memory,” Liz adds, irritated. “And Tess, I realize that you only find science valuable for the time it allows you to mindwarp Max and fix your makeup, but the scientific method has saved lives!”

“Why are you still on that? It was a year ago! And, and, you said you were over him. You—you gave me tips, and faked fucking Kyle to get him off your ass, even,” Tess accuses, trying to mask how her accusation cuts deeper than Liz knows. She really needs to figure out what she’s going to do next. And fast.

“A person’s mind is sacred,” Liz answers, clearly retreating from the Max conversation, and Tess rolls her eyes. If that were true, they wouldn’t be having secret conversations and mind reading moments right now.

“How can you even say that when you’re rifling through my thoughts like a burglar in a mansion?” Tess questions, raking a hand through her hair as she uses her powers to reinforce the block on some of her innermost thoughts. It’s already weakening and she’s afraid what Liz will do when she finds out, when everyone finds out.

“You’re at least able to block things! It’s like I get to this point and can’t go any further,” Liz admits, and Tess scowls. Of course Liz Parker would dig deep at the first opportunity. She’d at least backed off about finding more information on leather Max as a courtesy.

That was going to change. Payback always was a bitch.

“I know you have trouble getting your nose out of books, but I’m not a fucking encyclopedia,” Tess replies, staring her down. “And, for your information, I can’t consciously block anything. What you’re probably running into are Ava’s memories.”

She’s lying and she knows it, but she hopes that her intimidation routine is convincing enough for the time being.

“No, it’s not that,” Liz mumbles, her voice trailing off like she’s in deep thought and Tess rakes her lip between her teeth, frightened that she’s figured it out. “It seems darker, almost, but I keep getting drawn to it, like a beacon.”

Darker? That didn’t sound right.

“You do know how to hide things!” Liz shouts, catching her last thought and Tess blanches. Shit.

“I—Fine. But they’re not dark thoughts. Just things you might not agree with that were consensual, but a secret, for reasons that are really complex,” Tess rambles, frightened by this revelation.

Could Nasedo have done something to her when she was a kid? A contingency plan, perhaps?

“A contingency plan for what?” Liz scowls, and Tess flops back down on the bed, her legs giving out under the weight of this potential scenario.

“I—It’s a long story,” Tess begins, smirking when she hears Liz think I’ve got time. “Okay, fine. When Nicholas and the others came to Roswell, he visited me that night, after we thought we’d killed them.”

“You knew Nicholas was alive? Why didn’t you say anything?” Liz replies, eyes wide and her questioning gaze rips through Tess.

“I’m trying to explain it to you! God, you act like I’m the only one with secrets here – you keep thinking about Future Max and changing the future,” Tess snaps, irritated with Liz’s holier than thou attitude.

“That is so not the point, okay,” Liz says, waving her hands in the air for emphasis, her tone accusatory and as menacing as the other girl can get. Which isn’t saying a lot.

“What, so I’m the only one who can’t have any secrets? And newsflash, Marty McFly, you changed the future, you changed all our futures, so it is my business! What did you do?”

“What I had to! I did what I had to do to save all our lives okay! But clearly that was a mistake because I gave up my happiness so you could stay in town and have private meetings with Nicholas,” her tone is rage-filled and clipped, louder than Tess would have expected and she cringes under the weight of the images and things that are left unsaid.

So, in this other future, she grows a pair and bails on Roswell? That’s, well, different. Though Max’s reasoning is entirely off – she wouldn’t leave over his inability to embrace their destiny. She’d watched that ship sail this summer. So the real question, then, is what didn’t he tell her.

“Max is an idiot,” Tess begins, earning a glare from her blushing bride. “No, no, let me finish. The world doesn’t end because you fall in love or because I left. If you want to be with him, then be with him. If you don’t want to be with him, then don’t. It’s your life, but I think we may need a divorce first.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re working for Khivar,” Liz chokes out and she balls her hands into fists, resisting the urge to punch her in the face. Would it be considered a domestic dispute? Probably. Awesome, Tess Harding, wife beater.

“I’m not working for Khivar. Christ, what kind of person do you think I am? Wait, don’t answer that, you all have made that abundantly clear,” Tess replies, irate. “Look, Nasedo made an agreement with him, forty years ago, for him to have me get pregnant, while he steals the granolith and kills the others. That’s what Nicholas was coming for that night – to inform me of that deal and his intent to collect. And, if I didn’t produce, he was going to use me to kill all of you, one by one.”

“So you’re what? Going to get pregnant to save all our lives? I’m confused. How could he use you to do that,” Liz asks, in a tone that suggests she’s willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

“Khivar wants the seal, it’ll finally end this war and give his reign legitimacy, which is why he wants an heir. The granolith – well, I think you know why it’s important better than anyone, it’s very powerful, and could be an incredible weapon. As for Nicholas, I don’t know, but I’m guessing whatever you saw in my head is likely a part of it,” Tess sighs, drained by the conversation, even if she’s not entirely sure she’s even able to answer these questions.

“So, what are you going to do?” Liz asks and she cringes. Ah, yes, now to get into the details, none of which she’s going to be pleased with. Awesome.

“Beat them at their own game,” Tess replies with a shrug, wondering if Liz fully understands what she means by that. “I asked Alex to help me with a project earlier this year – translating the destiny book. He agreed, and came up with this idea to have me mindwarp him into thinking he was in Sweden, so no one would catch on and also have him create two different copies – one that was accurate and one that was inaccurate but passable, if anything were to happen.”

“You mindwarped Alex? You—you mindwarped Alex? Alex? How dare you? How dare you!” Liz screams, reaching for her phone and hitting the numbers.

“He agreed to it! He came up with the whole plan,” Tess repeats herself, tears biting the corners of her eyes. She knew from the start this was a bad idea, and now she couldn’t even tell Alex I told you so. He’d made sure she mindwarped away that conversation as well.

“Prove it,” Liz replies, her tone icy and monotone, and Tess shifts awkwardly on the bed. That, she can’t do, because she’d need to reverse everything, which would just be bad. Very, very bad.

Ah, shit. Doesn’t she get it? It’s better if he doesn’t remember. Safer for him. If Khivar were to find out, Alex would be dead. The destiny book is sacred, written in a lost language and the words shift as history evolves and rewrites itself. It can foretell the future—something even more powerful than the granolith in the right hands.

“How could you do this?” Liz asks, and she shivers at the question. She didn’t want to do this – she’d never mindwarped someone so deeply before, it was incredibly risky. But he’d insisted. And she thought it was a good plan.

“He wanted to do it. I—he—when Alex found out what was at stake, he wanted to do it. And as for why I went to Alex, it’s because he was the only one with the computer skill required to run a program that could potentially hack the language,” she sighs, staring at the heavy rise and fall of the other girl’s chest.

This approach clearly isn’t working.

“I can show you. I can form a connection and show you that he did this willingly. It’ll be more vivid than that night with Kyle, kind of like what you get with Max,” Tess offers, knowing it’s the only other option.

“How do I know you’re not going to mindwarp me too?” Liz asks, skeptical.

“Um, you can see into my head, so I think that’d give it away, for one,” Tess explains, rolling her eyes at the question and extending her hands, which Liz takes, after a moment’s pause.

Inhaling, she conjures up her memories of their exchanges, secrets that were shared between the two of them, while commiserating over loves lost and being outsiders. She’s not sure what to make of it all, but the memories fly fast from her mind and she feels Liz digging deeper, even as everything has been shared until the seal, her seal, springs forth between them.

Shivering at the spread of power between them, she drops her hand, startled by the revelation. Oh, hell no. She didn’t just marry Liz Parker last night.

She bonded with her.

“Bonded?” Liz asks, picking up on her thoughts and Tess scowls at the vocalization of her biggest nightmare, though also noticing that she believes her about Alex. Well, you can’t win them all.

“Bonded. Cemented. Sharing each other’s hearts and minds. Forget Max, you’re now my soulmate,” Tess grumbles, completely thrown by this – not to mention, unlike marriages, this is forever.

“Shit,” Liz replies, unable to find anything else to say and Tess smirks at her use of profanity.

“You think?” Tess snaps, annoyed. Of course she would do something like this drunk, and of course Liz would go along with it. Her life was a complete and utter disaster.

“We need to get that thing out of your head,” Liz says, suddenly, her mind racing a mile a minute and Tess cringes as she gets whiplash from the millions of ideas that speed by.

“No shit,” Tess agrees, knowing full well what Liz is referring to – the big black box of dark thoughts and ideas that aren’t her own. She could have told her that from the moment it was discovered. No need to repeat it now.

“No, no. You don’t understand. If we share thoughts, that means if it gets unleashed we both go under the influence,” Liz explains, her voice panicked and unsure. “Future Max, the granolith, all of it.”

“Glad to see you’re concerned about yourself, here, Mary Sunshine,” Tess bites out, with an irritated snarl. “Perfect wife material.”

“I’m not your wife,” Liz drawls, eyeing the other girl as she moves around the room.

“Technically, you are. Even if we’re never consummating this union. Ever,” Tess stresses, cringing at the idea of having the former girlfriend of both her ex-husband and her friend with benefits underneath her as they explored their feminine sides.

“Ew, god no. No. Never. Why would you even think that I’d—“

“I wouldn’t! I don’t! It’s bad enough I got a full play by play of your secret fantasies involving you and Michael Guerin,” Tess taunts, giggling to herself. At least she could make Parker blush easily. “I wonder what Maria would think.”

“Probably the same thing that she’d think if she saw what you want to do to Guerin on the back of his bike,” Liz replies through gritted teeth and Tess’ eyes widen, impressed.

Ah, her young padawan is learning!

“You know, an alien making Star Wars references is incredibly ironic,” Liz observes, and Tess frowns, ignoring the observation.

“Hey Liz, um, check your dress,” Tess orders, her skin growing paler by the second. There’s only one way to know if they haven’t actually already cemented the bond and she’s dreading the answer.

“What? Why?” Liz asks, curious, before picking up on her train of thought. “You don’t think we actually—“

“I woke up naked. In bed with my new wife and bond-mate. We need proof,” Tess replies, trying not to freak out.

“But if we did, would you want to know? I wouldn’t,” Liz asks, and Tess grits her teeth. They need to know, there are things that happen after an alien decides on a bond-mate and, well, bonds with them. They share powers, not just thoughts.

“I don’t want the ability to mindwarp!” Liz shrieks, afraid of the implications of Tess’ line of thinking.

“Check the damn dress. You can’t mindwarp me, so you need to do a thorough inspection of all bodily fluids,” Tess orders, pointing toward the bathroom.

“Fine, give me a minute,” Liz states, heading off to the bathroom.

Tess grows more and more anxious by the second. Liz is right, she doesn’t want to know, but she has to – mindwarping is a difficult ability to have and not everyone born with it survives. The last thing she needs is to be responsible for Liz Parker’s demise.

“We’re um – all clear on that front, but hey, Tess? I have something for you,” Liz smirks, coming back into the room, powder blue tuxedo in hand. “Guess you do wear the pants in the relationship after all.”

“Was there any doubt?” Tess returns, waving a hand over both the wedding gown and the tux, changing them into t-shirts and jeans. “But as much as I’d love a wedding photo, you and I have to get out of here.”

“What are we going to tell the others?” Liz asks, and the uncertainty resonates through her tone. “Other than the obvious, I mean.”

“First, we’re getting this thing out of my head, second, we’re coming up with a plan, third, we’re getting a translation of the destiny book or at least its language to find a solution to this mess,” Tess states, counting off tasks noticing that this seems to be borrowing a bit from Liz’s modus operandi.

“You said it was permanent! You mean I got worried for nothing?”

“Not nothing,” Tess replies, amused by Liz’s distress. “But I don’t want to hear or sense you losing your virginity, for example, so maybe we can get a damper.”

“And if we can’t?” Liz asks, panicked, clearly not having considered this side effect.

“Well, then you’re just going to have to get used to my unidentified vibrating object,” Tess grins, trying to hide the fact that she’s lying through her teeth from Liz. She doesn’t have a vibrator, at least not yet, but no need to tell her that. Let her sweat it out.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Liz accuses, fear painted on her features and Tess simply smirks in response before leading her out of the motel, chuckling the entire way. Sure they have more to discuss, but for now, she needs to avoid the serious discussion of what happens if they can’t get this thing out, and tormenting her wife seems to be the best solution.

Now, about that fantasy where she’s the catholic schoolgirl about to get detention with Mr. Valenti – that was always a favorite. Especially when he whacked the ruler against her ass.

Oh, teacher indeed.