Well Look Who's Back! (M/L TEEN) epilogue 5/29/11

Finished stories set in an alternate universe to that introduced in the show, or which alter events from the show significantly, but which include the Roswell characters. Aliens play a role in these fics. All complete stories on the main AU with Aliens board will eventually be moved here.

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mary mary
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Re: Well Look Who's Back! (M/L Teen) ch. 20 5/8/11

Post by mary mary »

]Happy Mother's Day Everyone[/b]


Carolyn: Me too, I’ll just bet Jim was sporting a smile as wide as Hoover Dam…as for Tess, wellll, let’s just say the girl loved her son. What she did wasn’t for Max, Liz or anybody else but Zan. She did love her baby. That is why she left Antar, remember. Whatever else she was she loved her baby and she knew Max loved Liz and would do his best to get to her some day…and if that day ever came Zan would have a mother who loved him whether Liz and Max got back together or not. :)

Eve:
You’re right about Tess, she did choose Liz because of Zan and for purely selfish reasons when you think about it, she wanted the best for her son and Liz was it. :)

Nitpick23: Remember Tess came back from Antar to save Zan…she really did love him and what she did wasn’t for Max or Liz but her child, at least that's what I’m thinking. :D

As for the New York Zan, well, I think the whole damned bunch of them, with the exception of Ava, should never have made it to Earth. I think Ava and Tess’ pods got switched is what I think. :lol:

Now, the Canadian skins…let’s just a wait a little while and see what they’re all about. :)

XAF RU208:
Well, it looks like we’re all on the same page when it comes to Tess, except for Killjoy…he thinks she’s the only one that had any sense…he could be right you know! As for Zan and Liz, I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do to break up their feelings they’ve got building for each other and that little girl…well, we’ll just see how that turns out. :wink:

Cardinal: Yep, Zan is totally happy with the concept of Liz being his mother. As for Serena and Michael…Serena thought about it for just a minute and then thought about the fact that she was only going to be here until they found a cure and she would be gone. Sometime it’s best not to start something than can’t go anywhere. I cover this somewhere, I can't remember just where though, it's been finished for quite a while. :)




Chapter: 20


Back in Texas a wired up little boy was all but dragging his ‘mother’ through the stock yards of Fort Worth in awe and wonder…Liz giggled as she took the bottle of Tabasco out of her purse and poured it over the youngster vanilla ice cream cone. They had bar-b-que for dinner and after putting away a huge beef sandwich Liz wouldn’t allow Max to order desert…

“No, we’re not finished yet.” She told him and they headed to the ice cream parlor where she got Zan a small cone to start with…he could have more later, which she was sure he would want, but she didn’t want him getting sick. (She had forgotten that Antarians don’t get sick!)


After Zan finished his Tabasco laced cone Liz led him to the hat company. Beautiful hats of all sizes and colors, and she made her way to the other end of the store to the children’s section. Serena and Max following behind and watched the two in action. Max still wasn’t sure he believed what Serena had told him but it certainly looked like they were in love…literally in love with each other. No other words could describe the emotions radiating from the both of them…they knew each other from deep within and Max was still trying to wrap himself around it. He would have to talk to Cal about this. Michael was off with Maria checking out the equipment for tomorrow’s show and they would join them at Billy Bob’s in an hour. In the meantime Serena found a hat that she liked too and Max nodded to her to get it…then she had to ask…

“Max, I don’t understand this card business…explain it to me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. This is a credit card. The company that issued it to me pays these people for what we buy, then they send a bill to me and I repay them. They charge me a percentage of what I owe for the privilege of not having to carry money on my person and it is worth every dime. The merchant also pays a fee to the credit card company for doing their bookkeeping for them It’s all a money game Serena, but it works very well over all.”

“Hmm…seems to me that the money people are the ones coming out ahead in this venture.”

“Well, they are in it to make money, that’s for sure. It’s what makes the world go around.”

“Uh-huh…okay then…I want this hat, and Max, is two billion a lot?”

“It’s an awfully lot Serena…a great big bunch of a lot.”

“I see. Why do you think Cal bought that stuff?”

“I really don’t care. I’m just glad he did.”

And about that time a dark haired little boy with golden eyes came waltzing up to them sporting a western style straw hat to match his ostrich skin boots, it had a snake skin band on it and he had a rope tie around his little neck topping off the white cowboy shirt he had on over his tee-shirt... He was carrying a bag and when Max opened it up to have a peek there were five more shirts. Max stood there and grinned from ear to ear and Liz Parker glowed, absolutely glowed and the man standing behind them trying on a hat as well could only smile at the picture. His boss was going to love this and he took out his phone and snapped a picture of one mighty happy looking group of people. He had many assignments in his life but this one had to be one of the best so far.

*

On Thursday morning, very early, Liz felt someone watching her…it was not uncomfortable but she felt compelled to open her eyes. She had her head partially covered with her blanket and heard some soft snoring coming from the person next to her, who she remembered to be Maria, so what was the problem. She opened the only eye not covered and saw Zan standing there looking at her and she smiled, raised her head and whispered…

“Is something wrong sweetie?”

“Dad’s snoring very loud Liz.”

Liz looked at the small boy and grinned, Zan was used to sleeping with Max, she knew this, she was told this…they have been sleeping together since Zan was a baby, then she looked at the boy a little harder and realized, ‘he wants to sleep with me so he can read my mind…Well come ahead, I have nothing to hide from you little one’…and she scooted over and pulled the covers back. The slight little figure crawled right in next to his ‘mother’, spooned in with his little head on her pillow and went right back to sleep. Liz smiled, wrapped an arm around his little body, pulled him closer and joined him in slumber.

About 7:00 a.m. Max Evans rolled over, reached out automatically for his son and the bed was empty. He jumped from the bed and grabbed his jeans, an automatic reflex from years of being in danger, he hopped into them on his way to Michael’s room all but yelling…

“Mike, MIKE…MICHAEL! Get up! Zan’s gone!”

“What the hell…” Michael rolled over and lifted his body up onto his elbows and tried to get his bearings while Max whispered loudly…

“Get up Michael, Zan’s gone!”

“Maxwell, relax man, he’s here somewhere…”

“No Michael, he would never leave me.”

“Max! Hold on buddy, did you check the bathroom? You know he ate a lot of strange food yesterday.”

“And you know we don’t get sick!!!”

By this time Michael was grabbing his jeans and following Max down the hall to Serena’s room…Max stopped for a second and then tapped on the door and entered.

“Serena, Zan’s missing!”

“What…What do you mean missing? Max…” Serena rolled over on her side and looked at Max…”God, he’s not missing…he’s just not with you. Have you checked all of the rooms?”

“Well no, I got Michael before I came in here.”

“Ah Max…come on, he’s not missing.” And Serena drug herself out of bed, finding her slippers and sliding her feet into them as she scratched her head and yawned she said…”Come on.”

She made her way to Liz’s room, noticed the door slightly ajar and when she peaked her head in she got a big grin on her face and stifled a laugh. There in all of her Diva Glory was Maria, sprawled out on her back, pink satin eye shades on, mouth wide open and snoring lightly…she followed the line of vision to a very tiny spot on the other side of Maria, taking up very little space were two dark heads sharing a pillow…both occupants of the pillow sound asleep…one little boy cuddled up next to one slight woman with dark hair looking as though it was the most natural thing on earth.

Serena stood back, made a grand gesture toward the bed and Max and Michael just stood there gawking. Michael looking at Maria as he grinned broadly and Max watching his son and Liz sleep like babes. They all smiled and headed back toward their rooms with Max shaking his head…’when did he do that?’ he wondered… then he thought, ‘the lucky little shit!’

“You know Max, if I can’t go back to sleep I’m going to get even.”

“Okay Serena, I’ll owe you.” And Max went back into his room and decided the excitement was enough to completely wake him up and he headed to his bathroom for a shower. ‘What a beautiful sight they make!’ He thought to himself and smiled once again…

Michael was ready to blast Max’s ass back to Antar and then the picture of Maria all sprawled out made him smile all over again. God, he did love her, that was for sure and then he too grabbed a towel from the linen closet and headed to the shower outside his room.

Serena crawled back into bed and wished to hell the mighty king of Antar would learn to relax just a little because once they got back to Roswell the fun was really going to start. 'Maybe she and Liz could go back to that lab today and see if their samples would do any good on those cultures' and then she had another thought, Liz probably has some equipment here and we have the cultures…why not just run some tests here. She smiled, covered her head with a blanket and went back to sleep in a flash.

*
Meanwhile, in a small community of about 200 a middle aged man, in his 50’s, was calling a meeting in a private club. T. Greer looked exactly as he had 60 years ago when the community was founded. As a matter of fact none of the citizens had aged at all. It was a tight knit group actually, they farmed their own fruits and vegetables, raised their own live stock and tended to keep to themselves for the most part. Occasionally one of them might make a trip to the closest town for some supplies such as gasoline or a truck and trailer load of heating fuel but other than that they were very self contained.

Mr. Greer called the meeting to order, opening his carefully planned speech with the news that John Harvik had contacted him but he lost reception before the message could be completed. Apparently he found some sort of biological experiment that could make it possible for them to get back to their home planet with a guarantee of safety. He wanted the townspeople to be aware of what he was working on and he would try to contact Mr. Harvik again this evening.

“Please don’t get your hopes up folks but there has been some activity and I just wanted to make all of you aware of it. Thanks for coming.”

One of the people in the audience, Joe Wagner, got up and left the building in total disgust…’why tell us about another maybe. We have been living with maybes for over 50 years…Why don’t we just figure out a way to survive here and forget about a return. We have been here so long that we won’t even recognize the place anymore and none of the population we knew will even recognize us. It’s time to stop this insanity and move on. Ever since Greer got here from Arizona it has been one useless meeting after the other.’ But instead of saying anything and being ridiculed as he had always been in the past he kept his thoughts to himself and made his way to his farm. It’s time to get out of here!’ He thought.

Mr. Greer didn’t miss this exit and immediately sent one of his goons to keep an eye on Joe. He always was one to balk at any new ideas and Greer wondered what in the hell he was mad about this time.
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mary mary
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Re: Well Look Who's Back! (M/L Teen) ch. 21 5/9/11

Post by mary mary »

Eve: Yes Max is having a tough time believing Serena as is Liz and everyone else actually. And Greer is the one from the town where the teenagers destroyed the husks. If you recall, Nicholas showed up at the summit meeting in New York and they all thought he was dead but somehow he had escaped Tess’ mind warp in the high school…as I mention in the last paragraph or so of this chapter “Greer” showed up from Arizona.

Carolyn:
Yes Tess mind warped Max into believing that Zan couldn’t survive here on earth and she intended to take the royals back to Antar for execution, but not her baby. Her plans were for her to be queen and her son to be the heir. That didn’t work at all…so she was executed but she did some mumbo jumbo and gave her son to Liz. That’s the part I made up all by myself.

*~*~*


Chapter: 21



Isabelle was packed and ready to leave when Jesse came into the room with some candy from “Old Town” for Zan.

“This stuff is a little spicy Isabelle and I thought maybe Zan might like it.”

“Jesse, how sweet. Thank you. I’m sure he will. Mom said that the travelers wouldn’t be back from Texas until late Monday but I’m excited to see Mom and Dad too. This will give us a chance to catch up before all the hullabaloo starts up again. Mom said you can’t get through the house for toys and she promised Zan that she wouldn’t move anything until he got back. She said he is a real sweetheart and he and Max are like two peas in a pod. I can hardly wait to meet him.”

Eve: hullabaloo is like chaos.

“I know Isabelle and tell Max that I’m looking forward to meeting them as well. I know I met him briefly when he was just a kid but that was a long time ago.”

“Yes it was Jesse and it’s been a long time for me too. I just hope they find the answers they need and get this serum back to Antar in time. It would be a disaster to lose an entire planet over the insane actions of one man.”

“Yes it would Isabelle and if what I hear about your brother and Liz Parker is true they will take care of this.”

“I hope you’re right. Mom said Max has Cal Langley on his side as well and if money can help Cal can do it, that’s for sure.”

“Cal Langley, the director?”

“Yes, he’s from Antar too. He was one of our protectors, didn’t I ever tell you about him?”

“No Isabelle, you never told me about him. You people are just full of surprises aren’t you?”

“I guess…Nasedo mentioned him to us once a long time ago and Max remembered him and called him regarding the sale of some stuff he brought back with him.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“I’ve no idea Jesse. Max said the stuff belonged to him so I guess he’ll tell me about it later. We’ll see. Well, are you ready?”

“Yeah…be sure to have fun and tell Philip and Diane I send my love.”

“Will do, now let’s go.”

And off they went, Isabelle was so excited she almost forgot her bags but Jesse was right on it.

*

Maria was the first to awaken in the darkened room and lay there quietly, trying to get herself oriented before arising. She removed her mask and was surprised to say the least. Liz was asleep on her side with Max’s son laying next to her…’well that’s a surprise’ she thought to herself. Thank God it’s a king sized bed’ and then she surveyed the sleeping arrangements. Liz and Zan probably had 1/3 of the bed and she had the rest. If she was sleeping with Michael she wouldn’t need all of this room. She had to work on him because they needed to be together in Roswell. She didn’t want to stay at her mother’s alone, she loved her mother but she needed something to do besides listen to her prattle. It was too much to ask. She looked over at the bedside table for a clock and it was on the other side, where Liz was, so she had to get up and walk around to check it out…she didn’t see that well without her glasses and she didn’t want anybody to know she needed them. It was 9:00 a.m. already and she had to be at rehearsal by noon. God…she needed to get moving.

Liz heard some movement in her room and started to move when she realized that her arm had gone numb…she opened her eyes and smiled. She almost woke her buddy up. Poor little guy looked wiped out still. This must be a whole new way of life here on Earth she thought to herself. He sure seemed to have fun yesterday. And about that time the little guy moved and looked up at Liz and smiled.

“Hey sweetie, did you sleep alright?”

“Yes Liz and thank you. Liz, are you mad at my daddy?”

Liz took a look at the innocent face and knew she couldn’t lie to him so she chose her words very carefully….and a very quiet Serena, who was fixing her hair decided to overstep her boundaries and eavesdrop.

“No Zan, not any more. I was for a long time but I was very young and now I see things a little bit differently, I thought your daddy lost trust in me. We were all very young and we were all dealing with some very bad people at the time so things were always chaotic and we needed to grow up. Which, I’m happy to say, we managed to do in one piece. What made you ask me that Zan?” And Zan looked at Liz and wondered if he should tell her what he knew and how…Liz smiled at the child and said…

“Come on Zan, I told you the truth.”

“Well, my daddy dreams about you all of the time and in his dreams you are mad at him but I can never figure out why. Who’s the blond lady?”

“Zan, the dreams your daddy has are about things that happened when we were very young and they no longer apply to us anymore. As for the blond lady you will have to ask your daddy.”

“But I saw the blond lady in your dreams Liz not my daddy’s. If you are my mother then who is the blond lady?”

“Zan, why do you think I’m your mother?”

“Because everyone has a mother Liz and I’ve known you are my mother since I can remember. You have always been my mother but I just never touched you.”

“Oh Zan…I would be so happy to be your mother honey…” and then Liz saw Serena stick her nose out of the bathroom and shake her head “NO” furiously. Liz looked at the woman and then at Zan and she could tell that Serena wanted her to stop right there…Liz was totally confused. Is this some alien thing she needed to find out about. There’s no way she could be Zan’s mother…not in a million years so why did this child think she was. She had no problem with the idea but that idea was too bizarre…it just wasn’t…

“Now why don’t you go take a shower and get dressed. You can put on a bathing suit and go swimming if you want to. I’m sure the weather is nice today and we really don’t have any plans. Tomorrow night though, we are going to see Maria’s concert and then we are going dancing. You can wear your new boots, hat and one of your shirts. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

“Okay Liz…can I call you Mom? Dad calls grandma Mom and I want one too.” Serena stood and looked at Liz with the most horrified expression and Liz looked at Zan and her heart broke. What do you say to an innocent child like this.

“Zan, I’m going to tell you something very important…so listen carefully. You can call me Mom until your daddy marries somebody some day. When that happens you can’t call me Mom any more because that woman will get very confused. I know you don’t understand what I’m trying to tell you but I’m pretty sure that it will happen some day. Do you understand a little of what I’m trying to tell you?”

“Yeah, you’re my mom til dad finds me another mom.”

Liz took her index finger and stuck Zan in the stomach and said…

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Now go take a shower.”

Zan took off down the hall and made his left hand turn into his dad’s room, went fishing through all of his stuff and found his new bathing suit his grandmother bought him and then he thought about a shower…

“Mom…why do I have to shower if I’m going swimming?”

Liz wasn’t too sure she would get used to this but she answered Zan anyway…

“If you don’t want to shower then don’t…but wash your hands and brush your teeth.”

“Okay.”

And she heard the door slam…

She looked at Serena and pointed to the spot on the bed that Zan had vacated…

“Okay, what alien hoopla am I missing here. Why does that child think I’m his mother. Has someone been feeding him bullshit up there.”

And Serena laughed…

“No Liz. Nobody has been feeding him bullshit. There is an ancient custom on Antar and we think Tess used her power to give Zan to you more or less. It’s kind of like giving your child out for adoption only you actually choose the parent and make a ‘transfer’ of ownership…sorta.”

“Sorta? By sorta you mean she planted the idea in that baby’s mind that the lady she pointed out, “X” amount of light years away, was his mother. The lady that had never slept with his father and had never seen the child until a few days ago. She did this!”

“Liz, you can’t lie to me…you feel it too. I know you do.”

“Serena, I know I love him but he’s lovable…”

Serena stopped her..

“No Liz, you don’t love him because he’s lovable. You love him because he’s yours and deep down you know this. The rest of us see it when you two interact and Max is having a tough time wrapping himself around this also but Zan’s yours Liz and he knows it just like you do. I think the answer you gave him is sufficient right now and some day you can tell him about the blond but in the meantime let it go, okay?”

“Yeah…I have to believe you because I have no choice and I know that you people are capable of some pretty strange shit but this tops the cake. Why in the hell would she give him to me?”

“Come on Liz, you know why as well as I do…”

“Oh no Serena, no way…never.”

“Don’t say never Liz, stranger things have happened.”

“And they’ll continue to happen but not the impossible and that’s absolutely impossible.”

“We’ll see.” And with that Serena went to her room and Liz heard a little voice yell on his way down the stairs …

“Dad, mom said I can go swimming.” And she held her breath…

“You have to eat something first Zan and then you have to wait a little bit. You can soak in the Jacuzzi while your breakfast settles…ZAN! WHO SAID YOU COULD GO SWIMMING?

Mom.

And Liz and Serena both smiled…Oh well!

*~*~*
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mary mary
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Re: Well Look Who's Back! (M/L Teen) ch. 22 5/9/11

Post by mary mary »


Eve:
If you love children just wait until you have grandchildren…the saying goes you can spoil them and send them home…well it’s true. The only job you have regarding your grandchildren is to enjoy them, spoil them and love them. They are great because you aren’t responsible for having them grow up responsibly. If that makes sense. You can stick your nose in if asked to but for the most part, just enjoy them. Or am I one of the lucky ones and have a great daughter-in-law, we like each other.

Yes, Max is a little shocked to say the least. But I think, when you get right down to it, he’s going to use this situation to his advantage rather than be jealous of it.

XAF RU208: I think Max will wake up and as for Maria, she has a moment or two but it gets thwarted and don’t be surprised at who does it…

Carolyn: There’s going to be a lot of people confused by this situation that’s for sure, Max and Liz included and yes, Zan’s going to show some signs of getting used to being number one but, surprise of surprises, his ‘mother’ will have none of it. :)

Cardinal: Yep, Tess did a noble thing for her son when she realized her destiny wasn’t quite what she bargained for. As for the situation getting a little close with Max over the Zan predicament, well Liz is going to do her best to control it. I think the Boot Scootin’ Boogie turns out fun…let’s hope so anyway, but not this chapter…this one is a catch up again. :)

*~*~*

Chapter: 22


Cal Langley smiled as he checked his e-mail from the head of his Texas based team that was sent upon learning of the young prince’s whereabouts. Yes, if Max Evans didn’t get that young woman back in his good graces he needed his head examined. That child loved the beautiful young woman that stole his father’s heart so many years ago and it was written all over the boys face. Tess must have had some serious power, that damned Nasedo should never have been included in that voyage. How he ever managed to get in the good graces of the queen was beyond Cal’s wildest imagination. Talk about a snow job and now they had this mess to clean up after him. Time to do some more probing…and sending out messages.

“Come on Harvik. You’re going to bring T. Greer to Hollywood.”

“Why would I do that?”

“You’re going to do that so I can talk some sense into the man. If he truly wants to go back to Antar we’ll send him but it has to be for the right reasons. We aren’t going to send those skins back thinking they are going to be treated like royalty when there is no royalty left. They’ll have to work and earn their way the same way the rest of the planet is doing, if there is a planet after the stunt your maniacal brother pulled with your help. Now let’s get busy. Maybe this T. Greer would like to take the first of the serum back to the dying.”

“I don’t think he’s going to like this?”

“Did I ask you to make him like it…I told you what we’re going to do and we’re going to do it. And I don’t think you want to cross me here John, not one bit. There’s a nation up there that needs a young prince to give them hope. Now get busy.”

“But I thought you said the royalty was gone?”

“The Royal house is gone John but not the royals. Now let’s get busy.”

*

Serena went into Liz’s room after Liz had taken her shower and was dressed and the two young women set about making up Liz’s bed.

“Liz, do you have a lab set up in the house at all?”

Liz looked at Serena and grinned..

“What made you ask that Serena?”

“Because, if we had some facilities we could check out the samples you drew the other night. They’re still in the refrigerator and the cultures have been frozen solid since we took them from John. Let’s just thaw some out and run a few tests this evening and tomorrow afternoon, before the festivities at the Stock Yards. See if we’re on the right page so to speak.”

“Great idea. Come on.”

And Serena followed Liz to the far end of the hall where Liz pushed a switch on the inside of the linen closet and some steps came down from the ceiling.

The two young women took the stairs to Liz’s attic where Serena saw a fully functional mini lab and she smiled.

“I knew it, but it’s a little warm up here.”

“That’s because I keep the temperature at 80 and with the outside temperature running a little warm today it seems warmer but I can fix that in no time.” And Liz walked over to a thermostat on the wall and made some adjustments.

“Come on Serena, help me take the covers off these counters and tables. I’ll just take these sheets down and throw them in the washing machine. Speaking of washing machine…do you have any laundry that needs to be done. We might just as well pick up the towels and anything else we find laying around and do that too. Can’t test the cultures until we’ve thawed some of them out and given them a chance to do their little happy dance.” Serena giggled and said…

“Great idea…should we take the men’s clothes as well?”

“If I know Michael his are laying in a heap in the corner…You can check out Max’s room , there’s a hamper in the closet if he found it, and if you don’t see anything we’ll ask him for it. Especially Zan’s. I’m sure he’s got some for us.” And both women giggled. Little boys always had dirty clothes. There was a hamper in Michael’s closet also and he knew it but Liz knew he wouldn’t use it and it wasn’t because Michael was a slob, he just didn’t feel the need to invade the closet.

So off they went to gather up dirty laundry and to prepare tests. As Maria was getting ready to take off for rehearsals Liz leaned over the banister that led to the family room and started throwing dirty clothes over the railing and Serena giggled and almost out and out laughed. “Why take the chance of tripping with an arm full of dirty clothes while taking them downstairs when you can just throw them down there?” Scared the hell out of a couple of men and one Diva but the job got done and Liz grinned.

“Jesus Liz, have you ever tried jumping that banister?” Michael yelled…

“Not yet Michael, but I’ve thought about it a few times. Maybe I’ll move the couch over and give it whirl, I can use it to break my fall…what do you think?”

“I think you’re nuts…that’s what I think!”

And Serena did laugh and Liz just grinned and motioned for Serena to follow her on down the stairs.


*

“God Mom, did he buy the entire Toys-r-Us for the kid?”

“Like I said, he’s got stuff here that he doesn’t even know what to do with but Max said that Michael will know what all of it is and they will have a ball playing together. Max called last night and said that he’s really excited to see you and also to make sure that you are ready to do some things for Liz. He didn’t specify what kinds of “things” but he did say she had drawn some blood from them the night they got there. Let’s hope she and Serena can solve this problem quickly. Apparently that Cal Langley bought the artifacts Max brought back from Antar outright. He’s sending a courier to pick it all up when Max gets back. How’s Jesse?”

“He’s doing great and sends his love. He’s looking forward to meeting Max and Zan of course. He says he remembers meeting Max years ago but he was just a kid. I guess we all were back then.”

Diane didn’t want to open old wounds because, after all, and the situation with Isabelle and Jesse had worked out well but they, more times than not, usually went sour. She was happy for Isabelle that her marriage worked so she just smiled and nodded in agreement.

“Well, which room do you want since yours has been taken over?” Diane asked her daughter…

“I’ll take the one next to Zan, give me a chance to make some late night and early morning visits with him.” And Diane laughed.

“He’s a typical little boy Isabelle, he plays hard and he sleeps harder.”

“Ahhh…that is so cute mom. I am so excited.” And Isabelle actually shivered with excitement.

“Here, Michael sent this e-mail last night…he took a picture of Liz helping him with his new rope tie…look how cute they look together.”

Isabelle took a look at the computer screen and gasped…

“God mom, he looks just like Max and when Liz is standing next to him he almost resembles her too.”

“Isabelle, I never noticed that but you’re right. It has to be the dark hair and the brown eyes because Liz and Max don’t look alike.”

“No, they don’t but look at the three of them. They look so happy.”

“Yes they do. The other dark haired girl is Serena. You’re going to like her too. She’s also a scientist. Max said she will be taking back any serum that they develop and will work with the scientists on their planet to inoculate all of the population. God I hope they’re successful.”

“So do I mom. Do you think Max will have enough money to do all of this research?”

Diane didn’t want to tell Isabelle about the conversation she had overheard so she just nodded her head in assent and said…

“I’m sure they will honey. Apparently the stuff Max brought back is very valuable. He told us that the “stuff” was his so I guess it isn’t contraband.”

“Hmmm…I wonder what this “Stuff” consists of.”

“Max didn’t say…just that Cal Langley bought it all outright.”

“Yeah, that’s what he told me too but he didn’t say what it was.”

“Maybe he’ll tell us someday. Anyway, let’s get you organized. God knows you could get lost down here.” And both women looked around and then smiled.

*
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mary mary
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Re: Well Look Who's Back! (M/L Teen) ch. 23 5/10/11

Post by mary mary »

Before i go posting I've got to tell you that I mislabeled yesterdays chapter as 23 on the title board...it should have read 22, which is what I actually posted, so here's 23!!! Sorry. :oops:

Cardinal: Yep, Izzie's arrived, but she's mellowed a little, just a little, so Zan is safe from the whirlwind we know as Isabelle. :wink: Zan is the image of his daddy, choose your favorite description...just think of Clark Gable and those ears. WOW! And just a little insight for you, Cal really is a good guy this time, since he and Max didn't have that run in that was part of #3. :roll:

Eve: The jewels will make an appearance in a little while...I really hope I'm covering everything for you guys...as I said before, please ask. :)

Carolyn: Yep, for some reason the man-child and t. Greer survived the fire storm Tess created...Hollywood never explained it and I can't really either unless they managed to duck around a corner or something, but they made it out. And here's another chapter late on the 10th. Still fighting a head-ache and am going to go to bed at a reasonable time tonight, I hope. As for the 'laundry chute', :lol: it works!! :D :D

*~*~*

Chapter: 23

“Mom, MOM!
Watch what Uncle Michael showed me.”

And Zan did a cannonball off the edge of the pool and landed right in the middle of the water where his father was positioned to catch him…

“Zan, I don’t think…” And Liz heard Max and shook her head no…

Max looked at Liz guiltily and started to apologize..

“Liz, I’m sorry if…”

“No Max. It’s alright. Zan and I had a discussion about it this morning and it was decided that he can call me mom until you find him another one. Didn’t we Zan?” And Liz nodded to the boy and smiled…

and then Michael muttered to himself…’yeah, like that’s gonna happen.’

“Yes Liz, but you’ll always be my mom no matter who dad finds.” Zan said loudly…

“Okay sweetie, if that’s what you want then that’s what you can have.”

“No Liz, it’s not what I want it’s what is. Honest. I know.”

Liz got a strange look on her face and Michael grabbed Zan up out of the water, spun him around and said…

“Come on sport…you need to learn what to do after you land in this water so let’s get busy.”

And Michael tossed the young boy to his daddy who was standing there just as puzzled as Liz was. Frankly, Michael thought it was just the way it should have been all along and he wasn’t the least bit fazed. Although it might just take a little bit of time for Max to fix this one.

*

Back in California an army of well trained military type men met in a private airplane hangar at LAX with a fairly medium height bald man with a broad smile.

“Alright gentlemen…we are going to take a trip to Canada and I hope all of you have passports. We are going to put a group of people to sleep and keep them contained until I have come to some kind of an agreement with their leader. These people do not need weapons because they are weapons so this mission has to be precise. The minute one of them knows they have been infiltrated the entire cell will know so this has to be done quickly and quietly, without the slightest chance of them knowing you are there.

You will be in full military gear, each armed with a canister of a special mix of gasses and also gas masks and canisters of oxygen for yourselves. Once these people have been “Put to sleep” for lack of a better term we will find a Mr. T. Greer and I will speak privately with him. Make sure the inhabitants of this little berg remain peacefully asleep. Administer as much of the gas that is needed for this purpose…it won’t take very much.

I might add that you people have been chosen based on your ability to keep things covert. You will never mention this mission to another person, not even each other. You will be handsomely rewarded for your participation in this mission and it will be in cash, you should all know what that means, if you don’t I suggest you ask when you are paid.

Now, if there are any of you who don’t want to go on this mission leave now. Are there any questions?”

“Yes, I have one. What do you mean by “They are weapons.” Are we in danger?” One of the men asked.

“Of course you’re in danger, that’s why you want to stay undercover. We will be hitting this town in the middle of the night when they are all asleep. I have included maps of the town for you. I have laid out all of the homes and social buildings where people might be located…but I think that their homes will be the best place to deal with them. When we leave, we simply leave. We will not wake them up, it will happen naturally and they won’t know that they were asleep by any artificial means. I intended to cover this on the plane but since you are asking then we will do it now. You will each have an area, there will be “X” number of people in your section. Count these bodies. If you cannot account for the number of bodies in your section contact command headquarters and report how many are missing. If you encounter more bodies, put them to sleep as well and report that to headquarters. We need exactly 231 people. There are no children. These adults range in age from early 20’s up to 60’s. They live in a tight little group and no strangers are permitted into their community. And by all means do not let yourselves be seen.”

Cal Langley’s little army of men all agreed to go along on his mission…simply put 231 people to sleep and leave. Cal had intended to call Greer to California but that didn’t pan out, so instead he would use a special group for the capture of T. Greer. It was imperative that the man be kept awake for their talk therefore it was necessary that Cal take part in this operation. He would leave T. Greer there to deal with his people after they left but he felt that it was imperative that Greer know the circumstances on Antar before making any attempt to go back. If Greer still wanted to go Cal would discuss it with Max and the final decision would rest on his shoulders. Cal knew the skins had raided Roswell in search of the Royal four when Max was just a kid so there would be no love lost there but these were different times and a lot had changed so Cal would act as mediator for the time being. If Max wanted Greer neutralized then that’s what they would do. No questions asked.

The group of night fighters were in the air and on their way to Canada just after the sun went down. It wouldn’t take them long to arrive at their destination.

*

Meantime, young Zan Evans was having the time of his life and there wasn’t a toy in sight. He was swimming like a fish before the afternoon sun had set in the west and his father and uncle Michael were clearly ready for a nap.

“Zan honey, don’t you want to come out of the pool for awhile and take a little rest?” Liz said, using the open window over the kitchen sink to talk to Zan.

“Why? I’m not tired.”

“Okay, but you can’t swim alone and I think your dad is asleep over there in the chair next to the one Uncle Michael is sleeping in. Come on in the house for awhile and help me fix the chicken for the bar-b-que. Maria will be home soon and then we’ll have some dinner and you can swim some more with Maria.”

“Is she going to scream and shout again?”

Liz had to laugh…

“No sweetie, she only does that when she’s excited and has stuff on her mind. All of the stuff is pretty much taken care of by now and she’s going to need to rest a little bit and get away from the screaming. And later on tonight we are going to watch a movie called “The Alamo”. It’s all about where we went when we got your boots. It is a Hollywood production but it follows history enough to give you some idea of what happened there and also it will open some doors to new people in our history books…I think you will like reading about Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett. They helped to expand our country for us. Their stories are very interesting, especially to little boys.” Liz said as she walked out to the pool area carrying a large fluffy towel…

“Okay…” And Zan crawled out of the shallow end of the pool and dried himself off with the towel Liz held out for him. He even let her rub his hair dry and Max Evans watched through half closed eyes as his son allowed someone else take care of him besides doing it himself and he smiled.

Liz opened the door for Zan, covered the wooden bar stool with a clean towel and set Zan up at the island with cut-up chicken pieces, a big bowl of marinade and a lot of different bottles of spices. She asked Zan if he could read and he was totally insulted at the thought that he couldn’t and Liz giggled. She bent down and kissed him on top of the head and Zan turned around and gave her a great big smile...nobody had ever done that to him before and he liked it.

She gave him the recipe that she had downloaded from the internet a few years back and showed him all of the ingredients sitting on the counter and told him to just read the instructions and do what they said and Zan got busy. She could have done it herself in a fourth of the time but it kept him busy and gave his dad and uncle a chance to rest. They had been out in that water for hours with the boy.

She and Serena were going to need some more blood samples this evening and they would need some of Zan’s as well. The tests were going well but they were not achieving the results they wanted…it was too good to be true Liz thought but they were so close. Serena was still shut up in the lab working as Liz shucked corn and foil wrapped potatoes for their dinner. She would just open a big bag of cut up lettuce, cut up some tomatoes and cucumbers and toss it all together for a salad…she had a large loaf of French bread to cut down the middle, spread it with a mixture of butter, garlic salt and oregano and she could sprinkle some Parmesan on it and stick it under the broiler to toast then dinner was good to go. Tomorrow they would eat at the Stock yards again and Michael most likely would have more steak. They needed to get something into Zan besides sandwiches, although he didn’t seem to be complaining and Liz smiled. He was certainly a good kid that’s for sure and she smiled some more. Max did a marvelous job on the boy considering the circumstances they were in when he was just a baby.

Max was so tired he could hardly raise his body from the chair but he felt he should go in and help Liz…she shouldn’t have to do all the work after all and Michael opened one eye and grinned…

“Leave them alone Max. Can’t you see through the kitchen window?”

Max put his hand over his eyes and squinted for a second and there he saw Zan, propped up on a stool with a bottle in his hand really studying it and a piece of paper in the other and Liz was talking to him while he was reading…

“Listen Max…” And Max could hear if he really strained…

“Mom, you have to be quiet while I’m studying this paper. These are new words and I have to find this stuff.”

“Oh! Alright Zan…go right ahead then, I’ll keep quiet.”

And Max spit out a laugh and Michael was grinning right along with him….

“Max, I think she has all the help she can handle right now.”

“Yeah, you’re right…we’ll leave them alone, but we do the bar-b-que Michael. It’s only right.”

“Okay man, now go back to sleep because you know damned well that he’s going to be raring to go again as soon as he’s had his dinner.”

“Yeah. You know Michael, between mom, dad and me we practically bought everything in sight at Toys-r-Us…There isn’t one toy here and I don’t think he has ever had this much fun in his life. We were pretty confined on Antar, even after the elections and the new government. I still wasn’t comfortable leaving him out of my sight. I think he knows more about democracy than he does about playing.”

“Well, I think this is good for him and when we get back to Roswell I hope he can continue to have fun. Where do you think Liz is going to stay when we get there?”

“Well, I hadn’t thought of that…I only assumed it would be with her parents. Why?” Max asked, with his eyes still closed, just listening to Michael and answering without eye contact…Michael was doing the same. Two old friends relaxing and talking.

“Because, I don’t think Zan is going to let her get too far from his sight Max. It’s just a feeling I’ve got, no big reason I guess.”

“Damn, you just might be right Michael…he seems to have found his mother and he’s not letting her go.”

“No he isn’t Max, and you can take that to the bank.”

“Well if that doesn’t just put frost on the pumpkin…” And Max just smiled…what else could he do, and the next thing you knew both men were asleep.

*~*~*
Last edited by mary mary on Wed May 11, 2011 3:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Well Look Who's Back! (M/L Teen) ch 24 5/11/11

Post by mary mary »

Eve: No Liz and Max are both having a hard time wrapping their minds around that piece of news. It seems like an impossibility to them that's for sure, and I'm quite sure a lot of other people. :roll:

nitpick23: Yes, Liz remembers FM telling her about Serena so when she showed up Liz just knew this was a friend and no one to be leery of.
Yes, Max doesn't want Zan screwing up his chances of getting Liz back into his good graces because he truly wants to be her friend at least, if not more. I cover the "sleeping" arrangements further down the line and Cal's visit to Canada is covered in this chapter.

Carolyn: It has been my experience with kids, especially grandkids, that they are very social little beings and want to be included in everything...so I always had something they could do to help when they were around...made all of our lives easier, even if I had to redo what they did, but surprisingly, more times than not, they did a good job. And yes, this is the week-end away so I won't be back until Monday. Maybe Sunday night but we'll see how tired I am after deplaning in San Francisco if I want to drive the 300 miles or so home. So you won't miss much. Have fun on your get=a=way too. :D

Cardinal: I think you're right about most women and their kitchens. Mine has a little bit of a set-up that I can stick them on the other side of the counter away from my work area and keep the kids busy, it's the adults that are the problem. :lol: And this chapter is the "Boot Scootin'" chapter. I didn't dwell on it too long but hopefully it tells a story. :wink:

*~*~*


Chapter: 24

When Cal and his night fighters arrived at the small community very early Friday morning each team member and his partner took off for his section of the map, located his target and released the allotted amount of gas into the inhabitants home. Each unit counted off the number of people encountered and sent the message back to “headquarters” which was a large Van outside of the small community. There were two missing and when the unit in charge of Joe Wagner’s home reported an empty building and one other unit reported a female but no male Cal figured the men had left the compound. Cal made his way to T. Greer’s home and had two of his members surprise t. Greer and Cal shot him full of the drug he had used on Harvik. Greer was totally coherent but without the ability to use any of his powers at all. Thanks to the special unit of the FBI Cal had quite a load of the stuff and, although he had never had any use for the drug before, it certainly came in handy now.

“Okay T. Greer, or would you just prefer Greer?”

“Who the hell do you think you are Langley?”

“Oh, so you know who I am.”

“We all know who you are. You’ve never bothered us before so why should we bother you.”

“Well, let’s just say that some things have changed and I’m not too sure you’re aware of them. Here’s the deal…first things first. Khivar has been dead for five years and I have Harvik and Dr. Parker has the cultures on the virus’ you wanted to purchase. Now I don’t know what in the hell you intended to do with a deadly virus but it will be neutralized. I need to know what your plans were and I won’t hesitate one single millisecond to terminate you and your entire band of flakes if you don’t talk. Are we clear?”

”Khivar is dead?”

“Yes, Five year ago as I said, your informants aren’t too reliable are they? There’s a new form of government on Antar, it’s called democracy. A very young king managed to introduce a new form of government to the people and they seem to be adapting quite well. Again, I need to know what you wanted with this virus?”

“I was going to use it to bribe the council to insure our safe return home.”

“Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there is no council. There are representatives and committees all working together for a better way of life with a president at the head. The king has abdicated the throne, no royal house and no dictator. So here’s the proposal, you can go back if you want to. Though why you would want to is beyond me. You have made a life here and it’s been good to you. Your kind have no purpose for existence except as soldiers. If you wish to go back to being soldiers and or slaves on your home planet then go…the way is clear. I’m sure they will be able to find jobs for you there or you can continue to eke out an existence here on earth. You can’t reproduce, you can’t enjoy many of the pleasures of humanity but you can make your own life style. The only stipulation for you , if you do go back, is that you do not try to introduce a band of rebels and try to overthrow a system that is finally working. You will be defeated and terminated. There are the strictest of laws regarding these actions and the government of Antar will enforce these laws. So…T Greer , if you want to go back then I suggest that you gather up your ‘people’ and head to Roswell. Let me know when you plan to arrive and I will make arrangements to have your transportation ready. Do you understand.”

“Yes, it’s very clear. How soon do we have to decide?”

“Take your time. The king has the Granolith, they have adapted it for travel and it is good for as many trips as is necessary. The final trip will be made when the serum has been completed and their scientist takes off with it. You see, Khivar released this virus into the atmosphere of Antar already, so need to for idle threats. He released it right before his take down five years ago and now the planet is very near annihilation. The young King is here looking for a cure. Since it is an earthly virus and the scientists of Antar cannot find a cure it was decided that the answer has to be here.”

“If there are no royals how can you call him King?”

“He may have abdicated the throne and set up a democratic system but there will always be a king. You know this as well as I do. Antar needs their king. They have accepted the new government and they understand the role of the president but they are used to royalty, if for nothing else but the figurehead. Therefore, the young King will always be the king until the prince takes over.”

“There’s a prince?”

“There’s a prince and a queen and you and I both know that I am protector of these people don’t we? So don’t even think about it…what good would it do you anyway. Your leader is dead. Now you be a good leader of your little group and accept the deal. It’s your choice but stop trying to get what you want through such devious behavior. It won’t work. It never has and it never will…people smarter than you are at work here. Better, yet, go back. Yes, go back. Let them deal with you… there aren’t so many of them and you won’t be able to get lost. It will be much easier to keep track of you up there. Let me know when you’re ready to go.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“No, T. Greer, you won’t think about it. You will share this with your fellow travelers and get back to me. I’ll be waiting to hear from you and I will have people watching you. You won’t have a clue as to who they are so don’t even try to single them out…call me.”

And Cal Langley walked out through T. Greer’s front entry, got into his ATV, sent out an alert and before you knew it the entire compound was full of sleeping citizens and that was all it was full of. Friday morning Cal was back in California, asleep in his own bed not eight hours later and T. Greer sat behind a desk in a very nice farmhouse tucked away in the woods of Canada thinking. There was a lot to think about…did they really want to go back to nothing?

*

It was just around 4:30 Friday afternoon when Liz told Serena to lock it up, that it was time to get moving and Serena grinned at the young doctor and started to put her current work into the refrigerator over her work bench and Liz placed the slide she was looking at back into the airtight container sitting next to her and put it into the refrigerator as well. Both young doctors were dressed in jeans and t-shirts and looked like anything but the genius scientists they both were.

Soon they heard some little feet running up the stairs and they both had to giggle…they stood and waited for it and then the staircase opened up and a little voice yelled…

“Mom, Serena, dad said it’s time to go…come on.” And then they heard another voice, very deep and very stern sounding…

“Zan, you have to quit yelling and running like that. When did you start acting like that. Grandma will be upset if you do that in her house.”

“Is mom staying in her house too?”

And three young adults waited as Max Evans stopped dead in his tracks.

“I don’t think so Zan. She’s probably going to stay at her mom’s house.”

“Well then so am I.”

“We’ll talk about it later Zan…just stop running and yelling.”

“Okay…” And then Liz heard…

“COME ON MOM WE’RE GOING TO BE LATE!”


Liz Parker laughed and answered…

“I’M COMING ZAN…WAIT FOR ME BY THE BACK DOOR!”


Max Evans stood and shook his head and then he made his first attempt at some fun with Liz since he first saw her at the airport…

“YOU QUIT YELLING TOO…WHAT KIND OF AN EXAMPLE IS THAT?”

And Liz smiled…”BE QUIET MAX!”

And Serena and Michael both smiled also…this was good.

*

The group of four plus one arrived at the stock yards in time for dinner and then the concert and one little boy was ‘bouncing off the walls’ as the saying goes. He got to have his picture taken on the huge stuffed bronco in the main entry way and then they had seats front and center for the show. The stage was actually a one step up affair surrounded by small tables and chairs set in approximately three fourths of a circle encompassing a very large room with a bar at the far right that extended the entire length of the room. When Maria was finished with her performance the musicians were moved farther back and the stage became a dance floor. The lights were all turned down and the mikes moved and before long everyone was drinking, dancing and having a fine time and little Zan Evans was right in there among them with his ‘mother’ at his side teaching him all the steps her father had taught her and they were having a grand time just like everyone else and Max Evans sat and watched with an aching heart.

When the music changed to a slow dance Maria and Michael paired up as a couple and Serena took Zan’s little hand and led him onto the dance floor to give Earth dancing a try and Liz proceeded to take a seat at the table next to Max for some much needed rest when the band started playing…

(“Then Again” by: Alabama)

“We could walk away now…call it over and done”


And Max stood and held a hand out to Liz who looked up into his honey colored eyes and her heart started to do flip flops, she wanted no part of that but she couldn’t refuse him, never… and she knew this deep down in her soul. She stood and they walked to the dance floor and young Zan Evans smiled as he followed Serena’s lead. Max took Liz into his arms and she stayed a nice respectable distance from him as she placed her left hand on his shoulder and her right hand into his outstretched one. She smiled as they started to move together and the song continued…


“Say we fought the good fight….and nobody won
Say we’re both better off … that worst came to worst
So we didn’t last … hey, we’re not the first

But then again… if we give it one more try
We might find the feeling…can never really die
And there’s still a chance to be…all we might have been
And find the love we had back then again”


Liz had no idea that she was now dancing with her head on Max’s shoulder, their bodies were as close as they could possibly get and Max Evans had their clasped hands against his heart as he closed his eyes to stop the tears as he held her close …And they continued to dance.

“Off to such a good start…but somehow it seems
We’ve let our hearts … fall apart at the seams
We could throw in the towel…walk away with our pride
Say it just wasn’t worth…all the tears that we’ve cried…

But then again, … if we give it one more try
We might find the feeling … can never really die
And there’s still a chance to be … all we might have been
And find the love we had back then again

Maybe if we want it bad enough
We can make it better than it ever was
And there’s still a chance to be … all we might have been
Let’s find the love we had back then again.”


Max bent his head slightly and gently placed a kiss on top of Liz’s head, one that she didn’t even feel…

The dance was over and people started to leave the dance floor but Max Evans wanted to stay right where he was and never let go but Liz, clearing her throat and looking up into his eyes smiled…

“Thank you Max…that was nice.” And she pulled away and started back to their table. Max followed, happy, heart aching and bewildered all at the same time. ‘At least she didn’t refuse to dance with me’ he thought, and then he smiled a little. It went a lot better than he had anticipated.

Michael and Serena both felt very uneasy about the situation, Zan was one happy little boy, his mom and dad looked nice together, and Maria felt she needed to take Liz to the ladies room and have a talk with her.

“Liz I need to go to the ladies room, come with me?”

“No Maria, you go ahead. I’m sure you’ll be fine alone, this is a nice place.” And Maria wanted to belt her a good one but Liz wasn’t about to let Maria start in on her right now. She was confused as it was and she didn’t need any input from Maria.





*~*~*

The next day, which was Saturday, had Maria completely worn out and when she finally made her way down stairs she was met with Michael at the kitchen table reading the paper. Zan and Max were out in the pool messing around and Serena and Liz were up in the lab working diligently performing tests.

“Michael?”

Michael looked up at the weary young woman standing there in her pj’s and slippers, her hair sticking up everywhere and smiled…

“Mornin’ M’ria. Want some breakfast?”

“No, no thanks…I’ll just have some coffee for now.”

And she walked over to the cupboard and helped herself to a clean cup and poured herself some coffee from the pot sitting on the counter right under the cups. She turned slowly and made her way back to the table as she glanced outside and looked at Zan and Max. She smiled, he was a cute kid that’s for sure.

“Michael, we need to talk.”

“About what M’ria?”

“About us Michael.”

“Last I checked there is no us. You don’t want the same things out of life that I do and I’m not giving up my dream to live on this roller coaster anymore M’ria. There’s no us to talk about. Have you seen the latest weather report…I hear they’re expecting some really heavy rain on the West Coast.”

“Stop it Michael…You know I can’t live like this alone.”

“I never said you had to…I said that I wasn’t living your life style any longer and I’m not. You can find some one else to ride along with you M’ria, it’s fine or … you can quit this three ring circus and settle down with me.”

“What will I do?”

“You can write and perform your own songs. We can start our own recording company and produce your music M’ria…or, get this, we can settle down, get married and have children like normal people. And don’t even think of bringing a Mr. DeLuca into this conversation M’ria. I’m not him and you know it. That shit’s not working anymore.”

About that time Zan came in through the sliding door by the kitchen table and looked at Maria and said…

“I know what shit is…dad told me what it was when you got here and it’s not excrement like the dictionary says.”

Maria, who was almost in tears from her conversation with Michael, actually spit coffee on the poor man and started laughing.

“Zan, what made you say that honey.”

“Well Mom said you had to get your shit out of her living room and I thought you had excrement in your bags so dad told me it’s earth slang…”

About that time Max came in and caught the tail end of the conversation and looked at Zan…

“And what else did dad tell you young man?”

“Ooops…oh yeah, I’m not supposed to say it. Sorrrrry…”

Maria looked up at Max and then at Zan…

“He’s right honey…it’s not a very nice word.”

“Then why do people use it?”

“I don’t know…I guess it’s a bad habit we all get into and then have a tough time breaking it. Maybe we should all try not to say it. How would that be?”

“Well, I think that’s a good idea if it’s not a nice word. Uncle Michael, what are you going to say instead? Aunt Maria, Mom and you all need to find a new word…”

“Yes we do Zan…how about shucks and stuff. We’ll have to come up with a couple of substitutes because that word covers too many things.”

“How can that be?”

“Well, I don’t know…it just does.”

Max just stood there leaning against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest watching his two friends trying to resolve a problem for a young boy who wouldn’t give up until he was satisfied with the solution and he was more than intrigued to see what they were going to come up with. This could take all day and finally he went to the refrigerator and took out the iced tea. Another jug was brewing out in the sun. And he smiled. It was good to be home and he was very glad his son wasn’t reading his dreams last night…very glad indeed, and he smiled to himself as he continued to listen to Michael and Maria explain ‘shit’ to his son.

*~*~*
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*

Post by mary mary »

Eve: No, Max had no idea that Zan was invading his dreams...as a matter of fact, up to that point Max had no idea that Zan had any powers. They were told Antar that Zan was totally human. Maybe Zan knew it was in his best interests to keep that fact hidden. :wink: As for the dance, well...like Max said, at least she danced with him. :) He knows this isn't going to be easy.

Carolyn: Greer and his merry band of 'flakes' come up soon as does the meeting with Jeff. Remember, you can't lie to Zan. He knows the truth when he hears it. :)

Nitpick23: Cal explains to Greer that they aren't going to go back to Antar and be a part of the dictatorship that Khivar had going but you're right...they have to farm those husks and they can't produce offspring here on earth but I don't think they have much going for them back on Antar either. As far as the sleeping arrangements are concerned, I think they cover them in this chapter...and yes, I agree, Liz didn't need Maria's input just then, she had to analyze this one alone.

XAF RU208: Let's hope Liz's dreams haven't confused Zan too much because she's already confused enough as it is. As for the Guinea pigs, well I think Liz finds a couple down the road here somewhere. :lol:

Cardinal: AH! Let's hope Zan is smart enough to keep these things to himself. :lol: :roll: :oops:

nitpick23: I wouldn't be surprised if Max didn't have "those dreams" but according to Zan, Liz was always mad at Max in his dreams...maybe Max didn't dream like that... :lol: :lol: :lol:

Eve and XAF RU20*: Thank you for your concern ladies but I was out of town for the week-end. I'm going to update this for you but I'm not going to try and read anything for a day maybe two. I got in at 3:30 this morning which is not unusual for me to be up that late but I generally have a nap in the afternoon...not so this time. All travel, planes, trains and automobiles but it was fun. Went up to Washington University in Seattle, Wa. to watch some baseball games, my grandson is on the team. He's been on the injured list with a couple of stress fractures in his back so please say some prayers for him okay? Oh and they won one out of three which wasn't too bad considering they are the bottom team and they were playing the top team in the Pac Ten. It was fun, even in the freezing, pouring rain. :)

*~*~*~*~*~*


Chapter: 25

After the final performance on Sunday afternoon the group headed into Dallas for a nice quiet dinner at an off the road place Liz knew about where the atmosphere was very homey to say the least. The place was located in an ‘off the beaten path’ area in a very large old house and the food was all home style. Each person ordered an entrée, which Liz passed up, and then the waiters started bringing out bowls of food. They started with a very large tureen of home made vegetable soup, baskets of fresh bread and large tubs of real butter. After that they were served a very large bowl of salad with various dressings, several choices of crackers and more bread, a platter of sliced tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, fresh basil and white balsamic vinaigrette, a bowl of home made three bean salad and another salad of green beans and cumbers in a vinaigrette dressing with sliced tomatoes and purple onions sliced to top it off. After that they brought a huge bowl containing fresh corn on the cob, another bowl of mixed vegetables, a platter of twice baked potatoes and then the entrée’s of the different meats that the rest had ordered. Now they all understood why Liz didn’t order an entrée…they were all full on soup and salad and the food kept on coming. Liz just giggled. This was the first time in all the years she knew Michael Guerin that she saw him ask for a doggie bag.

“My God Liz, why didn’t you warn us?”

“Well, I figured you knew you had meat coming so there must be more on the menu. You didn’t have to fill up on everything else.”

“Yes we did Liz, that was excellent. I didn’t even need Tabasco for the soup it was so good.” Serena added….

“Mmmm, I don’t think I can move.” Maria said and Liz giggled…

“Zan, are you full honey?”

“Yes mom, but I think I could eat some of that pie.” And Max looked at his son in disbelief…

“Zan, where are you putting all of this food?”

“Dad, I didn’t eat that much…you did.”

And everyone laughed….

“Yes you can have some of that pie Zan…do you want ice cream on it?”

“Do they have ice cream?”

“Yes, they do.”

“Then I want ice cream too and sauce?”

“Yes, sauce too. I have some in my purse for you.”

“Good.” And they all laughed at him…his eyes were getting bigger by the minute and Liz cut the boy some pie and handed it to a waiter for some ice cream.

“You know Liz, I once told you that we don’t get sick but I’m not so sure about all of this.” Max was really getting concerned…

“He’ll be fine Max, just fine. When we get to Roswell we can introduce him to some of Amy’s pies…I’m sure he’s going to like them and I know dad will fill him up on blue moon burgers and orbit rings. He’s going to be okay.”

“You’re the one he’s sleeping with, just remember that.”

“Well, if he gets sick I’ll send him into you for a quick cure, how’s that?”

“As long as he doesn’t wake me up that’s fine.”

“Did you hear that Zan…no waking your dad up for a quick cure for a belly ache.”

“What’s a belly ache.”

“Something that happens when you eat too much…it hurts right here.” And Liz tickled Zan on his tummy and he giggled and squirmed…and then he looked at her.

“No one ever did that before.” And Liz looked at Max concerned for a minute and then thought…things must have been very serious on Antar for Zan’s entire life…

“Well, it’s called tickling and I’ll probably be tickling you a lot because I like to hear you laugh. Is that okay?”

“Yes, I like to laugh. You know my grandmother don’t you?”

“Yes I do, we’ll be seeing her tomorrow. Why?”

“Because, I have my own room at her house and I think you need to stay there with me and not at your mom’s. Grandma won’t care because you know her.”

“Oh Zan…I think I need to stay with my mom and dad for a little while and get to visit with them. Serena and I have a lot of work to do and we need to get busy doing things to make the people at home better. You know that honey…but we’ll be seeing each other all of the time. Honest.”

Zan got very quiet and the rest of the table had already stopped talking and listened to the conversation between Liz and Zan and it looked like Zan might start crying.

“Come on Zan, finish your pie and when we get back to Roswell you can stay with me. How’s that. Every night you can come home with me and bring your pj’s and sleep with me and I’ll take you back to grandma’s in the morning.”

“We need to talk about this mom. Maybe tomorrow we can talk about this because I don’t think that idea is very good.” And Zan started eating his pie and melting ice cream. Liz just shook her head and then looked at the others…they had no comment and she mouthed “thanks” to all of them.

*

The next morning, Monday, an entire group of young adults and one little boy all piled into Liz’s SUV which was packed to within an inch of bursting and even the luggage rack on top was almost beyond legal limits but they all managed to fit everything in, even the ice container with their cultures. Thank God Liz had called UPS for all of Maria’s junk was all Liz could think. She could just imagine her living room when she returned in three months. It would have been a sight to behold.

They left the house right at 6:00 a.m. and headed straight for I 20 West and onto the 380 West. Straight thru would take about 8.5 hours but with stops in between Liz figured 11 or 12. They were going to stop for breakfast around 7:30 and let the morning traffic slow down then again around 11:30 stop for the noon traffic and again at 5:00. It would be a welcome break for all of them and possibly potty calls along the way so eleven or twelve hours was reasonable. If they were close in the evening they could just have dinner at the Crashdown, but she would rather save the arrival to Roswell for just that, the arrival, and have dinner before arriving. Max and the others agreed with her so they did just that. About 7:30 a.m. they stopped for breakfast at an I-Hop and took their time and got back out on the road in about an hour. It was very pleasant and the weather was good so all in all it was going to be a nice day.

Liz had picked up a couple of books at the River Walk in San Antonio and brochures at the Alamo and she and Zan sat in the very back seat and read most of the way. Liz explaining various important points of our nations history to Zan and he was eating it up.

“It’s like Antar mom. Dad had to fight battles too, and bring down that bad man. I had to stay with soldiers in caves while dad told people how to fight.”

Everyone got very quiet all of a sudden.

“Well honey, it seems like things are the same no matter where you live doesn’t it. There’s always someone who feels the need to wage war against others to take what they think they need or what they think belongs to them. I don’t have the answers Zan, it’s just too bad people can’t find a better way to settle their differences. I’m very sorry you had to live in caves like that. But maybe, just maybe, we can change that now.” And Liz pulled Zan in close and gave him a nice big hug and a kiss on top of his head while trying to blink back the tears.

“Oh mom, you already don’t live like that. I like where you live.”

“Well thank you Zan, and I’m glad you like it because I like having you there. Now, where were we here?” And Liz averted Zan’s attention back to the book they had been reading.

*

Right at 6:00 p.m. Michael pulled up to Amy and Jim’s and unloaded Maria’s luggage and they all said their helloes and took off. Amy was a little surprised to see Michael drive away but she was old enough to know when it was time to mind her own business. If Maria wanted to talk about it she would.

The next stop was the Evans’ and Michael, Serena, Max and Zan all disembarked and Liz crawled out of the back seat to go in and say hello, Isabelle was the first out of the door and grabbed Max into a fierce hug and Zan stood next to Liz and took her hand. Liz looked down at the little one and he whispered so low Liz had to bend over to hear him…

“What is it sweetie?”

“She’s big!” And Liz giggled…

“She’s also very nice.” And Zan smiled…then Isabelle got a glimpse of her nephew and she started to tear up…

“Can I hug you too?” And Zan nodded…

He let go of Liz’s hand and hugged his aunt and all of a sudden he felt some more love. Everyone he hugged he felt they loved him and he smiled as he returned the hug and Liz smiled too. Maybe he’ll be happy to stay here now she thought…No such luck…

“Come on mom let’s tell grandma you’re staying in my room.”

“Zan, we talked about this already honey. I have to go to my mother’s house remember.”

“No you don’t. You can come back, come and tell grandma.”

Isabelle stood there in a state of confusion and then Diane came out of the house and hugged Michael, and Liz and then Max and Zan.

“Come in everyone, you don’t have to stand out here… Max and Michael bring the bags in …let’s get out of the driveway.”

And Liz followed everyone in as Zan pulled her by the hand. Isabelle stayed outside to talk to her brother and he just looked at her and shook his head…

“Did I hear him right Max? Did he call Liz mom?”

“Yep. Apparently there is a thing called ‘transference’ on Antar. A mother can transfer, for lack of a better word, ‘ownership’ of her child to another and it seems that Tess transferred her rights as Zan’s mother to Liz. Apparently it can reach across the universe because Liz feels pretty much the same way Zan does. And Zan says Liz is his mother. Liz told him he can call her mom til I find him a new one.”

“Yeah, like that’ll ever happen.”

And Max just looked at his sister and grinned…

“Well, that’s not all, if Liz doesn’t stay here, which she doesn’t want to do Zan is going to stay with her…but Zan thinks that’s a dumb idea because all of his ‘stuff’ is already here. I’m not getting into it. The two of them can decide what their going to do.”

“You’re shittn’ me?”

“No, I’m not…if Zan wants to spend the night with Liz every night then let him. I’m not fighting him on this Isabelle. He’s found his mother and he’s not letting her go, regardless of what we think about this he’s convinced.”

“What the hell does Liz think of this? Really?”

“She’s been cool with it so far. He’s been sleeping with her every night since he met her and she doesn’t seem to mind. The first night he came up missing I about lost it until I found him all curled up with her in her room. That’s where he’s been ever since. Iz, this is insane I know, but it seems so right.”

“Shit Max…You’re home a week and the alien abyss is right there with you.”

“Sorry. And Iz…lose the ‘shit’ Zan thinks it’s excrement and is having a really tough time sorting it out. Michael tried to explain that the word covers a lot of territory but Zan still gets it confused. He told Maria that he thought she had suitcases full of excrement because ‘mom’ told her to get rid of all of that shit. Maria damned near choked to death.”

“Oh God!” Isabelle moaned … “I’ll try to watch it. It’s got to be tough on him with all the slang. But he seems to be doing well with the language.”

“He’s been speaking it since he started talking so he’s pretty much aware. I’ve kept up with his education and I think he’ll be at his grade level when he’s tested. I’ll pick up some text books at the library and do some refresher courses with him and make sure I haven’t missed anything. He seems to eat up anything Liz tells him but there again, she had all of us fascinated on the trip in. She just has a way with explaining things.”

About that time Diane came out to get the siblings and then corralled Max…”what’s with the ‘mom’ going on?”

“To make a long story short, it’s called transference. Apparently Tess transferred ‘ownership’ of Zan to Liz across a galaxy and Zan has found his mother. Maybe Serena can explain it all to us again later. Anyway, lets’ go in and see what’s going on?”

“Well, I can till you what’s going on. Michael and Zan are checking out all of the toys and Liz is standing there in the middle of it all flabbergasted. She wants to know how in the hell he’s ever going to know what to play with? There’s too much and he’ll never have time to really enjoy any of it. Then she told Zan not to open any more boxes. Just save some until he’s ready for some more surprises and he said ‘okay mom, good idea’ and kept on playing with whatever Michael had at the time. I don’t know about all of this Max. It’s all very confusing.”

“Yes it is mom but we’ll live through it… I hope.” And they went into the house and to all of the chaos.

*
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"Age is just a state of mind"...I think that's mine? I could be wrong! I'm old, so sue me.
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mary mary
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Re: Well Look Who's Back! (M/L Teen) ch 25 5/16/11

Post by mary mary »

Carolyn: We'll see how Jeff does with the news about Zan, I think everyone is a little bit shocked at the situation but they seem to be accepting it pretty well. I don't think Zan cares who believes it as long as Liz does. :)
rar1942: Yes! These are definitely interesting times, for this bunch anyway...I can do without the interesting myself...had enough of that to last me a lifetime. :wink:
XAF RU208:Yes, I felt it was time someone put a stop to all of the nonsense that was happening in the Evans living room. I think they bought enough crap to cover every year the kid was gone and then some. :roll:
Cardinal: He might have but one thing is for certain, he was ready for the pie and ice cream. :D
Eve: Yes, if he opens something everyday for the next year it will seem like Christmas all year long. :lol:
nitpick23: Max trusts the people here more than he trusted those on Antar, whom he really didn't know as well as these people here...and he loves these people. We ALL know that! :D As for Amy, well, Maria has been away from home and on her own for a lot of years and she has seen Maria and Michael break up many times so she just rolls with the punches so to speak. :wink: Zan will eventually get his way, he generally does and not because of who he is but actually because of what he sees. He's a very smart little boy. :)

*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter: 26

Cal Langley left two of his men back in Canada in a nice hotel outside the compound… berg… city limits? Whatever you wanted to call the little community where the skins were living in hopes that one Joe Wagner and the other missing skin would materialize. He didn’t want these ‘beings’ unaccounted for. He refused to call them people…although people is just a word but Cal didn’t particularly feel that generous to this group so people would not be any word he would use when talking about them.

He made his way out onto his patio and made his call…

“Your majesty!” And he smiled big…he loved it.

“Cal, I told you to forget that…what’s up?”

“Well, I called on a community of skins living up in Canada and two of them are missing from the compound but I did talk to a T. Greer.”

“Jesus Cal, he’s the one that tried to kill us in our Sophomore year of high school. We thought Tess did all of them in. They all disappeared, what happened? Although Nicholas showed up again, I guess more of them escaped than we thought. They left us alone after that though, we only had problems with the man- child.”

Cal laughed, the description fit the little squirt to a “T”.

“Okay Max…here’s the deal. I offered them a free ride home after explaining that the home they wanted to go back to was no longer in existence. I told him about all of the changes and how the inhabitants are dying. I told him he was responsible for telling all of his little community about the changes and the decision was his. Although, I have no idea why anybody would want to return to that miserable hole.”

“Cal, it’s not such a miserable hole anymore. They are learning to live as a unified nation and provide for themselves. All they need is a chance and now they are fighting for their lives in another way. We need to find this cure as fast as we can. As far as the skins are concerned they’ll probably be the only ones up there that are left if this keeps up. And even they won’t last. At least on earth they can harvest new husks every fifty years. Hell, they could live an eternity down here.”

“Well, not quite that long Max, even the skins have a life span but you’re right, with the husks they can live quite a long time. The only problem with staying down here is population. They don’t have the ability to multiply.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” Max asked and Cal chuckled.

“You’re right Max. Anyway…I’ll be getting back to you about the return trip should they decide that’s what they want to do. In the meantime keep an eye out for Joe Wagner. Greer said he has John Stephens following him so you might want to watch out for him too.”

“Will do Cal and thanks for calling.”

“Yeah Max, how’s the young prince doing?”

“Cal, you’ve got to stop that man. He’s doing great…he’s latched on to his ‘mother’ and he’s not letting go any time soon…although I don’t really blame him.”

“So he’s figured it out as he?”

“Figured it out? What…”

“The transference Max. It’s for real and it does work. I don’t know how but it works. Apparently the desire was strong enough and Tess made it happen. How does Liz feel about it?”

“Actually she’s taking it better than any of us if you want to know the truth. Zan calls her mom and she’s fine with it. She said he can call her mom until I find another one for him and explained that the new mom would not understand. Zan informed her that it didn’t matter who I found she is still his mom…she just shrugged it off.”

“Smart kid! He chose his words wisely.”

“I guess…talk to you later Cal.”

“Yeah your majesty…stay cool.”

And they hung up, Cal smiling like a Cheshire cat and Max frowning about all of this transference stuff.

*

“Zan, I’m going to go now honey…”

“Go where mom? We talked about this.”

“No Zan, we didn’t talk about this…you refused to believe me. Now I’m going to go see my mom and dad.”

“Are you coming back?”

“Yes, tomorrow. Serena and I have a lot of work to do tomorrow, I’ll see you then.”

“No…that’s not a good idea.”

Liz stopped and looked at the boy and she knew from experience not to brush a statement like that off…

“Zan…tell me why it’s not a good idea.”

Everyone in the room looked at the two of them and Max got a funny feeling about this. Liz was smart, he’d give her that. It may have been ten years but she knew when to stop and analyze a situation.

“Because there could be bad people out there. We need to stay together.”

“Zan, you need to be more specific…your daddy, Serena, Michael and Aunt Isabelle need to know what you know. Do you feel something bad, have you dreamt something bad…what is it that makes you think it isn’t safe for me to go to my mom and dad’s?”

“He doesn’t like us and she did something to him.”

“Who doesn’t like you Zan?”

“Your dad doesn’t like my dad and that woman did something to him. That woman in the picture with my dad and all of you. She did something to your dad.”

“Get the picture and show it to us Zan.” Isabelle asked of her nephew. She had a good idea what he was talking about but she had to be sure.

Diane brought the album into the living room that had the prom pictures in it and opened it to the page that had all of the kids in a group. She opened the book to the right page and held it out to Zan…

“There, that pretty one there.” And he pointed right to Tess…

They all just stood and looked at him…then Liz took him into her lap and held him close…

“I promise you Zan, we will fix this because my dad will like you when he meets you and he will like your daddy too. We just have to talk to Aunt Ava, I know she can take care of this. But in the meantime I do have to go and say hello to them tonight.”

“You still have to stay with us mom.”

“Is there more Zan?”

“Yeah, the man in my dream is coming…he’s scared but he’s coming and we need to be together.”

“Do you know who this man is?”

“No, but he’s going to find us mom, honest.”

“Alright Zan. Tell you what…Is it okay if I go see my mom and dad and then come back. They are waiting for me.”

“Take Uncle Michael or dad with you. Maybe Serena or Aunt Isabelle. Don’t go there by yourself.”

Liz didn’t know if Zan was playing all of them or not but in past experiences it was better to be safe than sorry and she looked at Michael, since he and her dad were pretty good friends and he nodded.

“I’ll go with her Zan and then we’ll come back together. Would you like to come with us?”

“Not this time Uncle Michael. Mom needs to tell grandpa all about me and then I’ll go and meet him and grandma too. I got that right, didn’t I dad?”

“Yeah Zan, you got that right.” And Max smiled at his young son. Had he not refused to go then he would have had some suspicions about Liz staying with them, but since he refused to see Jeff Max was sure Zan had some sort of premonition. This was not good. Isabelle was right…he brought back all of the alien abyss, Damn!

*
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"Age is just a state of mind"...I think that's mine? I could be wrong! I'm old, so sue me.
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mary mary
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Re: Well Look Who's Back! (M/L Teen) ch 27 5/18/11

Post by mary mary »

Carolyn: I agree about Tess, not one of my favorite characters on the show and believe it or not, neither were Liz's parents...and I really don't know why. Jeff came off as a belligerent a-hole to me for some reason. As for the skins, I'm not sure if they show up this chapter or next...I'll be as surprised as you. :wink:
Eve: Michael and Liz do okay this chapter and keep in mind guys...Liz is now ten years older so the parents have to back off just a bit. No? :D
XAF RU208: Yep, Tess, the one we love to hate...as for Zan's powers, well I think he's going to be a really powerful force to reckon with as he grows. Michael hit the nail on the head when he said that he and Max should probably have a talk with him and start some practice sessions. :wink:
Michelle in LA: So nice to see you again and I'm happy you're still enjoying this. I get the feeling, as I read the feed back, that I'm not covering everything but I eventually get there...I think. As for the recipe's, if you're serious I'll be more than glad to pm them to you. Not hard, just time consuming. :D
Cardinal: We'll see what happened to Jeff soon and as for Zan, yes, he has some powerful gifts that's for sure and they just keep on getting bigger and better. :wink:

*~*~*~*

Chapter: 27

Right at 9:00 p.m. Liz and Michael pulled up in front of the Crashdown and headed in through the front door. They knew that things would be slow on Monday night and the waitresses and one cook would be closing up for the evening. They headed toward the swinging door to the back room when one of the new girls put her hand out and stopped both young adults in their tracks and informed them that the back room was for employees only. Liz started to giggle and Michael just removed the girls fingers from Liz’s arm and continued on. The young waitress was flabbergasted and then she heard Jose’ yell…”Liz” and a cute little giggle from the young woman. Shirley knew immediately that this must be Jeff’s daughter that everyone is so proud of but who was the hunk with her. He’s awfully big for such a little thing she thought and then she heard…”Lizzy, Michael…how good to see you. Come, come on up. We’re just getting ready for some TV.” And the young girl relaxed. So that was Michael…WOW! That lucky Maria DeLuca. She’s read all about him in the magazines at the drug store. WOW! And about that time two savory looking characters started in through the front door.

“I’m sorry gentlemen, but we’re closed for the evening.”

“We just saw two other people walk in. You weren’t closed for them.”

“No we weren’t sir. They’re the owners…now you have to leave.”

Michael heard the commotion as he started up the steps behind Jeff and he turned and made his way back out into the dining area of the restaurant. He remembered the young girls name from her tag and said…

“Do you have a problem here Shirley?”

“Sort of, they won’t believe that we’re closed. I told them Liz and you were the owners and that’s why you came in but they won’t budge.”

“It’s like this guys, you’re leaving and there’s no doubt about it. Shirley, call Sheriff Valenti and tell him we have a problem over here at the Crashdown and to bring backup.”

“Whoa big fella, we’re leaving…sorry! You’re not who we thought you were.”

“And who did you think I was?” Michael asked…his inquisitive nature taking over.

“We thought we recognized you as someone from our homeland. We’re gone.”

“Wait a second…where’s your homeland?”

“Not around here.” And they were gone almost as fast as they came in.

“Thank you Michael.”

Michael nodded and headed for the backroom again and went up the stairs and knocked, ‘those two didn’t seem like the brightest pennies in the roll that’s for sure’ Michael thought to himself as he waited for someone to answer his knock.

“Michael, you don’t have to knock. Liz was just telling us that you guys dropped Maria off at Amy’s and then went over to the Evans’. How are they?”

“They’re all good Nancy…how have you been. Things look the same around here.”

“Yeah, not much changes here that’s for sure. Have you had a chance to see little Angela yet?”

“No not yet…we’ll probably make our way in that direction in the next few days. We have a large project that we need to take care of and we need to get things started.” Michael answered…

“Mom, dad…I need to talk to you about something and you have to promise me that you’ll be understanding.” Jeff and Nancy looked at each other and then back at Liz with some skepticism. This didn’t sound good…

“What is it Liz?”

“Well, as you know Max is back….” Jeff held up his hand right then and there…

“Liz, you will not bring that man’s name up in this house.”

“Well dad, here’s the thing. I will be bringing his name up quite a bit because it’s his problem I’m here to solve. Therefore I have to stay with the Evans’…if I have a chance I will come and spend some time with you but if I do I think I will be bringing a friend to spend the night with me as well.”

“NOT MAX!”

“No, not Max. His son Zan. You see Zan thinks I’m his mother and there’s no changing his mind. He recognizes Tess’ picture as the blond but not as his mother. He doesn’t understand why I lived here and he lived on Antar and he will not accept any explanation other than the fact that we are together now and he won’t let me out of his sight. He also refers to you as his grandparents but he won’t come over until you,” looking at her dad, “can get over your feelings about his father because the blond lady made you have these feelings. Therefore, we are going to have Ava check out what Tess did to you to make you hate Max and she’ll fix it. Then you can meet Zan. And when I come to stay he’ll come with me because he says I’m in danger.”

“How old is this child?”

“Eight.”

“Michael, do you understand any of this?” Nancy asked…

“Not all of it. Serena can explain it better than we can but it has something to do with the fact that Tess transferred her rights…. Ownership… title…whatever word you want to use, over to Liz when she was put to death. I think it was pretty smart of her myself because she knew Max loved Liz and if he did, well so would their child. Max rescued Zan just before the execution or Zan would have been put to death too.”

“My God…and this child has been living like a rebel?”

“Well, the first five years of his life was spent in caves while Max fought along side the citizens of Antar to take down Khivar and then pretty much confined to quarters because Max wasn’t sure who he could trust while he set up the democratic government. No, Zan has never actually lived what we would call a very normal life but he recognizes Liz as his mother, there’s no denying that and right now he thinks we are all in danger for some reason, that’s why Liz is going to stay at the Evans’. Otherwise she and Zan would be staying over here which,” and Michael grinned…”he thinks is stupid because all of his stuff is at the Evans’ already.”

Jeff Parker had to chuckle at that comment…

“Smart kid.”

“Oh you have no idea dad…and I might add you are his grandfather and mom is his grandmother and I can guarantee you that is what he will be calling you so you need to get used to the idea.”

Then Nancy had to ask…

“How do you feel about all of this Liz?”

“Oh, it’s alright. Actually I kind of like it mom. He ‘s really a cute kid and we talked about it. I told him he could call me mom until his daddy found him another one and then he would have to start calling her mom.”

Michael stifled a laugh and Nancy smiled. She knew better too…Liz ignored both of them.

“Anyway, I wanted to come over and let you know we got here okay and I’ll probably be back tomorrow with my little buddy so you can meet him. I know you’ll love him…he’s a charmer and be prepared for anything. Nothing is taboo where he’s concerned. He’s intelligent and wants to know everything.”

“That’s fine honey…why don’t you all come for lunch. Maybe Kyle can bring Ava and Angela over too and Ava can get to work on my… ‘head’…is it?”

The idea didn’t scare Jeff Parker at all after what he had found out about the kids and all they had gone through as teenagers and he didn’t even know the half of it.

Michael and Liz bid their leave and when they got to the car Michael told Liz to keep a watch and then explained to her what had happened in the Crashdown when she had gone upstairs with her dad. She nodded and adjusted her side mirror rather than turn in her seat. She figured she would have a better range of vision if she could use the rear mirror as well and they took off.

They were about a block from the Evans’ when Liz told Michael that a vehicle had picked them up three blocks back and made the turn in when they did. Michael kept on driving out toward the highway when the car turned off on a side street and kept on going.

“I think we’re in the clear Michael…it’s better to be safe than sorry.” Michael made three rights, a left, and then headed back to the Evans’ house.

When they got there Zan was the first one out the door.

“Did you see the men mom…did they try to hurt you?”

“What men sweetie?” Liz really didn’t want to upset the boy, especially this late at night…

“They were there mom…I could feel them. They want something.”

“Alright sweetie, let’s go in and say hello to everyone. Why aren’t you in bed little one? You have your pj’s on.”

They all walked into the house together and Max came in from the kitchen and saw Zan with Liz and Michael and looked confused, very confused.

“Zan, you went to bed an hour ago…where did you come from?”

“I went out to see mom…the men didn’t bother them.”

“What men Zan.”

“The men I saw here.” And he pointed to his head.

“Zan, are you sure?”

“Yeah dad. Uncle Mike saw them…didn’t you?”

“I saw a couple of men in the Crashdown Zan, are they the ones in your head?”

“Yep. They want mom but we aren’t going to let them have her are we?” and Zan looked at his confused father and reiterated...

“ARE WE DAD!?!”

“No Zan, we certainly aren’t. Now let’s go to bed.” Max answered as he snapped to when his son yelled at him...this was new!

Zan grabbed Liz’s hand and started to pull her toward the stairwell…

“Come on Mom, Dad put your bags in my room. Let’s go to bed, they can’t get upstairs past Dad and Serena.”

“Zan, will you go up and get in bed and I’ll come up later. Honest.”

“Okay, but don’t be too long.”

So Zan headed up the stairs and turned halfway…

“And mom?”

“Yes Zan…”

“I’ll leave my door open and the light on for you.”

“Thank you Zan…now go to bed.”

And the little boy trudged his way up the stairs.

Michael and Liz followed Max out to the kitchen where everyone else was waiting…

“Well, what was that about?” Max asked.

And Michael began to tell Max and the rest of the company what had transpired at the Crashdown and about the car on their way back. He also mentioned that Jeff is more than glad to have his “head examined” and everyone laughed including Liz when Michael made his air quotes. Also that they were all invited to lunch. Max made a mental note to call Cal as soon as he was in his room.

“Well everyone, it’s been a long day and I’m going to hit the sack. I’ll see all of you in the morning. Good night.” And Max headed off to his room.

Diane looked at Liz and Michael and smiled.

“Okay you two…I’ve laid out fresh towels and wash cloths for you and Michael you have the room in the attic for the time being and Liz, I guess you know where you’re headed…the door is open and the light is on.”

Liz giggled…

“Thanks Diane I appreciate it.”

“No thanks necessary…he worships you and thank You. I am so glad you are so open to him.”

“How could I not be Diane…he’s precious, and believe it or not, I love him too.”

“It’s obvious honey…you can see it in your eyes when you look at him. I’m so glad you chose to stay here with us and not take him away. I think I would have missed him. I missed him while he was in Texas.”

“You’re welcome Diane, honest.” And Liz gave her a great big hug before she left the kitchen.

“And on that note I think I’ll head on up as well. Serena, tomorrow we will need to make some plans together and see how we’re going to work this.”

“Okay Liz…sleep tight.”

“Oh I will, my buddy is going to keep me safe from boogey men.”

They all laughed and Liz made her way upstairs where a wide eyed little boy laid and waited until he knew she was safely tucked away in his bed. Liz didn’t know what he thought he could do to help her but he was absolutely positive that he could and that was all that mattered.

*~*~*
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"Age is just a state of mind"...I think that's mine? I could be wrong! I'm old, so sue me.
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mary mary
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Re: Well Look Who's Back! (M/L Teen) ch 28 5/20/11

Post by mary mary »

Cardinal:Remember that the two skins left the compound in Canada when Harvik contacted Greer right after Max's arrival a little over a week ago...they had time to get to Roswell and they knew about Roswell because of the skins first visit over 10 years ago. :D And, yes, Max and Serena have some serious powers working for them as well as the Earth aliens. They have developed quite nicely over the years. As for Jeff's head, well it does get "examined". :lol: :wink: :D
Michele in LA: the little prince has some serious powers working in his favor and it does seem that the longer he is around Liz the more powerful he becomes. Now, even I don't know if Liz is bringing out these powers through her closeness to the child or if they are showing up out of necessity. It seems that he is spending more time away from his father in the past week or so than he has in almost the last five years of his life when he didn't need any powers.
XAF RU208: It becomes apparent that the adults learn to accept Zan's abilities and start to seriously rely on his precognition gift especially when there is danger involved. :)
Eve: I believe this is the chapter that Jeff gets his head examined... :lol:
Carolyn: Oh Carolyn, trust me, Max knows exactly what's going on...he's just taking it slow and if he ever thought for one second that his son was in any kind of danger hell would have no fury like his but he knows in his heart and soul that Liz loves Zan...he's just having a tough time wrapping himself around this 'transference' thing, same as everyone else. :)
rar1942: Couldn't have said it better myself. :wink:
Michele in LA X2: Well, we're all rooting for them to get together...that's for sure!!! :)
As for Alex's death, well none of them wanted to believe that he committed suicide but they didn't want to believe it was murder either. It seems that Liz needed to believe it and it also seems she was right. The tension was deep during that time that's for sure and Liz really wasn't very nice to any of them at that point.
As far as the FM incident and sleeping with Kyle, I really don't dwell on it but it sorta' get's mentioned in passing. It's like that dead horse, it's been whipped far too much! :roll: Feel free to rant all you want, I love it!!! 8)
As for Cal, I really needed someone that understood the Antarian situation and had enough money to fund this project so he seemed like the natural choice...And now the icing on the cake...you made me remember this with your last sentence here...
When my youngest, who is now 50, was two and starting to crawl out of his crib he would come into our room and grab hold of my eyelid and raise it up and look right into my eye holding his teddy bear in one hand and a clean diaper in the other. The diaper was for me to change him so he could crawl into bed with me because the first time he tried it I told him "You stink"...he was potty trained but not night time trained. It's funny now, it was tolerable then. :wink:

*~*~*~*
*~*~*

Chapter: 28


Zan slept rather fitfully during the night and it was bad enough that it woke Liz up. She wrapped her arms around the little boy and snuggled him close but something was truly bothering him. When he finally did settle down Liz managed to rest easy herself…it was 4:30 a.m. the last time she looked at the clock. She spooned Zan into her as close as she could get him and held him to her as she finally drifted off. At 7:00 a.m. she heard the shower in the next room and groaned. Zan just reached up and put a protective shield over the bed and went back to sleep…Liz’s eyes got as big as saucers…it was then that she decided she definitely was going to start taking the child seriously. He had some serious shit going on here and although she wouldn’t be expressing herself in quite that way to his father she definitely needed to share. Then she wondered what else he could do. The thoughts only lasted long enough to plant some ideas before she was sound asleep again.

About 11:30 Max came up the stairs and wondered if Liz and Zan were alright. They went to bed before everyone else and they were still sleeping. He didn’t feel comfortable opening the door on the two of them but he really needed to know that they were safe. He knocked lightly first, got no answer, and then he pushed the door slightly open and couldn’t believe his eyes. His shield was green but this shield was deep purple and it surrounded the entire bed. Zan was curled up in Liz’s arms in his favorite sleeping position, Max decided, but what he couldn’t figure out was just who was holding the shield, and in their sleep yet. Isabelle came out of her room about that time and noticed her brother standing there looking into his son’s room and stepped behind him to see what was going on and gasped at the sight. It wasn’t too long before Michael and Diane joined the group and none of them could believe it. The shield held steady and the two encased in it never heard a sound. Max backed them all out and shut the door.

“Max, which one of them is doing that?”

“I’ve no idea Isabelle. Michael tells me Liz can blast her way through anything but I haven’t heard about a shield. Michael?”

“She never mentioned it Max. She can still feel you, I know that, and Zan can see things that are going to happen… I think, at least he senses danger. We need to talk to them. Maybe the two of them bring out the best in each other. Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Well, they’re both sound asleep that’s for sure so let’s give them their space. I was concerned that something was wrong but apparently they have everything under control in there. Nothing’s going to disturb them that’s for sure.” And they all laughed.

“You know Max, they are cute together.” Isabelle said and then Diane agreed...

“They certainly are. Liz told me she loves him just as much as he loves her and after that scene I believe her.”

“If you think that’s something wait til you see them interact…I mean when they don’t know anyone is watching. Zan tells her exactly what’s on his mind and she winds him right around her finger and he isn’t even aware of it. It’s really fun.” Michael added. “But we do need to find out about all of these powers and see just what we’re dealing with here Maxwell…we might need to conduct some practice sessions in private and lay out some ground rules.”

“I know Michael, I’m as surprised as you are. We’ll find out more when they wake up, if they ever do.”

About that time Liz walked into the kitchen with a little boy close on her heels…

“Wow, I guess we slept in didn’t we. Zan had some bad dreams and we didn’t really start to get some real sleep until 4:30, then at 7:00 something woke us up but Zan took care of that, didn’t you buddy?”

“Yep. No noise in the bubble.” And Zan went over and climbed up on Max’s lap and hugged him good morning.

“Zan buddy, how long have you been able to put up a ‘bubble’ like that? Does it work as a shield too?”

“I don’t know dad. It’s the first time I did it. We were tired so I covered the noise with my hand.”

“Hmm, I see. What else can you do?”

“I can feel bad people. Those men were close last night dad. Real close and then they went away.”

“Do you know what they look like?” Isabelle wanted to know.

“No, they’re different than us though. They shed… like dogs.”

“Skins!” Michael said and the rest nodded…

“Cal went to call on them night before last in Canada. He said two were missing…apparently they missed out on the meeting Greer was supposed to hold. I’ll call Cal. In the meantime, we stay together. All of us…understood.”

“You got it boss.” And then Max nodded toward the clock…

“Liz, if we’re invited to lunch I think you and Zan need to get dressed don’t you?”

“Yeah, you’re right. C’mon big boy let’s go get some showers and make ourselves pretty for the grandparents…”

“Boys are not pretty mom, girls are pretty.”

“Okay handsome, let’s go.”

And with that notion Zan smiled, took his mother’s hand and they went up the stairs together.

Max just sat there and shook his head while the rest smiled on.

*

Joe Wagner and John Stephens watched as the group from the Evans’ house piled into Liz’s vehicle and took off. Wagner was determined to get Doctor Parker and find out what could be done about getting back to Antar…he did not want to face Rath, he knew the man could be ruthless when he needed to be. They would have to figure out a better plan of attack. It seemed that Doctor Parker was surrounded by aliens and they didn’t know how that was possible. If they had stuck around their own community they might have had a better idea of what was going on but John had no choice at all but to follow Wagner, he had been ordered to and Wagner just wanted away from all of this alien crap. Instead, it seems, he landed knee deep in more.

*
When the large group of people converged on the Crashdown Jeff was glad that the major lunch hour for the town was over because they had to push four tables together to accommodate the whole group. The only one missing was Philip who had been there between 12:00 and 1:00 p.m. with another lawyer from his office. Therefore he and Jeff did not have a chance to talk but he was extremely excited to see this little boy who thought he was his grandfather and when little Zan and Liz came in together he knew that the scenario Michael had presented the night before was no exaggeration. The child had a grip on Liz’s hand that told Jeff that Zan was not going to let go any time soon. As the rest of the group grabbed chairs Liz led Zan over to where her father was helping get organized and Jeff smiled at her and then knelt down in front of Zan and held out his hand to the little boy…

“Hi Zan, I’m Jeff. Liz tells me that I’m your grandfather.”

“Yes sir, but you don’t believe it do you?”

Jeff’s smile left his face for a second and Liz nodded to her dad to go ahead.

“Be honest with him dad, he knows when you’re lying. One of his gifts.”

“I see. Well Zan, I hadn’t thought about it all that much but no son, I don’t believe I’m your real grandfather. But I don’t mind if you call me grandpa.”

“It’s okay grandpa, you will some day and you’ll like my dad too.”

“That’s what I’ve been told Zan. Zan, is that a nickname for something else?”

“What do you mean?’

“A nickname is something people call you that is shorter than your real name. It’s like Liz. Liz is short for Elizabeth.”

“Yes, it’s short for Alexander…the blond named me Alexander but then called me Zan for a little while then my dad came after me and Liz was my mom from that day forward. The blond made Liz my mother.”

Everyone sat and stared at the child…this happened when he wasn’t much more than a week old…how could he know this?

Liz knelt down beside Zan and looked at him…

“It’s alright honey, the blond lady loved you very much and I already told you that I would be glad to be your mother.”

“Yeah, but you don’t believe you’re my real mother and you are. The blond made you my mother.”

“Zan, I know you know how I feel and do you think that I don’t love you enough honey, because I can’t think of anyone I love more.”

“I know mom, but you still don’t believe you’re my mother.”

“Zan, listen to me…whether I believe you’re my son or not is not the issue right now because no one loves you more than I do. Now I know you can tell that I’m being truthful so here’s the deal. Where this love is coming from doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that it’s there. Mother is just a word attached to a part of a unit. I am not a part of your unit but I love you just as much as if I was. Do you understand that?”

“A little bit. My dad and I are a unit right?”

“Right! You do understand…so as an outsider I am your mother because that’s the word we choose to describe me. Okay.”

“Whatever you say mom…but you are my mother and you are part of our unit because it’s what my dad wants too.”

That shut her up. Max just looked down at the menu and pretended that he didn’t hear a word that was being said. Jeff Parker looked on in amazement and picked the little boy up and headed to the back room. He motioned for Liz to stay with her group and he kept on going.

When he reached the top of the stairs to the apartment Nancy was folding laundry in the living room…

“Nancy, I would like you to meet our grandson Zan.”

Nancy looked up at her husband carrying a boy that should be walking and smiled…Jeff was grinning from ear to ear…he just had a renewed lesson in child honesty. They had a way of not accepting anything but the truth as they knew it.

“Hello Zan…I am so happy to meet you.”

“Hello grandma. Are you going to join us for lunch? I think mom would like that and grandma Evans too. My dad feels a little funny about being here but when Aunt Ava fixes his head” he pointed to Jeff, “he’ll be alright.”

Nancy raised an eyebrow to Jeff and he grinned…

“One of his gifts. Don’t try to tell him stories, he knows better.”

“Ah…well Zan, do you want me to join you?”

“Yes.”

“Fine, then I will join you. Let’s go.”

Jeff put Zan down and the child took Nancy’s hand and they all headed for the dining room to have lunch.

Serena and Isabelle were sitting across from each other laughing and conversing about life on the different planets. Michael was at the head of the table on one end, Diane was next to Isabelle and Max was next to Serena. Soon Jeff and Nancy came in with Zan and they all took their places at the other end of the table with Zan between Liz and Nancy and Jeff at the other head. There were three spots left when the Crashdown door opened and Maria, Ava and Amy strolled in and took up the three vacant chairs while Angela rested in her little car seat. The lunch table was complete and Max smiled. All they needed was Jim, Kyle, Jesse and Dad and the restaurant would be full. Two waitresses made themselves busy getting water and menus to the entire group and the conversation was flowing freely.

“Aunt Ava, why don’t you look at Grandpa’s head while we’re here?”

And a table full of people started to laugh including Jeff and Nancy. Ava looked at Max and smiled…

“Is this what I have to look forward to?”

“Absolutely…they say what’s on their mind and there’s no changing it.”

“God!” And Ava smiled, got out of her chair and headed over to Jeff.

She put her hands on either side of his temples and closed her eyes and it got very quiet as she felt around with her mind for any tweaked circuits. There was one that needed a little push and when she was done she took her hands away and took her seat.

“That’s it?” Jeff asked.

“That’s it. You had an idea planted in there that didn’t belong. It’s gone, let’s hope it’s the one we were looking for.”

And Jeff looked at Ava amazed…then he looked at Max and smiled.

“Sorry Max.”

“Hey, no problem…she did a lot of damage to a lot of us Jeff but one good thing came out of it all.”

Jeff smiled…

“Zan?”

“Yes, Zan. Now let’s all forget bygones and get on with our lives.”

Lunch went swimmingly and just as Zan was about to dig into his “Men in Blackberry Pie” Two unsavory characters walked into the Crashdown and Zan stood and pointed….

“Dad, Uncle Michael, it’s them…they want mom!”


*~*~*
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"Age is just a state of mind"...I think that's mine? I could be wrong! I'm old, so sue me.
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mary mary
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Re: Well Look Who's Back! (M/L Teen) ch 29 5/20/11

Post by mary mary »

Eve: It is my belief that Tess chose Liz to be Zan's mother because she knew that Max loved Liz and would probably find her again someday...and baby Zan felt Liz's presence through his father's dreams as well as feeling her as his mother across an entire galaxy. Right now Zan, Serena and Cal are the only three people on earth who believe it. :)
Cardinal: You're right, but the only thing Zan knows is they want his mother, he has no idea why and you're certainly right about the fire power... :roll: They could be in a world of hurt if they aren't careful. :D
Carolyn: You're certainly right about the shoot out... :D As for the fluff, I'm having a tough time getting around Zan to have it happen actually, he's sort of monopolizing everyone at the moment! :lol:
Michelle: Actually I'm drawing on an entire bunch of models, they are all so much fun at that age, then they turn into teenagers!!!UGH!!! As for the skins, well they're confused to say the least.
rar1942: Well, we'll see! :P
XAF RU208:Yep, I think Zan would bring down the world as they know it if anyone tried to hurt Liz and I think the feelings are mutual...and yes, we are the aliens as far as the aliens are concerned, weird huh? :)
Michelle X2: Hey, you're welcome...I'm just so glad that someone is enjoying this story so much. I never expected this type of a response when I sat down to write it, it's really great to think that other people enjoy kids as much as I do and as far as their honesty is concerned, well they really can embarrass the hell out of and they know they're doing it too. :lol:
spacecowboy: Thank you and it's quite possible that Liz has some of Max's DNA in her since he healed her...what do you think? That would make Zan also have some of hers, no? Just a thought, and yes, Zan is actually humoring all of them...he actually knows who believes and who truly wants to and so far he hasn't found anyone who doesn't want to they just can't seem to wrap themselves around it yet. :wink:

*~*~*


Chapter: 29

Michael was up in a flash along with Max, Isabelle and Serena. They had the two men outside and around the building in no time at all. Two waitresses stood spell bound watching the action taking place in the restaurant while a terrified Jeff and Nancy Parker grabbed Zan and ran to the backroom and headed up the stairs with Maria, and Amy carrying Angela’s tote with her in it. Liz and Ava joined the rest of the Aliens outside and around the building.

Liz was seeing red…she was so mad she could hardly put one foot in front of the other.

“What in the hell were you two thinking scaring a child like that…are you deranged?”

Max and Michael had to control themselves and then they saw her raise an arm…

“No Liz, don’t. All they want to do is get back to Antar. They didn’t know I was back and they figured you knew how to manage it.”

Max had to grab Liz around the waist and turn her away from the two unsavory characters and hold her back…he wanted to let go but Liz was on a rampage and he had to grin as he felt her calm down, just a little…

“Well send their sorry asses back then. Let the government up there deal with them. I’m getting damn sick of this shit Max. Are you sure they can’t get that virus, because it seems to me if the planet is dying then the skins are dying too.”

Now she was directing her anger toward Max and the rest of them stood there in semi shock and amusement as well as Max, except for the two ‘flakes’ of course…they were getting terrified of the little ball of fire, as well they should.

“Yes they are Liz, why? What are you getting at?”

“We need guinea pigs Max…neutralize their powers and we’ll run tests on them.”

“Liz…”

“No, do it. To hell with them. They never gave a damn about anybody but themselves why the hell should we give a shit about them. Lock them up Max. I don’t care where, just find a place and do it. Serena, neutralize their powers, if you can’t do it have Ava fry their brains. I’m going in there and watch my son eat his pie.”

And just as quickly as she showed up she was gone.

“You heard her Michael…lock them up. She needs test subjects and I think she’s serious as hell. I’ll call Cal and tell him we have his two missing “People” and let him know what we’re doing with them. I think he might approve.”

“Right on Maxwell.” Michael said as he calmly looked at the two terrified skins.

“Max, you can’t do that to people.” Isabelle was concerned about the legalities of the situation.

“Isabelle, they aren’t people and they aren’t from around here. They aren’t citizens of anywhere. They go around terrorizing to get what they want. Well, it looks like the tables have just been turned on them, they pissed off the wrong person this time. They are Liz’s test subjects, pure and simple. I guess the new facility will have to encompass cages large enough for big test animals as well.”

“You can’t mean this.” Joe Wagner stated…

“Oh but I do mean it.” Max answered…”I fought your kind for five years, I watched people die needlessly because of your kind, I mean it…believe me, I mean it.” And then Michael put in a kind word…

“Meet the King of Antar boys…just in case you might have forgotten from the last time you were here. We’ve grown up some since then, don’t you think?” Michael spoke softly but very determinedly to the two men.

Max contacted Sheriff Valenti and asked if they could possibly borrow a jail cell for a while until they had their own facility. Max explained the nature of the business they were facing and Serena quickly went to Medi-Chem with Michael where Michael had worked and asked if she could purchase some emergency supplies for a patient just until the new shipment she had ordered arrived. They were more than glad to do a favor for Michael as they remembered the young man as the one who brought down Carl so many years ago. Serena made her neutralizer for the two skins right in Nancy Parker’s kitchen and told the sheriff she would be by once every three days to administer additional injections to keep the “Men” subdued. The Sheriff nodded and conducted business as usual. He smiled on that note and got ready to go over to the Crashdown to meet up with everyone. Kyle would be joining them as well and soon the party would be complete. Jeff decided to give the crew the day off and closed the place up for a homecoming party for Liz, it was getting to be kind of a sticky wicket anyway, what with all of the uninvited guests. He figured Liz needed it after the explosion that just took place.

*~*~*

After the two skins were safely behind bars…Michael and Serena headed back across town and Max excused himself and went to Liz’s balcony for a few minutes to make a call to Cal Langley.

“Your Majesty! To what do I owe the honor this time.”

“Cut the bullshit Cal. We just locked up your two missing skins. They’re currently residing in the Roswell jail as John Doe’s until we can get someplace more private for them. Liz was ready to fry them for scaring Zan but we managed to get some semblance of calmness out of her and then she decided that she and Serena could use them as guinea pigs for the serum that is needed on Antar. She said that if everyone was dying that meant that the skins were dying as well and she could use them as test subjects. We’ll need a sterile environment for them and Dad already purchased the land we need out by the caves. We’ve decided to build underground for various reasons. As Liz pointed out, it would be cooler and less expensive to maintain steady temperatures underground, always thinking, and also…it would be much easier to lock it down and dispose of it in case of any danger. So, we are in essence, building a hive.”

“Sounds good Max, but about these two derelicts…do you think it’s a good idea to keep them there?”

“Well, it seems that Zan senses danger and can read the enemy. This is news to me Cal. I had no idea he had powers. He also put a protective bubble over Liz and him so they wouldn’t be disturbed by noise in the house while they slept and he maintained it until they awoke. I was shocked but it was also very comical. Liz didn’t seem fazed at all…said it was great. She didn’t hear a thing after the bubble went up.”

Cal Langley laughed.

“You have a lot to learn about your son Max. Like it or not he is the Prince of Antar and although he may never go back to the planet the people will always know he is out there. They will also know the minute he becomes King so just accept it Max. As for his powers…this is just the beginning and as for him protecting Liz and keeping her sleep undisturbed I think it’s sweet. How does Liz feel about all of this?”

“Oh hell, I may just as well not exist as far as Zan’s concerned and she’s like a she bear with her cub. I wouldn’t want to cross her where he’s concerned.”

“Good. How soon do you think this underground facility will be finished?”

“I’m not sure. We’re meeting with the contractor tomorrow. It doesn’t have to be all that big according to Liz and Serena. Just safe. Safety seems to be their main concern. Liz said a couple of sleeping rooms to insure around the clock protection, a waste facility, and now a secure area for the ‘guinea pigs’ along with the lab of course. If she intends to be staying there I’m sure that Zan will be as well. He won’t leave her side and has introduced himself to Jeff and Nancy Parker as their grandson. Nothing is going to change his mind. He knows about the blond, although we don’t know how and he said she made Liz his mother. There isn’t a doubt in his mind and nothing will change it.”

“Well Max he’s right…although I just can’t believe that an infant can know this but apparently this ‘transference’ is more powerful than even the natives are aware of. Good job Max and I’ll let you know what the situation in Canada is. If you need more guinea pigs let me know. I know where we can get some pretty fast.”

“Shit Cal I hope we don’t…there’s no changing Liz’s mind though, they scared Zan and she’s determined.”

Cal laughed again…

“Good for her, goodbye Max…Tess chose wisely.”

And the two men hung up.

Max crawled through the bedroom window as he had done many times before but for very different reasons back then and he shook his head when he looked at Liz’s bed. He knew in his heart and soul that Liz had not slept with Kyle. The following days at school, the attitude of the two of them…nothing fit. It was planned, but why. He needed to find out some day and he was sure that he would.

He continued on into the living room where Ava, Amy and Maria were cooing over Angela and he stopped to look at the beautiful baby girl. She was the image of her mother and someone else Max chose not to think about but it was impossible when Ava was around. The duplicate was just that, right down to the wrinkles on her brow when she was questioning a remark. Uncanny! About that time Zan came up the stairs carrying a bottle of milk and handed it to Ava who smiled broadly and thanked the little boy. He was fascinated with Angela and then he looked at Ava and asked…

“Did you know the other blond? The one like you?”

“No Zan, not really. I met her once and then I stayed with Liz for a while and then decided to leave. So no, not really.”

“Oh. I don’t think she was very well liked by anyone. I didn’t get to know her because she gave me to Liz. Dad is confused about it and I just thought maybe you could help him. Your baby is pretty. Girls are pretty and boys are handsome. My mom calls me handsome but she thinks my dad is handsome too so that makes me handsome.”

Everyone looked at the little boy and Max just smiled…

“Come on Zan, let’s go see everyone else while Angela has her bottle.”

“You know dad, Serena and Mom are looking for a cure for the virus…Angela has the cure dad.”

Max looked at Zan and then at Ava who held her baby closer and looked at Max for help.

Then Zan said…

“Liz won’t hurt her Ava, honest. She tested me too and I almost worked. Liz will find the answer, it will just take a little longer. Angela has the cure already and they won’t have to look so long. If Liz can test Angela she can cure Antar”…Then Zan looked closely at Ava and felt something and said,

“Ava, the people of Antar will never know where the serum came from other than Serena made it from Earth samples. The virus will never show up again once they are inoculated. That’s the right word isn’t it dad?”

“Yes Zan, that’s the right word. Do you want to go downstairs and see everyone else now?”

“Alright. Dad, when am I going to go to school?” Like a typical kid, Zan was finished with that conversation and was on to the next thought that crossed his mind.

“Not for three months Zan, that’s about 90 to 100 days away. We’ll have to get out the calendar and check it out but first we need to go to the library and get you some books to make sure you can go into third grade. You don’t want to start school with the babies do you?”

“I guess not, but I’m going to fourth grade dad. You mean they send babies like Angela to school?” And Ava, Amy and Maria giggled and Max smiled…

“No Zan, not that little but four and a half and five year olds really are small compared to a nine year old and that’s how old you’re going to be pretty soon. We need to plan a birthday party for you.”

“When’s his birthday Max?” Maria wanted to know for varying reasons…

“In August…” Max knew what she was getting at…”and it was another lie. Nine months almost to the day.”

“Man, what a …” And Max raised his hand to stop Maria,

“Enough Maria, it’s over.” And Maria smiled her smirky smile and nodded as Max took Zan downstairs.

“You know Maria, sometime you make me totally ashamed to call you my daughter.” Amy was very hurt at what Maria was about to do in front of that child.

“Why? It’s true!”

“True or not Maria she was his birth mother and he is a long way from home. Keep your opinions to yourself. I don’t see anyone calling you on some of your stunts.”

“Only Liz, and she can be pretty brutal.”

“Well maybe you should listen to her Maria because you are letting a damn good man walk away from you because of your brassy selfishness. It’s time for you to grow up Maria. I never thought I would have to say that to you.”

And Amy Valenti meant every word.

*
Max took Zan down to the dining room where everyone was talking and getting reacquainted with each other and Jeff grabbed Zan up and took him over to the ice cream freezer and introduced him to a banana split with all the trimmings and instead of the usual Tabasco that gets poured on Jeff Parker grabbed some cayenne pepper from the kitchen and laced the ice cream before pouring on the good stuff and Zan Evans smiled wider than Max had ever seen him and Liz stood there and laughed.

“Are you going to try your new concoction Dad?”

“Not in a million years Liz but I’ll bet it’s good in Zan’s eyes. You forget, I watched Michael for a very long time before I realized why our hot sauce inventory was getting depleted faster than I could replenish it.” And all of the hybrids laughed. Life was good.
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"Age is just a state of mind"...I think that's mine? I could be wrong! I'm old, so sue me.
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