Linger *COMPLETE* (CC,M/L,MATURE) 2/7/05

[JO]

Author's Note: I just felt the need to repost this fic. It's one of my favorites so I hope you'll enjoy it too.

JO

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many gracious thanks to Blanca for the beautiful art

Disclaimer: The characters of Roswell are the property of Twentieth Century Fox Television and Regency Productions. All original characters and concepts are the property of the author. No profit has been made from the distribution of this work of fiction. No infringement intended. Similar situations are chances of fate.
Category: post-Graduation
Rating: MATURE

Prologue


June 12, 2002

I’m Liz Parker Evans and this is the beginning of my new life. It feels so odd to write that...my new life...because on September 24, 1999, my life would have ended had Max Evans not patched a bullet hole 2 inches below my ribs. Now, 3 years later (although it feels like a lifetime), Max and I are husband and wife - only 1 year earlier than my Future Max and his Liz. So many things have changed since that moment in the Crashdown when Max healed me and we connected on a higher level, but I guess those things really aren’t mportant. What’s important are the people with me in this van: Michael, Maria, Kyle, Isabel and Max. They’re my family now; they’re my future. My past, along with my old journal, lies in Roswell, NM, and all we can do now - the six of us - is to carry on, endure, live.

It’s also odd to look at today’s date, especially when thinking about death. I can’t think about it without a shiver running down my spine. This is the day from my vision, the day we were supposed to die - June 12, 2002. We began running after graduation and have stopped only long enough for the essential items: food, pee break, wedding. I know I shouldn’t be writing this, I shouldn’t be putting my feelings about these recent events into words in such a concrete way, but I can’t help it. Old habits die hard. I have to believe that we’ll be okay; that if we just keep running long enough, they’ll stop looking. At least that’s what I’m praying for.

Kyle is driving now with Isabel riding shotgun. They’re playing a game of ‘I Spy.’ Maria and Michael are snuggled together in the back seat, their arms wrapped tightly around each other. I think they had a quickie in the bathroom of the Jiffy Mart when we crossed into Nevada but I’m not sure. They’re both happy for the moment...but then again, their relationship has been anything but conventional. I can’t help but glance over at Max, my husband, my soul mate, the love of my life. My eyes are instantly drawn to his wedding band, knowing that I put it there, that I marked his soul (and ring finger) as surely as he marked mine. We’ve had trying times. We’ve been to hell and back but here we are now together - carrying on, enduring, living.

As the slide show of the past three years plays like an old movie reel through my mind, I can’t help but feel saddened by all that we’ve had to leave behind, especially our parents. Max and Isabel had finally gotten the acceptance from their parents they so desperately wanted after telling them the truth and now, their family is torn in half. Isabel also lost Jesse in the process. I didn’t know him that well but watching him beg to accompany us made me respect him a little more. This is not his battle, it’s not his war, and yet, because he loved Isabel, he wanted to brave it with her. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for her to turn him away. I know how hard it was for me to push Max away and I know how completely grateful I am that he is in my life.

After we married in Arizona, the six of us spent the night in Tempe. I know, it’s almost too coincidental with the future version of my life, except that Alex was not there. He wasn’t there in body, but I know for a fact he was there in spirit because I was thinking about him. I can’t help not thinking about him. He was my best friend and he’s gone, his life tragically taken by a traitor. Alex is probably the biggest regret of my entire involvement with Max. In the end, I gained a husband but I guess you could say I lost so much more: Alex, my innocence, my family. I shouldn’t feel sad; I don’t want to feel sad - I’m finally happy. Max and I are together for the rest of our lives. I’ve graduated from West Roswell High School with a decent grade point average (not Harvard quality, by any means) and my parents, Max’s parents, and Maria’s mom finally know the truth about what our lives have been like for the past 3 years. But there are just so many things to be considered in this new chapter of my life. I’ve never really admitted this before - at least not in print - but I’m scared. I’m scared because the plan I had for my life went drastically wrong 3 years ago. I’m scared because I don’t know who I’m running from or where I’m running to. I’m scared because my entire world just got bigger overnight. Maybe I shouldn’t feel this way. Maybe I shouldn’t be having these...feelings, but feelings drive us, right? Feelings push us toward a goal. Feelings make us...human. So that’s who I am today, June 12, 2002. I’m Liz Parker Evans, happy and a little bit scared but I’m carrying on, enduring, living.


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Part 1


June 13, 2002

It’s almost 2:00 in the morning and I don’t know why I’m still awake. I should be nestled in the arms of my sleeping husband (one week officially today!!) We’re staying in Las Vegas for a couple of nights, each of us at our own little dive of a hotel. The day was exhausting but running for your life can tire a person.

Max and I were the first to be dropped off at our hotel, the Tropicana. It reminds me of the hotel where we found Michael and Maria on our way to Marathon. Porno version of Aladdin indeed!! I can’t help but wonder the condition of the hotels Michael, Maria, Isabel and Kyle are staying at if the Tropicana is any indication. We registered under the names ‘Jeff and Nancy Parker,’ our appearances altered slightly to protect us. Max told me I looked good as a redhead, courtesy of Isabel’s magic hands. I told him I thought he had a thing for brunettes which he said was true and that he’d show me once we were in the room. Luckily, I had one of my dad’s old credit cards in my purse and as fate would have it, it was approved. We each cut up our credit cards and bank cards (after withdrawing all possible monies) in the Mojave Desert almost five days ago. I don’t know why we went to the desert - maybe we were homesick for the isolation that the desert used to offer. Maybe we needed the jagged rocks and clay-colored sand to help us with our thought process. I don’t know why we went there. I just know that in the Mojave Desert of Southern California, six people died, their existence simply wiped clean and that at 2:10 in the morning, I’m mourning their deaths.


Liz closed the notebook and wrapped her arms around herself. She was clad only in Max’s white dress shirt, the one he’d worn when they got married one week earlier. She’d begun using it as pyjamas on their wedding night. She loved the smell of it, to feel like that he was wrapped all around her, totally enveloping her in every sense. It had given her comfort when she couldn’t sleep as the six of them had spent several crowded nights in the van. This was no kind of honeymoon, Max had told her that first night, clutching her body tightly against his, maneuvering them so they could touch each other and try to ignore the other four people sleeping around them. They had succeed in removing Max’s jacket and dress shirt and Liz’s white peasant top before Max covered her bare shoulders with his own shirt. Then, as quietly as possible, they had exited the van and made love underneath the star-filled sky. It had reminded Liz of the first night they spent together underneath the stars and she had bought the wire-bound notebook the following morning at a gas station, intent on writing down everything she felt. The morning after though, she had still been high on the surges of passion coursing through her body. She had had no way of knowing that one week later she’d be awake in the middle of the night crying about their futures.

“Liz?” Liz jerked in the chair, turning from her seat at the rickety table toward the bed where Max was resting on his side. “Liz, come back to bed,” Max said, pushing himself up onto his elbow, sprigs of his hair sticking up at all different directions. “It’s late,” he groaned, slowly peeling back the covers. “Or early.” Pushing his weary body to the edge of the bed, he reached for his wife, their hands meeting in the darkness. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Liz replied meekly, wildly avoiding Max’s eyes. The moonlight filtered in sparsely through the frayed curtains, slightly illuminating Max’s face, particularly his eyes. And Liz knew she was in no condition to look into Max’s eyes, knowing full well that he would know she was lying. “I’m fine,” she replied again, smiling with her mouth only.

“Liz,” Max whispered, pulling her into his lap. “I know you better than that.” He threaded his hands through her long tresses as she wrapped her arms around his neck, sighing loudly. “Tell me what’s wrong, baby.”

“I don’t know,” she said, her eyes instantly filling with tears again. “I just...this is all so...hard, Max.”

“You don’t want to be here?”

“I want to be wherever you are. I meant what I said about doing anything to be with you. We’re in this together, Max, and I’m not living the rest of my life without you. This...it isn’t about that.”

“What then,” Max asked, lightly brushing his lips against her throat. “What’s keeping you up?”

“I...I’m scared,” she whispered faintly. “I...I’m not scared about us, Max. I love you and being with you is what I want to do. I’m just -”

“Scared about the future,” Max offered, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his head against her chest. He raised his eyes to meet hers and Liz pulled her bottom lip into her mouth, tugging on it with her teeth as she nodded her head slowly. “It’s okay to be scared. I’m scared too.”

“Really?”

Max nodded as he collected her into his arms and slid into the center of the bed. “I’ve been scared my entire life. Scared that I’d be found out. Scared that my parents wouldn’t love me. Scared to confess what I felt for you because I thought you’d run.”

Liz wrapped her legs around Max’s waist, snuggling as close to him as possible. “But I didn’t,” she offered, brushing his bangs away from his forehead. Pursing her lips, she gently placed a kiss in the center of his forehead and felt his arms tighten around her.

“I know you, Liz. We’re connected now, you know,” he said tenderly, raising his head to look into her eyes. “Cemented, and I can feel every emotion that’s flowing through your body. I know you’re scared and anxious and worried but above all those other feelings, Liz, I feel love. I know that first and foremost, you love me,” he said, capturing the tears that fell down her cheeks.

“I do love you, Max. I do.”

“If you didn’t love me, you wouldn’t be here. Don’t you know we can do anything as long as we’re together?” He framed her face with his palms, his thumbs tracing tiny circles across her cheeks. “I haven’t always made the best choices in our relationship but I know I was right to love you, to want you as my wife, my wonderful wife.”

“Max,” Liz murmured as Max began to trail his lips down her neck. She felt the fire build within her stomach and warmth flood her extremities. She had always felt heat from Max’s body every time they were close, the intensity of the heat amplified by their proximity and what they happened to be doing at the moment. She could feel her own body temperature rising, almost as if her body was calling to Max’s. She ran her hands down the length of his back, his flesh incinerating the palms of her hands and the thought that she had only felt Max’s skin this hot one previous time flashed through her brain. “You’re healing me,” she said, cupping his chin in her hands. Her eyes scanned his face for an answer to her statement, already knowing in her heart it was true. That Max was healing her.

“You can feel that?”

She nodded against his cheek as they adjusted their position on the bed, with Max lying on top of her, their bodies bound tightly together as Max’s hand came to rest on her naked hip. “I feel everything about you, Max. I know you, your heart, your soul. And no matter what healing powers you have, nothing will ever heal me as much as simply being with you.”

“I love you, Liz Parker Evans,” Max whispered just before his lips crashed against hers. Liz felt his fingers expertly unbuttoning the shirt and her own desperate need to have her husband make love to her filled her mind. He slipped her out of the shirt with ease, letting it fall underneath her onto the bed. “Liz,” he whispered her name like a prayer as their bodies joined with ease. “My strong, beautiful wife.” Liz smiled quickly, a faint blush settling on her cheeks as she kissed Max fully on the mouth, willing this moment into the journal of her mind.

[JO]

Part 2


June 15, 2002


After giving ourselves a ‘day break’ from each other and the cramped living space of the van, we agreed to regroup at the Bali Hai casino. We all knew where it was, having been there last year, and it was Michael’s thought that because we were in Las Vegas, we could lose ourselves and remain anonymous - at least for one day. Max and I spent our free day from the group celebrating our marriage and extending our honeymoon in ways I won’t put into print. I will reveal that married life is absolute bliss (despite running for our lives) and there is no other feeling greater than making love to my husband.

Max and I took the scenic route to the Bali Hai, walking down the main drag hand-in-hand. For the duration of that walk (and our previous free day), we simply acted the happily married couple we are, alien abyss notwithstanding. We laughed, we kissed, we had fun - our lives completely normal and I felt like we were the only 2 people in the entire world. It was magic and nothing could have been more perfect than that. It was absolute heaven and I am so thankful that we were able to lose ourselves in each other, even for that short amount of time.


“So you had a good time yesterday,” Max asked, his arm slung loosely across Liz’s shoulders as they walked toward the Bali Hai Hotel and Casino. Liz’s arms were wrapped tightly around his waist and the newlyweds had spent the majority of the previous twenty-four hours in their bed at the Tropicana. The faint desert breeze wafted over then, sending Liz’s hair fluttering momentarily into Max’s face and for a split second, Max envisioned them on Main Street of Roswell. He and Liz had discussed their joint fears at length after Liz’s emotional breakdown and he wished once again that Liz had not gotten mixed up in his life. She was the one spec of purity on his otherwise blemished existence and he unconsciously tightened his hold on her, unwilling to drag her down with him.

“Stop it, Max,” she chastised, stopping their forward progression with the Bali Hai less than half a block away. “I know what you’re doing and I want you to stop it.” She stepped against his chest and placed her hands lovingly on his cheeks. “We’ve talked about this, remember? This is the way it has to be for now, but I did have a wonderful day yesterday,” she replied softly, a dreamy look encompassing her face as she tenderly pulled his lips toward hers. “Did you enjoy it?”

“Oh,” he replied, nipping at her neck with his mouth, making her giggle and brush away from him. “I think you know I did,” he said once he had caught up with her, an honest smile spreading across his face. He had enjoyed being with Liz. Then again, he’d always enjoyed being with Liz or even just watching her from afar. Now that they were married, the gravitational pull she’d woven around him the moment he first saw her in the third grade was solidified, like a missing piece of the puzzle had magically appeared and he was finally whole. She didn’t know that he had woken up in the early morning and had spent almost an hour just watching her as she’d slept. He had memorized the way her dark hair had fanned out against the pillow and the soft murmurings she had whispered in her sleep. He knew her mind and heart was tormented by fears and doubts about the future in their waking hours but when she slept, her face bore none of that strain. When she slept, she looked like an angel. “I think you know I did,” he repeated, pulling her tightly against him.

“Max,” she sighed, cradling her head against his chest as they continued to walk toward the Bali Hai.


And, believe me, it was a short amount of time. As soon as the Bali Hai was in sight, the reality of our situation came crashing back to me. Our life together was not some fairy tale. I could close my eyes and wish away the problems chasing us but when I opened them again, all those problems would still be there.


“Max,” Liz whispered again and Max forcefully grabbed her hand. Already, their bodies were both tense and they had only seen the three police cars parked recklessly on the sidewalk in front of the Bali Hai. Max’s first impulse was to run and he made jerky motions toward the curb, his grip of Liz’s hand tightening the closer he got to the street. “Max,” Liz repeated, her voice now an excited whisper. “We haven’t done anything wrong.”

Max opened his mouth to respond when he saw several armed police officers escorting an older man toward their cars. He pulled Liz quickly toward the growing crowd gathered outside the main doors. “What’s going on,” Max asked an elderly woman straining for a better view.

“Oh, they caught him trying to rob the cashier. Stupid fella. Everyone knows you can’t rob a Las Vegas casino.” She smiled widely at Max, who responded in kind, keeping a fierce grip on Liz’s hand. He turned around to face Liz, the smile still plastered across his face. They were all still safe, he thought. Gingerly squeezing her hand, he pulled Liz close to him and they walked into the casino.

“Let’s find everyone else, okay.”

“Sounds great,” Liz replied, the corners of her mouth turning upward into a smile. “I think that scare warrants a bathroom break though.” She pressed herself comfortably against Max’s chest and kissed him fully on the lips. “I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll wait,” Max offered, his hands lingering on the crest of Liz’s hips. “I don’t mind.”

“Go find Michael, Max. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” Max replied dejectedly, his hands clamping on to Liz’s hips as he kissed her swiftly before walking further into the casino. He was only several steps away from her before he felt his stomach contract in semi-panic. Spinning toward her, relief flooded through him as he watched Liz skip to the ladies room. She pulled the door open with her right hand while turning to face Max. She smiled brightly at him, waving slightly with her left as she brushed past a woman exiting the bathroom.


That’s what running does to you. It makes you paranoid. It makes you untrusting and it ultimately makes you crazy. But as the woman in a dark pantsuit brushed past me in the restroom doorway, I realized just how close our problems were and I knew we were going to have to run again.

[JO]

Part 3

Liz felt the tingling sensation shoot down her spine the moment she and the woman in the dark pantsuit brushed past each other. No flash needed to tell her she was in danger, that they were all in danger. She had felt that momentary panic drop to the core of her soul but a flash pressed its way into her mind nonetheless. The split second image of a white identification badge with the letters ‘FBI’ printed on it and a small picture of the woman with shorter hair was all her brain needed to register before her world violently shifted on its axis. The woman continued toward the main casino floor, oblivious of the connection Liz had just formed with her.

Liz turned and unsteadily made her way into one of the bathroom stalls. Waiting several seconds as she willed her body to calm down, she slowly returned to the casino lobby, her sole purpose to find Max and the others so they could leave as quickly and as quietly as possible.

* * *

“We’re in Vegas, baby,” Michael said, throwing his arms upward in triumph as he celebrated his third hard 8. “I love Vegas.”

“You say that like we’ve never been here before, Michael,” Maria groaned, blowing absently on her fingernails while keeping watch on the new faces that appeared at their table. Since the moment they’d arrived at the casino, much too early in Maria’s opinion, Michael had been glued to the craps table. She did have to give him credit because he had almost doubled their hundred dollars but she was beginning to get bored watching Michael’s chip pile become larger. “Oh, that’s right,” she quipped. “I remember now. You can’t see much of Vegas from a jail cell, can you?”

“That’s true,” Max said, walking toward them with his hands shoved casually into his pants pockets. “Can’t enjoy Vegas while you’re doing time.”

“Can it, Maria. You’re making me lose my winning vibe,” Michael glared at her over his shoulder. “So you and Liz finally come up for air, eh?” He arched his eyebrows at Max before he blew on the dice and threw them across the table. When he rolled a 6, the small crowd around the table erupted in cheers. Michael looked quite pleased with himself, a goofy grin plastered across his face as he high-fived several Japanese tourists.

“Hey Max,” Maria said, ignoring Michael’s remark. “Where’s Liz?”

“She’s in the restroom,” Max replied, thumbing his hand across his shoulder toward the restrooms at the front of the casino. “Did you see the police arrest that guy?”

“Yep. That guy was an idiot, Maxwell,” Michael replied as he stacked his chips into piles based on denominations. “Who really tries to rob a casino?”

“George Clooney and Brad Pitt,” Maria said, her arms deliberately resting on her hips and her lower lip full in a semi-pout. “But they aren’t the only idiots I know.”

“Maria, I swear,” Michael began, slamming his fist onto the table, several piles of his chips scattering onto the floor. “Look what you made me do!”

“What I made you do,” Maria screamed, stooping to the ground to pick up the fallen chips. “You’re the one who’s yelling! I’m not yelling!”

“Both of you are yelling,” Max cautioned, bending over to help pick up Michael’s winnings. “Casinos have cameras, remember?” He stacked the chips into a row and handed them to Michael. Their eyes met and Michael and Maria quickly quieted their bickering.

“I think it’s time to chip out,” Michael said softly, offering the stick man a smile as he gathered his chips into his pockets.

Michael, Max and Maria turned to go into the direction of the cashier’s office when Liz almost ran directly into them. Her eyes darted around awkwardly, agitation and fear resonating on her face. Maria stepped toward her, pulling her into her arms. “Lizzie? What’s wrong?”

“We have to get out of here,” Liz advised them, her eyes locking instantly with Max’s. Max gently pushed Maria out of his way, encompassing his wife in his arms.

“You had a flash, didn’t you,” Max asked after placing a gently kiss on her forehead. Liz nodded her head against his chest, warm tears gingerly trailing down her cheeks. “She had a flash,” Max relayed to Michael and Maria over his shoulder, still maintaining his tight grip on Liz.

“We’ll go cash out,” Maria said, grabbing Michael’s arm and pulling him toward to cashier’s window.

“Are you okay,” Max asked Liz as Maria pulled Michael in the opposite direction. “What is it?” Max glanced quickly around the casino, trying to catch someone looking at the two of them. He ran his hands lightly up and down her arms and he felt both of their heart rates increase.

“When I went to the bathroom,” Liz began but quickly stopped. She placed her hand on Max’s chest to steady herself and closed her eyes, willing her hormones to remain dormant for just a little while longer. She couldn’t explain her flash to Max when all she could think about was making love to him. “The woman...in the dark pantsuit. She’s FBI, Max.”

“You saw her badge?”

“She wasn’t wearing it but I know she was carrying it in her left pant pocket. I saw her picture, her name, everything.”

“You’re right. We have to get out of here. You go with Michael and Maria and I’ll go find Kyle and Iz.”

“I...I’ll go find them,” Liz argued. “I...I think I need to go to the bathroom again anyway.”

Against his gut instinct, Max agreed to let Liz try to find Kyle and Isabel in the casino. He glanced over his shoulder at Michael and Maria, already leaving the casino with Michael’s winnings to retrieve the van. “I’ll meet you out front, okay? Be careful.” He kissed her passionately on the lips, snaking his arms around her waist and back, crushing her tiny body
against his. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Liz sighed against his neck, sniffing loudly. “I’ll be careful.”

He released her slowly, turning and walking toward the lobby, following Michael and Maria’s earlier path out of the casino. Liz turned swiftly on her heels, her eyes keenly scanning the casino floor for any signs of Kyle and Isabel. Walking deeper into the casino, she saw Kyle sitting at the blackjack table, a substantial crowd gathering behind him. She crossed the floor swiftly, her eyes trained on the cameras overhead, praying they weren’t watching her.

“Kyle,” she called as she stepped through the crowd to his side. She was amazed at the winnings he had accumulated. “Kyle, we have to go.”

“Don’t stop me now, Liz. Lady Luck is finally on my side.”

“Now, Kyle,” she whispered into his ear. He turned his head toward her and Liz hoped her facial expression let him know the severity of their situation. “Where’s Isabel?”

“She’s in the bathroom,” Kyle responded, standing up from his stool at the table. He smiled widely at the shapely blonde dealer, tossing a chip at her. “You gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away and know when to run. Excuse me, people. Rich man coming through.”

Liz rushed away from him toward the back of the casino and Isabel as Kyle walked toward the cashier’s window. She saw Isabel standing against in between the slot machines and the restrooms. Liz thought Isabel glanced in her direction and she waved her hand wildly to get Isabel’s attention. Instead of acknowledging her, Isabel simply turned toward the wall and that was the exact moment Liz had her first unobstructed view of Isabel.


I don’t know how I knew it. Maybe I just felt it, like that there was something different in the air. Maybe I sensed it because of the smile on her face and the tears in her eyes. I knew she shouldn’t be doing it. She knew she shouldn’t be doing it but that didn’t matter. My heart jumped into my throat as my greatest fear played out in front of my very eyes. Isabel was talking on the phone. I knew she was talking to Jesse. And I knew that Isabel had led our problems straight to us.

[JO]

Part 4

“Isabel. Let’s go,” Liz said, startling Isabel. Both of them were in shock but for completely different reasons. Isabel calmly returned the phone to its receiver and briskly walked past Liz, ignoring all together the fact that she had been on the phone in the middle of a conversation.

“Isabel,” Liz called, running after her sister-in-law catch up to her because of their stride difference. “Isabel, wait.” Isabel slowed slightly, allowing Liz to catch up to her before she continued walking toward the front doors. “Who were you talking to? Were you talking to Jesse?”

“You’ve got alien powers now,” Isabel snapped as she turned toward Liz slightly while they walked out the sliding glass doors into the covered pick-up area in front of the casino. “Figure it out.” Max slid the van door open and Isabel promptly stepped inside, claiming her usual seat beside Kyle. Liz hesitated before stepping into the van, the impact of Isabel’s harsh words hitting her. Her mouth opened slightly and she stared at the ground, spurring Max to jump out of the van and grab her hand.

“Liz? Did you have another flash?”

“N...no, Max. No,” she stuttered, smiling slightly as she took his hand and stepped into the van in front of him. She glanced to her left and stared at Isabel sitting in the back seat with Kyle. Liz tried to maintain eye contact with Isabel as she moved across the middle seat toward the window
but Isabel fiercely avoided her eyes.


There’s no excusing what happened. I thought we were in real danger, based a flash from an unknown woman. As it turns out, the FBI were stationed at the casino, but they weren’t looking for us; they were investigating a possible mob hit on the casino’s owner. Michael heard a news flash broadcast over the radio not more than an hour after we’d left Las Vegas. That had lead Max, Michael and Kyle into an almost 2 hour discussion and recreation of The Godfather movie trilogy, as well as any other film from the same genre. Maria groaned and complained herself into sleep and I picked up my journal to document yet another day in my life.

We’re heading into California again, Barstow I think. Looking at the road atlas Kyle bought somewhere in Las Vegas, I don’t think Barstow is such a good idea. Not only are we in a desert similar to Roswell, but there are at least 4 military bases in the neighboring counties. I am glad that we’ll be stopping again though. Maybe I can get Isabel to actually talk to me about what happened in Las Vegas.

* * *

June 16, 2002


I must have fallen asleep sometime in the van last night because I woke up in Max’s white dress shirt and a pair of his boxers. We had moved to a hotel and when I woke, I was the only one in the room. Needless to say, I ran out of the hotel (still wearing Max’s shirt and boxers) in a panic. I can’t even begin to describe what I felt when I woke up by myself in an unfamiliar room, but as my eyes dilated in the bright sunlight, I saw Max, Michael, Maria, Isabel and Kyle lounging in and around the tiny pool area of the hotel I was sure Isabel had picked. We rarely stay in hotels or motels and we’ve certainly never stayed in a hotel or motel with a pool. It’s a rare luxury I guess I owe to Michael and Kyle and their lucky hands in the casino.

I can’t help but feel like there’s something happening with Isabel. Don’t ask me while I feel this way. I should be thankful that I slept (obviously soundly) in a bed for the second night in a row and that I’ll finally be able to enjoy myself in a pool again, an amenity I assumed I’d never have. I’ll think about Isabel after I swim for a bit.



Liz closed the notebook, tucking it into the leather bag she’d begun calling her purse. The bag was so much more than just a purse; it had become her lifeline to all that she’d left behind. She and Max had agreed, after the second of her visions, to pack a small bag or back pack with necessary items in case they had to leave Roswell with little notice. After their afternoon in the desert, she’d packed the brown leather bag the moment she returned home, filling it with pictures, several items of clothes, other toiletry items and her leather-bound journal. She had returned her old journal to her father several days after their graduation, knowing he would honor request her to destroy it. Her parents, all of their parents, deserved to know what had happened to them during the course of the past three years and Liz had felt a huge weight of relief spring from her shoulders as she’d dropped her journal into that FedEx parcel box. Her parents would finally know the truth and maybe, they’d come to understand her a little bit better.

Changing into her two-piece swim suit quickly, she wrapped one of the hotel’s towels around her waist and stepped out of the hotel room into the bright afternoon sunlight, her heart suddenly lighter as she watched Max, Michael and Kyle rough-house in the pool while Maria and Isabel laughed at them. She crossed the parking lot slowly, her eyes trained on Max and his beaming smile and surprised herself by thinking that, despite whatever problem was plaguing Isabel, she felt good about her life.

* * *

ROSWELL

“I...I just can’t believe this,” Amy Deluca said, throwing her upper body back against the couch in the Valenti living room. She ran her hands through her newly-cropped hair and sighed loudly, glancing at each of the other adults in the room with her. Jeff and Nancy Parker, Philip and Diane Evans and Jim Valenti sat in the chairs sporadically placed in the living room, the six parents staring at the bound leather journal currently resting in the center of the coffee table. “I...Jim? You believe this? All of you believe this?”

“I was shot, Amy,” Jim began slowly, taking her hands into his. “I was shot and Max healed me. He healed Kyle. He healed Liz.”

“So he’s a...an...alien,” Amy replied calmly. “And...Isabel is an alien and...Michael is an alien. My daughter is in love with an...alien.”

“My daughter is married to an alien,” Nancy replied with a shrug.

“And my children are aliens,” Diane chimed in for good measure.

“And you’re okay with that,” Amy asked, turning toward the other two mothers in the room. “You’re okay with knowing your children are in danger and that you probably won’t ever seen them again? Because I’m not okay with this. I am not okay!” Amy stood up from the couch, knocking Jim away from her and almost to the floor.

“Amy,” Jeff began softly as Philip steadied Jim to keep him from falling. Philip’s cell phone rang and, after making sure Jim was back on his feet, he excused himself from the room to answer it. “I know it looks like we’re calm.” He motioned to the four other adults in the room with his index finger, his eyes never leaving Amy. “We’re not calm. The Evans have tons of questions for Max and Isabel but those questions just have to go unanswered right now. Nancy and I have spent countless hours worrying this year about Liz and her involvement with Max. Jim has had to deal with so much more than any of us because both Tess and Kyle lived here. But what’s most important to Nancy and I, and I think I can speak for Jim, Diane and Phil on this, is that our children are in danger. It doesn’t matter who or what they are. They’re still our children.”

“Oh,” Amy gasp, pulling her hands to her mouth. Tears poured out of her eyes and she threw herself against Jim, unable to control her emotions any longer. “I’m never going to see my baby again, am I?”

“I don’t know about that,” Philip interjected as he stepped back into the living room, closing the case on his cell phone and depositing it back into his jacket pocket. He smiled slightly as his wife, her arms around Nancy’s shoulders while the two mothers tried to comfort each other.

“Philip? What’s going on? Who was that,” Diane asked, her natural curiosity causing her to step away from Nancy and toward the entrance of the room, past where Jeff, Amy and Jim stood.

“That was Jesse,” Philip replied, his smile widening as the seconds ticked by. “He talked to Isabel.”

[JO]

Part 5

“Good God, it’s hot out here,” Maria groaned as she fanned herself with her hands. She, Isabel and Liz had been sunning themselves while the boys went across the street to Carl’s Jr. to pick up lunch for them. “I’ve got to have something to drink. Do you two want anything,” she asked, standing up from her lounge chair and wrapping her towel around her waist.

“No thanks.”

“No thanks, Maria. Let us know when the food’s here.”

“Will do, chica,” Maria responded, walking away from the pool area and toward their room across the parking lot. Liz raised the sunglasses slightly above her eyebrows, watching to make sure her best friend had in fact left she and Isabel alone.

“Isabel,” she began, slinging her legs to the left side of the lounge so she could face Isabel’s lounge.

“Don’t start, Liz,” Isabel interrupted as she raised her hand to silence Liz. She absently ran her hand through her hair, readjusting the wind-blown strands. “Please don’t.”

“Isabel, if you called Jesse,” Liz began, leaning closer to her sister-in-law but quickly paused when she realized she didn’t want to make any ultimatum toward Isabel. She simply wanted to get to the bottom of the situation. “Why did you call him,” she softly asked. “You have to know that put us in danger. I thought you wanted him to be safe.”

“I need him, Liz. He’s my husband.”

“I know that and I understand but you agreed for him to get on with his life. You pushed him away and now you’re deciding you want him back. We can’t afford to have you change your mind.” Liz pushed her sunglasses upward past her hairline, pulling her dark tresses away from her face.

“How would you feel if you couldn’t be with Max,” Isabel asked, turning her head toward Liz for the first time in their conversation. Liz gasp and shrank back away from Isabel, her heart constricting at the thought of not being with Max. She felt a solitary tear stream down her cheek before she could control it and blindly wiped at it. “Then you know exactly how I feel,” Isabel quietly responded, turning her attention back toward the empty pool. “Thank you for not telling Max by the way,” she said several seconds later.

“I...this isn’t for Max to decide. The entire group needs to know. We’re all in danger here, Isabel. The six of us, our parents, Jesse. It’s critical that we be careful. By talking to Jesse or continuing to talk to him, you’re bringing him into a fight that isn’t his.”

“This isn’t your fight either.”

“Max brought me into this the day he healed me,” Liz said, again leaning toward Isabel’s lounge chair and propping her elbows on her knees. “We...you and I...haven’t always gotten along but you have to know that I am exactly where I want to be. I’m a marked person, Isabel, just like you, Max and Michael. Jesse isn’t. He can be safe.”

Isabel swung her legs to her right, her knees almost knocking against Liz’s as she settled herself so she and Liz were facing each other. “Max broke our only rule when he told you the truth about us, Liz. Michael and I were furious when Max told us what he’d done, but now that I know you, I see it was the right thing for him to do. You’ve never done anything to hurt us. You accepted Michael, Max and I with open arms and you’ve always done what you could to help us, even when things were awkward between you and Max. I...I’ve never thanked you for that. I’ve never told you how special I think you are for accepting us so unconditionally." Isabel swallowed and Liz could see that she was visibly moved by sharing feelings she’d kept bottled up for almost three years. “And I’ve certainly never asked anything of you, until now.” Isabel placed her hand on Liz’s, her fingers lightly dancing around Liz’s small wrist. “What I’m asking for now, Liz, is time, time to help me deal with this. It’s different for me and Jesse. You have Max and Michael has Maria. The man I love is in Boston, almost 3000 miles away. I don’t know when I’ll see him again, or even if I ever will. All I have is a voice over the phone.” Isabel sighed heavily, her shoulders shuddering slightly before she continued. “I...I haven’t told Jesse anything. I...I’ve only called him twice and the first time, I was so upset I couldn’t speak. I just need to hear his voice, Liz. Please.”


Suddenly, I just felt the need to hug Isabel. We’d only hugged one previous time - my wedding day. I understood everything she was feeling because I had just been there myself. She was as scared and as in love as I was. The only difference between us was that I had my husband. I was able to see him every day. I was able to touch and to kiss him whenever I wanted. For Isabel to know that kind of peace, she had to dreamwalk hers and simply pray she was able to connect with him. Hearing his voice in real life, although he was on the other side of the country, was her only line to him. I felt sorry for her because she was alone and I knew exactly what that kind of loneliness felt like.

So I wrapped my arms around her neck, cradling her head against my shoulder as I’d done with Maria so many times. Isabel clung to me, desperately and tragically, and I felt an onrush of pure devastation hit me. I’d felt a similar feeling when Max returned from L. A., and I had comforted him in much the same manner: my arms around his neck while he held me like his very life depended on me. Underneath that surge of devastation though, I felt a faint impression, like that something else was experiencing this emotion too. I glanced quickly around the parking lot and saw Max, Michael and Kyle almost to the door of the hotel with several bags of food but the feeling wasn’t coming from them. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the impressions that were rolling through the semi-connection Isabel and I now shared. Then the flashes pounded against my brain like a breaking wave and I immediately understood the impressions that were flowing between us - Isabel was pregnant.

[JO]

Part 6

ROSWELL

“What do you mean Jesse talked to Isabel? Philip, that’s impossible. If Isabel were going to call anyone, she’d call us. She knows we’re just as worried, if not more so, than Jesse. We’re her parents.”

“It’s not that simple, Diane. We don’t know what the FBI is using as surveillance. They could have our home phones tapped. They could be watching us...right now.

All at once, the six parents in the room became a little more cautious, a little more afraid and a little more secretive. Philip signaled Diane to continue talking about Isabel, which Diane was only more than happy to do, without giving out specific details that could be used against their children. Nancy and Amy chimed in with stories about Liz and Maria as Jim, Philip and Jeff scrawled notes back and forth to each other. Signaling Diane to wrap up the conversation, the parents agreed to meet later that evening to discuss their children.

* * *

“I didn’t know if this was a good place or not,” Philip said as the sun began setting behind him for the evening. He placed his shaky hands into the pockets of his dress slacks, adjusting his footing on the quarry floor. When Jim had suggested they meet away from their homes and businesses, the only place Philip could think of was the quarry. Jim and Jeff had agreed with the location and the six parents reconvened to discuss the phone call from Jesse.

“It’s a good spot,” Jim replied, reassuring Philip with a smile. “It’s highly likely all our houses are being monitored.”

“You mean bugged,” Jeff stated, stepping firmly toward Jim, his hand clasping Nancy’s tightly. When Jim nodded, Nancy choked back a cry.

“We said the word ‘alien,’” Diane said, glancing quickly to Nancy. “We called our children aliens.” Both women shared the same look of horror at having possibly betrayed the confidence of their children with their mistake.

“What did Isabel say to Jesse,” Amy pleaded, stepping closer toward the circle, ignoring Diane’s remark. “Did she say anything about Maria or...or even Liz? Anything at all?”

“Jesse called me from a payphone while he was on a break from a client lunch meeting. He just said he’d talked to Isabel for maybe half a minute.”

“Where are they,” Nancy asked, snaking her arms around Jeff’s waist. “What are they doing?” Jeff pulled Nancy against his chest as her voice cracked after she asked her second question.

“Isabel wouldn’t tell him anything.”

“Then that’s good,” Jim responded, pushing his deputy’s hat backwards toward the crown of his head and placing his hands gingerly on his hips. “It takes almost a minute to get a good trace and if Isabel didn’t tell him anything and if they weren’t on the phone very long maybe they’ll still be safe.”

“That’s something, I guess,” Diane softly replied with a shrug.

“Something,” Amy shouted. “How can you say that? Our children, our babies, are running for their lives from some government agency and we’re supposed to be thankful we’ve heard from Isabel so we think they’re safe? How can I take comfort in that? We need to find them so we can help them.”

“You’re right, Amy,” Jeff began, releasing Nancy and stepping closer toward Amy Deluca. “But our kids are smart. They’ve obviously been able to keep their lives a secret for three years. My daughter was shot and Nancy and I knew nothing about it. You don’t think I want Liz home? You don’t think Phil and Diane want Max and Isabel home and that Jim wants Kyle home?” Jeff felt Nancy’s calm hand creep onto his shoulder and relaxed his stance a little. He quickly ran his hands across his haggard face and through his hair. “We’re all hurting here, just like you.”

“From here on out, we’re in this together,” Philip softly said, throwing his arm across Diane’s shoulders. “There are 5 people in the world that I trust, and they're all standing right here. We can't let anyone else in.”

“Right,” Jim responded. “We trust no one. We talk to no one. Agreed?” He glanced around the small circle they’d formed at the quarry’s edge as the night sky threatened to blanket them with darkness. One by one, each parent nodded their consent.

“I guess I’d better burn this,” Jeff responded, placing the Liz’s journal onto the ground. He fished a lighter from his pocket and quickly flicked it, the small flame reflecting in the water. He lowered his hand to the corner of the bound book and paused just before the flame lit the corners. His mouth contorted sharply, his lips thinning as he tried his best not to cry. Remembering Liz’s request to burn the journal after each of the parents had read it, he quickly thrust the flame against the fragile journal and backed away, watching the last three years of his daughter’s life turn to ash, hoping that this was not the final thing he ever did for his one and only child but fearing it would be. He hadn’t realized he was crying until he turned away from the burning journal and saw the five other parents huddled together, watching the last link to their children smoulder and disappear. “What do we do now,” he asked, his eyes drawn back to the dying flames of Liz’s journal and for a moment, he could have sworn he felt her standing beside him, her head resting on his shoulder.

“We act normal,” Philip replied softly, taking Diane’s hand into his. “We just act normal.”

[JO]

Part 7


Her legs hurt. In fact, her whole body ached. She could fell Max pulling her left arm, repeatedly urging her forward but she didn’t want to run any more. She was tired of running. They were just running in circles anyway; it was only a matter of time before they were found. Yet, she continued to run.

The dust settled around her and she saw six shadows several yards ahead of them. She almost stopped, and would have had it not been for Max’s insistent tugging. Then her eyes misted with tears and she realized the six shadows were their parents. Her mom and dad. “Mom! Dad!” She jumped slightly in the air, a newfound endurance vibrating through her weary bones. “Mom! Dad! Mr. and Mrs. Evans! Wait!” She brushed past Max, jerking her arm violently as she tried to wrench away from his grip but she could not. Her parents turned toward her and she watched as her mother tripped on the desert floor and her father stopped to help her up.
“Mom!”

Again, her parents turned toward her and Liz felt her curiosity peaked so she too turned to see exactly what they were running from. She looked over her shoulder and saw Michael, Kyle, Maria and Isabel trailing them, separating them from an entire army of pursuers. Liz pounded her feet against the ground, staring ahead to make sure her parents were still in front of her. She glanced over her shoulder again and stopped her forward progression, prepared for her arm to slingshot her back to Max’s side but it did not. She watched as Michael, Maria and Kyle rushed past her and their army of pursuers came into full view. Liz stumbled backwards as she
recognized the face of every soldier chasing them. It was the woman in the dark pantsuit, her white FBI badge tagged to the lapel of her jacket. FBI Agent S. Zachery. Agent S. Zachery. S. Zachery. Liz’s eyes widened and the sun reflected off of the thousand white FBI badges running toward her, temporarily blinding her. Liz shielded her eyes and ran several paces away from her pursuers.

She began to run faster, fear rising in her throat like bile when a child’s cry echoed through her ears and she thought she would be deaf within a matter of minutes. She stopped running and plugged her ears with her index fingers, scanning the desert for any sign of a child. She turned back to look at the flock of Zacherys chasing her when she locked eyes with Isabel carrying a tiny bundle tightly against her chest.

“Isabel?”

“Take him, Liz,” Isabel screamed as the thundering herd of Zacherys vibrated the ground where she and Liz stood. Isabel thrust the tiny baby into Liz’s open arms and Liz stared down at the child. “ Take Alex and go.”

“No, Isabel. I won’t leave you behind.”

“You have to,” Isabel insisted, shoving Liz in the opposite direction from the bevy of armed Zacherys rushing toward them. “There’s no other way.”

“There has to be,” Liz pleaded, tears streaming down her dirty face, dribbling muddy tears onto the baby’s clean light blue blanket. “I...I can’t take your child.” Liz stretched her arms forward, insisting without words that Isabel take her child back.

“Please. You and Max will be good to him.” Isabel hugged Liz tightly, crushing her son to Liz’s chest. “Tell Alex I loved him very much,” she whispered and Liz watched through blurry vision as Isabel disappeared.

“No,” Liz screamed. “Isabel, no! No!” Liz pulled her hands to her face, dropping the baby onto the ground. Realizing what she had done, she fell to the ground in hopes of catching Isabel’s son before he hit the ground when the same shrill cry penetrated her ears. Liz squinted her eyes and jammed her fingers in her ears as Alex’s empty blue blanket floated to the ground in front of her. “No! Alex! Isabel! Jesse won’t understand! Jesse won’t understand! Isabel!”


“Liz,” Max said, rushing to his wife’s side as her screams reverberated through the empty hotel room. “Liz, wake up.” He took her shoulders gently in hands and shook her, desperately trying to wake her up. “Liz.” She inhaled sharply and Max stopped shaking her, thinking she would open her brown eyes at any moment. He was not prepared for the blood curdling scream that pierced the silence of the room, shattering or cracking every type of glass in the room. “Liz!”

“Jesse won’t understand,” she screamed again as her eyes popped open, instantly meeting Max’s golden ones. Her lower lip trembled slightly before she flung herself against Max’s chest, long horrible sobs causing her tiny body to quake as Max continued to hold her and stroke her hair.


June 17, 2002

That was the worst nightmare I’ve ever had and every time I close my eyes, I can feel the same fear pounding in my chest. I can feel that tiny baby named Alex in my arms and I can smell his sweet baby scent. But the thing that haunts me the most, even when I blink, is the woman in the dark pantsuit - FBI Agent S. Zachery - and I know I’m going to meet her again. I just pray it doesn’t end up like my nightmare but I’m so scared that it will.


* * *

“What exactly were you doing in Las Vegas two days ago, Agent Zachery?”

“I told you,” Agent Sarina Zachery responded, intently meeting the oldest-looking agent’s gaze in the seedy motel room outside Reno. She had been asked to step into a black sedan by an Agent Marks shortly after completion of her assignment in Las Vegas. She had trusted Agent Marks, she knew now that had been her first mistake. Her second mistake had been the lack of fighting on her part. The men that had kept her in the Reno motel were FBI; she could spot a fake badge in the next county, and their credentials were authentic. What bothered her was their methodic line of questioning; no matter the answer she gave, it was not the answer they wanted to hear. “I was assigned to do DNA research in case the rumored mob hit of Mr. Dave Zarlan, the owner of the Bali Hai Hotel and Casino, took place. There are several unsolved murder cases that my superiors feel could be related to the Zarlan case, had it become a homicide. We wanted to see if the same persons who had killed Mr. Zarlan, had Mr. Zarlan actually been killed, had committed prior crimes with potential mob ties.”

“And you never saw this girl or any of these people,” the agent asked, pointing first to a picture of a dark-haired young girl then five other photographs of kids that looked the same age as the girl.

“No,” Sarina answered honestly. “I never saw any of them.”

“Then why were fibers on your jacket that didn’t match anything you were wearing? Why do we have a video of you making contact with this girl?” The first agent picked up the photograph of the dark-haired girl and shook it violently in Sarina’s face. “Would you like us to refresh your memory? Maybe you just forgot, what with all your DNA research.” He turned to the tv cart that housed a large tv and vcr sitting almost in the center of the room. The second agent, who had been hiding in the shadows of the room, wheeled it closer to Sarina and they turned it on.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. This has nothing to do with anything. I was in Las Vegas on an assignment regarding DNA research. I’ve told you this over and over and -” She slowly closed her mouth and watched as the image of the dark-haired girl came onto the monitor. She was kissing one of the boys the first agent had pointed out then Sarina watched in horror as she and the girl passed each other in the doorway of the restroom, their arms accidentally touching. “I...I never even turned around, never even saw her.”

“A good agent is aware of everything around them at all times.”

Sarina’s eyes widened and she gripped the arms of the uncomfortable chair tightly, her inner rage brimming to the surface. “I demand that you let me go, right now. I’m not part of this...investigation, if you can even call it that, and you have no reason to hold me here.” Both agents seemed unimpressed with her argument and the second agent, balding and middle-aged, wheeled the cart away from her. “If you...if you don’t let me go,” she continued. “I...I’m going to write a report about what you’ve done to me today and take it straight to Washington.”

The agents glanced at each other for several seconds and Sarina wondered if she had perhaps made her third mistake by crossing these agents. In her six years with the FBI, she had never heard of any branch called the Special Unit, which the agents claimed they had once worked for. They had instilled a type of fear in her she never knew she could feel from another person. Whatever reason they had for chasing a group of teenagers, Sarina hoped the kids were smart enough not to get caught.

“Alright, Agent Zachery,” the first agent cooly replied, stepping toward her with a menacing look in his eyes. “You’re free to go, but please make sure you report any kind of activity you may have with these individuals directly to us.”

“Yeah, well,” Sarina began as the second agent disappeared around the corner of the room, the first agent, the primary interrogator, quickly following suit, leaving Sarina alone with a table full of information. “Not a good idea to leave things just lying around,” she muttered as she picked through the stacks of photographs, written notes and medical records. She stuffed several items into her black satchel and looped it across her shoulder when a familiar name caught her eye. Looking over her shoulder, she quickly proceeded to scan the type-written report. A noise in the hallway startled her and she shoved the report into her satchel along with the other items and left the motel room as quietly as she had been trained to do, her mind buzzing with questions, particularly why her old friend, Jesse Ramirez, had been mentioned in an FBI investigation.

[JO]

Part 8

Max brushed his bangs out of his face, running his hands down his tired face, and turned his attention from the clock to his semi-sleeping wife. Liz had drifted in and out of sleep but Max had been so worried following the shattered glass incident, that he had kept her body tucked tightly in his lap for the remainder of the night. He hadn’t told anyone about what Liz had done or said in the midst of her nightmares, and he certainly hadn’t cleaned up their room. He had simply watched her sleep, her back rising and falling slowly and evenly as she slept with her hands curled around her face. He had thought he would have to do something to make her sleep, particularly after her revelation about Isabel and Jesse.

“Jesse doesn’t know.”

“Know what, Liz? What is it?”

“He doesn’t know why Isabel called him.”

Knowing that Isabel had called Jesse had almost been enough to pull him from Liz’s side, and he had in fact moved away from Liz to go confront Isabel when Liz’s hands had crackled with green electricity and she had caught the bed on fire. That was the moment Max decided that Isabel would have to wait; Liz was the most important thing in his life, and he had to stay with her, no matter what stupid thing Isabel had done.

He had called Michael the moment Liz seemed to rest easier and asked everyone to join him for a meeting and breakfast in their room. He had wanted to call Isabel and reem her for her stupidity, but then he remembered he wasn’t the king anymore. He had given up that title the day they’d agreed to run after graduation. Now they were simply trying to endure, to live. He sighed loudly and watched the seconds tick down on the clock, knowing he would have to find a way to make Isabel reveal she had called Jesse without pulling what had been previously referred to as the ‘king card.’

Instead of hearing a knock at the door at 9:00 am, he heard Liz stir in the bed. He crossed the room quickly and rested his hand on her back, causing her to sigh his name. He smiled and brushed the hair off her face, kissing her bare shoulder as she turned onto her side. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she replied, rubbing her eyes with her hands. “What time is it?”

“Don’t worry about that right now. How are you,” he asked, grasping her upper arms gently and pulling her into a hug. “You scared me last night.”

“Scared you? I scared me, Max.” She kissed him soundly on the cheek and wrapped her arms around his neck. For the first time, she stared at their room, or what was left of it. Shards of glass were lying on the ground around the sink and the table. The large mirror hanging above the sink had several jagged cracks, as did the mirror hanging over the dresser and the lone window overlooking the alleyway. “What...did I do this,” Liz asked, pushing out of Max’s hug and crawling to the edge of the bed. “Did I...hurt you?” She planted her foot on the ground and tried to stand when her leg buckled, sending her crashing backwards into Max’s open arms. “I...what’s wrong with me? I thought this was over, that I’d transferred whatever...powers I had back to you.”

“Maybe it was the dreams. You...you were all over the place, Liz. If you weren’t screaming and breaking glass, you were catching the bed on fire.” Liz spun out of his arms to look at the bed. It looked exactly as it had the first night she’d slept in it. Her brows furrowed in confusion and she turned back to Max for an explanation. “I fixed it,” he replied with a shrug, placing his hands deep into the pockets of his cargo pants.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, resting her head against his neck. “I’m so sorry.” She looped her arms underneath his arms and clasp her hands together between his shoulder blades.

“Liz, it’s fine. All of this is easily fixed. I’m just worried about you, and now Isabel.”

“What? Why?” Liz blanched, glancing quickly at Max then looking at the floor. “I told you Isabel called Jesse, didn’t I? I promised her I wouldn’t tell.”

“Technically, you didn’t tell me, Liz,” Max replied just before kissing her forehead. “You told me Jesse wouldn’t know why Isabel called him. What I want to know is why Isabel called him, which is why we’re having a meeting.” He quickly captured Liz’s mouth with his, kissing her as passionately as he could. He wanted to let her know just how scared he had been and just how scared he still was. He broke their kiss and rested his forehead against hers, watching her through his eyelashes. “I just want you to be safe. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m much better now, Max. See,” she said, offering her hands for his inspection. “No green electric current.”

“Okay, but I’ll be watching you,” Max cautioned, a playful grin emerging in one corner of his mouth.


The worse feeling in the world is to have the distinct premonition that something bad is going to happen. Even worse than that is to know key components of the puzzle and to not be able to figure out the entire picture. I feel like we’re on a never-ending game board and that no matter how far along in the game we are, we’re always going to get knocked backwards, off course or lose a turn. It’s like I’m slowly choking with each passing hour, that my air supply is running dangerously low, and I know that when Max finally wrangles the truth out of Isabel, we’ll all lose our breaths.


* * *

“I need to talk to you, Isabel,” Max said quietly as everyone continued to finish off their breakfast. Max and Liz had cleaned up their room so that it didn’t look like a cyclone had touched down, and Max had persuaded Liz to eat something despite her upset stomach. “It’s about Jesse,” he said, glancing slightly in Liz’s direction.

“She told you,” Isabel said and Max was amazed at the speed at which she’d accused Liz. “You promised me, Liz. You agreed not to tell Max.”

“Don’t blame Liz because you called Jesse,” Max boomed, stepping between his sister and his wife.

“You called Jesse,” Maria squeaked, jumping up from her seat beside Liz on the bed.

“You called Jesse,” Michael chimed in, stepping away from the small table and almost at Maria’s side. “You know that’s fucked up, don’t you?”

“Michael -”

“You carry on this secret affair with the guy for the entire summer and marry him before Alex’s body is barely cold.”

“Michael,” Maria said in response to the gasping noise she heard from coming from Liz’s mouth. She reached out for Michael’s arm to try and stop his forward progression toward Isabel, now standing a few feet away from the doorway.

“He finds out the truth about you,” Michael continued, completely ignoring Maria’s attempt to stop him and he advanced on Isabel in a way he’d never done before. “Then he begs to come with you, hell, he even got us that piece of shit van out there, but you refuse and tell him he has a chance to live a normal life and then you call him?” He paused and spun away from Isabel, facing the room’s other occupants. “Someone else has got to see how fucked up that is.”

“I need him, Michael,” Isabel pleaded, tears openly streaming down her face. “He’s my husband and I need him.”

“She’s pregnant,” Liz said meekly before she could stop the words from coming out of her mouth. She quickly covered her hand with her mouth when she realized what she’d done and met the curious eyes of Isabel, Max, and Michael. “Isabel’s pregnant.”

“Pregnant,” Max asked, turning from his wife to face his sister.

“You’re pregnant,” Maria said, spinning away from Liz and toward Isabel. “God, Isabel. How are we supposed to be on the run with a baby?”

“We can’t take you to a doctor, Isabel,” Michael said after running his hands through his long hair. “Marrying Jesse was stupid, especially after the three of us agreed not to bring anyone else into this, but having a baby?”

“Michael, please. I...I didn’t know -”


I watched as Isabel crumbled before my eyes for the second time in as many days. I stood slowly from the bed, my footing still a little shaky, to go comfort her but Kyle got to her first. Kyle was always good at comfort. During the time we’d dated, he had been very understanding and gentle with me, which completely went against everything I’d ever heard about Kyle Valenti. Even recently, with the emergence of my new abilities, Kyle had been there for me. I was glad Isabel had Kyle’s support. I knew how much that had meant to me. But then he did something I never expected Kyle to do.


“Jesse isn’t the father of Isabel’s baby,” Kyle said firmly, stepping forward slightly so he was separating Isabel from Michael, Maria and Max. “I am.”


How do you respond to something like that, especially when you know with every fiber of your being that it’s a lie. We must have stood in stunned silence for several minutes because, when I blinked, I saw Michael storm out of the hotel, Maria hot on his trail. As Max and Kyle helped Isabel to the nearest chair, she met my eyes and I recognized the fear in them instantly. Now, we had more than one reason to be afraid and I felt like I was slowly losing air...and my life.

[JO]

Part 9


Max stepped out of the hotel room and onto the parking lot, the swimming pool where they’d spent the previous afternoon in sight. Also in sight were Maria and Michael, clearly in the midst of a serious conversation judging by their body language. Max thrust his hands into his pockets and watched as Maria stood up from the chaise lounge and stalked toward him.

“Maybe you can do something with him,” Maria said as she brushed past Max and toward the room she and Michael shared. “He’s being a dick.”

Max turned and watched her walk away for several seconds before walking toward the pool and Michael. He and Kyle had settled Isabel into a chair after Michael had stormed out of the room. He had not wanted to leave Liz alone, especially with either Isabel or Kyle, but Liz had convinced him to go to Michael. He ran his hand shyly over his hair and opened the rusty pool gate. “Are you and Maria always going to disagree?”

Michael mumbled something indiscernible, waving his hand flippantly in the air. “Maria’s got issues.”

“I’d say she has a right to have issues, especially with the way you stormed out of the room.”

“She’s having a baby, Maxwell,” Michael said, his fingers linked and resting on his stomach as his elbows were propped on the lounge arms. “Isabel is pregnant.”

“I know,” Max replied, sitting in the lounge chair Maria had previously vacated. “It’s hard to believe.”

“Stupid is what it is.”

“We can’t make Isabel’s choices for her, Michael. She’s an adult, and if she wants this baby -”

“It’s not even Jesse’s kid,” Michael said, turning to face Max as the morning sunlight reflected off the pool water. “Why would she want it? Why would she call him?” Max turned toward him, his lips thinning in thought. Max shrugged slightly and Michael turned his head away from Max, staring straight ahead. “How do we know she’s going to be okay?”

“We don’t,” Max replied, shaking his head and focusing his eyes on the sparkling water. “We’ll just have to see what happens.”

“What if something...bad happens, and we don’t know until it’s too late. If Iz didn’t even know she was pregnant....”

“What do you think we should do,” Max asked when it became clear to him Michael would not finish his thought.

“We could go to L. A.,” Michael offered. “Find Cal Langley.”

“Michael -”

“He’s the only one that can help us, Maxwell. We can’t trust a damn thing Tess ever said about being pregnant, if she was even really pregnant in the first place.” He paused, exhaling loudly, blowing air through his nostrils. “Langley’s the only one that can help us.”

“Can and will are two very different things,” Max said as he adjusted his position on the lounge chair. “He and I didn’t exactly part on good terms. It’s not likely that he’ll offer to help me.”

“This isn’t about you,” Michael said, his voice clipped with emotion. “It’s about Isabel having a baby and we don’t know what to do. We don’t know what’s going to happen to her or the kid. We need our questions answered.” Max reclined back against the chaise lounge, his mind wandering back to his last contact with Cal Langley. He had been a complete ass to the man, their last link to their first life. “Maybe he can help with Liz too,” Michael said, interrupting Max’s train of thought.

“What?”

“Liz’s powers, you know. Has she had any more outbursts of energy?”

“Funny you should mention that,” Max said, rubbing his forehead with his hands. “She screamed last night and broke all the glass in the room. Then she caught the bed on fire.”

“Man, I don’t need to hear about your sex life, okay? Married life agrees with you, got it.”

Max glanced at Michael out of the corner of his eyes, shooting glaring looks at his oldest friend. “I...I wasn’t talking about that.” He brushed his hair out of his eyes, suddenly embarrassed at having this conversation with Michael. “She wasn’t sleeping well, having a nightmare or something. I went to wake her up and she screamed. When I moved away from her after I found out Isabel called Jesse -”

“Firestorm,” Michael interrupted. “I’m with you. So you’re worried about her too now, eh? Maybe it would be a good idea to go to L. A.”

“Michael, we’ll have to think about it, okay?” He turned his head toward Michael, allowing his gaze to linger for several seconds before joining Michael in watching the pool water ripple to and fro. “You’re going to have to talk to Maria. You two are sharing a room and the van isn’t that big.”

Michael made another garbled noise in the back of his throat, squirming roughly in the rickety lounge chair. He exhaled through his nose again and clasp his hands behind his head, interlocking his fingers in his long hair. “She thinks I have feelings for...Isabel.”

“Well, do you?”

Michael glared at Max, contorting his face into a typical Michael grimace. “No. God, no. I could never care about Isabel that way. Not in this lifetime. I don’t know why Maria thinks that.”

“You did storm out of the room when you found out Isabel was pregnant. And I seem to recall hearing about you threatening Jesse by saying you had her first.”

“That wasn’t me,” Michael argued, removing his hands from behind his neck. He paused before he told Max it was the transferred seal that had made him act so out of character but he figured Max didn’t need to be reminded of that. "I just never thought this would happen, you know.”

“What if tomorrow,” Max began, swiveling his body to face Michael. “Liz finds out we’re going to have a baby. Are you going to storm out of the room or accuse her of being stupid? Are you blame it all on me?”

“That’s different,” Michael mumbled.

“The only difference is that I’m here with Liz, and we’re friends. It would still be unplanned, and it would still be a mistake. What would you do then?”

Michael turned slowly and carefully stood up, his eyes never leaving Max’s. Their relationship had never shifted so fast so quickly. It had always been Michael asking the questions, Michael searching for the answers. Now, it was Max who was searching, and although Michael had an idea Max would know instinctively what to do if Liz were pregnant, they weren’t talking about Liz. They were talking about Isabel. And Michael knew the advice he would give Max regarding Isabel would be the same he would give Max if they were talking about Liz. “I think we should go to L. A. and find Cal Langley,” he said quietly before turning and exiting the pool area, intent on finding Maria.

---------------

Part 10

With Liz seemingly asleep on the bed, her small body curled into a embryonic position, Isabel gently patted Kyle’s outstretched hand, causing him to mumble something she didn’t understand. Kyle raised himself up from his face down position on the table, wiping his face and nose awkwardly with his hands. “Kyle,” Isabel quickly cautioned, glancing over her shoulder at Liz’s slight frame. If there was any time Isabel did not want to wake Liz, it was now. What she needed to say to Kyle needed to be as private as the situation would allow. “Kyle, I need to talk to you.”

“Iz? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she replied in a hushed voice, swatting away his concern with a flip of her hand. “I need to talk to you about...what you said.”

“Oh,” Kyle responded in kind, leaning toward her, his chest almost lying on top of the table. “What I said about the baby.”

Isabel nodded quickly, once again glancing over her shoulder toward Liz. She sighed when she saw Liz’s positioning had not changed since the first time she glanced at her several moments earlier. “Why did you say that? We both know it was a lie.”

Kyle leaned closer to her, placing one hand on top of hers and cupping her trembling face with his other. “No one else knows it’s a lie, Isabel. They don’t know what happened between us.”

“But why did you say that? Now they’ll hate you too.”

“Better they hate us both than just you,” Kyle replied with a shrug as he removed his hand from her face and took her hands into his. “I don’t want to see you unhappy, Iz. I know how unhappy you are. That’s the only reason you’d ever call Jesse. I just wanted to...help.” He pulled away from her and ran his hands through his hair. “It was stupid.”

“No, Kyle,” Isabel said louder than she’d intended and she looked over her shoulder at Liz. Her breath hung in her throat as Liz stirred slightly and Isabel feared Liz would wake up. She released her breath when Liz turned back on her side, unaware of the discussion taking place in her hotel room. “No, it wasn’t stupid. Thank you. You’ll never know how much that meant to me.”

“I care about you, Iz, and I’ll be here for you in any way that I can, including being a father to your child.”

“Oh Kyle,” Isabel cried as she stood from her chair and fell into his open arms. “What did I ever to deserve you?”

“You’re just being you,” Kyle whispered against her neck. “That’s all.” He released her, smiling widely at her as he wiped the tears from her cheeks. “So, what are you going to do?”

“I have to tell Jesse,” Isabel softly replied as she pulled away from him. “And I’m going to need your help to do that.”

* * *

ROSWELL

The dark blue sedan parked on the opposite side of the street, its pace slow and methodical. The windows were heavily tinted and as Jeff wiped his hands on the apron, a frown appeared on his face while he stared out the front window toward the car. He smiled at Mr. and Mrs. Heatherly and wished them a great day as they exited the cafe, the front door bell tinkling on their way out.

He and Nancy had gotten very good at pretending over the course of the last few days. No one had asked about Liz, and those that did were told Liz was on an extended vacation with her friends. It wasn’t necessarily a lie, but telling it over and over made Jeff wish it was the truth. He wished that Liz would be coming back home to Roswell. He wished he knew where she was and if she were okay. Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing and no way for him to find out. He talked to the Evans as often as he could without drawing undo suspicion to himself and Jim still came in for his morning coffee every day. To an outsider, his life seemed normal, and he reminded himself every morning when his feet hit the floor that he had to be as normal as possible. But the emergence of the unusually new car parked across the street from his home and business did nothing to reassure the many lies stored in the back of his mind. He wondered if Liz had always felt like this, if she had always looked behind her and tried to stay one step ahead of those chasing her. While he thanked God Max Evans had been in the cafe the day of the shooting, he wondered if knowing Liz was alive would be ever make up for the fear he now felt knowing he couldn’t protect her.

“Who’s that,” Nancy asked, startling Jeff from his thoughts. She placed her hand in the middle of his back and joined her husband staring out the window at the dark blue sedan.

“Don’t know,” Jeff mumbled softly as he put his arms around Nancy’s shoulders, pressing a chaste kiss to her scalp. “Can’t be good though,” he said, shaking his head. Nancy raised her head from the front window to her husband, her eyes pooling with tears. She felt Jeff’s chest heave and returned her attention to the goings-on across the street. A loud crash in the kitchen startled both she and Jeff and Nancy felt him sigh against her again. “Let’s go see what Agnes has broken this time.” He dropped his arm from her shoulder, firmly grasping her hand as he pulled her away from the window and toward the kitchen where she heard a string of Spanish curse words flying from Jose’s mouth.

[JO]

Part 11

ROSWELL

Sarina sat in the rented car outside the Crashdown Cafe in Roswell, New Mexico. It had been a complicated two days for her since she was picked up by rogue agents in Reno and questioned about a women she’d rubbed elbows with in Las Vegas. She had used what little information she had stolen from the agents to try and piece together the appearance of her old friend Jesse Ramirez in their files. It had been years since she’d acted like a field agent. She sat behind a microscope in a lab day in and day out but somehow, she had remembered the basic premise of being an agent: cover your tracks.

After taking a cab into California, she had moved from truck stop to truck stop, spending no more than one hour in each place. She reviewed the materials and photographs she had in her possession, calling in favors to several old colleagues in hopes of tracking down Jesse Ramirez. Jesse had long since been removed from the FBI’s radar but someone she’d talked to had remembered that Jesse had moved to Roswell and was practicing law. Knowing and fearing she would be followed, she had rented a series of cars as she had traveled through California and Arizona. She’d been fortunate enough to have several hundred dollars remaining from her trip to Las Vegas and had used it instead of her credit card. Now, as she sat in her fifth rental car of the day, she tried to gather enough courage to walk into the Crashdown Cafe and find out any
information she could about Jesse Ramirez’s whereabouts.

Glancing in the rearview mirror one final time, Sarina slowly stepped from the car and strapped her purse across her shoulders. Her dark hair was tied at the crown of her head in a neat bun and her khaki linen pantsuit looked remarkably fresh despite her hours behind the wheel. Looking both ways, she exhaled loudly and stepped into the street, heading directly for the Crashdown Cafe.

She knew very little about Roswell, she realized as she opened the door of the cafe, the bell tinkling as she stepped into its quaint surroundings. She knew just what the media told her; Roswell was a hot-bed of alien talk, a tourist trap, with a yearly festival honoring the much-discussed crash of 1947. She stepped toward a booth in the center of the far wall and sat down quickly. Instead of hiding behind the novelty of alien invasion, this cafe pushed the alien theme to the limit. Alien decor hung from the ceiling and was plastered on its walls. She pulled a menu from behind the napkin dispenser and began to read her choices. Even the menu reflected a humorous attempt to make aliens the norm.

Sarina knew she didn’t want to stay in Roswell too long. The moment she had stepped into the cafe, she had secretly hoped Jesse would appear and her search would be over. An older woman who reeked of cigarette smoke came to take her order and Sarina admitted that she didn’t really know what she wanted. The woman rolled her eyes and suggested an omelette and a smoothie, to which Sarina softly agreed. As quickly as she had appeared, the woman disappeared through the swinging back door where Sarina assumed she’d douse herself in more of the Eau du Cigarette perfume she seemed to favor so highly. Smiling to herself at her little joke, she pulled her tiny notepad from her purse to review her notes.

“Here you go,” a dark-haired man said, setting an omelette and smoothie in front of her after several minutes. Sarina raised her head and smiled at the man, suddenly feeling very hungry. “Is there anything else you need?”

“Um, I don’t think so,” Sarina replied, pulling several napkins from the dispenser and placing them across her lap.

“Well, my name’s Jeff Parker. I own the Crashdown and if you need anything, just let me know.”

Sarina nodded her head slightly as she watched him turn and walk behind the counter and begin talking to a blond, middle-aged deputy. As she ate her omelette, which was surprisingly good, she rolled the name Parker around in her mind. Where had she heard that name before, she wondered. None of her agent friends were named Parker. None of her non-agent friends were named Parker, but she knew she’d seen that name recently. Shrugging it off to an overactive imagination, she returned to her omelette and her notes. There, in her own handwriting, underlined twice for easy reference, was the name Liz Parker. Raising her head to look in Jeff Parker’s direction, she was surprised to see both Mr. Parker and the deputy he was talking to staring back at her. She gasp, almost choking on the bite of omelette she had been chewing, and quickly looked away. Could Jeff Parker know Liz Parker, she wondered. Roswell did not seem like a large town. Anything was possible, she decided, slowly sipping the smoothie, especially given what she knew about Roswell.

“When is Liz getting back,” Sarina heard the ruddy woman that had taken her order ask Mr. Parker.

“What,” Jeff asked, his voice cracking slightly as he wiped the counter where the deputy sat. Sarina kept her head low but tilted her eyes toward Jeff Parker.

“Liz,” the woman groaned again. “When is she coming back? I can’t keep pulling these double shifts, you know.”

“I...soon, Agnes,” Jeff barked. “Liz will be back soon.” Sarina raised her head and unintentionally met Jeff Parker’s eyes, as well as the eyes of the deputy. She resumed eating her omelette as her mind listed off a series of questions to ask Mr. Parker. If only she could convince herself she wouldn’t do more harm than good by asking them.

---------------

Part 12

ROSWELL

“What do you think, Jim,” Jeff asked Jim quietly as the deputy calmly sipped his cup of coffee. Jeff didn’t know how he knew but he could tell the young woman with the dark hair was an FBI agent. He had caught her watching he and Jim on several occasions as she continued to eat her omelette, and he knew she had to know he and Jim were watching her just as closely. If there were FBI agents in and around Roswell, Jeff had never known about them before. To his knowledge, this was the closest an agent had ever come to his home since Liz had vanished.

“She’s FBI,” Valenti responded, the movement of his lips so masked by the coffee cup that Jeff almost had to ask him to repeat himself. “The only question now is why is she here.” Jim placed his cup back on the counter, and for the first time Jeff noticed his relaxed body language and demeanor. He wondered briefly if that was something one was taught in police training, to look so calm on the exterior not matter what emotions you were going through on the interior. He smiled to himself as he thought about asking Jim to give he and Nancy some pointers.

“We all know why she’s here,” Jeff said on his way underneath the counter top to retrieve a wet rag. “That’s what I’m afraid of.” Standing upright again, he began to wipe the counter, but never strayed far from the range of Jim’s voice.

“Me too,” Jim mused, a slight grin appearing on his worn face. He twirled the cup absently on the counter, his mind focused on the agent sitting behind him. “I guess I’d better go see what speed traps Hanson wants me to sit at today.”

Jeff laughed as Jim stood up and threw two dollar bills onto the counter, stepping closer to the man that had become a true friend to him. “Not necessary,” Jeff said, sliding the bills back toward Jim while the deputy adjusted his hat. “Not after all you’ve done.” Jeff’s voice broke and he tightly gripped the rag in his hands.

“Thanks, Jeff,” Jim said with a nod and a slight wave as he exited the cafe. He stepped toward the door with his usual swagger, forgetting momentarily that an agent who was after his child and the children of his friends was sitting in the cafe. He spun around toward the booth where the agent was sitting and felt a lump form in his throat when he recognized she was gone.

* * *

Deputy Jim Valenti pulled his tan Ford Explorer into his reserved parking space outside the Roswell Police Department. His spot was several yards from the door, and ironically enough, it was almost underneath his old office window. He tilted his hat backwards on his head, lifting it just enough so he could scratch an itch on his high forehead. Slamming the car door behind him as he stepped onto the warm asphalt of the parking lot, he never even thought about locking the car doors as he walked toward the front door of the police station.

Sarina peeked out from around the dumpster, watching the blond deputy as he exited his vehicle and walked into the police station. She glanced nervously over her shoulder once he was inside the building, her inner terror sputtering to the surface. Stepping away from the dumpster, she smoothed her slightly windblown hair with her hands, trying to reclaim the aura of calm she had displayed in the cafe. Glancing timidly over her shoulder again, she began her brisk yet nonchalant walk toward the deputy’s tan Ford Explorer. She crossed the parking lot and reached the deputy’s vehicle with relative ease, her movements cool and calculated while she checked her surroundings for a final time. Sarina opened the latch at the back of the Explorer, and with cat-like movements foreign in the likes of Roswell, New Mexico, she climbed into the back of the Explorer, where she planned to wait for the deputy in hopes he could help her find Jesse Ramirez with little or no suspicions being raised.