Part 13
Liz stood in the shadows outside Max’s bedroom window. From her hiding place, she had an excellent view of Max sitting at his desk, his pencil tapping furiously against several books. A book lay open-faced on his desk but during the several minutes she had been watching him, he hadn’t turned a single page. She knew without a doubt that his mind was elsewhere, just as hers was.
Fear rippled through her body and she felt herself shudder slightly. Willing herself to be strong, she raised her hand and rapped her knuckles against the glass. She stepped forward into the light cast from his bedroom, her hands damp and shaking. Max appeared in front of her, his shadow looming over her, and she was surprised when he opened his window.
“Hi, Max,” she said meekly then quickly cleared her throat. “Hi,” she repeated, wanting to sound more upbeat than she really felt.
“Liz,” he responded in kind and Liz raised her head to look at his face. His voice was monotone and there was no emotion of any kind on his face, no spark reflecting in his eyes.
“Can I...come in?”
Max turned away from her and walked back to his desk. Her jaw twitched and she felt tears pool in the corners of her eyes. Reminding herself that she could get through this and that she and Max would have a future after he knew the truth, she climbed gracefully through his window as she had done almost five days earlier. Glancing at him again, she was surprised to see he was sitting at his desk in the same position as before she had knocked, almost like he was ignoring her entirely. “Wh...whatcha doing,” she questioned, slowly walking toward him.
“Working on my English paper.”
“Oh,” she whispered, immediately drawing her bottom lip into her mouth. “The one that’s due on Friday?” She almost laughed aloud at the thought of the handsome Max Evans sitting at home studying on a Saturday night when the rest of Roswell High was out enjoying their youth. Max simply nodded, his back still toward her. “What are you going to write about,” she asked, taking one large, unsteady step toward him. If she was going to have to go the ‘friends’ route with him, she thought she might as well act friendly.
“The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet and its parallels with real life.” He was facing her now, his beautiful amber eyes that had once upon a time been filled with love for her were now cold and empty, dejected and defeated.
“Oh,” she replied and she was momentarily blinded by tears. She blinked rapidly and turned slightly to her left, pretending to run her fingers through her hair. “Wow,” she began when she felt she had regained her composure. “That’s a...a big topic.”
“Right.” Max picked up the pencil closest to him and began scribbling in the margins of the text book. “I’d kinda like to get my outline finished tonight, Liz, so if that’s all -”
“No, Max,” she said, suddenly feeling brave as she walked to the edge of his bed and sat down. Max swivelled his desk chair to the right and was staring at her when she raised her head. “I need to talk to you...about what you saw.”
“I know what I saw,” he said quietly, spinning away from her so he was facing his computer monitor.
“No, Max. No, you don’t.”
“I saw you and Kyle in bed together, Liz.”
“I’m trying to be honest here, Max. Can’t you please just let me explain?”
“What’s to explain,” he asked, standing up from the chair. He pushed his bangs out of his face and began to pace back and forth in front of her. “I know what I saw. You were in bed with Kyle. You...slept with Kyle. I can accept it. I don’t understand it, but I can accept it.”
“I didn’t sleep with Kyle, Max,” Liz said, standing up from his bed slowly. She could feel this conversation’s purpose slipping from her grasp. The last time she had confronted Max, she had made a speech to him but now, she was struggling for the right words, the right things to say to make him see the truth.
“So you’re saying you just hopped into bed with Kyle to make it look like you had slept with him? What were you trying to accomplish by doing that?”
“Please, Max, let me talk. Please. It was a horrible mistake. I...I love you. I...I want to be with you.”
“You really have a funny way of showing it. Weren’t you the one that came here, what, five days ago and said you wanted to date boys, normal boys?” Max stepped closer to her and for the first time Liz realized just how hurt he was. “Well, I’m not normal, Liz. I’ll never be normal.”
“I know that, Max, and everything that I said that night...was a lie. I...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any of it. Please let me explain what happened. It was just a terrible, horrible mistake.” Liz was unable to control her emotions any longer and the tears came pouring out of her like water out of a faucet. She fell down onto his bed, her hands covering her face as her shoulders shook violently.
Max stooped down in front of her, taking her shoulders into his hands. “Liz? D...did Kyle force...himself...” He couldn’t finish his sentence. He held onto Liz’s shoulders tighter as he lowered his head toward the floor. He too was becoming overwhelmed with emotions, too many feelings were swirling around inside of him.
“No, Max. Kyle...wouldn’t do that,” she whispered, wiping her hands across her face.
Max released her and stood, suddenly aware of the powerful pull Liz had over him. Even through all his hurt and anger, he had still been concerning for Liz’s safety first. “You made it look like you’d slept with him, Liz. You have to know how much that hurt me.”
“And I’m not hurting? God, Max, your face. I...I’ve never wanted to undo anything as much as I want to erase that single moment.”
“Every time I blink or close my eyes to try and sleep, I see the two of you in bed together. I...I look at you right now and all I can see is you...in bed...with him. I...I can’t trust you anymore. I...I can’t trust anything about how I feel about you.”
“Max-”
“I know I was pushing you,” Max continued, sitting at the head of his bed while Liz remained seated at the foot. “For a relationship, I mean, but I...I never thought you’d do this just to push me away. All you had to say was that you wanted out. It would have been hard but I would have left you alone.”
“But I don’t want out,” she cried, crawling forward several inches. She opened her mouth only to close it quickly, trying to form the right words in her brain. “Remember when I saw you kiss Tess that night in the rain?”
“You’re saying it was a mindwarp? That Tess was in your bathroom the entire time?”
“No,” Liz said, shaking her head in frustration. “Kyle and I were in bed together, Max. That part is true, but nothing happened.”
“Then what does Tess have to do with any of this?”
“I remember how I felt that night, Max, after seeing you with her. And you,” she paused slightly to wipe her face. “You told me that you loved me, that I was the only one for you. I just kept replaying that kiss over and over in my mind. And while my eyes told me one thing, my heart, Max, my heart said that you would never do that.”
“What are you saying,” he asked as he finally met her face with the same stony gaze he’d shown her when she first arrived.
“I’m just asking you to believe what your heart is telling you, Max. Listen to your heart.”
Max lowered his head slightly and crossed his hands in his lap. “I guess that’s the problem then, Liz. I can’t listen to my heart. I can’t trust what it’s telling me because it’s broken.” He raised his head slightly, just enough so he could capture Liz’s eyes with his. “You broke it and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to trust it or you again.”
Liz’s eyes widened as the impact of Max’s final statement hit her square in the heart. No matter what their previous problems with Tess had been, they could always trust each other. Now, because of the end of the world plea, the man she loved more than her own life and trusted with every fiber of her being could not trust her.
“I think you should leave.” She stared at him in shock, tears threatening at any minute to stream down her face. “I can’t ask you again, Liz,” he replied and Liz heard the tiniest squeak in his voice as it cracked. She reached toward him, instantly recognizing what a mistake that was. He jerked away from her touch, leaving her hands dangling in mid-air and his back to her. She crawled off his bed slowly and carefully climbed out of his window onto his mother’s favorite rosebush. She was barely out of his yard when she heard the window close and latch behind her.
* * *
Max had wandered the streets of Roswell since awaking from his dream, desperate to share with Liz exactly what his Liz had told him. When he had awoken in Liz’s bed, he had felt like he’d been kicked directly in the stomach numerous times and that his heart had shattered into a million pieces. It had only taken him moments to realize that his younger self had not only not listened to Liz, but that he had told her he couldn’t trust his heart or her. After thoroughly searching Liz’s room for her and finding her missing, he had decided to walk to the park, remembering that he had went there after he had seen Liz in bed with Kyle. “Liz?” He had stumbled upon her by accident and even from a few yards away, he noticed that she did not look like herself. She looked tired, broken and defeated, something he never thought possible for Liz Parker. “Liz, are you okay?”
“Hey, Max,” she whispered, not raising her head. Her hair hung around her face, shielding it like a curtain. Her shoulders fell forward and had it not been for the slight wheezing rhythmic sound he heard, he would not have known she was breathing. “He didn’t believe...me,” she managed to stutter before her face contorted again in tears.
“I know,” Max replied as he sat down on the park bench beside her. “I’m sorry, Liz.”
“Maybe I should just run away, you know? If I left, Tess would never leave Roswell. Maybe she and Max would be together and I’d certainly never have to witness it happen.”
“He doesn’t want you to leave.”
“Yes, he does. He hates me. He said he can’t trust me. How can you love someone you can’t trust? How can you have a relationship with someone you can’t trust?” She sighed loudly, her lips quivering once again, and tucked her hair behind her ears, leaning backwards against the bench. “It’s over. I’m going to be alone. I’m going to be alone...and I did it to myself.”
“No you’re not,” Max said, placing his arm tightly around her shoulders. “That’s not what fate has in store for you, Liz.”
“How do you know,” she mumbled, leaning against his shoulder hesitantly. “Before Max healed me, I had this whole life plan. After the shooting, that plan just went out the window and all I wanted was to be with Max. Maybe this is fate’s way of telling me I can’t compete with destiny.”
“No -”
“Will you run away with me,” she asked, tilting her head upwards toward his face. “We could start a whole new life together, just me and you. Everything in Roswell would remain the same and I...I’d still have you.” She touched his scarred cheek with her hand, gently tracing the lines with her thumb.
“But I’m not the Max you want,” Max quietly stated, turning his head downward and he felt both their hearts break a little more. Liz sat up straight again although Max’s arm remained looped around her shoulders. “I am a different person, Liz, because of the things that happened to me. And no matter how much I want to be with you, I’ve got to find my Liz.”
“Oh.”
“I had another dream again, except I don’t think they’re dreams. They are like dreamwalks.” Max glanced at Liz and pulled his arm away from her. She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold after the void of Max’s warmth dissipated. “I think she’s close, Liz,and I have to find her.”
“Of course you do, Max. You love...her.”
“We have a child together, Liz,” he blurted out more awkwardly than he’d originally intended. “ You’re the mother of my son.”
Trick of the Light (CC/AU,M/L,YTEEN/MATURE)
Moderators: Anniepoo98, Rowedog, ISLANDGIRL5, Itzstacie, truelovepooh, FSU/MSW-94, Forum Moderators
Part 14
Part 14
Liz cuddled against his warm shoulder, her eyes swollen from tears and her body aching for sleep. No matter how tired she felt, she could not let her body relax. Her mind was occupied by Max’s statements in the park and she had repeated them over and over in her head after Max had drifted to sleep. We have a child together, Liz. You’re the mother of my son. The implications of those statements hit her straight in the heart. Despite everything Max had told her about his life, he and his Liz had managed, for one moment in time, to rectify their problems and to create a life from their love. While the thought of having Max’s child should have filled her mind with concern, she was, in fact, almost giddy with excitement. She and Max were young, yes, but their love for each other was so passionate and so real, she knew they would have had a long and happy life together if not for the end of the world. Add to that love the possibilities of children with her hair and Max’s eyes, and Liz felt herself wishing she felt the imprint of a tiny foot on the inside of her stomach.
Max stirred in his sleep and wrapped his arm protectively around her, his palm unconsciously splayed out across her flat stomach. He smiled sweetly and Liz felt herself smiling in return as she intertwined her fingers with his just before sleep finally claimed her.
* * *
Maria adjusted her long pony-tail as she bounded up the stairs to the Parker apartment. Mr. Parker had told her yesterday that Liz had simply wanted to sleep and after hearing the rumors last night, she knew exactly why. Liz had slept with Kyle, or so the rumor went. Maria had at first laughed it off when Michael told her but his grave facial expression told her that he was serious. He had sought her out late Saturday night because he was worried about Max and desperately wanted some advice from her. After relaying what little information he had pried out of Max, he had asked a stunned Maria to get to the bottom of what was really going on.
Mr. Parker had welcomed her into the cafe and after assuring her Liz was awake, he told her she could go up to Liz’s room. Maria stood outside her best friend’s door, suddenly uncertain about what she was going to say to her. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Liz had not slept with Kyle, and had told Michael in no uncertain terms her opinions last night, but because she had promised, she agreed to question Liz about the incident. She exhaled slowly, wishing she’d brought a vial of cedar oil with her, and placed her unsteady hand on the doorknob. Pushing it open quickly, she marched into Liz’s room, her eyes unconsciously closed, and felt a rare feeling of deja vu, reminding her of her confrontation with Liz the night of the Crash Festival when Liz had revealed the truth about Max Evans. Turning toward the bed, she opened her eyes and found herself unable to speak because not only did Liz Parker have a guest in her bed, the guest was Max Evans.
“Liz!” Maria walked to Liz’s side of the bed and gently poked her friend with her index finger, careful not to touch any intertwined limbs. “Liz, so help me, you’d better wake up right now.” Using both of her index fingers, she alternately poked Liz in the shoulder. A scowl appeared on Liz’s face followed quickly by a smile and Maria inhaled sharply, her frustration brimming to the surface. “Liz! I’m going to get your mother if you don’t wake up!”
Liz opened her eyes, running a hand over her hair. “Maria,” she questioned and started to turn toward the blurry figure standing impatiently beside her bed. She turned slightly and felt a warm weight shift around her middle then an arm clutch her tightly. She met Maria’s accusatory glance and her own eyes widened. “Maria, this is not what it looks like.”
“Michael told me a rumor last night, Liz, about you and Kyle.”
“Michael,” Liz asked as she carefully moved away from Max’s sleeping body. “Michael knows?”
“Michael knows what? I told him there was no way you’d sleep with Kyle. Are you saying it happened? That you slept with Kyle Valenti?”
“Maria, please,” Liz said, practically running across her room to close her door. The last thing in the world she needed was for her parents to hear about sleeping with Kyle and that Max was asleep in her bedroom. “You’ll wake Max.”
“And what is Max doing here anyway? Michael told me he was so distraught he wasn’t eating or sleeping. Both Michael and Isabel...hell, even Tess, are worried about him. He managed to tell Michael that he saw you in bed with Kyle before he just shut down.”
“What do you mean ‘shut down’?”
“I don’t know. Michael was pretty freaked out about it, but he wouldn’t tell me any more than that. He just asked me to get to the bottom of this so Max would stop acting like a zombie. I don’t understand it, Liz. If Max is here -”
“I’m not really Max,” Max said as he slowly stood up from Liz’s bed. Liz and Maria both watched him as he moved toward them and Maria was surprised to see him fully clothed, noticing for the first time that Liz was as well.
“You’re a shapeshifter,” Maria squealed. “Liz, my God, you know what shapeshifters -”
“Maria,” Liz calmly began, placing her hands on Maria’s shoulders to try and calm her. “He’s not a shapeshifter.”
“I think you’d better sit down, Maria.”
“Wh...why? What is so bad that I need to sit down to hear it?” She glanced sideways at Liz as Max pulled Liz’s desk chair underneath her and Liz carefully placed Maria into the chair. “Liz? You’re scaring me. What’s going on?” Maria grabbed Liz’s hands, her eyes pleading with her best friend for some sort of clarity in this typical alien abyss moment.
“Just listen to him, Maria.”
Maria watched as Max and Liz sat on the foot of Liz’s bed. After several seconds of silence, Max turned toward her and began his tale. “Maria, I know this is hard to imagine, but I’m from the future, 2004 to be exact, and you and I were the only members of our group still in Roswell. I used the granolith to travel back in time here to Liz so that I could prevent the future from happening but I didn’t know that I was the second visitor from the future Liz had received......”
Liz cuddled against his warm shoulder, her eyes swollen from tears and her body aching for sleep. No matter how tired she felt, she could not let her body relax. Her mind was occupied by Max’s statements in the park and she had repeated them over and over in her head after Max had drifted to sleep. We have a child together, Liz. You’re the mother of my son. The implications of those statements hit her straight in the heart. Despite everything Max had told her about his life, he and his Liz had managed, for one moment in time, to rectify their problems and to create a life from their love. While the thought of having Max’s child should have filled her mind with concern, she was, in fact, almost giddy with excitement. She and Max were young, yes, but their love for each other was so passionate and so real, she knew they would have had a long and happy life together if not for the end of the world. Add to that love the possibilities of children with her hair and Max’s eyes, and Liz felt herself wishing she felt the imprint of a tiny foot on the inside of her stomach.
Max stirred in his sleep and wrapped his arm protectively around her, his palm unconsciously splayed out across her flat stomach. He smiled sweetly and Liz felt herself smiling in return as she intertwined her fingers with his just before sleep finally claimed her.
* * *
Maria adjusted her long pony-tail as she bounded up the stairs to the Parker apartment. Mr. Parker had told her yesterday that Liz had simply wanted to sleep and after hearing the rumors last night, she knew exactly why. Liz had slept with Kyle, or so the rumor went. Maria had at first laughed it off when Michael told her but his grave facial expression told her that he was serious. He had sought her out late Saturday night because he was worried about Max and desperately wanted some advice from her. After relaying what little information he had pried out of Max, he had asked a stunned Maria to get to the bottom of what was really going on.
Mr. Parker had welcomed her into the cafe and after assuring her Liz was awake, he told her she could go up to Liz’s room. Maria stood outside her best friend’s door, suddenly uncertain about what she was going to say to her. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Liz had not slept with Kyle, and had told Michael in no uncertain terms her opinions last night, but because she had promised, she agreed to question Liz about the incident. She exhaled slowly, wishing she’d brought a vial of cedar oil with her, and placed her unsteady hand on the doorknob. Pushing it open quickly, she marched into Liz’s room, her eyes unconsciously closed, and felt a rare feeling of deja vu, reminding her of her confrontation with Liz the night of the Crash Festival when Liz had revealed the truth about Max Evans. Turning toward the bed, she opened her eyes and found herself unable to speak because not only did Liz Parker have a guest in her bed, the guest was Max Evans.
“Liz!” Maria walked to Liz’s side of the bed and gently poked her friend with her index finger, careful not to touch any intertwined limbs. “Liz, so help me, you’d better wake up right now.” Using both of her index fingers, she alternately poked Liz in the shoulder. A scowl appeared on Liz’s face followed quickly by a smile and Maria inhaled sharply, her frustration brimming to the surface. “Liz! I’m going to get your mother if you don’t wake up!”
Liz opened her eyes, running a hand over her hair. “Maria,” she questioned and started to turn toward the blurry figure standing impatiently beside her bed. She turned slightly and felt a warm weight shift around her middle then an arm clutch her tightly. She met Maria’s accusatory glance and her own eyes widened. “Maria, this is not what it looks like.”
“Michael told me a rumor last night, Liz, about you and Kyle.”
“Michael,” Liz asked as she carefully moved away from Max’s sleeping body. “Michael knows?”
“Michael knows what? I told him there was no way you’d sleep with Kyle. Are you saying it happened? That you slept with Kyle Valenti?”
“Maria, please,” Liz said, practically running across her room to close her door. The last thing in the world she needed was for her parents to hear about sleeping with Kyle and that Max was asleep in her bedroom. “You’ll wake Max.”
“And what is Max doing here anyway? Michael told me he was so distraught he wasn’t eating or sleeping. Both Michael and Isabel...hell, even Tess, are worried about him. He managed to tell Michael that he saw you in bed with Kyle before he just shut down.”
“What do you mean ‘shut down’?”
“I don’t know. Michael was pretty freaked out about it, but he wouldn’t tell me any more than that. He just asked me to get to the bottom of this so Max would stop acting like a zombie. I don’t understand it, Liz. If Max is here -”
“I’m not really Max,” Max said as he slowly stood up from Liz’s bed. Liz and Maria both watched him as he moved toward them and Maria was surprised to see him fully clothed, noticing for the first time that Liz was as well.
“You’re a shapeshifter,” Maria squealed. “Liz, my God, you know what shapeshifters -”
“Maria,” Liz calmly began, placing her hands on Maria’s shoulders to try and calm her. “He’s not a shapeshifter.”
“I think you’d better sit down, Maria.”
“Wh...why? What is so bad that I need to sit down to hear it?” She glanced sideways at Liz as Max pulled Liz’s desk chair underneath her and Liz carefully placed Maria into the chair. “Liz? You’re scaring me. What’s going on?” Maria grabbed Liz’s hands, her eyes pleading with her best friend for some sort of clarity in this typical alien abyss moment.
“Just listen to him, Maria.”
Maria watched as Max and Liz sat on the foot of Liz’s bed. After several seconds of silence, Max turned toward her and began his tale. “Maria, I know this is hard to imagine, but I’m from the future, 2004 to be exact, and you and I were the only members of our group still in Roswell. I used the granolith to travel back in time here to Liz so that I could prevent the future from happening but I didn’t know that I was the second visitor from the future Liz had received......”
Last edited by JO on Thu Dec 23, 2004 10:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
Part 15
Part 15
“Okay. I don’t know what kind of drug you two are on, but could you please share some with me because I’m in serious need of intoxication.” Maria nervously crossed her legs, folded her arms over her chest and began to gnaw on her newly-manicured nails.
“I know this sounds crazy, Maria -”
“That’s the understatement of the millennia,” Maria snapped, instantly sorry she’d used such a tone with Liz. “I’m sorry, Liz.”
“Maria, it’s okay. I thought it was crazy too the first time. Time travel isn’t logical, you know. It breaks all the rules of physics and to think that this...granolith from Max’s home planet can be used for that well...it’s insane.”
“But you believe it?”
“I do,” Liz answered quietly as she pulled her knees to her chest. The mid-morning sun had begun to filter into her window and Max had excused himself to her bathroom so the two friends could talk more freely. “He just knew things, Maria.”
“Which one?”
“Both of them but the first one seemed more romantic. We’d had fourteen years together before the end of the world.”
“And the Max that’s here now?”
Liz sighed. “He lived an entirely different life.”
“Where Tess killed Alex and betrayed us all.” Liz nodded slightly while Maria joined her on the edge of her bed. “So what do we do?”
“What do you mean?”
“We have to do something, Liz. We can’t just let Alex die. We can’t let the blonde hussy win. That’s what happened to this Max, right? So, what’s the plan?”
“I tried to talk to Max, my Max, last night, but he didn’t believe me. He...he wouldn’t even listen to what I had to say.”
“I can’t say I blame him.” Liz opened her mouth to argue when Maria silenced her with a look. “Think about it, Liz. Put yourself in his place. I know exactly how I’d feel...how I felt...when I saw Michael and Courtney together.”
“I know, Maria, but there has to be something I can do to make this right. I’m the one that messed everything up in the first place.”
“That’s not entirely true, Liz,” Max said, causing Maria and Liz to turn around as he exited Liz’s bathroom. “I came to you. I wanted to change it.”
“What do we do now, Max,” Maria asked, surprised to see Max grimace at her question. “We can’t just let Alex die,” she responded harshly, wanting to let this Max know she had no intention of simply watching her life change. Not when she had the power to stop it from happening.
“You’re right,”Max responded quietly, joining them on Liz’s bed. “I don’t want to sacrifice my son, but I don’t know what to do. I just don’t know what to do.”
* * *
Liz sat at the small table in front of the large-pane window. The mid-morning sun was shining brightly half-way above the horizon and she smiled slightly as the sun’s warmth passed over her. She never thought she’d ever set foot in Roswell again. Tess had brought them back moments after Max had activated the granolith and he himself had disappeared. Liz’s one regret, other than allowing Tess to bully her into submission, was that she had been forced to watch Tess kill Maria, unable to help her best friend for fear of retaliation against her son.
Khivar had taken Liz in the middle of the night mere days after her desert encounter with Max, the night their son was conceived. Several skins had broken into her room in the dead of night, forging a note to her parents, and had whisked her out of Roswell before she could even begin to fight them. They had taken her to Khivar’s base camp outside Carlsbad, where she had remained for almost two years. It was there she had learned the extent of Tess’ manipulations, and that Tess had been on the run after botching an assignation attempt against Khivar. It seemed that Tess could fool anyone into believing anything, including Khivar, and that she had decided she should kill him before he killed her. Needless to say, her plan had failed and she was forced to abandon the only faction that had readily accepted her. It was also while in Carlsbad that Liz learned she was pregnant with Max’s child.
Looking at the bed closest to the window, she smiled slightly as her son slept peacefully. His left arm clung tightly to the edge of the comforter while his right lay folded underneath his chin. She laughed to herself, thinking she had never seen him look more like Max than he did at that moment. She wondered if she had gotten through to Max the previous night, if she had made him believe that she still loved him and that she and their son were practically in his back yard. She could see Highway 285 from the window of their hotel room, knowing that Tess had managed to elude Khivar’s minions by hiding in seedy places like this. She saddened a bit as she thought of Khivar and wondered if his followers were still pursuing Tess or if they had simply scattered like dust after his death. She had seen several familiar faces since being taken hostage by Tess and shuddered to think that they had crossed the threshold from following a semi-benevolent leader to a wickedly atrocious beast.
She had called Tess that once to her face, the night Tess returned to Carlsbad almost four months earlier. The night she had finally succeeded in killing Khivar. The same night Tess had threatened Colby, which had forced Liz to side with her. Now with the life of her son at stake at all times, she was more careful in the way she addressed Tess, even though Liz wanted nothing more than to clean Tess’ clock for all the horrific acts she had committed. Just as Tess’ abilities had multiplied, so had Liz’s, and she regularly thought back to Ava’s warning that because Max had brought her back, he had changed her. It was her enhanced abilities that had enabled her to step into Max’s dream for the second time in as many days.
She realized now that it had probably been a mistake to try and contact him, especially when Colby appeared in the dream too. In his typical toddler behavior, he had only wanted a drink of water. The longer he had stayed with her in Max’s dream, the more frightened he had become, culminating in his crying outburst when Max picked him up. She understood that he had been frightened for several reasons, having sensed her fear and Max’s anger but, more substantially, no man, alien or human, had ever held him. She imagined that at the moment Max held Colby in his arms, realizing for the first time he had a son, that father and son had inadvertently connected, probably scaring the two-year-old in ways she’d never understand.
“Okay. I don’t know what kind of drug you two are on, but could you please share some with me because I’m in serious need of intoxication.” Maria nervously crossed her legs, folded her arms over her chest and began to gnaw on her newly-manicured nails.
“I know this sounds crazy, Maria -”
“That’s the understatement of the millennia,” Maria snapped, instantly sorry she’d used such a tone with Liz. “I’m sorry, Liz.”
“Maria, it’s okay. I thought it was crazy too the first time. Time travel isn’t logical, you know. It breaks all the rules of physics and to think that this...granolith from Max’s home planet can be used for that well...it’s insane.”
“But you believe it?”
“I do,” Liz answered quietly as she pulled her knees to her chest. The mid-morning sun had begun to filter into her window and Max had excused himself to her bathroom so the two friends could talk more freely. “He just knew things, Maria.”
“Which one?”
“Both of them but the first one seemed more romantic. We’d had fourteen years together before the end of the world.”
“And the Max that’s here now?”
Liz sighed. “He lived an entirely different life.”
“Where Tess killed Alex and betrayed us all.” Liz nodded slightly while Maria joined her on the edge of her bed. “So what do we do?”
“What do you mean?”
“We have to do something, Liz. We can’t just let Alex die. We can’t let the blonde hussy win. That’s what happened to this Max, right? So, what’s the plan?”
“I tried to talk to Max, my Max, last night, but he didn’t believe me. He...he wouldn’t even listen to what I had to say.”
“I can’t say I blame him.” Liz opened her mouth to argue when Maria silenced her with a look. “Think about it, Liz. Put yourself in his place. I know exactly how I’d feel...how I felt...when I saw Michael and Courtney together.”
“I know, Maria, but there has to be something I can do to make this right. I’m the one that messed everything up in the first place.”
“That’s not entirely true, Liz,” Max said, causing Maria and Liz to turn around as he exited Liz’s bathroom. “I came to you. I wanted to change it.”
“What do we do now, Max,” Maria asked, surprised to see Max grimace at her question. “We can’t just let Alex die,” she responded harshly, wanting to let this Max know she had no intention of simply watching her life change. Not when she had the power to stop it from happening.
“You’re right,”Max responded quietly, joining them on Liz’s bed. “I don’t want to sacrifice my son, but I don’t know what to do. I just don’t know what to do.”
* * *
Liz sat at the small table in front of the large-pane window. The mid-morning sun was shining brightly half-way above the horizon and she smiled slightly as the sun’s warmth passed over her. She never thought she’d ever set foot in Roswell again. Tess had brought them back moments after Max had activated the granolith and he himself had disappeared. Liz’s one regret, other than allowing Tess to bully her into submission, was that she had been forced to watch Tess kill Maria, unable to help her best friend for fear of retaliation against her son.
Khivar had taken Liz in the middle of the night mere days after her desert encounter with Max, the night their son was conceived. Several skins had broken into her room in the dead of night, forging a note to her parents, and had whisked her out of Roswell before she could even begin to fight them. They had taken her to Khivar’s base camp outside Carlsbad, where she had remained for almost two years. It was there she had learned the extent of Tess’ manipulations, and that Tess had been on the run after botching an assignation attempt against Khivar. It seemed that Tess could fool anyone into believing anything, including Khivar, and that she had decided she should kill him before he killed her. Needless to say, her plan had failed and she was forced to abandon the only faction that had readily accepted her. It was also while in Carlsbad that Liz learned she was pregnant with Max’s child.
Looking at the bed closest to the window, she smiled slightly as her son slept peacefully. His left arm clung tightly to the edge of the comforter while his right lay folded underneath his chin. She laughed to herself, thinking she had never seen him look more like Max than he did at that moment. She wondered if she had gotten through to Max the previous night, if she had made him believe that she still loved him and that she and their son were practically in his back yard. She could see Highway 285 from the window of their hotel room, knowing that Tess had managed to elude Khivar’s minions by hiding in seedy places like this. She saddened a bit as she thought of Khivar and wondered if his followers were still pursuing Tess or if they had simply scattered like dust after his death. She had seen several familiar faces since being taken hostage by Tess and shuddered to think that they had crossed the threshold from following a semi-benevolent leader to a wickedly atrocious beast.
She had called Tess that once to her face, the night Tess returned to Carlsbad almost four months earlier. The night she had finally succeeded in killing Khivar. The same night Tess had threatened Colby, which had forced Liz to side with her. Now with the life of her son at stake at all times, she was more careful in the way she addressed Tess, even though Liz wanted nothing more than to clean Tess’ clock for all the horrific acts she had committed. Just as Tess’ abilities had multiplied, so had Liz’s, and she regularly thought back to Ava’s warning that because Max had brought her back, he had changed her. It was her enhanced abilities that had enabled her to step into Max’s dream for the second time in as many days.
She realized now that it had probably been a mistake to try and contact him, especially when Colby appeared in the dream too. In his typical toddler behavior, he had only wanted a drink of water. The longer he had stayed with her in Max’s dream, the more frightened he had become, culminating in his crying outburst when Max picked him up. She understood that he had been frightened for several reasons, having sensed her fear and Max’s anger but, more substantially, no man, alien or human, had ever held him. She imagined that at the moment Max held Colby in his arms, realizing for the first time he had a son, that father and son had inadvertently connected, probably scaring the two-year-old in ways she’d never understand.
Last edited by JO on Thu Dec 23, 2004 10:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
Part 16
Part 16
“This is pointless,” Maria groaned as she stood to pace around Liz’s room. She, Liz and Max had been debating ideas back and forth as to how to deal with Tess and convince the present Max that what he had seen between Liz and Kyle had been a lie. “God, do you have any idea how much I’d like to nail Tess’ ass to the wall? I’ve never liked her, Liz.”
“I know, Maria,” Liz responded quietly, her hands folded calmly across her stomach as she reclined on her bed. “Believe me, I know.”
“So,” Maria began, turning her attention toward Max. “Did the harlot just keep filling your head with the destiny crap until you caved?”
“Maria.”
“What? I just don’t understand how you can go from telling Liz you’re coming for her, that all you care about is her, that she’s your destiny and then you....you get freaky with Tess, of all people?”
“It’s not that simple, Maria,” Max replied, once again feeling severe shame for his actions. Even though they had not necessarily happened to this Maria and this Liz, he still felt the pang of guilt that his actions had somehow sealed Alex’s fate. “After Alex died, we all just...splintered apart. Isabel and Kyle became good friends, Liz went on a rampage searching for the truth behind Alex’s death, you withdrew and Michael spent his time comforting you. Tess and I became closer, especially after beginning the memory retrieval exercises.”
“Memory retrieval? What are you talking about?”
“I was trying to remember my past life, my first life. Tess helped me. We started after Brody short-circuited his head then we just increased the exercises after I kissed Tess at the prom.”
“So you and Tess went the prom together?”
“No,” Max responded. “I actually went with Liz.”
“My God!”
“And Liz saw us kissing, which sent her running straight to Sean.”
“Sean? Sean who?”
“Your cousin.”
“You are seriously deranged, Max. Liz? Liz Parker? The same Liz that’s sitting right there?” Maria pointed toward where Liz was sitting on her bed, leaning back against the headboard. Max nodded his head but Maria was too far into her outburst to actually take notice. “There is no way Liz Parker would ever be interested in Sean DeLuca. What damn alternate universe are you living in?”
“I think we’re losing focus here,” Max cautioned, standing up from Liz’s bed and walking over to the desk chair Maria had vacated.
“I think I have earned the right to lose focus,” Maria screeched. “I just found out my best friend prevented the world’s end by pretending to sleep with her ex-boyfriend, my other best friend was killed by my first best friend’s soul mate’s reincarnated wife, and that my first best friend was interested in Sean...DeLuca! Oh, the room is spinning. I...I’m seeing black spots. I...I’m feel-”
“You’re being over-dramatic, Maria. The things that happened in Max’s world aren’t going to happen here.”
Max glanced at her, his brows furrowing slightly in response to Liz’s confident statement. “I can’t lose my son, Liz.”
“And this would be Liz’s son too correct, or did you actually impregnate the tramp?”
“Maria,” Liz said, sighing in frustration and heavily rolling her eyes.
“Oh, like you really want her to stick around, Liz. You and Max would certainly be better off if she left town. Maybe if there was something to keep her distracted, she wouldn’t be all over Max.” Maria chuckled lightly as she plopped onto Liz’s bed. “You’re sure we just can’t kill her? It would be so much easier.”
“You sound like Michael.”
“Will wonders never cease because in this instance, I agree with him.”
“We can’t kill her, Maria,” Liz offered, her tone indicating that she wanted to have the final say in the matter. “Tess, as much as we hate and distrust her, is part of the four square. If it’s broken, it will leave Max, Michael and Isabel..unfulfilled. I can’t risk their lives just to get Tess out of my hair. Would you be willing to risk it?”
“No,” Maria dejectedly replied, picking at a loose thread on Liz’s comforter. “But we’re just back to where we started. Having no plan and a mindwarping strumpet in our midst. This sucks.”
* * *
Michael paced nervously inside his apartment. Maria had called him the night before to let him know she would stop by on her way to school to tell him what she had found out about the Liz and Kyle situation. No matter how hard he’d pressed, she wouldn’t divulge any more information than that. He had spent a restless night wondering just what type of news she had for him and how school would impact Max’s already fragile mental state.
When he heard her hover just on the other side of his front door, he threw open the door and pulled her inside before she could even think about knocking. “Well,” he asked with bated breath.
“What are you doing up so early, Michael? And so chipper too,” Maria mused as she smoothed the tendrils framing her face. “Wait,” she began, a shocked expression crossing her face. “You’re not Michael, are you? You...you’re some kind of...shapeshifter with the ability -”
“Cut the crap, Maria. Did Liz and Kyle do the nasty or what?”
“Oh, you’re Michael, alright,” she replied with a slight chuckle prompting a glare from Michael. “No, Michael,” Maria sighed. “Liz and Kyle did not do ‘the nasty’ as you so eloquently put it.”
“But Max said he saw them in bed together.”
“Oh, they were in bed together.”
“What?”
Maria sighed heavily, running her hand quickly over the French twist styling of her hair. “Like everything nowadays with you pod people, it’s complicated.” Michael rolled his eyes then grabbed her upper arm, forcefully pushing her out of the apartment. He slammed the door behind him without stopping their forward progression. “What are we doing?”
“We’re going to Liz’s.”
“This is pointless,” Maria groaned as she stood to pace around Liz’s room. She, Liz and Max had been debating ideas back and forth as to how to deal with Tess and convince the present Max that what he had seen between Liz and Kyle had been a lie. “God, do you have any idea how much I’d like to nail Tess’ ass to the wall? I’ve never liked her, Liz.”
“I know, Maria,” Liz responded quietly, her hands folded calmly across her stomach as she reclined on her bed. “Believe me, I know.”
“So,” Maria began, turning her attention toward Max. “Did the harlot just keep filling your head with the destiny crap until you caved?”
“Maria.”
“What? I just don’t understand how you can go from telling Liz you’re coming for her, that all you care about is her, that she’s your destiny and then you....you get freaky with Tess, of all people?”
“It’s not that simple, Maria,” Max replied, once again feeling severe shame for his actions. Even though they had not necessarily happened to this Maria and this Liz, he still felt the pang of guilt that his actions had somehow sealed Alex’s fate. “After Alex died, we all just...splintered apart. Isabel and Kyle became good friends, Liz went on a rampage searching for the truth behind Alex’s death, you withdrew and Michael spent his time comforting you. Tess and I became closer, especially after beginning the memory retrieval exercises.”
“Memory retrieval? What are you talking about?”
“I was trying to remember my past life, my first life. Tess helped me. We started after Brody short-circuited his head then we just increased the exercises after I kissed Tess at the prom.”
“So you and Tess went the prom together?”
“No,” Max responded. “I actually went with Liz.”
“My God!”
“And Liz saw us kissing, which sent her running straight to Sean.”
“Sean? Sean who?”
“Your cousin.”
“You are seriously deranged, Max. Liz? Liz Parker? The same Liz that’s sitting right there?” Maria pointed toward where Liz was sitting on her bed, leaning back against the headboard. Max nodded his head but Maria was too far into her outburst to actually take notice. “There is no way Liz Parker would ever be interested in Sean DeLuca. What damn alternate universe are you living in?”
“I think we’re losing focus here,” Max cautioned, standing up from Liz’s bed and walking over to the desk chair Maria had vacated.
“I think I have earned the right to lose focus,” Maria screeched. “I just found out my best friend prevented the world’s end by pretending to sleep with her ex-boyfriend, my other best friend was killed by my first best friend’s soul mate’s reincarnated wife, and that my first best friend was interested in Sean...DeLuca! Oh, the room is spinning. I...I’m seeing black spots. I...I’m feel-”
“You’re being over-dramatic, Maria. The things that happened in Max’s world aren’t going to happen here.”
Max glanced at her, his brows furrowing slightly in response to Liz’s confident statement. “I can’t lose my son, Liz.”
“And this would be Liz’s son too correct, or did you actually impregnate the tramp?”
“Maria,” Liz said, sighing in frustration and heavily rolling her eyes.
“Oh, like you really want her to stick around, Liz. You and Max would certainly be better off if she left town. Maybe if there was something to keep her distracted, she wouldn’t be all over Max.” Maria chuckled lightly as she plopped onto Liz’s bed. “You’re sure we just can’t kill her? It would be so much easier.”
“You sound like Michael.”
“Will wonders never cease because in this instance, I agree with him.”
“We can’t kill her, Maria,” Liz offered, her tone indicating that she wanted to have the final say in the matter. “Tess, as much as we hate and distrust her, is part of the four square. If it’s broken, it will leave Max, Michael and Isabel..unfulfilled. I can’t risk their lives just to get Tess out of my hair. Would you be willing to risk it?”
“No,” Maria dejectedly replied, picking at a loose thread on Liz’s comforter. “But we’re just back to where we started. Having no plan and a mindwarping strumpet in our midst. This sucks.”
* * *
Michael paced nervously inside his apartment. Maria had called him the night before to let him know she would stop by on her way to school to tell him what she had found out about the Liz and Kyle situation. No matter how hard he’d pressed, she wouldn’t divulge any more information than that. He had spent a restless night wondering just what type of news she had for him and how school would impact Max’s already fragile mental state.
When he heard her hover just on the other side of his front door, he threw open the door and pulled her inside before she could even think about knocking. “Well,” he asked with bated breath.
“What are you doing up so early, Michael? And so chipper too,” Maria mused as she smoothed the tendrils framing her face. “Wait,” she began, a shocked expression crossing her face. “You’re not Michael, are you? You...you’re some kind of...shapeshifter with the ability -”
“Cut the crap, Maria. Did Liz and Kyle do the nasty or what?”
“Oh, you’re Michael, alright,” she replied with a slight chuckle prompting a glare from Michael. “No, Michael,” Maria sighed. “Liz and Kyle did not do ‘the nasty’ as you so eloquently put it.”
“But Max said he saw them in bed together.”
“Oh, they were in bed together.”
“What?”
Maria sighed heavily, running her hand quickly over the French twist styling of her hair. “Like everything nowadays with you pod people, it’s complicated.” Michael rolled his eyes then grabbed her upper arm, forcefully pushing her out of the apartment. He slammed the door behind him without stopping their forward progression. “What are we doing?”
“We’re going to Liz’s.”
Last edited by JO on Thu Dec 23, 2004 10:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
Part 17
Part 17
“Stop pushing me, Michael,” Maria said forcefully at the bottom of the ladder leading to Liz’s balcony. He had driven the Jetta like it was her last journey ever with Maria cursing him the entire way to Liz’s house.
“If you don’t move your ass up that ladder so I can get a straight answer about what’s got Max so freaked, I’m going to find out just how far I can throw you.”
Maria’s eyes widened momentarily before she narrowed them sharply in a glare that could have killed him, alien powers or not. Strapping her purse across her shoulders, she began climbing up the ladder to Liz’s room with Michael hot on her heels. “Lizzie,” Maria called as she threw herself over the top of Liz’s casement. “Michael’s here. Liz.”
“Move.” Michael brusquely shoved past her and climbed through the open window into Liz’s bedroom. He had only been in the room one other time, the night he took her journal. He heard Maria mumbling to herself as she followed him into the room and chose to ignore her grumblings,
knowing they were about him. “Liz?”
“Michael,” Liz gasp as she quickly pulled a olive green sleeveless shirt on over her bra. “Maria.”
“Liz.”
“Liz.” Liz, Michael, and Maria all looked toward Liz’s bathroom as Max appeared in the room, holding a toothbrush and not wearing a shirt.
“Max,” Michael questioned.
“Michael.” Max felt his throat close slightly and his voice crack in response to the emotion that now tugged at his heart. He had not seen Michael in many months. His last memory of his best friend was holding him in his arms as he died while Maria clung desperately to both of them.
“Max,” Liz said and was at his side instantly. Max looked at her, surprised once again by just how well she knew him, knew every emotion he was going through. She gently wrapped her hands around his arm, leaning against him slightly.
“What the hell is going on here,” Michael yelled as Maria sat on Liz’s unmade bed. “Why are you here? Why are you both half naked? Why are you holding a toothbrush?”
“Michael, calm down,” Liz cautioned, not removing her hands from Max’s arm.
“Calm down?!? What are you doing here, Max? And I want to know the truth.”
Max exchanged glances with Maria and Liz. Lowering his head, he gently removed Liz’s hands from his body as he walked toward Michael. “You want to know the truth, Michael? The real truth?”
“Damn straight.”
“Sit down,” Max softly replied, motioning toward Liz’s bed. Michael glanced at Liz and Maria and complied, slowly lowering himself onto the bed next to Maria. “The truth is, Michael, I’m not from around here.”
* * *
“I can’t believe the plan was for us to go to school,” Maria complained as she and Liz walked into the main hallway at Roswell High. “This has got to be the worst plan in the history of plans.”
“It’s not a bad plan, Maria. I admit that it’s not what I wanted to hear, but -”
“We can’t just sit idly by while the fate of the world is at stake.”
“Maria, I think you’re over-reacting again.”
“No, Liz,” Maria whispered, as she grabbed her friend’s hand and steered her away from their lockers. “You know what we have to do.”
“Take our Western Civ. midterm?”
“We have to go to the one place I’ve spent my entire high school career avoiding.” Maria grabbed Liz’s wrist and dragged her down the long corridor. Liz stared at her friend in confusion as Maria pulled her further and further away from their Western Civ. midterm and closer and closer toward the library.
“You’re serious, Maria? We’re going to the library?”
“Damn straight, Liz. We have a golden opportunity here,” Maria whispered quietly as she sat down in front of one of the many computers available for use in the school’s library. “What was the name of that place again? Where all the skins are?” She typed furiously on the keyboard, opening MapQuest with relative ease. “Copper Ridge. Copper Peak. Copper -”
“Summit. Copper Summit, Arizona.”
“How’s my two favorite females?”
“Oh, hey, Alex.”
“What are you doing in the library, DeLuca? Parker here I can believe because she practically lives in the library but you, I didn’t even think you knew what a library was, much less that grand ol’ Roswell High had one.”
“Hey, Alex.”
“She’s here with me,” Liz blurted out, her lips thinning the moment the words flew from her mouth.
“Yeah, gathered that,” Alex smugly responded as he moved in closer to the monitor. “Road trip, eh? Excellent, excellent,” Alex replied, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants. “And would this be for a science class?”
“Yeah, Alex, it’s a science project.”
“Have I ever told you that you’re a terrible liar, Liz?” Liz lowered her head slightly, causing Alex to sweep her into his arms and plant a loud kiss in the middle of her forehead. “But I still love you anyway. Seriously, what are you two working on?”
“It’s...complicated, Alex.”
Alex sighed loudly and glanced around the library as he released Liz. Maria had managed to print out a detailed map listing driving directions from Roswell to Copper Summit. The printer whirred to life and the paper slowly threaded through the ancient machine. “When you say it like that, I know it has to be alien-related so just lay it on me...gently.”
“It is, Alex,” Maria whispered, spinning around to face her best friend. “But we can’t really tell you what’s going on.” She and Liz exchanged gravely unmasked looks between them before Maria turned around to retrieve the print-out.
“Does someone have to die before you two start being honest about what you’re involved in?”
Liz’s head shot up, her eyes instantly pooling with tears. She felt Maria grab her hand for support, for strength, for friendship, for every other reason that beat through her heart, and Liz knew that she once again had to tell Alex the truth. “We’re going to Copper Summit, Arizona, Alex. Yes, it is alien-related, but none of them know we’re going.” She glanced down at the print-out Maria had shoved under her nose and realized that they had to leave right now if they were going to attempt this crazy plan. “I can’t tell you any more than that right now. We don’t have time. But if you want to come with us, I’ll explain everything to you on the way.”
“Everything?”
Liz nodded. “Everything, Alex. I swear.”
“We’ve gotta go, Liz.”
“Then I’m coming too,” Alex announced and followed his two best friends out of the library into the parking lot of Roswell High.
“We have to make a stop first,” Maria said as she started the Jetta and Alex and Liz got settled into their seats.
“Pee break already? Geez, Maria. We haven’t even left the parking lot.”
“Actually, we have to see Courtney,” Liz responded softly, turning in her seat so she faced Alex as Maria maneuvered the Jetta out of the high school parking lot and toward Courtney’s apartment.
“Stop pushing me, Michael,” Maria said forcefully at the bottom of the ladder leading to Liz’s balcony. He had driven the Jetta like it was her last journey ever with Maria cursing him the entire way to Liz’s house.
“If you don’t move your ass up that ladder so I can get a straight answer about what’s got Max so freaked, I’m going to find out just how far I can throw you.”
Maria’s eyes widened momentarily before she narrowed them sharply in a glare that could have killed him, alien powers or not. Strapping her purse across her shoulders, she began climbing up the ladder to Liz’s room with Michael hot on her heels. “Lizzie,” Maria called as she threw herself over the top of Liz’s casement. “Michael’s here. Liz.”
“Move.” Michael brusquely shoved past her and climbed through the open window into Liz’s bedroom. He had only been in the room one other time, the night he took her journal. He heard Maria mumbling to herself as she followed him into the room and chose to ignore her grumblings,
knowing they were about him. “Liz?”
“Michael,” Liz gasp as she quickly pulled a olive green sleeveless shirt on over her bra. “Maria.”
“Liz.”
“Liz.” Liz, Michael, and Maria all looked toward Liz’s bathroom as Max appeared in the room, holding a toothbrush and not wearing a shirt.
“Max,” Michael questioned.
“Michael.” Max felt his throat close slightly and his voice crack in response to the emotion that now tugged at his heart. He had not seen Michael in many months. His last memory of his best friend was holding him in his arms as he died while Maria clung desperately to both of them.
“Max,” Liz said and was at his side instantly. Max looked at her, surprised once again by just how well she knew him, knew every emotion he was going through. She gently wrapped her hands around his arm, leaning against him slightly.
“What the hell is going on here,” Michael yelled as Maria sat on Liz’s unmade bed. “Why are you here? Why are you both half naked? Why are you holding a toothbrush?”
“Michael, calm down,” Liz cautioned, not removing her hands from Max’s arm.
“Calm down?!? What are you doing here, Max? And I want to know the truth.”
Max exchanged glances with Maria and Liz. Lowering his head, he gently removed Liz’s hands from his body as he walked toward Michael. “You want to know the truth, Michael? The real truth?”
“Damn straight.”
“Sit down,” Max softly replied, motioning toward Liz’s bed. Michael glanced at Liz and Maria and complied, slowly lowering himself onto the bed next to Maria. “The truth is, Michael, I’m not from around here.”
* * *
“I can’t believe the plan was for us to go to school,” Maria complained as she and Liz walked into the main hallway at Roswell High. “This has got to be the worst plan in the history of plans.”
“It’s not a bad plan, Maria. I admit that it’s not what I wanted to hear, but -”
“We can’t just sit idly by while the fate of the world is at stake.”
“Maria, I think you’re over-reacting again.”
“No, Liz,” Maria whispered, as she grabbed her friend’s hand and steered her away from their lockers. “You know what we have to do.”
“Take our Western Civ. midterm?”
“We have to go to the one place I’ve spent my entire high school career avoiding.” Maria grabbed Liz’s wrist and dragged her down the long corridor. Liz stared at her friend in confusion as Maria pulled her further and further away from their Western Civ. midterm and closer and closer toward the library.
“You’re serious, Maria? We’re going to the library?”
“Damn straight, Liz. We have a golden opportunity here,” Maria whispered quietly as she sat down in front of one of the many computers available for use in the school’s library. “What was the name of that place again? Where all the skins are?” She typed furiously on the keyboard, opening MapQuest with relative ease. “Copper Ridge. Copper Peak. Copper -”
“Summit. Copper Summit, Arizona.”
“How’s my two favorite females?”
“Oh, hey, Alex.”
“What are you doing in the library, DeLuca? Parker here I can believe because she practically lives in the library but you, I didn’t even think you knew what a library was, much less that grand ol’ Roswell High had one.”
“Hey, Alex.”
“She’s here with me,” Liz blurted out, her lips thinning the moment the words flew from her mouth.
“Yeah, gathered that,” Alex smugly responded as he moved in closer to the monitor. “Road trip, eh? Excellent, excellent,” Alex replied, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants. “And would this be for a science class?”
“Yeah, Alex, it’s a science project.”
“Have I ever told you that you’re a terrible liar, Liz?” Liz lowered her head slightly, causing Alex to sweep her into his arms and plant a loud kiss in the middle of her forehead. “But I still love you anyway. Seriously, what are you two working on?”
“It’s...complicated, Alex.”
Alex sighed loudly and glanced around the library as he released Liz. Maria had managed to print out a detailed map listing driving directions from Roswell to Copper Summit. The printer whirred to life and the paper slowly threaded through the ancient machine. “When you say it like that, I know it has to be alien-related so just lay it on me...gently.”
“It is, Alex,” Maria whispered, spinning around to face her best friend. “But we can’t really tell you what’s going on.” She and Liz exchanged gravely unmasked looks between them before Maria turned around to retrieve the print-out.
“Does someone have to die before you two start being honest about what you’re involved in?”
Liz’s head shot up, her eyes instantly pooling with tears. She felt Maria grab her hand for support, for strength, for friendship, for every other reason that beat through her heart, and Liz knew that she once again had to tell Alex the truth. “We’re going to Copper Summit, Arizona, Alex. Yes, it is alien-related, but none of them know we’re going.” She glanced down at the print-out Maria had shoved under her nose and realized that they had to leave right now if they were going to attempt this crazy plan. “I can’t tell you any more than that right now. We don’t have time. But if you want to come with us, I’ll explain everything to you on the way.”
“Everything?”
Liz nodded. “Everything, Alex. I swear.”
“We’ve gotta go, Liz.”
“Then I’m coming too,” Alex announced and followed his two best friends out of the library into the parking lot of Roswell High.
“We have to make a stop first,” Maria said as she started the Jetta and Alex and Liz got settled into their seats.
“Pee break already? Geez, Maria. We haven’t even left the parking lot.”
“Actually, we have to see Courtney,” Liz responded softly, turning in her seat so she faced Alex as Maria maneuvered the Jetta out of the high school parking lot and toward Courtney’s apartment.
Last edited by JO on Wed Jan 05, 2005 2:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Part 18
Part 18
“So you’re a skin, huh,” Alex quipped, cutting through the deadly silence that had filled the car since Courtney was so abruptly dropped into his lap. He and Courtney shared the back seat as Maria and Liz murmured amongst themselves in the front seat. Maria had angrily shoved Courtney into the back seat with Alex almost forty minutes earlier and there had been no communication between any of the Jetta’s passengers since that time except between Liz and Maria.
“Yeah,” Courtney replied sarcastically and turned her shoulders away from Alex. Thus far in the journey, Alex had discovered that Courtney was an alien and that the absurd rumor floating around school about Liz and Kyle had been completely false, which he had known the entire time. At this moment though, his main concern was why Maria suddenly needed Courtney, the same Courtney that had shown up at Michael’s apartment scantily-clad not less than a week earlier resulting in his bruised knuckles and Maria’s bruised pride.
“And that would mean,” he shot back, hoping he would get a straight answer from one of the three females in the car. Courtney rolled her eyes at him and flopped back against the back seat of the Jetta. Alex glanced at the rearview mirror and noticed Maria was watching Courtney’s actions too. He returned his attention back to Courtney just in time to see her pull a piece of skin from her arm and flail it in front of his face. The skin disintegrated after several seconds of shaking and specks of dust littered his jeans. “Interesting super power you got there,” he wisecracked, wiping the dust from his jeans onto the floorboard of the back seat.
“Just who the hell do you think you are?”
“Alex Charles Whitman, third musketeer,” he retorted quickly, offering his hand for her to shake. Courtney laughed slightly and took the hand offered her, shaking it once. Alex smiled at her and waited until she leaned forward to talk to Maria to wipe his hand on the back of Maria’s seat.
“This is a horribly bad idea. You realize that, right?”
“Listen here, fancy pants,” Maria began. “No one is asking for your opinion here. We simply need you because you’re a skin. That just means you can get us to the other skins because you all are tight....and shit.”
“Tight and shit? Did you inhale too much cedar oil today, Maria? No one says ‘tight and shit’ anymore.” Alex crossed his arms over his chest, shrugging his shoulders after catching the death look Maria had shot him in the rearview mirror.
“If I were all ‘tight and shit’ with the other skins, what would I be doing in Roswell?”
“Well,” Alex said, ignoring Maria’s mouthed protests to keep his mouth shut. “Roswell is a quaint little town.”
“If I wanted to live in Hickville,” Courtney snapped, “I’d have just stayed in Copper Summit.”
“This is because of Michael, isn’t it? You’re in love with him. You’re stalking him.”
“Not technically, no.”
Maria sighed loudly, her foot inadvertently pressing harder against the accelerator. The Jetta sputtered slightly then zoomed forward. “Out of all the aliens in this world and others, why do you have to stalk Michael? Why do you have to love Michael?”
“What do you want with Michael,” Liz interrupted, sensing another Maria moment in the works. “Max is the leader, not Michael.” She paused slightly, an aura of understanding on her face. “Wait.”
“What?”
“What is it, Liz,” Alex asked, leaning forward so he could be formally included in the conversation.
“If there were warring factions on Max’s home planet, who’s to say these factions didn’t want someone else as their leader? We don’t really know what the fighting was about and neither do Max, Michael, Isabel or Tess.”
“Go on,” Alex suggested.
“Are you suggesting that the skins wanted Michael as their leader,” Maria asked. “Michael,” she repeated with a laugh. “Stonewall Guerin? To lead, not just watch and bitch?”
“Who the Royal Four are now are not the same beings they once were.”
“Then that’s it,” Alex replied. “If Max wasn’t living up to the expectations of his planet as king, what’s stopping the factions that don’t want him as king in the first place from going after Michael? Isn’t that what’s been going on with Isabel since Whitaker told her about Vilandra? That she could have betrayed Max, leading to their deaths. It makes perfect sense.
“Those of us that followed Rath, Michael in his first life, thought Michael would be a better leader than Zan.”
“Max,” Liz stated.
“Right, but the majority of skins, the skins that are in Copper Summit, don’t support Michael or Max. They support Khivar. He’s really responsible for their deaths and he’s the one in control now.”
“Let me see if I’m understanding you,” Maria asked, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “You came to Roswell to try to get Michael to usurp Max’s authority and you thought the best way to do that was to get him into bed like the cheap floozy you are.”
“I was willing to do whatever it took to get Michael to see his true potential.”
“You make me sick,” Maria seethed.
“You were the ones that brought me along and again, for the record, I have to say this is a very bad idea. You aren’t equipped to deal the kinds of powers these skins possess.”
“That’s why you’re going to tell us everything we need to know about the skins and their harvest,” Liz replied calmly, fully turning around so that she met Courtney’s eyes.
* * *
“Have you seen Liz,” Kyle asked the moment he saw Michael enter their second period Spanish class. “I’m worried about her.”
“Why,” Michael asked and instantly grimaced, realizing his attitude was more brusque than he’d intended.
“We had a Western Civ. midterm today. Both Liz and Maria missed it.”
“Liz Parker missed a test?”
“I know,” Kyle whispered as Senorita Garcia began to lecture the class. “Something’s up.”
Michael ran his fingers through his hair and linked his hands together behind his neck. “Wait five minutes then ask for a bathroom pass. I’ll meet you outside.”
“What,” Kyle frantically asked but Michael had already stood from his desk and was making his way to the door.
“Senor Guerin,” Senorita Garcia called after him. “Senor Guerin!”
“No speaka Spanish,” Michael replied just before he slammed the door behind him. Kyle’s knees shook violently as he waited for the five minutes Michael suggested to tick away.
“Screw this,” he muttered as he grabbed his back pack off the floor and stood to follow Michael out of the classroom.
“Senor Valenti! Senor Valenti!”
“Sorry,” Kyle muttered, smiling slightly because he knew Senorita Garcia was one of the few female teachers that couldn’t resist the Valenti charm. “He’s my ride,” he said, pointing into the hallway. Arching his eyebrows quickly, he too exited the classroom as the door slammed to a close behind him. Once in the hallway, he saw Michael hurriedly shoving his books into his locker. “Michael,” he called, a strange sense of fear suddenly overpowering him. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”
“We have to find Max and tell him the truth about what happened between you and Liz.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I think Liz and Maria are walking straight into a trap.”
“So you’re a skin, huh,” Alex quipped, cutting through the deadly silence that had filled the car since Courtney was so abruptly dropped into his lap. He and Courtney shared the back seat as Maria and Liz murmured amongst themselves in the front seat. Maria had angrily shoved Courtney into the back seat with Alex almost forty minutes earlier and there had been no communication between any of the Jetta’s passengers since that time except between Liz and Maria.
“Yeah,” Courtney replied sarcastically and turned her shoulders away from Alex. Thus far in the journey, Alex had discovered that Courtney was an alien and that the absurd rumor floating around school about Liz and Kyle had been completely false, which he had known the entire time. At this moment though, his main concern was why Maria suddenly needed Courtney, the same Courtney that had shown up at Michael’s apartment scantily-clad not less than a week earlier resulting in his bruised knuckles and Maria’s bruised pride.
“And that would mean,” he shot back, hoping he would get a straight answer from one of the three females in the car. Courtney rolled her eyes at him and flopped back against the back seat of the Jetta. Alex glanced at the rearview mirror and noticed Maria was watching Courtney’s actions too. He returned his attention back to Courtney just in time to see her pull a piece of skin from her arm and flail it in front of his face. The skin disintegrated after several seconds of shaking and specks of dust littered his jeans. “Interesting super power you got there,” he wisecracked, wiping the dust from his jeans onto the floorboard of the back seat.
“Just who the hell do you think you are?”
“Alex Charles Whitman, third musketeer,” he retorted quickly, offering his hand for her to shake. Courtney laughed slightly and took the hand offered her, shaking it once. Alex smiled at her and waited until she leaned forward to talk to Maria to wipe his hand on the back of Maria’s seat.
“This is a horribly bad idea. You realize that, right?”
“Listen here, fancy pants,” Maria began. “No one is asking for your opinion here. We simply need you because you’re a skin. That just means you can get us to the other skins because you all are tight....and shit.”
“Tight and shit? Did you inhale too much cedar oil today, Maria? No one says ‘tight and shit’ anymore.” Alex crossed his arms over his chest, shrugging his shoulders after catching the death look Maria had shot him in the rearview mirror.
“If I were all ‘tight and shit’ with the other skins, what would I be doing in Roswell?”
“Well,” Alex said, ignoring Maria’s mouthed protests to keep his mouth shut. “Roswell is a quaint little town.”
“If I wanted to live in Hickville,” Courtney snapped, “I’d have just stayed in Copper Summit.”
“This is because of Michael, isn’t it? You’re in love with him. You’re stalking him.”
“Not technically, no.”
Maria sighed loudly, her foot inadvertently pressing harder against the accelerator. The Jetta sputtered slightly then zoomed forward. “Out of all the aliens in this world and others, why do you have to stalk Michael? Why do you have to love Michael?”
“What do you want with Michael,” Liz interrupted, sensing another Maria moment in the works. “Max is the leader, not Michael.” She paused slightly, an aura of understanding on her face. “Wait.”
“What?”
“What is it, Liz,” Alex asked, leaning forward so he could be formally included in the conversation.
“If there were warring factions on Max’s home planet, who’s to say these factions didn’t want someone else as their leader? We don’t really know what the fighting was about and neither do Max, Michael, Isabel or Tess.”
“Go on,” Alex suggested.
“Are you suggesting that the skins wanted Michael as their leader,” Maria asked. “Michael,” she repeated with a laugh. “Stonewall Guerin? To lead, not just watch and bitch?”
“Who the Royal Four are now are not the same beings they once were.”
“Then that’s it,” Alex replied. “If Max wasn’t living up to the expectations of his planet as king, what’s stopping the factions that don’t want him as king in the first place from going after Michael? Isn’t that what’s been going on with Isabel since Whitaker told her about Vilandra? That she could have betrayed Max, leading to their deaths. It makes perfect sense.
“Those of us that followed Rath, Michael in his first life, thought Michael would be a better leader than Zan.”
“Max,” Liz stated.
“Right, but the majority of skins, the skins that are in Copper Summit, don’t support Michael or Max. They support Khivar. He’s really responsible for their deaths and he’s the one in control now.”
“Let me see if I’m understanding you,” Maria asked, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “You came to Roswell to try to get Michael to usurp Max’s authority and you thought the best way to do that was to get him into bed like the cheap floozy you are.”
“I was willing to do whatever it took to get Michael to see his true potential.”
“You make me sick,” Maria seethed.
“You were the ones that brought me along and again, for the record, I have to say this is a very bad idea. You aren’t equipped to deal the kinds of powers these skins possess.”
“That’s why you’re going to tell us everything we need to know about the skins and their harvest,” Liz replied calmly, fully turning around so that she met Courtney’s eyes.
* * *
“Have you seen Liz,” Kyle asked the moment he saw Michael enter their second period Spanish class. “I’m worried about her.”
“Why,” Michael asked and instantly grimaced, realizing his attitude was more brusque than he’d intended.
“We had a Western Civ. midterm today. Both Liz and Maria missed it.”
“Liz Parker missed a test?”
“I know,” Kyle whispered as Senorita Garcia began to lecture the class. “Something’s up.”
Michael ran his fingers through his hair and linked his hands together behind his neck. “Wait five minutes then ask for a bathroom pass. I’ll meet you outside.”
“What,” Kyle frantically asked but Michael had already stood from his desk and was making his way to the door.
“Senor Guerin,” Senorita Garcia called after him. “Senor Guerin!”
“No speaka Spanish,” Michael replied just before he slammed the door behind him. Kyle’s knees shook violently as he waited for the five minutes Michael suggested to tick away.
“Screw this,” he muttered as he grabbed his back pack off the floor and stood to follow Michael out of the classroom.
“Senor Valenti! Senor Valenti!”
“Sorry,” Kyle muttered, smiling slightly because he knew Senorita Garcia was one of the few female teachers that couldn’t resist the Valenti charm. “He’s my ride,” he said, pointing into the hallway. Arching his eyebrows quickly, he too exited the classroom as the door slammed to a close behind him. Once in the hallway, he saw Michael hurriedly shoving his books into his locker. “Michael,” he called, a strange sense of fear suddenly overpowering him. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”
“We have to find Max and tell him the truth about what happened between you and Liz.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I think Liz and Maria are walking straight into a trap.”
Last edited by JO on Wed Jan 05, 2005 2:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Part 19
Part 19
“What do you mean? What trap?”
Michael sighed as he continued to flip through the file cabinet full of student records. “It’s...complicated, Kyle. Just keep watch, okay. I can’t help Liz and Maria if I get busted.” Kyle rolled his eyes heavily and turned around in the main office. Michael nonchalantly joined him several minutes later. “Tess and Max have Geometry right now and Isabel -”
“Is walking right toward us,” Kyle muttered before loudly clearing his throat.
“Hey guys,” Isabel said with a smile before tilting her head to the left in suspicion. “What’s going on with you two? What are you doing behind the front desk...together?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing.”
“Right.” She paused, running her finger down the late admit list attached to the front desk. “Have either of you seen Alex this morning?”
“No,” Michael replied as he and Kyle walked from behind the desk and followed Isabel out into the hallway. “Why?”
“Because I can’t find him. I’ve been looking in all of his usual haunts: band room, computer lab, library, but he’s not in any of those places.”
“Maybe he’s missing with Liz and Maria,” Kyle offered, much to the chagrin of Michael.
“Liz and Maria are missing?” Isabel grabbed Michael’s arm and pulled him into the nearest empty classroom. “What’s going on? Since when do you two hang out?”
“We need to find Max, Iz. I think Liz and Maria are involved in something big...really big.”
Isabel’s eyes widened while the implications of Michael’s words hit her in the heart. “And if Alex is with them -”
“They’re all heading up shit creek without a paddle.” Michael and Isabel glanced at Kyle then at each other with dazed looks on their faces. “What?”
“We’ve got to rally the troops, Michael, so to speak.”
“Well, Iz, that involves getting Max and Tess out of class first.”
“Why do you need us out of class,” Max questioned, startling Kyle, Michael and Isabel.
“Damn it, man, don’t you knock? You just took five years off my life. Help me, Buddha.”
Max stepped further into the room after being coaxed from behind by Tess. He stayed away from Kyle but watched his every move like a hawk watched its prey. “What’s going on,” Tess asked as she pulled up a desk and sat next to Max.
“I think Liz and Maria are in trouble,” Michael began.
“And Alex too.”
“Liz can take care of herself,” Max snapped, ignoring Isabel’s remark. He stood quickly and extended his hand forward toward the door when Michael’s words sent a ripple of pain through his entire body.
“They didn’t sleep together, Max,” Michael blurted out. Max froze and for a second, Michael wasn’t even sure if he was still breathing. “It was all just a set up.”
“I don’t understand,” Isabel said. “Max said he saw Liz and Kyle in bed togther.”
“I did...see them...together,” he replied softly, turning around to face the group. He wildly avoided Kyle’s eyes for fear his confusion and anger might get the best of him and he’d be forced to punish Kyle within an inch of his life. He needed to be focused, especially if Liz, Maria and Alex were in trouble. “She tried to tell me...but I wouldn’t believe her. I...I wouldn’t even listen.”
“But the rumors,” Tess said. “We’ve all heard the rumors.”
“I didn’t tell anyone,” Kyle began, “and I know Liz didn’t either. I don’t know how they got started.” He lowered his head, digging his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Liz loves you, Max. It’s always been you.” Michael and Isabel quickly exchanged glances and Isabel managed to catch a flash of guilt on Tess’ face for a split second.
“Tell me what you know, Michael,” Max quietly demanded as he made himself comfortable in the desk near Tess.
Sighing loudly, Michael told Max, Isabel, Tess and Kyle the basic things he had learned that morning from the future Max, Liz and Maria. He thought it best to skip any parts regarding why Tess had left Roswell in both futures and concentrated solely on his theory that all hell was about to break lose.
“And you think it’s a trap,” Max asked as soon as Michael had finished speaking, much to Michael’s amazement. He didn’t even seem to budge at the thought of losing his entire family in a war that had stemmed from their heritage, and he certainly didn’t flinch after hearing Liz’s involvement in changing the future.
“I don’t know what to think, Maxwell, but right now, Liz, Maria and Alex are missing, presumably on their way to Copper Summit to prevent the harvest. I think we have to go there too.”
“What if things end up the same,” Isabel asked quietly. “What if we do this and nothing changes?”
“Right now, Liz, Maria and Alex are in danger because of us,” Max sais. “I don’t want them to get hurt, Iz, and if we can help prevent that, then we have to do whatever we can.” The group shifted, preparing to leave for Copper Summit as soon as they could get to their cars when Max asked a question Michael had not been prepared for. “What was he like?”
“Who?”
“Me...th...the other me. I mean, did Liz...look at him...”
“She’ll never be more happy to see you, Maxwell. I’d stake my life on that.” Michael threw his arm haphazardly around Max’s shoulders as they followed Kyle, Tess and Isabel into the hallway.
Max smiled slightly, willing himself not to think about exactly how brave and selfless Liz had been in her actions and how they contrasted so differently from his own. “Where is he? Is he coming to Copper Summit?”
“I don’t know, but I do know he can’t come into contact with you.”
“Why? What do you mean?”
“I don’t really understand it but Liz said that if you and he meet, you’ll cancel each other out.” Max wrinkled his face at Michael, showing that he did not understand what he was talking about. “Both of you will disappear...cease to exist.”
* * *
Tess burst into the hotel room, startling both Liz and Colby. She dropped the grocery bags she carried on the floor as soon as she entered the room and walked to the bed where Colby lay in semi-sleep. Liz sidestepped her, just barely managing to separate Tess from her son. “What are you doing, Tess,” she seethed as Tess reached past her and cradled the small boy in her arms.
Tess glared at Liz and pulled a gun from her back pocket, aiming it at Colby’s temple. Liz’s eyes widened when she realized that the gun was loaded and that Tess had a strange psychotic look in her eyes, one that Liz had never seen before. “Get in the car, Liz.” She kicked Liz’s shin hard,
almost sending Liz to the floor, as she uncocked the gun and removed it from Colby’s temple. Liz struggled to her feet while Tess stepped past her.
“Where are we going,” Liz asked, standing dumbfounded in the doorway of the hotel room while she watched Tess gently lay Colby into the backseat of the car.
“We’re going to Copper Summit, not that it matters to you anyway.” Tess pulled the gun from her back pocket again and aimed it into the backseat, prompting Liz to move carefully toward the car, her eyes never leaving Tess’ gun. “I’ve finally figured out the perfect way to get rid of you once and for all.”
“What do you mean? What trap?”
Michael sighed as he continued to flip through the file cabinet full of student records. “It’s...complicated, Kyle. Just keep watch, okay. I can’t help Liz and Maria if I get busted.” Kyle rolled his eyes heavily and turned around in the main office. Michael nonchalantly joined him several minutes later. “Tess and Max have Geometry right now and Isabel -”
“Is walking right toward us,” Kyle muttered before loudly clearing his throat.
“Hey guys,” Isabel said with a smile before tilting her head to the left in suspicion. “What’s going on with you two? What are you doing behind the front desk...together?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing.”
“Right.” She paused, running her finger down the late admit list attached to the front desk. “Have either of you seen Alex this morning?”
“No,” Michael replied as he and Kyle walked from behind the desk and followed Isabel out into the hallway. “Why?”
“Because I can’t find him. I’ve been looking in all of his usual haunts: band room, computer lab, library, but he’s not in any of those places.”
“Maybe he’s missing with Liz and Maria,” Kyle offered, much to the chagrin of Michael.
“Liz and Maria are missing?” Isabel grabbed Michael’s arm and pulled him into the nearest empty classroom. “What’s going on? Since when do you two hang out?”
“We need to find Max, Iz. I think Liz and Maria are involved in something big...really big.”
Isabel’s eyes widened while the implications of Michael’s words hit her in the heart. “And if Alex is with them -”
“They’re all heading up shit creek without a paddle.” Michael and Isabel glanced at Kyle then at each other with dazed looks on their faces. “What?”
“We’ve got to rally the troops, Michael, so to speak.”
“Well, Iz, that involves getting Max and Tess out of class first.”
“Why do you need us out of class,” Max questioned, startling Kyle, Michael and Isabel.
“Damn it, man, don’t you knock? You just took five years off my life. Help me, Buddha.”
Max stepped further into the room after being coaxed from behind by Tess. He stayed away from Kyle but watched his every move like a hawk watched its prey. “What’s going on,” Tess asked as she pulled up a desk and sat next to Max.
“I think Liz and Maria are in trouble,” Michael began.
“And Alex too.”
“Liz can take care of herself,” Max snapped, ignoring Isabel’s remark. He stood quickly and extended his hand forward toward the door when Michael’s words sent a ripple of pain through his entire body.
“They didn’t sleep together, Max,” Michael blurted out. Max froze and for a second, Michael wasn’t even sure if he was still breathing. “It was all just a set up.”
“I don’t understand,” Isabel said. “Max said he saw Liz and Kyle in bed togther.”
“I did...see them...together,” he replied softly, turning around to face the group. He wildly avoided Kyle’s eyes for fear his confusion and anger might get the best of him and he’d be forced to punish Kyle within an inch of his life. He needed to be focused, especially if Liz, Maria and Alex were in trouble. “She tried to tell me...but I wouldn’t believe her. I...I wouldn’t even listen.”
“But the rumors,” Tess said. “We’ve all heard the rumors.”
“I didn’t tell anyone,” Kyle began, “and I know Liz didn’t either. I don’t know how they got started.” He lowered his head, digging his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Liz loves you, Max. It’s always been you.” Michael and Isabel quickly exchanged glances and Isabel managed to catch a flash of guilt on Tess’ face for a split second.
“Tell me what you know, Michael,” Max quietly demanded as he made himself comfortable in the desk near Tess.
Sighing loudly, Michael told Max, Isabel, Tess and Kyle the basic things he had learned that morning from the future Max, Liz and Maria. He thought it best to skip any parts regarding why Tess had left Roswell in both futures and concentrated solely on his theory that all hell was about to break lose.
“And you think it’s a trap,” Max asked as soon as Michael had finished speaking, much to Michael’s amazement. He didn’t even seem to budge at the thought of losing his entire family in a war that had stemmed from their heritage, and he certainly didn’t flinch after hearing Liz’s involvement in changing the future.
“I don’t know what to think, Maxwell, but right now, Liz, Maria and Alex are missing, presumably on their way to Copper Summit to prevent the harvest. I think we have to go there too.”
“What if things end up the same,” Isabel asked quietly. “What if we do this and nothing changes?”
“Right now, Liz, Maria and Alex are in danger because of us,” Max sais. “I don’t want them to get hurt, Iz, and if we can help prevent that, then we have to do whatever we can.” The group shifted, preparing to leave for Copper Summit as soon as they could get to their cars when Max asked a question Michael had not been prepared for. “What was he like?”
“Who?”
“Me...th...the other me. I mean, did Liz...look at him...”
“She’ll never be more happy to see you, Maxwell. I’d stake my life on that.” Michael threw his arm haphazardly around Max’s shoulders as they followed Kyle, Tess and Isabel into the hallway.
Max smiled slightly, willing himself not to think about exactly how brave and selfless Liz had been in her actions and how they contrasted so differently from his own. “Where is he? Is he coming to Copper Summit?”
“I don’t know, but I do know he can’t come into contact with you.”
“Why? What do you mean?”
“I don’t really understand it but Liz said that if you and he meet, you’ll cancel each other out.” Max wrinkled his face at Michael, showing that he did not understand what he was talking about. “Both of you will disappear...cease to exist.”
* * *
Tess burst into the hotel room, startling both Liz and Colby. She dropped the grocery bags she carried on the floor as soon as she entered the room and walked to the bed where Colby lay in semi-sleep. Liz sidestepped her, just barely managing to separate Tess from her son. “What are you doing, Tess,” she seethed as Tess reached past her and cradled the small boy in her arms.
Tess glared at Liz and pulled a gun from her back pocket, aiming it at Colby’s temple. Liz’s eyes widened when she realized that the gun was loaded and that Tess had a strange psychotic look in her eyes, one that Liz had never seen before. “Get in the car, Liz.” She kicked Liz’s shin hard,
almost sending Liz to the floor, as she uncocked the gun and removed it from Colby’s temple. Liz struggled to her feet while Tess stepped past her.
“Where are we going,” Liz asked, standing dumbfounded in the doorway of the hotel room while she watched Tess gently lay Colby into the backseat of the car.
“We’re going to Copper Summit, not that it matters to you anyway.” Tess pulled the gun from her back pocket again and aimed it into the backseat, prompting Liz to move carefully toward the car, her eyes never leaving Tess’ gun. “I’ve finally figured out the perfect way to get rid of you once and for all.”
Last edited by JO on Wed Jan 05, 2005 2:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Part 20
cardinalgirl -- Excellent questions but I can't answer them! 
What I mean to say is you'll just have to keep reading to see if they are answered (and I hope they are)
Part 20
“You’re insane,” Liz spat as Tess drove the car out of the parking lot and onto Highway 285. “What good is it going to do to go to Copper Summit?” Liz had not seen or thought about Copper Summit, Arizona in almost five years. Her memories of the trip were intricately entwined in the deception she had created for Max the night of the Gomez concert. She had been their only true link to Congresswoman Whitaker and now, reflecting on how different her life could have been, she wished she had simply denied Max his request. Then again, she thought, hindsight was twenty-twenty and she had rarely been able to say no to Max, in any incarnation.
“Just shut up, Parker, or I’ll make your worst nightmare come true by killing Colby.”
“Tess, why are you doing this? There’s no one that can hurt you now. This is a different time.”
“If it’s so different, why haven’t we disappeared? Isn’t that how the theory goes?”
“What,” Liz said, her words strangled in her throat. “What are you talking about?”
“This whole time travel thing. Quantum mechanics. If the world ended because I left...do you know how important that makes me?”
“I’m sorry, Tess. I’m not following you.”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Parker,” Tess screamed, almost steering the car into the drainage ditch along the highway. “I know you know why we’re going to Copper Summit, and I know you know what I’m planning on doing there. You’ve been a thorn in my side for much too long.”
Liz stiffened and turned her head to look into the backseat. Colby had fallen asleep, thankfully, causing Liz to smile sweetly at her child. Tess had been right in assuming Liz was playing dumb. After all, it was Liz that had begun their entire downfall by pretending to sleep with Kyle. She knew the entire story behind Serina’s quantum mechanics theory, and she knew that Serina should have used her knowledge for the good of the whole as opposed to helping Tess with her machinations which ultimately had lead to her own death. Tess was taking Liz to Copper Summit in hopes that she and the present version of herself would meet and cause each other to disappear.
What Tess did not know was that now Liz was plotting to do the same thing to her.
* * *
Max burst into the hotel room, almost tripping over the bags of spilled groceries in the entryway. He jumped over them and began frantically searching the rooms. He knew Liz was there, that Liz and their son were there. After thoroughly searching the rooms, he slumped onto the bed and ran his shaky hands through his hair. When Liz had placed their son into his arms almost two nights earlier, Max had been surprised by how quickly the connection had flared between them. He had spent the remainder of the two days picking up images and impressions from his son. He couldn’t technically explain the lasting connection but he had to assume it was because they were close to Roswell. Hell, he thought, Liz had even told him they were closer than he thought that night, but things had been so hectic after Michael and Maria had discovered his presence that he had not had the time to focus on exactly what the impressions were that he was receiving from his son.
He flopped backwards onto the bed, the connection to his son causing instantaneous images to flow into his mind. He knew they were images of something that had happened very recently in this room, their imprint woven into the room’s make-up. He saw Tess grab his son and point a loaded gun at him. He felt Liz’s near-hysterical concern, but most importantly, he watched as Tess mouthed the words ‘Copper Summit’ and the refrain repeat over and over in slow motion.
He sat up quickly, his heart aching for Liz and their son and his mind reeling with the thought that Tess might actually hurt either one of them. Then he remembered exactly what time of year it was in Copper Summit and he blanched, knowing that Tess had taken Liz and their son to Copper Summit for the sole purpose of destroying them all.
* * *
“This was such a bad idea,” Alex said as Maria drove the Jetta down Copper Summit’s main street. “It’s like we’ve just went back in time...to ancient Appalachia.”
“Can it, Alex,” Liz said but she too could feel an unknown fear swelling in the pit of her stomach. What exactly had she and Maria done?
“Oh...my...God. I hate to admit the hooch is right, Liz, but we’re so not equipped for this.”
“Where are the unborn skins being held, Courtney,” Liz asked turning in her seat to face Courtney and Alex.
“That’s just it. I don’t know. I left before most of this was built. They could have moved the harvest to any of the larger buildings in town.”
Liz glanced anxiously between Alex and Maria. The three of them had been flying by the seat of their pants in coming to Copper Summit, especially without Max, Michael, Isabel and Tess. While they had assumed bringing Courtney would be a good idea, it now looked as though whatever semblance of a plan they had had was disintegrating before their eyes. The part that kept flashing through Liz’s mind however was not that she and her friends had probably walked into the biggest snafu of their young lives, but that Max - any form of Max - was not here to help her.
What I mean to say is you'll just have to keep reading to see if they are answered (and I hope they are)Part 20
“You’re insane,” Liz spat as Tess drove the car out of the parking lot and onto Highway 285. “What good is it going to do to go to Copper Summit?” Liz had not seen or thought about Copper Summit, Arizona in almost five years. Her memories of the trip were intricately entwined in the deception she had created for Max the night of the Gomez concert. She had been their only true link to Congresswoman Whitaker and now, reflecting on how different her life could have been, she wished she had simply denied Max his request. Then again, she thought, hindsight was twenty-twenty and she had rarely been able to say no to Max, in any incarnation.
“Just shut up, Parker, or I’ll make your worst nightmare come true by killing Colby.”
“Tess, why are you doing this? There’s no one that can hurt you now. This is a different time.”
“If it’s so different, why haven’t we disappeared? Isn’t that how the theory goes?”
“What,” Liz said, her words strangled in her throat. “What are you talking about?”
“This whole time travel thing. Quantum mechanics. If the world ended because I left...do you know how important that makes me?”
“I’m sorry, Tess. I’m not following you.”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Parker,” Tess screamed, almost steering the car into the drainage ditch along the highway. “I know you know why we’re going to Copper Summit, and I know you know what I’m planning on doing there. You’ve been a thorn in my side for much too long.”
Liz stiffened and turned her head to look into the backseat. Colby had fallen asleep, thankfully, causing Liz to smile sweetly at her child. Tess had been right in assuming Liz was playing dumb. After all, it was Liz that had begun their entire downfall by pretending to sleep with Kyle. She knew the entire story behind Serina’s quantum mechanics theory, and she knew that Serina should have used her knowledge for the good of the whole as opposed to helping Tess with her machinations which ultimately had lead to her own death. Tess was taking Liz to Copper Summit in hopes that she and the present version of herself would meet and cause each other to disappear.
What Tess did not know was that now Liz was plotting to do the same thing to her.
* * *
Max burst into the hotel room, almost tripping over the bags of spilled groceries in the entryway. He jumped over them and began frantically searching the rooms. He knew Liz was there, that Liz and their son were there. After thoroughly searching the rooms, he slumped onto the bed and ran his shaky hands through his hair. When Liz had placed their son into his arms almost two nights earlier, Max had been surprised by how quickly the connection had flared between them. He had spent the remainder of the two days picking up images and impressions from his son. He couldn’t technically explain the lasting connection but he had to assume it was because they were close to Roswell. Hell, he thought, Liz had even told him they were closer than he thought that night, but things had been so hectic after Michael and Maria had discovered his presence that he had not had the time to focus on exactly what the impressions were that he was receiving from his son.
He flopped backwards onto the bed, the connection to his son causing instantaneous images to flow into his mind. He knew they were images of something that had happened very recently in this room, their imprint woven into the room’s make-up. He saw Tess grab his son and point a loaded gun at him. He felt Liz’s near-hysterical concern, but most importantly, he watched as Tess mouthed the words ‘Copper Summit’ and the refrain repeat over and over in slow motion.
He sat up quickly, his heart aching for Liz and their son and his mind reeling with the thought that Tess might actually hurt either one of them. Then he remembered exactly what time of year it was in Copper Summit and he blanched, knowing that Tess had taken Liz and their son to Copper Summit for the sole purpose of destroying them all.
* * *
“This was such a bad idea,” Alex said as Maria drove the Jetta down Copper Summit’s main street. “It’s like we’ve just went back in time...to ancient Appalachia.”
“Can it, Alex,” Liz said but she too could feel an unknown fear swelling in the pit of her stomach. What exactly had she and Maria done?
“Oh...my...God. I hate to admit the hooch is right, Liz, but we’re so not equipped for this.”
“Where are the unborn skins being held, Courtney,” Liz asked turning in her seat to face Courtney and Alex.
“That’s just it. I don’t know. I left before most of this was built. They could have moved the harvest to any of the larger buildings in town.”
Liz glanced anxiously between Alex and Maria. The three of them had been flying by the seat of their pants in coming to Copper Summit, especially without Max, Michael, Isabel and Tess. While they had assumed bringing Courtney would be a good idea, it now looked as though whatever semblance of a plan they had had was disintegrating before their eyes. The part that kept flashing through Liz’s mind however was not that she and her friends had probably walked into the biggest snafu of their young lives, but that Max - any form of Max - was not here to help her.
Last edited by JO on Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Part 21
Part 21
“We’re leaving,” Maria stated as they continued to drive down the main street of Copper Summit. “We are so leaving this hellhole.”
“Maria,” Liz pleaded. “We can’t do that. You know about the harvest. You know we have to find it and destroy it.”
“No, Liz, what I know is that we are seriously outnumbered. We have no idea about anything. We just know Whitaker’s....husky thing...is here somewhere.” Maria drove down a dead end street and began to turn the Jetta around. “I know we were going to do it ourselves, Liz, and save the world but this is just too big. I can’t handle messing up the future again. It was bad enough knowing Alex died.” Maria’s eyes widened as she realized her slip and she and Liz slowly turned toward each other. They continued their motion toward the back seat and Alex, whose face bore the same look of confusion as Maria’s when she had discovered the truth.
“I died? You’re telling me I...I died...or that I will die like...tomorrow?”
“We could all die tomorrow,” Courtney offered. “Some of us might even go today.”
“You’re not helping, harlot,” Maria seethed as she pulled the car into an abandoned parking lot.
“You didn’t tell me you were trying to get me killed when I agreed to help you.”
“No, Alex,” Liz began, pulling herself onto her knees in the passenger seat of the Jetta. She glanced awkwardly at Maria who had copied Liz’s stance so they could talk to Alex. “You don’t understand. It was all Tess.”
“Tess, Alex. That’s right. It was all Tess.”
“I don’t even really know Tess.”
“That’s not the point, Alex.” Liz opened her mouth to continue but paused, reflecting on exactly what Alex deserved to know. After several seconds of debating with herself, she decided that Alex needed to know everything, the entire truth. “This is going to sound completely crazy, Alex, but I promise you that everything I am about to say is true. Okay?”
“Let me have it,” he answered quietly.
“Okay,” Liz began, glancing one last time at Maria before she turned her full attention to Alex. “Almost a week ago, I was visited by Max...from the future...”
* * *
“And you believe this,” Alex asked, pointing at Maria. “You believe this...magnificent yarn that Parker here is trying to pull over our eyes.”
“I believe her, Alex. I swear I do. Everything Liz said was the truth, right down to your...death. Future Max told me the entire story and I believe him.”
Alex laughed nervously but it was not his normal laugh. Liz and Maria exchanged glances as his laugh quickly turned into a cackle. “Oh, this is so not how I wanted to live my life, man. Aliens in the universe I can believe, but aliens killing me for my computer skills....it’s insane!”
“Alex...Alex,” Liz said but couldn’t find the words to finish her thought. Everything Alex felt was completely natural. It wasn’t every day that someone found out a member of their group of friends was going to kill them. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am about this. If I hadn’t changed the future, none of this would have happened. You would have danced at my wedding. You...wouldn’t have...”
“Liz,” Alex began, reaching across Courtney to console one of his best friends. “None of this is your fault. I think that blame should be placed on the guilty party, which is Tess. How could you have known? You weren’t just trying to save your own ass. You were trying to save the entire world, an admirable feat in of itself. ”
“I know but,” Liz mumbled, wiping at her face with her hands. “I’m just so sorry you died.”
“I’m not dead, Liz. I’m right here,” Alex climbed over Courtney, gently shoving her to his side of the back seat. He carefully grasped Liz’s heaving shoulders in his hands and pulled her to him. “I’m not going anywhere. We’re not going to let her win. We can’t let her win. I’ll still dance at your wedding, I promise.” Reaching his left arm toward Maria, he pulled his two best friends closer to him in the cramped space. “I’ll dance at everyone’s weddings.” Both girls were now openly weeping against Alex and his shirt had begun to look like a used hanky.
“I hate to break up this special after school moment, but we are just sitting ducks. I for one don’t want to be around when Nicholas discovers we’re here. If we’re going, let’s go while the getting is good.”
Liz reluctantly pushed away from Alex, wiping her face one final time on his sleeve. She and Maria laughed slightly as the three best friends settled back into their seats and Maria started the Jetta.
* * *
Max drove the jeep on Highway 285 toward Copper Summit, his hands almost choking the steering wheel. Michael rode beside him, reading directions to him as necessary. Tess, Isabel and Kyle were wedged in the back seat of the jeep with Tess’ face reflected back at him every time he looked in his rear view mirror. She had had little to say since discovering the truth about Liz and Kyle and Max wasn’t exactly certain how she was taking the news. He himself had been so shocked by Michael’s announcement that he had spent the majority of the drive processing the sacrifices Liz had made. In addition to the confusion and joy he felt finally knowing the majority of the truth behind that horrible moment, there was another emotion lingering in the back of his mind that he hadn’t shared with anyone; an emotion that had always tickled the underbelly of his love for Liz: fear.
* * *
Max erratically drove the stolen car toward Copper Summit. He hadn’t picked up any more flashes from his son and fear continued to fill his heart as the miles between he and Copper Summit disappeared. He knew he shouldn’t think about her, but his mind drifted back to the young Liz, the Liz he had originally visited. Thoughts about her sacrifices flickered through his mind and he couldn’t help the mournful sigh that crossed his lips. They were both the same: selfless, brave, noble. The young Liz had never really understood how horrible his life had been. There had been no way to adequately describe to her the effects of the war, and part of him had wanted to maintain her innocence from such graphic acts. His Liz, however, his Liz had changed the future, almost destroying his life and yet, she had given him a future to finally fight for, one that he desperately wanted to live with her and their son. He pressed the gas pedal harder, determined to get to Copper Summit in time to stop Tess from destroying his life again.
“We’re leaving,” Maria stated as they continued to drive down the main street of Copper Summit. “We are so leaving this hellhole.”
“Maria,” Liz pleaded. “We can’t do that. You know about the harvest. You know we have to find it and destroy it.”
“No, Liz, what I know is that we are seriously outnumbered. We have no idea about anything. We just know Whitaker’s....husky thing...is here somewhere.” Maria drove down a dead end street and began to turn the Jetta around. “I know we were going to do it ourselves, Liz, and save the world but this is just too big. I can’t handle messing up the future again. It was bad enough knowing Alex died.” Maria’s eyes widened as she realized her slip and she and Liz slowly turned toward each other. They continued their motion toward the back seat and Alex, whose face bore the same look of confusion as Maria’s when she had discovered the truth.
“I died? You’re telling me I...I died...or that I will die like...tomorrow?”
“We could all die tomorrow,” Courtney offered. “Some of us might even go today.”
“You’re not helping, harlot,” Maria seethed as she pulled the car into an abandoned parking lot.
“You didn’t tell me you were trying to get me killed when I agreed to help you.”
“No, Alex,” Liz began, pulling herself onto her knees in the passenger seat of the Jetta. She glanced awkwardly at Maria who had copied Liz’s stance so they could talk to Alex. “You don’t understand. It was all Tess.”
“Tess, Alex. That’s right. It was all Tess.”
“I don’t even really know Tess.”
“That’s not the point, Alex.” Liz opened her mouth to continue but paused, reflecting on exactly what Alex deserved to know. After several seconds of debating with herself, she decided that Alex needed to know everything, the entire truth. “This is going to sound completely crazy, Alex, but I promise you that everything I am about to say is true. Okay?”
“Let me have it,” he answered quietly.
“Okay,” Liz began, glancing one last time at Maria before she turned her full attention to Alex. “Almost a week ago, I was visited by Max...from the future...”
* * *
“And you believe this,” Alex asked, pointing at Maria. “You believe this...magnificent yarn that Parker here is trying to pull over our eyes.”
“I believe her, Alex. I swear I do. Everything Liz said was the truth, right down to your...death. Future Max told me the entire story and I believe him.”
Alex laughed nervously but it was not his normal laugh. Liz and Maria exchanged glances as his laugh quickly turned into a cackle. “Oh, this is so not how I wanted to live my life, man. Aliens in the universe I can believe, but aliens killing me for my computer skills....it’s insane!”
“Alex...Alex,” Liz said but couldn’t find the words to finish her thought. Everything Alex felt was completely natural. It wasn’t every day that someone found out a member of their group of friends was going to kill them. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am about this. If I hadn’t changed the future, none of this would have happened. You would have danced at my wedding. You...wouldn’t have...”
“Liz,” Alex began, reaching across Courtney to console one of his best friends. “None of this is your fault. I think that blame should be placed on the guilty party, which is Tess. How could you have known? You weren’t just trying to save your own ass. You were trying to save the entire world, an admirable feat in of itself. ”
“I know but,” Liz mumbled, wiping at her face with her hands. “I’m just so sorry you died.”
“I’m not dead, Liz. I’m right here,” Alex climbed over Courtney, gently shoving her to his side of the back seat. He carefully grasped Liz’s heaving shoulders in his hands and pulled her to him. “I’m not going anywhere. We’re not going to let her win. We can’t let her win. I’ll still dance at your wedding, I promise.” Reaching his left arm toward Maria, he pulled his two best friends closer to him in the cramped space. “I’ll dance at everyone’s weddings.” Both girls were now openly weeping against Alex and his shirt had begun to look like a used hanky.
“I hate to break up this special after school moment, but we are just sitting ducks. I for one don’t want to be around when Nicholas discovers we’re here. If we’re going, let’s go while the getting is good.”
Liz reluctantly pushed away from Alex, wiping her face one final time on his sleeve. She and Maria laughed slightly as the three best friends settled back into their seats and Maria started the Jetta.
* * *
Max drove the jeep on Highway 285 toward Copper Summit, his hands almost choking the steering wheel. Michael rode beside him, reading directions to him as necessary. Tess, Isabel and Kyle were wedged in the back seat of the jeep with Tess’ face reflected back at him every time he looked in his rear view mirror. She had had little to say since discovering the truth about Liz and Kyle and Max wasn’t exactly certain how she was taking the news. He himself had been so shocked by Michael’s announcement that he had spent the majority of the drive processing the sacrifices Liz had made. In addition to the confusion and joy he felt finally knowing the majority of the truth behind that horrible moment, there was another emotion lingering in the back of his mind that he hadn’t shared with anyone; an emotion that had always tickled the underbelly of his love for Liz: fear.
* * *
Max erratically drove the stolen car toward Copper Summit. He hadn’t picked up any more flashes from his son and fear continued to fill his heart as the miles between he and Copper Summit disappeared. He knew he shouldn’t think about her, but his mind drifted back to the young Liz, the Liz he had originally visited. Thoughts about her sacrifices flickered through his mind and he couldn’t help the mournful sigh that crossed his lips. They were both the same: selfless, brave, noble. The young Liz had never really understood how horrible his life had been. There had been no way to adequately describe to her the effects of the war, and part of him had wanted to maintain her innocence from such graphic acts. His Liz, however, his Liz had changed the future, almost destroying his life and yet, she had given him a future to finally fight for, one that he desperately wanted to live with her and their son. He pressed the gas pedal harder, determined to get to Copper Summit in time to stop Tess from destroying his life again.
Last edited by JO on Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Part 22
Part 22
Max felt his younger self before he had crested the ridge on the highway. He slowed slightly, refusing to glance to his left at the Qwik-E-Stop, knowing his younger self was there. He knew Isabel had made his younger self stop the car so she and Tess could use the bathroom. But he knew the jeep’s occupants had no idea exactly what was waiting for them in Copper Summit and he hoped he could get there in time so that they never found out.
He drove past the dilapidated gas station, silently praying that his younger self paid no attention to this car. He had stolen it from a Crashdown patron, changing its color and plates so that he wouldn’t be caught before his mission was complete. Then he had begun his quest for Liz and their son. A soft smile crossed his lips as he thought of his son, a small boy with Liz’s dark hair and his eyes. He didn’t even know his own child’s name, hadn’t even known he was a possibility until Liz placed him into his arms. He now knew how mothers felt the first time they touched their child - he loved his son instantly, without question. To think that Tess could hurt him or Liz, he quickly pushed the thought out of his mind and pleaded with the car to make it to Copper Summit, only 50 miles away.
* * *
Tess parked the stolen car on the street opposite the Universal Friendship League building, the barn containing the skins’ harvest not an whole block away. She turned toward the back seat to check on Colby, scowling at Liz during her turn. Tess reached toward Colby, Liz’s hand quickly stopping her forward progress with a determined grasp on Tess’ wrist.
“What do you think you’re doing, Tess?”
“I’m going to wake him up, Liz. He’s been asleep the entire time.” Tess jerked her arm away from Liz and gently began shaking Colby awake.
“Let him sleep,” Liz suggested as she watched Tess closely. As long as Tess was near Colby, Liz watched her closely. On the one hand, Liz knew Tess would never hurt Colby because, as far as Tess knew, no one knew that Colby was Liz’s child. And if Tess somehow succeeded with her plan to make both Lizs disappear, she could use Colby as a bargaining tool with their Max. But what Tess didn’t know was that their Max did know Liz had given birth to Colby, that he was their son, not the son Tess had claimed to be pregnant with after Alex’s death. “If you wake him up -”
“What? What will happen if I wake him up?”
“We won’t be able to hide in plain sight,” Liz offered, hoping she could convince Tess that Colby’s purpose was better served asleep and out of sight. Not only was her worst nightmare that Tess might harm Colby, but being in Copper Summit, she also had to fear the involvement of the skins, especially since Colby was Max’s son, his heir. “If too many people see him, we’re screwed.”
Tess reclined against the dashboard of the car, her eyes alternating between Liz and Colby. She pursed her lips in thought and slowly turned around in the seat so she could look out the front windshield. Liz quietly exhaled the breath she was holding, glad that Tess had, for once, heeded her advice. “Why do you care if we’re seen? Colby will be safe.”
“Being here in Copper Summit and given the fact that Colby is Max’s son already means he’s not safe. You brought him straight into a war zone, Tess.”
“Colby will always be safe when I’m around.”
“Really,” Liz snorted. “I seem to remember the skins were willing to kill us, all of us, the last time we were here.”
“This time is different,” Tess replied, absently weaving her fingers through her blonde curls. “This time I know exactly what I have to do to get rid of you so Max will finally be completely mine.”
* * *
Maria weaved through the dirt roads of Copper Summit, trying to find her way back to the main highway so they could leave this place and never come back. It was only after she noticed that she had passed the same old red tractor three times that she accepted they were lost in Copper Summit. She screeched the Jetta to a halt and slammed her fists against the steering wheel. “We’re lost,” she sighed, her frustration evident by the tears pooling in her eyes.
“I could’ve told you that almost twenty minutes ago, Blondie.”
“Can it, Jezebel,” Maria snorted, staring at Courtney’s reflection in the rear view mirror. Courtney met Maria’s glare with no hesitation as Alex and Liz watched the stand-off. It almost reminded Alex of the time he had walked in on Courtney and Maria in the Crashdown kitchen at Isabel’s birthday party.
“Knock it off,” he said, swiping at Maria’s face to distract her from Courtney. “I’d hate to see one of you burst a blood vessel in your oh-so-beautiful faces.”
“Her face is beautiful,” Maria shot back, her attention now fully on Alex. “Are you insane?”
“That’s my Maria,” Alex cooed as he lovingly kissed her cheek before glancing at Liz and wiggling his eyebrows up and down several times. Maria rolled his eyes and shoved him away from her and he playfully fell against the back seat, pretending serious injury to his arm.
* * *
Max drove past the old barn that housed the skins’ harvest. He knew his younger self, along with Michael, Tess, Isabel and Kyle had just entered the town and was relieved when they stopped under the guise they were lost and decided to formulate a plan to rescue Liz, Maria and Alex without alerting the skins of their presence. Max slowed the car at the end of the block and turned around, willing to bide his time in Copper Summit until he saw that Liz, both of them, would be safe. Glancing to his left in the middle of his u-turn, he did a double take as blonde ringlets reflecting in the sunlight caught his eye. Tess had brought Liz and his son here. And he knew that Tess was fully equipped and more than willing to once again destroy everything he loved.
He carefully completed his u-turn, trying not to draw undue attention to himself, and was heading in the direction he had just come from, away from the car that held Tess, Liz and their son, when he saw the familiar site of Maria’s Jetta several yards away, slowly creeping his direction. A slight panic attack rumbled from the core of his soul and he paled because Liz, one of the two he sought to save today, was unknowingly heading for her own destruction. The ripple in his brain alerted him that his younger self and all the jeep’s occupants were also careening toward this same intersection and that unless he did something, they would all collide, bringing a definite end to three of their lives.
He stalled the car in front of the barn, mentally listing his available options as he silently realized he would have to do something drastic to prevent these two worlds from colliding. Turning his head to the right, he glanced momentarily at the old barn, knowing the future of the skins lay directly underneath its floor. He quickly thought of Liz and sent his love to her and their child, praying it reached them, and that Liz would understand exactly what he was planning to do and why it had to be done.
Max felt his younger self before he had crested the ridge on the highway. He slowed slightly, refusing to glance to his left at the Qwik-E-Stop, knowing his younger self was there. He knew Isabel had made his younger self stop the car so she and Tess could use the bathroom. But he knew the jeep’s occupants had no idea exactly what was waiting for them in Copper Summit and he hoped he could get there in time so that they never found out.
He drove past the dilapidated gas station, silently praying that his younger self paid no attention to this car. He had stolen it from a Crashdown patron, changing its color and plates so that he wouldn’t be caught before his mission was complete. Then he had begun his quest for Liz and their son. A soft smile crossed his lips as he thought of his son, a small boy with Liz’s dark hair and his eyes. He didn’t even know his own child’s name, hadn’t even known he was a possibility until Liz placed him into his arms. He now knew how mothers felt the first time they touched their child - he loved his son instantly, without question. To think that Tess could hurt him or Liz, he quickly pushed the thought out of his mind and pleaded with the car to make it to Copper Summit, only 50 miles away.
* * *
Tess parked the stolen car on the street opposite the Universal Friendship League building, the barn containing the skins’ harvest not an whole block away. She turned toward the back seat to check on Colby, scowling at Liz during her turn. Tess reached toward Colby, Liz’s hand quickly stopping her forward progress with a determined grasp on Tess’ wrist.
“What do you think you’re doing, Tess?”
“I’m going to wake him up, Liz. He’s been asleep the entire time.” Tess jerked her arm away from Liz and gently began shaking Colby awake.
“Let him sleep,” Liz suggested as she watched Tess closely. As long as Tess was near Colby, Liz watched her closely. On the one hand, Liz knew Tess would never hurt Colby because, as far as Tess knew, no one knew that Colby was Liz’s child. And if Tess somehow succeeded with her plan to make both Lizs disappear, she could use Colby as a bargaining tool with their Max. But what Tess didn’t know was that their Max did know Liz had given birth to Colby, that he was their son, not the son Tess had claimed to be pregnant with after Alex’s death. “If you wake him up -”
“What? What will happen if I wake him up?”
“We won’t be able to hide in plain sight,” Liz offered, hoping she could convince Tess that Colby’s purpose was better served asleep and out of sight. Not only was her worst nightmare that Tess might harm Colby, but being in Copper Summit, she also had to fear the involvement of the skins, especially since Colby was Max’s son, his heir. “If too many people see him, we’re screwed.”
Tess reclined against the dashboard of the car, her eyes alternating between Liz and Colby. She pursed her lips in thought and slowly turned around in the seat so she could look out the front windshield. Liz quietly exhaled the breath she was holding, glad that Tess had, for once, heeded her advice. “Why do you care if we’re seen? Colby will be safe.”
“Being here in Copper Summit and given the fact that Colby is Max’s son already means he’s not safe. You brought him straight into a war zone, Tess.”
“Colby will always be safe when I’m around.”
“Really,” Liz snorted. “I seem to remember the skins were willing to kill us, all of us, the last time we were here.”
“This time is different,” Tess replied, absently weaving her fingers through her blonde curls. “This time I know exactly what I have to do to get rid of you so Max will finally be completely mine.”
* * *
Maria weaved through the dirt roads of Copper Summit, trying to find her way back to the main highway so they could leave this place and never come back. It was only after she noticed that she had passed the same old red tractor three times that she accepted they were lost in Copper Summit. She screeched the Jetta to a halt and slammed her fists against the steering wheel. “We’re lost,” she sighed, her frustration evident by the tears pooling in her eyes.
“I could’ve told you that almost twenty minutes ago, Blondie.”
“Can it, Jezebel,” Maria snorted, staring at Courtney’s reflection in the rear view mirror. Courtney met Maria’s glare with no hesitation as Alex and Liz watched the stand-off. It almost reminded Alex of the time he had walked in on Courtney and Maria in the Crashdown kitchen at Isabel’s birthday party.
“Knock it off,” he said, swiping at Maria’s face to distract her from Courtney. “I’d hate to see one of you burst a blood vessel in your oh-so-beautiful faces.”
“Her face is beautiful,” Maria shot back, her attention now fully on Alex. “Are you insane?”
“That’s my Maria,” Alex cooed as he lovingly kissed her cheek before glancing at Liz and wiggling his eyebrows up and down several times. Maria rolled his eyes and shoved him away from her and he playfully fell against the back seat, pretending serious injury to his arm.
* * *
Max drove past the old barn that housed the skins’ harvest. He knew his younger self, along with Michael, Tess, Isabel and Kyle had just entered the town and was relieved when they stopped under the guise they were lost and decided to formulate a plan to rescue Liz, Maria and Alex without alerting the skins of their presence. Max slowed the car at the end of the block and turned around, willing to bide his time in Copper Summit until he saw that Liz, both of them, would be safe. Glancing to his left in the middle of his u-turn, he did a double take as blonde ringlets reflecting in the sunlight caught his eye. Tess had brought Liz and his son here. And he knew that Tess was fully equipped and more than willing to once again destroy everything he loved.
He carefully completed his u-turn, trying not to draw undue attention to himself, and was heading in the direction he had just come from, away from the car that held Tess, Liz and their son, when he saw the familiar site of Maria’s Jetta several yards away, slowly creeping his direction. A slight panic attack rumbled from the core of his soul and he paled because Liz, one of the two he sought to save today, was unknowingly heading for her own destruction. The ripple in his brain alerted him that his younger self and all the jeep’s occupants were also careening toward this same intersection and that unless he did something, they would all collide, bringing a definite end to three of their lives.
He stalled the car in front of the barn, mentally listing his available options as he silently realized he would have to do something drastic to prevent these two worlds from colliding. Turning his head to the right, he glanced momentarily at the old barn, knowing the future of the skins lay directly underneath its floor. He quickly thought of Liz and sent his love to her and their child, praying it reached them, and that Liz would understand exactly what he was planning to do and why it had to be done.
Last edited by JO on Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.