hope you aren't disappointed but the pod chamber reunion will be in the next post. enjoy... and thanks so much for reading.
Chapter 20
Kyle and Tess had returned from their honeymoon only to find the gang waiting.
“Sorry, we kind of broke in,” Isabel said as they saw her sitting alone on the couch. “Everything’s fine, sort of, so don’t freak out.”
“I guess the honeymoon is really over now, babe,” Kyle said pulling Tess into his arms for a quick kiss. “So who is we, where’s Alex?”
“Maria and Max went for a walk and Alex is grabbing lunch for us. He should be here any minute. Michael won’t be joining us.” Isabel explained. “There’s probably no need to wait…just get it over with huh?”
Tess looked at Isabel with a furrowed brow, “What’s going on? Obviously, something has happened if you all are over here. Is Michael okay?”
“Michael…well, he’s…he’s just fine. I’ll just say it. Liz is alive. She’s back and Michael has known this whole time what’s been going on.”
“What!” Kyle and Tess both shouted. “Well, where is she? She and Michael aren’t…” Kyle started to suggest but then stopped himself.
“I don’t know, we don’t know anything really except that we followed Michael out to the quarry this morning and he met Liz.” Isabel recapped the events from last night the best she could without Maria to interject the occasional expletive.
Tess sat down while Kyle helped himself to a beer in the kitchen. Alex arrived with food. Max and Maria still hadn’t returned. “How is he?” Tess asked Isabel. “Tell me?
“I honestly don’t know, Tess. I’m hoping that he’s talking with Maria right now…anything, any response. He just shut down after he attacked Michael, which I don’t blame him for doing. He had told me last night that he felt her, you know, felt their connection and I didn’t listen. I just thought it was his mind playing tricks on him. I mean after all this time…she’s back and she just took off and didn’t say a word to him.”
Tess listened as Isabel continued, “This could completely break him. We have all been just standing by watching him fade away and no one has done anything. Look at us, we all have our happy little lives with our perfect partners and he has had no one and he still is in love with her. Somehow he has held onto this small spark of hope that she was alive…but this…she seemed quite healthy in Michael’s arms. What are we going to do?”
Kyle and Alex walked back into the living room after intentionally giving the girls a moment. “What can we do? We wait until tomorrow and get, no, we demand the answers. We could try and find Michael not that he’ll talk,” Alex stated matter of factly.
Max, Tess thought. He was hurting. He was probably angry with Michael too but anger never felt right to Max. He always pushed it down and away. Tess knew he was fighting this internal battle and wanted to talk to him but not until he was ready. “Listen, I want to talk to him when he gets back with Maria. I know you are worried about him, Izzy, but let me see if I can get in. He always feels he needs to be strong for you and he may let go with me. Just so we are in agreement, we all go to the Pod Chamber tomorrow to hear Liz out but we follow Max’s lead unless he just can’t deal which I’ll have to admit is a possibility considering…I don’t like all the speculation about why she’s back and what Michael’s involvement is but we need to be supportive for Max’s sake. ”
“And Maria’s too, I don’t like saying this but what if Liz isn’t Liz? What if it’s a trick? A shape shifter or something? What if she’s tricked Michael too in order to get information about us?” Alex added.
The thought had already crossed Tess’s mind but seemed to take Isabel completely by surprise. “But Max felt her…felt the connection.”
“Or he thought he did, we just need to be on guard tomorrow because we really don’t know, do we? We also need to be prepared to take Max out of this situation because I don’t think he’s completely clear…if it is a trick then whoever is doing it is playing on Max’s biggest weakness. Isabel, it’s up to us tomorrow to make decisions fast if something goes wrong…at this point, we don’t know where Michael’s loyalty lies if he’s been duped by her. I want to believe that it’s really Liz... that all of this is real for everyone’s sake but we just need to be prepared. Agreed?” Tess looked to the rest of them as they all nodded.
Max and Maria just walked with no specific destination in mind. All they knew was they didn’t want to around the others. Regardless of what everyone felt, Michael and Liz betrayed them and no matter how far they walked, that betrayal was still right there in front of them.
“You okay, want to talk now?” Max asked quietly taking Maria’s hand as a gesture of support and friendship.
“For once, I, Hurricane DeLuca, am at a total loss for words. I don’t like feeling this way. I know that much. I can’t believe it; I don’t want to believe it,” Maria said more calmly then even she expected. She felt numb. Thoughts of the conversation she had overhead between Michael and Liz were swirling through her mind. Are they together? Does he love her? Is that why Liz left to be with Michael because she couldn’t face us?
“I know what you’re doing and believe me, I’ve thought worse,” Max said giving her hand a squeeze and leading her to a bench nearby.
“Part of me wants to go find him and make him tell us. I know he knows. I just feel so stupid…why didn’t I ever question him when he went away for extended periods for work or god, hockey games. He was probably with her,” Maria said leaning on Max’s shoulder. “I know I should be overjoyed that Liz is alive but I just don’t understand.”
“I know, Maria.” Max couldn’t shake her expression when she saw him…she was utterly terrified and then it turned to something else…he didn’t know what but she was absolutely terrified of him. What had happened? Tomorrow wouldn’t come any sooner and he knew that Tess and Kyle were probably back by now. Thoughts of Michael and Liz together kept running through his mind. “Come on, we have to face them. Thanks for walking with me…I just wanted to get away from them for awhile. I feel like all I can feel is wave after wave of pity.”
“Max, what could be so bad that Liz felt she had to leave and Michael felt he had to cover for her?”
“I don’t know. I’m sorry, Maria but I don’t.” They walked back in silence. Max had thought it might help to be with Maria after all they were both in the dark. Nothing helped though; he was more confused than ever as they walked back to Tess and Kyle’s.
“Tess, you’re back. I’ve missed you so much,” Maria said as she ran into her arms.
“What am I, chopped liver?” Kyle joked.
“Of course, we missed you Buddha. It’s just a girl thing.”
Tess pulled Maria into the hallway and held her face in her hands. “Are you okay? Because I really need to talk to Max. Are you okay if I do that right now?”
“Yep, I’m just glad you’re back and he needs you…he really wouldn’t let his guard down with me while we were out. He listened though; he was there for me.”
“Thanks, I’ll be back. Alex brought food, so eat.”
Tess walked back into the living room noting Max’s absence. “Where is he?”
Isabel just pointed to the backyard without saying anything. Tess quietly approached him as he sat alone by a tree. She could tell he didn’t want to talk but she could also see that he was fighting a battle within and it was not healthy. She sat down next to him without saying anything and extended her hand. He looked up at her with red, puffy eyes and a twisted expression on his tired face. He took her hand and then fell into her arms sobbing. Tess stroked his hair and squeezed him tighter wishing she could do more to take away what the last ten years had taken from him. “I’m not going to tell you it’ll all be alright because I don’t know. We’ve always been truthful with one another. I can only imagine what you're doing inside that head of yours, Max. Thank you for trusting me enough to be vulnerable, to let it go. You don’t have to prove anything to me or take care of me. I have no expectations. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere. Talk to me,” she whispered.
“She’s alive, Tess. I felt her…I felt her inside me again and it felt…it felt like I hadn’t had a drink of water in an eternity and then all of the sudden I was drowning…but the way she looked at me…it was like I had a gun to her head. She was terrified and she just stood there in Michael’s arms and he wouldn’t let her go. I saw it…something there between them…why would he keep this…keep her from me…from all of us? I can’t do this, Tess. I can’t see her and feel her fear and see that look in her eyes. It was blame and fear and something else but I don’t want to see it again. What if she was tortured badly and what if Michael found her somehow and what if she refused to come back because she blames me for what happened to her because it really is my fault…all of this…this alien bullshit…it’s because of what I am…I put her in danger. I couldn’t keep her safe. Or what if Michael wouldn’t let her come back? What if she loves Michael? God, Tess, I thought not knowing was hard but almost knowing is worse. I can’t stop these thoughts in my head. I just want them to stop,” Max stopped speaking for a moment.
“Then let me in, Max. Let me help you. You don’t have to be alone,” Tess pleaded.
Max looked up at her begging with his eyes to make it all stop. She put her forehead to his and looked into his amber, swollen eyes. Spiraling into one another, she was overwhelmed by his raw emotions. Pain, sadness, anger, self-doubt and hatred but underneath it all was this constant current of love and hope flowing for Liz. She felt his guilt over being jealous of the other couples in their tight knit circle, his guilt over feeling happy and proud at the hospital when he helped a patient, he felt unworthy, undeserving of anything because he blamed himself for whatever happened to Liz. Tess took it in, absorbing everything he was feeling as best she could. All he wanted was to live a simple life with the woman he loved and not have this anchor around his neck of being a king and having enemies but that was impossible. He was constantly being pulled under by the weight of responsibility for the others, for his family, for his patients. He was cracking under this pressure and afraid of falling apart and appearing weak because everyone depended on him. He had failed them all before by losing Liz and he wouldn’t fail them again. And then the rage surfaced...towards Michael. Max was trying to bury it because he couldn't understand why his brother would do something like this. Why Michael was holding her and touching her hair in such an intimate way? He had wanted to do more than hit Michael today...and that scared him.
Tess poured as much love and compassion back to Max through their connection. She tried to be his confessor, listening with an open heart and receiving all he had without judgement. She wanted to lift his burden and show him that he wasn’t alone and he wasn’t solely responsible for the group. After awhile, she opened her eyes and saw him looking back at her. “Thank you, Max. We’ll figure this out together; I can promise you that. You are not alone; you can lean on us.”
Max nodded and wrapped her tightly in a hug. “Do I have to go back in there?”
“Well, we should discuss tomorrow. I need to tell you something and I need you to listen carefully, okay? What if it isn’t her? What if she is an imposter? I’m just posing the question. I know you said you felt her. Can you look at me and tell me honestly that you are 100% sure it was her?” Tess asked hoping she wasn’t pushing him too far, too fast.
Max could only sigh. “It was her, Tess. I know it’s been a long, long time but you don’t forget something that…that deep. She’s back and she’s alive and she’s scared to death.”
“Okay, I believe you, Max and no you don’t have to go back in there. What do you want to do?”
“I want to go to the hospital and see my patients, right now and then go home. Just let Alex and Iz know what time we’re meeting, okay.” Tess stood up to walk back in the house but Max pulled her back. “Tess, thank you for everything. Liz was right about you being a part of us…family. Kyle is one lucky guy.”
Tess smiled knowing she would never have made the leap with Kyle without Max’s help and friendship. He’s the one who told her that the heart could always see what was invisible to the eyes. He made her see that she was hopelessly in love with Kyle Valenti. He helped her let down her guard and embrace the humanity inside her. He helped her to see that she was worthy of Kyle’s love and that they could create a future together. He gave her his blessing and freed her from the past. Now, if she could only help him.
Choices-Then & Now (M/L mature/adult) Ch 34 8/14/05 [WIP
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Chapter 21
Journal Entry- after seeing Max at the quarry
I’m Liz Parker and today I saw him for the first time in what seemed forever.
I think of many things. I see things in different ways. I remember.
I see the truth of my heart, my actions, the familiar parts of me seeming strange and wanting to change.
I feel things that I cannot express with words and so I let the tears roll down and on and onto the page blurring my already confused state of mind.
I am forced to face myself and what I have done.
It’s been slow like a name you hear whispered and then you turn around and it’s gone.
Well, now I have either turned quick enough or it’s slowed down for me to hear.
It feels solid and true and right and I am forced to acknowledge who I am and what I have become.
Who I was. Where I want to be. What I can be. It’s all been building and building for so long.
Years and years of learning and unlearning to get me to this point in time.
I’m not sure where or what that point is but I am looking with my eyes and heart wide open and I’m listening.
My fears of being alone, being indecisive, making the wrong choice, reacting or going insane…
All those evil, powerful thoughts, which appear before me taunting me and spinning through my mind, are at rest.
Maybe not at peace but are patiently resting until my next glorious lesson, my revelation.
It’s hard to face that which you are so terrified and weakened by, that which you feel you have no possible control over or voice in.
But I’m listening and praying I will be silent enough to hear.
I am here; I am present; I am alone but not lonely; I am experiencing; I am grateful and mournful and full.
I know I will stumble along the way. I will forget to love everyone the same. I will forget to live with an open heart but I have seen it again and have held the vision of him within my soul long enough that the ripples are moving out into the world, into my being and I can’t stop what I’ve done..
It can’t be stopped and there is no turning back…the walls have crumbled and I am drowning underneath.
Where did my faith go for so long? Where did I drop it and forget to pick it back up and why did I stumble upon it now?
I know I cannot go back and change things. I am committed to whatever that may bring, to wherever that may lead me.
The point has come when the flower cannot stay closed, tightly squeezing together out of fear, out of pain, what-ifs, and loneliness. The bud must blossom because the pain is too great to not bloom, to not create, go forth, to not experience change and doing so with a sense of purpose and conviction.
The pain to stay the same has become too great. It’s time.
They drove to the Pod Chamber in silence. No one had spoken to Michael since yesterday. Deep down, Max and Maria both felt like Liz had trusted Michael instead of them. They were angry, hurt and jealous…filled with insecurity.
Liz paced around the Pod Chamber looking at her watch. She was a bundle of nerves and there was no way she could sit still.
“Calm down, they’ll be here,” Serena said for what seemed like the millionth time.
“Easy for you to say, you didn’t see them. How am I gonna do this? I just walked away again. I wasn’t ready. What if I made a mistake? What if Zan gets hurt?” Liz continued punishing herself.
“Liz, it will be alright. Michael and I will run interference. Trust me, have I let you down? Sit, okay, you are freaking me out,” Serena said walking towards Liz and wrapping her arms around her.
“I know, but they have every right to be angry with me…to hate me.”
“Mommy,” Zan said emerging from the lower pod leading into the Granolith Chamber, “he’s here.”
She heard the cars pull up outside. “I know, baby. Now go back inside until I call you. It’s going to be okay. I love you, Zan.”
“Love you too, but what if daddy doesn’t like me?”
“I told you sweetie, your daddy will love so much. Don’t worry. Now scoot and be quiet,” she said feeling a lump in her throat. What have I done?
“But, you’re worried. I feel it,” Zan said before disappearing again as the footsteps grew louder outside.
Turning to face them seemed like a simple enough task but her feet wouldn’t move. She was terrified. So much time had passed. So many wounds remained within her growing deeper and deeper as the years passed. Finally, she willed herself to face the repercussions of a decision made almost 10 years ago. She saw Maria, Kyle, Tess, Michael and Isabel enter and her heart sank. Had he not come? Was he that angry? How am I gonna explain this to Zan? But then she saw him. Their eyes briefly and painfully met before he dropped his gaze to the floor. He won’t even look at me.
Max had hung back a second before entering the Pod Chamber knowing that whatever lay inside would answer his questions. He had grown so accustomed to the pain, the void of not having her in his life, the constant nightmares of wondering her fate…all of that would change the second he stepped in. Seeing her again after all this time filled him with a whir of emotion and started the voice in his head to question all the what-ifs over and over.
No one spoke as Michael stepped forward. “Everyone, this is Serena. She is a good friend of Liz’s…and mine. She knows about us. She can absolutely be trusted. I don’t know what to say to you, but just listen and know that this has been hard for all of us. It wasn’t my intention to keep everything from you,” he looked at Maria first and then Max before continuing. “But there were reasons why and they were more important…this was more important than anything I’ve ever done. So, I guess Liz, you’re up.”
She started to speak but nothing came out. After what seemed an eternity, an ‘umm’ emerged. She cleared her throat. It was now or never. “I guess I should start at the beginning. Ten years ago, I had a visitor who told me things. Well, he did more than tell me, he showed me things…terrible things that would happen unless I was able to stop them. I saw the future and four years from now, the world as we knew it ended. I had to leave Roswell to prevent that from coming to pass.”
The group stared at her silently before Alex asked, “Who told you this? And you just believed them. Liz, you’re smarter than that. I mean, we aren’t exactly your average ho-hum clique of friends.”
“It was someone I trusted and above all else believed without a doubt. He was telling me the truth. I not only saw the future; I felt it,” she turned to face Max now about to deliver the blow. “The visitor was you, Max, a future version of you.”
His eyes flew wide open at hearing this, but he still did not know what to say. A part of him wanted to run to her and shake her, make her stop this, wake her up and himself too. He wanted to believe that it had all been a dream and that she was lying, but he couldn’t because he knew the instant she said that…that only Liz would have done something this drastic if he himself had asked her. Max was awash with guilt. It made him feel dirty; he could feel the bile rise in his throat…he was right…he was responsible for this.
Serena could sense the questions the others had as well as Liz’s own distress even though she had barely begun to explain the past. “I altered the Granolith in order to provide Max the opportunity to time travel. You have to understand, we had no choice. We had to change the future.”
“What happens in the future?” Max sputtered quietly finally finding his voice. He had to know what part he played in this charade now unfolding.
“Our enemies come to Earth. They annihilate every living thing on this planet looking for us. They killed everyone, our parents, Maria, Michael, Isabel, Kyle,” as she said their names she tried to make eye contact to drive home the seriousness of what she was saying. “Everyone was dead. Max, Serena and I were all that was left. We had to do something.”
Noticing the omission of his name, Alex asked, “What about me?”
Liz teared up. She had planned on sharing the truth so differently than this. She had wanted to see Max first. Let he and Zan meet privately. Let it all sink in before talking to Tess and Alex and everyone else. She felt she owned them that. She knew this was hard and airing dirty laundry in front of the others was only going to sting more. “I want you all to know that I wanted to do this differently. I wanted to meet with Max alone, first and then Alex and Tess together. I don’t think it’s fair to tell all you without letting some of you know important things…specifics of what happened.”
“Does it really matter now, Liz? What’s fair?” Maria said unable to contain the hurt in her voice.
Liz looked back to Alex instead of responding to Maria, “You died long before any of this happened, Alex. You were killed…by Tess.” There, she said it.
“What!” they both chimed in unison.
Isabel leaned in closer to Alex taking his hand holding on for dear life. “This is ridiculous. You can’t just come in here, waltz back into our life that we have had for the past 10 years without you and turn things upside down.”
“Is, please, I want to hear this. We need to know,” Alex said as her gently stroked her fingers.
“I wanted to tell you both privately. I’m so sorry,” Liz whispered. “Tess, you left Roswell because of me and Max and the way we all treated you. Before you left though, you killed Alex. But Tess, that’s not who you are now. Things have changed; you have changed,” she said deciding to address everyone now. “You all have changed. You are the Four Square – the way it was meant to be. When Tess left, the three of you weren’t strong enough to defeat Khivar and the Skins. You belong with everyone, Tess. Alex, you are still alive. The timeline was altered because I left.”
Isabel was still upset. “I thought you said the world ends in four years. Why come forward now if we are a complete unit?”
“Because I need your help. I need help teaching and training the one person who can truly defeat our enemies, eliminate Khivar if that should come to pass. Just because I changed the past, I have no guarantees of what this future may hold.”
“Stop being so goddamn cryptic, Liz,” Isabel practically shouted. “What are you talking about? I thought you said we would be strong enough with Tess, well, we have her; we should be fine.”
“Recently, I’ve been seeing things. I lose track of time and while I’m awake I find that I am dreaming of people and places that I have never seen or been, but I know that it’s Antar. I just know. I know this is strange and alot to take in, but you have to believe me. You’re right, Isabel, you are strong as a unit – the four of you, but you aren’t whole, not yet. You are like the four elements: Max is Earth with the power of healing, Tess like air having the ability to control thoughts and the mind, Michael is fire – the protector and destroyer and Isabel you are water, even though you don’t like to admit it, you are attuned to emotions and feelings and can use that to benefit yourself and others. But you lack the fifth element – spirit – to bind you together, make you complete, make us all complete.” I couldn’t see it until now Oh my God….
“There’s a fifth alien?” Kyle queried looking at Serena.
“No, it’s not me,” she answered.
Here it comes, Max. I hope you’re ready. She took a tentative step toward Max. “Max, look at me please. I wanted to tell you…show you something…someone privately…give you a chance to let it sink in and give you time. I’m sorry, truly sorry for what has happened…for what I’ve done,” Liz could feel her eyes blur with tears as she looked at him. “It’s your son, Max. He is the missing piece. Zan, sweetie, you can come out now.”
Slowly he crawled out from the pod and shuffled over to Liz in the way that only a child could – moving so slow it was as if he was going backwards. He took her hand before looking up at his father.
Everyone was shocked as they stared at this small replica of Max standing before them. Only when he spoke did they snap out of it. “Hi, Daddy.” Max remained speechless hearing only Isabel whisper, “Oh my God, Max.”
“Liz…this is…this is our son,” he tore his eyes away from the boy to stare at her. His eyes, which seemed at first full of wonder were now full of rage. “How could you keep him from me? I’m a father…how could you, no…how dare you?”
Zan stepped back towards his mother clinging to her leg as she wrapped a protective arm around him. “Max, I had to protect him. I had to make sure he was safe, that you were all safe. No one could see me pregnant. I had to make sure none of our enemies made the connection between you, me and Zan.” She could feel herself becoming more and more hopeless and didn’t want Zan to experience her emotions fully. “Zan, would you like to go outside and play with Uncle Michael so your dad and I can talk?”
Zan began to run to Michael, but turned to Max and said, “Don’t be mad at mommy.” He finished his path to Michael who scooped him up in his arms. Max couldn’t help but see the bond between the two. He felt the jealousy surge and wondered if Zan thought Michael was his dad. Thoughts ran through his head…he loves Michael, not you. He doesn’t even know you…you made her leave…she took your son away and Michael was there for her…not you.
Michael and Zan left the Pod Chamber to play outside and Liz looked at Max, “Maria died trying to protect him. Khivar killed him right in front of us and there was nothing we could do. I did what I had to do to protect my son. I know this is a lot to take in and I know you are angry with me for the choices I made. But please, Max, they were my choices, don’t take them out on Zan. He’s truly the only one innocent in all this.”
“You, you named him Zan?” Max asked wondering why of all the questions he wanted to ask that popped out first.
“Yes, actually his name is Alexander Michael Evans. I wanted him to have your name or at least a part of your name…Zan is what we call him. It makes him feel connected to you,” she said still holding his gaze and everyone’s attention.
“Is he…normal?”
“He’s so amazing, Max. He has all the powers of the four square. He’s a hybrid like you but a little different because of me,” she responded knowing this was going to be hard to explain and she wasn’t sure how Max would take it.
“What do you mean ‘because of you’?
“I’ve spent the past few years studying our genetic coding. When you healed me, my DNA was altered; it’s much closer to yours – a hybrid than completely human. When we conceived Zan, he became a different type of hybrid. Look, if the rest of you have children, the child will be half-human / half-hybrid. I wasn’t human anymore, but I’m not a hybrid either. Zan is something unique,” Liz paused to let what she was saying sink in.
“What do you mean you aren’t human?” Max glanced at Alex grateful he could ask the question he was afraid to.
“It had to have been a combination of being healed and carrying Zan but something was transferred, awaken in me from you, Max. Like I said, my DNA is more like yours. I have continued to change over the years and I have developed certain powers.”
Kyle’s eyes widen at the implication of what Liz was saying, “You mean I’m gonna start sprouting antennae soon since Max healed me too.” Tess squeezed his hand.
Liz really didn’t feel like giving a biology lesson but she could tell Max was struggling with what she had already told him. “Kyle, that’s just it. In the future, I was obsessive about finding answers. I basically treated you like a lab rat. For 14 years, your DNA never changed. You remained 100% human.”
“Wahoo,” Kyle shouted and this time Tess glared at him.
Alex seemed the only one able to ask questions, “Why now? Why come back now?”
“Like I said, we’ve been having visions or dreams, Zan and I. The short version of it all was that Zan needed to connect with the others. Something is changing within him and he needs to be with his own kind…it’s vague and really hard to explain but I think he needs to merge his energy with yours.”
Max just continued to stare at her. He could hear Zan outside the Pod Chamber laughing while he played with Michael. I’m a father…Liz is here; she’s alive…he chanted silently like a mantra in his mind trying to let it all sink in.
Maria broke out of her silence and asked, “So how did Michael get involved with this? Did you tell him about your visitor? Why did you call him and not…me?” She was hurt and it showed on her face as she looked to Liz for answers.
Liz walked to Maria and stood right in front of her. “Maria, I am so sorry. It wasn’t my intention to tell him, but he stumbled onto me by accident and I had no choice. I had to tell him the truth or I knew he would tell Max.”
Hearing this Max flinched and the bad thoughts crept back into his mind. As if sensing this, Liz looked at him. He immediately broke eye contact and looked at the floor.
Liz tried to focus on Maria again; “It’s not that I couldn’t trust you. It’s not that I chose Michael over you,” she couldn’t help but look at Max while saying this and this time he held her stare. “I have missed you every second of every day, but I was not going to risk losing you…losing you all because of me. Michael found me at the reservation. I was so shocked when I saw him that my water broke and I went into labor.”
Max looked up at Liz this time. You’re a father and you weren’t even there for your own son’s birth. She did this alone…she excluded you…Michael was there, not you. His mind continued to race; his imagination taking control. He began to tremble.
Liz was trying to block their connection, but she could still sense him and she knew something was wrong. “Max, I don’t expect you to understand all this. I don’t expect you to welcome me with open arms. I know I turned your world upside down. First, by leaving and now by coming back. It’s not how I wanted things to be, but I hope in time you will see that it was the only way to keep him safe, to protect him, to protect our son. I’m not asking for anything myself but I’m begging you Max, please accept him. He has waited for this moment to be with his father. Don’t blame him for the choices I made…”
Max cut her off, “Well, apparently I made them too or at least a future version of me did. I’ve missed so much…” he trailed off back to his thoughts.
Serena had stayed quiet until now. She wanted to help in some way but she really didn’t know how. “Zan knows everything about you, Max. Liz has spent his whole life telling him all about you. He probably knows you better than you do. She hasn’t held anything back. And as for Michael, he has done an equally amazing job filling in the blanks, not that she left any. She’s taught him from the beginning to embrace his alien side, develop his powers. He knows who and what he is. He knows why he couldn’t be with you. He loves you, Max.”
“He does, Max,” Liz pleaded. He is so afraid that you aren’t going to like him. will you please just talk with him? Try to forget all this chaos that I have caused and just be with him.”
“I’m his father. What if he doesn’t like me? I’m not the monster here, Liz. I won’t hurt him unlike my future self who seemed to have no problem hurting you.” His mind took over now…What if he blames me for all of this? What if he likes Michael better?
“We made these decisions together – our future selves. It really was the only way.” They stood there staring at one another not knowing what to say - both want to take all the blame.
Tess couldn’t hold back anymore. “Liz, I have to say that I’m more than a little freaked out by this whole thing. One minute I’m lounging on a beach in Maui with my husband and the next I find out I’m a cold blooded killer.” She looked briefly at Alex. “I guess what I’m trying to say is thank you. Thank you for selflessly doing what you did…for saving me from what I would consider a fate worse than death.” She walked forward and wrapped her arms around Liz. Liz hugged her back grateful that the ice had started to crack or move a little with the group. Tess had opened the door to forgiveness and she hoped the others would follow.
Kyle followed suit, “Welcome back, Lizzie. We missed you. It wasn’t the same without you. You know if you hadn’t have left, I may not have ever been with Tess,” he winked Tess’s way. “God, I may never have had hot alien-sex before the world ended.” He laughed as always trying to be the comic relief. “But, no lab rat. I may have been willing in the past but not in this lifetime.”
It was Alex’s turn to wrap Liz in his lanky arms. “I missed you. I don’t know what else to say. I’m here for you. I’ve got ten years of catching up to do. And you’re right about Tess, she would never…well, thanks for saving me.”
While Alex was with Liz, Isabel had walked over to Max and taken his hand just like she did yesterday at the quarry. She would follow Max’s lead. If he accepted Liz, so would she. If he wasn’t ready, she would hold back and support him until he was ready. In her heart she knew that even if he wasn’t ready now, it was only a matter of time.
Max dropped Isabel’s hand and tentatively stepped forward towards Liz. As he did, Maria ran into her arms sobbing. Max realized he had just missed his chance to touch her, to hold her in his arms and make sure this wasn’t a dream.
“Oh Maria, it’s okay. I’m back and please try not to take it out on Michael. He wanted you to be safe. He loves you so much, 'Ria. I’ve missed you so much, so much,” Liz just held onto her while she cried.
“Don’t you ever, ever do this again. It’s been horrible. We have been so lost without you and your parents…oh my god, what are you going to tell them?” Maria pulled away from Liz and looked at her.
“That’s a decision we all make.” She closed her eyes and furrowed her brow. In seconds, Zan and Michael came back into the chamber.
“What mommy?” Zan said as everyone stared at him wondering if they had just communicated telepathically.
“We need to talk about grandma and grandpa. So again, it’s up to you all. do we tell my parents that I’m back? Do we tell them about Zan? How far do we go? I will do whatever you decide. We can stay hidden and there still is alot to discuss amonst ourselves,” Liz said flatly.
“If we tell the Parker’s, then we tell mom and dad,” Isabel said quickly. It’s what she had always wanted to tell her parents the truth. Isabel looked at Max, Max looked at Liz.
“I know you’ve wanted to tell mom for a long time. But, I feel like this is Liz’s decision. Because of me, you had to leave your family,” Max said still looking at her.
“No, Max. I won’t make this decision without everyone’s consent. I just can’t; I’ve done this too long and I just…” she was starting to get upset and didn’t want Zan to feel it. Today had been stressful enough on him.
“Let’s vote then,” Kyle offered. “I vote we tell.”
As everyone went around the room casting their vote, Liz started to cry. The thought of seeing her parents again was more than she had hoped. She only hoped they would understand. Would they accept Zan and Max? Wait a minute, what was she thinking, she and Max were not together. She didn’t know how Max was going to react to her after this group confrontation was over. Her primary responsibility was to Zan and ensuring they developed their relationship. It was her turn for her imagination to run wild.
As if reading her thoughts, Zan said, “Mommy, daddy’s thinkin’ about you too.”
Max walked forward and knelt down in front of his son. “Zan, I know this may seem really strange that you don’t…don’t know me or that much about me…meeting me for the first time but I…”
“But I do, I do know you. I know you like cherry coke and you like tobasco and you can heal people like me and Michael is your very best friend in the whole world and he’s mine too. We’re the same. Do you like to draw, daddy?”
Max just looked at this beautiful little boy while everyone else stared. Max spoke softly, “Yeah, I do. Do you like to draw?”
“Yep, but I’m not that good at it. Maybe you can help me.”
“I’d like that, Zan.”
Zan leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Max’s neck. “I’m so happy to see you, daddy. I’ve waited a really, really, really long time.”
“Me too, Zan, me too.”
Isabel approached them saying, “How about a big hug for your auntie Isabel?”
Zan jumped up into her arms, “You’re just as pretty as mom said you were.”
Michael spoke for the first time, “So now that I’m hopefully out of the doghouse, what’s the plan? How do we do this? I mean, Liz can’t just waltz into town.”
“Yeah, I can see the headlines tomorrow…Local girl returns, unwed mother,” Kyle joked.
“Enough Kyle,” Tess said, “this is serious.”
“Look, I hadn’t thought about this,” Liz said. “I never really thought it was an option. We were prepared to head to the reservation. I never hoped I would get to see them.”
“I think we should wait until dark and head to Alex and Isabel’s. It’s suburbia and doesn’t have a lot of houses near,” Michael said looking at Serena. “Liz and Zan should be with me and Serena, you can do your thing, check out our route before hand. We’ll use the cell…”
“Wait a minute. Just because you have been Liz’s guardian, doesn’t mean you’re in charge now,” Tess stated more for Max then anyone. “Does this work for you guys to have us all converge at your place?
“Yeah, we’ll go ahead and call mom and dad. I think we should tell them first and it may help with the Parker’s if they are there and the shock has worn off. Max, is that okay?” Isabel asked looking at him.
“Yeah…yeah, that’s good. But I want to stay here with Liz and Zan. I’ll bring them. Is, can you tell mom and dad without me?” Max now stared at her trying to read her expression.
Isabel was really torn. She knew Max needed time with his son and with Liz but she really wanted him there. Before she could respond, Kyle spoke up, “Can we just sit this one out. I mean, my dad already knows and I have some serious jet lag.”
Tess jabbed him in the ribs. “We will absolutely be there for moral support and so will your dad.”
“Yes, the ball and chain commands and I am whipped.”
TBC... Max and Liz alone
Journal Entry- after seeing Max at the quarry
I’m Liz Parker and today I saw him for the first time in what seemed forever.
I think of many things. I see things in different ways. I remember.
I see the truth of my heart, my actions, the familiar parts of me seeming strange and wanting to change.
I feel things that I cannot express with words and so I let the tears roll down and on and onto the page blurring my already confused state of mind.
I am forced to face myself and what I have done.
It’s been slow like a name you hear whispered and then you turn around and it’s gone.
Well, now I have either turned quick enough or it’s slowed down for me to hear.
It feels solid and true and right and I am forced to acknowledge who I am and what I have become.
Who I was. Where I want to be. What I can be. It’s all been building and building for so long.
Years and years of learning and unlearning to get me to this point in time.
I’m not sure where or what that point is but I am looking with my eyes and heart wide open and I’m listening.
My fears of being alone, being indecisive, making the wrong choice, reacting or going insane…
All those evil, powerful thoughts, which appear before me taunting me and spinning through my mind, are at rest.
Maybe not at peace but are patiently resting until my next glorious lesson, my revelation.
It’s hard to face that which you are so terrified and weakened by, that which you feel you have no possible control over or voice in.
But I’m listening and praying I will be silent enough to hear.
I am here; I am present; I am alone but not lonely; I am experiencing; I am grateful and mournful and full.
I know I will stumble along the way. I will forget to love everyone the same. I will forget to live with an open heart but I have seen it again and have held the vision of him within my soul long enough that the ripples are moving out into the world, into my being and I can’t stop what I’ve done..
It can’t be stopped and there is no turning back…the walls have crumbled and I am drowning underneath.
Where did my faith go for so long? Where did I drop it and forget to pick it back up and why did I stumble upon it now?
I know I cannot go back and change things. I am committed to whatever that may bring, to wherever that may lead me.
The point has come when the flower cannot stay closed, tightly squeezing together out of fear, out of pain, what-ifs, and loneliness. The bud must blossom because the pain is too great to not bloom, to not create, go forth, to not experience change and doing so with a sense of purpose and conviction.
The pain to stay the same has become too great. It’s time.
They drove to the Pod Chamber in silence. No one had spoken to Michael since yesterday. Deep down, Max and Maria both felt like Liz had trusted Michael instead of them. They were angry, hurt and jealous…filled with insecurity.
Liz paced around the Pod Chamber looking at her watch. She was a bundle of nerves and there was no way she could sit still.
“Calm down, they’ll be here,” Serena said for what seemed like the millionth time.
“Easy for you to say, you didn’t see them. How am I gonna do this? I just walked away again. I wasn’t ready. What if I made a mistake? What if Zan gets hurt?” Liz continued punishing herself.
“Liz, it will be alright. Michael and I will run interference. Trust me, have I let you down? Sit, okay, you are freaking me out,” Serena said walking towards Liz and wrapping her arms around her.
“I know, but they have every right to be angry with me…to hate me.”
“Mommy,” Zan said emerging from the lower pod leading into the Granolith Chamber, “he’s here.”
She heard the cars pull up outside. “I know, baby. Now go back inside until I call you. It’s going to be okay. I love you, Zan.”
“Love you too, but what if daddy doesn’t like me?”
“I told you sweetie, your daddy will love so much. Don’t worry. Now scoot and be quiet,” she said feeling a lump in her throat. What have I done?
“But, you’re worried. I feel it,” Zan said before disappearing again as the footsteps grew louder outside.
Turning to face them seemed like a simple enough task but her feet wouldn’t move. She was terrified. So much time had passed. So many wounds remained within her growing deeper and deeper as the years passed. Finally, she willed herself to face the repercussions of a decision made almost 10 years ago. She saw Maria, Kyle, Tess, Michael and Isabel enter and her heart sank. Had he not come? Was he that angry? How am I gonna explain this to Zan? But then she saw him. Their eyes briefly and painfully met before he dropped his gaze to the floor. He won’t even look at me.
Max had hung back a second before entering the Pod Chamber knowing that whatever lay inside would answer his questions. He had grown so accustomed to the pain, the void of not having her in his life, the constant nightmares of wondering her fate…all of that would change the second he stepped in. Seeing her again after all this time filled him with a whir of emotion and started the voice in his head to question all the what-ifs over and over.
No one spoke as Michael stepped forward. “Everyone, this is Serena. She is a good friend of Liz’s…and mine. She knows about us. She can absolutely be trusted. I don’t know what to say to you, but just listen and know that this has been hard for all of us. It wasn’t my intention to keep everything from you,” he looked at Maria first and then Max before continuing. “But there were reasons why and they were more important…this was more important than anything I’ve ever done. So, I guess Liz, you’re up.”
She started to speak but nothing came out. After what seemed an eternity, an ‘umm’ emerged. She cleared her throat. It was now or never. “I guess I should start at the beginning. Ten years ago, I had a visitor who told me things. Well, he did more than tell me, he showed me things…terrible things that would happen unless I was able to stop them. I saw the future and four years from now, the world as we knew it ended. I had to leave Roswell to prevent that from coming to pass.”
The group stared at her silently before Alex asked, “Who told you this? And you just believed them. Liz, you’re smarter than that. I mean, we aren’t exactly your average ho-hum clique of friends.”
“It was someone I trusted and above all else believed without a doubt. He was telling me the truth. I not only saw the future; I felt it,” she turned to face Max now about to deliver the blow. “The visitor was you, Max, a future version of you.”
His eyes flew wide open at hearing this, but he still did not know what to say. A part of him wanted to run to her and shake her, make her stop this, wake her up and himself too. He wanted to believe that it had all been a dream and that she was lying, but he couldn’t because he knew the instant she said that…that only Liz would have done something this drastic if he himself had asked her. Max was awash with guilt. It made him feel dirty; he could feel the bile rise in his throat…he was right…he was responsible for this.
Serena could sense the questions the others had as well as Liz’s own distress even though she had barely begun to explain the past. “I altered the Granolith in order to provide Max the opportunity to time travel. You have to understand, we had no choice. We had to change the future.”
“What happens in the future?” Max sputtered quietly finally finding his voice. He had to know what part he played in this charade now unfolding.
“Our enemies come to Earth. They annihilate every living thing on this planet looking for us. They killed everyone, our parents, Maria, Michael, Isabel, Kyle,” as she said their names she tried to make eye contact to drive home the seriousness of what she was saying. “Everyone was dead. Max, Serena and I were all that was left. We had to do something.”
Noticing the omission of his name, Alex asked, “What about me?”
Liz teared up. She had planned on sharing the truth so differently than this. She had wanted to see Max first. Let he and Zan meet privately. Let it all sink in before talking to Tess and Alex and everyone else. She felt she owned them that. She knew this was hard and airing dirty laundry in front of the others was only going to sting more. “I want you all to know that I wanted to do this differently. I wanted to meet with Max alone, first and then Alex and Tess together. I don’t think it’s fair to tell all you without letting some of you know important things…specifics of what happened.”
“Does it really matter now, Liz? What’s fair?” Maria said unable to contain the hurt in her voice.
Liz looked back to Alex instead of responding to Maria, “You died long before any of this happened, Alex. You were killed…by Tess.” There, she said it.
“What!” they both chimed in unison.
Isabel leaned in closer to Alex taking his hand holding on for dear life. “This is ridiculous. You can’t just come in here, waltz back into our life that we have had for the past 10 years without you and turn things upside down.”
“Is, please, I want to hear this. We need to know,” Alex said as her gently stroked her fingers.
“I wanted to tell you both privately. I’m so sorry,” Liz whispered. “Tess, you left Roswell because of me and Max and the way we all treated you. Before you left though, you killed Alex. But Tess, that’s not who you are now. Things have changed; you have changed,” she said deciding to address everyone now. “You all have changed. You are the Four Square – the way it was meant to be. When Tess left, the three of you weren’t strong enough to defeat Khivar and the Skins. You belong with everyone, Tess. Alex, you are still alive. The timeline was altered because I left.”
Isabel was still upset. “I thought you said the world ends in four years. Why come forward now if we are a complete unit?”
“Because I need your help. I need help teaching and training the one person who can truly defeat our enemies, eliminate Khivar if that should come to pass. Just because I changed the past, I have no guarantees of what this future may hold.”
“Stop being so goddamn cryptic, Liz,” Isabel practically shouted. “What are you talking about? I thought you said we would be strong enough with Tess, well, we have her; we should be fine.”
“Recently, I’ve been seeing things. I lose track of time and while I’m awake I find that I am dreaming of people and places that I have never seen or been, but I know that it’s Antar. I just know. I know this is strange and alot to take in, but you have to believe me. You’re right, Isabel, you are strong as a unit – the four of you, but you aren’t whole, not yet. You are like the four elements: Max is Earth with the power of healing, Tess like air having the ability to control thoughts and the mind, Michael is fire – the protector and destroyer and Isabel you are water, even though you don’t like to admit it, you are attuned to emotions and feelings and can use that to benefit yourself and others. But you lack the fifth element – spirit – to bind you together, make you complete, make us all complete.” I couldn’t see it until now Oh my God….
“There’s a fifth alien?” Kyle queried looking at Serena.
“No, it’s not me,” she answered.
Here it comes, Max. I hope you’re ready. She took a tentative step toward Max. “Max, look at me please. I wanted to tell you…show you something…someone privately…give you a chance to let it sink in and give you time. I’m sorry, truly sorry for what has happened…for what I’ve done,” Liz could feel her eyes blur with tears as she looked at him. “It’s your son, Max. He is the missing piece. Zan, sweetie, you can come out now.”
Slowly he crawled out from the pod and shuffled over to Liz in the way that only a child could – moving so slow it was as if he was going backwards. He took her hand before looking up at his father.
Everyone was shocked as they stared at this small replica of Max standing before them. Only when he spoke did they snap out of it. “Hi, Daddy.” Max remained speechless hearing only Isabel whisper, “Oh my God, Max.”
“Liz…this is…this is our son,” he tore his eyes away from the boy to stare at her. His eyes, which seemed at first full of wonder were now full of rage. “How could you keep him from me? I’m a father…how could you, no…how dare you?”
Zan stepped back towards his mother clinging to her leg as she wrapped a protective arm around him. “Max, I had to protect him. I had to make sure he was safe, that you were all safe. No one could see me pregnant. I had to make sure none of our enemies made the connection between you, me and Zan.” She could feel herself becoming more and more hopeless and didn’t want Zan to experience her emotions fully. “Zan, would you like to go outside and play with Uncle Michael so your dad and I can talk?”
Zan began to run to Michael, but turned to Max and said, “Don’t be mad at mommy.” He finished his path to Michael who scooped him up in his arms. Max couldn’t help but see the bond between the two. He felt the jealousy surge and wondered if Zan thought Michael was his dad. Thoughts ran through his head…he loves Michael, not you. He doesn’t even know you…you made her leave…she took your son away and Michael was there for her…not you.
Michael and Zan left the Pod Chamber to play outside and Liz looked at Max, “Maria died trying to protect him. Khivar killed him right in front of us and there was nothing we could do. I did what I had to do to protect my son. I know this is a lot to take in and I know you are angry with me for the choices I made. But please, Max, they were my choices, don’t take them out on Zan. He’s truly the only one innocent in all this.”
“You, you named him Zan?” Max asked wondering why of all the questions he wanted to ask that popped out first.
“Yes, actually his name is Alexander Michael Evans. I wanted him to have your name or at least a part of your name…Zan is what we call him. It makes him feel connected to you,” she said still holding his gaze and everyone’s attention.
“Is he…normal?”
“He’s so amazing, Max. He has all the powers of the four square. He’s a hybrid like you but a little different because of me,” she responded knowing this was going to be hard to explain and she wasn’t sure how Max would take it.
“What do you mean ‘because of you’?
“I’ve spent the past few years studying our genetic coding. When you healed me, my DNA was altered; it’s much closer to yours – a hybrid than completely human. When we conceived Zan, he became a different type of hybrid. Look, if the rest of you have children, the child will be half-human / half-hybrid. I wasn’t human anymore, but I’m not a hybrid either. Zan is something unique,” Liz paused to let what she was saying sink in.
“What do you mean you aren’t human?” Max glanced at Alex grateful he could ask the question he was afraid to.
“It had to have been a combination of being healed and carrying Zan but something was transferred, awaken in me from you, Max. Like I said, my DNA is more like yours. I have continued to change over the years and I have developed certain powers.”
Kyle’s eyes widen at the implication of what Liz was saying, “You mean I’m gonna start sprouting antennae soon since Max healed me too.” Tess squeezed his hand.
Liz really didn’t feel like giving a biology lesson but she could tell Max was struggling with what she had already told him. “Kyle, that’s just it. In the future, I was obsessive about finding answers. I basically treated you like a lab rat. For 14 years, your DNA never changed. You remained 100% human.”
“Wahoo,” Kyle shouted and this time Tess glared at him.
Alex seemed the only one able to ask questions, “Why now? Why come back now?”
“Like I said, we’ve been having visions or dreams, Zan and I. The short version of it all was that Zan needed to connect with the others. Something is changing within him and he needs to be with his own kind…it’s vague and really hard to explain but I think he needs to merge his energy with yours.”
Max just continued to stare at her. He could hear Zan outside the Pod Chamber laughing while he played with Michael. I’m a father…Liz is here; she’s alive…he chanted silently like a mantra in his mind trying to let it all sink in.
Maria broke out of her silence and asked, “So how did Michael get involved with this? Did you tell him about your visitor? Why did you call him and not…me?” She was hurt and it showed on her face as she looked to Liz for answers.
Liz walked to Maria and stood right in front of her. “Maria, I am so sorry. It wasn’t my intention to tell him, but he stumbled onto me by accident and I had no choice. I had to tell him the truth or I knew he would tell Max.”
Hearing this Max flinched and the bad thoughts crept back into his mind. As if sensing this, Liz looked at him. He immediately broke eye contact and looked at the floor.
Liz tried to focus on Maria again; “It’s not that I couldn’t trust you. It’s not that I chose Michael over you,” she couldn’t help but look at Max while saying this and this time he held her stare. “I have missed you every second of every day, but I was not going to risk losing you…losing you all because of me. Michael found me at the reservation. I was so shocked when I saw him that my water broke and I went into labor.”
Max looked up at Liz this time. You’re a father and you weren’t even there for your own son’s birth. She did this alone…she excluded you…Michael was there, not you. His mind continued to race; his imagination taking control. He began to tremble.
Liz was trying to block their connection, but she could still sense him and she knew something was wrong. “Max, I don’t expect you to understand all this. I don’t expect you to welcome me with open arms. I know I turned your world upside down. First, by leaving and now by coming back. It’s not how I wanted things to be, but I hope in time you will see that it was the only way to keep him safe, to protect him, to protect our son. I’m not asking for anything myself but I’m begging you Max, please accept him. He has waited for this moment to be with his father. Don’t blame him for the choices I made…”
Max cut her off, “Well, apparently I made them too or at least a future version of me did. I’ve missed so much…” he trailed off back to his thoughts.
Serena had stayed quiet until now. She wanted to help in some way but she really didn’t know how. “Zan knows everything about you, Max. Liz has spent his whole life telling him all about you. He probably knows you better than you do. She hasn’t held anything back. And as for Michael, he has done an equally amazing job filling in the blanks, not that she left any. She’s taught him from the beginning to embrace his alien side, develop his powers. He knows who and what he is. He knows why he couldn’t be with you. He loves you, Max.”
“He does, Max,” Liz pleaded. He is so afraid that you aren’t going to like him. will you please just talk with him? Try to forget all this chaos that I have caused and just be with him.”
“I’m his father. What if he doesn’t like me? I’m not the monster here, Liz. I won’t hurt him unlike my future self who seemed to have no problem hurting you.” His mind took over now…What if he blames me for all of this? What if he likes Michael better?
“We made these decisions together – our future selves. It really was the only way.” They stood there staring at one another not knowing what to say - both want to take all the blame.
Tess couldn’t hold back anymore. “Liz, I have to say that I’m more than a little freaked out by this whole thing. One minute I’m lounging on a beach in Maui with my husband and the next I find out I’m a cold blooded killer.” She looked briefly at Alex. “I guess what I’m trying to say is thank you. Thank you for selflessly doing what you did…for saving me from what I would consider a fate worse than death.” She walked forward and wrapped her arms around Liz. Liz hugged her back grateful that the ice had started to crack or move a little with the group. Tess had opened the door to forgiveness and she hoped the others would follow.
Kyle followed suit, “Welcome back, Lizzie. We missed you. It wasn’t the same without you. You know if you hadn’t have left, I may not have ever been with Tess,” he winked Tess’s way. “God, I may never have had hot alien-sex before the world ended.” He laughed as always trying to be the comic relief. “But, no lab rat. I may have been willing in the past but not in this lifetime.”
It was Alex’s turn to wrap Liz in his lanky arms. “I missed you. I don’t know what else to say. I’m here for you. I’ve got ten years of catching up to do. And you’re right about Tess, she would never…well, thanks for saving me.”
While Alex was with Liz, Isabel had walked over to Max and taken his hand just like she did yesterday at the quarry. She would follow Max’s lead. If he accepted Liz, so would she. If he wasn’t ready, she would hold back and support him until he was ready. In her heart she knew that even if he wasn’t ready now, it was only a matter of time.
Max dropped Isabel’s hand and tentatively stepped forward towards Liz. As he did, Maria ran into her arms sobbing. Max realized he had just missed his chance to touch her, to hold her in his arms and make sure this wasn’t a dream.
“Oh Maria, it’s okay. I’m back and please try not to take it out on Michael. He wanted you to be safe. He loves you so much, 'Ria. I’ve missed you so much, so much,” Liz just held onto her while she cried.
“Don’t you ever, ever do this again. It’s been horrible. We have been so lost without you and your parents…oh my god, what are you going to tell them?” Maria pulled away from Liz and looked at her.
“That’s a decision we all make.” She closed her eyes and furrowed her brow. In seconds, Zan and Michael came back into the chamber.
“What mommy?” Zan said as everyone stared at him wondering if they had just communicated telepathically.
“We need to talk about grandma and grandpa. So again, it’s up to you all. do we tell my parents that I’m back? Do we tell them about Zan? How far do we go? I will do whatever you decide. We can stay hidden and there still is alot to discuss amonst ourselves,” Liz said flatly.
“If we tell the Parker’s, then we tell mom and dad,” Isabel said quickly. It’s what she had always wanted to tell her parents the truth. Isabel looked at Max, Max looked at Liz.
“I know you’ve wanted to tell mom for a long time. But, I feel like this is Liz’s decision. Because of me, you had to leave your family,” Max said still looking at her.
“No, Max. I won’t make this decision without everyone’s consent. I just can’t; I’ve done this too long and I just…” she was starting to get upset and didn’t want Zan to feel it. Today had been stressful enough on him.
“Let’s vote then,” Kyle offered. “I vote we tell.”
As everyone went around the room casting their vote, Liz started to cry. The thought of seeing her parents again was more than she had hoped. She only hoped they would understand. Would they accept Zan and Max? Wait a minute, what was she thinking, she and Max were not together. She didn’t know how Max was going to react to her after this group confrontation was over. Her primary responsibility was to Zan and ensuring they developed their relationship. It was her turn for her imagination to run wild.
As if reading her thoughts, Zan said, “Mommy, daddy’s thinkin’ about you too.”
Max walked forward and knelt down in front of his son. “Zan, I know this may seem really strange that you don’t…don’t know me or that much about me…meeting me for the first time but I…”
“But I do, I do know you. I know you like cherry coke and you like tobasco and you can heal people like me and Michael is your very best friend in the whole world and he’s mine too. We’re the same. Do you like to draw, daddy?”
Max just looked at this beautiful little boy while everyone else stared. Max spoke softly, “Yeah, I do. Do you like to draw?”
“Yep, but I’m not that good at it. Maybe you can help me.”
“I’d like that, Zan.”
Zan leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Max’s neck. “I’m so happy to see you, daddy. I’ve waited a really, really, really long time.”
“Me too, Zan, me too.”
Isabel approached them saying, “How about a big hug for your auntie Isabel?”
Zan jumped up into her arms, “You’re just as pretty as mom said you were.”
Michael spoke for the first time, “So now that I’m hopefully out of the doghouse, what’s the plan? How do we do this? I mean, Liz can’t just waltz into town.”
“Yeah, I can see the headlines tomorrow…Local girl returns, unwed mother,” Kyle joked.
“Enough Kyle,” Tess said, “this is serious.”
“Look, I hadn’t thought about this,” Liz said. “I never really thought it was an option. We were prepared to head to the reservation. I never hoped I would get to see them.”
“I think we should wait until dark and head to Alex and Isabel’s. It’s suburbia and doesn’t have a lot of houses near,” Michael said looking at Serena. “Liz and Zan should be with me and Serena, you can do your thing, check out our route before hand. We’ll use the cell…”
“Wait a minute. Just because you have been Liz’s guardian, doesn’t mean you’re in charge now,” Tess stated more for Max then anyone. “Does this work for you guys to have us all converge at your place?
“Yeah, we’ll go ahead and call mom and dad. I think we should tell them first and it may help with the Parker’s if they are there and the shock has worn off. Max, is that okay?” Isabel asked looking at him.
“Yeah…yeah, that’s good. But I want to stay here with Liz and Zan. I’ll bring them. Is, can you tell mom and dad without me?” Max now stared at her trying to read her expression.
Isabel was really torn. She knew Max needed time with his son and with Liz but she really wanted him there. Before she could respond, Kyle spoke up, “Can we just sit this one out. I mean, my dad already knows and I have some serious jet lag.”
Tess jabbed him in the ribs. “We will absolutely be there for moral support and so will your dad.”
“Yes, the ball and chain commands and I am whipped.”
TBC... Max and Liz alone
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amy2344
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2003 12:42 am
- Location: seattle
- Contact:
hi all, thanks for your patience. i am finally feeling better. i am posting one chapter tonite and then another one tomorrow. enjoy and thanks for reading to everyone so much.
best,
amy
Chapter 22
Michael was reluctant to leave Liz and Zan. Even though he watched them over the years, he still felt that it was his responsibility to ensure their safety while in Roswell too. Serena convinced him that they would be safe with Max and that he, not Michael, needed to be with them. The gang agreed that there was a lot more to discuss regarding Liz’s visions and Zan’s joining with the Four Square, as well as, Future Max. They also needed to discuss next steps after meeting with their parents. The group left Max, Zan and Liz in the Pod Chamber. Michael, Maria and Serena left together leaving the Liz’s van. An uncomfortable silence fell on the already stale air.
“Max, are you sure you don’t want to be with Isabel? Zan and I will be fine. We can meet up with you later. I mean, we can call Isabel and tell her to wait…that you’re on your way. Are you sure you’re okay with telling them? I’m sure we can figure something out if you’d rather not tell them, you know.” Liz was rambling on and on not making sense jumping from thought to thought. She felt nervous being alone with Max for the first time since that night so long ago. She tried to stop herself from talking but couldn’t. She was trying to prolong the inevitable confrontation, trying to fill time with empty conversation because she had to own up to all the lying she did prior to leaving with his child.
He could see she was nervous so when he did speak he tried to sound as calm as possible. “Liz, it’s okay. In light of everything that has happened today, I can honestly say my parents knowing about Isabel and me is the least of my concern.”
“Okay, so what are your concerns.” It just slipped out of her mouth.
“I don’t exactly know where to start, there are so many,” he replied with a sigh.
Liz felt her stomach lurch. Was he going to let her have it right here in front of Zan? She wouldn’t allow that to happen. “You know what, Max, why don’t you and Zan spend some time together while I get our things from the van?” She quickly left the Pod Chamber and walked slowly down the steep terrain to the van.
Max could tell she was talking to Zan in his head; he was blankly staring at nothing and nodding his head. He retrieved something from his pack. “Zan, what’s that?”
“Mommy told me I could give it to you now. It’s a present for you from us.”
“Does mommy talk to you in your head?”
“Yep, and I can too. It’s neat most the time except when she is sad or I’m doing something I’m not supposed to,” he responded without thinking he was revealing too much to Max.
“When is Mommy sad?” Max asked.
“Oh, lots of times. She gets sick sometimes too and falls down like she's asleep, but she always gets better because I can get to her in her head and make her wake up. She’s sad right now. She thinks you’re mad at her? Are you?”
Max didn’t know what to say. He felt so conflicted. She had kept so many secrets. She had lied to him; made love to him knowing she was going to walk out on him. But at the same time he was so overjoyed to know she was alive, hadn’t been tortured and then… there was Zan. Looking at his son, his heart understood why Liz had done what she did. He didn’t agree with it but he knew that she was protecting him the only way she knew how. In fact, watching Zan right now made him realize that this little boy might be the only thing that could make him walk away from her. “No, Zan. I’m not mad at mommy. I’m just sad that I missed so much of your life. I’m sad that I wasn’t there when you were born, when you took your first steps, said your first word, went to school. All those things, I missed,” And I missed her too, Max thought.
“But that’s what the present is daddy. Open it and you’ll see,” Zan said excitedly handing him a large leather bound book with a crimson ribbon wrapped around it.
Max took it from his small hands noticing the similarity between it and Liz’s journal except this was much larger. As he opened it, he realized what it was – a history of Zan.
“Mommy did the first part ‘cause I was just a baby but I helped with the rest. See, now you are there with us. You can see all the stuff you missed.” Max and Zan sat together on the floor in the Pod Chamber looking through the book. Zan would recount story after story even acting some out for him. Max couldn’t help but smile and even laugh.
Liz took longer than needed unloading the van. Through their connection, she could feel Zan’s excitement and pure joy being with his father. She retrieved sleeping bags and toiletries for staying in the Pod Chamber until they made a move to the reservation later. Her mind started racing, worrying about how risky it would be to stay in Roswell for the night. What was she thinking? She should have never agreed to go into town at all. Had she become so lax in her constant state of vigilance? She hurried back up to talk to Max about a change of plans. Upon entering she saw Max and Zan looking at the album. Max was actually laughing as Zan imitated one of his teachers from school. He looked happy, almost peaceful. She didn’t want to disturb this moment so she quietly started laying out the sleeping bags, inflating therma-rests.
Max caught her movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to face her. What is she doing? Weren’t they going to stay with at Issy’s…with me? he thought wistfully. “Liz, I thought we would be heading to my sister’s soon to see your parents. What’s all this? I assumed you’d be staying with them tonight,” he lied.
Zan ran forward and jumped onto the pile of sleeping bags, “Mom said we are camping out in here for awhile. It’s gonna be fun…F-U-N!”
“Max, it’s too dangerous for us to be in Roswell. I mean what was I thinking? We should call the others and meet somewhere less visible. Zan, honey, get off the blankets.” Liz said refusing to look up at him.
He walked over to her and touched her for the first time in almost ten years, just a simple touch on her arm. When his fingers brushed her skin, Liz’s eyes flew open and the flashes started.
Liz, Serena and baby Zan driving cross-country
Liz in Boston attending classes
Liz Picking up Zan from school
Liz working in a lab drawing her own blood
The flashes suddenly changed....
Fires, explosions and bodies strewn all over the place
Maria running towards a car yelling for Michael as a beam of light struck her while diving in front of…Zan
Max felt like he was being forced out of Liz’s mind. He felt an energy upon him with such power and voracity willing him away from her. She pulled her arm away and stepped back whispering, “Max, no…”
“Liz,” he moved toward her in some sort of defensive dance. “Is that what happened or happens? Was that the future?”
Liz could feel it and tried to fight it off…the black out was coming. They had started about five years ago and she had done a remarkable job hiding them from those around her. “Max, I never meant for you to see that. God, it’s bad enough that I see it, live with it all the while praying I’m making the right decision to stop that timeline from happening.” She couldn’t help the tears that were spilling onto her cheeks or stop her heart from thundering in her chest. “If I turn right on this street instead of left, what will the future bring? Did I make a wise choice or did I chose poorly and now is someone dead because of it.” She was starting to crack under all the pressure. She needed to pull herself together; this wasn’t like her - not now, not the Liz she has had to become. She could do this…a little pep talk and she would be fine, right? But why couldn’t she breathe? What if coming here was a mistake? What if she just sealed everyone’s fate by coming back? Doubt started seeping in through the cracks. The room was spinning, she was seeing spots and her knees buckled beneath her…falling.
Max caught her before she hit the hard, dirty ground. “Mommy!” Zan yelled as he ran towards her. “Is mommy alright? This happens sometimes but it’s been happening lots more lately since we decided to come back.”
Max lowered her down on the blankets she had so busily been preparing moments ago. He brushed her hair away from her face and then cupped her cheeks with his palms trying to will a connection between them. “I’ll do it, daddy,” Zan said closing his eyes. After a minute or two in silence, Liz slowly opened her eyes. Zan immediately fell on top of her clinging for dear life. “Mommy, mommy, are you okay now?”
“Yea, yeah baby, I’m just fine. I think I need to eat something and so should you. Do you have the sammies we packed?” Liz said trying to distract him.
“Yep, but they are in the Granolith room in my backpack. I’ll go get them,” he said and sprinted off towards the pods and crawled through.
Max looked down at Liz who was resting on her elbows. “How often does that happen? Zan told me it’s happened before.”
“Max, I’m fine. Don’t look at me like that. I’m just tired and I haven’t eaten and this has been a stressful couple days okay?”
Max felt frustrated. “Liz, you’ve got to let me in…let someone in. You can’t keep doing this…”
“Doing what?”
“Carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. We are all in this together now. We should have all been in this together from the beginning. The minute you walked back into Roswell, you opened the door. You can’t take it all back now.” Max sighed before continuing. He didn’t want to let his frustration come through in what he was trying to say. “Liz, I won’t let that happen. I won’t let the future I saw come to pass. I won’t let anything happen to you and Zan or any of us,” Max pleaded trying to get through to her.
Zan interrupted their exchange, holding sandwiches up in his hands. “Daddy, do you want peanut butter and jelly or peanut butter and banana or turkey, I think. Is this turkey, mom? Dad, do you wanna finish looking at your present?”
“Sure, Zan. We can look while we eat.” Max grabbed a sandwich out of his hands not caring what kind it was; he wasn’t even hungry really. “Hey Zan, would you be disappointed if you didn’t camp out here tonight? How about instead we stay at my place with Auntie Isabel and Uncle Alex…kinda like a campout there?” He knew Liz was not going to like it but at this point he felt they would be safer with him and Isabel near then alone or with Serena here in the cave.
Zan smiled, “Like a sleepover?”
“Yeah, like a sleepover.”
“Can mommy stay too?” Zan innocently asked. Liz broke the dead silence ensuing to make the awkward moment passed.
“Zan sweetie, I don’t know. Can we just finish eating first? We don’t know what’s going to happen when…if we see your grandma and grandpa. Let’s just wait and see okay?” Liz said glaring at Max. Liz didn’t like not having control of this situation. She had been in charge, in control making all the decisions for so long and even though she knew it was more than she wanted, more than she ever bargained for, she didn’t want to let go. Maybe she didn’t even know how. She had spent the past ten years breathing life into the reality she created and controlled in Boston with Zan and Serena and now every thing has changed in just the blink of an eye.
Max decided to stop pushing the sleepover and enjoy the time they had left alone – just the three of them even if Liz wasn’t really present. He had waited ten years and now he knew he would have to wait a little longer. Both theirs worlds had been turned upside down in an instant when she returned. For Max he felt hopeful – he could protect them now. He had a son, a family or at least in his mind a chance at a family. But for Liz, he could still feel her fear, her reluctance to let her guard down and trust in the group…in him like she did before. He would talk to the others later and he would talk to Serena. Max felt a renewed sense of strength and purpose. He felt alive for the first time in so long. “Liz, it’s time to go.”
best,
amy
Chapter 22
Michael was reluctant to leave Liz and Zan. Even though he watched them over the years, he still felt that it was his responsibility to ensure their safety while in Roswell too. Serena convinced him that they would be safe with Max and that he, not Michael, needed to be with them. The gang agreed that there was a lot more to discuss regarding Liz’s visions and Zan’s joining with the Four Square, as well as, Future Max. They also needed to discuss next steps after meeting with their parents. The group left Max, Zan and Liz in the Pod Chamber. Michael, Maria and Serena left together leaving the Liz’s van. An uncomfortable silence fell on the already stale air.
“Max, are you sure you don’t want to be with Isabel? Zan and I will be fine. We can meet up with you later. I mean, we can call Isabel and tell her to wait…that you’re on your way. Are you sure you’re okay with telling them? I’m sure we can figure something out if you’d rather not tell them, you know.” Liz was rambling on and on not making sense jumping from thought to thought. She felt nervous being alone with Max for the first time since that night so long ago. She tried to stop herself from talking but couldn’t. She was trying to prolong the inevitable confrontation, trying to fill time with empty conversation because she had to own up to all the lying she did prior to leaving with his child.
He could see she was nervous so when he did speak he tried to sound as calm as possible. “Liz, it’s okay. In light of everything that has happened today, I can honestly say my parents knowing about Isabel and me is the least of my concern.”
“Okay, so what are your concerns.” It just slipped out of her mouth.
“I don’t exactly know where to start, there are so many,” he replied with a sigh.
Liz felt her stomach lurch. Was he going to let her have it right here in front of Zan? She wouldn’t allow that to happen. “You know what, Max, why don’t you and Zan spend some time together while I get our things from the van?” She quickly left the Pod Chamber and walked slowly down the steep terrain to the van.
Max could tell she was talking to Zan in his head; he was blankly staring at nothing and nodding his head. He retrieved something from his pack. “Zan, what’s that?”
“Mommy told me I could give it to you now. It’s a present for you from us.”
“Does mommy talk to you in your head?”
“Yep, and I can too. It’s neat most the time except when she is sad or I’m doing something I’m not supposed to,” he responded without thinking he was revealing too much to Max.
“When is Mommy sad?” Max asked.
“Oh, lots of times. She gets sick sometimes too and falls down like she's asleep, but she always gets better because I can get to her in her head and make her wake up. She’s sad right now. She thinks you’re mad at her? Are you?”
Max didn’t know what to say. He felt so conflicted. She had kept so many secrets. She had lied to him; made love to him knowing she was going to walk out on him. But at the same time he was so overjoyed to know she was alive, hadn’t been tortured and then… there was Zan. Looking at his son, his heart understood why Liz had done what she did. He didn’t agree with it but he knew that she was protecting him the only way she knew how. In fact, watching Zan right now made him realize that this little boy might be the only thing that could make him walk away from her. “No, Zan. I’m not mad at mommy. I’m just sad that I missed so much of your life. I’m sad that I wasn’t there when you were born, when you took your first steps, said your first word, went to school. All those things, I missed,” And I missed her too, Max thought.
“But that’s what the present is daddy. Open it and you’ll see,” Zan said excitedly handing him a large leather bound book with a crimson ribbon wrapped around it.
Max took it from his small hands noticing the similarity between it and Liz’s journal except this was much larger. As he opened it, he realized what it was – a history of Zan.
“Mommy did the first part ‘cause I was just a baby but I helped with the rest. See, now you are there with us. You can see all the stuff you missed.” Max and Zan sat together on the floor in the Pod Chamber looking through the book. Zan would recount story after story even acting some out for him. Max couldn’t help but smile and even laugh.
Liz took longer than needed unloading the van. Through their connection, she could feel Zan’s excitement and pure joy being with his father. She retrieved sleeping bags and toiletries for staying in the Pod Chamber until they made a move to the reservation later. Her mind started racing, worrying about how risky it would be to stay in Roswell for the night. What was she thinking? She should have never agreed to go into town at all. Had she become so lax in her constant state of vigilance? She hurried back up to talk to Max about a change of plans. Upon entering she saw Max and Zan looking at the album. Max was actually laughing as Zan imitated one of his teachers from school. He looked happy, almost peaceful. She didn’t want to disturb this moment so she quietly started laying out the sleeping bags, inflating therma-rests.
Max caught her movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to face her. What is she doing? Weren’t they going to stay with at Issy’s…with me? he thought wistfully. “Liz, I thought we would be heading to my sister’s soon to see your parents. What’s all this? I assumed you’d be staying with them tonight,” he lied.
Zan ran forward and jumped onto the pile of sleeping bags, “Mom said we are camping out in here for awhile. It’s gonna be fun…F-U-N!”
“Max, it’s too dangerous for us to be in Roswell. I mean what was I thinking? We should call the others and meet somewhere less visible. Zan, honey, get off the blankets.” Liz said refusing to look up at him.
He walked over to her and touched her for the first time in almost ten years, just a simple touch on her arm. When his fingers brushed her skin, Liz’s eyes flew open and the flashes started.
Liz, Serena and baby Zan driving cross-country
Liz in Boston attending classes
Liz Picking up Zan from school
Liz working in a lab drawing her own blood
The flashes suddenly changed....
Fires, explosions and bodies strewn all over the place
Maria running towards a car yelling for Michael as a beam of light struck her while diving in front of…Zan
Max felt like he was being forced out of Liz’s mind. He felt an energy upon him with such power and voracity willing him away from her. She pulled her arm away and stepped back whispering, “Max, no…”
“Liz,” he moved toward her in some sort of defensive dance. “Is that what happened or happens? Was that the future?”
Liz could feel it and tried to fight it off…the black out was coming. They had started about five years ago and she had done a remarkable job hiding them from those around her. “Max, I never meant for you to see that. God, it’s bad enough that I see it, live with it all the while praying I’m making the right decision to stop that timeline from happening.” She couldn’t help the tears that were spilling onto her cheeks or stop her heart from thundering in her chest. “If I turn right on this street instead of left, what will the future bring? Did I make a wise choice or did I chose poorly and now is someone dead because of it.” She was starting to crack under all the pressure. She needed to pull herself together; this wasn’t like her - not now, not the Liz she has had to become. She could do this…a little pep talk and she would be fine, right? But why couldn’t she breathe? What if coming here was a mistake? What if she just sealed everyone’s fate by coming back? Doubt started seeping in through the cracks. The room was spinning, she was seeing spots and her knees buckled beneath her…falling.
Max caught her before she hit the hard, dirty ground. “Mommy!” Zan yelled as he ran towards her. “Is mommy alright? This happens sometimes but it’s been happening lots more lately since we decided to come back.”
Max lowered her down on the blankets she had so busily been preparing moments ago. He brushed her hair away from her face and then cupped her cheeks with his palms trying to will a connection between them. “I’ll do it, daddy,” Zan said closing his eyes. After a minute or two in silence, Liz slowly opened her eyes. Zan immediately fell on top of her clinging for dear life. “Mommy, mommy, are you okay now?”
“Yea, yeah baby, I’m just fine. I think I need to eat something and so should you. Do you have the sammies we packed?” Liz said trying to distract him.
“Yep, but they are in the Granolith room in my backpack. I’ll go get them,” he said and sprinted off towards the pods and crawled through.
Max looked down at Liz who was resting on her elbows. “How often does that happen? Zan told me it’s happened before.”
“Max, I’m fine. Don’t look at me like that. I’m just tired and I haven’t eaten and this has been a stressful couple days okay?”
Max felt frustrated. “Liz, you’ve got to let me in…let someone in. You can’t keep doing this…”
“Doing what?”
“Carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. We are all in this together now. We should have all been in this together from the beginning. The minute you walked back into Roswell, you opened the door. You can’t take it all back now.” Max sighed before continuing. He didn’t want to let his frustration come through in what he was trying to say. “Liz, I won’t let that happen. I won’t let the future I saw come to pass. I won’t let anything happen to you and Zan or any of us,” Max pleaded trying to get through to her.
Zan interrupted their exchange, holding sandwiches up in his hands. “Daddy, do you want peanut butter and jelly or peanut butter and banana or turkey, I think. Is this turkey, mom? Dad, do you wanna finish looking at your present?”
“Sure, Zan. We can look while we eat.” Max grabbed a sandwich out of his hands not caring what kind it was; he wasn’t even hungry really. “Hey Zan, would you be disappointed if you didn’t camp out here tonight? How about instead we stay at my place with Auntie Isabel and Uncle Alex…kinda like a campout there?” He knew Liz was not going to like it but at this point he felt they would be safer with him and Isabel near then alone or with Serena here in the cave.
Zan smiled, “Like a sleepover?”
“Yeah, like a sleepover.”
“Can mommy stay too?” Zan innocently asked. Liz broke the dead silence ensuing to make the awkward moment passed.
“Zan sweetie, I don’t know. Can we just finish eating first? We don’t know what’s going to happen when…if we see your grandma and grandpa. Let’s just wait and see okay?” Liz said glaring at Max. Liz didn’t like not having control of this situation. She had been in charge, in control making all the decisions for so long and even though she knew it was more than she wanted, more than she ever bargained for, she didn’t want to let go. Maybe she didn’t even know how. She had spent the past ten years breathing life into the reality she created and controlled in Boston with Zan and Serena and now every thing has changed in just the blink of an eye.
Max decided to stop pushing the sleepover and enjoy the time they had left alone – just the three of them even if Liz wasn’t really present. He had waited ten years and now he knew he would have to wait a little longer. Both theirs worlds had been turned upside down in an instant when she returned. For Max he felt hopeful – he could protect them now. He had a son, a family or at least in his mind a chance at a family. But for Liz, he could still feel her fear, her reluctance to let her guard down and trust in the group…in him like she did before. He would talk to the others later and he would talk to Serena. Max felt a renewed sense of strength and purpose. He felt alive for the first time in so long. “Liz, it’s time to go.”
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amy2344
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2003 12:42 am
- Location: seattle
- Contact:
As promised another short chapter. more to come. thanks so much to all of you who are reading.
Chapter 23A
Isabel paced back and forth in the living room looking up at the clock. Why had she let Max off the hook? Why had she let him stay with Liz? Well, she knew why but she also knew she needed him too. They should be doing this together. She jumped when the doorbell rang. Alex gave her a smile before heading to the foyer. He knew Isabel was in a state of panic and it wasn't helping that Michael, Maria, Tess and Kyle still weren’t here as promised.
“Hi Alex. Now what’s this all about? Come over immediately…are you okay? Where’s Isabel?” Diane asked as Phillip finished parking the car. Isabel just stared at her mother. Here was the moment she’d always dreamed of and she was terrified. Alex walked over to her and took her hand as the Evan’s entered the house. “Oh honey, am I going to be a grandma? Is that what this is all about?”
Isabel managed a small smile while thinking to herself yes, you sure are about to become a grandma but not with my child. She knew she had to begin, when she heard a voice coming from the backdoor. “Max, oh thank god,” Isabel whispered. Max walked out of the kitchen carrying Zan. Liz was right behind him afraid to let her presence be known.
“Max? Is that Liz…Parker? Is this your…” Diane walked toward her grown son and the smaller version of him he held in his arms.
“Zan, this is your grandma. Mom, this is my son,” Max stated with pride.
“Hi grandma, I look like my daddy, don’t you think?” Zan smiled.
“I should say so. You look just like him when he was your age.” Diane was in heaven.
Isabel walked over to Max and hugged him, “Thank you, brother. I was so scared. I don’t even know what to say or where to start.”
Phillip was taking in everything unfolding in front of him. “Max, did you know about this? Son, if you did how could you not tell us or the Parker’s for god’s sake? Liz, why? Your parents think you are dead young lady and Max, you just went along with everything.”
“Mr. Evans, Max didn’t know until this morning. None of this is his fault. I’m the one who…”
Phillip cut her off mid-sentence, “How could you do this? Leave like you did with Max’s child letting everyone think the worse? A lot of people searched for you for months…putting your parents through hell. How incredibly selfish and irresponsible and…”
Max wouldn’t allow his father to continue, without knowing everything. “Dad, stop,” he said firmly getting his father’s attention. “Alex, would you take Zan upstairs and show him where I live. Isabel, is that okay if Alex isn’t here for the rest?” Isabel nodded and Zan and Alex raced to the garage towards Max’s apartment.
“Mom and Dad, please sit down. Issy and I have something to we need to tell you,” Max continued now that Zan was out of earshot.
“Isabel? What does she have to do with the fact that Liz Parker has a child with our son?” Phillip shouted.
Diane pressed her hand firmly on her husband’s shoulder before sitting down. “Honey, please be quiet.” She knew what this was about. This wasn’t about Liz and Zan, part of it yes, but her children were finally going to tell her their secret.
Max looked at Isabel sensing he should start. “Mom, I know you’ve known for a long time that I was…well, different.” Isabel added, “That we were different.” She took Max’s hand and continued, “We are different. We are not exactly human.”
“What!” Phillip exclaimed jumping up off the couch. “If this is some kind of joke or distraction away from what Liz has done; it’s not funny and it won’t work. Max, son we need to get paternity tests done…and then if he is your son paperwork should be…”
“Phillip, sit down and listen. This is important!” Diane demanded.
“Dad, just please try to hear us out. We were in the 1947 crash, we were in incubation pods and the night you and mom found us we had just emerged from the pods. That’s why we were naked and couldn’t speak.” Silence followed and Phillip just shook his head.
Diane spoke softly, “Is that how you healed the bird and put out the fire in the kitchen?”
“Diane, you don’t believe this bullshit do you?”
“Sit back down, Phillip.”
“Yes, mom. I can heal things. That’s my unique gift and Isabel, well she can enter people’s dream. We can do other things too but that’s not really important right now,” Max said.
“Are you telling us now because Liz came back with your son? Is he alright?” Diane seemed concerned that maybe something was wrong with her grandson.
“Mom, Zan is just fine and yes, Liz coming back had something to do with this. She’s going to be telling the Parker’s later. But it’s a little more complicated than that,” he said now feeling at a crossroads of how to continue this tale.
Diane now looked at Liz, “Is that why you left, sweetheart? Were you afraid...afraid the baby wouldn’t be normal?” She could tell that Liz Parker looked very afraid right now.
“Oh no, Mrs. Evans. I knew that Zan was going to be a hybrid like Max and Isabel. You see, I’m not exactly well, completely human any longer either.”
This was more than Phillip could take. “Okay, this is enough, kids. Making up some absolutely ridiculous story to cover up that Max and Liz have a child is ludicrous. I, for one, will not stand here any longer listening to this. Come on Diane, we are leaving.”
“Dad!” Isabel shouted lifting her hand towards the coffee table. The vase of tulips began rising off the table and move towards her father. She lowered her hand and suddenly the vase crashed to the floor. She raised her hand again and the vase, water and all its contents reassembled and floated back up in the air. At that moment the front door opened and the rest of the gang plus Jim and Amy walked in.
“Oops, sorry we are late. But apparently I did a little drinking and dialing the other night when I thought Michael was cheating on me and spilled the proverbial alien beans to my mom. We’ve been answering some questions,” Maria stated very casually.
Jim walked up to Amy and tried to put his arm around her but she shrugged it off. “Oh no, Jim Valenti. Don’t you even try. I am still very pissed off at you. I still can’t believe that you have known forever that my baby girl was shacking up with an alien. A small fact you decided I didn’t need to know. And to think, all I needed to do all these years was ply my daughter with alcohol.”
“Mom, hello, other people in the room here. Will you just calm down? We’ve been over this Madame Inquisitor, it’s not the Sheriff’s fault. What’s done is done,” Maria snapped back.
“Look, we just started telling mom and dad and the Parker’s will be…” The doorbell rang causing Isabel to lose her concentration which in turn caused the vase of tulips to crash back to the floor. Everyone stood still as the doorbell rang again. The Parker’s were early.
“I can’t do this,” Liz whispered mainly to herself. She felt sick to her stomach. This was chaos. She hadn’t felt this out of control since she disappeared. All the lies she created were staring her right back in the face. What had she done? If the Evan’s and Amy were so freaked out, what would her parents do? Max moved towards her to offer support but Liz moved away from him. Over the years her mind had created this image of her being toxic and dangerous to her friends and family. She kept moving away from Max not paying any attention where she was retreating when she tripped on the edge of the table causing her to lose her balance and fall forward. Max reached out to her but it was too late. She landed on a shard of glass from the forgotten vase shattered on the floor. As the glass punctured her chest, she let out a scream.
The front door opened and the Parker’s ran in as Max yelled out to Liz. Time seemed to stand still as a stunned Jeff and Nancy stared at the group of people assembled in the living room. From a distance the sound of a child’s footsteps were heard and a voice yelling, “Mommy, Mommy!” As Liz lay on the floor moaning drifting toward unconsciousness, Max began barking orders telling everyone to get back.
“Jim, we need to call 911, an ambulance. There’s so much blood,” Jeff said rushing toward his daughter who lay in a pool of crimson growing bigger by the second.
“Daddy, daddy fix her. This is too big for me,” Zan cried.
Max knelt down by Liz. “Liz, please you have to look at me. You have to open your eyes. Please,” he wailed. “I can’t do this if you don’t look at me.”
Chapter 23A
Isabel paced back and forth in the living room looking up at the clock. Why had she let Max off the hook? Why had she let him stay with Liz? Well, she knew why but she also knew she needed him too. They should be doing this together. She jumped when the doorbell rang. Alex gave her a smile before heading to the foyer. He knew Isabel was in a state of panic and it wasn't helping that Michael, Maria, Tess and Kyle still weren’t here as promised.
“Hi Alex. Now what’s this all about? Come over immediately…are you okay? Where’s Isabel?” Diane asked as Phillip finished parking the car. Isabel just stared at her mother. Here was the moment she’d always dreamed of and she was terrified. Alex walked over to her and took her hand as the Evan’s entered the house. “Oh honey, am I going to be a grandma? Is that what this is all about?”
Isabel managed a small smile while thinking to herself yes, you sure are about to become a grandma but not with my child. She knew she had to begin, when she heard a voice coming from the backdoor. “Max, oh thank god,” Isabel whispered. Max walked out of the kitchen carrying Zan. Liz was right behind him afraid to let her presence be known.
“Max? Is that Liz…Parker? Is this your…” Diane walked toward her grown son and the smaller version of him he held in his arms.
“Zan, this is your grandma. Mom, this is my son,” Max stated with pride.
“Hi grandma, I look like my daddy, don’t you think?” Zan smiled.
“I should say so. You look just like him when he was your age.” Diane was in heaven.
Isabel walked over to Max and hugged him, “Thank you, brother. I was so scared. I don’t even know what to say or where to start.”
Phillip was taking in everything unfolding in front of him. “Max, did you know about this? Son, if you did how could you not tell us or the Parker’s for god’s sake? Liz, why? Your parents think you are dead young lady and Max, you just went along with everything.”
“Mr. Evans, Max didn’t know until this morning. None of this is his fault. I’m the one who…”
Phillip cut her off mid-sentence, “How could you do this? Leave like you did with Max’s child letting everyone think the worse? A lot of people searched for you for months…putting your parents through hell. How incredibly selfish and irresponsible and…”
Max wouldn’t allow his father to continue, without knowing everything. “Dad, stop,” he said firmly getting his father’s attention. “Alex, would you take Zan upstairs and show him where I live. Isabel, is that okay if Alex isn’t here for the rest?” Isabel nodded and Zan and Alex raced to the garage towards Max’s apartment.
“Mom and Dad, please sit down. Issy and I have something to we need to tell you,” Max continued now that Zan was out of earshot.
“Isabel? What does she have to do with the fact that Liz Parker has a child with our son?” Phillip shouted.
Diane pressed her hand firmly on her husband’s shoulder before sitting down. “Honey, please be quiet.” She knew what this was about. This wasn’t about Liz and Zan, part of it yes, but her children were finally going to tell her their secret.
Max looked at Isabel sensing he should start. “Mom, I know you’ve known for a long time that I was…well, different.” Isabel added, “That we were different.” She took Max’s hand and continued, “We are different. We are not exactly human.”
“What!” Phillip exclaimed jumping up off the couch. “If this is some kind of joke or distraction away from what Liz has done; it’s not funny and it won’t work. Max, son we need to get paternity tests done…and then if he is your son paperwork should be…”
“Phillip, sit down and listen. This is important!” Diane demanded.
“Dad, just please try to hear us out. We were in the 1947 crash, we were in incubation pods and the night you and mom found us we had just emerged from the pods. That’s why we were naked and couldn’t speak.” Silence followed and Phillip just shook his head.
Diane spoke softly, “Is that how you healed the bird and put out the fire in the kitchen?”
“Diane, you don’t believe this bullshit do you?”
“Sit back down, Phillip.”
“Yes, mom. I can heal things. That’s my unique gift and Isabel, well she can enter people’s dream. We can do other things too but that’s not really important right now,” Max said.
“Are you telling us now because Liz came back with your son? Is he alright?” Diane seemed concerned that maybe something was wrong with her grandson.
“Mom, Zan is just fine and yes, Liz coming back had something to do with this. She’s going to be telling the Parker’s later. But it’s a little more complicated than that,” he said now feeling at a crossroads of how to continue this tale.
Diane now looked at Liz, “Is that why you left, sweetheart? Were you afraid...afraid the baby wouldn’t be normal?” She could tell that Liz Parker looked very afraid right now.
“Oh no, Mrs. Evans. I knew that Zan was going to be a hybrid like Max and Isabel. You see, I’m not exactly well, completely human any longer either.”
This was more than Phillip could take. “Okay, this is enough, kids. Making up some absolutely ridiculous story to cover up that Max and Liz have a child is ludicrous. I, for one, will not stand here any longer listening to this. Come on Diane, we are leaving.”
“Dad!” Isabel shouted lifting her hand towards the coffee table. The vase of tulips began rising off the table and move towards her father. She lowered her hand and suddenly the vase crashed to the floor. She raised her hand again and the vase, water and all its contents reassembled and floated back up in the air. At that moment the front door opened and the rest of the gang plus Jim and Amy walked in.
“Oops, sorry we are late. But apparently I did a little drinking and dialing the other night when I thought Michael was cheating on me and spilled the proverbial alien beans to my mom. We’ve been answering some questions,” Maria stated very casually.
Jim walked up to Amy and tried to put his arm around her but she shrugged it off. “Oh no, Jim Valenti. Don’t you even try. I am still very pissed off at you. I still can’t believe that you have known forever that my baby girl was shacking up with an alien. A small fact you decided I didn’t need to know. And to think, all I needed to do all these years was ply my daughter with alcohol.”
“Mom, hello, other people in the room here. Will you just calm down? We’ve been over this Madame Inquisitor, it’s not the Sheriff’s fault. What’s done is done,” Maria snapped back.
“Look, we just started telling mom and dad and the Parker’s will be…” The doorbell rang causing Isabel to lose her concentration which in turn caused the vase of tulips to crash back to the floor. Everyone stood still as the doorbell rang again. The Parker’s were early.
“I can’t do this,” Liz whispered mainly to herself. She felt sick to her stomach. This was chaos. She hadn’t felt this out of control since she disappeared. All the lies she created were staring her right back in the face. What had she done? If the Evan’s and Amy were so freaked out, what would her parents do? Max moved towards her to offer support but Liz moved away from him. Over the years her mind had created this image of her being toxic and dangerous to her friends and family. She kept moving away from Max not paying any attention where she was retreating when she tripped on the edge of the table causing her to lose her balance and fall forward. Max reached out to her but it was too late. She landed on a shard of glass from the forgotten vase shattered on the floor. As the glass punctured her chest, she let out a scream.
The front door opened and the Parker’s ran in as Max yelled out to Liz. Time seemed to stand still as a stunned Jeff and Nancy stared at the group of people assembled in the living room. From a distance the sound of a child’s footsteps were heard and a voice yelling, “Mommy, Mommy!” As Liz lay on the floor moaning drifting toward unconsciousness, Max began barking orders telling everyone to get back.
“Jim, we need to call 911, an ambulance. There’s so much blood,” Jeff said rushing toward his daughter who lay in a pool of crimson growing bigger by the second.
“Daddy, daddy fix her. This is too big for me,” Zan cried.
Max knelt down by Liz. “Liz, please you have to look at me. You have to open your eyes. Please,” he wailed. “I can’t do this if you don’t look at me.”
Last edited by amy2344 on Tue May 10, 2005 3:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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amy2344
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2003 12:42 am
- Location: seattle
- Contact:
sorry for the cliffhanger but this part is long. i don't want to be stalked (ha ha) so thanks for reading and stay tuned for a great one on one moment with m & l - dreamer alert. thanks so much for the feedback. i loved this...
Evans 3 wrote:
Chapter 23B
Liz felt herself growing lighter and drifting away…she could hear something or maybe someone but the sound was too quiet to register. She knew she had to do something but she couldn’t remember what it was. She just wanted to rest, to sleep. It had been ages since she felt this relaxed and she wanted to allow herself the peace that sleep was promising.
“Zan, you have to help daddy. You need to help me reach mommy. Please, I know you can do it. Tell mommy to look at me.” Max said trying to keep the panic out of his voice while still applying pressure to the wound. The blood wouldn’t stop. He had to make it stop or there would be no hope at all.
“Jim, why aren’t you doing anything? God Dammit give me the phone. We need to get Liz to the hospital now,” Jeff demanded.
“Jeff, Nancy, Max will fix this,” the Sheriff said calmly trying to difuse the tension of the situation.
Zan closed his eyes trying to establish the link to his mother. He could feel her but she seemed so far away. Mommy, please answer me. It’s really dark in here and I’m scared. Where are you? Please don’t leave me, mommy. Please don’t leave daddy.
Liz heard the voice in her head but she couldn’t make out the words. She was so tired and wanted to sleep. But she could feel that whoever it was felt scared and alone. Who’s there?
Mommy, it’s Zan.
Zan, baby is that you? Where are you?
Zan reached out to Liz in his mind and formed a connection and then opening his eyes grabbed Max’s hand. “I got her, daddy.” Max instantly felt Liz inside Zan’s mind willing the connection between the three of them by being a bridge. “Fix her now and hurry ‘cause I’ve never done this before.”
Max started repairing the damage through glowing hands, dissolving the glass shard, repairing the hole, stopping the flow of blood but there was nothing he could do about the amount of blood already lost. He fell back away from Liz and watched as a faint silver handprint started to emerge only inches away from he had healed her many, many years ago. With sweat glistening on his forehead and total exhaustion threatening to claim him he said, “She needs blood. I stopped the bleeding and repaired the damage around the puncture but she needs blood fast.”
“We need to get her to the hospital. I don’t know what just happened here but Liz needs a doctor. And am I to understand that my daughter has a child with him,” Jeff argued.
“We can’t take Liz to the hospital. Liz needs blood and I can do that here. Isabel, clean everything up and Michael help me move her slowly to the couch. Alex, go get my kit from my apartment. It’s on the kitchen table,” Max said even though he himself was feeling the effects of the healing.
“Daddy, why won’t mommy wake up?”
Max leaned down to meet Zan eye to eye, “She is really tired and weak. She needs some blood to help her get stronger. She needs special blood from one of us and then she'll wake up, I promise. I won’t let anything happen to her.”
Isabel started rolling up her sleeve offering, “Max, here I’ll do it.”
“Thanks Is, but it should be me. I think mine will be closer but I’ll need your help okay. Rubbing alcohol, towels…” Max looked down at Liz and saw she was becoming more and more pale…ghostly white. He had to hurry.
Alex entered the room at a dead run handing Max his doctor’s kit. He efficiently went to work tapping veins in both their arms for the transfusion. Once the blood started flowing into her body, Max practically collapsed on the floor next to her.
“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” Nancy cried out finally finding her voice.
Maria walked over to Liz’s mom, “It’s alright, Max will take care of her. Everything is alright now.”
Liz started to stir. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw her parents for the first time. “Mom…Dad, I’m so…sorry,” she whispered.
“Shhh, Lizzie,” Nancy sobbed while Maria still held onto her.
“Isabel, I want to move her to the guest room,” Max said quietly as he pulled the needle from his arm leaving the bag still filled with his blood pumping into Liz. “She should be okay for now…weak but fine.” He ran his hands over her body scanning for any other problems that he might have missed because he was so panicked. She had lost so much blood. He wished he had the power to create more but he could only change what was already there. It would take her a while to build up her strength even with the transfer.
Max let Jeff carry Liz to the guestroom. He carefully tucked her in and he and Nancy sat on the bed staring at their baby girl. She was alive and she was home now. There were so many questions. Jeff looked up at Max while he took her pulse on the other side of the bed. But before he could say anything, Max cut him off, “She needs to rest. She’ll be okay. She needs to replenish her blood supply.”
Zan entered the room and walked over to Max, “Daddy, mommy is really scared.”
“Tell mommy not to worry. Everything’s fine. I’ll take care of her and you, okay? Will you go get Serena, please.”
“She can’t hear me and she won’t answer me. I just feel her being scared inside.” Zan ran back toward the living room to get Serena. Max looked up at the Parker’s, “We’ll talk in a minute. Let’s get her squared away first.”
Serena entered and agreed to sit with Liz while Max tried to explain everything to her parents. Serena pulled a chair up to the bed and took Liz’s hand.
As they walked back into the living room Maria launched herself at Max, “How is she?”
“She’s fine, Maria. She just needs to produce more blood and that will take time. I didn’t want to give her too much of mine incase it was too different. I didn’t want to risk her going into shock. But, Liz was right, she definitely isn’t human anymore.”
Upon hearing that statement the Parker’s glared at Max, “What did you say?”
Jim intervened trying to calm Jeff and Nancy down but Amy interrupted him, “See, this is what you get for keeping secrets, Jim.”
“Can everyone just sit down and be quiet. Michael will you take Zan upstairs? If Liz contacts him, let me know. We really should try and behave like adults around Zan because I’m sure he is scared out of his wits. You’re all upset and I know you have questions but yelling at eachother isn’t going answer them. Zan has been through enough today and so have I. The thought of losing Liz a third time…” Max commanded before being interrupted.
“What do you mean a third time?” Nancy shrieked.
“Nancy, Jeff please sit down and just listen,” Diane said.
Diane approached Max and Isabel and took them both in her arms. “No matter what, you are my children and I love you both. Just tell them. I know Liz would like to tell them herself but that isn’t possibly right now.”
Max took a big sigh and began explaining what they were and where he, Isabel, Michael and Tess came from. “No one knew anything until the day Liz was shot at the Crashdown.”
The Parker’s had remained silent until then, “What? Look I’ve kept my cool up until now and after what I’ve seen today with Max healing Lizzie and Isabel waving her hand making glass and blood disappear…but I was there and Lizzie wasn’t shot. She fell and broke a bottle of ketchup. Jim, you filled out the report.”
“No, she was shot and I healed her. I had to tell her what I was because she had the mark on her. Maria and Alex also found out and…” Max continued the whole story feeling with every sentence he was unburdening himself. He told them about the FBI, Topolsky and Pierce, his capture and torture in the white room and about the rescue. Jim interrupted and told them that was when he found out and how Max had healed Kyle. Tess took over telling everyone about the destiny message in the Pod Chamber and who they were in their past lives and why they weren’t sent to Earth.
“And Liz has been involved in all this…the FBI, alien enemies?”
“Yes, she has and she has saved all our lives numerous times and she still is now. That’s why she left Roswell ten years ago,” Max interjected.
“Wait, she left to protect you. From what?”
“From the future and from ourselves,” Tess added.
Serena crept back into the room and made eye contact with Maria. “Liz is awake and she wants to see you and wants you to bring Zan. Max, I’ll take it from here. You really need to rest. That zapped you something good healing her like that. Liz wants to see you too.”
Max felt relieved. He had felt that momentary stab of jealousy when Liz asked for Maria and not him. Max walked down the hall while Serena, Tess and Isabel continued.
Evans 3 wrote:
Shocked This is what I looked like when I saw Liz got hurt on the floor with a glass in her chest. I was like Shocked Shocked Shocked *Gulp* Well that's the way to go telling her parents the truth about Liz and Max.
Chapter 23B
Liz felt herself growing lighter and drifting away…she could hear something or maybe someone but the sound was too quiet to register. She knew she had to do something but she couldn’t remember what it was. She just wanted to rest, to sleep. It had been ages since she felt this relaxed and she wanted to allow herself the peace that sleep was promising.
“Zan, you have to help daddy. You need to help me reach mommy. Please, I know you can do it. Tell mommy to look at me.” Max said trying to keep the panic out of his voice while still applying pressure to the wound. The blood wouldn’t stop. He had to make it stop or there would be no hope at all.
“Jim, why aren’t you doing anything? God Dammit give me the phone. We need to get Liz to the hospital now,” Jeff demanded.
“Jeff, Nancy, Max will fix this,” the Sheriff said calmly trying to difuse the tension of the situation.
Zan closed his eyes trying to establish the link to his mother. He could feel her but she seemed so far away. Mommy, please answer me. It’s really dark in here and I’m scared. Where are you? Please don’t leave me, mommy. Please don’t leave daddy.
Liz heard the voice in her head but she couldn’t make out the words. She was so tired and wanted to sleep. But she could feel that whoever it was felt scared and alone. Who’s there?
Mommy, it’s Zan.
Zan, baby is that you? Where are you?
Zan reached out to Liz in his mind and formed a connection and then opening his eyes grabbed Max’s hand. “I got her, daddy.” Max instantly felt Liz inside Zan’s mind willing the connection between the three of them by being a bridge. “Fix her now and hurry ‘cause I’ve never done this before.”
Max started repairing the damage through glowing hands, dissolving the glass shard, repairing the hole, stopping the flow of blood but there was nothing he could do about the amount of blood already lost. He fell back away from Liz and watched as a faint silver handprint started to emerge only inches away from he had healed her many, many years ago. With sweat glistening on his forehead and total exhaustion threatening to claim him he said, “She needs blood. I stopped the bleeding and repaired the damage around the puncture but she needs blood fast.”
“We need to get her to the hospital. I don’t know what just happened here but Liz needs a doctor. And am I to understand that my daughter has a child with him,” Jeff argued.
“We can’t take Liz to the hospital. Liz needs blood and I can do that here. Isabel, clean everything up and Michael help me move her slowly to the couch. Alex, go get my kit from my apartment. It’s on the kitchen table,” Max said even though he himself was feeling the effects of the healing.
“Daddy, why won’t mommy wake up?”
Max leaned down to meet Zan eye to eye, “She is really tired and weak. She needs some blood to help her get stronger. She needs special blood from one of us and then she'll wake up, I promise. I won’t let anything happen to her.”
Isabel started rolling up her sleeve offering, “Max, here I’ll do it.”
“Thanks Is, but it should be me. I think mine will be closer but I’ll need your help okay. Rubbing alcohol, towels…” Max looked down at Liz and saw she was becoming more and more pale…ghostly white. He had to hurry.
Alex entered the room at a dead run handing Max his doctor’s kit. He efficiently went to work tapping veins in both their arms for the transfusion. Once the blood started flowing into her body, Max practically collapsed on the floor next to her.
“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” Nancy cried out finally finding her voice.
Maria walked over to Liz’s mom, “It’s alright, Max will take care of her. Everything is alright now.”
Liz started to stir. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw her parents for the first time. “Mom…Dad, I’m so…sorry,” she whispered.
“Shhh, Lizzie,” Nancy sobbed while Maria still held onto her.
“Isabel, I want to move her to the guest room,” Max said quietly as he pulled the needle from his arm leaving the bag still filled with his blood pumping into Liz. “She should be okay for now…weak but fine.” He ran his hands over her body scanning for any other problems that he might have missed because he was so panicked. She had lost so much blood. He wished he had the power to create more but he could only change what was already there. It would take her a while to build up her strength even with the transfer.
Max let Jeff carry Liz to the guestroom. He carefully tucked her in and he and Nancy sat on the bed staring at their baby girl. She was alive and she was home now. There were so many questions. Jeff looked up at Max while he took her pulse on the other side of the bed. But before he could say anything, Max cut him off, “She needs to rest. She’ll be okay. She needs to replenish her blood supply.”
Zan entered the room and walked over to Max, “Daddy, mommy is really scared.”
“Tell mommy not to worry. Everything’s fine. I’ll take care of her and you, okay? Will you go get Serena, please.”
“She can’t hear me and she won’t answer me. I just feel her being scared inside.” Zan ran back toward the living room to get Serena. Max looked up at the Parker’s, “We’ll talk in a minute. Let’s get her squared away first.”
Serena entered and agreed to sit with Liz while Max tried to explain everything to her parents. Serena pulled a chair up to the bed and took Liz’s hand.
As they walked back into the living room Maria launched herself at Max, “How is she?”
“She’s fine, Maria. She just needs to produce more blood and that will take time. I didn’t want to give her too much of mine incase it was too different. I didn’t want to risk her going into shock. But, Liz was right, she definitely isn’t human anymore.”
Upon hearing that statement the Parker’s glared at Max, “What did you say?”
Jim intervened trying to calm Jeff and Nancy down but Amy interrupted him, “See, this is what you get for keeping secrets, Jim.”
“Can everyone just sit down and be quiet. Michael will you take Zan upstairs? If Liz contacts him, let me know. We really should try and behave like adults around Zan because I’m sure he is scared out of his wits. You’re all upset and I know you have questions but yelling at eachother isn’t going answer them. Zan has been through enough today and so have I. The thought of losing Liz a third time…” Max commanded before being interrupted.
“What do you mean a third time?” Nancy shrieked.
“Nancy, Jeff please sit down and just listen,” Diane said.
Diane approached Max and Isabel and took them both in her arms. “No matter what, you are my children and I love you both. Just tell them. I know Liz would like to tell them herself but that isn’t possibly right now.”
Max took a big sigh and began explaining what they were and where he, Isabel, Michael and Tess came from. “No one knew anything until the day Liz was shot at the Crashdown.”
The Parker’s had remained silent until then, “What? Look I’ve kept my cool up until now and after what I’ve seen today with Max healing Lizzie and Isabel waving her hand making glass and blood disappear…but I was there and Lizzie wasn’t shot. She fell and broke a bottle of ketchup. Jim, you filled out the report.”
“No, she was shot and I healed her. I had to tell her what I was because she had the mark on her. Maria and Alex also found out and…” Max continued the whole story feeling with every sentence he was unburdening himself. He told them about the FBI, Topolsky and Pierce, his capture and torture in the white room and about the rescue. Jim interrupted and told them that was when he found out and how Max had healed Kyle. Tess took over telling everyone about the destiny message in the Pod Chamber and who they were in their past lives and why they weren’t sent to Earth.
“And Liz has been involved in all this…the FBI, alien enemies?”
“Yes, she has and she has saved all our lives numerous times and she still is now. That’s why she left Roswell ten years ago,” Max interjected.
“Wait, she left to protect you. From what?”
“From the future and from ourselves,” Tess added.
Serena crept back into the room and made eye contact with Maria. “Liz is awake and she wants to see you and wants you to bring Zan. Max, I’ll take it from here. You really need to rest. That zapped you something good healing her like that. Liz wants to see you too.”
Max felt relieved. He had felt that momentary stab of jealousy when Liz asked for Maria and not him. Max walked down the hall while Serena, Tess and Isabel continued.
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amy2344
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2003 12:42 am
- Location: seattle
- Contact:
this ones short but more coming this weekend...again thanks for the feedback and keeping me going. best, amy
Chapter 24
Serena just dove right in feeling forever like the witness to this crazy alien story. “We haven’t formerly been introduced, I’m Serena, a friend of Liz. I know you are probably feeling like everything you’ve heard is pretty unbelievable but I can assure it’s true and it’s real and like it or not this is happening and you are now involved. Both Liz and I received a visit from someone ten years ago and that someone was Max only he was from the future coming back in time to warn us of what would come and what would happen if Liz didn’t leave. Everyone in this room was dead in that future including your grandson. The decision to change the past to alter the future was not made lightly. Liz did what she thought would protect all of you by leaving. We went to Boston and attended school, raised Zan and created a life for him in which he was safe. A few months ago, Liz and Zan started having dreams or visions about Antar, the planet Max ruled. Something is happening and even though we haven’t been able to piece it all together yet, one thing became very clear. Zan needed to connect with the others and so here we are which brings us to your grandson.” Zan entered the room holding Maria’s hand followed by Michael. “Say hello to your grandparents and then go see your mommy. She’s awake and asking for you.”
Zan stumbled toward Jeff and Nancy feeling somewhat overwhelmed. “Don’t be mad at mommy. She wanted to talk to you but she can’t right now and she’s scared you’re mad at her.” Zan then turned around and ran off down the hall.
“Zan is Liz and Max’s child but he is also heir to the throne of Antar. A war was waged in the future here on Earth. Max’s enemies came to kill Zan because he is a threat. He is the one who can end Khivar’s rule on that planet and prevent him from destroying ours. Otherwise, everyone dies. I know this a lot to take in but for Liz’s sake and for Zan please, if you have questions ask anyone of us. Be happy that Liz is safe and that Max was able to heal her. Be happy that you have an amazing grandchild.”
Maria was going to follow Zan but paused looking at the Parker’s, “Yeah, I remember when Liz told me about their less than Earthly status. I ran screaming into the street. It’s just normal for us now and it will be for you too. It will just take time.”
The Parker’s sat in a stunned silence trying to digest everything they had heard up until this point. Liz was a mother of an alien child who happened to be heir to the throne of another planet. “Wait, Max said Liz wasn’t human anymore. What exactly does that mean?”
“Liz’s DNA was altered when Max healed her and also from carrying Zan. She may have changed biologically speaking, but she’s still Liz. She has manifested some similar powers to the others and as I’m sure you’ve noticed she and Zan communicate telepathically. She’s just too weak to contact him right now, so that’s why she wanted Maria to bring him. She knows he’s scared and she wanted to make sure that Max would take care of him tonight. She wants to talk to you both too but her priority is to Zan right now.”
Max could hear the mumbling of voices growing quieter as he approached the guestroom. Liz was lying in bed with her eyes closed. Her face still seemed so pale. He assumed she had fallen asleep so he turned to leave.
“Max, don’t go. I was trying to contact Zan but I can’t. What’s wrong with me?” she asked.
“Maria’s bringing him and you’re probably just too weak to make the connection. It will pass, I’m sure. Don’t worry. How are you feeling?” he said leaning in to take her pulse again.
“Tired…and Max, umm, I just wanted to…thank you. I really felt myself slipping away. I know it takes a lot out of you to do that…to heal me. You must be exhausted. Sometimes I wonder if I’m even supposed to be here at all, you know. If it wasn’t for you…I would’ve died again,” Liz trailed off in thought. “Which is why I wanted to see you. Max, if something happens to me…I need to know Zan is going to be safe. I know you may not like it but, the deal Serena and I made in case something happened to me was that she would continue raising him until we were sure that there no danger or no invasion. Michael would help. I’m sorry but I had to make sure he would remain under the radar. But now…he needs you. He needs his father. I’ve worked so hard to protect him and I’m afraid that coming back has endangered him and all of you.”
“Liz, I’ll do whatever is necessary to protect him and to protect you. We can talk about this later. I know it’s important but you need to rest. So just put it out of your mind and know that he’s safe.” Max said standing next to the bed.
“But Max…”
Zan burst through the door followed shortly by Maria. He jumped up on the bed wrapping his arms around his mother. Liz’s body ached from the healing but she wasn’t about to ask Zan to stop. “Mommy, are you okay now?”
“Yep baby, I’m fine. Thank you for helping fix me. I can’t contact you right now because I’m really tired and I need to rest to get stronger. So will you be okay while I sleep? You can have a sleepover with your dad.” Liz looked at Max.
“Okay, but it’s really quiet in my head. We could all sleep in here with you to make sure you’re alright.”
Maria sensing the awkwardness interrupted, “Zan, come on buddy. I’m hungry and I bet you are too. Maybe we can get Uncle Michael to fix us something and that way he’ll can get himself out of the doghouse sooner.”
"What's he doing in a doghouse?" Zan questioned.
“Maria, wait,” Liz said. “Can you tell my folks that I want to see them? I won’t be able to answer all their questions so could you help fill in the gaps? And Maria thanks for taking Zan right now. Sweetie, why don’t you get the presents for your grandparents out and give it to them, okay?”
“Sure Chica. What are friends for?” Maria smiled at Liz and took Zan’s hand leaving the room.
Max sat down on the bed next to Liz and started reaching out to take her pulse again. “Max, I’m fine.”
“Liz, I…um…I got some flashes when I healed you. Well, not really flashes more like impressions or feelings. We should talk about…why you are so afraid of me. I felt it, I felt your fear.” They both were staring into eachothers eyes when the door opened and the Parker’s rushed in.
“Lizzie!” Max got up as Nancy went to the other side of the bed.
“We’ll talk later,” Max whispered and looked at her parents. “She needs to rest so please, not too long.” Max left the room feeling frustrated. In addition to the feeling of fear he received from Liz while he healed her, he was also overwhelmed by her love. She still loved him wholly and completely but she was terrified by it. He knew things were complicated and the only way to sort through it was to talk. He felt bad because he knew Liz needed to rest but he wanted so much to press her moments ago to tell him what was going on inside. He was growing impatient. He wanted to help her. He wanted to make sense of what he saw when he healed her but it was so jumbled. It was as if Liz had compartmentalized her mind and kept a careful watch over what she allowed herself to feel. All he did know for sure was that it wasn’t healthy what she was doing. She wasn’t letting anyone in. She wasn’t confiding in anyone or letting anyone help ease her burden.
Meanwhile back in the guestroom…
"Mom, Dad…look I know this is really a lot to take in right now but I am really exhausted. I need you to trust me and the trust the choices I made although I have no right to ask after all that’s happened.”
“But Lizzie…”
Liz struggled to sit up in the bed. “Just listen Dad, please. I know you have questions, probably millions of them. I know you are worried about me. I know you are probably angry and hurt for me leaving and deceiving you both. You have to know that I didn’t want it to be this way but I didn’t have any choice. I had to keep you all safe. You’re parents; you should know what I mean. Mom, I know this is killing you, but I had to keep my son alive. You would have done the same if it were me. I know it and I had to keep telling myself that.”
“But Liz, why not tell us? We would have helped you. We could have figured something else out,” Nancy said quietly through tears.
“Well, I for one am angry as hell,” Jeff said through clinched teeth. “Keeping you safe, my ass. He was right underneath our noses. You have been in danger the day Max Evans entered your life. This whole mess as far as I’m concerned is his fault. I should’ve never let him come near you after that stunt you pulled when he kept you out all night. What has he done to you Liz? And now he says you’ve changed and you aren’t human. What the hell does that mean? Not to mention that he got you pregnant. What kind of monster is he?”
Liz was becoming furious. Why couldn’t they be happy she was back and alive for God’s sake? She couldn’t hold back the volume or tone of her voice, “Don’t you dare blame Max. He saved my life. I would’ve died that day at the Crashdown and today if it wasn’t for him. I owe him my life, my silence and my protection as well as the others.”
“He’s brainwashed you, Lizzie. Can’t you see that?”
Max could hear the raised voices coming from down the hall. As a doctor knowing the weak state Liz was in, he couldn’t allow her parents to upset her. She needed to remain calm. He knew she would recover but she didn’t need any unnecessary strain or stress right now. He walked back toward the room just in time to hear Mr. Parker calling him a monster. He also heard Liz.
“He did not brainwash me dad. That’s ludicrous. He is the kindest, most gentle person I know. You think I did all this out of some kind of guilty conscience to repay him - a life for a life? God, I love him. I’ve seen inside his soul. He’s the father of my child, your grandchild.” Liz shouted back and was now visibly starting to shake.
She still loves me. She said she still loves me. He needed to stop this exchange between her parents now. Max opened the door after knocking. “Mr. And Mrs. Parker, Liz really needs to remain calm and rest. It will help her regain her strength. I know you have lots of questions and I will do my best to tell you everything. So please, let’s go back to the other room with the others.”
“Don’t think you can waltz in here and take control of my daughter’s life. You have done enough damage as it is. I don’t want you near her,” Jeff said walking towards Max.
Liz couldn’t take anymore. She felt like she was losing control. “Dad, if you knew that you could do something that would prevent millions of people from dying, would you? That you had the power to keep your parents and friends from being killed. From your only child being murdered right in front of your eyes. Would you do it? Even it meant leaving everyone you’ve ever loved, leaving your home. Would you? Or would let them die because you were too selfish to walk away?”
Jeff stared at his daughter. She wasn’t a little girl anymore, she wasn’t his baby. She was a young woman. “Liz…I…”
"Dad, please try to understand. I know this is hard. They are my decisions. I had to keep you all safe. How many times am I going to have to justify this to you? Don’t blame Max. Be angry at me, blame me if you feel the need to lay blame. I need some sleep. Maria will answer your questions, okay? And Zan has something for you that I think will help answer some questions too. Can we just talk in the morning?” Liz begged.
The Parker’s kissed Liz as she laid back down in the big bed. “Okay, sweetie. We’ll talk tomorrow. But if you need us just call.” Jeff looked over at Max, “This isn’t over.” They walked out of the room.
“You okay?” Max said.
“Yeah, just…why does it have to be this hard? I feel like I’ve let everyone down. I’ve betrayed everyone I ever loved and even if my reasons were valid, I just don’t know how to make them understand.”
“It’ll just take time. You need to rest.” As much as Max wanted to continue talking with her he knew he couldn’t be that selfish. “I’m going to go catch a nap. I am pretty tired too. I’ll check on Zan so don’t worry. I’m sure he’s thrilled to be with Michael,” Max said with a note of jealousy in his voice.
Liz had heard it too. She knew they needed to talk but she didn’t know if she could handle it right now. “Max, I know we need to talk about this and you are probably just as angry with me. Like my parents, you have a million questions. I don’t know where to start but maybe we should try now since I’m not connected with Zan. I didn’t expect to be welcomed back with open arms with everyone forgiving me instantly. I guess the truth of it is I don’t really know what I expected.”
"Liz, I don’t know what to say. I mean, I am so happy that you are safe and alive but I’m so angry at…”
Liz interrupted, “Me for leaving with your son. I know and like I said I don’t expect you to forgive me.”
“A very smal part of me is angry at you but not for the reasons you think. I’m angrier with me or the future version of me. I made you leave. I concocted this whole plan that forced you to abandon us. I made you leave…me. Maybe your parents are right, I am a monster.”
“You heard that. They are upset and rightly so. I almost died right in front of them and then they're thrown head first into the alien abyss and that they’re grandparents within like 15 minutes.”
“Yeah, it is a lot Liz to take on by yourself too. You took on all this responsibility alone,” Max countered.
“I had Serena and I had you, well future you to help me for a while and River Dog and Michael…”
There it was again, Michael. Max kept trying to shake the feeling that she had chosen Michael over him. He felt his stomach drop. Even if his mind was telling him he was being irrational he couldn’t help it. He got up from her bedside and moved toward the door.
“Max…wait.”
“I can’t Liz not now. You and I are both exhausted and we need to rest. Please don’t worry about Zan.” He left the room leaving her to wonder what was going on inside his head and heart.
Chapter 24
Serena just dove right in feeling forever like the witness to this crazy alien story. “We haven’t formerly been introduced, I’m Serena, a friend of Liz. I know you are probably feeling like everything you’ve heard is pretty unbelievable but I can assure it’s true and it’s real and like it or not this is happening and you are now involved. Both Liz and I received a visit from someone ten years ago and that someone was Max only he was from the future coming back in time to warn us of what would come and what would happen if Liz didn’t leave. Everyone in this room was dead in that future including your grandson. The decision to change the past to alter the future was not made lightly. Liz did what she thought would protect all of you by leaving. We went to Boston and attended school, raised Zan and created a life for him in which he was safe. A few months ago, Liz and Zan started having dreams or visions about Antar, the planet Max ruled. Something is happening and even though we haven’t been able to piece it all together yet, one thing became very clear. Zan needed to connect with the others and so here we are which brings us to your grandson.” Zan entered the room holding Maria’s hand followed by Michael. “Say hello to your grandparents and then go see your mommy. She’s awake and asking for you.”
Zan stumbled toward Jeff and Nancy feeling somewhat overwhelmed. “Don’t be mad at mommy. She wanted to talk to you but she can’t right now and she’s scared you’re mad at her.” Zan then turned around and ran off down the hall.
“Zan is Liz and Max’s child but he is also heir to the throne of Antar. A war was waged in the future here on Earth. Max’s enemies came to kill Zan because he is a threat. He is the one who can end Khivar’s rule on that planet and prevent him from destroying ours. Otherwise, everyone dies. I know this a lot to take in but for Liz’s sake and for Zan please, if you have questions ask anyone of us. Be happy that Liz is safe and that Max was able to heal her. Be happy that you have an amazing grandchild.”
Maria was going to follow Zan but paused looking at the Parker’s, “Yeah, I remember when Liz told me about their less than Earthly status. I ran screaming into the street. It’s just normal for us now and it will be for you too. It will just take time.”
The Parker’s sat in a stunned silence trying to digest everything they had heard up until this point. Liz was a mother of an alien child who happened to be heir to the throne of another planet. “Wait, Max said Liz wasn’t human anymore. What exactly does that mean?”
“Liz’s DNA was altered when Max healed her and also from carrying Zan. She may have changed biologically speaking, but she’s still Liz. She has manifested some similar powers to the others and as I’m sure you’ve noticed she and Zan communicate telepathically. She’s just too weak to contact him right now, so that’s why she wanted Maria to bring him. She knows he’s scared and she wanted to make sure that Max would take care of him tonight. She wants to talk to you both too but her priority is to Zan right now.”
Max could hear the mumbling of voices growing quieter as he approached the guestroom. Liz was lying in bed with her eyes closed. Her face still seemed so pale. He assumed she had fallen asleep so he turned to leave.
“Max, don’t go. I was trying to contact Zan but I can’t. What’s wrong with me?” she asked.
“Maria’s bringing him and you’re probably just too weak to make the connection. It will pass, I’m sure. Don’t worry. How are you feeling?” he said leaning in to take her pulse again.
“Tired…and Max, umm, I just wanted to…thank you. I really felt myself slipping away. I know it takes a lot out of you to do that…to heal me. You must be exhausted. Sometimes I wonder if I’m even supposed to be here at all, you know. If it wasn’t for you…I would’ve died again,” Liz trailed off in thought. “Which is why I wanted to see you. Max, if something happens to me…I need to know Zan is going to be safe. I know you may not like it but, the deal Serena and I made in case something happened to me was that she would continue raising him until we were sure that there no danger or no invasion. Michael would help. I’m sorry but I had to make sure he would remain under the radar. But now…he needs you. He needs his father. I’ve worked so hard to protect him and I’m afraid that coming back has endangered him and all of you.”
“Liz, I’ll do whatever is necessary to protect him and to protect you. We can talk about this later. I know it’s important but you need to rest. So just put it out of your mind and know that he’s safe.” Max said standing next to the bed.
“But Max…”
Zan burst through the door followed shortly by Maria. He jumped up on the bed wrapping his arms around his mother. Liz’s body ached from the healing but she wasn’t about to ask Zan to stop. “Mommy, are you okay now?”
“Yep baby, I’m fine. Thank you for helping fix me. I can’t contact you right now because I’m really tired and I need to rest to get stronger. So will you be okay while I sleep? You can have a sleepover with your dad.” Liz looked at Max.
“Okay, but it’s really quiet in my head. We could all sleep in here with you to make sure you’re alright.”
Maria sensing the awkwardness interrupted, “Zan, come on buddy. I’m hungry and I bet you are too. Maybe we can get Uncle Michael to fix us something and that way he’ll can get himself out of the doghouse sooner.”
"What's he doing in a doghouse?" Zan questioned.
“Maria, wait,” Liz said. “Can you tell my folks that I want to see them? I won’t be able to answer all their questions so could you help fill in the gaps? And Maria thanks for taking Zan right now. Sweetie, why don’t you get the presents for your grandparents out and give it to them, okay?”
“Sure Chica. What are friends for?” Maria smiled at Liz and took Zan’s hand leaving the room.
Max sat down on the bed next to Liz and started reaching out to take her pulse again. “Max, I’m fine.”
“Liz, I…um…I got some flashes when I healed you. Well, not really flashes more like impressions or feelings. We should talk about…why you are so afraid of me. I felt it, I felt your fear.” They both were staring into eachothers eyes when the door opened and the Parker’s rushed in.
“Lizzie!” Max got up as Nancy went to the other side of the bed.
“We’ll talk later,” Max whispered and looked at her parents. “She needs to rest so please, not too long.” Max left the room feeling frustrated. In addition to the feeling of fear he received from Liz while he healed her, he was also overwhelmed by her love. She still loved him wholly and completely but she was terrified by it. He knew things were complicated and the only way to sort through it was to talk. He felt bad because he knew Liz needed to rest but he wanted so much to press her moments ago to tell him what was going on inside. He was growing impatient. He wanted to help her. He wanted to make sense of what he saw when he healed her but it was so jumbled. It was as if Liz had compartmentalized her mind and kept a careful watch over what she allowed herself to feel. All he did know for sure was that it wasn’t healthy what she was doing. She wasn’t letting anyone in. She wasn’t confiding in anyone or letting anyone help ease her burden.
Meanwhile back in the guestroom…
"Mom, Dad…look I know this is really a lot to take in right now but I am really exhausted. I need you to trust me and the trust the choices I made although I have no right to ask after all that’s happened.”
“But Lizzie…”
Liz struggled to sit up in the bed. “Just listen Dad, please. I know you have questions, probably millions of them. I know you are worried about me. I know you are probably angry and hurt for me leaving and deceiving you both. You have to know that I didn’t want it to be this way but I didn’t have any choice. I had to keep you all safe. You’re parents; you should know what I mean. Mom, I know this is killing you, but I had to keep my son alive. You would have done the same if it were me. I know it and I had to keep telling myself that.”
“But Liz, why not tell us? We would have helped you. We could have figured something else out,” Nancy said quietly through tears.
“Well, I for one am angry as hell,” Jeff said through clinched teeth. “Keeping you safe, my ass. He was right underneath our noses. You have been in danger the day Max Evans entered your life. This whole mess as far as I’m concerned is his fault. I should’ve never let him come near you after that stunt you pulled when he kept you out all night. What has he done to you Liz? And now he says you’ve changed and you aren’t human. What the hell does that mean? Not to mention that he got you pregnant. What kind of monster is he?”
Liz was becoming furious. Why couldn’t they be happy she was back and alive for God’s sake? She couldn’t hold back the volume or tone of her voice, “Don’t you dare blame Max. He saved my life. I would’ve died that day at the Crashdown and today if it wasn’t for him. I owe him my life, my silence and my protection as well as the others.”
“He’s brainwashed you, Lizzie. Can’t you see that?”
Max could hear the raised voices coming from down the hall. As a doctor knowing the weak state Liz was in, he couldn’t allow her parents to upset her. She needed to remain calm. He knew she would recover but she didn’t need any unnecessary strain or stress right now. He walked back toward the room just in time to hear Mr. Parker calling him a monster. He also heard Liz.
“He did not brainwash me dad. That’s ludicrous. He is the kindest, most gentle person I know. You think I did all this out of some kind of guilty conscience to repay him - a life for a life? God, I love him. I’ve seen inside his soul. He’s the father of my child, your grandchild.” Liz shouted back and was now visibly starting to shake.
She still loves me. She said she still loves me. He needed to stop this exchange between her parents now. Max opened the door after knocking. “Mr. And Mrs. Parker, Liz really needs to remain calm and rest. It will help her regain her strength. I know you have lots of questions and I will do my best to tell you everything. So please, let’s go back to the other room with the others.”
“Don’t think you can waltz in here and take control of my daughter’s life. You have done enough damage as it is. I don’t want you near her,” Jeff said walking towards Max.
Liz couldn’t take anymore. She felt like she was losing control. “Dad, if you knew that you could do something that would prevent millions of people from dying, would you? That you had the power to keep your parents and friends from being killed. From your only child being murdered right in front of your eyes. Would you do it? Even it meant leaving everyone you’ve ever loved, leaving your home. Would you? Or would let them die because you were too selfish to walk away?”
Jeff stared at his daughter. She wasn’t a little girl anymore, she wasn’t his baby. She was a young woman. “Liz…I…”
"Dad, please try to understand. I know this is hard. They are my decisions. I had to keep you all safe. How many times am I going to have to justify this to you? Don’t blame Max. Be angry at me, blame me if you feel the need to lay blame. I need some sleep. Maria will answer your questions, okay? And Zan has something for you that I think will help answer some questions too. Can we just talk in the morning?” Liz begged.
The Parker’s kissed Liz as she laid back down in the big bed. “Okay, sweetie. We’ll talk tomorrow. But if you need us just call.” Jeff looked over at Max, “This isn’t over.” They walked out of the room.
“You okay?” Max said.
“Yeah, just…why does it have to be this hard? I feel like I’ve let everyone down. I’ve betrayed everyone I ever loved and even if my reasons were valid, I just don’t know how to make them understand.”
“It’ll just take time. You need to rest.” As much as Max wanted to continue talking with her he knew he couldn’t be that selfish. “I’m going to go catch a nap. I am pretty tired too. I’ll check on Zan so don’t worry. I’m sure he’s thrilled to be with Michael,” Max said with a note of jealousy in his voice.
Liz had heard it too. She knew they needed to talk but she didn’t know if she could handle it right now. “Max, I know we need to talk about this and you are probably just as angry with me. Like my parents, you have a million questions. I don’t know where to start but maybe we should try now since I’m not connected with Zan. I didn’t expect to be welcomed back with open arms with everyone forgiving me instantly. I guess the truth of it is I don’t really know what I expected.”
"Liz, I don’t know what to say. I mean, I am so happy that you are safe and alive but I’m so angry at…”
Liz interrupted, “Me for leaving with your son. I know and like I said I don’t expect you to forgive me.”
“A very smal part of me is angry at you but not for the reasons you think. I’m angrier with me or the future version of me. I made you leave. I concocted this whole plan that forced you to abandon us. I made you leave…me. Maybe your parents are right, I am a monster.”
“You heard that. They are upset and rightly so. I almost died right in front of them and then they're thrown head first into the alien abyss and that they’re grandparents within like 15 minutes.”
“Yeah, it is a lot Liz to take on by yourself too. You took on all this responsibility alone,” Max countered.
“I had Serena and I had you, well future you to help me for a while and River Dog and Michael…”
There it was again, Michael. Max kept trying to shake the feeling that she had chosen Michael over him. He felt his stomach drop. Even if his mind was telling him he was being irrational he couldn’t help it. He got up from her bedside and moved toward the door.
“Max…wait.”
“I can’t Liz not now. You and I are both exhausted and we need to rest. Please don’t worry about Zan.” He left the room leaving her to wonder what was going on inside his head and heart.
-
amy2344
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as promised the next part...enjoy.
Chapter 25
He didn’t want to join the inquisition in the living room. He was fatigued and could feel the exhaustion in his bones. He quietly walked through the kitchen hoping to slip out and sleep but somehow he needed to check on Zan. Maybe he was a coward not wanting to face the Parker’s right now but he just couldn’t look at Mr. Parker knowing how he felt. Max had spent ten years blaming himself for Liz’s disappearance but seeing the utter rage in her father’s eyes now was too much. Slipping into the kitchen, he ran right into Serena.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention. I’m…”
“Exhausted?”
“Yeah,” Max said leaning up against the wall behind the refrigerator shielding him from the others. “Did you escape the firing squad too?”
“Nope, the parents have left the building. Zan diffused the situation with the photo albums. It’s late and Isabel and Maria convinced them that we’ve all had enough for now. I’m sure they’ll be back in the morning,” Serena said.
“Where’s Zan?”
Serena smiled, “Max, you’re off duty for the night, okay. He’s with Michael and Maria up in your apartment watching a movie. Although he’ll probably be asleep in no time, he’s had a big day, huh?”
“Yeah, haven’t we all?” Max almost chuckled at the absurdity of his life at times. “Do you have a minute?”
“Sure, I’m surprised it took you this long. Come on, let’s go outside,” Serena suggested opening the backdoor. They headed toward the pool behind the house and sat down on some lounge chairs. “So, you want me to tell you all about Liz. Who’s she’s dated, how’s she survived without you, how she practically has driven herself crazy over the years? That sort of thing.”
Max smiled at her knowing he was completely transparent. He had gotten flashes from Liz when he healed her earlier but they were more like impressions or feelings versus day to day events. He had been so focused on healing her quickly that he just absorbed everything coming from her.
Serena just stared at him, “So, the ‘ole silent treatment huh? Okay, so I’ll paint you a picture Max. She’s in trouble. You know it; Michael knows it and God knows I know it. Hell, even a ten-year-old boy probably knows because your son is anything but stupid. She’s wound up so tight that I can’t believe she can breathe.” Serena paused pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting up. “What you did, what the two of you did was truly amazing and selfless, you know saving the world and all. But now, we’re all asking ourselves at what cost. Am I right? I’ve tried to get through to her, Max. I really have and on some level I know I have but she remains for the most part closed off.”
Max just continued to stare at her while she took another drag off the cigarette. “Does this sound familiar? Resonate with who and what this has done to you, Max? You both were cut from the same cloth. I’ve talked to Michael over the years and I feel like I know what your life’s been like because I’m living the same thing with her. Closing yourself off, taking on all the responsibility for the others, for your patients, trying to save them because you feel like you couldn’t save her. See - when she left a part of both of you died. She’s really been into the blame game too lately. Agonizing over coming here or not and then blaming herself for not making the decision sooner. Blaming herself for denying you your child…oh and Liz likes to blame herself for random acts of nature…earthquakes, fires…you name it she has come to believe that she wields this power over life and death of complete strangers. If I didn’t know her and know what’s the cause of her delusion, well I’d think she was narcissistic. But not our Liz. She’s completely selfless. She gives nothing to herself. Again Maxwell, does that sound familiar to you?”
“I didn’t come out here to talk about me. What do I do to get through to her? At this point you know her better than any one. I could feel her when I was healing her. I could feel the pressure, the self-judgement. I could feel how different she’s become but my Liz, my Liz was there too. I could feel her buried beneath all this angst and confusion and tension and hopelessness.”
Serena put out the cigarette before beginning, “Max, you’re Liz may still be there but she isn’t yours anymore. She is an entirely different person than the one you knew and loved. You have to understand and accept that in order to help her. She buried that person because to her, that Liz Parker was the root cause of the end of the world. Do you know what name she chose?”
“Name?”
“We changed our names when we moved East. Well, sort of. She became Elizabeth Evans. She took your name because she felt that was all she could ever have. Elizabeth Evans is a mother, a molecular biologist, a teacher, an alien-hybrid with powers all her own who’s become exceptional at hiding from the ones she loves and above all from herself. She’s obsessed with the idea that she alone is responsible for the end of the world. She has taken it all and absolved you completely. Think about it, it’s exactly what you would do if the situation were reversed. You are more than two halves of a whole; you’re mirror images of one another.”
“Serena, this is all really great. I’m assuming you have a psychology degree along with that physics degree but what do you recommend I do?” Max said quietly slumping back into the chair.
“Well, Michael and I think we should lock you both in a room and let you go at it. See which one prevails with the biggest martyr complex. Max, I don’t know. I only know that you are the only one that can fix her. You’re the only one that heal her and I don’t mean with your fancy alien trick. I just wanted you to have some insight as to what you’re up against because it’s a pretty big wall to climb. Now, if I’m as tired, as I know I am then you must be ready to keel over. We can talk later. Max, I have to believe that it’ll be alright. Liz has just forgotten how to believe...how to hope. A person can’t survive long without hope, without faith. She thinks she has destroyed everyone’s faith in her and now she can’t find any within herself.”
Serena got up and walked to the poolhouse retrieved a blanket and cushion. “It’s warm and the starts are watching over you and Michael and Maria are with Zan. Get some rest. ‘Night.”
“Thanks Serena. Liz has been lucky to have you.” Max laid down on the lounge chair and instantly drifted to sleep.
Liz woke up screaming. She wasn’t aware of her surroundings but she knew she had just seen Zan die. Her heart was pounding; her mouth was dry. As she tried to slow her breath, she realized where she was and that this was just another nightmare. She was parched and needed something to drink and she needed to pee. She needed to check on Zan too. There was no clock in the room that she could see from what little moonlight there was so she had no idea what time it was or how long she’d been asleep. Gingerly, she sat up. She was still wearing her clothes from earlier in the day. Feeling her shirt, she fingered the hole where the glass shard has punctured her chest. The fabric was stiff with dried blood. Reaching out, she turned on the light and squinted from its brightness. She had to get out of this shirt; these clothes were covered in blood. She hesitantly pulled her shirt over her head feeling the ache in her muscles. Looking down she saw the familiar glow of the handprint and trailed her fingers over it where Max Evans had marked her yet again. She should know by now that she would never have a normal life.
Pulling back the covers she slowly swung her legs over the edge of the big bed. Her feet touched the floor allowing her to experiment putting weight on them. She spied her pajamas on the chair next to the bed and figured Serena must have put them there. Carefully, she inched toward the chair. She unhooked her bra and pulled the tank top on with great effort. That’s when she felt him. She turned around too quickly for her tired muscles to react and lost her balance. But he was there to catch her; he was always there until she had left him.
“What are you doing Liz?” he whispered inches from her face. “You should be in bed.”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
“I felt you.”
“Oh…”
He carried her back to the bed and gently placed her down. “Max, I need to go to the bathroom and then I was going to grab something to drink. I’m okay. You just startled me that’s all. Where’s Zan?” she asked beginning to worry that he was all alone.
“He’s upstairs at my place with Michael. We thought it would be better, you know more familiar for him if he stayed over for Zan's sake and I fell asleep outside.” Max said quietly.
“I’m going to the bathroom and then we’ll talk okay. Hand me my pj bottoms please?” Liz slid back off the bed trying to hide her unsteadiness as Max watched her like a hawk. Max went to the kitchen and got Liz some juice and leftovers. He then realized he couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten. Maybe breakfast yesterday. He sat down in the oversized chair and waited for her to return. When Liz emerged, he stood up and moved toward her. “Max, I’m okay. Just help me up in the bed.”
As he reached out and touched her waist to ease her back into bed, he realized he hadn’t been this close to her in so long. He stared at her exposed shoulder feeling his stomach flip flop. His body ached to hold her. The connection was still there even after ten long years. He assumed Liz was too weak to block it like she had done before. It was exhilarating and at the same time terrifying. He knew from healing her that she still loved him and she even acknowledged as much to her parents. But she was distant, afraid, reserved…afraid of him. The talk with Serena had helped him understand her a little bit better but he still had no idea how to reach her.
“I’m fine...thank you, Max. You can let go now.” She reclined against the headboard.
Max moved back and sunk into the chair staring at her. Liz couldn’t help but notice an almost defeated look on his face. “This may be a loaded questions, but what is it? Is it Michael? I know we were interrupted before so if you want to continue to discuss it we can.”
Max sighed heavily, “It’s so many things. Yeah, honestly Michael is a part of it.”
“What else?”
“I don’t know if I can do this Liz.”
Her heart sank. He didn’t want Zanshe thought. She had ruined things for the two of them by keeping them apart. She had changed the future and had created this ripple effect. She was the pebble in the pond. “Max please, don’t take this out on Zan. I made the decision to leave. I took him away from you. I did it. Take it out on me. Exclude me from your life but I am begging you…he has waited for this moment to be with you for as long as he was able to grasp the situation. He wants to know his father. He’s understood to the best of his ability the reasons why we couldn't be together until now. He knows he is special and he knows you are too and the two of you are alike. He needs you. God, in all my scenarios of this moment I didn’t think for an instant that you would reject him. Me, yes but not him.” Liz closed her eyes and pressed her hands against them.
Max just sat there staring at her wishing he could take it all back. He could see her chest rising and falling quickly. He could feel her emotional pain which was threatening to overwhelm him now. “Liz, look at me. I meant that I didn’t know if I could talk about everything right now. It’s the middle of the night and I’m worried about you regaining your strength. I’m not rejecting Zan. He’s my son. From the moment I saw him, I loved him." He paused before continuing making sure she was paying attention to what he was saying. "I felt you when you had him. I’m pretty sure now that’s what I experienced. I felt your pain and I heard you call out to me and I couldn’t find you. I thought you were being tortured. We were linked during his birth. There’s so much going on in my head. In the past twenty-four hours, I’ve found out that you’re alive and that I’m a father and that in essence regardless of what you say…I made you leave. I made you leave your home and go across the country with no one. How did you survive? Where did you go? Where did you live? What about school? Your dreams?” Our dreams, my dreams?
“You took good care of us. Future you arranged everything. We have had a very comfortable life. Future you laid the foundation and River Dog and Serena carried out the plan. We have a home and I went to Harvard. River Dog had trusted women from the reservation come help out with the baby. I didn’t have to worry about any of the normal day to day living. When future you came to visit me for what I thought was the first time, he’d already been here preparing things with River Dog.”
“So I guess my future self must’ve been pretty damn sure that you’d go along with it if I had it all set up before I even approached you,” Max said with self-loathing.
“Max, it wasn’t just you’re idea. It was me…future me. We had no other choice.”
Max stood up and moved toward her but started pacing instead. “There’s always another choice, Liz. There’s always another option. There had to be another way. I can’t accept that there wasn't.”
“Sit with me,” Liz said quietly trying to distract him from what he was doing – punishing himself. Max stood still and looked at her as she held out her hand. He was frozen glancing from her eyes to her outstretched hand. “I’ve seen the future Max. I know you caught a glimpse of it when we touched in the Pod Chamber and god knows what you saw when you healed me. I live with it every day and I dream about it at night. I know that even though I loved you with all my heart, I couldn’t let that come to pass. Even though leaving us behind was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, I couldn’t risk losing Zan and everyone else. I couldn’t be that selfish. We had fourteen years together, married, full of love and passion, heartache and wonder and I gave all that up for both of us and for Zan. I cling to those memories that Future Max shared with me of our life together wishing all the time that they were real…but then I see Alex dead and Isabel, our parents and Michael. And then I see our little boy, dead. I see him dying over and over again.” Liz began to sob. “Even after ten long years I still see it clear as day. Don’t you think I wonder if I did the right thing by coming here? What if I’ve failed you all at the same horrific cost? I’m truly sorry for the hurt I’ve caused but I know it is less than the hurt we all would have felt in the future.”
Max reached out and took her hand. He moved to the edge of the bed. They both had tears in their eyes as they looked at one another. Liz choked, “So blame me, Max, not Zan, not Michael and not you. Blame me. I had a choice.” He quickly closed the distance between them enveloping her in his arms while she sobbed the same words over and over, “Blame me, Blame me…”
Max stroked her hair and breathed in her scent. His heart ached to comfort her torment but all he could do was hold her tighter. “I blame myself too, Liz. I can’t let you shoulder this alone. I don’t want to.”
She continued to cry softly against his chest. Max gently rubbed her back until her breathing steadied and he felt the tension dissipate in her body as she relaxed into his. He pulled slightly away and whispered, “Lay down, Liz and let go. Just sleep. Let me take care of you tonight. I’ll be right here.” Liz complied. She laid down slowly feeling him curl up against her body wrapping his arms around her and clasping her hand. “Close your eyes.” Liz closed her wet, swollen eyes and every now and then a whimper would escape her lips. Max would respond by squeezing her tighter whispering, "Shhh, it’s okay. You’re safe. Just sleep.”
Liz felt safe for the first time in years. She felt at home in Max Evans’ arms. She could allow herself one night of dreamless sleep, couldn’t she? As Max felt her surrender to sleep, he leaned in close to her cheek and whisperied, “I love you, Liz.”
Chapter 25
He didn’t want to join the inquisition in the living room. He was fatigued and could feel the exhaustion in his bones. He quietly walked through the kitchen hoping to slip out and sleep but somehow he needed to check on Zan. Maybe he was a coward not wanting to face the Parker’s right now but he just couldn’t look at Mr. Parker knowing how he felt. Max had spent ten years blaming himself for Liz’s disappearance but seeing the utter rage in her father’s eyes now was too much. Slipping into the kitchen, he ran right into Serena.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention. I’m…”
“Exhausted?”
“Yeah,” Max said leaning up against the wall behind the refrigerator shielding him from the others. “Did you escape the firing squad too?”
“Nope, the parents have left the building. Zan diffused the situation with the photo albums. It’s late and Isabel and Maria convinced them that we’ve all had enough for now. I’m sure they’ll be back in the morning,” Serena said.
“Where’s Zan?”
Serena smiled, “Max, you’re off duty for the night, okay. He’s with Michael and Maria up in your apartment watching a movie. Although he’ll probably be asleep in no time, he’s had a big day, huh?”
“Yeah, haven’t we all?” Max almost chuckled at the absurdity of his life at times. “Do you have a minute?”
“Sure, I’m surprised it took you this long. Come on, let’s go outside,” Serena suggested opening the backdoor. They headed toward the pool behind the house and sat down on some lounge chairs. “So, you want me to tell you all about Liz. Who’s she’s dated, how’s she survived without you, how she practically has driven herself crazy over the years? That sort of thing.”
Max smiled at her knowing he was completely transparent. He had gotten flashes from Liz when he healed her earlier but they were more like impressions or feelings versus day to day events. He had been so focused on healing her quickly that he just absorbed everything coming from her.
Serena just stared at him, “So, the ‘ole silent treatment huh? Okay, so I’ll paint you a picture Max. She’s in trouble. You know it; Michael knows it and God knows I know it. Hell, even a ten-year-old boy probably knows because your son is anything but stupid. She’s wound up so tight that I can’t believe she can breathe.” Serena paused pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting up. “What you did, what the two of you did was truly amazing and selfless, you know saving the world and all. But now, we’re all asking ourselves at what cost. Am I right? I’ve tried to get through to her, Max. I really have and on some level I know I have but she remains for the most part closed off.”
Max just continued to stare at her while she took another drag off the cigarette. “Does this sound familiar? Resonate with who and what this has done to you, Max? You both were cut from the same cloth. I’ve talked to Michael over the years and I feel like I know what your life’s been like because I’m living the same thing with her. Closing yourself off, taking on all the responsibility for the others, for your patients, trying to save them because you feel like you couldn’t save her. See - when she left a part of both of you died. She’s really been into the blame game too lately. Agonizing over coming here or not and then blaming herself for not making the decision sooner. Blaming herself for denying you your child…oh and Liz likes to blame herself for random acts of nature…earthquakes, fires…you name it she has come to believe that she wields this power over life and death of complete strangers. If I didn’t know her and know what’s the cause of her delusion, well I’d think she was narcissistic. But not our Liz. She’s completely selfless. She gives nothing to herself. Again Maxwell, does that sound familiar to you?”
“I didn’t come out here to talk about me. What do I do to get through to her? At this point you know her better than any one. I could feel her when I was healing her. I could feel the pressure, the self-judgement. I could feel how different she’s become but my Liz, my Liz was there too. I could feel her buried beneath all this angst and confusion and tension and hopelessness.”
Serena put out the cigarette before beginning, “Max, you’re Liz may still be there but she isn’t yours anymore. She is an entirely different person than the one you knew and loved. You have to understand and accept that in order to help her. She buried that person because to her, that Liz Parker was the root cause of the end of the world. Do you know what name she chose?”
“Name?”
“We changed our names when we moved East. Well, sort of. She became Elizabeth Evans. She took your name because she felt that was all she could ever have. Elizabeth Evans is a mother, a molecular biologist, a teacher, an alien-hybrid with powers all her own who’s become exceptional at hiding from the ones she loves and above all from herself. She’s obsessed with the idea that she alone is responsible for the end of the world. She has taken it all and absolved you completely. Think about it, it’s exactly what you would do if the situation were reversed. You are more than two halves of a whole; you’re mirror images of one another.”
“Serena, this is all really great. I’m assuming you have a psychology degree along with that physics degree but what do you recommend I do?” Max said quietly slumping back into the chair.
“Well, Michael and I think we should lock you both in a room and let you go at it. See which one prevails with the biggest martyr complex. Max, I don’t know. I only know that you are the only one that can fix her. You’re the only one that heal her and I don’t mean with your fancy alien trick. I just wanted you to have some insight as to what you’re up against because it’s a pretty big wall to climb. Now, if I’m as tired, as I know I am then you must be ready to keel over. We can talk later. Max, I have to believe that it’ll be alright. Liz has just forgotten how to believe...how to hope. A person can’t survive long without hope, without faith. She thinks she has destroyed everyone’s faith in her and now she can’t find any within herself.”
Serena got up and walked to the poolhouse retrieved a blanket and cushion. “It’s warm and the starts are watching over you and Michael and Maria are with Zan. Get some rest. ‘Night.”
“Thanks Serena. Liz has been lucky to have you.” Max laid down on the lounge chair and instantly drifted to sleep.
Liz woke up screaming. She wasn’t aware of her surroundings but she knew she had just seen Zan die. Her heart was pounding; her mouth was dry. As she tried to slow her breath, she realized where she was and that this was just another nightmare. She was parched and needed something to drink and she needed to pee. She needed to check on Zan too. There was no clock in the room that she could see from what little moonlight there was so she had no idea what time it was or how long she’d been asleep. Gingerly, she sat up. She was still wearing her clothes from earlier in the day. Feeling her shirt, she fingered the hole where the glass shard has punctured her chest. The fabric was stiff with dried blood. Reaching out, she turned on the light and squinted from its brightness. She had to get out of this shirt; these clothes were covered in blood. She hesitantly pulled her shirt over her head feeling the ache in her muscles. Looking down she saw the familiar glow of the handprint and trailed her fingers over it where Max Evans had marked her yet again. She should know by now that she would never have a normal life.
Pulling back the covers she slowly swung her legs over the edge of the big bed. Her feet touched the floor allowing her to experiment putting weight on them. She spied her pajamas on the chair next to the bed and figured Serena must have put them there. Carefully, she inched toward the chair. She unhooked her bra and pulled the tank top on with great effort. That’s when she felt him. She turned around too quickly for her tired muscles to react and lost her balance. But he was there to catch her; he was always there until she had left him.
“What are you doing Liz?” he whispered inches from her face. “You should be in bed.”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
“I felt you.”
“Oh…”
He carried her back to the bed and gently placed her down. “Max, I need to go to the bathroom and then I was going to grab something to drink. I’m okay. You just startled me that’s all. Where’s Zan?” she asked beginning to worry that he was all alone.
“He’s upstairs at my place with Michael. We thought it would be better, you know more familiar for him if he stayed over for Zan's sake and I fell asleep outside.” Max said quietly.
“I’m going to the bathroom and then we’ll talk okay. Hand me my pj bottoms please?” Liz slid back off the bed trying to hide her unsteadiness as Max watched her like a hawk. Max went to the kitchen and got Liz some juice and leftovers. He then realized he couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten. Maybe breakfast yesterday. He sat down in the oversized chair and waited for her to return. When Liz emerged, he stood up and moved toward her. “Max, I’m okay. Just help me up in the bed.”
As he reached out and touched her waist to ease her back into bed, he realized he hadn’t been this close to her in so long. He stared at her exposed shoulder feeling his stomach flip flop. His body ached to hold her. The connection was still there even after ten long years. He assumed Liz was too weak to block it like she had done before. It was exhilarating and at the same time terrifying. He knew from healing her that she still loved him and she even acknowledged as much to her parents. But she was distant, afraid, reserved…afraid of him. The talk with Serena had helped him understand her a little bit better but he still had no idea how to reach her.
“I’m fine...thank you, Max. You can let go now.” She reclined against the headboard.
Max moved back and sunk into the chair staring at her. Liz couldn’t help but notice an almost defeated look on his face. “This may be a loaded questions, but what is it? Is it Michael? I know we were interrupted before so if you want to continue to discuss it we can.”
Max sighed heavily, “It’s so many things. Yeah, honestly Michael is a part of it.”
“What else?”
“I don’t know if I can do this Liz.”
Her heart sank. He didn’t want Zanshe thought. She had ruined things for the two of them by keeping them apart. She had changed the future and had created this ripple effect. She was the pebble in the pond. “Max please, don’t take this out on Zan. I made the decision to leave. I took him away from you. I did it. Take it out on me. Exclude me from your life but I am begging you…he has waited for this moment to be with you for as long as he was able to grasp the situation. He wants to know his father. He’s understood to the best of his ability the reasons why we couldn't be together until now. He knows he is special and he knows you are too and the two of you are alike. He needs you. God, in all my scenarios of this moment I didn’t think for an instant that you would reject him. Me, yes but not him.” Liz closed her eyes and pressed her hands against them.
Max just sat there staring at her wishing he could take it all back. He could see her chest rising and falling quickly. He could feel her emotional pain which was threatening to overwhelm him now. “Liz, look at me. I meant that I didn’t know if I could talk about everything right now. It’s the middle of the night and I’m worried about you regaining your strength. I’m not rejecting Zan. He’s my son. From the moment I saw him, I loved him." He paused before continuing making sure she was paying attention to what he was saying. "I felt you when you had him. I’m pretty sure now that’s what I experienced. I felt your pain and I heard you call out to me and I couldn’t find you. I thought you were being tortured. We were linked during his birth. There’s so much going on in my head. In the past twenty-four hours, I’ve found out that you’re alive and that I’m a father and that in essence regardless of what you say…I made you leave. I made you leave your home and go across the country with no one. How did you survive? Where did you go? Where did you live? What about school? Your dreams?” Our dreams, my dreams?
“You took good care of us. Future you arranged everything. We have had a very comfortable life. Future you laid the foundation and River Dog and Serena carried out the plan. We have a home and I went to Harvard. River Dog had trusted women from the reservation come help out with the baby. I didn’t have to worry about any of the normal day to day living. When future you came to visit me for what I thought was the first time, he’d already been here preparing things with River Dog.”
“So I guess my future self must’ve been pretty damn sure that you’d go along with it if I had it all set up before I even approached you,” Max said with self-loathing.
“Max, it wasn’t just you’re idea. It was me…future me. We had no other choice.”
Max stood up and moved toward her but started pacing instead. “There’s always another choice, Liz. There’s always another option. There had to be another way. I can’t accept that there wasn't.”
“Sit with me,” Liz said quietly trying to distract him from what he was doing – punishing himself. Max stood still and looked at her as she held out her hand. He was frozen glancing from her eyes to her outstretched hand. “I’ve seen the future Max. I know you caught a glimpse of it when we touched in the Pod Chamber and god knows what you saw when you healed me. I live with it every day and I dream about it at night. I know that even though I loved you with all my heart, I couldn’t let that come to pass. Even though leaving us behind was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, I couldn’t risk losing Zan and everyone else. I couldn’t be that selfish. We had fourteen years together, married, full of love and passion, heartache and wonder and I gave all that up for both of us and for Zan. I cling to those memories that Future Max shared with me of our life together wishing all the time that they were real…but then I see Alex dead and Isabel, our parents and Michael. And then I see our little boy, dead. I see him dying over and over again.” Liz began to sob. “Even after ten long years I still see it clear as day. Don’t you think I wonder if I did the right thing by coming here? What if I’ve failed you all at the same horrific cost? I’m truly sorry for the hurt I’ve caused but I know it is less than the hurt we all would have felt in the future.”
Max reached out and took her hand. He moved to the edge of the bed. They both had tears in their eyes as they looked at one another. Liz choked, “So blame me, Max, not Zan, not Michael and not you. Blame me. I had a choice.” He quickly closed the distance between them enveloping her in his arms while she sobbed the same words over and over, “Blame me, Blame me…”
Max stroked her hair and breathed in her scent. His heart ached to comfort her torment but all he could do was hold her tighter. “I blame myself too, Liz. I can’t let you shoulder this alone. I don’t want to.”
She continued to cry softly against his chest. Max gently rubbed her back until her breathing steadied and he felt the tension dissipate in her body as she relaxed into his. He pulled slightly away and whispered, “Lay down, Liz and let go. Just sleep. Let me take care of you tonight. I’ll be right here.” Liz complied. She laid down slowly feeling him curl up against her body wrapping his arms around her and clasping her hand. “Close your eyes.” Liz closed her wet, swollen eyes and every now and then a whimper would escape her lips. Max would respond by squeezing her tighter whispering, "Shhh, it’s okay. You’re safe. Just sleep.”
Liz felt safe for the first time in years. She felt at home in Max Evans’ arms. She could allow herself one night of dreamless sleep, couldn’t she? As Max felt her surrender to sleep, he leaned in close to her cheek and whisperied, “I love you, Liz.”
-
amy2344
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2003 12:42 am
- Location: seattle
- Contact:
thank you all for being patient with my absence. all is well and good in the real world now. hope you enjoy. i am feeling much more caught up now so i will post again over the weekend. best, amy
Chapter 26
Alex went to the door at what seemed like the crack of dawn. Jeff and Nancy Parker greeted him. He invited them inside offering to make coffee. “She’s not up yet which I think is a good thing.”
“We just wanted to check on her and then we’ll be off to open the restaurant.” They walked silently down the hallway. Opening the door they were shocked to find Liz wrapped in Max’s arms sound asleep. Jeff couldn’t fight the urge to separate them - his anger visible to Nancy. She reached out her arm to stop him. “Let them sleep, Jeff. We’ll come back later.” Jeff started to speak but she hurriedly pulled him outside and closed the door.
“I will not allow him to hurt our daughter. We have lost ten years of her life because of him,” Jeff managed to whisper through gritted teeth.
“I know Jeff. I don’t really like it either but regardless he is the father of our grandchild and she still has feelings for him. So we wait and see. I don’t want to risk alienating her right now. Agreed? You need to try and keep it under control until we can talk with her,” Nancy said urging him down the hallways toward the front door.
Zan appeared in front of them surprising Nancy and Jeff. “Why don’t you like my daddy?” he said timidly.
“Zan, we are just concerned about Liz…your mom. We just don’t want her to be upset or get hurt. Do you understand?” Nancy said kneeling down in front of her grandchild.
“Yeah, but daddy doesn’t want her to hurt either. I think he’s sad.” Zan said fumbling with his hands.
“Shouldn’t you be in bed? Did your daddy leave you all alone?” Nancy asked incredulously.
“Nope, I had a sleepover with Uncle Michael upstairs. I think daddy went to check on mommy. I’m gonna check on her too ‘cause that’s what we do. We check on her since we healed her together and all. My dad’s a doctor too not just special like me. I still can’t hear her in my head so I better go. Bye.” Zan skipped down the hall towards the guestroom. He pushed open the door and tiptoed to the bed climbing up next to Liz. He leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.
Max stirred, waking up to see Zan next to Liz. This is my family, he thought. He motioned for Zan to be quiet and not wake her. Zan snuggled in next to Liz allowing Max to wrap his arm around them both. He drifted back to sleep feeling content surrounded by his family.
The Parker’s and Evans’ planned to reconvene at Alex and Isabel’s for dinner and to talk with Liz and Max. The rest of the gang were to be there as well for support. Liz, Max and Zan had woken up late in the morning, had breakfast and spent the rest of the day quietly hanging out with their son. Liz talked with Isabel and Alex about Zan’s schooling back in Boston. Max and Liz spent very little time alone together as one of them was always with Zan – the tie that would forever bind them.
Liz was feeling tired later in the afternoon and decided to rest while Max and Zan went swimming outside. Unbeknownst to them both, a secret meeting was taking place inside amongst their friends. “So, I met with Max last night and it was no surprise that he still loves her. You all know him best and right now due to circumstances, I’m closest to Liz and can assure you that she still has feelings for him but and it’s a BIG BUT here, she is pretty fucked up emotionally,” Serena finished.
Maria shifted uncomfortably in her chair hearing Serena state the obvious still hurt. Liz was closer to this person standing in front of her and she was probably closer with Michael too. Regardless, she still loved Liz and wanted to hear what this meeting was all about that Serena and Michael called. “Okay, so what are you suggesting? I mean it’s not like they are just gonna go at it here after all this time or what are we gonna baby-sit or something so they can go on a date?”
Kyle chuckled, “Well, dating for Liz and Max should be interesting since she’s basically thought of as dead…that’ll turn some heads in town.”
“God Kyle, you are really…I don’t know,” Isabel snapped. “Go on, Serena.”
“No, I’m not suggesting they date or jump one another or whatever. Liz is too damaged and also would smell any interference or the occasional influential nudge towards Max from any of us. I’m suggesting we observe and if we see an opportunity that doesn’t smack of being in her face…we use it. Liz is probably not going to open up to any of us. The only one I am hoping can reach her is Max,” Serena said looking to Michael to continue.
“So Maxwell, well we all know that he’s probably beating himself up over this whole future version of himself which is partially why Liz struggled with coming back. She knew he would blame himself and she didn’t want to inflict him with that kind of responsibility and has instead, as Serena has said, tried to take it all on herself. Basically, they are one and the same except Max would do anything to get her back. We know Liz loves him and wants him to be Zan’s father, that’s not the issue,” Michael paused begging with his eyes for Serena to take it from here.
“The problem is that she has created this image of herself as being the reason the world ends…because she and Max were together. The reason we are back is because Zan needs to connect with the Four Square. Well, Liz needs to reconnect to herself and god knows to life. So I don’t have any answers only the suggestion that we each try and spend some one on one time with her and see what she may reveal. We should keep eachother abreast of any developments and use eachother as sounding boards. Isabel, Alex told me that you have developed your dreamwalking ability to an art form. It may be possible that you could dreamwalk her with her so weak from the blood loss that she won’t be able to fight you or as Alex said…she may not even know your there. How do you feel about that?” Serena asked.
“I’d do anything to help my brother or Liz. I’ll just go ahead and say what I’m sure most of you may be thinking. I feel really shitty, guilty and just plain sad at the way things have turned out for Max and Liz. We are all sitting here in our comfortable lives with the loves of our lives because of them. Because they were willing to sacrifice their happiness for the greater good. What scares me the most about it all and what makes me feel even worse sometimes is I don’t know if I could’ve been that strong…if I could held up like they did or even survived...if it had been me who had to make the choice. I mean, my god, Alex would be dead and Tess I’m sure you are a wringing your hands…I’m sorry but I needed to get that out,” Isabel managed to say before tearing up.
“So we are in agreement?” Everyone went around the room nodding but not knowing exactly what he or she should actually do about it. “One more thing, Maria can you help with the Parker’s? They are riding Liz pretty hard which is understandable but they don’t know how fragile she is right now. Please babe?” Michael begged knowing that he still had a lot to own up to. Maria was still feeling hurt from both he and Liz.
“Yes, for Liz’s sake not yours Space Boy.”
When the parents did arrive, Liz had just woken up from a nap. Max’s parents had brought Zan a remote control car. He was absolutely thrilled at their indulgence, playing with it instantly. Phillip and Diane seemed to have no problem now accepting their kids alien status as well as their grandson. In her heart, Diane had always known something was different about them and now she knew. Isabel was so happy and spent time alone with her mom in the kitchen finishing up dinner and chatting feeling so relieved not to have to hide anything anymore.
Dinner was sedate to say the least with no one really knowing what to say and everyone dancing around the questions they wanted to ask. Alex asked Zan to help him in the kitchen so his grandparents could talk. Max looked at Isabel, "Will you go help. Distract him if need be. Take him upstairs to play video games. Besides you haven’t spent anytime with your nephew. We’ll be fine.”
As they adjourned to the living room for the rest of the inquisition to begin, Max was immediately overwhelmed by Liz’s anxiety. He closed his eyes, calmed his breathing and reached out to her in his mind. Liz, Liz…it’s me. I don’t know if you can hear me but I’m here if you need me. I’m here for you.
She stopped dead in her tracks turning quickly to face him. Astonished she said out loud without thinking of her parents, “How…how did you do that Max?”
Zan taught me or at least told me what it felt like in his head when he talked to you. He said that you told him that we could do it too in the past, I mean and that it made him feel better knowing that I could talk to you in your head like he did. Try it, Max mentally suggested.
“Not now, the firing squad is taking aim.”
Again he closed his eyes and focused, I just want you to know that I’m here and that you’re not alone. I know you are scared but it’ll be all right. They love you.
She just stared at him until they reached the couch and sat down side by side. “I’m sure you have a million questions, mom and dad. So fire away.”
“Lizzie, how could we not have known what was going on with you? You were really shot? Is that true? And he healed you. You, you stayed out all night with him…is that when he got you pregnant? What else haven’t you told us?” Nancy said refusing to address Max by his name. She and Jeff had agreed that it would be best for now if he stayed quiet after yesterday’s outburst.
Okay, starting with the hard stuff. I can do this. Taking a deep breath and looking straight at them she jumped into the lion’s den, “Yeah, there is more.” She explained about Nasedo and the FBI unit, the Skins and Congresswoman Whitaker and then without holding back she told them about conceiving Zan while at the Gomez concert, Future Max’s visit and the plan their future selves had made. “But mom and dad, that’s all in the past. After I left Roswell, Serena and I moved to Boston with the baby. Future Max has provided very well for us. I have a master’s degree in molecular biology that I have used to do extensive research in the field of hybridization since…”
Jeff couldn’t help but interrupt, “Since you are one now. You neglected to tell us what exactly he did to you…to change you.”
Liz somehow remained calm while responding to her father by allowing the scientist in her to take over and simply stick to the facts, “Yeah, I’m in essence a hybrid, a cross between the human I was and the alien DNA I received from Max when he saved my life so long ago as well as carrying our child. Zan is a hybrid too but different than me…closer to Max and the others you might say. Zan is special.” She couldn’t help the smile that lit up when she talked about Zan. Max couldn’t take his eyes off her. It had been so long since he had seen her smile.
“And now you can do things like him and the others,” Jeff continued.
“If you mean my Wonder Women powers dad, yes I can. But the emergence of my powers just like Max, Isabel, Michael and Tess isn’t alien-related. They're human in nature just a by-product of how advanced in the evolutionary chain my brain has become. When Max healed me, it allowed me to access parts of my brain that humans don’t normally use. Combined with the change in my DNA well, let’s just say I’m more human than you think I am if that helps any.” Liz paused to let then take this in. She couldn’t believe they had actually remained this calm for so long. “I know you’ve been through hell with me disappearing. I don’t know what else to say to you to make you see what it was like…what the future was like. I’m back so that Zan can connect with the others – the Four Square. That’s what my visions have led me to believe needed to happen. I know that you would rather me say I came back because I needed to rectify everything with you but I’m not going to lie to you anymore. I’m done lying. I hope that you can understand.”
The Evans’ just took it all in and remained quiet. Nancy spoke, “Liz, it is an awful lot to swallow in 48 hours. Just as you asked us to understand as parents I want to ask you the same. How would you feel if your child had kept all of this from you? I’m just trying to find some common ground here.”
“Mom, please what’s done is done. I wanted to protect you both so the less you knew the better. I’m tired and I need to check on Zan.”
“I know Lizzie but what happens now? Are you still in hiding? Are you back with…with him?” Jeff asked gesturing towards Max.
There, someone had said it – the million-dollar question in everyone’s mind had now been released from Pandora’s Box. It hung there in the air with no where to go. Taking a deep breath Liz responded, “Max is Zan’s father. He will always be a part of his life from here on out.”
While Max was thrilled at having Zan in his life, his heart was heavy. She didn’t answer the question. He wasn’t expecting a full-fledged declaration of love especially in front of this crowd but something…anything. He wanted to be more than just Zan’s father.
Liz could feel the angst dripping off Max and continued, “As for Max and I…that’s between the two of us. I have been back less than two days and in that time a lot has happened…a lot that we all need to accept and adjust to…” Liz was becoming visibly tired as her voice trailed off.
Sensing her exhaustion Max took over feeling emboldened that she was at least entertaining some type of relationship other than just father to Zan. “Mr. Parker, like Liz said it’s been roughly 48 hours since all of our lives have changed including your daughter's. The rest of us are going to be meeting tomorrow to discuss next steps. We are all a part of this now and so whatever the others, with Liz and Zan, decide is what we will do. For now, we are all in agreement that Liz and Zan are still in hiding but we need to find someplace else to stay because this is still Roswell. We don’t want anyone knowing that Liz is back or that we have a child. If the wrong people find out…well, I would protect them with my life if need be,” Max firmly stated but avoided anymore conjecture on his and Liz’s relationship.
Thanks, Liz mentally said to Max. He simply looked her way and smiled.
“So Liz needs to rest. After we meet tomorrow, we will let you all know what is decided.” The Evan’s said their good byes while the Parker’s were cornered by Maria diverting them from Liz for the moment.
Meanwhile, Alex had been relieved of Zan watching duty by Michael. Having a quiet moment in the recent alien chaos, he decided to check on something he hadn’t looked at in years. Something had been nagging at him in the back of his brain, something Liz had said about Future Max and then playing with Zan tonight made him curious. He first went to find Tess.
“I think we may have a slight problem,” Alex whispered to Tess in a low voice. “Meet me in my office in five or as soon as you can slip away.”
Alex walked slowly to his home office with his array of computers and high tech gadgets. His mind was racing as he switched on the computer to look at something he thought was dead and buried.
Tess silently slipped in the room and closed the door. “What’s wrong?”
“I translated the Destiny Book a few years back. I really didn’t think anything of it until now. I don’t even know what possessed me to do it. I mean everything had changed so much. You were with Kyle not Max. Destiny never seemed like a real issue or even a possibility that Max would produce an heir since Liz was gone,” Alex paused frantically typing on the keypad before continuing. “What do you know about the Age of Awakening on Antar?”
“I haven’t thought about this stuff in years, Alex. Why?” Tess inquired.
“Just think…try to remember…it’s important. Please, Tess.”
Tess sat down rubbing her temple. “It’s the age that you are recognized by the Granolith and the Holy Order of Antar as able to assume…I don’t know…life’s responsibilities…take command of your person…who you were meant to become or ordained to be. It’s still a class system on Antar. The Granolith and The Holy Order created it. It’s what was tearing Antar apart.”
“Thanks for the history lesson, but at what age are you recognized?” Alex stopped typing and looked up at Tess.
“Only a select group of individuals were recognized by The Order…the ruling elite. Oh my God, Zan.” Tess continued as the realization dawned on her.
“How old?” Alex just stared into Tess’s tear filled blue eyes.
“A decade...ten years old. The Order will recognize him as the true heir and ruler of Antar. Khivar will know Max has an heir. Zan is almost ten years old,” Tess stated flatly.
“We have the Granolith. Will they still know if we have it? Why was sent with you in the first place? We haven’t talked about this in so long,” Alex said wearily pulling away from the computer to reveal the actual translation of all the Antarian symbols contained within the Destiny Book.
“I don’t know. The last thing we all came up with was that when we were engineered or cloned and sent here the resistance, Max’s parents, whomever wanted to make Khivar pay for his treachery. Taking the Granolith lessened his power. Without it, the ruling class would never be 100% valid as before. The Holy Order of Antar is linked to the Granolith. The Granolith is only a physical manifestation…a symbol of their power. The Order is connected to something sacred…something supernatural…god-like if you will,” Tess stopped thinking deeply before continuing. “Alex, the Granolith is thousands of light years away. So they may not ever know about Zan. We don’t know that it’s power can reach across the solar system,” Tess said grasping at anything to make the reality of what Alex had uncovered not be true.
“Tess, he’s the heir to the throne of Antar. You said it yourself…the Granolith is only the symbol of the power of The Order. It only confirms what they deem to be true. We have to tell Max and Liz. We have to find out everything Future Max told her. I think we may have information that he didn’t have…meaning the Destiny Book translation. I can’t imagine Future Max and Future Liz concocting a plan to keep them apart from one another…from their family if eventually Khivar found out anyway. They must not have known.”
Tess looked at Alex as the tears spilled down her cheeks. “They didn’t know about the translation…because of me. Alex, Liz said I killed you. I mind warped you into doing the translation and then I murdered you…I…” Tess fell apart slumping to the floor.
“Tess, shh, it’s not who you are. I no more believe that you would ever hurt me or anyone much less kill someone especially me. It’s okay, Tess,” Alex pressed trying to calm her down. “You’re family…we are family. Liz may not have changed the end of the world but she did make us all stronger. We have to go tell Max and Liz and I need you. I need your strength and I know max will need you too. We never would have survived without you Tess. You are part of us.”
“So what do we do now?” Tess whispered.
“I’m printing up the Destiny Book and then we go talk to the others,” Alex said while furiously typing.
“Wait, remember what Serena said? I’m sure they are both fried from an evening with the Parker’s. Can it wait till we meet tomorrow? I’d like to read the whole thing tonight. And before you say it…no, I am not avoiding,” Tess said. She felt like she finally had her family, her friends, her place in the big scheme of things and she wasn’t going to let them down. She’d do whatever it took and being as prepared as possible seemed like the first step.
“Okay, we’ll wait till tomorrow. You’re probably right. We can’t change anything tonight. Are you okay?” Alex said relaxing in his big office chair.
“I will be. Thanks, I just hope that Liz and Max will be.”
Chapter 26
Alex went to the door at what seemed like the crack of dawn. Jeff and Nancy Parker greeted him. He invited them inside offering to make coffee. “She’s not up yet which I think is a good thing.”
“We just wanted to check on her and then we’ll be off to open the restaurant.” They walked silently down the hallway. Opening the door they were shocked to find Liz wrapped in Max’s arms sound asleep. Jeff couldn’t fight the urge to separate them - his anger visible to Nancy. She reached out her arm to stop him. “Let them sleep, Jeff. We’ll come back later.” Jeff started to speak but she hurriedly pulled him outside and closed the door.
“I will not allow him to hurt our daughter. We have lost ten years of her life because of him,” Jeff managed to whisper through gritted teeth.
“I know Jeff. I don’t really like it either but regardless he is the father of our grandchild and she still has feelings for him. So we wait and see. I don’t want to risk alienating her right now. Agreed? You need to try and keep it under control until we can talk with her,” Nancy said urging him down the hallways toward the front door.
Zan appeared in front of them surprising Nancy and Jeff. “Why don’t you like my daddy?” he said timidly.
“Zan, we are just concerned about Liz…your mom. We just don’t want her to be upset or get hurt. Do you understand?” Nancy said kneeling down in front of her grandchild.
“Yeah, but daddy doesn’t want her to hurt either. I think he’s sad.” Zan said fumbling with his hands.
“Shouldn’t you be in bed? Did your daddy leave you all alone?” Nancy asked incredulously.
“Nope, I had a sleepover with Uncle Michael upstairs. I think daddy went to check on mommy. I’m gonna check on her too ‘cause that’s what we do. We check on her since we healed her together and all. My dad’s a doctor too not just special like me. I still can’t hear her in my head so I better go. Bye.” Zan skipped down the hall towards the guestroom. He pushed open the door and tiptoed to the bed climbing up next to Liz. He leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.
Max stirred, waking up to see Zan next to Liz. This is my family, he thought. He motioned for Zan to be quiet and not wake her. Zan snuggled in next to Liz allowing Max to wrap his arm around them both. He drifted back to sleep feeling content surrounded by his family.
The Parker’s and Evans’ planned to reconvene at Alex and Isabel’s for dinner and to talk with Liz and Max. The rest of the gang were to be there as well for support. Liz, Max and Zan had woken up late in the morning, had breakfast and spent the rest of the day quietly hanging out with their son. Liz talked with Isabel and Alex about Zan’s schooling back in Boston. Max and Liz spent very little time alone together as one of them was always with Zan – the tie that would forever bind them.
Liz was feeling tired later in the afternoon and decided to rest while Max and Zan went swimming outside. Unbeknownst to them both, a secret meeting was taking place inside amongst their friends. “So, I met with Max last night and it was no surprise that he still loves her. You all know him best and right now due to circumstances, I’m closest to Liz and can assure you that she still has feelings for him but and it’s a BIG BUT here, she is pretty fucked up emotionally,” Serena finished.
Maria shifted uncomfortably in her chair hearing Serena state the obvious still hurt. Liz was closer to this person standing in front of her and she was probably closer with Michael too. Regardless, she still loved Liz and wanted to hear what this meeting was all about that Serena and Michael called. “Okay, so what are you suggesting? I mean it’s not like they are just gonna go at it here after all this time or what are we gonna baby-sit or something so they can go on a date?”
Kyle chuckled, “Well, dating for Liz and Max should be interesting since she’s basically thought of as dead…that’ll turn some heads in town.”
“God Kyle, you are really…I don’t know,” Isabel snapped. “Go on, Serena.”
“No, I’m not suggesting they date or jump one another or whatever. Liz is too damaged and also would smell any interference or the occasional influential nudge towards Max from any of us. I’m suggesting we observe and if we see an opportunity that doesn’t smack of being in her face…we use it. Liz is probably not going to open up to any of us. The only one I am hoping can reach her is Max,” Serena said looking to Michael to continue.
“So Maxwell, well we all know that he’s probably beating himself up over this whole future version of himself which is partially why Liz struggled with coming back. She knew he would blame himself and she didn’t want to inflict him with that kind of responsibility and has instead, as Serena has said, tried to take it all on herself. Basically, they are one and the same except Max would do anything to get her back. We know Liz loves him and wants him to be Zan’s father, that’s not the issue,” Michael paused begging with his eyes for Serena to take it from here.
“The problem is that she has created this image of herself as being the reason the world ends…because she and Max were together. The reason we are back is because Zan needs to connect with the Four Square. Well, Liz needs to reconnect to herself and god knows to life. So I don’t have any answers only the suggestion that we each try and spend some one on one time with her and see what she may reveal. We should keep eachother abreast of any developments and use eachother as sounding boards. Isabel, Alex told me that you have developed your dreamwalking ability to an art form. It may be possible that you could dreamwalk her with her so weak from the blood loss that she won’t be able to fight you or as Alex said…she may not even know your there. How do you feel about that?” Serena asked.
“I’d do anything to help my brother or Liz. I’ll just go ahead and say what I’m sure most of you may be thinking. I feel really shitty, guilty and just plain sad at the way things have turned out for Max and Liz. We are all sitting here in our comfortable lives with the loves of our lives because of them. Because they were willing to sacrifice their happiness for the greater good. What scares me the most about it all and what makes me feel even worse sometimes is I don’t know if I could’ve been that strong…if I could held up like they did or even survived...if it had been me who had to make the choice. I mean, my god, Alex would be dead and Tess I’m sure you are a wringing your hands…I’m sorry but I needed to get that out,” Isabel managed to say before tearing up.
“So we are in agreement?” Everyone went around the room nodding but not knowing exactly what he or she should actually do about it. “One more thing, Maria can you help with the Parker’s? They are riding Liz pretty hard which is understandable but they don’t know how fragile she is right now. Please babe?” Michael begged knowing that he still had a lot to own up to. Maria was still feeling hurt from both he and Liz.
“Yes, for Liz’s sake not yours Space Boy.”
When the parents did arrive, Liz had just woken up from a nap. Max’s parents had brought Zan a remote control car. He was absolutely thrilled at their indulgence, playing with it instantly. Phillip and Diane seemed to have no problem now accepting their kids alien status as well as their grandson. In her heart, Diane had always known something was different about them and now she knew. Isabel was so happy and spent time alone with her mom in the kitchen finishing up dinner and chatting feeling so relieved not to have to hide anything anymore.
Dinner was sedate to say the least with no one really knowing what to say and everyone dancing around the questions they wanted to ask. Alex asked Zan to help him in the kitchen so his grandparents could talk. Max looked at Isabel, "Will you go help. Distract him if need be. Take him upstairs to play video games. Besides you haven’t spent anytime with your nephew. We’ll be fine.”
As they adjourned to the living room for the rest of the inquisition to begin, Max was immediately overwhelmed by Liz’s anxiety. He closed his eyes, calmed his breathing and reached out to her in his mind. Liz, Liz…it’s me. I don’t know if you can hear me but I’m here if you need me. I’m here for you.
She stopped dead in her tracks turning quickly to face him. Astonished she said out loud without thinking of her parents, “How…how did you do that Max?”
Zan taught me or at least told me what it felt like in his head when he talked to you. He said that you told him that we could do it too in the past, I mean and that it made him feel better knowing that I could talk to you in your head like he did. Try it, Max mentally suggested.
“Not now, the firing squad is taking aim.”
Again he closed his eyes and focused, I just want you to know that I’m here and that you’re not alone. I know you are scared but it’ll be all right. They love you.
She just stared at him until they reached the couch and sat down side by side. “I’m sure you have a million questions, mom and dad. So fire away.”
“Lizzie, how could we not have known what was going on with you? You were really shot? Is that true? And he healed you. You, you stayed out all night with him…is that when he got you pregnant? What else haven’t you told us?” Nancy said refusing to address Max by his name. She and Jeff had agreed that it would be best for now if he stayed quiet after yesterday’s outburst.
Okay, starting with the hard stuff. I can do this. Taking a deep breath and looking straight at them she jumped into the lion’s den, “Yeah, there is more.” She explained about Nasedo and the FBI unit, the Skins and Congresswoman Whitaker and then without holding back she told them about conceiving Zan while at the Gomez concert, Future Max’s visit and the plan their future selves had made. “But mom and dad, that’s all in the past. After I left Roswell, Serena and I moved to Boston with the baby. Future Max has provided very well for us. I have a master’s degree in molecular biology that I have used to do extensive research in the field of hybridization since…”
Jeff couldn’t help but interrupt, “Since you are one now. You neglected to tell us what exactly he did to you…to change you.”
Liz somehow remained calm while responding to her father by allowing the scientist in her to take over and simply stick to the facts, “Yeah, I’m in essence a hybrid, a cross between the human I was and the alien DNA I received from Max when he saved my life so long ago as well as carrying our child. Zan is a hybrid too but different than me…closer to Max and the others you might say. Zan is special.” She couldn’t help the smile that lit up when she talked about Zan. Max couldn’t take his eyes off her. It had been so long since he had seen her smile.
“And now you can do things like him and the others,” Jeff continued.
“If you mean my Wonder Women powers dad, yes I can. But the emergence of my powers just like Max, Isabel, Michael and Tess isn’t alien-related. They're human in nature just a by-product of how advanced in the evolutionary chain my brain has become. When Max healed me, it allowed me to access parts of my brain that humans don’t normally use. Combined with the change in my DNA well, let’s just say I’m more human than you think I am if that helps any.” Liz paused to let then take this in. She couldn’t believe they had actually remained this calm for so long. “I know you’ve been through hell with me disappearing. I don’t know what else to say to you to make you see what it was like…what the future was like. I’m back so that Zan can connect with the others – the Four Square. That’s what my visions have led me to believe needed to happen. I know that you would rather me say I came back because I needed to rectify everything with you but I’m not going to lie to you anymore. I’m done lying. I hope that you can understand.”
The Evans’ just took it all in and remained quiet. Nancy spoke, “Liz, it is an awful lot to swallow in 48 hours. Just as you asked us to understand as parents I want to ask you the same. How would you feel if your child had kept all of this from you? I’m just trying to find some common ground here.”
“Mom, please what’s done is done. I wanted to protect you both so the less you knew the better. I’m tired and I need to check on Zan.”
“I know Lizzie but what happens now? Are you still in hiding? Are you back with…with him?” Jeff asked gesturing towards Max.
There, someone had said it – the million-dollar question in everyone’s mind had now been released from Pandora’s Box. It hung there in the air with no where to go. Taking a deep breath Liz responded, “Max is Zan’s father. He will always be a part of his life from here on out.”
While Max was thrilled at having Zan in his life, his heart was heavy. She didn’t answer the question. He wasn’t expecting a full-fledged declaration of love especially in front of this crowd but something…anything. He wanted to be more than just Zan’s father.
Liz could feel the angst dripping off Max and continued, “As for Max and I…that’s between the two of us. I have been back less than two days and in that time a lot has happened…a lot that we all need to accept and adjust to…” Liz was becoming visibly tired as her voice trailed off.
Sensing her exhaustion Max took over feeling emboldened that she was at least entertaining some type of relationship other than just father to Zan. “Mr. Parker, like Liz said it’s been roughly 48 hours since all of our lives have changed including your daughter's. The rest of us are going to be meeting tomorrow to discuss next steps. We are all a part of this now and so whatever the others, with Liz and Zan, decide is what we will do. For now, we are all in agreement that Liz and Zan are still in hiding but we need to find someplace else to stay because this is still Roswell. We don’t want anyone knowing that Liz is back or that we have a child. If the wrong people find out…well, I would protect them with my life if need be,” Max firmly stated but avoided anymore conjecture on his and Liz’s relationship.
Thanks, Liz mentally said to Max. He simply looked her way and smiled.
“So Liz needs to rest. After we meet tomorrow, we will let you all know what is decided.” The Evan’s said their good byes while the Parker’s were cornered by Maria diverting them from Liz for the moment.
Meanwhile, Alex had been relieved of Zan watching duty by Michael. Having a quiet moment in the recent alien chaos, he decided to check on something he hadn’t looked at in years. Something had been nagging at him in the back of his brain, something Liz had said about Future Max and then playing with Zan tonight made him curious. He first went to find Tess.
“I think we may have a slight problem,” Alex whispered to Tess in a low voice. “Meet me in my office in five or as soon as you can slip away.”
Alex walked slowly to his home office with his array of computers and high tech gadgets. His mind was racing as he switched on the computer to look at something he thought was dead and buried.
Tess silently slipped in the room and closed the door. “What’s wrong?”
“I translated the Destiny Book a few years back. I really didn’t think anything of it until now. I don’t even know what possessed me to do it. I mean everything had changed so much. You were with Kyle not Max. Destiny never seemed like a real issue or even a possibility that Max would produce an heir since Liz was gone,” Alex paused frantically typing on the keypad before continuing. “What do you know about the Age of Awakening on Antar?”
“I haven’t thought about this stuff in years, Alex. Why?” Tess inquired.
“Just think…try to remember…it’s important. Please, Tess.”
Tess sat down rubbing her temple. “It’s the age that you are recognized by the Granolith and the Holy Order of Antar as able to assume…I don’t know…life’s responsibilities…take command of your person…who you were meant to become or ordained to be. It’s still a class system on Antar. The Granolith and The Holy Order created it. It’s what was tearing Antar apart.”
“Thanks for the history lesson, but at what age are you recognized?” Alex stopped typing and looked up at Tess.
“Only a select group of individuals were recognized by The Order…the ruling elite. Oh my God, Zan.” Tess continued as the realization dawned on her.
“How old?” Alex just stared into Tess’s tear filled blue eyes.
“A decade...ten years old. The Order will recognize him as the true heir and ruler of Antar. Khivar will know Max has an heir. Zan is almost ten years old,” Tess stated flatly.
“We have the Granolith. Will they still know if we have it? Why was sent with you in the first place? We haven’t talked about this in so long,” Alex said wearily pulling away from the computer to reveal the actual translation of all the Antarian symbols contained within the Destiny Book.
“I don’t know. The last thing we all came up with was that when we were engineered or cloned and sent here the resistance, Max’s parents, whomever wanted to make Khivar pay for his treachery. Taking the Granolith lessened his power. Without it, the ruling class would never be 100% valid as before. The Holy Order of Antar is linked to the Granolith. The Granolith is only a physical manifestation…a symbol of their power. The Order is connected to something sacred…something supernatural…god-like if you will,” Tess stopped thinking deeply before continuing. “Alex, the Granolith is thousands of light years away. So they may not ever know about Zan. We don’t know that it’s power can reach across the solar system,” Tess said grasping at anything to make the reality of what Alex had uncovered not be true.
“Tess, he’s the heir to the throne of Antar. You said it yourself…the Granolith is only the symbol of the power of The Order. It only confirms what they deem to be true. We have to tell Max and Liz. We have to find out everything Future Max told her. I think we may have information that he didn’t have…meaning the Destiny Book translation. I can’t imagine Future Max and Future Liz concocting a plan to keep them apart from one another…from their family if eventually Khivar found out anyway. They must not have known.”
Tess looked at Alex as the tears spilled down her cheeks. “They didn’t know about the translation…because of me. Alex, Liz said I killed you. I mind warped you into doing the translation and then I murdered you…I…” Tess fell apart slumping to the floor.
“Tess, shh, it’s not who you are. I no more believe that you would ever hurt me or anyone much less kill someone especially me. It’s okay, Tess,” Alex pressed trying to calm her down. “You’re family…we are family. Liz may not have changed the end of the world but she did make us all stronger. We have to go tell Max and Liz and I need you. I need your strength and I know max will need you too. We never would have survived without you Tess. You are part of us.”
“So what do we do now?” Tess whispered.
“I’m printing up the Destiny Book and then we go talk to the others,” Alex said while furiously typing.
“Wait, remember what Serena said? I’m sure they are both fried from an evening with the Parker’s. Can it wait till we meet tomorrow? I’d like to read the whole thing tonight. And before you say it…no, I am not avoiding,” Tess said. She felt like she finally had her family, her friends, her place in the big scheme of things and she wasn’t going to let them down. She’d do whatever it took and being as prepared as possible seemed like the first step.
“Okay, we’ll wait till tomorrow. You’re probably right. We can’t change anything tonight. Are you okay?” Alex said relaxing in his big office chair.
“I will be. Thanks, I just hope that Liz and Max will be.”
-
amy2344
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2003 12:42 am
- Location: seattle
- Contact:
hi all- a huge thanks to all who have been reading:
emz80m, icequeen, ellie, isis7777, chione, kay_b, shattered dreamer, woodwinds, timelord 31, youre my dreamgirl, coley 452, famersamers, su-lyn, cocopucks, roswellluver, sheisty 23, magick fantasy 86, love is forever, g7silver, lvb, hopeless romantic, behrstars, jrsygurl520, kittens, aurorasky, katmcken, taressa05, dreamer 4ever, omegaram1, evans3, behrlyliz, sali 103, brighteyes, dominicana, lvlyfem, tequathisy, grace52373 and anyone i may have in advertantly forgotten. so now that that is done...please bear with me because things are about to get whacky or at least i think so. i'm just happy that i'm posting before the weekend and maybe i'll be able to get in another couple chapters to make the following chapter make a bit more sense. stay tuned and (fingers crossed) enjoy.
best,
amy
Chapter 27 - Antar
“Wake him! Something has happened,” the Minister said firmly to the cowering servant girl.
“My Lord Khivar doesn’t wish to be disturbed for any reason before the suns rise Sir. He left explicit…” she said timidly before being interrupted.
“I said wake him. I take full responsibility. Your Lord would be very angry not to learn the news I bring. GO!” he barked losing his patience.
The young girl scampered down the marble corridor to the king’s chamber. She took a deep breath thankful it wasn’t her turn in the king’s bed tonight. She knew that it was one of the other girls, one of her friends or even her sister. She hated him with every fiber of her being but she knew she was powerless to change things. Only one person could change the horror that Khivar had inflicted upon her and her world but where was he? She pushed open the two large doors and knelt before the king’s enormous bed noticing not one but three women there. “Lord Khivar, please forgive my intrusion but the Minister is here with urgent news. He begged that I come at once and wake you Sire.” She held her breath hoping he would be merciful for disobeying his orders.
“What now? What did I tell you about disturbing me?” He leaned away from the limp body tied to the bedpost next to him while the other two women visibly sighed at the interruption. He grabbed the servant girl's chin forcing her up off her knees; “You will pay dearly for disturbing me.”
Lyra was shaking as he grasp her throat when the Minister entered, “Pick your battles carefully Khivar.” He glanced at the servant girl and the others. “You! Untie that one and all of you be gone.”
“What is the meaning of this? It is well before dawn and I wasn’t finished yet. I specifically asked not to be disturbed. You know how angry I get when I am not allowed to finish with my...fun?” Khivar was seething. Word of his sadistic bent with women of all stature had spread far and wide throughout the galaxy.
The Minister sat heavily in the velvet-backed chair near the bed disgusted at the sight before him. He could care less what Khivar wanted. He enjoyed the power he wielded and would do anything to keep it and if that meant keeping this idiot on the throne for now then so be it. “It has happened, my Lord Khivar. The Heir, the Heir of the Royal Four has been born or rather the Oracle has acknowledged him. He should be ten Earth years of age or so by now.” He silently smirked to himself waiting for the fireworks to begin. Khivar was so predictable, so full of himself.
And like clockwork Khivar advanced on the Minister who remained seated refusing to be bullied by his dramatic tactics. Feeling his nakedness in more ways than one, Khivar grabbed his robe, “When? When did this happen?”
“Only moments ago Sire. I came as soon as the Oracle ceased. I’m sorry but there was no time to contact you to be present. I felt I would better serve you by committing the entire message to memory. I didn’t trust the others to fully understand the message so I stayed. I trust that meets with your approval or perhaps you will punish me too?” the Minister said feeling more powerful than usual. He truly felt he had the King backed into a corner at this moment. It felt good he had to admit.
“And…spill it…what is the message?” Khivar demanded.
The Minister pulled a scroll from beneath the sleeve of his flowing white robe, unfurled it slowly watching the King squirm before reading aloud:
The Oracle speaks, the Oracle sees, the Oracle is.
As King Zan was recognized and called forth in the
First decade of his life as the rightful and true Heir
To the throne of Antar so shall his son be named now.
From a great distance a child conceived of royal blood
Breathes and shall claim his place as has been foreseen
Through time and space.
All gifts and abilities he shall possess of all peoples of
Antar as well as those of his maternal heritage.
Hail, the Coming. Hail, the Coming of the Golden Age of Peace and Reunification. The Oracle has spoken.
Khivar stood stone still with his robe blowing open in the breeze. Finding his voice was something he had never struggled with before. “What maternal heritage? King Zan and Ava were both Antarian. Is this because they were cloned and re-engineered with humans? Answer me! Tell me what this means because you as well as I know that we have taken steps to prevent this from occurring.”
“My Lord, thank you for your continued confidence as your advisor. I do not believe he conceived the child with Ava. My spies confirm that Zan and Ava as well as Rath and Vilandra chose different mates. Although, Zan’s mate vanished long ago and he has chosen no other to our knowledge,” the Minister remained bowed in front of Khivar waiting for the next explosion.
“Then how is there a child? This child will not be my downfall. I eliminated Zan and his rule here once and I’ll do it again if need be,” Khivar said pacing throughout his expansive chamber.
“My Lord Khivar, when the people hear of this…”
“The people will hear no such thing. They will not hear of it and you should see to it,” he ordered.
“With all due respect Sire, you know that all communication from the Oracle is of public record. There is no way to stop it. The people will know at first light. You, nor I have the power to stop the scripture from being revealed. If I had the power to change it for your greater good and the greater good of the people, I would.” Khivar couldn’t see through the Minister’s mockery due to his rage.
Since the Granolith had been sent to Earth with the Royal Four, the Oracle had found another way to relay the Word to the people. It infuriated Khivar to no end. At first when he had killed the Royal Four and imprisoned the remaining families, he was actually pleased to find out that the Granolith had been sent with the ‘defectives’ as he called them to the pitiful planet, Earth. The Oracle was actually the base of power on Antar and the Granolith merely repeated what had been prophesied or revealed. It was considered the final phase of validation but it was just a formality in Khivar’s eyes. So when he found out it was no longer on Antar, he felt he could use it to his advantage. He could manipulate all information from the Oracle. That was the plan but of course it had failed. The very place where the Royal Four had been slaughtered became a holy site for mourners and had spawned the Resistance. The first words spoken by the Oracle after Zan's death had appeared as if by magic etched on the forever-bloodstained bedrock of the former Royal Gardens. It was a public garden established for the benefit of all Antarians by King Zan’s father. It was also the place of the massacre. Regardless of the Granolith not being on Antar, the word of the Oracle was still able to reach the masses and try as he might, he had been unable to stop it much less control it.
“Then let them know and let them also know that nothing, and I mean nothing can still be confirmed without their precious Granolith. Mount a campaign at once to round up some of the Resistance fighters. If you cannot find any then just take some people from the streets and make examples of them. That should deflect some of the attention. Also, spread the word that the Granolith, if it were here, would certainly not recognize a half-breed as Heir. And mark my words, no half-breed will ever step foot on this planet. I must speak with Nicholas so arrange it,” Khivar said recovering nicely from his momentary shock of hearing the message from the Oracle.
“I felt that you would want to speak with him and have already put that into motion. I will advise you once contact is established Sire,” the Minister bowed low before exiting the chamber seeing the false dawn emerge on the horizon. As he strode back to his office, he smiled knowing that the half-breed had indeed already stepped foot on Antar and had been here for quite sometime. Keeping Khivar in the dark about certain advanced Antarian technologies had been the right thing to do for now.
emz80m, icequeen, ellie, isis7777, chione, kay_b, shattered dreamer, woodwinds, timelord 31, youre my dreamgirl, coley 452, famersamers, su-lyn, cocopucks, roswellluver, sheisty 23, magick fantasy 86, love is forever, g7silver, lvb, hopeless romantic, behrstars, jrsygurl520, kittens, aurorasky, katmcken, taressa05, dreamer 4ever, omegaram1, evans3, behrlyliz, sali 103, brighteyes, dominicana, lvlyfem, tequathisy, grace52373 and anyone i may have in advertantly forgotten. so now that that is done...please bear with me because things are about to get whacky or at least i think so. i'm just happy that i'm posting before the weekend and maybe i'll be able to get in another couple chapters to make the following chapter make a bit more sense. stay tuned and (fingers crossed) enjoy.
best,
amy
Chapter 27 - Antar
“Wake him! Something has happened,” the Minister said firmly to the cowering servant girl.
“My Lord Khivar doesn’t wish to be disturbed for any reason before the suns rise Sir. He left explicit…” she said timidly before being interrupted.
“I said wake him. I take full responsibility. Your Lord would be very angry not to learn the news I bring. GO!” he barked losing his patience.
The young girl scampered down the marble corridor to the king’s chamber. She took a deep breath thankful it wasn’t her turn in the king’s bed tonight. She knew that it was one of the other girls, one of her friends or even her sister. She hated him with every fiber of her being but she knew she was powerless to change things. Only one person could change the horror that Khivar had inflicted upon her and her world but where was he? She pushed open the two large doors and knelt before the king’s enormous bed noticing not one but three women there. “Lord Khivar, please forgive my intrusion but the Minister is here with urgent news. He begged that I come at once and wake you Sire.” She held her breath hoping he would be merciful for disobeying his orders.
“What now? What did I tell you about disturbing me?” He leaned away from the limp body tied to the bedpost next to him while the other two women visibly sighed at the interruption. He grabbed the servant girl's chin forcing her up off her knees; “You will pay dearly for disturbing me.”
Lyra was shaking as he grasp her throat when the Minister entered, “Pick your battles carefully Khivar.” He glanced at the servant girl and the others. “You! Untie that one and all of you be gone.”
“What is the meaning of this? It is well before dawn and I wasn’t finished yet. I specifically asked not to be disturbed. You know how angry I get when I am not allowed to finish with my...fun?” Khivar was seething. Word of his sadistic bent with women of all stature had spread far and wide throughout the galaxy.
The Minister sat heavily in the velvet-backed chair near the bed disgusted at the sight before him. He could care less what Khivar wanted. He enjoyed the power he wielded and would do anything to keep it and if that meant keeping this idiot on the throne for now then so be it. “It has happened, my Lord Khivar. The Heir, the Heir of the Royal Four has been born or rather the Oracle has acknowledged him. He should be ten Earth years of age or so by now.” He silently smirked to himself waiting for the fireworks to begin. Khivar was so predictable, so full of himself.
And like clockwork Khivar advanced on the Minister who remained seated refusing to be bullied by his dramatic tactics. Feeling his nakedness in more ways than one, Khivar grabbed his robe, “When? When did this happen?”
“Only moments ago Sire. I came as soon as the Oracle ceased. I’m sorry but there was no time to contact you to be present. I felt I would better serve you by committing the entire message to memory. I didn’t trust the others to fully understand the message so I stayed. I trust that meets with your approval or perhaps you will punish me too?” the Minister said feeling more powerful than usual. He truly felt he had the King backed into a corner at this moment. It felt good he had to admit.
“And…spill it…what is the message?” Khivar demanded.
The Minister pulled a scroll from beneath the sleeve of his flowing white robe, unfurled it slowly watching the King squirm before reading aloud:
The Oracle speaks, the Oracle sees, the Oracle is.
As King Zan was recognized and called forth in the
First decade of his life as the rightful and true Heir
To the throne of Antar so shall his son be named now.
From a great distance a child conceived of royal blood
Breathes and shall claim his place as has been foreseen
Through time and space.
All gifts and abilities he shall possess of all peoples of
Antar as well as those of his maternal heritage.
Hail, the Coming. Hail, the Coming of the Golden Age of Peace and Reunification. The Oracle has spoken.
Khivar stood stone still with his robe blowing open in the breeze. Finding his voice was something he had never struggled with before. “What maternal heritage? King Zan and Ava were both Antarian. Is this because they were cloned and re-engineered with humans? Answer me! Tell me what this means because you as well as I know that we have taken steps to prevent this from occurring.”
“My Lord, thank you for your continued confidence as your advisor. I do not believe he conceived the child with Ava. My spies confirm that Zan and Ava as well as Rath and Vilandra chose different mates. Although, Zan’s mate vanished long ago and he has chosen no other to our knowledge,” the Minister remained bowed in front of Khivar waiting for the next explosion.
“Then how is there a child? This child will not be my downfall. I eliminated Zan and his rule here once and I’ll do it again if need be,” Khivar said pacing throughout his expansive chamber.
“My Lord Khivar, when the people hear of this…”
“The people will hear no such thing. They will not hear of it and you should see to it,” he ordered.
“With all due respect Sire, you know that all communication from the Oracle is of public record. There is no way to stop it. The people will know at first light. You, nor I have the power to stop the scripture from being revealed. If I had the power to change it for your greater good and the greater good of the people, I would.” Khivar couldn’t see through the Minister’s mockery due to his rage.
Since the Granolith had been sent to Earth with the Royal Four, the Oracle had found another way to relay the Word to the people. It infuriated Khivar to no end. At first when he had killed the Royal Four and imprisoned the remaining families, he was actually pleased to find out that the Granolith had been sent with the ‘defectives’ as he called them to the pitiful planet, Earth. The Oracle was actually the base of power on Antar and the Granolith merely repeated what had been prophesied or revealed. It was considered the final phase of validation but it was just a formality in Khivar’s eyes. So when he found out it was no longer on Antar, he felt he could use it to his advantage. He could manipulate all information from the Oracle. That was the plan but of course it had failed. The very place where the Royal Four had been slaughtered became a holy site for mourners and had spawned the Resistance. The first words spoken by the Oracle after Zan's death had appeared as if by magic etched on the forever-bloodstained bedrock of the former Royal Gardens. It was a public garden established for the benefit of all Antarians by King Zan’s father. It was also the place of the massacre. Regardless of the Granolith not being on Antar, the word of the Oracle was still able to reach the masses and try as he might, he had been unable to stop it much less control it.
“Then let them know and let them also know that nothing, and I mean nothing can still be confirmed without their precious Granolith. Mount a campaign at once to round up some of the Resistance fighters. If you cannot find any then just take some people from the streets and make examples of them. That should deflect some of the attention. Also, spread the word that the Granolith, if it were here, would certainly not recognize a half-breed as Heir. And mark my words, no half-breed will ever step foot on this planet. I must speak with Nicholas so arrange it,” Khivar said recovering nicely from his momentary shock of hearing the message from the Oracle.
“I felt that you would want to speak with him and have already put that into motion. I will advise you once contact is established Sire,” the Minister bowed low before exiting the chamber seeing the false dawn emerge on the horizon. As he strode back to his office, he smiled knowing that the half-breed had indeed already stepped foot on Antar and had been here for quite sometime. Keeping Khivar in the dark about certain advanced Antarian technologies had been the right thing to do for now.
-
amy2344
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2003 12:42 am
- Location: seattle
- Contact:
Thanks for all your feedback. hopefully you will be less confused in the next couple postings. here's one. enjoy and thank you thank you for still reading.
Chapter 28
Michael quietly closed the door and walked in behind Maria. He audibly sighed causing her to stop in her tracks and turn around to stare at him.
“What?”
“What…what?”
“I know you need some time Maria but any indication on how long hell is going to be frozen over?” Michael said trying to contain the swirl of emotion running through his mind.
“Michael, look…I…just don’t know.”
“We haven’t talked at all. I thought that maybe you would want to know more or would want…I don’t know…you haven’t even yelled or punched me. So I guess that means I really fucked up huh?” he said again sighing and sitting on the sofa.
It pained her to see him so conflicted but she couldn’t just relegate her feelings about everything that has happened to a dark corner just because Michael was acting like a wounded puppy. She walked over to him and sat down on the opposite side of the sofa. Everything had changed in the blink of an eye. The man she has loved with a passion and sometimes hated with just as much passion had lied to her. And not just a little lie like 'does my butt look fat?' It was a whopper. a ten year whopper of a lie. They had been through so much and she couldn’t deny that it hurt deeply.
“I’m not ready to talk right now. I just spent an hour with the Parker’s to keep them off of Liz, who might I add I am not too pleased with either right now. I know that what you did you felt you had to. I know that you wanted to keep me safe and that you thought by not telling me it somehow would. But Michael, you blocked our connection. You wouldn’t allow me to see you…see all of you just selected shorts from the life and times of Michael Guerin – Space Boy Protector of the Known World.” Maria paused, “That’s what hurts the most. Do you understand that Michael? How any woman could be with just a human is beyond me. Once you’ve had green you never go back.” She smiled at him slightly.
“Babe, I didn’t know when or even if this day would come with Liz coming back. There were times when I wanted to tell you but I couldn’t. That’s what the Second does. I had to make a judgement call and I knew to keep you, Liz and Zan safe I couldn’t tell you. And don’t think that I enjoyed blocking me from you. I was just so afraid that you’d see it…see the future.” Michael shuddered remembering the glimpse he had gotten from Liz so long ago. “I only saw a little from Liz but what I saw…Maria, I don’t want to lose you not now and not in the future.”
“I know but it still stings.” She scooted over next to him feeling his arm wrap around her gingerly. “You know I’m emotional...I know that probably shocks you. Calm, collected Hurrican DeLuca. I couldn’t control it if I tried. My head forgives you, forgives Liz but my heart Michael…it’s just aching and angry and jealous and I don’t like being told what I already know by some stranger who is closer to Liz than me.”
“I can relate there. When I first met Serena she had the upper hand on me already. Future Max came to her for help instead of me and she knew all this shit about me. It sucked big time but she’s cool. She has been there for Liz and Zan. I’ve come to realize how good it is to have someone who is more objective when it comes to whatever we all are and whatever we’re doing. She has a good head on her shoulders. She’d make a good Second…protector.”
“Okay, so we’ve talked a little but you are still in my doghouse. Liz is too. I may not be the brightest bulb in the bunch Michael but have you or Liz even considered what you may have changed the future to? Remember that episode of The Twilight Zone when those gun-toting testosterone hunter freaks went back in time to kill a dinosaur? Some idiot stepped on a butterfly and then BANG BAM BOOM Hitler’s in charge and we’re all Nazis giving the high sign. Changing that little thing in the past made the future suck ass,” Maria was gesturing wildly next to him.
“I’m not a Nazi, Maria. But now i know why you are so weirded out by butterflies.”
“Duh, Michael. All I’m saying is Future Super-Martyr-Couple Max and Liz messed with time who knows what effects that may have had karmically speaking or hell, I don’t know just in general. This whole thing with Max and Liz blaming themselves makes me so angry sometimes. Maybe I’m too selfish or something but I’d have found another way, you know.”
Michael sat silently thinking how truly unselfish Maria was in the future sacrificing herself to save Zan and the others.
“I mean Michael, do you really think we would have stayed in Roswell if Liz hadn’t vanished? I mean did I stay for me or us or the Parker’s? Oh great now I’m getting pissed again. Like I said, this is as far as I can go right now so get up and run my bath…chop chop…take your clothes off and meet me in five,” Maria said flippantly heading to the bedroom as Michael smiled in her direction. He knew she was still hurt but he also knew without a doubt that she still loved him and would forever. He was a lucky man. Maybe later he would talk to Liz and see if she and Maria could have some one on one time. But for now he was going to enjoy Maria’s cease-fire. As he walked to the bathroom to draw her bath, he couldn’t help but wonder about what Maria said. What had changed now because of the choices Liz had made?
The next morning arrived with little fanfare. The Parker’s and Evan’s had become a constant fixture, which was beginning to wear a bit thin to some. They were coming over for brunch later in the morning. Alex and Tess met up early before Max and Liz had gotten up. They wanted to recap what they had discovered from the Destiny Book translation. Neither were looking forward on dropping this bomb in their laps but what choice did they have? Isabel was playing with Zan as they approached Max and Liz.
“Good Morning, you two look like you’ve been up all night,” Liz said.
“Umm Liz, Max…we need to talk to you about something. We may have some information regarding the end of the world that well…your future selves didn’t know,” Alex finally sputtered out.
“What?” Liz jumped up from the oversized chair spilling her tea. “But I did what I was supposed to do. I left. Alex you’re still alive and Tess is still here with you all…a part of the Four Square. I don’t understand. Wait, I don’t want to understand. We’re leaving. I’m getting Zan and…” Liz started to move toward the kitchen but was stopped by Max.
“Liz, you are not alone here. Not anymore. We need to hear them out.”
Alex took a deep breath as he watched Liz still standing but not leaving, “I need to know everything Future Max told you. Absolutely everything. It’s crucial. Like I said I think we may have some information he didn’t have since well…”
Tess interrupted, “Since I went psycho and killed Alex over translating the Destiny Book. Liz, Did Future Max ever say anything about the Destiny Book?”
“Only that you were mindwarping Alex in order to have him break the code and translate the Antarian symbols. He said you were looking for proof that you and Max were supposed to be together and you wanted to find the way home. He said you were working with Nicholas. That’s it. That all I know,” Liz finished and finally sat down with thud. Max moved to her side.
“So he never read it or knew what it said?” Tess asked.
“No, not that I know of. Why? You are really starting to scare me.”
“Liz,” Max said calmly within his mind to her causing her to look at him wildly. “Calm down, we will figure this out.”
Liz couldn’t help but jerk away from him. She was not accustomed to communicating with him like this. She felt like he had invaded her space or that he could see her thoughts. “Stop it, Max,” she snapped out loud.
The four of them were so deep in discussion that no one heard the Parker’s enter followed by Diane and Phillip. Jeff practically ran into the living room hearing his daughter in distress. “What did you just do to her? This is all your fault. You’re the reason she is like this. You made her leave, you changed her, and you got her pregnant. You took away my baby girl.”
Phillip moved to position himself between Jeff and Max who was his obvious target until Max spoke, “Dad, no. This is between me and Mr. Parker.” Max was seething. He couldn’t control the volume or authoritative tone in his voice. “I saved Liz. If you’d have rather buried her the day she was shot at the Crashdown instead of being happy that she is alive and home…now…then go ahead. Don’t you think I’ve wondered and worried about what I did to her…if I hurt her because of what I am? Don’t you think that I died the day she disappeared? Don’t you think that I have blamed myself everyday that because of me, because I loved her she was in danger? I made a decision that changed all our lives and I will not spend another second of my life feeling any blame from you of all people…her father. Believe me, I have enough self-loathing to go around a few times. Liz is alive. Why can’t you accept that? Why can’t you accept her for who and what she is instead wishing for something that will never be. None of us can change anything at this point. I just couldn’t let her die. I couldn’t let that happen.” Max was losing control over his emotions and starting to breakdown. “It was Liz and I couldn’t let her die.” The last few words were just a whisper.
Jeff froze staring at Max. Diane stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her son. She wanted take away all his guilt and anguish and absolve him of this self-imposed torment. She heard him whisper, “I never wanted to be different, mom. I never wanted to be a King. All I wanted was to be normal. Liz made me feel normal…made me human.”
“Max honey,” Diane said softly still holding him close. “We love you. You are our son. You did the right thing saving Liz. Please Max, let it all go. You did the right thing. Don’t second guess yourself anymore.” She turned to Jeff, “Sit down, please Jeff. There is too much going on here. I know you are upset but it is what it is and like it or not we need to move on. I can’t imagine knowing that my child would die and I had the power to do something to save them. It’s an awesome power Max has, practically like playing God. It’s a lot for a man to deal with much less a teenager. Would you rather Liz be dead?” Diane wasn’t holding back. She would not allow Jeff to continue blaming Max and keeping Liz at arms length. She didn’t care how harsh she sounded. “You saw with your own eyes Max heal her again. Be grateful for what you have and not for the time you’ve lost. Max is who he is, who he has always been. I wouldn’t change anything except to have been more aware, more supportive. My God, the things these kids have had to deal with as teens…you should be…we all should be proud we raised them to be of integrity and know right from wrong.” Diane looked at Max kissing him lightly on the forehead.
Liz couldn’t help but smile at Diane through the tears in her eyes. She would forever be grateful to Diane for diffusing the situation with her father.
Everyone turned hearing Alex clear his throat. “Okay, not to end…this but we really need to talk about Zan. Liz, did Future Max tell you anything about Khivar?” Alex piped up knowing that they had to get this latest revelation out.
Composing her self while moving slightly towards Max and Diane she said, “Future Max told me that Khivar found out from Nicholas that we had a child and that it took him fourteen years to mount an attack on Earth to get the Granolith back and kill Zan who was a threat. He said that without Tess there was no way he would be defeated. The Four Square was incomplete. When Khivar did come, we weren’t strong enough to defeat the Skins. He destroyed Earth…all humans…everything. He killed Zan right in front of us,” she looked at Max who moved to her side taking her hand in his. “Maria tried to save him but she died too. Everyone died.”
Alex asked everyone to sit down and relax, they had a lot to discuss. “Listen to me Liz, the Destiny Book talks about Max’s heir. We always assumed the book was talking about Max and Tess’s child but obviously that never happened. Never thought Max would have a child since you were gone…hell none of us even knew if humans and hybrids were compatible. But I digress, I translated the book on my own sort of as a hobby. I worked on it over the past few years. It talks about the Age of Awakening on Antar and that Max’s heir will be recognized as the rightful heir to the throne of Antar. I didn’t know what that meant so I asked Tess to help.” He looked over at her before continuing. "We all know she has more memories of her former life than the rest.”
Tess now took over. “Because I was raised as alien, I was taught to access that part of me that was Ava. I remember bits and pieces of what life was like as her and what the others were like as well. The social structure of Antar is a class system sort of like India here on Earth. Only those recognized by the Oracle and then the Granolith have any power. I think that’s why the Granolith was sent with us. The Oracle acknowledges or recognizes every person in a certain class at a certain age…the Age of Awakening. Their path is preordained…their destiny made manifest. The Oracles sees or prophecies and the Granolith confirms or blesses the holy scripture…sanctifies it.” Tess paused before continuing knowing what she was about to say would send shockwaves through the group.
“When Zan turns ten…a decade, the Oracle will recognize him as the true heir to the throne. He is Antarian. Khivar will know, the people of Antar will know. I’m sorry, I wish I wasn’t standing here telling you this but…”
“So you’re saying that the world’s going to end no matter what? That I left for no reason?” Liz was shaking.
“We don’t know. It seems like Future Max didn’t know about the Oracle on Antar. It just seems like he thought that if you left before anyone knew you were pregnant…Nicholas wouldn’t find out and therefore Khivar wouldn’t know either,” Alex offered.
“Then I didn’t need to leave?” Liz whispered.
Max turned to face her, “No, Liz don’t do this. We both made this decision. Don’t go second-guessing now. So much has changed Alex is here and Tess is here with us on our side. Please,” he begged.
Tess moved forward to speak, “Liz what would I have become? A murderer? A traitor? You are all my family. I will never be able to thank you enough for what you did for me…for all of us. Please don’t think the sacrifices you made…that both you and Max made were for nothing. Please don’t doubt yourself.”
Liz pulled her hand away from Max and sat down on the couch. Max couldn’t help but follow her. “Liz, we’ll keep him safe. I promise.”
Chapter 28
Michael quietly closed the door and walked in behind Maria. He audibly sighed causing her to stop in her tracks and turn around to stare at him.
“What?”
“What…what?”
“I know you need some time Maria but any indication on how long hell is going to be frozen over?” Michael said trying to contain the swirl of emotion running through his mind.
“Michael, look…I…just don’t know.”
“We haven’t talked at all. I thought that maybe you would want to know more or would want…I don’t know…you haven’t even yelled or punched me. So I guess that means I really fucked up huh?” he said again sighing and sitting on the sofa.
It pained her to see him so conflicted but she couldn’t just relegate her feelings about everything that has happened to a dark corner just because Michael was acting like a wounded puppy. She walked over to him and sat down on the opposite side of the sofa. Everything had changed in the blink of an eye. The man she has loved with a passion and sometimes hated with just as much passion had lied to her. And not just a little lie like 'does my butt look fat?' It was a whopper. a ten year whopper of a lie. They had been through so much and she couldn’t deny that it hurt deeply.
“I’m not ready to talk right now. I just spent an hour with the Parker’s to keep them off of Liz, who might I add I am not too pleased with either right now. I know that what you did you felt you had to. I know that you wanted to keep me safe and that you thought by not telling me it somehow would. But Michael, you blocked our connection. You wouldn’t allow me to see you…see all of you just selected shorts from the life and times of Michael Guerin – Space Boy Protector of the Known World.” Maria paused, “That’s what hurts the most. Do you understand that Michael? How any woman could be with just a human is beyond me. Once you’ve had green you never go back.” She smiled at him slightly.
“Babe, I didn’t know when or even if this day would come with Liz coming back. There were times when I wanted to tell you but I couldn’t. That’s what the Second does. I had to make a judgement call and I knew to keep you, Liz and Zan safe I couldn’t tell you. And don’t think that I enjoyed blocking me from you. I was just so afraid that you’d see it…see the future.” Michael shuddered remembering the glimpse he had gotten from Liz so long ago. “I only saw a little from Liz but what I saw…Maria, I don’t want to lose you not now and not in the future.”
“I know but it still stings.” She scooted over next to him feeling his arm wrap around her gingerly. “You know I’m emotional...I know that probably shocks you. Calm, collected Hurrican DeLuca. I couldn’t control it if I tried. My head forgives you, forgives Liz but my heart Michael…it’s just aching and angry and jealous and I don’t like being told what I already know by some stranger who is closer to Liz than me.”
“I can relate there. When I first met Serena she had the upper hand on me already. Future Max came to her for help instead of me and she knew all this shit about me. It sucked big time but she’s cool. She has been there for Liz and Zan. I’ve come to realize how good it is to have someone who is more objective when it comes to whatever we all are and whatever we’re doing. She has a good head on her shoulders. She’d make a good Second…protector.”
“Okay, so we’ve talked a little but you are still in my doghouse. Liz is too. I may not be the brightest bulb in the bunch Michael but have you or Liz even considered what you may have changed the future to? Remember that episode of The Twilight Zone when those gun-toting testosterone hunter freaks went back in time to kill a dinosaur? Some idiot stepped on a butterfly and then BANG BAM BOOM Hitler’s in charge and we’re all Nazis giving the high sign. Changing that little thing in the past made the future suck ass,” Maria was gesturing wildly next to him.
“I’m not a Nazi, Maria. But now i know why you are so weirded out by butterflies.”
“Duh, Michael. All I’m saying is Future Super-Martyr-Couple Max and Liz messed with time who knows what effects that may have had karmically speaking or hell, I don’t know just in general. This whole thing with Max and Liz blaming themselves makes me so angry sometimes. Maybe I’m too selfish or something but I’d have found another way, you know.”
Michael sat silently thinking how truly unselfish Maria was in the future sacrificing herself to save Zan and the others.
“I mean Michael, do you really think we would have stayed in Roswell if Liz hadn’t vanished? I mean did I stay for me or us or the Parker’s? Oh great now I’m getting pissed again. Like I said, this is as far as I can go right now so get up and run my bath…chop chop…take your clothes off and meet me in five,” Maria said flippantly heading to the bedroom as Michael smiled in her direction. He knew she was still hurt but he also knew without a doubt that she still loved him and would forever. He was a lucky man. Maybe later he would talk to Liz and see if she and Maria could have some one on one time. But for now he was going to enjoy Maria’s cease-fire. As he walked to the bathroom to draw her bath, he couldn’t help but wonder about what Maria said. What had changed now because of the choices Liz had made?
The next morning arrived with little fanfare. The Parker’s and Evan’s had become a constant fixture, which was beginning to wear a bit thin to some. They were coming over for brunch later in the morning. Alex and Tess met up early before Max and Liz had gotten up. They wanted to recap what they had discovered from the Destiny Book translation. Neither were looking forward on dropping this bomb in their laps but what choice did they have? Isabel was playing with Zan as they approached Max and Liz.
“Good Morning, you two look like you’ve been up all night,” Liz said.
“Umm Liz, Max…we need to talk to you about something. We may have some information regarding the end of the world that well…your future selves didn’t know,” Alex finally sputtered out.
“What?” Liz jumped up from the oversized chair spilling her tea. “But I did what I was supposed to do. I left. Alex you’re still alive and Tess is still here with you all…a part of the Four Square. I don’t understand. Wait, I don’t want to understand. We’re leaving. I’m getting Zan and…” Liz started to move toward the kitchen but was stopped by Max.
“Liz, you are not alone here. Not anymore. We need to hear them out.”
Alex took a deep breath as he watched Liz still standing but not leaving, “I need to know everything Future Max told you. Absolutely everything. It’s crucial. Like I said I think we may have some information he didn’t have since well…”
Tess interrupted, “Since I went psycho and killed Alex over translating the Destiny Book. Liz, Did Future Max ever say anything about the Destiny Book?”
“Only that you were mindwarping Alex in order to have him break the code and translate the Antarian symbols. He said you were looking for proof that you and Max were supposed to be together and you wanted to find the way home. He said you were working with Nicholas. That’s it. That all I know,” Liz finished and finally sat down with thud. Max moved to her side.
“So he never read it or knew what it said?” Tess asked.
“No, not that I know of. Why? You are really starting to scare me.”
“Liz,” Max said calmly within his mind to her causing her to look at him wildly. “Calm down, we will figure this out.”
Liz couldn’t help but jerk away from him. She was not accustomed to communicating with him like this. She felt like he had invaded her space or that he could see her thoughts. “Stop it, Max,” she snapped out loud.
The four of them were so deep in discussion that no one heard the Parker’s enter followed by Diane and Phillip. Jeff practically ran into the living room hearing his daughter in distress. “What did you just do to her? This is all your fault. You’re the reason she is like this. You made her leave, you changed her, and you got her pregnant. You took away my baby girl.”
Phillip moved to position himself between Jeff and Max who was his obvious target until Max spoke, “Dad, no. This is between me and Mr. Parker.” Max was seething. He couldn’t control the volume or authoritative tone in his voice. “I saved Liz. If you’d have rather buried her the day she was shot at the Crashdown instead of being happy that she is alive and home…now…then go ahead. Don’t you think I’ve wondered and worried about what I did to her…if I hurt her because of what I am? Don’t you think that I died the day she disappeared? Don’t you think that I have blamed myself everyday that because of me, because I loved her she was in danger? I made a decision that changed all our lives and I will not spend another second of my life feeling any blame from you of all people…her father. Believe me, I have enough self-loathing to go around a few times. Liz is alive. Why can’t you accept that? Why can’t you accept her for who and what she is instead wishing for something that will never be. None of us can change anything at this point. I just couldn’t let her die. I couldn’t let that happen.” Max was losing control over his emotions and starting to breakdown. “It was Liz and I couldn’t let her die.” The last few words were just a whisper.
Jeff froze staring at Max. Diane stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her son. She wanted take away all his guilt and anguish and absolve him of this self-imposed torment. She heard him whisper, “I never wanted to be different, mom. I never wanted to be a King. All I wanted was to be normal. Liz made me feel normal…made me human.”
“Max honey,” Diane said softly still holding him close. “We love you. You are our son. You did the right thing saving Liz. Please Max, let it all go. You did the right thing. Don’t second guess yourself anymore.” She turned to Jeff, “Sit down, please Jeff. There is too much going on here. I know you are upset but it is what it is and like it or not we need to move on. I can’t imagine knowing that my child would die and I had the power to do something to save them. It’s an awesome power Max has, practically like playing God. It’s a lot for a man to deal with much less a teenager. Would you rather Liz be dead?” Diane wasn’t holding back. She would not allow Jeff to continue blaming Max and keeping Liz at arms length. She didn’t care how harsh she sounded. “You saw with your own eyes Max heal her again. Be grateful for what you have and not for the time you’ve lost. Max is who he is, who he has always been. I wouldn’t change anything except to have been more aware, more supportive. My God, the things these kids have had to deal with as teens…you should be…we all should be proud we raised them to be of integrity and know right from wrong.” Diane looked at Max kissing him lightly on the forehead.
Liz couldn’t help but smile at Diane through the tears in her eyes. She would forever be grateful to Diane for diffusing the situation with her father.
Everyone turned hearing Alex clear his throat. “Okay, not to end…this but we really need to talk about Zan. Liz, did Future Max tell you anything about Khivar?” Alex piped up knowing that they had to get this latest revelation out.
Composing her self while moving slightly towards Max and Diane she said, “Future Max told me that Khivar found out from Nicholas that we had a child and that it took him fourteen years to mount an attack on Earth to get the Granolith back and kill Zan who was a threat. He said that without Tess there was no way he would be defeated. The Four Square was incomplete. When Khivar did come, we weren’t strong enough to defeat the Skins. He destroyed Earth…all humans…everything. He killed Zan right in front of us,” she looked at Max who moved to her side taking her hand in his. “Maria tried to save him but she died too. Everyone died.”
Alex asked everyone to sit down and relax, they had a lot to discuss. “Listen to me Liz, the Destiny Book talks about Max’s heir. We always assumed the book was talking about Max and Tess’s child but obviously that never happened. Never thought Max would have a child since you were gone…hell none of us even knew if humans and hybrids were compatible. But I digress, I translated the book on my own sort of as a hobby. I worked on it over the past few years. It talks about the Age of Awakening on Antar and that Max’s heir will be recognized as the rightful heir to the throne of Antar. I didn’t know what that meant so I asked Tess to help.” He looked over at her before continuing. "We all know she has more memories of her former life than the rest.”
Tess now took over. “Because I was raised as alien, I was taught to access that part of me that was Ava. I remember bits and pieces of what life was like as her and what the others were like as well. The social structure of Antar is a class system sort of like India here on Earth. Only those recognized by the Oracle and then the Granolith have any power. I think that’s why the Granolith was sent with us. The Oracle acknowledges or recognizes every person in a certain class at a certain age…the Age of Awakening. Their path is preordained…their destiny made manifest. The Oracles sees or prophecies and the Granolith confirms or blesses the holy scripture…sanctifies it.” Tess paused before continuing knowing what she was about to say would send shockwaves through the group.
“When Zan turns ten…a decade, the Oracle will recognize him as the true heir to the throne. He is Antarian. Khivar will know, the people of Antar will know. I’m sorry, I wish I wasn’t standing here telling you this but…”
“So you’re saying that the world’s going to end no matter what? That I left for no reason?” Liz was shaking.
“We don’t know. It seems like Future Max didn’t know about the Oracle on Antar. It just seems like he thought that if you left before anyone knew you were pregnant…Nicholas wouldn’t find out and therefore Khivar wouldn’t know either,” Alex offered.
“Then I didn’t need to leave?” Liz whispered.
Max turned to face her, “No, Liz don’t do this. We both made this decision. Don’t go second-guessing now. So much has changed Alex is here and Tess is here with us on our side. Please,” he begged.
Tess moved forward to speak, “Liz what would I have become? A murderer? A traitor? You are all my family. I will never be able to thank you enough for what you did for me…for all of us. Please don’t think the sacrifices you made…that both you and Max made were for nothing. Please don’t doubt yourself.”
Liz pulled her hand away from Max and sat down on the couch. Max couldn’t help but follow her. “Liz, we’ll keep him safe. I promise.”