Title: Every where this love goes... I will follow... I will follow
Author:JRose
Disclaimer: I don't own anything pertaining to Roswell! All quotes are flashbacks from the actual series... I did not write them and do not intend for you to believe that I did. Any Roswellian fan will recognize them anyway .
Pairings: M/L, M/M, I/K ... L/R
Rating:Teen-Mature/Adult(Somewhere in there lol)
Summary: Life after Roswell. Just as the series finale ends, the story begins. The gang leaves and goes off in their separate directions to lead new lives, but what if a part of them never did? This story is basically a continuation of the series, so if you loved watching Roswell read on to see what should have happened next... There's alien craziness, plot twists and turns, and oh so many love nods...just like a real episode of the show =)Enjoy! =) *Disclaimer* I do not own anything pertaining to Roswell except my imagination* =)
*Side Note to summary: If you're about to read this...awesome! lol... but at least read till the end of episode 2 to see where its going... I promise it will be a different and refreshing take on what should have happened if the series had continued. So if you're into the love aspect with a big twist of adventure you've come to the right place! =)
Also, this is my VERY FIRST Roswell fan fic and I wouldn't have posted it if I didn't believe in it... so all I ask is that you take a chance on a new user and enjoy =)
Episode 1
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*Flashback* - Graduation Day
“When I sat down to write this speech... I was struck by the similarities... between what I do... and the situation that you find yourself in now.” Author Bryce McCain said into the microphone.
Max looked back at Liz, and she smiled bravely.
“…Believe in what could be. About having faith... okay, that life and the universe holds more than what we perceive. As you contemplate...”
Max suddenly gets up, works his way to the aisle, and walks toward the podium. Puzzled members of the crowd watch his progress.
Various members of the FBI began to speak to each other through their secret microphones.
“We've got movement. Target is active. Target is active.”
“ Bulldog, maintain target. Keep the kid in your sites.”
“ What the hell is he doing?”
Max steps up next to McCain and puts his hand over the microphone, interrupting him in mid-sentence. He talks in a low tone, just to McCain.]
“You need to leave the building right now…”
In a small Motel in a small town
Max Evans, Liz Parker-Evans and Maria Deluca sat around waiting for Michael Guerin to come back from his outing. His usual outings lately involved supernatural alien propaganda told by small town folk, but he sought it out like he always did, on the lamb or not. Neither of them had changed much. Sure hair might’ve gotten longer or shorter, but no one had changed much physically. Emotionally was another story.
Max and Liz were still newlyweds, enjoying each other all over again as if they were rediscovering each other… but how happy can one really be when they’ve abandoned their own home. The comfort they once had as a group was gone and while everyone knew it was for the best to leave Roswell a year ago, no one felt as safe as they thought they would. The fear of being caught was instilled in each of them regardless of location, and while most of the gang never spoke of it, they all knew it was there.
Maria had given into her feelings for Michael soon after they left Roswell, but it had never been the same between them. Even now, Michael was off on some crusade while she sat and waited for him, worried, and even though she was in a room with her best friend, she felt alone. Sure Liz was still her best friend, but her marriage to Max had shifted the best friend relationship a bit. Maria wasn’t bitter because it wasn’t their fault; it was what naturally happens when people get married. Still, with Michael so occupied and the whole group going through different things, Maria felt alone and less spirited as her old self.
“Maria?”
Maria came out of her dull stupor and turned towards the voice that called her.
“Sorry Liz, I’m just kind of out of it today I guess. What did you say?”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just tired, what did you say?”
“Oh… I just wanted to know if you knew what time Michael was coming back here? I wanted to make sure there was enough time for me to take a shower before we all go to Kyle’s.”
“Oh, he didn’t say. Hasn’t said much to me lately at all.”
Liz had felt a change come over everyone since they left Roswell, but Maria was definitely taking the whole thing pretty badly. She felt helpless that she couldn’t wrap her arms around her best friend and make everything ok again. This was the price they paid for being who they were. Her only remedy for the awkwardness was to try and ignore it, which was usually not easy.
“Ok, well I’m just gonna go take a quick one then… go lie down in my room and relax.” Liz replied with a sweet smile. Maria returned it with one of her own, and went into the bedroom.
“Is there room in that shower for one more?”
Liz turned to see Max standing behind her with a shy smile. She laughed.
“Why I don’t know Mr. Evans, is there?”
“I think there is.” He replied with a slight raise of his eyebrow. With that, he bent down and kissed her lips softly.
“I think I’ll find some room.”
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In an abandoned lot in a small town
Michael’s hair blew into his eyes as the wind began to pick up. He was discouraged by the lack of information today and walked slowly out of the large lot. He had been spending most of his time walking on trails to nowhere and listening to tales with no truth. He had always searched for information on his previous life, and about what his “home” would be like, but being in hiding had made him edgy. He never felt safe, and rarely felt happy. He could honestly say that his rare happy moments were all with Maria, but even he knew that things hadn’t been the same. He hated being so preoccupied that it affected their relationship, but he knew in his heart that without the upper hand on information, none of them would ever be safe. It was his burden that no one else seemed to have the insight that he did. If this searching of his meant keeping Maria safe then he was prepared to pay that price until his work was finished. No matter how far they went or how secretively they’d behave, they could never be safe without all knowledge of themselves and their planet.
A familiar face running in the distance caught his eye and snapped him out of his thoughts. He waited until she was close enough to hear him and called out to her.
“Isabel!”
The tall girl looked towards his direction abruptly, and if he hadn’t known better he almost thought he saw her wince. She jogged slowly over to where he was standing.
“Hi Michael” she said breathing heavily.
“You haven’t been jogging since I went out have you?”
She looked down and shook her head as if trying to buy time before answering.
“Uh yeah… had nothing else to do.”
“You look tired, you wanna walk back to the motel with me?”
She hesitated, “No I think I’m just gonna run a bit more… I’ll see you guys later, you’re all still coming by right?”
“Yeah…ok I’ll see you later then.”
“OK”
Michael watched as she began to run quickly away, and he started walking back to the motel where Max and Liz were staying.
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Isabel Evans ran quickly past the parking lot and once Michael was out of view she slowed her pace. She had been running every day since last month for many hours at a time. She had taken the leave from Roswell as well as could be expected but the glue that held her together was the thought of returning to Jesse one day.
She dreamt every night of meeting him in his new big city and surprising him. She pictured the two of them crying and hugging each other so tightly that they’d never let each other go again. She had grown tired of being legally and physically separated from her husband, and wanted to be in his arms. She loathed the fact that because of her circumstances that it was for the best that they parted ways for the time being.
Last month the dreaming became too much for her, and she told the others that she’d be gone for a few days to go meet Jesse. They were obviously worried for her safety but had let her go without a fight, knowing that she had every right to see the man she loved. Ever since leaving Roswell they felt a bit freer in what they did because they knew they had a whole vast country between themselves and the people who were after them. For once in their lives the odds were in their favor.
She wore a red top that fit her like a glove and a flowy skirt that accentuated her long legs. It was one of those days when you just feel beautiful and everything around you feels perfect. The sky was a little bit bluer and the sun shone a little bit brighter that day. The journey to his office was a blur of cabs and trains but eventually all of the traveling paid off and she was standing outside a tall law office building. She quickly waved her hand over her face, and with her powers transformed her “traveling-with-makeup-on-face” to perfect newly applied makeup. She blotted her shiny red lipstick and went inside following all signs to the elevator.
It felt as if someone got on or off on every floor making her journey seem endless. At each floor she was able to peek out and see different offices and it made her smile. One desk on the 4th floor was completely decorated with flowers and candy. The woman sitting at the desk was pretty and smiling from ear to ear as if she had just discovered her delivery of fresh flowers as the doors to the elevator shut and began to move up again. Another desk on the 12th floor was completely covered with paperwork while the one next to it was immaculate and organized. She again smiled to herself imagining that if that were Maria and Michael’s desk, Michaels would have looked like the messy one.
As if someone had tried to snap her out of her day dreaming, the elevator ding told her that she had finally arrived at the 14th floor. She didn’t have to walk far because to the very left of her was Jesse Ramirez smiling his perfect smile over the telephone. Isabelle almost had to lean against a wall to keep from falling but pulled herself together and walked over to him. His reaction was the first of many things that didn’t turn out as she’d planned.
He looked up with the phone still to his ear to see someone standing over him. Looking up to see who it was, he stared at her with no expression.
“I… uh… I’ll call you back.” He stammered and hung up slowly.
She smiled at him but his face was still blank. Not knowing what to do she went around his desk and hugged him tightly, but what she felt in return was limp and unfeeling.
“What… wh… what are you doing here?” he asked quietly into her hair.
His stuttering made her feel uneasy and she let go of him, letting part of her fantasy die in that moment. She looked at him.
“I came to see you. I couldn’t take it any longer being away from you… are you not happy to see me?”
“I… I don’t know what I’m feeling actually. I thought I’d never see you again… a part of me thought that since it’s been so long that maybe I’m just crazy and none of what happened actually did. Seeing… but seeing you in front of me throws …that makes it all true.”
“Jesse?”
“I can’t… I can’t see you right now… I can’t… I’m sorry.”
Tears began to fill her eyes but she refused to let him see her hurt so she quickly and indiscreetly waved them away with her hand.
“Jesse I’ve come a long way… can we talk later?” She said in her most important voice.
“Uh yeah… I’ll give you my address, it’s only a few bocks from here.” He said and began writing his information down on a yellow note pad.
When he was finished he handed her the paper, and with the slight touch of his hand she had a flash of images come whirling at her. She saw him smiling on the telephone and placing an order for something that she couldn’t make out. Just as quickly as the flash came, it was gone. It was by far the most seemingly unimportant vision she had ever received and shook it off quickly.
“Come by after 5… that’s when I get home.”
“I’ll see you then.”
She walked quickly to the elevator and pushed the button for the ground floor. A million things rushed through her head and by the 4th floor she had felt as if she was going to lose it. As the elevator reached the 4th floor she had another vision. She saw a room filled with flowers and soft candlelight. Although her better judgment told her that something was definitely wrong, she couldn’t help but hope that her last vision was a promise of her meeting later with Jesse. In fact it was a promise of what was to come, only not the way she had planned.
Arriving at 5:00, she knocked but there was no reply. After a few minutes, she used her powers to unlock it and saw the room in her vision. In the midst of all the flowers was a sign that said “Meet me upstairs for your real thank you.” Isabelle smiled to herself as every bad feeling she thought she had felt earlier washed away. She walked quickly up the stairs and went to the halfway open bedroom door.
“Jesse, you didn’t have to scare me like you did before just to surprise…”
What she saw stopped her dead in her tracks….
“Ahh!”
It had made her feel like falling down when it had happened, and just the thought of it now had made her trip over a rock and fall down on the dirt road. She couldn’t bring herself to get up so she just sat where she fell and began to cry. She remembered the horror of seeing a half naked woman on his bed…the flash that came over her making it all make sense…and what Jesse said when he came home just seconds later. The flash she had received showed the woman on the 4th floor that she had seen from the elevator with all of the flowers, and Jesse ordering them on the phone. The woman had then called him to thank him and it was her he was smiling to through the phone when she had arrived. The woman was obviously expecting him after work to properly thank him for the flowers he had sent her. The woman was embarrassed and confused, and Isabelle had been close to tears. When Jesse arrived he had said many things, but nothing that she would be able to retain. All she understood was that he had moved on, and had convinced himself that everything involving Isabel never happened. The whole “alien” thing was too much for him to take and although he had once loved her he couldn’t allow himself to go back to that place in his heart.
Isabel didn’t remember leaving or how she got home, all she knew was that it felt incredibly long. She sat there on the ground feeling the horrible feelings she had felt that day all over again for what seemed like months and the next thing she knew was that it had turned dark and the sky had begun to pour. There was something about the rain falling down on her at her most vulnerable state that pushed her over the edge into large sobs. She began running towards the motel that Kyle, Maria , Michael and herself had been staying at for the past two months. Max and Liz were going to be there for their discussion on where to move next, so without hesitation she began the everyday process she had been doing since last month, pulling herself together before seeing the gang, so that no one could see the pain she had been holding inside.
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At another small motel... in a small town
The doorbell rang loudly. Kyle Valenti got up from the couch in the dim lit room to answer it. He had been alone all day and the quiet was killing him. Michael was always off by himself and Maria always seemed to be where Liz was when Michael would leave for a long time. Isabel had been going out running for weeks and coming home just to sleep, which hurt him because they had begun to get really close before leaving Roswell. He missed having friends around, he would even settle for a couple of football jerks if that were an option. Being on the run was definitely lonely for him.
He opened up the door to see Max, Liz, Maria and Michael at the door.
“Where’s Isabel?” Kyle asked
“Hi to you too future step bro.” Maria replied sarcastically as they walked in.
“Sorry… where is she?”
“She’s right here.” Isabel said as she walked through the front door that Kyle was about to close.
Max walked over to where she was standing as she put down her wet jacket.
“Guess it’s raining pretty hard out there.” He said with a small smile
She looked up at him with a smirk. Waving her hand over her clothes, they instantly became dry.
“You’ve been out running a lot lately.” He stated in his big brother tone, which always sounded like a question.
“Yeah… so what’s up guys, where’s the new location gonna be?” She asked quickly before anyone could ask her anything else about her new jogging regimen.
“We didn’t start talking about it yet… anyone have any ideas?” Liz asked.
Everyone thought about it for a while. They had been having this meeting every month or two to figure out a new place to stay since they had left Roswell. Every time it was important because their location was key to their survival.
“I have an idea… I just don’t know how you’re all gonna take it.” Kyle chimed in.
Isabel walked over to his side.
“What’s your idea?” she asked.
“Well, I’ve been thinking… there’s nothing wrong with moving around in these crappy motels in these small towns, but why not a big city for once? I mean, what better place to hide out than a big city where you never see the same person twice. Somewhere like New York.”
“New York… as in where our duplicates live, New York?” Max asked. He wasn’t sure if that would be a plus or a minus.
“Yeah why not? We don’t have to go to their side of town or anything, but New York is perfect. Besides, there’s enough places to hide out in for years if we have to, that way we wouldn’t have to keep moving around so much.”
The wheels in Michaels head began to turn. New York could be a great place to gain access on actual credible info. Running into the dupes wouldn’t be so bad either considering that they knew so much more than they did. They were nothing that the gang couldn’t handle and if necessary could be pumped for information. Although a major negative of going to the big apple would be that freakin’ guy friend of Maria’s that she’d probably end up running into …
“I say we vote.” Isabel announced, interrupting Michaels jealous thoughts. “Everyone up for New York raise your hands.”
One by one all hands were raised.
“New York it is then, when should we leave?”
“I say the earlier the better, I’m so sick of these boring small towns.” Kyle said getting up and walking back over to the couch to get the remote.
“Me too.” Isabel added sitting down next to him.
The old Kyle would have been excited to have Isabel sitting so close to him, but with the way she was acting lately, he was just glad that she was still in the room at all. There was something inside him that always made him wonder what would have happened between them if she hadn’t met Jesse. This wondering happened pretty often, especially with so much time on his hands.
“Why not pack now and just get going, it’s gonna be a really long drive.” Max suggested as he put his arm around Liz’s waist.
“Yeah.” She agreed. “That way we can just leave in the morning.”
After a few minutes of discussion, Kyle and Isabel decided to go over Max and Liz’s motel to hang out and help them pack, while Maria and Michael stayed. With the door closed behind them, the group headed back to the motel. Lucky for them it had stopped raining.
“Hey guys, how come you two don’t wanna pack your stuff too?” Liz asked Kyle and Isabel.
“Those two looked like they needed some bonding time and I’m so not in the mood for that kind of encounter.” Isabel answered. “ What about you Kyle?”
“I just hate packing… I plan to procrastinate as long as possible.”
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Back at the Motel with Michael and Maria
Maria waited for Michael to speak so that she could know without question that if an argument came from this, that it was not her fault for starting it. She had been feeling lonely and rejected all day, but the worst part of it was that she had been feeling guilty for allowing herself to feel that way at all. She didn’t want to feel this way because she knew he wasn’t doing this on purpose, if anything he was doing it for her own good. He was actually immersing himself in his project to keep her safe. Again, she felt a pang of guilt.
“Maria?”
“Yes Michael?”
He walked over to where she was sitting on the couch and sat beside her.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking today… and I want to apologize… for everything. I’m sorry for how much I took you for granted in the past…”
“Michael it’s okay, we’ve gone through this before…”
“Please, let me finish.” He pleaded making eye contact. She nodded.
“Like I was saying… I hurt you in the past… I didn’t let you see who I really was and when I finally did… well…it was the best night of my life. But being myself, I messed things up between us pretty quickly after that. You were right to leave for New York to follow your dream… and as much as it hurts … you were right to leave me… and you were right to have kissed that guy…”
“Michael please…”
“No, I’m serious… If you hadn’t done it at that moment in your life, you might never have known that you were missing from me what you really needed from a man.” He added and then paused for a moment. “I want to thank you for leaving Roswell on graduation day because you know you didn’t have to. You weren’t in the kind of danger that we were in and you had Valenti there back in Roswell who would be on your side with an excuse for everything… but you came and I know that you came for me.”
Maria smiled softly at him, almost embarrassed by his sweet words.
“Also, since we’ve been in hiding, I’ve left you alone a lot. I’ve even gone on crazy missions without telling you where I was going, and I know you must have been worried. I can’t guarantee that things like that won’t happen again, but what I can guarantee is that I never ever mean to hurt you or shut you out of my life… I just want to protect you. My whole life it was all about Max and Isabel, and they can hold their own pretty damn well… but then there was you. You’re inside me… you’re a part of me… you are me. So if it is at all in your control, don’t let me see that look in your eyes that I saw when I came back today… it hurts me to see you in that much pain, especially when I’m the one who caused it.”
She moved towards him and hugged him gently.
“Thank you.” She whispered into his ear.
Hearing her voice that close to him always gave him shivers. He turned his head to see her face and brushed his lips lightly against hers. The gesture stunned both of them since they hadn’t had a moment like this in months. They quickly relived every passionate moment between them and fell into a long deep kiss. Every second that grew by felt like there wasn’t enough time for them to stay this close to one another, and the intensity grew quicker than it ever had before. Neither of them could breathe and neither of them cared.
“God I’ve missed this.” Maria said into his neck as he broke the contact between their lips to place soft kisses on every inch of her collarbone. Her hands ran down his back pulling him onto her as they laid back on the couch. The feeling of his weight distributed on her own was mind-blowing. She began unbuttoning his shirt as he continued to kiss her neck, quickly leading back up to her lips, urgently kissing her deeply. She moaned in his mouth and reached for the last button. He arched his back quickly taking off his shirt and threw his wifebeater over his head and onto the floor. He moved his body back towards hers and as she began to kiss his neck he felt a moan escape from his own lips. Then he felt something else…
“Maria…”
“…Mmm?”
“Were you prepared for something kinky or something?” he asked breathlessly
Maria fell out of her trance… “What?”
“I feel you vibrating… did you bring like …um … supplies?” He asked questioningly.
Maria laughed as she realized her cell phone that was still on the couch was left on vibrate. She picked it up and held it up to him and he laughed.
“Hello?” she asked into the tiny phone.
“Are you guys done arguing?” Isabelle asked.
“Huh? Who said we were arguing.”
“You guys have been acting so cold around each other lately that I thought it was inevitable.”
“No, we’re not arguing.”
“OK good, then Kyle and I are coming back now… the newlyweds are being all gushy and gross and I can’t take it anymore.”
Michael began kissing her exposed shoulders and neck making it hard for her to talk.
“Um…ok…uh…mmm… uh… when will you… uh… mmm… be here…” “Stop it” she whispered to Michael with absolutely no part of her wanting him to stop.
“Ding Dong!”
“You called me from your cell huh.” Maria asked sarcastically into the phone as Michael groaned and got up to answer the door.
“Yep.” Isabel answered as she walked in and closed her cell phone. Kyle walked in from behind her and his eyes quickly focused on the shirtless Michael and the two shirts lying on the floor.
Michael picked up his clothes and walked over to Maria.
“Another time and place.” He whispered in her ear. She nodded with a disappointed sigh.
“Hmm, no I don’t think they were arguing Izz.” He said as he made his usual flat-lipped smirk.
“Oh… sorry guys… go figure we leave the two love birds to find two more… come on Kyle lets start packing.”
“Yes maam.” He said with a salute. “Packing Nazi.” He muttered under his breath.
“What was that?!” She called out from the other room.
“Nothing!”
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The Next Morning
Max and Liz awoke in each others arms.
“Morning.” Liz said quietly.
“Morning,”
Max smiled and kissed her forehead. “This is how every day should start.”
“Mmm…Definitely… Max?”
“Mhm?” he asked muffled while kissing her cheek.
“I think one of the only good things to come from us leaving Roswell is being able to be alone together.”
“The only good thing?
“Well… I miss home, and I hate the rift that I see formed between all of us… but me and you… we’re finally together… like in normal couple territory… well normal as in under aged runaways hiding from the government…”
She couldn’t help but laugh at the thought and Max smiled.
“Well Liz, I must say you are the most beautiful fugitive who married an alien that I’ve ever met.”
“And you are the most handsome alien from outer space I’ve ever had a close encounter with.”
Max kissed her gently on the lips and then looked into her eyes. “So you’ve noticed it too huh? I was hoping I was just reading into things too much, but no one is truly happy here.”
“I don’t think so… but it’s better than being an experiment for alien hunters.”
“You’re not wrong.” He replied.
Suddenly she looked horrified. “What time is it?” Liz looked up with wide eyes. “We overslept! Come on we have to hurry over there so we can get going.”
Max and Liz dressed quickly and grabbed their belongings, running out the door to head off to the other motel. As they got settled in the van to go pick up the gang, Liz decided to quickly check their money stash. From what she could see, money was definitely becoming an issue. It had been hard to find quick jobs and when they finally did, it was time to get up and leave. She put the envelope back in her bag and fell asleep to the warm sun shining down on her face.
Everyone had loaded into the van quickly after that and were more than ready to rid themselves of the small town life and get into a big city. Without saying it out loud, they each had hopes that maybe this time they’d finally be happy.
Kyle volunteered to drive first and Isabel sat next to him. Max and Liz sat behind them and Michael and Maria sat in the very back.
End of episode...stay tuned for Episode 2!
Feedback is always welcome!
JRose @--->
theywalkbesideus@yahoo.com
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Everywhere this love goes 1- 8 *(Teen-Mat./Adult)4/20 [WIP]
Moderators: Anniepoo98, ISLANDGIRL5, truelovepooh, Forum Moderators
Everywhere this love goes 1- 8 *(Teen-Mat./Adult)4/20 [WIP]
Last edited by JRose on Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:43 am, edited 34 times in total.
Here comes episode 2!
*Same disclaimer as before... enjoy! =)
Everywhere this love goes...I will follow...I will follow.
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Episode 2
A Long ride in the Front of the Van
“Izz, come on, do your power thing and just tell all the trees to get out of the way of every freakin’ sign!” Kyle whined as he made a left turn onto the highway.
“Ok, if you’re gonna be Mr. Crazy driving guy I’m going to go sit in the back.”
“No… please stay, I need a navigator. Who’s a better navigator than you… with your powers… and the ability to move the trees…”
“Kyle I’m not gonna start moving trees, don’t you think it will be a bit obvious if every tree we pass suddenly moves as we drive by it. Are you trying to get us found?”
“Ok… geez just trying to make this Long, loooong drive a little more exciting.”
“Fine if you want an exciting drive, I’ll give you an exciting drive… I think it might be time for the question game.”
“Cool… what do ya wanna know that you already don’t?”
Isabel thought about it for a minute. What she really wanted to know was about his love life. The poor guy had been under a massive bad luck strike and as much as she tried to help him out it never worked. She didn’t want to admit it to him, or anyone else for that matter, but back in Roswell she had developed feelings for him. Jesse had been busy trying to adjust and the rest of the gang had been busy devising plans to keep themselves safe… and Kyle just seemed to always be there with her. She’d call it human nature if she weren’t partly non-human herself. With what she had been going through lately, she hadn’t been much of a friend to him, let alone anything more than that. To hell with it, she’d just ask her questions… he doesn’t have to know why or how she felt or didn’t feel.
“What’s your deal?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“I mean what’s your deal with girls. You never seem to be with anyone… what’s up with that.”
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I guess the people I fall for are usually taken. I mean take Liz. She like gravitated towards Max, and then there’s Tess… who again gravitated towards Max … maybe the better question is what’s Max doing to all these girls to make them want him so badly. I mean come on, I’m a good looking guy… no ones coming after me like they do him… and anyway I didn’t have to worry about him with you cuz hey he’s your brother… but anyway you were with Je…”
As soon as the words left his lips he regretted them. How could he have been so stupid to just blurt out his insignificant feelings to the beautiful goddess of an alien sitting besides him? She’d never see him as anything more than a big loser now. It took a lot out of him to keep driving when what he really wanted to do was pull over and walk back.
Isabel on the other hand was amused. He had feelings for her too. She felt awful at how embarrassed he must’ve felt. Being Isabelle though, she had to see him squirm just a bit longer.
“Are you saying you had feelings for me at one point?” She asked matter of factly.
“Well… feelings… I just…well I…just…oh screw it… yeah I did. But don’t worry about it, I would never act on it and screw anything else up.” There, he thought it was the best he could come up with and it would have to do.
“Oh, so you don’t anymore then?”
“Anymore? I mean… I… can we talk about something else… it’s gotta be your turn now right?”
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A long ride in the middle of the van
“I cannot play cards anymore Max, I’m definitely going to lose my mind.” Liz announced throwing her cards down on the seat.
“You’re just afraid of me winning.”
She held out her hand of cards to reveal a royal flush.
“Ok so you’re not afraid of me winning.” He said with a laugh.
She sat back and began thinking about all that’s happened. She secretly wished she could go home and see her parents again. She missed all the little things that she knew back home, even putting on that ridiculous crashdown uniform. She had been happy to be with Max, the love of her life… the person she would give her life for… but being away from home was slowly killing her inside. She could never let him know her pain because she knew he would feel guilty and that was the last thing that she wanted. His arm brushed against hers and she had a vision of him kissing her last night. She looked up at him but could see that he didn’t have the same reaction. She smiled to herself thinking about how happy she was being married to the most incredible guy on the planet… well two planets. Who else could make her actually see things with just the slightest touch of his arm? Slowly she began drifting off to sleep.
“How are you guys back there?” Kyle asked in a strange tone from the drivers seat. He almost sounded anxious.
“We’re getting restless I think, cards are not helping anymore.” Max answered back.
“I know what could stir up a little fun… why don’t you drive and I sit in your seat and go to sleep.”
“Sounds real exciting.” Max said with a laugh. “Sure I’ll drive… Liz you wanna switch with Isabelle?
“No.” Kyle said quickly. “Liz looks tired, why don’t you just let her sleep.” He suggested with a proud look on his face.
Isabelle looked down so Kyle couldn’t see the disappointment in her eyes. She felt bad for torturing him at his weak moment. Kyle pulled the car over at a rest stop and quickly switched places with Max. Kyle made him self comfortable and was glad about his ingenious idea until…
“So Kyle, we’re not done talking yet?” Isabel said turning around to face him.
“Um yeah we are cuz... I’m… cuz I’m reallllllly sleepy.”
“Oh OK… I guess we can just finish in your dreams.”
“OK good idea…Wait, what?”
“If you’re gonna just cut our conversations short from now on the only decent thing to do is dreamwalk you right?”
“That is so cheating… you little cheater!”
Isabel smiled and he returned hers with one of his own. They were like a more annoying version of Maria and Michael… and when they were around each other, completely happy.
“Max, pull over I feel like driving.” Kyle announced.
“What? I just got here.”
“I know but I wanna….now gimme gimme gimme.” He said with a laugh trying unsuccessfully to play off his awkwardness.
Max pulled over and they switched again. For the next few hours Kyle and Isabel talked and laughed, and Max held Liz into his strong arms falling into a deep sleep with her.
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A long ride in the back of the van
“Mmm … stop that, someone is gonna see… mmm…” Maria pleaded in a whisper as her head rolled back instinctively. Michael had been kissing her neck for such a long time that she knew a hickey was bound to be present.
“I can’t… I want you so badly. We waited way too long to resolve things between us, and now I can’t even feel your lips on mine for like days until we get to our own place. By the way, I do suggest we get our own place this time.” He said quickly and continued to kiss her softly on her neck.
“Mmm… but um…won’t that make …mmm… Kyle and Isabel uncomfortable…”
“They’ll be fine.” He murmured into her neck. He couldn’t hold back anymore. He reached up with his hands and brought her face to his, crashing their lips together. She could hardly control herself either as she pressed her lips against his as he explored the openings of her mouth with his tongue. After a moment Maria broke away abruptly.
“Hey… Kyle!” She called out from the back, waking up Max and Liz. Calling Kyle’s name wasn’t exactly the kind of reaction Michael was trying to get from her, and he looked at her confused.
“What?” he shouted back.
“Are we gonna stop anywhere? You know like to sleep. I could really use a good nights sleep before we drive for the next few days.” She asked. Michael smiled at her knowingly and looked at Kyle to see his reaction.
“Yeah that’s a good idea.” Max chimed in… “Liz could use a real bed right now… so could all of us.”
“You got it, first motel we see I’ll stop.” Kyle replied.
“Hey, I see a sign for one on the left.” Isabelle pointed out. She waved her hand and moved the tree branch out of the way for Kyle to see it better. He smiled and nudged her arm.
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At a new small Motel in a small town
“One room please.” Kyle told the man behind the desk
“Um make that two.” Michael said quietly to Kyle.
“I mean two.” Kyle prompted to the man behind the desk.
Max walked over to Kyle and nudged him.
“Uh I’m so sorry I meant three, three rooms for tonight, thanks.” Kyle supplied and quickly turned around to face the gang “Why three?” he whispered. “You know what, never mind I don’t wanna know. I’m taking the first one, anyone who wants to come with me, come join me if not I’ll see you guys tomorrow morning. Night.” Kyle said grabbing the keys to room 25.
Isabel knew quickly where this was all going, Max and Liz would want to be alone, and Maria and Michael definitely wanted to be alone, and that meant a night alone with Kyle. After a few minutes, she stopped herself from being nervous and trying to run into Michael and Maria’s room and instead headed for room 25. Michael and Maria took room 26 and Max and Liz took room 27.
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It’s all about room 25
Kyle was a bit startled by the movement he heard from his bedroom from where he stood in the bathroom. He quickly got out of the shower and dried himself off, grabbing a pair of sweatpants and putting them on. He walked out into the room with a towel around his neck and a pair of grey sweatpants. Isabelle had to catch her breath at the sight of his bare chest.
“Hey.” She said “I think Maria and Michael wanted to be alone so I came in here with you… is that alright?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be.”
“Oh no reason… good then.”
“Yeah… good.”
“Good.”
The two of them stood in silence for a few minutes.
“You wanna watch T.V. with me?” Kyle asked sitting on the bed.
“Sure.” She walked over to the bed and sat down next to him. After a few minutes of silence between them, Kyle decided that he couldn’t take it anymore.
“Izz… I hate this. I’m sorry I messed things up between us today for no good reason and I want it to stop.”
She looked over at him. “ Kyle I have to say something… I don’t really know how to say this … but … I don’t …want it …you know … to stop…”
“You don’t?”
She shook her head. “Do you?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Maybe if we don’t want it to stop, then one of us should maybe… start.”
She nodded. “Maybe one of us should.”
Kyle moved closer to Isabel and felt more scared than he ever did while being chased by government agents. She took his face into her hand and guided his lips towards hers…
“Boom!”
Both of them jumped back at the loud sound coming from next door.
“What was that?” Isabelle asked quietly.
“Probably just our neighbors.” He answered even quieter than her. He brushed his lips over her soft cheeks almost reaching her lips…
“Wait,” he said pausing “Aren’t our neighbors Maria and Michael?”
“Yeah,” she answered breathily “I wonder what they’re up to…” she was silenced by his lips covering hers in a long sweet kiss, and any wondering was ceased as the two of them discovered how good it felt to be kissing one another.
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It’s all about room 26
Maria had barely walked into the room when Michael grabbed her bags from her shoulder and tossed them onto the floor. He took her face into his hands and brought her lips up to meet his gently. She began taking off his jacket and bringing his body close to hers. With every touch of her skin to his, he kissed her more urgently applying pressure to her lips with a force that he couldn’t put into words if his life depended on it. He unbuttoned her black coat and tossed it aside, pulling her waist to his.
Her hands skimmed his waist, his chest and eventually settled on either side of his head forcefully pulling him into the deepest kiss either of them had ever experienced. Without letting her lips leave his own, he walked them over to the table and cleared it with a swipe of his arm causing a loud booming noise.
He prompted her onto the table and let his body meld with hers. Kissing her lips, her cheeks, her neck and her collarbone he undid her top and slid it slowly over her head. She looked into his eyes passionately and was instantly taken aback by a strong flash of images. She saw every kiss, every touch and every perfect moment the two of them had ever shared. She saw herself as he saw her, flawless and beautiful. When she came back to consciousness, she felt his arms around her that caught her from falling.
She got up from the table wordlessly and took his hand in hers leading him to the bed. Before lying down she kissed him softly and gently pulled him onto her.
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It’s all about room 27
“Hey Max look.” Liz said excitedly.
He turned to see her raising her hand over the dim lit light and with the use of her ever growing powers the light grew bright.
“I’m impressed.”
“Me too.” She said with a laugh “I was beginning to think I was only going to blow things up with electricity.”
“We’ll you’ve always been pretty electrifying.” He teased.
She put her hand back towards her side and the light dimmed back to it’s normal state.
“You wanna watch a movie?” She asked sitting down on the bed and grabbing the remote.
He sat down next to her. “I think that I’d rather be watching you.” He said as he nestled next to her, kissing the back of her head.
“And here I thought I was actually gonna get some sleep tonight.” She replied turning to face him.
“Sleeping is overrated.” His facial expression quickly turned into one of passion and it emitted through his deep brown eyes. Feeling the heat between them she moved over so close that any words she would say would cause him to feel her lips moving against his own.
“Is that true?” she whispered.
“Yeah.”
He kissed her lips softly. After his lips left hers he looked at her.
“You taste really good… what is that?”
She laughed “Maria gave me one of her calming oils but it’s made as lip gloss.”
“Points for Maria.”
He kissed her again, longer and more passionately, and she fell into it as if under a spell.
“Boom!”
They parted lips abruptly.
“What was that?”
“Sounds like it was coming from next door.” Max answered.
“Isn’t that Maria and Michael’s room?”
They smiled and with a smirk returned to their newlywed bliss.
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Graduation Day… again… well sorta…
*Flashback to last year… or is it?*
They sat in their seats wearing the red gowns that would have in any other circumstance signify their new place in this world. Terrified, they each looked around nervously, awaiting the awful premonition that Liz had seen in her vision.
“…Believe in what could be. About having faith... okay, that life and the universe holds more than what we perceive. As you contemplate...”
All of a sudden, a blinding flash enveloped each of them, even those who were completely human and untouched. It was as if the blinding light had surrounded every individual that had been in contact with or actually was an alien. Just as abruptly as it came… it was gone. They looked around nervously, but no one seemed to have noticed, almost as if it never happened. A strange thing interrupted their thoughts.
“ … so good luck and congratulations!” The principal announced as the auditorium erupted with cheers.
The guest speaker was gone; in fact it felt as if he was never there. The principal had just finished making a speech that they hadn’t even known had started. In that instant they felt as if something in their lives had just been changed forever.
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The Present Day… the next morning – Roswell New Mexico (It’s ok if you’re confused, you won’t be soon enough…=)
Liz had routinely put on her Crashdown uniform in record time and was ready to rush downstairs when it hit her… she was tired of being completely unhappy. She was sick of being watched and followed, tired of hiding and was scared of losing her friends and her own self in the process. A tear rolled down her cheek and she expertly wiped it away.
When she reached the Crashdown downstairs she saw Maria in her uniform wearing a similar expression as her own.
“Hey Maria, you look like how I feel.”
Maria began setting the tables, moving quickly around the room as she spoke.
“Really? Would that be the feeling of complete and utter hopelessness and despair or the feeling of unhappiness with a side order of fear of being killed?" She asked in her sarcastic neurotic tone.
“I don’t think there’s much of a choice area for me, it’s kinda all jumbled together.”
“Good then, we feel the same.”
Liz grabbed the ketchup bottle from Maria’s hand and motioned for her to sit down with her at the counter.
“Maria, I’ve been thinking… we can’t go on like this. We all know that something happened to us on graduation day, something that just shouldn’t have happened, but no one wants to talk about it. I’m just as glad as the rest of you that that man disappeared and my vision didn’t come true but I know that you all felt what I felt when that light hit us. Like, we just lost a part of ourselves, and I can’t keep living like we’re living…” Liz gushed and began to tear. Maria took her head and gently brought it next to her own comfortingly.
“You’re right. I am so sick of being scared that someone is going to kill Michael and my best friends. It’s not even like we’re happy anymore, when is the last time any of us have even laughed together?”
“Feels like months.”
“Feels like years.” Maria joked lightly, causing Liz to smile.
“What should we do?” Liz asked.
Maria thought about it for a minute.
“I know this is gonna sound crazy, but maybe we should leave like we had planned the first time…”
Liz immediately felt a chill go up her spine.
“It’s not crazy… I felt it too… always did.”
“Even though…”
“…We had never planned to leave.”
Liz and Maria had immediately asked two waitresses to cover for them and ran out the door.
“I bet they felt it too.” Liz said out of breath as she got in the passenger side of Maria’s Jeep.
“I have a feeling this is going to be a big break for us. You call Max and ask him to gather everyone, and I mean everyone... Jesse and Valenti included. Tell them to meet us at Michaels, and to do it quickly.” Maria said putting the key in the ignition and pressing hard on the gas pedal.
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The Gathering at Michaels house – Roswell New Mexico
“I’m not used to having so many of you over at once anymore so this is all I have.” Michael apologized as he put down some cereal in a big bowl as a snack.
“It’s Ok Michael, we’re not here to judge your host skills.” Isabelle said with a small smile.
They sat in the living room quietly. Finally, Liz spoke.
“Ok guys… I’m going to say something to you all and it may be a bit confusing. I hope I say this right… “
“Say what?” Max asked with concern in his voice.
“…Well… I guess I’ll just jump right to the big part…I don’t think that we’re living our lives like we’re supposed to.”
“What do you mean?” Jesse asked.
“I was talking to Maria this morning, and it wasn’t the most cheerful conversation that we’ve had. We basically came to the conclusion that we’re unhappy. We’re tired of feeling afraid and sick of feeling like our whole group has changed for the worse. We both felt this unnerving feeling that our lives weren’t supposed to be like this, but we didn’t know how to shake it. Then Maria suggested something…she said it was going to sound a little crazy, only the crazy part is that it didn’t…”
“What did you say Maria?” Michael asked quietly. Maria looked at Liz and she nodded.
“I uh… I suggested that we leave…like we had planned to the first time.” She said looking down at the floor.
Instantly everyone looked at each other vulnerably and visibly shaken.
“Only we never planned to leave…” Kyle stated for everyone who couldn’t get the words to come out. He stared blankly at Maria. Liz walked over to them.
“That’s the reason I called you all here… I know we never planned to leave, but I felt it inside me that we did, and so did Maria, and from the looks of it… so did all of you. I know it’s hard to talk about what happened on graduation day, but something happened to us that we could never explain… and I think it’s time we talk abut it, it could save us from what we have become.”
They stayed quiet for a few minutes, seemingly lost in their own individual thoughts.
“Alright I agree, it’s time we face what happened that day, and try and figure it out before it’s too late.” Max decided.
“Me too.” Michael chimed. “But I don’t think we’re going to be able to solve this mystery here… if we all felt that we should leave, then maybe we should, maybe that’s where we’ll find out what happened.”
“I don’t know Michael, who’s to say where we had decided to go in the first place, or if what we’re all feeling is really true or not.” Isabelle added.
“I think that we should cover as much ground as we can here, we should each talk about what we remember and then decide if going somewhere else is the right thing to do.” Valenti stated with a hint of wisdom in his voice. “If we’re supposed to be somewhere else, we’ll know it then.”
“I agree.” Max said.
“Me too.”
They each nodded in agreement.
“I think we should start now.” Michael announced.
They thought for a moment.
“I’ll start.” Maria said as she walked over to the bowl of cereal and took a handful. Between bites, she spoke.
“So I’m sitting all terrified while that stupid author guy is talking, and wham! This weird light surrounds me and instantly I feel different or something. The man is gone, and the principal is done making a speech that never started. My memory was completely jaded about the incident right after the crowd started going all graduation happy, and I’ve ignored my feeling of “change” ever since. I think that some of you were going to escape, but there’s a nagging feeling I have that at the last minute I was going to leave too. I don’t know who was leaving or where it was going to be, but an escape was going to be made, and it didn’t happen.”
“My version is no different than yours.” Kyle said quietly.
“I’m pretty much the same.” Liz added. “Except that I felt that I had planned to leave, it wasn’t a last minute decision.”
“Me too.” Isabel added.
“Yeah, me too.” Michael said getting up and begging to pace around the room.
“That’s how I felt.” Max said standing up. “But I also feel like I had planned to do something really big, like to help us escape. I can’t shake the feeling that maybe because I didn’t, that our lives have been a wreck because of it… maybe this is entirely my fault.” He said, his voice choking up.
“No Max… it was the light… something did this to us. We have to figure out what we had meant to do, and then we have to do it. Maybe we can change everything.” Liz replied taking his hand in hers to comfort him. He looked up at her and smiled.
“My version is a bit different.” Jesse said breaking the tension filled in the room. “I don’t necessarily feel as if I was going to up and leave the way you all described., There was nothing heroic about it. I think I was going to leave to take the job that I refused… and that you weren’t going to come with me…” his voice trailed off as his gaze met Isabelle’s.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” she asked with tear filled eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me what you felt? Up and leaving …and …and… alien hunters...”
“Hey, we’re not here to fight… we don’t even know if our thoughts are real.” Max said trying to break the tension.
“I had a different experience too.” Sheriff Valenti said with a low voice. “ I think my son was going to leave me… that I was going to be alone here… but that it was the right thing to do.”
“Dad.” Kyle said sadly. “I think you’re right… I was going to leave with the others.”
“I have an idea.” Isabel announced abruptly. “I think we should go to New York.”
“New York? Why New York?” Liz questioned.
“Look, I know that we hate them… but maybe our duplicates had something to do with it. If they didn’t, maybe they can tell us who did. Who better than another set of aliens to help us figure out what happened.”
“That’s insane Izz.” Max replied. “They’ve done nothing but disrupt our lives, how can we trust them enough to go to them?”
“Who said anything about trusting them?” Michael asked. “Answers are what we need, and I don’t see us finding them in a book.”
“If that’s what we decide to do, then maybe Jesse and the Sheriff should stay behind. They had a different experience than us, maybe it was for a reason.” Liz suggested.
“Liz is right, I think it would be safer for them here.” Maria added.
“How?!” Isabel asked with anger and uncertainty in her voice. “We haven’t felt safe here a day since our graduation, why would it be any different for them. Jesse’s my husband, I won’t leave him.”
“They’re right Isabel.” Jesse answered. “I wasn’t always involved, and I mean absolutely nothing to an alien hunter. The Sheriff can take care of himself and me if necessary. He’s a sheriff Izz, we’ll be fine…you’ll come back to me.”
“He’s right.” Valenti added. “Your destiny is in New York…I won’t hold any of you back, not even you Kyle… I care about you all too much.”
“So it’s settled then.” Michael said authoritatively. “We’re goin to New York.”
Feedback is always welcome and much appreciated! =) Stay Tuned for episode 3!
JRose
theywalkbesideus@yahoo.com
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Everywhere this love goes...I will follow...I will follow.
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Episode 2
A Long ride in the Front of the Van
“Izz, come on, do your power thing and just tell all the trees to get out of the way of every freakin’ sign!” Kyle whined as he made a left turn onto the highway.
“Ok, if you’re gonna be Mr. Crazy driving guy I’m going to go sit in the back.”
“No… please stay, I need a navigator. Who’s a better navigator than you… with your powers… and the ability to move the trees…”
“Kyle I’m not gonna start moving trees, don’t you think it will be a bit obvious if every tree we pass suddenly moves as we drive by it. Are you trying to get us found?”
“Ok… geez just trying to make this Long, loooong drive a little more exciting.”
“Fine if you want an exciting drive, I’ll give you an exciting drive… I think it might be time for the question game.”
“Cool… what do ya wanna know that you already don’t?”
Isabel thought about it for a minute. What she really wanted to know was about his love life. The poor guy had been under a massive bad luck strike and as much as she tried to help him out it never worked. She didn’t want to admit it to him, or anyone else for that matter, but back in Roswell she had developed feelings for him. Jesse had been busy trying to adjust and the rest of the gang had been busy devising plans to keep themselves safe… and Kyle just seemed to always be there with her. She’d call it human nature if she weren’t partly non-human herself. With what she had been going through lately, she hadn’t been much of a friend to him, let alone anything more than that. To hell with it, she’d just ask her questions… he doesn’t have to know why or how she felt or didn’t feel.
“What’s your deal?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“I mean what’s your deal with girls. You never seem to be with anyone… what’s up with that.”
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I guess the people I fall for are usually taken. I mean take Liz. She like gravitated towards Max, and then there’s Tess… who again gravitated towards Max … maybe the better question is what’s Max doing to all these girls to make them want him so badly. I mean come on, I’m a good looking guy… no ones coming after me like they do him… and anyway I didn’t have to worry about him with you cuz hey he’s your brother… but anyway you were with Je…”
As soon as the words left his lips he regretted them. How could he have been so stupid to just blurt out his insignificant feelings to the beautiful goddess of an alien sitting besides him? She’d never see him as anything more than a big loser now. It took a lot out of him to keep driving when what he really wanted to do was pull over and walk back.
Isabel on the other hand was amused. He had feelings for her too. She felt awful at how embarrassed he must’ve felt. Being Isabelle though, she had to see him squirm just a bit longer.
“Are you saying you had feelings for me at one point?” She asked matter of factly.
“Well… feelings… I just…well I…just…oh screw it… yeah I did. But don’t worry about it, I would never act on it and screw anything else up.” There, he thought it was the best he could come up with and it would have to do.
“Oh, so you don’t anymore then?”
“Anymore? I mean… I… can we talk about something else… it’s gotta be your turn now right?”
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A long ride in the middle of the van
“I cannot play cards anymore Max, I’m definitely going to lose my mind.” Liz announced throwing her cards down on the seat.
“You’re just afraid of me winning.”
She held out her hand of cards to reveal a royal flush.
“Ok so you’re not afraid of me winning.” He said with a laugh.
She sat back and began thinking about all that’s happened. She secretly wished she could go home and see her parents again. She missed all the little things that she knew back home, even putting on that ridiculous crashdown uniform. She had been happy to be with Max, the love of her life… the person she would give her life for… but being away from home was slowly killing her inside. She could never let him know her pain because she knew he would feel guilty and that was the last thing that she wanted. His arm brushed against hers and she had a vision of him kissing her last night. She looked up at him but could see that he didn’t have the same reaction. She smiled to herself thinking about how happy she was being married to the most incredible guy on the planet… well two planets. Who else could make her actually see things with just the slightest touch of his arm? Slowly she began drifting off to sleep.
“How are you guys back there?” Kyle asked in a strange tone from the drivers seat. He almost sounded anxious.
“We’re getting restless I think, cards are not helping anymore.” Max answered back.
“I know what could stir up a little fun… why don’t you drive and I sit in your seat and go to sleep.”
“Sounds real exciting.” Max said with a laugh. “Sure I’ll drive… Liz you wanna switch with Isabelle?
“No.” Kyle said quickly. “Liz looks tired, why don’t you just let her sleep.” He suggested with a proud look on his face.
Isabelle looked down so Kyle couldn’t see the disappointment in her eyes. She felt bad for torturing him at his weak moment. Kyle pulled the car over at a rest stop and quickly switched places with Max. Kyle made him self comfortable and was glad about his ingenious idea until…
“So Kyle, we’re not done talking yet?” Isabel said turning around to face him.
“Um yeah we are cuz... I’m… cuz I’m reallllllly sleepy.”
“Oh OK… I guess we can just finish in your dreams.”
“OK good idea…Wait, what?”
“If you’re gonna just cut our conversations short from now on the only decent thing to do is dreamwalk you right?”
“That is so cheating… you little cheater!”
Isabel smiled and he returned hers with one of his own. They were like a more annoying version of Maria and Michael… and when they were around each other, completely happy.
“Max, pull over I feel like driving.” Kyle announced.
“What? I just got here.”
“I know but I wanna….now gimme gimme gimme.” He said with a laugh trying unsuccessfully to play off his awkwardness.
Max pulled over and they switched again. For the next few hours Kyle and Isabel talked and laughed, and Max held Liz into his strong arms falling into a deep sleep with her.
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A long ride in the back of the van
“Mmm … stop that, someone is gonna see… mmm…” Maria pleaded in a whisper as her head rolled back instinctively. Michael had been kissing her neck for such a long time that she knew a hickey was bound to be present.
“I can’t… I want you so badly. We waited way too long to resolve things between us, and now I can’t even feel your lips on mine for like days until we get to our own place. By the way, I do suggest we get our own place this time.” He said quickly and continued to kiss her softly on her neck.
“Mmm… but um…won’t that make …mmm… Kyle and Isabel uncomfortable…”
“They’ll be fine.” He murmured into her neck. He couldn’t hold back anymore. He reached up with his hands and brought her face to his, crashing their lips together. She could hardly control herself either as she pressed her lips against his as he explored the openings of her mouth with his tongue. After a moment Maria broke away abruptly.
“Hey… Kyle!” She called out from the back, waking up Max and Liz. Calling Kyle’s name wasn’t exactly the kind of reaction Michael was trying to get from her, and he looked at her confused.
“What?” he shouted back.
“Are we gonna stop anywhere? You know like to sleep. I could really use a good nights sleep before we drive for the next few days.” She asked. Michael smiled at her knowingly and looked at Kyle to see his reaction.
“Yeah that’s a good idea.” Max chimed in… “Liz could use a real bed right now… so could all of us.”
“You got it, first motel we see I’ll stop.” Kyle replied.
“Hey, I see a sign for one on the left.” Isabelle pointed out. She waved her hand and moved the tree branch out of the way for Kyle to see it better. He smiled and nudged her arm.
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At a new small Motel in a small town
“One room please.” Kyle told the man behind the desk
“Um make that two.” Michael said quietly to Kyle.
“I mean two.” Kyle prompted to the man behind the desk.
Max walked over to Kyle and nudged him.
“Uh I’m so sorry I meant three, three rooms for tonight, thanks.” Kyle supplied and quickly turned around to face the gang “Why three?” he whispered. “You know what, never mind I don’t wanna know. I’m taking the first one, anyone who wants to come with me, come join me if not I’ll see you guys tomorrow morning. Night.” Kyle said grabbing the keys to room 25.
Isabel knew quickly where this was all going, Max and Liz would want to be alone, and Maria and Michael definitely wanted to be alone, and that meant a night alone with Kyle. After a few minutes, she stopped herself from being nervous and trying to run into Michael and Maria’s room and instead headed for room 25. Michael and Maria took room 26 and Max and Liz took room 27.
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It’s all about room 25
Kyle was a bit startled by the movement he heard from his bedroom from where he stood in the bathroom. He quickly got out of the shower and dried himself off, grabbing a pair of sweatpants and putting them on. He walked out into the room with a towel around his neck and a pair of grey sweatpants. Isabelle had to catch her breath at the sight of his bare chest.
“Hey.” She said “I think Maria and Michael wanted to be alone so I came in here with you… is that alright?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be.”
“Oh no reason… good then.”
“Yeah… good.”
“Good.”
The two of them stood in silence for a few minutes.
“You wanna watch T.V. with me?” Kyle asked sitting on the bed.
“Sure.” She walked over to the bed and sat down next to him. After a few minutes of silence between them, Kyle decided that he couldn’t take it anymore.
“Izz… I hate this. I’m sorry I messed things up between us today for no good reason and I want it to stop.”
She looked over at him. “ Kyle I have to say something… I don’t really know how to say this … but … I don’t …want it …you know … to stop…”
“You don’t?”
She shook her head. “Do you?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Maybe if we don’t want it to stop, then one of us should maybe… start.”
She nodded. “Maybe one of us should.”
Kyle moved closer to Isabel and felt more scared than he ever did while being chased by government agents. She took his face into her hand and guided his lips towards hers…
“Boom!”
Both of them jumped back at the loud sound coming from next door.
“What was that?” Isabelle asked quietly.
“Probably just our neighbors.” He answered even quieter than her. He brushed his lips over her soft cheeks almost reaching her lips…
“Wait,” he said pausing “Aren’t our neighbors Maria and Michael?”
“Yeah,” she answered breathily “I wonder what they’re up to…” she was silenced by his lips covering hers in a long sweet kiss, and any wondering was ceased as the two of them discovered how good it felt to be kissing one another.
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It’s all about room 26
Maria had barely walked into the room when Michael grabbed her bags from her shoulder and tossed them onto the floor. He took her face into his hands and brought her lips up to meet his gently. She began taking off his jacket and bringing his body close to hers. With every touch of her skin to his, he kissed her more urgently applying pressure to her lips with a force that he couldn’t put into words if his life depended on it. He unbuttoned her black coat and tossed it aside, pulling her waist to his.
Her hands skimmed his waist, his chest and eventually settled on either side of his head forcefully pulling him into the deepest kiss either of them had ever experienced. Without letting her lips leave his own, he walked them over to the table and cleared it with a swipe of his arm causing a loud booming noise.
He prompted her onto the table and let his body meld with hers. Kissing her lips, her cheeks, her neck and her collarbone he undid her top and slid it slowly over her head. She looked into his eyes passionately and was instantly taken aback by a strong flash of images. She saw every kiss, every touch and every perfect moment the two of them had ever shared. She saw herself as he saw her, flawless and beautiful. When she came back to consciousness, she felt his arms around her that caught her from falling.
She got up from the table wordlessly and took his hand in hers leading him to the bed. Before lying down she kissed him softly and gently pulled him onto her.
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It’s all about room 27
“Hey Max look.” Liz said excitedly.
He turned to see her raising her hand over the dim lit light and with the use of her ever growing powers the light grew bright.
“I’m impressed.”
“Me too.” She said with a laugh “I was beginning to think I was only going to blow things up with electricity.”
“We’ll you’ve always been pretty electrifying.” He teased.
She put her hand back towards her side and the light dimmed back to it’s normal state.
“You wanna watch a movie?” She asked sitting down on the bed and grabbing the remote.
He sat down next to her. “I think that I’d rather be watching you.” He said as he nestled next to her, kissing the back of her head.
“And here I thought I was actually gonna get some sleep tonight.” She replied turning to face him.
“Sleeping is overrated.” His facial expression quickly turned into one of passion and it emitted through his deep brown eyes. Feeling the heat between them she moved over so close that any words she would say would cause him to feel her lips moving against his own.
“Is that true?” she whispered.
“Yeah.”
He kissed her lips softly. After his lips left hers he looked at her.
“You taste really good… what is that?”
She laughed “Maria gave me one of her calming oils but it’s made as lip gloss.”
“Points for Maria.”
He kissed her again, longer and more passionately, and she fell into it as if under a spell.
“Boom!”
They parted lips abruptly.
“What was that?”
“Sounds like it was coming from next door.” Max answered.
“Isn’t that Maria and Michael’s room?”
They smiled and with a smirk returned to their newlywed bliss.
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Graduation Day… again… well sorta…
*Flashback to last year… or is it?*
They sat in their seats wearing the red gowns that would have in any other circumstance signify their new place in this world. Terrified, they each looked around nervously, awaiting the awful premonition that Liz had seen in her vision.
“…Believe in what could be. About having faith... okay, that life and the universe holds more than what we perceive. As you contemplate...”
All of a sudden, a blinding flash enveloped each of them, even those who were completely human and untouched. It was as if the blinding light had surrounded every individual that had been in contact with or actually was an alien. Just as abruptly as it came… it was gone. They looked around nervously, but no one seemed to have noticed, almost as if it never happened. A strange thing interrupted their thoughts.
“ … so good luck and congratulations!” The principal announced as the auditorium erupted with cheers.
The guest speaker was gone; in fact it felt as if he was never there. The principal had just finished making a speech that they hadn’t even known had started. In that instant they felt as if something in their lives had just been changed forever.
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The Present Day… the next morning – Roswell New Mexico (It’s ok if you’re confused, you won’t be soon enough…=)
Liz had routinely put on her Crashdown uniform in record time and was ready to rush downstairs when it hit her… she was tired of being completely unhappy. She was sick of being watched and followed, tired of hiding and was scared of losing her friends and her own self in the process. A tear rolled down her cheek and she expertly wiped it away.
When she reached the Crashdown downstairs she saw Maria in her uniform wearing a similar expression as her own.
“Hey Maria, you look like how I feel.”
Maria began setting the tables, moving quickly around the room as she spoke.
“Really? Would that be the feeling of complete and utter hopelessness and despair or the feeling of unhappiness with a side order of fear of being killed?" She asked in her sarcastic neurotic tone.
“I don’t think there’s much of a choice area for me, it’s kinda all jumbled together.”
“Good then, we feel the same.”
Liz grabbed the ketchup bottle from Maria’s hand and motioned for her to sit down with her at the counter.
“Maria, I’ve been thinking… we can’t go on like this. We all know that something happened to us on graduation day, something that just shouldn’t have happened, but no one wants to talk about it. I’m just as glad as the rest of you that that man disappeared and my vision didn’t come true but I know that you all felt what I felt when that light hit us. Like, we just lost a part of ourselves, and I can’t keep living like we’re living…” Liz gushed and began to tear. Maria took her head and gently brought it next to her own comfortingly.
“You’re right. I am so sick of being scared that someone is going to kill Michael and my best friends. It’s not even like we’re happy anymore, when is the last time any of us have even laughed together?”
“Feels like months.”
“Feels like years.” Maria joked lightly, causing Liz to smile.
“What should we do?” Liz asked.
Maria thought about it for a minute.
“I know this is gonna sound crazy, but maybe we should leave like we had planned the first time…”
Liz immediately felt a chill go up her spine.
“It’s not crazy… I felt it too… always did.”
“Even though…”
“…We had never planned to leave.”
Liz and Maria had immediately asked two waitresses to cover for them and ran out the door.
“I bet they felt it too.” Liz said out of breath as she got in the passenger side of Maria’s Jeep.
“I have a feeling this is going to be a big break for us. You call Max and ask him to gather everyone, and I mean everyone... Jesse and Valenti included. Tell them to meet us at Michaels, and to do it quickly.” Maria said putting the key in the ignition and pressing hard on the gas pedal.
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The Gathering at Michaels house – Roswell New Mexico
“I’m not used to having so many of you over at once anymore so this is all I have.” Michael apologized as he put down some cereal in a big bowl as a snack.
“It’s Ok Michael, we’re not here to judge your host skills.” Isabelle said with a small smile.
They sat in the living room quietly. Finally, Liz spoke.
“Ok guys… I’m going to say something to you all and it may be a bit confusing. I hope I say this right… “
“Say what?” Max asked with concern in his voice.
“…Well… I guess I’ll just jump right to the big part…I don’t think that we’re living our lives like we’re supposed to.”
“What do you mean?” Jesse asked.
“I was talking to Maria this morning, and it wasn’t the most cheerful conversation that we’ve had. We basically came to the conclusion that we’re unhappy. We’re tired of feeling afraid and sick of feeling like our whole group has changed for the worse. We both felt this unnerving feeling that our lives weren’t supposed to be like this, but we didn’t know how to shake it. Then Maria suggested something…she said it was going to sound a little crazy, only the crazy part is that it didn’t…”
“What did you say Maria?” Michael asked quietly. Maria looked at Liz and she nodded.
“I uh… I suggested that we leave…like we had planned to the first time.” She said looking down at the floor.
Instantly everyone looked at each other vulnerably and visibly shaken.
“Only we never planned to leave…” Kyle stated for everyone who couldn’t get the words to come out. He stared blankly at Maria. Liz walked over to them.
“That’s the reason I called you all here… I know we never planned to leave, but I felt it inside me that we did, and so did Maria, and from the looks of it… so did all of you. I know it’s hard to talk about what happened on graduation day, but something happened to us that we could never explain… and I think it’s time we talk abut it, it could save us from what we have become.”
They stayed quiet for a few minutes, seemingly lost in their own individual thoughts.
“Alright I agree, it’s time we face what happened that day, and try and figure it out before it’s too late.” Max decided.
“Me too.” Michael chimed. “But I don’t think we’re going to be able to solve this mystery here… if we all felt that we should leave, then maybe we should, maybe that’s where we’ll find out what happened.”
“I don’t know Michael, who’s to say where we had decided to go in the first place, or if what we’re all feeling is really true or not.” Isabelle added.
“I think that we should cover as much ground as we can here, we should each talk about what we remember and then decide if going somewhere else is the right thing to do.” Valenti stated with a hint of wisdom in his voice. “If we’re supposed to be somewhere else, we’ll know it then.”
“I agree.” Max said.
“Me too.”
They each nodded in agreement.
“I think we should start now.” Michael announced.
They thought for a moment.
“I’ll start.” Maria said as she walked over to the bowl of cereal and took a handful. Between bites, she spoke.
“So I’m sitting all terrified while that stupid author guy is talking, and wham! This weird light surrounds me and instantly I feel different or something. The man is gone, and the principal is done making a speech that never started. My memory was completely jaded about the incident right after the crowd started going all graduation happy, and I’ve ignored my feeling of “change” ever since. I think that some of you were going to escape, but there’s a nagging feeling I have that at the last minute I was going to leave too. I don’t know who was leaving or where it was going to be, but an escape was going to be made, and it didn’t happen.”
“My version is no different than yours.” Kyle said quietly.
“I’m pretty much the same.” Liz added. “Except that I felt that I had planned to leave, it wasn’t a last minute decision.”
“Me too.” Isabel added.
“Yeah, me too.” Michael said getting up and begging to pace around the room.
“That’s how I felt.” Max said standing up. “But I also feel like I had planned to do something really big, like to help us escape. I can’t shake the feeling that maybe because I didn’t, that our lives have been a wreck because of it… maybe this is entirely my fault.” He said, his voice choking up.
“No Max… it was the light… something did this to us. We have to figure out what we had meant to do, and then we have to do it. Maybe we can change everything.” Liz replied taking his hand in hers to comfort him. He looked up at her and smiled.
“My version is a bit different.” Jesse said breaking the tension filled in the room. “I don’t necessarily feel as if I was going to up and leave the way you all described., There was nothing heroic about it. I think I was going to leave to take the job that I refused… and that you weren’t going to come with me…” his voice trailed off as his gaze met Isabelle’s.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” she asked with tear filled eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me what you felt? Up and leaving …and …and… alien hunters...”
“Hey, we’re not here to fight… we don’t even know if our thoughts are real.” Max said trying to break the tension.
“I had a different experience too.” Sheriff Valenti said with a low voice. “ I think my son was going to leave me… that I was going to be alone here… but that it was the right thing to do.”
“Dad.” Kyle said sadly. “I think you’re right… I was going to leave with the others.”
“I have an idea.” Isabel announced abruptly. “I think we should go to New York.”
“New York? Why New York?” Liz questioned.
“Look, I know that we hate them… but maybe our duplicates had something to do with it. If they didn’t, maybe they can tell us who did. Who better than another set of aliens to help us figure out what happened.”
“That’s insane Izz.” Max replied. “They’ve done nothing but disrupt our lives, how can we trust them enough to go to them?”
“Who said anything about trusting them?” Michael asked. “Answers are what we need, and I don’t see us finding them in a book.”
“If that’s what we decide to do, then maybe Jesse and the Sheriff should stay behind. They had a different experience than us, maybe it was for a reason.” Liz suggested.
“Liz is right, I think it would be safer for them here.” Maria added.
“How?!” Isabel asked with anger and uncertainty in her voice. “We haven’t felt safe here a day since our graduation, why would it be any different for them. Jesse’s my husband, I won’t leave him.”
“They’re right Isabel.” Jesse answered. “I wasn’t always involved, and I mean absolutely nothing to an alien hunter. The Sheriff can take care of himself and me if necessary. He’s a sheriff Izz, we’ll be fine…you’ll come back to me.”
“He’s right.” Valenti added. “Your destiny is in New York…I won’t hold any of you back, not even you Kyle… I care about you all too much.”
“So it’s settled then.” Michael said authoritatively. “We’re goin to New York.”
Feedback is always welcome and much appreciated! =) Stay Tuned for episode 3!
JRose
theywalkbesideus@yahoo.com
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Last edited by JRose on Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:10 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Everywhere this love goes....I will follow...I will follow
Thanks to nibbles2 and RhondaAnn for your kind feedback! Sorry Rhondaann your comment is not displayed here because I made a boo boo and posted too many threads instead of just on here =( My first time.. gotta make mistakes! lol But thanks for the feedback! =)
Episode 3
The next day - Out on the open road after sleeping at the small motel
“We’re going to be driving for days aren’t we?” Kyle asked impatiently after 4 hours of straight driving.
Isabel leaned in and whispered in his ear. “That would mean a lot of motel stops.”
“What was I saying? I love driving! Driving is Buddha’s equivalent to walking towards inner peace … only um faster and with more wheel power.”
Isabel smirked at Kyle’s babbling.
“So what’s with the whispering?” Maria asked from behind them as she poked her head through through the two front seats. Michael smiled and pushed in with her.
“Yeah, I wanna be blushing and whispering too.”
“Nobody is blushing Michael.” Isabel retorted. She turned to look at Kyle, who was a shade of bright pink.
“I’m not blushing… men don’t blush… I’m just warm.”
“Mhm.” Michael and Maria said at the same time and settled back in their seats. Maria poked her head behind her to gossip with Liz but found her sleeping on Max’s shoulder.
“Long night?” She asked him with a smile. Intrigued, Michael joined her and also saw the sleeping Liz.
“ Hmm, sleeping right after we just woke up, Maxwell I’m impressed.”
“You guys seem awfully nosey today don’t ya think?” He said in a whisper, a smile broad on his face. “Besides, the walls were thinner than you think… we heard quite a bit of noise coming from your room.”
Maria blushed and laughingly Michael turned around.
“That’s what I thought.”
Between all of the talking no one had noticed that Kyle had begun slowing down the van and before they could, it had stopped.
“What’s up Kyle?” Maria asked.
He unbuckled his seat belt and turned around.
“I think we should talk for a sec. As much as I enjoy driving for never-ending miles, I don’t think we’re going to get to New York in this lifetime. It’s just not humanly… or alienly possible.”
“You think we should fly there?” Isabel asked.
“I dunno if it’ll be good if all of us are on the same plane at once… could cause some attention.” Maria said.
“I know, but maybe if like some of us went by plane, then we could be getting a head start on reservations and maybe even apartment hunting since we plan to stay a while for once. Or maybe we can all go by plane, but take different flights.” Kyle suggested.
“He has a point.” Liz said groggily waking up from her nap. “There’s just one problem… we’re running low on cash. To live comfortably for the next few weeks before we try and get some real jobs we could probably only afford a flight for two of us.”
“Is it worth it?” Max questioned.
“Maybe.” Michael said with a “who knows?” kind of look on his face.
“So if we do this, who’s the lucky two?” Kyle asked.
“Well it should definitely be at least one of you with um special abilities.” Liz said. “That way if there was a problem you could protect yourself.”
“I think it should be Max and Liz. They would have the best chance of getting jobs quickly because they’ve worked longer than the rest of us. They have better resumes.” Maria supplied.
“That’s true… damn, my own idea and I’m still stuck in this van.” Kyle said with a laugh.
“I’ll switch with you for a little.” Isabel suggested.
“Thanks. I could use a break.”
“Ok so is this ok with you guys?” Maria asked Max and Liz.
“Yeah, I don’t mind.” Max said. “You?”
“Me neither.”
“Ok so I’ll call on my cell and book us the closest flight to New York from… where are we?” Liz asked with a laugh.
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Max’s apartment – Roswell New Mexico
“I can’t believe we got a flight for tomorrow, I’m so excited.” Liz said happily for the first time in months. “I guess people from Roswell don’t do much traveling if there’s room for like 6 people the day before the trip.
“Guess not…I love to see you smiling again, you really believe in this don’t you?” Max asked sitting down next to her on his bed.
“I do …and um …Max there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Why don’t I like the sound of that?”
“No, no it’s something good. I want to apologize for being so different. I’ve been acting far away even when I’m right next to you. For months we’ve all been so wrapped up in our own selves that we’ve been different around each other. I think this whole thing can be the beginning of us being like we were, happy and full of life. I care about you, and I’m going to do the best I can to make things right between us again… and with all of us.”
Max pulled a stray hair away from her eyes.
“Every time you speak with energy like that, you make me fall in love with you all over again Liz Parker.”
“Mmm…you’ve caught onto my master plan.” She said sweetly leaning into him.
“Is that right?” He asked leaning closer to her, his soft lips almost touching hers.
“Well that’s something I haven’t seen in a while.” Isabelle said as she walked into Max’s room and threw her stuff down onto the bed.
She was clearly angry, there was no question.
“You alright?” Max asked with concern in his voice.
“Oh yeah, I just feel great.”
“You don’t sound great.”
“Maybe I should just go, I’ll see…” Liz started.
“No Liz, it’s Ok I’m fine. I am, fine… fine… that’s what I am.”
“Um Ok….it just seemed like..”
“I hate Jesse! What a completely selfish person he is. He thinks he took a job in some crazy alternate universe and up and left me for no good reason! That’s awful, what kind of a person does that?! I don’t want to go to New York if that’s what I’m gonna find, that he would just leave me.” Isabelle yelled finally breaking down into tears.
“Isabel.” Liz started. “ We don’t know if that’s even true, don’t work your self up over something that may never have happened. Jesse loves you… don’t waste the last day you have here with him accusing him of things you don’t understand. Maybe there was a reason if it is true… maybe you even wanted it that way.”
She wiped a tear from her cheek. “You’re right… I’m gonna go there right now and be with him. God Max why is she always right? Doesn’t it make you nuts?”
“Only sometimes.” He joked. “Mostly, I’m just grateful.” He said with a smile that was geared in Liz’s direction. She smiled back.
“Ok, it’s sooo time for me to leave, you guys are gonna like make up and stuff aren’t you?”
“And there’s a lot to make up for.” Max said moving closer to Liz.
“Hmm… could take a while.” She replied.
“Ok bye!” Isabel said quickly leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.
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Valenti’s Apartment – Roswell New Mexico
After packing, Kyle and his dad had been sitting on the couch watching the football game silently. Watching was not really the best way to describe what they were doing, staring would be better. Neither of them had noticed the score, and neither of them even cared that their home team was playing. Kyle had been trying desperately to think of something clever to say to break the silence, but he was at a loss for words.
He wanted to tell his dad that he would miss him and that he was scared about leaving his life behind for a while. He was especially scared about the fact that if things went well, it was possible that his life would change. What would become of his life? Would it be better or worse? His only hope was that maybe they would find a way to get the alien hunters off his back so that he could be normal again. As normal as could possibly be considering that no amount of life alteration could take away what was coming to him. He hadn’t started to gain any powers yet but he knew that his day was coming and it frightened him. Watching Liz deal with her electric surges had scared him, knowing that soon enough he’d be in just as much danger as his alien friends, maybe even more so. What alien hunter wouldn’t want to get their hands on a human who had been changed by an alien?
The Sheriff looked over at his son without moving his head from the vision of the T.V. He had been trying to say something soothing and comforting to Kyle for the last hour but came up with nothing.
He wanted to take away all of the fear that he had seen in his sons eyes for the last year and just stash it away in a bottle, something with a lock that no one in the world could open. He knew that he was afraid of being caught and interrogated by alien hunters, but that he was even more afraid of changing the way Liz did. By Max saving his life, he had altered him and soon enough he would have his own set of gifts. All that he wanted was for his son to accept them and hopefully not have the fear that he had anticipating them. He felt a pang of guilt, as he feared for his own life as well. While he wasn’t as scared of being hunted down, he was completely terrified that what happened on graduation day had sincerely changed his life. He wondered what his son and his friends would find, and if it would put all of their lives down their original paths again. Would that be the right thing to do? Would it be worse?
These thoughts crossed their minds over and over until sleep enveloped them. They had given in to their worries and had let themselves forget just for a little while what was coming. In odd and uncomfortable positions they slept that way on the couch all night, as the light from the T.V. flickered over them.
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Isabelle and Jesse’s house – Roswell New Mexico
After an uncomfortably quiet night with Isabel, Jesse had asked Maria to come over the next day to talk. He needed to speak to a friend of hers so that he could find a way to understand what she was going through. After an hour, Maria had finally started getting through to him.
“Come on Jesse, think about it.” Maria said after stating all of the facts to him once more.
“I have… and I can’t explain my actions in some alternate universe, Maria, I just can’t. She’s stubborn and I don’t know any other words for I’m sorry.”
“Um… from what you tell me you never even said that you were sorry.”
He thought for a moment. “True, but come on… I never left! She’s being impossible! I feel awful about that stupid flash but I can’t do anything about it. I can’t imagine why I’d leave without her… but maybe there’s a much better explanation than I could ever come up with.”
“You’re absolutely right… and being that that’s true, why argue on your last night together. The whole thing freaks me out too, but I’m not jeopardizing my relationships with people in the process… Look… I’m gonna be brutally honest with you Jesse. Speaking from experience in the extraordinary alien extravaganza that is my life, freaky things happen. My best friend Alex was killed. Max and Tess, the alien bitch had a baby. This random guy Grant Sorensen was being controlled by flying blue alien parasites, and my somewhat boyfriend is an alien hybrid who sometimes kills people by accident. It’s scary. You haven’t been a part of it very long, and still you know it’s scary. Now what you have to do is wake up to the possibility that we might just be right. We might find some way to change the crappy existence that is our lives for the past year and make something better of ourselves. She might not be the same Isabelle when she gets back… you may not be the same Jesse. And you know what, maybe you will be, maybe we were completely wrong about the whole thing, but you won’t know until we get back. Why make things worse with her now by fighting? Now go get her and bring her back here and try and be happy for a freakin’ millisecond ok?!”
Jesse gave her his signature big smile, “You’re right… I’m gonna go get her right now…”
“Don’t bother she’s right here.” Isabel said smiling, as she ran over to him to give him a hug, which he gratefully received picking her up in the air.
“Well that’s my cue.” Maria said grabbing her coat. “Have fun guys.
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Maria smiled to herself as she left the house. She took her cell phone out of her
pocket and dialed Michael’s apartment. For once she felt it was time to take her own advice and to stop being so petty with Michael. She was startled to hear his greeting on the other end.
“What?”
“What? I’m sorry, am I out of the loop? Is that the new word for hello?
“I knew it was you, caller I.D.”
“You know what Michael? … I have nothing to say to you.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have called.”
Maria scowled at the phone and hung up on him just as quickly as she had decided not to give up on him. She screamed silently and walked quickly home to finish packing.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
A small airport in the middle of the country
“Ok, no talking to strangers, and promise to push for the window seats.” Maria said giving Liz a hug.
“I promise.” She laughed.
“And you’ll call Isabel's cell phone when you get a place so we know where to drive to right?”
“Yes, for the hundredth time.”
“I’m just double checking.”
“Bye guys.” Max and Liz said, as they got on line to begin boarding the plane. The gang looked after them until they could see them no longer.
“Can you believe how lucky we were to get a flight on such short notice.” Liz asked happily.
“Yeah, even with the layover in Chicago we’ll still be there like a week before everyone else.”
“I’m so excited, I’ve never been to New York… well once if you count when me and Isabelle dreamwalked you that time, but that so doesn’t count. Hmm… you know Max, this could be like a real honeymoon.”
“Now that’s an idea.” He said with a smile. “I just wish my first trip to New York wasn’t filled with such bad memories. We’d have a much better New York honeymoon if I didn’t have such a bad experience.”
Reaching the beginning of the line, they boarded the plane, and keeping Maria in mind, got the window seat.
“Do you really think that we’ll see Rath and them?” Liz whispered.
“I Dunno, I think I’m gonna try avoiding seeing insane versions of my family, just this one time.”
Liz laughed. “It’s really too bad that you never got to meet Zan, I wonder how it would be to see two Max’s.”
Max gave her a half smile. “I think I had enough of seeing two of me. Seeing Nasedo take the form of my body at that carnival… I don’t think I could take seeing another version of me again.”
“Good point… yes, one Max is all I need.” She resting her head on his shoulder.
“And don’t worry there won’t be any other’s any time soon.” He laughed.
Soon after, the plane took off and they were on their way to New York, and to a few things that they never expected.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
The airport - Roswell New Mexico
“How’d your parents take it?” Michael asked Max and Isabel as they waited in the airport lobby for Maria, Liz and Kyle.
“Pretty good actually.” Isabel answered. “I told them that I was looking into a college down there, and that everyone thought it would be a nice vacation if they came along to check it out with me.
“You’re becoming quite the liar… I’m so proud, you must get that from my side of the family.” Michael said, faking a proud look on his face.
“I hope that’s the only thing.”
“Hey, I’m family too.” Max said with a pretend look of hurt on his face. “No need for insulting.”
Isabel shook her head and focused her thoughts back on the double doors where the guys were going to enter. She instantly saw Kyle come running towards them with 2 large duffel bags and an alarmed look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” She asked him as he put his luggage down on the chair next to her.
“I had a really bad thought on the way here… what the hell are we doing going altogether on one plane? It’s too obvious, people are gonna track us down and figure out that we know something’s up. It’s too risky.”
“Ya know what, he’s right. I didn’t even think about that. For the first time in months I was so occupied by everything that I forgot about our “Situation”. Isabel said with air quotes.
“What should we do?” Michael asked. He was answered by a few deafening minutes of silence.
“I got it.” Max announced suddenly. “Some of us should change our flights… it’ll throw anyone who’s been watching us off track. It actually turned out good that Valenti and Jesse stayed, because it doesn’t look so bad as if every single one of us went on different planes.”
“That’s right.” Kyle agreed.
“What’s right?” Maria asked as she and Liz walked up to them seeing that they were deep in conversation.
They explained the predicament and Maria and Liz nodded in agreement.
“You know what?” Maria asked. “I think maybe the best way is that two or three of us take a bus down or drive. That would really make the whole thing downplayed.”
“I don’t mind taking a bus or driving.” Kyle volunteered.
“I could go with you.” Isabel added. “That way the rest of you guys would each have a super powered partner on your separate flights.”
“That’s a good idea, I’ll wait for another flight.” Max volunteered. “Liz, you wanna wait and come with me?”
“Sure. It would be my pleasure.” She said in a fake southern accent.
Maria rolled her eyes towards the window so that no one could see. “I guess that means me and you are going now.” She said in Michael’s direction.
“Whatever. I’m getting the window seat.” He said grabbing his bag.
She scowled, and grabbed her own.
“I’m gonna go speak to someone at the front desk about changing our flight.” Max said quickly. He said his goodbyes to Michael and Maria and rushed off.
After saying their good byes to everyone, and promising to call when they find a hotel for them to stay in, they took their belongings and headed for the line to check their bags.
“Are you gonna have that attitude for this whole trip?” Michael asked with his own attitude shining through his words.
“Are you?”
“I don’t have an attitude, you do.”
“Oh really?”
“Really.”
“You know what Michael? Let’s just not talk until we get there ok?”
“Fine with me.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
“Do you always have to get the last word?” Maria asked impatiently.
“Why are you still talking?” He retorted.
“Why are you still breathing?”
“Why are you still talking?”
“Ok enough! Just leave me alone!”
They reached the front of the line with curious stares from everyone around them, and Maria instantly felt embarrassed by their childish fight. Silently, they went through all the motions of the airport procedures and in record time found themselves boarding the plane. Michael sat down next to the window and Maria sat beside him, her cheeks still a bright red from anger and embarrassment.
Michael had been feeling on edge for months and rarely stopped to think about how his behavior affected the group, especially its effect on Maria. He’d been so distant, and away from everyone trying to find the meaning of his life in all the wrong places. On one of his excursions he even got a tattoo of an alien symbol for hope. When he did have a rare moment of reflection he felt so guilty and angry with himself that he immediately tried to occupy himself with something else to make the pain go away. Feeling the overwhelming disgust with himself that was beginning to corrupt his thoughts, he decided to just be nicer to Maria for the duration of the trip. He figured that at least then, he wouldn’t feel guilty, and she wouldn’t be so cranky.
“Hey Maria, you wanna switch seats with me?”
“Why, is there something wrong with it?” She asked sarcastically.
Michael bit his tongue from saying something back. “No, I just know that you like the window seat.”
Maria was shocked but did her best to control the smile that was trying to form on her lips.
“Thanks.” She said fully composed and switched seats with him. She turned toward the window and smiled.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Hours later
Michael had awakened from a deep sleep to find Maria sleeping on his shoulder. The unfamiliarity of it in recent months was overshadowed by its familiarity. His feelings for her flooded through his mind like water towards a stream. He reached over to put his arm around her protectively and smiled to himself.
“Everyone please be seated and listen to the following announcements.” A voice said over the loud speaker.
Michael nudged Maria’s cheek to wake her up. Groggily she came to and seeing the rapid movement of the flight attendants she quickly became alarmed. It took a second but she felt his arm around her, and knowing her reaction to the situation, he squeezed her tighter to him for comfort. She instantly felt more at ease.
“Ok please listen up.” The flight attendant said loudly walking up and down the aisle. “Firstly, I want you all to please understand that we are in no danger, and that there is no need to worry. With that said I need to tell you that due to extreme weather conditions forming along our route we are going to have to land the plane in Chicago within the next hour or so. A flight has been arranged from the airport there for you, and tickets will be handed over to you when you exit this plane. We’re sorry for the inconvenience but our staff felt it best for your safety that we do this. Thank you for your patience, and if you have any questions please let me know.”
“I guess we’re in for a longer flight than we thought.” Maria said looking up at Michael.
“It’s a good thing we’re not fighting then.”
“Who said we weren’t fighting?”
“I think your head on my shoulder when I woke up said it.”
“I think you misread my head.”
“We’re rhyming now?”
“Yes.”
“Ok then.”
“Ok.”
She smiled up at him and he laughed.
“This might be the first time we were actually kinda nice to each other since graduation day.” She declared.
“Quick, go back to sleep before anything changes.”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Chicago Air Lines Airport – Chicago
“This is fun.” Liz said taking a bite of her slice of pizza.
“Waiting at the airport concession?” Max said with a laugh, taking a bite of his own.
“No silly, being here with you, and this very good pizza.”
“Well then you’re gonna be really excited when we get to New York, the pizza there is supposed to be even better.”
“Mmm.” She replied taking another bite.
“I’m gonna call Isabel and let her know we’re halfway there ok? “
She nodded, and he began dialing Liz’s cell phone. After a moment of listening he realized that her service wasn’t working.
“I’m gonna stand over by the door, to get better reception, be right back.”
After a moment of waiting she noticed a wave of people entering the large room from outside. Among the group, her eye was immediately drawn to a couple that she could only see from behind. From where she sat they looked like Michael and Maria. Even their walk was the same.
“Everyones fine, they’re in the middle of Montana right now.” Max sad sitting back down next to her, handing the cell phone back to her.
“Max look over there. Doesn’t that look just like Michael and Maria? She asked motioning in the couple’s direction and he shook his head in disbelief.
“They really do.”
“Do you think it’s them? Should I run after them?”
“That’s impossible, Maria told me to tell you she said hi when I called Isabelle.”
“Oh… wow they really do look a like.”
“Will flight 483 please begin boarding at gate 7 please.” The loudspeaker announced.
“That’s us.” Max said grabbing his suitcase.
Liz threw away the rest of her pizza. Grabbing her duffel bags she began walking with Max towards the gate.
“I could’ve sworn that was them.”
“Max smiled at her. “Don’t worry Liz, there’s only one Michael and Maria and they’re in Montana.
She laughed. “You’re right, I’m just being stupid.”
“Ok so no more talk of doubles, let’s go to New York.”
“Let’s go.”
“Ok”
“Ok”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Nearby
Michael and Maria had been standing on the line to board their second plane for a few minutes. They spent the time talking about the familiar looking couple that was on line ahead of them.
“That is Liz, I’m telling you, I’d know her anywhere.”
“That is not Liz and that is not Max. Maria we just spoke to them on the phone an hour ago. No way did they get here on this flight in that amount of time.”
“I know all that, but maybe they were surprising us or something.”
“Why? Stop being crazy and just shut up already.”
“But Michael…”
“No buts! I am not gonna be standing next to you while you make a fool out of yourself in front of two strangers”
“Then don’t stand next to me.” She said with a scowl, walking towards the couple. He grabbed her arm.
“I’m serious Maria, let it go… you’re gonna draw attention to us.”
“Let go of me…”
“Not until you stop. Maria they’re on another plane at another airport.”
Maria finally gave in, but chose to ignore him until they were seated on the plane.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
The Roswell Airport – Kyle and Isabelle
“4 down 2 to go.” Isabel said sitting down on a nearby chair.
“When’s our flight again?” Kyle asked exhaustedly.
“In 10 hours.”
“I can’t wait 10 more hours. We waited 2 hours to see Maria and Michael off and then 4 more for Max and Liz. I can’t be in this stupid airport anymore.
“Well it was your idea to find separate flights.”
“Yes I know that… and because of my geniusness we’ll actually survive!… but come on Izz 10 hours?!”
“Oh come on Kyle, just make the best of it… um, we could play basketball with those garbage cans over there.”
Kyle glared at her.
“Well I could um… I could keep moving them around with my powers to make it more challenging.”
His eyes brightened. “Cool! I’ll go get some trash.” He said quickly getting up and running for the condiment counter to get some ketchup packets.
Isabel laughed to herself and for the first time that day, she wasn’t worried anymore about Jesse.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
The open Road
“My god, how long have they been sleeping back there?” Isabel asked turning her view back to the windshield.
“Seems like years… so does this highway when is it gonna end already?” Kyle answered with tiredness in his voice.
“You want to switch for a little while?”
“Nah it’s ok… you were driving for a long time… go get some rest. Maybe in a little while I’ll pry Michael away to…”
“Yo Michael come switch with Kyle, we’re going to sleep!” Isabelle yelled to the back of the van, startling Kyle with her booming voice.
Michael and Maria groggily awoke and after getting their bearings they switched places with them. Michael drove while Maria read a magazine next to him. Kyle and Isabel went to the very back of the van for the quiet and lack of sunlight that promised to wake them from their desperately needed sleep.
“Mmm this is nice.” Isabel announced laying back and stretching her legs as much as the confined space would let her.
“I don’t think I’m gonna be able to get up after this.” Kyle joked lightly, his voice barely audible.
“There has got to be a faster way to get there than this.” She whispered as she felt herself falling into the place between sleep and awake.
“Why don’t you just teleport?”
Groggily she answered. “You know I can’t do that Kyle.”
“I’m not Kyle… you don’t recognize my voice anymore?”
Her eyes fluttered open.
“Alex?”
Episode 3
The next day - Out on the open road after sleeping at the small motel
“We’re going to be driving for days aren’t we?” Kyle asked impatiently after 4 hours of straight driving.
Isabel leaned in and whispered in his ear. “That would mean a lot of motel stops.”
“What was I saying? I love driving! Driving is Buddha’s equivalent to walking towards inner peace … only um faster and with more wheel power.”
Isabel smirked at Kyle’s babbling.
“So what’s with the whispering?” Maria asked from behind them as she poked her head through through the two front seats. Michael smiled and pushed in with her.
“Yeah, I wanna be blushing and whispering too.”
“Nobody is blushing Michael.” Isabel retorted. She turned to look at Kyle, who was a shade of bright pink.
“I’m not blushing… men don’t blush… I’m just warm.”
“Mhm.” Michael and Maria said at the same time and settled back in their seats. Maria poked her head behind her to gossip with Liz but found her sleeping on Max’s shoulder.
“Long night?” She asked him with a smile. Intrigued, Michael joined her and also saw the sleeping Liz.
“ Hmm, sleeping right after we just woke up, Maxwell I’m impressed.”
“You guys seem awfully nosey today don’t ya think?” He said in a whisper, a smile broad on his face. “Besides, the walls were thinner than you think… we heard quite a bit of noise coming from your room.”
Maria blushed and laughingly Michael turned around.
“That’s what I thought.”
Between all of the talking no one had noticed that Kyle had begun slowing down the van and before they could, it had stopped.
“What’s up Kyle?” Maria asked.
He unbuckled his seat belt and turned around.
“I think we should talk for a sec. As much as I enjoy driving for never-ending miles, I don’t think we’re going to get to New York in this lifetime. It’s just not humanly… or alienly possible.”
“You think we should fly there?” Isabel asked.
“I dunno if it’ll be good if all of us are on the same plane at once… could cause some attention.” Maria said.
“I know, but maybe if like some of us went by plane, then we could be getting a head start on reservations and maybe even apartment hunting since we plan to stay a while for once. Or maybe we can all go by plane, but take different flights.” Kyle suggested.
“He has a point.” Liz said groggily waking up from her nap. “There’s just one problem… we’re running low on cash. To live comfortably for the next few weeks before we try and get some real jobs we could probably only afford a flight for two of us.”
“Is it worth it?” Max questioned.
“Maybe.” Michael said with a “who knows?” kind of look on his face.
“So if we do this, who’s the lucky two?” Kyle asked.
“Well it should definitely be at least one of you with um special abilities.” Liz said. “That way if there was a problem you could protect yourself.”
“I think it should be Max and Liz. They would have the best chance of getting jobs quickly because they’ve worked longer than the rest of us. They have better resumes.” Maria supplied.
“That’s true… damn, my own idea and I’m still stuck in this van.” Kyle said with a laugh.
“I’ll switch with you for a little.” Isabel suggested.
“Thanks. I could use a break.”
“Ok so is this ok with you guys?” Maria asked Max and Liz.
“Yeah, I don’t mind.” Max said. “You?”
“Me neither.”
“Ok so I’ll call on my cell and book us the closest flight to New York from… where are we?” Liz asked with a laugh.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Max’s apartment – Roswell New Mexico
“I can’t believe we got a flight for tomorrow, I’m so excited.” Liz said happily for the first time in months. “I guess people from Roswell don’t do much traveling if there’s room for like 6 people the day before the trip.
“Guess not…I love to see you smiling again, you really believe in this don’t you?” Max asked sitting down next to her on his bed.
“I do …and um …Max there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Why don’t I like the sound of that?”
“No, no it’s something good. I want to apologize for being so different. I’ve been acting far away even when I’m right next to you. For months we’ve all been so wrapped up in our own selves that we’ve been different around each other. I think this whole thing can be the beginning of us being like we were, happy and full of life. I care about you, and I’m going to do the best I can to make things right between us again… and with all of us.”
Max pulled a stray hair away from her eyes.
“Every time you speak with energy like that, you make me fall in love with you all over again Liz Parker.”
“Mmm…you’ve caught onto my master plan.” She said sweetly leaning into him.
“Is that right?” He asked leaning closer to her, his soft lips almost touching hers.
“Well that’s something I haven’t seen in a while.” Isabelle said as she walked into Max’s room and threw her stuff down onto the bed.
She was clearly angry, there was no question.
“You alright?” Max asked with concern in his voice.
“Oh yeah, I just feel great.”
“You don’t sound great.”
“Maybe I should just go, I’ll see…” Liz started.
“No Liz, it’s Ok I’m fine. I am, fine… fine… that’s what I am.”
“Um Ok….it just seemed like..”
“I hate Jesse! What a completely selfish person he is. He thinks he took a job in some crazy alternate universe and up and left me for no good reason! That’s awful, what kind of a person does that?! I don’t want to go to New York if that’s what I’m gonna find, that he would just leave me.” Isabelle yelled finally breaking down into tears.
“Isabel.” Liz started. “ We don’t know if that’s even true, don’t work your self up over something that may never have happened. Jesse loves you… don’t waste the last day you have here with him accusing him of things you don’t understand. Maybe there was a reason if it is true… maybe you even wanted it that way.”
She wiped a tear from her cheek. “You’re right… I’m gonna go there right now and be with him. God Max why is she always right? Doesn’t it make you nuts?”
“Only sometimes.” He joked. “Mostly, I’m just grateful.” He said with a smile that was geared in Liz’s direction. She smiled back.
“Ok, it’s sooo time for me to leave, you guys are gonna like make up and stuff aren’t you?”
“And there’s a lot to make up for.” Max said moving closer to Liz.
“Hmm… could take a while.” She replied.
“Ok bye!” Isabel said quickly leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Valenti’s Apartment – Roswell New Mexico
After packing, Kyle and his dad had been sitting on the couch watching the football game silently. Watching was not really the best way to describe what they were doing, staring would be better. Neither of them had noticed the score, and neither of them even cared that their home team was playing. Kyle had been trying desperately to think of something clever to say to break the silence, but he was at a loss for words.
He wanted to tell his dad that he would miss him and that he was scared about leaving his life behind for a while. He was especially scared about the fact that if things went well, it was possible that his life would change. What would become of his life? Would it be better or worse? His only hope was that maybe they would find a way to get the alien hunters off his back so that he could be normal again. As normal as could possibly be considering that no amount of life alteration could take away what was coming to him. He hadn’t started to gain any powers yet but he knew that his day was coming and it frightened him. Watching Liz deal with her electric surges had scared him, knowing that soon enough he’d be in just as much danger as his alien friends, maybe even more so. What alien hunter wouldn’t want to get their hands on a human who had been changed by an alien?
The Sheriff looked over at his son without moving his head from the vision of the T.V. He had been trying to say something soothing and comforting to Kyle for the last hour but came up with nothing.
He wanted to take away all of the fear that he had seen in his sons eyes for the last year and just stash it away in a bottle, something with a lock that no one in the world could open. He knew that he was afraid of being caught and interrogated by alien hunters, but that he was even more afraid of changing the way Liz did. By Max saving his life, he had altered him and soon enough he would have his own set of gifts. All that he wanted was for his son to accept them and hopefully not have the fear that he had anticipating them. He felt a pang of guilt, as he feared for his own life as well. While he wasn’t as scared of being hunted down, he was completely terrified that what happened on graduation day had sincerely changed his life. He wondered what his son and his friends would find, and if it would put all of their lives down their original paths again. Would that be the right thing to do? Would it be worse?
These thoughts crossed their minds over and over until sleep enveloped them. They had given in to their worries and had let themselves forget just for a little while what was coming. In odd and uncomfortable positions they slept that way on the couch all night, as the light from the T.V. flickered over them.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Isabelle and Jesse’s house – Roswell New Mexico
After an uncomfortably quiet night with Isabel, Jesse had asked Maria to come over the next day to talk. He needed to speak to a friend of hers so that he could find a way to understand what she was going through. After an hour, Maria had finally started getting through to him.
“Come on Jesse, think about it.” Maria said after stating all of the facts to him once more.
“I have… and I can’t explain my actions in some alternate universe, Maria, I just can’t. She’s stubborn and I don’t know any other words for I’m sorry.”
“Um… from what you tell me you never even said that you were sorry.”
He thought for a moment. “True, but come on… I never left! She’s being impossible! I feel awful about that stupid flash but I can’t do anything about it. I can’t imagine why I’d leave without her… but maybe there’s a much better explanation than I could ever come up with.”
“You’re absolutely right… and being that that’s true, why argue on your last night together. The whole thing freaks me out too, but I’m not jeopardizing my relationships with people in the process… Look… I’m gonna be brutally honest with you Jesse. Speaking from experience in the extraordinary alien extravaganza that is my life, freaky things happen. My best friend Alex was killed. Max and Tess, the alien bitch had a baby. This random guy Grant Sorensen was being controlled by flying blue alien parasites, and my somewhat boyfriend is an alien hybrid who sometimes kills people by accident. It’s scary. You haven’t been a part of it very long, and still you know it’s scary. Now what you have to do is wake up to the possibility that we might just be right. We might find some way to change the crappy existence that is our lives for the past year and make something better of ourselves. She might not be the same Isabelle when she gets back… you may not be the same Jesse. And you know what, maybe you will be, maybe we were completely wrong about the whole thing, but you won’t know until we get back. Why make things worse with her now by fighting? Now go get her and bring her back here and try and be happy for a freakin’ millisecond ok?!”
Jesse gave her his signature big smile, “You’re right… I’m gonna go get her right now…”
“Don’t bother she’s right here.” Isabel said smiling, as she ran over to him to give him a hug, which he gratefully received picking her up in the air.
“Well that’s my cue.” Maria said grabbing her coat. “Have fun guys.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Maria smiled to herself as she left the house. She took her cell phone out of her
pocket and dialed Michael’s apartment. For once she felt it was time to take her own advice and to stop being so petty with Michael. She was startled to hear his greeting on the other end.
“What?”
“What? I’m sorry, am I out of the loop? Is that the new word for hello?
“I knew it was you, caller I.D.”
“You know what Michael? … I have nothing to say to you.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have called.”
Maria scowled at the phone and hung up on him just as quickly as she had decided not to give up on him. She screamed silently and walked quickly home to finish packing.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
A small airport in the middle of the country
“Ok, no talking to strangers, and promise to push for the window seats.” Maria said giving Liz a hug.
“I promise.” She laughed.
“And you’ll call Isabel's cell phone when you get a place so we know where to drive to right?”
“Yes, for the hundredth time.”
“I’m just double checking.”
“Bye guys.” Max and Liz said, as they got on line to begin boarding the plane. The gang looked after them until they could see them no longer.
“Can you believe how lucky we were to get a flight on such short notice.” Liz asked happily.
“Yeah, even with the layover in Chicago we’ll still be there like a week before everyone else.”
“I’m so excited, I’ve never been to New York… well once if you count when me and Isabelle dreamwalked you that time, but that so doesn’t count. Hmm… you know Max, this could be like a real honeymoon.”
“Now that’s an idea.” He said with a smile. “I just wish my first trip to New York wasn’t filled with such bad memories. We’d have a much better New York honeymoon if I didn’t have such a bad experience.”
Reaching the beginning of the line, they boarded the plane, and keeping Maria in mind, got the window seat.
“Do you really think that we’ll see Rath and them?” Liz whispered.
“I Dunno, I think I’m gonna try avoiding seeing insane versions of my family, just this one time.”
Liz laughed. “It’s really too bad that you never got to meet Zan, I wonder how it would be to see two Max’s.”
Max gave her a half smile. “I think I had enough of seeing two of me. Seeing Nasedo take the form of my body at that carnival… I don’t think I could take seeing another version of me again.”
“Good point… yes, one Max is all I need.” She resting her head on his shoulder.
“And don’t worry there won’t be any other’s any time soon.” He laughed.
Soon after, the plane took off and they were on their way to New York, and to a few things that they never expected.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
The airport - Roswell New Mexico
“How’d your parents take it?” Michael asked Max and Isabel as they waited in the airport lobby for Maria, Liz and Kyle.
“Pretty good actually.” Isabel answered. “I told them that I was looking into a college down there, and that everyone thought it would be a nice vacation if they came along to check it out with me.
“You’re becoming quite the liar… I’m so proud, you must get that from my side of the family.” Michael said, faking a proud look on his face.
“I hope that’s the only thing.”
“Hey, I’m family too.” Max said with a pretend look of hurt on his face. “No need for insulting.”
Isabel shook her head and focused her thoughts back on the double doors where the guys were going to enter. She instantly saw Kyle come running towards them with 2 large duffel bags and an alarmed look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” She asked him as he put his luggage down on the chair next to her.
“I had a really bad thought on the way here… what the hell are we doing going altogether on one plane? It’s too obvious, people are gonna track us down and figure out that we know something’s up. It’s too risky.”
“Ya know what, he’s right. I didn’t even think about that. For the first time in months I was so occupied by everything that I forgot about our “Situation”. Isabel said with air quotes.
“What should we do?” Michael asked. He was answered by a few deafening minutes of silence.
“I got it.” Max announced suddenly. “Some of us should change our flights… it’ll throw anyone who’s been watching us off track. It actually turned out good that Valenti and Jesse stayed, because it doesn’t look so bad as if every single one of us went on different planes.”
“That’s right.” Kyle agreed.
“What’s right?” Maria asked as she and Liz walked up to them seeing that they were deep in conversation.
They explained the predicament and Maria and Liz nodded in agreement.
“You know what?” Maria asked. “I think maybe the best way is that two or three of us take a bus down or drive. That would really make the whole thing downplayed.”
“I don’t mind taking a bus or driving.” Kyle volunteered.
“I could go with you.” Isabel added. “That way the rest of you guys would each have a super powered partner on your separate flights.”
“That’s a good idea, I’ll wait for another flight.” Max volunteered. “Liz, you wanna wait and come with me?”
“Sure. It would be my pleasure.” She said in a fake southern accent.
Maria rolled her eyes towards the window so that no one could see. “I guess that means me and you are going now.” She said in Michael’s direction.
“Whatever. I’m getting the window seat.” He said grabbing his bag.
She scowled, and grabbed her own.
“I’m gonna go speak to someone at the front desk about changing our flight.” Max said quickly. He said his goodbyes to Michael and Maria and rushed off.
After saying their good byes to everyone, and promising to call when they find a hotel for them to stay in, they took their belongings and headed for the line to check their bags.
“Are you gonna have that attitude for this whole trip?” Michael asked with his own attitude shining through his words.
“Are you?”
“I don’t have an attitude, you do.”
“Oh really?”
“Really.”
“You know what Michael? Let’s just not talk until we get there ok?”
“Fine with me.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
“Do you always have to get the last word?” Maria asked impatiently.
“Why are you still talking?” He retorted.
“Why are you still breathing?”
“Why are you still talking?”
“Ok enough! Just leave me alone!”
They reached the front of the line with curious stares from everyone around them, and Maria instantly felt embarrassed by their childish fight. Silently, they went through all the motions of the airport procedures and in record time found themselves boarding the plane. Michael sat down next to the window and Maria sat beside him, her cheeks still a bright red from anger and embarrassment.
Michael had been feeling on edge for months and rarely stopped to think about how his behavior affected the group, especially its effect on Maria. He’d been so distant, and away from everyone trying to find the meaning of his life in all the wrong places. On one of his excursions he even got a tattoo of an alien symbol for hope. When he did have a rare moment of reflection he felt so guilty and angry with himself that he immediately tried to occupy himself with something else to make the pain go away. Feeling the overwhelming disgust with himself that was beginning to corrupt his thoughts, he decided to just be nicer to Maria for the duration of the trip. He figured that at least then, he wouldn’t feel guilty, and she wouldn’t be so cranky.
“Hey Maria, you wanna switch seats with me?”
“Why, is there something wrong with it?” She asked sarcastically.
Michael bit his tongue from saying something back. “No, I just know that you like the window seat.”
Maria was shocked but did her best to control the smile that was trying to form on her lips.
“Thanks.” She said fully composed and switched seats with him. She turned toward the window and smiled.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Hours later
Michael had awakened from a deep sleep to find Maria sleeping on his shoulder. The unfamiliarity of it in recent months was overshadowed by its familiarity. His feelings for her flooded through his mind like water towards a stream. He reached over to put his arm around her protectively and smiled to himself.
“Everyone please be seated and listen to the following announcements.” A voice said over the loud speaker.
Michael nudged Maria’s cheek to wake her up. Groggily she came to and seeing the rapid movement of the flight attendants she quickly became alarmed. It took a second but she felt his arm around her, and knowing her reaction to the situation, he squeezed her tighter to him for comfort. She instantly felt more at ease.
“Ok please listen up.” The flight attendant said loudly walking up and down the aisle. “Firstly, I want you all to please understand that we are in no danger, and that there is no need to worry. With that said I need to tell you that due to extreme weather conditions forming along our route we are going to have to land the plane in Chicago within the next hour or so. A flight has been arranged from the airport there for you, and tickets will be handed over to you when you exit this plane. We’re sorry for the inconvenience but our staff felt it best for your safety that we do this. Thank you for your patience, and if you have any questions please let me know.”
“I guess we’re in for a longer flight than we thought.” Maria said looking up at Michael.
“It’s a good thing we’re not fighting then.”
“Who said we weren’t fighting?”
“I think your head on my shoulder when I woke up said it.”
“I think you misread my head.”
“We’re rhyming now?”
“Yes.”
“Ok then.”
“Ok.”
She smiled up at him and he laughed.
“This might be the first time we were actually kinda nice to each other since graduation day.” She declared.
“Quick, go back to sleep before anything changes.”
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Chicago Air Lines Airport – Chicago
“This is fun.” Liz said taking a bite of her slice of pizza.
“Waiting at the airport concession?” Max said with a laugh, taking a bite of his own.
“No silly, being here with you, and this very good pizza.”
“Well then you’re gonna be really excited when we get to New York, the pizza there is supposed to be even better.”
“Mmm.” She replied taking another bite.
“I’m gonna call Isabel and let her know we’re halfway there ok? “
She nodded, and he began dialing Liz’s cell phone. After a moment of listening he realized that her service wasn’t working.
“I’m gonna stand over by the door, to get better reception, be right back.”
After a moment of waiting she noticed a wave of people entering the large room from outside. Among the group, her eye was immediately drawn to a couple that she could only see from behind. From where she sat they looked like Michael and Maria. Even their walk was the same.
“Everyones fine, they’re in the middle of Montana right now.” Max sad sitting back down next to her, handing the cell phone back to her.
“Max look over there. Doesn’t that look just like Michael and Maria? She asked motioning in the couple’s direction and he shook his head in disbelief.
“They really do.”
“Do you think it’s them? Should I run after them?”
“That’s impossible, Maria told me to tell you she said hi when I called Isabelle.”
“Oh… wow they really do look a like.”
“Will flight 483 please begin boarding at gate 7 please.” The loudspeaker announced.
“That’s us.” Max said grabbing his suitcase.
Liz threw away the rest of her pizza. Grabbing her duffel bags she began walking with Max towards the gate.
“I could’ve sworn that was them.”
“Max smiled at her. “Don’t worry Liz, there’s only one Michael and Maria and they’re in Montana.
She laughed. “You’re right, I’m just being stupid.”
“Ok so no more talk of doubles, let’s go to New York.”
“Let’s go.”
“Ok”
“Ok”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Nearby
Michael and Maria had been standing on the line to board their second plane for a few minutes. They spent the time talking about the familiar looking couple that was on line ahead of them.
“That is Liz, I’m telling you, I’d know her anywhere.”
“That is not Liz and that is not Max. Maria we just spoke to them on the phone an hour ago. No way did they get here on this flight in that amount of time.”
“I know all that, but maybe they were surprising us or something.”
“Why? Stop being crazy and just shut up already.”
“But Michael…”
“No buts! I am not gonna be standing next to you while you make a fool out of yourself in front of two strangers”
“Then don’t stand next to me.” She said with a scowl, walking towards the couple. He grabbed her arm.
“I’m serious Maria, let it go… you’re gonna draw attention to us.”
“Let go of me…”
“Not until you stop. Maria they’re on another plane at another airport.”
Maria finally gave in, but chose to ignore him until they were seated on the plane.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
The Roswell Airport – Kyle and Isabelle
“4 down 2 to go.” Isabel said sitting down on a nearby chair.
“When’s our flight again?” Kyle asked exhaustedly.
“In 10 hours.”
“I can’t wait 10 more hours. We waited 2 hours to see Maria and Michael off and then 4 more for Max and Liz. I can’t be in this stupid airport anymore.
“Well it was your idea to find separate flights.”
“Yes I know that… and because of my geniusness we’ll actually survive!… but come on Izz 10 hours?!”
“Oh come on Kyle, just make the best of it… um, we could play basketball with those garbage cans over there.”
Kyle glared at her.
“Well I could um… I could keep moving them around with my powers to make it more challenging.”
His eyes brightened. “Cool! I’ll go get some trash.” He said quickly getting up and running for the condiment counter to get some ketchup packets.
Isabel laughed to herself and for the first time that day, she wasn’t worried anymore about Jesse.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
The open Road
“My god, how long have they been sleeping back there?” Isabel asked turning her view back to the windshield.
“Seems like years… so does this highway when is it gonna end already?” Kyle answered with tiredness in his voice.
“You want to switch for a little while?”
“Nah it’s ok… you were driving for a long time… go get some rest. Maybe in a little while I’ll pry Michael away to…”
“Yo Michael come switch with Kyle, we’re going to sleep!” Isabelle yelled to the back of the van, startling Kyle with her booming voice.
Michael and Maria groggily awoke and after getting their bearings they switched places with them. Michael drove while Maria read a magazine next to him. Kyle and Isabel went to the very back of the van for the quiet and lack of sunlight that promised to wake them from their desperately needed sleep.
“Mmm this is nice.” Isabel announced laying back and stretching her legs as much as the confined space would let her.
“I don’t think I’m gonna be able to get up after this.” Kyle joked lightly, his voice barely audible.
“There has got to be a faster way to get there than this.” She whispered as she felt herself falling into the place between sleep and awake.
“Why don’t you just teleport?”
Groggily she answered. “You know I can’t do that Kyle.”
“I’m not Kyle… you don’t recognize my voice anymore?”
Her eyes fluttered open.
“Alex?”
Last edited by JRose on Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:14 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Chapter 4 is here!
Everywhere this love goes I will follow... I will follow...
*Same disclaimer...same story... =)
Episode 4
Hours later – Just about in New York
After a silent ride together and with the plane about to land, Maria couldn’t take it anymore. She told him that she had to use the bathroom and instead went over to where the couple had been sitting. Her eyes widened.
“Liz!”
“Maria?!”
They hugged excitedly.
“You’ve been here the whole time?” Max asked her.
“Yeah… well sorta our flight had an unexpected layover in Chicago so we must’ve just met up with you, wow I can’t believe it.
Michael is gonna feel so stupid.” She answered happily.
“Michael?” Liz asked.
“Yeah he’s over in the back… he wouldn’t let me go see if it was you because he thought I was crazy.”
“Will everyone please be seated we are going to land shortly.” The announcement bellowed.
“I’ll see you guys later.” Maria said quickly and ran back to Michael.
Max and Liz exchanged confused looks.
“So that was them.” She said
“But how? We had decided that we didn’t have enough money to take separate flights?”
“I don’t know… and Maria’s hair looked a little longer didn’t it?”
“That’s strange… I didn’t notice.” He answered.
“I got news for you Max, her hair length isn’t the only thing strange going on.”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
(original group, never gone)
“Ha! I told you so… I told you so.” Maria said in a sing-song voice as she sat down next to Michael.
“What?”
“That was Max and Liz. I didn’t get a chance to ask how they ended up on this flight but it was them. I told you so.”
He smirked.
“Fine, you told me so, are you done?”
“Nope… I told you so.” She said with a smile. After a moment her smile faded.
“You know what was a little weird though?” she asked. “Liz was wearing different clothes than she was at the airport.”
“Maybe she decided to change, why are you so into looking for conspiracies when there is none?”
“I don’t know Michael, I’m just spittin’ out facts here. I’ll stop mentioning it.”
“Thank God.”
“Excuse me?”
“Can you for once not start an argument?
“Me?! You’re the one who came out with ‘thank god’.” She said mimicking his voice dramatically.
“Alright enough, let’s just stop.”
“Fine.”
“Thank God.”
“Michael!”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Max and Liz – 3 hours till landing
“I wonder if Michael and Maria are there already?” Liz asked, looking over at Max.
“Maybe.”
“Should I give them a call?”
“They might be tired, they promised to call us when they were settled. Don’t worry Liz.”
“I know, you’re right. I’m just so jittery about the whole thing I guess. It’s like nerve wracking and exciting all at the same time.”
“I know what you mean, I think my foot has been twitching the entire time.”
Liz looked over at his foot, and sure enough she saw a small twitch like movement. She laughed.
“You’re foot looks like how I feel.”
Max smiled.
“We just have to be calm, everything will work out. Thanks to you and your brilliance we might really be on to something.”
She gave him a half smile. “And If I’m wrong and crazy?”
“Then we’ll know who to blame.”
She nudged him. “Gee thanks.”
“I’m just kidding…” His voice trailed off. “I forgot how hard you hit when I tease you.”
She looked up at him and his brown intense eyes met hers. They didn’t need words to express all of the mixed emotions that they felt. After a moment, he kissed her cheek lightly and she rested her head on his shoulder.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
New York City – JFK Airport
After landing, both Maria, Michael and Max, Liz found themselves waiting together for their luggage. Under normal circumstances this would be fun and a great time to catch up, but this time was different. Each one of them was feeling subconsciously suspicious of one another and they couldn’t fully understand why. It was as if they were each experiencing a deep feeling that something about the four of them standing together was wrong, but no one dared to outright talk about it. Instead, their naiveness to the situation caused one of their most awkward conversations to date.
“So where do you think we should stay?” Maria asked, eyeing Liz. Her hair looked different and there was something about her mannerisms that made her look much more calm and collected than the Liz she left back at the airport in Roswell. Liz returned the look with scrunched eyes. She noticed that Maria looked different and much more nervous than the carefree Maria she saw half away across the country.
“Um… I don’t know. Maybe we could just ask our cab driver to drop us off at a hotel near by. That way, Kyle and Isabelle won’t have to drive too far to get to us. We can start looking for an apartment when Kyle and Isabelle get here”
Maria laughed. “Apartment? Gee I thought we were just kinda stopping by I didn’t think it would take so long.”
Liz looked up at Max, but stayed silent.
“Drive too far? You mean the cab driver that’s picking them up at the airport?” Maria asked a bit confused.
“Why would they need a cab if they’re driving the van? And how did they get enough money to take a flight? I thought we were almost out of money.” Max asked.
As he spoke, Maria noticed that he looked more muscular than he had when she saw him last, and he had much more of a tan. Max looked over at Michael and noticed that his sleeve had moved, allowing into view a very small tattoo of an alien symbol on his upper arm. Instantly Max drew Liz closer to him, but remained visibly calm.
“Isabel and Kyle are driving? I just spoke to them a while ago, they didn’t tell me that they were driving now…ow!” Michael said confused and in pain as he felt a sharp nudge into his ribs from Maria.
“But you know Kyle he likes to change his mind… hey look Michael it’s your bag, let me go over there with you and help you carry it.” Maria said nervously trying to look calm with a fake smile. She practically shoved him over to the luggage, while Liz and Max exchanged confused looks.
“Why did you have to hit me?!” Michael yelled in a whisper.
“Would you forget the nudge, we have a real problem here, that is not Max and Liz.” Maria declared.
“Any other time I’d call you a raving lunatic, but something is definitely not right about them. It’s like they don’t know anything about our conversation about how we were gonna pair up and get here.”
“I know!”
“But if it’s not them then what the hell happened and who are they?” He asked peeking over to where max and Liz were standing to get a better look.
Meanwhile, as Michael and Maria were whispering rapidly by the baggage claim, Max was quietly trying to speak with Liz.
“I know something’s up, Maria is not acting like herself and they’re like taking all these plane trips with zero money it doesn’t make sense.” She said rapidly.
“Liz, that’s not Michael.” He said with a drawn pale face.” “That guy pretending to be Michael has a tattoo on his arm, I saw it when he moved his hand and his sleeve moved.”
Liz quickly glanced over in Michael’s direction and saw the tattoo as well.
“He wouldn’t have gotten a tattoo in less than a few days would he?”
“I doubt they’d stop off in the middle of such a long drive to go and get matching tattoos and then magically hop on a plane Liz, that’s not Michael.”
A wave of fear and nervousness swept over Liz in a way that hadn’t happened since they left Roswell.
“I guess running away just delayed our alien craziness instead of making it go away.” She said sarcastically.
“I think that guy with Maria might be Rath.”
Liz thought about it for a minute, it all made sense. If that was Rath, it would explain Michael’s changes.
“Why would Rath take such an interest to disguise himself as Michael, and if so that doesn’t explain what’s going on with Maria.”
“Maybe he’s influenced her somehow.”
“Maybe her attitude, but you can’t just influence someone’s appearance Max, she even looks a little different.”
They spoke feverishly as they saw Michael and Maria grabbing their luggage and walking towards them.
“Just act normal, I don’t want Rath to know that we think something is up.” Max said quickly.
“But Maria might be in danger, if she’s not already.” She argued.
“No she won’t because we’ll be together, I’ll protect her Liz, I promise.”
As Maria and Michael finished grabbing their belongings and walked over to where max and Liz were standing, their hearts pounded.
“OK, act normal and we’ll just play it by ear.” Michael whispered to Maria.
“Hey, you’re back.” Liz said faking a smile.
“Yup.” Michael said with an unconvincing nod.
“Why don’t you two go get your things, and we’ll try to catch us a cab.” Maria suggested.
“OK, thanks.” Max agreed as they each looked at each other quickly before walking away.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
4 hours till New York – Kyle and Isabel
“You know what’s strange?” Kyle asked, shifting his weight in his seat.
“What’s strange?” Isabel asked turning to look at him.
“Airplanes.”
“Ok, I need more information.”
“Ok, so like airplanes fly, and they have wings, but birds fly and they have wings too.”
“Yeah….”
“So, why don’t the airplane wings have to flap like birds do.”
“Kyle what is wrong with you? You’ve been saying dumb things this whole plane ride trip, did Buddha teach you that you need to be weird or something?” She asked with annoyance in her voice, holding back the laugh that she wanted to desperately let out.
Kyle sighed. “I’m sorry Isabel, I dunno what’s gotten into me. I’m all nervous about this trip, and I know you must be uncomfortable having to be with just me for all these hours. I know I can usually make you laugh when I say silly things, and I just wanted you to have a good time.”
Isabelle couldn’t stifle back the smile that spread on her lips. She grabbed his hand.
“Kyle you don’t need to entertain me every second, I like being here with you. You know I can be brutally honest so please know that I’m not lying.”
With just the touch of her hand he instantly felt the familiar shiver he received whenever she brushed by him accidentally. He had developed feelings for her over time, but because of Jesse he became the quintessential gentleman.
“Thanks. I will annoy you no more.”
“Well I don’t know about that…” she said with laugh.
“Hey!”
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On the open road
“She’s still not waking up guys, I’m really worried.” Kyle said with fear in his voice.
He was smoothing her hair away from her eyes and gently massaging her face. Maria had taken the wheel just in case they needed to get to a hospital, but for hours they hadn’t seen anything but the long open road ahead. Michael was sweating profusely as he tried desperately for hours to use his powers to help jolt her from the sleeping, seemingly lifeless state that she was in. His hands were numb from the position they were in, hovering over her stomach, as the glow that was released from his hands was dying out every minute that went by.
After Isabelle had called out Alex’s name from her sleep hours before, she had fallen into a coma like state.
“We need to do something else Michael, we can’t have you passing out too.” Kyle said.
“I can’t, I have to keep trying.” He persisted weakly, and groaning in pain.
“Michael, listen to him please, you have to rest.” Maria called out from the drivers seat. “We’ll think of something, but Michael you need to stop.”
Michael finally let go and fell back hard onto the seat, shivering and sweating. Kyle handed him a wet towel to put on his head, and continued to massage Isabel.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
In Isabel’s mind
After hearing Alex’s voice hours ago, something amazing had happened to Isabelle. She may have appeared lifeless on the surface, but her mind was definitely working overtime. She felt bad that everyone around her was so worried, but feared that if she forced herself awake then she would not be able to get back into the state that she was currently in.
For the past few hours, she had been stuck in the place between sleep and awake and was being shown so many things, things she never imagined she would know, nor understand. Images from her home planet were flooding through her like the blood that flowed through her veins. Language and words were enveloping her and answers to so many questions about her former life, and her future one were being told. Suddenly she felt Michael let his powers leave her and everything turned black. All she could see was the blackness that any normal person could see when they are half awake with their eyes closed. Suddenly a calm washed over her, and she heard the sweetest voice she had heard in a very long time.
“Isabel, look over here and follow the sound of my voice.” Alex said quietly.
In her mind she shifted towards his voice and the blackness faded away and she saw him. He was wearing her favorite shirt on him and khaki shorts.
“Alex!”
“Shh… don’t get too excited, I don’t know how long I can keep you here with me. Try and stay calm ok Izz?”
She nodded.
“I don’t have much time to explain. I learned some tricks being where I am, and I decided to put them to good use. What you just saw was everything that I was able to find out about you. With Michael loosening his grasp at this moment you were able to fight your way through the knowledge to hear me as well. He’s a good guy Iss, he tried to save you for hours. I can see him, he’s so tired.”
“I have to get back to them Alex, I hate knowing how worried they are. God Alex, I’ve missed you. I don’t want to lose you again…”
“Sshh… I’m never gone, I’m always here for you.” He replied sweetly.
“I know, I feel you with me.”
He smiled at her response. Suddenly Maria’s incoherent voice boomed at them.
“I’m slipping, you’re starting to come to. Take the information I gave you and do great things. I believe in you Izz.”
“Alex no, don’t leave.”
“I love you.” He replied, and in an instant he was gone.
“I love you too Alex.” She whispered.
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The open road
A tear rolled down Isabel’s cheek as Michael, Maria and Kyle looked after her. Maria had pulled over the second she heard Isabelle start talking in her sleep. They had heard Isabel’s side of the conversation that she seemed to be having, and they were confused about what was going on.
“I love you too Alex.” She said as a second tear appeared from the corner of her eye.
Kyle instantly felt a wave of hurt flow through him but was quickly jolted with guilt for thinking about himself when Isabel was sick lying in front of him.
Isabelle suddenly opened her eyes wide and sat up. Her first reaction was guilt for not trying hard enough to return sooner and she instantly wrapped her arms around Michael.
“We were so worried.” He told her, holding her close.
She turned to see Kyle, whose concern was written all over his face. She noticed that a tear had escaped his own eyes and she pulled him close to her, enveloping him in her arms.
“I’m so sorry Kyle, I’m so sorry.” She cried in his shoulder.
“Don’t be sorry, I’m just glad you’re ok.” He replied, pulling her head gently on his shoulder.
After a moment, she let go and looked at Maria, who was holding a bottle of water and a towel for her. She took the water and towel and Maria gave her a hug. It was amazing how far the two of them had come. They had gone from disliking each other to feeling actual concern about one another, and they were both grateful for that. After letting go, and taking a sip of water, Isabelle began to speak.
“I saw Alex.”
Maria’s eyes widened. “You saw him saw him, or like dreamed of him?”
“I saw him, it was the most amazing experience I ever had. He showed me things. Things I don’t know if I can even explain with words. He told me that being where he was, he was able to find out stuff about our planet, and things about ourselves that we’re going to discover.”
Michael was floored. “Like what?”
“Like with my dream walking ability, I’m going to be able to teleport, and he said it’ll be local at first, but soon after I’ll be able to go anywhere. He said If I really wanted to, that’s the power that would help us get home.”
“Home? Like Antar home?” Kyle asked.
“Yes. But that’s so out of the question, at least it is for me at this stage in my life.”
“Me too.” Michael agreed, looking over in Maria’s direction. “Wow, teleporting. That’s insane, and very cool.”
“That’s beyond cool!” Kyle exclaimed. “Although, a little disturbing, you could just show up in my room and like draw on my face with markers when I’m sleeping.”
“I think I’d use my powers for a little bit more high class occasions.” She replied eyeing Kyle deeply , as if she was concentrating on something.
Kyle laughed and then thought about it for a minute. Is she flirting with me?
“Yes.” She answered. Kyle looked around stunned. Isabel’s mouth had never moved, but she had answered him in his own thoughts.
“Alex also taught me a few tricks.” She said in his mind, staring at him intently.
“Can I answer you back.” He thought, looking back at her.
“Yes.” She answered in his mind with a smile.
Michael and Maria looked at them back and forth.
“Ok is there something going on here? Do you guys need some alone time or something?” Maria asked.
They quickly snapped out of their trance.
“Sorry.” Isabel said. “I was just trying out something Alex taught me.” She stared intently at Maria.
I wish I could’ve seen Alex again too, Maria thought.
“He wishes that too, he told me” Isabel answered knowingly her in Maria’s mind.
Maria looked up at Isabel, and was speechless. Isabel stared at Michael, and smirked.
“God Michael is that all you think about?” She asked him in his mind.
He looked around embarrassed.
“How did you know what I was thinking?” He asked.
She smiled.
“Alex showed me that I also had another special power that I could be using right now, but didn’t know about. I can read someone’s mind if I look at them for a few seconds and concentrate. I can talk back with them and everything.” She said excitedly.
“Wow, this is incredible.” Michael said with wide eyes. “Did you see anything that I could do?”
“Yes. He said that you’ve mastered your powers as of now, but eventually that you will be able to do something extremely powerful and great. He showed me scrolls and where they are buried. He said to tell you that when you read them you will just know.”
Michael smiled. “I guess I might be important after all.”
“No one said you weren’t already.” Maria answered him, touching his shoulder.
“What about Max? Anything you learned about him?” Kyle asked curiously.
She lowered her eyes and looked back up.
“I learned a lot. He has so much in store for him… so much pressure. Is it alright If I talk about that when we meet up with him? I couldn’t bear knowing that all of us knew all about him and what’s expected of him, while he doesn’t.”
“No problem, don’t even worry about it.” Kyle said reassuringly.
“Thanks, let’s just get going, I don’t want to have them worrying about us cuz we took too long. Come to think of it, weren’t they supposed to land already?” Isabel asked looking down at her watch.
“You’re right, I wonder why they haven’t called.” Maria wondered aloud.
“Maybe the married couple is busy exploring the new hotel room.” Isabel said jokingly in Maria’s head.
Maria laughed out loud, and everyone else stared at her with confused expressions.
“Well I guess you had to be there.”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
The hotel
The cab drive to the hotel was awkward at best, but the cab driver was extremely nice and brought them to a nice inexpensive hotel not too far from the airport called ‘The Hyperion’. Both Liz and Max, and Michael and Maria were waiting for each other to leave the room so that they could call Kyle and Isabelle and find out what’s going on. After unpacking in mostly silence, Michael finally took the lead.
“Maria, you wanna go do a little sight seeing with me?” He asked giving her the eye.
Liz exchanged a look with Max.
“Sure…I’ll see you guys later.” Maria answered backing away slowly to the door, and then quickly fidgeting with the lock and closing it behind her.
“I don’t think we should be leaving her alone with him like that.” She said sitting down and resting her head in her fingertips.
“I know, but we have to call Isabelle and Kyle and see if they know what the hell is going on.” Max replied, getting up and reaching for Liz’s cell phone. He dialed his sisters cell phone frantically but no one answered it.
“They’re not answering.”
“I don’t like this.”
“Let’s go try and catch up to them, see where he takes her.”
Liz and Max hurried towards the door and left the room.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
New York City
Rath had been out all night, angry at Lonnie for one of the usual reasons and was walking aimlessly throughout the long city blocks. It was this aimless walk on this aimless day that he had a lucky encounter. He had to do a double take but it was clear as day. His double Michael from Roswell was walking on the other side of the street from him with his girlfriend. He hadn’t given it much thought on his trip to Roswell with all that was going on, but looking at her now, she was beautiful. The wheels in his head began to turn as a twisted plan formed to make Lonnie jealous as well as to have some fun with his lame double Michael.
He walked quickly, but kept himself out of view. Quickly he waved his hand over his clothes and transformed them into what Michael was wearing. He grabbed a payphone and dialed Lonnie, securing that when the time was right, she’d see something that would really make her jealous.
Stay tuned for episode 5!
JRose
I luvs me sum feedback! lol
theywalkbesideus@yahoo.com
*Same disclaimer...same story... =)
Episode 4
Hours later – Just about in New York
After a silent ride together and with the plane about to land, Maria couldn’t take it anymore. She told him that she had to use the bathroom and instead went over to where the couple had been sitting. Her eyes widened.
“Liz!”
“Maria?!”
They hugged excitedly.
“You’ve been here the whole time?” Max asked her.
“Yeah… well sorta our flight had an unexpected layover in Chicago so we must’ve just met up with you, wow I can’t believe it.
Michael is gonna feel so stupid.” She answered happily.
“Michael?” Liz asked.
“Yeah he’s over in the back… he wouldn’t let me go see if it was you because he thought I was crazy.”
“Will everyone please be seated we are going to land shortly.” The announcement bellowed.
“I’ll see you guys later.” Maria said quickly and ran back to Michael.
Max and Liz exchanged confused looks.
“So that was them.” She said
“But how? We had decided that we didn’t have enough money to take separate flights?”
“I don’t know… and Maria’s hair looked a little longer didn’t it?”
“That’s strange… I didn’t notice.” He answered.
“I got news for you Max, her hair length isn’t the only thing strange going on.”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
(original group, never gone)
“Ha! I told you so… I told you so.” Maria said in a sing-song voice as she sat down next to Michael.
“What?”
“That was Max and Liz. I didn’t get a chance to ask how they ended up on this flight but it was them. I told you so.”
He smirked.
“Fine, you told me so, are you done?”
“Nope… I told you so.” She said with a smile. After a moment her smile faded.
“You know what was a little weird though?” she asked. “Liz was wearing different clothes than she was at the airport.”
“Maybe she decided to change, why are you so into looking for conspiracies when there is none?”
“I don’t know Michael, I’m just spittin’ out facts here. I’ll stop mentioning it.”
“Thank God.”
“Excuse me?”
“Can you for once not start an argument?
“Me?! You’re the one who came out with ‘thank god’.” She said mimicking his voice dramatically.
“Alright enough, let’s just stop.”
“Fine.”
“Thank God.”
“Michael!”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Max and Liz – 3 hours till landing
“I wonder if Michael and Maria are there already?” Liz asked, looking over at Max.
“Maybe.”
“Should I give them a call?”
“They might be tired, they promised to call us when they were settled. Don’t worry Liz.”
“I know, you’re right. I’m just so jittery about the whole thing I guess. It’s like nerve wracking and exciting all at the same time.”
“I know what you mean, I think my foot has been twitching the entire time.”
Liz looked over at his foot, and sure enough she saw a small twitch like movement. She laughed.
“You’re foot looks like how I feel.”
Max smiled.
“We just have to be calm, everything will work out. Thanks to you and your brilliance we might really be on to something.”
She gave him a half smile. “And If I’m wrong and crazy?”
“Then we’ll know who to blame.”
She nudged him. “Gee thanks.”
“I’m just kidding…” His voice trailed off. “I forgot how hard you hit when I tease you.”
She looked up at him and his brown intense eyes met hers. They didn’t need words to express all of the mixed emotions that they felt. After a moment, he kissed her cheek lightly and she rested her head on his shoulder.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
New York City – JFK Airport
After landing, both Maria, Michael and Max, Liz found themselves waiting together for their luggage. Under normal circumstances this would be fun and a great time to catch up, but this time was different. Each one of them was feeling subconsciously suspicious of one another and they couldn’t fully understand why. It was as if they were each experiencing a deep feeling that something about the four of them standing together was wrong, but no one dared to outright talk about it. Instead, their naiveness to the situation caused one of their most awkward conversations to date.
“So where do you think we should stay?” Maria asked, eyeing Liz. Her hair looked different and there was something about her mannerisms that made her look much more calm and collected than the Liz she left back at the airport in Roswell. Liz returned the look with scrunched eyes. She noticed that Maria looked different and much more nervous than the carefree Maria she saw half away across the country.
“Um… I don’t know. Maybe we could just ask our cab driver to drop us off at a hotel near by. That way, Kyle and Isabelle won’t have to drive too far to get to us. We can start looking for an apartment when Kyle and Isabelle get here”
Maria laughed. “Apartment? Gee I thought we were just kinda stopping by I didn’t think it would take so long.”
Liz looked up at Max, but stayed silent.
“Drive too far? You mean the cab driver that’s picking them up at the airport?” Maria asked a bit confused.
“Why would they need a cab if they’re driving the van? And how did they get enough money to take a flight? I thought we were almost out of money.” Max asked.
As he spoke, Maria noticed that he looked more muscular than he had when she saw him last, and he had much more of a tan. Max looked over at Michael and noticed that his sleeve had moved, allowing into view a very small tattoo of an alien symbol on his upper arm. Instantly Max drew Liz closer to him, but remained visibly calm.
“Isabel and Kyle are driving? I just spoke to them a while ago, they didn’t tell me that they were driving now…ow!” Michael said confused and in pain as he felt a sharp nudge into his ribs from Maria.
“But you know Kyle he likes to change his mind… hey look Michael it’s your bag, let me go over there with you and help you carry it.” Maria said nervously trying to look calm with a fake smile. She practically shoved him over to the luggage, while Liz and Max exchanged confused looks.
“Why did you have to hit me?!” Michael yelled in a whisper.
“Would you forget the nudge, we have a real problem here, that is not Max and Liz.” Maria declared.
“Any other time I’d call you a raving lunatic, but something is definitely not right about them. It’s like they don’t know anything about our conversation about how we were gonna pair up and get here.”
“I know!”
“But if it’s not them then what the hell happened and who are they?” He asked peeking over to where max and Liz were standing to get a better look.
Meanwhile, as Michael and Maria were whispering rapidly by the baggage claim, Max was quietly trying to speak with Liz.
“I know something’s up, Maria is not acting like herself and they’re like taking all these plane trips with zero money it doesn’t make sense.” She said rapidly.
“Liz, that’s not Michael.” He said with a drawn pale face.” “That guy pretending to be Michael has a tattoo on his arm, I saw it when he moved his hand and his sleeve moved.”
Liz quickly glanced over in Michael’s direction and saw the tattoo as well.
“He wouldn’t have gotten a tattoo in less than a few days would he?”
“I doubt they’d stop off in the middle of such a long drive to go and get matching tattoos and then magically hop on a plane Liz, that’s not Michael.”
A wave of fear and nervousness swept over Liz in a way that hadn’t happened since they left Roswell.
“I guess running away just delayed our alien craziness instead of making it go away.” She said sarcastically.
“I think that guy with Maria might be Rath.”
Liz thought about it for a minute, it all made sense. If that was Rath, it would explain Michael’s changes.
“Why would Rath take such an interest to disguise himself as Michael, and if so that doesn’t explain what’s going on with Maria.”
“Maybe he’s influenced her somehow.”
“Maybe her attitude, but you can’t just influence someone’s appearance Max, she even looks a little different.”
They spoke feverishly as they saw Michael and Maria grabbing their luggage and walking towards them.
“Just act normal, I don’t want Rath to know that we think something is up.” Max said quickly.
“But Maria might be in danger, if she’s not already.” She argued.
“No she won’t because we’ll be together, I’ll protect her Liz, I promise.”
As Maria and Michael finished grabbing their belongings and walked over to where max and Liz were standing, their hearts pounded.
“OK, act normal and we’ll just play it by ear.” Michael whispered to Maria.
“Hey, you’re back.” Liz said faking a smile.
“Yup.” Michael said with an unconvincing nod.
“Why don’t you two go get your things, and we’ll try to catch us a cab.” Maria suggested.
“OK, thanks.” Max agreed as they each looked at each other quickly before walking away.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
4 hours till New York – Kyle and Isabel
“You know what’s strange?” Kyle asked, shifting his weight in his seat.
“What’s strange?” Isabel asked turning to look at him.
“Airplanes.”
“Ok, I need more information.”
“Ok, so like airplanes fly, and they have wings, but birds fly and they have wings too.”
“Yeah….”
“So, why don’t the airplane wings have to flap like birds do.”
“Kyle what is wrong with you? You’ve been saying dumb things this whole plane ride trip, did Buddha teach you that you need to be weird or something?” She asked with annoyance in her voice, holding back the laugh that she wanted to desperately let out.
Kyle sighed. “I’m sorry Isabel, I dunno what’s gotten into me. I’m all nervous about this trip, and I know you must be uncomfortable having to be with just me for all these hours. I know I can usually make you laugh when I say silly things, and I just wanted you to have a good time.”
Isabelle couldn’t stifle back the smile that spread on her lips. She grabbed his hand.
“Kyle you don’t need to entertain me every second, I like being here with you. You know I can be brutally honest so please know that I’m not lying.”
With just the touch of her hand he instantly felt the familiar shiver he received whenever she brushed by him accidentally. He had developed feelings for her over time, but because of Jesse he became the quintessential gentleman.
“Thanks. I will annoy you no more.”
“Well I don’t know about that…” she said with laugh.
“Hey!”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
On the open road
“She’s still not waking up guys, I’m really worried.” Kyle said with fear in his voice.
He was smoothing her hair away from her eyes and gently massaging her face. Maria had taken the wheel just in case they needed to get to a hospital, but for hours they hadn’t seen anything but the long open road ahead. Michael was sweating profusely as he tried desperately for hours to use his powers to help jolt her from the sleeping, seemingly lifeless state that she was in. His hands were numb from the position they were in, hovering over her stomach, as the glow that was released from his hands was dying out every minute that went by.
After Isabelle had called out Alex’s name from her sleep hours before, she had fallen into a coma like state.
“We need to do something else Michael, we can’t have you passing out too.” Kyle said.
“I can’t, I have to keep trying.” He persisted weakly, and groaning in pain.
“Michael, listen to him please, you have to rest.” Maria called out from the drivers seat. “We’ll think of something, but Michael you need to stop.”
Michael finally let go and fell back hard onto the seat, shivering and sweating. Kyle handed him a wet towel to put on his head, and continued to massage Isabel.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
In Isabel’s mind
After hearing Alex’s voice hours ago, something amazing had happened to Isabelle. She may have appeared lifeless on the surface, but her mind was definitely working overtime. She felt bad that everyone around her was so worried, but feared that if she forced herself awake then she would not be able to get back into the state that she was currently in.
For the past few hours, she had been stuck in the place between sleep and awake and was being shown so many things, things she never imagined she would know, nor understand. Images from her home planet were flooding through her like the blood that flowed through her veins. Language and words were enveloping her and answers to so many questions about her former life, and her future one were being told. Suddenly she felt Michael let his powers leave her and everything turned black. All she could see was the blackness that any normal person could see when they are half awake with their eyes closed. Suddenly a calm washed over her, and she heard the sweetest voice she had heard in a very long time.
“Isabel, look over here and follow the sound of my voice.” Alex said quietly.
In her mind she shifted towards his voice and the blackness faded away and she saw him. He was wearing her favorite shirt on him and khaki shorts.
“Alex!”
“Shh… don’t get too excited, I don’t know how long I can keep you here with me. Try and stay calm ok Izz?”
She nodded.
“I don’t have much time to explain. I learned some tricks being where I am, and I decided to put them to good use. What you just saw was everything that I was able to find out about you. With Michael loosening his grasp at this moment you were able to fight your way through the knowledge to hear me as well. He’s a good guy Iss, he tried to save you for hours. I can see him, he’s so tired.”
“I have to get back to them Alex, I hate knowing how worried they are. God Alex, I’ve missed you. I don’t want to lose you again…”
“Sshh… I’m never gone, I’m always here for you.” He replied sweetly.
“I know, I feel you with me.”
He smiled at her response. Suddenly Maria’s incoherent voice boomed at them.
“I’m slipping, you’re starting to come to. Take the information I gave you and do great things. I believe in you Izz.”
“Alex no, don’t leave.”
“I love you.” He replied, and in an instant he was gone.
“I love you too Alex.” She whispered.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
The open road
A tear rolled down Isabel’s cheek as Michael, Maria and Kyle looked after her. Maria had pulled over the second she heard Isabelle start talking in her sleep. They had heard Isabel’s side of the conversation that she seemed to be having, and they were confused about what was going on.
“I love you too Alex.” She said as a second tear appeared from the corner of her eye.
Kyle instantly felt a wave of hurt flow through him but was quickly jolted with guilt for thinking about himself when Isabel was sick lying in front of him.
Isabelle suddenly opened her eyes wide and sat up. Her first reaction was guilt for not trying hard enough to return sooner and she instantly wrapped her arms around Michael.
“We were so worried.” He told her, holding her close.
She turned to see Kyle, whose concern was written all over his face. She noticed that a tear had escaped his own eyes and she pulled him close to her, enveloping him in her arms.
“I’m so sorry Kyle, I’m so sorry.” She cried in his shoulder.
“Don’t be sorry, I’m just glad you’re ok.” He replied, pulling her head gently on his shoulder.
After a moment, she let go and looked at Maria, who was holding a bottle of water and a towel for her. She took the water and towel and Maria gave her a hug. It was amazing how far the two of them had come. They had gone from disliking each other to feeling actual concern about one another, and they were both grateful for that. After letting go, and taking a sip of water, Isabelle began to speak.
“I saw Alex.”
Maria’s eyes widened. “You saw him saw him, or like dreamed of him?”
“I saw him, it was the most amazing experience I ever had. He showed me things. Things I don’t know if I can even explain with words. He told me that being where he was, he was able to find out stuff about our planet, and things about ourselves that we’re going to discover.”
Michael was floored. “Like what?”
“Like with my dream walking ability, I’m going to be able to teleport, and he said it’ll be local at first, but soon after I’ll be able to go anywhere. He said If I really wanted to, that’s the power that would help us get home.”
“Home? Like Antar home?” Kyle asked.
“Yes. But that’s so out of the question, at least it is for me at this stage in my life.”
“Me too.” Michael agreed, looking over in Maria’s direction. “Wow, teleporting. That’s insane, and very cool.”
“That’s beyond cool!” Kyle exclaimed. “Although, a little disturbing, you could just show up in my room and like draw on my face with markers when I’m sleeping.”
“I think I’d use my powers for a little bit more high class occasions.” She replied eyeing Kyle deeply , as if she was concentrating on something.
Kyle laughed and then thought about it for a minute. Is she flirting with me?
“Yes.” She answered. Kyle looked around stunned. Isabel’s mouth had never moved, but she had answered him in his own thoughts.
“Alex also taught me a few tricks.” She said in his mind, staring at him intently.
“Can I answer you back.” He thought, looking back at her.
“Yes.” She answered in his mind with a smile.
Michael and Maria looked at them back and forth.
“Ok is there something going on here? Do you guys need some alone time or something?” Maria asked.
They quickly snapped out of their trance.
“Sorry.” Isabel said. “I was just trying out something Alex taught me.” She stared intently at Maria.
I wish I could’ve seen Alex again too, Maria thought.
“He wishes that too, he told me” Isabel answered knowingly her in Maria’s mind.
Maria looked up at Isabel, and was speechless. Isabel stared at Michael, and smirked.
“God Michael is that all you think about?” She asked him in his mind.
He looked around embarrassed.
“How did you know what I was thinking?” He asked.
She smiled.
“Alex showed me that I also had another special power that I could be using right now, but didn’t know about. I can read someone’s mind if I look at them for a few seconds and concentrate. I can talk back with them and everything.” She said excitedly.
“Wow, this is incredible.” Michael said with wide eyes. “Did you see anything that I could do?”
“Yes. He said that you’ve mastered your powers as of now, but eventually that you will be able to do something extremely powerful and great. He showed me scrolls and where they are buried. He said to tell you that when you read them you will just know.”
Michael smiled. “I guess I might be important after all.”
“No one said you weren’t already.” Maria answered him, touching his shoulder.
“What about Max? Anything you learned about him?” Kyle asked curiously.
She lowered her eyes and looked back up.
“I learned a lot. He has so much in store for him… so much pressure. Is it alright If I talk about that when we meet up with him? I couldn’t bear knowing that all of us knew all about him and what’s expected of him, while he doesn’t.”
“No problem, don’t even worry about it.” Kyle said reassuringly.
“Thanks, let’s just get going, I don’t want to have them worrying about us cuz we took too long. Come to think of it, weren’t they supposed to land already?” Isabel asked looking down at her watch.
“You’re right, I wonder why they haven’t called.” Maria wondered aloud.
“Maybe the married couple is busy exploring the new hotel room.” Isabel said jokingly in Maria’s head.
Maria laughed out loud, and everyone else stared at her with confused expressions.
“Well I guess you had to be there.”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
The hotel
The cab drive to the hotel was awkward at best, but the cab driver was extremely nice and brought them to a nice inexpensive hotel not too far from the airport called ‘The Hyperion’. Both Liz and Max, and Michael and Maria were waiting for each other to leave the room so that they could call Kyle and Isabelle and find out what’s going on. After unpacking in mostly silence, Michael finally took the lead.
“Maria, you wanna go do a little sight seeing with me?” He asked giving her the eye.
Liz exchanged a look with Max.
“Sure…I’ll see you guys later.” Maria answered backing away slowly to the door, and then quickly fidgeting with the lock and closing it behind her.
“I don’t think we should be leaving her alone with him like that.” She said sitting down and resting her head in her fingertips.
“I know, but we have to call Isabelle and Kyle and see if they know what the hell is going on.” Max replied, getting up and reaching for Liz’s cell phone. He dialed his sisters cell phone frantically but no one answered it.
“They’re not answering.”
“I don’t like this.”
“Let’s go try and catch up to them, see where he takes her.”
Liz and Max hurried towards the door and left the room.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
New York City
Rath had been out all night, angry at Lonnie for one of the usual reasons and was walking aimlessly throughout the long city blocks. It was this aimless walk on this aimless day that he had a lucky encounter. He had to do a double take but it was clear as day. His double Michael from Roswell was walking on the other side of the street from him with his girlfriend. He hadn’t given it much thought on his trip to Roswell with all that was going on, but looking at her now, she was beautiful. The wheels in his head began to turn as a twisted plan formed to make Lonnie jealous as well as to have some fun with his lame double Michael.
He walked quickly, but kept himself out of view. Quickly he waved his hand over his clothes and transformed them into what Michael was wearing. He grabbed a payphone and dialed Lonnie, securing that when the time was right, she’d see something that would really make her jealous.
Stay tuned for episode 5!
JRose
I luvs me sum feedback! lol
theywalkbesideus@yahoo.com
Last edited by JRose on Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:17 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Everywhere this love goes...I will follow...I will follow
Thanks to all feedback keep it coming! =)
Episode 5
The Big City
Michael and Maria spoke frantically down the long city blocks as the wind howled and whistled around them.
“OK! Enough with the goddamn arguing already. We have got to get a grip and just work together right now because I don’t know what else to do!” Maria shouted feeling exasperated.
Michael stopped walking and looked at her sincerely.
“Ok, lets calm down and go sit somewhere and talk. We can’t be gone forever.”
She nodded.
They walked for about 5 minutes and found a small outdoor café. After being seated and ordering their food, they spoke quietly.
“Let’s call Kyle and Isabel and see if they’re ok.” Michael suggested.
“Alright.” Maria said taking out her phone and dialing.
After a few rings Isabel answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Maria. Look I don’t have much time, but is everything alright?” She asked diligently.
Isabelle looked over at Kyle with a confused look.
“Yeah we’re on the plane now, we’ll probably land in about an hour. Why?”
“Oh uh nothing. Just concerned about you and Kyle.” Maria said scrunching her forehead.
“Um ok. Well we’re fine. The question is, are you ok?” Isabel asked with a small laugh at Maria’s odd behavior.”
Maria covered the phone and turned to Michael.
“She wants to know if I’m ok!” She hissed in a whisper.
“So answer her!”
“Well am I ok? I don’t feel ok.”
Michael grabbed the phone from her.
“Hey Izz.”
“Michael, what’s going on?”
“Ok look we don’t have much time to talk but do you know anything that we should know about Max and Liz.”
Isabel motioned for Kyle to come closer and listen in on the conversation.
“You want to know if we know something about Max and Liz.” She repeated for Kyle to hear. He looked at her confusedly.
“No I don’t think so. I haven’t really spoken to them. You think they’re in New York yet?” she answered for both Kyle and herself.
“Actually they’re here and we got a hotel room already.”
“Wow that was fast. What’s it called?”
“The Hyperion, it’s not far from the airport, we paid only like 5 bucks cabfare”
“Oh ok great.”
“Alright then, we’ll see you soon.”
“Ok … wait! Michael you still there?”
“Yeah?”
“Why are you asking us about Max and Liz if they’re with you, what’s going on?”
“Uh, listen you’re getting a little staticky, hold on a sec.”
Michael looked at Maria and mouthed to her that he was going to go a little further away for better reception.
“Are you gonna tell them about Max and Liz?”
“Yeah, better we get all of us together on this than just me and you.”
“And what the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means less arguing and more answering, that’s what it means.”
Maria gave him a knowing look and turned back to her coffee. Michael got up and walked further away until she could no longer see him. Not more than a minute later, Michael came back and sat down with her without a cell phone in his hand.
“Ok you couldn’t possibly have explained everything to Isabelle in that amount of time. This isn’t the time for the short explanations they need details.”
“Relax baby, I gave them uh details.”
Maria looked at him skeptically.
“Since when do you call me baby?”
“Since now, relax alright?”
“Ok if you knew me at all you would know that it is like redundant to tell me to relax.”
“Ouch, calm down, I’m sorry ok?”
“So what did Isabel say?”
“Uh about what?”
“Michael what is wrong with you?! About Max and Liz not acting like themselves.”
“Oh that, she just said to stop overreacting.”
“Overreacting? Overreacting? I am not overreacting, that girl that says she’s Liz is not Liz.”
Rath thought to himself for a moment. Maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to just jump into the situation without knowing about their drama of the moment. Michael would be back soon and he had to make this worthwhile.
“Are you even listening to me?” She asked exasperatedly.
“Uh yeah, you got your cell phone, I need to make a quick call.”
“You have my cell phone remember.”
Damn, he thought. Where the hell is Lonnie? At that very moment he saw Lonnie walking in their direction, and he could see the look in her eye that he had waited for.
“Listen baby. I know you’re worried about this whole thing with Liz , and it’s the wrong time for this but I want you to know that I’m always here for you. I care about you more than you know. You’re the only one for me. Just looking at you sitting there right now is making me crazy.” He said huskily as he moved his chair closer to hers.
Maria had mixed feelings stirring up inside her. On one hand she was completely weirded out about how he was talking and acting, very unMichaelike. At the same time, it was all the things she wished to hear escape his lips for a long time.
“Michael…”
“Sssh.” He said putting his finger to her lips. “Don’t talk.”
With that, he drew her lips to his and kissed her passionately. She was taken aback by how roughly his lips enveloped hers, but soon she found herself melting into him.
It was then that Lonnie had reached them and stood over them waiting for them to notice her.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Max and Liz
It had taken awhile but Max and Liz had found “Michael” and Maria kissing in an outdoor café not far from the hotel that they were staying at. They hid behind a mailbox from across the street, poking their heads out to see what was going on.
“You see that girl standing there, she looks just like…”
“Lonnie.” Max finished for her.
“I knew it.” She said running her fingers over her hair.
“Ok we have to do something, Maria thinks that she’s been with Michael the whole time, but that is definitely Rath.”
“Ok let’s go.” She agreed. Just as they stood up to walk over and confront Rath, an eerie shout from down the block stopped them dead in their tracks.
“Yo, get the hell away from her!” Michael yelled running towards Maria and Rath.
Max and Liz looked at each other and ran after him.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Here it starts
Maria had stopped kissing him abruptly when she heard Michael’s voice. Looking up at the man sitting next to her, she felt a wave of fear come over her. She looked over her shoulder and saw Michael running towards her. It was then that it all made sense. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand roughly and stood up.
“Get the hell away from me.” She said to Rath.
By this time Michael had caught up to them. He turned to Maria and put his hands on either side of her face.
“Are you alright? Did he hurt you?”
She shook her heard no, and tears began flooding down her cheeks. She felt ashamed for kissing him because she should have known that it wasn’t Michael. Embarrassment flowed to her face and anger swelled up inside her.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Michael said to Rath and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.
Rath smirked and waved his hand over his shirt changing it into a V- neck T shirt, causing Michael to lose his grip.
Rath laughed.
“You son of a bitch.” Michael said swinging and hitting him square in the jaw. He fell backwards over the trashcan that was behind him and hit the floor hard.
“Michael!” Max yelled out to him as he and Liz reached them.
Rath stood up and saw Lonnie standing over him with a smirk.
“You’re a real loser you know that?” She said handing him a tissue that she picked up from a table nearby. “You just had to make up a whole little scene for my benefit, and look what it got you. You’re bleeding in the middle of a very crowded street and I am going to walk home now and leave you here to deal with your little indiscretion.”
She laughed at him and began walking away. Rath sighed disappointedly.
“Later Rosweliens.” She said with a smirk.
“Michael are you ok?” Max asked him.
“Yeah I’m fine, I went to make a call and the next thing I see is this jerk making out with Maria.” He then looked over in Maria’s direction. “Which by the way confuses me a little, but we’ll deal with that later.” Maria gave him a small smile.
“But where were you this whole time, I mean Liz and I knew that you hadn’t been yourself. You had been acting strange since we met you at the airport, but then we realized it must’ve been Rath and not you.
“You met Rath at the airport?” He asked.
“Yo man I wasn’t at no airport.” Rath said standing up, wiping the blood away from his nose with the wave of his hand.
“Ok will you stop with that?” Maria said clearly annoyed. “You’ve already done like 2 alien like tricks in the last 10 minutes, you wanna get us all killed?”
“Oh please blondie, you need to relax. You’ve got some set of lips there though.”
Maria walked slowly over to him and smiled. “You liked that huh?”
“Mmm …you know it.”
Her smile quickly faded as she slapped him hard across the face. “Don’t you ever talk to me about my lips ever again!”
Rath winced. “Whatever, look I wasn’t at no airport. I saw an opportunity present itself just a little while ago and I took it, end of story.”
Max and Liz gave each other a look and realized that it wasn’t Rath the whole time, and that Michael and Maria were still not themselves.
“So you’re saying you think that me and Michael haven’t been acting like ourselves?” Maria asked Liz.
“We’ll talk about that later. Rath, I think it would be a good idea if you left.” Max said firmly.
“Whatever, be seeing ya.” He answered, walking away.
“I think we need to talk.” Michael said looking at the three of them.
“Me too.” Max replied, let’s get back to the hotel.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
It all makes sense
After the plane landed and they got their belongings, Isabel and Kyle had caught a cab and found themselves outside of the Hyperion hotel. Grabbing a bag, Isabel was happy to see Liz, Max, Michael and Maria walking towards the hotel.
“Hey!” she called out to them, as Kyle turned to see who she was talking to. A smile spread across his lips but soon faded away as he saw their expressions.
They walked slowly towards Kyle and Isabel and stopped in front of them.
Max gave Isabel a silent hug.
“Don’t say a word.” She said to them, eyeing the curious looking cabbie. “Just help us get this stuff inside and we’ll talk there.”
After wordlessly hauling their stuff inside the room, everyone sat down and looked at one another.
“Ok, I want to know what’s going on.” Isabel said breaking the silence. “Michael and Maria call me up and say they think something’s up with Max and Liz. We finally arrive and all of you look pale and worried, I’ll be damned if I left Roswell to come here to find everyone in chaos, with no answers to any of our questions.
Max looked at Liz.
“Michael you thought something was wrong with Liz and I?” Max asked, looking at him.
“I guess we have something in common then.” He responded.
“Wait so you’re saying both Max and Liz, and Michael and Maria thought there was something wrong with the other two?” Kyle asked innocently.
All four nodded.
“Well Michael all of a sudden when I saw you on our flight, nothing made sense.” Max started. “You were on our flight when we agreed that we didn’t have enough money to take separate flights, and that you would be in the van.”
Michael looked confusedly at Maria. Kyle and Isabel exchanged glances.
“…and then there’s the whole tattoo thing, Michael you didn’t have a tattoo last week.”
Michael stood up and shook his head.
“Hold on right there, what are you talking about? When did we agree to take separate flights? When did we have money problems? I’ve had this tattoo for over a month, and you were the one who helped me pick it out.”
A wave of fear and disbelief shook each of them to the core.
Liz stood up and stood next to Max.
“Maria you’re hair is longer than when I last saw you.”
Maria’s thoughts danced through her eyes.
“There’s something different about the way you’ve been acting.” She replied and then darted her eyes away from Liz out of a distinct reaction of fear.
“Who are you?” Michael asked Max.
“It’s me Michael, who are you? I never went to get any tattoo with you, and I damn well remember that conversation in that stupid small town in that stupid motel.”
“What motel?” Isabel asked.
“Damn it! Izz you were there! It was Kyles idea to go to a big city, so we came here!”
Kyle shifted his weight.
“Um, I haven’t been to a motel with all of you, ever.”
“What are you talking about Kyle? I was there it happened.” Liz said clearly getting upset.
Max pulled her close to him, and she felt safe for at least one millisecond.
“Ok so maybe all this has something to do with what we found out in Roswell. I mean we came here to figure out the whole graduation day thing and look, weird loss of memory and…” Maria began.
“Hold on back in Roswell?” Liz asked interrupting Maria.
“Yeah you know a few days ago, Michaels apartment, the epiphany we had at the Crashdown…”
“I haven’t been to the crashdown since we left after graduation.” Liz said shakily.
That was it. It was the one sentence that paved the way for a breakthrough that could lead them the truth.
“My god that’s it.” Isabel started as she got up and waked towards where Max and Liz were.
“Ok you both have to really listen to me. I’ll explain what I think and if everyone follows that, I think we’ll have some real information here. Please don’t be afraid of us… ok? It’s me… Izz.”
Max nodded and Liz sat down to listen.
“From what everyone is saying here, I think Michael, Maria, Kyle and I are different from you two. I’m not sure if you’re some other set of max and Liz, or our max and Liz with different memories somehow, but we all have the same different experiences and memories that you both don’t seem to have.”
“Like the tattoo…” Max answered quietly. Michael nodded.
“But wait a minute, you all seem to have different memories than us, but what about our memories? Where did they come from? How do we know that ours aren’t true and yours are made up? I mean, did we like get caught up in some like alternate universe? Where’s the Max and Liz that you remember and where is the Kyle, Isabel, Michael and Maria that we remember?” Liz questioned.
“I don’t know.” Isabel replied feeling hopeless again. “I just know what I see from what’s been goin on… and it scares me.”
They stayed quiet for the next few minutes but it felt like hours.
“I have an idea.” Kyle announced. “If we can back track events and compare them with theirs, maybe we can find a connection or something. Like figuring out why we know different things, or maybe even how to fix it. I mean, we already know that Liz is saying that we left Roswell, but we know that we didn’t…”
“My god, that must have something to do with why we felt we had to come here.” Maria said with her eyes widening. “Our memories must’ve gotten mixed up with theirs or something. That’s why we felt we had at one point planned to leave when we didn’t.”
Slowly, what Maria had announced began to click.
“That’s a great idea Kyle, look how much we’ve figured out already, I’ll go first.” Maria started. “Um… I think it’s no secret that the plane ride was different, we’ve beaten that issue to death… um… how about why we left Roswell to come here. Liz, well you… or not you I’m not really sure… came to me at the crashdown a few days ago, and we both realized that we had an awful feeling like burning inside us that what happened on graduation day wasn’t planned. We were glad that Liz’s premonition hadn’t come true, but if it was to take the place of our old lives then what good was it, you know? We gathered everyone at Michaels house and we found out that everyone else also felt the same way, that we should’ve left Roswell on graduation day like we had always planned, except we never planned it…you guys with me so far?”
The words choked up in Max’s throat.
“The best thing we ever did for ourselves was leave Roswell.”
“Wait so you’re saying that you guys did leave? Graduation day?” Maria asked.
Liz nodded. “ My premonition did come true, and Max distracted everyone to help us escape…. Wait you said you knew about my premonition, that means that our memories are the same up until that moment… it was graduation day, something messed us up somehow. We left… you never did”
All of them began to doubt themselves as if their lives were toyed with and re planned. None of them truly believed in the version of their lives and it make them sick. Their unnerving thoughts were interrupted by the ring of Maria’s cell phone. She looked to see who was calling her and her eyes widened.
“Um, Liz… it’s you.”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
A strange phonecall
After getting off the plane, Liz and Max gathered their things together. With a feeling of nervous excitement, she smiled and began dialing Maria’s cell. Her mind had been fluttering about so many possibilities about her uncertain future. She was scared and excited, nervous and calm all at the same time. Even her relationship with max had taken an unexpected turn for the better. They were drifting back to the way they used to be… uncomplicating an already complicated situation…
The phone had stopped ringing, and she could hear that it had been picked up, but Maria didn’t say anything.
“Maria? You there?”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
“Maria? You there?” the phone boomed as Maria put her cell on speakerphone for everyone to hear.
Liz’s face filled with shock and she had to sit down to keep from falling. Hearing her own voice from somewhere else was just too much.
“Uh yeah…I’m here.” Maria stammered.
“Hey! Listen I know Max and I took extra long, but there was a lot of turbulence. Did Kyle and Isabelle get there before us?”
“Uh yeah… I’m here.”
“Maria are you ok?”
“Uh yeah… I’m… yeah I’m uh, I’m fine, I’m fine. Uh Liz, I really need to talk to you when you get here.”
“Oh well that’s why I’m calling, did you find us a hotel?”
After explaining where the hotel was, Maria found herself awkwardly hanging up the phone.
“That really complicates things doesn’t it?” she asked with a blank face.
“Oh yeah.” Michael responded.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
To a new life
Liz hung up the phone awkwardly and turned to Max, who could tell from her conversation that something was up.
“Max, she was acting totally weird.” She said with a hint of worry in her voice.
“Maybe she was just being totally Maria.”
“That’s true.”
Max smiled. “Ok so let’s get going.”
They caught a cab, and as the last bag was put in the trunk max took Liz’s hand.
“Here goes nothing.”
“No, here goes everything.” She replied positively and they got in the cab. She knew that this trip would lead her somewhere, she just never expected where it would take her.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Isabel had been driving for a while feeling both clearheaded and confused all at the same time.
“Penny for your thoughts.” Kyle asked from the seat next to her. Michael and Maria were in the back talking. She liked it when he was her co-pilot because he always made the seemingly endless road more bearable, almost fun.
“With all that’s going on in my head, I think it’ll cost you more than just a penny.”
Kyle laughed. “Well I have a quarter, and the way we’re going on cash that’s all I can spare.”
She smiled. “Listen I know this is probably not the best time for this, but if I don’t say it now I know I’ll mess it up later.”
“What is it?”
“I want to thank you for taking me out of my Jesse stupor..”
“Izz you don’t have to…”
“Yes, I do. You know better than anyone how horrible I’ve been acting lately. And there you are still sticking by me, and treating me like a normal girl.”
At this point she had followed a sign off the highway to stop at a gas station, and was now at a red light.
“Kyle, you made me feel like life is possible again, and I really needed that.”
She paused and looked at him intently and spoke her next sentence in his mind.
“It’s also a plus that your not so hard on the eyes.”
He smirked a tight-lipped smile, and responded back silently.
“I’m appalled at you Evans, you’re only interested in my body.”
“You’re also a great kisser.”
“Oh I am, am I?”
She smiled at him coyly.
“I’d continue this very intriguing conversation with you, but the lights been green for a while now.” He answered silently.
She looked up at the light and hit the gas pedal. Now, she had to speak aloud, because her connection with him had been lost.
“Thanks, I might never have started driving.”
“Don’t even joke about that, we’ve been driving forever. What a stupid idea I had going to New York, it’s just too damn far.”
Isabel looked up at the sign ahead and smiled.
“You guys look!”
It read, “Welcome to New Jersey.”
“We’re so close now.” Maria said happily from the back. Michael smiled just looking at her smile.
“Almost there Kyle.” Isabel said excitedly.
His facial expression went from happy to serious.
“Izz, when we get to New York, do you wanna go out on a date with me?”
“A date? Kyle we’ve known each other for a few years now, I think we’re passed the getting to know you stage.”
“I know… but you deserve to be treated like you’re in a real normal relationship. I wanna experience all of that beginning getting to know you stage with you.” He said quietly. “We could have a real “New York” day… maybe even a real New York night.” He added half joking half not.
“I’d love to.”
Kyle sat back in his seat and felt a wave of relief. His feelings were finally out in the open, and they had been well received. He slept peacefully for the next few hours better than he had in months.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Why us?
“Ok what the hell is going on here?!” Isabel said loudly pushing back her hair frantically. “So it’s not that Max and Liz were like given new memories, they were freakin’ cloned or something.”
“I’m going to uh you know get some, get some air.” Liz said pushing a chair aside loudly and darting out the door.
“I’m gonna go talk to her.” Maria said and ran out after her.
“That other Liz said that she was with Max, there’s another me out there, the one that you know” Max said coldly.
“If you and Liz got mixed up with some other people, and we all seem to have different memories from you, then there must be doubles of us too, the ones you know.” Michael said as the light bulb went off in his head.
“This is so surreal.” Kyle said with disbelief in his voice. “There’s another Kyle out there somewhere, I bet I’m the better looking one.”
Everyone gave him a dirty look for his joke at such a traumatic time, but Isabel smiled and held back a laugh. Kyle saw her expression and it made him feel good.
“I think I should go check on liz…” Max started as he walked towards the door.
“No wait… don’t” Kyle said grabbing his arm before he could go any further. “ If there’s anything I ever learned from being with Liz, it’s that when she’s upset Maria can always keep her calm...even if that’s not really the same Maria she’s used to… let them talk… it could be good for her."
Max reluctantly listened to Kyle and sat down anxiously.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
“Liz!” Maria yelled out running after her friend. Liz kept running down the hall as tears began to stream slowly down her cheeks.
“Liz! Liz…” Maria had caught up with her now and pulled her back gently from darting away.
“Ya know… I’m just tired…tired of all of this… this… alien invasion of my life. I love max and not a day do I regret anything any of us has done… but come on… I may not be real or something? Or like there’s another Liz out there feeling the same way I do… and she’s not real?! This is just so hard to take… it hurts.” She explained desperately, her brown eyes widening with sadness.
Maria hugged her silently. After a moment or two she spoke.
“It’s gonna be ok . We’ve been through a hell of a lot… I’m scared too… hell there’s another Maria out there as well, what’s up with that?! And another Michael?! Hmm that may not be so bad…” She said deliberately trying to make her sad friend smile. It worked.
“Now that’s what I like to see.” Maria said soothingly. “Come on lets go back inside.”
Liz nodded, and they walking slowly back to the room.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Maria and Liz entered the room with meek smiles and received meek smiles in return. Max walked over to Liz and hugged her quietly.
“So should we each call our “other” people and tell them so that when they get here we can all talk?” Isabel asked.
“I know I would want to know if I were in their position…wow that’s still totally creepy that I may be talking literally to myself soon.”
Kyle responded flabbergasted with a scrunched face.
Everyone exchanged similar looks and smiled.
Their moment was immediately interrupted by a knock at the door.
“Hey guys are you in there? Its us!” The voice of Liz sounded from the other side of the door.
“Oh my god what do we do?!” Liz whispered.
“I think we should go in the other room and let them explain what’s goin on.” Max answered quickly thinking on his feet. “I wouldn’t wanna walk in blinded and see myself standing there.”
“Guys?!” The voice again asked.
“Come on lets go!” Liz said motioning for Max to follow her into the other room.
After a lot of stifled commotion, Isabelle closed the door to the other room with a wave of her hand
*End of Episode*
Stay Tuned for Episode 6! I'm sorry it probably won't be posted as quick as the others, but enjoy this for now! =)
JRose
theywalkbesideus@yahoo.com
Episode 5
The Big City
Michael and Maria spoke frantically down the long city blocks as the wind howled and whistled around them.
“OK! Enough with the goddamn arguing already. We have got to get a grip and just work together right now because I don’t know what else to do!” Maria shouted feeling exasperated.
Michael stopped walking and looked at her sincerely.
“Ok, lets calm down and go sit somewhere and talk. We can’t be gone forever.”
She nodded.
They walked for about 5 minutes and found a small outdoor café. After being seated and ordering their food, they spoke quietly.
“Let’s call Kyle and Isabel and see if they’re ok.” Michael suggested.
“Alright.” Maria said taking out her phone and dialing.
After a few rings Isabel answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Maria. Look I don’t have much time, but is everything alright?” She asked diligently.
Isabelle looked over at Kyle with a confused look.
“Yeah we’re on the plane now, we’ll probably land in about an hour. Why?”
“Oh uh nothing. Just concerned about you and Kyle.” Maria said scrunching her forehead.
“Um ok. Well we’re fine. The question is, are you ok?” Isabel asked with a small laugh at Maria’s odd behavior.”
Maria covered the phone and turned to Michael.
“She wants to know if I’m ok!” She hissed in a whisper.
“So answer her!”
“Well am I ok? I don’t feel ok.”
Michael grabbed the phone from her.
“Hey Izz.”
“Michael, what’s going on?”
“Ok look we don’t have much time to talk but do you know anything that we should know about Max and Liz.”
Isabel motioned for Kyle to come closer and listen in on the conversation.
“You want to know if we know something about Max and Liz.” She repeated for Kyle to hear. He looked at her confusedly.
“No I don’t think so. I haven’t really spoken to them. You think they’re in New York yet?” she answered for both Kyle and herself.
“Actually they’re here and we got a hotel room already.”
“Wow that was fast. What’s it called?”
“The Hyperion, it’s not far from the airport, we paid only like 5 bucks cabfare”
“Oh ok great.”
“Alright then, we’ll see you soon.”
“Ok … wait! Michael you still there?”
“Yeah?”
“Why are you asking us about Max and Liz if they’re with you, what’s going on?”
“Uh, listen you’re getting a little staticky, hold on a sec.”
Michael looked at Maria and mouthed to her that he was going to go a little further away for better reception.
“Are you gonna tell them about Max and Liz?”
“Yeah, better we get all of us together on this than just me and you.”
“And what the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means less arguing and more answering, that’s what it means.”
Maria gave him a knowing look and turned back to her coffee. Michael got up and walked further away until she could no longer see him. Not more than a minute later, Michael came back and sat down with her without a cell phone in his hand.
“Ok you couldn’t possibly have explained everything to Isabelle in that amount of time. This isn’t the time for the short explanations they need details.”
“Relax baby, I gave them uh details.”
Maria looked at him skeptically.
“Since when do you call me baby?”
“Since now, relax alright?”
“Ok if you knew me at all you would know that it is like redundant to tell me to relax.”
“Ouch, calm down, I’m sorry ok?”
“So what did Isabel say?”
“Uh about what?”
“Michael what is wrong with you?! About Max and Liz not acting like themselves.”
“Oh that, she just said to stop overreacting.”
“Overreacting? Overreacting? I am not overreacting, that girl that says she’s Liz is not Liz.”
Rath thought to himself for a moment. Maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to just jump into the situation without knowing about their drama of the moment. Michael would be back soon and he had to make this worthwhile.
“Are you even listening to me?” She asked exasperatedly.
“Uh yeah, you got your cell phone, I need to make a quick call.”
“You have my cell phone remember.”
Damn, he thought. Where the hell is Lonnie? At that very moment he saw Lonnie walking in their direction, and he could see the look in her eye that he had waited for.
“Listen baby. I know you’re worried about this whole thing with Liz , and it’s the wrong time for this but I want you to know that I’m always here for you. I care about you more than you know. You’re the only one for me. Just looking at you sitting there right now is making me crazy.” He said huskily as he moved his chair closer to hers.
Maria had mixed feelings stirring up inside her. On one hand she was completely weirded out about how he was talking and acting, very unMichaelike. At the same time, it was all the things she wished to hear escape his lips for a long time.
“Michael…”
“Sssh.” He said putting his finger to her lips. “Don’t talk.”
With that, he drew her lips to his and kissed her passionately. She was taken aback by how roughly his lips enveloped hers, but soon she found herself melting into him.
It was then that Lonnie had reached them and stood over them waiting for them to notice her.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Max and Liz
It had taken awhile but Max and Liz had found “Michael” and Maria kissing in an outdoor café not far from the hotel that they were staying at. They hid behind a mailbox from across the street, poking their heads out to see what was going on.
“You see that girl standing there, she looks just like…”
“Lonnie.” Max finished for her.
“I knew it.” She said running her fingers over her hair.
“Ok we have to do something, Maria thinks that she’s been with Michael the whole time, but that is definitely Rath.”
“Ok let’s go.” She agreed. Just as they stood up to walk over and confront Rath, an eerie shout from down the block stopped them dead in their tracks.
“Yo, get the hell away from her!” Michael yelled running towards Maria and Rath.
Max and Liz looked at each other and ran after him.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Here it starts
Maria had stopped kissing him abruptly when she heard Michael’s voice. Looking up at the man sitting next to her, she felt a wave of fear come over her. She looked over her shoulder and saw Michael running towards her. It was then that it all made sense. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand roughly and stood up.
“Get the hell away from me.” She said to Rath.
By this time Michael had caught up to them. He turned to Maria and put his hands on either side of her face.
“Are you alright? Did he hurt you?”
She shook her heard no, and tears began flooding down her cheeks. She felt ashamed for kissing him because she should have known that it wasn’t Michael. Embarrassment flowed to her face and anger swelled up inside her.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Michael said to Rath and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.
Rath smirked and waved his hand over his shirt changing it into a V- neck T shirt, causing Michael to lose his grip.
Rath laughed.
“You son of a bitch.” Michael said swinging and hitting him square in the jaw. He fell backwards over the trashcan that was behind him and hit the floor hard.
“Michael!” Max yelled out to him as he and Liz reached them.
Rath stood up and saw Lonnie standing over him with a smirk.
“You’re a real loser you know that?” She said handing him a tissue that she picked up from a table nearby. “You just had to make up a whole little scene for my benefit, and look what it got you. You’re bleeding in the middle of a very crowded street and I am going to walk home now and leave you here to deal with your little indiscretion.”
She laughed at him and began walking away. Rath sighed disappointedly.
“Later Rosweliens.” She said with a smirk.
“Michael are you ok?” Max asked him.
“Yeah I’m fine, I went to make a call and the next thing I see is this jerk making out with Maria.” He then looked over in Maria’s direction. “Which by the way confuses me a little, but we’ll deal with that later.” Maria gave him a small smile.
“But where were you this whole time, I mean Liz and I knew that you hadn’t been yourself. You had been acting strange since we met you at the airport, but then we realized it must’ve been Rath and not you.
“You met Rath at the airport?” He asked.
“Yo man I wasn’t at no airport.” Rath said standing up, wiping the blood away from his nose with the wave of his hand.
“Ok will you stop with that?” Maria said clearly annoyed. “You’ve already done like 2 alien like tricks in the last 10 minutes, you wanna get us all killed?”
“Oh please blondie, you need to relax. You’ve got some set of lips there though.”
Maria walked slowly over to him and smiled. “You liked that huh?”
“Mmm …you know it.”
Her smile quickly faded as she slapped him hard across the face. “Don’t you ever talk to me about my lips ever again!”
Rath winced. “Whatever, look I wasn’t at no airport. I saw an opportunity present itself just a little while ago and I took it, end of story.”
Max and Liz gave each other a look and realized that it wasn’t Rath the whole time, and that Michael and Maria were still not themselves.
“So you’re saying you think that me and Michael haven’t been acting like ourselves?” Maria asked Liz.
“We’ll talk about that later. Rath, I think it would be a good idea if you left.” Max said firmly.
“Whatever, be seeing ya.” He answered, walking away.
“I think we need to talk.” Michael said looking at the three of them.
“Me too.” Max replied, let’s get back to the hotel.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
It all makes sense
After the plane landed and they got their belongings, Isabel and Kyle had caught a cab and found themselves outside of the Hyperion hotel. Grabbing a bag, Isabel was happy to see Liz, Max, Michael and Maria walking towards the hotel.
“Hey!” she called out to them, as Kyle turned to see who she was talking to. A smile spread across his lips but soon faded away as he saw their expressions.
They walked slowly towards Kyle and Isabel and stopped in front of them.
Max gave Isabel a silent hug.
“Don’t say a word.” She said to them, eyeing the curious looking cabbie. “Just help us get this stuff inside and we’ll talk there.”
After wordlessly hauling their stuff inside the room, everyone sat down and looked at one another.
“Ok, I want to know what’s going on.” Isabel said breaking the silence. “Michael and Maria call me up and say they think something’s up with Max and Liz. We finally arrive and all of you look pale and worried, I’ll be damned if I left Roswell to come here to find everyone in chaos, with no answers to any of our questions.
Max looked at Liz.
“Michael you thought something was wrong with Liz and I?” Max asked, looking at him.
“I guess we have something in common then.” He responded.
“Wait so you’re saying both Max and Liz, and Michael and Maria thought there was something wrong with the other two?” Kyle asked innocently.
All four nodded.
“Well Michael all of a sudden when I saw you on our flight, nothing made sense.” Max started. “You were on our flight when we agreed that we didn’t have enough money to take separate flights, and that you would be in the van.”
Michael looked confusedly at Maria. Kyle and Isabel exchanged glances.
“…and then there’s the whole tattoo thing, Michael you didn’t have a tattoo last week.”
Michael stood up and shook his head.
“Hold on right there, what are you talking about? When did we agree to take separate flights? When did we have money problems? I’ve had this tattoo for over a month, and you were the one who helped me pick it out.”
A wave of fear and disbelief shook each of them to the core.
Liz stood up and stood next to Max.
“Maria you’re hair is longer than when I last saw you.”
Maria’s thoughts danced through her eyes.
“There’s something different about the way you’ve been acting.” She replied and then darted her eyes away from Liz out of a distinct reaction of fear.
“Who are you?” Michael asked Max.
“It’s me Michael, who are you? I never went to get any tattoo with you, and I damn well remember that conversation in that stupid small town in that stupid motel.”
“What motel?” Isabel asked.
“Damn it! Izz you were there! It was Kyles idea to go to a big city, so we came here!”
Kyle shifted his weight.
“Um, I haven’t been to a motel with all of you, ever.”
“What are you talking about Kyle? I was there it happened.” Liz said clearly getting upset.
Max pulled her close to him, and she felt safe for at least one millisecond.
“Ok so maybe all this has something to do with what we found out in Roswell. I mean we came here to figure out the whole graduation day thing and look, weird loss of memory and…” Maria began.
“Hold on back in Roswell?” Liz asked interrupting Maria.
“Yeah you know a few days ago, Michaels apartment, the epiphany we had at the Crashdown…”
“I haven’t been to the crashdown since we left after graduation.” Liz said shakily.
That was it. It was the one sentence that paved the way for a breakthrough that could lead them the truth.
“My god that’s it.” Isabel started as she got up and waked towards where Max and Liz were.
“Ok you both have to really listen to me. I’ll explain what I think and if everyone follows that, I think we’ll have some real information here. Please don’t be afraid of us… ok? It’s me… Izz.”
Max nodded and Liz sat down to listen.
“From what everyone is saying here, I think Michael, Maria, Kyle and I are different from you two. I’m not sure if you’re some other set of max and Liz, or our max and Liz with different memories somehow, but we all have the same different experiences and memories that you both don’t seem to have.”
“Like the tattoo…” Max answered quietly. Michael nodded.
“But wait a minute, you all seem to have different memories than us, but what about our memories? Where did they come from? How do we know that ours aren’t true and yours are made up? I mean, did we like get caught up in some like alternate universe? Where’s the Max and Liz that you remember and where is the Kyle, Isabel, Michael and Maria that we remember?” Liz questioned.
“I don’t know.” Isabel replied feeling hopeless again. “I just know what I see from what’s been goin on… and it scares me.”
They stayed quiet for the next few minutes but it felt like hours.
“I have an idea.” Kyle announced. “If we can back track events and compare them with theirs, maybe we can find a connection or something. Like figuring out why we know different things, or maybe even how to fix it. I mean, we already know that Liz is saying that we left Roswell, but we know that we didn’t…”
“My god, that must have something to do with why we felt we had to come here.” Maria said with her eyes widening. “Our memories must’ve gotten mixed up with theirs or something. That’s why we felt we had at one point planned to leave when we didn’t.”
Slowly, what Maria had announced began to click.
“That’s a great idea Kyle, look how much we’ve figured out already, I’ll go first.” Maria started. “Um… I think it’s no secret that the plane ride was different, we’ve beaten that issue to death… um… how about why we left Roswell to come here. Liz, well you… or not you I’m not really sure… came to me at the crashdown a few days ago, and we both realized that we had an awful feeling like burning inside us that what happened on graduation day wasn’t planned. We were glad that Liz’s premonition hadn’t come true, but if it was to take the place of our old lives then what good was it, you know? We gathered everyone at Michaels house and we found out that everyone else also felt the same way, that we should’ve left Roswell on graduation day like we had always planned, except we never planned it…you guys with me so far?”
The words choked up in Max’s throat.
“The best thing we ever did for ourselves was leave Roswell.”
“Wait so you’re saying that you guys did leave? Graduation day?” Maria asked.
Liz nodded. “ My premonition did come true, and Max distracted everyone to help us escape…. Wait you said you knew about my premonition, that means that our memories are the same up until that moment… it was graduation day, something messed us up somehow. We left… you never did”
All of them began to doubt themselves as if their lives were toyed with and re planned. None of them truly believed in the version of their lives and it make them sick. Their unnerving thoughts were interrupted by the ring of Maria’s cell phone. She looked to see who was calling her and her eyes widened.
“Um, Liz… it’s you.”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
A strange phonecall
After getting off the plane, Liz and Max gathered their things together. With a feeling of nervous excitement, she smiled and began dialing Maria’s cell. Her mind had been fluttering about so many possibilities about her uncertain future. She was scared and excited, nervous and calm all at the same time. Even her relationship with max had taken an unexpected turn for the better. They were drifting back to the way they used to be… uncomplicating an already complicated situation…
The phone had stopped ringing, and she could hear that it had been picked up, but Maria didn’t say anything.
“Maria? You there?”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
“Maria? You there?” the phone boomed as Maria put her cell on speakerphone for everyone to hear.
Liz’s face filled with shock and she had to sit down to keep from falling. Hearing her own voice from somewhere else was just too much.
“Uh yeah…I’m here.” Maria stammered.
“Hey! Listen I know Max and I took extra long, but there was a lot of turbulence. Did Kyle and Isabelle get there before us?”
“Uh yeah… I’m here.”
“Maria are you ok?”
“Uh yeah… I’m… yeah I’m uh, I’m fine, I’m fine. Uh Liz, I really need to talk to you when you get here.”
“Oh well that’s why I’m calling, did you find us a hotel?”
After explaining where the hotel was, Maria found herself awkwardly hanging up the phone.
“That really complicates things doesn’t it?” she asked with a blank face.
“Oh yeah.” Michael responded.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
To a new life
Liz hung up the phone awkwardly and turned to Max, who could tell from her conversation that something was up.
“Max, she was acting totally weird.” She said with a hint of worry in her voice.
“Maybe she was just being totally Maria.”
“That’s true.”
Max smiled. “Ok so let’s get going.”
They caught a cab, and as the last bag was put in the trunk max took Liz’s hand.
“Here goes nothing.”
“No, here goes everything.” She replied positively and they got in the cab. She knew that this trip would lead her somewhere, she just never expected where it would take her.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Isabel had been driving for a while feeling both clearheaded and confused all at the same time.
“Penny for your thoughts.” Kyle asked from the seat next to her. Michael and Maria were in the back talking. She liked it when he was her co-pilot because he always made the seemingly endless road more bearable, almost fun.
“With all that’s going on in my head, I think it’ll cost you more than just a penny.”
Kyle laughed. “Well I have a quarter, and the way we’re going on cash that’s all I can spare.”
She smiled. “Listen I know this is probably not the best time for this, but if I don’t say it now I know I’ll mess it up later.”
“What is it?”
“I want to thank you for taking me out of my Jesse stupor..”
“Izz you don’t have to…”
“Yes, I do. You know better than anyone how horrible I’ve been acting lately. And there you are still sticking by me, and treating me like a normal girl.”
At this point she had followed a sign off the highway to stop at a gas station, and was now at a red light.
“Kyle, you made me feel like life is possible again, and I really needed that.”
She paused and looked at him intently and spoke her next sentence in his mind.
“It’s also a plus that your not so hard on the eyes.”
He smirked a tight-lipped smile, and responded back silently.
“I’m appalled at you Evans, you’re only interested in my body.”
“You’re also a great kisser.”
“Oh I am, am I?”
She smiled at him coyly.
“I’d continue this very intriguing conversation with you, but the lights been green for a while now.” He answered silently.
She looked up at the light and hit the gas pedal. Now, she had to speak aloud, because her connection with him had been lost.
“Thanks, I might never have started driving.”
“Don’t even joke about that, we’ve been driving forever. What a stupid idea I had going to New York, it’s just too damn far.”
Isabel looked up at the sign ahead and smiled.
“You guys look!”
It read, “Welcome to New Jersey.”
“We’re so close now.” Maria said happily from the back. Michael smiled just looking at her smile.
“Almost there Kyle.” Isabel said excitedly.
His facial expression went from happy to serious.
“Izz, when we get to New York, do you wanna go out on a date with me?”
“A date? Kyle we’ve known each other for a few years now, I think we’re passed the getting to know you stage.”
“I know… but you deserve to be treated like you’re in a real normal relationship. I wanna experience all of that beginning getting to know you stage with you.” He said quietly. “We could have a real “New York” day… maybe even a real New York night.” He added half joking half not.
“I’d love to.”
Kyle sat back in his seat and felt a wave of relief. His feelings were finally out in the open, and they had been well received. He slept peacefully for the next few hours better than he had in months.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Why us?
“Ok what the hell is going on here?!” Isabel said loudly pushing back her hair frantically. “So it’s not that Max and Liz were like given new memories, they were freakin’ cloned or something.”
“I’m going to uh you know get some, get some air.” Liz said pushing a chair aside loudly and darting out the door.
“I’m gonna go talk to her.” Maria said and ran out after her.
“That other Liz said that she was with Max, there’s another me out there, the one that you know” Max said coldly.
“If you and Liz got mixed up with some other people, and we all seem to have different memories from you, then there must be doubles of us too, the ones you know.” Michael said as the light bulb went off in his head.
“This is so surreal.” Kyle said with disbelief in his voice. “There’s another Kyle out there somewhere, I bet I’m the better looking one.”
Everyone gave him a dirty look for his joke at such a traumatic time, but Isabel smiled and held back a laugh. Kyle saw her expression and it made him feel good.
“I think I should go check on liz…” Max started as he walked towards the door.
“No wait… don’t” Kyle said grabbing his arm before he could go any further. “ If there’s anything I ever learned from being with Liz, it’s that when she’s upset Maria can always keep her calm...even if that’s not really the same Maria she’s used to… let them talk… it could be good for her."
Max reluctantly listened to Kyle and sat down anxiously.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
“Liz!” Maria yelled out running after her friend. Liz kept running down the hall as tears began to stream slowly down her cheeks.
“Liz! Liz…” Maria had caught up with her now and pulled her back gently from darting away.
“Ya know… I’m just tired…tired of all of this… this… alien invasion of my life. I love max and not a day do I regret anything any of us has done… but come on… I may not be real or something? Or like there’s another Liz out there feeling the same way I do… and she’s not real?! This is just so hard to take… it hurts.” She explained desperately, her brown eyes widening with sadness.
Maria hugged her silently. After a moment or two she spoke.
“It’s gonna be ok . We’ve been through a hell of a lot… I’m scared too… hell there’s another Maria out there as well, what’s up with that?! And another Michael?! Hmm that may not be so bad…” She said deliberately trying to make her sad friend smile. It worked.
“Now that’s what I like to see.” Maria said soothingly. “Come on lets go back inside.”
Liz nodded, and they walking slowly back to the room.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Maria and Liz entered the room with meek smiles and received meek smiles in return. Max walked over to Liz and hugged her quietly.
“So should we each call our “other” people and tell them so that when they get here we can all talk?” Isabel asked.
“I know I would want to know if I were in their position…wow that’s still totally creepy that I may be talking literally to myself soon.”
Kyle responded flabbergasted with a scrunched face.
Everyone exchanged similar looks and smiled.
Their moment was immediately interrupted by a knock at the door.
“Hey guys are you in there? Its us!” The voice of Liz sounded from the other side of the door.
“Oh my god what do we do?!” Liz whispered.
“I think we should go in the other room and let them explain what’s goin on.” Max answered quickly thinking on his feet. “I wouldn’t wanna walk in blinded and see myself standing there.”
“Guys?!” The voice again asked.
“Come on lets go!” Liz said motioning for Max to follow her into the other room.
After a lot of stifled commotion, Isabelle closed the door to the other room with a wave of her hand
*End of Episode*
Stay Tuned for Episode 6! I'm sorry it probably won't be posted as quick as the others, but enjoy this for now! =)
JRose
theywalkbesideus@yahoo.com
Last edited by JRose on Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:24 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Everywhere this love goes I will follow... I will follow...
Here ya go!
Episode 6
In a dream…
The crimson colored water surrounding them began to boil. Smoke and loud banging had been seen and heard for miles around, and all of Antars population was now in complete danger.
“Help me!!!” A voice cried sounding much too familiar.
Darting around to see her face, a distracting conversation diverted her attention.
“This would be different if they were here.”
“But they’re not! I cannot bring them back, I couldn’t bring myself back!”
“Well you better find a way child or we won’t need Kivar to do what was already done.”
She looked around impatiently trying to see where the conversation was taking place but the smoke clouded her vision. That voice, it was all too familiar.
She heard the girl yell once more but she couldn’t make it out. Weapons that she had never seen or imagined were all around, destructing every and any piece of architecture.
She was suddenly gripped by the frightened girl, blood was stained on her forehead and when she looked into her eyes, the familiarity of her voice not only made sense, it awoken something that shook her to the core.
“You have to help me.” Tess pleaded falling to her knees, her clothes torn and tattered.
She was shocked.
“How? What can I do?” she asked shakily, her voice noticeably quivering.
“You already know.” Tess replied and what little life she held onto became relatively non existant as she collapsed barely breathing at her feet.
A loud boom sounded from nearby.
Ava woke with a start.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Almost There
Maria had taken control of the wheel somewhere between New Jersey and New York and was feeling completely refreshed and renewed at the possibility of arriving to her new life. Kyle and Isabel were in the back acting awfully chatty and Michael seemed to be in a great mood. Maybe a little too great…
“Whats with that smile Guerin?” She asked as she gave him a quick glance and refocused her attention to the road ahead.
He laughed.
“Am I not allowed to smile once in a while? I have been known to do it, and I do believe you find it quite irresistible.”
She smiled coyly.
“Tis true… tis true”
He moved his body closer to her and tilted his head towards he ear.
“You look very sexy driving a van.” He whispered with a small smile. He knew what he was doing, he knew exactly what he was doing.
She felt a shiver go from her head to her toes.
“I know what you’re doing spaceboy, and it’s not working.” She replied in an even tone.
He lifted a finger and lightly brushed her hair away from her face. Barely moving, he brushed his bottom lip against the bottom of her neck to the tip of her ear.
“I haven’t the slightest idea of what you’re talking about.” he whispered, causing a tingling reaction that physically made her shiver.
After a moment of elation she returned to her even toned Maria voice.
“Oh you are just cruel…you are so trying to distract me, and I am not budging.” She proclaimed listing an eyebrow and facing straight ahead.
“Why would I do something like that?” He asked quietly, his hot breath touching her cheek.
“I don’t really know, but If you don’t stop I’m gonna end up crashing this van.” She replied with a smile.
He kissed her cheek softly and sat back into his seat.
“It was worth a shot.”
“What was?”
Facing forward he responded. “I figured if I could get to you, you’d volunteer to stop driving and we could end up alone in the back again.”
She laughed, “Michael, we have all the time in the world to be “together in the back”” she said as one finger air quoted her statement.
“I know.” He said and then turned to look at her. “But all the time in the world isn’t enough to make up for all the lost time I’ve caused.”
She was completely in aw of his transformation. She reached her right hand out and linked it with his.
“You don’t have to make up for anything…being with you now is all I need.” She picked up their linked hands and kissed the back of his hand sweetly. Michael smiled to himself and felt more comforted than he had in a long time.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Is that me?
Maria opened the door nervously, and sure enough Liz and Max stood before her. Silent gasps could almost be heard by everyone in the room.
“Maria!” Liz exclaimed loudly enveloping her friend in a hug. It wasn’t necessarily the fact that another Liz was waiting in the other room, or even the fact that she was hugging someone she’d known forever but was now confused by her touch…it was the simple truth that the girl who was happily hugging her had no idea what she was about to learn. The knowledge that Maria possessed was something she wished that she could put away somewhere for safekeeping and leave it gone forever. She hugged her back limply.
Liz had been leery about Marias behavior over the phone but was most definitely sure now that something was wrong. She looked searchingly into everyone’s eyes for answers but found the same emptiness in their expressions.
Max stood at her side clearly feeling the same reaction. They set the bags they were holding down on the floor beside them and quietly stared for an explanation. After a few seconds Max broke the ice.
“What’s goin on?”
His question was met with silence and everyones eyes darted away from his gaze.
“Seriously guys what’s wrong? We’re not stupid, we know when something’s wrong. I’m asking one more time, what’s goin on?” The seriousness of his tone was fit for any leader.
Hearing the entire conversation from the other room, the door creaked opened. Walking towards them was an exact replica of themselves. Liz gasped holding one hand to her mouth as the other held instinctively tighter onto Max’s arm, he took a step backward.
Everyone watched as Max and Liz emerged from the other room and stood before the Max and Liz that they had known.
“Stay back!” Max shouted taking another step backward. His reflection complied, holding his Liz’s hand tightly.
“I think I can explain what’s happened if you just give me a chance” Max tried to offer firmly but gently.
Max and Liz looked around with looks of horror on their faces.
“You guys knew about this and didn’t say anything?” Max demanded, clearly angry, and clearly scared.
Isabel walked over to him.
“Max calm do...”
“No!” he shouted. “I won’t calm down. I want to know why you didn’t think it was NEWSWORTHY to inform us that you are oh I dunno, HANGING OUT with two imposters!? They could be shape shifters for all we know!”
“I know it’s hard for you to listen to me but…”
“No! Do NOT talk to me, I don’t want to hear any of your lies.” Max shouted at the other Max. Liz was frightened hearing Maxs’ voice bellow from next to her. She could see clearly that the other Liz was just as afraid. It was at that moment that something clicked inside her.
“Oh my god…” She started and walked towards the other Max and Liz.
Max grabbed her arm.
“Liz, What are you doing?” The authority in his tone became more than just apparent.
She brushed his hand off of her arm lightly and walked towards the other Liz.
“You’re not a shape shifter are you?” She asked almost knowing the answer.
“No, I’m not. I’m just like you.”
Liz approached closer.
“… only we figured out not more than a few minutes ago that my memories are different from yours as of graduation day.”
Maxs’ distrust began to escape from his eyes.
Liz raised a hand meekly.
“May I?”
The other Liz smiled.
“Go ahead, I’ve wanted to do the same thing.”
Liz reached up and touched the side her arm, feeling the tiny birthmark that she was looking for.
“Wow.” She said with an amazed smile.
The other Liz, being forced to confront this situation had become much more calm and almost relaxed.
“I’m sorry.” Max apologized. “Its just that we’ve been through so much… I just assumed...”
“It’s ok.” The other Max said kindly. “I reacted pretty much the same way when I found out.”
“Ok we definitely need to give you guys nicknames so I don’t get anyone confused.” Maria joked.
“I second that.” Kyle answered raising his hand.
Isabelle laughed, and everyone smiled.
Quickly bringing them up to speed Max and Liz learned that not only did they have doubles, but so did Isabel, Kyle, Michael and Maria. They learned about the graduation memories from the other Max and Liz and how the others figured this all out with Raths unintentional help.
“Wow, I knew that we’d find something by coming here, but I didn’t think it would be this way.” Liz gushed. “I’m in shock… and kinda scared?”
“Scared isn’t quite the word I’d go with… it’s more like petrified, horrified…about to pee my pants...” Kyle started.
“We get the point.” Isabel interrupted in her usual sarcastic yet warm tone.
Liz walked over to sit down as the other Liz walked over to the other Max, and looked at him curiously.
Michael stood up.
“Um yea…about those nicknames…”
“You handle the nicknames.” Liz said with a laugh. “I’m gonna call the guys… well MY guys and let them know what hotel we’re at.”
“Should we tell them?” Michael asked.
“Nah, this is getting kinda fun, I wanna see their faces.” Kyle said with a laugh.
The room fell silent.
“Geez rough crowd.”
After a few minutes, Liz called to give them directions to the hotel but didn’t mention what had happened because no one could make up their mind. They reasoned that they’d have enough time to decide if this was worth a phone call or an in your face meeting with enough time to spare.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Theres Always a Silver Lining
A few hours later
“Aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Maria screamed causing everyone to wake up in the van.
“Jeez Maria what the hell happened?” Michael asked wiping the sleep away from his eyes.
Isabelle and Kyle looked groggily at them from the back.
“We’re here!!!!!!”
“Are you serious?!” Isabel asked excitedly.
“Believe me I would not joke about this…while ya’ll were sleeping I was stuck in some kind of warper traffic hell dimension…”
“Wow look how tall those buildings are.” Isabel gawked.
“Ok kiddies keep an eye out for a parking spot for this humongous thing, I want to get into a bed and under the covers stat.” Maria said making a left turn.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Michael smirk.
“I saw that Guerin.” She responded without moving.
His eyes widened. It always amazed him how she could see things from basically the back of her head. It didn’t help that he always made gestures by nature, so she was never easy on him.
“I’m starting to think that maybe you’re the alien.”
She laughed.
“Just look for parking, and if you’re good I’ll show you MY powers.”
He laughed and the parking hunt began. Little did they know that they were about to embark on a NY hunt that takes both skill and luck. It took over an hour of “almosts” and “damns” and “aww that was mines!,” but eventually they found a spot relatively close to the hotel.
“Wow it’s beautiful.” Maria said, two bags in tow. She began searching through her last call list and found Liz’s cell number. She pressed send.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Liz looked down at her phone.
“Well I’m guessing that answers the question to if we’re gonna tell them or not before they get here”
They had discussed it for a long time but when it came down to it they couldn’t make a concrete decision. Now they were forced to do what they had to.
The other Liz smirked silently to herself thinking how funny it was that even their phones were cloned.
“Hey Maria, um yeah we’ll meet you downstairs …carry stuff? …yeah…ok….bye.”
“Max will you help me carry some stuff and also maybe I don’t know…break the ice about the crazy alien situation?” She asked with a nervous smile.
“See you guys in a few.” Max said as they turned towards the door.
“Wait quick, nicknames!…um …ok the Max and Liz that we know that stayed with us in Roswell…they can be Max and Liz… and um…the Max and Liz that left Roswell and like came here to live, they can be Maxwell and Elizabeth?”
After making scrunched up faces at the sound of using their full names, they agreed and left the apartment to retrieve their friends.
The door closed slowly behind them.
“So we should all use nicknames and they should all use full names… you can be Izz, Mike, hmmm Mar and Ky does NOT sound good…” Kyle suggested with disgust.
Michael grimaced at the sound of being called Mike, Liz laughed at his expression.
“How about Margarita and Harvey?” Maria asked with a laugh.
“Oh my god I am so not gonna be called Harvey Wallbanger, that was cool in our like ONE night in Vegas, but I draw the line.” Kyle said laughing.
“Hmm… you know Ky isn’t THAT bad…”Isabel thought out loud.
“I guess it’s not…alright, I’ll be Ky, he can be Kyle…but what about you Maria?”
She thought for a moment.
“Damn it! What’s a name that me and my psuedo twin can both enjoy?!…” she asked with a laugh.
Michael answered. “You can be just M., and we’ll call her Maria.”
She scowled for a moment, but finally complied.
So there they were: M., Mike, Max, Liz, Izz, and Ky…things had never been stranger, but they also had never been more exciting. Questions swarmed around them, but lucky for them answers lurked nearby as well.
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Weight on Shoulders
Ava walked down the busy street, her mind clouded and her eyes red from crying. It began to feel like every time she closed her eyes, she saw Tess’s lifeless face urging her to do something important. She had enough Alien in her to know that what she saw wasn’t a figment of her imagination, it was real.
She didn’t know what she was supposed to do. She felt sad and alone, longing for someone to talk to as a tear slid down her cheek. She turned the corner, and there it was…the one thing she didn’t like about New York. It may be a busy city but she certainly ran into people that she didn’t want to see way too often.
“Well if it isn’t the quiet one.” Rath said walking straight up to her and wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
She brushed it off with a look of disgust.
“I’ll see you later Rath.” She started as she took a step forward. He stretched his arm out and grabbed hers.
“Where are you going in such a hurry?…and why do you look like shit?”
She gave him the evilest look of death that she could muster.
“You know why I still talk to you?”
He looked amused.
“No, why, enlighten me.”
“Oh that wasn’t a question that I have an answer to, I was hoping you could tell me.” She answered hotly walking away.
“Bitch!” He called after her “I’ll see you back home, we’ll see how you’re attitude is there!”
Home. The word went through her mind over and over and she walked. She never quite had a real home until the day she visited Roswell, and even there she was too uncomfortable with the situation to enjoy it.
Suddenly a vision hit her like a ton of bricks. She fell backward on the hard pavement and scraped her arms.
She saw a distant place, dark, black and vacant. It looked much like the place in her dream, only the water was gone, and the fighting was gone… only the sound of nothingness existed and it was terrifying. An alien symbol that she had never seen before was written with smoke on the ground. Immediately she knew what it meant.
She awoke from her vision. Looking around, she saw that no one had come to her aid, no one had even given her a second glance. She began to sob as the word came back into her head… Altered.
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“They’re taking a really long time down there… I bet they’re telling them.” M. speculated.
No sooner than he had spoken, the door opened loudly.
Wide open eyes and gaping mouths stood before them, and it took them a few seconds to adjust to the situation themselves. No matter how much they talked about it previously, nothing prepared them for seeing another version of themselves.
After a moment…
“Hey... So did they um… explain everything to you guys?” Ky asked outgoingly trying to take hold of the situation.
“Just the um twin part I guess… and that we’re all kinda the same person with different memories after leaving school… you know, I always knew that place was evil…” Kyle joked.
“This is just so surreal.” Maria said putting down the bags she was holding. She walked over to M. and Mike and looked at them curiously. “I must admit, the idea of two Michaels is pretty awesome…”
“That thought definitely crossed my mind about two copies of Maria.” Michael responded.
“Ditto.” Every guy said quickly. All the girls rolled their eyes and M. slapped him lightly on the back of the head with narrowed eyes.
“Ya know I have to say, I think we’re all taking this pretty well.” Maxwell supplied lightening the mood.
“I guess when you’ve been through what we’ve all been through... or rather what we all MOSTLY have been through… things like this start losing their shock value.” Elizabeth responded with a bit of sadness in her voice.
“That’s just horrible.” Kyle laughed.
They spent the next few minutes talking, and slowly the situation began to normalize…well at least a little.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m exhausted.” Isabelle said tiredly. “We’ve been driving for days and this is just too much for me to comprehend without some sleep.”
“Yea, I most definitely agree.” Kyle responded.
“I say we all do our unpacking thing, or get some rest and try to figure out what to do in the morning.” Izz suggested.
“I say we think of a better name for me than Mike.” Mike suggested sarcastically, ignoring her idea.
“Would you rather be called Mikey G?” M. asked accusingly.
“Mikes fine.”
“Alright then… Where’s my room?” she asked, talking to no one in particular.
It was a thought that hadn’t yet crossed their minds.
“I guess we’re sharing, we hadn’t really planned to get a place fit for 12 people…” Elizabeth said in mid thought.
“That should be interesting.” Max thought out loud. “How many bedrooms are there again?”
“Three.”
“Three… Ok so tomorrow morning we’ll look for another room but until then lets pull a “Real World” and just pick names out of a hat or something. Cool?” M. suggested.
“Oohh I’ll write the names!” Both Isabelle and Izz exclaimed at the same time.
They looked at each other with corny smiles.
“Great, two Christmas Nazi’s, and we’re giving them art and crafts.” Mike said sarcastically.
Isabel and Izz looked at each other and instinctively hit each of his arms as they walked by.
“Watch it Michael… I mean Mike.” Izz said carefully… “There’s two of me now and theres alotta slaps where that came from if you refer to either of us as the Christmas nazi again.”
“Yes sirs.” He said giving them a salute. They gave him the evil eye and then quickly turned to each other.
“I hope they have colored pens!”
“Me too, I wanna make little…”
“…designs on the papers…” she finished knowingly.
When they were out of sight… “Wow.” Kyle said in disbelief.
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*Authors Note* - for further reference if they have a full name… they are part of the group that left Roswell after Graduation. If it is a nickname of some kind they are part of the group that stayed in Roswell. This would have been a lot easier if this was seen and not written lol… but alas I doubt any of the actors are gonna stroll by to act out my script for zero money. lol
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Night Activity
Izz and Isabel took a bit longer than necessary making the little paper names for the drawing but nevertheless they were done.
Izz, Isabel, Max and Ky got the room on the left side. His eyebrow cocked at the idea of being in a room with two Isabels, but their collective responsive look shut that thought quickly down. Max looked away horrified at the thought. Maria, Liz, Mike and Kyle got the center room. An odd pairing they each thought silently, but began heading towards the room to unpack a bit and get settled. M., Michael, Maxwell and Elizabeth took the last room.
It’s all about the Room on the Left
“MMmmmm, a bed.” Isabel purred lying down with her arms spread wide as if she was making a snow Angel.
“Don’t get too comfy over there.” Ky commanded. “There’s four of us that are gonna have to sleep here and you can’t just take the whole bed.” He added with a smile.
She scowled and moved over to the left side, grabbing a pillow and bringing it close to her in an almost child-like manner.
“I call Shot gun!” Izz said lying next to her taking her own pillow into the same position.
Max and Ky exchanged a sympathetic look for themselves and began to prepare the floor for their nightlong presence.
“This is like a REALLY weird sleepover…” Ky said grabbing a blanket.
“You’re telling me…I’m sleeping with my sister, her clone and my girlfriends ex boyfriend?”
Ky laughed…
“That would be correct.”
“It feels so good to finally be lying down after driving for days.” Isabel said dreamily leaning over to look at everyone.
“This is still so weird to me.” Ky started, looking at Isabel. “How have you guys been in Roswell? I mean, you guys left…How has that been like?”
Izz and Max listened attentively wondering the same thing.
“Well its been kind of a big change. There’s been some really good things that come from it… and some drama, but that’s per the usual I guess.”
“What kind of big changes?” Max asked taking a sip of his water bottle.
She smiled and sat up a bit, excited about the interesting conversation.
“Well for starters you… or rather Maxwell got married to Li… Elizabeth.”
He nearly choked on his own water.
“Are you serious? They’re married?! How did I… he propose?”
“I’m a little surprised that you don’t know this… it happened before graduation when we were planning on leaving Roswell.”
He sat down sadly.
“That’s how it happened?…” He asked distantly. “ That’s not what happened on my end. I do remember proposing the day before graduation… but that night has been distorted in my mind ever since I sat in that damn auditorium…after graduation she decided that we were being irrational and that she wasn’t quite sure why I asked or why she accepted. She turned me down and we’ve been weird around each other up til very recently.”
Ky gave him a guy like slap on the back for support. He had felt badly for Max when it had happened and hated the ripple effect it had on the group.
“Wow that’s like night and day to their version. They’re still in that newlywed stage… definitely sickening at times.” Isabel laughed with a roll of her eyes.
Max looked out the window absentmindedly. No matter how much reasoning within himself told him that things will change, and that this is all happening for a reason… he couldn’t help but feel sorry for himself and the situation he was in. A pang of jealousy hit him hard as he wished it was him that got to experience what Maxwell did.
“So what’s your deal Izz?” Isabel questioned. “Is Jesse still involved in your life?”
Izz instantly felt a pang of guilt for not calling him right away, and for having such a good time with Kyle…
“He’s good… had a bit of a fight before I left, but that’s how being married is… you fight one day and the next…”
“You’re still married?!” she asked in shock.
“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” She asked ignoring the pang in her stomach that reminded her of the fight she had with him. He felt like he had left her for a new job… if they had other versions of themselves…maybe he did too. The realization came all too quick and it scared her.
“Well I’m not with him anymore… I left him behind on graduation day so that he could have a somewhat normal life…"
Izz was astounded. Was this what was supposed to have happened for her?
“You left him? Not the other way around?”
“Well at first, but when I thought maybe things could work out later on… I was brutally informed that that was just not going to happen…”
“Wait a minute hold on…then that means…” Ky said catching on.
“…Theres two versions of Jesse.”
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There’s No Place Like Home
“What are you doing here so late?” Lonnie asked in her usual bitchy tone, as Ava walked in the make shift door.
“Lay off aiight… I’m so sick of you two.” She brushed past them quickly but Rath threw a ton of books in her way with the wave of his hand.
“What’s your problem Ava?! You’ve been acting like such a bitch lately.” He demanded walking towards her.
Tears weld up in her eyes and it took all of her strength to hold a mind warp long enough to make them believe that she was still there. She quickly gathered her things and ran out the door. Her head ached from doing the warp and other things at the same time, but it was all she could do to get away. It soon faded and she began to run quickly down the street.
She didn’t know where she was headed but a strange familiarity took over as she walked. It was as if her body took over and her mind was just watching it happen. After many long city blocks she found herself looking up at a hotel she had never even noticed before called ‘The Hyperion’. Instinctively she knew that she needed to get inside. Checking the money she had been saving for a situation like this, she opened the sliding doors.
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Feedback is always appreciated!!!! =)
JRose @---->
Theywalkbesideus@yahoo.com
Episode 6
In a dream…
The crimson colored water surrounding them began to boil. Smoke and loud banging had been seen and heard for miles around, and all of Antars population was now in complete danger.
“Help me!!!” A voice cried sounding much too familiar.
Darting around to see her face, a distracting conversation diverted her attention.
“This would be different if they were here.”
“But they’re not! I cannot bring them back, I couldn’t bring myself back!”
“Well you better find a way child or we won’t need Kivar to do what was already done.”
She looked around impatiently trying to see where the conversation was taking place but the smoke clouded her vision. That voice, it was all too familiar.
She heard the girl yell once more but she couldn’t make it out. Weapons that she had never seen or imagined were all around, destructing every and any piece of architecture.
She was suddenly gripped by the frightened girl, blood was stained on her forehead and when she looked into her eyes, the familiarity of her voice not only made sense, it awoken something that shook her to the core.
“You have to help me.” Tess pleaded falling to her knees, her clothes torn and tattered.
She was shocked.
“How? What can I do?” she asked shakily, her voice noticeably quivering.
“You already know.” Tess replied and what little life she held onto became relatively non existant as she collapsed barely breathing at her feet.
A loud boom sounded from nearby.
Ava woke with a start.
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Almost There
Maria had taken control of the wheel somewhere between New Jersey and New York and was feeling completely refreshed and renewed at the possibility of arriving to her new life. Kyle and Isabel were in the back acting awfully chatty and Michael seemed to be in a great mood. Maybe a little too great…
“Whats with that smile Guerin?” She asked as she gave him a quick glance and refocused her attention to the road ahead.
He laughed.
“Am I not allowed to smile once in a while? I have been known to do it, and I do believe you find it quite irresistible.”
She smiled coyly.
“Tis true… tis true”
He moved his body closer to her and tilted his head towards he ear.
“You look very sexy driving a van.” He whispered with a small smile. He knew what he was doing, he knew exactly what he was doing.
She felt a shiver go from her head to her toes.
“I know what you’re doing spaceboy, and it’s not working.” She replied in an even tone.
He lifted a finger and lightly brushed her hair away from her face. Barely moving, he brushed his bottom lip against the bottom of her neck to the tip of her ear.
“I haven’t the slightest idea of what you’re talking about.” he whispered, causing a tingling reaction that physically made her shiver.
After a moment of elation she returned to her even toned Maria voice.
“Oh you are just cruel…you are so trying to distract me, and I am not budging.” She proclaimed listing an eyebrow and facing straight ahead.
“Why would I do something like that?” He asked quietly, his hot breath touching her cheek.
“I don’t really know, but If you don’t stop I’m gonna end up crashing this van.” She replied with a smile.
He kissed her cheek softly and sat back into his seat.
“It was worth a shot.”
“What was?”
Facing forward he responded. “I figured if I could get to you, you’d volunteer to stop driving and we could end up alone in the back again.”
She laughed, “Michael, we have all the time in the world to be “together in the back”” she said as one finger air quoted her statement.
“I know.” He said and then turned to look at her. “But all the time in the world isn’t enough to make up for all the lost time I’ve caused.”
She was completely in aw of his transformation. She reached her right hand out and linked it with his.
“You don’t have to make up for anything…being with you now is all I need.” She picked up their linked hands and kissed the back of his hand sweetly. Michael smiled to himself and felt more comforted than he had in a long time.
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Is that me?
Maria opened the door nervously, and sure enough Liz and Max stood before her. Silent gasps could almost be heard by everyone in the room.
“Maria!” Liz exclaimed loudly enveloping her friend in a hug. It wasn’t necessarily the fact that another Liz was waiting in the other room, or even the fact that she was hugging someone she’d known forever but was now confused by her touch…it was the simple truth that the girl who was happily hugging her had no idea what she was about to learn. The knowledge that Maria possessed was something she wished that she could put away somewhere for safekeeping and leave it gone forever. She hugged her back limply.
Liz had been leery about Marias behavior over the phone but was most definitely sure now that something was wrong. She looked searchingly into everyone’s eyes for answers but found the same emptiness in their expressions.
Max stood at her side clearly feeling the same reaction. They set the bags they were holding down on the floor beside them and quietly stared for an explanation. After a few seconds Max broke the ice.
“What’s goin on?”
His question was met with silence and everyones eyes darted away from his gaze.
“Seriously guys what’s wrong? We’re not stupid, we know when something’s wrong. I’m asking one more time, what’s goin on?” The seriousness of his tone was fit for any leader.
Hearing the entire conversation from the other room, the door creaked opened. Walking towards them was an exact replica of themselves. Liz gasped holding one hand to her mouth as the other held instinctively tighter onto Max’s arm, he took a step backward.
Everyone watched as Max and Liz emerged from the other room and stood before the Max and Liz that they had known.
“Stay back!” Max shouted taking another step backward. His reflection complied, holding his Liz’s hand tightly.
“I think I can explain what’s happened if you just give me a chance” Max tried to offer firmly but gently.
Max and Liz looked around with looks of horror on their faces.
“You guys knew about this and didn’t say anything?” Max demanded, clearly angry, and clearly scared.
Isabel walked over to him.
“Max calm do...”
“No!” he shouted. “I won’t calm down. I want to know why you didn’t think it was NEWSWORTHY to inform us that you are oh I dunno, HANGING OUT with two imposters!? They could be shape shifters for all we know!”
“I know it’s hard for you to listen to me but…”
“No! Do NOT talk to me, I don’t want to hear any of your lies.” Max shouted at the other Max. Liz was frightened hearing Maxs’ voice bellow from next to her. She could see clearly that the other Liz was just as afraid. It was at that moment that something clicked inside her.
“Oh my god…” She started and walked towards the other Max and Liz.
Max grabbed her arm.
“Liz, What are you doing?” The authority in his tone became more than just apparent.
She brushed his hand off of her arm lightly and walked towards the other Liz.
“You’re not a shape shifter are you?” She asked almost knowing the answer.
“No, I’m not. I’m just like you.”
Liz approached closer.
“… only we figured out not more than a few minutes ago that my memories are different from yours as of graduation day.”
Maxs’ distrust began to escape from his eyes.
Liz raised a hand meekly.
“May I?”
The other Liz smiled.
“Go ahead, I’ve wanted to do the same thing.”
Liz reached up and touched the side her arm, feeling the tiny birthmark that she was looking for.
“Wow.” She said with an amazed smile.
The other Liz, being forced to confront this situation had become much more calm and almost relaxed.
“I’m sorry.” Max apologized. “Its just that we’ve been through so much… I just assumed...”
“It’s ok.” The other Max said kindly. “I reacted pretty much the same way when I found out.”
“Ok we definitely need to give you guys nicknames so I don’t get anyone confused.” Maria joked.
“I second that.” Kyle answered raising his hand.
Isabelle laughed, and everyone smiled.
Quickly bringing them up to speed Max and Liz learned that not only did they have doubles, but so did Isabel, Kyle, Michael and Maria. They learned about the graduation memories from the other Max and Liz and how the others figured this all out with Raths unintentional help.
“Wow, I knew that we’d find something by coming here, but I didn’t think it would be this way.” Liz gushed. “I’m in shock… and kinda scared?”
“Scared isn’t quite the word I’d go with… it’s more like petrified, horrified…about to pee my pants...” Kyle started.
“We get the point.” Isabel interrupted in her usual sarcastic yet warm tone.
Liz walked over to sit down as the other Liz walked over to the other Max, and looked at him curiously.
Michael stood up.
“Um yea…about those nicknames…”
“You handle the nicknames.” Liz said with a laugh. “I’m gonna call the guys… well MY guys and let them know what hotel we’re at.”
“Should we tell them?” Michael asked.
“Nah, this is getting kinda fun, I wanna see their faces.” Kyle said with a laugh.
The room fell silent.
“Geez rough crowd.”
After a few minutes, Liz called to give them directions to the hotel but didn’t mention what had happened because no one could make up their mind. They reasoned that they’d have enough time to decide if this was worth a phone call or an in your face meeting with enough time to spare.
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Theres Always a Silver Lining
A few hours later
“Aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Maria screamed causing everyone to wake up in the van.
“Jeez Maria what the hell happened?” Michael asked wiping the sleep away from his eyes.
Isabelle and Kyle looked groggily at them from the back.
“We’re here!!!!!!”
“Are you serious?!” Isabel asked excitedly.
“Believe me I would not joke about this…while ya’ll were sleeping I was stuck in some kind of warper traffic hell dimension…”
“Wow look how tall those buildings are.” Isabel gawked.
“Ok kiddies keep an eye out for a parking spot for this humongous thing, I want to get into a bed and under the covers stat.” Maria said making a left turn.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Michael smirk.
“I saw that Guerin.” She responded without moving.
His eyes widened. It always amazed him how she could see things from basically the back of her head. It didn’t help that he always made gestures by nature, so she was never easy on him.
“I’m starting to think that maybe you’re the alien.”
She laughed.
“Just look for parking, and if you’re good I’ll show you MY powers.”
He laughed and the parking hunt began. Little did they know that they were about to embark on a NY hunt that takes both skill and luck. It took over an hour of “almosts” and “damns” and “aww that was mines!,” but eventually they found a spot relatively close to the hotel.
“Wow it’s beautiful.” Maria said, two bags in tow. She began searching through her last call list and found Liz’s cell number. She pressed send.
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Liz looked down at her phone.
“Well I’m guessing that answers the question to if we’re gonna tell them or not before they get here”
They had discussed it for a long time but when it came down to it they couldn’t make a concrete decision. Now they were forced to do what they had to.
The other Liz smirked silently to herself thinking how funny it was that even their phones were cloned.
“Hey Maria, um yeah we’ll meet you downstairs …carry stuff? …yeah…ok….bye.”
“Max will you help me carry some stuff and also maybe I don’t know…break the ice about the crazy alien situation?” She asked with a nervous smile.
“See you guys in a few.” Max said as they turned towards the door.
“Wait quick, nicknames!…um …ok the Max and Liz that we know that stayed with us in Roswell…they can be Max and Liz… and um…the Max and Liz that left Roswell and like came here to live, they can be Maxwell and Elizabeth?”
After making scrunched up faces at the sound of using their full names, they agreed and left the apartment to retrieve their friends.
The door closed slowly behind them.
“So we should all use nicknames and they should all use full names… you can be Izz, Mike, hmmm Mar and Ky does NOT sound good…” Kyle suggested with disgust.
Michael grimaced at the sound of being called Mike, Liz laughed at his expression.
“How about Margarita and Harvey?” Maria asked with a laugh.
“Oh my god I am so not gonna be called Harvey Wallbanger, that was cool in our like ONE night in Vegas, but I draw the line.” Kyle said laughing.
“Hmm… you know Ky isn’t THAT bad…”Isabel thought out loud.
“I guess it’s not…alright, I’ll be Ky, he can be Kyle…but what about you Maria?”
She thought for a moment.
“Damn it! What’s a name that me and my psuedo twin can both enjoy?!…” she asked with a laugh.
Michael answered. “You can be just M., and we’ll call her Maria.”
She scowled for a moment, but finally complied.
So there they were: M., Mike, Max, Liz, Izz, and Ky…things had never been stranger, but they also had never been more exciting. Questions swarmed around them, but lucky for them answers lurked nearby as well.
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Weight on Shoulders
Ava walked down the busy street, her mind clouded and her eyes red from crying. It began to feel like every time she closed her eyes, she saw Tess’s lifeless face urging her to do something important. She had enough Alien in her to know that what she saw wasn’t a figment of her imagination, it was real.
She didn’t know what she was supposed to do. She felt sad and alone, longing for someone to talk to as a tear slid down her cheek. She turned the corner, and there it was…the one thing she didn’t like about New York. It may be a busy city but she certainly ran into people that she didn’t want to see way too often.
“Well if it isn’t the quiet one.” Rath said walking straight up to her and wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
She brushed it off with a look of disgust.
“I’ll see you later Rath.” She started as she took a step forward. He stretched his arm out and grabbed hers.
“Where are you going in such a hurry?…and why do you look like shit?”
She gave him the evilest look of death that she could muster.
“You know why I still talk to you?”
He looked amused.
“No, why, enlighten me.”
“Oh that wasn’t a question that I have an answer to, I was hoping you could tell me.” She answered hotly walking away.
“Bitch!” He called after her “I’ll see you back home, we’ll see how you’re attitude is there!”
Home. The word went through her mind over and over and she walked. She never quite had a real home until the day she visited Roswell, and even there she was too uncomfortable with the situation to enjoy it.
Suddenly a vision hit her like a ton of bricks. She fell backward on the hard pavement and scraped her arms.
She saw a distant place, dark, black and vacant. It looked much like the place in her dream, only the water was gone, and the fighting was gone… only the sound of nothingness existed and it was terrifying. An alien symbol that she had never seen before was written with smoke on the ground. Immediately she knew what it meant.
She awoke from her vision. Looking around, she saw that no one had come to her aid, no one had even given her a second glance. She began to sob as the word came back into her head… Altered.
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“They’re taking a really long time down there… I bet they’re telling them.” M. speculated.
No sooner than he had spoken, the door opened loudly.
Wide open eyes and gaping mouths stood before them, and it took them a few seconds to adjust to the situation themselves. No matter how much they talked about it previously, nothing prepared them for seeing another version of themselves.
After a moment…
“Hey... So did they um… explain everything to you guys?” Ky asked outgoingly trying to take hold of the situation.
“Just the um twin part I guess… and that we’re all kinda the same person with different memories after leaving school… you know, I always knew that place was evil…” Kyle joked.
“This is just so surreal.” Maria said putting down the bags she was holding. She walked over to M. and Mike and looked at them curiously. “I must admit, the idea of two Michaels is pretty awesome…”
“That thought definitely crossed my mind about two copies of Maria.” Michael responded.
“Ditto.” Every guy said quickly. All the girls rolled their eyes and M. slapped him lightly on the back of the head with narrowed eyes.
“Ya know I have to say, I think we’re all taking this pretty well.” Maxwell supplied lightening the mood.
“I guess when you’ve been through what we’ve all been through... or rather what we all MOSTLY have been through… things like this start losing their shock value.” Elizabeth responded with a bit of sadness in her voice.
“That’s just horrible.” Kyle laughed.
They spent the next few minutes talking, and slowly the situation began to normalize…well at least a little.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m exhausted.” Isabelle said tiredly. “We’ve been driving for days and this is just too much for me to comprehend without some sleep.”
“Yea, I most definitely agree.” Kyle responded.
“I say we all do our unpacking thing, or get some rest and try to figure out what to do in the morning.” Izz suggested.
“I say we think of a better name for me than Mike.” Mike suggested sarcastically, ignoring her idea.
“Would you rather be called Mikey G?” M. asked accusingly.
“Mikes fine.”
“Alright then… Where’s my room?” she asked, talking to no one in particular.
It was a thought that hadn’t yet crossed their minds.
“I guess we’re sharing, we hadn’t really planned to get a place fit for 12 people…” Elizabeth said in mid thought.
“That should be interesting.” Max thought out loud. “How many bedrooms are there again?”
“Three.”
“Three… Ok so tomorrow morning we’ll look for another room but until then lets pull a “Real World” and just pick names out of a hat or something. Cool?” M. suggested.
“Oohh I’ll write the names!” Both Isabelle and Izz exclaimed at the same time.
They looked at each other with corny smiles.
“Great, two Christmas Nazi’s, and we’re giving them art and crafts.” Mike said sarcastically.
Isabel and Izz looked at each other and instinctively hit each of his arms as they walked by.
“Watch it Michael… I mean Mike.” Izz said carefully… “There’s two of me now and theres alotta slaps where that came from if you refer to either of us as the Christmas nazi again.”
“Yes sirs.” He said giving them a salute. They gave him the evil eye and then quickly turned to each other.
“I hope they have colored pens!”
“Me too, I wanna make little…”
“…designs on the papers…” she finished knowingly.
When they were out of sight… “Wow.” Kyle said in disbelief.
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*Authors Note* - for further reference if they have a full name… they are part of the group that left Roswell after Graduation. If it is a nickname of some kind they are part of the group that stayed in Roswell. This would have been a lot easier if this was seen and not written lol… but alas I doubt any of the actors are gonna stroll by to act out my script for zero money. lol
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Night Activity
Izz and Isabel took a bit longer than necessary making the little paper names for the drawing but nevertheless they were done.
Izz, Isabel, Max and Ky got the room on the left side. His eyebrow cocked at the idea of being in a room with two Isabels, but their collective responsive look shut that thought quickly down. Max looked away horrified at the thought. Maria, Liz, Mike and Kyle got the center room. An odd pairing they each thought silently, but began heading towards the room to unpack a bit and get settled. M., Michael, Maxwell and Elizabeth took the last room.
It’s all about the Room on the Left
“MMmmmm, a bed.” Isabel purred lying down with her arms spread wide as if she was making a snow Angel.
“Don’t get too comfy over there.” Ky commanded. “There’s four of us that are gonna have to sleep here and you can’t just take the whole bed.” He added with a smile.
She scowled and moved over to the left side, grabbing a pillow and bringing it close to her in an almost child-like manner.
“I call Shot gun!” Izz said lying next to her taking her own pillow into the same position.
Max and Ky exchanged a sympathetic look for themselves and began to prepare the floor for their nightlong presence.
“This is like a REALLY weird sleepover…” Ky said grabbing a blanket.
“You’re telling me…I’m sleeping with my sister, her clone and my girlfriends ex boyfriend?”
Ky laughed…
“That would be correct.”
“It feels so good to finally be lying down after driving for days.” Isabel said dreamily leaning over to look at everyone.
“This is still so weird to me.” Ky started, looking at Isabel. “How have you guys been in Roswell? I mean, you guys left…How has that been like?”
Izz and Max listened attentively wondering the same thing.
“Well its been kind of a big change. There’s been some really good things that come from it… and some drama, but that’s per the usual I guess.”
“What kind of big changes?” Max asked taking a sip of his water bottle.
She smiled and sat up a bit, excited about the interesting conversation.
“Well for starters you… or rather Maxwell got married to Li… Elizabeth.”
He nearly choked on his own water.
“Are you serious? They’re married?! How did I… he propose?”
“I’m a little surprised that you don’t know this… it happened before graduation when we were planning on leaving Roswell.”
He sat down sadly.
“That’s how it happened?…” He asked distantly. “ That’s not what happened on my end. I do remember proposing the day before graduation… but that night has been distorted in my mind ever since I sat in that damn auditorium…after graduation she decided that we were being irrational and that she wasn’t quite sure why I asked or why she accepted. She turned me down and we’ve been weird around each other up til very recently.”
Ky gave him a guy like slap on the back for support. He had felt badly for Max when it had happened and hated the ripple effect it had on the group.
“Wow that’s like night and day to their version. They’re still in that newlywed stage… definitely sickening at times.” Isabel laughed with a roll of her eyes.
Max looked out the window absentmindedly. No matter how much reasoning within himself told him that things will change, and that this is all happening for a reason… he couldn’t help but feel sorry for himself and the situation he was in. A pang of jealousy hit him hard as he wished it was him that got to experience what Maxwell did.
“So what’s your deal Izz?” Isabel questioned. “Is Jesse still involved in your life?”
Izz instantly felt a pang of guilt for not calling him right away, and for having such a good time with Kyle…
“He’s good… had a bit of a fight before I left, but that’s how being married is… you fight one day and the next…”
“You’re still married?!” she asked in shock.
“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” She asked ignoring the pang in her stomach that reminded her of the fight she had with him. He felt like he had left her for a new job… if they had other versions of themselves…maybe he did too. The realization came all too quick and it scared her.
“Well I’m not with him anymore… I left him behind on graduation day so that he could have a somewhat normal life…"
Izz was astounded. Was this what was supposed to have happened for her?
“You left him? Not the other way around?”
“Well at first, but when I thought maybe things could work out later on… I was brutally informed that that was just not going to happen…”
“Wait a minute hold on…then that means…” Ky said catching on.
“…Theres two versions of Jesse.”
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There’s No Place Like Home
“What are you doing here so late?” Lonnie asked in her usual bitchy tone, as Ava walked in the make shift door.
“Lay off aiight… I’m so sick of you two.” She brushed past them quickly but Rath threw a ton of books in her way with the wave of his hand.
“What’s your problem Ava?! You’ve been acting like such a bitch lately.” He demanded walking towards her.
Tears weld up in her eyes and it took all of her strength to hold a mind warp long enough to make them believe that she was still there. She quickly gathered her things and ran out the door. Her head ached from doing the warp and other things at the same time, but it was all she could do to get away. It soon faded and she began to run quickly down the street.
She didn’t know where she was headed but a strange familiarity took over as she walked. It was as if her body took over and her mind was just watching it happen. After many long city blocks she found herself looking up at a hotel she had never even noticed before called ‘The Hyperion’. Instinctively she knew that she needed to get inside. Checking the money she had been saving for a situation like this, she opened the sliding doors.
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Feedback is always appreciated!!!! =)
JRose @---->
Theywalkbesideus@yahoo.com
Last edited by JRose on Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Episode 7! newest update =)
Summary: Same summary... this chapter has some Major revelations!
Episode 7
Please give feedback it helps me push things along! lol
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A Twist of Fate
“One room please.” Ava said nervously to the woman behind the counter.
The woman eyed her outfit up and down before turning back to her computer.
“You’re in luck, we have a few rooms available, do you have any id on you?”
Ava felt extremely uncomfortable searching through her pockets for her id, feeling completely out of place in the nice hotel.
“Uh yeah… here you go… how much will this be?”
Seeing her vulnerability, the woman lightened up a bit.
“Well we have by the day charges, by a few days, or by weekly… what will it be hun?”
Ava didn’t know what she was doin really let alone how long she’d be there. All she knew was that she had to get away for a little while at the very least.
“I guess for a week then…but how much will that cost?”
“Lets see… 1 week…regular room… normally 400… I’ll let you slide for 200… don’t tell anyone.”
Ava smiled at her genuinely thankful.
“Thank you so much… I’m not usually…”
“Say no more… I’ve looked the way you look right now and I wish I had someone that would’ve helped me out now and then… here’s your key, my name is Carol, call down and ask for me if you need anything.”
“Thank you.” She replied taking the key card and headed towards the elevator.
Things were starting to look up for her and the elevator came up empty to her. No sooner than she had pressed the button, she started thinking again. What to do about her visions? Who could help her? What to do about Rath and Lonnie? Reaching her floor and opening her own room, she was too amazed and excited to think about it… at least for a few worthwhile minutes
There it was, her very own room, with a real bed and a real television and with a real mint on her pillow. She ran over to her bed and jumped on it, free falling back onto the soft mattress.
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It’s all about the room in the middle
After unpacking their things a bit, they had been sitting around the bed talking for about an hour.
“So yeah, in case anyone wasn’t gonna say it… this is totally weird seeing you, Mike in this room with me. I mean, you look just like Michael… it’s a weird feeling.” She gushed staring at his every curve.
He smiled, “Yeah it is… it’s almost like hmmm am I not supposed to be attracted to you?… I don’t really get it…”
She laughed.
“Yeah I don’t know… it’s just really, really weird.”
“Maria… can I ask you something?” Liz said interrupting the very awkward
conversation.
“What are your Max and Liz like... you know, around each other… sorry um, Maxwell and Elizabeth I mean?” She asked shyly with a small laugh.
“They’re allllll over each other, I mean every since they got married they are just like…”
“They’re married?!” Liz and Mike exclaimed at the same time.
“Yeah.” Kyles responded… they got married in this small little town pretty soon after we left Roswell and are like lovey dovey 24/7… it’s pretty sickening for us single folk.”
Liz sunk back onto the tower of pillows behind her. She knew things should’ve been better between her and Max… but she never imagined them to be that perfect. She felt a pang of jealousy, wishing that she had switched places with Elizabeth.
“What about my double? Ky? Does he have a nice hot girlfriend waiting for him back home?"
“Sorry bro, but I am starting to think you may have a thing for Izz… your double I mean…” Michael responded.
“Wow so that stuff just transcends through doubles huh?”
“Wait what are you saying?” Maria asked nosily, knowing the answer.
“Oh stop it… you know I do.” He responded, his cheeks becoming red with embarrassment.
“Hey, nothing to be ashamed of.” Liz said sweetly.’She’s a great catch and deserves someone as awesome as you.”
“Well thank you double Liz.”
“You’re quite welcome double Kyle.”
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It’s all about the room on the right
It seemed as if the second they had entered their room, Elizabeth had fallen asleep. It had been a long trip for her riding in that van, and no amount of sleep on it could compare to being in an actual bed. M. was also pretty tired and after putting some of her things away, she fell asleep next to her best friend… well sort of.
“I wish I could fall asleep like that.” Maxwell said nudging Michael and nodding in the direction of the bed.
“Yeah seriously… I am sooo tired, but I just can’t… I mean can you believe what’s going on?!”
“I agree... you want to take a walk or something? We can go explore our new neighborhood and talk.”
“Point me to the door.”
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It’s always in the dreams
Physically Ava tossed and turned in her comfortable bed, but interally she was having another vision in her sleep. This one was much more powerful, much more exhausting for her mortal body to handle. She began to sweat from all the movement.
“Help me!!!!!” Ava screamed in the middle of the cold nothingness surrounding her.
Tess lay faint at her feet and she crouched down to speak with her.
No one responded to her cry and she knew that Tess didn’t have much more time.
“Why are you coming to me? What can I do?” She asked pushing Tess’ hair away from her face.
She firmly grabbed hold of Avas arm.
“You have to … fix… what I’ve done.” She said shakily.
“What did you do?! How can I fix it?”
“Kivar… he did this to me… he …he did this!” She cried, her tears slowly turning into sobs.
“Sssshhh I’m here, tell me, what did he do?… and what did you do”
“He made two of me… he … he ruined my life…”
“What do you mean two of you? Do you mean me?”
“…No… he ... and the others… they didn’t accept me or the baby and they cloned me and sent one of my versions to them…”
“Who’s them?”
“Max… Max he sent me to Max…but he kept … he kept me here… and he tortured me… he’s still torturing me right NOW!” She yelled in pain.
Tesses eyes began to close tightly and her arm began to shake.
“No… stay with me Tess… where is your double now?”
“She’s… she’s dead. She sacrificed herself for the baby … and for Max …and the others…”
Ava felt everything beginning to make sense but still was unsure of what she wanted her to do. She ached watching an exact replica of herself in so much pain.
“How do you know that?”
“I felt it… Kivar… he showed me in a forced vision… he’s been sending me… visions nonstop… I can’t… I can’t take it anymore…”
“What can I do? How do I get you out of here?!”
“I don’t know… but you must know why he doubled me to fix… to fix what I’ve done…”
“Why did he do it?”
“It was a new… a new trick he had learned… he didn’t know what would come of it… only that he hoped that… that by sending me there… they would’nt come look for me …so they could continue to … to ruin our home here… and destroy everything…he didn’t know the effects… he didn’t care…”
“What can I do… Tess I need to get you out of here… help me… how can I do that?”
“I think… I think it’s too … too late for me… but… Ava… you have to fix what I’ve done…please…”
“What is it?! What have you done?”
Ava felt herself shouting. With that… she screamed loudly in her bed and woke up.
Her body was immensed in sweat and she had goosebumps all over. She got up quickly taking a cold shower and got dressed. She grabbed her jacket and headed for the elevator. As she opened her door, another vision hit her, causing her to fall forwards onto the floor, the door closing behind her. She lay sprawled on the floor in the middle of the hallways, helpless.
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Just a little fresh air
“Oh man I needed that.” Michael said rubbing his cold hands together. “Thanks for the idea Maxwell.”
“No problem, I think I may even be able to get some sleep now… I hope.”
Michael smiled and as Max pressed the button for the elevator he realized that he had pressed the wrong floor.
“Damn, I pressed 4th floor instead of 5th.”
“It’s fine… I’m in no hurry.” Michael said about to push the button for 5 as the door opened.
Something in the distant hallway caught Maxwells eye.
“Wait!” he said holding the door open. “Look, someones on the floor!”
Michael hesitated for a second, he knew it was wrong but survival was always the first thing his body responded to.
They ran over to the small girls body.
“Oh my god it’s Tess… no no no it’s that girl… Ava!” Michael stammered.
Maxwell held onto her face and knelt down to her.
“She’s still breathing…wake up Ava.” He said lightly tapping her cheek.
“Wake up…”
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“I can’t take these visions Tess.” Ava complained subconsciously.
“I’m …I’m sorry… but I don’t know if I will make it… you… you have to fix what I’ve done…”
“Tell me what to do…” Ava said slightly dizzy from the way too quick vision.
“ They were torturing me so much… I didn’t know what else to do… I mind warped myself into this room where … where Kivar and his men were. I heard how they doubled me… and then…” her voice trailed off, and her eyes closed.
“And then what.… what Tess?”
“I… doubled them…”
“Who Kivar?!”
“No… Max… the royal four on earth…and their friends”
“Why?! Why would you do that?! What does that even mean for them?!” Ava asked hotly.
“I was... I was desperate… I thought it was the only… the only way someone could figure out what had happened… to me… that maybe… that maybe they would figure it out and save me… but it’s … I think it’s too late.”
Ava was fuming, saddened and scared all at the same time. Knowing that the effects were unknown, Tess had purposely endangered the lives of the royal four. It was wrong. At the same time… she understood her predicament… and wondered what she herself would have done in her situation. She decided to save the lecture for the possibly dying figure next to her.
“What does this mean? Are they a set to be rejoined? Are they two separate people completely?”
“I… I’m not sure…here…” She said reaching into her pocket. She handed Ava some papers with Antarian language on it.
“This… this will help you… I’m… I’m sorry…”
As she watched Tess take in what seemed to be her last few breaths… she heard someone calling her name in the distance.
“Ava?!…Ava?!… you have to wake up Ava!…”
She kissed Tesses head and walked towards the voice.
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“Come on Ava…” Maxwell said in a quiet shout.
It was getting harder for them to keep the situation silent, for fear that someone would hear them.
Michael searched her pocket hoping to find a key and finally opened the door to her hotel room. Maxwell carried her inside and laid her gently on the bed.
“Come on Ava…” he said once more, getting frustrated. He put his hand on her stomach and began to try his powers.
Her eyes fluttered slowly open, and he let go abruptly. She immediately was shocked by her surroundings.
“Zan?” She asked groggily.
“No… it’s Max, and Michael…are you alright?”
“Yeah.,” she said slowly sitting up. “I think so.” It took a moment but her vision came back to her… she recalled all the information that she had just received from Tess.
Suddenly her demeanor became more urgent and alert.
“Thank god you found me… I needed to speak with you.” She said grabbing his arm.
“What’s wrong?” Michael asked
“You all have doubles… you you’re not all who you think you are…”
“We know.” Max said assuringly… we just found out… all 12 of us are here at the hotel… how did you know?… do you know something that could help us?” He began to ask with more urgency.
She nodded.
“Lets bring her back to our place and wake everyone… Ava will you please come back with us and talk to everyone?” Maxwell asked
The frightened look on her face couldn’t be ignored.
“It’s alright. You don’t have to be afraid… it’s just us… only with a few more familiar faces.” Michael said with a small smile, urging her to feel more comfortable with the situation.
She smiled and walked with them back to their hotel room.
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Maxwell turned on the light in his room, waking up Elizabeth and M. instantly.
“What’s goin on?” Elizabeth asked reluctantly wiping the sleep from her eyes.
“Meet us in the living room ok?” I’ll be right back.
“That’s a little weird.” M. said getting up slowly.
“What isn’t lately?”
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“Rise and shine guys.” Michael said loudly to the bedroom next door.
Mike awoke first, and tapped the others.
“Meet us in my room ok? I’ll be there.” He said and left quickly.
As they walked over, it was all Maria could take not to grab Mikes hand in hers. He felt the same.
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Michael and Maxwell both met at the same time in the first room. Michael turned on the lights as Maxwell woke both Isabelle’s gently. Izz woke up Max and Ky, and the 6 of them walked over together to Maxwells room.
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The Conversation
They all sat groggily and curiously in the living room until the rest of them entered.
“What’s going on Michael?” Maria asked nervously.
He motioned for Maxwell to get Ava from the other room. She walked out slowly and gasped when she saw the royal four and it’s doubles. It was even more shocking than the first time she saw their own second set in Roswell. It was definitely an odd feeling knowing that this was now the third group of people that looked like her and her own. Looking at them all made her wish silently that she was a part of them and not someone who was associated with Lonnie and Rath.
The entire group gasped as well, shocked to see Ava.
“What’s she doing here?” Max asked firmly.
“It’s alright,” Maxwell answered. “She’s here to help… we found her past out one floor below us. She knew about our situation and when she said she thinks she could help us, I brought her here…. Ava are you alright to talk now?” She nodded.
Max sat up straight eager to hear what she had to say.
“Hey,” She said with a nervous laugh as all 12 of them watched her. “ I know ya must not want to see me too much , especially since I look so much like… her.”
“We won’t hold it against you.” Isabel said with a warm smile.
“So well I guess I should tell you that I’ve been getting some very powerful visions lately. The last one I had knocked me out completely… thank you for helping me.” She said in Maxwell and Michaels direction. They each nodded in acknowledgement.
“My visions kept showing me Antar. The first showed it in complete chaos… the crimson colored water that I had remembered once was boiling, and there was fighting everywhere. In the midst of it all, I saw Tess.”
“Wait, what?!” Ky asked confusedly. “That’s impossible, Tess is dead.”
“No… Tess was very much alive and in pain. She came to me and collapsed at my feet.” The memory brought a tear to her eye. “She said that Kivar had made a double of her and sent her other half to you guys… to keep you from looking for the Tess he had kept to torture.”
“Why didn’t she say anything?” M. asked clearly not understanding what was going on.
“Because she was just like us… same memories as Tess… she probably didn’t even know she was a clone… I didn’t, neither did any of you.” Elizabeth reasoned, starting to catch on.
“Yes.” Ava replied. “ My final vision of her that I just had… I think she may have died.”
Both Maxwell and Max felt a slight pang of hurt. While they both had deep hatred for her and all she had done… they were still linked to her in a primal way.
“ Before I felt her leave me… she told me about your situation… that it is her fault…”
Instantly both Max’s refelt their hatred for her.
“What do you mean, her fault?” Liz asked becoming agitated. If anything was to go wrong it seemed that Tess was always behind it somehow.
“Now this is the part where I’m ashamed to be a carbon copy of her myself, so don’t like start throwing rocks at me or anything…she’s the one who doubled you…”
It took a minute of scowling and anger to be released amongst everyone before she could continue.
“Of course, who else!?”
“That little blonde piece of…”
“I can’t believe her…”
“Why would she? How could she?…”
Ava spoke loudly to regrasp their attention.
“She told me that she was being tortured by Kivar and his men… she learned how he did what he did.. and did the same to you guys… hoping that you would figure out what happened eventually and rescue her… it’s selfish I know… It was wrong I know… but she was being tortured… you should have seen her.”
Silence overcame the room.
“Where do we go from here?” Kyle asked quietly.
“I asked her the effects on what she’s done… she said they’re unknown. I couldn’t find out if you are supposed to be like reunited or something… or really what to do about it… but she handed me some papers in the vision…” Her voice trailed off as something inside her made her check her pocket.
There it was. She reached in and pulled out the roll of paper written in Antarian language.
“Is that what she handed you?” Mike asked getting up and walking over to her.
She was stunned.
“I can’t believe you were able to bring something back with you from your vision.” Izz said in disbelief.
“I can.” Isabel replied matter of factly. “ I know the people who drove with me here already know this, but I had my own vision that I was waiting to tell you all about. I figured we were going through enough.”
Ava handed the papers over to Michael who looked at them intently.
“What vision?” Max asked curiously.
“Well, I saw Alex…”
“You saw Alex?!” Liz asked with widened eyes.
“Yes… I had a vision, and he showed me things, things that I could be doing with my powers, things that are yet to come…”
“That’s amazing.” M. said in shock “How is he?”
“He’s good.” She said with a smile “You know Alex, he’s always holding us together, even when hes not here.”
Maxwell put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her, knowing that this must be hard to talk about. She turned to him.
“Max… Um Maxwell I mean… you were already at this hotel… I didn’t want to tell you over the phone, but there’s just so much I learned from him. For example…” she stopped talking and looked at him intently. “I can talk to you in your thoughts.” She said silently.
He was taken aback but responded silently
“That’s amazing Isabelle.” Breaking the connection, she spoke aloud to everyone…
“I learned how to talk to people in their thoughts, they can even respond back.” She said excitedly. “I’m even going to learn how to develop my powers enough to teleport!” Everyone was impressed.
“Alex also told me about some scrolls… he showed me where they were buried and that when Michael puts them together he’ll be able to do something very important with his powers.”
“That’s so awesome.” Mike said with a smile. “I guess I might be important after all.”
Michael laughed.
“That’s exactly the same sentence I said when I found out.”
“Also, Max, I was able to visually see the pressure you about to be under… there’s much more leadership in your future than you realize. More hard decisions… life altering ones…”
Before Max or Maxwell could respond, Ava interrupted loudly.
“That’s it! That’s the word I had in one of my visions recently, altered… I didn’t really know what to make of it… but it must have something to do with all of you being doubled… is it possible Max… or Maxwell.… or both of you will have to make a decision deciding the fate of you and your doubles?”
The thought was too much.
“I think I’ll try and forget that part for a while until I need to.” Max said trying to find humor out of the darkened situation. Maxwell nodded in agreement with a small smile.
“Anyway, the reason I started telling you this now, was because I also got something in my vision… I’m sorry for not mentioning it before.”
She pulled the chain out from underneath her shirt and handed the silver trinket to Ava.
“Alex told me that it belonged to Zan… I wasn’t really sure at the time why he gave it to me, but seeing you here… I know it was meant to be given to you.”
Ava took the necklace with the Antarian symbol for “forever” and put it on her own neck. She looked down at it lovingly.
“It’s 4 am.” Izz said looking at her cell phone for the first time since she got there.
“Oh my god I still haven’t called Jesse!” she exclaimed as she saw the listing of 15 missed calls on her tiny blue screen. She got up quickly and went to her room to call privately.
“I’m guessing they’re still together…” Maria said with a laugh… then quickly felt guilty after looking in Isabels direction.
“Time to call it a night?” Michael asked trying to break the tension.
Everyone nodded exhaustedly.
“Hey… I know it aint much but I have some extra room if anyone wants to stay with me… I see that some of you are cramping together sleeping on the floor.”
“I’ll stay with you.” M. volunteered. “That way Elizabeth and Maxwell can share at least.”
“And that I get to sleep on the floor while the married couple makes out all night? “I think I’ll come with too.” Michael said getting up.
He walked over to Maria and kissed her sweetly before leaving. He knew that even though he was leaving with a part of her… that she was still feeling jealous. The kiss melted away her insecurities… momentarily at least.
“Hey we’re not animals… we do not make out all the time…” Elizabeth said trying to sound convincing.
“Rigghtt!” M. said leaving the room… “Wait a minute?! What?! You guys are married?!!! I need more information!”
Michael pushed her gently out the room, ‘I’ll explain, lets just go get some sleep.”
Everyone headed to bed.
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Livin life like a Ninja turtle
“Where the hell did she go?!” Rath shouted, rather than asked Lonnie as he threw a book at the wall of the sewer tunnel with the wave of his hand.
“Will you just relax babe, whadda you care what happened to that thorn in our side?”
“She may have been a thorn in our side.” He started shoving his face dangerously close to hers. “But she was one of us… we’re already down one and you know that mind warp crap is killer when we need it.”
“Alright so whaddya wanna do go put up signs on the lampposts outside?” She asked sarcastically.
“Watch your mouth, I got a right mind to go back to that Maria chick and show you sumin who know you’d be missin.”
“Listen , I‘ve had enough of your threats.” She said pushing him back on the seraded and patched up couch. She straddled him and whispered in his ear seductively.
“You do what you want, but know that you won’t find anyone else like me.”
He looked up at her clearly convinced.
“Now do you wanna keep talking about this Ava chick or do you wanna stop talking altogether right now, with me?” She asked quietly again in his ear.
He grabbed her face with his right hand and brought her lips roughly to his. A moan escaped her lips and she knew right then and there that this Maria phase was over.
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2 Hours later…
Rath rolled over exhausted and sweaty.
“You are good, I’ll give you that.” He said breathily.
“And don’t forget it again.” She said kissing him lightly on the lips.
As much as she hated to show it, her hard exterior was just a product of how she grew up… she really did love Rath, and really wasn’t always mean hearted. She just didn’t know how else to express her feelings. With him, she knew she had to be tough, but it was getting old.
She began to get up.
“Where you goin babe?”
“No where, just thought I’d get dressed, maybe get a head start on the old Ava hunt.”
“I thought you didn’t care about that.” He said accusingly in his cute sarcastic way.
“I’m sorry about that… we really should look for her…”
“Are you saying I was right?”
“Don’t hurt your head with that big ego, and lets just go.” She sighed.
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The next morning
Ava woke up in her big fluffy bed next to M. with Michael on the floor still sleeping. The sun shone on her face and the feeling was indescribable. For a moment she felt at home. She was feeling like part of the group and was excited about figuring out how to help her new friends.
She got dressed and looked in the mirror admiring the necklace Zan had always worn. She traced her fingers over it slightly and to her dismay, it began to glow…
Stay tuned for episode 8
Feedback is always appreciated!!!! =)
JRose
theywalkbesideus@yahoo.com
http://www.freewebs.com/theywalkbesideus
Episode 7
Please give feedback it helps me push things along! lol
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A Twist of Fate
“One room please.” Ava said nervously to the woman behind the counter.
The woman eyed her outfit up and down before turning back to her computer.
“You’re in luck, we have a few rooms available, do you have any id on you?”
Ava felt extremely uncomfortable searching through her pockets for her id, feeling completely out of place in the nice hotel.
“Uh yeah… here you go… how much will this be?”
Seeing her vulnerability, the woman lightened up a bit.
“Well we have by the day charges, by a few days, or by weekly… what will it be hun?”
Ava didn’t know what she was doin really let alone how long she’d be there. All she knew was that she had to get away for a little while at the very least.
“I guess for a week then…but how much will that cost?”
“Lets see… 1 week…regular room… normally 400… I’ll let you slide for 200… don’t tell anyone.”
Ava smiled at her genuinely thankful.
“Thank you so much… I’m not usually…”
“Say no more… I’ve looked the way you look right now and I wish I had someone that would’ve helped me out now and then… here’s your key, my name is Carol, call down and ask for me if you need anything.”
“Thank you.” She replied taking the key card and headed towards the elevator.
Things were starting to look up for her and the elevator came up empty to her. No sooner than she had pressed the button, she started thinking again. What to do about her visions? Who could help her? What to do about Rath and Lonnie? Reaching her floor and opening her own room, she was too amazed and excited to think about it… at least for a few worthwhile minutes
There it was, her very own room, with a real bed and a real television and with a real mint on her pillow. She ran over to her bed and jumped on it, free falling back onto the soft mattress.
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It’s all about the room in the middle
After unpacking their things a bit, they had been sitting around the bed talking for about an hour.
“So yeah, in case anyone wasn’t gonna say it… this is totally weird seeing you, Mike in this room with me. I mean, you look just like Michael… it’s a weird feeling.” She gushed staring at his every curve.
He smiled, “Yeah it is… it’s almost like hmmm am I not supposed to be attracted to you?… I don’t really get it…”
She laughed.
“Yeah I don’t know… it’s just really, really weird.”
“Maria… can I ask you something?” Liz said interrupting the very awkward
conversation.
“What are your Max and Liz like... you know, around each other… sorry um, Maxwell and Elizabeth I mean?” She asked shyly with a small laugh.
“They’re allllll over each other, I mean every since they got married they are just like…”
“They’re married?!” Liz and Mike exclaimed at the same time.
“Yeah.” Kyles responded… they got married in this small little town pretty soon after we left Roswell and are like lovey dovey 24/7… it’s pretty sickening for us single folk.”
Liz sunk back onto the tower of pillows behind her. She knew things should’ve been better between her and Max… but she never imagined them to be that perfect. She felt a pang of jealousy, wishing that she had switched places with Elizabeth.
“What about my double? Ky? Does he have a nice hot girlfriend waiting for him back home?"
“Sorry bro, but I am starting to think you may have a thing for Izz… your double I mean…” Michael responded.
“Wow so that stuff just transcends through doubles huh?”
“Wait what are you saying?” Maria asked nosily, knowing the answer.
“Oh stop it… you know I do.” He responded, his cheeks becoming red with embarrassment.
“Hey, nothing to be ashamed of.” Liz said sweetly.’She’s a great catch and deserves someone as awesome as you.”
“Well thank you double Liz.”
“You’re quite welcome double Kyle.”
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It’s all about the room on the right
It seemed as if the second they had entered their room, Elizabeth had fallen asleep. It had been a long trip for her riding in that van, and no amount of sleep on it could compare to being in an actual bed. M. was also pretty tired and after putting some of her things away, she fell asleep next to her best friend… well sort of.
“I wish I could fall asleep like that.” Maxwell said nudging Michael and nodding in the direction of the bed.
“Yeah seriously… I am sooo tired, but I just can’t… I mean can you believe what’s going on?!”
“I agree... you want to take a walk or something? We can go explore our new neighborhood and talk.”
“Point me to the door.”
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It’s always in the dreams
Physically Ava tossed and turned in her comfortable bed, but interally she was having another vision in her sleep. This one was much more powerful, much more exhausting for her mortal body to handle. She began to sweat from all the movement.
“Help me!!!!!” Ava screamed in the middle of the cold nothingness surrounding her.
Tess lay faint at her feet and she crouched down to speak with her.
No one responded to her cry and she knew that Tess didn’t have much more time.
“Why are you coming to me? What can I do?” She asked pushing Tess’ hair away from her face.
She firmly grabbed hold of Avas arm.
“You have to … fix… what I’ve done.” She said shakily.
“What did you do?! How can I fix it?”
“Kivar… he did this to me… he …he did this!” She cried, her tears slowly turning into sobs.
“Sssshhh I’m here, tell me, what did he do?… and what did you do”
“He made two of me… he … he ruined my life…”
“What do you mean two of you? Do you mean me?”
“…No… he ... and the others… they didn’t accept me or the baby and they cloned me and sent one of my versions to them…”
“Who’s them?”
“Max… Max he sent me to Max…but he kept … he kept me here… and he tortured me… he’s still torturing me right NOW!” She yelled in pain.
Tesses eyes began to close tightly and her arm began to shake.
“No… stay with me Tess… where is your double now?”
“She’s… she’s dead. She sacrificed herself for the baby … and for Max …and the others…”
Ava felt everything beginning to make sense but still was unsure of what she wanted her to do. She ached watching an exact replica of herself in so much pain.
“How do you know that?”
“I felt it… Kivar… he showed me in a forced vision… he’s been sending me… visions nonstop… I can’t… I can’t take it anymore…”
“What can I do? How do I get you out of here?!”
“I don’t know… but you must know why he doubled me to fix… to fix what I’ve done…”
“Why did he do it?”
“It was a new… a new trick he had learned… he didn’t know what would come of it… only that he hoped that… that by sending me there… they would’nt come look for me …so they could continue to … to ruin our home here… and destroy everything…he didn’t know the effects… he didn’t care…”
“What can I do… Tess I need to get you out of here… help me… how can I do that?”
“I think… I think it’s too … too late for me… but… Ava… you have to fix what I’ve done…please…”
“What is it?! What have you done?”
Ava felt herself shouting. With that… she screamed loudly in her bed and woke up.
Her body was immensed in sweat and she had goosebumps all over. She got up quickly taking a cold shower and got dressed. She grabbed her jacket and headed for the elevator. As she opened her door, another vision hit her, causing her to fall forwards onto the floor, the door closing behind her. She lay sprawled on the floor in the middle of the hallways, helpless.
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Just a little fresh air
“Oh man I needed that.” Michael said rubbing his cold hands together. “Thanks for the idea Maxwell.”
“No problem, I think I may even be able to get some sleep now… I hope.”
Michael smiled and as Max pressed the button for the elevator he realized that he had pressed the wrong floor.
“Damn, I pressed 4th floor instead of 5th.”
“It’s fine… I’m in no hurry.” Michael said about to push the button for 5 as the door opened.
Something in the distant hallway caught Maxwells eye.
“Wait!” he said holding the door open. “Look, someones on the floor!”
Michael hesitated for a second, he knew it was wrong but survival was always the first thing his body responded to.
They ran over to the small girls body.
“Oh my god it’s Tess… no no no it’s that girl… Ava!” Michael stammered.
Maxwell held onto her face and knelt down to her.
“She’s still breathing…wake up Ava.” He said lightly tapping her cheek.
“Wake up…”
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“I can’t take these visions Tess.” Ava complained subconsciously.
“I’m …I’m sorry… but I don’t know if I will make it… you… you have to fix what I’ve done…”
“Tell me what to do…” Ava said slightly dizzy from the way too quick vision.
“ They were torturing me so much… I didn’t know what else to do… I mind warped myself into this room where … where Kivar and his men were. I heard how they doubled me… and then…” her voice trailed off, and her eyes closed.
“And then what.… what Tess?”
“I… doubled them…”
“Who Kivar?!”
“No… Max… the royal four on earth…and their friends”
“Why?! Why would you do that?! What does that even mean for them?!” Ava asked hotly.
“I was... I was desperate… I thought it was the only… the only way someone could figure out what had happened… to me… that maybe… that maybe they would figure it out and save me… but it’s … I think it’s too late.”
Ava was fuming, saddened and scared all at the same time. Knowing that the effects were unknown, Tess had purposely endangered the lives of the royal four. It was wrong. At the same time… she understood her predicament… and wondered what she herself would have done in her situation. She decided to save the lecture for the possibly dying figure next to her.
“What does this mean? Are they a set to be rejoined? Are they two separate people completely?”
“I… I’m not sure…here…” She said reaching into her pocket. She handed Ava some papers with Antarian language on it.
“This… this will help you… I’m… I’m sorry…”
As she watched Tess take in what seemed to be her last few breaths… she heard someone calling her name in the distance.
“Ava?!…Ava?!… you have to wake up Ava!…”
She kissed Tesses head and walked towards the voice.
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“Come on Ava…” Maxwell said in a quiet shout.
It was getting harder for them to keep the situation silent, for fear that someone would hear them.
Michael searched her pocket hoping to find a key and finally opened the door to her hotel room. Maxwell carried her inside and laid her gently on the bed.
“Come on Ava…” he said once more, getting frustrated. He put his hand on her stomach and began to try his powers.
Her eyes fluttered slowly open, and he let go abruptly. She immediately was shocked by her surroundings.
“Zan?” She asked groggily.
“No… it’s Max, and Michael…are you alright?”
“Yeah.,” she said slowly sitting up. “I think so.” It took a moment but her vision came back to her… she recalled all the information that she had just received from Tess.
Suddenly her demeanor became more urgent and alert.
“Thank god you found me… I needed to speak with you.” She said grabbing his arm.
“What’s wrong?” Michael asked
“You all have doubles… you you’re not all who you think you are…”
“We know.” Max said assuringly… we just found out… all 12 of us are here at the hotel… how did you know?… do you know something that could help us?” He began to ask with more urgency.
She nodded.
“Lets bring her back to our place and wake everyone… Ava will you please come back with us and talk to everyone?” Maxwell asked
The frightened look on her face couldn’t be ignored.
“It’s alright. You don’t have to be afraid… it’s just us… only with a few more familiar faces.” Michael said with a small smile, urging her to feel more comfortable with the situation.
She smiled and walked with them back to their hotel room.
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Maxwell turned on the light in his room, waking up Elizabeth and M. instantly.
“What’s goin on?” Elizabeth asked reluctantly wiping the sleep from her eyes.
“Meet us in the living room ok?” I’ll be right back.
“That’s a little weird.” M. said getting up slowly.
“What isn’t lately?”
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“Rise and shine guys.” Michael said loudly to the bedroom next door.
Mike awoke first, and tapped the others.
“Meet us in my room ok? I’ll be there.” He said and left quickly.
As they walked over, it was all Maria could take not to grab Mikes hand in hers. He felt the same.
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Michael and Maxwell both met at the same time in the first room. Michael turned on the lights as Maxwell woke both Isabelle’s gently. Izz woke up Max and Ky, and the 6 of them walked over together to Maxwells room.
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The Conversation
They all sat groggily and curiously in the living room until the rest of them entered.
“What’s going on Michael?” Maria asked nervously.
He motioned for Maxwell to get Ava from the other room. She walked out slowly and gasped when she saw the royal four and it’s doubles. It was even more shocking than the first time she saw their own second set in Roswell. It was definitely an odd feeling knowing that this was now the third group of people that looked like her and her own. Looking at them all made her wish silently that she was a part of them and not someone who was associated with Lonnie and Rath.
The entire group gasped as well, shocked to see Ava.
“What’s she doing here?” Max asked firmly.
“It’s alright,” Maxwell answered. “She’s here to help… we found her past out one floor below us. She knew about our situation and when she said she thinks she could help us, I brought her here…. Ava are you alright to talk now?” She nodded.
Max sat up straight eager to hear what she had to say.
“Hey,” She said with a nervous laugh as all 12 of them watched her. “ I know ya must not want to see me too much , especially since I look so much like… her.”
“We won’t hold it against you.” Isabel said with a warm smile.
“So well I guess I should tell you that I’ve been getting some very powerful visions lately. The last one I had knocked me out completely… thank you for helping me.” She said in Maxwell and Michaels direction. They each nodded in acknowledgement.
“My visions kept showing me Antar. The first showed it in complete chaos… the crimson colored water that I had remembered once was boiling, and there was fighting everywhere. In the midst of it all, I saw Tess.”
“Wait, what?!” Ky asked confusedly. “That’s impossible, Tess is dead.”
“No… Tess was very much alive and in pain. She came to me and collapsed at my feet.” The memory brought a tear to her eye. “She said that Kivar had made a double of her and sent her other half to you guys… to keep you from looking for the Tess he had kept to torture.”
“Why didn’t she say anything?” M. asked clearly not understanding what was going on.
“Because she was just like us… same memories as Tess… she probably didn’t even know she was a clone… I didn’t, neither did any of you.” Elizabeth reasoned, starting to catch on.
“Yes.” Ava replied. “ My final vision of her that I just had… I think she may have died.”
Both Maxwell and Max felt a slight pang of hurt. While they both had deep hatred for her and all she had done… they were still linked to her in a primal way.
“ Before I felt her leave me… she told me about your situation… that it is her fault…”
Instantly both Max’s refelt their hatred for her.
“What do you mean, her fault?” Liz asked becoming agitated. If anything was to go wrong it seemed that Tess was always behind it somehow.
“Now this is the part where I’m ashamed to be a carbon copy of her myself, so don’t like start throwing rocks at me or anything…she’s the one who doubled you…”
It took a minute of scowling and anger to be released amongst everyone before she could continue.
“Of course, who else!?”
“That little blonde piece of…”
“I can’t believe her…”
“Why would she? How could she?…”
Ava spoke loudly to regrasp their attention.
“She told me that she was being tortured by Kivar and his men… she learned how he did what he did.. and did the same to you guys… hoping that you would figure out what happened eventually and rescue her… it’s selfish I know… It was wrong I know… but she was being tortured… you should have seen her.”
Silence overcame the room.
“Where do we go from here?” Kyle asked quietly.
“I asked her the effects on what she’s done… she said they’re unknown. I couldn’t find out if you are supposed to be like reunited or something… or really what to do about it… but she handed me some papers in the vision…” Her voice trailed off as something inside her made her check her pocket.
There it was. She reached in and pulled out the roll of paper written in Antarian language.
“Is that what she handed you?” Mike asked getting up and walking over to her.
She was stunned.
“I can’t believe you were able to bring something back with you from your vision.” Izz said in disbelief.
“I can.” Isabel replied matter of factly. “ I know the people who drove with me here already know this, but I had my own vision that I was waiting to tell you all about. I figured we were going through enough.”
Ava handed the papers over to Michael who looked at them intently.
“What vision?” Max asked curiously.
“Well, I saw Alex…”
“You saw Alex?!” Liz asked with widened eyes.
“Yes… I had a vision, and he showed me things, things that I could be doing with my powers, things that are yet to come…”
“That’s amazing.” M. said in shock “How is he?”
“He’s good.” She said with a smile “You know Alex, he’s always holding us together, even when hes not here.”
Maxwell put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her, knowing that this must be hard to talk about. She turned to him.
“Max… Um Maxwell I mean… you were already at this hotel… I didn’t want to tell you over the phone, but there’s just so much I learned from him. For example…” she stopped talking and looked at him intently. “I can talk to you in your thoughts.” She said silently.
He was taken aback but responded silently
“That’s amazing Isabelle.” Breaking the connection, she spoke aloud to everyone…
“I learned how to talk to people in their thoughts, they can even respond back.” She said excitedly. “I’m even going to learn how to develop my powers enough to teleport!” Everyone was impressed.
“Alex also told me about some scrolls… he showed me where they were buried and that when Michael puts them together he’ll be able to do something very important with his powers.”
“That’s so awesome.” Mike said with a smile. “I guess I might be important after all.”
Michael laughed.
“That’s exactly the same sentence I said when I found out.”
“Also, Max, I was able to visually see the pressure you about to be under… there’s much more leadership in your future than you realize. More hard decisions… life altering ones…”
Before Max or Maxwell could respond, Ava interrupted loudly.
“That’s it! That’s the word I had in one of my visions recently, altered… I didn’t really know what to make of it… but it must have something to do with all of you being doubled… is it possible Max… or Maxwell.… or both of you will have to make a decision deciding the fate of you and your doubles?”
The thought was too much.
“I think I’ll try and forget that part for a while until I need to.” Max said trying to find humor out of the darkened situation. Maxwell nodded in agreement with a small smile.
“Anyway, the reason I started telling you this now, was because I also got something in my vision… I’m sorry for not mentioning it before.”
She pulled the chain out from underneath her shirt and handed the silver trinket to Ava.
“Alex told me that it belonged to Zan… I wasn’t really sure at the time why he gave it to me, but seeing you here… I know it was meant to be given to you.”
Ava took the necklace with the Antarian symbol for “forever” and put it on her own neck. She looked down at it lovingly.
“It’s 4 am.” Izz said looking at her cell phone for the first time since she got there.
“Oh my god I still haven’t called Jesse!” she exclaimed as she saw the listing of 15 missed calls on her tiny blue screen. She got up quickly and went to her room to call privately.
“I’m guessing they’re still together…” Maria said with a laugh… then quickly felt guilty after looking in Isabels direction.
“Time to call it a night?” Michael asked trying to break the tension.
Everyone nodded exhaustedly.
“Hey… I know it aint much but I have some extra room if anyone wants to stay with me… I see that some of you are cramping together sleeping on the floor.”
“I’ll stay with you.” M. volunteered. “That way Elizabeth and Maxwell can share at least.”
“And that I get to sleep on the floor while the married couple makes out all night? “I think I’ll come with too.” Michael said getting up.
He walked over to Maria and kissed her sweetly before leaving. He knew that even though he was leaving with a part of her… that she was still feeling jealous. The kiss melted away her insecurities… momentarily at least.
“Hey we’re not animals… we do not make out all the time…” Elizabeth said trying to sound convincing.
“Rigghtt!” M. said leaving the room… “Wait a minute?! What?! You guys are married?!!! I need more information!”
Michael pushed her gently out the room, ‘I’ll explain, lets just go get some sleep.”
Everyone headed to bed.
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Livin life like a Ninja turtle
“Where the hell did she go?!” Rath shouted, rather than asked Lonnie as he threw a book at the wall of the sewer tunnel with the wave of his hand.
“Will you just relax babe, whadda you care what happened to that thorn in our side?”
“She may have been a thorn in our side.” He started shoving his face dangerously close to hers. “But she was one of us… we’re already down one and you know that mind warp crap is killer when we need it.”
“Alright so whaddya wanna do go put up signs on the lampposts outside?” She asked sarcastically.
“Watch your mouth, I got a right mind to go back to that Maria chick and show you sumin who know you’d be missin.”
“Listen , I‘ve had enough of your threats.” She said pushing him back on the seraded and patched up couch. She straddled him and whispered in his ear seductively.
“You do what you want, but know that you won’t find anyone else like me.”
He looked up at her clearly convinced.
“Now do you wanna keep talking about this Ava chick or do you wanna stop talking altogether right now, with me?” She asked quietly again in his ear.
He grabbed her face with his right hand and brought her lips roughly to his. A moan escaped her lips and she knew right then and there that this Maria phase was over.
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2 Hours later…
Rath rolled over exhausted and sweaty.
“You are good, I’ll give you that.” He said breathily.
“And don’t forget it again.” She said kissing him lightly on the lips.
As much as she hated to show it, her hard exterior was just a product of how she grew up… she really did love Rath, and really wasn’t always mean hearted. She just didn’t know how else to express her feelings. With him, she knew she had to be tough, but it was getting old.
She began to get up.
“Where you goin babe?”
“No where, just thought I’d get dressed, maybe get a head start on the old Ava hunt.”
“I thought you didn’t care about that.” He said accusingly in his cute sarcastic way.
“I’m sorry about that… we really should look for her…”
“Are you saying I was right?”
“Don’t hurt your head with that big ego, and lets just go.” She sighed.
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The next morning
Ava woke up in her big fluffy bed next to M. with Michael on the floor still sleeping. The sun shone on her face and the feeling was indescribable. For a moment she felt at home. She was feeling like part of the group and was excited about figuring out how to help her new friends.
She got dressed and looked in the mirror admiring the necklace Zan had always worn. She traced her fingers over it slightly and to her dismay, it began to glow…
Stay tuned for episode 8
Feedback is always appreciated!!!! =)
JRose
theywalkbesideus@yahoo.com
http://www.freewebs.com/theywalkbesideus
Last edited by JRose on Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Episode 8
OK so I was gonna change it up a bit with a stand alone episode but I’m going to save that for later… here ya go! sorry it took so long!… Also just a warning, there’s some adult action in this episode =)
and thanks to all who stuck in there with the duplicate Roswellians, this chapter will start separating the story lines to make it easier =)
Episode 8
M. and Michael awoke to the sound of Ava screaming from the bathroom. Running in they saw her pale faced and starring at herself in the mirror.
“Whats the matter?” He asked full of concern.
“I… I’m sorry… I just got scared is all… you see this necklace with the pendant on it? It was Zans. Anyway I always just assumed it was a regular normal chain but a minute ago it began to glow.”
“Really?” M. asked bending over to get a better look.
“But ya know what it was weird, like it didn’t glow like our stones or anything.. I guess it was more like it lit up… and yea now I sound like a crazy person…”
“No no, listen we all sound a lil crazy lately, don’t you worry, you say it lit up then it did.” Michael reassured her. M. looked up at him, he was much calmer and collected than her Michael. In fact if Mike was in the same situation he probably woulda been understanding for about 3 seconds before complaining that this still wasn’t worth waking him up about.
“I think I’m just gonna go for a walk.” Ava said grabbing her bag.
“You sure? I mean should you be alone right now with your visions and stuff?”
M. asked worriedly.
“Probably not, but I really need to be alone and take a walk… I should be fine…”
“I dunno about this…” Michael said clearly objecting without trying to sound domineering.
“Ok listen I’ll have my cell phone on…call me every 5 minutes if you have to… I’m walking trust me I won’t go too far.” She said grabbing her cell phone and then reaching over for M.s to plug in her number.
“Alright.” They agreed.
“See you later!” M. called out in the hall after her as she closed the door.
Ava took the elevator to the lobby and waved at the nice woman carol at the front desk before walking out the front door of the hotel.
Carol watched her leave and then spoke quietly into the collar of her jacket. “She’s wearing it, follow her.”
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For the rest of the gang or gangs as it now was, by the afternoon everyone had pretty much gotten up to speed on the strange situation. They got used to their new names, learned about everyones lives, love lives and all the crazy similarities and dissimilarities of everyone.
What they couldn’t get over was the idea of another Jesse, Valenti… and basically anyone that the groups had encountered. Meeting together after eating breakfast they came to the conclusion to not contact them and that when they had a solution they would do something then. After all, what was the sense in frightening more people when there was no need.
Both Max’s couldn’t shake the feeling of hatred towards Tess for absentmindedly affecting so many without thinking. They knew deep down that she was being hurt and felt that she had no choice, but it wasn’t excuse enough for either of them. They let their feelings be known to everyone without having to say it out loud.
It was definitely fascinating for all of them to see their interactions with each other. Elizabeth and Maxwell had gotten married and lived life on the run of the open road, while Max and Liz had been distant with each other, only finding some reminiscence of their past love for each other recently.
Maria and Michael had gone through a rough patch but were now completely and utterly infatuated with each other. M. and Mike had been working hard to get to that point. They still bickered but something about their bickering lately showed promise. The only ones who seemed pretty similar were the Isabels and Kyles of the group. Isabel and Kyle were almost forced upon each other, not completely unwantingly either. With being on the run and surrounded by the now complete pairings of couples it was no wonder that they would become close to each other. Even though Jesse was still involved in Izz’s world, there was a certain something that was apparent between her and Kyle. What that would mean for Jesse of their own future compared to Isabels and Kyles, who knew.
At the present moment all were cramped into one hotel room, over with the amusings of the group and ready to tackle the situation at hand.
“So, not to sound like a complete idiot or state the obvious but what the hell are we gonna do?” Maria started. “I mean ok we know we all exist, now we know why we do… but what can we do about it?
“I think we should take Alex’s information and go with it… it’s the only thing I know of so far that may be of help to us.” Isabel said, her voice filled with a twinge of hope.
“Ok can you recap what Alex said? I’m sorry I’m just not comprehending information properly anymore.” Elizabeth asked with a small laugh.
“Ok, um… well I have this new talking within peoples minds thing, dunno if that’ll help… um…I’m supposedly going to learn how to teleport… we have to figure out where the hell I’m gonna learn that…um… I gave Ava that necklace…Max is going to have to make a hard decision… oh! And theres these scrolls Michael has to put together, it’ll make him do something important with his powers. He showed me in the vision where the scrolls are buried… I think that’s out best bet right now. It’s not gonna be easy either… they’re totally buried in 2 different places.”
“Where are they buried?” Max asked.
“Ones buried at let me try and remember the name.. um… Sanford… A cemetery called Sanford in Connecticut… and the other is buried under a bush in the middle of a Tree forest in Pennsylvania… um…Briarwood… Briarwood Forest.”
“Not to ruin the enlightenment but can I just say wow I can’t believe you even remembered all that.” Kyle chimed in.
Isabel laughed “Me either actually… but it’s kinda embedded in me… a little like a mental dictionary where you can just go back and look things up… its weird, but I dun care, Alex did it for me and anything he does to help us from beyond the grave is awesome to me.”
They exchanged similar knowing glances at the mention of Alex’s name. They all silently wished he was there, doubled or not… just there.
“Ok so um…wow we have to split up.” Liz said trying to be logical.
“We’ve made such a crazy move having all of us here at once with people on our backs… it’s probably the best thing to do anyway.” Maxwell agreed.
“I think we should send each version of Michael to the scrolls… I mean when you think about it how do we even know which one is supposed to be able to do something with them? Isabel can talk to people with her thoughts and I can’t.” Izz supplied.
“I think that’s a good idea.” Michael agreed. “By the way, M. can you give Ava another call, I’m still a little freaked out about her being alone when she could just drop down and have a vision in the middle of a crowded street.”
She nodded and went into the bathroom so that she could hear better on her cell phone.
“I’ll take a trip with you Michael.” Maria said happily. Michael gave her a suggestive raise of his eyebrow at the thought.
Mike wondered if M. would even want to go with him, the way things were going they were happy one minute and arguing the next.
M. emerged from the bathroom and clamped her cell phone shut.
“No answer.”
“I’ll go look for her.” Ky said in a much more taking charge attitude than they were used to.
“Wait hold on…she could be in a bathroom somewhere or something. Maybe we should just give her a break ... try again in a few, if she still doesn’t answer then we’ll talk about it… I’m just so sick of being jumpy.” Isabel recommended.
They all agreed, except for Michael … who was growing increasingly worried.
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After a relaxing walk and some window shopping, Avas time away was starting to become a chore rather than a mini vacation. She had the distinct feeling that she was being followed but whoever it was had been extremely good at it.
Her thoughts about missing Zan, Tess s communications and the double pod squad had completely taken the back burner as she began to frantically zig zag as inconspicuous as she could. She turned quickly on a corner she used to walk every day when she was little to buy candy from the deli. She instantly regretted her decision to go alone when she bumped into the worst people she could possibly run into at the moment.
“Well well, we knew it wouldn’t take ya long for you to come back.” Rath said holding onto her arm tighly.
“Um how does this mean I came back? I ran into you is all, now let go of me!”
“No way, not till you tell us what the hell is going on.” Lonnie insisted.
Ava pulled her arm back forcefully.
“Listen I’m really not in the mood to talk to either of you but we gotta go… I’m being followed…”
“Followed? That’s their thing with the FBI… we aint never been scared a bein followed before…ah I get it… you’ve been hanging with those jerks that have our faces.” Lonnie realized out loud with a smile.
Avas cell phone rang, but Rath intercepted it before she could answer.
“Aw it’s Maria.” He said hanging it up, Lonnie made a face.
“You know what do whatever you want, just leave me the fuck alone!” With that she grabbed her phone took off into a run, leaving Rath and Lonnie intrigued but not enough to bother chasing after her. They’d find out sooner or later what her deal was.
Ava frantically dialed Marias cell phone as she ran back towards the hotel but was suspiciously without service. She didn’t turn around to see the handful of suit wearing men and woman that had been surrounding her before running inside the hotel and taking the stairs quickly to M.’s room
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They were glad to see her but did not like the idea of the dupes lurking around or that she felt she had been followed.
“We have to leave tonight… we have to split up, some of us need to find those scrolls the others need to just get as far away from each other as possible.” Maxwell said taking charge.
“We should go in pairs… no two hybrids or human together…it’ll be the best protection for us.” Max agreed getting up and walking over to where Liz was standing. He looked at her worriedly but her soft brown eyes responded warmly.
“I’ll go with you Michael to Connecticut for the scroll… M. maybe you should go with Mike to Pennsylvania to get his?” She suggested half hoping that her pseudo twin could be just as happy with her Michael as she was.
“If I must.” She responded.
“Hey don’t do me any favors…”
“I’m not…”
“OK guys enough suck it up!” Izz shouted “We don’t have time for this…before we split up into pairs where are the rest of us going to go?”
“I don’t care where I go, I just don’t want to drive anymore.” Kyle responded looking nauseas at the thought. Isabel smiled understandingly.
“Well that leaves me and Max… Elizabeth and Maxwell, Izz, Ky, Isabel and Kyle…and Ava… we need like 4 more places to split up to.” Liz added grabbing a handful of potato chips from the large bowl that was laid out on the table.
“Or just 2 if we do 3 and 4 instead of pairing off.” Ky answered back.
“Well I don’t know about you guys, but we all came here actually looking for your duplicates.” Liz said looking at Ava, the answers to their questions becoming more clear. “I think we should stay in New York, somewhere different of course, and we’ll take Ava with us… it may not help but it’s why we came and it can’t hurt.”
“I don’t think they can help ya, but if that’s what ya want I’d be more than happy to stay with you guys.” Ava replied sweetly. Her resemblance to Tess had begun to disappear in their eyes because her attitude and demeanor was so different from hers.
“What about us then?” Maxwell asked pointing at himself, Elizabeth, Isabel and Kyle.
“I guess its the open road for us…” Kyle said with wide eyes and a shake of his head. “…Yippy… yea for us and the stupid van…”
Isabel caught his eyes and whispered into his thoughts. “ Don’t worry we’ll make them drive the most this time… besides me and you could find a lot of things to do at those little rest stops and motels.” He raised his eyebrows questioningly at her as the rest of the group tried to ignore the obviously private conversation that they were not having success of hiding. In fact, Kyle looked like a young kid, excited to go to Toys R Us.
“I don’t wanna know.” Maria said walking away and heading back to her room to pack
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They reacted very quickly. Plane tickets, train rides and gas was bought when they pooled their money together. Food was growing to be an increasing problem and necessities were going to be lacking for everyone. It was pretty clear that those who stayed in New York for the time being should try to get part time jobs. After packing their things they began to leave, taking every precaution necessary before leaving the hotel. They split into pairs at different times and made separate arrangements. Providing that there was no problems they would each contact each other in 2 days. The less they knew about each others whereabouts the less useful they would be if caught by any Agents.
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The Open Road: Monday Morning – 9 am (Elizabeth and Maxwell, Isabel, Kyle)
“Nothing like a little déjà vu to start your morning huh?” Isabel said with a tired yawn as the van rocked back and forth to the movement of the bumpy pavement.
“Yeah really… although I’m not really appreciating your sleepiness after your luring comments yesterday. I expect you to keep your word Evans.” Kyle retorted with a beaming grin.
She looked at his goofy grin and was instantly attracted to his warm receptive eyes. She held his gaze for a moment before letting her hormones take over her senses.
“Uh we’ll be in the back to get some more sleep.” she said loudly over the radio so that Maxwell and Elizabeth could hear. They looked at each other with a knowing smile but Isabel ignored them. “I’m gonna put the curtain up to block the sun.” “Follow me” she said into Kyle’s thoughts, as she forcefully pulled his sleeve to follow her to the back.
“No sudden stops ok, not totally sure if your alien powers can stop car accidents and not really into trying that out today.” Kyle announced climbing into the back as fast as he could.
After plopping down onto the back seat Isabel turned up the back radio as loud as possible and pushed the curtain with a wave of her hand in front of them to “block the sun”, or rather their view from the front.
“Isabel…”
“Stop talking.” She instructed as she took his lips forcefully making him fall back against the seat. The amused smile that had been spread across his lips had quickly faded and he was now driven by just as much desire as she was.
It was crazy. His held back fantasy that had began during her and Jesse’s demise was now a reality. They had grown closer over time and now all they wanted was to be closer… needed to closer, in a very different way.
His hands were now entangled in her hair and his lips felt bruised and soft against hers.
In that moment she retracted her dominance, still intertwined with him but making her movements smoother and softer. This slight change in power could have gone unnoticed to another man but it propelled his feelings towards her even more. It was the innocence that emerged from her tough exterior that made her who she was, and he was infatuated with her.
He took control of the kiss, softly yet powerfully. He inclined her backward and hovered his lean upper body onto hers, causing her head to drop back and sigh in elation.
“Ssshh.” He reminded her softly into her mouth as his hands roamed her neck, shoulders and down her arms.
He may have been goofy at times, but this was not one of them. He was completely and utterly a man filled with desire and he gave all of his attention to her receptive body.
She felt the situation losing control quickly. She found herself tugging at the buttons by his collar blindly as his lips left her to brush against her cheek and now the hallow of her neck.
She moaned unintentionally but was far beyond caring. The bottled up feelings they had for each other were finally being released and they couldn’t have cared less where they were or who was nearby.
Suddenly the radio that was playing throughout the vans speakers got louder.
“Oh my god what they hell are they doing back there?” Elizabeth whispered loudly to Maxwell who was trying to concentrate on the road. He raised the volume in response.
“Apparently something that causing me to hear my sister moaning so I’m really not in favor of whatever it is.” He responded sarcastically in his usual even tone, making her laugh at his reaction.
“Yeah that’s probably not a good thing for a brother to hear… uh wow… I’m trying to talk as loud as I can but I can still hear them…um… maybe we should uh pull over or something… say we needed to pick up a few things… leave them alone?…”
Isabel’s moaning was now being mixed with Kyle’s own voice.
“Uh yes, point me anywhere that I can stop right now… please… Perfect! Look there’s a rest stop.” He said his voice getting louder to drown them out as he drove way beyond the speed limit to get into the rest stop. They parked the car in record time.
“We’re at a rest stop to get some food, you guys want anything?” Max called to the back loudly, practically escaping from the car as Elizabeth started laughing uncontrollably.
“No uh… we’re fine!” Kyle managed to say as Isabel took off his button down shirt completely, exposing the muscles underneath his white wifebeater. As soon as they heard the doors close behind them they were in full make out mode.
She pulled off his wifebeater and ran her hands up and down his back as he continued to kiss her feverishly, roaming his hands under her shirt and pulling her upwards to meet his bare skin.
“We shouldn’t be doing this for our first time… not like this.” He said between breaths as she tugged at his belt.
“That’s the beauty of firsts…there’s always another one after it to fix whatever needs to be fixed.” She responded gutturally and started sliding the belt off and undoing the buttons to his jeans.
It was a very logical rationalization he thought and therefore went along with it willingly. He pulled her shirt over her head and undid the clasp to her bra. The feeling of her breasts being exposed caused her moan and wither beneath him. He used his mouth and tongue to graze over her breasts slowly while his hands undid her jeans and pulled them off. She was too far gone and needed him. She helped tear away her clothes until they were both practically naked and entangled with each other.
“Do you have a condom?” She asked trying to be levelheaded as his hands roamed her hot soft skin. He nodded, pulling one out of his jeans that were still next to him. His lips never left her mouth as he slid it on. If she hadn’t known him for so long she’d never had guessed him for the type to be inexperienced. He was in complete control and knew all the right places to touch.
His left hand ran up and down her upper thigh, teasingly opening her legs and closing it over and over again as his bare chest stroked her skin.
“Oh God… please…”
“Please?…please what?” He taunted deeply as he took a nipple into his mouth, running his tongue over it slowly.
“Please … I need you… I need you inside me…” She could barely speak.
He smirked as he traced his index finger from her neck to slightly below her belly button.
“I don’t know… they could come back soon, maybe we should just stop…” he joked not caring at this point if they were being watched through a glass box.
“No please, …Kyle…”
“Mmm, my name sounds good on your lips…” he replied pulling his head up close to hers.
“Kyle please…’”
He wasn’t a monster, he complied. He slid into her slowly but deeply, filling her entirely before sliding back out.
“Oh god…” She breathed.
He couldn’t hold back, he may have been in control a moment ago but he couldn’t stop the deep sounds that escaped his own lips and he thrust back into her slowly.
“..Uh…Kyle…Kyleee...”
He looked into her eyes for a moment full of concern.
“Does this feel alright?” He asked hopefully, his commandingly sexy attitude sharing apprehension.
“…Oh God yes…”
He slid in and out of her gradually, deeply and slowly.
“…Kyle…oh God...uh…Kyle…......Alex…”
He stopped dead in his tracks. His newfound sex appeal out the window and back into his normal self.
“What?! Alex?! …I’m Kyle…” He said in the most nervous of tones, leaving anyone who would have heard him to probably laugh at his declaration of self.
“Alex… Alex…” She said quietly before closing her eyes and falling into what seemed like a deep sleep.
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“You think that was enough time?” Maxwell asked, picking up bag of food and opening the door for Elizabeth.
“I don’t know but I guess we’re about to find out.” She joked as she took notice of Kyle running towards her with his jeans upzipped and a frantic look on his face.
“God Kyle, you’re not gonna ask us questions are you?!” Maxwell asked in disbelief, turning his eyes from him, but Elizabeth knew that something was wrong from his expression.
“It’s Isabel! something happened!… she…she…” Kyle couldn’t form the words.
Maxwell dropped his bag in the parking lot and ran into the van.
He went inside the van and then back out again quickly.
“Kyle What the hell happened?! Shes not even in there!”
“I Know!... I know.” He said stopping and holding his side as he hunched over.
‘”Kyle where is she?!” Maxwell demanded.
“Kyle what happened?” Elizabeth asked grabbing his arm.
“Shes gone.”
“I know that, where did she go? Kyle what happened?!”
Kyle took a deep breath trying to comprehend what had happened himself.
“Well we were… ya know… and then she called out Alex’s name… not in THAT way… kinda like she did that day when she saw him in her vision… and then she disappeared.. not figuratively… like seriously disappeared… from like underneath me….”
“You mean she…” Elizabeth started, not able to finish the words.
Maxwell couldn’t believe it, but he knew. “She teleported.”
“I think so.” Kyle said clearly a mess. “God I mean one minute we’re … and then the next…I don’t even think she meant to do it I think it just happened…”
Maxwell knelt down in the parking lot at a loss for words and completely worried about his sister.
“”We’ll find her.” She said comfortingly.
In a dreamlike state the three of them returned to the van.
In another plane of existence Isabel stood there yelling for their attention but they could not see or hear her.
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Stay Tuned for episode 9
Feedback is ALWAYS APPRECIATED!
JRose @--->
And don’t forget: If you’d like your own personalized fan fiction, just reply to my post in the fanfiction discussion section, or email me the form =)
Jrose @----->Auhor of ongoing fic Everywhere This Love Goes... I Will Follow... I Will Follow... (located in the canon section)
Also, please note that not all personalized fan fics just involve the people I’m writing them for, such stories as The Royals and some future ones in the works are just as entertaining for someone else to read because of the storylines involved. =)
A Tale of Two Zans (Personalized fan fic for Sarah located in the Alien Abyss)
The Royals (Personalized fan fic written for kayla also located in The Alien Abyss)
Sparks will fly (Personalized fan fic for Brianna available through pm or email due to scenes with actors)
A Second Beginning (Personalized fan fic for deserea located in the Alien Abyss)
and thanks to all who stuck in there with the duplicate Roswellians, this chapter will start separating the story lines to make it easier =)
Episode 8
M. and Michael awoke to the sound of Ava screaming from the bathroom. Running in they saw her pale faced and starring at herself in the mirror.
“Whats the matter?” He asked full of concern.
“I… I’m sorry… I just got scared is all… you see this necklace with the pendant on it? It was Zans. Anyway I always just assumed it was a regular normal chain but a minute ago it began to glow.”
“Really?” M. asked bending over to get a better look.
“But ya know what it was weird, like it didn’t glow like our stones or anything.. I guess it was more like it lit up… and yea now I sound like a crazy person…”
“No no, listen we all sound a lil crazy lately, don’t you worry, you say it lit up then it did.” Michael reassured her. M. looked up at him, he was much calmer and collected than her Michael. In fact if Mike was in the same situation he probably woulda been understanding for about 3 seconds before complaining that this still wasn’t worth waking him up about.
“I think I’m just gonna go for a walk.” Ava said grabbing her bag.
“You sure? I mean should you be alone right now with your visions and stuff?”
M. asked worriedly.
“Probably not, but I really need to be alone and take a walk… I should be fine…”
“I dunno about this…” Michael said clearly objecting without trying to sound domineering.
“Ok listen I’ll have my cell phone on…call me every 5 minutes if you have to… I’m walking trust me I won’t go too far.” She said grabbing her cell phone and then reaching over for M.s to plug in her number.
“Alright.” They agreed.
“See you later!” M. called out in the hall after her as she closed the door.
Ava took the elevator to the lobby and waved at the nice woman carol at the front desk before walking out the front door of the hotel.
Carol watched her leave and then spoke quietly into the collar of her jacket. “She’s wearing it, follow her.”
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For the rest of the gang or gangs as it now was, by the afternoon everyone had pretty much gotten up to speed on the strange situation. They got used to their new names, learned about everyones lives, love lives and all the crazy similarities and dissimilarities of everyone.
What they couldn’t get over was the idea of another Jesse, Valenti… and basically anyone that the groups had encountered. Meeting together after eating breakfast they came to the conclusion to not contact them and that when they had a solution they would do something then. After all, what was the sense in frightening more people when there was no need.
Both Max’s couldn’t shake the feeling of hatred towards Tess for absentmindedly affecting so many without thinking. They knew deep down that she was being hurt and felt that she had no choice, but it wasn’t excuse enough for either of them. They let their feelings be known to everyone without having to say it out loud.
It was definitely fascinating for all of them to see their interactions with each other. Elizabeth and Maxwell had gotten married and lived life on the run of the open road, while Max and Liz had been distant with each other, only finding some reminiscence of their past love for each other recently.
Maria and Michael had gone through a rough patch but were now completely and utterly infatuated with each other. M. and Mike had been working hard to get to that point. They still bickered but something about their bickering lately showed promise. The only ones who seemed pretty similar were the Isabels and Kyles of the group. Isabel and Kyle were almost forced upon each other, not completely unwantingly either. With being on the run and surrounded by the now complete pairings of couples it was no wonder that they would become close to each other. Even though Jesse was still involved in Izz’s world, there was a certain something that was apparent between her and Kyle. What that would mean for Jesse of their own future compared to Isabels and Kyles, who knew.
At the present moment all were cramped into one hotel room, over with the amusings of the group and ready to tackle the situation at hand.
“So, not to sound like a complete idiot or state the obvious but what the hell are we gonna do?” Maria started. “I mean ok we know we all exist, now we know why we do… but what can we do about it?
“I think we should take Alex’s information and go with it… it’s the only thing I know of so far that may be of help to us.” Isabel said, her voice filled with a twinge of hope.
“Ok can you recap what Alex said? I’m sorry I’m just not comprehending information properly anymore.” Elizabeth asked with a small laugh.
“Ok, um… well I have this new talking within peoples minds thing, dunno if that’ll help… um…I’m supposedly going to learn how to teleport… we have to figure out where the hell I’m gonna learn that…um… I gave Ava that necklace…Max is going to have to make a hard decision… oh! And theres these scrolls Michael has to put together, it’ll make him do something important with his powers. He showed me in the vision where the scrolls are buried… I think that’s out best bet right now. It’s not gonna be easy either… they’re totally buried in 2 different places.”
“Where are they buried?” Max asked.
“Ones buried at let me try and remember the name.. um… Sanford… A cemetery called Sanford in Connecticut… and the other is buried under a bush in the middle of a Tree forest in Pennsylvania… um…Briarwood… Briarwood Forest.”
“Not to ruin the enlightenment but can I just say wow I can’t believe you even remembered all that.” Kyle chimed in.
Isabel laughed “Me either actually… but it’s kinda embedded in me… a little like a mental dictionary where you can just go back and look things up… its weird, but I dun care, Alex did it for me and anything he does to help us from beyond the grave is awesome to me.”
They exchanged similar knowing glances at the mention of Alex’s name. They all silently wished he was there, doubled or not… just there.
“Ok so um…wow we have to split up.” Liz said trying to be logical.
“We’ve made such a crazy move having all of us here at once with people on our backs… it’s probably the best thing to do anyway.” Maxwell agreed.
“I think we should send each version of Michael to the scrolls… I mean when you think about it how do we even know which one is supposed to be able to do something with them? Isabel can talk to people with her thoughts and I can’t.” Izz supplied.
“I think that’s a good idea.” Michael agreed. “By the way, M. can you give Ava another call, I’m still a little freaked out about her being alone when she could just drop down and have a vision in the middle of a crowded street.”
She nodded and went into the bathroom so that she could hear better on her cell phone.
“I’ll take a trip with you Michael.” Maria said happily. Michael gave her a suggestive raise of his eyebrow at the thought.
Mike wondered if M. would even want to go with him, the way things were going they were happy one minute and arguing the next.
M. emerged from the bathroom and clamped her cell phone shut.
“No answer.”
“I’ll go look for her.” Ky said in a much more taking charge attitude than they were used to.
“Wait hold on…she could be in a bathroom somewhere or something. Maybe we should just give her a break ... try again in a few, if she still doesn’t answer then we’ll talk about it… I’m just so sick of being jumpy.” Isabel recommended.
They all agreed, except for Michael … who was growing increasingly worried.
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After a relaxing walk and some window shopping, Avas time away was starting to become a chore rather than a mini vacation. She had the distinct feeling that she was being followed but whoever it was had been extremely good at it.
Her thoughts about missing Zan, Tess s communications and the double pod squad had completely taken the back burner as she began to frantically zig zag as inconspicuous as she could. She turned quickly on a corner she used to walk every day when she was little to buy candy from the deli. She instantly regretted her decision to go alone when she bumped into the worst people she could possibly run into at the moment.
“Well well, we knew it wouldn’t take ya long for you to come back.” Rath said holding onto her arm tighly.
“Um how does this mean I came back? I ran into you is all, now let go of me!”
“No way, not till you tell us what the hell is going on.” Lonnie insisted.
Ava pulled her arm back forcefully.
“Listen I’m really not in the mood to talk to either of you but we gotta go… I’m being followed…”
“Followed? That’s their thing with the FBI… we aint never been scared a bein followed before…ah I get it… you’ve been hanging with those jerks that have our faces.” Lonnie realized out loud with a smile.
Avas cell phone rang, but Rath intercepted it before she could answer.
“Aw it’s Maria.” He said hanging it up, Lonnie made a face.
“You know what do whatever you want, just leave me the fuck alone!” With that she grabbed her phone took off into a run, leaving Rath and Lonnie intrigued but not enough to bother chasing after her. They’d find out sooner or later what her deal was.
Ava frantically dialed Marias cell phone as she ran back towards the hotel but was suspiciously without service. She didn’t turn around to see the handful of suit wearing men and woman that had been surrounding her before running inside the hotel and taking the stairs quickly to M.’s room
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They were glad to see her but did not like the idea of the dupes lurking around or that she felt she had been followed.
“We have to leave tonight… we have to split up, some of us need to find those scrolls the others need to just get as far away from each other as possible.” Maxwell said taking charge.
“We should go in pairs… no two hybrids or human together…it’ll be the best protection for us.” Max agreed getting up and walking over to where Liz was standing. He looked at her worriedly but her soft brown eyes responded warmly.
“I’ll go with you Michael to Connecticut for the scroll… M. maybe you should go with Mike to Pennsylvania to get his?” She suggested half hoping that her pseudo twin could be just as happy with her Michael as she was.
“If I must.” She responded.
“Hey don’t do me any favors…”
“I’m not…”
“OK guys enough suck it up!” Izz shouted “We don’t have time for this…before we split up into pairs where are the rest of us going to go?”
“I don’t care where I go, I just don’t want to drive anymore.” Kyle responded looking nauseas at the thought. Isabel smiled understandingly.
“Well that leaves me and Max… Elizabeth and Maxwell, Izz, Ky, Isabel and Kyle…and Ava… we need like 4 more places to split up to.” Liz added grabbing a handful of potato chips from the large bowl that was laid out on the table.
“Or just 2 if we do 3 and 4 instead of pairing off.” Ky answered back.
“Well I don’t know about you guys, but we all came here actually looking for your duplicates.” Liz said looking at Ava, the answers to their questions becoming more clear. “I think we should stay in New York, somewhere different of course, and we’ll take Ava with us… it may not help but it’s why we came and it can’t hurt.”
“I don’t think they can help ya, but if that’s what ya want I’d be more than happy to stay with you guys.” Ava replied sweetly. Her resemblance to Tess had begun to disappear in their eyes because her attitude and demeanor was so different from hers.
“What about us then?” Maxwell asked pointing at himself, Elizabeth, Isabel and Kyle.
“I guess its the open road for us…” Kyle said with wide eyes and a shake of his head. “…Yippy… yea for us and the stupid van…”
Isabel caught his eyes and whispered into his thoughts. “ Don’t worry we’ll make them drive the most this time… besides me and you could find a lot of things to do at those little rest stops and motels.” He raised his eyebrows questioningly at her as the rest of the group tried to ignore the obviously private conversation that they were not having success of hiding. In fact, Kyle looked like a young kid, excited to go to Toys R Us.
“I don’t wanna know.” Maria said walking away and heading back to her room to pack
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They reacted very quickly. Plane tickets, train rides and gas was bought when they pooled their money together. Food was growing to be an increasing problem and necessities were going to be lacking for everyone. It was pretty clear that those who stayed in New York for the time being should try to get part time jobs. After packing their things they began to leave, taking every precaution necessary before leaving the hotel. They split into pairs at different times and made separate arrangements. Providing that there was no problems they would each contact each other in 2 days. The less they knew about each others whereabouts the less useful they would be if caught by any Agents.
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The Open Road: Monday Morning – 9 am (Elizabeth and Maxwell, Isabel, Kyle)
“Nothing like a little déjà vu to start your morning huh?” Isabel said with a tired yawn as the van rocked back and forth to the movement of the bumpy pavement.
“Yeah really… although I’m not really appreciating your sleepiness after your luring comments yesterday. I expect you to keep your word Evans.” Kyle retorted with a beaming grin.
She looked at his goofy grin and was instantly attracted to his warm receptive eyes. She held his gaze for a moment before letting her hormones take over her senses.
“Uh we’ll be in the back to get some more sleep.” she said loudly over the radio so that Maxwell and Elizabeth could hear. They looked at each other with a knowing smile but Isabel ignored them. “I’m gonna put the curtain up to block the sun.” “Follow me” she said into Kyle’s thoughts, as she forcefully pulled his sleeve to follow her to the back.
“No sudden stops ok, not totally sure if your alien powers can stop car accidents and not really into trying that out today.” Kyle announced climbing into the back as fast as he could.
After plopping down onto the back seat Isabel turned up the back radio as loud as possible and pushed the curtain with a wave of her hand in front of them to “block the sun”, or rather their view from the front.
“Isabel…”
“Stop talking.” She instructed as she took his lips forcefully making him fall back against the seat. The amused smile that had been spread across his lips had quickly faded and he was now driven by just as much desire as she was.
It was crazy. His held back fantasy that had began during her and Jesse’s demise was now a reality. They had grown closer over time and now all they wanted was to be closer… needed to closer, in a very different way.
His hands were now entangled in her hair and his lips felt bruised and soft against hers.
In that moment she retracted her dominance, still intertwined with him but making her movements smoother and softer. This slight change in power could have gone unnoticed to another man but it propelled his feelings towards her even more. It was the innocence that emerged from her tough exterior that made her who she was, and he was infatuated with her.
He took control of the kiss, softly yet powerfully. He inclined her backward and hovered his lean upper body onto hers, causing her head to drop back and sigh in elation.
“Ssshh.” He reminded her softly into her mouth as his hands roamed her neck, shoulders and down her arms.
He may have been goofy at times, but this was not one of them. He was completely and utterly a man filled with desire and he gave all of his attention to her receptive body.
She felt the situation losing control quickly. She found herself tugging at the buttons by his collar blindly as his lips left her to brush against her cheek and now the hallow of her neck.
She moaned unintentionally but was far beyond caring. The bottled up feelings they had for each other were finally being released and they couldn’t have cared less where they were or who was nearby.
Suddenly the radio that was playing throughout the vans speakers got louder.
“Oh my god what they hell are they doing back there?” Elizabeth whispered loudly to Maxwell who was trying to concentrate on the road. He raised the volume in response.
“Apparently something that causing me to hear my sister moaning so I’m really not in favor of whatever it is.” He responded sarcastically in his usual even tone, making her laugh at his reaction.
“Yeah that’s probably not a good thing for a brother to hear… uh wow… I’m trying to talk as loud as I can but I can still hear them…um… maybe we should uh pull over or something… say we needed to pick up a few things… leave them alone?…”
Isabel’s moaning was now being mixed with Kyle’s own voice.
“Uh yes, point me anywhere that I can stop right now… please… Perfect! Look there’s a rest stop.” He said his voice getting louder to drown them out as he drove way beyond the speed limit to get into the rest stop. They parked the car in record time.
“We’re at a rest stop to get some food, you guys want anything?” Max called to the back loudly, practically escaping from the car as Elizabeth started laughing uncontrollably.
“No uh… we’re fine!” Kyle managed to say as Isabel took off his button down shirt completely, exposing the muscles underneath his white wifebeater. As soon as they heard the doors close behind them they were in full make out mode.
She pulled off his wifebeater and ran her hands up and down his back as he continued to kiss her feverishly, roaming his hands under her shirt and pulling her upwards to meet his bare skin.
“We shouldn’t be doing this for our first time… not like this.” He said between breaths as she tugged at his belt.
“That’s the beauty of firsts…there’s always another one after it to fix whatever needs to be fixed.” She responded gutturally and started sliding the belt off and undoing the buttons to his jeans.
It was a very logical rationalization he thought and therefore went along with it willingly. He pulled her shirt over her head and undid the clasp to her bra. The feeling of her breasts being exposed caused her moan and wither beneath him. He used his mouth and tongue to graze over her breasts slowly while his hands undid her jeans and pulled them off. She was too far gone and needed him. She helped tear away her clothes until they were both practically naked and entangled with each other.
“Do you have a condom?” She asked trying to be levelheaded as his hands roamed her hot soft skin. He nodded, pulling one out of his jeans that were still next to him. His lips never left her mouth as he slid it on. If she hadn’t known him for so long she’d never had guessed him for the type to be inexperienced. He was in complete control and knew all the right places to touch.
His left hand ran up and down her upper thigh, teasingly opening her legs and closing it over and over again as his bare chest stroked her skin.
“Oh God… please…”
“Please?…please what?” He taunted deeply as he took a nipple into his mouth, running his tongue over it slowly.
“Please … I need you… I need you inside me…” She could barely speak.
He smirked as he traced his index finger from her neck to slightly below her belly button.
“I don’t know… they could come back soon, maybe we should just stop…” he joked not caring at this point if they were being watched through a glass box.
“No please, …Kyle…”
“Mmm, my name sounds good on your lips…” he replied pulling his head up close to hers.
“Kyle please…’”
He wasn’t a monster, he complied. He slid into her slowly but deeply, filling her entirely before sliding back out.
“Oh god…” She breathed.
He couldn’t hold back, he may have been in control a moment ago but he couldn’t stop the deep sounds that escaped his own lips and he thrust back into her slowly.
“..Uh…Kyle…Kyleee...”
He looked into her eyes for a moment full of concern.
“Does this feel alright?” He asked hopefully, his commandingly sexy attitude sharing apprehension.
“…Oh God yes…”
He slid in and out of her gradually, deeply and slowly.
“…Kyle…oh God...uh…Kyle…......Alex…”
He stopped dead in his tracks. His newfound sex appeal out the window and back into his normal self.
“What?! Alex?! …I’m Kyle…” He said in the most nervous of tones, leaving anyone who would have heard him to probably laugh at his declaration of self.
“Alex… Alex…” She said quietly before closing her eyes and falling into what seemed like a deep sleep.
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“You think that was enough time?” Maxwell asked, picking up bag of food and opening the door for Elizabeth.
“I don’t know but I guess we’re about to find out.” She joked as she took notice of Kyle running towards her with his jeans upzipped and a frantic look on his face.
“God Kyle, you’re not gonna ask us questions are you?!” Maxwell asked in disbelief, turning his eyes from him, but Elizabeth knew that something was wrong from his expression.
“It’s Isabel! something happened!… she…she…” Kyle couldn’t form the words.
Maxwell dropped his bag in the parking lot and ran into the van.
He went inside the van and then back out again quickly.
“Kyle What the hell happened?! Shes not even in there!”
“I Know!... I know.” He said stopping and holding his side as he hunched over.
‘”Kyle where is she?!” Maxwell demanded.
“Kyle what happened?” Elizabeth asked grabbing his arm.
“Shes gone.”
“I know that, where did she go? Kyle what happened?!”
Kyle took a deep breath trying to comprehend what had happened himself.
“Well we were… ya know… and then she called out Alex’s name… not in THAT way… kinda like she did that day when she saw him in her vision… and then she disappeared.. not figuratively… like seriously disappeared… from like underneath me….”
“You mean she…” Elizabeth started, not able to finish the words.
Maxwell couldn’t believe it, but he knew. “She teleported.”
“I think so.” Kyle said clearly a mess. “God I mean one minute we’re … and then the next…I don’t even think she meant to do it I think it just happened…”
Maxwell knelt down in the parking lot at a loss for words and completely worried about his sister.
“”We’ll find her.” She said comfortingly.
In a dreamlike state the three of them returned to the van.
In another plane of existence Isabel stood there yelling for their attention but they could not see or hear her.
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Stay Tuned for episode 9
Feedback is ALWAYS APPRECIATED!
JRose @--->
And don’t forget: If you’d like your own personalized fan fiction, just reply to my post in the fanfiction discussion section, or email me the form =)
Jrose @----->Auhor of ongoing fic Everywhere This Love Goes... I Will Follow... I Will Follow... (located in the canon section)
Also, please note that not all personalized fan fics just involve the people I’m writing them for, such stories as The Royals and some future ones in the works are just as entertaining for someone else to read because of the storylines involved. =)
A Tale of Two Zans (Personalized fan fic for Sarah located in the Alien Abyss)
The Royals (Personalized fan fic written for kayla also located in The Alien Abyss)
Sparks will fly (Personalized fan fic for Brianna available through pm or email due to scenes with actors)
A Second Beginning (Personalized fan fic for deserea located in the Alien Abyss)
Last edited by JRose on Sat Apr 21, 2007 4:48 am, edited 1 time in total.