Twined Roads (AU, CC, Adult) ch. 38 - 08/13/16

[sarammlover]

Turns out Michael wasn't as stupid as Max thought! Smart man that Michael and I am glad Max is taking the initiative and calling Liz! So glad you came back with an update!!!!

[Roswelllostcause]

Good part! Hurry back!

[Eva]

@ Carolyn: Your remark made me blush. I’m glad that this story comes across like I wanted it to be. As a social worker I find it important to read and write stories with dimensional and profound characters, just like you can find those persons in real life.

Ah, the questions. I can promise that it will be revealed in time. Within ‘days’ (this chapter is now set six days after Michael has saved little Emily) the story will gain momentum.

@ Eve: Thank you!

@ Sara: Michael has learned his life lessons the hard way, by experience. He has developed from the impulsive and anti-social teenager who had wanted nothing more than returning to his home planet to a person in his twenties with his both feet on the ground. He still isn’t the most social person to say the least and he still acts on the spur of the moment but life undeceived him. He understood the hard way that he’s got only one life on earth and he has to take that life in both hands. Something Max clearly still needs to learn. With his ostrich policy he has only lived his life without really enjoying it.

@ Roswelllostcause: Thank you!


A/N: With bits and pieces of the original episodes “The Pilot”, “The Morning After”, “Missing” and “285 South”. A nice blend of beautiful things like they say!

Due to my holiday I won’t be updating within two weeks. I’ll hope to be back the 22th August.


Chapter twenty-three

May 14th, 2009. I’m Liz Parker and it’s been ages since I last turned to this journal. But the last couple of days I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster. When I stumbled on this journal in my old university boxes today, it seemed like a sign. A perfect opportunity to sort things out in my mind. So here I go.

May 14nd, 2009. I’m Liz Parker and a week ago I tried to save a patient. After that, things got really weird....

Liz nibbled on her pen and smiled. It felt good to write everything down, analyzing it; laying it rationally under a microscope so she could process it rationally.

She had done it a billion times when she had been younger, feeling like the would-be scientist she dreamt of becoming. Over the course of time she had adjusted her goal towards becoming a doctor but her fascination with journaling her life and world had remained. It had only diminished after she had started working in the hospital as a result of the long and irregular work hours.

The scenes of the past week tumbled through her mind: The mysterious Michael who had changed from an injured alcoholic to an alien gardener. The boyish looking Max with his pleading eyes, hoping she would believe him, the way he had introduced her to a very unlikely but true secret. And what a secret!

Liz pushed a lost lock of hair behind her left ear. All of a sudden the words she was looking for bounced through her head and she started writing again.

I will never look at the stars in the sky the same way again. I'll never look at anything the same way again. Ever since I found out about Max and Michael and Isabel, I’ve been thinking a lot about secrets. That for everyone who has a secret, there’s someone else who needs to know what that secret is. How sometimes secrets keep people from feeling like they belong. And sometimes secrets make you feel like you do belong. And now, even I, Liz Parker, the smallest of small town girls with the simplest of lives-- even I have something to hide.


“Hey,” Max softly said while rapping his knuckles against the wooden pillars of her blue porch.

Although he had greeted her gently, it startled Liz anyway and her pen left a scrawl on her book. “Max! I didn’t hear you coming!”

He scratched his head with his right hand. “Sorry, but you were so completely engrossed in your work.”

Liz shook her head. “No, no, I wasn’t working. I, erm… I was writing in my diary. It's actually more like a journal. Because that's what scientists call their diaries.” She blushed when she heard herself rambling.

“What I write in my journal, it doesn’t really have anything to do with science,” she tried to explain. “When I feel something deeply, I just need to put it into words.”

“Hey, you don’t owe me any explanations. I’m just glad you wanted to see me.”

She blushed again. “You knew I wouldn’t turn you down.”

Liz grabbed her pen and journal and held them close to her chest. “So, what would you like to do? Stay here and talk a little, go to the movies?”

“Dinner. We both need to eat after all.”

“Dinner,” Liz repeated. “Perfect!”

She whirled around, showing him her summer skirt and top. “Am I good to go or am I underdressed?”

Max smiled. “You’re perfect the way you are,” he assured her. “I made reservations at the small Chinese restaurant in town. Is that ok for you?”

Now it was Liz’s turn to smile. “Perfect. Let me grab my purse and we’re ready to go.”

Five minutes and a redo of her lipstick later, Max guided Liz to his car. Like a perfect gentleman he opened the door of his BMW convertible and let her in.

***

“And here we are again.”

Marie pushed a cup of coffee in Michael’s hands. Baffled he frowned at her and the cup in his hands.

“This really is your favourite spot, huh?” She gestured at the trees around them. The last rays of the sun’s shimmering twilight peeked through the woods, bathing it in a cosy red evening light.

“Yeah, it’s a good place to think things through,” he nodded.

Michael felt silent again. Maria was right; the peace he had found here had been a balm for his soul.
Deep silence reigned over the evening, but just for a minute or two.

“Michael?”

“Huh?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Uh-huh.”

“How come you know that Isabel’s your twin sister?” Without waiting for an answer she just babbled on. “Besides the unmistakable resemblance, which can also exist with normal siblings, it’s not that you guys have a birth certificate, you know.”

She immediately realised that her big mouth was putting her on dangerous ground. “I’m not denying you aren’t twins. I’m just wondering,” she wrinkled her nose. “Or is it an alien thingy?”

Maria’s jabbering made Michael smirk. “Correct on both counts.”

“Yeah?” She smiled, “So it’s alien? Start talking, mister.” She put her cup aside, wriggled herself next to him and laid her head in his lap.

At first he was a bit taken back by her free and easy attitude but then he relaxed and started playing with a couple strands of her long blond hair. Softly he started talking.

“When we were about seventeen, we all dreamed something very specific. We were all in the desert, surrounded by a cliffy rock formation.”

“Just like we have outside of Roswell,” she interrupted him.

“Yeah, that’s what we thought too.” Teasing he stroked her noise with his index finger. “Anyway, curious woman of mine, Max saw us as little children, holding hands skipping on and around weird symbols on the ground while a little child was hiding behind a tree.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“Is it possible to hold your tongue for just five minutes, chatterbox? Or aren’t you interested in the story?”

“No, no, don’t stop.”

He pulled his eyebrows up. “Sure?”

Maria just showed him her tongue.

“At the same time, Isabel and I shared another version of the dream. We saw the same rock formation and weird symbols but different images of ourselves altered. First we saw ourselves as little babies in the same carrier and then later on at different ages. Stopping with a view of how we were as teens, both rocking on the other side of big weighing scales while seeing a very blurry version of Max with some kid in his arms.”

“That’s when we knew we were twins. Something we had unknowingly felt way before,” he finished.

Gently Michael rested his chin against her shoulder. It was the first time he had ever revealed his dream after discussing it with Max and Isabel. It felt liberating, talking to somebody who genuinely cared. His arms found their way round her body, holding her close, protecting her.

“Michael?”

“Huh.” Although he rolled his eyes, he couldn’t help but smirk at her untenable curiosity.

“Who was the kid?”

She could feel him shrugging his shoulders.

“And you never found the rocks either?”

Michael hesitated. “Well, we did find the location. Outside Roswell, just like we all thought, however without the alien symbols. Because we felt the site would be important for us, we searched the place up and down, inch by inch. Hoping to find something, anything, about our origins. About where we come from.”

“But you didn’t.” she guessed.

“Nope.” He ground his teeth.” At one point we had to give it up. Our investigation attracted too much unwelcome attention.”

“That had to be hard, losing all hope to find out where you come from.”

His laugh sounded harsh. “When I was younger I always thought there had to be something better out there for me than Roswell, New Mexico.”

Maria giggled.

“You think that's funny.”

She felt his arms loosening. Felt him backing off, ready to build his wall back up. Quickly she grabbed them, placing them back where they belonged.

“No, no. It's just, um...when I was a kid, I used to stay up at night and, um, make up stories about my father...You know, and who he was and... what he was doing. And they all ended exactly the same way. He would come in a limo and pick me and my mom up and take us off to some exotic place where we'd live like royalty. Because, you know...I thought to myself...There's got to be something better out there for me than the wandering roads my mom put us on.”

“Substitute a spaceship for a limo, and you know what I mean. Anyway, that’s when I changed my life. If
nobody was coming to save me-”

“You had to save yourself.” She finished his sentence. “And that’s when you decided to grab every possibility to escape and started studying to earn a scholarship, far away from the trailer park you grew up
in.

He nodded, happy that Maria only needed a word to understand what he couldn’t vocalize.

Maria snuggled back in his arms. Sniffing his masculine fragrance she had gotten so used to. She felt him relaxing.

She couldn’t help whispering. “I like our talks.”

“Yeah, strange as it may sound, me too,” he had to admit. It was true. He did enjoy their small conversations.

Cuddled up, they stayed. Looking at the stars when they appeared on the firmament.

***

Liz sparkled. A week ago she couldn’t have imagined sitting down at the same table with Max without
bickering or ignoring each other stone-cold. Now, she was eating with him in a cosy little restaurant, actually enjoying the small-talk between them.

“Excuse me, ma’am.” Loaded with several small dishes the waiter startled her out of her reflections.

Together with Max she helped to clear the table so that every bowl could be placed on the surface.

After the man wished them a good meal, she sniffed the Asian aromas of the different side dishes. Her noise wrinkled when she smelled the strong spicy chicken tandoori.

Max chuckled. “Too hot?” he teased by picking up a piece of chicken with his chopsticks, pouring some Tabasco sauce on it and eating it with relish.

“God, Max!” She grimaced in shared disgust. “I forgot that you poured that stuff on each and every little bite you took in the Crashdown. You have to have more than a good digestive tract or an iron stomach to keep everything inside.”

His eyes twinkled from amusement.

“Or is it something Czechoslovakian?” she guessed.

She read the question mark in his expression. “Oh yeah, you don’t know that one yet. It’s Maria’s way of naming everything regarding your origins in public.” Liz bent forward and started whispering. “You know, without revealing too much.”

“Oh, I see.” Then he grinned. “Czechoslovakian, huh?”

“Maria,” Liz said like that explained everything.

Max nodded. He could only imagine Maria’s colourful way of thinking. “But to answer your question: it is. We’re all fond of the sweet and spicy combination. It’s a bit of the reason why we have a fancy for Asian or South American food. Our flavours don’t draw attention over there.”

“Is that why you can handle them so well?” Liz pointed at the chopsticks. In Max’s hands they worked the way they were supposed to but in hers they stayed as clumsy as could be.

“Doctor Parker, it’s good that you didn’t choose general surgery as your major but that you graduated as general physician with a specialisation as a paediatrician.” He joked. “With your fine motor skills.”

“Hey, hey, aren’t we funny?”

“Can I make a peace offering?” Max smiled while holding up her glass of white wine.

“I’d love that!” She accepted the glass and lifted it towards him. “Cheers!”

Max clicked his cherry coke gently against hers. “Cheers.”

They ate quietly after that, enjoying each other’s company and the delicious food.

“Liz, do you think I’m uptight and serious?” Max dropped out of the blue at the end of the meal.

Liz looked up. “Where did that come from?”

“Michael.”

“Oh, I see.” Liz nodded her head in understanding. “I haven’t seen Michael in years but if he’s still the same person he was in high school-”

Carefully she searched for the right words. “Let’s say that Michael and you balance each other out. How can I say this? Michael is like quicksilver and you’re more rational and responsible. You think things through. There’s isn’t anything wrong with that. Although it wouldn’t hurt to smile now and then.”

When a little smile appeared on his lips, she leaned a bit closer to him. “And maybe to live a bit more too.”

“That’s what he said.”

“Is that why you phoned me?”

“Maybe.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know.”

“Well, you called the right person. Come on!” She tucked their fortune cookies away in her purse, grabbed his arms and pulled him along.

[keepsmiling7]

I loved Liz's journal entry........weird indeed.
Glad Liz and Max are having dinner together, and now I wonder where they are going next.
Thanks for the update, and I be watching for you after your holiday.
Carolyn

[begonia9508]

Loved the changes of situation!

Michael and Maria are really good for each other, especially for him, who has the bigger bagagge
in life...

For Michael, having someone like Maria in his life, is like breathing fresh air!

Thanks and have a nice hollidays! ... of course, I am waiting impatiently for more!

EVE

[Roswelllostcause]

Seems love might be in the air in more then one way.

[Eva]

@ Carolyn: Any idea where they’re going? I’m keeping this very close to the original story...
But Liz is correct: you don’t find an alien every day. It’s a crazy secret, a secret that will change her life forever.

@ Eve: Yeah, I tend to zap from situation to situation.
Very true! Maria is very refreshing for Michael, who was only used to keep his walls up, as far as possible. A thing he had learned the hard way. It will turn this story like nothing before.
Thanks! I had a great holiday with my family.

@ Roswellostcause: You got it! Let me give more!!


A/N: Due to my son's chickenpox I'm a bit later than origanally planned. Hope you don't mind.

Out of habit you can find some pieces of the original in this chapter: this time from “The Balance” and “Heatwave”.

The music this time is from an oldie for our dreamer friends: : ‘I shall believe’ by Sheryl Crow.


Chapter twenty-four

With their fingers still intertwined, Liz dragged Max along the darkening Main Street of Roswell.

After a couple of minutes he stopped right in his tracks. “Where are we heading?” The unease was clearly written on his features.

Liz’s eyes twinkled. “Surprise.”

“I hate surprises,” Max mumbled.

Liz nodded. She understood him more than he knew. In the past she had always liked to restore control in every aspect of her already very structured world. But with a rash and open friend as Maria, who seized the day as it came, she had learned to alter. In the beginning of her first year at university she had been bound to become an overstressed and overworked bookworm who locked herself up in her books and would’ve headed towards complete burnout towards the end of the year. So under the combined influence from Maria and Alex she had learned to merge a certain joy of life with her well thought-out methods. Combining the best of both worlds and balancing her love for her studies with a bubbling student life without overdoing one of them.

She rubbed his hand reassuringly and smiled at him. “You can stop worrying. We’re here.” She pointed at the cozy bar on the other side of the street.

“A pub?” Max couldn’t help frowning. “I’m not going to learn to start living over there, Liz! My Czechoslovakian genetics,” he emphasized the last words with imaginary quotation marks, “don’t mingle well with alcohol.”

Liz rolled her eyes. “Nobody said you needed to drink all available liquor.” She stretched out her hand towards him. “Do you trust me, Max?”

Five minutes later he found himself staring at the green felt covering the surface of a pool table.

Without any fuss Liz stuck a cue in his hands. “Can I tempt you in a game of eight-ball?”

She didn’t wait for an answer but leaned over the table and started arranging the balls with the rack.

“Oops!” She turned back at him when he didn’t answer. “My fault. You can shoot pool, can’t you?”

Her enthusiasm was contagious, so his smile widened as he confessed, “The basics.”

“The basics are just fine. I’ll teach you the art and tricks you need.”

Liz let Max break. In the beginning she helped him along; guiding him in holding his cue more correctly, giving him an overview on his different possible shots. Entering his personal space, teasing him, touching him playfully once and awhile while giving guidance… But once he lost his turn, she got lost in her game, playing like a pool shark that went for the victory, putting every ball in the intended pockets.

“Very nice!” Max whistled approvingly. “Whoa, I didn’t know you were a pro!”

“Long live university,” Liz chuckled. “It was our favorite way to spend an easy-going evening.”

“In for a rematch?” Max winked at her.

Liz sniggered, “If you think you can beat me, be my guest. Make sure it’s lined up.”

“Like that?”

“Ok!” With delight she saw him relax on a care-free night out. Mission accomplished, she thought.

In an effort to impress her, Max started to chalk his billiard cue with grand gestures. Before he prepared his first shot, he accidently rubbed his hand against his cheek, leaving a white spot behind.

“Oh! Ha ha, you have chalk on your face.”

Carefully she came closer, gently wiping the chalk from his cheek. Their eyes locked while the tension between them grew more intense. Staying in exactly the same place, they got lost in each other’s eyes. Eventually it was Max who broke the eye contact, uneasy because of the unfamiliar situation he was in.

“Pool?” he asked.

“Let’s play!” she agreed, remembering that Rome wasn’t built in one day either.

When the last ball was pocketed, Liz held her hand up for a high five. “Whoa, Max, you lost with the smallest possible spread! That’s progress!”

Slowly he laid an arm around her waist and whispered in her ear. “I had a wonderful and very beautiful teacher, you know.”

“Mmm, did you? Maybe you should offer her something drink.”

“And she has great ideas too!” He teased her, “I think I’m going to keep her.”

Liz laughed out loud. “If she isn’t dehydrated, you mean.” She released herself playfully and stashed the cues away in the holders.

“Ok. Message received, loud and clear. I’ll fetch us some drinks. What do you want?”

“Surprise me! Something non-alcoholic.”

When Max came back with the drinks, he saw her grabbling in her purse. With a smile he showed her two glasses: one with simple lemonade and one with cherry-coke. Like he assumed she preferred the lemonade.

She emptied her glass in almost one draught, which made him snicker. “Hey, hey, I was thirsty. Remember?”

“Anyway, I’ve still got dessert left.” Liz held the little sacks with the fortune cookies up. She threw his and immediately cracked hers open. “Ok, this is my favorite part.” She winked. “It says, ‘this is the best night of your life.’”

Disbelief written all over his face, Max joked, “Is that really what it says?”

Liz wrinkled her nose. “Well, it's better than ‘a broken clock is still right twice a day.’”

“You're right. I like yours better.” Max laughed out loud.

Curious, she pulled his sleeve, almost snatching the little paper out of his hands. “Ok, let me see yours.”

Immediately he held his arm high, keeping it free of her grabbing fingers. Then he turned it, just at the right angle so that he alone could read the quote. "Ask a girl to dance with you."

“Is that really what it says?” Liz’s laughing eyes revealed that she was playing along. Just like him, she didn’t believe a word the other one was saying.

“It depends on your answer.” Max smirked.

“Yes.”

“Then that's really what it says.”

Wordlessly he walked towards the red and gold retro juke-box in the corner. He put in some coins and without hesitation selected a record. At the moment he stood back in front of her, the machine started playing the song.

Come to me now
And lay your hands over me
Even if it's a lie
Say it will be alright

Without hesitation Liz stepped into his welcoming arms where he cuddled her close against his chest. Savoring the moment, savoring the precious gift he held in his arms.

***

Searching for some peace of mind in the evening dusk, Isabel had found her way to the little park nearby the library. This last week had been a chain of fear and stress. The visions of a Michael in distress, her desperate search in L.A., seeing him back after a very lonely year without him, the extracurricular activities she cared about, Alex…

It had all become too much. When she had felt that the walls were beginning to corner her, she had grabbed her purse and had started wandering through the streets of Roswell. And ending up at the cosy park at the centre of town.

Sighing she lowered herself onto one of the wooden benches near the pond where a fountain was playing. The sound of sparkling water helped her unwind. Isabel leaned back against the back of the bench and closed her eyes.


God, could her life become more hectic? Was it just too much to ask to be normal? To live a normal life, just like everybody else?

A sudden noise made her look up. From the corner of her eye she saw a person approaching.

A cynical voice broke the silence before she even saw him completely. “Man, this evening just gets better and better by the minute.” With a “Sorry for the disturbance, your highness.” he turned around and made tracks back to where he came from.

Alex!

“No, don’t go!” she heard herself saying.

“Why?”

The single question asked with so much doubt and disillusion made her flesh creep. She had always known that she could kick people in the shins with her ice queen act, impressing upon herself that it had been the only way to keep her brothers and herself safe. Giving her a more or less normal childhood. But she had never considered that she had really hurt others in the process.

“Because I’m sorry.”

“What? Why?”

He finally turned around to look at her. Isabel was still a very attractive woman but tonight he missed the sparkle in her eyes, the fierceness in her posture. The way she sat slouched against the bench confused him enormously. So he repeated his question. “Why, Isabel?”

Isabel couldn’t blame the hard way he played it. His whole life she had blatantly ignored him and when he had wanted to greet her as a former classmate, she had treated him like trash.

A sigh escaped. Not only did she find it difficult to admit that she had been wrong – she always had – but where in heaven’s name should she start?

“You're a really, really good guy, Alex.” she finally muttered out loud.

Alex scratched his head, not knowing how to react on that one. “Oh, thank you, Isabel, I think.”

“No, really.” She tried to explain, “I mean, most guys are just disgusting animals whose sole purpose in life is to try to maul me. But you're different.”

“Well,” he grinned, “I’m not sure about that one, to be honest. Maybe ten years ago when I was a naïve whippersnapper in high school. But after a career as a hard rock guitarist and a few orgies later, it’s tough work staying a saint. If I ever was, that is,” he concluded with blinking eyes.

“Take my word, you are.”

The combination of determination with a certain amount of meekness pulled him closer. He took a seat right in front of her, bracing his elbows on his widespread legs. “What’d I do to deserve these compliments?”

She shrugged.

Determined, he locked his eyes with hers. “Isabel?”

Carefully she chose her words. She couldn’t exactly say that their last encounter had taken place on the dream plane. In a dream she had broken into. Trying to stay as close to the truth, she started, “The other day, after the meeting in school, I googled your name. In the overload of information I stumbled upon a photograph, one with your tats clearly displayed. At that moment I realized I had seen you before. And then I remembered the most rotten night of my whole life.”

“And?”

“I took it out on you,” she confessed. “Sorry.”

“Say that again? I don’t think I got that right.”

Her fierceness flared up. Here she sat, baring her soul to him and offering him her apology, something she rarely did. “Ok, that’s it! I’m out of here. Thanks for being such a jerk! You really made this a no-brainer. Why did I even bother?’

“And there’s the Isabel we all know again.” He chuckled as he grabbed her wrist and held her close. Furiously she glared at him, which he ignored. Instead he brushed her long blond hair gently out of her eyes. It made her look away, even more angry.

“Your buttons are so easily pushed, you know.” Softly he grabbed her chin and made her look back at him. “Don’t stand at the ready all the time. People might surprise you, if you let them. Goodnight, princess.”

Confused, and at the same time raging she stayed behind, starring at his back until he disappeared in the darkness.

***

Hesitantly he walked her to her front door. Uneasy they glanced at each other until he snapped his fingers playfully and pointed back at his car. “I think I’m going to say goodbye. Cuz if I don't go right now, things are gonna change. ”

“Change, how?”

Max came closer and started to talk, matching his words with affectionate motions. “I'm gonna have to touch your hair... cuz it's so soft... and I'd have to tell you that... no matter what happens, it's all worthwhile for me because we're together.”

With bright eyes Liz captured everything he said, every single thing he did. “And then?”

Whispering, he bowed his head towards hers. “And then... I'd have to do this...”

The first was gentle and light as a feather. Before he could withdraw or change his mind, she pulled him closer. Gone were her doubts and fears. Gone was the past, her grudges against his guarded nature.

Wrapping their arms around each other, they deepened their kiss, putting every bit of passion they felt into it.

[Natalie36]

awww, great part

[sarammlover]

Yes!!!! Go max and Liz! So hot!!!! And Alex I love that man! He will be just the right person for Isabel. Great updates Eva!!!

[begonia9508]

Wow! Loved shy Max but he showed really quickly that it wasn't really shyness but more, his interest for Liz... At least, they kissed!

Loved how Maria and Michael in tune with each other are!

Thanks and waiting for more! EVE