Chapter 23
It was long past sunrise, closer to 10am, when Kyle headed reluctantly over to wake Liz. He had been determined to stay awake for as long as possible so that he could sleep for the rest of the day and be ready to stay up all night.
He entered the vestibule of the girls’ tent and immediately found himself in a quandary – which ‘room’ belonged to Liz? He didn’t know how to wake her without disturbing Isobel.
He hesitated for a few moments and had just decided to scratch softly on the canvas ‘door’ to the left when he heard Liz’s sleepy voice on the other side, raised in fright.
“H-hello? Who’s there? Who is it?”
“ Shhh, Liz, it’s me – Kyle. It’s ok.” He hurried to reassure her, remembering with a sudden shock that they really were, after all, in flight for their lives and Liz didn’t yet know their theories.
There was a tearing sound as Liz ripped apart the Velcro fastenings of the door seal, and she suddenly flung herself at him, clutching in panic, her breath coming in uneven sobs. He held her tight, rubbing soothing circles on her back and murmuring reassurance. In a few moments, she regained her composure and drew back, smiling tremulously at him in apology. He took her hand, about to lead her outside into the hot, morning sunshine when she resisted, shaking her head.
“It’s ok, Liz, there’s nothing to worry about out there. I just thought we could go and look at the view for a while. I’ve made some coffee…” He noticed her smile and raised an eyebrow.
“Sounds great, Kyle. I just need to get dressed, ok?” It was only then he realised that she was barefoot and dressed in pyjamas. He grinned and rolled his eyes, stepping back to usher her into her sleeping quarters with a mock bow and a bad attempt at an English accent.
“I’ll be right outside, Miss Parker, waiting to escort you to the coffee-pot when ready.”
They had kept their voices low, after her first panicked reaction, and he hoped that Isobel had either slept through it or, more likely, was leaving him to it.
When Liz emerged a few minutes later, she was dressed in shorts and a baby blue t-shirt. Kyle was waiting outside, sitting on one of the camp chairs he had noticed in the vestibule and staring at the lake sparkling through the trees. He stood up when she appeared, folded the chair and brought it with him as they strolled companionably over to the grill under the shade canopy among the trees near his tent.
Kyle had spent much of the time since sunrise tentatively practising his powers. He had collected supplies from the Chevy and now Liz saw that a coffee-pot was indeed steaming on the stone work surface next to the grill, along with their mugs, some assorted cutlery, plastic cups and plates, all set out ready for a casual breakfast. A large container of water was in the shade beneath the grill, next to two coolers filled with ice made an hour before to chill the remaining cans of cherry coke and keep the fresh supplies cool as the day warmed up. Liz saw with surprise, when Kyle opened one to collect some ingredients, that milk, eggs, bacon, butter and juice had been stacked neatly in plastic containers inside. Left to themselves (she shied away from thoughts of their… houseguest) Kyle and the Sheriff had never been noted for good housekeeping and yet here was a display that could compete with her own almost neurotic need for neatness and order. Life on the road had clearly produced a fundamental change in Kyle.
A large crusty loaf of bread, two eggshells and a greasy frying pan were next to the coffee pot, evidence that Kyle had already eaten a hearty breakfast. Looking over at the table, Liz could see the mug, plastic juice glass and plate he had used, as well as a bottle of Tabasco sauce. Kyle followed her gaze and grinned happily at her.
“Guerin’s not the only talented short order cook around here.” He bragged, then relented and told her the truth. “I’d cook for you, too, but I think maybe I still need a little more practice.”
Liz, refreshed by the first long night of unbroken, dreamless sleep she’d enjoyed for nearly a week, looked round at the snow-capped mountains, at the wooded slopes and green meadows edging the sparkling blue lake and experienced a sudden hunger for a fresh, new start on this beautiful morning as well as for the breakfast things laid out waiting for her.
“That’s ok, Kyle. I need the practice, too. First of all, though, I need coffee. Let’s drink it out on the rocks at the shore right now, before we do anything else; do you mind, Kyle?” She turned big, brown, laughing eyes on him and he smiled to see her so apparently carefree for the first time in years.
“Sure we can, Parker. Hot, sweet, spicy java coming right up…”
Picking their way over the rocks to the lake, carefully balancing their mugs, they found a large, flat slab already faintly warmed by the sun and lay on their stomachs gazing down into the water below. The first few feet were clear, and they could see a few clusters of weed on the rocky floor that sloped out into the lake, but as it got deeper the color became dark blue and opaque. As they watched they noticed small, almost transparent, fish darting about among the weeds and this reminded Kyle that fishing lessons for Guerin and the girls were top of the agenda for the week. He debated whether to tell Liz now or wait to announce it when they were all together. He opted for the coward’s way: a group meeting when Guerin would be the one to take the flak. Why spoil a perfect morning when he didn’t have to? So he rolled over to prop himself up on his elbows, closing his eyes and lifting his face to the warmth.
Presently Liz could no longer ignore her stomach growling with hunger and stirred from her fascination with the underwater life. She sat up and reached for her coffee mug, which was perched on a nearby rock. Finding it cold, she heated it up almost without thinking. Looking round at Kyle, she saw that he was doing the same thing and they shared a conspiratorial grin.
“Cool to have powers, isn’t it, Liz?” He chose to ignore the memory of how they’d been acquired, then realized too late that she wouldn’t wish to be reminded of Max. However, she continued to smile and nod in agreement, giving no sign that he had hit a nerve.
“Yes, it is, Kyle. And you’ve made really fast progress, cooking breakfast this morning, especially making toast. Isobel says that takes a very delicate use of power.”
He laughed.
“Don’t tell her, but I nearly burnt the bacon, the eggs were hard-boiled and I used up a whole loaf of bread before I got any toast this morning. There’s a lot of charcoal scattered among the rocks and I only got one half-charred slice out of it.”
For some reason, this struck Liz as exquisitely funny and she started to laugh, eventually infecting Kyle until they both gave in to amusement, lying back on the rock in the sun giggling helplessly for a few minutes. After they calmed down Kyle fetched re-fills and they basked in the warmth, feeling more affectionate and relaxed with each other than ever before.
Kyle finished his coffee, looked at his watch and then over at Liz, saw that she was draining her own mug and waited to catch her eye before he spoke.
“It’s 10.30, Liz. Will you be ok to take on guard duty alone this morning? You’re the only one of us who got to sleep all through the night and, what with one thing and another, the others are probably gonna crash ‘til noon…”
“Sure, I’ll be fine, Kyle.” She frowned at him curiously. “What do you mean by ‘one thing and another’ – what kept you all awake?”
He thought fast. No point in telling her about the dream, it would only upset her when she seemed to be relaxed and even happy this morning. Kyle embarked on what he hoped was a plausible explanation.
“ Michael and Maria worked a double watch together until 2am and then, well, when it was my turn to take over, I met Isobel on her way back from a - um - call of nature and she kept me company for a while. I stayed up as I was wide awake by then, so I let you both sleep on…” He was relieved that it was true – just… not the full explanation. However, Liz seemed to buy it.
“Oh, well, ok. You go get some sleep and I’ll cover for everyone this morning. What’s the routine?”
He explained the duties, far less onerous in daylight, and she asked one favour of him before she let him off the hook. He was willing to wait while she took a fast morning shower and then he went off for his own ablutions leaving her sitting in a camp chair in the shade of a tree near the lake, letting her short, pale hair dry naturally.
Liz sat there until he disappeared into his tent, then gave in to her hunger pangs and went over to the grill to make breakfast. Heating up the pan for the bacon was no problem, and she managed to fry an egg just the way she liked it, but recalling Kyle’s struggles with toast, she chose plain bread and butter instead and enjoyed it just as much, along with chilled long-life juice from the carton in the cooler.
Her unhurried, solitary breakfast over, she stacked her dishes along with Kyle’s and carried them over to the grill, placing them away from the clean stuff on the other work area ready for Isobel or Michael to ‘power’ clean later. After re-wrapping the bread and putting it away to protect it from the heat of the day, storing the butter and milk back in the cooler, she decided to spend the morning working on her own powers.
Collecting some water from the big container into a juice glass, she wandered back to the chair under the shade tree and sat down, staring at the clear liquid and picturing a glass of ice-cold cherry coke, tasting it in her mind and feeling the fizz tingling on her tongue. The water remained clear as in all her previous attempts. This time she concentrated hard, clearing her mind of everything except the color she wanted until she saw nothing else in her mind’s eye. Then she opened her eyes and saw the same dark shade filling the glass she held. A surge of triumph washed through her as it did every time she achieved something she’d set her heart on and she sipped contentedly.
After a time Liz noticed a faint noise that, as it got louder, she gradually recognised as a vehicle approaching along the road. A feeling of panic gripped her. There was no time to warn the others, so she looked round quickly for somewhere to hide.
There were bushes growing strategically round all the sites to provide some privacy for the occupants and she ran over to a clump growing next to her tent, which was nearest.
As she reached it and peered through the leafy branches, a jeep pulled off the road and came to a halt at the edge of the camping area. She recognised the park ranger who stepped out as the guy who had welcomed them yesterday evening. It didn’t lessen her caution, but she moved away from the bushes towards him, out into the more open grassy spaces among the trees, instinctively wanting to keep him away from their camp.
The noise of the jeep, loud in the silence, had woken the others in the tents, with the exception of Kyle, who was too deeply asleep to be roused by anything less than an earthquake. Michael and Maria stared at each other in alarm, before scrambling to get dressed and outside as quietly and quickly as possible. Maria beat Michael to it, simply going commando and pulling on a pair of shorts but was roughly pulled back, when she unfastened the Velcro tabs sealing the door, and silently threatened with dire consequences if she made a move without him. She was perturbed enough to agree without an argument, so he knew that she must be really nervous. As soon as he’d struggled into his jeans and shirt from last night, cursing silently and inventively all the time, he slid round her and out into the vestibule, quickly untying the strings on the outer door.
Isobel, in the other tent, was frozen with terror for a few moments, but knew she had to act as normally as possible so she hurriedly dressed in brief shorts and a tight t-shirt just exactly as if she really was a carefree student on a summer vacation. Ducking out of her ‘room’ and through the vestibule into the hot, bright morning, she looked through the same bush that Liz had done a few minutes earlier and saw her walking through the trees some distance away to speak to the trainee ranger from yesterday.
Looking across to the Chevy, she saw Maria and Michael heading towards it from the direction of their tent and went to join them. They met up by the tailgate, out of the sightline of their visitor, to discuss the situation. Isobel identified the trainee ranger and made no secret of her apprehension.
Michael’s first instinct was to protect the girls and get them into the Chevy in case they had to make a run for it, but then his intelligence over-rode his panic and he realised that it was unlikely that an attack would be mounted by one man in a jeep, if a dozen men with guns had failed in the school gym. There had been only the engine noise of one vehicle coming along the road and, anyway, the safest thing would be to use their disguises and maintain their cover as innocent students on vacation.
He said this and the girls nodded, seeing the logic and calming down a lot. Michael was about to go join Liz, when Maria stopped him.
“Stay here, Michael, and let Isobel and me handle it. He won’t stand a chance against three girls, so relax and wait for us to chase him off, ok?”
He didn’t like the idea, but he knew it made sense. All his protective instincts were aroused and he would antagonise the guy for sure, thus drawing attention to the group for the wrong reasons. Better to make a friendly impression, than a hostile one.
So he agreed, and the girls went off among the trees to confront their victim. He almost felt sorry for the guy, until Maria’s acid mental comment made him hurriedly suppress the thought.
The young ranger lifted his hand in greeting as he drew nearer to Liz, giving her a wide, friendly smile, discreetly checking her out as he did so. They stopped a few feet away from each other and her wariness made her unconsciously lower her eyes and peek at him beneath her lashes. He mistook it for shyness and this, together with the short, pale hair emphasising her huge, dark eyes and tiny, delicate figure, immediately caught his interest. He’d noticed yesterday that all three girls in the group were really hot and one of them was even spectacular and that’s why he’d made a special detour this morning ostensibly to check that they had settled in. This little shy one was adorable and he was curious to find out more. The two guys with them had sent unmistakable ‘keep off’ signals but this only added spice to the challenge. Ben Yardley had a reputation as a player among the wary local girls but he always found some real fun chicks among the summer visitors.
“Hi, there, never got to introduce myself yesterday. My name’s Ben. How ya doin’? Just dropped by to make sure you settled in ok…” He gave her his friendly, admiring grin, held out his hand and waited.
She raised her huge, anxious eyes to his, touched his hand briefly and, if he’d only known it, used her automatic Crashdown-waitress smile to cover her apprehension. He was so busy watching her that he missed her first words and only her name registered.
“…Susan.”
“Great to meet you, Susan. Guess from the plates on your truck you’re from Iowa?”
Liz was dismayed by the apparently innocent question. Unable to tell him the truth, she couldn’t think of a cover story, only just recalled her name on the fake ID Michael had made. Her mind went blank, the pause lengthened and she couldn’t break away from his gaze.
“We’re from all over. This is our last summer vacation together, so we’re making it special.” Maria’s laughing voice came from behind her, causing the ranger to look up in surprise and Liz to turn and link arms with her friend in relief at being rescued.
Tearing his attention away from ‘Susan’, Ben saw that the other two girls had arrived, strolling through the trees unnoticed to join them and flank their friend protectively. His memory had not done them justice – this morning they were even more attractive than he remembered. Both now wore high-cut shorts and low-cut t-shirts. The green-eyed blonde with the sexy mouth grinned at him in a friendly way, but the tall, dark-haired chick with the centrefold figure stared at him with icy indifference.
“How come you’re from ‘all over’?” He fished for information. “Are you all, like, family, or something? You’re all beautiful, but you don’t look very much alike.” His curiosity grew.
Isobel joined the conversation, clearly bored.
“Yes, we’re family, if you really must know. Step-sisters. The plates are from Iowa because that’s where the guys live.” Her attitude made it clear that he had overstepped the mark by asking impertinent personal questions. He wasn’t used to girls who were so blatantly unimpressed by his charms and instantly decided she was a challenge he wouldn’t refuse.
Maria took up the good-cop role in the double act, apparently as eager to be friendly as Isobel was not.
“This is our last summer before college, so we’re on a road trip, heading south to Mexico. You’ve already met Susan. I’m Lisa; this is Elinor.” She fluttered her eyelashes at him and he smiled at her – God, she was real cute, too – and that incredible mouth… “ What’s your name? What do you do around here, ranger? This must be a great place to work.” He responded to her open friendliness with his own.
“My name’s Ben. It sure is a great place to work and I do some of everything, as I’m still training. This week, I’m on the hospitality team, making sure our guests are all having a good time.” He carefully avoided making any eye contact that might favor one over the others at this stage. “My dad’s the Head Ranger, so I live in the park as well as work here. Say, if you’d like a guided tour to the falls, I have some free time this afternoon and I’d be happy to show you around.” He smiled at them all, unthreateningly friendly and charming.
“Thanks, but we’ve all come a long way to meet up and today we’re just planning to chill and catch up with family news and stuff. Maybe another time. ’Bye.” Isobel let a little more warmth infuse her manner, although she was definite in her refusal. She gave him an unexpectedly gracious smile and turned to leave.
Maria also smiled at him, but ruefully as if in disappointment, then moved a few steps away after Isobel, tugging gently at the still silent Liz’s arm.
Liz woke up from her trance and blinked at the big, blond guy looking at her with amused interest. She blushed to think that she had let her attention wander for a moment, wondering where Max might be, when she should have been alert for their safety, but it was hard to think of the attractive guy in front of her as a possible danger. She accidentally caught his eye in a lingering glance then murmured something inaudible and let Maria pull her away towards the camp. Scolding herself for her sudden interest, she felt guilty all the way back to the tents.
Staring after them, Ben Yardley’s c*ock throbbed in his jeans. He wondered which of them he would be f*ucking by the end of the week and licked his lips in anticipation.
TBC…
Lost In America (M&M/all Mature/Adult) 02/20 Ch 39{WIP}
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candylovespell
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
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Chapter 24 to 27
Chapter 24
When the girls returned to their campsite, Michael was over by the grill already frying bacon, slicing bread for toast and pouring his first slug of fresh coffee. He broke eggs into a pan as the girls came over to join him. Maria slid an arm round his waist under his shirt and dragged her nails lightly down his smooth, muscled back so that he shivered in response.
***Oooh, yes, Spaceboy, I’m so ready for it… ***
He felt her pleasurable anticipation and half-smiled, knowing she meant breakfast and was just teasing him to diffuse the tension from the unexpected intrusion. He relaxed now that the scare was over. Michael had only been able to follow the encounter through his faint connection with Maria’s feelings; she hadn’t spoken directly to him, her attention being focused elsewhere. There had been tension, a little nervous excitement and, unexpectedly, enjoyment.
The girls crowded round the grill, Isobel and Maria pouring coffee for themselves and waiting for Michael to dish the food on to plates. Liz, having already eaten, wandered over to the camp chair to retrieve her glass and stood peacefully looking out over the lake.
“Well? What happened?” Michael was impatient to know what they’d said to the guy.
Isobel exchanged glances with Maria.
“He’s no threat, Michael. Just another guy who keeps his brains in his underwear.” Isobel was dismissive. She was familiar with the type and her boredom hadn’t been feigned.
“Yes, you should have seen the way he was checking us all out, like he was starving and we were dessert. He thought we didn’t notice.” Maria laughed and Michael scowled at her, unamused.
“Checkin’ you out?”
“Chill, Spaceboy. He confused Liz by asking if we were from Iowa. He was so hot for her that he didn’t see Isobel and me until we stood right next to him. She looked like she’d lost it for a moment; lucky we arrived in time and Isobel came up with a cover story.”
Isobel took up the tale.
“I told him we’re step-sisters in an extended family group, on a summer road trip to Mexico before college. You and Kyle drove here from Iowa and the rest of us flew in from all over. We used the names on our fake ID.”
Maria interrupted.
“We’d better get used to calling each other by those names while we’re here. We can’t assume we’ll have the place to ourselves all the time.”
Isobel nodded in agreement and carried on talking.
“The guy offered to take us to see the falls this afternoon. We turned him down flat, but he’ll be back. He’s not the type to give up so easily …”
“That’s all we need. Now we’ve got to watch out for him as well.” Michael was grouchy.
“Hey, Spaceboy, I mean “Mark”, he won’t be back for a while – let’s think about having some fun around here… after we eat, of course.” She led the way over to the table and they all sat down. Liz joined them, bringing along a fresh glass of her home-made cherry coke, and the other three ate while they all practiced using their new names and discussed plans for the day. They agreed that a lazy afternoon was needed to begin to recover from the long days and nights spent driving on endless highways. Michael decreed that no formal watch was necessary until nightfall, as long as someone was awake to hear the sound of any vehicle in the vast silence.
Noon was approaching and the sun shone from a cloudless, azure sky over the lake. It was hot, though not like the dry desert air they were used to, and still early enough in the season to be comfortable. Isobel planned to sit in the shade for a couple of hours and then take a long walk along the shore of the lake, as she needed the exercise. Liz, to her surprise, offered to go with her. Michael just wanted to go back to sleep and was disappointed to discover that Maria didn’t intend to join him. He’d had a few ideas in mind for when they woke up and suggested them privately now, trying to lure her into his arms with promises of future delight.
***With Kyle asleep, like, a just few feet away? No, Michael, nookie is totally out of the question when he’s around. Remember, we agreed our private time would have to be when he’s on watch...***
***Soon as he wakes up, gotta talk him into moving in with Isobel and Liz…***
Maria wanted to lie in the airy shade beneath the trees near the lakeshore. She also had an ulterior motive that she was careful to keep to herself.
After everyone had eaten - Michael had second helpings - they all cleared the table and Isobel cleaned the dishes.
Maria strolled over to her tent. Inside, the air was hot and stuffy, so she opened the canvas door and rolled up the windowshade in the vestibule and did the same to their room in order to cool it down for Michael. She wanted to make it more comfortable for Kyle, too, so she called out to him quietly. His only response was a loud grunt and a snuffle, so she grinned and pushed his doorflap half open to give him some airflow, without disturbing him too much. Then she went back into her room to retrieve her sunscreen, shades and hat, as well as a book to read. She rolled them all in a beach towel and stood up to leave.
As she backed out, arms full and taking a last look round to see if she needed anything else, Michael entered the tent and came up behind her. Sliding his hands round her waist, then up to cup her breasts, he nuzzled the base of her neck and, as she struggled to turn round in his arms without dropping anything, he took the bundle away from her and tossed it carelessly on the floor. He smothered her annoyance with his mouth, lips soft and slow as he tried to seduce her into coming back to bed with him for the afternoon.
Maria very nearly succumbed, wrapping her arms around his neck and responding with lazy sensuality as he kissed her throat, then moaning as his hands cupped her ass to pull her tighter against him.
Liz appeared in the doorway, calling Maria by her ID name, then stopped short in surprise. A sharp stab of jealousy shot through her on seeing the two lovers so lost in their embrace that they were unaware of her presence.
Then Maria opened her eyes and saw Liz watching them. It made her slightly uncomfortable, wondering how long she had been there, staring. She smiled wryly at Michael as she drew away from him, and he instinctively knew, before he even read her thought, who it was that had frustrated his plans.
***It’s Liz again, isn’t it? Every time I get you to myself, she arrives like the bad fairy, demanding your attention. Tell her to get lost, princess, and come to bed. We’ve got all afternoon, there’s no rush…*** He felt Maria’s struggle against temptation, but she resisted.
***Just as well she’s here, Spaceboy. Kyle’s still asleep and I really meant it when I said I wanted to sit out by the lake in the shade. We can carry on with this later, after he wakes up. You want to sleep, anyway, Michael. I can feel it…***
***Yeah, whatever…*** He resigned himself to sleeping alone.
They both turned to Liz, Maria with a smile and Michael with his usual enigmatic expression, concealing his irritation at her timing.
“ Ready now, Liz. It’s such a relief to rest for a few days, especially somewhere as beautiful as this.”
Maria gave Michael a pointed look and he picked up her sun protection stuff and handed it over, then solemnly kissed her cheek and watched her walk away before he removed his clothes, stretched out on their bed in just his underwear, and once again fell fast asleep.
The girls arranged themselves on the grass in the shade, Isobel and Liz on the camp chairs and Maria reclining on her towel, after applying sunscreen. Conversation was minimal, all of them drowsy in the heat and finally relieved from the strain of constant travelling.
Maria propped herself on her elbow with her back to the others and casually opened her book. The DeLuca women never turned down a challenge. When Michael caught his fish, she would be ready… but first she had to master the basics. Flicking through the cookbook, she began to look for a recipe that might be within her current capabilities for later that evening…
A couple more lazy hours drifted by, until Isobel judged it time to explore their new surroundings and sat up to slather herself with more suncream and get ready for the hike. Liz did the same and they both called enquiringly over to Maria, stretched out on her towel. She propped herself up on her elbows and shook her head at them, rolling her eyes at the thought of exercise in the hot afternoon sun.
“I’ll wait until you get back, then I’ll drive to the store to get fresh supplies for dinner tonight. Have fun…”
“OK, we’ll be back by 4 o’clock. See you later, Maria.”
Isobel and Liz waved as they set off northwards along the edge of the lake. They both wore sunhats, hiking boots and shades against the reflections from the mirrored surface. The rocky shoreline near their campsite continued round to form a sheltered bay and after about fifteen minutes, they rounded the tip of the small, wooded promontory to find the lake bounded here by a gently sloping hillside with snowy mountain peaks as a distant backdrop.
They walked on into the scenery, following a track that led them along the water’s edge and eventually up through the hazy sunlight in the woods to the top of the hill. Coming out onto level ground, they found themselves on a wide plateau – a green, grassy alpine meadow scattered with drifts of tiny, colourful flowers.
The view of the lake and mountains was sufficiently stunning for them both to drop to the ground and just lay gazing out over the treetops for a while. The thin air at this altitude left both of them breathless from exertion; Liz in particular - the only exercise she and Maria ever had time for was rushing around on their busy Crashdown shifts. Isobel took fitness seriously and both she and Jesse had made good use of the gym membership they’d been given as a wedding gift.
Both girls were silent, frequently sipping from the water bottles they carried. Liz fought the urge to ask Isobel if she’d made dream contact with Max. Isobel carefully avoided thinking about the subject altogether. They both cast around for a safer topic of conversation. Isobel thought of one first.
“That ranger guy looked like he could turn out to be a problem, if he gets too curious about us. What did you make of him?”
“I thought he was very nice, really friendly. He offered to show us the falls in his own time, too…”
“He’s interested in you, Liz. Didn’t you see the way he looked at you? We’ll have to watch out he doesn’t come visit too often or we could all be in trouble…”
Liz remembered the glance they’d shared and knew Isobel was right – he had been interested. She’d had an unexpected little jolt of awareness herself and felt guilty at the time but, even though she was making a fresh start without Max, real interest in another guy was just unthinkable - way too soon and way too dangerous.
“He won’t get any encouragement from me, Isobel. I’m just as nervous as everyone else about talking to strangers. So you don’t have to worry about that.”
She paused then continued in a rush of honesty.
“Still, in a way it was a relief to talk to someone from outside the group. It’s been days since we’ve had any conversation with anyone apart from store clerks. It just doesn’t feel right. Back home, I used to talk to people all the time, at school or in the Crashdown. Maybe only to smile and pass the time of day, but it was, like, contact with the real world. Do you know what I mean?”
Isobel began to nod eagerly in agreement even as she was speaking.
“Oh, God, I know exactly what you mean, Liz. I feel that way, too. I – I haven’t said this to anyone else, but that’s why I – I’m so worried about disappearing into the wilderness with only the tiny group of us to talk to. I’m afraid of the isolation. Oh, I know that it’ll probably be safer in the long term and we can move to an urban area when we’ve shaken off the Feds, but how am I going to get through it until then? I really love Michael and Maria, and Kyle is a wonderful guy, too, but I’m used to a busy, social, life full of contact with lots of other people. That’s why I volunteered for so many charity committees – I haveto keep busy all the time or I’ll go mad with boredom…”
The two girls looked at each other, bonding in acknowledgment of a shared loneliness unconnected with Max.
“Maria feels the same way, I think… ” Liz confessed. “She told me she’d given up her life and all her other friends for the sake of Michael and - the secret. Never tell her I told you, but I think that’s the real reason why she split with him that time – she felt trapped and scared she’d never be able to have any life outside the group. I think that later she finally realised that she couldn’t be happy without Michael so she rejected the record deal and came back to Roswell. We haven’t really been close for a long time now and that’s been mostly my fault, but I was so relieved and grateful she chose to come with us after all. I don’t know how she feels about the isolation, though. She’s the most outgoing and talkative one of us all, she must be worried, too…”
Isobel smiled affectionately at the thought of the small blonde who had become such a real and unexpected friend since Alex died. She knew that she wouldn’t last long without Maria and Kyle to comfort and tease her through her loss and loneliness.
“Maria’s been the strongest of us all since we left home. She’s never once complained or bitched about anything and she’s just totally supported Michael all the way. She’s been really sweet to me, too. I don’t know what I’d do without her…”
Liz felt another guilty stab of mixed love and jealousy. Much as she loved her best friend, Maria now had what she herself had fully expected to enjoy – the open adoration of the alpha male and the love and respect of all the others in the group. Liz told herself that a little jealousy was the natural response to loss of status.
Anyway, it was Michael who had turned out to have the real talent for leadership in a crisis, not Max after all. In fact, the more Liz thought about it, the more she convinced herself that he was the one who was really to blame for her troubles. If only he had held back and given Max a chance to lead them as he should, then maybe the whole Tess thing wouldn’t have been able to distract him. Her growing resentment of the big alien increased at the thought, although she was forced to admit to herself that he was doing a good job at protecting the group so far.
She said nothing about this, however and just agreed, truthfully, with Isobel that Maria was a very special friend.
At that moment the sunlight faded as a shadow passed over them and they looked up to see huge dark clouds bubbling up from behind the mountains and moving fast towards the lake. A strong gust of wind blew Isobel’s long, black hair into her eyes and a few heavy raindrops splashed down around them.
“Quick, Liz, we’d better get down into the shelter of the trees before we get soaked to the skin...”
A distant rumble of thunder made Liz pause in her headlong flight and call to Isobel.
“What about lightning? It’s dangerous to shelter under trees…”
“Not to us, Liz. Come on, I’ll show you…” Isobel hurried on and found the path they’d followed earlier. She plunged in among the trees and stopped to wait for Liz.
The wood was shadowy and dim without the misty sunlight pouring through the leaf canopy and the two girls walked carefully along the track, following its curves down towards the unseen lake at the bottom of the slope. Liz stumbled and Isobel put out a hand to prevent her from falling. Liz clutched it and held on tight, nervous at the thunder growing louder and closer above them. Lightning flashed more frequently, and they both shivered a little as the temperature dropped rapidly. The rain was loud on the leaves but it was surprisingly dry under the shelter of the trees.
“What did you mean when you said ‘it’s not dangerous for us’, Isobel?” Liz's voice shook nervously as another flash lit up the wood and thunder rolled above them, echoing off the bowl of mountains.
“We have our forcefields, of course… Switch them on and lightning will either bounce off or be absorbed into our energy fields. Michael can absorb it or deflect it, as he chooses, but Max and I can only deflect it. We used to go out into the desert and call up storms to practice with when we were younger. It was one of the few things Michael was good at when he was growing up. He called up the most spectacular electrical storms Roswell ever saw. I always thought he just channelled his anger into the weather. I was good at making it snow. None of us have done it seriously for years, as far as I know. Just lost interest, I think. I don’t know which way you and Kyle will react, but either way, you’ll be safe. Oh, and if a tree is struck and it looks like it might fall on you, you can just ‘push’ it out of the way with your forcefield. There are some advantages in having powers, you know…” She grinned with surprisingly wicked enjoyment at Liz.
Breaking the connection of their linked hands, both girls concentrated and started to glow faintly green in the twilight beneath the trees. Liz recovered her nerve at this and strode out confidently ahead of Isobel, almost challenging the elements to do their worst.
They were almost at the bottom of the slope when a dark shape appeared on the path ahead of them, blocking their way.
TBC…
When the girls returned to their campsite, Michael was over by the grill already frying bacon, slicing bread for toast and pouring his first slug of fresh coffee. He broke eggs into a pan as the girls came over to join him. Maria slid an arm round his waist under his shirt and dragged her nails lightly down his smooth, muscled back so that he shivered in response.
***Oooh, yes, Spaceboy, I’m so ready for it… ***
He felt her pleasurable anticipation and half-smiled, knowing she meant breakfast and was just teasing him to diffuse the tension from the unexpected intrusion. He relaxed now that the scare was over. Michael had only been able to follow the encounter through his faint connection with Maria’s feelings; she hadn’t spoken directly to him, her attention being focused elsewhere. There had been tension, a little nervous excitement and, unexpectedly, enjoyment.
The girls crowded round the grill, Isobel and Maria pouring coffee for themselves and waiting for Michael to dish the food on to plates. Liz, having already eaten, wandered over to the camp chair to retrieve her glass and stood peacefully looking out over the lake.
“Well? What happened?” Michael was impatient to know what they’d said to the guy.
Isobel exchanged glances with Maria.
“He’s no threat, Michael. Just another guy who keeps his brains in his underwear.” Isobel was dismissive. She was familiar with the type and her boredom hadn’t been feigned.
“Yes, you should have seen the way he was checking us all out, like he was starving and we were dessert. He thought we didn’t notice.” Maria laughed and Michael scowled at her, unamused.
“Checkin’ you out?”
“Chill, Spaceboy. He confused Liz by asking if we were from Iowa. He was so hot for her that he didn’t see Isobel and me until we stood right next to him. She looked like she’d lost it for a moment; lucky we arrived in time and Isobel came up with a cover story.”
Isobel took up the tale.
“I told him we’re step-sisters in an extended family group, on a summer road trip to Mexico before college. You and Kyle drove here from Iowa and the rest of us flew in from all over. We used the names on our fake ID.”
Maria interrupted.
“We’d better get used to calling each other by those names while we’re here. We can’t assume we’ll have the place to ourselves all the time.”
Isobel nodded in agreement and carried on talking.
“The guy offered to take us to see the falls this afternoon. We turned him down flat, but he’ll be back. He’s not the type to give up so easily …”
“That’s all we need. Now we’ve got to watch out for him as well.” Michael was grouchy.
“Hey, Spaceboy, I mean “Mark”, he won’t be back for a while – let’s think about having some fun around here… after we eat, of course.” She led the way over to the table and they all sat down. Liz joined them, bringing along a fresh glass of her home-made cherry coke, and the other three ate while they all practiced using their new names and discussed plans for the day. They agreed that a lazy afternoon was needed to begin to recover from the long days and nights spent driving on endless highways. Michael decreed that no formal watch was necessary until nightfall, as long as someone was awake to hear the sound of any vehicle in the vast silence.
Noon was approaching and the sun shone from a cloudless, azure sky over the lake. It was hot, though not like the dry desert air they were used to, and still early enough in the season to be comfortable. Isobel planned to sit in the shade for a couple of hours and then take a long walk along the shore of the lake, as she needed the exercise. Liz, to her surprise, offered to go with her. Michael just wanted to go back to sleep and was disappointed to discover that Maria didn’t intend to join him. He’d had a few ideas in mind for when they woke up and suggested them privately now, trying to lure her into his arms with promises of future delight.
***With Kyle asleep, like, a just few feet away? No, Michael, nookie is totally out of the question when he’s around. Remember, we agreed our private time would have to be when he’s on watch...***
***Soon as he wakes up, gotta talk him into moving in with Isobel and Liz…***
Maria wanted to lie in the airy shade beneath the trees near the lakeshore. She also had an ulterior motive that she was careful to keep to herself.
After everyone had eaten - Michael had second helpings - they all cleared the table and Isobel cleaned the dishes.
Maria strolled over to her tent. Inside, the air was hot and stuffy, so she opened the canvas door and rolled up the windowshade in the vestibule and did the same to their room in order to cool it down for Michael. She wanted to make it more comfortable for Kyle, too, so she called out to him quietly. His only response was a loud grunt and a snuffle, so she grinned and pushed his doorflap half open to give him some airflow, without disturbing him too much. Then she went back into her room to retrieve her sunscreen, shades and hat, as well as a book to read. She rolled them all in a beach towel and stood up to leave.
As she backed out, arms full and taking a last look round to see if she needed anything else, Michael entered the tent and came up behind her. Sliding his hands round her waist, then up to cup her breasts, he nuzzled the base of her neck and, as she struggled to turn round in his arms without dropping anything, he took the bundle away from her and tossed it carelessly on the floor. He smothered her annoyance with his mouth, lips soft and slow as he tried to seduce her into coming back to bed with him for the afternoon.
Maria very nearly succumbed, wrapping her arms around his neck and responding with lazy sensuality as he kissed her throat, then moaning as his hands cupped her ass to pull her tighter against him.
Liz appeared in the doorway, calling Maria by her ID name, then stopped short in surprise. A sharp stab of jealousy shot through her on seeing the two lovers so lost in their embrace that they were unaware of her presence.
Then Maria opened her eyes and saw Liz watching them. It made her slightly uncomfortable, wondering how long she had been there, staring. She smiled wryly at Michael as she drew away from him, and he instinctively knew, before he even read her thought, who it was that had frustrated his plans.
***It’s Liz again, isn’t it? Every time I get you to myself, she arrives like the bad fairy, demanding your attention. Tell her to get lost, princess, and come to bed. We’ve got all afternoon, there’s no rush…*** He felt Maria’s struggle against temptation, but she resisted.
***Just as well she’s here, Spaceboy. Kyle’s still asleep and I really meant it when I said I wanted to sit out by the lake in the shade. We can carry on with this later, after he wakes up. You want to sleep, anyway, Michael. I can feel it…***
***Yeah, whatever…*** He resigned himself to sleeping alone.
They both turned to Liz, Maria with a smile and Michael with his usual enigmatic expression, concealing his irritation at her timing.
“ Ready now, Liz. It’s such a relief to rest for a few days, especially somewhere as beautiful as this.”
Maria gave Michael a pointed look and he picked up her sun protection stuff and handed it over, then solemnly kissed her cheek and watched her walk away before he removed his clothes, stretched out on their bed in just his underwear, and once again fell fast asleep.
The girls arranged themselves on the grass in the shade, Isobel and Liz on the camp chairs and Maria reclining on her towel, after applying sunscreen. Conversation was minimal, all of them drowsy in the heat and finally relieved from the strain of constant travelling.
Maria propped herself on her elbow with her back to the others and casually opened her book. The DeLuca women never turned down a challenge. When Michael caught his fish, she would be ready… but first she had to master the basics. Flicking through the cookbook, she began to look for a recipe that might be within her current capabilities for later that evening…
A couple more lazy hours drifted by, until Isobel judged it time to explore their new surroundings and sat up to slather herself with more suncream and get ready for the hike. Liz did the same and they both called enquiringly over to Maria, stretched out on her towel. She propped herself up on her elbows and shook her head at them, rolling her eyes at the thought of exercise in the hot afternoon sun.
“I’ll wait until you get back, then I’ll drive to the store to get fresh supplies for dinner tonight. Have fun…”
“OK, we’ll be back by 4 o’clock. See you later, Maria.”
Isobel and Liz waved as they set off northwards along the edge of the lake. They both wore sunhats, hiking boots and shades against the reflections from the mirrored surface. The rocky shoreline near their campsite continued round to form a sheltered bay and after about fifteen minutes, they rounded the tip of the small, wooded promontory to find the lake bounded here by a gently sloping hillside with snowy mountain peaks as a distant backdrop.
They walked on into the scenery, following a track that led them along the water’s edge and eventually up through the hazy sunlight in the woods to the top of the hill. Coming out onto level ground, they found themselves on a wide plateau – a green, grassy alpine meadow scattered with drifts of tiny, colourful flowers.
The view of the lake and mountains was sufficiently stunning for them both to drop to the ground and just lay gazing out over the treetops for a while. The thin air at this altitude left both of them breathless from exertion; Liz in particular - the only exercise she and Maria ever had time for was rushing around on their busy Crashdown shifts. Isobel took fitness seriously and both she and Jesse had made good use of the gym membership they’d been given as a wedding gift.
Both girls were silent, frequently sipping from the water bottles they carried. Liz fought the urge to ask Isobel if she’d made dream contact with Max. Isobel carefully avoided thinking about the subject altogether. They both cast around for a safer topic of conversation. Isobel thought of one first.
“That ranger guy looked like he could turn out to be a problem, if he gets too curious about us. What did you make of him?”
“I thought he was very nice, really friendly. He offered to show us the falls in his own time, too…”
“He’s interested in you, Liz. Didn’t you see the way he looked at you? We’ll have to watch out he doesn’t come visit too often or we could all be in trouble…”
Liz remembered the glance they’d shared and knew Isobel was right – he had been interested. She’d had an unexpected little jolt of awareness herself and felt guilty at the time but, even though she was making a fresh start without Max, real interest in another guy was just unthinkable - way too soon and way too dangerous.
“He won’t get any encouragement from me, Isobel. I’m just as nervous as everyone else about talking to strangers. So you don’t have to worry about that.”
She paused then continued in a rush of honesty.
“Still, in a way it was a relief to talk to someone from outside the group. It’s been days since we’ve had any conversation with anyone apart from store clerks. It just doesn’t feel right. Back home, I used to talk to people all the time, at school or in the Crashdown. Maybe only to smile and pass the time of day, but it was, like, contact with the real world. Do you know what I mean?”
Isobel began to nod eagerly in agreement even as she was speaking.
“Oh, God, I know exactly what you mean, Liz. I feel that way, too. I – I haven’t said this to anyone else, but that’s why I – I’m so worried about disappearing into the wilderness with only the tiny group of us to talk to. I’m afraid of the isolation. Oh, I know that it’ll probably be safer in the long term and we can move to an urban area when we’ve shaken off the Feds, but how am I going to get through it until then? I really love Michael and Maria, and Kyle is a wonderful guy, too, but I’m used to a busy, social, life full of contact with lots of other people. That’s why I volunteered for so many charity committees – I haveto keep busy all the time or I’ll go mad with boredom…”
The two girls looked at each other, bonding in acknowledgment of a shared loneliness unconnected with Max.
“Maria feels the same way, I think… ” Liz confessed. “She told me she’d given up her life and all her other friends for the sake of Michael and - the secret. Never tell her I told you, but I think that’s the real reason why she split with him that time – she felt trapped and scared she’d never be able to have any life outside the group. I think that later she finally realised that she couldn’t be happy without Michael so she rejected the record deal and came back to Roswell. We haven’t really been close for a long time now and that’s been mostly my fault, but I was so relieved and grateful she chose to come with us after all. I don’t know how she feels about the isolation, though. She’s the most outgoing and talkative one of us all, she must be worried, too…”
Isobel smiled affectionately at the thought of the small blonde who had become such a real and unexpected friend since Alex died. She knew that she wouldn’t last long without Maria and Kyle to comfort and tease her through her loss and loneliness.
“Maria’s been the strongest of us all since we left home. She’s never once complained or bitched about anything and she’s just totally supported Michael all the way. She’s been really sweet to me, too. I don’t know what I’d do without her…”
Liz felt another guilty stab of mixed love and jealousy. Much as she loved her best friend, Maria now had what she herself had fully expected to enjoy – the open adoration of the alpha male and the love and respect of all the others in the group. Liz told herself that a little jealousy was the natural response to loss of status.
Anyway, it was Michael who had turned out to have the real talent for leadership in a crisis, not Max after all. In fact, the more Liz thought about it, the more she convinced herself that he was the one who was really to blame for her troubles. If only he had held back and given Max a chance to lead them as he should, then maybe the whole Tess thing wouldn’t have been able to distract him. Her growing resentment of the big alien increased at the thought, although she was forced to admit to herself that he was doing a good job at protecting the group so far.
She said nothing about this, however and just agreed, truthfully, with Isobel that Maria was a very special friend.
At that moment the sunlight faded as a shadow passed over them and they looked up to see huge dark clouds bubbling up from behind the mountains and moving fast towards the lake. A strong gust of wind blew Isobel’s long, black hair into her eyes and a few heavy raindrops splashed down around them.
“Quick, Liz, we’d better get down into the shelter of the trees before we get soaked to the skin...”
A distant rumble of thunder made Liz pause in her headlong flight and call to Isobel.
“What about lightning? It’s dangerous to shelter under trees…”
“Not to us, Liz. Come on, I’ll show you…” Isobel hurried on and found the path they’d followed earlier. She plunged in among the trees and stopped to wait for Liz.
The wood was shadowy and dim without the misty sunlight pouring through the leaf canopy and the two girls walked carefully along the track, following its curves down towards the unseen lake at the bottom of the slope. Liz stumbled and Isobel put out a hand to prevent her from falling. Liz clutched it and held on tight, nervous at the thunder growing louder and closer above them. Lightning flashed more frequently, and they both shivered a little as the temperature dropped rapidly. The rain was loud on the leaves but it was surprisingly dry under the shelter of the trees.
“What did you mean when you said ‘it’s not dangerous for us’, Isobel?” Liz's voice shook nervously as another flash lit up the wood and thunder rolled above them, echoing off the bowl of mountains.
“We have our forcefields, of course… Switch them on and lightning will either bounce off or be absorbed into our energy fields. Michael can absorb it or deflect it, as he chooses, but Max and I can only deflect it. We used to go out into the desert and call up storms to practice with when we were younger. It was one of the few things Michael was good at when he was growing up. He called up the most spectacular electrical storms Roswell ever saw. I always thought he just channelled his anger into the weather. I was good at making it snow. None of us have done it seriously for years, as far as I know. Just lost interest, I think. I don’t know which way you and Kyle will react, but either way, you’ll be safe. Oh, and if a tree is struck and it looks like it might fall on you, you can just ‘push’ it out of the way with your forcefield. There are some advantages in having powers, you know…” She grinned with surprisingly wicked enjoyment at Liz.
Breaking the connection of their linked hands, both girls concentrated and started to glow faintly green in the twilight beneath the trees. Liz recovered her nerve at this and strode out confidently ahead of Isobel, almost challenging the elements to do their worst.
They were almost at the bottom of the slope when a dark shape appeared on the path ahead of them, blocking their way.
TBC…
-
candylovespell
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:50 pm
Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Maria had almost decided on a recipe for dinner that evening and was about to make the final choice between two sauces for the apparently simple chicken dish she had chosen when a large raindrop splashed onto the page.
She had been so absorbed in reading the cookbook that she hadn’t noticed time passing until the sudden shower took her by surprise. Hurriedly gathering up her book, shades and towel, she dashed through the rain to the tent, sheltering just inside the entrance to the vestibule to peer out into the dark, cloudy sky over the lake.
The guys were still deeply asleep, undisturbed by the rain pattering on the canvas, and Maria took a moment to peek affectionately at them both before she sank quietly onto the groundsheet just inside the doorway. It gave her that warm, cosy feeling, being safe and dry looking out at the weather. Then she thought of Liz and Isobel somewhere out there and hoped they had found shelter, too. She wasn’t worried as she knew that Isobel could dry them both off if they got soaked, so there was no danger of either of them catching cold or worse. Isobel would undoubtedly scare off any bears they might meet, too. In either scenario Liz would probably see an opportunity to learn more about her new powers.
A flash of lightning made her instinctively move further back, away from the door, before the thunder growled in the distance. She suddenly wanted to crawl in beside Michael, cuddle up against his big, warm body and listen to the rain outside, feeling peaceful and safe just being together. It made her remember the night that Michael had come to her out of the rain, the night she had first realised that he trusted her enough to reveal his private anguish and vulnerability - the night she had first taken him into her bed… He had changed in so many ways since then, but she knew he still had that secret place inside him that would always be the lonely, scared, unloved little boy and her heart ached. She vowed to herself that the man he was fast becoming would never be uncertain of her love again.
Maria gave in to her impulse and stood up to step through the opening into their private quarters. She sat carefully down beside Michael on the low bed, but instead of sliding in alongside him at once, took time to enjoy the long-missed pleasure of watching him sleep…
Unconscious, with his short, dark, spiky hair ruffled and his face softened into innocence, he looked more relaxed and peaceful than she had ever seen him in Roswell, the frown lines smoothed out, his dark, watchful eyes hidden; but his sensual lips, full and soft, were just waiting for her own to melt against them and coax him into far from innocent wakefulness.
Her gaze drifted down over his wide, naked shoulders and she wanted to bite delicately into the hard muscle under the smooth skin, then trail her tongue down across his broad chest to lave the sensitive nipples.
Further down, his neat belly button centred in his flat stomach drew her eye and she reached out to circle the dip with a finger hovering as light as a butterfly’s wing, so that he wasn’t even aware of her touch.
The thin cotton underwear covering his narrow hips did nothing to conceal the size of his long, thick c*ock - impressive even in it’s relaxed state - and Maria’s breathing quickened, her tongue poking out to wet her lips as she fought to control her growing need to grind herself down on the towering iron-hard length of it and ride him savagely until they were lost together again in the white hot passion unique to themselves.
The increasing exhaustion and lack of privacy over the last several days had made their few encounters hurried and intense, so the prospect of a long, lazy afternoon with time to really appreciate being back together had been very hard to refuse. The sight of Michael revealed in – nearly - all his male glory, spread out for her delectation, made Maria regret her earlier decision and she leaned over him, intending to wake him with a kiss and make up for the lost time.
The sound of movement on the other side of the canvas wall brought her back to reality and the need for restraint when Kyle was nearby, so she sat up again and looked regretfully down the powerful, muscular length of Michael’s bare legs over towards the door of the tent to the storm outside, which was becoming increasingly loud and violent by the minute.
Kyle crawled blearily out into the vestibule and tried to focus on the view through the doorway. Rain bounced off the grass and lay in puddles on the dirt paths between the trees, pounding loudly on the outer canvas fly protecting the inner tent. Lightning left bright after-images of tree shapes imposed on his vision as thunder boomed overhead. He blinked, but the impression was slow to fade. A familiar low giggle sounded behind him and he looked round at Maria perched on the bed beside a sleepy Michael leaning up on one elbow half-awake and rubbing a hand through his already tousled hair.
As another lightning flash lit up the tent the sleep left Michael’s eyes to be replaced by wicked anticipation. He quickly kissed Maria’s cheek and then stood up although he had to duck his head a few inches to keep it from touching the canvas roof. He moved directly out past Kyle into the open air, ignoring the rain and gazing up into the sky through the over-arching trees. Privately telling Maria to stay inside the tent to be safe and out of the rain, he walked out onto the rocks by the lakeshore to stand watching the dark clouds.
Michael, clad only in the now-transparent cotton boxer shorts that clung to his skin from the rain, stood on a rock in classic pose with his feet apart for balance and his arms raised towards the stormclouds, as a familiar green glow enveloped his tall, muscular body, outlining it in contrast to the darkness of the sky.
Kyle groaned to himself as echoes of last night’s dream flashed unbidden into his mind. He watched the clouds for the next streak of lightning, as it dawned on him with incredulity what Michael was about to do.
Sure enough, when the brilliant light flashed he saw that the green aura surrounding Michael glowed silver-white for several seconds with the electrical discharge from the storm and his hair stood up straight from his skull in the manner Kyle recalled from the time he’d first noticed the alien’s existence.
The hair on Kyle’s own head and the rest of his body stood up straight from the electricity saturating the air around them, but there was a strong element of fear in there, too. It was the weirdest feeling. Surely Guerin didn’t mean for him to try it, too? However, from the way that the big alien was grinning challengingly at him, it seemed he did …
He beckoned Kyle over to join him.
“Want another lesson in power control, Valenti?”
Kyle looked nervous, but nodded cautiously.
“Stand back and watch, then, but don’t look directly at me…”
The next bolt found Michael as if aimed by an unseen hand, but this time it bounced off and hit a nearby tree branch, which burst into flame. A casual wave from him doused the fire before it spread to the main trunk, leaving only a smoking scar behind.
Maria, watching from the nearby tent, was amazed and deeply impressed at Michael’s latest display of alien power. This was a new one that she hadn’t known he possessed and while it only confirmed her suspicion that there was a lot about him that she had yet to discover, she couldn’t help but worry about the danger to Kyle, who was clearly about to receive his first lesson from the master. Despite his increasing self-control and sense of purpose, it was obvious to her that Michael could still be as reckless and irresponsible as any other guy showing off to his girlfriend… Ok, so she was as impressed as hell and she told him so, to his undisguised pleasure - only spoiling it a moment later by adding a warning about being careful with Kyle that instantly irritated Michael, who needed no prompting about that and resented her interference in his business. Crackling with raw energy and about to start in on one of their fights, Michael suddenly realised that Kyle was staring at him, waiting for instruction.
“Ok, Valenti, I’ll field the next few bolts until you feel you’re ready, then you take over. You should be able to feel the patterns of energy in the atmosphere on the surface of your own forcefield, so follow the path to reach the power of the storm and kinda channel the electrical charge back to you. I don’t know how your power will handle it –soak it up or throw it off. Either way, you’re safe, ok?” He had to shout over the sound of thunder rolling overhead.
Kyle nodded. Although he was scared shitless, he wasn’t going to admit it to Guerin. He sat down on a flat rock in his meditation pose, legs crossed and bare feet tucked under opposite thighs, resting his hands on his knees. The Buddhist philosophy he studied really did help him to remain calm right then. He concentrated, summoned the energy suddenly surging through his veins again, flooding his body, letting it leak out to tingle across his skin until he saw the faint green glow appear as a haze about two inches deep all around him, even showing through his rain soaked underwear, which he distractedly noticed was his only, though now useless, covering.
He was aware that Michael was still collecting lightening bolts like, well, like a steel rod in a thunderstorm, so he scrambled to stand up, lifted an arm to signal he was ready and closed his eyes.
He was immediately aware of his forcefield like a second skin. Kyle expanded this new alien inner sense and, just like Michael had said he would, felt the Earth’s atmosphere as minute tingles of electricity forming intricate patterns against the surface. He was lost in wonder for a second, but then found that one of the tiny patterns on his arm near his left shoulder felt more distinct, more intense than the rest, so he focused on it. A pathway opened up and a huge electrical charge flashed down it only to wash over his shield and hit the ground beneath him, leaving a strong, acrid smell of burning.
For a long moment he was too terrified to open his eyes, but he finally forced himself to look and saw Michael leaning against a nearby tree, grinning.
Kyle moved a few steps away and looked down to discover a perfect impression of his footprints burned into the rock. He started to laugh in excitement and relief, discovered he couldn’t stop and sank back into his lotus position beside them. Shoulders shaking with incipient hysteria, he didn’t hear any other sounds until Michael’s voice shouted in angry panic and he felt Maria’s arms go round his shoulders and hold him comfortingly close. He smelled her flowery scent and the contrast between it and the smell of burning was so sweet that his head swam and he felt faint for a second. Then he calmed down and was able to look up and grin reassuringly at Maria just in time to see Michael pick her up and carry her struggling and fighting him back over to the tent, where they both disappeared inside.
He still felt strangely calm and stayed where he was on the rock, looking out over the mountains and watching the last of the storm disappear in the west as the sun emerged, sparkling on the still ruffled surface of the lake and heating his skin as the temperature rose as rapidly as it had cooled during the storm. After a time, steam began to rise from the puddles still lying in the dirt tracks and tiny rainbows flashed in the raindrops still caught on the blades of grass in the campsite. Kyle still watched the lake, oblivious to the time passing as he used his new inner senses to map the ever-changing atmospheric patterns of electricity on the surface of his forcefield, now invisible in the sunlight…
Michael had been triumphantly pleased with himself and Kyle when they had drawn down the lightning. It had been years since three small aliens had played with the weather out in the desert near Roswell, trying out their powers and, in his case, blowing off the pain, anger and frustrations of living with Hank and being trapped on Earth. They must have been about eleven. Isobel had called herself the Snow Queen, her best weather skill being the creation of snow showers, usually rather gentle and soft, although there had been the occasional blizzard when she hadn’t got her own way over something. He recalled with some embarrassment that he had thought of himself as the Lightning Lord, though he had never been stupid enough to share that secret with anyone. Max had never really been creative, preferring to let the other two practice their arts and throw miniature lightning bolts for him to deflect or let Isobel conjure up a tiny snowstorm to turn him into a snowman, memorably dancing round the yard one Christmas Eve when their parents were out. Michael had been visiting, although he hadn’t been welcome on Max’s floor that night in case Santa should come by in the guise of Mr. Evans. He’d spent the whole of that holiday, and many others, camped out in the warm staff lounge in the basement of the public library with food parcels from Isobel and books to lose himself in. He’d enjoyed those times, made his own private holiday rituals.
These memories passed through his mind as he watched Kyle prepare himself to pull lightning from the storm, knowing that there was no real danger now that his powers had emerged, but still interested to see how Kyle’s body would channel the energy charge. Michael himself was the only one who could choose which way to process the energy available in the atmosphere, although he knew it had nothing to do with his own personal power which came from somewhere inside himself as part of his alien heritage. None of them had yet found a practical use for affecting the weather, as the dangers of revealing themselves in that way were too great in a desert climate like Roswell. Michael felt sure that there was more untapped potential in the talent than he had figured out yet.
When Kyle’s forcefield had deflected the bolt and the huge electrical charge had earthed itself in the rock beneath his feet, Michael had been almost as excited for him as if it had been his own first time. He understood all the fear, shock and overwhelming excitement of the incredible experience Kyle had gone through and had been about to go over to reassure his friend when Maria flew past him.
Michael knew in a heartbeat that she was running to comfort Kyle who she thought had been in danger and was now suffering from shock and pain. He instantly panicked in case she touched Kyle’s forcefield and was injured or worse before he could stop her and he was also angry that she had ignored his orders to stay safely inside the tent. Most of all he was angry with himself for not remembering that she almost never obeyed his orders. As he raced after her, he tried frantically to send her a warning but she was too afraid and angry with Kyle to hear.
Maria had a head start on him and so reached the shaken Kyle first. Kneeling beside him, she put her arms round his shoulders in a comforting hug and felt him shivering with reaction and hysteria. At that moment, Michael arrived and tore her away from him, broadcasting anger, fear and relief all mixed up in an incoherent rant in her mind. As he carried her, struggling furiously, back to the tent she saw Kyle look calmly up at them and grin reassuringly at her. It disarmed her fear, but did nothing to defuse her anger at him for recklessly endangering himself in a testosterone match with Michael.
Once back in the tent, Michael released her and they confronted each other in the vestibule, both uncaring that his height forced him to dip his head uncomfortably when standing.
Maria, half laughing, half angry, naturally got in first with her complaint.
*** What the hell did you drag me away for when I only wanted to help Kyle? I really thought he was hurt, in pain, but he’s not, is he? He’s just in shock…he’s excited about it, just like you were. Is it some testosterone overload thing from playing with lightning that you had to drag me away back to the tent to have your way with me in triumph? Wait, where did that come from? I sound like some cheap, stupid novel…anyway, whatever, I can feel you want to, but there’s no way you’re going get out of explaining just why you dragged me away like some caveman –***
She could feel that he was still blazingly angry with her as he interrupted her.
***Have my way with you? Hell, yeah, I’m gonna have my way with you but first – Maria, what the f*uck did you think you were doing running out into a thunderstorm when Kyle was drawing down lightning? I told you to stay in the tent, where you’d be safe, but no, you just had to interfere because you thought I’d screwed up again, didn’t you? ***
***I did not think you screwed up, Michael Guerin, and you know that perfectly well, so don’t try that trick on me, pally. It doesn’t work. Kyle is big enough and ugly enough to make his own decisions on whether or not to risk his life. Hell, we all are or we wouldn’t be here. I was just scared in case he couldn’t handle it. He’s new at this after all…and you didn’t help any, showing off like that***
***I wasn’t just showing off – it was a great chance for Kyle to learn more about his powers with no time for him to think about it beforehand and get scared… You were the one only one in real danger and why? ‘Cuz you just didn’t take any notice when I told you to stay out of it. You never f*uckin’ do…*** His frustration was obvious.
Maria had by now calmed down enough to listen to Michael’s feelings and she realised that he’d had a legitimate grievance in fearing for her safety this time and for getting angry with her when she ignored his orders. She looked back at her own reckless behaviour and was flooded with guilt.
***I’m sorry, Michael. You were right - I was wrong to rush outside without thinking about it first. I should have known that you would have already been there for him if there had really been anything wrong… I just saw Kyle hurt and I wanted to get to him as fast as I could…***
She looked seriously up at him and his anger faded away as he took unfair advantage of her repentant mood to remind her that he only wanted her safe and sound.
***I know we all choose our own risks, Maria, and I can…almost…accept that you have that right, too, but it’s hard for me to see you in danger without needing to protect you. I’m gonna go on doin’ it, too. Hell, it’s so instinctive it’s burned deep into every cell in my body now, babe. You’re everything to me and I don’t intend to let you out of my bed – er, sight for a moment***
They both grinned at each other, battle over and only terms of surrender to be agreed.
*** Just want me for the bod, do you, Spaceboy? Hmm, well I think that might be arranged. My own personal ‘Lightning Lord’ –***
Michael flinched – had she seen his guilty boyhood secret and was now going to tease him forever?
*** --surely deserves some kind of outlet for all that… extra…energy***
No, to his relief she was definitely interested in more…adult…games…
His neck had developed a crick from where he’d been forced to bend his head down for so long and he decided to go back outside to check on Kyle before becoming Maria’s personal ‘Lightning Lord’ for real.
She decided to go with him and they strolled, hand in hand, over to the rock where Kyle reclined by the lake in the hot sunshine. Sitting down, one on each side of him, they listened while he babbled excitedly about his newfound alien senses and the amazing feeling it was to call down lightning.
Maria listened indulgently, valiantly repressing the small jealous twinge she could never quite avoid whenever her formerly human friends demonstrated their growing powers. However much she knew in her head that she was as valued as the rest of the group, in her heart she secretly longed to share the changes she saw in them and revel in a whole new world of wonders as they did. She sighed quietly to herself and saw Michael glance at her behind Kyle’s back. She shook her head at him and grinned, sending a jokey assurance that she was fine, which was perfectly true. She was alive, in love with her man who loved her back and living with her favorite people in all the world. Maria privately told herself it would be ungrateful to bitch about something she couldn’t have and didn’t need.
The footprints were still engraved on the rock near Kyle. When Michael suggested that smoothing them out would make a good project for the lesson in how to manipulate atoms that he planned for the next day, Kyle felt a little uncomfortable. He was still secretly intent on sleeping all day and staying awake at nights. However, he said nothing and just nodded when Michael looked at him for confirmation.
Maria, looking along the shore, saw Liz appear scrambling over the rocks, panting so hard from the unaccustomed exertion that when she reached them it took a minute before she made herself understood to the others.
“Back there in the woods - I’ve had another vision. Michael, come quickly, Isobel needs help…
TBC…
Maria had almost decided on a recipe for dinner that evening and was about to make the final choice between two sauces for the apparently simple chicken dish she had chosen when a large raindrop splashed onto the page.
She had been so absorbed in reading the cookbook that she hadn’t noticed time passing until the sudden shower took her by surprise. Hurriedly gathering up her book, shades and towel, she dashed through the rain to the tent, sheltering just inside the entrance to the vestibule to peer out into the dark, cloudy sky over the lake.
The guys were still deeply asleep, undisturbed by the rain pattering on the canvas, and Maria took a moment to peek affectionately at them both before she sank quietly onto the groundsheet just inside the doorway. It gave her that warm, cosy feeling, being safe and dry looking out at the weather. Then she thought of Liz and Isobel somewhere out there and hoped they had found shelter, too. She wasn’t worried as she knew that Isobel could dry them both off if they got soaked, so there was no danger of either of them catching cold or worse. Isobel would undoubtedly scare off any bears they might meet, too. In either scenario Liz would probably see an opportunity to learn more about her new powers.
A flash of lightning made her instinctively move further back, away from the door, before the thunder growled in the distance. She suddenly wanted to crawl in beside Michael, cuddle up against his big, warm body and listen to the rain outside, feeling peaceful and safe just being together. It made her remember the night that Michael had come to her out of the rain, the night she had first realised that he trusted her enough to reveal his private anguish and vulnerability - the night she had first taken him into her bed… He had changed in so many ways since then, but she knew he still had that secret place inside him that would always be the lonely, scared, unloved little boy and her heart ached. She vowed to herself that the man he was fast becoming would never be uncertain of her love again.
Maria gave in to her impulse and stood up to step through the opening into their private quarters. She sat carefully down beside Michael on the low bed, but instead of sliding in alongside him at once, took time to enjoy the long-missed pleasure of watching him sleep…
Unconscious, with his short, dark, spiky hair ruffled and his face softened into innocence, he looked more relaxed and peaceful than she had ever seen him in Roswell, the frown lines smoothed out, his dark, watchful eyes hidden; but his sensual lips, full and soft, were just waiting for her own to melt against them and coax him into far from innocent wakefulness.
Her gaze drifted down over his wide, naked shoulders and she wanted to bite delicately into the hard muscle under the smooth skin, then trail her tongue down across his broad chest to lave the sensitive nipples.
Further down, his neat belly button centred in his flat stomach drew her eye and she reached out to circle the dip with a finger hovering as light as a butterfly’s wing, so that he wasn’t even aware of her touch.
The thin cotton underwear covering his narrow hips did nothing to conceal the size of his long, thick c*ock - impressive even in it’s relaxed state - and Maria’s breathing quickened, her tongue poking out to wet her lips as she fought to control her growing need to grind herself down on the towering iron-hard length of it and ride him savagely until they were lost together again in the white hot passion unique to themselves.
The increasing exhaustion and lack of privacy over the last several days had made their few encounters hurried and intense, so the prospect of a long, lazy afternoon with time to really appreciate being back together had been very hard to refuse. The sight of Michael revealed in – nearly - all his male glory, spread out for her delectation, made Maria regret her earlier decision and she leaned over him, intending to wake him with a kiss and make up for the lost time.
The sound of movement on the other side of the canvas wall brought her back to reality and the need for restraint when Kyle was nearby, so she sat up again and looked regretfully down the powerful, muscular length of Michael’s bare legs over towards the door of the tent to the storm outside, which was becoming increasingly loud and violent by the minute.
Kyle crawled blearily out into the vestibule and tried to focus on the view through the doorway. Rain bounced off the grass and lay in puddles on the dirt paths between the trees, pounding loudly on the outer canvas fly protecting the inner tent. Lightning left bright after-images of tree shapes imposed on his vision as thunder boomed overhead. He blinked, but the impression was slow to fade. A familiar low giggle sounded behind him and he looked round at Maria perched on the bed beside a sleepy Michael leaning up on one elbow half-awake and rubbing a hand through his already tousled hair.
As another lightning flash lit up the tent the sleep left Michael’s eyes to be replaced by wicked anticipation. He quickly kissed Maria’s cheek and then stood up although he had to duck his head a few inches to keep it from touching the canvas roof. He moved directly out past Kyle into the open air, ignoring the rain and gazing up into the sky through the over-arching trees. Privately telling Maria to stay inside the tent to be safe and out of the rain, he walked out onto the rocks by the lakeshore to stand watching the dark clouds.
Michael, clad only in the now-transparent cotton boxer shorts that clung to his skin from the rain, stood on a rock in classic pose with his feet apart for balance and his arms raised towards the stormclouds, as a familiar green glow enveloped his tall, muscular body, outlining it in contrast to the darkness of the sky.
Kyle groaned to himself as echoes of last night’s dream flashed unbidden into his mind. He watched the clouds for the next streak of lightning, as it dawned on him with incredulity what Michael was about to do.
Sure enough, when the brilliant light flashed he saw that the green aura surrounding Michael glowed silver-white for several seconds with the electrical discharge from the storm and his hair stood up straight from his skull in the manner Kyle recalled from the time he’d first noticed the alien’s existence.
The hair on Kyle’s own head and the rest of his body stood up straight from the electricity saturating the air around them, but there was a strong element of fear in there, too. It was the weirdest feeling. Surely Guerin didn’t mean for him to try it, too? However, from the way that the big alien was grinning challengingly at him, it seemed he did …
He beckoned Kyle over to join him.
“Want another lesson in power control, Valenti?”
Kyle looked nervous, but nodded cautiously.
“Stand back and watch, then, but don’t look directly at me…”
The next bolt found Michael as if aimed by an unseen hand, but this time it bounced off and hit a nearby tree branch, which burst into flame. A casual wave from him doused the fire before it spread to the main trunk, leaving only a smoking scar behind.
Maria, watching from the nearby tent, was amazed and deeply impressed at Michael’s latest display of alien power. This was a new one that she hadn’t known he possessed and while it only confirmed her suspicion that there was a lot about him that she had yet to discover, she couldn’t help but worry about the danger to Kyle, who was clearly about to receive his first lesson from the master. Despite his increasing self-control and sense of purpose, it was obvious to her that Michael could still be as reckless and irresponsible as any other guy showing off to his girlfriend… Ok, so she was as impressed as hell and she told him so, to his undisguised pleasure - only spoiling it a moment later by adding a warning about being careful with Kyle that instantly irritated Michael, who needed no prompting about that and resented her interference in his business. Crackling with raw energy and about to start in on one of their fights, Michael suddenly realised that Kyle was staring at him, waiting for instruction.
“Ok, Valenti, I’ll field the next few bolts until you feel you’re ready, then you take over. You should be able to feel the patterns of energy in the atmosphere on the surface of your own forcefield, so follow the path to reach the power of the storm and kinda channel the electrical charge back to you. I don’t know how your power will handle it –soak it up or throw it off. Either way, you’re safe, ok?” He had to shout over the sound of thunder rolling overhead.
Kyle nodded. Although he was scared shitless, he wasn’t going to admit it to Guerin. He sat down on a flat rock in his meditation pose, legs crossed and bare feet tucked under opposite thighs, resting his hands on his knees. The Buddhist philosophy he studied really did help him to remain calm right then. He concentrated, summoned the energy suddenly surging through his veins again, flooding his body, letting it leak out to tingle across his skin until he saw the faint green glow appear as a haze about two inches deep all around him, even showing through his rain soaked underwear, which he distractedly noticed was his only, though now useless, covering.
He was aware that Michael was still collecting lightening bolts like, well, like a steel rod in a thunderstorm, so he scrambled to stand up, lifted an arm to signal he was ready and closed his eyes.
He was immediately aware of his forcefield like a second skin. Kyle expanded this new alien inner sense and, just like Michael had said he would, felt the Earth’s atmosphere as minute tingles of electricity forming intricate patterns against the surface. He was lost in wonder for a second, but then found that one of the tiny patterns on his arm near his left shoulder felt more distinct, more intense than the rest, so he focused on it. A pathway opened up and a huge electrical charge flashed down it only to wash over his shield and hit the ground beneath him, leaving a strong, acrid smell of burning.
For a long moment he was too terrified to open his eyes, but he finally forced himself to look and saw Michael leaning against a nearby tree, grinning.
Kyle moved a few steps away and looked down to discover a perfect impression of his footprints burned into the rock. He started to laugh in excitement and relief, discovered he couldn’t stop and sank back into his lotus position beside them. Shoulders shaking with incipient hysteria, he didn’t hear any other sounds until Michael’s voice shouted in angry panic and he felt Maria’s arms go round his shoulders and hold him comfortingly close. He smelled her flowery scent and the contrast between it and the smell of burning was so sweet that his head swam and he felt faint for a second. Then he calmed down and was able to look up and grin reassuringly at Maria just in time to see Michael pick her up and carry her struggling and fighting him back over to the tent, where they both disappeared inside.
He still felt strangely calm and stayed where he was on the rock, looking out over the mountains and watching the last of the storm disappear in the west as the sun emerged, sparkling on the still ruffled surface of the lake and heating his skin as the temperature rose as rapidly as it had cooled during the storm. After a time, steam began to rise from the puddles still lying in the dirt tracks and tiny rainbows flashed in the raindrops still caught on the blades of grass in the campsite. Kyle still watched the lake, oblivious to the time passing as he used his new inner senses to map the ever-changing atmospheric patterns of electricity on the surface of his forcefield, now invisible in the sunlight…
Michael had been triumphantly pleased with himself and Kyle when they had drawn down the lightning. It had been years since three small aliens had played with the weather out in the desert near Roswell, trying out their powers and, in his case, blowing off the pain, anger and frustrations of living with Hank and being trapped on Earth. They must have been about eleven. Isobel had called herself the Snow Queen, her best weather skill being the creation of snow showers, usually rather gentle and soft, although there had been the occasional blizzard when she hadn’t got her own way over something. He recalled with some embarrassment that he had thought of himself as the Lightning Lord, though he had never been stupid enough to share that secret with anyone. Max had never really been creative, preferring to let the other two practice their arts and throw miniature lightning bolts for him to deflect or let Isobel conjure up a tiny snowstorm to turn him into a snowman, memorably dancing round the yard one Christmas Eve when their parents were out. Michael had been visiting, although he hadn’t been welcome on Max’s floor that night in case Santa should come by in the guise of Mr. Evans. He’d spent the whole of that holiday, and many others, camped out in the warm staff lounge in the basement of the public library with food parcels from Isobel and books to lose himself in. He’d enjoyed those times, made his own private holiday rituals.
These memories passed through his mind as he watched Kyle prepare himself to pull lightning from the storm, knowing that there was no real danger now that his powers had emerged, but still interested to see how Kyle’s body would channel the energy charge. Michael himself was the only one who could choose which way to process the energy available in the atmosphere, although he knew it had nothing to do with his own personal power which came from somewhere inside himself as part of his alien heritage. None of them had yet found a practical use for affecting the weather, as the dangers of revealing themselves in that way were too great in a desert climate like Roswell. Michael felt sure that there was more untapped potential in the talent than he had figured out yet.
When Kyle’s forcefield had deflected the bolt and the huge electrical charge had earthed itself in the rock beneath his feet, Michael had been almost as excited for him as if it had been his own first time. He understood all the fear, shock and overwhelming excitement of the incredible experience Kyle had gone through and had been about to go over to reassure his friend when Maria flew past him.
Michael knew in a heartbeat that she was running to comfort Kyle who she thought had been in danger and was now suffering from shock and pain. He instantly panicked in case she touched Kyle’s forcefield and was injured or worse before he could stop her and he was also angry that she had ignored his orders to stay safely inside the tent. Most of all he was angry with himself for not remembering that she almost never obeyed his orders. As he raced after her, he tried frantically to send her a warning but she was too afraid and angry with Kyle to hear.
Maria had a head start on him and so reached the shaken Kyle first. Kneeling beside him, she put her arms round his shoulders in a comforting hug and felt him shivering with reaction and hysteria. At that moment, Michael arrived and tore her away from him, broadcasting anger, fear and relief all mixed up in an incoherent rant in her mind. As he carried her, struggling furiously, back to the tent she saw Kyle look calmly up at them and grin reassuringly at her. It disarmed her fear, but did nothing to defuse her anger at him for recklessly endangering himself in a testosterone match with Michael.
Once back in the tent, Michael released her and they confronted each other in the vestibule, both uncaring that his height forced him to dip his head uncomfortably when standing.
Maria, half laughing, half angry, naturally got in first with her complaint.
*** What the hell did you drag me away for when I only wanted to help Kyle? I really thought he was hurt, in pain, but he’s not, is he? He’s just in shock…he’s excited about it, just like you were. Is it some testosterone overload thing from playing with lightning that you had to drag me away back to the tent to have your way with me in triumph? Wait, where did that come from? I sound like some cheap, stupid novel…anyway, whatever, I can feel you want to, but there’s no way you’re going get out of explaining just why you dragged me away like some caveman –***
She could feel that he was still blazingly angry with her as he interrupted her.
***Have my way with you? Hell, yeah, I’m gonna have my way with you but first – Maria, what the f*uck did you think you were doing running out into a thunderstorm when Kyle was drawing down lightning? I told you to stay in the tent, where you’d be safe, but no, you just had to interfere because you thought I’d screwed up again, didn’t you? ***
***I did not think you screwed up, Michael Guerin, and you know that perfectly well, so don’t try that trick on me, pally. It doesn’t work. Kyle is big enough and ugly enough to make his own decisions on whether or not to risk his life. Hell, we all are or we wouldn’t be here. I was just scared in case he couldn’t handle it. He’s new at this after all…and you didn’t help any, showing off like that***
***I wasn’t just showing off – it was a great chance for Kyle to learn more about his powers with no time for him to think about it beforehand and get scared… You were the one only one in real danger and why? ‘Cuz you just didn’t take any notice when I told you to stay out of it. You never f*uckin’ do…*** His frustration was obvious.
Maria had by now calmed down enough to listen to Michael’s feelings and she realised that he’d had a legitimate grievance in fearing for her safety this time and for getting angry with her when she ignored his orders. She looked back at her own reckless behaviour and was flooded with guilt.
***I’m sorry, Michael. You were right - I was wrong to rush outside without thinking about it first. I should have known that you would have already been there for him if there had really been anything wrong… I just saw Kyle hurt and I wanted to get to him as fast as I could…***
She looked seriously up at him and his anger faded away as he took unfair advantage of her repentant mood to remind her that he only wanted her safe and sound.
***I know we all choose our own risks, Maria, and I can…almost…accept that you have that right, too, but it’s hard for me to see you in danger without needing to protect you. I’m gonna go on doin’ it, too. Hell, it’s so instinctive it’s burned deep into every cell in my body now, babe. You’re everything to me and I don’t intend to let you out of my bed – er, sight for a moment***
They both grinned at each other, battle over and only terms of surrender to be agreed.
*** Just want me for the bod, do you, Spaceboy? Hmm, well I think that might be arranged. My own personal ‘Lightning Lord’ –***
Michael flinched – had she seen his guilty boyhood secret and was now going to tease him forever?
*** --surely deserves some kind of outlet for all that… extra…energy***
No, to his relief she was definitely interested in more…adult…games…
His neck had developed a crick from where he’d been forced to bend his head down for so long and he decided to go back outside to check on Kyle before becoming Maria’s personal ‘Lightning Lord’ for real.
She decided to go with him and they strolled, hand in hand, over to the rock where Kyle reclined by the lake in the hot sunshine. Sitting down, one on each side of him, they listened while he babbled excitedly about his newfound alien senses and the amazing feeling it was to call down lightning.
Maria listened indulgently, valiantly repressing the small jealous twinge she could never quite avoid whenever her formerly human friends demonstrated their growing powers. However much she knew in her head that she was as valued as the rest of the group, in her heart she secretly longed to share the changes she saw in them and revel in a whole new world of wonders as they did. She sighed quietly to herself and saw Michael glance at her behind Kyle’s back. She shook her head at him and grinned, sending a jokey assurance that she was fine, which was perfectly true. She was alive, in love with her man who loved her back and living with her favorite people in all the world. Maria privately told herself it would be ungrateful to bitch about something she couldn’t have and didn’t need.
The footprints were still engraved on the rock near Kyle. When Michael suggested that smoothing them out would make a good project for the lesson in how to manipulate atoms that he planned for the next day, Kyle felt a little uncomfortable. He was still secretly intent on sleeping all day and staying awake at nights. However, he said nothing and just nodded when Michael looked at him for confirmation.
Maria, looking along the shore, saw Liz appear scrambling over the rocks, panting so hard from the unaccustomed exertion that when she reached them it took a minute before she made herself understood to the others.
“Back there in the woods - I’ve had another vision. Michael, come quickly, Isobel needs help…
TBC…
-
candylovespell
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:50 pm
Chapter 26
Chapter 26
The three sitting out on the rocks had reacted with alarm to the overwrought Liz’s breathless plea to Michael, but it was Kyle who asked the questions.
“Isobel? Is she hurt? What’s happened? Where is she?”
He was all for rushing off to find Isobel instantly, but Michael reached out and gripped Liz’s shoulder to still her nervous agitation while he insisted she tell them exactly what happened before they decided what to do next.
At Michael’s touch a thrill of electricity coursed down Liz’s arm making her blood tingle. Shocked, she lowered her eyes only to find her attention suddenly caught by the sight of his c*ock outlined in the still-damp underwear clinging to his body from the rainstorm. Liz felt a flush heat her skin all over and she turned abruptly away towards Kyle, who was also in his underwear, but somehow much less disturbing than the big alien male standing so close to her. Michael noticed her jumpy response to his touch and realised that he must be packing some residual energy from the lightning, so he let go hurriedly, intending to explain later when the current crisis was over.
He brusquely demanded that she tell her story as quickly as she could, so Liz forced herself out of her distraction and tearfully related a condensed version of the events since she and Isobel had come striding down through the woods in the growing storm, heading back towards the lake.
Liz had stopped abruptly bringing Isobel to an impatient halt beside her when the dark figure stepped out into their path. Both instantly switched off their forcefields and stood warily in the rain that by now splashed heavily down through the leaves, rapidly plastering the hair to their skulls and soaking them to the skin through their T-shirts.
The tall figure wore a dark rain cape that enveloped him down past the knees, with the hood pulled low over his face for protection from the elements. He had spread his arms out to prevent them walking past him and when they stopped, he pushed the hood back far enough to reveal himself as the trainee ranger from earlier in the day.
He looked them over and grinned in a way that made both girls itch to smack his face. Liz crossed her arms protectively over her chest, but Isobel merely waited, bored and indifferent, until he managed to drag his mesmerised gaze away from her breasts revealed by the cold, wet T-shirt. She eyed him with contempt until he looked away, embarrassed, then she spoke with icy distain.
“Is there any shelter nearby? The trees aren’t much protection in this heavy rain and we don’t know how long the storm will last.”
He brightened at the prospect of spending some time with them alone.
“There’s a boathouse a few minutes away, we could wait out the storm there. It could be a while…”
Liz and Isobel exchanged a glance, tacitly agreeing that they didn’t really have any choice but to accept that the suggestion was a good one. It seemed that the guy hadn’t noticed their shining alien auras or else had assumed it was an effect of the stormy light among the trees.
They dashed after him along the edge of the shore and few minutes later they were in a three-sided, wooden cabin built out on a pier over the lake and housing two park rescue dinghies winched up onto a ramp.
A bench seat ran along one inner wall, with the winch machinery seen dimly at the back and equipment racks along the opposite side. Ben sat down, shedding his rain gear and patting the seat either side of him to encourage them to sit beside him.
Seeing no real choice in the matter, and confident that she and Isobel were more than able to slap down any unwelcome advances he might make, Liz boldly went and sat a cautious distance away from the blond ranger on the side nearest the lake. Isobel ignored the mocking challenge in Ben’s eyes and went to lean against the wall just inside the doorway, looking out through the rain at the storm over the lake.
She heard his voice asking questions and Liz’s high, breathless answers, but she couldn’t make out the words clearly over the nearly constant crack and boom of the storm now directly overhead.
A bright green flash, followed by Liz’s terrified scream made her swing round to find Ben flat out on the deck with Liz pressed dramatically back against the wall, fist crammed against her mouth and eyes enormous with fright.
“Oh, my God, Liz, what happened?”
Isobel was on her knees beside the unconscious ranger, listening to his steady heartbeat and breathing. She gave him an ‘alien style’ health check to make sure and he seemed ok, just knocked out. She put him in the recovery position and draped his raincape over him before she went to sit on the bench beside a cowering Liz.
“What happened, Liz?” She repeated her question gently as the other girl seemed in shock.
“He – he touched me, put his hand on my thigh, and I pushed him away and I – I got a vision and – and I must have switched on my forcefield and it k-killed him. I killed him. I didn’t mean to, Isobel, really. It must have been the shock of the vision… What am I going to do?”
“You haven’t killed him. He’s not dead, Liz, just unconscious. But he is a problem. We can’t just leave him here, and we need to think of some way to explain what happened to him…”
They both sat quietly for a few minutes, Isobel thinking hard and Liz staring at her hopefully.
“We’ll have to go get the others. Michael and Kyle will have to carry him back to the camp and we’ll drive him to the Rangers’ station. There’s no other choice. We’ll have to make it seem that he was struck by lightning – no, that’s no good – lets say - he was standing near a lightning bolt and must have got caught at the edge of it …”
Isobel continued to think aloud.
“I’ll blast a tree near the water’s edge outside to look like it was hit, then we can say that he must have been nearby…but remember - we didn’t see what happened, we just heard him cry out and found him…let them draw their own conclusions.” She went to kneel and check on Ben again.
“He’s still unconscious – you must have given him quite a jolt, Liz. He could be out for hours. Still, he looks ok, color’s good and his heartbeat’s strong, he just won’t wake up.”
Isobel made a decision and stood up to face the other girl. Liz was still in shock, but she’d have to be the one to fetch help. She couldn’t be the one left alone in case the young ranger woke up and started asking awkward questions.
“Liz, go back to the camp and get Michael. Explain what’s happened and that we need them to come help us, ok?”
Liz nodded, then turned to leave the boathouse, hesitated at the sight of Ben’s body then quickly stepped over him and vanished outside to run back along the shore through the rain to the camp, oblivious to the now fading storm.
Isobel stared thoughtfully at Ben for a few minutes, checked him over again and then stepped outside to walk back to the shore, where she chose a tree growing near to the boathouse and sent a small lightning bolt through an overhanging branch, just enough to leave obvious damage, but not enough to kill the tree. She pressed her hand against the trunk and accelerated the natural healing process. In a few months time there would be no trace of the injury to the healthy tree. Isobel was a conscientious supporter of environmental issues.
Then she went back inside, sitting on the bench to wait and stare out across the lake, going over their story in her mind to make sure that she had covered all possibilities for when they were questioned, as they inevitably would be. A trickle of fear went down her spine at the thought of it, however innocent it might be.
Fifteen minutes went by as Ben slept on and she began uneasily to remember a similar, more tragic vigil over Grant. Then she heard Kyle’s voice calling her name in the distance. A rush of relief went through her and she hurried outside and along the shore to meet him and Michael running fast towards her.
Kyle’s first concern was for her and after she’d assured him that she was fine, Isobel noticed that they were alone.
“Where are Maria and Liz?”
“ Back at camp. Liz is upset and Maria’s taking care of her. Where’s the body?”
“In the boathouse…”
Kyle looked stunned.
“So it’s really true? Liz killed him?”
Isobel rolled her eyes. Trust Liz to dramatize a crisis.
“He isn’t dead, just unconscious. Liz accidentally smacked him with her forcefield when she had a vision and he’s still inside the boathouse, out cold but otherwise undamaged.”
Kyle and Michael exchanged a relieved look. Isobel carried on talking.
“ I told Liz if anyone asks her, to say he must have been near a tree when lightning hit it and was caught at the edge of the flash. We only heard him cry out and ran outside to find him unconscious.” By this time they had reached the boathouse and she gestured to the ‘evidence’ she had manufactured. “Whatever he says when he wakes up, he won’t be able to contradict our story because people don’t usually remember much about what happened before they were hit, so we should be able to make it sound plausible…”
“Ok, what really happened, then?” Michael was impatient to get moving.
“ Well, he was hitting on Liz when she says she had a vision and her forcefield appeared, knocking him out cold. I checked him over, he’s ok, but he’s been out for half an hour now. We need a convincing reason why he was standing near the tree a few minutes later, ready to get hit.”
“No need to have any special reason, Iz. The timing can be as vague as you like. You waited in the shelter and at some point he just went outside to check the storm was moving away. You didn’t question it, no reason why you should – he’s a ranger, after all and supposed to be protecting you…”
Michael turned and led the way into the boathouse.
“Now, we have to get him back to camp fast and drive him to the Rangers’ station. I guess we should have gone to them for help at once, but we can say that Liz was too upset to explain clearly and when we got here, we thought the quickest way was to bring him ourselves.”
The two guys picked the trainee ranger up, Michael at his shoulders and Kyle his legs, and proceeded to carry him as carefully as they could round the edge of the lake back to their campsite, where Michael could feel Maria anxiously waiting with an increasingly distressed Liz. Isobel hung back at the boathouse and used her powers to churn up the muddy paths and obscure any footprints that might indicate their movements didn’t match up to their story. Then she ran to catch up with the guys.
Once the rescue party reached the tents, Michael and Kyle loaded their burden into the back seat of the truck beside Isobel where Kyle joined them. Maria and Liz climbed in without comment and they drove off.
When they reached the Rangers’ station at the visitors’ center, Michael drew up directly in front of the main door, ignoring the ‘no parking’ signs, and went straight into the building, leaving the others to wait for professional help to arrive.
Inside, Michael found an older, grey-haired ranger and a young woman on duty behind the desk and he explained briefly what had happened. There was instant horror and concern. The man hurried out to the truck while the woman lifted the phone to make an urgent call to the medical facility.
Michael waited in the office where Maria joined him a few moments later, trailing a red-eyed Liz behind her. By then other staff and para-medics had arrived and he could see through the glass wall that they were efficiently organising a stretcher for Ben and beginning to show concern for the rest of the group.
A motherly woman came in, shepherding Kyle and Isobel over to join their friends in the small seating area. She offered them hot drinks, which they all refused except Maria who accepted on Liz’s behalf despite her feeble protests. She thought Liz needed something comforting to focus on while they went through the ordeal of being questioned by the rangers. Isobel changed her mind and asked for a drink, too. Then they all sat and watched, the tension palpable, as an ambulance arrived and Ben was carefully transferred into it and driven away.
A few minutes later, another uniformed ranger approached and told them that Ben had regained consciousness and seemed to be fine, but was being taken to hospital for a thorough check and would be kept in for observation overnight. He turned to Michael, as the obvious leader of the group, and asked him to step over to the desk to fill in an accident report. The guy was young, friendly and efficient and a few minutes later it was Isobel’s turn to add her comments and fake signature.
Thinking about Liz’s current emotionally fragile state, she asked the guy if he really needed her friend to add to the report as she hadn’t seen any more than Isobel herself, but had taken it hard and was shaken up. This drew his attention to Liz and he asked if she had been examined by the medics.
“No, I’m sure that won’t be necessary.” Isobel, still in her tight T-shirt, leaned forward confidentially. However, this one was much more controlled or maybe had better manners than his younger colleague and didn’t so much as glance downwards. He continued to pay close attention to what she was saying. “Susan’s fine really. Just worried about Ben – we all are - and we want to take her back to our camp to rest quietly and recover from the ordeal. She wasn’t anywhere near Ben or the tree when it happened, it’s just that she’s very sensitive and it was scary when we couldn’t wake him.”
He agreed, but walked over anyway to speak to Liz and assure himself that she was ok. Her eyes were still red, but she was composed and answered him so readily that he smiled round at them all, thanked them for rescuing Ben and said if he needed them for anything further he knew where they were camped.
They all stood up, returned the friendly farewells from the few staff still around and went outside to the Chevy. At this point, Maria remembered that she needed fresh supplies for dinner later, so she made them all wait while she bought what she needed from the store across the parking lot.
Finally Michael drove back to the camp, which was beginning to feel like home after all the drama and excitement of their lazy afternoon.
As soon as they arrived they all made straight for the table near the grill, except for Maria, who made a detour to store her purchases in the coolers beneath it. While she was there, she prepared a pot of coffee to be heated up and drew a pitcher of water ready for someone to change into chilled cherry coke. Michael saw what she was doing and roused himself to go carry it all over to the table for her. Liz noticed this new attention to Maria’s comfort – it reminded her of what she’d lost - but quickly turned her thoughts to the way that everyone was beginning to stare thoughtfully at her as they settled down to sip their chosen drinks…
Michael reported to the group what he’d written in the accident report and Isobel added her description of what allegedly happened by the boathouse and they all agreed that the official version would stand, no matter what Ben recalled when he woke up. Then Michael finally turned to Liz.
“So what really happened, Liz? This time tell us without all the drama and claiming you killed him.” He ignored her indignant gasp and merely waited, enigmatic brown gaze fixed implacably on her face.
When she looked round at the others for support, they were silent, too; even Maria failed to rush to her defence.
So she sighed and lowered her eyes to the glass of milk she’d changed to taste of vanilla while she listened to Michael and Isobel.
“It was like I told you – he tried to hit on me while we were sheltering in the boatshed and I pushed his hand away. When I touched him I had, you know, a – a vision and while I was still dizzy from it, I must have accidentally switched on my forcefield and he got the shock from it… ” She looked round earnestly at the others. “I really thought I’d killed him, you know, and Isobel was, like, just being protective of me. I thought that was why she sent me to find Michael, so he could dispose of the body…”
Michael raised a sardonic eyebrow at her.
“Your faith in me is touching, Parker…”
She blushed and lowered her eyes again in embarrassment as the others, even Maria, snorted and shook with laughter.
It went on for so long that she got angry with them and was grateful to Michael when he frowned and finally shut them up with a large fist pounded loudly on the table so that they all jumped.
“Hey, c’mon, it’s not that funny…”
Maria looked apologetic and leaned over to pat Liz’s arm consolingly.
“We’re not really laughing at you, Lizzie – its just reaction to the strain of having to deal with uniforms and questions and danger…you know, all that crap.” Her voice became serious as she looked over at the others and back to her friend.
“Now, Liz, what you haven’t told us yet is just what you saw in this vision that frightened you so much…”
Liz opened her mouth to reply, but then hesitated, staring back at her in sudden confusion.
“I – I can’t remember, Maria. I just can’t remember what it was I saw - but I know it was bad…
TBC…
The three sitting out on the rocks had reacted with alarm to the overwrought Liz’s breathless plea to Michael, but it was Kyle who asked the questions.
“Isobel? Is she hurt? What’s happened? Where is she?”
He was all for rushing off to find Isobel instantly, but Michael reached out and gripped Liz’s shoulder to still her nervous agitation while he insisted she tell them exactly what happened before they decided what to do next.
At Michael’s touch a thrill of electricity coursed down Liz’s arm making her blood tingle. Shocked, she lowered her eyes only to find her attention suddenly caught by the sight of his c*ock outlined in the still-damp underwear clinging to his body from the rainstorm. Liz felt a flush heat her skin all over and she turned abruptly away towards Kyle, who was also in his underwear, but somehow much less disturbing than the big alien male standing so close to her. Michael noticed her jumpy response to his touch and realised that he must be packing some residual energy from the lightning, so he let go hurriedly, intending to explain later when the current crisis was over.
He brusquely demanded that she tell her story as quickly as she could, so Liz forced herself out of her distraction and tearfully related a condensed version of the events since she and Isobel had come striding down through the woods in the growing storm, heading back towards the lake.
Liz had stopped abruptly bringing Isobel to an impatient halt beside her when the dark figure stepped out into their path. Both instantly switched off their forcefields and stood warily in the rain that by now splashed heavily down through the leaves, rapidly plastering the hair to their skulls and soaking them to the skin through their T-shirts.
The tall figure wore a dark rain cape that enveloped him down past the knees, with the hood pulled low over his face for protection from the elements. He had spread his arms out to prevent them walking past him and when they stopped, he pushed the hood back far enough to reveal himself as the trainee ranger from earlier in the day.
He looked them over and grinned in a way that made both girls itch to smack his face. Liz crossed her arms protectively over her chest, but Isobel merely waited, bored and indifferent, until he managed to drag his mesmerised gaze away from her breasts revealed by the cold, wet T-shirt. She eyed him with contempt until he looked away, embarrassed, then she spoke with icy distain.
“Is there any shelter nearby? The trees aren’t much protection in this heavy rain and we don’t know how long the storm will last.”
He brightened at the prospect of spending some time with them alone.
“There’s a boathouse a few minutes away, we could wait out the storm there. It could be a while…”
Liz and Isobel exchanged a glance, tacitly agreeing that they didn’t really have any choice but to accept that the suggestion was a good one. It seemed that the guy hadn’t noticed their shining alien auras or else had assumed it was an effect of the stormy light among the trees.
They dashed after him along the edge of the shore and few minutes later they were in a three-sided, wooden cabin built out on a pier over the lake and housing two park rescue dinghies winched up onto a ramp.
A bench seat ran along one inner wall, with the winch machinery seen dimly at the back and equipment racks along the opposite side. Ben sat down, shedding his rain gear and patting the seat either side of him to encourage them to sit beside him.
Seeing no real choice in the matter, and confident that she and Isobel were more than able to slap down any unwelcome advances he might make, Liz boldly went and sat a cautious distance away from the blond ranger on the side nearest the lake. Isobel ignored the mocking challenge in Ben’s eyes and went to lean against the wall just inside the doorway, looking out through the rain at the storm over the lake.
She heard his voice asking questions and Liz’s high, breathless answers, but she couldn’t make out the words clearly over the nearly constant crack and boom of the storm now directly overhead.
A bright green flash, followed by Liz’s terrified scream made her swing round to find Ben flat out on the deck with Liz pressed dramatically back against the wall, fist crammed against her mouth and eyes enormous with fright.
“Oh, my God, Liz, what happened?”
Isobel was on her knees beside the unconscious ranger, listening to his steady heartbeat and breathing. She gave him an ‘alien style’ health check to make sure and he seemed ok, just knocked out. She put him in the recovery position and draped his raincape over him before she went to sit on the bench beside a cowering Liz.
“What happened, Liz?” She repeated her question gently as the other girl seemed in shock.
“He – he touched me, put his hand on my thigh, and I pushed him away and I – I got a vision and – and I must have switched on my forcefield and it k-killed him. I killed him. I didn’t mean to, Isobel, really. It must have been the shock of the vision… What am I going to do?”
“You haven’t killed him. He’s not dead, Liz, just unconscious. But he is a problem. We can’t just leave him here, and we need to think of some way to explain what happened to him…”
They both sat quietly for a few minutes, Isobel thinking hard and Liz staring at her hopefully.
“We’ll have to go get the others. Michael and Kyle will have to carry him back to the camp and we’ll drive him to the Rangers’ station. There’s no other choice. We’ll have to make it seem that he was struck by lightning – no, that’s no good – lets say - he was standing near a lightning bolt and must have got caught at the edge of it …”
Isobel continued to think aloud.
“I’ll blast a tree near the water’s edge outside to look like it was hit, then we can say that he must have been nearby…but remember - we didn’t see what happened, we just heard him cry out and found him…let them draw their own conclusions.” She went to kneel and check on Ben again.
“He’s still unconscious – you must have given him quite a jolt, Liz. He could be out for hours. Still, he looks ok, color’s good and his heartbeat’s strong, he just won’t wake up.”
Isobel made a decision and stood up to face the other girl. Liz was still in shock, but she’d have to be the one to fetch help. She couldn’t be the one left alone in case the young ranger woke up and started asking awkward questions.
“Liz, go back to the camp and get Michael. Explain what’s happened and that we need them to come help us, ok?”
Liz nodded, then turned to leave the boathouse, hesitated at the sight of Ben’s body then quickly stepped over him and vanished outside to run back along the shore through the rain to the camp, oblivious to the now fading storm.
Isobel stared thoughtfully at Ben for a few minutes, checked him over again and then stepped outside to walk back to the shore, where she chose a tree growing near to the boathouse and sent a small lightning bolt through an overhanging branch, just enough to leave obvious damage, but not enough to kill the tree. She pressed her hand against the trunk and accelerated the natural healing process. In a few months time there would be no trace of the injury to the healthy tree. Isobel was a conscientious supporter of environmental issues.
Then she went back inside, sitting on the bench to wait and stare out across the lake, going over their story in her mind to make sure that she had covered all possibilities for when they were questioned, as they inevitably would be. A trickle of fear went down her spine at the thought of it, however innocent it might be.
Fifteen minutes went by as Ben slept on and she began uneasily to remember a similar, more tragic vigil over Grant. Then she heard Kyle’s voice calling her name in the distance. A rush of relief went through her and she hurried outside and along the shore to meet him and Michael running fast towards her.
Kyle’s first concern was for her and after she’d assured him that she was fine, Isobel noticed that they were alone.
“Where are Maria and Liz?”
“ Back at camp. Liz is upset and Maria’s taking care of her. Where’s the body?”
“In the boathouse…”
Kyle looked stunned.
“So it’s really true? Liz killed him?”
Isobel rolled her eyes. Trust Liz to dramatize a crisis.
“He isn’t dead, just unconscious. Liz accidentally smacked him with her forcefield when she had a vision and he’s still inside the boathouse, out cold but otherwise undamaged.”
Kyle and Michael exchanged a relieved look. Isobel carried on talking.
“ I told Liz if anyone asks her, to say he must have been near a tree when lightning hit it and was caught at the edge of the flash. We only heard him cry out and ran outside to find him unconscious.” By this time they had reached the boathouse and she gestured to the ‘evidence’ she had manufactured. “Whatever he says when he wakes up, he won’t be able to contradict our story because people don’t usually remember much about what happened before they were hit, so we should be able to make it sound plausible…”
“Ok, what really happened, then?” Michael was impatient to get moving.
“ Well, he was hitting on Liz when she says she had a vision and her forcefield appeared, knocking him out cold. I checked him over, he’s ok, but he’s been out for half an hour now. We need a convincing reason why he was standing near the tree a few minutes later, ready to get hit.”
“No need to have any special reason, Iz. The timing can be as vague as you like. You waited in the shelter and at some point he just went outside to check the storm was moving away. You didn’t question it, no reason why you should – he’s a ranger, after all and supposed to be protecting you…”
Michael turned and led the way into the boathouse.
“Now, we have to get him back to camp fast and drive him to the Rangers’ station. I guess we should have gone to them for help at once, but we can say that Liz was too upset to explain clearly and when we got here, we thought the quickest way was to bring him ourselves.”
The two guys picked the trainee ranger up, Michael at his shoulders and Kyle his legs, and proceeded to carry him as carefully as they could round the edge of the lake back to their campsite, where Michael could feel Maria anxiously waiting with an increasingly distressed Liz. Isobel hung back at the boathouse and used her powers to churn up the muddy paths and obscure any footprints that might indicate their movements didn’t match up to their story. Then she ran to catch up with the guys.
Once the rescue party reached the tents, Michael and Kyle loaded their burden into the back seat of the truck beside Isobel where Kyle joined them. Maria and Liz climbed in without comment and they drove off.
When they reached the Rangers’ station at the visitors’ center, Michael drew up directly in front of the main door, ignoring the ‘no parking’ signs, and went straight into the building, leaving the others to wait for professional help to arrive.
Inside, Michael found an older, grey-haired ranger and a young woman on duty behind the desk and he explained briefly what had happened. There was instant horror and concern. The man hurried out to the truck while the woman lifted the phone to make an urgent call to the medical facility.
Michael waited in the office where Maria joined him a few moments later, trailing a red-eyed Liz behind her. By then other staff and para-medics had arrived and he could see through the glass wall that they were efficiently organising a stretcher for Ben and beginning to show concern for the rest of the group.
A motherly woman came in, shepherding Kyle and Isobel over to join their friends in the small seating area. She offered them hot drinks, which they all refused except Maria who accepted on Liz’s behalf despite her feeble protests. She thought Liz needed something comforting to focus on while they went through the ordeal of being questioned by the rangers. Isobel changed her mind and asked for a drink, too. Then they all sat and watched, the tension palpable, as an ambulance arrived and Ben was carefully transferred into it and driven away.
A few minutes later, another uniformed ranger approached and told them that Ben had regained consciousness and seemed to be fine, but was being taken to hospital for a thorough check and would be kept in for observation overnight. He turned to Michael, as the obvious leader of the group, and asked him to step over to the desk to fill in an accident report. The guy was young, friendly and efficient and a few minutes later it was Isobel’s turn to add her comments and fake signature.
Thinking about Liz’s current emotionally fragile state, she asked the guy if he really needed her friend to add to the report as she hadn’t seen any more than Isobel herself, but had taken it hard and was shaken up. This drew his attention to Liz and he asked if she had been examined by the medics.
“No, I’m sure that won’t be necessary.” Isobel, still in her tight T-shirt, leaned forward confidentially. However, this one was much more controlled or maybe had better manners than his younger colleague and didn’t so much as glance downwards. He continued to pay close attention to what she was saying. “Susan’s fine really. Just worried about Ben – we all are - and we want to take her back to our camp to rest quietly and recover from the ordeal. She wasn’t anywhere near Ben or the tree when it happened, it’s just that she’s very sensitive and it was scary when we couldn’t wake him.”
He agreed, but walked over anyway to speak to Liz and assure himself that she was ok. Her eyes were still red, but she was composed and answered him so readily that he smiled round at them all, thanked them for rescuing Ben and said if he needed them for anything further he knew where they were camped.
They all stood up, returned the friendly farewells from the few staff still around and went outside to the Chevy. At this point, Maria remembered that she needed fresh supplies for dinner later, so she made them all wait while she bought what she needed from the store across the parking lot.
Finally Michael drove back to the camp, which was beginning to feel like home after all the drama and excitement of their lazy afternoon.
As soon as they arrived they all made straight for the table near the grill, except for Maria, who made a detour to store her purchases in the coolers beneath it. While she was there, she prepared a pot of coffee to be heated up and drew a pitcher of water ready for someone to change into chilled cherry coke. Michael saw what she was doing and roused himself to go carry it all over to the table for her. Liz noticed this new attention to Maria’s comfort – it reminded her of what she’d lost - but quickly turned her thoughts to the way that everyone was beginning to stare thoughtfully at her as they settled down to sip their chosen drinks…
Michael reported to the group what he’d written in the accident report and Isobel added her description of what allegedly happened by the boathouse and they all agreed that the official version would stand, no matter what Ben recalled when he woke up. Then Michael finally turned to Liz.
“So what really happened, Liz? This time tell us without all the drama and claiming you killed him.” He ignored her indignant gasp and merely waited, enigmatic brown gaze fixed implacably on her face.
When she looked round at the others for support, they were silent, too; even Maria failed to rush to her defence.
So she sighed and lowered her eyes to the glass of milk she’d changed to taste of vanilla while she listened to Michael and Isobel.
“It was like I told you – he tried to hit on me while we were sheltering in the boatshed and I pushed his hand away. When I touched him I had, you know, a – a vision and while I was still dizzy from it, I must have accidentally switched on my forcefield and he got the shock from it… ” She looked round earnestly at the others. “I really thought I’d killed him, you know, and Isobel was, like, just being protective of me. I thought that was why she sent me to find Michael, so he could dispose of the body…”
Michael raised a sardonic eyebrow at her.
“Your faith in me is touching, Parker…”
She blushed and lowered her eyes again in embarrassment as the others, even Maria, snorted and shook with laughter.
It went on for so long that she got angry with them and was grateful to Michael when he frowned and finally shut them up with a large fist pounded loudly on the table so that they all jumped.
“Hey, c’mon, it’s not that funny…”
Maria looked apologetic and leaned over to pat Liz’s arm consolingly.
“We’re not really laughing at you, Lizzie – its just reaction to the strain of having to deal with uniforms and questions and danger…you know, all that crap.” Her voice became serious as she looked over at the others and back to her friend.
“Now, Liz, what you haven’t told us yet is just what you saw in this vision that frightened you so much…”
Liz opened her mouth to reply, but then hesitated, staring back at her in sudden confusion.
“I – I can’t remember, Maria. I just can’t remember what it was I saw - but I know it was bad…
TBC…
-
candylovespell
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:50 pm
Chapter 27
Chapter 27
Michael closed his eyes in exasperation at yet another dramatic Liz Parker moment. If only she had stolen the bus and run away, he thought wistfully, I’d have given her gas money and a road map. Come back Max – all is forgiven – just as long as you take back responsibility for the damn Crystal Ball…
He snapped back to reality, took a deep breath and glanced round at the other three who were also frowning at Liz.
“Let me get this straight – you had such a strong response to this vision when you touched ranger-boy that you thought you’d killed him – and now you can’t remember what you saw?”
Liz nodded anxiously at them.
“It was just a flash but now it’s gone… I only remember that it frightened me, I can’t remember what it was about. Oh, God, what am I going to do?”
Michael shrugged. He knew the solution to that problem.
“Well, I guess you’ll just have to try touching him again to see if you get an action replay. Maybe you should visit the patient tomorrow to check on his recovery…”
Liz looked round at the others and back to him, shaking her head.
“Oh, no, I can’t, Michael. What if it happened again? We can’t blame the storm twice.”
“Maybe we should just move on somewhere else? The danger’s somehow connected with him – so if we put distance between us whatever it is might not happen. We know that Liz’s visions are a warning, not set in stone. The future can be changed.”
Maria sounded serious and thoughtful but not panicked. Liz thought it was the better idea, but before she could say so Michael was speaking again, responding to Maria as if they were the only two people there, she thought resentfully.
“Yeah, we could, but I think we need to know just what the danger is. We don’t want to run blind – we could be heading into a trap. We gotta know our enemy. I’ve always said so. Then again, it may not be anything to do with us at all. We should still be ready to leave right after, if we have to, but Liz should go see the guy first.”
“Yes, that makes sense, Spaceboy. Liz -” Maria looked over at her friend. “ – you don’t have to worry. You’ll be expecting a vision next time so you won’t use your forcefield by accident. You can control it. We’ll be with you, so we can provide a distraction if you need it.”
“Meantime, I’ve got an idea to give us all a break from guard duty for tonight at least.” Michael looked thoughtfully up at the sky, still a deep cloudless blue in the early evening.
Maria looked at him expectantly and when he didn’t respond, she nudged him impatiently with her elbow.
“Well, c’mon, Spaceboy, share – don’t keep us in suspense…”
Michael grinned at her and then round at the others.
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. What’s most likely to prevent anyone attacking us tonight?”
They all stared at him blankly for a few moments. Then light dawned on Isobel’s face.
“The weather, Michael – heavy rain or, better yet, snow… It’ll make the mountain roads treacherous and impassable in the dark, anyway. We won’t need to set a watch, just make sure that one of us wakes up to boost the blizzard every few hours until it’s deep enough to stop all traffic in the area...” Isobel’s enthusiasm increased the more she thought about it.
Kyle wasn’t at all happy about the idea. His own plans to stay awake and avoid any dreams shared with Max were now in jeopardy if he was to be confined to his sleeping bag all night and he sat silent as the girls exclaimed excitedly around him. Michael, basking in the general respect and approval that was still a novelty to him, registered the only unenthusiastic response and looked enquiringly over at the other guy.
“You don’t agree, Valenti?”
“Sure, it’s a great idea. Guess I’m just tired. I’m going back to sleep. See ya later…”. He stood up abruptly and left, avoiding their eyes, heading morosely towards his tent.
Isobel looked after him with concern. What had caused this sudden moodiness? He’d been almost relentlessly cheerful since they’d left Roswell, except for the time last night after he’d had the dream. The dream… Isobel frowned. She would keep an eye on Kyle – just to make sure that he was ok…
Liz broke the silence that followed Kyle’s departure by continuing obliviously to debate the merits of rain against snow as protection for the coming night. She barely registered his leaving, accepting his excuse at face value.
Michael saw this as just one more instance of Liz’s self-absorption and insensitivity to anyone else’s worries and so he suppressed his irritation. He was faintly disturbed at Kyle’s behaviour himself but not enough for it to trouble him. The guy was under enormous stress and Michael himself was no stranger to a bad mood, so he thought he understood his friend’s need to be alone for a while.
Maria, however, was concerned about both her friends. Kyle was undoubtedly upset over something and in such a small group of friends it was inevitable that he would reveal it sooner or later. Liz was a different, and maybe a deeper, problem.
Maria was more than aware of the selfish aspects of Liz’s character, having been subjected to it nearly all her life in various subtle and unsubtle ways. During the years after Max had healed and then hurt Liz, who, in turn, hurt her own friends, this self-absorption had increased until Maria feared that the sweet, caring side she knew was also there had been buried too deep to retrieve.
It was too early to tell how the latest heartbreaking split with Max would change Liz, despite her defiant declarations of the previous night that she would start afresh without him. Maria knew that it couldn’t be as easy as that. She just hoped that her – she hated to admit it to herself, but it was the truth – estranged best friend would find her way back to being the long-lost Lizzie she loved. If not, Maria might just have to go on a hunting expedition herself.
Eventually deciding by a majority vote that rain was the answer (Isobel wanted snow; the others argued it was a too late in the year, besides being a trap of their own making if they needed to escape quickly) but that it needn’t spoil the rest of the sunny evening, those remaining round the table split up and went their separate ways. Liz collected towels and headed to the shower block intending to retire to her tent for a nap and Isobel sat under the tree in a camp chair, clearing her mind of thought and just staring out at the changing light over the lake. Michael and Maria remained sitting at the table.
***I can’t take any more of Parker today. I’m goin’ back to bed, Blondie. Come with me – we still have over an hour to ourselves before dinner***
***Sorry, Spaceboy. I’m cooking it and I need lots of time to get ready. If I go to bed with you now, we’ll all starve…***
Michael pouted and pulled her against him on the bench, nuzzling her ear and burying his face in her neck with a deep sigh. Then his stomach growled loudly and Maria giggled, kissed him lightly and jumped up from the table to start preparing dinner on the grill. Michael twisted round so his elbows were resting on the table, stretched his long legs out before him and watched her until she called him over to light the charcoal briquettes then chased him away to go shower.
***No, Michael, the rainstorm doesn’t count…***
Maria went over to fetch her cookbook from the tent where she had abandoned it when the storm started and, after a quick detour to freshen up, leafed through it to find the recipe she wanted as she walked slowly back to the grill.
It was a simple and quick barbeque sauce for the chicken she had bought from the store at the visitors’ centre and she was fairly confident that it was within the scope of her beginner’s cooking skills. However, her first task was to prep some potatoes to bake over the hot coals…
This was something she was already familiar with from home; her mom had let her help with barbeques when they entertained friends back in Roswell. The little Maria could safely be left in charge of baking potatoes and making salads while Amy got creative with the rest of the party food. As she worked, the memories brought sudden tears to her eyes and she bit her quivering lower lip. Michael’s comforting thought was instantly there in her mind as he picked up on her distress, but she quickly reassured him and carried on pricking the potatoes with a fork, rubbing them with oil and salt and setting them out to cook, letting herself smile at the happy times at home with her mom.
Next she mixed the barbeque sauce – half cup of honey, quarter cup of Tabasco and one teaspoon of ground black pepper – and left it in a small covered pan while she set the table and checked the recipe times again. Then she went off to have the leisurely shower she’d missed during the excitements of the day.
When Michael had hurriedly showered, recoiled on encountering a wide-eyed, blushing Liz when they both emerged at the same time modestly wrapped in towels, he returned to his tent, pulled on shorts, collected a couple of apples from their food supplies and joined Isobel in the shade of the tree. Stretched out in a camp chair beside her, they looked out over the lake together without speaking for a while.
Michael couldn’t recall the last time he’d had an actual conversation with Isobel that didn’t end in one of them storming off, pissed at the other. So he didn’t know how to approach the subject of how - or even if - she was dealing with losing everything she loved.
Some part of him felt guilty that he was the one who was now happier than he had ever been when life for the pampered Evans family had turned into nightmare, while another part of him crowed in triumph that he was struggling free of his loser past to find an unimagined future lit by hope and new possibilities.
He felt protective about Isobel in a way he never had about Max. Protective partly as an inbuilt aspect of his alien DNA, but mostly as a human brother for a sister, whatever crap he’d spouted to Jesse when he’d been forced by his programming to take over from “dead” King Max. She sat next to him, physically unrecognisable as the real Isobel Evans, but with all the same pain and suffering hidden behind the new face.
Michael knew he wasn’t good at dealing with feelings, let alone talking about them. His new openness with Maria through their mind connection was a strictly private thing between them and had no effect on his reactions to anyone else. Terrified of breaching Isobel’s iron control when she must still be emotionally fragile, but needing to find some way of discovering how she was really dealing beneath her controlled exterior, he cast around for a way to introduce the subject without making her cry. Meanwhile, there was a small mystery she might be able to shed some light on.
“ Any clue to what’s bitten Kyle, Iz? He took off real sudden when we got back from the ranger station.”
Isobel thought she saw an opportunity to discuss last night’s dream.
“I don’t know. I’m worried about his reaction to that weird dream last night. I’m going to keep an eye on him… Did you notice that he stayed awake for the rest of the night covering all the watches and now he’s slept all day, except for when the Liz and Ben thing happened?”
“No, I slept all morning myself, so I don’t know what he did. Hey, Iz, I meant to tell you - he learnt how to control lightning today during the storm. He deflects it just like you and Max… ” Michael grinned at Isobel. “ and he left his footprints burned into that rock over there. Gonna start his lessons on how to change molecular structure tomorrow. How’s your student doin’?”
Isobel blinked and then realised he meant Liz.
“Well, I guess she’s making progress. I hadn’t thought of her as my student, though. I just help her out if she asks me to. Why, do you think it’s a competition?”
“Not really, I just think we should make sure that they both learn their new powers as soon as they can for the group’s security. I’m gonna extend my own range as much as I can. We’ll need them to survive, wherever we go.” He frowned seriously at Isobel. “I finally learned control at last. I started when Tess made me practice all the time that summer after we found out our 'destiny'. Guess it needed 'clear and present danger' to make me focus properly...”
They both went quiet until Michael spoke again and his question took Isobel by surprise.
“Iz, can you teach me how to dreamwalk ?”
“I don’t know, Michael. I guess I could try…” She sounded doubtful. “I guess I always thought we each have our own specialty – you know – Max heals, I dreamwalk and you – well, you…”
Her hesitation unexpectedly triggered a surge of his old defensive antagonism and he tensed up to confront her.
“Kill. I kill, that’s what you mean. Don’t you Isobel? My specialty is killing.”
Michael felt a wave of guilt, anger and bitterness flood through him. Maria was suddenly in his mind, alarmed and questioning, but he blocked her and stared coldly over at Isobel, who looked stricken and irritated at the same time.
“No, of course I don’t mean that, Michael. You know it. I just couldn’t think of the right word to describe your special power – except just that – power. Is this the Pierce thing again? I thought you’d realised that you did the right thing, dealt with it and moved on. If you haven’t, then it’s about time you did. No point wasting any more time on it. It's old.” Michael stared at her, speechless, his mouth opening and shutting though no sound emerged. She carried on talking briskly.
“As for teaching you to dreamwalk, I’m not sure I can, but I’ll try.”
Michael recovered himself enough to pacify Maria and pick up on the conversation where he’d broken it off. He was embarrassed at his involuntary response to what he’d inferred from Isobel’s hesitancy. He had thought himself over that guilt trip long ago. Maybe the stress of their current situation had raised a few of his old nightmares after all.
“So when do you want to start? I’ll be contacting Max again tonight. You can come with me…”
“Isobel, no way am I gonna dreamwalk Max.”
Isobel was saddened by the finality in Michael’s voice. She’d thought that he had withheld judgement on Max’s behaviour in case it was alien genes acting up again, but it seemed that he had changed his mind. She decided that now was not the right time to call him on it.
“Well, ok. Who would you like to try it out on?”
“Not Maria. Or Parker.” He was repelled by the prospect. “Kyle, then…”
“Somehow I don’t think Kyle is going to be a good choice. I think he’s got dream issues he’s not telling us about.”
“Who else is there? It’s not like I have a huge choice, Iz. It’s got to be one of them…but definitely not Maria. I’m not gonna take any risks with her.”
“I’ll have to think about it and decide nearer the time, Michael.”
“It’s got to be tonight, Iz. Sooner we all hone our powers, the better.”
“Ok. Be sure not to eat too much at dinner, then, or you’ll sleep too heavily to dreamwalk.”
“We’ve got to do the rain dance, too. Gonna be a busy night tonight.”
At that moment, Maria called to them and they stirred themselves to wander over to the grill. Michael remembered that he hadn’t gotten round to checking on Isobel’s own state of mind, but it was too late now. He’d have to try again sometime soon.
While the potatoes had been baking over the hot charcoal, Maria had made the salad, adding fresh orange segments to the torn lettuce leaves and cucumber chunks. She would drizzle a little olive oil and vinegar over it at the last minute. She retrieved the chicken breasts from the cooler, slathered them with the hot honey sauce and carefully arranged them on the grill rack, where she watched them like a hawk.
Twenty minutes later, she called over to Michael and Isobel, sitting in the camp chairs and talking in the shade of the tree by the lakeshore, and they both got up and strolled over to her as she concentrated on watching to see that nothing burned.
“Dinner will be ready in about 10 minutes, so would you guys call Kyle and Liz, please…oh, and put out a pitcher of water…”
Maria sounded agitated and waved a hand distractedly at them as she spoke, eyes fixed on the grill as she stabbed a fork into chicken and potatoes to test their progress. Michael grinned in anticipation but didn’t tease her. He was hungry and his instinct told him this wasn’t the moment to provoke her. It all looked and smelled surprisingly good…
That was Liz’s reaction when she emerged from her tent at Isobel’s summons. She had vivid recollections of various adventures in cooking with Maria over the years and had made no secret of the fact that she fully expected to have to step in to rescue the meal. She smiled encouragingly over at her friend. It looked as though she might not be needed after all…
Kyle reluctantly roused himself to join the others and was still subdued as the leisurely meal progressed. Isobel eyed him narrowly when she thought he wasn’t looking.
They all agreed that Maria’s first effort at cooking dinner was a success. After all the care she’d taken, the sweet and spicy chicken with more hot honey sauce on the side was delicious to both alien and human tastes, the potatoes had crisp, salty skin and soft, buttery insides and the salad was simple, but good. Maria blushed at the compliments and admitted to the others, when Michael had gone to collect the carton of milk for the ice cream dessert, that she had actually enjoyed her foray into real cooking. She didn’t say anything about the challenge, but her look had spoken volumes earlier when he’d actually expressed enjoyment of her food.
Afterwards, Michael and Maria drifted off to explore the lakeshore together before sundown, leaving the others to do the dishes, light the campfire and make the coffee after dinner.
They headed south, in the opposite direction to that taken by Isobel and Liz in the afternoon. Michael helped his girlfriend over the low tumble of craggy rocks until they reached an area of reeds and swampy grasses where they were forced to cut inland onto another rocky stretch that led to a small pebbly beach at the foot of a high cliff where the mountain met the lake.
Maria sat down carefully on an old driftwood log that took up much of the beach and gazed appreciatively at Michael as he stood at the edge looking down into the clear water. The light was still bright as the sun slowly sank towards the rim of mountains across the lake, but dusk would come early in the deep, wooded bowl of the valley.
She rose and moved to stand close behind him, pressing herself against his strong back, the sloping beach giving an extra few inches that enabled her to rest her chin comfortably on his shoulder. Her arms slid round to meet across his chest and his hands rose to clasp hers. There was only feeling between them, no words.
Her hair tickled his ear and he felt her soft lips against his cheek, kissing along his jawline as he slowly turned his head to meet her mouth with his own.
Moving to take her in his arms, Michael’s foot slipped on a loose pebble and next moment they were both lying sprawled in the shallow water, surprised into helpless laughter. A soaking wet Maria crawled on top of him, stretching out along his length and playfully trying to hold his hands captive while covering his face with kisses as he tried to shift into a more comfortable position on the stony beach.
The shallow water was warm from the sun and there was no urgent need to move from the spot, so Michael returned her kisses, freeing his arms to wrap them securely around her and finally capturing her lips with his own to share a long, deep, leisurely kiss which gradually intensified into more urgent desire.
Michael’s hands travelled down Maria’s back to slide under her shorts onto the smooth skin of her ass, where his fingers dug into the soft curves to pull her against the growing hardness in his own shorts.
Maria licked, nibbled and kissed her way over his chest, trying not to miss any part of the warm, smooth skin, then paying gentle attention to the scars remaining from the glowing tattoo that still marked his recent enslavement to his alien programming.
She felt his sudden tension as he reacted to her touch in an area she had previously tacitly avoided during their lovemaking. Max had been unable to heal the scars, and she had assumed without questioning it, that this was another alien mystery. She now began to suspect that it had more to do with the simmering resentment and hostility in the relationship between the two aliens than anything else.
When she continued to kiss his scars he pushed her away and sat up, frowning out across the lake and avoiding her eyes. She was surprised to feel guilt and shame well up from the depths of his mind and she instinctively protested.
***Why do you still feel bad about it, Michael? It was the stupid ‘destiny’ thing and it’s over now…***
She still lay where she she’d rolled off of him, propped on her elbows in the warm, clear shallows and gazing up at him as he sat beside her.
***It isn’t over, Maria and it never will be while these damn scars are here to remind me that I was such a f*ucking idiot. It was just dumb luck that I didn’t kill you and I could have, Maria. I could have. I still feel scared of what I became when the alien genes took over. I was so powerful and arrogant, so cold … Every time I see these scars, it reminds me of that feeling***
He picked up a flat stone and threw it hard on a low trajectory into the lake where it bounced twice as it skimmed across the surface. He watched the ripples spread out where it sank.
Maria sat up and reached across to take his hand. He tried to pull away, but she held on. She knew there was more and eventually he finished his thought.
***Maria, I’m scared that it’s the real me… ***
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she answered him.
***You don’t feel like that all the time, Michael or even most of the time. I know, remember, because I can feel how you feel, same as you feel me. I know you love me and I know that your instincts are mostly human, whatever additional ingredients went into the recipe ***
She almost giggled. This cooking thing might easily become an obsession. Then she sobered instantly. She had to make him understand that his secret fears were groundless.
***What if it happens again, Maria? What if something happens to Max and the alien DNA takes me over again? I can’t bear the thought that I might hurt you or worse…***
He could feel Maria take time to think about it before she replied, although he didn’t catch any detailed images, her mind was too quick for that.
***Even before we got this mind connection between us, I always knew you felt things strongly and I knew you have wild, passionate emotions, so that means I also know that the cold, selfish, alien persona isn’t the real you. You even let me ‘see’ you way back when you thought you were going to leave for Antar, so I know you’re not cold and selfish. You are my own warm, loving guy, Michael, and you always will be. I feel it all the time and especially when we make love… Don’t you? ***
He didn’t try to hide his relief as he smiled at her and then wrapped his arms around her to pull her down on top of him again they way they were before.
She held him off for a moment while she had the last word.
***We’re together forever now, Spaceboy and I’ll never let that cold alien side control you again, I swear it. And neither will you. You’ve been growing stronger all the time since we left Roswell – if it ever happens again, you will be able to control it***
Their lips met again, crushed together in passionate relief that all was well in their own private universe. The discomfort of the stony beach went unnoticed as their few wet clothes were pulled off and thrown aside so that lips and tongues and teeth and hands could slide over hard muscle and soft skin, teasing and probing until Maria straddled Michael and frantically rode his thrusting c*ock, whispering his name over and over until they both cried out in wordless ecstasy and the echo bounced off the cliff behind them and out over the lake into the spectacular golden sunset.
Lying breathless with her face pressed sweatily onto Michael’s heaving chest, her eyes opened to see his scars and unthinkingly, she let one of her fingers trace the marks lightly. This time he didn’t flinch, merely capturing her hand and bringing it to his mouth to kiss each of her fingertips.
*** Michael, I know Max failed at the time, but have you ever tried healing them yourself? ***
This time she felt his irritation at her persistence and his reluctance to answer. When he did, it was clear he didn’t want to discuss it any further.
***No, I haven’t. Maria, can we drop the subject? There’s no point in discussing it any more and I just want to rest here for a while with you before we have to go back to camp, ok***
***Not just yet, Spaceboy. I want to try something now while we have some real privacy *** His irritation flared into anger, but she continued doggedly. ***I think you could heal them yourself if you want to. You do have healing powers. You healed Isobel that time when she almost died***
He lifted his head to glare at her and opened his mouth to speak, but she covered it with her hand at the same time as her determined voice continued in his mind.
***You know you can change my appearance and your own, too. You’ve had plenty of practice this last week. You know how to do it. I know how you do it too, come to that, I can feel you when you make the changes… This is no different to when you do that***
Maria removed her hand and idly stroked one of the scars as she spoke, remembering the awe she always felt when Michael moved the molecules into different patterns as he altered skin, eye and hair colors for their various disguises. The hard, black ridges of skin under her fingertips smoothed out as her mind’s eye linked and rode with Michael’s power to molecular level where it altered the intruding patterns to match the prevailing arrangement in the surrounding area. She’d never gone as deep as this before and watched, fascinated.
When she felt the power dissipate to nothing again, she looked up and found Michael’s deep brown eyes a few inches away from her own. His look of stunned amazement made her turn her head hopefully towards his chest. To her delight, nothing marred the smooth, lightly tanned skin any longer and she sat up with a squeal of delight to hug Michael so tightly that he protested even as he hugged her tightly back.
***You did it, Spaceboy, you did it. You healed yourself. I just knew you could. I’m so proud of you, Michael…***
He sat back and took her face in his hands, looking deep into her eyes, thumbs smoothing across her wet cheeks, and then he kissed her very slowly and deliberately.
***No, princess. I didn’t do it alone. We healed me together, Maria… If you hadn’t had faith in me I would never have even tried***
***Let’s go back and tell the others. No need to reveal our private secret. Just say that we tried the idea out and it worked…***
He stood up and held out his hand to her.
“Ok, Blondie. Let’s go now, unless you want to sleep out under the stars…”
“Not tonight, Spaceboy – it’s going to rain, remember?”
They made their way slowly back to the camp in the last light from the sinking sun and found the others sitting comfortably round the fire.
Kyle had found a log somewhere and dragged it over to one side of the fireplace as a backrest. His muscles had protested after being forced to sit cross-legged for so long the night before and he hadn’t wanted to suffer again tonight. In the event, he hadn’t needed it as he’d claimed the third camp chair before Maria returned. He wanted to stay awake now, figuring that Max might already be asleep, preparing for Isobel’s dreamwalk wherever he was tonight.
Michael and Maria joined them and collected mugs of coffee from the pot near the fire. Michael wrapped himself in a blanket and sat down with his back against the log, and Maria sat between his outstretched legs, leaning back against his chest in the circle of his arms. The temperature had dropped fast after nightfall and the heat from the bright, crackling fire was welcome.
Maria rushed to tell everyone the good news about Michael healing his own scars.
Kyle was pleased for him and joked weakly about a lucrative new career opportunity. Liz was interested, but couldn’t stop herself wondering how come Michael had succeeded when Max couldn’t…
Michael made sure that they were all aware of Maria’s contribution to the experiment, saying it was her idea and he wouldn’t have even considered trying to heal himself without her.
He suggested that the others should add it to their list of powers to explore and eventually they should all be able to use the full range available to them.
“After all, even I can heal in a minor way, so I’m thinking it must be a matter of focus and practice, like all the other powers we have, rather than each having our own specialty after all.”
Isobel looked surprised and sceptical.
“I didn’t know you could heal at all, Michael, except when you saved me a few weeks back? I wouldn’t call it minor, either…”
“There was that guy, though - what was his name? Monkey? How come you couldn’t heal him, Michael?” Liz asked in a genuine spirit of scientific enquiry, caught up in the interest of the subject, not realising how hurtful her comment was.
He ignored her, though a flash of guilt shot through him at the still-raw memory, and Maria shot her a venomous glare.
“I healed River Dog’s ankle when he hurt it the night of the camping trip in Frasier Woods, soon after Max healed Liz. Healed a few dogs in the trailer park when they got beat on, too.” He grinned mirthlessly and Isobel felt uncomfortable. “Healing you wasn’t much different. I just thought it was a fluke. Never believed I could really do it at that level until now.”
“Why did you never tell us? What other secrets did you keep from us, Michael?”
She paused to wait for an answer she knew wouldn’t be forthcoming from the reticent alien, before she continued.
“This must mean that since Max isn’t the only one who can heal, maybe you can learn to dreamwalk after all.”
“You should be able to heal, too, Iz. I think we just have to be confident we can do it if we focus hard enough. That’s what Tess always used to tell me – focus is the key to our powers. Focus and confidence. And practice. Still, better hope we don’t have too much opportunity to practice healing…”
“Yes, Michael, I certainly hope so, too.”
The group fell silent for a while, passing round the coffee pot for refills and staring into the fire as bedtime slowly approached.
Michael cuddled Maria closer against him, ‘hearing’ her in his mind still muttering to herself about Liz’s outrageous comment.
***Don’t let her get to you, princess. It isn’t worth your time. The best we can hope for is that Max comes back for her soon and maybe they’ll work things out…***
***Do you really think he will, Michael?***
***I guess I do, Maria. I can’t see Max letting Liz go, even if Tess really is back, which seems unlikely. I have to admit that they’re both stubborn as hell, but they just can’t seem to keep away from each other***
***That’s very insightful of you, Spaceboy. What brought this on?***
***Iz will try to dreamwalk Max again tonight and then she’s gonna try to teach me to dreamwalk, too. It’s gotta be either Kyle or Liz and Isobel thinks Kyle is too screwed up about last night’s dream to be any use. So it’s probably got to be Parker. Scary to think what goes on in her mind…***
***Why not me, Michael? What’s wrong with dreamwalking me?***
***We have a mind-link already, Maria. We can probably already share our dreams if we want to. I can see yours when you’re asleep, so I expect you can see mine. I love when you dream about me…***
***You’re leering again, Spaceboy, I can hear you. Don’t change the subject. Save it for later, though…***
Just then, Liz stood up and announced that she was ready for bed and they all said goodnight to her as she took her blanket, mug and chair into the vestibule of her tent. The others felt faintly, and in Isobel’s case guiltily, relieved and the atmosphere relaxed.
Isobel and Maria headed over to the shower block, where the group had all left their stuff for convenience while they had the site to themselves. The two guys went next, having used their alien powers to clean the coffee things and put out the fire. None of them wanted to disturb Liz and by tacit agreement, Isobel joined the other three in their tent, ready to make plans for the busy night ahead.
TBC…
Michael closed his eyes in exasperation at yet another dramatic Liz Parker moment. If only she had stolen the bus and run away, he thought wistfully, I’d have given her gas money and a road map. Come back Max – all is forgiven – just as long as you take back responsibility for the damn Crystal Ball…
He snapped back to reality, took a deep breath and glanced round at the other three who were also frowning at Liz.
“Let me get this straight – you had such a strong response to this vision when you touched ranger-boy that you thought you’d killed him – and now you can’t remember what you saw?”
Liz nodded anxiously at them.
“It was just a flash but now it’s gone… I only remember that it frightened me, I can’t remember what it was about. Oh, God, what am I going to do?”
Michael shrugged. He knew the solution to that problem.
“Well, I guess you’ll just have to try touching him again to see if you get an action replay. Maybe you should visit the patient tomorrow to check on his recovery…”
Liz looked round at the others and back to him, shaking her head.
“Oh, no, I can’t, Michael. What if it happened again? We can’t blame the storm twice.”
“Maybe we should just move on somewhere else? The danger’s somehow connected with him – so if we put distance between us whatever it is might not happen. We know that Liz’s visions are a warning, not set in stone. The future can be changed.”
Maria sounded serious and thoughtful but not panicked. Liz thought it was the better idea, but before she could say so Michael was speaking again, responding to Maria as if they were the only two people there, she thought resentfully.
“Yeah, we could, but I think we need to know just what the danger is. We don’t want to run blind – we could be heading into a trap. We gotta know our enemy. I’ve always said so. Then again, it may not be anything to do with us at all. We should still be ready to leave right after, if we have to, but Liz should go see the guy first.”
“Yes, that makes sense, Spaceboy. Liz -” Maria looked over at her friend. “ – you don’t have to worry. You’ll be expecting a vision next time so you won’t use your forcefield by accident. You can control it. We’ll be with you, so we can provide a distraction if you need it.”
“Meantime, I’ve got an idea to give us all a break from guard duty for tonight at least.” Michael looked thoughtfully up at the sky, still a deep cloudless blue in the early evening.
Maria looked at him expectantly and when he didn’t respond, she nudged him impatiently with her elbow.
“Well, c’mon, Spaceboy, share – don’t keep us in suspense…”
Michael grinned at her and then round at the others.
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. What’s most likely to prevent anyone attacking us tonight?”
They all stared at him blankly for a few moments. Then light dawned on Isobel’s face.
“The weather, Michael – heavy rain or, better yet, snow… It’ll make the mountain roads treacherous and impassable in the dark, anyway. We won’t need to set a watch, just make sure that one of us wakes up to boost the blizzard every few hours until it’s deep enough to stop all traffic in the area...” Isobel’s enthusiasm increased the more she thought about it.
Kyle wasn’t at all happy about the idea. His own plans to stay awake and avoid any dreams shared with Max were now in jeopardy if he was to be confined to his sleeping bag all night and he sat silent as the girls exclaimed excitedly around him. Michael, basking in the general respect and approval that was still a novelty to him, registered the only unenthusiastic response and looked enquiringly over at the other guy.
“You don’t agree, Valenti?”
“Sure, it’s a great idea. Guess I’m just tired. I’m going back to sleep. See ya later…”. He stood up abruptly and left, avoiding their eyes, heading morosely towards his tent.
Isobel looked after him with concern. What had caused this sudden moodiness? He’d been almost relentlessly cheerful since they’d left Roswell, except for the time last night after he’d had the dream. The dream… Isobel frowned. She would keep an eye on Kyle – just to make sure that he was ok…
Liz broke the silence that followed Kyle’s departure by continuing obliviously to debate the merits of rain against snow as protection for the coming night. She barely registered his leaving, accepting his excuse at face value.
Michael saw this as just one more instance of Liz’s self-absorption and insensitivity to anyone else’s worries and so he suppressed his irritation. He was faintly disturbed at Kyle’s behaviour himself but not enough for it to trouble him. The guy was under enormous stress and Michael himself was no stranger to a bad mood, so he thought he understood his friend’s need to be alone for a while.
Maria, however, was concerned about both her friends. Kyle was undoubtedly upset over something and in such a small group of friends it was inevitable that he would reveal it sooner or later. Liz was a different, and maybe a deeper, problem.
Maria was more than aware of the selfish aspects of Liz’s character, having been subjected to it nearly all her life in various subtle and unsubtle ways. During the years after Max had healed and then hurt Liz, who, in turn, hurt her own friends, this self-absorption had increased until Maria feared that the sweet, caring side she knew was also there had been buried too deep to retrieve.
It was too early to tell how the latest heartbreaking split with Max would change Liz, despite her defiant declarations of the previous night that she would start afresh without him. Maria knew that it couldn’t be as easy as that. She just hoped that her – she hated to admit it to herself, but it was the truth – estranged best friend would find her way back to being the long-lost Lizzie she loved. If not, Maria might just have to go on a hunting expedition herself.
Eventually deciding by a majority vote that rain was the answer (Isobel wanted snow; the others argued it was a too late in the year, besides being a trap of their own making if they needed to escape quickly) but that it needn’t spoil the rest of the sunny evening, those remaining round the table split up and went their separate ways. Liz collected towels and headed to the shower block intending to retire to her tent for a nap and Isobel sat under the tree in a camp chair, clearing her mind of thought and just staring out at the changing light over the lake. Michael and Maria remained sitting at the table.
***I can’t take any more of Parker today. I’m goin’ back to bed, Blondie. Come with me – we still have over an hour to ourselves before dinner***
***Sorry, Spaceboy. I’m cooking it and I need lots of time to get ready. If I go to bed with you now, we’ll all starve…***
Michael pouted and pulled her against him on the bench, nuzzling her ear and burying his face in her neck with a deep sigh. Then his stomach growled loudly and Maria giggled, kissed him lightly and jumped up from the table to start preparing dinner on the grill. Michael twisted round so his elbows were resting on the table, stretched his long legs out before him and watched her until she called him over to light the charcoal briquettes then chased him away to go shower.
***No, Michael, the rainstorm doesn’t count…***
Maria went over to fetch her cookbook from the tent where she had abandoned it when the storm started and, after a quick detour to freshen up, leafed through it to find the recipe she wanted as she walked slowly back to the grill.
It was a simple and quick barbeque sauce for the chicken she had bought from the store at the visitors’ centre and she was fairly confident that it was within the scope of her beginner’s cooking skills. However, her first task was to prep some potatoes to bake over the hot coals…
This was something she was already familiar with from home; her mom had let her help with barbeques when they entertained friends back in Roswell. The little Maria could safely be left in charge of baking potatoes and making salads while Amy got creative with the rest of the party food. As she worked, the memories brought sudden tears to her eyes and she bit her quivering lower lip. Michael’s comforting thought was instantly there in her mind as he picked up on her distress, but she quickly reassured him and carried on pricking the potatoes with a fork, rubbing them with oil and salt and setting them out to cook, letting herself smile at the happy times at home with her mom.
Next she mixed the barbeque sauce – half cup of honey, quarter cup of Tabasco and one teaspoon of ground black pepper – and left it in a small covered pan while she set the table and checked the recipe times again. Then she went off to have the leisurely shower she’d missed during the excitements of the day.
When Michael had hurriedly showered, recoiled on encountering a wide-eyed, blushing Liz when they both emerged at the same time modestly wrapped in towels, he returned to his tent, pulled on shorts, collected a couple of apples from their food supplies and joined Isobel in the shade of the tree. Stretched out in a camp chair beside her, they looked out over the lake together without speaking for a while.
Michael couldn’t recall the last time he’d had an actual conversation with Isobel that didn’t end in one of them storming off, pissed at the other. So he didn’t know how to approach the subject of how - or even if - she was dealing with losing everything she loved.
Some part of him felt guilty that he was the one who was now happier than he had ever been when life for the pampered Evans family had turned into nightmare, while another part of him crowed in triumph that he was struggling free of his loser past to find an unimagined future lit by hope and new possibilities.
He felt protective about Isobel in a way he never had about Max. Protective partly as an inbuilt aspect of his alien DNA, but mostly as a human brother for a sister, whatever crap he’d spouted to Jesse when he’d been forced by his programming to take over from “dead” King Max. She sat next to him, physically unrecognisable as the real Isobel Evans, but with all the same pain and suffering hidden behind the new face.
Michael knew he wasn’t good at dealing with feelings, let alone talking about them. His new openness with Maria through their mind connection was a strictly private thing between them and had no effect on his reactions to anyone else. Terrified of breaching Isobel’s iron control when she must still be emotionally fragile, but needing to find some way of discovering how she was really dealing beneath her controlled exterior, he cast around for a way to introduce the subject without making her cry. Meanwhile, there was a small mystery she might be able to shed some light on.
“ Any clue to what’s bitten Kyle, Iz? He took off real sudden when we got back from the ranger station.”
Isobel thought she saw an opportunity to discuss last night’s dream.
“I don’t know. I’m worried about his reaction to that weird dream last night. I’m going to keep an eye on him… Did you notice that he stayed awake for the rest of the night covering all the watches and now he’s slept all day, except for when the Liz and Ben thing happened?”
“No, I slept all morning myself, so I don’t know what he did. Hey, Iz, I meant to tell you - he learnt how to control lightning today during the storm. He deflects it just like you and Max… ” Michael grinned at Isobel. “ and he left his footprints burned into that rock over there. Gonna start his lessons on how to change molecular structure tomorrow. How’s your student doin’?”
Isobel blinked and then realised he meant Liz.
“Well, I guess she’s making progress. I hadn’t thought of her as my student, though. I just help her out if she asks me to. Why, do you think it’s a competition?”
“Not really, I just think we should make sure that they both learn their new powers as soon as they can for the group’s security. I’m gonna extend my own range as much as I can. We’ll need them to survive, wherever we go.” He frowned seriously at Isobel. “I finally learned control at last. I started when Tess made me practice all the time that summer after we found out our 'destiny'. Guess it needed 'clear and present danger' to make me focus properly...”
They both went quiet until Michael spoke again and his question took Isobel by surprise.
“Iz, can you teach me how to dreamwalk ?”
“I don’t know, Michael. I guess I could try…” She sounded doubtful. “I guess I always thought we each have our own specialty – you know – Max heals, I dreamwalk and you – well, you…”
Her hesitation unexpectedly triggered a surge of his old defensive antagonism and he tensed up to confront her.
“Kill. I kill, that’s what you mean. Don’t you Isobel? My specialty is killing.”
Michael felt a wave of guilt, anger and bitterness flood through him. Maria was suddenly in his mind, alarmed and questioning, but he blocked her and stared coldly over at Isobel, who looked stricken and irritated at the same time.
“No, of course I don’t mean that, Michael. You know it. I just couldn’t think of the right word to describe your special power – except just that – power. Is this the Pierce thing again? I thought you’d realised that you did the right thing, dealt with it and moved on. If you haven’t, then it’s about time you did. No point wasting any more time on it. It's old.” Michael stared at her, speechless, his mouth opening and shutting though no sound emerged. She carried on talking briskly.
“As for teaching you to dreamwalk, I’m not sure I can, but I’ll try.”
Michael recovered himself enough to pacify Maria and pick up on the conversation where he’d broken it off. He was embarrassed at his involuntary response to what he’d inferred from Isobel’s hesitancy. He had thought himself over that guilt trip long ago. Maybe the stress of their current situation had raised a few of his old nightmares after all.
“So when do you want to start? I’ll be contacting Max again tonight. You can come with me…”
“Isobel, no way am I gonna dreamwalk Max.”
Isobel was saddened by the finality in Michael’s voice. She’d thought that he had withheld judgement on Max’s behaviour in case it was alien genes acting up again, but it seemed that he had changed his mind. She decided that now was not the right time to call him on it.
“Well, ok. Who would you like to try it out on?”
“Not Maria. Or Parker.” He was repelled by the prospect. “Kyle, then…”
“Somehow I don’t think Kyle is going to be a good choice. I think he’s got dream issues he’s not telling us about.”
“Who else is there? It’s not like I have a huge choice, Iz. It’s got to be one of them…but definitely not Maria. I’m not gonna take any risks with her.”
“I’ll have to think about it and decide nearer the time, Michael.”
“It’s got to be tonight, Iz. Sooner we all hone our powers, the better.”
“Ok. Be sure not to eat too much at dinner, then, or you’ll sleep too heavily to dreamwalk.”
“We’ve got to do the rain dance, too. Gonna be a busy night tonight.”
At that moment, Maria called to them and they stirred themselves to wander over to the grill. Michael remembered that he hadn’t gotten round to checking on Isobel’s own state of mind, but it was too late now. He’d have to try again sometime soon.
While the potatoes had been baking over the hot charcoal, Maria had made the salad, adding fresh orange segments to the torn lettuce leaves and cucumber chunks. She would drizzle a little olive oil and vinegar over it at the last minute. She retrieved the chicken breasts from the cooler, slathered them with the hot honey sauce and carefully arranged them on the grill rack, where she watched them like a hawk.
Twenty minutes later, she called over to Michael and Isobel, sitting in the camp chairs and talking in the shade of the tree by the lakeshore, and they both got up and strolled over to her as she concentrated on watching to see that nothing burned.
“Dinner will be ready in about 10 minutes, so would you guys call Kyle and Liz, please…oh, and put out a pitcher of water…”
Maria sounded agitated and waved a hand distractedly at them as she spoke, eyes fixed on the grill as she stabbed a fork into chicken and potatoes to test their progress. Michael grinned in anticipation but didn’t tease her. He was hungry and his instinct told him this wasn’t the moment to provoke her. It all looked and smelled surprisingly good…
That was Liz’s reaction when she emerged from her tent at Isobel’s summons. She had vivid recollections of various adventures in cooking with Maria over the years and had made no secret of the fact that she fully expected to have to step in to rescue the meal. She smiled encouragingly over at her friend. It looked as though she might not be needed after all…
Kyle reluctantly roused himself to join the others and was still subdued as the leisurely meal progressed. Isobel eyed him narrowly when she thought he wasn’t looking.
They all agreed that Maria’s first effort at cooking dinner was a success. After all the care she’d taken, the sweet and spicy chicken with more hot honey sauce on the side was delicious to both alien and human tastes, the potatoes had crisp, salty skin and soft, buttery insides and the salad was simple, but good. Maria blushed at the compliments and admitted to the others, when Michael had gone to collect the carton of milk for the ice cream dessert, that she had actually enjoyed her foray into real cooking. She didn’t say anything about the challenge, but her look had spoken volumes earlier when he’d actually expressed enjoyment of her food.
Afterwards, Michael and Maria drifted off to explore the lakeshore together before sundown, leaving the others to do the dishes, light the campfire and make the coffee after dinner.
They headed south, in the opposite direction to that taken by Isobel and Liz in the afternoon. Michael helped his girlfriend over the low tumble of craggy rocks until they reached an area of reeds and swampy grasses where they were forced to cut inland onto another rocky stretch that led to a small pebbly beach at the foot of a high cliff where the mountain met the lake.
Maria sat down carefully on an old driftwood log that took up much of the beach and gazed appreciatively at Michael as he stood at the edge looking down into the clear water. The light was still bright as the sun slowly sank towards the rim of mountains across the lake, but dusk would come early in the deep, wooded bowl of the valley.
She rose and moved to stand close behind him, pressing herself against his strong back, the sloping beach giving an extra few inches that enabled her to rest her chin comfortably on his shoulder. Her arms slid round to meet across his chest and his hands rose to clasp hers. There was only feeling between them, no words.
Her hair tickled his ear and he felt her soft lips against his cheek, kissing along his jawline as he slowly turned his head to meet her mouth with his own.
Moving to take her in his arms, Michael’s foot slipped on a loose pebble and next moment they were both lying sprawled in the shallow water, surprised into helpless laughter. A soaking wet Maria crawled on top of him, stretching out along his length and playfully trying to hold his hands captive while covering his face with kisses as he tried to shift into a more comfortable position on the stony beach.
The shallow water was warm from the sun and there was no urgent need to move from the spot, so Michael returned her kisses, freeing his arms to wrap them securely around her and finally capturing her lips with his own to share a long, deep, leisurely kiss which gradually intensified into more urgent desire.
Michael’s hands travelled down Maria’s back to slide under her shorts onto the smooth skin of her ass, where his fingers dug into the soft curves to pull her against the growing hardness in his own shorts.
Maria licked, nibbled and kissed her way over his chest, trying not to miss any part of the warm, smooth skin, then paying gentle attention to the scars remaining from the glowing tattoo that still marked his recent enslavement to his alien programming.
She felt his sudden tension as he reacted to her touch in an area she had previously tacitly avoided during their lovemaking. Max had been unable to heal the scars, and she had assumed without questioning it, that this was another alien mystery. She now began to suspect that it had more to do with the simmering resentment and hostility in the relationship between the two aliens than anything else.
When she continued to kiss his scars he pushed her away and sat up, frowning out across the lake and avoiding her eyes. She was surprised to feel guilt and shame well up from the depths of his mind and she instinctively protested.
***Why do you still feel bad about it, Michael? It was the stupid ‘destiny’ thing and it’s over now…***
She still lay where she she’d rolled off of him, propped on her elbows in the warm, clear shallows and gazing up at him as he sat beside her.
***It isn’t over, Maria and it never will be while these damn scars are here to remind me that I was such a f*ucking idiot. It was just dumb luck that I didn’t kill you and I could have, Maria. I could have. I still feel scared of what I became when the alien genes took over. I was so powerful and arrogant, so cold … Every time I see these scars, it reminds me of that feeling***
He picked up a flat stone and threw it hard on a low trajectory into the lake where it bounced twice as it skimmed across the surface. He watched the ripples spread out where it sank.
Maria sat up and reached across to take his hand. He tried to pull away, but she held on. She knew there was more and eventually he finished his thought.
***Maria, I’m scared that it’s the real me… ***
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she answered him.
***You don’t feel like that all the time, Michael or even most of the time. I know, remember, because I can feel how you feel, same as you feel me. I know you love me and I know that your instincts are mostly human, whatever additional ingredients went into the recipe ***
She almost giggled. This cooking thing might easily become an obsession. Then she sobered instantly. She had to make him understand that his secret fears were groundless.
***What if it happens again, Maria? What if something happens to Max and the alien DNA takes me over again? I can’t bear the thought that I might hurt you or worse…***
He could feel Maria take time to think about it before she replied, although he didn’t catch any detailed images, her mind was too quick for that.
***Even before we got this mind connection between us, I always knew you felt things strongly and I knew you have wild, passionate emotions, so that means I also know that the cold, selfish, alien persona isn’t the real you. You even let me ‘see’ you way back when you thought you were going to leave for Antar, so I know you’re not cold and selfish. You are my own warm, loving guy, Michael, and you always will be. I feel it all the time and especially when we make love… Don’t you? ***
He didn’t try to hide his relief as he smiled at her and then wrapped his arms around her to pull her down on top of him again they way they were before.
She held him off for a moment while she had the last word.
***We’re together forever now, Spaceboy and I’ll never let that cold alien side control you again, I swear it. And neither will you. You’ve been growing stronger all the time since we left Roswell – if it ever happens again, you will be able to control it***
Their lips met again, crushed together in passionate relief that all was well in their own private universe. The discomfort of the stony beach went unnoticed as their few wet clothes were pulled off and thrown aside so that lips and tongues and teeth and hands could slide over hard muscle and soft skin, teasing and probing until Maria straddled Michael and frantically rode his thrusting c*ock, whispering his name over and over until they both cried out in wordless ecstasy and the echo bounced off the cliff behind them and out over the lake into the spectacular golden sunset.
Lying breathless with her face pressed sweatily onto Michael’s heaving chest, her eyes opened to see his scars and unthinkingly, she let one of her fingers trace the marks lightly. This time he didn’t flinch, merely capturing her hand and bringing it to his mouth to kiss each of her fingertips.
*** Michael, I know Max failed at the time, but have you ever tried healing them yourself? ***
This time she felt his irritation at her persistence and his reluctance to answer. When he did, it was clear he didn’t want to discuss it any further.
***No, I haven’t. Maria, can we drop the subject? There’s no point in discussing it any more and I just want to rest here for a while with you before we have to go back to camp, ok***
***Not just yet, Spaceboy. I want to try something now while we have some real privacy *** His irritation flared into anger, but she continued doggedly. ***I think you could heal them yourself if you want to. You do have healing powers. You healed Isobel that time when she almost died***
He lifted his head to glare at her and opened his mouth to speak, but she covered it with her hand at the same time as her determined voice continued in his mind.
***You know you can change my appearance and your own, too. You’ve had plenty of practice this last week. You know how to do it. I know how you do it too, come to that, I can feel you when you make the changes… This is no different to when you do that***
Maria removed her hand and idly stroked one of the scars as she spoke, remembering the awe she always felt when Michael moved the molecules into different patterns as he altered skin, eye and hair colors for their various disguises. The hard, black ridges of skin under her fingertips smoothed out as her mind’s eye linked and rode with Michael’s power to molecular level where it altered the intruding patterns to match the prevailing arrangement in the surrounding area. She’d never gone as deep as this before and watched, fascinated.
When she felt the power dissipate to nothing again, she looked up and found Michael’s deep brown eyes a few inches away from her own. His look of stunned amazement made her turn her head hopefully towards his chest. To her delight, nothing marred the smooth, lightly tanned skin any longer and she sat up with a squeal of delight to hug Michael so tightly that he protested even as he hugged her tightly back.
***You did it, Spaceboy, you did it. You healed yourself. I just knew you could. I’m so proud of you, Michael…***
He sat back and took her face in his hands, looking deep into her eyes, thumbs smoothing across her wet cheeks, and then he kissed her very slowly and deliberately.
***No, princess. I didn’t do it alone. We healed me together, Maria… If you hadn’t had faith in me I would never have even tried***
***Let’s go back and tell the others. No need to reveal our private secret. Just say that we tried the idea out and it worked…***
He stood up and held out his hand to her.
“Ok, Blondie. Let’s go now, unless you want to sleep out under the stars…”
“Not tonight, Spaceboy – it’s going to rain, remember?”
They made their way slowly back to the camp in the last light from the sinking sun and found the others sitting comfortably round the fire.
Kyle had found a log somewhere and dragged it over to one side of the fireplace as a backrest. His muscles had protested after being forced to sit cross-legged for so long the night before and he hadn’t wanted to suffer again tonight. In the event, he hadn’t needed it as he’d claimed the third camp chair before Maria returned. He wanted to stay awake now, figuring that Max might already be asleep, preparing for Isobel’s dreamwalk wherever he was tonight.
Michael and Maria joined them and collected mugs of coffee from the pot near the fire. Michael wrapped himself in a blanket and sat down with his back against the log, and Maria sat between his outstretched legs, leaning back against his chest in the circle of his arms. The temperature had dropped fast after nightfall and the heat from the bright, crackling fire was welcome.
Maria rushed to tell everyone the good news about Michael healing his own scars.
Kyle was pleased for him and joked weakly about a lucrative new career opportunity. Liz was interested, but couldn’t stop herself wondering how come Michael had succeeded when Max couldn’t…
Michael made sure that they were all aware of Maria’s contribution to the experiment, saying it was her idea and he wouldn’t have even considered trying to heal himself without her.
He suggested that the others should add it to their list of powers to explore and eventually they should all be able to use the full range available to them.
“After all, even I can heal in a minor way, so I’m thinking it must be a matter of focus and practice, like all the other powers we have, rather than each having our own specialty after all.”
Isobel looked surprised and sceptical.
“I didn’t know you could heal at all, Michael, except when you saved me a few weeks back? I wouldn’t call it minor, either…”
“There was that guy, though - what was his name? Monkey? How come you couldn’t heal him, Michael?” Liz asked in a genuine spirit of scientific enquiry, caught up in the interest of the subject, not realising how hurtful her comment was.
He ignored her, though a flash of guilt shot through him at the still-raw memory, and Maria shot her a venomous glare.
“I healed River Dog’s ankle when he hurt it the night of the camping trip in Frasier Woods, soon after Max healed Liz. Healed a few dogs in the trailer park when they got beat on, too.” He grinned mirthlessly and Isobel felt uncomfortable. “Healing you wasn’t much different. I just thought it was a fluke. Never believed I could really do it at that level until now.”
“Why did you never tell us? What other secrets did you keep from us, Michael?”
She paused to wait for an answer she knew wouldn’t be forthcoming from the reticent alien, before she continued.
“This must mean that since Max isn’t the only one who can heal, maybe you can learn to dreamwalk after all.”
“You should be able to heal, too, Iz. I think we just have to be confident we can do it if we focus hard enough. That’s what Tess always used to tell me – focus is the key to our powers. Focus and confidence. And practice. Still, better hope we don’t have too much opportunity to practice healing…”
“Yes, Michael, I certainly hope so, too.”
The group fell silent for a while, passing round the coffee pot for refills and staring into the fire as bedtime slowly approached.
Michael cuddled Maria closer against him, ‘hearing’ her in his mind still muttering to herself about Liz’s outrageous comment.
***Don’t let her get to you, princess. It isn’t worth your time. The best we can hope for is that Max comes back for her soon and maybe they’ll work things out…***
***Do you really think he will, Michael?***
***I guess I do, Maria. I can’t see Max letting Liz go, even if Tess really is back, which seems unlikely. I have to admit that they’re both stubborn as hell, but they just can’t seem to keep away from each other***
***That’s very insightful of you, Spaceboy. What brought this on?***
***Iz will try to dreamwalk Max again tonight and then she’s gonna try to teach me to dreamwalk, too. It’s gotta be either Kyle or Liz and Isobel thinks Kyle is too screwed up about last night’s dream to be any use. So it’s probably got to be Parker. Scary to think what goes on in her mind…***
***Why not me, Michael? What’s wrong with dreamwalking me?***
***We have a mind-link already, Maria. We can probably already share our dreams if we want to. I can see yours when you’re asleep, so I expect you can see mine. I love when you dream about me…***
***You’re leering again, Spaceboy, I can hear you. Don’t change the subject. Save it for later, though…***
Just then, Liz stood up and announced that she was ready for bed and they all said goodnight to her as she took her blanket, mug and chair into the vestibule of her tent. The others felt faintly, and in Isobel’s case guiltily, relieved and the atmosphere relaxed.
Isobel and Maria headed over to the shower block, where the group had all left their stuff for convenience while they had the site to themselves. The two guys went next, having used their alien powers to clean the coffee things and put out the fire. None of them wanted to disturb Liz and by tacit agreement, Isobel joined the other three in their tent, ready to make plans for the busy night ahead.
TBC…
-
candylovespell
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:50 pm
Chapter 28
When they all finally huddled in the vestibule of the tent, Michael looked over at Isobel and gestured towards the chilly darkness outside.
“First thing we gotta do is make it rain, Iz. You want to do it or shall I?”
Isobel was already beginning to focus her thoughts on the night of dreamwalking ahead of her. Much as she would have enjoyed it after so long, using her energy to conjure a rainstorm was a distraction she didn’t need, so she waved at him to carry on and went over to sit down in the far corner near Kyle’s sleeping quarters.
Michael clapped Kyle on the shoulder and raised an eyebrow at him. The newest ‘hybrid’ correctly took it as an invitation to another Masterclass in meteorology and followed the big alien out of the tent again.
Left behind, Maria looked speculatively round the bare, cold vestibule and noticed Isobel, sitting on the groundsheet in the corner biting her lip with a tired, far away look in her eye. Maria’s deep instinct for comfort awoke and she had an idea.
Fifteen minutes later, ducking back into the tent damp from the rain starting to fall steadily outside, the guys found the vestibule of the tent dimly lit by a lantern, with blankets and pillows spread over the groundsheet for extra warmth. Fresh supplies of coffee and hot chocolate were placed ready for later and the soft, golden glow created a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere for Isobel to dreamwalk.
There was just enough room in the vestibule for the four to spread themselves out and settle down to talk.
Michael lounged on a pile of pillows on one side of the entrance, and Kyle sat upright in his meditation pose on the other, although he looked stiff and apprehensive tonight. Isobel unconsciously mirrored his pose, hugging a pillow to her like a comfort-blanket, giving out vibes as nervous as Kyle in her own way.
Now that the time had come to dreamwalk again, memories of the previous night seemed to lurk in the shadows beyond the ring of lamplight.
Maria looked round at them all in sympathy from her position curled up in the corner. Michael, too, seemed to be affected by the atmosphere and she could feel his tension grow as the silence lengthened. Noticing similar signs of unease in all three faces she suddenly realised that the stage was set for drama.
Before she could suggest that more light might chase away the shadows and calm the edgy atmosphere, Isobel spoke suddenly, making them all jump.
“Well, Michael, are you ready to try to dreamwalk with me?”
Michael shrugged. Although the nervous vibes he was picking up from the other two were making him jumpy, he was looking forward to his first dreamwalk.
“Yeah, Iz, ready as I’ll ever be.”
The only downside was that it would have to be Liz and he felt faintly nauseous at the thought.
Isobel glanced over at Kyle. He looked sick, but nodded at her in reluctant acceptance of his fate. However, she smiled at him reassuringly and looked over at Michael.
“When we talked before dinner, it looked like Liz would have to be the one, since Kyle and I had that weird dream thing last night. I don’t want to risk it until we know what’s going on there, Michael…but maybe there’s another option we’ve forgotten.”
Maria unexpectedly interjected, startling them all.
“Good, ‘cos it’s not fair to dreamwalk Liz without asking her first. She is one of the group, so we shouldn’t invade her privacy without her permission…none of us would like it...”
Before anyone could respond, the entrance to the tent suddenly split open and the wet and angry subject of their discussion slid inside and stood glaring round at them.
“Thank you, Maria. I’m so glad someone thought about my feelings at last. Nobody – nobody dreamwalks me uninvited, do you understand? Bad enough that you’re all having a private meeting without me, but to even consider invading my mind like that is just cruel…”
Everyone, except Michael, looked guilty and uncomfortable, but he just tossed one of his pillows on to the ground by her feet and motioned to Liz to sit. She remained where she was.
He sighed and made an effort to explain.
“We weren’t deliberately excluding you, Liz. Isobel is going to dreamwalk Max and we know you don’t want to get involved with that. I’m gonna try to dreamwalk tonight, too, and we were discussing who best to try it out on - yeah, ok, maybe not such a good idea - but Isobel thinks she has a better one and, anyway, Maria stopped us before we went too far. You heard her.” His unspoken implication was that she’d been eavesdropping outside.
He was not in the least repentant. Apologising to Liz Parker, whether deserved or not, went against all his instincts.
Maria hurried to smooth things over. She was not feeling so very friendly herself towards Liz after the latest hurtful remark about Michael earlier on, but they didn’t need more animosity than there already was between her boyfriend and her oldest friend. The group’s very survival depended on keeping the trust between all the members.
“Isobel did say she’d had a better idea, remember? Why don’t you sit down and join us, Liz. Then we can all hear her out…”
Liz reluctantly sat down on the pillow and folded her legs beneath her, still clearly affronted.
Everyone looked at Isobel, the inadvertent catalyst of Liz’s explosive reaction, and she looked back with an air of detachment.
“As I was saying, there might be another way to help Michael learn to dreamwalk and it may also do some good for the dreamer, too…”
Kyle looked interested and some of the tension left his pose. The threat of a dream shared with Max could be delayed a little longer as Isobel continued speaking.
“I thought…maybe we could try to reach the parents…they must still be so worried – especially Ms. DeLuca and the Parkers, who don’t know anything about the secret.”
Michael saw Maria’s eyes light up and felt the surge of hope and gratitude flood her whole being. Liz sat up excitedly, forgetting all about her anger now that there was a possibility of contacting her parents in some way. Kyle, too, felt his spirits rise at the thought of getting a message to his dad.
Isobel smiled cautiously at their reaction to her words, but added a note of warning.
“It may not work if Michael or I haven’t got a clear image to focus on…”
She looked across at Liz first, to make amends for their earlier thoughtlessness. They really should have asked her if she wanted to be included tonight.
“We’ll try to contact your dad first. Michael knows him from working at the Crashdown, but I really need a photo, Liz…?”
Liz looked tragic for a moment, her hopes dashed. She had no faith in Michael’s dreamwalking abilities, and if Isobel couldn’t contact her dad without a photo then it was pointless even trying – but then her eyes brightened. She scrambled up and told Isobel she needed to fetch something from her tent.
They waited in silence for her return, but the atmosphere was relaxed. The rain continued relentlessly outside, enclosing them in the small oasis of warm lamplight. The incident a few moments ago had illustrated to them all how the old roles had changed in the group; now the four who had least in common back in Roswell were growing closer and more trusting than they could have ever imagined back then.
It was Liz, formerly the center of their group, who was increasingly isolating herself in her attempts to deal with the pain of the latest, maybe even the final, breakup with Max. In antagonising Maria, her closest friend, by insulting Michael who was doing his best to protect them all, she was in danger of creating a rift within the group that might be irreparable.
A rustle at the entrance heralded a bright-eyed, excited Liz. She took off her wet jacket and looked hopefully over at Isobel, but it was Michael who dried it off with an impatient wave of his hand.
Liz then sat down on the pillow again and opened her palm to reveal a pretty gold locket on a chain.
“This was a present from Grandma Claudia for my 14th birthday. I wore it at the Graduation ceremony.” Liz split the locket open and anxiously displayed its contents to Isobel. “It has pictures of her and my parents inside. I know they’re small, but can you use them to dreamwalk?”
Isobel took the locket from her and peered down at the tiny images. Younger versions of the Parker parents beamed back at her, cut out from some larger photo several years ago. Still, she thought it would do for her purpose.
“If I do get through, Liz, remember I don’t think I can leave any special message that he would feel was anything other than a dream. I can only try to make him feel that you’re safe and well, maybe give him some comfort that way…”
Liz swallowed disappointment at this, but was truly grateful to Isobel for anything she could do to contact and comfort her family and said so.
Isobel lay down and made herself comfortable as the others watched her with interest. After a few minutes she sat up again and glared round at them, suddenly petulant after the patience she had shown all day.
“I can’t sleep with you all staring at me.”
Maria exchanged a glance with Michael and, after a brief mental conversation too fast for anyone else to notice, looked at Liz and Kyle as she spoke.
“Isobel doesn’t want an audience – let her have some privacy and do this on her own. Use Kyle’s pit, chica.” She winked at him, and he grinned back at her.
After a hesitant pause when she clearly debated with herself as to what horrors might be found in any living quarters inhabited by the former jock, Isobel cautiously pulled the stiff fabric aside and waved a fastidious hand to light the lantern hanging from the roof of the tent. The order and neatness revealed within was a pleasant surprise and a huge relief. Much as she liked the Sheriff’s son, she remembered Tess’s disparaging comments about the way they’d lived before she moved in and had assumed that they’d probably reverted back after she’d gone.
“Michael, you should be there with her if Isobel’s going to teach you how to dreamwalk, too.”
Maria reminded Isobel that the other item on the night’s agenda needed to be addressed and Michael grabbed the pillows from behind him and threw them over beside Kyle’s bed before he stretched out alongside.
Isobel then became aware of the practicalities of teaching someone else to dreamwalk and found herself momentarily at a loss for words before she crystallised her thoughts for the first time.
She handed Michael Liz’s locket with her father’s picture inside.
“When you first try to dreamwalk, you have to focus on the image of the person you want to find on the dream plane and hold the image as you fall asleep, until white fog envelopes it. It’s this fog that hides the dream and you must find a way through it into the mind of the dreamer. It’s not exactly a physical thing like manipulating molecular structure, but it seems to be linked to the same idea. You follow a path or pattern – in this case the image of the dreamer – until you make a mental connection when their conscious mind is asleep and unshielded by the chaos of thoughts. The connection is quite strong and the dreamer won’t see you unless you want them to.”
Michael concentrated on the tiny photograph, committing it to memory as clearly as he could before handing the locket back to Isobel and trying to visualise Jeff Parker’s face from the times he had seen his employer in the course of his shifts at the Crashdown. It was more difficult than he’d thought. He was surprised at how little attention he’d paid to Liz’s father when he was around and also how little attention the man himself had paid to his business on a daily hands-on basis. Michael brought his formidable powers of concentration to bear and, building up like pieces of a jigsaw, a more detailed image slowly appeared in his mind.
Lying on Kyle’s low bed, Isobel looked at the face in the little locket and again tried to summon sleep.
The image would not stick in her mind, even when she touched the picture to help the connection. She shifted restlessly and tried again, still without success. She was so exhausted that she was beyond tiredness and her mind just could not find the rest she sought.
She sat up to tell the others it wasn’t working when she noticed Michael had fallen asleep. Her first reaction was annoyance that he had just given up so easily while she was still trying and she reached out to shake him awake – then it hit her that he might actually have been successful where she had not…she simply couldn’t tell. Waking him up to ask would break the dream connection and defeat their object, but if he really was simply asleep she could waste all night waiting in vain.
Staring at him in frustration, it occurred to Isobel that she might try dreamwalking him to find out if he had indeed found the way. If so, she would join him in directing Mr. Parker’s dream. It took subtlety to influence the dreamer and she doubted Michael’s ability in that area. He was likely to crash around and cause all sorts of confusion just for the hell of it while he was there, wasting a good opportunity.
She lay down again, this time facing Michael, and imprinted his features on her mind’s eye.
She waited for the white fog to appear, but nothing happened. His face stayed clearly in front of her closed eyes, immobile as a picture. There was no connection at all with his sleeping mind.
Puzzled now and starting to worry, Isobel sat up and looked over at Michael, still asleep beside the bed. His expression gave nothing away.
Michael had quickly found that Isobel’s description of dreamwalking had worked for him exactly as she had said. When he had clearly seen Jeff Parker’s face behind his closed eyes, he had visualised a white fog rising to obscure it and impatiently pushed through to discover what was on the other side.
He wished he hadn’t when he found himself staring at the broken, bloodied corpse of Liz Parker in a dark, trash-filled alley, draped in a white gown and lying in a glass coffin surrounded by banks of white flowers. Jeff Parker knelt beside the bier, weeping hopelessly.
After a moment, he rose and started to pace to and fro, alternately shouting angrily at his daughter or stretching out his arms imploringly towards her. The atmosphere was oppressive with grief and Michael felt overwhelmed and battered by the force of raw emotion for which he just hadn’t prepared himself…
At a loss as to how to deal with the unexpected scene, he wanted to cut and run but somehow it seemed more important to reassure the man that his daughter wasn’t dead.
He hesitated, invisible to his former employer, racking his brain to think of some way to change the dream to something more hopeful and comforting. Then he realised with a shock that the only memory he had of a happy, laughing Liz Parker was when she was flirting with Max in the Crashdown after Tess’s death. He didn’t think that scene would be much of a comfort to her dad, so he let it go and decided to make something up. Presently, the filthy alley with its harrowing tableau melted into a sunny science lab (Michael wasn’t too familiar with these, so the details were indistinct) where a white-coated Liz sat at a desk smiling at the photos in the little gold locket and reaching for a phone.
He wasn’t impressed by his own work, but figured it was the best he could come up with at short notice so would just have to do.
The sudden vision of a small, brown, wrinkly Liz Parker mooing “E.P. phone home” flashed across his mind, making him snort helplessly until he noticed his fragile dream scene tremble precariously. He hurriedly concentrated on strengthening it as much as he could.
He was just taking a moment to congratulate himself on the success of his first dreamwalk when the whole, delicate bubble shivered and burst into a billion, glittering shards.
TBC...
When they all finally huddled in the vestibule of the tent, Michael looked over at Isobel and gestured towards the chilly darkness outside.
“First thing we gotta do is make it rain, Iz. You want to do it or shall I?”
Isobel was already beginning to focus her thoughts on the night of dreamwalking ahead of her. Much as she would have enjoyed it after so long, using her energy to conjure a rainstorm was a distraction she didn’t need, so she waved at him to carry on and went over to sit down in the far corner near Kyle’s sleeping quarters.
Michael clapped Kyle on the shoulder and raised an eyebrow at him. The newest ‘hybrid’ correctly took it as an invitation to another Masterclass in meteorology and followed the big alien out of the tent again.
Left behind, Maria looked speculatively round the bare, cold vestibule and noticed Isobel, sitting on the groundsheet in the corner biting her lip with a tired, far away look in her eye. Maria’s deep instinct for comfort awoke and she had an idea.
Fifteen minutes later, ducking back into the tent damp from the rain starting to fall steadily outside, the guys found the vestibule of the tent dimly lit by a lantern, with blankets and pillows spread over the groundsheet for extra warmth. Fresh supplies of coffee and hot chocolate were placed ready for later and the soft, golden glow created a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere for Isobel to dreamwalk.
There was just enough room in the vestibule for the four to spread themselves out and settle down to talk.
Michael lounged on a pile of pillows on one side of the entrance, and Kyle sat upright in his meditation pose on the other, although he looked stiff and apprehensive tonight. Isobel unconsciously mirrored his pose, hugging a pillow to her like a comfort-blanket, giving out vibes as nervous as Kyle in her own way.
Now that the time had come to dreamwalk again, memories of the previous night seemed to lurk in the shadows beyond the ring of lamplight.
Maria looked round at them all in sympathy from her position curled up in the corner. Michael, too, seemed to be affected by the atmosphere and she could feel his tension grow as the silence lengthened. Noticing similar signs of unease in all three faces she suddenly realised that the stage was set for drama.
Before she could suggest that more light might chase away the shadows and calm the edgy atmosphere, Isobel spoke suddenly, making them all jump.
“Well, Michael, are you ready to try to dreamwalk with me?”
Michael shrugged. Although the nervous vibes he was picking up from the other two were making him jumpy, he was looking forward to his first dreamwalk.
“Yeah, Iz, ready as I’ll ever be.”
The only downside was that it would have to be Liz and he felt faintly nauseous at the thought.
Isobel glanced over at Kyle. He looked sick, but nodded at her in reluctant acceptance of his fate. However, she smiled at him reassuringly and looked over at Michael.
“When we talked before dinner, it looked like Liz would have to be the one, since Kyle and I had that weird dream thing last night. I don’t want to risk it until we know what’s going on there, Michael…but maybe there’s another option we’ve forgotten.”
Maria unexpectedly interjected, startling them all.
“Good, ‘cos it’s not fair to dreamwalk Liz without asking her first. She is one of the group, so we shouldn’t invade her privacy without her permission…none of us would like it...”
Before anyone could respond, the entrance to the tent suddenly split open and the wet and angry subject of their discussion slid inside and stood glaring round at them.
“Thank you, Maria. I’m so glad someone thought about my feelings at last. Nobody – nobody dreamwalks me uninvited, do you understand? Bad enough that you’re all having a private meeting without me, but to even consider invading my mind like that is just cruel…”
Everyone, except Michael, looked guilty and uncomfortable, but he just tossed one of his pillows on to the ground by her feet and motioned to Liz to sit. She remained where she was.
He sighed and made an effort to explain.
“We weren’t deliberately excluding you, Liz. Isobel is going to dreamwalk Max and we know you don’t want to get involved with that. I’m gonna try to dreamwalk tonight, too, and we were discussing who best to try it out on - yeah, ok, maybe not such a good idea - but Isobel thinks she has a better one and, anyway, Maria stopped us before we went too far. You heard her.” His unspoken implication was that she’d been eavesdropping outside.
He was not in the least repentant. Apologising to Liz Parker, whether deserved or not, went against all his instincts.
Maria hurried to smooth things over. She was not feeling so very friendly herself towards Liz after the latest hurtful remark about Michael earlier on, but they didn’t need more animosity than there already was between her boyfriend and her oldest friend. The group’s very survival depended on keeping the trust between all the members.
“Isobel did say she’d had a better idea, remember? Why don’t you sit down and join us, Liz. Then we can all hear her out…”
Liz reluctantly sat down on the pillow and folded her legs beneath her, still clearly affronted.
Everyone looked at Isobel, the inadvertent catalyst of Liz’s explosive reaction, and she looked back with an air of detachment.
“As I was saying, there might be another way to help Michael learn to dreamwalk and it may also do some good for the dreamer, too…”
Kyle looked interested and some of the tension left his pose. The threat of a dream shared with Max could be delayed a little longer as Isobel continued speaking.
“I thought…maybe we could try to reach the parents…they must still be so worried – especially Ms. DeLuca and the Parkers, who don’t know anything about the secret.”
Michael saw Maria’s eyes light up and felt the surge of hope and gratitude flood her whole being. Liz sat up excitedly, forgetting all about her anger now that there was a possibility of contacting her parents in some way. Kyle, too, felt his spirits rise at the thought of getting a message to his dad.
Isobel smiled cautiously at their reaction to her words, but added a note of warning.
“It may not work if Michael or I haven’t got a clear image to focus on…”
She looked across at Liz first, to make amends for their earlier thoughtlessness. They really should have asked her if she wanted to be included tonight.
“We’ll try to contact your dad first. Michael knows him from working at the Crashdown, but I really need a photo, Liz…?”
Liz looked tragic for a moment, her hopes dashed. She had no faith in Michael’s dreamwalking abilities, and if Isobel couldn’t contact her dad without a photo then it was pointless even trying – but then her eyes brightened. She scrambled up and told Isobel she needed to fetch something from her tent.
They waited in silence for her return, but the atmosphere was relaxed. The rain continued relentlessly outside, enclosing them in the small oasis of warm lamplight. The incident a few moments ago had illustrated to them all how the old roles had changed in the group; now the four who had least in common back in Roswell were growing closer and more trusting than they could have ever imagined back then.
It was Liz, formerly the center of their group, who was increasingly isolating herself in her attempts to deal with the pain of the latest, maybe even the final, breakup with Max. In antagonising Maria, her closest friend, by insulting Michael who was doing his best to protect them all, she was in danger of creating a rift within the group that might be irreparable.
A rustle at the entrance heralded a bright-eyed, excited Liz. She took off her wet jacket and looked hopefully over at Isobel, but it was Michael who dried it off with an impatient wave of his hand.
Liz then sat down on the pillow again and opened her palm to reveal a pretty gold locket on a chain.
“This was a present from Grandma Claudia for my 14th birthday. I wore it at the Graduation ceremony.” Liz split the locket open and anxiously displayed its contents to Isobel. “It has pictures of her and my parents inside. I know they’re small, but can you use them to dreamwalk?”
Isobel took the locket from her and peered down at the tiny images. Younger versions of the Parker parents beamed back at her, cut out from some larger photo several years ago. Still, she thought it would do for her purpose.
“If I do get through, Liz, remember I don’t think I can leave any special message that he would feel was anything other than a dream. I can only try to make him feel that you’re safe and well, maybe give him some comfort that way…”
Liz swallowed disappointment at this, but was truly grateful to Isobel for anything she could do to contact and comfort her family and said so.
Isobel lay down and made herself comfortable as the others watched her with interest. After a few minutes she sat up again and glared round at them, suddenly petulant after the patience she had shown all day.
“I can’t sleep with you all staring at me.”
Maria exchanged a glance with Michael and, after a brief mental conversation too fast for anyone else to notice, looked at Liz and Kyle as she spoke.
“Isobel doesn’t want an audience – let her have some privacy and do this on her own. Use Kyle’s pit, chica.” She winked at him, and he grinned back at her.
After a hesitant pause when she clearly debated with herself as to what horrors might be found in any living quarters inhabited by the former jock, Isobel cautiously pulled the stiff fabric aside and waved a fastidious hand to light the lantern hanging from the roof of the tent. The order and neatness revealed within was a pleasant surprise and a huge relief. Much as she liked the Sheriff’s son, she remembered Tess’s disparaging comments about the way they’d lived before she moved in and had assumed that they’d probably reverted back after she’d gone.
“Michael, you should be there with her if Isobel’s going to teach you how to dreamwalk, too.”
Maria reminded Isobel that the other item on the night’s agenda needed to be addressed and Michael grabbed the pillows from behind him and threw them over beside Kyle’s bed before he stretched out alongside.
Isobel then became aware of the practicalities of teaching someone else to dreamwalk and found herself momentarily at a loss for words before she crystallised her thoughts for the first time.
She handed Michael Liz’s locket with her father’s picture inside.
“When you first try to dreamwalk, you have to focus on the image of the person you want to find on the dream plane and hold the image as you fall asleep, until white fog envelopes it. It’s this fog that hides the dream and you must find a way through it into the mind of the dreamer. It’s not exactly a physical thing like manipulating molecular structure, but it seems to be linked to the same idea. You follow a path or pattern – in this case the image of the dreamer – until you make a mental connection when their conscious mind is asleep and unshielded by the chaos of thoughts. The connection is quite strong and the dreamer won’t see you unless you want them to.”
Michael concentrated on the tiny photograph, committing it to memory as clearly as he could before handing the locket back to Isobel and trying to visualise Jeff Parker’s face from the times he had seen his employer in the course of his shifts at the Crashdown. It was more difficult than he’d thought. He was surprised at how little attention he’d paid to Liz’s father when he was around and also how little attention the man himself had paid to his business on a daily hands-on basis. Michael brought his formidable powers of concentration to bear and, building up like pieces of a jigsaw, a more detailed image slowly appeared in his mind.
Lying on Kyle’s low bed, Isobel looked at the face in the little locket and again tried to summon sleep.
The image would not stick in her mind, even when she touched the picture to help the connection. She shifted restlessly and tried again, still without success. She was so exhausted that she was beyond tiredness and her mind just could not find the rest she sought.
She sat up to tell the others it wasn’t working when she noticed Michael had fallen asleep. Her first reaction was annoyance that he had just given up so easily while she was still trying and she reached out to shake him awake – then it hit her that he might actually have been successful where she had not…she simply couldn’t tell. Waking him up to ask would break the dream connection and defeat their object, but if he really was simply asleep she could waste all night waiting in vain.
Staring at him in frustration, it occurred to Isobel that she might try dreamwalking him to find out if he had indeed found the way. If so, she would join him in directing Mr. Parker’s dream. It took subtlety to influence the dreamer and she doubted Michael’s ability in that area. He was likely to crash around and cause all sorts of confusion just for the hell of it while he was there, wasting a good opportunity.
She lay down again, this time facing Michael, and imprinted his features on her mind’s eye.
She waited for the white fog to appear, but nothing happened. His face stayed clearly in front of her closed eyes, immobile as a picture. There was no connection at all with his sleeping mind.
Puzzled now and starting to worry, Isobel sat up and looked over at Michael, still asleep beside the bed. His expression gave nothing away.
Michael had quickly found that Isobel’s description of dreamwalking had worked for him exactly as she had said. When he had clearly seen Jeff Parker’s face behind his closed eyes, he had visualised a white fog rising to obscure it and impatiently pushed through to discover what was on the other side.
He wished he hadn’t when he found himself staring at the broken, bloodied corpse of Liz Parker in a dark, trash-filled alley, draped in a white gown and lying in a glass coffin surrounded by banks of white flowers. Jeff Parker knelt beside the bier, weeping hopelessly.
After a moment, he rose and started to pace to and fro, alternately shouting angrily at his daughter or stretching out his arms imploringly towards her. The atmosphere was oppressive with grief and Michael felt overwhelmed and battered by the force of raw emotion for which he just hadn’t prepared himself…
At a loss as to how to deal with the unexpected scene, he wanted to cut and run but somehow it seemed more important to reassure the man that his daughter wasn’t dead.
He hesitated, invisible to his former employer, racking his brain to think of some way to change the dream to something more hopeful and comforting. Then he realised with a shock that the only memory he had of a happy, laughing Liz Parker was when she was flirting with Max in the Crashdown after Tess’s death. He didn’t think that scene would be much of a comfort to her dad, so he let it go and decided to make something up. Presently, the filthy alley with its harrowing tableau melted into a sunny science lab (Michael wasn’t too familiar with these, so the details were indistinct) where a white-coated Liz sat at a desk smiling at the photos in the little gold locket and reaching for a phone.
He wasn’t impressed by his own work, but figured it was the best he could come up with at short notice so would just have to do.
The sudden vision of a small, brown, wrinkly Liz Parker mooing “E.P. phone home” flashed across his mind, making him snort helplessly until he noticed his fragile dream scene tremble precariously. He hurriedly concentrated on strengthening it as much as he could.
He was just taking a moment to congratulate himself on the success of his first dreamwalk when the whole, delicate bubble shivered and burst into a billion, glittering shards.
TBC...
-
candylovespell
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:50 pm
Chapter 29
Michael woke up in the tent with Isobel shaking his shoulder and frowning down at him.
She had convinced herself that the sensible option would be to wake him up. Even if he had somehow managed to dreamwalk for the first time without her guidance, breaking the dream wouldn’t cause any harm.
Maria had carefully stayed out of Michael’s mind, as much as their connection would let her, in order not to distract him, and so she had seen nothing of his dreamwalk.
Liz couldn’t see what was happening, but she heard Michael’s voice complaining about Isobel’s interference and the alien girl’s sharp reply so she quickly interrupted their argument before it could escalate.
“Did it work, Isobel? Did you reach my dad?”
Isobel had to admit failure, but Michael sat up and slid back out into the vestibule again, throwing her an irritatingly smug look as he passed.
Pleased at his success in replacing Jeff Parker’s nightmare with a relatively happy, optimistic dreamlet, he recounted his experiences on the dreamplane to the others and finished by giving Liz a rare, genuinely friendly smile.
Liz was distressed by her father’s nightmare scenario, but surprised and grateful to Michael. She returned his smile with a tremulous one of her own and some of her resentment of him melted away.
Maria was encouraged to see this friendly moment between them and wondered if it might mark the beginning of a thaw in their relationship. Michael crushed her hopes.
***Never gonna happen, Maria. Don’t like Parker any more than I ever did. Just wanted to make her dad feel better for a while. He was ok to me when I worked at the Crashdown***
He felt Maria’s mental sigh of resignation, knowing she accepted that he’d never really liked Liz and never would. Armed neutrality was the best she could hope for and that was on a good day.
Michael was much more interested in dreamwalking Maria’s mom. He knew how much his girlfriend missed Amy DeLuca and he wanted to make them both happy.
He silently promised her that when they were alone he would try to create a dream that might console the woman who meant so much to them both.
Maria slid her hand into his, squeezing to show her pride in another of his achievements. Now that he had shaken off the shackles of his former life, much of the old arrogance and obstinacy that had fuelled Michael’s survival was beginning to change into new confidence and a determination to learn to use all his innate talents, whatever planet they originated from.
They exchanged a fleeting, soft glance in the shadowy, golden light that, nevertheless, wasn’t missed by either Isobel, who had an acute stab of longing for Jesse, or Liz, who had a flash of jealousy and cold anger at Max who’d promised her so much happiness and brought her so much pain.
Wherever Max was tonight, Liz prayed he was safe, but she wouldn’t risk her precarious emotional balance by staying too near when Isobel talked to him, even in dreams.
Glancing at the others, she noticed that Kyle was still in his meditation pose, tense and nervous, although she didn’t understand why. Isobel sat on the end of his bed, weary and strained, watching him through half-closed lids.
Liz was about to ask what was going on with them, but then decided against it. Even though her earlier anger at being excluded had lost it’s heat it still stung and her pride wouldn’t let her ask, if they didn’t want to tell her.
The only good thing about tonight was Michael’s unexpected kindness in exchanging her dad’s nightmare for a happy dream, if only for a brief time. He might even dreamwalk for her again in the long, lonely nights ahead.
Liz cheered herself with that thought and stood up, ready to leave the light and warmth and run back through the rain to her own cold, dark, lonely tent. Soft-hearted Maria first tried to convince her to stay, then insisted on going with her so she wouldn’t be alone. Kyle earned Michael’s gratitude by unexpectedly offering to go with Liz himself to ensure she was safeguarded for the rest of the night.
Unaware of his ulterior motive, Liz accepted gracefully and they departed soon after.
Splashing through the darkness to the girls’ tent in the rain, Kyle regretted his impetuous offer. The warm, friendly comfort he had just left was infinitely better than a long, cold, boring night playing bodyguard to Liz with nothing to keep him from falling asleep and dreaming again.
However, once inside, Liz lit the lantern and looked round at the cold vestibule, furnished only with the camping chairs and outdoor clothes, such a contrast to the one they had just left. She took off her wet jacket and hung it from a hook on a crossbeam in the corner, before turning to smile at him.
“It doesn’t seem right, you out here while I’m snuggled up in my warm sleeping bag…”
For a second, Kyle thought she was inviting him to share her bed again, this time for real. He hardly had time to panic before she carried on talking and the moment passed.
“Maybe we can make this a little more cosy for you, Kyle. There are plenty of extra blankets and Isobel and I will donate some pillows.”
“No need to worry about that, Liz, I’ll be sleeping in Isobel’s… er…room since she’ll probably stay where she is after dreamwalking Max tonight. She’s so tired right now she can hardly keep her eyes open. Didn’t you notice? I doubt she’ll have enough energy left to come back over here.”
“Well, if you’re sure she won’t mind you using her bed... Do you want to go straight to sleep now or are you up for some hot chocolate? Maria left supplies in both tents earlier this evening in case anyone woke up in the night. She’s really getting in to this whole domesticated thing.”
“I think it’s great. It’s nice to have someone in the group who thinks about our comfort.”
“Yes, Maria’s always been big on home comforts. She’s had to practically raise her mom alone, so they put a lot of effort into creating a family atmosphere. Apart from the cooking, of course, up until now. She must really be missing her mom – they only had each other to rely on and although her mom was always so busy building up her alien souvenirs business and the wrestling promotions and all the other interests, they were very close.”
Kyle thought of his own single-parent upbringing and, apart from a certain difference in attitude to housekeeping standards, understood how Maria’s childhood was essentially the same as his own – although he hadn’t been so close to his dad until recently. Liz seemed not to have made the connection with his own painful loss, but he didn’t much care anymore. Maria was the one who was making the effort to take care of her friends and Kyle was more than grateful.
As she spoke, Liz was gathering blankets and covering the cold groundsheet in the way she had noticed in the other tent. She unfolded the two camp chairs and draped another blanket over each, before reaching for two cups and preparing to make warm drinks for them both. Kyle, seating himself in a chair and wrapping himself up in a blanket, asked for strong coffee instead, hoping it would help to keep him awake. Liz gave him a curious glance but he didn’t comment. He looked at his watch and saw that it was well past midnight. There were still several hours to go before it would be safe although, to his relief, he was not sleepy.
“It’s still too chilly in here, Liz, do you mind if I try to warm up the air a little? It must be the same principle as heating up liquids, what do you think?” Remedial science was a hazy memory but he’d recently learned how to heat up water and coffee, so he was fairly confident that his guess was not far off.
He concentrated and soon the temperature in the tent was almost tropical. The blankets were discarded and both began to feel overheated.
Liz tried to cool things down, only to go too far and have Kyle shiver ostentatiously and reach for a blanket again. Finally they managed to achieve a cosy level of warmth and settled down to drink and talk.
Liz was secretly relieved and pleased to share their experiences in using their new powers. However, Kyle noted that she didn’t trouble to disguise her unflattering surprise at how much further he had progressed under Michael’s tuition. Her own practice so far had apparently been mostly limited to heating up drinks and changing water into cherry coke. Then he remembered the events of the afternoon so he asked her if she had been able to recall any of the warning vision she’d got from Ben earlier. Her mood changed abruptly.
A frightened look came into her wide, dark eyes and she shook her head.
“No, I can’t remember anything. I’ve been trying to forget about it until I have to go see Ben tomorrow. Oh, Kyle, I’m so scared. What can it be? What if the Feds have found us again…?”
Kyle shuffled his chair close to hers and put his arm round her. She leaned her head on his shoulder and began to sob quietly while he stroked her hair.
He had deliberately not taken sides in the sporadic outbreaks of hostility between Liz and Maria, figuring that his best chance of a peaceful life was to remain on friendly terms with as many of the group as possible.
He knew that most of the incitement came from Liz provoking Maria over Michael, but he could see that much of it stemmed from isolation, loneliness and jealousy, so he didn’t condemn her out of hand.
Her life had been torn apart from the moment that Max Evans had saved her life and he had experienced exactly the same thing, so he felt a strong sympathy for her.
Neither one had asked Max to use his healing powers on them, but his own feelings sometimes wavered between a reluctant gratitude and a resentful anger at the way his life had been forced onto such a difficult, dangerous path. He suspected that Liz had known the same feelings in times of her deepest despair.
Rightly or wrongly, he held the quiet alien in dislike and contempt for the way he had treated Liz, forcibly changed Kyle’s life, and ruined the sheriff’s career and now he simply couldn’t forgive Max for running out on Liz to follow Tess’s lures.
Admittedly, Tess had once held a special place in his own heart and his mixed feelings for the girl gave Kyle a sneaking sympathy for Max, but Liz was suffering yet again through no fault of her own and needed all the comfort he willingly gave at that moment.
The camp chairs were not the ideal place for a prolonged hug and Liz soon found it too uncomfortable, so she decided it was time for bed. She innocently asked him to stay with her until she fell asleep and, although he hesitated for a moment, Kyle agreed.
A few moments later Liz’s head was on his shoulder and his arm was protectively round her as she continued to cry softly once more as they lay together on her bed. The lamp still burning in the vestibule was the only light and he was still awake and alert when Liz succumbed to sleep at last.
It was an hour or so later before Kyle himself fell asleep without noticing – one minute he was awake fine-tuning his control over the brightness of the lantern and the next he was moving through the white fog into the familiar kitchen of his home back in Roswell.
Tess was moving around stacking dishes from dinner and smiling at his dream self as she talked to him while she worked. He couldn’t hear what she was saying - the dream was silent so far. He saw himself leaning on the countertop, trying to sneak a taste of the creamy dessert she had taken from the icebox as she playfully tried to push his hand away. Then he stood up and walked over to the phone, obviously answering a call. A few moments later, he ended it and turned to the girl with a comment that caused her to wrinkle her nose and look momentarily disappointed. Dream Kyle shrugged and watched as she took two bowls from a shelf and spooned some dessert into each. She handed them to Kyle and returned the leftovers to the icebox before following him into the den and curling up on the sofa beside him.
It was then he realised with a shock that this was a memory rather than a dream.
A memory that she had buried when she mind-warped him into thinking of their relationship as platonic and innocent…
He knew exactly what was going to happen next and watched with growing guilt and discomfort as she began to eat her creamy dessert in a flirty, provocative manner calculated to tease him into heated response. He remembered that this had been building up for days and weeks, both aware of the sexual sparks between them and maybe the beginning of something warmer and deeper that neither was yet ready to admit.
They had already shared a few make out sessions that left both of them frustrated, but although Tess had seemed increasingly reluctant to push him away, she still stopped before things got out of control. Her eyes still wandered to Max when she thought no one was looking at her and Kyle had known that she still had hopes that her alien ‘mate’ would suddenly wake up and see his destiny was with her.
The night that he was re-living now was one that should have stayed with him as perhaps the most vivid of his life - if only he’d been allowed to remember it.
Laughter, kisses and growing passion had finally led them to bed without Tess struggling away and shutting the door in his face as she always had before. Kyle watched fascinated as the dream scene now dissolved into his old room where lamps now glowed and the tiny, blonde, alien girl sat on the edge of his bed dressed only in a lacy thong and stared with sultry, heavy-lidded blue eyes as his dream self dropped his jeans and boxers and moved to stand directly in front of her, naked and muscular and already fully aroused.
Without his conscious volition, his voyeuristic awareness merged with his dream image to experience again the unique pleasure Tess gave him when she allowed him to see her true, secret self.
Her small, soft hands reached to caress his c*ock and he gasped at the sensation of her cool palms firmly sliding up and down his whole length, before she dragged one rose-tipped fingernail lightly from the base to below the thick head along the sensitive underside and then slid her tongue out to lick the drop of clear liquid from the purple tip. Her full, red mouth engulfed him and she swirled and sucked a little in teasing promise before she released it, took a deep breath and raised her head to look back up at him.
She smiled knowingly and tugged gently on his c*ock so he had no choice but to obey her unspoken command and lie down on the bed beside her…
Kyle had long since discovered that Tess was a girl who liked to be in control and she made that perfectly clear again to him now as she began to kiss him deeply and hungrily, meanwhile guiding his hand to her breast and breaking the kiss to sigh in satisfaction as he cupped and squeezed her tits, his thumb roughly rubbing her small, pink nipples to stiff, rubbery, peaks.
She half raised herself on the pillows so that his head was level with her breasts and he had easy access to attack them with his lips and tongue while she threw her head back and moaned, pushing her swollen tits further into his hot, wet mouth and impatiently sliding her own hand down between her legs to spread the growing wetness and prime her responsive clit ready for his attentions.
This do-me-NOW attitude of hers turned Kyle on so much that he abandoned his ministrations to her breasts and gleefully hurried down to her waiting c*unt.
Tess spread her legs and gave him the freedom to gaze in wonder at her most intimate parts, pink and wet, framed by her soft, blonde curls. Dipping his head, he gently fingered the little hood of skin protecting her clit, exposing the tiny nub, and then touched it with the tip of his tongue. She gasped, shuddered and came quickly with almost silent intensity. He looked up at her face and, encouraged, he continued to lick around her clit, then along her slit to her @#%$, back and forward to establish a slow, gentle rhythm.
A small hand slid sensuously through his hair, ending in a sudden painful grip that made his eyes water as his face was forced closer to her hot, wet, flesh in a command impossible to disobey.
Her scent overwhelmed him and he found it difficult to breath, but he quickly began to suck and nip at her clit as she writhed and moaned above him, her juices gushing over his tongue as he lapped at her with the rough eagerness she clearly wanted. His grasp on her thighs was hard enough to leave bruises, but neither of them noticed in the heat of their passion.
One of her hands reached up to brutally pinch and twist her own nipples and she continued to writhe and thrust herself onto his face as he made her cum time after time so that she lost all control and her small body, tethered to his tongue, convulsed in endless delight on his bed.
During all this devotion to her needs, his c*ock had subsided a little from time to time, though always hardening again at the uninhibited responses of the girl on his bed to his unstinting efforts to please her. Finally they both just had to rest for a while and they lay panting together with Tess’s head resting on his shoulder and a sweet, contented smile on her face.
“That was so incredible – you are incredible, Kyle. Thankyouthankyouthankyou…”
Kyle didn’t see the intelligent awareness in the blue eyes as they opened on to the dreamplane and he was oblivious to the fact that he was sharing this memory dream with the girl they all thought was dead.
She kissed his shoulder in a tentative loving gesture and looked up at him with dawning wonder in her eyes. He really was a truly special guy and she knew she would always remember his generosity, kindness and love. She now knew that she had never experienced love before in this human form, her obsession with Max revealed as a twisted result of breeding and conditioning.
Kyle had shown her new dreams and that night had confirmed her growing feelings for him. She had known that it could never be more than stolen moments, but she wanted some small taste of true happiness before her destiny closed in on her and her life changed forever. She had mind-warped him to forget everything in the afterglow of their passion and had then cried all night at the cruel fate she had been conditioned to accept and even now couldn’t escape.
There was one last aspect of that special night that she needed to re-live for herself as a glorious memory to treasure in the lonely nights to come.
Sitting up and leaning over him, she kissed him slowly and deeply, allowing herself to freely express her feelings for him one time only and guessing from his heartfelt response that he might have returned them in equal measure.
Masking her sadness, she stroked his c*ock into rampant life again and straddled his hips ready to impale herself on the guy she loved for the first and last time and take them both to very Heaven.
Kyle’s excitement soared higher with every frantic thrust that fused their bodies and souls together in the ultimate satisfaction they both needed from the other. He felt her inner walls begin to close around his pounding c*ock and knew that they were about to cum together. Opening his eyes in order to remember her beautiful face again, he saw that her familiar blue eyes were truly alive and gazing down at him in exultant triumph as he shouted her name and the world went dark.
TBC...
Michael woke up in the tent with Isobel shaking his shoulder and frowning down at him.
She had convinced herself that the sensible option would be to wake him up. Even if he had somehow managed to dreamwalk for the first time without her guidance, breaking the dream wouldn’t cause any harm.
Maria had carefully stayed out of Michael’s mind, as much as their connection would let her, in order not to distract him, and so she had seen nothing of his dreamwalk.
Liz couldn’t see what was happening, but she heard Michael’s voice complaining about Isobel’s interference and the alien girl’s sharp reply so she quickly interrupted their argument before it could escalate.
“Did it work, Isobel? Did you reach my dad?”
Isobel had to admit failure, but Michael sat up and slid back out into the vestibule again, throwing her an irritatingly smug look as he passed.
Pleased at his success in replacing Jeff Parker’s nightmare with a relatively happy, optimistic dreamlet, he recounted his experiences on the dreamplane to the others and finished by giving Liz a rare, genuinely friendly smile.
Liz was distressed by her father’s nightmare scenario, but surprised and grateful to Michael. She returned his smile with a tremulous one of her own and some of her resentment of him melted away.
Maria was encouraged to see this friendly moment between them and wondered if it might mark the beginning of a thaw in their relationship. Michael crushed her hopes.
***Never gonna happen, Maria. Don’t like Parker any more than I ever did. Just wanted to make her dad feel better for a while. He was ok to me when I worked at the Crashdown***
He felt Maria’s mental sigh of resignation, knowing she accepted that he’d never really liked Liz and never would. Armed neutrality was the best she could hope for and that was on a good day.
Michael was much more interested in dreamwalking Maria’s mom. He knew how much his girlfriend missed Amy DeLuca and he wanted to make them both happy.
He silently promised her that when they were alone he would try to create a dream that might console the woman who meant so much to them both.
Maria slid her hand into his, squeezing to show her pride in another of his achievements. Now that he had shaken off the shackles of his former life, much of the old arrogance and obstinacy that had fuelled Michael’s survival was beginning to change into new confidence and a determination to learn to use all his innate talents, whatever planet they originated from.
They exchanged a fleeting, soft glance in the shadowy, golden light that, nevertheless, wasn’t missed by either Isobel, who had an acute stab of longing for Jesse, or Liz, who had a flash of jealousy and cold anger at Max who’d promised her so much happiness and brought her so much pain.
Wherever Max was tonight, Liz prayed he was safe, but she wouldn’t risk her precarious emotional balance by staying too near when Isobel talked to him, even in dreams.
Glancing at the others, she noticed that Kyle was still in his meditation pose, tense and nervous, although she didn’t understand why. Isobel sat on the end of his bed, weary and strained, watching him through half-closed lids.
Liz was about to ask what was going on with them, but then decided against it. Even though her earlier anger at being excluded had lost it’s heat it still stung and her pride wouldn’t let her ask, if they didn’t want to tell her.
The only good thing about tonight was Michael’s unexpected kindness in exchanging her dad’s nightmare for a happy dream, if only for a brief time. He might even dreamwalk for her again in the long, lonely nights ahead.
Liz cheered herself with that thought and stood up, ready to leave the light and warmth and run back through the rain to her own cold, dark, lonely tent. Soft-hearted Maria first tried to convince her to stay, then insisted on going with her so she wouldn’t be alone. Kyle earned Michael’s gratitude by unexpectedly offering to go with Liz himself to ensure she was safeguarded for the rest of the night.
Unaware of his ulterior motive, Liz accepted gracefully and they departed soon after.
Splashing through the darkness to the girls’ tent in the rain, Kyle regretted his impetuous offer. The warm, friendly comfort he had just left was infinitely better than a long, cold, boring night playing bodyguard to Liz with nothing to keep him from falling asleep and dreaming again.
However, once inside, Liz lit the lantern and looked round at the cold vestibule, furnished only with the camping chairs and outdoor clothes, such a contrast to the one they had just left. She took off her wet jacket and hung it from a hook on a crossbeam in the corner, before turning to smile at him.
“It doesn’t seem right, you out here while I’m snuggled up in my warm sleeping bag…”
For a second, Kyle thought she was inviting him to share her bed again, this time for real. He hardly had time to panic before she carried on talking and the moment passed.
“Maybe we can make this a little more cosy for you, Kyle. There are plenty of extra blankets and Isobel and I will donate some pillows.”
“No need to worry about that, Liz, I’ll be sleeping in Isobel’s… er…room since she’ll probably stay where she is after dreamwalking Max tonight. She’s so tired right now she can hardly keep her eyes open. Didn’t you notice? I doubt she’ll have enough energy left to come back over here.”
“Well, if you’re sure she won’t mind you using her bed... Do you want to go straight to sleep now or are you up for some hot chocolate? Maria left supplies in both tents earlier this evening in case anyone woke up in the night. She’s really getting in to this whole domesticated thing.”
“I think it’s great. It’s nice to have someone in the group who thinks about our comfort.”
“Yes, Maria’s always been big on home comforts. She’s had to practically raise her mom alone, so they put a lot of effort into creating a family atmosphere. Apart from the cooking, of course, up until now. She must really be missing her mom – they only had each other to rely on and although her mom was always so busy building up her alien souvenirs business and the wrestling promotions and all the other interests, they were very close.”
Kyle thought of his own single-parent upbringing and, apart from a certain difference in attitude to housekeeping standards, understood how Maria’s childhood was essentially the same as his own – although he hadn’t been so close to his dad until recently. Liz seemed not to have made the connection with his own painful loss, but he didn’t much care anymore. Maria was the one who was making the effort to take care of her friends and Kyle was more than grateful.
As she spoke, Liz was gathering blankets and covering the cold groundsheet in the way she had noticed in the other tent. She unfolded the two camp chairs and draped another blanket over each, before reaching for two cups and preparing to make warm drinks for them both. Kyle, seating himself in a chair and wrapping himself up in a blanket, asked for strong coffee instead, hoping it would help to keep him awake. Liz gave him a curious glance but he didn’t comment. He looked at his watch and saw that it was well past midnight. There were still several hours to go before it would be safe although, to his relief, he was not sleepy.
“It’s still too chilly in here, Liz, do you mind if I try to warm up the air a little? It must be the same principle as heating up liquids, what do you think?” Remedial science was a hazy memory but he’d recently learned how to heat up water and coffee, so he was fairly confident that his guess was not far off.
He concentrated and soon the temperature in the tent was almost tropical. The blankets were discarded and both began to feel overheated.
Liz tried to cool things down, only to go too far and have Kyle shiver ostentatiously and reach for a blanket again. Finally they managed to achieve a cosy level of warmth and settled down to drink and talk.
Liz was secretly relieved and pleased to share their experiences in using their new powers. However, Kyle noted that she didn’t trouble to disguise her unflattering surprise at how much further he had progressed under Michael’s tuition. Her own practice so far had apparently been mostly limited to heating up drinks and changing water into cherry coke. Then he remembered the events of the afternoon so he asked her if she had been able to recall any of the warning vision she’d got from Ben earlier. Her mood changed abruptly.
A frightened look came into her wide, dark eyes and she shook her head.
“No, I can’t remember anything. I’ve been trying to forget about it until I have to go see Ben tomorrow. Oh, Kyle, I’m so scared. What can it be? What if the Feds have found us again…?”
Kyle shuffled his chair close to hers and put his arm round her. She leaned her head on his shoulder and began to sob quietly while he stroked her hair.
He had deliberately not taken sides in the sporadic outbreaks of hostility between Liz and Maria, figuring that his best chance of a peaceful life was to remain on friendly terms with as many of the group as possible.
He knew that most of the incitement came from Liz provoking Maria over Michael, but he could see that much of it stemmed from isolation, loneliness and jealousy, so he didn’t condemn her out of hand.
Her life had been torn apart from the moment that Max Evans had saved her life and he had experienced exactly the same thing, so he felt a strong sympathy for her.
Neither one had asked Max to use his healing powers on them, but his own feelings sometimes wavered between a reluctant gratitude and a resentful anger at the way his life had been forced onto such a difficult, dangerous path. He suspected that Liz had known the same feelings in times of her deepest despair.
Rightly or wrongly, he held the quiet alien in dislike and contempt for the way he had treated Liz, forcibly changed Kyle’s life, and ruined the sheriff’s career and now he simply couldn’t forgive Max for running out on Liz to follow Tess’s lures.
Admittedly, Tess had once held a special place in his own heart and his mixed feelings for the girl gave Kyle a sneaking sympathy for Max, but Liz was suffering yet again through no fault of her own and needed all the comfort he willingly gave at that moment.
The camp chairs were not the ideal place for a prolonged hug and Liz soon found it too uncomfortable, so she decided it was time for bed. She innocently asked him to stay with her until she fell asleep and, although he hesitated for a moment, Kyle agreed.
A few moments later Liz’s head was on his shoulder and his arm was protectively round her as she continued to cry softly once more as they lay together on her bed. The lamp still burning in the vestibule was the only light and he was still awake and alert when Liz succumbed to sleep at last.
It was an hour or so later before Kyle himself fell asleep without noticing – one minute he was awake fine-tuning his control over the brightness of the lantern and the next he was moving through the white fog into the familiar kitchen of his home back in Roswell.
Tess was moving around stacking dishes from dinner and smiling at his dream self as she talked to him while she worked. He couldn’t hear what she was saying - the dream was silent so far. He saw himself leaning on the countertop, trying to sneak a taste of the creamy dessert she had taken from the icebox as she playfully tried to push his hand away. Then he stood up and walked over to the phone, obviously answering a call. A few moments later, he ended it and turned to the girl with a comment that caused her to wrinkle her nose and look momentarily disappointed. Dream Kyle shrugged and watched as she took two bowls from a shelf and spooned some dessert into each. She handed them to Kyle and returned the leftovers to the icebox before following him into the den and curling up on the sofa beside him.
It was then he realised with a shock that this was a memory rather than a dream.
A memory that she had buried when she mind-warped him into thinking of their relationship as platonic and innocent…
He knew exactly what was going to happen next and watched with growing guilt and discomfort as she began to eat her creamy dessert in a flirty, provocative manner calculated to tease him into heated response. He remembered that this had been building up for days and weeks, both aware of the sexual sparks between them and maybe the beginning of something warmer and deeper that neither was yet ready to admit.
They had already shared a few make out sessions that left both of them frustrated, but although Tess had seemed increasingly reluctant to push him away, she still stopped before things got out of control. Her eyes still wandered to Max when she thought no one was looking at her and Kyle had known that she still had hopes that her alien ‘mate’ would suddenly wake up and see his destiny was with her.
The night that he was re-living now was one that should have stayed with him as perhaps the most vivid of his life - if only he’d been allowed to remember it.
Laughter, kisses and growing passion had finally led them to bed without Tess struggling away and shutting the door in his face as she always had before. Kyle watched fascinated as the dream scene now dissolved into his old room where lamps now glowed and the tiny, blonde, alien girl sat on the edge of his bed dressed only in a lacy thong and stared with sultry, heavy-lidded blue eyes as his dream self dropped his jeans and boxers and moved to stand directly in front of her, naked and muscular and already fully aroused.
Without his conscious volition, his voyeuristic awareness merged with his dream image to experience again the unique pleasure Tess gave him when she allowed him to see her true, secret self.
Her small, soft hands reached to caress his c*ock and he gasped at the sensation of her cool palms firmly sliding up and down his whole length, before she dragged one rose-tipped fingernail lightly from the base to below the thick head along the sensitive underside and then slid her tongue out to lick the drop of clear liquid from the purple tip. Her full, red mouth engulfed him and she swirled and sucked a little in teasing promise before she released it, took a deep breath and raised her head to look back up at him.
She smiled knowingly and tugged gently on his c*ock so he had no choice but to obey her unspoken command and lie down on the bed beside her…
Kyle had long since discovered that Tess was a girl who liked to be in control and she made that perfectly clear again to him now as she began to kiss him deeply and hungrily, meanwhile guiding his hand to her breast and breaking the kiss to sigh in satisfaction as he cupped and squeezed her tits, his thumb roughly rubbing her small, pink nipples to stiff, rubbery, peaks.
She half raised herself on the pillows so that his head was level with her breasts and he had easy access to attack them with his lips and tongue while she threw her head back and moaned, pushing her swollen tits further into his hot, wet mouth and impatiently sliding her own hand down between her legs to spread the growing wetness and prime her responsive clit ready for his attentions.
This do-me-NOW attitude of hers turned Kyle on so much that he abandoned his ministrations to her breasts and gleefully hurried down to her waiting c*unt.
Tess spread her legs and gave him the freedom to gaze in wonder at her most intimate parts, pink and wet, framed by her soft, blonde curls. Dipping his head, he gently fingered the little hood of skin protecting her clit, exposing the tiny nub, and then touched it with the tip of his tongue. She gasped, shuddered and came quickly with almost silent intensity. He looked up at her face and, encouraged, he continued to lick around her clit, then along her slit to her @#%$, back and forward to establish a slow, gentle rhythm.
A small hand slid sensuously through his hair, ending in a sudden painful grip that made his eyes water as his face was forced closer to her hot, wet, flesh in a command impossible to disobey.
Her scent overwhelmed him and he found it difficult to breath, but he quickly began to suck and nip at her clit as she writhed and moaned above him, her juices gushing over his tongue as he lapped at her with the rough eagerness she clearly wanted. His grasp on her thighs was hard enough to leave bruises, but neither of them noticed in the heat of their passion.
One of her hands reached up to brutally pinch and twist her own nipples and she continued to writhe and thrust herself onto his face as he made her cum time after time so that she lost all control and her small body, tethered to his tongue, convulsed in endless delight on his bed.
During all this devotion to her needs, his c*ock had subsided a little from time to time, though always hardening again at the uninhibited responses of the girl on his bed to his unstinting efforts to please her. Finally they both just had to rest for a while and they lay panting together with Tess’s head resting on his shoulder and a sweet, contented smile on her face.
“That was so incredible – you are incredible, Kyle. Thankyouthankyouthankyou…”
Kyle didn’t see the intelligent awareness in the blue eyes as they opened on to the dreamplane and he was oblivious to the fact that he was sharing this memory dream with the girl they all thought was dead.
She kissed his shoulder in a tentative loving gesture and looked up at him with dawning wonder in her eyes. He really was a truly special guy and she knew she would always remember his generosity, kindness and love. She now knew that she had never experienced love before in this human form, her obsession with Max revealed as a twisted result of breeding and conditioning.
Kyle had shown her new dreams and that night had confirmed her growing feelings for him. She had known that it could never be more than stolen moments, but she wanted some small taste of true happiness before her destiny closed in on her and her life changed forever. She had mind-warped him to forget everything in the afterglow of their passion and had then cried all night at the cruel fate she had been conditioned to accept and even now couldn’t escape.
There was one last aspect of that special night that she needed to re-live for herself as a glorious memory to treasure in the lonely nights to come.
Sitting up and leaning over him, she kissed him slowly and deeply, allowing herself to freely express her feelings for him one time only and guessing from his heartfelt response that he might have returned them in equal measure.
Masking her sadness, she stroked his c*ock into rampant life again and straddled his hips ready to impale herself on the guy she loved for the first and last time and take them both to very Heaven.
Kyle’s excitement soared higher with every frantic thrust that fused their bodies and souls together in the ultimate satisfaction they both needed from the other. He felt her inner walls begin to close around his pounding c*ock and knew that they were about to cum together. Opening his eyes in order to remember her beautiful face again, he saw that her familiar blue eyes were truly alive and gazing down at him in exultant triumph as he shouted her name and the world went dark.
TBC...
-
candylovespell
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:50 pm
Chapter 30
Chapter 30
Over in the other tent all was in silent darkness.
When Liz and her bodyguard had left, Isobel’s eyes lingered on the exit through which Kyle had just vanished. She still sat in the same place on the end of his bed, tired, wan and faintly dispirited now that he had gone. When she eventually spoke, it was more to herself than the other two.
“He’s trying to stay awake all night to avoid dreaming. I know he is.”
The discussion she’d had with Maria about dream symbolism had initially made a lot of sense; after all, nightmares were to be expected in their dangerous circumstances – but there were unexplained aspects, and Kyle’s part as both observer and actor, together with her own experience, made her uneasy.
Isobel yawned and made a big effort to break out of the stupor of exhaustion that threatened to overcome her. Her heart ached for Kyle, who had been so kind and concerned for her on the road despite his own pain that she desperately wanted to offer him some consolation. Kyle, quite as much as Liz, deserved to get a message to the only family he had and, moreover, one who was threatened by the same deadly danger as themselves should his incipient alien powers show up. She resolved to dreamwalk the sheriff first chance she got, and try to let him know his son was safe. He, of all the parents, would find it easiest to accept that a dream message was real.
Kyle’s increasingly strained mood and blatant avoidance tactics had begun to affect her nerves. If only he hadn’t been so disturbed by his first dreamwalking experience, she would have taken him with her tonight and taught him how to do it himself, same as Michael apparently now could.
However, right now she had to talk to Max, assure herself that he was still safe.
Isobel looked over at Michael and caught him out in an uninhibited yawn that he didn’t bother to conceal. Maria was nearly asleep against his shoulder and it was clear that all three were finding it difficult to stay awake much longer.
Isobel fought the waves of drowsiness, knowing Max would be waiting and must be getting anxious. She gave Michael a last chance to change his mind.
“It’s time to contact Max. It’s late and he must surely be asleep by now. Are you sure you don’t want me to try to take you along too, Michael?”
“Yes.”
Michael’s response was quiet, abrupt and final. Isobel nodded and made no further comment. Piling all the pillows within reach onto Kyle’s bed, she lay down, curled up on her side and closed her eyes.
Maria’s head weighed more heavily against Michael’s shoulder as the minutes stretched into eternity. Michael imperceptibly raised the air temperature around her and soon he felt her slide into sleep. His own nerves slowly wound up tight in counterpoint to this, keeping him awake and edgily apprehensive. He needed to know that Max was still heading east, unknowingly leading their pursuers away from the little band of fugitives hidden in the mountains.
Fifteen minutes passed and he couldn’t wait any longer. He looked for some sign that Isobel was ready to wake up from the dream, but she slept peacefully on. He carefully moved Maria onto a pillow where she curled into a ball and carried on sleeping, too.
He went over and knelt by Isobel. She should have woken up and reported back from her brother’s dream by now. Seeing her peaceful face, he realised that there would be no more dreamwalking that night after all. Exhaustion had overcome her and she was now too deeply asleep.
He covered her with a blanket and dimmed the lamp to the faintest glow, leaving her to rest. Max would just have to fret and worry alone tonight. Michael wouldn’t lose any sleep over that prospect.
Turning back to Maria, he shook her shoulder gently and when she reluctantly stirred, he began to undress her like a sleepy child at bedtime, until she half-woke enough to finish the job herself and crawl naked into their bed to fall back into deep sleep at once. Meanwhile, he collected their pillows scattered round the vestibule and tossed them in a heap at the far end of the bed, before hastily stripping himself and sliding in beside her.
Mountain air, exhaustion and the noisy security of heavy rain reducing the likelihood of danger for a while, combined to let him finally relax. He slept peacefully on in Maria’s arms until a series of loud, female shrieks outside woke him up and had him scrambling for his shorts and the exit, with a sleepy, scared Maria and Isobel peering out of the tent after him.
Maria hastily dragged some clothes on as Isobel, discovering that she had somehow fallen asleep fully dressed, kept watch and gave her a whispered commentary.
“Oh, my God. It’s Liz – she’s chasing Kyle round the camp, shrieking and trying to hit him, getting a good few whacks in, too… She’s only in her pyjamas. There’s a break in the clouds and the rain’s eased off some. It’s still dark, but just light enough to see… I don’t know what’s going on… Kyle’s made it to the Chevy and managed to climb in and lock the door – she’s pounding on the window, swearing at him and getting soaked to the skin. Now Michael’s caught her and she’s attacking him, too. Just what the hell is going on…?”
By now Maria had her shoes and parka on, ready to go and find out what all the rumpus was about. She waited impatiently while Isobel quickly found her own shoes and then the two left the tent, taking Maria’s torch with them, and cautiously approached the furiously cursing Liz Parker, held at arms’ length and struggling like a wet hen, in the grip of a seriously pissed off Michael Guerin.
Seeing that she was now, he hoped, securely restrained by Michael, Kyle lowered the window but prudently stayed where he was. In the light from Maria’s torch now balanced on the truck’s hood, he looked shocked and embarrassed.
Michael simply waited grimly until Liz calmed down enough for him to release her, whereupon she lunged at Kyle again, forcing the muscular, near-naked alien to grab her and hold her trapped against him until Maria and Isobel came forward and each took hold of one of her hands, murmuring soothingly until she calmed down. He quickly stepped away from her, restraining his temper with super-human effort, biting back the angry comments, leaving the two girls to discover what the trouble was. Whatever it turned out to be, he just knew that Max was somehow at the bottom of it. It was an inescapable fact of life, and he knew it.
Maria could feel Liz shaking with cold and anger and immediately put her arms around the girl to warm and reassure her. Liz collapsed onto her shoulder and sobbed.
“He called out her name in his sleep. How could he do that to me? He called out the m-murdering s-slut’s name in his sleep. I heard him. First M-Max, and now Kyle. Oh, I shall go mad, I know it. Will it never end?”
She lifted her head from Maria’s shoulder and fixed a piteous, imploring gaze on her childhood friend.
“Maria, what can I do…?”
Maria could only hug her friend in silent comfort, while she looked over at Kyle inquiringly until he reluctantly spoke.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Liz, believe me. I had a dream, a lost memory and she was there. I saw Tess. Really saw her. And she saw me…”
His voice shook and he paused to collect himself.
“She’s not dead. Somehow Tess is alive…and she’s back.”
The shock in his voice was unmistakable.
Liz suddenly stood up straight and looked round at them all in the torchlight. She dropped Maria’s hand and made a cold, stark, announcement.
“I never want to hear that murdering bitch’s name mentioned in my presence ever again. I’ve finished with her and I’ve finished with Max Evans and as far as I’m concerned, they deserve each other. You’d better stay out of my way, too, Kyle Valenti. Is that clear?”
She didn’t wait for a reaction, but turned on her bare heel, slipped a little in the mud and swept back to her tent in the rainy darkness, leaving the others standing silently in the torchlight staring after her.
Michael turned to Kyle in the truck and spoke wearily.
“Do we need to talk about Tess right now or can she wait until morning?”
Kyle shrugged.
“I guess she can wait…”
“Then see you at breakfast, man.”
Michael took Maria’s hand without further comment and they walked quickly back to their tent.
Isobel looked over at Kyle in the Chevy. Their eyes met for a long moment and she hesitated as if she might join him, but then turned away and slowly followed after the other two. She didn’t think Liz would welcome her company right at that moment.
When she entered, she found that the inner door to Michael and Maria’s bedroom was already sealed shut and she took the hint. She, too, felt the need for privacy and time to absorb the shocking news, if indeed it was really true. She just didn’t have the strength to deal with anything right now.
Removing her outer clothes this time and folding them neatly, Isobel sealed herself into Kyle’s quarters and gave herself up to sleep, hoping that there would be no more disturbances of any kind for the remainder of the night.
Out in the dark, cold Chevy, Kyle flicked the switch for light and climbed into the back to scrabble round in the cargo space for the coffee supplies. He needed something to do to delay thinking about what had happened only a few minutes ago to rock his world - again.
All too soon, he huddled on the leather-covered rear seats, cradling a hot mug between his icy fingers, his new abilities temporarily forgotten as he shivered in the cold. The rain had resumed it’s relentless drumming on the roof, but he welcomed it as a distraction from the silence.
The shock of Tess’s blue stare burning into his own – really seeing him - and with it, the knowledge that she was still alive after all, swirled through his mind. The memory left his brain in turmoil. He didn’t know what to do. He sat there as the night crawled slowly towards dawn, the cold finally reminding him to use his powers to keep warm, while endlessly revolving questions in his mind and finding no answers.
His feelings for Tess had irrevocably changed when he found out that she had killed Alex and betrayed his father and himself, but beneath the hate a flicker of regret for what might have been remained to disturb his dreams after she left. Even her death hadn’t stopped them and now it seemed she was back in his dreams for real…
Liz now blamed him and felt even more hurt, betrayed and angry that he too had been involved with Tess. Liz would never understand or accept that there had been a time when he had loved the small, alien blonde, while she had still been uncertain of her choices, before she had stolen his memories and his friend’s life then followed her dark destiny back to the planet that she’d thought held her future.
Kyle couldn’t bring himself to tell Isobel, either. He didn’t want to discuss the details of the memory dream with her... and he knew she would demand details.
Michael’s reaction was still uncertain, so Kyle thought it would be best to postpone the breakfast revelations until he’d discussed it with Maria first. Maria was the only one who he thought might understand and sympathise, so he resolved to talk to her as soon as he could.
Once he had made this decision, he relaxed a little and gave in to the urge to sleep after all. Somehow the prospect of a dream shared with Max was no longer the threat it had been before Tess had come back from death to disturb his nights once more.
He’d been right when he’d told Michael that Tess could wait until morning. He knew all about her mind-warping abilities now and would be on his guard. She no longer had the same power over him. Kyle told himself that dreams and memories were not the same as reality and his heart now belonged wholly to Isobel, futile as that was. He shut his eyes and prepared to wait for the relief of pouring it all out to Maria in the morning.
Sometime after dawn, Isobel stirred and floated up from her own private, unremembered dreams until the white mist drifted before her mind’s eye obscuring the mental image of her brother, forcing her to move through it into Max’s dream.
He was waiting for her in the same place as before, dressed in a white sweatshirt and grey pants, the star formation shining out of the desert night above the rocks near their pod cave.
This time he moved towards her unhurriedly and smiled in a warm, welcoming way. He opened his arms in an attempt to give her a hug, which she evaded, knowing her image was as immaterial as his on the dream plane and the gesture was pointless.
“Hello, Max.”
“Hello, Isobel.”
His smile was faintly creepy and Isobel had the same prickle of warning she’d had when she’d entered the weird dream the previous night.
“I’ve been waiting for you all night. What took you so long?”
His tone was impatient, but then he seemed to make an effort to control it and continued without waiting for her response.
“It’s so good to see you. I’m lonely without you and the others. We didn’t get to talk much last night. I’m still in Nebraska, no sign of anyone following me. Where are you and the others right now?” The last question was spoken in a different tone; it sounded casual, but he couldn’t hide his interest in her answer.
Some instinct warned Isobel not to be too specific on their whereabouts. Maybe best to be a little less than generous with the truth for a while…
“Still heading west. We’re all so tired from driving that everywhere just looks the same now.”
She felt bad lying to Max, but she just didn’t quite trust him anymore. He repeated his question with more emphasis.
“Where exactly are you tonight?”
Her brother had that note of command in his voice again that jarred her and set her hackles rising. She let her exhaustion show in her tone, hoping to convince him of her indifference.
“Who cares where we are tonight, Max? We’ll have moved on tomorrow. It’s all the same to me. We’re just trying to stay ahead of our enemies.”
Her growing suspicions made her push him for answers to her own questions.
“Tell me, why did you really run out on the group, Max? Why didn’t you fight against her call? Tess is history for us; she was nothing but trouble and she hurt the people who trusted her the most. God, she killed Alex…”
Dream Max’s eyes suddenly filled with tears and he sank onto his knees in the desert darkness, the ‘V’ formation of stars pointing down like an arrowhead above him.
“I just don’t know what’s real any more, Isobel. I’ve had so much time to think when I’m driving with nothing to distract me. All these memories just circle through my mind endlessly like a hideous nightmare. What do we do now? The FBI will always be on our trail, we can never stop moving on. The call from Tess is the only thing that gives any direction to my life …she’s becoming more real to me now than even you or Liz. I have to find her, Isobel, I don’t know what else I can do.”
Against her instincts, Isobel’s heart softened. Max was her brother and her home and it hurt her to see him suffer like this.
“I understand, Max, really I do. But I don’t trust Tess. Turn around and come back to us. We’re stronger together as a group and Liz still loves you, I know she does. We can all try to make sense of it together – and you won’t be alone, Max. Come back to us. Please, Max.”
Her eyes burned with hot tears even on the dream plane and she reached out to him, forgetting that they couldn’t really touch.
He quickly rose to his feet, eyes dry and voice suddenly eager as his hand stretched out as if to meet hers.
“ Where are you, Isobel? Tell me where you are and I’ll come find you. You’re right, we should be together…”
His eyes bored into hers and she saw them change from loving warmth to cold distain even as he spoke.
“Just tell me where to find you, Isobel, and I – hey, what the hell is he doing here in my dream?”
He looked over Isobel’s shoulder and she turned to see Kyle, naked, enveloped in the green glow and staring out over the desert towards the full moon hanging in the starlit darkness of the night sky.
“Kyle?” Isobel was puzzled and annoyed to see the Sheriff’s son standing only a few feet away. She tried to keep her gaze on his face, embarrassed by his nudity. She dragged her stare away and looked back at Max, about to deny any knowledge of Kyle’s unexpected presence, when she noticed that her brother had begun to glow green, too.
The two guys strode towards each other, hands outstretched in a parody of friendly greeting and she had to quickly step back out of their way. Their glowing hands met, palm to palm, and Kyle’s eyes closed in pain while Max cried out in angry protest as each tried to pull away.
Isobel herself cried out then and Kyle broke the connection with Max, opening his eyes and turning to her in surprise.
Again he shook his head at her in disapproval at her presence, but he didn’t push her out of the dream this time.
Max stepped between them and stared accusingly at Isobel while he pointed at Kyle, careful not to come too close.
“Isobel, what the hell’s going on? Why did you bring him into my dream? He’s been trying to steal my powers…”
Kyle shook his head in denial, backing away from them both and fading as he did so until Isobel and Max were alone once more.
Max turned anxious puppy-dog eyes on Isobel and carried on talking as if nothing had happened.
“I should be leaving Nebraska sometime tomorrow and heading into Iowa. I can feel that I’m slowly getting closer to Tess, so I’m gonna just keep on until I find her…”
His eyes brightened with a sudden pathetic hope.
“Did you tell Liz I love her? We’ll all be together one day soon... Just go on dreamwalking me every night. That’s what’s keeping me from going nuts, Isobel…”
She thought that might be one of the few clear truths in his muddled mind as she blew him a kiss and melted sadly out of his dream.
TBC…
Over in the other tent all was in silent darkness.
When Liz and her bodyguard had left, Isobel’s eyes lingered on the exit through which Kyle had just vanished. She still sat in the same place on the end of his bed, tired, wan and faintly dispirited now that he had gone. When she eventually spoke, it was more to herself than the other two.
“He’s trying to stay awake all night to avoid dreaming. I know he is.”
The discussion she’d had with Maria about dream symbolism had initially made a lot of sense; after all, nightmares were to be expected in their dangerous circumstances – but there were unexplained aspects, and Kyle’s part as both observer and actor, together with her own experience, made her uneasy.
Isobel yawned and made a big effort to break out of the stupor of exhaustion that threatened to overcome her. Her heart ached for Kyle, who had been so kind and concerned for her on the road despite his own pain that she desperately wanted to offer him some consolation. Kyle, quite as much as Liz, deserved to get a message to the only family he had and, moreover, one who was threatened by the same deadly danger as themselves should his incipient alien powers show up. She resolved to dreamwalk the sheriff first chance she got, and try to let him know his son was safe. He, of all the parents, would find it easiest to accept that a dream message was real.
Kyle’s increasingly strained mood and blatant avoidance tactics had begun to affect her nerves. If only he hadn’t been so disturbed by his first dreamwalking experience, she would have taken him with her tonight and taught him how to do it himself, same as Michael apparently now could.
However, right now she had to talk to Max, assure herself that he was still safe.
Isobel looked over at Michael and caught him out in an uninhibited yawn that he didn’t bother to conceal. Maria was nearly asleep against his shoulder and it was clear that all three were finding it difficult to stay awake much longer.
Isobel fought the waves of drowsiness, knowing Max would be waiting and must be getting anxious. She gave Michael a last chance to change his mind.
“It’s time to contact Max. It’s late and he must surely be asleep by now. Are you sure you don’t want me to try to take you along too, Michael?”
“Yes.”
Michael’s response was quiet, abrupt and final. Isobel nodded and made no further comment. Piling all the pillows within reach onto Kyle’s bed, she lay down, curled up on her side and closed her eyes.
Maria’s head weighed more heavily against Michael’s shoulder as the minutes stretched into eternity. Michael imperceptibly raised the air temperature around her and soon he felt her slide into sleep. His own nerves slowly wound up tight in counterpoint to this, keeping him awake and edgily apprehensive. He needed to know that Max was still heading east, unknowingly leading their pursuers away from the little band of fugitives hidden in the mountains.
Fifteen minutes passed and he couldn’t wait any longer. He looked for some sign that Isobel was ready to wake up from the dream, but she slept peacefully on. He carefully moved Maria onto a pillow where she curled into a ball and carried on sleeping, too.
He went over and knelt by Isobel. She should have woken up and reported back from her brother’s dream by now. Seeing her peaceful face, he realised that there would be no more dreamwalking that night after all. Exhaustion had overcome her and she was now too deeply asleep.
He covered her with a blanket and dimmed the lamp to the faintest glow, leaving her to rest. Max would just have to fret and worry alone tonight. Michael wouldn’t lose any sleep over that prospect.
Turning back to Maria, he shook her shoulder gently and when she reluctantly stirred, he began to undress her like a sleepy child at bedtime, until she half-woke enough to finish the job herself and crawl naked into their bed to fall back into deep sleep at once. Meanwhile, he collected their pillows scattered round the vestibule and tossed them in a heap at the far end of the bed, before hastily stripping himself and sliding in beside her.
Mountain air, exhaustion and the noisy security of heavy rain reducing the likelihood of danger for a while, combined to let him finally relax. He slept peacefully on in Maria’s arms until a series of loud, female shrieks outside woke him up and had him scrambling for his shorts and the exit, with a sleepy, scared Maria and Isobel peering out of the tent after him.
Maria hastily dragged some clothes on as Isobel, discovering that she had somehow fallen asleep fully dressed, kept watch and gave her a whispered commentary.
“Oh, my God. It’s Liz – she’s chasing Kyle round the camp, shrieking and trying to hit him, getting a good few whacks in, too… She’s only in her pyjamas. There’s a break in the clouds and the rain’s eased off some. It’s still dark, but just light enough to see… I don’t know what’s going on… Kyle’s made it to the Chevy and managed to climb in and lock the door – she’s pounding on the window, swearing at him and getting soaked to the skin. Now Michael’s caught her and she’s attacking him, too. Just what the hell is going on…?”
By now Maria had her shoes and parka on, ready to go and find out what all the rumpus was about. She waited impatiently while Isobel quickly found her own shoes and then the two left the tent, taking Maria’s torch with them, and cautiously approached the furiously cursing Liz Parker, held at arms’ length and struggling like a wet hen, in the grip of a seriously pissed off Michael Guerin.
Seeing that she was now, he hoped, securely restrained by Michael, Kyle lowered the window but prudently stayed where he was. In the light from Maria’s torch now balanced on the truck’s hood, he looked shocked and embarrassed.
Michael simply waited grimly until Liz calmed down enough for him to release her, whereupon she lunged at Kyle again, forcing the muscular, near-naked alien to grab her and hold her trapped against him until Maria and Isobel came forward and each took hold of one of her hands, murmuring soothingly until she calmed down. He quickly stepped away from her, restraining his temper with super-human effort, biting back the angry comments, leaving the two girls to discover what the trouble was. Whatever it turned out to be, he just knew that Max was somehow at the bottom of it. It was an inescapable fact of life, and he knew it.
Maria could feel Liz shaking with cold and anger and immediately put her arms around the girl to warm and reassure her. Liz collapsed onto her shoulder and sobbed.
“He called out her name in his sleep. How could he do that to me? He called out the m-murdering s-slut’s name in his sleep. I heard him. First M-Max, and now Kyle. Oh, I shall go mad, I know it. Will it never end?”
She lifted her head from Maria’s shoulder and fixed a piteous, imploring gaze on her childhood friend.
“Maria, what can I do…?”
Maria could only hug her friend in silent comfort, while she looked over at Kyle inquiringly until he reluctantly spoke.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Liz, believe me. I had a dream, a lost memory and she was there. I saw Tess. Really saw her. And she saw me…”
His voice shook and he paused to collect himself.
“She’s not dead. Somehow Tess is alive…and she’s back.”
The shock in his voice was unmistakable.
Liz suddenly stood up straight and looked round at them all in the torchlight. She dropped Maria’s hand and made a cold, stark, announcement.
“I never want to hear that murdering bitch’s name mentioned in my presence ever again. I’ve finished with her and I’ve finished with Max Evans and as far as I’m concerned, they deserve each other. You’d better stay out of my way, too, Kyle Valenti. Is that clear?”
She didn’t wait for a reaction, but turned on her bare heel, slipped a little in the mud and swept back to her tent in the rainy darkness, leaving the others standing silently in the torchlight staring after her.
Michael turned to Kyle in the truck and spoke wearily.
“Do we need to talk about Tess right now or can she wait until morning?”
Kyle shrugged.
“I guess she can wait…”
“Then see you at breakfast, man.”
Michael took Maria’s hand without further comment and they walked quickly back to their tent.
Isobel looked over at Kyle in the Chevy. Their eyes met for a long moment and she hesitated as if she might join him, but then turned away and slowly followed after the other two. She didn’t think Liz would welcome her company right at that moment.
When she entered, she found that the inner door to Michael and Maria’s bedroom was already sealed shut and she took the hint. She, too, felt the need for privacy and time to absorb the shocking news, if indeed it was really true. She just didn’t have the strength to deal with anything right now.
Removing her outer clothes this time and folding them neatly, Isobel sealed herself into Kyle’s quarters and gave herself up to sleep, hoping that there would be no more disturbances of any kind for the remainder of the night.
Out in the dark, cold Chevy, Kyle flicked the switch for light and climbed into the back to scrabble round in the cargo space for the coffee supplies. He needed something to do to delay thinking about what had happened only a few minutes ago to rock his world - again.
All too soon, he huddled on the leather-covered rear seats, cradling a hot mug between his icy fingers, his new abilities temporarily forgotten as he shivered in the cold. The rain had resumed it’s relentless drumming on the roof, but he welcomed it as a distraction from the silence.
The shock of Tess’s blue stare burning into his own – really seeing him - and with it, the knowledge that she was still alive after all, swirled through his mind. The memory left his brain in turmoil. He didn’t know what to do. He sat there as the night crawled slowly towards dawn, the cold finally reminding him to use his powers to keep warm, while endlessly revolving questions in his mind and finding no answers.
His feelings for Tess had irrevocably changed when he found out that she had killed Alex and betrayed his father and himself, but beneath the hate a flicker of regret for what might have been remained to disturb his dreams after she left. Even her death hadn’t stopped them and now it seemed she was back in his dreams for real…
Liz now blamed him and felt even more hurt, betrayed and angry that he too had been involved with Tess. Liz would never understand or accept that there had been a time when he had loved the small, alien blonde, while she had still been uncertain of her choices, before she had stolen his memories and his friend’s life then followed her dark destiny back to the planet that she’d thought held her future.
Kyle couldn’t bring himself to tell Isobel, either. He didn’t want to discuss the details of the memory dream with her... and he knew she would demand details.
Michael’s reaction was still uncertain, so Kyle thought it would be best to postpone the breakfast revelations until he’d discussed it with Maria first. Maria was the only one who he thought might understand and sympathise, so he resolved to talk to her as soon as he could.
Once he had made this decision, he relaxed a little and gave in to the urge to sleep after all. Somehow the prospect of a dream shared with Max was no longer the threat it had been before Tess had come back from death to disturb his nights once more.
He’d been right when he’d told Michael that Tess could wait until morning. He knew all about her mind-warping abilities now and would be on his guard. She no longer had the same power over him. Kyle told himself that dreams and memories were not the same as reality and his heart now belonged wholly to Isobel, futile as that was. He shut his eyes and prepared to wait for the relief of pouring it all out to Maria in the morning.
Sometime after dawn, Isobel stirred and floated up from her own private, unremembered dreams until the white mist drifted before her mind’s eye obscuring the mental image of her brother, forcing her to move through it into Max’s dream.
He was waiting for her in the same place as before, dressed in a white sweatshirt and grey pants, the star formation shining out of the desert night above the rocks near their pod cave.
This time he moved towards her unhurriedly and smiled in a warm, welcoming way. He opened his arms in an attempt to give her a hug, which she evaded, knowing her image was as immaterial as his on the dream plane and the gesture was pointless.
“Hello, Max.”
“Hello, Isobel.”
His smile was faintly creepy and Isobel had the same prickle of warning she’d had when she’d entered the weird dream the previous night.
“I’ve been waiting for you all night. What took you so long?”
His tone was impatient, but then he seemed to make an effort to control it and continued without waiting for her response.
“It’s so good to see you. I’m lonely without you and the others. We didn’t get to talk much last night. I’m still in Nebraska, no sign of anyone following me. Where are you and the others right now?” The last question was spoken in a different tone; it sounded casual, but he couldn’t hide his interest in her answer.
Some instinct warned Isobel not to be too specific on their whereabouts. Maybe best to be a little less than generous with the truth for a while…
“Still heading west. We’re all so tired from driving that everywhere just looks the same now.”
She felt bad lying to Max, but she just didn’t quite trust him anymore. He repeated his question with more emphasis.
“Where exactly are you tonight?”
Her brother had that note of command in his voice again that jarred her and set her hackles rising. She let her exhaustion show in her tone, hoping to convince him of her indifference.
“Who cares where we are tonight, Max? We’ll have moved on tomorrow. It’s all the same to me. We’re just trying to stay ahead of our enemies.”
Her growing suspicions made her push him for answers to her own questions.
“Tell me, why did you really run out on the group, Max? Why didn’t you fight against her call? Tess is history for us; she was nothing but trouble and she hurt the people who trusted her the most. God, she killed Alex…”
Dream Max’s eyes suddenly filled with tears and he sank onto his knees in the desert darkness, the ‘V’ formation of stars pointing down like an arrowhead above him.
“I just don’t know what’s real any more, Isobel. I’ve had so much time to think when I’m driving with nothing to distract me. All these memories just circle through my mind endlessly like a hideous nightmare. What do we do now? The FBI will always be on our trail, we can never stop moving on. The call from Tess is the only thing that gives any direction to my life …she’s becoming more real to me now than even you or Liz. I have to find her, Isobel, I don’t know what else I can do.”
Against her instincts, Isobel’s heart softened. Max was her brother and her home and it hurt her to see him suffer like this.
“I understand, Max, really I do. But I don’t trust Tess. Turn around and come back to us. We’re stronger together as a group and Liz still loves you, I know she does. We can all try to make sense of it together – and you won’t be alone, Max. Come back to us. Please, Max.”
Her eyes burned with hot tears even on the dream plane and she reached out to him, forgetting that they couldn’t really touch.
He quickly rose to his feet, eyes dry and voice suddenly eager as his hand stretched out as if to meet hers.
“ Where are you, Isobel? Tell me where you are and I’ll come find you. You’re right, we should be together…”
His eyes bored into hers and she saw them change from loving warmth to cold distain even as he spoke.
“Just tell me where to find you, Isobel, and I – hey, what the hell is he doing here in my dream?”
He looked over Isobel’s shoulder and she turned to see Kyle, naked, enveloped in the green glow and staring out over the desert towards the full moon hanging in the starlit darkness of the night sky.
“Kyle?” Isobel was puzzled and annoyed to see the Sheriff’s son standing only a few feet away. She tried to keep her gaze on his face, embarrassed by his nudity. She dragged her stare away and looked back at Max, about to deny any knowledge of Kyle’s unexpected presence, when she noticed that her brother had begun to glow green, too.
The two guys strode towards each other, hands outstretched in a parody of friendly greeting and she had to quickly step back out of their way. Their glowing hands met, palm to palm, and Kyle’s eyes closed in pain while Max cried out in angry protest as each tried to pull away.
Isobel herself cried out then and Kyle broke the connection with Max, opening his eyes and turning to her in surprise.
Again he shook his head at her in disapproval at her presence, but he didn’t push her out of the dream this time.
Max stepped between them and stared accusingly at Isobel while he pointed at Kyle, careful not to come too close.
“Isobel, what the hell’s going on? Why did you bring him into my dream? He’s been trying to steal my powers…”
Kyle shook his head in denial, backing away from them both and fading as he did so until Isobel and Max were alone once more.
Max turned anxious puppy-dog eyes on Isobel and carried on talking as if nothing had happened.
“I should be leaving Nebraska sometime tomorrow and heading into Iowa. I can feel that I’m slowly getting closer to Tess, so I’m gonna just keep on until I find her…”
His eyes brightened with a sudden pathetic hope.
“Did you tell Liz I love her? We’ll all be together one day soon... Just go on dreamwalking me every night. That’s what’s keeping me from going nuts, Isobel…”
She thought that might be one of the few clear truths in his muddled mind as she blew him a kiss and melted sadly out of his dream.
TBC…
-
gnrkrystle
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 546
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Wow...so i just read through this fic in one sitting becuase it is soo good...i HATE LIZ...i mean max is pissing me off but i dont really care about him...but LIZ...i HATE!!!! i hated her before, but i REALLY hate her now...i wish the group would leave her whiny ass behind...she is useless, jealous, childish, and annoying...she has no good traits as far as i'm concerned...
Also, i think Max is up to somthing...big suprise...
I was really excited about teh Kyle/Tess dream...i hope she is alive, adn i hope she isn't evil in this story...i've always liked Tess, i think the only reason she killed alex was becuase the writters needed to write out two characters...she was a scapegoat...
LOVE LOVE LOVE this story....HATE HATE HATE Liz...hey did i mention that i HATE LIZ!?!?! lol
can't wait for more...
Also, i think Max is up to somthing...big suprise...
I was really excited about teh Kyle/Tess dream...i hope she is alive, adn i hope she isn't evil in this story...i've always liked Tess, i think the only reason she killed alex was becuase the writters needed to write out two characters...she was a scapegoat...
LOVE LOVE LOVE this story....HATE HATE HATE Liz...hey did i mention that i HATE LIZ!?!?! lol
can't wait for more...
Check out my Author's Thread: viewtopic.php?t=13258
Just found this story and it's great.