Hey guys, thanks for all the feedback. And sorry for the wait, I've been working a lot in the last two weeks.
Part 20
Wednesday afternoon Liz was in her room sitting on her bed, waiting for Max to come over. She hadn’t gone to school that day, or the day before, and she knew that he would drop by again to bring her her homework. Not that she had wanted to stay at home, but her parents had insisted, too worried about her wellbeing, and the wellbeing of her baby. Liz had grudgingly agreed not to go to school for a few days, but only under the condition that they backed off a bit and let her be. They’d been doing the whole over-protective thing the day before, and it had annoyed the hell out of her.
A knock at her bedroom door startled Liz out of her thoughts. Max was standing there, seemingly hesitant to enter the room.
Liz smiled. “Hey Max, come in.” She knew that she sounded far too eager, far too happy to see him, but she couldn’t help it. She was happy.
Max walked over to her bed and stood beside it, his hands clenching a folder – probably the notes of the day. He smiled almost shyly. “Hey Liz. How are you feeling?”
If anyone else would have asked her that she would have merely rolled her eyes, telling them more or less politely – depending on who they were – to fuck off and leave her the hell alone. But Max’s concern for her touched her deeply, more than it probably should have, even under the given circumstances. Damn those hormones. “I’m good. You?”
Max shrugged, suddenly looking slightly uncomfortable. “Same old,” he replied, averting his eyes as to not have to look into hers. His gaze fell upon the untouched lunch tray her mother had brought up for her earlier. He frowned slightly. “Not hungry?”
Liz scrunched up her face in obvious disgust. “Nah. The smell of that is enough to make me wanna throw up.”
“Which explains why the tray is on the other side of the room,” Max said dryly.
Liz sighed. “Yeah. Damn morning sickness.”
Max raised an eyebrow. “Morning sickness? It’s late afternoon.”
“You don’t have to tell me that. I am very much aware of the fact that it isn’t the time for that, even though my body obviously isn’t.”
Max had to suppress a smile while he sat down on the chair beside her bed. He put the folder on her nightstand, looking a bit more at ease. “Don’t worry about that. Feeling nauseous is quite common in the first months of a pregnancy. It will pass.”
Liz snorted. It better had. If not she was gonna go out there, find whoever was responsible for this and strangle them. Hmm, maybe that wasn’t that bad an idea one way or another.
“You haven’t had any headaches yet?” Max’s question interrupted her trail of thoughts.
“Headaches?” Liz asked with trepidation.
“Yeah. In the second month of a pregnancy you sometimes have headaches from the rise in hormones.”
Liz stared at Max for a few seconds before she started muttering to herself. “Great. That’s just great. More good news. That’s exactly what I need right now.” Then her scowl turned into a frown. How did he know that?
“How do you know that?”
Max eyes widened slightly before he averted them. “We did reproduction in biology, didn’t we?” His tone was too casual as that Liz would have believed him, even if she hadn’t know exactly that pregnancy symptoms were not something they’d discussed in class.
“Have you been reading up on this?” The question was out of her mouth before she could stop herself.
Max tried to talk his way out of it, muttering something about how that was something everybody should know and telling her that he’d stumbled over some sites on the internet. Liz, however, didn’t buy it. She didn’t probe though, seeing that the topic was making Max uncomfortable. He’d obviously read up on it for her sake. Because he was worried about her. Because he still cared for her, if only as a friend. That thought alone was enough to bring tears to her eyes – damn those hormones – but she quickly blinked them away, not wanting to make Max even more uncomfortable than he already was, not wanting him to see them, not wanting him to guess what was behind them, making her feel even more vulnerable than she already was.
Oh, why did he have to be so sweet? It would be so much easier for her if he treated her awfully. Then at least her heart wouldn’t be filled with this dull ache, this longing, caused by constantly being reminded of what she wanted but would never have, what she could have had, if only… If only Tess hadn’t come to town. If only they’d never heard that stupid destiny message. If only Max hadn’t come back from the future to change things. If only she hadn’t become pregnant. If only the whole world wouldn’t think that Kyle was the father. Maybe, just maybe, things would be different.
Liz sighed. Love sucked.
~*~*~*~
“He told her that he was sick of her self-obsessed vindictiveness and that he didn’t care if she sucked like a Hoover, he couldn’t stand her constant nagging and bitching any longer. And yes, that was a direct quote. Then the mashed potatoes came out her nose.”
Alex was lying on his side, stretched out on the bed beside Liz. He’d dropped by just as Max was about to leave and was now telling Liz what had happened to Pam Troy in the cafeteria that day when Chris, her latest boy toy and the football-jock Liz had pummeled a bit, had publicly broken up with her.
“You’re kidding.” Liz was laughing so hard, she could barely bring out the words.
“I kid you not.” Alex was deadly-serious. How he managed to actually keep a straight face while telling a story like that was beyond Liz.
Liz gasped for air, trying to calm down. “I can’t believe I missed that. And I can’t believe that Chris actually used the word vindictiveness. I would have given anything to see that play out.”
Alex grinned. “Don’t worry. Pam has sworn revenge, so I’m sure you’ll get to see something equally amusing soon.”
“Let’s hope so.” Liz rolled over onto her side so that she was facing Alex.
“By the way, I have something for you.” Alex rolled over and leaned down to the floor to pull something out of his backpack. He handed it to Liz. It was the most adorable teddy bear Liz had ever seen. “Well, it’s actually not for you but for your baby. I wanted to be sure to be the first one to get him a present.”
Liz had tears in her eyes. “Oh my god, Alex. That’s so sweet of you.”
“So you like it?” Alex sounded almost unsure.
“Like it? Are you crazy? I love it! I don’t know how to thank you for it.” She pulled him into a tight hug and didn’t let go until he complained about the lack of oxygen.
“Don’t mention it,” he told her while rubbing his now sore ribs, wincing slightly. “Just make sure to tell you’re little guy that it was his uncle Alex who gave him his first teddy bear.”
“I will. And why do you think it’s a boy?”
“Male intuition.” Liz gave him a look. “What? It’s not like you woman have a monopoly on that.”
Liz just rolled her eyes, chuckling to herself. Whatever.
“You know, Maria was worried sick about you when she heard that you’d fainted.” Alex’s statement came totally out of the blue.
Liz’s smile vanished from her face. “Yeah, I noticed,” she replied sarcastically, sounding almost bitter.
Alex sighed. “Liz, I’m serious. Max didn’t tell her until you’d woken up again because he was worried that she’d freak – and trust me she would have. She called me to tell me right after Max had told her, and she was close to tears.”
“If she was so worried, why didn’t she come over? Why didn’t she call?” Liz tried to stay calm, but she couldn’t. Maria’s lack of presence over the last two days had hurt, a lot. She couldn’t help being upset about it, even though she knew that the momentary state of their friendship was partly her fault.
“She thinks you don’t want her around anymore. That you don’t need her.” Alex’s voice was pleading, silently begging Liz to clear up the misunderstanding, to patch things up with Maria.
Liz averted her gaze. Of course she wanted Maria around. Of course she needed her. But how could she ask for her support if she wasn’t willing to answer her questions, if she wasn’t willing to tell her what was actually going on? She didn’t have the right to ask for her help, to expect her to be there for her under these circumstances.
When Alex realized that Liz wasn’t going to say anything on that subject he changed it. But not necessarily for the better.
“Was I interrupting something when I came?”
“What?!” What the hell was that supposed to mean?
“Was I interrupting? Because, you know, you and Max looked awfully cozy together. You were staring at each other like two sick puppies. It was just like it used to be last spring.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re friends. He brought me his notes and the homework we’d gotten today. That’s all.” The way Liz was blowing him off was a bit too adamant as that it would have not made him suspicious.
“Come on Liz, who do you think you’re fooling? This is me you’re talking to, your best friend, the third musketeer, one of the girls. Remember? It’s obvious that you still love Max.”
Liz didn’t reply. She knew that she should simply tell Alex that it wasn’t true if she wanted to keep up this charade – and she knew that she had to keep it up – but she couldn’t. Denying her feelings for Max was simply impossible. Because as much as her common sense told her that she should, that she had to, her heart wouldn’t allow it. Her feelings for him were too strong, a too integral part of her as that she could ever deny them. And so she stayed silent, not looking at Alex. Instead she stared at a stain on her blanket, wondering how long it had been there and why she hadn’t noticed it before.
Alex chose to take her silence as a confirmation that what he had said was true. “And if you still love him, why did you sleep with Kyle? I know you Liz, and that’s just so out of character.”
Liz still didn’t look up to meet his eyes, scared that they would betray her and give away too much. When exactly had all her training gone out the window? She couldn’t believe that she wasn’t even capable of telling a little falsehood anymore. “Alex, please, can we not talk about this?”
“Liz…”
“Please, I beg you.” Her eyes were pleading with him, silently imploring him to just drop it. Alex sighed. Even if he’d wanted to, he couldn’t go against her wish. Her puppy dog eyes were more than he could take, especially with the tears glistering in them.
Alex sighed. “Fine. But if you change your mind and want to talk about it, just know I’m there.”
~*~*~*~
Liz walked down the school halls, once again trying her best to ignore the whispers and stares she was receiving. It had finally started to die down the week before, but now it was back at full force, more annoying than ever. For the billionth time cursing her enhanced senses that allowed her to hear every stupid little comment whispered behind her back she fumbled with the combination of her locker. Pam better hurry up with her plans for revenge, the student body needed something else to talk about, fast.
When she finally managed to open her locker she grabbed the books she would be needing and slammed it shut again. She turned to hurry to her next class wanting to get out of the crowded halls and away from everybody as quickly as possible when something caught her eye. Or rather somebody. Maria was standing at the other side of the hall looking at her. She had an unreadable expression on her face, it was impossible to tell what she was thinking. Liz knew that she must have realized that she had noticed her looking at her, but Maria didn’t turn away. She just kept staring. She then hesitantly took a step in her direction, but then obviously changing her mind again she turned around and hurried away, never glancing back.
Liz’s heart sank. The bell rang and she too turned to go to her class when she ran smack into someone who had obviously been standing behind her. How the hell was it possible that she hadn’t sensed that? What was wrong with her lately? Her whole body seemed out of whack, more than it should be, even considering the pregnancy and everything.
She glanced up and saw Alex standing there. There was a scowl on his face, mixed with a hint of sadness and despair.
“What was that ?”
Liz sighed. “What?”
“Liz, why won’t you talk to her? Why didn’t you just go over?”
“The bell was about to ring. There was no time.”
“Liz, that is a lame excuse and you know it.” He sighed heavily. “You two are really driving me crazy. Do you have any idea how that is for me, being torn between you two? I don’t want to have to choose sides. I don’t want to have to decide between my two best friends.”
“Alex, don’t go all Maria on me, please. You’re making this whole thing way more dramatic than it is. We’re not fighting. There are no sides. Thus, you don’t have to choose one. Just…just drop it, please. I know that that’s hard, I know that you’re just trying to be a good friend to both of us and I know that this affects you too, but I just can’t deal with this right now. If it’s meant to be, Maria and I will work out our differences in out own time and on our own terms. There’s nothing you can do right now to change the situation. I’m sorry.” With that said Liz turned to go to class, leaving a very frustrated Alex behind.
~*~*~*~
That afternoon Liz wasn’t working. She hadn’t even tried convincing her dad that she was up to it, knowing exactly that he would never allow it. After finishing her homework she went down to snag some food from the kitchen, trying to suppress the very much unwelcome memories of how she’d done that for Maria and Alex whenever they’d come by after school.
Before entering the kitchen to get José to make her a Will Smith Burger she glanced through the diamond shaped windows of the swinging doors that led out to the restaurant to see who was there. She’d done that as long as she could remember every time she walked past there. At first hoping to find one of her brothers or sisters sitting out there, having come looking for her. Later to see if Kyle had come by to hang out or just for a quick chat. Then to see if Max was sitting in his usual both, eating, studying or simple staring at the back door, seemingly waiting for a certain somebody to walk through them.
She smiled at the memory, but it quickly faded as she noticed who was now occupying Max’s booth. Maria was sitting there along with Isabel. They were talking and laughing, looking happy and carefree. ‘So much to Maria missing me,’ Liz thought bitterly. She knew that it was unfair, not to mention petty, but she couldn’t help feeling like that. She’d obviously been replaced rather quickly. That stung.
Suddenly not at all hungry anymore she turned to go back up to her room. She felt worn and tired, physically and emotionally drained. When she closed her bedroom-door behind her she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror above her dresser. She couldn’t believe how pale and tired she looked. No wonder everybody was treating her like she was about to collapse. She sure looked like it. Then she noticed something else. Her belly was glowing.
tbc
Never Underestimate Fate (DA,XO,CC,MATURE) AN 04/08 [WIP]
Moderators: Anniepoo98, ISLANDGIRL5, truelovepooh, Forum Moderators
Tact is for people not witty enough to be sarcastic.
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
Hey guys, sorry for the wait. Poor little me was forced to go on vacation to the South of France. I was in the Provence for a week in a place that can only be called a mansion with a really nice pool and then they sent me to a town close to Bordeaux and draged me the beach every afternoon, forcing me to build sandcastles, go swimming and get a tan and all that. Life as an Au Pair is tough. 
Part 21
The glowing was gone again as fast as it had come. Liz stared at her reflection for a few more minutes, but it didn’t come back. Everything was normal. Was her mind playing tricks on her? Had it just been a reflection of the light? Was she so tired and preoccupied that she was starting to imagine things? She continued to stare at her reflection, but as nothing happened she gave it up, deciding that she was just being paranoid. Of course her belly hadn’t really been glowing. That was ridiculous. Why should it?
She went over to her bed and lied down after grabbing one of the books they were going to read in her English class later on that year. She might as well get a head start, who knew how her pregnancy was going to affect school work in the future. She tried to push back the uneasy feeling in her gut as well as the nagging little voice in her head that was telling her that she knew very well that she hadn’t been imagining things. The glowing had been real.
A few hours later she was almost finished with the book, thanks to her ability to read about three times quicker than normal humans, another thing she had to thank her highly genetic superiority for.
Her stomach started growling and so she went out into the kitchen to hunt down some food. Her parents had gone out for dinner and so she was left to cook for herself. Deciding that that was too much of a hassle she simply went over to the fridge, hoping to find something edible in it. She discovered some leftover pizza, a piece of apple pie, spaghetti with tomato sauce as well as some leftover pancakes from breakfast. She shoved everything into the microwave and five minutes later started eating. For some people it might have been a bit of an odd – if not disgusting – mixture, but Liz hardly noticed. In fact, apple pie and pizza was suddenly a strangely appealing combination.
When she was finished eating and had drowned half a bottle of milk she went back to her room to take a hot shower before going to bed. Once in the bathroom she slipped of her shirt and was about to unbutton her jeans when she froze. Something in the corner of her eyes had caught her attention. Something blue-ish. Some sort of light. As if in slow motion she turned to face the mirror, dreading what she would see. Sure enough, her stomach was glowing again. There was a bright blue, almost white, hue surrounding it.
After a minute the shock began to subside and panic set in. This was not normal. Meaning her pregnancy was not normal. Or maybe it was just her that was no longer normal. Or rather even less normal than before. Either way, this was not good. This was alien. At least Liz thought it was.
Liz suddenly noticed something else. A feeling. It was like a craving. For what, she didn’t quite know, but it was there nonetheless. Then she noticed something else. It wasn’t her who was craving something.
~*~*~*~
Liz rapped softly at the window. The room was already dark, as was the rest of the house. Meaning they either weren’t home or already asleep. She hoped the latter. She didn’t know what she would do if he wasn’t there.
She was about to knock again when the window suddenly swung wide open, revealing a very sleepy Max. “Liz, what are you doing here?” It was evident in his voice that he was worried.
Upon seeing him every coherent thought had left her mind for a split second, even the reason why she was there in the first place. Max was wearing nothing but boxer shorts. His smooth, muscular chest gleamed in the moonlight, his hair was tousled…he looked incredibly gorgeous.
Max didn’t seem to notice Liz ogling him as he quickly put on a T-shirt, obviously remembering her request to do so the last time she’d shown up here. He then reached out a hand to help her climb through the window into his room. “What’s wrong?” he asked once she was inside.
The panic Liz had been feeling at her arrival returned full force. Without saying a word she lifted up the hem of her shirt, just like she had done the day after the shooting to show him the silver hand print on her stomach.
Just like back then, Max gasped. “Holy shit,” he murmured, more to himself than to Liz. “When did this start?”
“A few hours ago. But it was only there for a second, then it disappeared again. I noticed it again half an hour ago, and it hasn’t stopped ever since.” Liz drew in a shaky breath, trying to calm down a bit. “What’s going one with me, Max?” Her voice sounded so scared and she was close to tears.
Max felt horrible. This was his fault. He had done this to her. He had changed her. And now it was affecting, maybe even endangering her baby. He would never forgive himself if something bad happened to her, or to her unborn child. He took a deep breath, trying to ward off the panic that was threatening to overtake him. “I don’t know. But we’ll find out. I promise.”
~*~*~*~
Half an hour later Liz was sitting on Max’s bed, staring at her stomach. The glowing was still there, brighter as ever. They had just gone through everything Liz had done that day, everything she had eaten, everything she had come into contact with, trying to find a possible reason for the blue light Liz’s abdomen was emitted. But so far they’d come up with nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Max rubbed his hands over his face in frustration. “Is there anything else I should know?” he asked, wanting to make sure he really had all the details..
Liz hesitated. Would Max think she was crazy if she told him about the craving?
“Liz, if there is, just tell me. I have to know,” Max said, even though he was dreading her answer. What if the fact she’d left out was that she’d had sex with Kyle that day? He really didn’t want to hear something like that.
“There’s this feeling,” Liz began.
Max almost sighed in relief. No nookie-session with Kyle she hadn’t mentioned so far. “What feeling?” he asked.
“It’s like…a craving.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know. It’s not my craving. It’s the baby’s.”
“The baby’s?”
“Yes.”
“You can feel what the baby is feeling?”
“Yeah. At least I think so. I don’t know. The feeling is sort of…alien. Like it’s not mine.”
For a moment Max just stood there, seemingly at loss for words. “You don’t know what it wants?” he finally asked.
“No,” Liz said sighing in frustration, tears springing to her eyes. “It just…wants something, something I can’t give him, but I don’t know what it is.”
“Can I try something?” Max asked cautiously.
“Okay,” Liz said without hesitation, relieved that he had come up with a possible solution for whatever it was that was wrong with her baby.
Max looked at her for a few seconds, a queer expression on his face. “Life up your shirt,” he finally told her, having to clear his throat to bring out the words, careful not to look her in the eyes. Liz did as she was told and Max carefully placed a warm hand on her stomach. “I’m gonna feed you some of my energy. You look tired, maybe you’ve just been overdoing it and you don’t have enough energy left for the baby. If my healing you really left something alien behind it’s possible that that is affecting your pregnancy, and the baby needing more energy could be the result.” Upon seeing Liz’s slightly dumbfounded expression, Max added, “Nasedo taught us about the birds and the bees alien style after Isabel thought she was pregnant from her dreams.” He started drawing small circles over Liz’s soft skin with his thumb without even noticing it. “Alien pregnancies are normally shorter, and the baby requires more energy because the development is speeded up.”
“But I’m not an alien.”
“No. But you were shot in the stomach. Meaning that all the organs there were exposed to my energy when I healed you. Including your ovaries.”
“You think that that might have caused them to...turn alien?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” Max turned his attention back to her stomach and suddenly realized what he’d been doing with his hand. He blushed and had to clear his voice twice before asking Liz if she was ready. She just nodded and Max once again averted his gaze to her abdomen, concentrating on the task at hand.
Liz suddenly felt a burst of heat where Max had placed his hand, followed by the familiar feeling of his energy coursing through her. It was like coming home. Her spirits shoot skywards, a giddy happiness replaced the feelings of panic, fear and frustration. Max hadn’t opened the connection between them, but Liz could feel it all the same, like a slight humming just out of reach. The familiarity of it soothed the last of her fears, taking away all doubt that they might not find a solution for whatever it was that was going on.
A minute later Max removed his hand, and Liz had to suppress a groan of protest. Her breathing had grown shallow and her cheeks were flushed. Max couldn’t help but think that she looked like she used to after one of their make-out sessions.
Liz looked down at her stomach. The glowing was gone, along with the craving. “It worked,” she whispered.
“Yeah,” Max replied, his voice also low. “She’s fine now.”
“She?” Liz raised an eyebrow. So far all the guys she had talked to about the baby had assumed that it was a boy, not a girl.
Max’s eyes widened slightly. “Oh my God, I’m sorry. Did you not want to know?”
Liz stared at him for a few seconds, speechless. “It’s a girl?” she asked, her voice somewhere between surprise and delight.
“Yeah,” Max said smiling as the image of a miniature version of Liz with long dark hair and beautiful doe-eyes appeared before his inner eye.
Liz returned the smile while staring down at her stomach. She couldn’t believe it. It was a girl. Her little daughter was growing inside her. Her smile vanished for an instance. “And she’s alright? Everything is normal? Apart from the glowing of course,” she added.
“Everything’s fine,” Max reassured her. “Just like it should be.”
A feeling of intense relief washed over Liz. For the first time in weeks she felt genuinely happy. Blissful. Perfect. Her baby was alright. It was a girl. She was going to have a daughter. Before she knew what she was doing she launched herself into Max’s arms with such force that she almost knocked him over. For a split second he froze, then his arms automatically wrapped themselves around her small form, holding her tightly into place.
When she pulled back she was smiling, looking happier than she had in weeks. Max couldn’t help but smile back, maybe a bit too pleased with the fact that it had been him who had made her so happy. They’re arms were still wrapped around each other, and when Liz realized just how close they were her smile faded from her lips, only to be replaced by something else. Hunger? Desire? Lust?
Before Max had time to analyze the situation, Liz’s soft, sweet lips were suddenly pressed against his. Her kiss took him completely by surprise, but not enough as that he wouldn’t have kissed her back. They were both hesitant at first, but as they realized that neither one was going to pull away the kisses became more fervent, more passionate. Liz’s mouth opened immediately at Max’s first gentle probing, moaning in delight at the sensation of their tongues tangling together. It had been so long. Much too long.
Max buried his hand in Liz’s silken tresses, sighing at the sensation of her smooth locks sliding through his fingers. It was like coming home. As his mouth continued to devour her a hunger like nothing he had ever felt before took hold of him, making it hard to hold on to the last piece of self control he still had. He’d been dreaming about this for so long, wishing for it to happen ever since Liz had walked away from him that fateful day at the pod chamber. And now that he had her in his arms he had no intention of letting go anytime soon.
Liz didn’t know why she was surprised when the first flashes hit. Max, Michael and Isabel walking through the desert after coming out of their pods. The first time Max saw the Evans. His first day at school. Seeing her for the first time. Secretly watching her at the Crashdown. Her being shot. Healing her. Their first kiss. Their night out in the dessert. The destiny message. His lonely summer after. Her coming back. Trying to convince her to give them another chance…
Suddenly Liz realized what that could mean. Max would see things. Things he shouldn’t know. Things she couldn’t let him see. It took all her strength to pull away, but she knew she had to. Before she broke the kiss one last image hit her. One of him and Tess, hugging. When she finally tore her mouth away from his a sob escaped her lips.
For a few minutes they just stood there staring at each other, eyes wide and mouth open, both breathing heavily. Then it began to sink in what she had just done. She had kissed Max. She’d gotten him to cheat on Tess. What in the world had she been thinking? Oh right, she hadn’t been thinking. She’d let her hormones get the better of her, throwing aside her conscience and her common sense, risking all her sacrifices having been for nothing, risking the end of the world. And for what? For a few moments of lust? Horrified with herself she stumbling backwards, almost tripping over her own feet before climbing through the window and running away as fast as her legs would carry her, never glancing back once.
~*~*~*~
Liz didn’t know how long she’d been running. She had no idea where she was. She was blinded by tears of frustration and anger at herself, and to be honest, she couldn’t care less where she was going. She just let her feet carry her wherever they wanted to go. When she started getting tired she slowed down and looked around. She quickly realized that she was just down the street from Kyle’s house. Not knowing why she was so surprised that she’d ended up there she walked up to his house, crossed the lawn and banged on the door, too messed up and confused to realize that Tess also lived there and that chances were high that she would be the one to answer the door.
Luckily it was Kyle. She walked right past him and started pacing up and down the living room, still breathing heavily. Kyle was at her side immediately, obviously close to a state of panic. “Oh my God Liz, what’s wrong? Is it the baby? Did something happen to him?” He checked her over, looking for a sign of something being physically wrong with her. But except for tears welling up in her eyes, he found nothing. “Liz?” he asked, his voice still worried but a lot softer this time. “What’s wrong?”
“I…I kissed Max,” she blurred out.
“You what?!” Kyle hadn’t meant to shout, but he couldn’t help it. Out of all possible explanations for why Liz was so upset, this was the one he had least expected. He stared at Liz completely baffled, not to mention speechless.
“I don’t know how it happened,” Liz continued, still pacing. “It just…did. I never planed it. I never wanted it to happen in the first place. Oh my God, what did I do?”
~*~*~*~
Tess softly closed her bedroom door again. She’d opened it a minute ago to go answer the door when she’d seen Liz rushing into the living room, clearly upset about something. She knew that she should have just closed the door again, that Liz and Kyle’s private conversations were just that – private – but her curiosity had gotten the better of her and so she had stayed where she was and listened. Now she almost wished she hadn’t. Anger was coursing through her. Who the hell did Liz Parker think she was? How dare she cheat on Kyle and once again break Max’s heart, all at the same time? Hadn’t she done enough damage, ruined enough lives? Poor Max. He must be feeling awful right now. This would make things even harder on him. Like it wasn’t already hard enough.
Quietly as to not alert Kyle and Liz of her presence in the house she opened the window and crawled out. She was going over to Max’s house. God knew he could use a friend right now.
~*~*~*~
Liz was still pacing up and down while telling Kyle what had happened, even though he had the impression that she was more muttering to herself than talking to him.
“I mean, kissing him was the last thing on my mind when I went over to his house. I was so scared that something was wrong with the baby because of the whole glowing thing and all that, it never occurred to me that something like that might happen. I mean, why should it? He’s with Tess. Why would he want to kiss me after everything I did? Why did he kiss me after everything I did?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa Liz, slow down. What glowing thing? What the hell happened?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. My belly was glowing. But that’s beside the point. Could we maybe try to stay on the topic if it’s not too much trouble, Kyle?” Liz was scowling at him, and normally he would just let it slip if one of her mood swings happened to crash into him, but not this time.
“Liz, I hate to break it to you, but a glowing belly does not fall into the category of nothing,” he shot back. “Now tell me exactly what the hell happened, and please, in the name of Buddha, could you for one second forget that you kissed Evans? I know that your world revolves around him, but as hard as it might be for you to believe it, mine actually doesn’t. So now tell me what happened.”
Liz was speechless for a moment, teetering between being angry and being impressed. The impression won out. “Wow Kyle, I almost forgot how much guts you have. Bitching back like that at a pregnant transgenic whose hormones are going completely crazy and who could easily kick your ass takes a lot of courage.”
“Thanks. Now will you finally tell me what happened?”
Liz sighed, plopped down onto the couch and started to enlighten Kyle about everything that had happened that evening, including an explanation about the whole glow-thing. “And then he told me that it was a girl, and that she was fine, that everything was exactly the way it should be. And then…I don’t know. I was just so happy and relieved and so I hugged him. I didn’t even think about it. It just seemed…natural. And then I pulled back and our faces were so close together and there was something in his eyes…I don’t know. Maybe I was just imagining things, seeing what I wanted to see. Before I knew what was going on I was kissing him.”
“It’s a girl? And she’s alright?” Kyle’s voice was almost awe-filled.
“I told you that five minutes ago,” Liz snapped. “Try to stay with me, will ya?”
Kyle simply ignored her. “Wow. A girl. I can’t believe it. We’re having a baby girl.”
Kyle using the word ‘we’ instantly made Liz forget her irritation. She loved the way he referred to the baby as theirs even though it wasn’t his child. It made her feel so less alone.
“Yeah,” she said smiling, tenderly brushing her hand over her abdomen. “It’s a little girl.”
After a few minutes of silence Kyle asked, “So, what exactly happened with Evans?”
Liz’s sighed, the smile fading from her lips. “Well, when we kissed I started getting flashes, and that sort of shook me out of my trance. I mean, I can’t just let him see into my mind like that, now can I? What if he saw something he isn’t supposed to see? So I pulled away. And then we just stood there staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Then it began to sink in what had just happened and I realized what kind of consequences it could have and I panicked. So I left.”
“You left?”
“Okay, so maybe I ran away. Same difference.”
“Why?”
“Why? Isn’t that obvious? I panicked. I was confused. Scared. I mean, what if Max tells Tess and she breaks up with him?” Kyle failed to see what would be so bad about that possible scenario, but he was smart enough to keep that thought to himself. “What if that kiss ruined everything I’ve been working so hard on to achieve? What if all my sacrifices are for nothing now? What if this will cause the end of the world?”
“Liz, calm down. One little kiss cannot cause the end of the world, no matter what Future Max said. Just think of how adamant Tess was when it came to pursing Max and trying to convince him to follow destiny. A kiss isn’t reason enough for her to break up with him. Hell, I doubt she’d even consider that if he slept with the entire cheerleading squad.”
A certain bitterness had crept into his voice at that last sentence, something that Liz decided not to comment on. But she realized that he was right. A simple kiss would never be reason enough for Tess to break up with Max. That thought calmed her down a bit, but not much. It didn’t change the fact that what she had done endangered Max’s relationship with Tess. And as much as she wished they’d split up again, she knew that she couldn’t let that happen. Everything depended on their relationship.
Everything.
Including the life of her baby girl. A life she’d sworn she would die protecting. And that meant that she had to do everything in her power to make sure that they stayed together. Which included staying away from Max. As much as the thought pained her, Liz knew that it was necessary. She couldn’t risk something like that happening again. And with the way her hormones were going crazy she knew that it was only a matter of time before she jumped Max again, given the chance that is. So she would make sure that she didn’t have the chance. And that meant keeping her distance.
tbc
Part 21
The glowing was gone again as fast as it had come. Liz stared at her reflection for a few more minutes, but it didn’t come back. Everything was normal. Was her mind playing tricks on her? Had it just been a reflection of the light? Was she so tired and preoccupied that she was starting to imagine things? She continued to stare at her reflection, but as nothing happened she gave it up, deciding that she was just being paranoid. Of course her belly hadn’t really been glowing. That was ridiculous. Why should it?
She went over to her bed and lied down after grabbing one of the books they were going to read in her English class later on that year. She might as well get a head start, who knew how her pregnancy was going to affect school work in the future. She tried to push back the uneasy feeling in her gut as well as the nagging little voice in her head that was telling her that she knew very well that she hadn’t been imagining things. The glowing had been real.
A few hours later she was almost finished with the book, thanks to her ability to read about three times quicker than normal humans, another thing she had to thank her highly genetic superiority for.
Her stomach started growling and so she went out into the kitchen to hunt down some food. Her parents had gone out for dinner and so she was left to cook for herself. Deciding that that was too much of a hassle she simply went over to the fridge, hoping to find something edible in it. She discovered some leftover pizza, a piece of apple pie, spaghetti with tomato sauce as well as some leftover pancakes from breakfast. She shoved everything into the microwave and five minutes later started eating. For some people it might have been a bit of an odd – if not disgusting – mixture, but Liz hardly noticed. In fact, apple pie and pizza was suddenly a strangely appealing combination.
When she was finished eating and had drowned half a bottle of milk she went back to her room to take a hot shower before going to bed. Once in the bathroom she slipped of her shirt and was about to unbutton her jeans when she froze. Something in the corner of her eyes had caught her attention. Something blue-ish. Some sort of light. As if in slow motion she turned to face the mirror, dreading what she would see. Sure enough, her stomach was glowing again. There was a bright blue, almost white, hue surrounding it.
After a minute the shock began to subside and panic set in. This was not normal. Meaning her pregnancy was not normal. Or maybe it was just her that was no longer normal. Or rather even less normal than before. Either way, this was not good. This was alien. At least Liz thought it was.
Liz suddenly noticed something else. A feeling. It was like a craving. For what, she didn’t quite know, but it was there nonetheless. Then she noticed something else. It wasn’t her who was craving something.
~*~*~*~
Liz rapped softly at the window. The room was already dark, as was the rest of the house. Meaning they either weren’t home or already asleep. She hoped the latter. She didn’t know what she would do if he wasn’t there.
She was about to knock again when the window suddenly swung wide open, revealing a very sleepy Max. “Liz, what are you doing here?” It was evident in his voice that he was worried.
Upon seeing him every coherent thought had left her mind for a split second, even the reason why she was there in the first place. Max was wearing nothing but boxer shorts. His smooth, muscular chest gleamed in the moonlight, his hair was tousled…he looked incredibly gorgeous.
Max didn’t seem to notice Liz ogling him as he quickly put on a T-shirt, obviously remembering her request to do so the last time she’d shown up here. He then reached out a hand to help her climb through the window into his room. “What’s wrong?” he asked once she was inside.
The panic Liz had been feeling at her arrival returned full force. Without saying a word she lifted up the hem of her shirt, just like she had done the day after the shooting to show him the silver hand print on her stomach.
Just like back then, Max gasped. “Holy shit,” he murmured, more to himself than to Liz. “When did this start?”
“A few hours ago. But it was only there for a second, then it disappeared again. I noticed it again half an hour ago, and it hasn’t stopped ever since.” Liz drew in a shaky breath, trying to calm down a bit. “What’s going one with me, Max?” Her voice sounded so scared and she was close to tears.
Max felt horrible. This was his fault. He had done this to her. He had changed her. And now it was affecting, maybe even endangering her baby. He would never forgive himself if something bad happened to her, or to her unborn child. He took a deep breath, trying to ward off the panic that was threatening to overtake him. “I don’t know. But we’ll find out. I promise.”
~*~*~*~
Half an hour later Liz was sitting on Max’s bed, staring at her stomach. The glowing was still there, brighter as ever. They had just gone through everything Liz had done that day, everything she had eaten, everything she had come into contact with, trying to find a possible reason for the blue light Liz’s abdomen was emitted. But so far they’d come up with nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Max rubbed his hands over his face in frustration. “Is there anything else I should know?” he asked, wanting to make sure he really had all the details..
Liz hesitated. Would Max think she was crazy if she told him about the craving?
“Liz, if there is, just tell me. I have to know,” Max said, even though he was dreading her answer. What if the fact she’d left out was that she’d had sex with Kyle that day? He really didn’t want to hear something like that.
“There’s this feeling,” Liz began.
Max almost sighed in relief. No nookie-session with Kyle she hadn’t mentioned so far. “What feeling?” he asked.
“It’s like…a craving.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know. It’s not my craving. It’s the baby’s.”
“The baby’s?”
“Yes.”
“You can feel what the baby is feeling?”
“Yeah. At least I think so. I don’t know. The feeling is sort of…alien. Like it’s not mine.”
For a moment Max just stood there, seemingly at loss for words. “You don’t know what it wants?” he finally asked.
“No,” Liz said sighing in frustration, tears springing to her eyes. “It just…wants something, something I can’t give him, but I don’t know what it is.”
“Can I try something?” Max asked cautiously.
“Okay,” Liz said without hesitation, relieved that he had come up with a possible solution for whatever it was that was wrong with her baby.
Max looked at her for a few seconds, a queer expression on his face. “Life up your shirt,” he finally told her, having to clear his throat to bring out the words, careful not to look her in the eyes. Liz did as she was told and Max carefully placed a warm hand on her stomach. “I’m gonna feed you some of my energy. You look tired, maybe you’ve just been overdoing it and you don’t have enough energy left for the baby. If my healing you really left something alien behind it’s possible that that is affecting your pregnancy, and the baby needing more energy could be the result.” Upon seeing Liz’s slightly dumbfounded expression, Max added, “Nasedo taught us about the birds and the bees alien style after Isabel thought she was pregnant from her dreams.” He started drawing small circles over Liz’s soft skin with his thumb without even noticing it. “Alien pregnancies are normally shorter, and the baby requires more energy because the development is speeded up.”
“But I’m not an alien.”
“No. But you were shot in the stomach. Meaning that all the organs there were exposed to my energy when I healed you. Including your ovaries.”
“You think that that might have caused them to...turn alien?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” Max turned his attention back to her stomach and suddenly realized what he’d been doing with his hand. He blushed and had to clear his voice twice before asking Liz if she was ready. She just nodded and Max once again averted his gaze to her abdomen, concentrating on the task at hand.
Liz suddenly felt a burst of heat where Max had placed his hand, followed by the familiar feeling of his energy coursing through her. It was like coming home. Her spirits shoot skywards, a giddy happiness replaced the feelings of panic, fear and frustration. Max hadn’t opened the connection between them, but Liz could feel it all the same, like a slight humming just out of reach. The familiarity of it soothed the last of her fears, taking away all doubt that they might not find a solution for whatever it was that was going on.
A minute later Max removed his hand, and Liz had to suppress a groan of protest. Her breathing had grown shallow and her cheeks were flushed. Max couldn’t help but think that she looked like she used to after one of their make-out sessions.
Liz looked down at her stomach. The glowing was gone, along with the craving. “It worked,” she whispered.
“Yeah,” Max replied, his voice also low. “She’s fine now.”
“She?” Liz raised an eyebrow. So far all the guys she had talked to about the baby had assumed that it was a boy, not a girl.
Max’s eyes widened slightly. “Oh my God, I’m sorry. Did you not want to know?”
Liz stared at him for a few seconds, speechless. “It’s a girl?” she asked, her voice somewhere between surprise and delight.
“Yeah,” Max said smiling as the image of a miniature version of Liz with long dark hair and beautiful doe-eyes appeared before his inner eye.
Liz returned the smile while staring down at her stomach. She couldn’t believe it. It was a girl. Her little daughter was growing inside her. Her smile vanished for an instance. “And she’s alright? Everything is normal? Apart from the glowing of course,” she added.
“Everything’s fine,” Max reassured her. “Just like it should be.”
A feeling of intense relief washed over Liz. For the first time in weeks she felt genuinely happy. Blissful. Perfect. Her baby was alright. It was a girl. She was going to have a daughter. Before she knew what she was doing she launched herself into Max’s arms with such force that she almost knocked him over. For a split second he froze, then his arms automatically wrapped themselves around her small form, holding her tightly into place.
When she pulled back she was smiling, looking happier than she had in weeks. Max couldn’t help but smile back, maybe a bit too pleased with the fact that it had been him who had made her so happy. They’re arms were still wrapped around each other, and when Liz realized just how close they were her smile faded from her lips, only to be replaced by something else. Hunger? Desire? Lust?
Before Max had time to analyze the situation, Liz’s soft, sweet lips were suddenly pressed against his. Her kiss took him completely by surprise, but not enough as that he wouldn’t have kissed her back. They were both hesitant at first, but as they realized that neither one was going to pull away the kisses became more fervent, more passionate. Liz’s mouth opened immediately at Max’s first gentle probing, moaning in delight at the sensation of their tongues tangling together. It had been so long. Much too long.
Max buried his hand in Liz’s silken tresses, sighing at the sensation of her smooth locks sliding through his fingers. It was like coming home. As his mouth continued to devour her a hunger like nothing he had ever felt before took hold of him, making it hard to hold on to the last piece of self control he still had. He’d been dreaming about this for so long, wishing for it to happen ever since Liz had walked away from him that fateful day at the pod chamber. And now that he had her in his arms he had no intention of letting go anytime soon.
Liz didn’t know why she was surprised when the first flashes hit. Max, Michael and Isabel walking through the desert after coming out of their pods. The first time Max saw the Evans. His first day at school. Seeing her for the first time. Secretly watching her at the Crashdown. Her being shot. Healing her. Their first kiss. Their night out in the dessert. The destiny message. His lonely summer after. Her coming back. Trying to convince her to give them another chance…
Suddenly Liz realized what that could mean. Max would see things. Things he shouldn’t know. Things she couldn’t let him see. It took all her strength to pull away, but she knew she had to. Before she broke the kiss one last image hit her. One of him and Tess, hugging. When she finally tore her mouth away from his a sob escaped her lips.
For a few minutes they just stood there staring at each other, eyes wide and mouth open, both breathing heavily. Then it began to sink in what she had just done. She had kissed Max. She’d gotten him to cheat on Tess. What in the world had she been thinking? Oh right, she hadn’t been thinking. She’d let her hormones get the better of her, throwing aside her conscience and her common sense, risking all her sacrifices having been for nothing, risking the end of the world. And for what? For a few moments of lust? Horrified with herself she stumbling backwards, almost tripping over her own feet before climbing through the window and running away as fast as her legs would carry her, never glancing back once.
~*~*~*~
Liz didn’t know how long she’d been running. She had no idea where she was. She was blinded by tears of frustration and anger at herself, and to be honest, she couldn’t care less where she was going. She just let her feet carry her wherever they wanted to go. When she started getting tired she slowed down and looked around. She quickly realized that she was just down the street from Kyle’s house. Not knowing why she was so surprised that she’d ended up there she walked up to his house, crossed the lawn and banged on the door, too messed up and confused to realize that Tess also lived there and that chances were high that she would be the one to answer the door.
Luckily it was Kyle. She walked right past him and started pacing up and down the living room, still breathing heavily. Kyle was at her side immediately, obviously close to a state of panic. “Oh my God Liz, what’s wrong? Is it the baby? Did something happen to him?” He checked her over, looking for a sign of something being physically wrong with her. But except for tears welling up in her eyes, he found nothing. “Liz?” he asked, his voice still worried but a lot softer this time. “What’s wrong?”
“I…I kissed Max,” she blurred out.
“You what?!” Kyle hadn’t meant to shout, but he couldn’t help it. Out of all possible explanations for why Liz was so upset, this was the one he had least expected. He stared at Liz completely baffled, not to mention speechless.
“I don’t know how it happened,” Liz continued, still pacing. “It just…did. I never planed it. I never wanted it to happen in the first place. Oh my God, what did I do?”
~*~*~*~
Tess softly closed her bedroom door again. She’d opened it a minute ago to go answer the door when she’d seen Liz rushing into the living room, clearly upset about something. She knew that she should have just closed the door again, that Liz and Kyle’s private conversations were just that – private – but her curiosity had gotten the better of her and so she had stayed where she was and listened. Now she almost wished she hadn’t. Anger was coursing through her. Who the hell did Liz Parker think she was? How dare she cheat on Kyle and once again break Max’s heart, all at the same time? Hadn’t she done enough damage, ruined enough lives? Poor Max. He must be feeling awful right now. This would make things even harder on him. Like it wasn’t already hard enough.
Quietly as to not alert Kyle and Liz of her presence in the house she opened the window and crawled out. She was going over to Max’s house. God knew he could use a friend right now.
~*~*~*~
Liz was still pacing up and down while telling Kyle what had happened, even though he had the impression that she was more muttering to herself than talking to him.
“I mean, kissing him was the last thing on my mind when I went over to his house. I was so scared that something was wrong with the baby because of the whole glowing thing and all that, it never occurred to me that something like that might happen. I mean, why should it? He’s with Tess. Why would he want to kiss me after everything I did? Why did he kiss me after everything I did?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa Liz, slow down. What glowing thing? What the hell happened?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. My belly was glowing. But that’s beside the point. Could we maybe try to stay on the topic if it’s not too much trouble, Kyle?” Liz was scowling at him, and normally he would just let it slip if one of her mood swings happened to crash into him, but not this time.
“Liz, I hate to break it to you, but a glowing belly does not fall into the category of nothing,” he shot back. “Now tell me exactly what the hell happened, and please, in the name of Buddha, could you for one second forget that you kissed Evans? I know that your world revolves around him, but as hard as it might be for you to believe it, mine actually doesn’t. So now tell me what happened.”
Liz was speechless for a moment, teetering between being angry and being impressed. The impression won out. “Wow Kyle, I almost forgot how much guts you have. Bitching back like that at a pregnant transgenic whose hormones are going completely crazy and who could easily kick your ass takes a lot of courage.”
“Thanks. Now will you finally tell me what happened?”
Liz sighed, plopped down onto the couch and started to enlighten Kyle about everything that had happened that evening, including an explanation about the whole glow-thing. “And then he told me that it was a girl, and that she was fine, that everything was exactly the way it should be. And then…I don’t know. I was just so happy and relieved and so I hugged him. I didn’t even think about it. It just seemed…natural. And then I pulled back and our faces were so close together and there was something in his eyes…I don’t know. Maybe I was just imagining things, seeing what I wanted to see. Before I knew what was going on I was kissing him.”
“It’s a girl? And she’s alright?” Kyle’s voice was almost awe-filled.
“I told you that five minutes ago,” Liz snapped. “Try to stay with me, will ya?”
Kyle simply ignored her. “Wow. A girl. I can’t believe it. We’re having a baby girl.”
Kyle using the word ‘we’ instantly made Liz forget her irritation. She loved the way he referred to the baby as theirs even though it wasn’t his child. It made her feel so less alone.
“Yeah,” she said smiling, tenderly brushing her hand over her abdomen. “It’s a little girl.”
After a few minutes of silence Kyle asked, “So, what exactly happened with Evans?”
Liz’s sighed, the smile fading from her lips. “Well, when we kissed I started getting flashes, and that sort of shook me out of my trance. I mean, I can’t just let him see into my mind like that, now can I? What if he saw something he isn’t supposed to see? So I pulled away. And then we just stood there staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Then it began to sink in what had just happened and I realized what kind of consequences it could have and I panicked. So I left.”
“You left?”
“Okay, so maybe I ran away. Same difference.”
“Why?”
“Why? Isn’t that obvious? I panicked. I was confused. Scared. I mean, what if Max tells Tess and she breaks up with him?” Kyle failed to see what would be so bad about that possible scenario, but he was smart enough to keep that thought to himself. “What if that kiss ruined everything I’ve been working so hard on to achieve? What if all my sacrifices are for nothing now? What if this will cause the end of the world?”
“Liz, calm down. One little kiss cannot cause the end of the world, no matter what Future Max said. Just think of how adamant Tess was when it came to pursing Max and trying to convince him to follow destiny. A kiss isn’t reason enough for her to break up with him. Hell, I doubt she’d even consider that if he slept with the entire cheerleading squad.”
A certain bitterness had crept into his voice at that last sentence, something that Liz decided not to comment on. But she realized that he was right. A simple kiss would never be reason enough for Tess to break up with Max. That thought calmed her down a bit, but not much. It didn’t change the fact that what she had done endangered Max’s relationship with Tess. And as much as she wished they’d split up again, she knew that she couldn’t let that happen. Everything depended on their relationship.
Everything.
Including the life of her baby girl. A life she’d sworn she would die protecting. And that meant that she had to do everything in her power to make sure that they stayed together. Which included staying away from Max. As much as the thought pained her, Liz knew that it was necessary. She couldn’t risk something like that happening again. And with the way her hormones were going crazy she knew that it was only a matter of time before she jumped Max again, given the chance that is. So she would make sure that she didn’t have the chance. And that meant keeping her distance.
tbc
Tact is for people not witty enough to be sarcastic.
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
Here it is, the new part. My parents are coming to visit me this week, they're actually arriving tonight, in about 3 hours, so I won't have a lot of time to write in the next week. Meaning that it might take a bit longer for the next part to come out. Sorry about that.
Part 22
Tess was lying on Max’s bed, watching him pacing up and down his room. He’d already been pacing when she’d arrived half an hour ago, and it didn’t look like he was going to stop any time soon.
“I just don’t get it. If she’s with Kyle, why did she kiss me? I mean, they’re as ‘together’ as you can be. In a few months they’re gonna be a happy little family. She obviously loves him. Why else would she have-” Max broke off, not wanting to say it out loud. Thinking it was bad enough. “So why kiss someone else? Why kiss me?”
Tess didn’t think he really wanted an answer to that, so she kept quiet. She doubted that Max wanted to hear her opinion on that subject anyway.
Max finally sat down on the edge of the bed, wearily rubbing his hands over his face. “I should have never let it happen. I should have stopped her. It took so long to get our friendship back on track. And now it’s all ruined again. And for what? A few moments of lust?”
“But you don’t regret it,” Tess stated, knowing fully well that that was Max’s mind and not his heart talking.
Max sighed. “I wish I could honestly say I do, but no, I don’t.” His expression suddenly turned sad. “But I’m sure she does. God, Tess, you should have seen the expression on her face afterwards. She looked almost...repulsed.”
Tess crawled over to him and kneeled beside him. For a second she considered putting an arm around his shoulders to comfort him, but she knew that it wouldn’t be enough and so she didn’t. She still had a problem with the whole touchy-feely-thing, even with Max.
“Maybe she was just…surprised?” she suggested, not really believing it herself.
“Yeah, or maybe she’d just realized that I’d gotten her to cheat on her boyfriend and that I’m an egoistic, lying bastard who took advantage of her in a moment of weakness.”
Tess temper shot up. She could only take so much of Max beating himself up for no reason at all because of her. “Whoa, slow down, Max. First of all, she kissed you, not the other way around. Second of all, you are neither egoistic nor did you lie to her. And thirdly, you did not take advantage of her. If anything, it was the other way around.”
Max couldn’t help but laugh at that one. Liz taking advantage of him? How could she take advantage of him if he was a willing participant? More than willing actually. He hadn’t exactly hesitated to return the kiss, or to deepen it, or to-
Tess rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. “God, one minute you’re beating yourself up over this and acting like it’s the end of the world and the next you have this goofy grin plastered all over your face. Pick one, will ya? Either you’re happy about this or upset, but anything else gives me a headache.”
Max continued smiling, lost in a world of his own. “I just can’t help it. The kiss was so… I don’t know, there simply are no words to describe it.”
Tess muttered something about him needing to get laid, a girl, a life, something, but Max chose to ignore her. “I mean, the kisses between us were always…amazing, but this time…I don’t know. It was different somehow. It was like we were melting into each other, becoming one. And when the flashes started…”
“Wait a minute, flashes? You didn’t say anything about flashes before. What did you see?”
Max scrunched his eyebrows together. “You see, that’s the weird part. Because some of the flashes, they just don’t make sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, some of the things I saw were perfectly normal. I saw her with Maria and Alex, I saw her with her parents, I saw her with her grandma.” He paused. “I saw her with Kyle.”
Tess scrunched up her face in disgust. “Eww.”
“Not like that. It was…strange actually. They were young, nine or ten maybe. And they were in the woods. It was like…they became friends that day.”
“I didn’t know Liz and Kyle were friends before they started dating,” Tess said.
“You see, that’s the strange part. They weren’t. Not at all. They hardly seemed to know each other. They didn’t sit together if they were in the same class, they never ate lunch together, they hardly even acknowledged each other’s presence if they ran into each other in the hallway or if Kyle came to the Crashdown.”
“Wow, Max, you really used to do nothing but watch Liz, did you? And I thought Michael was blowing things way out of proportion.”
Max blushed. “That’s not the way it was. Okay, so maybe that is the way it was, but not the way you make it sound. It’s not like I stalked her or something. I was just very… observing when it came to Liz.”
Tess snorted. “Whatever.”
Max ignored her. “Anyway, don’t you think that’s strange? That they were friends but nobody knew? I mean, why keep something like that a secret?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you got it wrong. Maybe that was just one afternoon when their families happened to run into each other while picnicking or fishing or whatever, and that’s it.”
Max shook his head. “No. I felt what Liz was feeling. I’m sure they were friends afterwards. There’s something off in this whole scenario.”
Tess changed the subject. “Did you see anything else that was strange?”
Max slowly nodded. “Yeah. There was this guy.”
“Another guy? Tess asked exasperated. God, what was it with this girl?
Max once again ignored her. He seemed to be doing that a lot that night. “It was another early memory. Liz was maybe six or seven. She was crying because she’d had a nightmare, and he was comforting her. And…the way she felt about him…if I didn’t know better I’d think he was her brother.”
“Liz doesn’t have a brother,” Tess pointed out. “She’s an only child.”
“I know,” Max said. “None of this makes sense.”
“Did you never see any of this before?” Tess asked. “I mean, this isn’t the first time you got flashes while kissing. And from what I’ve heard, you did quite a lot of that.”
Max blushed. “It was different this time. All the other times, it was always about us. Only about us. This time, it was about all kinds of things.”
“So, what changed?”
“You mean besides everything?” Max asked almost bitterly.
Tess winced. “Okay, stupid question.”
They were quiet for a few minutes, both lost in thoughts of their own, before Tess broke the silence. “So, what are you going to do now?”
Max let himself fall back onto the bed, rubbing his hands over his face in obvious fatigue. “I have no idea. I…I just want to know why she did it. I want to know why she kissed me. If she just got caught up in the moment, or if it was…more.”
Tess, always one to be practical, suggested. “Why don’t you just ask her?”
Max snorted. “Yeah, right. I’m sure I’d get a straight answer on that one. Oh, by the way Liz, sorry for trying to ruin your relationship with the father of your unborn child. I was just wondering, did you kiss me because you still have feelings for me or is that simply wishful thinking on my part?”
“Max,” Tess said sternly, “For the thousandth time now, stop beating yourself up because of this. You have no reason to feel guilty.”
“Right,” Max said sarcastically. “I only got her to cheat on her boyfriend who at the same time happens to be the father of the baby girl she’s pregnant with. And it’s not like her life isn’t already complicated enough. No, I of course have to go and mess it up some more, since she isn’t already going through enough. I’m sure she really appreciates that.”
“Max,” Tess growled. “For the last time now, stop it. Something like that takes two, okay? This isn’t entirely your fault. Not by a long shot actually. She started it. She kissed you.”
“I didn’t exactly try to stop her,” Max argued.
“Max!” Tess cried exasperatedly. “Cut it out! This. Is not. Your. Fault.” She talked slowly, emphasizing each word, hoping that it would finally sink in. “You have no reason to feel guilty. She cheated on her boyfriend. Not you. She started the kissing. Not you. I mean, come on, as if anybody in that situation would have reacted differently. You got the chance to kiss the girl you’re in love with, always have been in love with. Who would have actually had the willpower to not give in to temptation? Especially since said temptation was practically forcing herself on you. Nobody. I sure as hell wouldn’t if Kyle were to kiss me.” Now Tess’ voice was the one to sound bitter.
“I’m sorry,” Max said softly. He was. He felt like a jerk now. Here he was whining about the fact that he’d kissed Liz, knowing fully well that Tess would give pretty much everything for just one kiss from Kyle, not that she’d ever admit it out loud. And he had to go on and rub it in, making Tess even more aware of what she wanted but didn’t have, couldn’t ever have.
“It’s okay,” Tess told him. “Forget about it.”
“Tess-” Max began, but she cut him off.
“I said forget about it.”
And so Max dropped it. He knew exactly that Tess didn’t want to talk about Kyle right now. She rarely did. She’d rather pretend that it didn’t matter, that she wasn’t hurting, that the thought of Kyle and Liz together didn’t tear her up inside. She had this wall built up around her heart, and she rarely let it down. Max was actually the only one she’d ever let glimpse past it, and that only once or twice. Generally, she’d rather let someone pull out her fingernails one by one than grant them a peek into her soul. Anything to not feel vulnerable, to not feel naked. She hated nothing more than that. It made her feel weak. Helpless. And she wasn’t weak. She wasn’t.
Even the smallest of small things made her feel exposed, meaning that she’d become a pro at keeping her distance, at making sure that nobody got close enough to see past that, to see the real her. To see that she was nothing but a scared little girl. Weak. No need to mention that that had multiplied ever since finding out that Liz and Kyle were having a baby. She was nothing but a slave to her emotions gone berserk, something she’d promised herself would never happen.
And that all because of Kyle. Damn him. Damn them both.
Suddenly Max’s arms were around her, comforting her, protecting her. And Tess sighed, letting herself sink into his embrace. Normally she would have pushed anybody trying to console her away, telling them to fuck the hell off. But it was different with Max. They were in this together. He wasn’t on the outside of her pain. He didn’t pity her. They were sharing the pain. And she knew that he drew as much comfort from her as he was giving in return. She didn’t expose herself more than he did. It was completely equal. Always 50:50.
Tess sighed as she started to relax. Max had always had this effect on her, even in their past life. No matter what was wrong, he always managed to make her feel like everything would somehow be okay in the end. “You’re a lot like Zan was, you know?” she suddenly said.
Max let go of her a bit, enough so that Tess could see the surprised expression on his face. She’d never brought up their past life, no wonder he was startled. She could see him struggling with himself, but then curiosity obviously won out. “What do you remember?” he asked.
“Not all that much actually. I don’t remember what you looked like, or actually events. Just feelings mainly. I remember how I felt about you. I remember how you made me feel.”
Max gave her a questioning look, apparently wanting her to elaborate, but not enough as that he would have asked her to, scared that he would not like what he heard.
“We did love each other, you know. But it wasn’t a big, passionate love. It was more something based on mutual respect that developed over the years. We appreciated each other. We’d known that we were to get married one day from an early age on, and so I guess we never really questioned our feelings. We liked each other, got along well, and over the years that grew into something that you could call love. You always made me feel cherished. Cared for. You were very loyal, very giving. I knew that I could always count on you. That you’d always be there by my side whenever I needed you.”
“So we weren’t really in love?” Max asked.
“You mean sappy-smiles-butterflies-in-the-stomach-so-happy-that-you-could-jump-to-the-moon kind of love? No, not really.”
“But we did have a…physical relationship?” Max’s facial expression showed that he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to hear the answer to that one.
Tess gave a little laugh. “Well, they people did expect a heir to the throne.”
“And neither of us ever fell in love with anybody else? Neither of us ever cheated?”
“No. We respected each other too much to do something like that. As for the falling-in-love bit, I never did, and if you did you were tactful enough to not let me know. It was probably better that way. With the war going on we needed all our wits together. Being in love would have only distracted us from what was important.”
Max sighed. “It just sounds so…bleak.”
Tess shook her head. “But it wasn’t. There was so much warmth in the castle, so much love between all the members of the family. We were very happy, despite the fact that we were in the middle of a war. What we shared was the only kind of love we knew. And you know, you can’t miss what you don’t know.”
“No, I guess not.” An almost pained expression was on his face and he seemed to be a million miles away. Tess could imagine what he was thinking about, or rather who. Maybe he hadn’t known what true love was in his last life, but he sure as hell knew it in this one. And he missed it. A lot.
~*~*~*~
On the other side of town the person Max was obsessing about was getting ready for bed. She was putting on her pajama when she once again caught sight of her reflection in the mirror above her dresser, just like earlier that evening. Only that her belly wasn’t glowing this time. Only that everything was different now.
Liz walked over to the mirror to get a better look at her tummy. It was still flat, no sign yet that she was pregnant. She tenderly ran her fingertips over the area she knew her baby was resting. It was a girl. She still couldn’t believe it. A girl. A smile crept over her face, despite everything else that had happened. She was going to have a daughter. And everything was fine. She was okay. She was normal. Her smile widened. Before disappearing.
She still couldn’t believe she’d kissed Max. What had gotten into her? She could believe even less that he’d actually kissed her back, quite enthusiastically too if she may say so. What had gotten into him? Had he just been too surprised to push her away? Had it been an automatic reaction, like an old habit he hasn’t quite managed to shake off? Or had he wanted to kiss her? Had he been aching for that to happen ever since she’d walked away from him at the pod chamber, just like she had?
But if so, why? He was with Tess. Why would he cheat on her? She was his destiny, the person he was supposed to be with. The person he wanted to be with, obviously.
Was it to get back at her for all the horrible things she’d done to him lately? Or maybe at Kyle? Was it an ego-thing? Did he just want to prove something to himself? Or did he simply want to rub it in a bit, give her one last time what she wanted but would never have?
Liz shook her head, almost rolling her eyes at herself. As if Max would ever do any of that. He wasn’t the type to deliberately wreck havoc on someone else’s life. He wasn’t the type to take revenge. And he sure as hell wasn’t the type to intentionally hurt someone.
So why had he done it? And what the hell had happened when they’d done it? She’d had flashes. And she normally didn’t just get flashes from kissing Max. Not unless she was in heat, that is. And right now, she was anything but. Her hormones might be going crazy, but that still didn’t really explain it, since they obviously weren’t the same hormones that set off her heat. If so, she’d be feeling a lot more…horny.
So why had she gotten flashes? It had to be something alien, which basically left two possibilities. Either her baby was alien or she was turning into one. Or both. Maybe one because of the other.
Liz let herself fall back on to her bed sighing. If only she knew at least something about what the hell was going out. If only she weren’t so utterly and completely clueless. Then she wouldn’t feel quiet so helpless. Quite so feeble. Quite so lost.
She hated that almost more than anything else. This feeling of being powerless. Of not being able to do anything. Of not being in control.
There had been very few occasions in her life where she’d actually felt comfortable enough to give up a bit of the control she normally had over her life, herself, everything. And every single one of them had been with Max.
Max brought out a side in her that no-one else did, no-one else ever could. With him she felt…almost weak. But in the good way. Because it was okay. With him, she didn’t have to be strong all the time. She didn’t have to be in control all the time. Because he was there. Because he looked out for her. Because he would never let anything happen to her.
And she loved that. Not that she would have ever admitted it, but it was true. Permitting herself some weakness was nice. Nobody, most of all of course herself, had ever allowed that. But with Max…it wasn’t her choice anymore. That was just the way it was. Or at least the way it used to be.
Actually, there had been one other person in her life that had had a similar effect on her. Zack, her brother. He’d been their CO, best friend and father figure all rolled into one. He’d been the one who had made all the years at Manticore bearable. He’d been the one who had given them hope, who had promised them that there was something better out there for them. And who had made sure that they got it.
Her precious Zack. Where was he now? Was he happy? Was he even still alive? Had he ever looked for her? Was he maybe still looking for her? God, what she’d give to see him again. To talk to him. She needed him now more than ever. Zack had always been the one to find a solution for everything. He’d always seen things a bit more clearly than others, always noticed things that everyone else had overlooked, always come up with solutions no-one else would have ever
thought of. She could use some of that right now. She could really use some of that right now.
She sighed again before crawling under the covers and turning off the light, sending out a silent prayer that Zack was alright, and that one day they’d meet again. She only hoped that that would be soon. She needed her big brother, now more than ever before.
tbc
Part 22
Tess was lying on Max’s bed, watching him pacing up and down his room. He’d already been pacing when she’d arrived half an hour ago, and it didn’t look like he was going to stop any time soon.
“I just don’t get it. If she’s with Kyle, why did she kiss me? I mean, they’re as ‘together’ as you can be. In a few months they’re gonna be a happy little family. She obviously loves him. Why else would she have-” Max broke off, not wanting to say it out loud. Thinking it was bad enough. “So why kiss someone else? Why kiss me?”
Tess didn’t think he really wanted an answer to that, so she kept quiet. She doubted that Max wanted to hear her opinion on that subject anyway.
Max finally sat down on the edge of the bed, wearily rubbing his hands over his face. “I should have never let it happen. I should have stopped her. It took so long to get our friendship back on track. And now it’s all ruined again. And for what? A few moments of lust?”
“But you don’t regret it,” Tess stated, knowing fully well that that was Max’s mind and not his heart talking.
Max sighed. “I wish I could honestly say I do, but no, I don’t.” His expression suddenly turned sad. “But I’m sure she does. God, Tess, you should have seen the expression on her face afterwards. She looked almost...repulsed.”
Tess crawled over to him and kneeled beside him. For a second she considered putting an arm around his shoulders to comfort him, but she knew that it wouldn’t be enough and so she didn’t. She still had a problem with the whole touchy-feely-thing, even with Max.
“Maybe she was just…surprised?” she suggested, not really believing it herself.
“Yeah, or maybe she’d just realized that I’d gotten her to cheat on her boyfriend and that I’m an egoistic, lying bastard who took advantage of her in a moment of weakness.”
Tess temper shot up. She could only take so much of Max beating himself up for no reason at all because of her. “Whoa, slow down, Max. First of all, she kissed you, not the other way around. Second of all, you are neither egoistic nor did you lie to her. And thirdly, you did not take advantage of her. If anything, it was the other way around.”
Max couldn’t help but laugh at that one. Liz taking advantage of him? How could she take advantage of him if he was a willing participant? More than willing actually. He hadn’t exactly hesitated to return the kiss, or to deepen it, or to-
Tess rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. “God, one minute you’re beating yourself up over this and acting like it’s the end of the world and the next you have this goofy grin plastered all over your face. Pick one, will ya? Either you’re happy about this or upset, but anything else gives me a headache.”
Max continued smiling, lost in a world of his own. “I just can’t help it. The kiss was so… I don’t know, there simply are no words to describe it.”
Tess muttered something about him needing to get laid, a girl, a life, something, but Max chose to ignore her. “I mean, the kisses between us were always…amazing, but this time…I don’t know. It was different somehow. It was like we were melting into each other, becoming one. And when the flashes started…”
“Wait a minute, flashes? You didn’t say anything about flashes before. What did you see?”
Max scrunched his eyebrows together. “You see, that’s the weird part. Because some of the flashes, they just don’t make sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, some of the things I saw were perfectly normal. I saw her with Maria and Alex, I saw her with her parents, I saw her with her grandma.” He paused. “I saw her with Kyle.”
Tess scrunched up her face in disgust. “Eww.”
“Not like that. It was…strange actually. They were young, nine or ten maybe. And they were in the woods. It was like…they became friends that day.”
“I didn’t know Liz and Kyle were friends before they started dating,” Tess said.
“You see, that’s the strange part. They weren’t. Not at all. They hardly seemed to know each other. They didn’t sit together if they were in the same class, they never ate lunch together, they hardly even acknowledged each other’s presence if they ran into each other in the hallway or if Kyle came to the Crashdown.”
“Wow, Max, you really used to do nothing but watch Liz, did you? And I thought Michael was blowing things way out of proportion.”
Max blushed. “That’s not the way it was. Okay, so maybe that is the way it was, but not the way you make it sound. It’s not like I stalked her or something. I was just very… observing when it came to Liz.”
Tess snorted. “Whatever.”
Max ignored her. “Anyway, don’t you think that’s strange? That they were friends but nobody knew? I mean, why keep something like that a secret?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you got it wrong. Maybe that was just one afternoon when their families happened to run into each other while picnicking or fishing or whatever, and that’s it.”
Max shook his head. “No. I felt what Liz was feeling. I’m sure they were friends afterwards. There’s something off in this whole scenario.”
Tess changed the subject. “Did you see anything else that was strange?”
Max slowly nodded. “Yeah. There was this guy.”
“Another guy? Tess asked exasperated. God, what was it with this girl?
Max once again ignored her. He seemed to be doing that a lot that night. “It was another early memory. Liz was maybe six or seven. She was crying because she’d had a nightmare, and he was comforting her. And…the way she felt about him…if I didn’t know better I’d think he was her brother.”
“Liz doesn’t have a brother,” Tess pointed out. “She’s an only child.”
“I know,” Max said. “None of this makes sense.”
“Did you never see any of this before?” Tess asked. “I mean, this isn’t the first time you got flashes while kissing. And from what I’ve heard, you did quite a lot of that.”
Max blushed. “It was different this time. All the other times, it was always about us. Only about us. This time, it was about all kinds of things.”
“So, what changed?”
“You mean besides everything?” Max asked almost bitterly.
Tess winced. “Okay, stupid question.”
They were quiet for a few minutes, both lost in thoughts of their own, before Tess broke the silence. “So, what are you going to do now?”
Max let himself fall back onto the bed, rubbing his hands over his face in obvious fatigue. “I have no idea. I…I just want to know why she did it. I want to know why she kissed me. If she just got caught up in the moment, or if it was…more.”
Tess, always one to be practical, suggested. “Why don’t you just ask her?”
Max snorted. “Yeah, right. I’m sure I’d get a straight answer on that one. Oh, by the way Liz, sorry for trying to ruin your relationship with the father of your unborn child. I was just wondering, did you kiss me because you still have feelings for me or is that simply wishful thinking on my part?”
“Max,” Tess said sternly, “For the thousandth time now, stop beating yourself up because of this. You have no reason to feel guilty.”
“Right,” Max said sarcastically. “I only got her to cheat on her boyfriend who at the same time happens to be the father of the baby girl she’s pregnant with. And it’s not like her life isn’t already complicated enough. No, I of course have to go and mess it up some more, since she isn’t already going through enough. I’m sure she really appreciates that.”
“Max,” Tess growled. “For the last time now, stop it. Something like that takes two, okay? This isn’t entirely your fault. Not by a long shot actually. She started it. She kissed you.”
“I didn’t exactly try to stop her,” Max argued.
“Max!” Tess cried exasperatedly. “Cut it out! This. Is not. Your. Fault.” She talked slowly, emphasizing each word, hoping that it would finally sink in. “You have no reason to feel guilty. She cheated on her boyfriend. Not you. She started the kissing. Not you. I mean, come on, as if anybody in that situation would have reacted differently. You got the chance to kiss the girl you’re in love with, always have been in love with. Who would have actually had the willpower to not give in to temptation? Especially since said temptation was practically forcing herself on you. Nobody. I sure as hell wouldn’t if Kyle were to kiss me.” Now Tess’ voice was the one to sound bitter.
“I’m sorry,” Max said softly. He was. He felt like a jerk now. Here he was whining about the fact that he’d kissed Liz, knowing fully well that Tess would give pretty much everything for just one kiss from Kyle, not that she’d ever admit it out loud. And he had to go on and rub it in, making Tess even more aware of what she wanted but didn’t have, couldn’t ever have.
“It’s okay,” Tess told him. “Forget about it.”
“Tess-” Max began, but she cut him off.
“I said forget about it.”
And so Max dropped it. He knew exactly that Tess didn’t want to talk about Kyle right now. She rarely did. She’d rather pretend that it didn’t matter, that she wasn’t hurting, that the thought of Kyle and Liz together didn’t tear her up inside. She had this wall built up around her heart, and she rarely let it down. Max was actually the only one she’d ever let glimpse past it, and that only once or twice. Generally, she’d rather let someone pull out her fingernails one by one than grant them a peek into her soul. Anything to not feel vulnerable, to not feel naked. She hated nothing more than that. It made her feel weak. Helpless. And she wasn’t weak. She wasn’t.
Even the smallest of small things made her feel exposed, meaning that she’d become a pro at keeping her distance, at making sure that nobody got close enough to see past that, to see the real her. To see that she was nothing but a scared little girl. Weak. No need to mention that that had multiplied ever since finding out that Liz and Kyle were having a baby. She was nothing but a slave to her emotions gone berserk, something she’d promised herself would never happen.
And that all because of Kyle. Damn him. Damn them both.
Suddenly Max’s arms were around her, comforting her, protecting her. And Tess sighed, letting herself sink into his embrace. Normally she would have pushed anybody trying to console her away, telling them to fuck the hell off. But it was different with Max. They were in this together. He wasn’t on the outside of her pain. He didn’t pity her. They were sharing the pain. And she knew that he drew as much comfort from her as he was giving in return. She didn’t expose herself more than he did. It was completely equal. Always 50:50.
Tess sighed as she started to relax. Max had always had this effect on her, even in their past life. No matter what was wrong, he always managed to make her feel like everything would somehow be okay in the end. “You’re a lot like Zan was, you know?” she suddenly said.
Max let go of her a bit, enough so that Tess could see the surprised expression on his face. She’d never brought up their past life, no wonder he was startled. She could see him struggling with himself, but then curiosity obviously won out. “What do you remember?” he asked.
“Not all that much actually. I don’t remember what you looked like, or actually events. Just feelings mainly. I remember how I felt about you. I remember how you made me feel.”
Max gave her a questioning look, apparently wanting her to elaborate, but not enough as that he would have asked her to, scared that he would not like what he heard.
“We did love each other, you know. But it wasn’t a big, passionate love. It was more something based on mutual respect that developed over the years. We appreciated each other. We’d known that we were to get married one day from an early age on, and so I guess we never really questioned our feelings. We liked each other, got along well, and over the years that grew into something that you could call love. You always made me feel cherished. Cared for. You were very loyal, very giving. I knew that I could always count on you. That you’d always be there by my side whenever I needed you.”
“So we weren’t really in love?” Max asked.
“You mean sappy-smiles-butterflies-in-the-stomach-so-happy-that-you-could-jump-to-the-moon kind of love? No, not really.”
“But we did have a…physical relationship?” Max’s facial expression showed that he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to hear the answer to that one.
Tess gave a little laugh. “Well, they people did expect a heir to the throne.”
“And neither of us ever fell in love with anybody else? Neither of us ever cheated?”
“No. We respected each other too much to do something like that. As for the falling-in-love bit, I never did, and if you did you were tactful enough to not let me know. It was probably better that way. With the war going on we needed all our wits together. Being in love would have only distracted us from what was important.”
Max sighed. “It just sounds so…bleak.”
Tess shook her head. “But it wasn’t. There was so much warmth in the castle, so much love between all the members of the family. We were very happy, despite the fact that we were in the middle of a war. What we shared was the only kind of love we knew. And you know, you can’t miss what you don’t know.”
“No, I guess not.” An almost pained expression was on his face and he seemed to be a million miles away. Tess could imagine what he was thinking about, or rather who. Maybe he hadn’t known what true love was in his last life, but he sure as hell knew it in this one. And he missed it. A lot.
~*~*~*~
On the other side of town the person Max was obsessing about was getting ready for bed. She was putting on her pajama when she once again caught sight of her reflection in the mirror above her dresser, just like earlier that evening. Only that her belly wasn’t glowing this time. Only that everything was different now.
Liz walked over to the mirror to get a better look at her tummy. It was still flat, no sign yet that she was pregnant. She tenderly ran her fingertips over the area she knew her baby was resting. It was a girl. She still couldn’t believe it. A girl. A smile crept over her face, despite everything else that had happened. She was going to have a daughter. And everything was fine. She was okay. She was normal. Her smile widened. Before disappearing.
She still couldn’t believe she’d kissed Max. What had gotten into her? She could believe even less that he’d actually kissed her back, quite enthusiastically too if she may say so. What had gotten into him? Had he just been too surprised to push her away? Had it been an automatic reaction, like an old habit he hasn’t quite managed to shake off? Or had he wanted to kiss her? Had he been aching for that to happen ever since she’d walked away from him at the pod chamber, just like she had?
But if so, why? He was with Tess. Why would he cheat on her? She was his destiny, the person he was supposed to be with. The person he wanted to be with, obviously.
Was it to get back at her for all the horrible things she’d done to him lately? Or maybe at Kyle? Was it an ego-thing? Did he just want to prove something to himself? Or did he simply want to rub it in a bit, give her one last time what she wanted but would never have?
Liz shook her head, almost rolling her eyes at herself. As if Max would ever do any of that. He wasn’t the type to deliberately wreck havoc on someone else’s life. He wasn’t the type to take revenge. And he sure as hell wasn’t the type to intentionally hurt someone.
So why had he done it? And what the hell had happened when they’d done it? She’d had flashes. And she normally didn’t just get flashes from kissing Max. Not unless she was in heat, that is. And right now, she was anything but. Her hormones might be going crazy, but that still didn’t really explain it, since they obviously weren’t the same hormones that set off her heat. If so, she’d be feeling a lot more…horny.
So why had she gotten flashes? It had to be something alien, which basically left two possibilities. Either her baby was alien or she was turning into one. Or both. Maybe one because of the other.
Liz let herself fall back on to her bed sighing. If only she knew at least something about what the hell was going out. If only she weren’t so utterly and completely clueless. Then she wouldn’t feel quiet so helpless. Quite so feeble. Quite so lost.
She hated that almost more than anything else. This feeling of being powerless. Of not being able to do anything. Of not being in control.
There had been very few occasions in her life where she’d actually felt comfortable enough to give up a bit of the control she normally had over her life, herself, everything. And every single one of them had been with Max.
Max brought out a side in her that no-one else did, no-one else ever could. With him she felt…almost weak. But in the good way. Because it was okay. With him, she didn’t have to be strong all the time. She didn’t have to be in control all the time. Because he was there. Because he looked out for her. Because he would never let anything happen to her.
And she loved that. Not that she would have ever admitted it, but it was true. Permitting herself some weakness was nice. Nobody, most of all of course herself, had ever allowed that. But with Max…it wasn’t her choice anymore. That was just the way it was. Or at least the way it used to be.
Actually, there had been one other person in her life that had had a similar effect on her. Zack, her brother. He’d been their CO, best friend and father figure all rolled into one. He’d been the one who had made all the years at Manticore bearable. He’d been the one who had given them hope, who had promised them that there was something better out there for them. And who had made sure that they got it.
Her precious Zack. Where was he now? Was he happy? Was he even still alive? Had he ever looked for her? Was he maybe still looking for her? God, what she’d give to see him again. To talk to him. She needed him now more than ever. Zack had always been the one to find a solution for everything. He’d always seen things a bit more clearly than others, always noticed things that everyone else had overlooked, always come up with solutions no-one else would have ever
thought of. She could use some of that right now. She could really use some of that right now.
She sighed again before crawling under the covers and turning off the light, sending out a silent prayer that Zack was alright, and that one day they’d meet again. She only hoped that that would be soon. She needed her big brother, now more than ever before.
tbc
Tact is for people not witty enough to be sarcastic.
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
Here it is! Enjoy...
Part 23
Liz was in the kitchen, finishing off a glass of milk, her third that evening. She’d always craved milk, partly probably because of the feline DNA in her cocktail, partly because of the stabilizing effect it had on her serotonin levels. But now it was like she couldn’t live without it. She was up to drinking more than half a gallon a day, tendency rising.
She stifled a yawn as she turned off the light in the kitchen and headed towards her room. It was Christmas Eve and already pretty late. She’d spent the evening with her parents playing board games and watching TV, an old family tradition. They would close the Crashdown early and spend the rest of the evening together, watching cheesy movies and drinking hot chocolate before going to the midnight service together.
Liz yawned again. She was tired, but it was the nice kind of tired. The kind where you were so relaxed that you were on the brink of drifting to sleep, not the one where you merely felt exhausted, burned out. And she was relaxed, feeling more at peace with the world than she had in weeks. Is was probably because Christmas vacation had started a few days ago, meaning there would be no more school for almost two more weeks.
Not that Liz didn’t like school. She loved it. At least she used to. Now…she was just so tired of it. She was tired of people staring at her, tired of hearing all the stupid rumors about herself, tired of people voicing this or that theory about how her “downfall” had come about. It was all so petty, so annoying…and as much as Liz tried to just ignore it, it was starting to get to her.
But she wouldn’t have to deal with all that crap for two weeks, and that thought alone was enough to bring a smile to her lips. She’d never been so happy about the start of vacation before.
Liz suddenly stopped in mid-track. Had she just heard something downstairs? She waited and listened but didn’t hear anything. Still, better go and check it out.
Automatically slipping into soldier mode she moved over to the apartment door, unlocked it and slowly let it swing open, careful not to make any noise. She crept down the stairs soundlessly, knowing exactly where they creaked when stepped on and therefore careful to avoid those spots.
Thanks to her night vision she had no problem seeing the room bellow, but nobody was there, it was empty. She continued down the stairs all the same, wanting to check out the diner and the break-room too. Just when she reached the bottom of the staircase the door leading out to the Crashdown suddenly swung open. And in came…
“Maria? What are you doing here?” Liz was…shocked. Maria was the last person she’d suspected to find here.
Maria seemed to be just as surprised to see Liz as Liz was to see Maria. She just stared at her for a second, her mouth opening and closing a few times, no sound ever coming out.
Then Liz’ gaze fell on the package in Maria’s hands.
“Well…um,” Maria stammered finding her voice again, but obviously still at loss of what to do with it. “Actually…I just came by to…drop this off,” she admitted, also staring at the parcel in her hands, trying hard not to look directly at Liz. She hesitantly handed it to Liz and after a moment of indecision turned around and headed for the exit.
For a second all Liz could do was stare at what she was holding. It was a box, wrapped in colorful paper with little snowmen on it that looked like aliens, tied up in silver and blue bows. It was a present.
Liz too found her voice again. “Maria, wait.”
She stopped, but didn’t turn around.
“Maria?” Liz pleaded.
She sighed and slowly turned around to face her best friend.
For a minute or so the two girls just stared at each other. It was Liz who finally broke the silence. “I miss you,” she whispered. “I…I want my best friend back.”
Maria just looked at her, but Liz was pretty sure that she saw tears glistering in her eyes. Since Maria obviously wasn’t going to say anything Liz continued speaking. “I need you right now ‘Ria, I need you so much.”
A small smile appeared on Maria’s lips upon hearing her childhood nickname again. Only Liz and Alex were still allowed to call her that, anybody else who wished to remain in one piece should better steer clear off it. It’s what her father used to call her, and when he’d left she’d refused to let anybody else use that nickname anymore, it simply held too many memories that she preferred not to think of. She made an exception for Alex and Liz though. They were family after all.
“I miss you too,” Maria admitted, her voice choked full with suppressed tears.
Liz wasn’t quite sure who made the first move, but a second later they were wrapped up in each other’s arms hugging each other tightly, both trying hard not to cry, Maria doing better at that than Liz. But then, Liz had cried watching a dippers commercial earlier that evening, so that didn’t necessarily say anything.
When they finally let go of each other Liz and Maria sat down on the steps leading up to the Parkers’ apartment, spending a long time just talking and catching up.
Liz made it clear that she really did want them to be friends again but that Maria had to understand that there were some things that she simply didn't want to talk about, at least not yet. That she was still trying to deal with it herself and that she needed time to figure it all out, alone. Her world was still spinning and upside-down, she needed to get a grip on it first. The whole town was already watching her, judging her, scrutinizing her every move, she didn’t want to feel like that when she was with her friends.
Maria wanted to object, but Liz pointed out that she’d acted in a similar way when her dad had left, and so Maria gave in and agreed to give her the space she was asking for.
“It’s late,” Maria finally said, standing up. “My mom’s probably going up the walls since I haven’t come home yet. I said I’d only be gone ten minutes. Better get going.”
“Wait a second,” Liz said before hurrying up the stairs to their apartment. A minute later she was back, a box in her hand, also wrapped in colorful paper. Only that this one had pictures of naughty little reindeers on it doing very x-rated things. Maria couldn’t help but giggle upon seeing it.
Liz handed it to her, a soft smile gracing her lips. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” Maria replied returning the smile.
~*~*~*~
Up in her room Liz tried to decide whether she should wait until the next day until she opened Maria’s present or do it right away. A glance at her alarm clock reminded her that it was already long past midnight and therefore technically already Christmas, and so without further ado she ripped off the wrapping and opened the box, too impatient to do it carefully.
Liz gasped, her hand flying up to her mouth to keep in the sobs that were threatening to spill out. Inside was the most beautiful little dress she’d ever seen. She picked it up to take a better look at it. It was white with puffy sleeves and frills and ribbons - it looked so cute. And so tiny. There was something else in the box. Matching white shoes. She’d never before seen shoes that small – they were so adorable.
Tears were starting to gather in her eyes when she noticed a piece of paper at the bottom of the box. Liz carefully unfolded it and started reading.
Dear Liz,
I know that things have been tense between us lately, and that we haven’t exactly been talking a lot. But it’s Christmas, the time of love and forgivness, and I want you to know that as far as I’m concerned you’re still my best friend and that I’ll always be there for you should you ever need me. I wish I knew what to do to make things better between us again, but I feel like no matter what I did, it would be wrong and only make things worse. And that’s the last thing I want right now.
I found out that the baby is a girl (the sheriff told my mom), and so I thought it would only be fitting to get her her first outfit. Just to keep Kyle from doing that and having her end up looking like Western Barbie, or Alex, who would without a doubt buy her something five sizes too big, insisting that that’s the way you wore things nowadays.
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your family, and Kyle, But I guess he’s part of the family now, right? I’m really happy for you, you know. Kyle has turned out to be a great guy. I hope you two have a wonderful future ahead of you, I wish you all the happiness in the world.
I miss you.
Love always,
Maria
Liz reread the note twice, torn between laughing and crying. Laughing because she had left a similar letter inside her present for Maria, crying because it was such a sweet note, coming straight from Maria’s heart no doubt. The crying of course won out, she was after all a slave to her hormones.
Tears still running down her cheeks Liz climbed into bed, but when sleep claimed her there was a smile on her lips.
~*~*~*~
The next afternoon Liz was in her room lying on her bed. She was supposed to be napping, but even though she was a bit tired it wasn’t nearly enough for her to actually fall asleep. Her parents were going a bit too far with the whole over-protective thing. But since it was Christmas she’d decided to humor them, at least this one time. Plus, she didn’t want to have one of those freaky energy-shortages again, especially now that Max was out of town for the entire vacation.
Her gaze drifted over to her desk where her presents were piled up. Her parents had gotten her so many things she almost felt guilty about it, especially after everything she’d put them through lately. There was all kinds of stuff for the baby from clothes to toys to a crib – her mother's old crib actually. Her grandmother had kept it, too sentimental to throw it away, and her father had spent the last week repainting it and making sure that it was still stable enough to ensure the safety of his grandchild.
But there were also things for her: maternity clothes that – to Liz’s big surprise – actually looked decent, books, some DVDs and CDs. Basically everything she would need to keep herself occupied later on in the pregnancy when, as her mother had put it, she’d be more than happy to stay off her feet as much as possible. Not that she had any experience with that herself.
Then her eyes fell on the things Kyle had gotten her – a book with every imaginable name on the planet, including those of the Star Wars Characters. Really, as if anybody in their right mind would name their kid Obi Wan. He’d also gotten her a teddy bear for the baby that would probably be twice as big as her once the infant was born and the most handsome necklace she’d ever seen, simply saying that it shouldn’t all be about the baby but that there should be something just for her too. It was an silver chain with a sparkling star set with little white stones dangling from it. It was beautiful.
And then there was a little pink cowboy hat. Liz had raised an eyebrow at Kyle upon opening that particular present but he had merely shrugged, a grin on his face, saying something about not being able to resist.
‘Guess Maria wasn’t so far off with Western Barbie,’ Liz thought chuckling to herself. He’d really gone out of his way this year, and spent way too much money in Liz’s opinion, but he’d waved it off, saying it was nothing.
Liz of course disagreed, but knowing only too well that Kyle preferred her not to make a fuss about it she let it go. He wasn’t a big one for grand emotional scenes, especially those that involved crying. And with Liz everything seemed to involve crying lately.
Liz leaned back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. As great as everybody was right now, and as happy she was that she and Maria had finally made up, there was still something missing. No big mystery what. Max.
They hadn’t as much as looked at each other ever since their impromptu kiss, not to mention talked to each other. And Liz hated that. She didn’t want their friendship to be in this state, non-existent basically, especially now that it was Christmas.
But Max was gone for the holidays, the Evans had left to visit some relatives in the north of New Mexico to spend the two weeks skiing. Meaning that he wouldn’t be back ‘til after New Years Eve.
Liz sighed. She didn’t want to call him, not knowing what to say, and not knowing how he’d react to that. She didn’t want to write him either. That was just too…impersonal. It was just something she’d have to do in person. But that meant waiting almost two more weeks. And that didn’t really work for her either. She just…had this urge to fix things, or at least try. Now.
Then she thought of something. She could just leave him a message on his answering machine. True, he probably wouldn’t hear it ‘til he was back, but she could still do it right away. She just wanted to get it off her chest.
Liz reached for her phone and dialed the number she’d memorized the day she’d gotten shot. As expected she just got his answering machine.
“Hi, it's Max...I'm not here right now, but please leave a message.”
Liz smiled upon hearing his voice and the familiar message. It was still the same one he’d had the first time she’d ever called him at home, back when Grandma Claudia had been at the hospital. It was nice to see that at least some things never changed.
She took a deep breath. “Um, hey Max, it’s Liz. I’m, uh, just calling to…um, wish you a merry Christmas. I know that you’re out of town right now but I just thought that maybe…” She took another deep breath to stop herself from rambling on. “Look, I hate the way things are between us right now. I hate you being angry with me. I know that you have every right to be, but…I just really wished we could go back to being friends. Because, believe it or not, our friendship means a lot to me. I’m aware of the fact that me kissing you was completely uncalled for and I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean t- I just wasn’t thinking. I hope some day you’ll be able to forgive me. Merry Christmas Max. I guess I’ll see you when you come back.”
Liz replaced the phone on its cradle, feeling somewhat better about the situation. She didn’t expect this to fix everything right away, but it was at least a step in the right direction.
~*~*~*~
A few days later Liz was down in the café, sitting at the counter chatting to Maria, who was working. They’d seen each other quite a few times ever since making up on Christmas Eve, and they’d been getting along great. Things weren’t quite like they used to be, but they were getting there.
“God, I hate that guy!” Maria said, venom in her voice. “Will you look at that? It’s disgusting!” Maria exclaimed throwing her hands into the air.
“What?” Liz asked coming out of her thoughts.
Maria gave her a pointed look. “Could you leave Kyle-land for a moment and join me here in the real world?” She tried to sound annoyed but didn’t quite succeed.
“I wasn’t-” Liz began, but Maria interrupted her.
“Oh God, that should be forbidden by law! That is forbidden by law! Eww, my eyes!” She quickly covered them up with her hands, shuddering violently.
“What?” Liz asked confused, turning around to see what Maria was talking about. Her eyes fell on Chris, the jock who ever since their little run-in a few weeks ago normally turned around and scampered off in the opposite direction whenever he saw her, sitting in one of the booths with one of the cheerleaders, Pam’s successor no doubt. Then she noticed what Maria had found so offensive to her delicate eyes. Miss Pom-Pom had taken one of her shoes off and was now playing footsy with Chris’…energy source. Or in his case, brain.
Liz scrunched up her face in disgust. “I did so not need to see that.”
“I here you, chica,” Maria muttered.
The bell above the Crashdown door jingled, announcing the arrival of another customer. Liz and Maria both glanced over at the door to see who it was, mainly out of habit, and let out a simultaneous groan as they saw Pam walking into the café, followed by her usual entourage of brain-dead hussies.
“Great,” Liz muttered, “My two favorite people gathered here together.”
But Maria’s eyes lit up. “Ooh, this is going to be interesting,” she said, suddenly sounding excited.
“What?!” Liz asked. Had Maria lost it?
“Don’t you remember Pam swearing revenge after Chris dumped her? This is bound to be it!” Maria said practically bouncing up and down. “Oh right, you weren’t at school that day,” she realized.
“No, no, it’s okay, Alex filled me in. Do you really think she’ll do something here, at the café?” Liz asked, almost liking the prospect of getting to witness that, even though she knew she shouldn’t. This was her parents’ diner after all. She didn’t want those two idiots to wreck havoc on it.
In the mean time Pam had stopped in front of the booth that was occupied by Chris and his newest conquest, one of Pam’s ex-admirers. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Mr. Two-Inch and his newest lapdog. Into my sloppy seconds now, Sandy?” Pam asked snidely, making sure that the whole café could hear her.
Liz and Maria sniggered as Chris’ face grew red. Pam didn’t seem so far off from the truth with her statement.
“Well, considering that you’ve pretty much gone through all the guys in a radius of fifty miles it’s sort of hard to find one that you haven’t thrown yourself at,” Sandy spat back.
Pam glowered at her for a moment before turning on her heel and walking to one of the booths in the back of the Crashdown, obviously having run out of nasty comments, at least for the moment.
Maria sniggered again. “What?” Liz asked, wondering what she’d missed now.
“Poodle Pam and Co. are sitting in Agnes’ section,” Maria explained grinning. “It will take hours before they’re served.”
Maria was right, and after ten minutes Pam sent one of her devotees over to the counter to order their drinks from Maria, obviously fed up with waiting. The girl was so eager to please, she jumped into action before Pam had even finished giving her order.
“Get a backbone,” Liz muttered under her breath, not even trying to keep her exasperation out of her voice. But the girl heard her and sent her a glare. Then she hurried back to the booth they occupied, the drinks in her hand, probably not wanting to keep Pam waiting a second longer than necessary.
Liz rolled her eyes. “Can you believe that?” she asked Maria. “How does Pam always find people who are even more stupid than her, willing to follow her around like little puppies and jump at her every demand?”
Maria shook her head sighing. “Beats me.” Looking up she groaned. “Ugh, not him.”
Liz turned around once more. Chris was coming there way. She suppressed groaning herself, silently agreeing with Maria.
“Hey Deluca, two Alien Blasts, one chocolate and one strawberry, pronto,” he barked out, but at the same time made sure to keep his distance from Liz.
“Rude much?” Maria muttered annoyed.
Liz frowned. Nobody treated her friends like that and got away with it. Deciding to have a little fun with Chris she abruptly whipped her head around in his’ direction, the sudden movement causing him to jump back in alarm, almost falling over one of the bar stools. Liz wanted to snigger, but she kept the stern expression on her face and raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a pointed look.
“Uh, I mean, um, please,” he added almost shaking from fear.
Maria interrupted fixing his drinks to give him a strange look. “Whatever,” she said before turning around and her attention back to the Alien Blasts.
“What are you doing?!” Liz suddenly heard someone whispering behind her, probably only thanks to her enhanced hearing. She turned her head slightly to see what was going on and witnessed Pam spilling some of her drink onto the floor next to her booth.
“Chris is going to have to walk past here, and when he does he’ll slip and end up covered in those two milk shakes,” she replied quietly, a smirk full of triumph on her face.
For a second Liz considered intervening, but Chris was already on the way back to his booth and so it was too late to do anything. So much to them not wrecking havoc on the diner.
“Don’t take your eyes off Chris,” she told Maria, not wanting her best friend to miss the show.
“What? Why-” Maria began, but Liz shushed her.
“Just watch,” she said imploringly, and Maria complied without further questions.
Chris reached Pam’s booth and suddenly lost his footing, slipping and sliding around. But he didn’t fall backwards onto his back as Pam had probably thought he would, he fell forwards and did a half-turn in mid air. Well, he did end up on his back as planed, but the rest didn’t go quite that well, at least from Pam’s point of view. The contents of the two glasses emptied themselves in mid-air, most of it landing on Pam herself, covering her face, hair and way too tight blouse, but a fair amount also ending up on Chris and Pam’s little crew of followers.
Liz and Maria looked at each other for a moment, both suddenly jumping up and dashing into the back where they broke out into hysterics. They were laughing so hard that they had trouble standing up, and so they leaned heavily onto each other, somehow managing not to fall to the ground.
“Oh my God!” Maria panted in between fits of giggles.
“Did you see that?” Liz exclaimed.
They could hear Pam screeching hysterically and Chris yelling and cussing, which only made them laugh harder.
Suddenly the door swung open again. “What’s going on here?” the familiar voice of Alex asked. “I leave town for a few days and all hell breaks loose?”
Liz and Maria turned around, still clutching on to each other, still laughing. “Chris came to the-” Liz managed to say.
“And Pam spilled some of her-” Maria squealed before going into hysterics again.
“And Chris went back-” Liz giggled.
“And then he slipped-” Maria gasped, but before she could finish the sentence she glanced at Liz and that was enough to set them both off again.
Alex scratched his head. “Thanks for filling me in,” he said sarcastically. “Now I know exactly what happened.”
“Sorry,” Liz said, finally calming down a bit. “It’s just-”
“You had to be there,” Maria finished.
“Absolutely,” Liz agreed.
“Definitely,” Maria added, giggling once more, getting Liz started again too.
Alex suddenly frowned. “What’s up with you two anyway?”
“What do you mean?” Maria asked not understanding.
“You made up?!” Alex half asked, half stated, clearly surprised.
“Made up?” Liz asked confused. “We were never fighting.”
“Yeah,” Maria agreed equally confused.
Alex just stared at them for a moment. “Let me get this straight. I try for weeks without success to get you two talking again and once I’m out of town for a few days you suddenly reconcile and act like nothing ever happened?!” he asked exasperated, actually rising his voice a bit.
Liz suddenly looked worried. “Alex, are you feeling okay?” she asked. Alex, upset? That never happened.
“Yeah,” Maria agreed, sounding equally worried. “You’re acting sort of…strange.”
Alex looked between Maria and Liz, completely aghast. They were pulling the Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde routine and he was acting strange?
“Alex, you okay?” Liz asked once more.
“You two…are giving me a headache,” he replied letting himself fall onto the couch.
“Aww, poor baby,” Maria said plopping down beside him putting her arm around his shoulders.
Liz took his other side. “Don’t worry sweetie, I know something that will make it all better,” she said soothingly, brushing her fingers through his hair.
She and Maria looked at each other. “Ice cream!” the both shouted at the same time.
tbc
Part 23
Liz was in the kitchen, finishing off a glass of milk, her third that evening. She’d always craved milk, partly probably because of the feline DNA in her cocktail, partly because of the stabilizing effect it had on her serotonin levels. But now it was like she couldn’t live without it. She was up to drinking more than half a gallon a day, tendency rising.
She stifled a yawn as she turned off the light in the kitchen and headed towards her room. It was Christmas Eve and already pretty late. She’d spent the evening with her parents playing board games and watching TV, an old family tradition. They would close the Crashdown early and spend the rest of the evening together, watching cheesy movies and drinking hot chocolate before going to the midnight service together.
Liz yawned again. She was tired, but it was the nice kind of tired. The kind where you were so relaxed that you were on the brink of drifting to sleep, not the one where you merely felt exhausted, burned out. And she was relaxed, feeling more at peace with the world than she had in weeks. Is was probably because Christmas vacation had started a few days ago, meaning there would be no more school for almost two more weeks.
Not that Liz didn’t like school. She loved it. At least she used to. Now…she was just so tired of it. She was tired of people staring at her, tired of hearing all the stupid rumors about herself, tired of people voicing this or that theory about how her “downfall” had come about. It was all so petty, so annoying…and as much as Liz tried to just ignore it, it was starting to get to her.
But she wouldn’t have to deal with all that crap for two weeks, and that thought alone was enough to bring a smile to her lips. She’d never been so happy about the start of vacation before.
Liz suddenly stopped in mid-track. Had she just heard something downstairs? She waited and listened but didn’t hear anything. Still, better go and check it out.
Automatically slipping into soldier mode she moved over to the apartment door, unlocked it and slowly let it swing open, careful not to make any noise. She crept down the stairs soundlessly, knowing exactly where they creaked when stepped on and therefore careful to avoid those spots.
Thanks to her night vision she had no problem seeing the room bellow, but nobody was there, it was empty. She continued down the stairs all the same, wanting to check out the diner and the break-room too. Just when she reached the bottom of the staircase the door leading out to the Crashdown suddenly swung open. And in came…
“Maria? What are you doing here?” Liz was…shocked. Maria was the last person she’d suspected to find here.
Maria seemed to be just as surprised to see Liz as Liz was to see Maria. She just stared at her for a second, her mouth opening and closing a few times, no sound ever coming out.
Then Liz’ gaze fell on the package in Maria’s hands.
“Well…um,” Maria stammered finding her voice again, but obviously still at loss of what to do with it. “Actually…I just came by to…drop this off,” she admitted, also staring at the parcel in her hands, trying hard not to look directly at Liz. She hesitantly handed it to Liz and after a moment of indecision turned around and headed for the exit.
For a second all Liz could do was stare at what she was holding. It was a box, wrapped in colorful paper with little snowmen on it that looked like aliens, tied up in silver and blue bows. It was a present.
Liz too found her voice again. “Maria, wait.”
She stopped, but didn’t turn around.
“Maria?” Liz pleaded.
She sighed and slowly turned around to face her best friend.
For a minute or so the two girls just stared at each other. It was Liz who finally broke the silence. “I miss you,” she whispered. “I…I want my best friend back.”
Maria just looked at her, but Liz was pretty sure that she saw tears glistering in her eyes. Since Maria obviously wasn’t going to say anything Liz continued speaking. “I need you right now ‘Ria, I need you so much.”
A small smile appeared on Maria’s lips upon hearing her childhood nickname again. Only Liz and Alex were still allowed to call her that, anybody else who wished to remain in one piece should better steer clear off it. It’s what her father used to call her, and when he’d left she’d refused to let anybody else use that nickname anymore, it simply held too many memories that she preferred not to think of. She made an exception for Alex and Liz though. They were family after all.
“I miss you too,” Maria admitted, her voice choked full with suppressed tears.
Liz wasn’t quite sure who made the first move, but a second later they were wrapped up in each other’s arms hugging each other tightly, both trying hard not to cry, Maria doing better at that than Liz. But then, Liz had cried watching a dippers commercial earlier that evening, so that didn’t necessarily say anything.
When they finally let go of each other Liz and Maria sat down on the steps leading up to the Parkers’ apartment, spending a long time just talking and catching up.
Liz made it clear that she really did want them to be friends again but that Maria had to understand that there were some things that she simply didn't want to talk about, at least not yet. That she was still trying to deal with it herself and that she needed time to figure it all out, alone. Her world was still spinning and upside-down, she needed to get a grip on it first. The whole town was already watching her, judging her, scrutinizing her every move, she didn’t want to feel like that when she was with her friends.
Maria wanted to object, but Liz pointed out that she’d acted in a similar way when her dad had left, and so Maria gave in and agreed to give her the space she was asking for.
“It’s late,” Maria finally said, standing up. “My mom’s probably going up the walls since I haven’t come home yet. I said I’d only be gone ten minutes. Better get going.”
“Wait a second,” Liz said before hurrying up the stairs to their apartment. A minute later she was back, a box in her hand, also wrapped in colorful paper. Only that this one had pictures of naughty little reindeers on it doing very x-rated things. Maria couldn’t help but giggle upon seeing it.
Liz handed it to her, a soft smile gracing her lips. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” Maria replied returning the smile.
~*~*~*~
Up in her room Liz tried to decide whether she should wait until the next day until she opened Maria’s present or do it right away. A glance at her alarm clock reminded her that it was already long past midnight and therefore technically already Christmas, and so without further ado she ripped off the wrapping and opened the box, too impatient to do it carefully.
Liz gasped, her hand flying up to her mouth to keep in the sobs that were threatening to spill out. Inside was the most beautiful little dress she’d ever seen. She picked it up to take a better look at it. It was white with puffy sleeves and frills and ribbons - it looked so cute. And so tiny. There was something else in the box. Matching white shoes. She’d never before seen shoes that small – they were so adorable.
Tears were starting to gather in her eyes when she noticed a piece of paper at the bottom of the box. Liz carefully unfolded it and started reading.
Dear Liz,
I know that things have been tense between us lately, and that we haven’t exactly been talking a lot. But it’s Christmas, the time of love and forgivness, and I want you to know that as far as I’m concerned you’re still my best friend and that I’ll always be there for you should you ever need me. I wish I knew what to do to make things better between us again, but I feel like no matter what I did, it would be wrong and only make things worse. And that’s the last thing I want right now.
I found out that the baby is a girl (the sheriff told my mom), and so I thought it would only be fitting to get her her first outfit. Just to keep Kyle from doing that and having her end up looking like Western Barbie, or Alex, who would without a doubt buy her something five sizes too big, insisting that that’s the way you wore things nowadays.
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your family, and Kyle, But I guess he’s part of the family now, right? I’m really happy for you, you know. Kyle has turned out to be a great guy. I hope you two have a wonderful future ahead of you, I wish you all the happiness in the world.
I miss you.
Love always,
Maria
Liz reread the note twice, torn between laughing and crying. Laughing because she had left a similar letter inside her present for Maria, crying because it was such a sweet note, coming straight from Maria’s heart no doubt. The crying of course won out, she was after all a slave to her hormones.
Tears still running down her cheeks Liz climbed into bed, but when sleep claimed her there was a smile on her lips.
~*~*~*~
The next afternoon Liz was in her room lying on her bed. She was supposed to be napping, but even though she was a bit tired it wasn’t nearly enough for her to actually fall asleep. Her parents were going a bit too far with the whole over-protective thing. But since it was Christmas she’d decided to humor them, at least this one time. Plus, she didn’t want to have one of those freaky energy-shortages again, especially now that Max was out of town for the entire vacation.
Her gaze drifted over to her desk where her presents were piled up. Her parents had gotten her so many things she almost felt guilty about it, especially after everything she’d put them through lately. There was all kinds of stuff for the baby from clothes to toys to a crib – her mother's old crib actually. Her grandmother had kept it, too sentimental to throw it away, and her father had spent the last week repainting it and making sure that it was still stable enough to ensure the safety of his grandchild.
But there were also things for her: maternity clothes that – to Liz’s big surprise – actually looked decent, books, some DVDs and CDs. Basically everything she would need to keep herself occupied later on in the pregnancy when, as her mother had put it, she’d be more than happy to stay off her feet as much as possible. Not that she had any experience with that herself.
Then her eyes fell on the things Kyle had gotten her – a book with every imaginable name on the planet, including those of the Star Wars Characters. Really, as if anybody in their right mind would name their kid Obi Wan. He’d also gotten her a teddy bear for the baby that would probably be twice as big as her once the infant was born and the most handsome necklace she’d ever seen, simply saying that it shouldn’t all be about the baby but that there should be something just for her too. It was an silver chain with a sparkling star set with little white stones dangling from it. It was beautiful.
And then there was a little pink cowboy hat. Liz had raised an eyebrow at Kyle upon opening that particular present but he had merely shrugged, a grin on his face, saying something about not being able to resist.
‘Guess Maria wasn’t so far off with Western Barbie,’ Liz thought chuckling to herself. He’d really gone out of his way this year, and spent way too much money in Liz’s opinion, but he’d waved it off, saying it was nothing.
Liz of course disagreed, but knowing only too well that Kyle preferred her not to make a fuss about it she let it go. He wasn’t a big one for grand emotional scenes, especially those that involved crying. And with Liz everything seemed to involve crying lately.
Liz leaned back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. As great as everybody was right now, and as happy she was that she and Maria had finally made up, there was still something missing. No big mystery what. Max.
They hadn’t as much as looked at each other ever since their impromptu kiss, not to mention talked to each other. And Liz hated that. She didn’t want their friendship to be in this state, non-existent basically, especially now that it was Christmas.
But Max was gone for the holidays, the Evans had left to visit some relatives in the north of New Mexico to spend the two weeks skiing. Meaning that he wouldn’t be back ‘til after New Years Eve.
Liz sighed. She didn’t want to call him, not knowing what to say, and not knowing how he’d react to that. She didn’t want to write him either. That was just too…impersonal. It was just something she’d have to do in person. But that meant waiting almost two more weeks. And that didn’t really work for her either. She just…had this urge to fix things, or at least try. Now.
Then she thought of something. She could just leave him a message on his answering machine. True, he probably wouldn’t hear it ‘til he was back, but she could still do it right away. She just wanted to get it off her chest.
Liz reached for her phone and dialed the number she’d memorized the day she’d gotten shot. As expected she just got his answering machine.
“Hi, it's Max...I'm not here right now, but please leave a message.”
Liz smiled upon hearing his voice and the familiar message. It was still the same one he’d had the first time she’d ever called him at home, back when Grandma Claudia had been at the hospital. It was nice to see that at least some things never changed.
She took a deep breath. “Um, hey Max, it’s Liz. I’m, uh, just calling to…um, wish you a merry Christmas. I know that you’re out of town right now but I just thought that maybe…” She took another deep breath to stop herself from rambling on. “Look, I hate the way things are between us right now. I hate you being angry with me. I know that you have every right to be, but…I just really wished we could go back to being friends. Because, believe it or not, our friendship means a lot to me. I’m aware of the fact that me kissing you was completely uncalled for and I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean t- I just wasn’t thinking. I hope some day you’ll be able to forgive me. Merry Christmas Max. I guess I’ll see you when you come back.”
Liz replaced the phone on its cradle, feeling somewhat better about the situation. She didn’t expect this to fix everything right away, but it was at least a step in the right direction.
~*~*~*~
A few days later Liz was down in the café, sitting at the counter chatting to Maria, who was working. They’d seen each other quite a few times ever since making up on Christmas Eve, and they’d been getting along great. Things weren’t quite like they used to be, but they were getting there.
“God, I hate that guy!” Maria said, venom in her voice. “Will you look at that? It’s disgusting!” Maria exclaimed throwing her hands into the air.
“What?” Liz asked coming out of her thoughts.
Maria gave her a pointed look. “Could you leave Kyle-land for a moment and join me here in the real world?” She tried to sound annoyed but didn’t quite succeed.
“I wasn’t-” Liz began, but Maria interrupted her.
“Oh God, that should be forbidden by law! That is forbidden by law! Eww, my eyes!” She quickly covered them up with her hands, shuddering violently.
“What?” Liz asked confused, turning around to see what Maria was talking about. Her eyes fell on Chris, the jock who ever since their little run-in a few weeks ago normally turned around and scampered off in the opposite direction whenever he saw her, sitting in one of the booths with one of the cheerleaders, Pam’s successor no doubt. Then she noticed what Maria had found so offensive to her delicate eyes. Miss Pom-Pom had taken one of her shoes off and was now playing footsy with Chris’…energy source. Or in his case, brain.
Liz scrunched up her face in disgust. “I did so not need to see that.”
“I here you, chica,” Maria muttered.
The bell above the Crashdown door jingled, announcing the arrival of another customer. Liz and Maria both glanced over at the door to see who it was, mainly out of habit, and let out a simultaneous groan as they saw Pam walking into the café, followed by her usual entourage of brain-dead hussies.
“Great,” Liz muttered, “My two favorite people gathered here together.”
But Maria’s eyes lit up. “Ooh, this is going to be interesting,” she said, suddenly sounding excited.
“What?!” Liz asked. Had Maria lost it?
“Don’t you remember Pam swearing revenge after Chris dumped her? This is bound to be it!” Maria said practically bouncing up and down. “Oh right, you weren’t at school that day,” she realized.
“No, no, it’s okay, Alex filled me in. Do you really think she’ll do something here, at the café?” Liz asked, almost liking the prospect of getting to witness that, even though she knew she shouldn’t. This was her parents’ diner after all. She didn’t want those two idiots to wreck havoc on it.
In the mean time Pam had stopped in front of the booth that was occupied by Chris and his newest conquest, one of Pam’s ex-admirers. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Mr. Two-Inch and his newest lapdog. Into my sloppy seconds now, Sandy?” Pam asked snidely, making sure that the whole café could hear her.
Liz and Maria sniggered as Chris’ face grew red. Pam didn’t seem so far off from the truth with her statement.
“Well, considering that you’ve pretty much gone through all the guys in a radius of fifty miles it’s sort of hard to find one that you haven’t thrown yourself at,” Sandy spat back.
Pam glowered at her for a moment before turning on her heel and walking to one of the booths in the back of the Crashdown, obviously having run out of nasty comments, at least for the moment.
Maria sniggered again. “What?” Liz asked, wondering what she’d missed now.
“Poodle Pam and Co. are sitting in Agnes’ section,” Maria explained grinning. “It will take hours before they’re served.”
Maria was right, and after ten minutes Pam sent one of her devotees over to the counter to order their drinks from Maria, obviously fed up with waiting. The girl was so eager to please, she jumped into action before Pam had even finished giving her order.
“Get a backbone,” Liz muttered under her breath, not even trying to keep her exasperation out of her voice. But the girl heard her and sent her a glare. Then she hurried back to the booth they occupied, the drinks in her hand, probably not wanting to keep Pam waiting a second longer than necessary.
Liz rolled her eyes. “Can you believe that?” she asked Maria. “How does Pam always find people who are even more stupid than her, willing to follow her around like little puppies and jump at her every demand?”
Maria shook her head sighing. “Beats me.” Looking up she groaned. “Ugh, not him.”
Liz turned around once more. Chris was coming there way. She suppressed groaning herself, silently agreeing with Maria.
“Hey Deluca, two Alien Blasts, one chocolate and one strawberry, pronto,” he barked out, but at the same time made sure to keep his distance from Liz.
“Rude much?” Maria muttered annoyed.
Liz frowned. Nobody treated her friends like that and got away with it. Deciding to have a little fun with Chris she abruptly whipped her head around in his’ direction, the sudden movement causing him to jump back in alarm, almost falling over one of the bar stools. Liz wanted to snigger, but she kept the stern expression on her face and raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a pointed look.
“Uh, I mean, um, please,” he added almost shaking from fear.
Maria interrupted fixing his drinks to give him a strange look. “Whatever,” she said before turning around and her attention back to the Alien Blasts.
“What are you doing?!” Liz suddenly heard someone whispering behind her, probably only thanks to her enhanced hearing. She turned her head slightly to see what was going on and witnessed Pam spilling some of her drink onto the floor next to her booth.
“Chris is going to have to walk past here, and when he does he’ll slip and end up covered in those two milk shakes,” she replied quietly, a smirk full of triumph on her face.
For a second Liz considered intervening, but Chris was already on the way back to his booth and so it was too late to do anything. So much to them not wrecking havoc on the diner.
“Don’t take your eyes off Chris,” she told Maria, not wanting her best friend to miss the show.
“What? Why-” Maria began, but Liz shushed her.
“Just watch,” she said imploringly, and Maria complied without further questions.
Chris reached Pam’s booth and suddenly lost his footing, slipping and sliding around. But he didn’t fall backwards onto his back as Pam had probably thought he would, he fell forwards and did a half-turn in mid air. Well, he did end up on his back as planed, but the rest didn’t go quite that well, at least from Pam’s point of view. The contents of the two glasses emptied themselves in mid-air, most of it landing on Pam herself, covering her face, hair and way too tight blouse, but a fair amount also ending up on Chris and Pam’s little crew of followers.
Liz and Maria looked at each other for a moment, both suddenly jumping up and dashing into the back where they broke out into hysterics. They were laughing so hard that they had trouble standing up, and so they leaned heavily onto each other, somehow managing not to fall to the ground.
“Oh my God!” Maria panted in between fits of giggles.
“Did you see that?” Liz exclaimed.
They could hear Pam screeching hysterically and Chris yelling and cussing, which only made them laugh harder.
Suddenly the door swung open again. “What’s going on here?” the familiar voice of Alex asked. “I leave town for a few days and all hell breaks loose?”
Liz and Maria turned around, still clutching on to each other, still laughing. “Chris came to the-” Liz managed to say.
“And Pam spilled some of her-” Maria squealed before going into hysterics again.
“And Chris went back-” Liz giggled.
“And then he slipped-” Maria gasped, but before she could finish the sentence she glanced at Liz and that was enough to set them both off again.
Alex scratched his head. “Thanks for filling me in,” he said sarcastically. “Now I know exactly what happened.”
“Sorry,” Liz said, finally calming down a bit. “It’s just-”
“You had to be there,” Maria finished.
“Absolutely,” Liz agreed.
“Definitely,” Maria added, giggling once more, getting Liz started again too.
Alex suddenly frowned. “What’s up with you two anyway?”
“What do you mean?” Maria asked not understanding.
“You made up?!” Alex half asked, half stated, clearly surprised.
“Made up?” Liz asked confused. “We were never fighting.”
“Yeah,” Maria agreed equally confused.
Alex just stared at them for a moment. “Let me get this straight. I try for weeks without success to get you two talking again and once I’m out of town for a few days you suddenly reconcile and act like nothing ever happened?!” he asked exasperated, actually rising his voice a bit.
Liz suddenly looked worried. “Alex, are you feeling okay?” she asked. Alex, upset? That never happened.
“Yeah,” Maria agreed, sounding equally worried. “You’re acting sort of…strange.”
Alex looked between Maria and Liz, completely aghast. They were pulling the Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde routine and he was acting strange?
“Alex, you okay?” Liz asked once more.
“You two…are giving me a headache,” he replied letting himself fall onto the couch.
“Aww, poor baby,” Maria said plopping down beside him putting her arm around his shoulders.
Liz took his other side. “Don’t worry sweetie, I know something that will make it all better,” she said soothingly, brushing her fingers through his hair.
She and Maria looked at each other. “Ice cream!” the both shouted at the same time.
tbc
Last edited by Calinia on Sun Aug 31, 2003 5:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
Tact is for people not witty enough to be sarcastic.
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
Okay, so here it finally is. Once again apologies for taking so long. Won't happen again...I hope. It's another lighter part, but the last one for quite some time I think. Enjoy!
Part 24
Liz, Maria and Alex were sprawled out on Liz’s bed, each with their particular bowl of ice cream – Vanilla for Liz, Cookies and Cream for Maria and Strawberry Shortcake for Alex. Before coming up to the Parkers’ apartment they’d helped Maria clean up the mess Chris and Pam had left in their wake, not taking too long since the bigger part of the two milkshakes had landed on Pam and Chris and not on the floor. Then they’d stayed with her for the remaining fifteen minutes of her shift before snagging some Ice Cream from the freezer and heading for Liz’s room.
Maria took off her antennas and threw them on the floor. “Liz, I love your dad, really, I do, but these outfits are ridiculous. I think I’m gonna demand a pay rise,” she muttered. Didn’t it go against basic human rights to make employees wear such hideous uniforms?
Liz and Alex merely rolled their eyes. They heard the pay-rise speech from Maria at least twice a week, and every time she came up with a new reason. Only the antennas were a recurring theme, Maria threatened to quite/demand a pay rise because of them at least once a week. But Alex and Liz knew exactly that Maria would not quite. She needed the money and the tips were good. Especially ever since she’d shortened her uniform a few weeks back. She’d spent too much time listening to Amy’s female-liberation-speeches one day and the next thing she knew was that she was exposing two more inches of her thighs to the hungry masses at the Crashdown. For some reason she suspected that that wasn’t quite what her mother had been getting at, but the money was good, so who was she to question the forces that had driven her towards it?
After Maria had discarded the most offending piece of her uniform they all settled onto Liz’s bed and stretched out, trying to get comfortable.
“So, Alex, I’m impressed,” Maria said while digging into her ice cream. “You finally realized how to handle Isabel. And pretending to date another girl…I have to hand it to you. Didn’t think you had it in you.”
“I’m not pretending anything,” Alex protested between spoonfuls of ice cream. God, he loved the stuff.
Maria let the spoon fall into her bowl, mouth open, not caring that half-melted ice cream splashed everywhere.
“What?!” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe it! You and Kara are really dating?! And you don’t tell me anything? Me! Your best friend?!”
“Woah DeLuca, cool it. I’m not dating anybody. Kara and I are just friends,” Alex said, scooting away from Maria so that he was out of her reach, just in case. They didn’t call her Hurricane Deluca for nothing.
Maria narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Just friends? Yeah, that’s what Liz here used to say about Kyle, and we all now how that ended. And if you’re just friends, what’s with all the late night rendezvous’ you two had going on last week?”
“Those weren’t rendezvous’,” Alex objected. “We were working on a project for our computer science class.”
Maria snorted. “That’s what they all say,” she muttered, clearly not believing him.
“Hey,” Alex protested. “Why are you busting my chops anyway?” he asked sulkily. “At least I didn’t keep the loss of my virginity a secret,” he added, hoping to get out of the spotlight. Not that he wanted to put Liz on the spot, but self-preservation came first, right?
Liz started choking on her ice cream as Maria turned to her. “You know, he does have a point,” she said.
“Um, no way,” Liz coughed. “We are so not discussing my love life,” she said while sending a glare in Alex’s direction. He simply smiled sweetly, glad that he had managed to divert Maria’s attention, knowing all too well that Liz wouldn’t stay mad at him for long. After all, who could resist the Whitman charm?
Liz was still shaking her head. Letting the whole town believe that she and Kyle were an item was one thing, but making up details about their non-existent sex life was out of question.
“Liz,” Maria whined. “You’re the only one who has one at the moment. Between Isabel going back to Ice Princess mode and Michael being a complete jerk, Alex and I are living like the nuns!”
“Um, hello?” Alex interrupted, sounding slightly offended. “Guy here?” he said pointing at himself.
“Whatever,” Maria said, dismissing him with a wave of her hand. “Come on Liz, throw us a bone. Are you guys still doing it?” she asked eagerly, a glint in her eyes that Liz did not like.
“No!” Liz shouted without thinking, the words out of her mouth before she could stop herself.
Maria looked puzzled. “Why not? I thought all those hormones whizzing through your body would make you horny as hell and have you two going at it all the time. Plus, you can’t get any more pregnant than you already are, now can you?”
“Uh…morning sickness!” Liz said, blurring out the first thing that came to her mind.
“Morning sickness?” Maria asked, not exactly sounding convinced.
“Yeah, you see, that’s what it’s called, but truth is, it can strike at any time of the day. And trust me, it does. Doesn’t exactly put you in the mood, you know?” Liz said, only half lying. The nausea had become even worse the past week, due to the rise in hormones as Liz had been informed by one of the zillion books about pregnancies she’d been reading.
“So, did it hurt?” Maria asked, a bit afraid to hear the answer. She didn’t notice Alex grimacing. He’d never been to keen on participating in Liz and Maria’s conversations about things that, in his opinion, no man should ever know about
“Um, a bit,” Liz stuttered, not knowing what else to tell her. It wasn’t like she actually knew what losing your virginity was like. And the way things looked, she’d never find out. That was gonna happen during the “joys” of birth, and she seriously doubted that she’d even notice the little sting – between having contractions and squeezing something the size of a melon out of a hole the size of a lemon, she was pretty sure she’d have other things to concentrate on.
“So, Michael is still a jerk,” Liz said, deciding that it was high time to change the subject, and Alex let out a sigh of relief.
Maria let herself plop back onto the pillow. “Yeah,” she sighed. “He’s been a complete ass ever since…I don’t know, forever. Last spring I guess. And then this whole Courtney-thing happened, and now I just want to kill him every time I see him.”
“What exactly happened with Courtney anyway?” Liz asked. Not that she wanted to bring up bad memories for Maria, but she knew her best friend, and she knew that sometimes she tended to blow things a tiny little bit out of proportion.
Maria shrugged. “I don’t really know. I wasn’t exactly eager to hear the details. Especially after the one time I caught him at her place and she was wearing nothing but a towel…” She trailed off. Recalling that day was the last thing she wanted to be doing right now.
Liz grimaced. She knew exactly what that felt like. The one time she’d caught Max and Tess in his room on the verge of kissing…the thought alone still made her sick to her stomach.
But still, Courtney had turned out to be a skin, and so chances were high that Michael, paranoid as he was, had had an ulterior motive when it came to spending time with Courtney.
“So you never heard his side of the story?” Liz asked Maria cautiously, knowing all to well that this question was bound to aggravate her friend.
Alex groaned, obviously having come to the same conclusion.
“His side?” Maria asked clearly upset. “His side?! What side? It’s as plain as the nose on your face what happened! Courtney threw herself at him like the good little whore she was and Michael tripped over his ego and fell for it! End of story! If he had a side he would have probably tried to make me hear it at one point or another. He didn’t, meaning he doesn’t have one, meaning he’s just a big a jerk as he wants the world to believe. Stone wall my ass…”
“But you still love him,” Liz said. It was a statement, not a question. Asking wasn’t necessary. It was abundantly clear that Maria was far from being over Michael. And as much as Liz loathed infidelity, she couldn’t help but think that maybe there was more to it than Maria was seeing. She was about to say something, but Maria started talking before she could even begin.
“Look Liz, I know that you’re only trying to help, but I really don’t want to discuss this. You don’t want to talk about Max, fine, but then you have to accept that I don’t want to talk about Michael.”
Liz sighed, agreeing reluctantly. Maria was right. She couldn’t force a conversation about Michael on her while insisting that Maria didn’t bring up Max. That wasn’t exactly fair. And it would without a doubt lead to Maria constantly nagging her about Max, something that Liz definitely didn’t want to risk. There friendship was just getting back on track again, she didn’t want to risk it being thrown off again because of her keeping secrets.
“So, uh, anyone want some more ice cream?” Alex asked hopefully, trying to lighten up the mood. Wasn’t this evening supposed to be fun?
~*~*~*~
Half an hour later the tension in the room had eased again and Maria, Alex and Liz were back to joking and laughing about Pam and Chris’ immense stupidity and voicing theories about what would happen next in the Roswell version of the war of the roses. Maria and Alex had both long since finished their ice cream, Alex now eating his second bowl, but Liz had hardly touched hers.
“This doesn’t taste right,” she mumbled to herself. Suddenly realizing what was missing, she jumped up and left the room.
Two seconds later Liz’s window was pushed open and Kyle stepped inside the room.
“Oh,” was all he said upon seeing Liz’s best friends lounging on her bed. The three of them hadn’t really talked ever since Liz’s pregnancy had become common knowledge, they normally avoided each other as much as possible. Now they just stared at each other, nobody knowing what to say, and so an uncomfortable silence settled over them.
“Uh, I think I’m just gonna…” Kyle began pointing at the window, but before he could leave again Liz came back into the room.
“Kyle!” she said, a smile lightening up her face. “I didn’t know you were coming over tonight. Wait, I’ll get you some ice cream too.”
Before Kyle could protest she was gone again, the uncomfortable silence once again penetrating the atmosphere. Kyle tried to think of something to say, and even though making smalltalk was normally not something he had problems with, the words just wouldn’t come to him.
Two minutes later Liz was back, a bowl of Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream for Kyle, and a collective sigh of relief from the three teenagers.
Kyle sat down on the bed next to Liz. For a minute or two nobody said anything. Kyle and Alex busied themselves eating their ice cream and Maria made a big deal out of licking her already clean spoon again for any traces of ice cream she might have missed the first three times. All she really wanted to do was strangle Kyle and lash out at him for getting her best friend in this awful, awful situation. But she knew that neither Kyle nor Liz would take kindly to that, Liz probably even less than Kyle, and so she held back, slowly counting to ten for the seventh time now, trying hard to calm down a bit.
Alex was a little more placid, even though deep down his sentiments were similar to Maria’s. But he had promised Liz that Kyle would not be getting any flack from him, and he intended to stick to that promise. The past couldn’t be changed, and upsetting Liz wouldn’t help matters either. What happened happened, and pointing the blame wouldn’t alter the situation.
Kyle once again tried to think of something to say, the silence was driving him crazy. But he came up with nothing. It was like his mind had gone completely blank. Then he noticed what Liz was eating.
“Vanilla ice cream with pizza?!” he exclaimed grimacing.
“Eww!” Maria said forgetting her anger upon being confronted with something equally horrible. Alex didn’t look all that taken by that concoction either.
”What?” Liz asked. “It’s good. Here, give it a shot,” she said scooping up some ice cream and a piece of cold pizza with her spoon and holding it up for somebody to try.
Kyle, Maria and Alex all shrank back, nobody having even the slightest intention of coming anywhere near that stuff. That had to be hazardous to your health, right? How could anybody even come up with the idea of mixing those two things?
“God Liz, this is even worse than the time you ate Cold Smoke sausage with chocolate chip cookie dough,” Kyle said, not even trying to hide his disgust.
“Smoke sausage with chocolate chip cookie dough?” Maria asked, the grimace on her face twisting up her features even more. “She ate that?” she asked, not wanting to believe it.
“Yup,” Kyle said, mock-shuddering. “And the other day I caught her eating toast with honey and mustard for breakfast,” Kyle told her.
Maria covered her face with a pillow, shuddering right along with Kyle. “Eww, eww, eww!” she exclaimed. “That is just wrong on so many levels!”
Alex only nodded in agreement. “Parker, I’ve heard about women eating weird stuff when they’re pregnant, but this should be outlawed. I’m never, ever going to be able to look at honey the same way again,” he said overdramatically, shaking his head and sighing heavily. Liz threw a pillow at him.
“Tell me about it,” Kyle muttered, earning himself a smack on the arm from Liz. “Ouch,” he grumbled while rubbing the sore spot. Mental note: never offend a pregnant transgenic while you’re in their reach.
“Hey!” Liz exclaimed. “Would you guys stop talking about me like I’m not in the room?” She tried to sound upset, but secretly she was pleased to see Kyle, Maria and Alex getting along. Even if it was at her own expense.
Kyle ignored her. “But actually, her eating habits aren’t that bad. At least not compared to the havoc her hormones are wrecking on her...emotional state,” he said, choosing his last words carefully. Liz could after all easily kick his ass, pregnancy or no pregnancy. He’d just gotten a reminder of that two seconds ago.
Liz gasped and tried to look outraged while Maria scooted closer to Kyle. “Care to elaborate on that?” she asked grinning, partly because she wanted to know, partly because she wanted to see Kyle stick his foot in his mouth. Alex scooted farther away from Liz. He didn’t want to be the only one in her reach. She was awfully strong for someone so small.
“Well, the other day she was close to tears after watching a Barbie commercial,” Kyle began, but Liz interrupted him.
“Hey, that commercial was adorable! There was Barbie, and Ken, and their baby twins, and they were going on a road trip to…” She broke off when she noticed that everybody was trying hard to hold back their laughter, none of them really succeeding.
She sat back with a huff. “Fine, laugh all you want,” she said pouting.
“I’m sorry, chica,” Maria said. “I didn’t mean to laugh at you,” she said apologizing. “I just couldn’t help it,” she went on, cracking up again.
Liz glared at her.
“But hey, if you think this is bad you should have seen the state she was in after watching Bambi,” Kyle went on chuckling. “When I came into the room she was crying so hard I was convinced somebody had died. It wasn’t until ten minutes and a small panic attack on my side later that I found the casing of the video that I started to realize what I was going on. It took her another twenty minutes to calm down again.”
Alex started laughing. “Parker, not even I cried while watching Bambi!” he exclaimed.
“Yes, you did,” Maria said.
Alex frowned at her. “Well, not in the past five years, I didn’t,” he said sulkily.
“That’s because you haven’t watched it ever since,” Maria pointed out.
It was Alex’s turn to sit back with a huff and pout. Kyle couldn’t help cracking up at that one. As much as he wanted to get along with Liz’s friends, there was only so much self control he had. Alex simply glared at him.
The friendly bickering and bantering went on for another hour or so. Kyle finally got up after having yawned at least ten times. He hadn’t exactly been getting a lot of sleep the past weeks and it was starting to take its toll on him. After promising Liz that he’d come by the next day for brunch he gave her a kiss on the cheek, said goodbye to Maria and Alex and disappeared through the window.
“He’s being really sweet, huh?” Maria asked after a short moment of silence.
“Yeah,” Liz said smiling softly. “He’s been great.”
“Look Liz, I know I gave you a hard time back when you were dating, and after I found out that you…anyway, I just want you to know that I’m beginning to see what you see in him, and that I’m happy for you. I really am.”
Liz teared up, and for once she wasn’t so sure if it was due to her hormones. “Thank you,” she whispered pulling Maria into a hug. It meant a lot to her that Maria and Alex were getting along with Kyle, especially since Kyle was such a big part of her life, now more than ever.
When Maria pulled back Liz could see tears glistering in her friends eyes too, making hers come even quicker.
“Oh no you don’t!” Alex practically wailed while jumping up. “No crying now! Come on guys, you know I can’t watch you cry. Please?” he begged. But to no avail. Liz was in no position to keep her tears under control, and Maria, even though she was smiling, wasn’t doing a very good job either.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Alex said. He grabbed Maria’s arm and pulled her up. “It’s late, we’re tired, we’re leaving,” he told Maria pointedly while dragging her to the door.
“Goodnight!” Maria called out, already half way out the room.
“Goodnight!” Liz replied laughing. Alex could be such a cornball.
Two seconds later he rushed back into the room, gave her a quick kiss on her forehead, said goodnight, and then he was gone.
tbc
Part 24
Liz, Maria and Alex were sprawled out on Liz’s bed, each with their particular bowl of ice cream – Vanilla for Liz, Cookies and Cream for Maria and Strawberry Shortcake for Alex. Before coming up to the Parkers’ apartment they’d helped Maria clean up the mess Chris and Pam had left in their wake, not taking too long since the bigger part of the two milkshakes had landed on Pam and Chris and not on the floor. Then they’d stayed with her for the remaining fifteen minutes of her shift before snagging some Ice Cream from the freezer and heading for Liz’s room.
Maria took off her antennas and threw them on the floor. “Liz, I love your dad, really, I do, but these outfits are ridiculous. I think I’m gonna demand a pay rise,” she muttered. Didn’t it go against basic human rights to make employees wear such hideous uniforms?
Liz and Alex merely rolled their eyes. They heard the pay-rise speech from Maria at least twice a week, and every time she came up with a new reason. Only the antennas were a recurring theme, Maria threatened to quite/demand a pay rise because of them at least once a week. But Alex and Liz knew exactly that Maria would not quite. She needed the money and the tips were good. Especially ever since she’d shortened her uniform a few weeks back. She’d spent too much time listening to Amy’s female-liberation-speeches one day and the next thing she knew was that she was exposing two more inches of her thighs to the hungry masses at the Crashdown. For some reason she suspected that that wasn’t quite what her mother had been getting at, but the money was good, so who was she to question the forces that had driven her towards it?
After Maria had discarded the most offending piece of her uniform they all settled onto Liz’s bed and stretched out, trying to get comfortable.
“So, Alex, I’m impressed,” Maria said while digging into her ice cream. “You finally realized how to handle Isabel. And pretending to date another girl…I have to hand it to you. Didn’t think you had it in you.”
“I’m not pretending anything,” Alex protested between spoonfuls of ice cream. God, he loved the stuff.
Maria let the spoon fall into her bowl, mouth open, not caring that half-melted ice cream splashed everywhere.
“What?!” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe it! You and Kara are really dating?! And you don’t tell me anything? Me! Your best friend?!”
“Woah DeLuca, cool it. I’m not dating anybody. Kara and I are just friends,” Alex said, scooting away from Maria so that he was out of her reach, just in case. They didn’t call her Hurricane Deluca for nothing.
Maria narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Just friends? Yeah, that’s what Liz here used to say about Kyle, and we all now how that ended. And if you’re just friends, what’s with all the late night rendezvous’ you two had going on last week?”
“Those weren’t rendezvous’,” Alex objected. “We were working on a project for our computer science class.”
Maria snorted. “That’s what they all say,” she muttered, clearly not believing him.
“Hey,” Alex protested. “Why are you busting my chops anyway?” he asked sulkily. “At least I didn’t keep the loss of my virginity a secret,” he added, hoping to get out of the spotlight. Not that he wanted to put Liz on the spot, but self-preservation came first, right?
Liz started choking on her ice cream as Maria turned to her. “You know, he does have a point,” she said.
“Um, no way,” Liz coughed. “We are so not discussing my love life,” she said while sending a glare in Alex’s direction. He simply smiled sweetly, glad that he had managed to divert Maria’s attention, knowing all too well that Liz wouldn’t stay mad at him for long. After all, who could resist the Whitman charm?
Liz was still shaking her head. Letting the whole town believe that she and Kyle were an item was one thing, but making up details about their non-existent sex life was out of question.
“Liz,” Maria whined. “You’re the only one who has one at the moment. Between Isabel going back to Ice Princess mode and Michael being a complete jerk, Alex and I are living like the nuns!”
“Um, hello?” Alex interrupted, sounding slightly offended. “Guy here?” he said pointing at himself.
“Whatever,” Maria said, dismissing him with a wave of her hand. “Come on Liz, throw us a bone. Are you guys still doing it?” she asked eagerly, a glint in her eyes that Liz did not like.
“No!” Liz shouted without thinking, the words out of her mouth before she could stop herself.
Maria looked puzzled. “Why not? I thought all those hormones whizzing through your body would make you horny as hell and have you two going at it all the time. Plus, you can’t get any more pregnant than you already are, now can you?”
“Uh…morning sickness!” Liz said, blurring out the first thing that came to her mind.
“Morning sickness?” Maria asked, not exactly sounding convinced.
“Yeah, you see, that’s what it’s called, but truth is, it can strike at any time of the day. And trust me, it does. Doesn’t exactly put you in the mood, you know?” Liz said, only half lying. The nausea had become even worse the past week, due to the rise in hormones as Liz had been informed by one of the zillion books about pregnancies she’d been reading.
“So, did it hurt?” Maria asked, a bit afraid to hear the answer. She didn’t notice Alex grimacing. He’d never been to keen on participating in Liz and Maria’s conversations about things that, in his opinion, no man should ever know about
“Um, a bit,” Liz stuttered, not knowing what else to tell her. It wasn’t like she actually knew what losing your virginity was like. And the way things looked, she’d never find out. That was gonna happen during the “joys” of birth, and she seriously doubted that she’d even notice the little sting – between having contractions and squeezing something the size of a melon out of a hole the size of a lemon, she was pretty sure she’d have other things to concentrate on.
“So, Michael is still a jerk,” Liz said, deciding that it was high time to change the subject, and Alex let out a sigh of relief.
Maria let herself plop back onto the pillow. “Yeah,” she sighed. “He’s been a complete ass ever since…I don’t know, forever. Last spring I guess. And then this whole Courtney-thing happened, and now I just want to kill him every time I see him.”
“What exactly happened with Courtney anyway?” Liz asked. Not that she wanted to bring up bad memories for Maria, but she knew her best friend, and she knew that sometimes she tended to blow things a tiny little bit out of proportion.
Maria shrugged. “I don’t really know. I wasn’t exactly eager to hear the details. Especially after the one time I caught him at her place and she was wearing nothing but a towel…” She trailed off. Recalling that day was the last thing she wanted to be doing right now.
Liz grimaced. She knew exactly what that felt like. The one time she’d caught Max and Tess in his room on the verge of kissing…the thought alone still made her sick to her stomach.
But still, Courtney had turned out to be a skin, and so chances were high that Michael, paranoid as he was, had had an ulterior motive when it came to spending time with Courtney.
“So you never heard his side of the story?” Liz asked Maria cautiously, knowing all to well that this question was bound to aggravate her friend.
Alex groaned, obviously having come to the same conclusion.
“His side?” Maria asked clearly upset. “His side?! What side? It’s as plain as the nose on your face what happened! Courtney threw herself at him like the good little whore she was and Michael tripped over his ego and fell for it! End of story! If he had a side he would have probably tried to make me hear it at one point or another. He didn’t, meaning he doesn’t have one, meaning he’s just a big a jerk as he wants the world to believe. Stone wall my ass…”
“But you still love him,” Liz said. It was a statement, not a question. Asking wasn’t necessary. It was abundantly clear that Maria was far from being over Michael. And as much as Liz loathed infidelity, she couldn’t help but think that maybe there was more to it than Maria was seeing. She was about to say something, but Maria started talking before she could even begin.
“Look Liz, I know that you’re only trying to help, but I really don’t want to discuss this. You don’t want to talk about Max, fine, but then you have to accept that I don’t want to talk about Michael.”
Liz sighed, agreeing reluctantly. Maria was right. She couldn’t force a conversation about Michael on her while insisting that Maria didn’t bring up Max. That wasn’t exactly fair. And it would without a doubt lead to Maria constantly nagging her about Max, something that Liz definitely didn’t want to risk. There friendship was just getting back on track again, she didn’t want to risk it being thrown off again because of her keeping secrets.
“So, uh, anyone want some more ice cream?” Alex asked hopefully, trying to lighten up the mood. Wasn’t this evening supposed to be fun?
~*~*~*~
Half an hour later the tension in the room had eased again and Maria, Alex and Liz were back to joking and laughing about Pam and Chris’ immense stupidity and voicing theories about what would happen next in the Roswell version of the war of the roses. Maria and Alex had both long since finished their ice cream, Alex now eating his second bowl, but Liz had hardly touched hers.
“This doesn’t taste right,” she mumbled to herself. Suddenly realizing what was missing, she jumped up and left the room.
Two seconds later Liz’s window was pushed open and Kyle stepped inside the room.
“Oh,” was all he said upon seeing Liz’s best friends lounging on her bed. The three of them hadn’t really talked ever since Liz’s pregnancy had become common knowledge, they normally avoided each other as much as possible. Now they just stared at each other, nobody knowing what to say, and so an uncomfortable silence settled over them.
“Uh, I think I’m just gonna…” Kyle began pointing at the window, but before he could leave again Liz came back into the room.
“Kyle!” she said, a smile lightening up her face. “I didn’t know you were coming over tonight. Wait, I’ll get you some ice cream too.”
Before Kyle could protest she was gone again, the uncomfortable silence once again penetrating the atmosphere. Kyle tried to think of something to say, and even though making smalltalk was normally not something he had problems with, the words just wouldn’t come to him.
Two minutes later Liz was back, a bowl of Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream for Kyle, and a collective sigh of relief from the three teenagers.
Kyle sat down on the bed next to Liz. For a minute or two nobody said anything. Kyle and Alex busied themselves eating their ice cream and Maria made a big deal out of licking her already clean spoon again for any traces of ice cream she might have missed the first three times. All she really wanted to do was strangle Kyle and lash out at him for getting her best friend in this awful, awful situation. But she knew that neither Kyle nor Liz would take kindly to that, Liz probably even less than Kyle, and so she held back, slowly counting to ten for the seventh time now, trying hard to calm down a bit.
Alex was a little more placid, even though deep down his sentiments were similar to Maria’s. But he had promised Liz that Kyle would not be getting any flack from him, and he intended to stick to that promise. The past couldn’t be changed, and upsetting Liz wouldn’t help matters either. What happened happened, and pointing the blame wouldn’t alter the situation.
Kyle once again tried to think of something to say, the silence was driving him crazy. But he came up with nothing. It was like his mind had gone completely blank. Then he noticed what Liz was eating.
“Vanilla ice cream with pizza?!” he exclaimed grimacing.
“Eww!” Maria said forgetting her anger upon being confronted with something equally horrible. Alex didn’t look all that taken by that concoction either.
”What?” Liz asked. “It’s good. Here, give it a shot,” she said scooping up some ice cream and a piece of cold pizza with her spoon and holding it up for somebody to try.
Kyle, Maria and Alex all shrank back, nobody having even the slightest intention of coming anywhere near that stuff. That had to be hazardous to your health, right? How could anybody even come up with the idea of mixing those two things?
“God Liz, this is even worse than the time you ate Cold Smoke sausage with chocolate chip cookie dough,” Kyle said, not even trying to hide his disgust.
“Smoke sausage with chocolate chip cookie dough?” Maria asked, the grimace on her face twisting up her features even more. “She ate that?” she asked, not wanting to believe it.
“Yup,” Kyle said, mock-shuddering. “And the other day I caught her eating toast with honey and mustard for breakfast,” Kyle told her.
Maria covered her face with a pillow, shuddering right along with Kyle. “Eww, eww, eww!” she exclaimed. “That is just wrong on so many levels!”
Alex only nodded in agreement. “Parker, I’ve heard about women eating weird stuff when they’re pregnant, but this should be outlawed. I’m never, ever going to be able to look at honey the same way again,” he said overdramatically, shaking his head and sighing heavily. Liz threw a pillow at him.
“Tell me about it,” Kyle muttered, earning himself a smack on the arm from Liz. “Ouch,” he grumbled while rubbing the sore spot. Mental note: never offend a pregnant transgenic while you’re in their reach.
“Hey!” Liz exclaimed. “Would you guys stop talking about me like I’m not in the room?” She tried to sound upset, but secretly she was pleased to see Kyle, Maria and Alex getting along. Even if it was at her own expense.
Kyle ignored her. “But actually, her eating habits aren’t that bad. At least not compared to the havoc her hormones are wrecking on her...emotional state,” he said, choosing his last words carefully. Liz could after all easily kick his ass, pregnancy or no pregnancy. He’d just gotten a reminder of that two seconds ago.
Liz gasped and tried to look outraged while Maria scooted closer to Kyle. “Care to elaborate on that?” she asked grinning, partly because she wanted to know, partly because she wanted to see Kyle stick his foot in his mouth. Alex scooted farther away from Liz. He didn’t want to be the only one in her reach. She was awfully strong for someone so small.
“Well, the other day she was close to tears after watching a Barbie commercial,” Kyle began, but Liz interrupted him.
“Hey, that commercial was adorable! There was Barbie, and Ken, and their baby twins, and they were going on a road trip to…” She broke off when she noticed that everybody was trying hard to hold back their laughter, none of them really succeeding.
She sat back with a huff. “Fine, laugh all you want,” she said pouting.
“I’m sorry, chica,” Maria said. “I didn’t mean to laugh at you,” she said apologizing. “I just couldn’t help it,” she went on, cracking up again.
Liz glared at her.
“But hey, if you think this is bad you should have seen the state she was in after watching Bambi,” Kyle went on chuckling. “When I came into the room she was crying so hard I was convinced somebody had died. It wasn’t until ten minutes and a small panic attack on my side later that I found the casing of the video that I started to realize what I was going on. It took her another twenty minutes to calm down again.”
Alex started laughing. “Parker, not even I cried while watching Bambi!” he exclaimed.
“Yes, you did,” Maria said.
Alex frowned at her. “Well, not in the past five years, I didn’t,” he said sulkily.
“That’s because you haven’t watched it ever since,” Maria pointed out.
It was Alex’s turn to sit back with a huff and pout. Kyle couldn’t help cracking up at that one. As much as he wanted to get along with Liz’s friends, there was only so much self control he had. Alex simply glared at him.
The friendly bickering and bantering went on for another hour or so. Kyle finally got up after having yawned at least ten times. He hadn’t exactly been getting a lot of sleep the past weeks and it was starting to take its toll on him. After promising Liz that he’d come by the next day for brunch he gave her a kiss on the cheek, said goodbye to Maria and Alex and disappeared through the window.
“He’s being really sweet, huh?” Maria asked after a short moment of silence.
“Yeah,” Liz said smiling softly. “He’s been great.”
“Look Liz, I know I gave you a hard time back when you were dating, and after I found out that you…anyway, I just want you to know that I’m beginning to see what you see in him, and that I’m happy for you. I really am.”
Liz teared up, and for once she wasn’t so sure if it was due to her hormones. “Thank you,” she whispered pulling Maria into a hug. It meant a lot to her that Maria and Alex were getting along with Kyle, especially since Kyle was such a big part of her life, now more than ever.
When Maria pulled back Liz could see tears glistering in her friends eyes too, making hers come even quicker.
“Oh no you don’t!” Alex practically wailed while jumping up. “No crying now! Come on guys, you know I can’t watch you cry. Please?” he begged. But to no avail. Liz was in no position to keep her tears under control, and Maria, even though she was smiling, wasn’t doing a very good job either.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Alex said. He grabbed Maria’s arm and pulled her up. “It’s late, we’re tired, we’re leaving,” he told Maria pointedly while dragging her to the door.
“Goodnight!” Maria called out, already half way out the room.
“Goodnight!” Liz replied laughing. Alex could be such a cornball.
Two seconds later he rushed back into the room, gave her a quick kiss on her forehead, said goodnight, and then he was gone.
tbc
Tact is for people not witty enough to be sarcastic.
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
Hey guys, sorry for the wait. I know, I'm beginning to sound like a broken record. I'm really sorry that updates aren't as frequent as they used to be , I just don't have that much time to write anymore. I'm not gonna promise that that will change, but I promise that I'll try. Well, hope you like the part. It's still pretty fluffy, but things won't stay like this for long. It's more like the calm before the storm with the new year approaching and everything changing once it's here. But more to that in the next part... For now, enjoy!
Part 25
Liz was sitting on her balcony, slightly detached from the others. They were all talking and laughing and waiting for the new year to finally begin, but somehow Liz didn’t feel like joining in. Normally New Year’s Eve was one of Liz’s favorite holidays, but this year it just wasn’t the same. She wasn’t exactly looking forward to the new year with all the worries and possible threats it would undoubtedly bring with it. Liz was not stupid enough to think that whoever was responsible for her pregnancy would just let her live happily ever after with her baby now. She didn’t understand why they had just returned her to her room in the first place, but she knew exactly that they would be back for her, or her baby, or both. Liz shivered at the thought, and her resolve hardened even more. Nobody would lay hand on her daughter, no matter what.
But there was something else that was dampening her mood, beside the obvious things that came with being a pregnant virgin. Something that involved a certain dark-haired alien who happened to be a few hundred miles away from her right now.
Liz sighed, willing those thoughts away as she studied her friends. Kyle was talking to Jason, Kara’s cousin, who was in town for the holidays. Probably about sports, Liz decided, going by the animated way Kyle was talking and the wild gesticulation with his arms. Maria, Alex and Kara were also talking, the two girls laughing and Alex trying to look offended and at the same time fighting a grin. Liz smiled. Good old Alex, he could never be mad at anyone, even if he tried.
Kara and Jason had been down at the Crashdown earlier that evening, and when the ridiculous let’s-pretend-it’s-midnight-at-ten-thirty-thing was over Alex had invited them up to Liz’s balcony to watch the fireworks and celebrate the real beginning of the new year with them.
It was an old tradition between Maria, Alex and Liz to spend New Year’s Eve together on Liz’s balcony. They’d sit around watching the fireworks and dreaming up all the amazing things that might happen to them in the year to come. But this year was the first time that Kyle was there too and so Liz had jumped at the opportunity to have some other people joining them as well to ease the tension a bit.
Kyle, Maria and Alex got along surprisingly well, but Liz was pretty sure that that was more for her sake than anything else. And she really didn’t want New Year’s Eve to mark the end of the ceasefire. Hence, the more people the better. Liz knew that they could all be friends if they’d just give each other a chance, but she also knew that Maria resented Kyle for getting her pregnant, as did Alex.
And that’s exactly what frustrated Liz so much – Kyle hadn’t done a single thing wrong, and yet he was getting all the heat from people. He had closed himself off from a lot of his former friends, he was getting stupid comments no matter where he went, not to mention the guidance counselor at school that kept trying to lure him into her office to “discuss his future”.
Not that she didn’t in a way understand Maria. She would be upset too if Michael got Maria pregnant, but she wouldn’t let it out on Michael. And Alex was just being his over-protective self, something Liz normally found cute and endearing, but not in this case.
What had her mother said when she’d talked to her about the situation? To give Maria and Alex time, that they’d eventually come around and accept Kyle as the wonderful person that he was. Liz sighed. She wished she had as much confident as her mom did.
Maria squealed, ripping Liz out of her thoughts. She reluctantly got up, knowing that she should join her friends before her sitting by herself raised any suspicions. She didn’t want any of them worrying about her, least of all Kyle, the person who was the most likely to notice that something was wrong. And so she got up and went over to Maria, Kara and Alex, taking the bowl of popcorn with her to offer some to them and have a reason why she was over at the other side of the balcony by herself. She was getting the popcorn, plain and simple.
Liz sighed. This was going to be a long night.
~*~*~*~
“Having a nice evening?” Kyle asked Liz coming up beside her. She was once again standing a bit offside, listening to Maria, Kara and Alex talking. She laughed at the appropriate times, smiled in between, and threw in little two-word comments every now and then, making it look like she was actually participating in the conversation. The three of them didn’t seem to notice, but Kyle obviously had.
“Yeah,” Liz said, smiling brightly at him.
Kyle hesitated a moment before also smiling. “Good. Look, I’m gonna head home now. Tess is all alone with the Evans’ being out of town for the holiday, and I feel bad leaving her all by herself.”
“Sure,” Liz replied, understanding why he wanted to leave. If Max were in town and they were on speaking terms, she would want to be with him too right now. She knew that Kyle had invited Tess to join them and that she had declined after sending a frosty glare in Liz’s direction, saying something about being tired without even trying to make it come across believable. Sometimes enhanced hearing really sucked.
“I’ll swing by tomorrow, okay?” Kyle asked. Liz nodded, and so Kyle gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, said goodbye to the others, and left through Liz’s window.
Liz turned back to Maria and Kara right when her cell phone started ringing. She dug it out of the pocket of her baggy pants, and when she glanced at the display she almost dropped it. Max was calling her.
~*~*~*~
Tess was sitting on the couch in the living room watching “Dinner for One”. Max had recommended it to her, saying he was sure she would like it, and so she’d decided to give it a try. It wasn’t like she had anything better to do anyway.
To her surprise he had actually been right, she did like it. It was funny. Not exactly intellectually demanding, but still amusing. Only problem was, she wasn’t really in the mood for humor. Her thoughts kept drifting away, across town to be exact, to a certain balcony where a certain brown-haired cohabitant of hers was celebrating New Year’s Eve with his girlfriend. That thought alone was enough to make it impossible for her to concentrate on what she was watching, not to mention enjoy it. Then there was her appetite, more often lacking than not, which explained the untouched bowl of popcorn resting beside her.
Tess sighed while sinking even more into the pillows. Were they kissing right now? Hugging? Holding hands? Or had the others maybe already left and they were-
She stood up from the couch abruptly, throwing the remote off her lap without even noticing it.
She was going crazy here. She was always going crazy whenever Kyle was with her. Not that she’d ever admit that to anyone – Max included – but the thought of Liz and Kyle together was enough to make her want to rip her hair out. She couldn’t get this picture of them kissing and touching out of her mind, and it drove her insane. She hated it so much. The jealousy, the anger…she never had to deal with this crap before she came to Roswell. And if it weren’t for Max she probably wouldn’t have to anymore, she’d have left a long time ago.
Oh, who was she trying to fool? Of course she wouldn’t have left. Kyle was here after all. And as much as it tortured her to know that Kyle was with Liz, always would be probably, being away from him would be even worse. This way she at least had him as a friend. And that was better than not having him at all, right?
Tess sighed. She didn’t know. Was it better? Why was she so unwilling to give up on something so completely and utterly hopeless anyway? Oh right, it was the story of her life. First Max, now Kyle – why break the cycle? She seemed to enjoy being rejected. Why else was she always getting herself into these inane situations? Was she just miss-programmed? Was there some screw-up the lovely scientists from her lovely planet had mistakenly put into her lovely DNA? That sure would explain a lot.
Tess rolled her eyes at herself before shuffling over into the kitchen to get herself something to drink. It really sucked that Max was gone, especially now during the holidays. Everybody in this town seemed to be going crazy with Christmas and New Year’s, it would have been sorta nice to have at least one normal person around.
Besides, she missed him. She was so used to being around him all the time, to seeing him every day, she didn’t know what to do with all her free time now that he was gone. What had she done with her time before Max and her had grown so close anyway? She couldn’t remember. It didn’t matter anyway. Looking back, everything she used to do seemed so pointless. Like mooning over Max. What had she been thinking? The better she got to know Max, the less she could believe that there had actually been a time when she had wanted to follow destiny and be with him.
Max and her had grown close over the past few weeks, really close. Tess would have never in a million years expected this, but Max was actually her best friend. Something almost like a brother. She loved him like one. She cared for him. She trusted him. And with him gone there was something missing from her life.
But that’s where it ended. That’s where it had always ended. She just hadn’t known it. She had mistaken her shallow, practically non-existent feelings for Max with love, mainly because it was what she had been told all her life. And her deep, honest affection for Kyle had been nothing but mere physical attraction in her eyes. God, had she been stupid.
Tess leaned back against the counter, opened her can of diet coke, and after pouring a generous amount of Tabasco Sauce into it took a sip. Then the front door suddenly opened and she almost dropped the can. Was Jim already home? But he was out with Amy, what was he already doing here? Had the date not gone as planed? Well, duh, he wouldn’t be home otherwise.
Deciding that she should go see what was going on and if he was okay she went over to the living room. Reaching it, Tess couldn’t believe her eyes. Kyle was home. Her can slipped from her fingers and went sailing to the floor…
~*~*~*~
Liz somehow managed to not drop her phone. After being frozen into place for a few seconds, too shocked to react, she jumped into action and quickly hopped through the window into her room, rushed over to her bathroom and locked the door behind her.
“Hello?” she panted after pressing the button to accept the call.
“Liz?” Max said loudly, his voice almost drowned out by the background noises.
“Yes?” she replied.
“I can hardly hear you!” Max called.
“I can hardly hear you too!” Liz replied.
“Isabel dragged me to some party, it’s really loud here!” Max explained.
“Oh,” Liz replied.
Max took a deep breath. “I just…” he began. “I got your message.”
“What?!” Liz asked.
“I got your message!” Max repeated a bit louder.
“Oh,” Liz said, suddenly feeling a know form in her stomach.
“What?” Max asked.
“Nothing,” Liz said, her voice shaking slightly.
“Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I’m not mad at you, and that I’m sorry for giving you the impression that I was,” Max continued.
“What did you say? I didn’t get it past the you wanted to tell me something part!” Liz said. Damn enhanced hearing – she heard every stupid comment made about her in a five-hundred yard radius but it didn’t help shit when it came to understanding what Max was saying.
“I said I’m not mad at you!”
“You’re not?” Liz asked, the knot in her stomach suddenly turning into a flock of butterflies.
“No,” Max said, still not really understanding why she’d thought that in the first place.
“Why?” Liz asked sounding a bit astonished.
“What?” Max asked, cursing Isabel for the tenth time since this conversation had begun. Why did she have to force him to this party, and why did it have to be so damn loud here?
“I said why!” Liz repeated.
“What why?” Max asked.
“Why aren’t you mad at me?” Liz asked confused. After everything she’d done, how could he not be upset?
“Why should I be mad at you?” Max asked confused. It’s not like she’d done anything that could be a reason for him being angry with her.
“There are a million reasons!” Liz insisted.
“What?” Max asked. Damn this party…
Liz sighed. God, was this frustrating. “Nothing. I’m glad that you’re not mad at me,” she told him, and even over the phone and the noise Max could tell that she was smiling.
“Look, maybe we should discuss this when I’m back,” Max suggested on a whim, holding his breath whole waiting for her answer.
Liz’s smile widened. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” she said trying not to sound to eager. “This conversation isn’t really getting us anywhere.”
“What did you say?” Max asked, starting to feel really stupid for making Liz repeat every second sentence.
“My point exactly,” Liz muttered. “Nothing,” she said a bit louder. How about we get together once you’re back and we can talk about…things.”
“Sounds good,” Max agreed.
“Okay.”
“Happy New Year Liz,” Max said softly, but for some reason Liz had absolutely no problem understanding him this time.
“Happy New Year, Max,” Liz replied equally softly, knowing that Max would also understand her. He did.
~*~*~*~
“Kyle!” Tess said surprised. What was he doing here? It wasn’t even midnight. Then she glanced at the floor and the pool of coke that was leaving an ugly stain on the carpet. She bent down and cleaned it up with a wave of her hand, thankful for the distraction as well as the chance to compose herself a bit.
Why the hell wasn’t he spending midnight with his girlfriend? She was the mother of his unborn child! And it was New Year’s Eve for god’s sake! Had they fought?
Tess was ashamed to admit it, but that thought brought her a queer sense of satisfaction. It’s not that she didn’t want Kyle to be happy, and Liz obviously made him happy, but that didn’t change the fact that a part of her wanted him for herself. A part of her? Hell, all of her. She didn’t want him to leave Liz now that she was pregnant, and she knew that he would never do that, especially considering that his own mother had abandoned him, but that didn’t make her longing go away.
“What are you doing here?” Tess asked, trying to keep the astonishment out of her voice.
“I thought I’d call it a night a bit earlier today,” Kyle replied vaguely.
“Kyle, it’s New Year’s Eve,” Tess pointed out disbelievingly. “Nobody calls it a night early.”
“Well, with the Evans gone and my dad out with Amy…I just didn’t want you to be alone,” Kyle replied clearly uncomfortable. “Is that ‘Dinner for One?” he asked. “I love that!”
He sat down on the couch and picked up the remote that was still lying on the floor to turn up the sound a bit. Kyle started laughing as he reached for the popcorn. “I love the thing with the bear’s head,” he chuckled.
Tess just stared at him for a few seconds before moving over to the couch and sinking down on it beside Kyle. Had she just heard right? Kyle was here because he didn’t want her to be alone? He was here because of her? He’d actually chosen her over Liz? He wanted to spend New Year’s Eve with her?
Tess leaned back and tried to let it all sink in. What the hell did this mean? He was here instead of with Liz, that had to mean something, right? Did he maybe have feelings for her after all? Did he just suppress and not act on them because of Liz’s pregnancy?
Kyle was laughing again and Tess glanced over to study him. Kyle must have noticed because he turned his head and looked at her. “Something wrong?” he asked.
Tess managed a small smile, hoping that it would mask her confusion. “No,” she said quickly. “Everything’s fine.”
“Good,” Kyle said after a short moment of studying her with the same intensity before also smiling. Then he turned his attention back to the TV and started laughing again.
Tess spent another moment looking at Kyle before she also turned her gaze towards the TV. Racking her brains about possible explanations for Kyle’s presence wouldn’t get her anywhere. Who cared anyway? He was here, that was all that mattered. And if he didn’t care for her then he wouldn’t be here. For the moment, that was enough for her.
*
Twenty minutes later ‘Dinner for One’ was over and Kyle switched to the New Year’s countdown broadcasted live from Times Square in New York. He and Tess chatted a bit about school and the weather, but mainly they were silent and just watched the masses on Times Square going crazy.
Then the countdown came and the year 2001 began.
Kyle turned his head towards Tess. “Happy New Year, Tess,” he said smiling at her.
“Happy New Year,” Tess replied softly. The stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Tess suddenly straightened up and looked away. “So, what do you think your dad is doing right now?” she asked grinning mischievously, hoping to ease some of the tension that suddenly filled the room.
Kyle scrunched up his face in disgust. “I really don’t want to know that,” he replied.
Tess laughed. “Why? You think he’s getting some?”
“Tess!” Kyle exclaimed. “That’s disgusting! Oh God, I’m blind!” he shouted, one hand covering his eyes, the other one stretched out in front of him as if to ward of the mental image. “I’m never going to get that picture out of my mind again!”
Tess laughed even harder. “Okay, okay,” she said once she’d more or less calmed down again. “I won’t bring it up again. Happy now?”
“Very,” Kyle replied sincerely.
A smile spread over Tess’ face. “Good,” she said. “More popcorn?”
*
Almost three hours later Kyle glanced at his watch and was surprised at how late it already was. They’d just spent the whole evening watching TV and talking, neither of them had noticed how much time had gone by.
As if on cue Tess started yawning. “It’s pretty late,” Kyle said. “Guess we should be getting to bed.”
“Yeah,” Tess agreed getting up. She went over to the door of her room with Kyle following her.
They just stood there and stared at each other, and on a whim Kyle suddenly bent down and pressed his lips against Tess’ in a soft, sweet kiss. It was over again as quickly as it had begun, not quite overstepping the boarder between friendship and more. Or had it? He wasn’t really sure, nor did he care.
“Good night,” he whispered softly.
“Good night,” Tess replied, slightly dazed.
Kyle turned around and headed to his room, his dad’s former office. After it had become obvious that Tess was here to stay he and Liz had cleared out the spare room for Kyle to move in. It had only been called his dad’s office due to the lack of a better term for it since his dad had never really used it as an office. It had just been the room where all the junk they didn’t need anymore went. Now that stuff was in the garage or at the junk yard and Kyle once again had his own room. It wasn’t as big as his old one, but he didn’t really mind. Tess could probably use the space more than he could, and so he was happy to let her have it.
Opening his door he glanced back to see Tess going into her room. Her fingers were touching her lips and a slight smile was teasing the corners of her mouth. For a second he wondered what that might mean, but then he decided that it was too late to think and headed for his room. He’d have enough time for analyzing every look and touch and gesture the next day.
tbc
Part 25
Liz was sitting on her balcony, slightly detached from the others. They were all talking and laughing and waiting for the new year to finally begin, but somehow Liz didn’t feel like joining in. Normally New Year’s Eve was one of Liz’s favorite holidays, but this year it just wasn’t the same. She wasn’t exactly looking forward to the new year with all the worries and possible threats it would undoubtedly bring with it. Liz was not stupid enough to think that whoever was responsible for her pregnancy would just let her live happily ever after with her baby now. She didn’t understand why they had just returned her to her room in the first place, but she knew exactly that they would be back for her, or her baby, or both. Liz shivered at the thought, and her resolve hardened even more. Nobody would lay hand on her daughter, no matter what.
But there was something else that was dampening her mood, beside the obvious things that came with being a pregnant virgin. Something that involved a certain dark-haired alien who happened to be a few hundred miles away from her right now.
Liz sighed, willing those thoughts away as she studied her friends. Kyle was talking to Jason, Kara’s cousin, who was in town for the holidays. Probably about sports, Liz decided, going by the animated way Kyle was talking and the wild gesticulation with his arms. Maria, Alex and Kara were also talking, the two girls laughing and Alex trying to look offended and at the same time fighting a grin. Liz smiled. Good old Alex, he could never be mad at anyone, even if he tried.
Kara and Jason had been down at the Crashdown earlier that evening, and when the ridiculous let’s-pretend-it’s-midnight-at-ten-thirty-thing was over Alex had invited them up to Liz’s balcony to watch the fireworks and celebrate the real beginning of the new year with them.
It was an old tradition between Maria, Alex and Liz to spend New Year’s Eve together on Liz’s balcony. They’d sit around watching the fireworks and dreaming up all the amazing things that might happen to them in the year to come. But this year was the first time that Kyle was there too and so Liz had jumped at the opportunity to have some other people joining them as well to ease the tension a bit.
Kyle, Maria and Alex got along surprisingly well, but Liz was pretty sure that that was more for her sake than anything else. And she really didn’t want New Year’s Eve to mark the end of the ceasefire. Hence, the more people the better. Liz knew that they could all be friends if they’d just give each other a chance, but she also knew that Maria resented Kyle for getting her pregnant, as did Alex.
And that’s exactly what frustrated Liz so much – Kyle hadn’t done a single thing wrong, and yet he was getting all the heat from people. He had closed himself off from a lot of his former friends, he was getting stupid comments no matter where he went, not to mention the guidance counselor at school that kept trying to lure him into her office to “discuss his future”.
Not that she didn’t in a way understand Maria. She would be upset too if Michael got Maria pregnant, but she wouldn’t let it out on Michael. And Alex was just being his over-protective self, something Liz normally found cute and endearing, but not in this case.
What had her mother said when she’d talked to her about the situation? To give Maria and Alex time, that they’d eventually come around and accept Kyle as the wonderful person that he was. Liz sighed. She wished she had as much confident as her mom did.
Maria squealed, ripping Liz out of her thoughts. She reluctantly got up, knowing that she should join her friends before her sitting by herself raised any suspicions. She didn’t want any of them worrying about her, least of all Kyle, the person who was the most likely to notice that something was wrong. And so she got up and went over to Maria, Kara and Alex, taking the bowl of popcorn with her to offer some to them and have a reason why she was over at the other side of the balcony by herself. She was getting the popcorn, plain and simple.
Liz sighed. This was going to be a long night.
~*~*~*~
“Having a nice evening?” Kyle asked Liz coming up beside her. She was once again standing a bit offside, listening to Maria, Kara and Alex talking. She laughed at the appropriate times, smiled in between, and threw in little two-word comments every now and then, making it look like she was actually participating in the conversation. The three of them didn’t seem to notice, but Kyle obviously had.
“Yeah,” Liz said, smiling brightly at him.
Kyle hesitated a moment before also smiling. “Good. Look, I’m gonna head home now. Tess is all alone with the Evans’ being out of town for the holiday, and I feel bad leaving her all by herself.”
“Sure,” Liz replied, understanding why he wanted to leave. If Max were in town and they were on speaking terms, she would want to be with him too right now. She knew that Kyle had invited Tess to join them and that she had declined after sending a frosty glare in Liz’s direction, saying something about being tired without even trying to make it come across believable. Sometimes enhanced hearing really sucked.
“I’ll swing by tomorrow, okay?” Kyle asked. Liz nodded, and so Kyle gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, said goodbye to the others, and left through Liz’s window.
Liz turned back to Maria and Kara right when her cell phone started ringing. She dug it out of the pocket of her baggy pants, and when she glanced at the display she almost dropped it. Max was calling her.
~*~*~*~
Tess was sitting on the couch in the living room watching “Dinner for One”. Max had recommended it to her, saying he was sure she would like it, and so she’d decided to give it a try. It wasn’t like she had anything better to do anyway.
To her surprise he had actually been right, she did like it. It was funny. Not exactly intellectually demanding, but still amusing. Only problem was, she wasn’t really in the mood for humor. Her thoughts kept drifting away, across town to be exact, to a certain balcony where a certain brown-haired cohabitant of hers was celebrating New Year’s Eve with his girlfriend. That thought alone was enough to make it impossible for her to concentrate on what she was watching, not to mention enjoy it. Then there was her appetite, more often lacking than not, which explained the untouched bowl of popcorn resting beside her.
Tess sighed while sinking even more into the pillows. Were they kissing right now? Hugging? Holding hands? Or had the others maybe already left and they were-
She stood up from the couch abruptly, throwing the remote off her lap without even noticing it.
She was going crazy here. She was always going crazy whenever Kyle was with her. Not that she’d ever admit that to anyone – Max included – but the thought of Liz and Kyle together was enough to make her want to rip her hair out. She couldn’t get this picture of them kissing and touching out of her mind, and it drove her insane. She hated it so much. The jealousy, the anger…she never had to deal with this crap before she came to Roswell. And if it weren’t for Max she probably wouldn’t have to anymore, she’d have left a long time ago.
Oh, who was she trying to fool? Of course she wouldn’t have left. Kyle was here after all. And as much as it tortured her to know that Kyle was with Liz, always would be probably, being away from him would be even worse. This way she at least had him as a friend. And that was better than not having him at all, right?
Tess sighed. She didn’t know. Was it better? Why was she so unwilling to give up on something so completely and utterly hopeless anyway? Oh right, it was the story of her life. First Max, now Kyle – why break the cycle? She seemed to enjoy being rejected. Why else was she always getting herself into these inane situations? Was she just miss-programmed? Was there some screw-up the lovely scientists from her lovely planet had mistakenly put into her lovely DNA? That sure would explain a lot.
Tess rolled her eyes at herself before shuffling over into the kitchen to get herself something to drink. It really sucked that Max was gone, especially now during the holidays. Everybody in this town seemed to be going crazy with Christmas and New Year’s, it would have been sorta nice to have at least one normal person around.
Besides, she missed him. She was so used to being around him all the time, to seeing him every day, she didn’t know what to do with all her free time now that he was gone. What had she done with her time before Max and her had grown so close anyway? She couldn’t remember. It didn’t matter anyway. Looking back, everything she used to do seemed so pointless. Like mooning over Max. What had she been thinking? The better she got to know Max, the less she could believe that there had actually been a time when she had wanted to follow destiny and be with him.
Max and her had grown close over the past few weeks, really close. Tess would have never in a million years expected this, but Max was actually her best friend. Something almost like a brother. She loved him like one. She cared for him. She trusted him. And with him gone there was something missing from her life.
But that’s where it ended. That’s where it had always ended. She just hadn’t known it. She had mistaken her shallow, practically non-existent feelings for Max with love, mainly because it was what she had been told all her life. And her deep, honest affection for Kyle had been nothing but mere physical attraction in her eyes. God, had she been stupid.
Tess leaned back against the counter, opened her can of diet coke, and after pouring a generous amount of Tabasco Sauce into it took a sip. Then the front door suddenly opened and she almost dropped the can. Was Jim already home? But he was out with Amy, what was he already doing here? Had the date not gone as planed? Well, duh, he wouldn’t be home otherwise.
Deciding that she should go see what was going on and if he was okay she went over to the living room. Reaching it, Tess couldn’t believe her eyes. Kyle was home. Her can slipped from her fingers and went sailing to the floor…
~*~*~*~
Liz somehow managed to not drop her phone. After being frozen into place for a few seconds, too shocked to react, she jumped into action and quickly hopped through the window into her room, rushed over to her bathroom and locked the door behind her.
“Hello?” she panted after pressing the button to accept the call.
“Liz?” Max said loudly, his voice almost drowned out by the background noises.
“Yes?” she replied.
“I can hardly hear you!” Max called.
“I can hardly hear you too!” Liz replied.
“Isabel dragged me to some party, it’s really loud here!” Max explained.
“Oh,” Liz replied.
Max took a deep breath. “I just…” he began. “I got your message.”
“What?!” Liz asked.
“I got your message!” Max repeated a bit louder.
“Oh,” Liz said, suddenly feeling a know form in her stomach.
“What?” Max asked.
“Nothing,” Liz said, her voice shaking slightly.
“Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I’m not mad at you, and that I’m sorry for giving you the impression that I was,” Max continued.
“What did you say? I didn’t get it past the you wanted to tell me something part!” Liz said. Damn enhanced hearing – she heard every stupid comment made about her in a five-hundred yard radius but it didn’t help shit when it came to understanding what Max was saying.
“I said I’m not mad at you!”
“You’re not?” Liz asked, the knot in her stomach suddenly turning into a flock of butterflies.
“No,” Max said, still not really understanding why she’d thought that in the first place.
“Why?” Liz asked sounding a bit astonished.
“What?” Max asked, cursing Isabel for the tenth time since this conversation had begun. Why did she have to force him to this party, and why did it have to be so damn loud here?
“I said why!” Liz repeated.
“What why?” Max asked.
“Why aren’t you mad at me?” Liz asked confused. After everything she’d done, how could he not be upset?
“Why should I be mad at you?” Max asked confused. It’s not like she’d done anything that could be a reason for him being angry with her.
“There are a million reasons!” Liz insisted.
“What?” Max asked. Damn this party…
Liz sighed. God, was this frustrating. “Nothing. I’m glad that you’re not mad at me,” she told him, and even over the phone and the noise Max could tell that she was smiling.
“Look, maybe we should discuss this when I’m back,” Max suggested on a whim, holding his breath whole waiting for her answer.
Liz’s smile widened. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” she said trying not to sound to eager. “This conversation isn’t really getting us anywhere.”
“What did you say?” Max asked, starting to feel really stupid for making Liz repeat every second sentence.
“My point exactly,” Liz muttered. “Nothing,” she said a bit louder. How about we get together once you’re back and we can talk about…things.”
“Sounds good,” Max agreed.
“Okay.”
“Happy New Year Liz,” Max said softly, but for some reason Liz had absolutely no problem understanding him this time.
“Happy New Year, Max,” Liz replied equally softly, knowing that Max would also understand her. He did.
~*~*~*~
“Kyle!” Tess said surprised. What was he doing here? It wasn’t even midnight. Then she glanced at the floor and the pool of coke that was leaving an ugly stain on the carpet. She bent down and cleaned it up with a wave of her hand, thankful for the distraction as well as the chance to compose herself a bit.
Why the hell wasn’t he spending midnight with his girlfriend? She was the mother of his unborn child! And it was New Year’s Eve for god’s sake! Had they fought?
Tess was ashamed to admit it, but that thought brought her a queer sense of satisfaction. It’s not that she didn’t want Kyle to be happy, and Liz obviously made him happy, but that didn’t change the fact that a part of her wanted him for herself. A part of her? Hell, all of her. She didn’t want him to leave Liz now that she was pregnant, and she knew that he would never do that, especially considering that his own mother had abandoned him, but that didn’t make her longing go away.
“What are you doing here?” Tess asked, trying to keep the astonishment out of her voice.
“I thought I’d call it a night a bit earlier today,” Kyle replied vaguely.
“Kyle, it’s New Year’s Eve,” Tess pointed out disbelievingly. “Nobody calls it a night early.”
“Well, with the Evans gone and my dad out with Amy…I just didn’t want you to be alone,” Kyle replied clearly uncomfortable. “Is that ‘Dinner for One?” he asked. “I love that!”
He sat down on the couch and picked up the remote that was still lying on the floor to turn up the sound a bit. Kyle started laughing as he reached for the popcorn. “I love the thing with the bear’s head,” he chuckled.
Tess just stared at him for a few seconds before moving over to the couch and sinking down on it beside Kyle. Had she just heard right? Kyle was here because he didn’t want her to be alone? He was here because of her? He’d actually chosen her over Liz? He wanted to spend New Year’s Eve with her?
Tess leaned back and tried to let it all sink in. What the hell did this mean? He was here instead of with Liz, that had to mean something, right? Did he maybe have feelings for her after all? Did he just suppress and not act on them because of Liz’s pregnancy?
Kyle was laughing again and Tess glanced over to study him. Kyle must have noticed because he turned his head and looked at her. “Something wrong?” he asked.
Tess managed a small smile, hoping that it would mask her confusion. “No,” she said quickly. “Everything’s fine.”
“Good,” Kyle said after a short moment of studying her with the same intensity before also smiling. Then he turned his attention back to the TV and started laughing again.
Tess spent another moment looking at Kyle before she also turned her gaze towards the TV. Racking her brains about possible explanations for Kyle’s presence wouldn’t get her anywhere. Who cared anyway? He was here, that was all that mattered. And if he didn’t care for her then he wouldn’t be here. For the moment, that was enough for her.
*
Twenty minutes later ‘Dinner for One’ was over and Kyle switched to the New Year’s countdown broadcasted live from Times Square in New York. He and Tess chatted a bit about school and the weather, but mainly they were silent and just watched the masses on Times Square going crazy.
Then the countdown came and the year 2001 began.
Kyle turned his head towards Tess. “Happy New Year, Tess,” he said smiling at her.
“Happy New Year,” Tess replied softly. The stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Tess suddenly straightened up and looked away. “So, what do you think your dad is doing right now?” she asked grinning mischievously, hoping to ease some of the tension that suddenly filled the room.
Kyle scrunched up his face in disgust. “I really don’t want to know that,” he replied.
Tess laughed. “Why? You think he’s getting some?”
“Tess!” Kyle exclaimed. “That’s disgusting! Oh God, I’m blind!” he shouted, one hand covering his eyes, the other one stretched out in front of him as if to ward of the mental image. “I’m never going to get that picture out of my mind again!”
Tess laughed even harder. “Okay, okay,” she said once she’d more or less calmed down again. “I won’t bring it up again. Happy now?”
“Very,” Kyle replied sincerely.
A smile spread over Tess’ face. “Good,” she said. “More popcorn?”
*
Almost three hours later Kyle glanced at his watch and was surprised at how late it already was. They’d just spent the whole evening watching TV and talking, neither of them had noticed how much time had gone by.
As if on cue Tess started yawning. “It’s pretty late,” Kyle said. “Guess we should be getting to bed.”
“Yeah,” Tess agreed getting up. She went over to the door of her room with Kyle following her.
They just stood there and stared at each other, and on a whim Kyle suddenly bent down and pressed his lips against Tess’ in a soft, sweet kiss. It was over again as quickly as it had begun, not quite overstepping the boarder between friendship and more. Or had it? He wasn’t really sure, nor did he care.
“Good night,” he whispered softly.
“Good night,” Tess replied, slightly dazed.
Kyle turned around and headed to his room, his dad’s former office. After it had become obvious that Tess was here to stay he and Liz had cleared out the spare room for Kyle to move in. It had only been called his dad’s office due to the lack of a better term for it since his dad had never really used it as an office. It had just been the room where all the junk they didn’t need anymore went. Now that stuff was in the garage or at the junk yard and Kyle once again had his own room. It wasn’t as big as his old one, but he didn’t really mind. Tess could probably use the space more than he could, and so he was happy to let her have it.
Opening his door he glanced back to see Tess going into her room. Her fingers were touching her lips and a slight smile was teasing the corners of her mouth. For a second he wondered what that might mean, but then he decided that it was too late to think and headed for his room. He’d have enough time for analyzing every look and touch and gesture the next day.
tbc
Tact is for people not witty enough to be sarcastic.
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
Okay, here it is, finally. It's extra long with lots and lots of stuff happening, so I hope you can forgive me for the wait. I'll really try and get a lot of writing done during my vacation, but I can't really promise anything because I also have a lot of studying to do for my finals in January. Anyway, hope you like!
Part 26
“Liz, that’s crazy!”
“No, crazy is sitting around here twiddling my thumbs and doing nothing!” Liz shot back. Why didn’t he understand that not doing something, anything, was simply not an option? She had learned a billion tactics about how to handle impossible situations, and sitting around and waiting was definitely not one of them.
“Liz-” Kyle began again, but he was cut off.
“Look Kyle, I know that you’re only trying to look out for me, but I really need to do this. I have to find him. I just have to,” Liz said, her voice a bit lower as well as a bit calmer but not any less firm. She was going to do this whether he agreed with her or not, but it would be easier without him trying to talk her out of it. She knew her parents would not be happy about her intended course of action, she wanted to at least have Kyle on her side.
Kyle sighed. He knew that determination in her voice, that glint in her eyes all too well. Her mind was made up. Nothing he could do or say would change that. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t at least try.
“How are you going to do that Liz?” he asked. “You don’t know where he is, or what he looks like, or even by what name he goes nowadays.”
Kyle looked down the ally to where the street was to make sure that nobody had showed up there and was listening to them before he continued speaking. He and Liz had started talking in the back room of the Crashdown, but Liz had pulled him outside before telling him about her plans since they needed a place more private. The ally was the ideal place for that since it was impossible for someone to sneak up on you. You already saw them approaching long before they were close enough to hear what you were talking about.
“Liz, he might even be dead, or back in Manticore,” Kyle went on, his voice a bit softer and more gentle, almost a whisper as to offer a little bit of compassion along with the harsh truth of the statement and the pain he knew it caused.
“I know that Kyle,” Liz replied equally softly, trying to ignore the hollow ache spreading through her chest due to Kyle’s words. “But I still have to do this. I have to try and find him no matter how low the chances are that I’ll actually succeed.”
“What’s your plan?” Kyle asked resignedly. While his chances of talking her out of this might be low, nothing prevented him from making sure that she took the best possible approach if she really had to do this.
Liz sighed in relief, glad that Kyle had stopped arguing against her plan of going to look for Zack. She knew he still wasn’t convinced that this was a good idea, and she doubted that anything she could say would persuade him to change his mind, but at least he’d moved past trying to bring her off her plan.
“I’m going to Seattle,” Liz explained. “Remember that lead your father stumbled over a few years ago?” she asked.
“You mean the guy that was arrested for theft?” Kyle asked confused. That had been years ago. The lead was worth next to nothing now.
“Exactly,” Liz confirmed. “That might have been Zack, and if it was him then Seattle is the obvious place to start looking.”
The description had fit her brother perfectly, and from what Jim had found out, he had been pretty good at what he was doing. The only reason he’d been caught was that the owner of the shop he’d broken into had unexpectedly shown up in the middle of the night. But he’d been released out of police custody when the owner of the shop didn’t press charges, and so the trail had disappeared again.
“Liz, the lead turned out to be a dead end,” Kyle reminded her. “My dad didn’t find anything. And even if it was him, that was years ago. He could be anywhere by now,” he insisted, convinced that he was right. He knew that he was right. Why didn’t Liz see that and realize that going to Seattle wasn’t a good idea?
“Kyle, if it really was him, he was still in Seattle seven years after the escape. He didn’t see a reason to leave in that time, so chances are he stayed there after his arrest too,” Liz said, hoping that that was indeed true. She knew her argumentation had holes, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t trying to come up with a foolproof plan, just with some kind of approach that, with a bit of luck, would bring her some results that would make the next step of the search for her brother easier.
“If it was even him,” Kyle replied scowling as his frustration multiplied.
Liz took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. Her hormones gone crazy did not have the best effect on her temper, and Kyle was rubbing her the wrong way today. “Kyle, how many people do you know that have a barcode on the back of their neck?”
“Besides you?” he asked sarcastically.
Liz almost growled in frustration. “Look Kyle, I know that I’m grasping at straws here, but that’s all I have.” She spoke slowly, putting emphasis on each and every word, trying to make Kyle understand. “There’s nothing else I can do. And I need to do something. I can’t just sit around and wait for everything to sort itself out all alone without me doing anything to make that happen. And I need Zack, now more than ever. I need to find him, and this is the best way to start. This is the only way.” Liz might have started off angry, but by the end of her little speech she was practically pleading with Kyle to understand her, to support her.
Kyle sighed. He knew Liz well enough to know that she was not the type to sit around and wait instead of trying to solve whatever problem there was to be solved. And even though her chances of succeeding were slim, they weren’t nonexistent.
“When are you leaving?” he asked.
A small smile spread over Liz’s lips as she realized that she’d won. “On Friday, right after school.”
“Good. I’m coming with you,” Kyle stated.
“What?! No you’re not!” Liz practically shouted.
“Liz, that wasn’t an offer. I’m coming with you, period,” Kyle told her stubbornly.
“Damn it Kyle, you are not coming with me! It’s too dangerous!” Liz replied, not even willing to consider the possibility. Kyle was not coming with her and that was the end of the discussion.
“Too dangerous? For me? Look who’s talking!” Kyle practically hissed. “You’re pregnant, on the run, and still want to go straight back into the lion’s den. What if you get caught? Do you have any idea what they’d do to you, to your baby?”
Liz’s eyes turned cold, her voice suddenly sounding harsh and biting. “Yes Kyle, I know what they would do to me. I know what they would do to my baby. Probably exactly the same thing they did to me and my brothers and sisters in the ten years we lived there. But you’re forgetting something here. It’s my baby, and my decision. Stay out of it.”
“Fine Liz,” Kyle bit out, his voice so low that Liz barely even heard him, his gaze equally cold. “If that’s what you want.”
Without another word Kyle turned around and walked away, leaving behind a frustrated and upset Liz. She stared at his retreating figure, asking herself how their conversation had gotten so out of control all of a sudden. Things were pretty much going the way she had anticipated, not having expected that Kyle would agree with her from the start, but then suddenly they’d began yelling at each other and Kyle had stormed off. Damn it.
“Am I coming at a bad time?” a voice behind Liz suddenly asked, causing her to whirl around.
“Max!” she almost shouted, clearly shocked.
“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t want to scare you. Um, I can come back later if you want,” he offered, unsure of what to do. The way Liz was staring at him was slightly unsettling, to say the least.
“Oh, uh, no…now is fine. What did you want?” Liz asked, trying to compose herself and appear calm and in control, even though she felt nothing of all that. Inside her panic was beginning to build up. How long had Max been standing there? What had he heard? She hadn’t noticed the door opening, hence she didn’t have a clue when exactly he’d come. And her conversation with Kyle…oh God, if Max had heard that there was no more hiding the truth. Everything she’d been trying to keep a secret had been brought up in it.
She carefully studied his expression, trying to find indicators that something was off. There were none. And if he had heard a part of the conversation, wouldn’t he broach the subject? Liz wasn’t sure. Maybe he wanted to figure everything out and fit the pieces of the puzzle together before he brought it up.
“Um, we wanted to work on that lab report we have to write for chemistry, remember?” Max said, a bit surprised that Liz had forgotten about it. That wasn’t like her at all.
“Oh my God, that was today?” Liz asked shocked. She had completely forgotten about the report. She’d been so busy planning her trip to Seattle that she’d just put everything else out of her mind. Damn it, they’d agreed to both outline half of the material and then type up the report together. How could she have forgotten that? And what would Max say to her not having done her part of the job?
“You know, we can just do it another day,” Max offered. “How about tomorrow? I work till closing, but I could come over afterwards and we’ll do it then.”
“No,” Liz said quickly. “That’s not necessary.” She didn’t want to cause Max any inconveniences, and she knew that he would be tired tomorrow evening if he worked the whole afternoon. “It’s just that I left my notes at school,” she lied. “But I’m sure I remember most of it, I did the bigger part of it yesterday.”
“Are you sure?” Max asked. He didn’t mind rescheduling it to the following day, it wouldn’t a big deal to him.
“Of course,” Liz said. “Come on, let’s go upstairs. We can use the computer in my room to write the report.”
~*~*~*~
“Spaceboy, they ordered Saturn rings to the Will Smith burger, not Space fries!” Maria told Michael before swatting his forehead with her order pad. “This is the third order you messed up ever since coming back from taking out the garbage! What the hell is wrong with you all of a sudden?” she asked scowling, hands at her hips.
“Hey!” Michael growled while rubbing his forehead. He glared at Maria. “If your handwriting didn’t look like chicken scratching I might actually be able to get the orders right,” he shot back.
Maria gasped. “There is nothing wrong with my handwriting!” she exclaimed. She couldn’t believe it. Who the hell did Michael think he was?!
“Kept telling yourself that,” Michael muttered before going back to flipping burgers and ignoring Maria.
“You are such a jerk,” Maria hissed before turning around and stomping back to her customers.
Michael said nothing. He knew she was right, he was behaving like a jerk. Damn it, why did he have to let it out on Maria? She had nothing to do with this whole thing. At least he thought she didn’t. But then, who knew? Maybe Liz had let her in on her little secret. Maybe Maria had helped her keep it from all of them for the past one and a half years now.
Michael’s scowl deepened at the possibility. The thought of Maria keeping secrets from him stung. Hell, it did a lot more than just sting. Not that he should be the one to talk. Had he always told Maria everything? Had he let her in, even just one single time? Of course not. So who was he to complain?
He sighed, then cursed as he realized that he’d let yet another burger burn. Shit. But how was he supposed to concentrate on work right now? He still couldn’t believe all the things he’d heard when he’d gone out back to take out the trash.
He’d interrupted Liz and Kyle talking about something, and since he hadn’t wanted to barge in on a private conversation of the two, he hadn’t stepped out into the ally, not wanting them to notice him. He’d been about to close the door again but then the words ‘escape’ and ‘arrest’ had caught his attention and he’d started listening to them. The more he heard, the more confused he’d become. Since when did Liz have a barcode on her neck? Who was Zack? Why did Liz have to find him? Why would going to look for him be dangerous? Why was this ‘everything’ Liz needed to sort out? What had Kyle meant with Liz going back into the lion’s den? And what the hell had he meant when he’d said that Liz was on the run? She’d been in Roswell all her life, how could she be on the run from anybody? And since when did Liz have any brothers or sisters? She was an only child for Christ’s sake!
Michael let out his breath in a harsh gasp. This was giving him a headache. There were just too many things that didn’t add up. The only thing he knew for sure was that Liz was hiding something from them, and that Kyle knew, probably had helped her keep it a secret. He didn’t know what bothered him more, that they’d kept secrets in the first place or that they’d succeeded with it.
The bell over the Crashdown door jingled and Michael looked up, hoping that it wasn’t another family of five. Work was crap today.
It wasn’t a family. It was Chris, one of the jocks. He came into the café almost hesitantly, and the way he looked around had a certain b-movie flare to it.
Michael’s thoughts suddenly rushed back a few weeks to the scene he had witnessed in the school halls – Liz smashing Chris into the lockers and holding him into place while obviously giving him a rather large piece of his mind. Before that incident Michael had noticed a few things about Liz that had seemed a bit odd to him, but only minor stuff, nothing that even came close to Liz being able to pummel a jock twice her size. He’d thought that maybe hormones and anger could be an explanation for her sudden surge in strength, but he’d still paid even more attention to Liz after that. He hadn’t really noticed anything else though. Except that her relationship with Kyle struck him as a bit odd – they never kissed or hugged or held hands in the public. If he hadn’t known better he would have never thought that they were an item. But now, after listening to their conversation…Liz had said that it was her baby and her business. The way she had said it indicated that the same thing didn’t go for Kyle, ergo that Kyle wasn’t the father. But if that was true, wouldn’t they have said something by now to set the record straight? And if Kyle wasn’t the father, who was? That Zack-guy Liz wanted to find?
Michael didn’t know. He didn’t know much when it came to Liz Parker as he was beginning to find out. How had Liz done that? Deceive them all for so long? More important, how had she managed to deceive him for so long? He had always prided himself with his suspicious persona, with his scrutiny and his habit of watching people and never letting his guard down. And yet Liz Parker had managed to slip through under his radar, to gain his trust. That annoyed him to no end, and made him even more upset with her.
So what was he going to do now? Demand an explanation from her? Pretend that nothing had changed and see what happened? Oh, who was he kidding? Like the latter was even an option. He wasn’t Max after all. Right after his shift was over he would go up there to their apartment and have a little talk with her. And he wouldn’t leave until he had all the answers he wanted.
~*~*~*~
“I still can’t believe you remembered practically everything from your notes,” Max said, sounding quite impressed. They had just finished typing up the report, and not only had Liz had a few suggestions for improvements of the part he had prepared without even consulting the book or her notes, she’d also still known almost everything from her part of the report even though she had left all her notes at school.
Liz blushed slightly. “It’s no big deal, really. I worked on it last night, that’s not that long ago. Besides, it’s not really that difficult.”
“It’s still impressive,” Max said smiling. He couldn’t help but think how cute Liz looked when she blushed. It reminded him of those first weeks after she’d found out about his secret, the time they’d foolishly wasted dancing around each other, letting stupid fears and doubts hold them back from what they’d both wanted. If only he had that time back now. He would use it so much wiser.
Liz smiled back, feeling herself getting lost in Max’s soft, amber eyes. Time stopped and the world around them was suddenly gone. It was only the two of them left, everything else insignificant and unimportant. Liz didn’t even dare blink, too scared that the moment would be gone if she looked away for even a second. Max was staring at her with the same intensity, the same emotion as he always had. Wait a minute. The same emotion? Was that really love and affection she saw in his eyes? It was, wasn’t it?
Liz’s printer suddenly started beeping, tearing both Liz as well as Max out of their daze. Liz looked down at the gray object sitting on her desk that was emitting the offensive noise, trying hard to suppress the urge to simply throw it out the window. What the hell did it want? Paper. It was out of paper. Liz wanted to scream in frustration. Had something mundane like the lack of paper really ruined the possibly most significant moment between her and Max in months? She couldn’t believe it.
Looking back at Max nothing was left of the emotions she had seen just a few seconds ago. Had they even been there in the first place, or were they just a fragment of her imagination? She didn’t know, and now she probably never would. She suppressed a sigh as she gave the printer some more paper and he started doing his job again while buzzing contently.
Their moment being gone, Max cleared his throat, trying to think of something to say to break the uncomfortable silence. Why was the time he spent alone with Liz suddenly so awkward now? Why couldn’t they talk anymore like they used to? Why were silences always so uncomfortable all of a sudden? Why did everything have to change? Why couldn’t things go back to they way they were before?
Max of course knew the answers to those questions. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, getting over a broken heart was anything but easy. And Liz had broken his alright. Ground it to dust was more like it, actually. He couldn’t pretend that Liz was just a friend like Maria was, or that she hadn’t hurt him, or that seeing her with Kyle didn’t kill him every time. He could pretend even less that he didn’t love her anymore, because God knew that he did. More than ever if that was even possible, despite everything. A part of him wanted nothing more than to be able to hate Liz for what she had done to him, but the other part wouldn’t change his feelings for her for the world. He just wished that they could get their friendship back on track. But that was easier said than done.
There were times where everything was fine, when it was almost like it used to be. But then there were these moments where nothing was like before. Like now. Or like their first conversation after he’d come back from his vacation. He’d gone to the Crashdown shortly before closing on the day they’d gotten home from visiting his relatives to clear up the misunderstanding about him being mad at her, too eager to see Liz to wait till the next day. Liz had seemed just as happy to see him, and everything had started off fine. But somehow the whole conversation had been strange. It was more than just awkward to talk about the kiss, and so neither of them had really brought it up, at least not directly. Max had wanted to know why she had thought that he was mad at her, but somehow it felt wrong to ask, and so he hadn’t. Which had been frustrating to no end. Max had never had any problem asking Liz anything at all, no matter what it was about. Why was that suddenly so hard now? He wasn’t sure, but Liz seemed to have a few things on her own mind that she didn’t dare ask about. All these unanswered questions floating around them had made the air thick and the situation extremely awkward, and so Max had left again rather soon and they hadn’t brought up the subject again after that night.
“Here’s your printout,” Liz said, ripping Max out of his thoughts. He glanced up and saw Liz holding out a few pieces of paper for him to take.
“Oh…thanks,” Max said. He started packing his stuff up, putting his notes and books into his backpack, and then followed Liz out of her room and down to the Crashdown. Both were silent, neither knowing what to say.
Upon walking into the café Liz immediately spotted Tess seated at the counter, and a sinking feeling started to settle into her stomach. As if sensing their presence the blond girl turned around and looked in their direction. She smiled when her eyes fell on Max while ignoring the person standing next to him.
Tess grabbed her purse, got up and came over to them. “Hey Max, ready to go?” she asked, still not looking at Liz. Looking at her always roused the wish to strangle her, and so Tess avoided it, at least when Max was present.
“Um, yeah,” he said smiling back. “Found a good movie?”
“I did, actually,” Tess replied.
“You’re going to the movies?” Liz asked, hoping that they were going to say yes and not that they were watching movies at home. The thought of Max and Tess cuddled up in front of the TV watching some romantic comedy was making her stomach churn, and not in the good way. Definitely not in the good way.
“Um, yeah,” Max replied, suddenly not feeling at ease at all.
Liz forced a smile onto her face. “Well, then have fun,” she said before turning around and heading towards the back, praying that she wouldn’t start crying before she made it out of the cafe.
She’d just made it to the door when the first tears began to slide down her cheeks and she heard her name being called behind her. She quickly wiped them away before turning around.
“Jim!” she said, the cheerfulness in her voice painfully fake even to her own ears.
“Everything okay?” Jim asked concerned.
“Of course,” Liz said, hoping that he would drop it. “What did you want?”
“Um…let’s go into the back,” he suggested, waiting for Liz to go through the swinging door and then following her. He sighed, not liking what he had to tell Liz. “I heard back from my colleague in Seattle. I’m sorry, but he didn’t find anything. He assured me that he tried everything, calling in favors and using every informant that he has, but nothing turned up.”
“Oh,” Liz said, not even trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice.
“I’m really sorry,” Jim said again, squeezing her shoulder lightly.
“It’s okay,” Liz said. “Thanks for trying, it means a lot to me.”
“No problem,” Jim said, feeling horrible. Liz looked so sad, he hated being the one who put that expression on her face.
“Um, I’m sort of tired,” Liz said. “I’ll go upstairs and call it a night. Thanks for coming by to tell me.”
“Anytime,” Jim replied. He stayed where he was, watching Liz climb the stairs to her apartment. Her shoulders hunched forward, the whole way she held herself looking tired and weary. He hated seeing Liz like that. She was almost like a daughter to him, and seeing her in any kind of pain was the last thing he wanted. And the worst thing was that there was nothing he could do to change that. He hated that, feeling so helpless. He wasn’t used to it. As the sheriff, it was his job to solve things – problems, crimes, it didn’t really matter what. He was the one to fix it. But with Liz, he couldn’t fix it. He couldn’t do anything really, except to try and be there for her and support her as much as possible.
As soon as Liz knew that Jim couldn’t see her anymore she let the tears fall, no longer capable of holding them back. Now she only hoped that she would make it to her room undetected.
No such luck. Her mother was in the living room. “Sweetheart, what happened?” she asked as she saw the state Liz was in.
“Nothing,” Liz said, not feeling like talking about it.
“Honey, it’s obvious that something is wrong. Why don’t you want to tell me about it?” Nancy asked.
Anger suddenly shot up inside of Liz, all the sentiments caused by the different people she had dealt with that day bundling into one fierce emotion: white-hot anger. The small part of her mind that stayed rational of course knew that none of that was her mother’s fault, but she couldn’t control it. It needed to get out.
“You wanna know what’s wrong?” she shouted. “Fine! I had the most horrible day ever! Kyle and I had a huge fight this afternoon, my friendship with Max is practically nonexistent while I have to watch him being all lovey-dovey with Tess and now Jim came and told me that nothing but dead ends turned up on my search for Zack? That’s what wrong! Are you happy now?”
But before Nancy could answer the magazines lying on the couch table suddenly shot up into the air in tact with the gesticulating of Liz’s arms, some of them even ripping apart, making Nancy scream and jump back in her seat. Liz just stared, her mouth wide open, before her eyes dropped down to her hand and the green electrical current running along her skin.
tbc
Part 26
“Liz, that’s crazy!”
“No, crazy is sitting around here twiddling my thumbs and doing nothing!” Liz shot back. Why didn’t he understand that not doing something, anything, was simply not an option? She had learned a billion tactics about how to handle impossible situations, and sitting around and waiting was definitely not one of them.
“Liz-” Kyle began again, but he was cut off.
“Look Kyle, I know that you’re only trying to look out for me, but I really need to do this. I have to find him. I just have to,” Liz said, her voice a bit lower as well as a bit calmer but not any less firm. She was going to do this whether he agreed with her or not, but it would be easier without him trying to talk her out of it. She knew her parents would not be happy about her intended course of action, she wanted to at least have Kyle on her side.
Kyle sighed. He knew that determination in her voice, that glint in her eyes all too well. Her mind was made up. Nothing he could do or say would change that. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t at least try.
“How are you going to do that Liz?” he asked. “You don’t know where he is, or what he looks like, or even by what name he goes nowadays.”
Kyle looked down the ally to where the street was to make sure that nobody had showed up there and was listening to them before he continued speaking. He and Liz had started talking in the back room of the Crashdown, but Liz had pulled him outside before telling him about her plans since they needed a place more private. The ally was the ideal place for that since it was impossible for someone to sneak up on you. You already saw them approaching long before they were close enough to hear what you were talking about.
“Liz, he might even be dead, or back in Manticore,” Kyle went on, his voice a bit softer and more gentle, almost a whisper as to offer a little bit of compassion along with the harsh truth of the statement and the pain he knew it caused.
“I know that Kyle,” Liz replied equally softly, trying to ignore the hollow ache spreading through her chest due to Kyle’s words. “But I still have to do this. I have to try and find him no matter how low the chances are that I’ll actually succeed.”
“What’s your plan?” Kyle asked resignedly. While his chances of talking her out of this might be low, nothing prevented him from making sure that she took the best possible approach if she really had to do this.
Liz sighed in relief, glad that Kyle had stopped arguing against her plan of going to look for Zack. She knew he still wasn’t convinced that this was a good idea, and she doubted that anything she could say would persuade him to change his mind, but at least he’d moved past trying to bring her off her plan.
“I’m going to Seattle,” Liz explained. “Remember that lead your father stumbled over a few years ago?” she asked.
“You mean the guy that was arrested for theft?” Kyle asked confused. That had been years ago. The lead was worth next to nothing now.
“Exactly,” Liz confirmed. “That might have been Zack, and if it was him then Seattle is the obvious place to start looking.”
The description had fit her brother perfectly, and from what Jim had found out, he had been pretty good at what he was doing. The only reason he’d been caught was that the owner of the shop he’d broken into had unexpectedly shown up in the middle of the night. But he’d been released out of police custody when the owner of the shop didn’t press charges, and so the trail had disappeared again.
“Liz, the lead turned out to be a dead end,” Kyle reminded her. “My dad didn’t find anything. And even if it was him, that was years ago. He could be anywhere by now,” he insisted, convinced that he was right. He knew that he was right. Why didn’t Liz see that and realize that going to Seattle wasn’t a good idea?
“Kyle, if it really was him, he was still in Seattle seven years after the escape. He didn’t see a reason to leave in that time, so chances are he stayed there after his arrest too,” Liz said, hoping that that was indeed true. She knew her argumentation had holes, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t trying to come up with a foolproof plan, just with some kind of approach that, with a bit of luck, would bring her some results that would make the next step of the search for her brother easier.
“If it was even him,” Kyle replied scowling as his frustration multiplied.
Liz took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. Her hormones gone crazy did not have the best effect on her temper, and Kyle was rubbing her the wrong way today. “Kyle, how many people do you know that have a barcode on the back of their neck?”
“Besides you?” he asked sarcastically.
Liz almost growled in frustration. “Look Kyle, I know that I’m grasping at straws here, but that’s all I have.” She spoke slowly, putting emphasis on each and every word, trying to make Kyle understand. “There’s nothing else I can do. And I need to do something. I can’t just sit around and wait for everything to sort itself out all alone without me doing anything to make that happen. And I need Zack, now more than ever. I need to find him, and this is the best way to start. This is the only way.” Liz might have started off angry, but by the end of her little speech she was practically pleading with Kyle to understand her, to support her.
Kyle sighed. He knew Liz well enough to know that she was not the type to sit around and wait instead of trying to solve whatever problem there was to be solved. And even though her chances of succeeding were slim, they weren’t nonexistent.
“When are you leaving?” he asked.
A small smile spread over Liz’s lips as she realized that she’d won. “On Friday, right after school.”
“Good. I’m coming with you,” Kyle stated.
“What?! No you’re not!” Liz practically shouted.
“Liz, that wasn’t an offer. I’m coming with you, period,” Kyle told her stubbornly.
“Damn it Kyle, you are not coming with me! It’s too dangerous!” Liz replied, not even willing to consider the possibility. Kyle was not coming with her and that was the end of the discussion.
“Too dangerous? For me? Look who’s talking!” Kyle practically hissed. “You’re pregnant, on the run, and still want to go straight back into the lion’s den. What if you get caught? Do you have any idea what they’d do to you, to your baby?”
Liz’s eyes turned cold, her voice suddenly sounding harsh and biting. “Yes Kyle, I know what they would do to me. I know what they would do to my baby. Probably exactly the same thing they did to me and my brothers and sisters in the ten years we lived there. But you’re forgetting something here. It’s my baby, and my decision. Stay out of it.”
“Fine Liz,” Kyle bit out, his voice so low that Liz barely even heard him, his gaze equally cold. “If that’s what you want.”
Without another word Kyle turned around and walked away, leaving behind a frustrated and upset Liz. She stared at his retreating figure, asking herself how their conversation had gotten so out of control all of a sudden. Things were pretty much going the way she had anticipated, not having expected that Kyle would agree with her from the start, but then suddenly they’d began yelling at each other and Kyle had stormed off. Damn it.
“Am I coming at a bad time?” a voice behind Liz suddenly asked, causing her to whirl around.
“Max!” she almost shouted, clearly shocked.
“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t want to scare you. Um, I can come back later if you want,” he offered, unsure of what to do. The way Liz was staring at him was slightly unsettling, to say the least.
“Oh, uh, no…now is fine. What did you want?” Liz asked, trying to compose herself and appear calm and in control, even though she felt nothing of all that. Inside her panic was beginning to build up. How long had Max been standing there? What had he heard? She hadn’t noticed the door opening, hence she didn’t have a clue when exactly he’d come. And her conversation with Kyle…oh God, if Max had heard that there was no more hiding the truth. Everything she’d been trying to keep a secret had been brought up in it.
She carefully studied his expression, trying to find indicators that something was off. There were none. And if he had heard a part of the conversation, wouldn’t he broach the subject? Liz wasn’t sure. Maybe he wanted to figure everything out and fit the pieces of the puzzle together before he brought it up.
“Um, we wanted to work on that lab report we have to write for chemistry, remember?” Max said, a bit surprised that Liz had forgotten about it. That wasn’t like her at all.
“Oh my God, that was today?” Liz asked shocked. She had completely forgotten about the report. She’d been so busy planning her trip to Seattle that she’d just put everything else out of her mind. Damn it, they’d agreed to both outline half of the material and then type up the report together. How could she have forgotten that? And what would Max say to her not having done her part of the job?
“You know, we can just do it another day,” Max offered. “How about tomorrow? I work till closing, but I could come over afterwards and we’ll do it then.”
“No,” Liz said quickly. “That’s not necessary.” She didn’t want to cause Max any inconveniences, and she knew that he would be tired tomorrow evening if he worked the whole afternoon. “It’s just that I left my notes at school,” she lied. “But I’m sure I remember most of it, I did the bigger part of it yesterday.”
“Are you sure?” Max asked. He didn’t mind rescheduling it to the following day, it wouldn’t a big deal to him.
“Of course,” Liz said. “Come on, let’s go upstairs. We can use the computer in my room to write the report.”
~*~*~*~
“Spaceboy, they ordered Saturn rings to the Will Smith burger, not Space fries!” Maria told Michael before swatting his forehead with her order pad. “This is the third order you messed up ever since coming back from taking out the garbage! What the hell is wrong with you all of a sudden?” she asked scowling, hands at her hips.
“Hey!” Michael growled while rubbing his forehead. He glared at Maria. “If your handwriting didn’t look like chicken scratching I might actually be able to get the orders right,” he shot back.
Maria gasped. “There is nothing wrong with my handwriting!” she exclaimed. She couldn’t believe it. Who the hell did Michael think he was?!
“Kept telling yourself that,” Michael muttered before going back to flipping burgers and ignoring Maria.
“You are such a jerk,” Maria hissed before turning around and stomping back to her customers.
Michael said nothing. He knew she was right, he was behaving like a jerk. Damn it, why did he have to let it out on Maria? She had nothing to do with this whole thing. At least he thought she didn’t. But then, who knew? Maybe Liz had let her in on her little secret. Maybe Maria had helped her keep it from all of them for the past one and a half years now.
Michael’s scowl deepened at the possibility. The thought of Maria keeping secrets from him stung. Hell, it did a lot more than just sting. Not that he should be the one to talk. Had he always told Maria everything? Had he let her in, even just one single time? Of course not. So who was he to complain?
He sighed, then cursed as he realized that he’d let yet another burger burn. Shit. But how was he supposed to concentrate on work right now? He still couldn’t believe all the things he’d heard when he’d gone out back to take out the trash.
He’d interrupted Liz and Kyle talking about something, and since he hadn’t wanted to barge in on a private conversation of the two, he hadn’t stepped out into the ally, not wanting them to notice him. He’d been about to close the door again but then the words ‘escape’ and ‘arrest’ had caught his attention and he’d started listening to them. The more he heard, the more confused he’d become. Since when did Liz have a barcode on her neck? Who was Zack? Why did Liz have to find him? Why would going to look for him be dangerous? Why was this ‘everything’ Liz needed to sort out? What had Kyle meant with Liz going back into the lion’s den? And what the hell had he meant when he’d said that Liz was on the run? She’d been in Roswell all her life, how could she be on the run from anybody? And since when did Liz have any brothers or sisters? She was an only child for Christ’s sake!
Michael let out his breath in a harsh gasp. This was giving him a headache. There were just too many things that didn’t add up. The only thing he knew for sure was that Liz was hiding something from them, and that Kyle knew, probably had helped her keep it a secret. He didn’t know what bothered him more, that they’d kept secrets in the first place or that they’d succeeded with it.
The bell over the Crashdown door jingled and Michael looked up, hoping that it wasn’t another family of five. Work was crap today.
It wasn’t a family. It was Chris, one of the jocks. He came into the café almost hesitantly, and the way he looked around had a certain b-movie flare to it.
Michael’s thoughts suddenly rushed back a few weeks to the scene he had witnessed in the school halls – Liz smashing Chris into the lockers and holding him into place while obviously giving him a rather large piece of his mind. Before that incident Michael had noticed a few things about Liz that had seemed a bit odd to him, but only minor stuff, nothing that even came close to Liz being able to pummel a jock twice her size. He’d thought that maybe hormones and anger could be an explanation for her sudden surge in strength, but he’d still paid even more attention to Liz after that. He hadn’t really noticed anything else though. Except that her relationship with Kyle struck him as a bit odd – they never kissed or hugged or held hands in the public. If he hadn’t known better he would have never thought that they were an item. But now, after listening to their conversation…Liz had said that it was her baby and her business. The way she had said it indicated that the same thing didn’t go for Kyle, ergo that Kyle wasn’t the father. But if that was true, wouldn’t they have said something by now to set the record straight? And if Kyle wasn’t the father, who was? That Zack-guy Liz wanted to find?
Michael didn’t know. He didn’t know much when it came to Liz Parker as he was beginning to find out. How had Liz done that? Deceive them all for so long? More important, how had she managed to deceive him for so long? He had always prided himself with his suspicious persona, with his scrutiny and his habit of watching people and never letting his guard down. And yet Liz Parker had managed to slip through under his radar, to gain his trust. That annoyed him to no end, and made him even more upset with her.
So what was he going to do now? Demand an explanation from her? Pretend that nothing had changed and see what happened? Oh, who was he kidding? Like the latter was even an option. He wasn’t Max after all. Right after his shift was over he would go up there to their apartment and have a little talk with her. And he wouldn’t leave until he had all the answers he wanted.
~*~*~*~
“I still can’t believe you remembered practically everything from your notes,” Max said, sounding quite impressed. They had just finished typing up the report, and not only had Liz had a few suggestions for improvements of the part he had prepared without even consulting the book or her notes, she’d also still known almost everything from her part of the report even though she had left all her notes at school.
Liz blushed slightly. “It’s no big deal, really. I worked on it last night, that’s not that long ago. Besides, it’s not really that difficult.”
“It’s still impressive,” Max said smiling. He couldn’t help but think how cute Liz looked when she blushed. It reminded him of those first weeks after she’d found out about his secret, the time they’d foolishly wasted dancing around each other, letting stupid fears and doubts hold them back from what they’d both wanted. If only he had that time back now. He would use it so much wiser.
Liz smiled back, feeling herself getting lost in Max’s soft, amber eyes. Time stopped and the world around them was suddenly gone. It was only the two of them left, everything else insignificant and unimportant. Liz didn’t even dare blink, too scared that the moment would be gone if she looked away for even a second. Max was staring at her with the same intensity, the same emotion as he always had. Wait a minute. The same emotion? Was that really love and affection she saw in his eyes? It was, wasn’t it?
Liz’s printer suddenly started beeping, tearing both Liz as well as Max out of their daze. Liz looked down at the gray object sitting on her desk that was emitting the offensive noise, trying hard to suppress the urge to simply throw it out the window. What the hell did it want? Paper. It was out of paper. Liz wanted to scream in frustration. Had something mundane like the lack of paper really ruined the possibly most significant moment between her and Max in months? She couldn’t believe it.
Looking back at Max nothing was left of the emotions she had seen just a few seconds ago. Had they even been there in the first place, or were they just a fragment of her imagination? She didn’t know, and now she probably never would. She suppressed a sigh as she gave the printer some more paper and he started doing his job again while buzzing contently.
Their moment being gone, Max cleared his throat, trying to think of something to say to break the uncomfortable silence. Why was the time he spent alone with Liz suddenly so awkward now? Why couldn’t they talk anymore like they used to? Why were silences always so uncomfortable all of a sudden? Why did everything have to change? Why couldn’t things go back to they way they were before?
Max of course knew the answers to those questions. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, getting over a broken heart was anything but easy. And Liz had broken his alright. Ground it to dust was more like it, actually. He couldn’t pretend that Liz was just a friend like Maria was, or that she hadn’t hurt him, or that seeing her with Kyle didn’t kill him every time. He could pretend even less that he didn’t love her anymore, because God knew that he did. More than ever if that was even possible, despite everything. A part of him wanted nothing more than to be able to hate Liz for what she had done to him, but the other part wouldn’t change his feelings for her for the world. He just wished that they could get their friendship back on track. But that was easier said than done.
There were times where everything was fine, when it was almost like it used to be. But then there were these moments where nothing was like before. Like now. Or like their first conversation after he’d come back from his vacation. He’d gone to the Crashdown shortly before closing on the day they’d gotten home from visiting his relatives to clear up the misunderstanding about him being mad at her, too eager to see Liz to wait till the next day. Liz had seemed just as happy to see him, and everything had started off fine. But somehow the whole conversation had been strange. It was more than just awkward to talk about the kiss, and so neither of them had really brought it up, at least not directly. Max had wanted to know why she had thought that he was mad at her, but somehow it felt wrong to ask, and so he hadn’t. Which had been frustrating to no end. Max had never had any problem asking Liz anything at all, no matter what it was about. Why was that suddenly so hard now? He wasn’t sure, but Liz seemed to have a few things on her own mind that she didn’t dare ask about. All these unanswered questions floating around them had made the air thick and the situation extremely awkward, and so Max had left again rather soon and they hadn’t brought up the subject again after that night.
“Here’s your printout,” Liz said, ripping Max out of his thoughts. He glanced up and saw Liz holding out a few pieces of paper for him to take.
“Oh…thanks,” Max said. He started packing his stuff up, putting his notes and books into his backpack, and then followed Liz out of her room and down to the Crashdown. Both were silent, neither knowing what to say.
Upon walking into the café Liz immediately spotted Tess seated at the counter, and a sinking feeling started to settle into her stomach. As if sensing their presence the blond girl turned around and looked in their direction. She smiled when her eyes fell on Max while ignoring the person standing next to him.
Tess grabbed her purse, got up and came over to them. “Hey Max, ready to go?” she asked, still not looking at Liz. Looking at her always roused the wish to strangle her, and so Tess avoided it, at least when Max was present.
“Um, yeah,” he said smiling back. “Found a good movie?”
“I did, actually,” Tess replied.
“You’re going to the movies?” Liz asked, hoping that they were going to say yes and not that they were watching movies at home. The thought of Max and Tess cuddled up in front of the TV watching some romantic comedy was making her stomach churn, and not in the good way. Definitely not in the good way.
“Um, yeah,” Max replied, suddenly not feeling at ease at all.
Liz forced a smile onto her face. “Well, then have fun,” she said before turning around and heading towards the back, praying that she wouldn’t start crying before she made it out of the cafe.
She’d just made it to the door when the first tears began to slide down her cheeks and she heard her name being called behind her. She quickly wiped them away before turning around.
“Jim!” she said, the cheerfulness in her voice painfully fake even to her own ears.
“Everything okay?” Jim asked concerned.
“Of course,” Liz said, hoping that he would drop it. “What did you want?”
“Um…let’s go into the back,” he suggested, waiting for Liz to go through the swinging door and then following her. He sighed, not liking what he had to tell Liz. “I heard back from my colleague in Seattle. I’m sorry, but he didn’t find anything. He assured me that he tried everything, calling in favors and using every informant that he has, but nothing turned up.”
“Oh,” Liz said, not even trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice.
“I’m really sorry,” Jim said again, squeezing her shoulder lightly.
“It’s okay,” Liz said. “Thanks for trying, it means a lot to me.”
“No problem,” Jim said, feeling horrible. Liz looked so sad, he hated being the one who put that expression on her face.
“Um, I’m sort of tired,” Liz said. “I’ll go upstairs and call it a night. Thanks for coming by to tell me.”
“Anytime,” Jim replied. He stayed where he was, watching Liz climb the stairs to her apartment. Her shoulders hunched forward, the whole way she held herself looking tired and weary. He hated seeing Liz like that. She was almost like a daughter to him, and seeing her in any kind of pain was the last thing he wanted. And the worst thing was that there was nothing he could do to change that. He hated that, feeling so helpless. He wasn’t used to it. As the sheriff, it was his job to solve things – problems, crimes, it didn’t really matter what. He was the one to fix it. But with Liz, he couldn’t fix it. He couldn’t do anything really, except to try and be there for her and support her as much as possible.
As soon as Liz knew that Jim couldn’t see her anymore she let the tears fall, no longer capable of holding them back. Now she only hoped that she would make it to her room undetected.
No such luck. Her mother was in the living room. “Sweetheart, what happened?” she asked as she saw the state Liz was in.
“Nothing,” Liz said, not feeling like talking about it.
“Honey, it’s obvious that something is wrong. Why don’t you want to tell me about it?” Nancy asked.
Anger suddenly shot up inside of Liz, all the sentiments caused by the different people she had dealt with that day bundling into one fierce emotion: white-hot anger. The small part of her mind that stayed rational of course knew that none of that was her mother’s fault, but she couldn’t control it. It needed to get out.
“You wanna know what’s wrong?” she shouted. “Fine! I had the most horrible day ever! Kyle and I had a huge fight this afternoon, my friendship with Max is practically nonexistent while I have to watch him being all lovey-dovey with Tess and now Jim came and told me that nothing but dead ends turned up on my search for Zack? That’s what wrong! Are you happy now?”
But before Nancy could answer the magazines lying on the couch table suddenly shot up into the air in tact with the gesticulating of Liz’s arms, some of them even ripping apart, making Nancy scream and jump back in her seat. Liz just stared, her mouth wide open, before her eyes dropped down to her hand and the green electrical current running along her skin.
tbc
Tact is for people not witty enough to be sarcastic.
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
Here's the new part. It took a bit longer than expected cause I was a bit blocked when it came to writing the second scene, but to make that up it's also a bit longer than I had intended it to be. Hope you like.
Part 27
“Max, what the hell is wrong with you?” Tess was seriously fed up with watching Max pretending to by happy while practically drowning in his misery. They’d just gotten home from the movies and were sitting in Max’s jeep in front of the Valenti house, hood up for a change since there was a thirty percent chance of rain. Max had been distracted ever since she’d picked him up from the Crashdown, he’d barely said two words to her all evening, and Tess’ patience was coming to an end.
“What do you mean?” Max tried acting clueless, even though he knew exactly that Tess wouldn’t let him off the hook just because he played dumb. Guess he hadn’t been as smooth as he’d thought when it came to covering up his mood in front of Tess. Not that that really surprised him. Tess always managed to look right through him. He wasn’t sure if that was due to their past life together or to their new-found closeness. Either way, at times like this it annoyed the hell out of him.
“I’m blond, not stupid, Max,” Tess informed him, sounding only slightly insulted. “Even a blind man could see that something is wrong, so why don’t you just spare me the trouble of beating it out of you and tell me what it is.” Tess hoped that this would do the trick and get Max to crack a smile, but no such luck. Tess sighed. This could only mean one thing. “Liz,” she stated.
“It’s nothing, really.” Max tried to block off the conversation, not feeling comfortable discussing his relationship to Liz with Tess. Probably because he knew all too well what kind of opinion Tess had of Liz. Or maybe because Tess was honest until it hurt and he just didn’t want to hear it. Not again. Not tonight.
“Max, it’s eating at you. Just tell me what happened,” Tess coaxed. “We don’t keep secrets from each other, remember?” She knew that the guilt trip would make him talk, and so she felt only slightly in the wrong for using it on him. Max was too soft-hearted for his own good sometimes, but in this case Tess knew it was for the better. Max would bury everything that was bothering him deep inside if she let him, leaving it to eat away at him instead of getting it out into the open, dealing with it and getting over it.
“Did she do something?” Tess was fully aware that the mild accusation would have Max jumping to Liz’s defenses and tell her what happened.
“No!” Max insisted quickly, making it hard for Tess to keep herself from rolling her eyes at his calculability. “She didn’t do anything. Nothing at all.”
“Besides getting pregnant.” The words were out before she could stop herself.
Max shot Tess a look. “Sorry.” She meant it. “Look, I won’t say anything nasty about her if you tell me what’s bothering you. Deal?”
Her gaze was open, honest, warm, and so Max sighed. He was a sucker for Tess’ puppy dog eyes, and she knew it. “It’s just…this afternoon, when we were working on that report for chemistry…it was almost like it used to be. You know, before… everything.”
“But that’s a good thing, right?” Tess was confused. It had broken Max’s heart that things between him and Liz were so different, she thought he’d be happy about their relationship going back to the way it used to be.
“I thought it was. You know, before everything, before our first kiss, before we got together, we were friends, and that was…great. But the thing is, what made it so great is that we both knew that it was just the beginning, that some day it would change and we would become more and that the friendship and trust we’d built up would be the basis for that. And now I know that we will never be more, that friendship is all we’ll ever have. And that, compared to what we used to have… It-” He broke off, taking a deep breath.
“Sucks?” Tess suggested softly, compassion filling her voice upon seeing sorrow and pain shadowing Max’s eyes.
“Yeah,” Max replied drawing in a shaky breath.
“I’m sorry,” Tess whispered while pulling Max into a hug. She normally sucked at offering comfort, at being compassionate, shying away from any kind of physical contact that may come with consoling someone. But Max somehow managed to bring a nurturing side out in her. He made her feel for him, made her want to look after him. She wasn’t sure if she hated or loved him for it. A bit of both probably. Sighing softly, she tightened her grip around him.
~*~*~*~
By the time Michael’s shift was over, he was so worked up that steam was practically coming out his ears. He cleaned up the kitchen in record time with only a few minor lapses of control over his powers and then, leaving Maria to take care of the café alone, marched up the stairs to the Parker’s apartment like a man on a mission. Hell, he was a man on a mission.
He rapped his knuckles on the door, surprised that it didn’t just topple over from the force of the blow. It took a few minutes till someone came to answer the door, which only fed Michael’s anger. When the door finally opened Kyle was standing in front of him.
“Michael!” he said a bit too loudly with a fake grin plastered onto his face while the panic was clearly evident in his eyes. “It’s Michael! What are you doing here, Michael? See, this is sort of a bad time, cause, uh…” Kyle trailed off, and Michael narrowed his eyes in suspicion. What the hell was up with Kyle? He was acting strange, even for a human.
“Let him in,” he suddenly heard Liz’s strained voice coming from the apartment.
“What?” Kyle exclaimed, seemingly not able to believe that Liz had really just suggested that.
“Let him in,” Liz repeated wearily. “Maybe he knows…maybe he can help us…” Liz trailed off.
Jesus, what is it with these people never finishing a sentence? Michael thought while getting more annoyed by the minute.
Kyle opened the door for him reluctantly and led him into the living room. The sight that met him there made Michael stop dead in his tracks, his anger and annoyance completely forgotten.
Magazines were strewn all over the room, most of them slightly burned and torn. Liz was huddled on the couch with what seemed to be green electric currents running up and down her hands. Her mother was sitting on one of the chairs just staring at Liz hands, seemingly in shock.
“What the hell is going on here?” Michael exclaimed, not sure which emotion was stronger – worry for Liz or fear for himself.
“I…I blew up the magazines,” Liz explained, looking up at Michael hesitantly.
“How is that possible? You don’t…” He trailed off, his gaze falling on Liz’s hands. “You do. Shit. When did this happen? How long have you known this? Did it start when Ava was here, before, after?” His voice was sharp, demanding answers, explanations. He raked his fingers through his hair and the vein at his temple began to throb, showing just how distraught he was faced with this new development.
“Today,” Liz replied, trying to stay calm. She had to stay calm, she knew that Michael wouldn’t, couldn’t. That just wasn’t him. “I never…I didn’t know…” She took a deep breath. “I had no idea that I had any…any abilities.”
Nancy suddenly stood up. She seemed to have regained control over herself. She looked cool and composed, or at least as cool and composed as you can look in a situation like this.
She went over to Liz and sat down beside her, but when she reached for her daughter, Liz flinched away. “No mom, I’ll hurt you.” Her tone was worried, her expression scared.
Nancy’s gaze softened. “No you won’t. You’ve never hurt me, or anyone you cared about before. You won’t now either.” Michael couldn’t help but admire her conviction. A mother’s love…one of the things that would always remain a mystery to him. But what the hell did she mean with Liz had never hurt her before? How could a slip of a girl like Liz hurt anybody? Unless of course she had some sort of superhuman powers, like her little run-in with Chris had suggested. That was a thought he had to hold on to, but for now there were more pressing matters to deal with.
“You just need to calm down,” Nancy continued as she wrapped her arm around Liz and pulled her close.
“You think that’s gonna help?” Kyle asked hopefully, voicing Michael’s exact thoughts. Liz hadn’t confirmed it, but those currents of electricity had to hurt like a bitch, not to mention that they must be scaring Liz out of her mind. That was at least the effect they had on him.
“I hope so. This…” Nancy gestured at her daughter’s hands. “…came because Liz was upset. If she calms down, it should go away again.”
“Hmm,” Kyle said thinking it through. “Makes sense to me.” Michael only hoped she was right. Damn it. How the hell had this happened? With the recent chaos caused by the message from Max and Isabel’s mother and the incident with the skins, a human glow bug was the last thing they needed.
After a few minutes the electric current actually did grow fainter until disappearing all together.
“See sweetheart?” Nancy’s voice was soft and soothing, like one would talk to a sick child. “All better now.” She pulled Liz closer once again and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, while rocking her gently.
Kyle turned to Michael, a glint in his eye that might have scared Michael, had he not been twice as tall as Kyle with alien powers on his side. “How is it possible for Liz to blow something up?” His voice showed exactly how upset he was about this recent development, but it didn’t faze Michael. He wasn’t the one that had healed Liz and passed on his powers to her, hence he didn’t feel in the least bit responsible for this.
“How should I know?” Michael shot back, getting angry again. “This is an impossible situation for me more than for anyone else here. You’re not a part of this!”
“Liz is now,” Kyle shot back, just as upset as Michael. “That’s just great,” he muttered after the two teenagers had stared each other down for a few minutes, not intimidated by Michael, not today. Worry for Liz chased all other emotions away, including the fear of being zapped by the burly alien. “If you don’t know, who does? Huh?”
“Well, I’m terribly sorry if my ignorance is an inconvenience for you at this time,” Michael sneered. Jesus, like he hadn’t spent the better part of the last two years hunting down every little clue concerning their past, who they were, why they were here. He’d wanted to find that out more than anyone else, and now he had to listen to a human like Kyle rant about his lack of knowledge in that area? Who the hell did he think he was?!
Nancy suddenly stood up, her eyes gleaming, causing both of the boys to flinch. “Okay, I’ve heard enough of this. You two obviously know something about what is going on here, and I want to know it, right now.”
Kyle turned to Nancy, looking more than just uncomfortable, while all color drained from Michael’s face. He had almost forgotten that Nancy was there, certainly failed to keep his tongue in check. The image of a lion mother defending her cubs popped into his mind, an association which was, as he realized, highly accurate. Nancy would go to any length to protect her daughter.
Nobody said anything for a minute until Liz broke the silence. “We have to tell her.”
“What?!” Michael exclaimed. “No! No, absolutely not! You don’t have the right to decide something like this! Nobody is telling anybody anything!”
“Michael, I’m a part of this now, literally. She needs to know. She already knows too much to keep her in the dark any longer. She saw me blowing up the magazines, saw the green currents.” She walked over to Michael and surprised him by laying a hand on his cheek staring into his eyes. “Trust me, it will be okay. She’ll understand.”
Michael didn’t even consider it. “I said no, Liz,” he growled. “Who the hell do you think you are making decisions like that?! We’re not telling anybody anything. There’s nothing to tell. Got it?” His voice was low, menacing, laced with fear that was easy to miss if you didn’t know Michael. But Liz did know Michael, better than he thought.
“So what do you suggest, Michael? She saw me blow up the magazines. She saw the green currents of electricity dancing up and down my skin. I didn’t want that to happen any more than you did, but it happened, and we can’t change that anymore. What, do you want to go to Tess, let her make my mother forget everything she saw, everything that happened?”
Michael considered it for a moment. “Actually, that isn’t such a stupid idea.”
Liz’s stance grew rigid as she moved over to her mother, shielding her from Michael, rage clouding her eyes. “Over my dead body only,” she growled out, and Michael could have sworn that she hissed at him.
“You know what Michael, I’m not asking for your permission. We don’t have any other choice here. Either we tell her, or she’ll start investigating it on her own and discover it that way. I prefer the first option.”
From that moment on everything seemed to go by in slow motion. Michael watched with a sick kind of fascination, like someone might watch a traffic accident playing out in front of one’s eyes while being incapable of preventing it from happening: Liz turning to her mother, telling her what Michael and the others really were, about being shot, Max healing her, then explaining what happened when Max was in New York, what Ava had told her.
And all this time Nancy’s face remained impassive, making it impossible for Michael to anticipate her reaction. Just to be on the safe side he started inching towards the door, his hand digging into his pocket for his cell phone so that he could call Max and Isabel in case they had to leave town quickly.
When Liz was finished giving her mother the most basic details of the key developments that led to her having these powers, Nancy needed another minute or so to take it all in.
Then she raised her head to look at her daughter, a strange mix of love and understanding and mild reproach in her eyes. “Oh Liz, why didn’t you tell us what you’ve gotten yourself into? Your father and I, we could have helped you.”
Michael’s jaw hit the floor. Of all possible reactions he might have expected, this was the one scenario that had not as much as grazed his mind. He’d feared screaming, fear, threats, denial, but certainly not this composed, compassionate, caring response.
“I couldn’t, mom,” Liz explained. “It wasn’t my secret to tell.”
Nancy sighed. “I understand that. I still wish you hadn’t kept such an enormous secret from me and your father. This put you in a dangerous situation. On top of everything else, what if this would have led-” She glanced at Michael, catching herself just in time. “You could have gotten hurt,” she said instead. “Or worse.”
Liz knew exactly what her mother meant with ‘or worse’. Lydecker could have found her because of her involvement with the aliens, she could have been brought back to Manticore. Hell, for all she knew Lydecker did find her.
“Mom, not getting involved just wasn’t an option,” Liz explained with conviction. “Max risked a lot when he healed me. He didn’t have to do that, but he did, and the least I could do to pay him back was to help him and Isabel and Michael in whatever way I could.”
“I wouldn’t have expected anything else from you.” Nancy smiled at Liz before reaching out for her hand and squeezing it.
As soon as the mother-daughter moment was over, Michael regained control over his body. “What the hell?!” He practically spit out the words.
The other people in the room looked at him surprised. “What’s your problem now?” Kyle asked, slightly annoyed.
Michael ignored him and turned to Liz’s mom instead. “I don’t buy it,” he told her. “Nobody reacts to news like that as calmly as you did. Did you already know? Are you FBI?”
“Michael!” Liz exclaimed, not believing what she was hearing. “Of course my mother isn’t FBI! What the hell is wrong with you?!”
Nancy stepped forward and laid her hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “It’s okay sweetheart.” Then she turned to Michael. “Michael, I understand your suspicion, but believe me, there’s nothing like that behind it. Liz is my daughter, my only child. I love her, no matter who or what she is. And I trust her judgment. If she says you are trustworthy, then I believe her. She’s a smart girl. I mean, yes, this is a shock, of course. But I’m not going to run out of the house screaming just because I hear something that’s a bit hard to believe at first. I’m afraid I’m a bit too old for that kind of behavior.”
“Maria did,” Liz said, trying to lighten up the mood.
Nancy chuckled. “That sounds just like her.”
Michael still didn’t know what to believe. Even if what Liz’s mom said was true, she was still much too composed in his opinion. How could anybody hear that kind of news and not freak out?
But she’d looked him straight into the eyes while talking. She’d seemed honest. Was he just being his usual paranoid self? No, he decided. Something was definitely wrong here.
“Look Michael, I understand your suspicion, but even if I were scared of you or wanted to turn you in, I couldn’t do that without harming my own daughter. And I’d never do that. Can you at least believe that?”
Michael sighed. He could believe that, did believe it. He’d seen Mrs. Parker’s affection for her daughter first hand that evening. Something like that couldn’t be played, it had been real. He nodded grudgingly, and Nancy smiled at him.
Once that was settled, she turned business-like. Nancy insisted on knowing everything that had happened in the last two years ever since Liz had gotten shot at their café and so she, Liz, Kyle and Michael settled down in the kitchen over steaming cups of coffee and tea and the three teenagers took turns explaining the events of the past months while answering any questions that Nancy had in between, Michael of course more reluctantly than the other two.
Michael couldn’t believe that he was actually sharing details of the secret he’d struggled to guard for a decade now with a human adult, hence he was still slightly panicky. But he calmed down a bit when he saw how well Nancy was taking this all, even parts like the FBI showing up and their confrontation with the skins. These bits of information of course seemed to worry Liz’s mom, but not as much as Michael would have expected. They also gave her details on Max, Isabel and Michael’s powers and the little they knew about the alien’s past life.
Liz deliberately rushed past certain, a bit more touchy parts of their history, deciding that she preferred to tell her mother everything that concerned her relationship with Max alone. Nancy caught on to what Liz was doing but didn’t comment, knowing that her daughter would confide in her later on in private.
“So this is the first time you exhibited any signs of having powers, except when you connected to Isabel to reach Max in New York?” Nancy asked for the third time now.
“Exactly,” Liz said patiently. She knew that this was a lot for her mother to take in, and she couldn’t help but admire how well she was handling it. But then, having a transgenic daughter must be a good preparation for this kind of news. You’re not shocked easily if your child has feline genes mixed with the usual human ones along with those of a few more animals.
“Maybe this has something to do with your pregnancy,” Nancy muttered, more to herself than to Liz. Mother and daughter exchanged looks, both knowing what the other was thinking. There was a new prime suspect next to Manticore who might be responsible for Liz’s situation. Nancy wasn’t happy about this new development. It was bad enough that a secret American government agency might be to blame for what her baby was going through, but an extraterrestrial one…that meant a whole new pallet of dangers, risks and problem. They had a pretty good idea what Manticore was capable of, but aliens were a wild card.
Michael studied Nancy carefully. Why would she think that Liz’s powers could have something to do with the fact that she was pregnant? The pregnancy was normal. Liz was human, Kyle was human. Well, actually he wasn’t so sure with Liz. She definitely wasn’t a normal human, that much he was certain of. But she wasn’t an alien either, so why should there be a connection between her powers and her pregnancy?
Liz saw the expression on Michael’s face, and it wasn’t hard for her to figure out what was running through his mind. Thinking fast she counteracted. “Well, the pregnancy caused a lot of changes in my body, maybe one of them set something off that has been lying dormant for a while now,” she suggested.
Michael considered that option. It sounded plausible to him.
“Yeah, or the stress set it off,” Kyle threw in, knowing that Liz was trying to throw Michael off the trail he’d obviously caught a whiff of. “Your mom said you were upset, that could be what triggered your little extraterrestrial lightshow.” Even though his tone was light, making Liz smile, his gaze was remorseful. He knew that stress was probably a factor, Michael always had the biggest problems controlling his powers when in emotional turmoil. And he had fought with Liz that day, just a few hours ago. He couldn’t help but feel partly responsible for what had happened.
Liz had a pretty good idea of what Kyle was doing. He was piling up guilt, blaming himself for something he had absolutely nothing to do with.
She reached over and took his hand, squeezed it lightly while smiling at him, hoping he would understand that he wasn’t at fault here, that she didn’t blame him at all. He smiled back, knew that she wasn’t blaming him. That wouldn’t change him blaming himself, but it was easier if Liz at least saw the situation differently.
Nancy glanced at the kitchen clock. “Oh dear, it’s awfully late. Maybe we should break this up. I think this was already more information than a normal human can process in one night. Michael, I’m sorry we kept you so long. I know that you have school tomorrow, and work. If you’re tired and would like to take the day off, no problem, just give me a call. I’ll find someone to take over your shift.”
Michael just stared at her for a moment, completely taken aback by her offer. He’d already counted on having to look for a new job, he hadn’t expected her to behave so…normal, and kind. “Thanks Mrs. Parker, but that won’t be necessary. We, uh, aliens don’t need that much sleep.”
Nancy smiled. “Well, that’s certainly convenient. And please, it’s Nancy.”
Michael was too stunned to reply, and so he let Liz lead him to the door of their apartment. He was about to leave when Liz’s hand on his arm stopped him.
“Michael, I wanted to ask you for a favor. Well, two actually.” No reason to beat around the bush, Liz figured.
Michael just raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, first of all, will you help me with my powers? I don’t have any control over them, at all, and if that doesn’t change soon it could end pretty nasty.”
“Me?!” Michael exclaimed, deciding then and there that Liz had finally lost it. How was he of all people supposed to help her control her powers?
“Of course.” Liz didn’t quite understand where Michael’s surprise came from. “You had problems controlling your powers too and you managed to get a grip on them. That makes you the best possible teacher, since you’ve experienced what I’m going through now.”
“Well, not exactly,” Michael replied, his gaze drifting down to Liz’s stomach.
Liz rolled her eyes. “So, will you help me?” she asked.
Michael hesitated. “I don’t know. I really don’t think I’m much of a teacher. And I only learned to control my powers because Tess helped me.”
“So you’re suggesting I go to Tess?” Liz asked, giving him a pointed look.
Michael thought it over for a second. “Okay, so that’s a stupid idea.”
“So will you help me?”
Michael sighed. Then he realized what an opportunity this was. He’d be spending lots of time with Liz during training, time to watch her, observe her, keep tabs on her. What better way than to find out what Liz Parker was hiding than to spend time with her, get to know her a bit better?
Michael had wanted to confront her, but upon finding her in the state she was in, he hadn’t had the heart. He might be a stone wall, but he wasn’t a bastard. Besides, he wanted to do that alone, and Kyle and Nancy would have never left her side that evening.
And now an even better opportunity had presented itself to him. He wouldn’t let it slip through his fingers.
He wanted to tell her he’d do it when he remembered something. “What a minute, what’s the second favor?”
Liz took a deep breath. This was the difficult one. “Could you not tell Max, Isabel and Tess about this new…development?”
“You want me to lie to them?” Michael exclaimed.
“Not for long,” Liz said quickly. “Just give me a week or two to find out what I’m capable of doing, of how much control I really have over them. If we tell them now we’ll only worry them, especially Max. He’ll feel responsible, and guilty, which would take his focus off other, more important things. I know you guys are dealing with a lot of stuff. Besides, I’m not asking you to lie to them. If they ask you, feel free to tell the truth. But if not, you could just keep this piece of information to yourself, just for a little while.”
Michael thought about it. “Fine. But if I don’t tell Max, Isabel or Tess, you don’t tell Maria or Alex.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Good. Training starts tomorrow, after my shift.”
Liz gave him a smile, relieved that he had accepted her proposal. “I’ll be ready.”
“I hope so.” With that said, Michael marched out of the apartment, already making plans for their first training session as well as his investigation.
tbc
Part 27
“Max, what the hell is wrong with you?” Tess was seriously fed up with watching Max pretending to by happy while practically drowning in his misery. They’d just gotten home from the movies and were sitting in Max’s jeep in front of the Valenti house, hood up for a change since there was a thirty percent chance of rain. Max had been distracted ever since she’d picked him up from the Crashdown, he’d barely said two words to her all evening, and Tess’ patience was coming to an end.
“What do you mean?” Max tried acting clueless, even though he knew exactly that Tess wouldn’t let him off the hook just because he played dumb. Guess he hadn’t been as smooth as he’d thought when it came to covering up his mood in front of Tess. Not that that really surprised him. Tess always managed to look right through him. He wasn’t sure if that was due to their past life together or to their new-found closeness. Either way, at times like this it annoyed the hell out of him.
“I’m blond, not stupid, Max,” Tess informed him, sounding only slightly insulted. “Even a blind man could see that something is wrong, so why don’t you just spare me the trouble of beating it out of you and tell me what it is.” Tess hoped that this would do the trick and get Max to crack a smile, but no such luck. Tess sighed. This could only mean one thing. “Liz,” she stated.
“It’s nothing, really.” Max tried to block off the conversation, not feeling comfortable discussing his relationship to Liz with Tess. Probably because he knew all too well what kind of opinion Tess had of Liz. Or maybe because Tess was honest until it hurt and he just didn’t want to hear it. Not again. Not tonight.
“Max, it’s eating at you. Just tell me what happened,” Tess coaxed. “We don’t keep secrets from each other, remember?” She knew that the guilt trip would make him talk, and so she felt only slightly in the wrong for using it on him. Max was too soft-hearted for his own good sometimes, but in this case Tess knew it was for the better. Max would bury everything that was bothering him deep inside if she let him, leaving it to eat away at him instead of getting it out into the open, dealing with it and getting over it.
“Did she do something?” Tess was fully aware that the mild accusation would have Max jumping to Liz’s defenses and tell her what happened.
“No!” Max insisted quickly, making it hard for Tess to keep herself from rolling her eyes at his calculability. “She didn’t do anything. Nothing at all.”
“Besides getting pregnant.” The words were out before she could stop herself.
Max shot Tess a look. “Sorry.” She meant it. “Look, I won’t say anything nasty about her if you tell me what’s bothering you. Deal?”
Her gaze was open, honest, warm, and so Max sighed. He was a sucker for Tess’ puppy dog eyes, and she knew it. “It’s just…this afternoon, when we were working on that report for chemistry…it was almost like it used to be. You know, before… everything.”
“But that’s a good thing, right?” Tess was confused. It had broken Max’s heart that things between him and Liz were so different, she thought he’d be happy about their relationship going back to the way it used to be.
“I thought it was. You know, before everything, before our first kiss, before we got together, we were friends, and that was…great. But the thing is, what made it so great is that we both knew that it was just the beginning, that some day it would change and we would become more and that the friendship and trust we’d built up would be the basis for that. And now I know that we will never be more, that friendship is all we’ll ever have. And that, compared to what we used to have… It-” He broke off, taking a deep breath.
“Sucks?” Tess suggested softly, compassion filling her voice upon seeing sorrow and pain shadowing Max’s eyes.
“Yeah,” Max replied drawing in a shaky breath.
“I’m sorry,” Tess whispered while pulling Max into a hug. She normally sucked at offering comfort, at being compassionate, shying away from any kind of physical contact that may come with consoling someone. But Max somehow managed to bring a nurturing side out in her. He made her feel for him, made her want to look after him. She wasn’t sure if she hated or loved him for it. A bit of both probably. Sighing softly, she tightened her grip around him.
~*~*~*~
By the time Michael’s shift was over, he was so worked up that steam was practically coming out his ears. He cleaned up the kitchen in record time with only a few minor lapses of control over his powers and then, leaving Maria to take care of the café alone, marched up the stairs to the Parker’s apartment like a man on a mission. Hell, he was a man on a mission.
He rapped his knuckles on the door, surprised that it didn’t just topple over from the force of the blow. It took a few minutes till someone came to answer the door, which only fed Michael’s anger. When the door finally opened Kyle was standing in front of him.
“Michael!” he said a bit too loudly with a fake grin plastered onto his face while the panic was clearly evident in his eyes. “It’s Michael! What are you doing here, Michael? See, this is sort of a bad time, cause, uh…” Kyle trailed off, and Michael narrowed his eyes in suspicion. What the hell was up with Kyle? He was acting strange, even for a human.
“Let him in,” he suddenly heard Liz’s strained voice coming from the apartment.
“What?” Kyle exclaimed, seemingly not able to believe that Liz had really just suggested that.
“Let him in,” Liz repeated wearily. “Maybe he knows…maybe he can help us…” Liz trailed off.
Jesus, what is it with these people never finishing a sentence? Michael thought while getting more annoyed by the minute.
Kyle opened the door for him reluctantly and led him into the living room. The sight that met him there made Michael stop dead in his tracks, his anger and annoyance completely forgotten.
Magazines were strewn all over the room, most of them slightly burned and torn. Liz was huddled on the couch with what seemed to be green electric currents running up and down her hands. Her mother was sitting on one of the chairs just staring at Liz hands, seemingly in shock.
“What the hell is going on here?” Michael exclaimed, not sure which emotion was stronger – worry for Liz or fear for himself.
“I…I blew up the magazines,” Liz explained, looking up at Michael hesitantly.
“How is that possible? You don’t…” He trailed off, his gaze falling on Liz’s hands. “You do. Shit. When did this happen? How long have you known this? Did it start when Ava was here, before, after?” His voice was sharp, demanding answers, explanations. He raked his fingers through his hair and the vein at his temple began to throb, showing just how distraught he was faced with this new development.
“Today,” Liz replied, trying to stay calm. She had to stay calm, she knew that Michael wouldn’t, couldn’t. That just wasn’t him. “I never…I didn’t know…” She took a deep breath. “I had no idea that I had any…any abilities.”
Nancy suddenly stood up. She seemed to have regained control over herself. She looked cool and composed, or at least as cool and composed as you can look in a situation like this.
She went over to Liz and sat down beside her, but when she reached for her daughter, Liz flinched away. “No mom, I’ll hurt you.” Her tone was worried, her expression scared.
Nancy’s gaze softened. “No you won’t. You’ve never hurt me, or anyone you cared about before. You won’t now either.” Michael couldn’t help but admire her conviction. A mother’s love…one of the things that would always remain a mystery to him. But what the hell did she mean with Liz had never hurt her before? How could a slip of a girl like Liz hurt anybody? Unless of course she had some sort of superhuman powers, like her little run-in with Chris had suggested. That was a thought he had to hold on to, but for now there were more pressing matters to deal with.
“You just need to calm down,” Nancy continued as she wrapped her arm around Liz and pulled her close.
“You think that’s gonna help?” Kyle asked hopefully, voicing Michael’s exact thoughts. Liz hadn’t confirmed it, but those currents of electricity had to hurt like a bitch, not to mention that they must be scaring Liz out of her mind. That was at least the effect they had on him.
“I hope so. This…” Nancy gestured at her daughter’s hands. “…came because Liz was upset. If she calms down, it should go away again.”
“Hmm,” Kyle said thinking it through. “Makes sense to me.” Michael only hoped she was right. Damn it. How the hell had this happened? With the recent chaos caused by the message from Max and Isabel’s mother and the incident with the skins, a human glow bug was the last thing they needed.
After a few minutes the electric current actually did grow fainter until disappearing all together.
“See sweetheart?” Nancy’s voice was soft and soothing, like one would talk to a sick child. “All better now.” She pulled Liz closer once again and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, while rocking her gently.
Kyle turned to Michael, a glint in his eye that might have scared Michael, had he not been twice as tall as Kyle with alien powers on his side. “How is it possible for Liz to blow something up?” His voice showed exactly how upset he was about this recent development, but it didn’t faze Michael. He wasn’t the one that had healed Liz and passed on his powers to her, hence he didn’t feel in the least bit responsible for this.
“How should I know?” Michael shot back, getting angry again. “This is an impossible situation for me more than for anyone else here. You’re not a part of this!”
“Liz is now,” Kyle shot back, just as upset as Michael. “That’s just great,” he muttered after the two teenagers had stared each other down for a few minutes, not intimidated by Michael, not today. Worry for Liz chased all other emotions away, including the fear of being zapped by the burly alien. “If you don’t know, who does? Huh?”
“Well, I’m terribly sorry if my ignorance is an inconvenience for you at this time,” Michael sneered. Jesus, like he hadn’t spent the better part of the last two years hunting down every little clue concerning their past, who they were, why they were here. He’d wanted to find that out more than anyone else, and now he had to listen to a human like Kyle rant about his lack of knowledge in that area? Who the hell did he think he was?!
Nancy suddenly stood up, her eyes gleaming, causing both of the boys to flinch. “Okay, I’ve heard enough of this. You two obviously know something about what is going on here, and I want to know it, right now.”
Kyle turned to Nancy, looking more than just uncomfortable, while all color drained from Michael’s face. He had almost forgotten that Nancy was there, certainly failed to keep his tongue in check. The image of a lion mother defending her cubs popped into his mind, an association which was, as he realized, highly accurate. Nancy would go to any length to protect her daughter.
Nobody said anything for a minute until Liz broke the silence. “We have to tell her.”
“What?!” Michael exclaimed. “No! No, absolutely not! You don’t have the right to decide something like this! Nobody is telling anybody anything!”
“Michael, I’m a part of this now, literally. She needs to know. She already knows too much to keep her in the dark any longer. She saw me blowing up the magazines, saw the green currents.” She walked over to Michael and surprised him by laying a hand on his cheek staring into his eyes. “Trust me, it will be okay. She’ll understand.”
Michael didn’t even consider it. “I said no, Liz,” he growled. “Who the hell do you think you are making decisions like that?! We’re not telling anybody anything. There’s nothing to tell. Got it?” His voice was low, menacing, laced with fear that was easy to miss if you didn’t know Michael. But Liz did know Michael, better than he thought.
“So what do you suggest, Michael? She saw me blow up the magazines. She saw the green currents of electricity dancing up and down my skin. I didn’t want that to happen any more than you did, but it happened, and we can’t change that anymore. What, do you want to go to Tess, let her make my mother forget everything she saw, everything that happened?”
Michael considered it for a moment. “Actually, that isn’t such a stupid idea.”
Liz’s stance grew rigid as she moved over to her mother, shielding her from Michael, rage clouding her eyes. “Over my dead body only,” she growled out, and Michael could have sworn that she hissed at him.
“You know what Michael, I’m not asking for your permission. We don’t have any other choice here. Either we tell her, or she’ll start investigating it on her own and discover it that way. I prefer the first option.”
From that moment on everything seemed to go by in slow motion. Michael watched with a sick kind of fascination, like someone might watch a traffic accident playing out in front of one’s eyes while being incapable of preventing it from happening: Liz turning to her mother, telling her what Michael and the others really were, about being shot, Max healing her, then explaining what happened when Max was in New York, what Ava had told her.
And all this time Nancy’s face remained impassive, making it impossible for Michael to anticipate her reaction. Just to be on the safe side he started inching towards the door, his hand digging into his pocket for his cell phone so that he could call Max and Isabel in case they had to leave town quickly.
When Liz was finished giving her mother the most basic details of the key developments that led to her having these powers, Nancy needed another minute or so to take it all in.
Then she raised her head to look at her daughter, a strange mix of love and understanding and mild reproach in her eyes. “Oh Liz, why didn’t you tell us what you’ve gotten yourself into? Your father and I, we could have helped you.”
Michael’s jaw hit the floor. Of all possible reactions he might have expected, this was the one scenario that had not as much as grazed his mind. He’d feared screaming, fear, threats, denial, but certainly not this composed, compassionate, caring response.
“I couldn’t, mom,” Liz explained. “It wasn’t my secret to tell.”
Nancy sighed. “I understand that. I still wish you hadn’t kept such an enormous secret from me and your father. This put you in a dangerous situation. On top of everything else, what if this would have led-” She glanced at Michael, catching herself just in time. “You could have gotten hurt,” she said instead. “Or worse.”
Liz knew exactly what her mother meant with ‘or worse’. Lydecker could have found her because of her involvement with the aliens, she could have been brought back to Manticore. Hell, for all she knew Lydecker did find her.
“Mom, not getting involved just wasn’t an option,” Liz explained with conviction. “Max risked a lot when he healed me. He didn’t have to do that, but he did, and the least I could do to pay him back was to help him and Isabel and Michael in whatever way I could.”
“I wouldn’t have expected anything else from you.” Nancy smiled at Liz before reaching out for her hand and squeezing it.
As soon as the mother-daughter moment was over, Michael regained control over his body. “What the hell?!” He practically spit out the words.
The other people in the room looked at him surprised. “What’s your problem now?” Kyle asked, slightly annoyed.
Michael ignored him and turned to Liz’s mom instead. “I don’t buy it,” he told her. “Nobody reacts to news like that as calmly as you did. Did you already know? Are you FBI?”
“Michael!” Liz exclaimed, not believing what she was hearing. “Of course my mother isn’t FBI! What the hell is wrong with you?!”
Nancy stepped forward and laid her hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “It’s okay sweetheart.” Then she turned to Michael. “Michael, I understand your suspicion, but believe me, there’s nothing like that behind it. Liz is my daughter, my only child. I love her, no matter who or what she is. And I trust her judgment. If she says you are trustworthy, then I believe her. She’s a smart girl. I mean, yes, this is a shock, of course. But I’m not going to run out of the house screaming just because I hear something that’s a bit hard to believe at first. I’m afraid I’m a bit too old for that kind of behavior.”
“Maria did,” Liz said, trying to lighten up the mood.
Nancy chuckled. “That sounds just like her.”
Michael still didn’t know what to believe. Even if what Liz’s mom said was true, she was still much too composed in his opinion. How could anybody hear that kind of news and not freak out?
But she’d looked him straight into the eyes while talking. She’d seemed honest. Was he just being his usual paranoid self? No, he decided. Something was definitely wrong here.
“Look Michael, I understand your suspicion, but even if I were scared of you or wanted to turn you in, I couldn’t do that without harming my own daughter. And I’d never do that. Can you at least believe that?”
Michael sighed. He could believe that, did believe it. He’d seen Mrs. Parker’s affection for her daughter first hand that evening. Something like that couldn’t be played, it had been real. He nodded grudgingly, and Nancy smiled at him.
Once that was settled, she turned business-like. Nancy insisted on knowing everything that had happened in the last two years ever since Liz had gotten shot at their café and so she, Liz, Kyle and Michael settled down in the kitchen over steaming cups of coffee and tea and the three teenagers took turns explaining the events of the past months while answering any questions that Nancy had in between, Michael of course more reluctantly than the other two.
Michael couldn’t believe that he was actually sharing details of the secret he’d struggled to guard for a decade now with a human adult, hence he was still slightly panicky. But he calmed down a bit when he saw how well Nancy was taking this all, even parts like the FBI showing up and their confrontation with the skins. These bits of information of course seemed to worry Liz’s mom, but not as much as Michael would have expected. They also gave her details on Max, Isabel and Michael’s powers and the little they knew about the alien’s past life.
Liz deliberately rushed past certain, a bit more touchy parts of their history, deciding that she preferred to tell her mother everything that concerned her relationship with Max alone. Nancy caught on to what Liz was doing but didn’t comment, knowing that her daughter would confide in her later on in private.
“So this is the first time you exhibited any signs of having powers, except when you connected to Isabel to reach Max in New York?” Nancy asked for the third time now.
“Exactly,” Liz said patiently. She knew that this was a lot for her mother to take in, and she couldn’t help but admire how well she was handling it. But then, having a transgenic daughter must be a good preparation for this kind of news. You’re not shocked easily if your child has feline genes mixed with the usual human ones along with those of a few more animals.
“Maybe this has something to do with your pregnancy,” Nancy muttered, more to herself than to Liz. Mother and daughter exchanged looks, both knowing what the other was thinking. There was a new prime suspect next to Manticore who might be responsible for Liz’s situation. Nancy wasn’t happy about this new development. It was bad enough that a secret American government agency might be to blame for what her baby was going through, but an extraterrestrial one…that meant a whole new pallet of dangers, risks and problem. They had a pretty good idea what Manticore was capable of, but aliens were a wild card.
Michael studied Nancy carefully. Why would she think that Liz’s powers could have something to do with the fact that she was pregnant? The pregnancy was normal. Liz was human, Kyle was human. Well, actually he wasn’t so sure with Liz. She definitely wasn’t a normal human, that much he was certain of. But she wasn’t an alien either, so why should there be a connection between her powers and her pregnancy?
Liz saw the expression on Michael’s face, and it wasn’t hard for her to figure out what was running through his mind. Thinking fast she counteracted. “Well, the pregnancy caused a lot of changes in my body, maybe one of them set something off that has been lying dormant for a while now,” she suggested.
Michael considered that option. It sounded plausible to him.
“Yeah, or the stress set it off,” Kyle threw in, knowing that Liz was trying to throw Michael off the trail he’d obviously caught a whiff of. “Your mom said you were upset, that could be what triggered your little extraterrestrial lightshow.” Even though his tone was light, making Liz smile, his gaze was remorseful. He knew that stress was probably a factor, Michael always had the biggest problems controlling his powers when in emotional turmoil. And he had fought with Liz that day, just a few hours ago. He couldn’t help but feel partly responsible for what had happened.
Liz had a pretty good idea of what Kyle was doing. He was piling up guilt, blaming himself for something he had absolutely nothing to do with.
She reached over and took his hand, squeezed it lightly while smiling at him, hoping he would understand that he wasn’t at fault here, that she didn’t blame him at all. He smiled back, knew that she wasn’t blaming him. That wouldn’t change him blaming himself, but it was easier if Liz at least saw the situation differently.
Nancy glanced at the kitchen clock. “Oh dear, it’s awfully late. Maybe we should break this up. I think this was already more information than a normal human can process in one night. Michael, I’m sorry we kept you so long. I know that you have school tomorrow, and work. If you’re tired and would like to take the day off, no problem, just give me a call. I’ll find someone to take over your shift.”
Michael just stared at her for a moment, completely taken aback by her offer. He’d already counted on having to look for a new job, he hadn’t expected her to behave so…normal, and kind. “Thanks Mrs. Parker, but that won’t be necessary. We, uh, aliens don’t need that much sleep.”
Nancy smiled. “Well, that’s certainly convenient. And please, it’s Nancy.”
Michael was too stunned to reply, and so he let Liz lead him to the door of their apartment. He was about to leave when Liz’s hand on his arm stopped him.
“Michael, I wanted to ask you for a favor. Well, two actually.” No reason to beat around the bush, Liz figured.
Michael just raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, first of all, will you help me with my powers? I don’t have any control over them, at all, and if that doesn’t change soon it could end pretty nasty.”
“Me?!” Michael exclaimed, deciding then and there that Liz had finally lost it. How was he of all people supposed to help her control her powers?
“Of course.” Liz didn’t quite understand where Michael’s surprise came from. “You had problems controlling your powers too and you managed to get a grip on them. That makes you the best possible teacher, since you’ve experienced what I’m going through now.”
“Well, not exactly,” Michael replied, his gaze drifting down to Liz’s stomach.
Liz rolled her eyes. “So, will you help me?” she asked.
Michael hesitated. “I don’t know. I really don’t think I’m much of a teacher. And I only learned to control my powers because Tess helped me.”
“So you’re suggesting I go to Tess?” Liz asked, giving him a pointed look.
Michael thought it over for a second. “Okay, so that’s a stupid idea.”
“So will you help me?”
Michael sighed. Then he realized what an opportunity this was. He’d be spending lots of time with Liz during training, time to watch her, observe her, keep tabs on her. What better way than to find out what Liz Parker was hiding than to spend time with her, get to know her a bit better?
Michael had wanted to confront her, but upon finding her in the state she was in, he hadn’t had the heart. He might be a stone wall, but he wasn’t a bastard. Besides, he wanted to do that alone, and Kyle and Nancy would have never left her side that evening.
And now an even better opportunity had presented itself to him. He wouldn’t let it slip through his fingers.
He wanted to tell her he’d do it when he remembered something. “What a minute, what’s the second favor?”
Liz took a deep breath. This was the difficult one. “Could you not tell Max, Isabel and Tess about this new…development?”
“You want me to lie to them?” Michael exclaimed.
“Not for long,” Liz said quickly. “Just give me a week or two to find out what I’m capable of doing, of how much control I really have over them. If we tell them now we’ll only worry them, especially Max. He’ll feel responsible, and guilty, which would take his focus off other, more important things. I know you guys are dealing with a lot of stuff. Besides, I’m not asking you to lie to them. If they ask you, feel free to tell the truth. But if not, you could just keep this piece of information to yourself, just for a little while.”
Michael thought about it. “Fine. But if I don’t tell Max, Isabel or Tess, you don’t tell Maria or Alex.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Good. Training starts tomorrow, after my shift.”
Liz gave him a smile, relieved that he had accepted her proposal. “I’ll be ready.”
“I hope so.” With that said, Michael marched out of the apartment, already making plans for their first training session as well as his investigation.
tbc
Tact is for people not witty enough to be sarcastic.
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
Oh my God, I'm in shock...I can't believe it! I'm actually runner-up in the category Best Author of a Crossover Fic and I won Best Crossover Fic for this one! I am so thrilled and beyond happy...thanks to everyone who voted for me (as clichéd as that might sound), I love writing my stories, and this kind of recognition means more to me than I care to admit. Thank you so much! Here are the wonderful banners:
And thanks everyone for the wonderful, wonderful feedback. I'll promise to start working on the new part as soon as I updated DDIO, it shouldn't be too long. Thanks again, you guys are the best!
...Kat
And thanks everyone for the wonderful, wonderful feedback. I'll promise to start working on the new part as soon as I updated DDIO, it shouldn't be too long. Thanks again, you guys are the best!
...Kat
Tact is for people not witty enough to be sarcastic.
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
Well, here it is, finally. Thanks a bunch for all the wonderful feedback, and for the millionth time, I'm sorry for keeping you guys waiting for so long. I promise it won't take this long to get the next part out, even though I'm not making any promises about when it'll be done. I have midterms and the first finals coming up, I'll by majorly stressed at school.
For now, enjoy. And don't kill me. I couldn't resist...
Part 28
Michael was standing in his apartment, staring at the chart he had made in the past week. Everything odd about Liz Parker was listed on it, from the fact that she seemed stronger than a girl, especially one her size, should be to Liz’s parents being strangely nice to Kyle, considering that he’d gotten their teenage daughter pregnant. Not that Michael had a lot of experience with parents, but as far as he knew, they normally leaned towards being upset in situations like this.
If he put this much effort into his school work, Michael mused, he would be getting a lot less crap from his teachers.
There were other things of course, like the strange way Kyle and Liz acted when they were together. On the surface, everything seemed perfectly normal. They were close and very comfortable around each other, they occasionally touched, Kyle would put his arm around her, kiss her forehead. He was constantly worried about her, about the baby, not to mention very, very overprotective. And he made it very clear that he cared a great deal about Liz. But something was off. Michael couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he was sure of it all the same. There was something strange about Liz and Kyle’s relationship, and he was going to find out what it is.
Also listed on the chart was everything Michael could remember from the conversation he’d overheard on the day Liz had blown up her living room. She’d said something about looking for someone in Seattle, a guy named Zack. She hadn’t said anything about who he was, only that she ‘needed him now more than ever’. With ‘now’, Michael assumed she meant now that she was pregnant, but it could be something else. Everything seemed possible when it came to Liz.
Kyle had also said that she had a barcode on her neck. Michael had tried to find out if it was true, but it seemed that Liz was careful to always keep her neck covered, either by her hair or with clothes. Or that was just a coincidence. After all, why should anyone have a barcode on their neck? Michael didn’t believe in coincidences, but it just didn’t make any sense. But then, not much about Liz Parker seemed to make much sense, at least not if you took a closer look.
And hadn’t she said that she had brothers and sisters? How was that possible? She was an only child. The Parker’s didn’t have any other children. He would know. Somebody would know, and as far as had been able to find out, the Parker’s had never had any other children besides Liz.
Liz had also said that she’d lived with her siblings for a decade or so. As far as he knew, Liz and her parents had moved to Roswell shortly before third grade. So if she actually had brothers and sisters, and if she lived with them, it had to be before they came to Roswell. But why hadn’t they come with them? What had happened to them? And why had Liz never said anything about them?
Liz and Kyle had both also said that going to Seattle was dangerous, that Liz might get caught. Which meant that someone was looking to catch her. Kyle had confirmed that by pointing out that Liz was on the run. Which of course didn’t make any sense at all, but the way Michael rhymed it together, Liz was hiding from somebody – or something – probably had been for a long time now, since she’d been in Roswell for years. At least that much he knew. Liz and Kyle both thought that that somebody could be in Seattle, or at least close to it, hence going there could be dangerous for Liz.
But why would anyone want to capture Liz? And what would they do if they found her? The ‘why’ was actually easy to find an answer to. Because there was something about Liz that made her different, enough to put her in danger. He didn’t know what it was and how ‘they’ knew in the first place, he only knew that Liz wasn’t normal, and that that put her in danger. Which probably also explained why she hadn’t told anyone. He of all people could of course understand that, but that didn’t make him any less upset, or any less determined to find out Liz Parker’s secret.
Michael plopped down on the couch, still staring at the chart. He was missing something. There was some small detail he’d forgotten, something that was teasing the edge of his memory, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. Damn it, what was it? He didn’t know, but Michael swore to himself that he’d find out. He’d remember. Oh yes, that, he would.
~*~*~*~
“She’s driving me crazy!” Liz exclaimed. “You want to know what I found today? Pre-school brochures! Can you believe it? The baby is about the size of a bean and my mom is already starting to plan her academic career!”
Liz was over at the Valenti’s waiting for Kyle to come home from football practice. She and Michael had another training session scheduled that afternoon, and Kyle had wanted to come along this time.
Jim chuckled. “Well, yes, I see how that might be a bit overhasted.”
Liz snorted. “Overhasted? That’s the understatement of the century! Try insane. Try crazy.”
Jim refrained from saying any more, instead he handed Liz the glass of milk he’d just poured for her. “Here, drink this. It’ll do you good.”
“Oh yeah? Does it help against hovering, overanxious mothers driving you nuts?” But Liz took the glass and drank without protest.
Jim smiled. “I’m afraid not. But you need lots of calcium right now, the babies bones have started to develop, you know?”
The annoyance vanished from Liz’s face and was replaced by a smile as she glanced down at her stomach. “Yeah, I know.” She brushed her fingers over the spot the baby was resting beneath. Her pregancy had become real to her a long time ago, but there were still moments when disbelief struck her. Like right now. It was just so hard to imagine that there was a new life growing inside her. That in a few month she’d be a mommy. That she’d have this whole new tiny being in her life, one that would be utterly dependant on her.
Jim saw the disbelief on Liz’s face. “Hard to imagine that there’s a baby in there, huh?”
“Yeah,” Liz said absently, her hand still on her stomach.
Jim laid his hand on Liz’s shoulder, squeezed gently. “You’ll be a great mother.”
Liz glanced up at him smiling. “You think?”
Jim smiled back at her. “Of course. I couldn’t think of anybody better qualified.”
~*~*~*~
“Why is Michael always late?” Kyle complained. He and Liz were out in the dessert in a rather secluded place, waiting for Michael to show up so that he and Liz could start their training session.
“Stop whining,” Liz ordered. “Nobody forced you to come along.” Truth was, Michael’s constant tardiness was getting on her nerves too, but she was thankfull that he was taking the time to help her, and so she refrained from saying anything, even though she had the slight suspicion that part of the reason why Michael was always late was to irritate her.
Kyle started shuffling up and down, kicking rocks out of his way. “So, how was the last training session? Any progress?” He and Liz hadn’t seen each other a lot since she’d started practicing her powers with Michael due to both of them being busy, Liz with to work and training, Kyle with football practice. He had a big game coming up, and that meant extra training sessions. The few times they’d seen each other had been in puclic places, so they hadn’t talked except on the phone.
Liz stood up from the rock she was sitting on. “Come here,” she told Kyle, waving him over.
Kyle stayed where he was. “You’re not gonna beat me up again, are you?”
Liz gave him a look. “That was an accident! How many times do I have to say that till you believe me?”
Kyle held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay.” He walked over to Liz, squeezed his eyes shut as to brace himself for what was to come and started praying under his breath.
Liz punched his shoulder none too gently. “Stop making fun of me,” she said scowlding. Not that she really minded all that much. She was so glad that she and Kyle had stopped fighting. After she’d blown up the magazines her mother had called Kyle, and he’d come over immediately, putting their disagreement aside for the moment. He’d been great, as always, and the next day he and Liz had sat down together, talked it all over once again. They’d agreed that for now, while she didn’t have any control over her powers, Liz would stay in Roswell, and that if she did end up going to Seattle, Jim would go with her. That way Liz wouldn’t have to worry about Kyle and Kyle would have less reason to worry about Liz. He knew his father would do everything in his power to protect her, and that was at least something.
Kyle opened his eyes, chuckled. “But it’s so easy.”
“Do you want to see what I can do or not?” Liz asked with her hands on her hips.
Kyle stopped laughing. “Sorry. Sure. Do your magic.”
Liz took a deep breath, concentrated, then waved her hand over Kyle’s shirt. It changed from white to pink. Kyle looked down. “Wow. Not bad.” He paused. “Uh, was that the intended color?”
Liz smiled at him. “Yes.”
Kyle frowned. “Well, change it back.”
“I will. Later.” She was still smiling. “Maybe.”
Kyle glared at her. “You don’t seriously think that I’m gonna run around like this.”
Liz just kept smiling.
“Damn it, Liz-” Kyle began, but he broke off when he heard a motorcycle in the distance. A minute later he saw Michael riding towards them. He forgot about the shirt as his irritation with Michael flashed back up. “About time he showed up.”
*
An hour later Liz was hot, sweaty and thoroughly annoyed. She’d been practicing her blasts, and she pretty much sucked. She couldn’t aim, she couldn’t control the strength of the blast or time them and there had been next to no improvement since they’re last training session. Or the one before. Or the one before that.
“Shit,” Liz cursed. “I suck.” She kicked at a rock, careful to not put too much strength into it. It still sailed pretty far though. “How is it possible that I have powers anyway?!” she asked Michael for the millionth time now.
“How should I know that?” Michael retorted defensively as he always did. Had that rock flown a bit far or was he just being paranoid?
“I don’t know!” Liz exclaimed throwing her hands in the air. “You’re the alien here! Shouldn’t you be the one who knows this damn stuff?”
“I’m so sorry, Parker,” Michael retorted sardonically. “But they kind of forgot to give us a copy of the frikin’ instructions manual when they sent us down here.”
Liz was about to come up with a witty comeback when Kyle stepped between them. “Guys, this isn’t getting us anywhere. Liz, take five, you need a break. Michael, stop egging her on, she’s not gonna get any better if she’s mad at you on top of everything else.”
“Kyle Valenti, the voice of reason?” Michael mocked.
“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world,” Kyle told him.
Michael scowled. “Are you quoting Buddha to me?!” he exclaimed.
Kyle just grinned. Then he walked over to Liz, stood beside her for a moment without saying anything before he broke the silence. “He is able who thinks he is able, you know?”
Liz glared at him. “Stop quoting that fat old man to me, Kyle. What did Buddha know about alien powers?”
Kyle thought it over. “Well, not much probably, but still. You can do it if you belief in yourself. You just have to free your mind and find your inner balance, the rest is a breeze.”
Liz raised an eyebrow. “You think?” she asked sarcastically.
Kyle gave her a look. “I’m serious. You won’t succeed as long as you think you won’t succeed.”
Liz sighed, then started pacing to rid herself of all that restless energy in her that was dricng her insane. “I know. But…I just can’t give this my full attention. There are so many other things I have to take care of and figure out right now, I can’t concentrate on this. I have a million other things on my mind.”
“Well, try to put them out of your mind,” Kyle suggested. “Just, you know, let it go blank.”
Liz rolled her eyes. “Let it go blank, he says. Try to put it out of your mind, he says. Like that’s so easy,” she muttered. But she walked over to Michael all the same. “Let’s try this again.”
“Okay,” Michael replied. “You see that pile of rocks over there? Try blowing the one on the top up, but just that one.”
Liz took a deep breath, then lifted her hand and concentrated. She was about to blast when she heard something. Glancing around she tried to find out who or what had caused it, but she didn’t see anything.
“What is it?” Michael asked, also looking around.
“Nothing,” Liz replied after a minute. “I thought I heard something. Must have been wrong.” But then two figures suddenly appeared from behind a boulder. They were too far away to make out their features, at least for Michael and Kyle, but even the boys could see that they had a camara with them.
“Jesus, what are they doing here?” Michael exclaimed. Adrenaline had his heart racing. He couldn’t believe how close they’d come to being exposed.
“Looney turists looking for a spaceship, or at least a few aliens,” Kyle guessed.
“Yeah, well, whoever they are, we’d better get going,” Liz suggested. Neither Kyle nor Michael argued. They packed up their things as quickly as possible and got the hell out of there.
When Michael got home, he got his chart out from its hiding place behind the fridge. He wrote ‘Enhanced senses???’ right beneath ‘Too strong’, then studied the chart. It had been quite a stroke of luck that Liz had thought that she’d heard something right before those guys had shown up. But Michael believed in luck about as much as he believed in Santa Claus. So could it be that what Liz had heard had been those guys? That would only be possible if she had some kind of super-hearing-ability, which sounded ridiculous, but who knew? When it came to Liz Parker, Michael considered everything a possibility.
~*~*~*~
The next day Michael was walkig to school, due to the fact that his bike was once again not quite cooperating, when it suddenly hit him. He remembered. He’d been at school, getting something out of his locker, when Liz and Kyle had walked by. They’d been talking. He’d only heard bits and pieces of their conversation, but one word had stuck out. Manticore. Kyle had suddenly lowered his voice when saying it as to make sure that no one would hear it. But Michael had heared it.
But what did it mean? He had no idea what that was supposed to be. Was it a name? A person, a place, a thing? He stopped walking. Then he looked up. He was standing in front of the public library.
*
Michael had been at it for hours now, browsing the internet and searching through the newspaper archive. So far, nothing. He hadn’t dared ask the librarian about it, prefering to keep this search to himself, so he was on his own. Damn it. For the first time in his life, he regretted not doing more for school. If he had, he might know how to actually find something in this frikin’ place.
Glancing at the clock, he realized that school would be out in an hour. Damn it. He would have to leave soon. He knew that people would be coming here after school to do homework and study, and he couldn’t risk being seen here. Besides ruining his reputation, it would also make people suspicious, and he wasn’t willing to take the chance. Not now. Not ever actually, but too much stuff had been going on lately. Laying low and blending in was more important than ever. Sighing, he gathered his things, got up and left.
~*~*~*~
Liz dragged her feet as she made her way to the last class of the day. She was so tired. She just wanted to go home. She seriously didn’t think she’d make it through one more class, even if it was just French, one of her easiest classes since she’d learnd French at Manticore.
She’d spent lunch watching Tess sitting so close to Max that she’d practically been in his lap, laughing and smiling and touching him and she’d just wanted to kill the bitch. Then there was the surprise pop-quiz in English that had unfortunately been about a book she hadn’t read yet. And to make it all even worse, she’d been paired up with Max to work on a project for Biology. They weren’t even lap partners or anything in Biology. Couldn’t she have been paired up with someone, anyone else?
She spied an empty classroom and went in, leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and just stood there. She needed a moment to herself. She needed a moment to gather her energy or else she really wouldn’t make it through the day.
The sharp taping of heels on the linolium floor startled her into opening her eyes and looking up. Oh no. Not now. Not her.
“Oh, I’m sorry, is the young mother not feeling well today?” the girl asked her with fake concern and an evil smile on her face.
“Get out of my face.” Liz practically spit the words out. Pam Troy was the last person she wanted to deal with right now.
“Must be hard I guess, watching the father of your unborn child mooning over another girl,” Pam taunted, ignoring Liz’s words just like the warning in her eyes. “You noticed, right? The way Kyle was staring at Tess Harding in Chemistry? He didn’t take his eyes off her once throughout the whole lesson.”
“Wow, Pam, I’m impressed. I didn’t know you actually knew words with more than one sylable. And ‘throughout’ is a really long one too, with like, more than five letters,” Liz replied sounding awed.
Pam turned red with anger. “Oh stuff it, Parker! You think you’re so great, don’t you? But if you are, why do all the guys you date end up chasing after Tess Harding? First Max, now Kyle…I wonder what it is about you that drives them away from you. What does she have that you don’t?”
Pam’s words were like a punch to the gut, cutting at her heart. Normally Pam had no idea how to get under Liz’s skin, but this time she’d hit the bullseye. Liz was trembling with anger, white-hot rage pounding through her body. Before she knew what was happening, energy had gathered up in her right arm, pricklign her skin like electricity. She tried to hold it back, but she couldn’t. The cabinet standing beside her blew up, wood splintering and glass shattering into a million pieces.
tbc
For now, enjoy. And don't kill me. I couldn't resist...
Part 28
Michael was standing in his apartment, staring at the chart he had made in the past week. Everything odd about Liz Parker was listed on it, from the fact that she seemed stronger than a girl, especially one her size, should be to Liz’s parents being strangely nice to Kyle, considering that he’d gotten their teenage daughter pregnant. Not that Michael had a lot of experience with parents, but as far as he knew, they normally leaned towards being upset in situations like this.
If he put this much effort into his school work, Michael mused, he would be getting a lot less crap from his teachers.
There were other things of course, like the strange way Kyle and Liz acted when they were together. On the surface, everything seemed perfectly normal. They were close and very comfortable around each other, they occasionally touched, Kyle would put his arm around her, kiss her forehead. He was constantly worried about her, about the baby, not to mention very, very overprotective. And he made it very clear that he cared a great deal about Liz. But something was off. Michael couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he was sure of it all the same. There was something strange about Liz and Kyle’s relationship, and he was going to find out what it is.
Also listed on the chart was everything Michael could remember from the conversation he’d overheard on the day Liz had blown up her living room. She’d said something about looking for someone in Seattle, a guy named Zack. She hadn’t said anything about who he was, only that she ‘needed him now more than ever’. With ‘now’, Michael assumed she meant now that she was pregnant, but it could be something else. Everything seemed possible when it came to Liz.
Kyle had also said that she had a barcode on her neck. Michael had tried to find out if it was true, but it seemed that Liz was careful to always keep her neck covered, either by her hair or with clothes. Or that was just a coincidence. After all, why should anyone have a barcode on their neck? Michael didn’t believe in coincidences, but it just didn’t make any sense. But then, not much about Liz Parker seemed to make much sense, at least not if you took a closer look.
And hadn’t she said that she had brothers and sisters? How was that possible? She was an only child. The Parker’s didn’t have any other children. He would know. Somebody would know, and as far as had been able to find out, the Parker’s had never had any other children besides Liz.
Liz had also said that she’d lived with her siblings for a decade or so. As far as he knew, Liz and her parents had moved to Roswell shortly before third grade. So if she actually had brothers and sisters, and if she lived with them, it had to be before they came to Roswell. But why hadn’t they come with them? What had happened to them? And why had Liz never said anything about them?
Liz and Kyle had both also said that going to Seattle was dangerous, that Liz might get caught. Which meant that someone was looking to catch her. Kyle had confirmed that by pointing out that Liz was on the run. Which of course didn’t make any sense at all, but the way Michael rhymed it together, Liz was hiding from somebody – or something – probably had been for a long time now, since she’d been in Roswell for years. At least that much he knew. Liz and Kyle both thought that that somebody could be in Seattle, or at least close to it, hence going there could be dangerous for Liz.
But why would anyone want to capture Liz? And what would they do if they found her? The ‘why’ was actually easy to find an answer to. Because there was something about Liz that made her different, enough to put her in danger. He didn’t know what it was and how ‘they’ knew in the first place, he only knew that Liz wasn’t normal, and that that put her in danger. Which probably also explained why she hadn’t told anyone. He of all people could of course understand that, but that didn’t make him any less upset, or any less determined to find out Liz Parker’s secret.
Michael plopped down on the couch, still staring at the chart. He was missing something. There was some small detail he’d forgotten, something that was teasing the edge of his memory, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. Damn it, what was it? He didn’t know, but Michael swore to himself that he’d find out. He’d remember. Oh yes, that, he would.
~*~*~*~
“She’s driving me crazy!” Liz exclaimed. “You want to know what I found today? Pre-school brochures! Can you believe it? The baby is about the size of a bean and my mom is already starting to plan her academic career!”
Liz was over at the Valenti’s waiting for Kyle to come home from football practice. She and Michael had another training session scheduled that afternoon, and Kyle had wanted to come along this time.
Jim chuckled. “Well, yes, I see how that might be a bit overhasted.”
Liz snorted. “Overhasted? That’s the understatement of the century! Try insane. Try crazy.”
Jim refrained from saying any more, instead he handed Liz the glass of milk he’d just poured for her. “Here, drink this. It’ll do you good.”
“Oh yeah? Does it help against hovering, overanxious mothers driving you nuts?” But Liz took the glass and drank without protest.
Jim smiled. “I’m afraid not. But you need lots of calcium right now, the babies bones have started to develop, you know?”
The annoyance vanished from Liz’s face and was replaced by a smile as she glanced down at her stomach. “Yeah, I know.” She brushed her fingers over the spot the baby was resting beneath. Her pregancy had become real to her a long time ago, but there were still moments when disbelief struck her. Like right now. It was just so hard to imagine that there was a new life growing inside her. That in a few month she’d be a mommy. That she’d have this whole new tiny being in her life, one that would be utterly dependant on her.
Jim saw the disbelief on Liz’s face. “Hard to imagine that there’s a baby in there, huh?”
“Yeah,” Liz said absently, her hand still on her stomach.
Jim laid his hand on Liz’s shoulder, squeezed gently. “You’ll be a great mother.”
Liz glanced up at him smiling. “You think?”
Jim smiled back at her. “Of course. I couldn’t think of anybody better qualified.”
~*~*~*~
“Why is Michael always late?” Kyle complained. He and Liz were out in the dessert in a rather secluded place, waiting for Michael to show up so that he and Liz could start their training session.
“Stop whining,” Liz ordered. “Nobody forced you to come along.” Truth was, Michael’s constant tardiness was getting on her nerves too, but she was thankfull that he was taking the time to help her, and so she refrained from saying anything, even though she had the slight suspicion that part of the reason why Michael was always late was to irritate her.
Kyle started shuffling up and down, kicking rocks out of his way. “So, how was the last training session? Any progress?” He and Liz hadn’t seen each other a lot since she’d started practicing her powers with Michael due to both of them being busy, Liz with to work and training, Kyle with football practice. He had a big game coming up, and that meant extra training sessions. The few times they’d seen each other had been in puclic places, so they hadn’t talked except on the phone.
Liz stood up from the rock she was sitting on. “Come here,” she told Kyle, waving him over.
Kyle stayed where he was. “You’re not gonna beat me up again, are you?”
Liz gave him a look. “That was an accident! How many times do I have to say that till you believe me?”
Kyle held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay.” He walked over to Liz, squeezed his eyes shut as to brace himself for what was to come and started praying under his breath.
Liz punched his shoulder none too gently. “Stop making fun of me,” she said scowlding. Not that she really minded all that much. She was so glad that she and Kyle had stopped fighting. After she’d blown up the magazines her mother had called Kyle, and he’d come over immediately, putting their disagreement aside for the moment. He’d been great, as always, and the next day he and Liz had sat down together, talked it all over once again. They’d agreed that for now, while she didn’t have any control over her powers, Liz would stay in Roswell, and that if she did end up going to Seattle, Jim would go with her. That way Liz wouldn’t have to worry about Kyle and Kyle would have less reason to worry about Liz. He knew his father would do everything in his power to protect her, and that was at least something.
Kyle opened his eyes, chuckled. “But it’s so easy.”
“Do you want to see what I can do or not?” Liz asked with her hands on her hips.
Kyle stopped laughing. “Sorry. Sure. Do your magic.”
Liz took a deep breath, concentrated, then waved her hand over Kyle’s shirt. It changed from white to pink. Kyle looked down. “Wow. Not bad.” He paused. “Uh, was that the intended color?”
Liz smiled at him. “Yes.”
Kyle frowned. “Well, change it back.”
“I will. Later.” She was still smiling. “Maybe.”
Kyle glared at her. “You don’t seriously think that I’m gonna run around like this.”
Liz just kept smiling.
“Damn it, Liz-” Kyle began, but he broke off when he heard a motorcycle in the distance. A minute later he saw Michael riding towards them. He forgot about the shirt as his irritation with Michael flashed back up. “About time he showed up.”
*
An hour later Liz was hot, sweaty and thoroughly annoyed. She’d been practicing her blasts, and she pretty much sucked. She couldn’t aim, she couldn’t control the strength of the blast or time them and there had been next to no improvement since they’re last training session. Or the one before. Or the one before that.
“Shit,” Liz cursed. “I suck.” She kicked at a rock, careful to not put too much strength into it. It still sailed pretty far though. “How is it possible that I have powers anyway?!” she asked Michael for the millionth time now.
“How should I know that?” Michael retorted defensively as he always did. Had that rock flown a bit far or was he just being paranoid?
“I don’t know!” Liz exclaimed throwing her hands in the air. “You’re the alien here! Shouldn’t you be the one who knows this damn stuff?”
“I’m so sorry, Parker,” Michael retorted sardonically. “But they kind of forgot to give us a copy of the frikin’ instructions manual when they sent us down here.”
Liz was about to come up with a witty comeback when Kyle stepped between them. “Guys, this isn’t getting us anywhere. Liz, take five, you need a break. Michael, stop egging her on, she’s not gonna get any better if she’s mad at you on top of everything else.”
“Kyle Valenti, the voice of reason?” Michael mocked.
“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world,” Kyle told him.
Michael scowled. “Are you quoting Buddha to me?!” he exclaimed.
Kyle just grinned. Then he walked over to Liz, stood beside her for a moment without saying anything before he broke the silence. “He is able who thinks he is able, you know?”
Liz glared at him. “Stop quoting that fat old man to me, Kyle. What did Buddha know about alien powers?”
Kyle thought it over. “Well, not much probably, but still. You can do it if you belief in yourself. You just have to free your mind and find your inner balance, the rest is a breeze.”
Liz raised an eyebrow. “You think?” she asked sarcastically.
Kyle gave her a look. “I’m serious. You won’t succeed as long as you think you won’t succeed.”
Liz sighed, then started pacing to rid herself of all that restless energy in her that was dricng her insane. “I know. But…I just can’t give this my full attention. There are so many other things I have to take care of and figure out right now, I can’t concentrate on this. I have a million other things on my mind.”
“Well, try to put them out of your mind,” Kyle suggested. “Just, you know, let it go blank.”
Liz rolled her eyes. “Let it go blank, he says. Try to put it out of your mind, he says. Like that’s so easy,” she muttered. But she walked over to Michael all the same. “Let’s try this again.”
“Okay,” Michael replied. “You see that pile of rocks over there? Try blowing the one on the top up, but just that one.”
Liz took a deep breath, then lifted her hand and concentrated. She was about to blast when she heard something. Glancing around she tried to find out who or what had caused it, but she didn’t see anything.
“What is it?” Michael asked, also looking around.
“Nothing,” Liz replied after a minute. “I thought I heard something. Must have been wrong.” But then two figures suddenly appeared from behind a boulder. They were too far away to make out their features, at least for Michael and Kyle, but even the boys could see that they had a camara with them.
“Jesus, what are they doing here?” Michael exclaimed. Adrenaline had his heart racing. He couldn’t believe how close they’d come to being exposed.
“Looney turists looking for a spaceship, or at least a few aliens,” Kyle guessed.
“Yeah, well, whoever they are, we’d better get going,” Liz suggested. Neither Kyle nor Michael argued. They packed up their things as quickly as possible and got the hell out of there.
When Michael got home, he got his chart out from its hiding place behind the fridge. He wrote ‘Enhanced senses???’ right beneath ‘Too strong’, then studied the chart. It had been quite a stroke of luck that Liz had thought that she’d heard something right before those guys had shown up. But Michael believed in luck about as much as he believed in Santa Claus. So could it be that what Liz had heard had been those guys? That would only be possible if she had some kind of super-hearing-ability, which sounded ridiculous, but who knew? When it came to Liz Parker, Michael considered everything a possibility.
~*~*~*~
The next day Michael was walkig to school, due to the fact that his bike was once again not quite cooperating, when it suddenly hit him. He remembered. He’d been at school, getting something out of his locker, when Liz and Kyle had walked by. They’d been talking. He’d only heard bits and pieces of their conversation, but one word had stuck out. Manticore. Kyle had suddenly lowered his voice when saying it as to make sure that no one would hear it. But Michael had heared it.
But what did it mean? He had no idea what that was supposed to be. Was it a name? A person, a place, a thing? He stopped walking. Then he looked up. He was standing in front of the public library.
*
Michael had been at it for hours now, browsing the internet and searching through the newspaper archive. So far, nothing. He hadn’t dared ask the librarian about it, prefering to keep this search to himself, so he was on his own. Damn it. For the first time in his life, he regretted not doing more for school. If he had, he might know how to actually find something in this frikin’ place.
Glancing at the clock, he realized that school would be out in an hour. Damn it. He would have to leave soon. He knew that people would be coming here after school to do homework and study, and he couldn’t risk being seen here. Besides ruining his reputation, it would also make people suspicious, and he wasn’t willing to take the chance. Not now. Not ever actually, but too much stuff had been going on lately. Laying low and blending in was more important than ever. Sighing, he gathered his things, got up and left.
~*~*~*~
Liz dragged her feet as she made her way to the last class of the day. She was so tired. She just wanted to go home. She seriously didn’t think she’d make it through one more class, even if it was just French, one of her easiest classes since she’d learnd French at Manticore.
She’d spent lunch watching Tess sitting so close to Max that she’d practically been in his lap, laughing and smiling and touching him and she’d just wanted to kill the bitch. Then there was the surprise pop-quiz in English that had unfortunately been about a book she hadn’t read yet. And to make it all even worse, she’d been paired up with Max to work on a project for Biology. They weren’t even lap partners or anything in Biology. Couldn’t she have been paired up with someone, anyone else?
She spied an empty classroom and went in, leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and just stood there. She needed a moment to herself. She needed a moment to gather her energy or else she really wouldn’t make it through the day.
The sharp taping of heels on the linolium floor startled her into opening her eyes and looking up. Oh no. Not now. Not her.
“Oh, I’m sorry, is the young mother not feeling well today?” the girl asked her with fake concern and an evil smile on her face.
“Get out of my face.” Liz practically spit the words out. Pam Troy was the last person she wanted to deal with right now.
“Must be hard I guess, watching the father of your unborn child mooning over another girl,” Pam taunted, ignoring Liz’s words just like the warning in her eyes. “You noticed, right? The way Kyle was staring at Tess Harding in Chemistry? He didn’t take his eyes off her once throughout the whole lesson.”
“Wow, Pam, I’m impressed. I didn’t know you actually knew words with more than one sylable. And ‘throughout’ is a really long one too, with like, more than five letters,” Liz replied sounding awed.
Pam turned red with anger. “Oh stuff it, Parker! You think you’re so great, don’t you? But if you are, why do all the guys you date end up chasing after Tess Harding? First Max, now Kyle…I wonder what it is about you that drives them away from you. What does she have that you don’t?”
Pam’s words were like a punch to the gut, cutting at her heart. Normally Pam had no idea how to get under Liz’s skin, but this time she’d hit the bullseye. Liz was trembling with anger, white-hot rage pounding through her body. Before she knew what was happening, energy had gathered up in her right arm, pricklign her skin like electricity. She tried to hold it back, but she couldn’t. The cabinet standing beside her blew up, wood splintering and glass shattering into a million pieces.
tbc
Tact is for people not witty enough to be sarcastic.
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08
holier than thou | katastrophee
Updated 03/16/07 | Updated 02/10/08