Good evening, everyone! (well, it is for me
)
I'm bringing you the next chapter. I'm not sure it's gonna make things easier (you'll know what I mean by the end of it), but at least there'll be more answers.
Lots of love!
Ashley (Morning Dreamgirl)
Let's see;
1. This will be explained in the following chapter.
2. Interesting point
3. A little bit more information in the following chapter concerning this one.
4. Hint: Liz is a lot like her mother when it comes to her "reactions" to being controlled. More about this - also - in the next chapter.
5. Maybe not an unfinished project, but...
6. I can assure you, Max would never want to abuse the bond between him and Liz.
7. Yes, and it's not in Max's regular repertoire of powers (which is why he needed to draw on Liz).
8. Yeah, Max is not really interested in Liz because of the bond. That's, like you said, really not the main attraction about Liz.
9. Maaaaybe...
It's interesting that for all the things Max could chose to be dishonest about it was his mother marrying his father. Maybe he wants Liz to not think she's forced into being with him if she doesn't want to? It seems, however, as if it's something deeper than that.
A lot of insecurities went into Max's answer on that one, so you're right. There's probably another reason, even though the one you mentioned is very much part of it.
Max would probably get a lot more than a beating if they found out that he had told Liz everything. His protective status can only go so far. At this point not only is she in incredible danger for knowing that aliens exist but Max has now put himself right in the line of fire with her.
This is why Max has been trying so hard to keep Liz in the dark (but you already knew that
). The truth might hurt Liz, but she also seems to be in danger when she's ignorant of what's happening.
Many humans already know so why is it so important to keep Liz in the dark for so long?
As far as we know, excluding the humans who are married to aliens, Liz is actually the only human that knows... So not that many. And the alien community is a tight-knitted and tight-lipped one...
It shows just how in tune they are and how good for him she is. She brings out parts of him that he normally doesn't allow out.
Max really needs someone like Liz in his restricted life.
Have you ever put melted coconut oil and salt on your popcorn? That's my favorite way to eat it. We use pink Himalayan salt and when you stir it all together it's divine. I can literally eat a bowl of it by myself.
That's an excellent idea! I don't know why I haven't thought about it myself, since I use coconut oil for about everything (baking, on my skin, frying eggs) and I actually only use Himalayan salt. Read somewhere that it was healthy
So I should try it. I still have one bag of popcorn left to pop...
Eve (begonia9508) - Yes, why does Liz seem to be able to put up resistance...? Thank you for the feedback!
Carolyn (keepsmiling7) - Yeah, guess not
Thank you for the feedback!
Helen (roswelllostcause) - Maybe you'll have some answers for your questions in this next chapter
Thank you for the feedback and resist the pull!!
Alien_Friend
Hmmmm I wonder if Diane carries the gene too.
Hmmm...interesting...
I hope Diane has grown to love Philip over the years.
Hopefully. It would be a horrible existence otherwise, I imagine.
Thank you so much for the feedback!
AlysLuv - More answers coming up
Thank you for the feedback!
L-J-L 76
What does the gene mean for Liz? Is a good thing or a bad thing?
Weeeell...
Is Roswell full of Aliens?
According to Liz's investigations, there are a lot of aliens in Roswell. But not everyone in Roswell is an alien...
Thank you for the bump and the feedback
From TWENTY-SIX:
To cover up the slip of my desire, I grumbled, “You’re such comic relief,” doing my best to appear annoyed.
He laughed again, and a little bit more of the cold inside of me dissipated. I couldn’t prevent the small smile from touching my lips at his response. Sadly, I realized that Max didn’t laugh much. Sure, he did a lot of grinning and smirking. But I rarely saw him experience genuine fun.
Would I be laughing, had I been Max? I frowned. Probably not.
“That’s new,” Max said, sobering, and I wondered what he was thinking.
“You being funny?” I asked.
“Not really what I’m known for,” he shrugged, the remnants of a smile lingering on his lips.
“Don’t worry; it still needs practice,” I assured him and his smile twitched. He was a lot more relaxed all of the sudden, and I wanted to hold onto that setting. I wanted him to experience some moments of happiness for once.
____________________________________
TWENTY-SEVEN
But apparently, Max wouldn’t let himself be carefree too long. Without any prompt from me, he turned serious and said, “Um… We can bond with humans.”
I practically rolled my eyes at him.
No shit, Sherlock.
He smiled at me, the gesture wobbling with insecurity. “Right. You already knew that.”
I curled my arms around my middle, my voice matching his smile in insecurity, “How do you bond?”
“Usually, through…” he winced, his tongue moving out over his lips before replying, “copulation.”
I seemed to have no control over my body this close to Max. My cheeks heated and my eyes dropped to my hands. I was suddenly very nervous. And incredibly aware of Max’s presence in my small room. I could hear every breath he took and felt his eyes burn into the side of my face.
I could only guess why he would use such an underused term for sex. He was trying to dissociate himself to the act; trying to separate it from what he considered was ‘normal sex’.
I licked my dry lips, my voice raspy in my dry throat as I whispered - without looking at him, “But we- we haven’t-“
“
Usually through copulation,” Max repeated, sounding just as uncomfortable with the subject as I felt. “A bonding like that can be broken, if the human female changes partner- um, changes sexual partner.”
“Right,” I mumbled, wanting to sink through my bed.
Why was I talking about sex with Max Evans in the middle of the night in my bedroom wearing only a T-shirt again?
“We’re bonded because I-“
I remembered what his father had insinuated just before he had wanted to rattle though my mind, “Because you healed me.”
“Minor injuries don’t require a connection to the healer,” Max continued, as means of explanation.
“Like how you removed my headache.”
With just your palm against my forehead.
“Yeah.”
“But I didn’t have minor injuries…”
He didn’t reply, didn’t fill in my open question, making me look up and glance over at him. He was fisting the edge of my duvet in his right hand while staring out at the room with a distant look. His mouth was set into a grim line and he looked…pained.
My heart struck an extra beat in trepidation. “Are you okay?”
He shook his head slowly and blinked. Once. Twice. His gaze slanted over my face briefly, before he looked away again. “Your injuries…”
He licked his lips again. There had been a strain in his voice. My whole body tightened in longing, of needing to assure him. Of something. I wasn’t sure of what. What was running through his head right now?
I was starting to feel guilty (guilty about what?) on top of sharp emotional pain and distress.
The frown between my eyebrows deepened. Wait? Why?
I looked at him closely and it hit me. “That!”
He looked up at me, his eyes widening in a surprised wordless question. Slowly, carefully, he asked, “What?”
I straightened, a small jump in my body. I felt oddly excited. “Those are your feelings, aren’t they?” Excited because things were starting to make sense. “All this time, it’s been real. I can really feel you.”
He was staring at me like
I was the one who just announced I was an alien.
“But…” my body calmed down in confusion and slumped. “You said you couldn’t read my thoughts…”
The memory of me standing in my shower, naked as one normally was in the shower, with the strong sensation that Max was standing behind me, took a strong hold of me and I gasped in shocked fear.
Before Max got the chance to say anything, I self-consciously pulled the duvet up to my chin, like I was sitting naked in front of him. “You’ve been here. With me. When I’ve been…”
He looked at me closely, seriously, as my voice trailed off in shocked revelation. “Not in person.”
“But, I could
feel you. Here.” I patted the bed. “With me.”
He took a deep breath. “Through the bond, even at a distance, I can sense certain heightened feelings.” He fidgeted with the duvet. “I guess you’ve been able to do the same with me. Although you haven’t known about it.”
“And you…what? You project yourself into my mind?”
He rubbed his eyebrow in frustration. “I’m not sure, I’ve never been connected to anyone before.”
He hadn’t?
That distracted confession made my heart soar. Internally, I rolled my eyes at myself.
You’re a pathetic, lovesick fool, Parker.
“I just hear you,” he said, dropping his hand and catching my eyes.
My lungs stopped working in anticipation of what he was going to say.
“And I reach out for you…” He frowned. “You could really sense me with you?”
Yes, you’ve been comforting me. Helping me through some of my darkest moments.
But I didn’t want to tell him that. I didn’t want to appear vulnerable and exposed. Instead, I just nodded.
“Cool,” he said under his breath, like this whole thing was news to him too.
Maybe that wasn’t the word I would use, but okay. “So, healing me bound us together?”
“When you heal someone from grave injury, you have to form a connection to their mind, so that you can gain access to their body, locate the injuries on a cellular level, and feed healing energy into that individual.”
Which confirmed what I had already suspected. Max had been like a big battery, recharging my body when it had been hurt.
“Which brings me back to the gene stuff.”
I nodded, finding myself speechless. I just wanted to get all the information now.
“If my kind connects with a female with that rare gene - which you have - and it’s switched on, the connection is really strong. Through the connection, the alien will be able to pull energy so that he’ll become stronger.”
“I’ll become your battery,” I said slowly under my breath.
“What?” he asked, not having heard me.
I looked up at him, bypassing my comment and asking, “So that’s why you want humans with that gene? They’ll make you stronger?”
Max nodded grimly. “There are different strengths to the connections, but with a particularly strong one, the bonded couple will in essence become invincible. There’s rumors that a connection in some cases become unbreakable.”
Unbreakable.
“Which is highly sought after in war. It will give us the power to explore other special abilities than our own and enhance the things we are already skilled in.”
Sean. Was that why Sean had shown such interest in me? And if my mom had the gene too… “Was that why my mom was dating Sean’s dad in high school? Because of the gene? Because he wanted the power?”
Max frowned. “You know about that, huh?”
Oh, Max Evans. The things I know.
“Mom never told me, but I found several pictures in their yearbook.” Max hesitated and I added frankly, “Look. I have no illusions at this point that their romance was purely based on love. Just tell me. Did he use her?”
“They were bonded,” Max replied slowly and after some hesitation, he added, “Your mom was probably a big reason as to why Sergeant was able to earn the position he has.”
I blanched. All I could think of was the Sergeant manipulating my mom the way Sean had done with me, basically raping her repeatedly just so that he could gain more power over the other aliens. Because if I understood Max correctly, Sgt. Carter was no healer, so in order to bond with someone, he would’ve have to…copulate.
I felt faint.
“He earned his respect through controlled fear. The things he can do…”
I gulped, feeling the walls closing in on me.
“Liz? Are you okay?”
The air felt deprived of oxygen, my thorax spasmed and I leaned forward trying to catch a breath.
“Hey!” Max called and I heard the rustle from the bed linen as he quickly moved off the bed and came to kneel on the floor in front of me. Then his hands were on my face, brushing down my arms, and back up again to my cheeks. “Hey, look at me.”
“I…can’t…” There was no air in the room.
“Liz,” he called, his voice urgent. “Look. At. Me.”
My eyes snapped open to his beautiful face, contorted in fear and worry, and I could only assume that the connection had opened between us instantly because suddenly air was flowing freely into my lungs.
I gasped, gulping the air into my lungs like a starving person.
“Liz…” Max said quietly and I realized that I was crying.
“He raped her,” I whispered, my lungs still burning. A harsh sob wrenched through me, as I repeated, “He raped her.”
Silently, Max quickly put his arms around me and pulled me down to the floor with him, me folding naturally into his lap, my legs falling down around his waist as I curled up against his chest.
“Shhh,” he hushed into my ear as I cried. His hand was running through my hair consolingly and even with the horrible realization of what my mom must have lived through in my head, I didn’t want to leave this place. I wanted to remain forever curled up in his embrace.
It wasn’t just the idea that my mom had - probably on more than one occasion - been telepathically coerced into having sex that upset me. It was that I never knew about it. My mom had lived some kind of double life, in which she had been oppressed by aliens, and I never had a clue.
Hopefully, my mom had been just as clueless. Hopefully, they had erased her memory time and time again so that she never had to remember being violated and used.
Didn’t change the fact that she still had to experience it while it actually happened.
My mind flashed to the nightmare I’d had just before abruptly waking up to finding Max in my bedroom. The nightmare that seemed more like a memory where I had been aware of everything Mr. Evans had been doing to me, but had been unable to move.
A deeper sob wrenched through me as I realized that I could have been my mom right now. If Max hadn’t stepped in between, if he hadn’t warned me about Sean or ‘saved me’ at that party, I might be at Sean’s mercy right now. In every horrible possible way.
“How did she break out of the bond?” I sniveled against Max’s chest. The front of his shirt was damp with my tears.
She must have broken out of the bond, right? How else would she have been able to get together with my dad, start a family?
Max’s fingers stilled in my hair and there was a loaded pause before he answered, “She met your dad.”
I wanted to believe that. I might have, if Max hadn’t just told me about how some connections were unbreakable.
As if reading my mind (which apparently, he could sometimes do through our connection), Max added before I had a chance to protest, “But it had to have been more than that. A human doesn’t just break out of a bond. Their will is no longer theirs. They can’t make decisions like that.”
I chilled. No will. No freedom. “But you said that the bond could be broken if there was another partner?” I left the word ‘sexual’ out of the sentence, because I was momentarily made very aware of how the insides of my thighs were resting against the outside of his hips.
I was seated on his lap, for God’s sake!
Max’s tone was casual, not hinting the slightest at if he was finding the subject awkward. “It can only be broken by another alien. And your father is no alien, so he couldn’t have done it.”
This comforted me. Even though I already knew that my dad was human, it was always good to have it confirmed.
“But your mom was different,” Max continued. “She was strong.” He paused and I could hear the ticking from the clock on my wall tick its way through five seconds, before he elaborated, “I wouldn’t be surprised if she managed to fight him. For your father’s sake. For your sake.”
My heart clenched. Mom.
Of course she had tried to protect us. Even protect the future child she might have. It was a romantic notion; my mom - the human heroine - fighting the superior alien’s mental powers so that she could find happiness and a normal life with her true love.
My mind once again snapped to my nightmare. Curling my fingers into Max’s shirt, unconsciously bracing myself for his reaction, I said, “I’m able to fight you too. During your visits - your ‘check-ups’.”
Max was really quiet, barely breathing, and I waited him out.
“You remember that?” he whispered, his voice breaking.
“You didn’t just visit me when you were younger. You called the visits ‘check-ups’ and sometimes it wasn’t just you and your dad, but Sean as well. The last time was not too long ago, right?”
“You’re not supposed to remember that,” Max mumbled and I wondered if he had actually listened to anything I’d said past ‘During your visits - your ‘check-ups’.
Bitterness flooded me. “It’s getting clearer.” I leaned back slightly, looking unseeingly at the damp patterns my fear and sadness had created on his shirt. I was not ready to meet his eyes yet. “What were you doing during these visits?”
His hands drifted down from my hair, brushed down my back, along my spine, and fluttered to a stop at the small of my back. The faintness to the motion made me suspect that he wasn’t even aware that he was doing it. That his thoughts were miles away.
But I was aware. My whole body tensed in anticipation and pleasant goosebumps exploded across my body.
“Checking your development.”
I froze, my body stiffening. Good feeling gone.
Development?
Max continued, “Unfortunately, a couple of years ago, when our race discovered people with that rare gene - we call the gene
gaea - our people got a little too excited. We can be…” he paused and I imagined him licking his lips as he searched for the best way to express what he wanted to say, “…just as power-hungry as homo sapiens.”
The pads of his fingers pressed hotly into the base of my back, along my spine. “And people died…”
I couldn’t stop the loud gasp, and Max’s explanation picked up speed - like he was expecting me to run at any moment - before he had gotten all the words out. “We learnt the hard way that the suitability of the human subject depends on several factors. They need to be able to withstand and support our energy needs, and their bodies have to be able to take large energy drainage when we need to use our powers beyond ‘regular use’. The ability for a subject to provide energy depends on age and overall mental health.”
A coldness was seeping into every cell of my body. I hated that Max was talking about this so rationally, so objectively emotionless. Like he was talking about a science experiment gone wrong or tiredly reciting informing which had been given to him over and over again. It was not like he was talking about the lives of several humans.
“My dad is trying to estimate when the subject is ready, by using medical, physical and mental parameters. There are certain rules set in place that we are not to touch a possible gaea before they are ready. Otherwise, there’s a risk they might not survive it.” He paused, before adding with a hint of bitter acid in his voice, “We have no use for dead subjects, so it’s in our interest to do everything to keep them alive.”
The coldness had now reached my heart. I tried to ignore his last comment - it made me want to throw up - and desperate to leave that line of conversation, I snapped my eyes up to Max as my mom’s exhausted, but smiling, face flashed before me. “So when you said that my mom died from exhaustion…”
Max looked at me, his eyes dark and guilty. “They’d overdone it. Her body couldn’t handle any more.”
“So you set our house on fire to cover up her death,” I stated. There was no need to ask, I was already certain of that fact.
Max nodded solemnly.
I bit my lips together against the onslaught of new tears. My voice broke as I whispered, “Were you involved? With my mom? With setting my house on fire?”
His eyes instantly hardened, anger flashing with warning. “You think I was pulling energy from your mom?”
I hadn’t exactly meant that, but once he said it I was overcome with nausea at the implications of that. What he had to do to ‘bond’ with her. Unless he had healed her, of course.
“No,” I sniveled. “But you were at my house at the time of the fire.”
His body was suddenly very tense around me; all the edges of his body were pointing outwards. “I was looking for you. I was afraid that you would be there.”
The coldness pulled back slightly and I asked in disbelief, “You were worried about me?”
He exhaled in irritation, looking away from me and shaking his head. “Sometimes you’re really dense, Parker.”
My stomach tightened at his words, simultaneously hurt and comforted. I brushed my hand across my face, rubbing at the semi-dried tears and pushed at his chest to move off his lap.
His hands fell away from the base of my back and I felt his eyes on the top of my head as I focused on getting my feet under me. His hands grabbed my upper arms and I felt myself being lifted to my feet.
God. He was strong.
I swallowed loudly, finding myself looking down at him as he was kneeling in front of me. There were questions in his eyes. Questions I couldn’t answer. I just needed to put some distance between us.
“Why are you running so hot and cold on me?” I asked before I could stop myself.
His eyes narrowed, his pupils dilated, and his lips tight. “I am?”
“You acted like you could barely be in the same room as me before, then you let me…” my voice trailed off, a fresh blush on my cheeks as I gestured towards his lap, the implied intimacy of our previous position clear.
He pushed to his feet, annoyance darkening his features as he roughly combed his hands through his hair. His voice was equally rough and annoyed. “I was trying to give you space, considering I was about to tell you that I’m not human. Sensitive subject and all that.”
His annoyance drove into me, probably through that alien connection, heightening my own irritation. I pushed my own hands through my hair - momentarily forgetting that he was getting a clear view of my dressed-down sleeping attire. “I don’t need your space. It wears me out. One moment you’re saving me from some extraterrestrial freak, the next you’re avoiding me for days.” I laughed bitterly as his eyes turned black as charcoal as he watched me. “I mean, the only reason you’re here right now,
finally giving me some answers, is because you wanted to disobey your father’s orders.”
“No,” he hissed and glanced towards my bedroom door. “And keep your voice down.”
I ignored him, our combined feelings propelling my emotional state out of control at an alarming rate. I wrapped my arms tightly around my waist, wincing at the pain from my abdomen, ignoring Max’s glare - probably because I hurt myself - and felt tears of anger and hurt burn my eyes. “Why didn’t you erase my mind, Max? Why go through all this trouble? Why put yourself in danger, when that Sgt. Monster is obviously not below punishing you for getting out of line?”
“Because it was safer!” Max seethed, stepping closer to me. I automatically took a step back, the back of my knees hitting the bed. Max’s eyes narrowed, but at least he didn’t come any closer. “You just wouldn’t stay away. With your prodding and questioning - this fucking
quest of yours.”
He promptly closed the distance between us, and grabbed my chin, his hot angry breath fanning across my face as I met his eyes defiantly. I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off. “You made it fucking impossible for me to keep you safe. You were showing up at my house unannounced, without a cover-up story, and-,” his fingers dug into my skin as his dark eyes blazed. His anger was dazzling. “-you put yourself straight into the lions’ den by showing up at that party.”
He let go off my chin and my breath rushed back into my chest (I hadn’t even been aware of holding it) as he stared down at me. “You even brought your friend and jeopardized her safety.” His accusation about Maria sliced through my heart and the angry tears spilled over, down my cheeks. He inhaled shakily, anger consuming him (I could feel it blazing through my own body), as he added slowly, “If I hadn’t been there that night-“
“I know,” I cried through my tears. “I know, okay! It was stupid. I’m stupid. But you weren’t giving me any answers!”
“Which is why I’m here,” Max bit out. “Apparently, to stop you from snooping around and putting yourself in danger-“
“You can’t treat me like this,” I whispered, angrily brushing at the tears on my face. “I’m so confused.”
“I’m giving you the answers-“ Max started, but I shook my head desolately as he misunderstood me.
Before I had really thought through what I was about to say, my tongue slipped, “I’m in love with you.”
My broken and vulnerable confession hung between us and I watched Max freeze. The angry blaze in his eyes went out like a light and he took a slow, dazed step backwards. “No…”
I was already regretting having said that.
Why had I said that? Stupid. Stupid.
“You can’t love me,” he breathed, fear sharp in his eyes.
“It wasn’t really my choice,” I bit out, huddling in my thin T-shirt.
He shook his head slowly, dying embers of anger slowly igniting in his eyes. I could feel the anger travel through me, building in intensity at the same time as I saw it transform his body, his features. If I hadn’t been so hurt and vulnerable right then, it would’ve been a fascinating thing to experience.
“No, it’s the bond,” he said, his voice gaining in strength. “You’re confusing it with the bond.”
“No,” I objected. Even if I hadn’t been ready to admit it to myself until just recently, I had fallen for Max long before he healed me, long before we became connected mentally.
“Yes,” he argued, his expression turning a tad frantic. “You don’t know the force of the bond, it-“
“It’s not the bond, okay!” I cried.
He briskly stepped up to me, grabbed me by the arms and shook me - hard - once. “You can’t love me. Okay? I’m a monster. You can’t love me. You don’t know what you’re saying.”
Desperation. He was desperate for me to see his reasoning and frightened what would happen if I didn’t. “You need to forget about me-“
I clenched my teeth together and brought my face boldly close to his. “Then why don’t you just erase my mind?!”
Something cold entered his eyes, and just like an iron ribbon slamming down with a heavy thud, his emotions were closed off. “See? Right there. Just that I have the power to erase your mind, is enough reason to stay the hell away from me and people like me.”
“But I won’t be able to walk away,” I said. “Because of this fucking gene. They will always be after me. Wanting to control me, fuck me-“
He flinched at my rough words and opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by my bedroom door opening. My heart rushed into my throat.
Dad. I had forgotten about him.
My anger came to a screeching halt and my scared widened eyes naturally flew to Max’s face.
He was looking at my father, oddly calm in the aftermath of our heated conversation.
“What’s going-“ my father’s words trailed off as he saw that I was not alone. That his daughter had a teenage boy in her room in the middle of the night. And he was holding his daughter in a tight grip by the arms.
“Mr. Parker,” Max said calmly, his fingers digging into my arms. “Hi.”
My dad’s eyes changed from confused and shocked to that of anger in the fraction of a second. “What are you doing here? It’s the middle of-“
There was a sharp pull from the center of my ribcage and I looked from my dad back to Max. His eyes were transfixed on my dad. An ice-cold shiver ran down my spine.
Energy. Max was pulling energy from me.
“You’re gonna go back to bed, Jeffrey,” Max stated, evenly. “There’s no one in your daughter’s room besides your daughter - sleeping soundly. You’re not gonna remember anything about this in the morning. You’ve slept through the night peacefully.”
My dad’s eyes widened, his face going blank. His voice was barely above a whisper as he acknowledged, “Okay.”
Max’s voice was hard as he added, “Go. Now.”
My dad turned to leave and I looked back at Max, fierce anger reddening my vision.
You just mind controlled my dad!
“
How could you?” I spit, my anger faltering some as he turned pitch black eyes to my face.
“See?” he hissed. “I’m a monster.”
It felt like he had backhanded me across the face. I stared at him, speechless, as emotional pain vibrated through me.
“Don’t worry,” he said lowly and released my arms, taking a step back. “I’ll find a way to break the connection. Then you won’t be so
confused any more.”
No.
And without any further words of goodbye, Max roughly grabbed the doorknob and rather violently ripped the door open, disappearing into the dark apartment.
I heard the front door slam a few seconds later, snapping the last shreds of my self-control, and I sank to my knees as my feelings shattered around me.
TBC...
