Eve (begonia9508) - Yes, Tess has a way of showing her true colors sooner or later. But I can assure you that Tess' role in this fic is
not going to be as traumatic as it was on the show. I wouldn't do that to you (or to myself)
Thank you for the feedback!
Roswelllostcause - hehe - "blonde homewrecker". Yes, she sure is a nuisance. Thank you for the feedback!
Carolyn (keepsmiling7) - The notes are all very mysterious. But you'll get your answer to who sent them soon enough... And no, it's no wonder that Alex thinks that Liz joined a cult. Her sudden departure was very out of character for the well-organized Elizabeth Parker. Thank you for the feedback!
saori_1902 - Sure is an interesting "road trip"
Thank you for the feedback!
L-J-L 76 - First of all; thank you for the bump! <3 Secondly, I love how you see Max's side in all of this. That he, in his guilt-ridden ways, is only keeping Liz at a distance in an attempt to keep her safe. He obviously wants her with him, but he wants her to be happy even more. And if that means that he should let her go, he'll do it. As long as he can guarantee her safety. Which he can't really - at least not now. "Will Tess get Max to sleep with her?" Well, you never know with Tess, do you... "Will Tess use her powers on Liz?" Not completely unlikely, unfortunately
In answer to some of your other questions; the FBI is chasing Max and the rest. But they have sort of lost track of them. Thank you for the feedback!
Previously on "Lethal Whispers"...
With the overhanging threat of the FBI, Max, Michael, Isabel, Tess, Maria and Liz left their hometown and are now on the run. They are attempting to go into hiding, preventing (amongst other things) Max's latest premonition (the one where he saw Liz being restrained to a metal chair and injected with something against her will) from coming true.
Maria and Michael just found out that they were pregnant and Tess is jealous about the proximity between Max and Liz. That's about it
CHAPTER 39
Special Agent Joel Martin
It was not possible for six individuals to fall off the face of the earth. Unless, ironically, they had
left Earth, which might not be that far-out-there considering what Agent Martin’s files on the individuals were telling him. There were strong parallels to be drawn.
Agent Joel Martin had been contacted by Agent Powell, from the Special Unit (also known as the Mogul Project) just a couple of days after having been reprimanded by AD Jackson. Agent Powell had been intrigued by the details of Joel’s illegitimate investigation and had immediately cleared the investigation under his name, enabling Joel to continue looking into the suspicious individuals. Even though Agent Powell was in charge, he was currently tied up somewhere else. To Joel’s surprise, the agent had left him as second in command, acknowledging that Joel had done a fine job so far and was more than equipped to continue.
They had discussed what further measures could be taken to gain more information and Joel had initially been shocked at the methods suggested by Agent Powell. Apparently, the Special Unit ran by different rules and regulations than the rest of the Bureau. Apparently, the unit ran by different rules and regulations than the rest of the United States. Agent Powell had been fierce in his account of how the main priority was to protect the nation from threats, even if it might cause harm to an individual person. There was always going to be collateral damage, he had pointed out.
Their latest meeting had entailed going through the specifications of a truth serum which had been tested by the military. Apparently, it had great success at suppressing the memory after the questioning, which was an important development considering that their methods of interrogation differed somewhat from nationally approved methods. After all, they needed to cover their tracks.
Unfortunately, Joel had gotten the report in his hand four minutes earlier about his suspicious subjects having disappeared without a trace, which made his previous curiosity turn into frustration. No way that those individuals were going to get away when he had finally got a break at the Bureau.
“I’ll find you,” he said under his breath to the report.
*****
Max
He was extremely aware of Michael’s eyes on him as he carefully pulled Maria’s shirt up to uncover the lower part of her abdomen. Max could tell that his friend was nervous, gripping Maria’s hand with both of his.
“Relax, Mike,” Maria murmured and turned her head to look at Max. “So…how do we do this?”
Max smiled at her softly as he put the palm of his hand against Maria’s skin. He felt nervous himself, especially with Michael’s eyes on him. Max’s eyes were drawn to Liz, standing to the far side of the room. Her arms were folded over her chest and she was biting her bottom lip. He forced himself to look away, to focus on the task at hand.
“Max?”
Max shook his head to clear it and met Maria’s eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Sorry.” He took a firm hold of Maria’s eyes and told her to, “Keep your eyes locked with mine. This whole time. Okay?”
“Is it okay if I blink?” Maria attempted to joke, possibly feeling weighed down by the seriousness of the room’s occupants.
Max smiled at her, aiming to put her at ease. “It’s nothing big, okay? I’m just gonna connect with the fetus. But to do so, I have to go through you.”
Something guarded fluttered into Maria’s eyes and for a moment she looked scared. “Will it hurt?”
A year had gone by after Max had healed her from her cancer, before she had told him how it had felt. About the sensation of how she had been sure that she had been drowning and her inability to pull air into her starving lungs. The experience had frightened her, even if it had resulted in her cure. She had waited 13 months to tell him out of fear that he would think she was being ungrateful about him saving her.
He hadn’t thought her to be ungrateful, but had rather blamed himself for not making the experience easier on her. He hated himself for making her have to go through that. With several years between that conversation and the situation they found themselves in on this day, Max had gradually been able to put it behind him.
But her question brought back all those old feelings of guilt and he swallowed to not let it show on his face, to not make her unsure.
He shook his head and put on a mask of firmness. “No. I promise you, it won’t.”
Max felt Michael’s wordless gaze trained on his face, but chose to ignore it. He was usually grateful for Michael’s protectiveness of Maria, but that same safeguard was suffocating him right now. In a way, he wished for Michael to leave the room, so that he could focus more fully on Maria. But of course, he couldn’t ask for that.
“Okay,” Maria said softly and pushed a wobbly smile onto her lips. “Let’s go then. I’m ready.”
Max grabbed her free hand and gave it a squeeze. “Okay. Remember, keep your eyes on mine.”
Her smile was more natural this time as she nodded. “Stare into your eyes. Got it.”
Max saw her squeeze Michael’s hand out of the corner of his eye, before he let himself fall into Maria’s eyes. He didn’t need to know the person to form a connection to them, but it helped. The connection hooked and opened immediately and he found himself - in a matter of speaking - inside Maria’s body.
He felt the warmth of her blood supply prickle through his body, heard the steady drum of her heart in the background, felt the nervousness tingle and squeeze her stomach and the pressure of Michael’s hands against Maria’s left hand. He brought his attention to where his own right hand was attached to Maria’s skin, focusing his powers right there, right on her uterus.
At first he didn’t sense anything but the steady pulse of the slightly enlarged uterine arteries.
The flutter against his senses, like the soft flutter of a butterfly, gave him an surprised start. He hadn’t known what to expect; had never done this to a pregnant woman before.
To the outside observer, Max was just looking into Maria’s eyes.
But Max wasn’t seeing Maria.
He was looking at the embryo in her womb, with a proportionally large head due to how early in the pregnancy it was, and a heart that had just started beating approximately 2 weeks prior. The embryo wasn’t moving much, having basically just started to straighten out some from its earlier developmental stages, but he could already see the shape of a human being. It was, however, too early to say if there was anything abnormal about the embryo’s appearance.
All embryos looked alien anyway.
He pulled away from the uterus and did a quick check on Maria to make sure that her body was handling the pregnancy before he broke the connection with a gasp.
Liz
Liz was in awe. She had tried to stay as far away from the small group as she could, squeezing up against the wall, because she didn’t want to intrude.
This was
their moment, Maria and Michael’s.
Isabel was standing pretty close, but she was family. The only other, except herself, staying away was Tess. She was seated on the sofa, having put her legs up over the armrest, playing some game on her mobile phone. She didn’t appear the least interested in what was transpiring around her.
Liz couldn’t understand how one wouldn’t want to watch this. Watch the gentleness of Max’s touch on his friend, the strong trust in Max’s abilities radiating off Maria and Michael in waves, and the anticipated look on Isabel’s face - like a girl on the dawn of Christmas.
But nothing could prepare her for the fact that the constant connection between her and Max would let her take part of when Max told Maria to keep her eyes on him and fell silent. Just like everyone else in the room, she could see Max grow still, deep concentration on his face as he kept Maria’s gaze locked with his. But she was the only one, except for Max, who could suddenly feel someone else’s blood stream through her vessels, hear the distant heart beat of Max’s friend, and through something like an inner eye - like thoughts made into images that were playing into her mind - she could see what Max was seeing.
Not the green irises of Maria’s eyes, rather the developing fetus in Maria’s uterus.
She gasped softly, her hand flying to her mouth, as she watched the small heart flutter quickly in the center of the embryo and it’s small legs and arms move minutely. She was still trying to recover from the experience as Max left the uterus, did a quick scan of Maria’s body and the connection slammed shut.
Maria
She hadn’t felt anything.
Well, nothing bad, like the last time Max had formed a connection to her.
This time she had only felt Max’s warmth, his compassion and care, and his nervousness about the task at hand. She had felt his brotherly love for her (he felt like a brother to her most of the time) and his concern that something might be wrong, but she had also experienced a constant feed of his emotions while he searched her body. How his worry calmed, the elation he had felt at one point during the connection and his calmness just before he had pulled back, blinking dazedly.
“You okay?” she asked immediately as she noticed him disconnecting.
He smiled at her, took a deep breath and then leaned forward to place a kiss on her forehead. “Everything’s fine.”
She read the the extra information he was giving her and felt her resolve break.
Damn those hormones.
“It’s okay? Everything’s okay with the baby?” she whispered and finished her questions with a sob.
Max nodded, his thumb stroking her forehead tenderly, and Maria felt Michael squeeze her hand.
“It’s a healthy 7 - possibly 8 - week old baby,” Max answered and Maria started crying in earnest. The relief was all-consuming.
She looked at Michael and when she saw tears in his eyes she broke a little bit more. She didn’t think she’d ever seen Michael cry. When their eyes met, Michael leaned in and kissed her. His lips tasted salty with tears and his eyes were starting to get brimmed with red as he pulled back slightly to meet hers.
In a whisper, meant only for her, he said, “It’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be fine.”
She nodded and took her free hand, the hand Max had just let go of - probably to provide them with some privacy - and brought it up to Michael’s cheek. Cradling the stubbly cheek of the love of her life, she mumbled, “I love you.” Her voice broke when she repeated, “I love you so much.”
“I love you,” he answered and kissed her again.
*****
Liz
“I need to do some shopping,” Liz said as the group settled into a comfortable discussion on the topic of baby names. It was when the discussion started to brush upon names as E.T. and Ripley that Liz decided to make a break from it.
The rather elated and humorous setting of the topic took a sharp left-turn into grave sobriety as five sets of eyes turned on her in abrupt silence. She almost shied away from them, even though none (well, except for Tess) appeared accusing or intimidating.
“You can’t go alone,” Max said cautiously.
“Max should go with you,” Maria said with a smile, winking in Max’s direction.
Liz was pretty sure that Max had spotted the wink as well and that was the explanation behind the blush spreading across his cheeks; a blush Liz was sure she herself was currently sporting.
But this was one of those very rare moments that she would rather not have Max - or any male - with her, since her shopping included intimate items.
“Maybe someone else…” she started but Maria waved her off.
“Nonsense,” she said, “Isabel’s been itching to have a girl’s night with Tess. Haven’t you, Iz?”
Isabel didn’t miss a beat, making it impossible for Liz to discern if her reply was earnest or not. “Yes.” She smiled genuinely. “Finally.”
“You don’t mind, do you Max?” Maria asked in a dangerously innocent tone.
“Of course not,” Max said quickly. Almost too quickly. Liz felt hesitation and a coldness hit her as she studied the angle of his set jaw, the sharpness of his profile. She got the feeling that he didn’t want to be ‘alone’ with her.
“Take your time,” Maria smiled while sharing a loaded look with Isabel and giving Max a shove in the back.
“Bring us something to eat too,” Michael said. “Preferably pizza.”
“Sure,” Max said and didn’t bother to ask for pizza requests. After all the pizzas they’ve eaten these last couple of days, everyone knew each other’s preferences by heart.
Max stopped in front of Liz and she felt his presence like a warm curtain around her. One side of his mouth was raised in a lopsided grin as he looked down at her. “Ready?”
She returned the smile, but sensed an apprehensive energy around him which made her unsure of his smile. Why was she suddenly nervous?
*****
“I’m sorry for dragging you along,” Liz said as they entered the mini mall. “I’m sure shopping is not on your list of favorite Thursday evening activities.”
They were in a standard mall, making their way through the crowd of people. Around them people were talking, laughing, eating ice-cream, playfully shoving their friend as a topic brushed on shameful gossip. Mothers were pushing kids in prams and distractedly retrieving pacifiers that were thrown to the concrete floor while talking to their female friend on the smart phone squeezed between their shoulder and ear. A small boy, five or six years old, got pulled harshly by the arm of his mother who sharply scolded him for not listening to her.
All around them, people were going on with normal lives, with normal problems, none the wiser that they had an alien walking amongst them.
She was dressed in a hoodie with her hair hidden underneath a reddish wig, while he wore a loose-fitted sweater, covering his dark hair with a baseball cap. They were trying to stay under the radar.
Max spent the evenings going through ‘Most Wanted’ sources and newspapers, trying to keep up with information that might be released on them. Right now, they were only on the ‘Missing People’-list, which didn’t give them a criminal status, but was enough to make people notice. Trips to malls were few and far between.
Liz barely avoided stepping into a dropped ice cream cone on the floor as Max answered her, keeping his voice light. “Isabel has taught me well over the years. I consider myself something of an expert at waiting outside of stores and holding shopping bags.”
Liz smiled, feeling the tension ease a bit. Even though she needed to get tampons (something that she was still getting around to telling him) it was good to be on one-and-one with Max.
“Phew,” she said with theatrical relief. “Feels good to be in such able hands.”
He laughed. It was good to hear him laugh. He didn’t do much of that. Especially not around the rest of the group. They continued their playful discussion while Liz tried to work up the nerve to tell him to wait outside while she got the items.
She was naturally too embarrassed to be accompanied by him during that purchase.
Her multitasking at trying to figure out how to tell him while keeping up with the conversation was cut short as Max suddenly looked behind them (as if something had told him that he was being watched) and froze. “Shit.”
Max moved so quickly she didn’t have the chance to turn around and see what he had reacted to. He grabbed her by her chin and pulled her face (rather roughly) back towards his. With a hushed, “I’ll explain later,” he pressed his lips against hers.
Liz froze, her whole body growing still. Time seemed to slow and dim, the sounds of the busy mall were muted as if she was being immersed under water. Only to snap back into focus a second later to let her feel every infinite touch. How his lips were capturing her bottom lip, tugging on it in a similar fashion to how she usually worried it and how his fingers crept into her hair (correction: wig). She wished that she could feel the tips of his fingers against her scalp, without the synthetic bottom of the wig being in the way.
His touch was gentle, his lips soft but firmly pressed against hers. In the midst of his gentleness, she could feel a restlessness, a simmering power in the pressure of his fingers against her head. Struggling to hold himself back.
He slowly let go of her bottom lip only to gently line up his upper lip with hers and her bottom lip with his, letting his tongue gain access to her wanting mouth. Her hands were between them, having unconsciously slid up over his chest, over his heart. She could feel the thumping of his heart, feel the energy of his fast pulse underneath the sensitive tips of her fingers, echoing through his shirt.
His thumbs were stroking her cheeks, angling her head from one side to the next, dictating his ministrations. Her hands continued their explorative journey, circling around his shoulders to grab onto the top of his hard, well-defined biceps.
He was tasting her upper lip when she became aware of the need for oxygen. Her whole body had frozen in anticipation, forgoing the most basic bodily functions; like breathing and keeping the heart pumping. She could taste his breaths as they breathed across her lips, claiming her oxygen as his.
She felt herself entangled in warmth, like a body of heat that she couldn’t place. It was coming towards her in waves and for a second she suspected that it might be Max. That it was Max’s feelings blending with hers through that impossible bond they seemed to have.
Just as abruptly as it had started, Max pulled back and she inhaled sharply. He leaned his forehead against hers, breathing heavily, his hands still cradling her face, thumbs pressing into the softness of her blushed cheeks. Her fingers were gripping tightly to his shoulders, digging into his skin, trying to catch her breath. Running after her emotions.
The continuous heightened hum of the environment around them was turned on full blast, as if someone had brusquely upped the volume on a stereo to the max. But even with the noise of happy shoppers around them, she couldn’t miss his whisper in the little cocoon that was still wrapped around them, his face only an inch from hers. “Sorry.”
He’s apologizing.
Liz looked up at him, feeling dazed and distrusting her legs to be able to hold her up. She was surprised to hear that her voice sounded more collected than she felt as she asked, “What was that for?”
Max pulled back and she felt the coldness push between them like a hard unrelenting bricked wall. Suddenly he seemed miles away.
He looked around them and sighed in relief. “They’re gone.”
“Who?” the intimate feeling was quickly dissipating in light of the adopted paranoia of the last couple of weeks of her life.
His hands slid down her throat slowly, his eyes following the trail with something akin to reverence. She held her breath until his hands came to rest on top of her shoulders and he returned his eyes to hers. “There were police officers.”
“Oh,” Liz frowned, still not sure why he had kissed her. Not that she minded. She would accept any reason at this point. She couldn’t really pinpoint the emotion behind his flickering gaze, behind the tension in his body. Discomfort?
Max continued in a hushed tone, “A kissing couple makes people uncomfortable; makes them look away. Hides us in plain sight.”
“Oh,” Liz said again and blushed with embarrassment. It had been a means of survival, not because he
wanted to kiss her. The explanation made her feel stupid. Like a naive love-sick puppy.
“You okay?” he asked, removing his hands from her shoulders, not only pushing a wall between them but also reinforcing it with steel.
She nodded, still not finding her words, coldness numbing her in a way she had never felt before.
Rejection. She felt rejected and betrayed, even though she couldn’t rationalize it. Couldn’t blame Max for doing the right thing to protect them. Even if it meant awakening feelings inside of her, fueling emotions she had tried to keep in line since she had met him, only to stomp them down by apologizing for it.
He cleared his throat, awkwardly shifting his weight from one foot to the next. She could feel his searching eyes on the top of her bent head. She was looking at a piece of dry gum that was stuck to the floor. So dried and old that it was no longer sticky.
“Let’s get your things and the pizzas and get out of here.”
She sighed, feeling her heart breaking, and answered under her breath. “Right.”
“Hey,” he said gently, his voice calling for her to look at him. She did as much, regretting it the second she met the sadness and guilt in his eyes. “You okay?”
Her cheeks spasmed in an attempted smile. A smile that hurt in its deceit. “I’m fine.”
She dropped her eyes again and his gaze seemed to burn a hole into her scalp.
“Okay, let’s go.”
“Sure,” she mumbled.
They were enclosed in the masses of the people and he seemed so far away as they let strangers walk between them, separating them by several feet. She knew he was following her with his eyes, could hint the slump of his shoulders out of the corner of her eye, but she couldn’t offer him any more assurance that everything was okay. Because it wasn’t. He had kissed her and she had come alive. Then he had apologized, used an excuse for everything she had felt, and now she was fighting the burning tears.
TBC...
