Roswell Fanatics

SERENA

"Hey Serena. How come, that I, as your favourite cousin in the world, wasn't offered any cookies yet?"

Crap, I’m being such a bad hostess. I haven’t offered anyone a drink or anything. Thank God, that’s its only Alex. He’s family and so doesn’t count as a guest. And neither does Tess really since she spends more time here than in her own apartment. But Liz is a guest and I want to make the right first impression on her.

“Because I was saving them for when Seth woke up,” I say with a roll of my eyes as I head towards the cupboard where I hide the cookies from Zan, who normally wolfs them down before anyone else has a chance to even smell them. Dumping the cookies on the table, I roll my eyes again as Tess grabs a couple, “Do you guys want drinks? Milk? Tea? Vodka? Whatcha want?”

ALEX

I raise an eyebrow when Serena uses Seth as her excuse. Nice try girl!

"A coffee would be great, Serena." I say softly as I take a tiny bit of the cookie. I raise my eyebrows in approval. "Those are really good. I bet you'd love to bake for me around Christmas."

~Max~


I'm nearly out of the apartment building when I realize that I forgot the keys to my office. Damn! What is wrong with me? Maybe it's a sign. Maybe I should take the day off and try to relax. After all, Maria will be due back soon. I could always plan on surprising her and being at the airport when she gets in... Or at least being home when she get's home.

With a sigh, I carry my briefcase with me back to the elevator and press the button for my floor. When I finally feel the elevator stop and watch the doors open, I slowly make my way back down the hall toward the apartment I share with my family and Serena. Maybe one of these days I'll take some advice and actually find a way to simply relax.

Taking out my key, I try the door and find it unlocked which is surprising to say the least. With a shrug, I open the door and walk in, closing it behind me and hear voices in the kitchen.

I hear Tess and smile as I head for my room first and place the briefcase down before heading toward the kitchen to hear the last bits of conversation between Serena and her cousin Alex. Walking into the kitchen, I give Tess a brief smile. "Thought I heard you, Tess. How is your day?"

Then, my eyes fall on the brunette who I know has to be the new room mate that Tess and Maria were taking in. "You must be Liz. I'm Max." I say, but after that words falter as I simply take in her beauty. I'm stunned and I can't keep myself from looking at her before I remember my manners and hold out a hand in greeting. "Hope you'll like New York."

I swallow and force my gaze away from her after shaking her hand gently. "So, what's this I heard about cookies?" I'm sure at any minute a comment will be made about my not being at the office or someone being surprised that I'm home.

SERENA

Alex raises an eyebrow, obviously not buying into my whole saving the cookies for Seth excuse. Its not like it was a complete lie. I did make the cookies last night for Seth and Alex and whoever else happened to drop into today, I just forgot about them until Tess mentioned them.

“A coffee would be great, Serena.” Alex says, “Those are really good. I bet you'd love to bake for me around Christmas.”

“They are Grandma Lawson’s secret recipe,” I say, filling the kettle with water before switching it on and getting some mugs out of another cupboard. “Christmas is a lifetime away but you know that I’ll be heading back to New Hampshire to Grandma and Grandpa’s for Christmas. Isn’t is about time that you rejoined the family for a traditional Christmas nightmare?”

Before Alex can reply to my question, I hear the front door being opened, closed and footsteps moving down the hall towards the kitchen. Hmm, sounds like Max is back. He must have forgotten something.

"Thought I heard you, Tess. How is your day?" Max says as he enters the kitchen and smiles at Tess.

Tess smiles back, her eyes lighting up with delight at the chance to talk about her day. “Its great. I bought the cutest pair of shoes this morning that go perfectly with my Donna Karen dress that I bought last month. I nearly died with happiness when I saw them.”

Max doesn’t seem to be paying Tess’s ramblings too much attention, his concentration now focused on Liz, not that it seems to bother Tess at all. Tess loves shopping and she loves talking about shopping, it doesn’t really matter to her if anyone is listen.

“You must be Liz. I'm Max.” He says, shaking her hand. “Hope you'll like New York.”

There’s something about the look in his eyes as he looks at Liz. It is a little bit like the way Zan looks at me, as if I’m the most beautiful thing in world. God, I really am going crazy this morning.

"So, what's this I heard about cookies?" Max asks.

“I made them last night,” I say, gesturing towards the container on the table. “Did you forget something? I thought that you were heading to the office for the day. Or did you decided that even a super lawyer like yourself deserves a Saturday off?”

“You were going to the office?” Tess asks, wrinkling her nose in disgust. “Why would you do that when you can spend the whole day hanging out with us?”

ALEX

“Christmas is a lifetime away but you know that I’ll be heading back to New Hampshire to Grandma and Grandpa’s for Christmas. Isn’t is about time that you rejoined the family for a traditional Christmas nightmare?”

Serena asks and luckily, I'm saved from answering when ... uh, Max comes back. God bless the guy! It is not that I don't wanna meet up with my family again, I do, really. It's just ... everyone will be their with their significant other and they'll either start pitying me because of being a single date or start somthing like 'I know this girl that works ...'.

Yeah, Christmas nightmare!

I grin at Tess' question, totally agreeing with her - days when you don't have to work are days when you are supposed to be lazy! I'm a firm believer of that theory. Not sure if Max even heard the blonde since he appears very focused on Liz. Hmmm ...

Glancing around at the people in the kitchen, I guess that Seth might be awake by now. Mouthing 'Seth' to Serena, I quietly leave the room and head to where Seth is. Opening the door more, I grin when I see that he is indeed awake. "Hey. Did you sleep well?" I ask as I kneel down next to the bed. "Aunt Serena has some cookies for you if you are interested."

"Cookies!" Seth yells enthusiastically, now way more awake than he was one minute ago at the mention of cookies.

"Well, lets go then. Your aunt is very anxious to see you again." I tell him as I help him up and lead him to the kitchen.

*Liz*

I listen to the playful banter between the obviously close friends and I can't help but feel a tad envious. I want that!!! Working on my novel this past year kept me closed off from a lot of my contact with the outside world. Now I have a chance to reclaim it. Their talk of cookies reminds me that I haven't eaten a thing all day and I'm famished. Maybe I can unpack att my cookware soon. Thats one skill I have aquired during my self made secluision.

Then it seems the air has been sucked out of the room. The best looking man I have ever seen enters the room with a sense of ease and confidense I can't quite match. Putting together a decent sentence seems infathomable. He fortunately enough introduces himself politely.

"You must be Liz. I'm Max." The Greek God impersinator takes my hand in his for a firm handshake. Our fingers touch a I swear to goodness it's like electricity. He has got to be the most... huh? Max? Maria's Max?! I let go of his hand abruptly. "Hope you'll like New York." he finishes before making his way to the others.

Uh Oh. I just ogled my friends's boyfriend. That's like a mortal sin in the girl code. Does it count if I didn't know who he was? My eyes trail back over his glorious form. Opps... Lusting is defintely against the rules.

"So, what's this I heard about cookies?" he questions with a sexy smirk.

Repeat after me. I will not drool over my roomate's man. Hmm. That's more difficult than I imagined it would be. Thankfully Tess pipes up drawing my attention to her.

“You were going to the office?” she asks with a look of pure disbelief, “Why would you do that when you can spend the whole day hanging out with us?”

Outside I am keeping it cool. Inside I'm doing cartwheels naked. Whoa, no! I can't spend time with him. Then I'll like him more and It'll just make everything ten times worse. I need to come up with a brillient plan to get me out of this one.

"Um.. I should go work on my novel." I tell Tess before acknowledgeing everyone.

"It was lovely to meet all of you. I'm sure that you'll show me how wonder New York really is." My eyes meet Max's pircing gaze and I have a awful time convincing my feet to move.

Anyone know where our Maria has gone?

TESS

“No!” I exclaim in horror. “You can’t leave yet. You still haven’t met everyone and I promised Maria that I would make sure that you settled in all right.”

Liz can’t leave yet. I’m meant to be making her feel welcomed. Oh my God, what if its me. What if she hates me and wants to hide herself away in her bedroom to escape me? What a horrible and worrying thought. I must be being paranoid. I haven’t even been nearly as annoying as I know I can be.

I turn to Serena and Max, “Back me up here guys.”

Serena nods, “You should stay a little bit longer but if you gotta work then you gotta work.”

“But its Saturday,” I point out. Why does no one get that Saturday was meant for fun, not work. Max and Liz are obviously six different kinds of crazy. There is no way I would ever work on Saturday when I could be spending time with my friends or shopping. “And you said that you were planning to work on your book this afternoon. I figured that meant that you might want to hang out with us for a little while.”

ZAN

“Cookies!”

What the fuck? Sitting up in bed, feeling disorientated, I glance around the room and run a hand through my hair. Was that a kid shouting out cookies in my normally children free apartment or did someone spike my coffee?

I glance at the clock. Crap, I’ve only managed to get an hour and a half of sleep. I was having such a good dream. It involved Serena, Liv Tyler, myself and a hot tub. I really wish that I hadn’t woken up. I need more sleep. Lots more sleep.

Yawning, I decide that although I need more sleep, I could really use a glass of orange juice right now as well. So my plan is now to head to the kitchen, grab a glass of orange juice and then head back to bed for some much needed sleep.

I grab a t-shirt off of the floor, sniff it and deem it clean enough to wear before pulling it over my head. I wouldn’t bother with the whole clothes thing but you just never know who is going to be hanging around. I’ve lost count of the number of times that Tess has walked in and gotten quite an eyeful. Personally, I think that she plans it.

“Fuck!” I state as I open the bedroom door and crash into a stranger. I quickly notice that he’s got a kid by his side. Crap, this must be Alex and Seth. “I mean, hey. You must be Alex, I’m Zan.”

This really isn’t how I wanted to meet Serena’s cousin for the first time.

still here, just trying to figure out a way to bring the whole turbulence idea in....

ALEX

Walking with Seth towards the kitchen, suddenly the door next to me opens and a guy crashes into me. "Fuck!” I mean, hey. You must be Alex, I’m Zan.”

I glare slightly at the guy because of his language but then realize that he appears rather sleepy and certainly didn't expect a kid in here. Zan? Serena's guy? Better to be nice to him.

"Nice to meet you Zan. I hope Seth didn't wake you with his yell." Well, I'm certain he did but what can I do - he's a loud kid.