Roswell Fanatics

Title: Mutant

Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended. I also do not own the characters of X-men, I am merely borrowing them for entertainment purposes.

Category: Crossover with X-Men

Couples: Liz/Logan; Isabel/Alex; Kyle/Tess; Michael/?

Rating: Not sure what I'm going to do so I will rate it MATURE to cover myself!

Summary: Liz is a mutant, and besides her parents only her close friends Alex and Kyle know the truth about her. Mutant hate groups are on the rise in Roswell, and to make things worse, Maria is a member of one. What will happen when Liz refuses to leave her home?


A.N. This story will be set during senior year of highschool. Things that didn't happen: Alex didn't die; Tess isn't evil; There was no baby; Max and Liz never reconciled but they are not on bad terms. I think that is all the changes for now, if there are more I'm sure they will become evident during the story.

*edit* A.N. 2- I completely forgot to mention when I started posting this that this fic is an answer to challenge from Jezebel Jinx. Here is the link if you want to check it out: http://www.roswellfanatics.net/viewtopi ... c&start=30



Prologue


“I love you, Sarah,” he whispered as he watched her sleep.

Her long dark hair was fanned out over the pillow. The blankets rose and fell in time with her breathing. He leaned in and gently kissed her head, then he turned out the lamp and stretched out beside her.

He reached out and pulled her body against his. He could feel the power beneath the surface, and was amazed by how active her mind was, even in sleep.

Magneto leaned in closer to her and pressed his face against her neck and let himself drift off to sleep.

He didn’t notice when a few hours later his love slipped out of bed and quietly left the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah stared down at the beautiful baby in her arms.

She was such a good baby. Didn’t cry unless she was hungry or wet. She was only a day old, but Sarah felt like she had already spent a lifetime with her. The baby was comfortable against her mother’s chest and began to drift off to sleep.

Sarah watched her until her eyes were fully closed, then she looked up to the man standing in the room. She sighed when she saw him staring down at her, he gave her a gentle smile in return.

“Are you ready? I could leave and give you some more time if you need it.”

“I’ll never be ready, but I don’t need more time.” She said, but hadn’t made a move to hand the baby over.

“I found a wonderful family for her. The couple can’t have any children and they requested a little girl.” Sarah smiled.

She had a feeling that her daughter would be well loved.

The Death X group had been tracking her for some time and were closing in. She knew it was only a matter of time before they caught up to her. They were a mutant hate group, an especially vicious one that wasn’t known for allowing their targets to live.

She had considered sending the baby back to it’s father, but that would defeat the purpose of leaving him in the first place. Magneto had such a fierce hatred for humans, she could remember the speech he had made a few days before she left him.

Magneto had left after having an argument with Xavier, her brother. He was standing in a room with a group of mutants who followed him. He walked to the front and started to rant, “They don’t accept us? Why? Because we are superior and they are frightened that we will overpower them. They are a dying breed and they have the audacity to point their fingers and judge us. It is they who should be judged. I refuse to melt into the shadows and hand my head in shame of my gifts. I intend to make them hand their heads in shame of being inferior. I will not hide, I will stand in public and throw what I am in their faces. I will let the world know that mediocrity is unacceptable, and I will fight them to the end!"

She left when she found out she was pregnant because she didn’t want her child raised in that environment. She wanted her baby to have a happy life, and not be raised to be bitter.

She had toyed with the idea of sending her to Xavier, but she couldn’t ask that of him. Plus there was a strong chance that Magneto would be able to figure out who the child was and take her. Adoption was the only reasonable answer.

“You did what I asked?” she asked the lawyer without removing her eyes from her daughter.

“Yes, the couple is sympathetic towards mutants. They have been informed that the child is likely to carry the gene, but it doesn’t bother them. She will be well loved.” He assured her.

“Do they have a name for her yet?” Sarah hadn’t named the baby yet, because she knew she couldn’t keep her. But she did want to know what the child would be called.

He hesitated for a moment, “Yes, they named her Elizabeth.”

Sarah stroked the babies face, Elizabeth, such a beautiful name. She pulled the small infant to her face and kissed her forehead, her eyes and her lips. She hugged her close then handed the baby to the lawyer.

He left quickly, probably trying to make it easier.

Sarah heard her start to cry when they left the room, then she let her own tears fall. She pulled her arms to her chest, she could still feel the babies warmth there. Mother and child cried together over their mutual loss. She closed her eyes and willed herself to fall asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning she was discharged from the hospital. As soon as she left she could feel someone following her, she knew it wouldn’t be long.

It was too late to escape. She found a phone booth and ducked in. She called the number she had wanted to for nine months. She held her breath as it rang, and prayed he would answer his private line.

Finally she heard a gruff, “hello.” She drew in a shaky break and was about to hang up, but she decided not too.

“Eric,” she said softly into the receiver and was met by silence on the other end.

“Sarah?” It was more of a statement, than a question, as if he didn’t know how to respond.

She decided to talk instead. “I love you. I have never stopped, I want you to know that.”

She hung up before he had a chance to respond and exited the booth.

She could sense a dozen minds more join in on her pursuit.

It wouldn’t be long now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He had heard from her, after all this time, she had finally contacted him. They had traced the call to a small New Mexico town called Roswell.

After she had initially disappeared he had searched for months. He finally gave up because he knew if she didn’t want to be found, then there was no way he could find her. Also, he didn’t want to drag her back to him against her will. All he wanted was to understand.

He still hadn’t dealt with his broken heart, he still held onto the hope that she would come back to him. He hoped that they would once again share a bed together. This time he would do it right, he would make her his wife.

He had his men were surveying the town; checking parks, motels and diners for her.

He was walking through an alley, surveying its contents. There was a rusty dumpster, a homeless person sleeping against the wall and trash. Besides that there were only rats. He gave the alley another look over and was about to turn and leave when he noticed a dark stain on the bricks above the homeless person.

He took a step closer and saw it was blood.

A dreadful feeling came over him and he took a step closer to the bum. He reached out a hand to pull the blanket away and almost threw up with what he saw.

The face of his love stared back at him. The chocolate eyes were dull and glazed over. Whoever had done this didn’t even have the decency to close her eyes. Her skin was white and a bit of blood had trickled out of her mouth. He leaned in and began to pull her close when he saw the cause of her death.

Their was a knife through her chest, pinning a note down. It read, “We won’t stop until every mutant gets what IT deserves.” It was signed with a bloody X, and Magneto knew that it was the Death X hate group. He had been trying to flush out their organization for months with no success.

He let the tears fall as all his hopes dripped away. The knife started to rattle and pulled out of her with fierceness; it embedded itself into the opposite wall. He let out an inhuman scream and the dumpster crumpled into a ball.

He picked up Sarah’s small body and held it close. He made his way out of the alley to the street. He let his tears fall as he walked towards the direction of his plane.

Every car on the street side compacted itself as he walked by.

He didn’t notice or care about the screams that came from one of the cars as an innocent man was crushed to death.

WOW! Thanks for all the feedback guys!!

Here is Chapter One, I hope you enjoy it!

I would like to say Thank-you to montee916 for being a beta for this fic!!



Chapter One

Liz woke slowly, it was Saturday and she refused to wake quickly. She had to do that all during the week to get ready for school, and on this particular Saturday she didn’t have to work until ten.

She let her mind slowly ease out of a sleeping state and enjoyed the stillness around her.
Before opening eyes she relaxed her mind and reached out for her loved ones. Her mother was in the kitchen of the apartment, making her breakfast. Her father was in the diner. Kyle was working out and Alex was still asleep.

She opened an eye and saw that it was 8:30. Yesterday Alex told her that he had to meet the band at 9:00. She stared at the alarm clock for a moment longer and then smiled to herself. She closed her eyes and focused on Alex’s mind with her own, she formed a connection. In her head she could see a purple like thread connecting them together, she pulled it tight and sent Alex a little jolt.

She smiled when she sensed him fall out of bed. A few moments later he was thinking strong thoughts towards her.

*Tsk Tsk Alex. This is a lady you’re thinking at!*

*Yeah, yeah. You know, you could have called, you didn’t need to scare me like that.*

*Well I just didn’t want you to be late, I was only thinking of you! Plus I’m still in bed and the phone is all the way in the other room.*

*Okay, it’s okay. I don’t mean to be rude in the morning. Now if you would please get out of my head, I need to take a shower. I’ll see you at the Crash later. And thanks for getting me up.*

*Your welcome, and I’m sorry for scaring you. Bye!*

With that she broke off the connection with him. She rolled onto her side and smiled. She loved having those private conversations with Alex. She did with Kyle and her parents also, but with Alex the most. Alex pretended to get angry, but she knew he loved the connection they had together.

Liz would only reach out to those four with her mind, they were the only four who knew her secret, that she was a mutant. Plus, it was rude to enter people’s minds without permission. She knew she had it with Alex and Kyle, and her parents obviously didn’t mind. They actually felt lucky that they could be closer to Liz than most parents got the chance too.

Liz had known she was a mutant since she was eleven. Alex was with her when her powers began to manifest. She and Maria had been arguing and Alex was over at her house listening to her rant. She was getting especially angry when paper clips flew off her desk and stuck to her like she was a magnet. It had freaked bother her and Alex out to say the least. She laughed at the memory, Alex and tried to pry them off her with no luck. Finally she calmed down and concentrated and was able to get them off. She also found she could make them do whatever she wanted. Shortly after she was crying and Alex made a comment that one day they would look back on this and laugh.

He was right, they do laugh at how absurd it was that she became a magnet when she was angry.

Alex also convinced her to tell her parents. She was afraid of how they would react. Liz had always known she was adopted so she felt that her parents wouldn’t have as much incentive to accept her. She had called them into the room and Alex stayed with her as moral support. She told them the entire incident and was shocked that they weren’t all that surprised. They admitted to her that the lawyer had informed them that there was a strong possibility she carried the mutant gene. They hadn’t cared, mutants had never bothered them.

Liz was a little miffed that they had never told her. They explained that they didn’t know whether or not her powers would manifest, and they didn’t want to worry a child if they didn’t. They had told her that if she ever did develop powers then they would help her deal with it.

And they had. Her father helped her practice her power with metals and was impressed with all she could do. She figured he would probably brag about it if it weren’t so dangerous.

A few months later she had started to develop her mental powers. She was at school and suddenly got a sick feeling about Alex. Somehow she knew where he was and ran to the boys locker room and found some older kids picking on him. They were in sixth grade at the time and had just started middle school.

Alex had been excited about starting at a ‘real’ school as he referred to it, with a locker and everything. It had never occurred to them as children that others their age could be so cruel. Just because Alex was smaller than the rest of the boys, and preferred to work on computers rather than play sports that he would be the target of bullies. It also hadn’t helped him that his two best friends were girls. He quickly learned how to deal with it, and developed a love for music along the way.

He obviously didn’t get picked on anymore. He was dating Isabel Evans after all, that really showed everyone who had ever beat on him before. Isabel hadn’t hardly given any of them a second look.

Liz’s mental powers had developed rather quickly and caught the attention of a man named Charles Xavier. Apparently he operated a school for mutants like her self. He held it under a guise of being for gifted youngsters. It was a safe place for kids like her to grow and use their powers freely without the constant threat of mutant hate groups discovering them.

Xavier had actually visited her home himself. When they first met he had seemed a little taken aback, he told her that she reminded him of someone he used to know. He sat and talked with her and her family for hours. He told them all about the school and the other children who lived there.

Liz had considered going, and she knew her parents would support any decision she made. In the end she just wasn’t ready to leave her family and friends behind. She found them to be her strength and couldn’t imagine living without them. Xavier had understood, he told her that if she ever changed her mind that their doors were open to her. He contacted her every once in awhile to renew the offer.

Liz looked over at her desk, the last letter he had sent was still sitting there. He had gotten wind that there was another mutant hate group in her area and had extended the offer to come to the school again. Liz had considered it, but she was eighteen, and half way through her senior year. She wasn’t ready to leave yet.

Kyle had found out her secret during the summer of their freshman year when they had dated. They were coming home late from a party when a car swerved into their lane. They were about to hit when Liz had raised her arm and used her powers to deflect the car, causing it to skid out of the way. Luckily the driver and fallen asleep at the wheel, so they didn’t notice what she had done, but Kyle had noticed. She told him the truth and he had accepted her. He actually thought it was cool. She had fixed more than one dent he had gotten on his mustang while joy riding with his friends.

Kyle knowing her secret was also the reason why he had a hard time letting her go after she broke things off with him. He had known they were better off as friends, but he didn’t want her to date anyone else and have them learn her secret and react badly. Although he knew she could defend herself, he was worried that she would be turned in to a mutant hate group. He was suspicious of Max also, mostly from what his father had let on about. Finally Liz was able to calm his nerves about it, but things were still a little weird between them for a little while. Now their friendship was back on track and they were pretty close.

Liz thought of Max. She still felt stupid for allowing herself to get shot. She was able to deflect a car and avoid an accident, but when someone pointed a gun in her direction she froze. She probably could have gotten the bullet out herself had the wound been less severe. When Max came close to her and she felt him form a mental connection to her she had to use the rest of her energy using her mental abilities to block him from finding out her secret. She had chosen the images she wanted him to see.

She was still awe struck when he had reversed the connection and shown her visions from her life. She had genuinely fallen in love with him. She partly fell in love with him because of who he was, but she was also attracted to the fact that he was special like she was. She had almost told him her secret, but could never quite bring herself to spill the beans to him.

Mostly because she couldn’t risk Maria finding out. Maria had always reacted badly to mutants. Not that she didn’t have her reasons, because she did. Shortly before she was born her father had been killed by a mutant. A man had seemingly lost control of his abilities and had crushed several cars along a road, one of which Maria’s father was sitting in. Liz shuddered at how horrible it must have been, and she felt guilty and sad about Maria’s loss. She still didn’t think it was justified for Maria to hate all mutants.

Maria had joined a mutant hate group a few months ago, and wasn’t afraid to tell people she was a member. Liz thought that if they offered bumper stickers, Maria would probably stick one on the Jetta. Liz had tried to distance herself from Maria over the years, but she had never taken the hint.

Maria had come over almost a week ago after one of her meetings. She had tried to encourage Liz to join the group with her, and when Liz refused it had caused a huge fight. Maria thought that Liz wasn’t being supportive of her. Liz had tried to explain that she couldn’t be a part of any group that was about hate and persecution, but her arguments fell on deaf ears. Liz then got angry and let it slip that Maria was just a part of a mutant orientated Ku Klux Klan. To say the least Maria hadn’t taken it well, she had left and hadn’t spoken to Liz since then.

Liz’s parents were actually kind of happy about it, they had discouraged her and Maria’s friendship since they found out how passionately she hated mutants. Liz sighed and sat up in bed, she looked towards the window at the morning light filtering in through the shades.

Today was going to be sunny and beautiful and that put Liz in a good mood.
She reached out her arm and her brush floated to her hand. She made it a habit to meld a piece of metal on the back of all her things. Maria thought it was a weird decorating motif, but it helped ensure that Liz practiced her powers everyday.

She ran the brush through her hair and let her thoughts return to Max. They had dated for awhile, until the whole Tess and destiny fiasco. Although Tess and Max never made anything of the destiny thing, they still hadn’t found their way back to each other.
Tess and Kyle had been a couple for awhile now. After Tess had moved in with the Valenti’s her and Kyle had become closer and closer. Eventually she couldn’t deny her attraction for him and left her destiny in the dust in order to pursue a romantic
relationship with Kyle.

Liz and Tess had actually managed to become pretty good friends, and Liz had a feeling that in the future they could probably become closer. It seemed that the more Liz felt the need to push Maria away, she also felt she needed to pull Isabel and Tess closer to her.

Liz and Max had also managed to become close friends. He had stopped pursuing her and they had been able to focus on their non-romantic relationship. It was much easier to be friends without all the pressure from their overly intense relationship. Although they hadn’t really dated anyone else, she didn’t think they would ever be together again. She had come to think of him as a brother, almost the same as she felt about Michael.

Michael had never reconciled with Maria. Although she knew their secret and accepted them, he couldn’t get over how she felt about mutants. He thought deep down that she felt the same about him. Michael and Liz had become close friends, mostly because she was able to understand him due to her gift.

She desperately wanted to tell them about her secret, but who knew what could happen if she did. She could be putting them and her family in danger.

Liz floated the brush back to her dresser when she felt a sharp panic enter into her mind. A moment later she heard a dish fall and break in the kitchen.

Wow!!! Thank you for all the kind feedback, every comment makes my day a little brighter!!

I also want to say thank-you to montee916 for being the Beta for this fic!!

Here’s the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it!




Chapter 2

Liz ran into the kitchen to check on her mother. The first thing she noticed was the dropped breakfast plate on the floor. Liz immediately looked at her mother’s face and then ran to stand beside her. Her face was white and she had her hand over her mouth with her eyes glued to the television in the next room.

“Mom?” Liz put a hand on her arm to get her attention.

*Liz, TV.* Answered her mom in her head. Liz followed her moms gaze and saw that she had the news on, nothing unusual about that.

“If you have just joined us, we are at the corner of Stuart and Cherry. This is the scene where moments ago the coroner removed the body of a murder victim. This is the first murder victim in Roswell this year. Police have yet to release the victim’s name, but they did confirm that the victim was a known mutant. Police believe that several people were involved in the killing, which means a mutant hate group may have committed it. They do not have any information on the suspects and there were apparently no witnesses. We will update you when we have more information. Back to you Jane.”

*Liz?*

*What’s wrong?*

That was Alex and Kyle. Liz didn’t realize but she must have been projecting her feelings.

Liz honestly didn’t know how she felt. It was fear mingled with anger. There had been murders in her lifetime, but she could never recall a mutant being killed. Xavier had told her about a murder committed by a hate group when she was a small baby, but nothing like that had happened since then.

She took a step into the living room and then sat on the edge of the couch. She was unable to take her eyes off the TV in case they came back with more information.

A mutant hate group. The thought was reverberating in her head. Her mother sat next to her and placed a hand on her arm and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Her father sat on the arm of the couch and put a hand on her shoulder. He must have come up to check when he sensed her emotions.

*LIZ* She jumped at Kyle’s yelling in her head. She had forgotten to reassure him and Alex. She took a deep breath and focused her mind before opening a connection between the three of them.

*Sorry, I’m okay.*

*What in the world happened, you made me drop my guitar in mid song.*

*I’m on my way over.*

*Kyle, you don’t have to do that. There was a murder and they think it
was done by a mutant hate group.*

*So if it was done by a mutant hate group then that means the victim
was a…* Kyle let the thought trickle off.

*I’m on my way over too.* Thought Alex.

Liz was too stunned to argue, and she wasn’t afraid to admit that their presence would be comforting at the moment. She lifted her eyes to look at her parents. Her mom had an openly worried look on her face and a hint of tears in her eyes. Her father had a tight expression on his face and had his gaze fixed on her.

Now she felt a tinge of dread but mostly an overwhelming sadness. A person, probably very similar to herself, had lost their life today. Her heart went out to the family. How could they find closure from losing a loved one that way? She held onto both her parents’ hands a little tighter.

She tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill over as the realization hit her that she would never be accepted. She was a freak, plain and simple.

This is how Max and the others must feel, that people would never be able to know the truth about them and not live in fear of them.

There were people who would kill her and never feel any remorse about
it at all.

Why?

Because she carried an extra gene, she suffered from a small mutation. That was ridiculous, people were evolving and that was how it should be. Everything evolves; it was how mankind got to where it was today.

Ordinary people were afraid because they weren’t given gifts that some people possessed.

So their logical answer was to kill those that were different than them? That is ludicrous!

She was hated, and it had nothing to do with her personality.

Just then Liz heard a thundering from outside the apartment and a moment later the door opened and Kyle rushed in with Alex on his heels. They threw their arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. When she was in the safety of their arms she felt it would be okay to cry.

They sent their love, concern and understanding to her through their connection. She was involved in a physical and mental hug from those she loved and she knew that she was beyond lucky to have them.

She let the tears spill over and let out a small sob, which made them wrap their arms around her a little tighter.

She cried for the poor person who had died and she cried for herself, knowing she would always have to hide. After a few minutes she pulled back a little. She didn’t bother to wipe her face, she knew it wasn’t necessary. Alex reached out a hand and swiped away a few of the tears off her cheek and she smiled back at him in response.

She pulled away and took her spot back on the couch between her parents. They had watched silently while she found comfort in the arms of her friends. She knew that they were grateful that they had them to watch her back. They knew she could take care of herself physically, but it was the emotional support she relied on with them.

Her mother gave her a smile, but her father didn’t. She could tell he had something he wanted to say so she gave him a small mental nudge to do so.

He sighed and took her hand, “I think you should go to Xavier’s school.”

She pulled back her hand a little and was going to say something when he gripped it tighter, “Lizzie, don’t start. Hear me out first.”

She let out an exasperated sigh and nodded for him to continue.

“I want you to go because things are becoming more and more dangerous
here. You saw the news Liz. If anyone ever found out what you are, you could be taken too. I wouldn’t be able to handle that.”

He stopped talking and swallowed, looking down at his hand on hers. Liz softened, she knew this wasn’t the safest place, but it was the place she felt she had to be.

“Dad,” she caught his eyes with her own and locked on, “I know this isn’t the safest place, but I will not leave. It could be dangerous for you if I’m discovered. Only the people in this room know I’m adopted. What if I go and it is discovered I’m a mutant? People will assume you passed the gene to me and they may come after you.Who knows what could happen if I’m not here, I can protect you.”

He kept his eyes locked on her hers and his tone was gentle when he answered her.

“I’m supposed to protect you Liz. And the probability of that happening is unlikely. If it were discovered, we could just explain that you're adopted…”

Liz had to cut him off, he was grasping at straws.

“Dad, I think these murderers are beyond that type of reasoning. It may be enough that you are a sympathizer.” She looked down a bit.

“Liz…” He began.

“Dad,” she looked back at him, she could feel fresh tears welling in her eyes. “I can take care of myself. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you and I wasn’t here.”

Her voice caught at the end and she let the tears fall. Her dad sighed and pulled her against his chest.

He smoothed her hair down and began to rub her back, “Ssh, Liz, don’t cry. You don’t have to leave.” She knew her dad would never force her to go, but she understood that he still had to try. She stayed in his arms for a moment, enjoying the security they provided.

They were interrupted by the phone ringing.

“I’ll get it.” Her mother said, her voice thick with emotion.

“Hello,” she croaked into the phone and then cleared her throat.

“Hello Xavier….You heard about that?” Her mom looked over at Liz, “Thanks for the offer, but she is more set than ever to stay here now…uh huh… yeah we have a guestroom…What? Are you sure?....You really don’t have to do that…Okay… Alright…When should we expect him?...Okay…Thank you Charles…Talk to you soon… Take care, Bye.” She hung up the phone.

Liz was intrigued to know what the call was all about. They were going to
have a guest? Was Xavier sending someone to try and convince her to go to the school?

“That was Charles Xavier, he heard about the murder and re-extended the invitation to join them. He seemed prepared for your refusal because he has arranged for one of his teachers to come and stay with us. His name is Logan and he is going to train you to defend yourself and help to keep an eye on you. “

Liz was about to protest but she saw the relieved looks on her parents and
friends’ faces and decided to bite her tongue. She could deal with it for awhile if it put them at ease. She was also curious to meet another mutant.

“When is he coming?” She asked.

“He should be here sometime tomorrow afternoon.” Her mom already seemed to be checking off things in her mind that needed to be done to get the guest room ready. It was currently housing various projects her mother had going and she was going to have to clear them out.

“So, I’m going to have a full time babysitter now?” She had to protest at
least a little.

“Liz, you know it’s not like that.” Said her father.

“Yeah, it might be nice for you to get to know another mutant too.” Added
Alex.

Liz rolled her eyes and looked over at the clock, it was going on 9:15.

“Okay, but I should get ready for work now.” She said, starting to stand
up.

“Liz, you don’t have to work if you don’t feel like it.” Her dad said.

The offer was tempting, Maria was working today and Liz really didn’t feel
like being around her, especially since a murder had been committed by a mutant hate group. Although she knew that Maria would never do something like that, she was still affiliated with a hate organization.

“Dad, I’ll work. The church crowd will be arriving soon and I don’t want to
leave you short a waitress. Plus I would probably go out of my mind sitting here all day.”

Her dad nodded in agreement.

Alex and Kyle said they would meet her downstairs and have breakfast at the Crash. Liz had a feeling they probably wouldn’t leave until the end of her shift. She didn’t mind it would make the day go by faster.

She made her way into her room and started the shower, ready to face Maria and anything that might imply. Somehow she had a feeling they would be getting into it before the day was done.

Thanks for all the feedback. I haven’t had time to thank you all yet, so here it goes. I’ve said it before, but your feedback really brightens my day and encourages me to write the best I can so I won’t disappoint all of you!

DreamerAZ
Pandas2001
Orphyfets
Salcombe_girl
Alexceasar
Tuber1089
Corinne_85
Emerald_iceus
Luna_Seer
SagiBecca
Bluebear01
Mrsjbehr
stargazersDelight- I’m glad you are enjoying the pairings in this story. I love Alex and Isabel together and I hope I can do the couple justice!
Alizaleven
VanilCoke-Liz and Logan will meet in the next chapter!
Elfangel01
StarRyder- I’m hoping to give Maria a little more depth in this chapter so she doesn’t seem like just an ass!
Kitten
Woman of Mystery
Elizabeth Kivana- No you definitely can’t get greater than Liz!
C_which
Foreverdreamer- glad you are enjoying this fic!
Liz2Infinity
Lepreckon
XoXoDreamerXoXo- welcome to the party, glad your enjoying it!

And a special thanks to Jezebel Jinx. I forgot to mention in the beginning but this fic is an answer to a challenge she posted! This story would have never been written without the inspiration of that challenge! I posted the link to the challenge back on the first page if you want to check it out.

And of course another special thanks to Montee916 for being my beta!


A.N. Here is the next chapter. Sorry I know it is a little later than I promised but I wasn’t quite satisfied when I wrote it so I sat on it for a few days and made some changes to it.

Chapter 3

Liz stepped out of the shower and wiped the steam off the mirror. She looked at her appearance and let out a loud sigh. As expected, she and Maria had gotten into it. But Liz didn’t feel good about it, in fact she felt pretty awful about it.

Maria had been in a bouncy mood all day and it had worn down on Liz’s nerves.

“Is killing innocent people how you get your kicks now?” Liz bit out as Maria passed by.

She stopped abruptly, a plate of food in her hand and turned to Liz her expression hurt and confused. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, I thought you had heard, a mutant was found dead today. They suspect a mutant hate group was responsible.”

Liz started to walk off but Maria grabbed her arm with her free hand, “And you think that I would have something to do with that? If I did that then it would make me no better than whoever killed my father.”

Maria dropped her arm and stalked to her table, setting down the plate hard enough to make the customer jump.

Liz stalked back to the kitchen and nearly ran into Michael. “You heard that, huh?” She asked and he nodded.

“I know you’re mad at her Liz, but Maria could never kill anyone.”

“I know, I just can’t believe that she would be involved in an organization that could have killed someone.”

He nodded his head in understanding.

“I don’t have any customers left so I’m going to call it a day.” She said as she made her way to the time clock.

“What about your cleaning?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Let Maria do it.”

Liz knew she probably shouldn’t have gone off on Maria like that, but she couldn’t help but group her into the same category as the murderers. She affiliated herself with them and that was enough. Maria thought all mutants were to be feared and even hated because of what happened to her father. But using the same reasoning, then everyone involved in a hate group would be murderers. Why couldn’t Maria see that?

Liz let out another drawn out sigh and picked up her hairbrush. She wasn’t going to think about it anymore. Tess and Isabel should be here soon, they had a girl’s night out planned and Liz knew that would get her mind off her problems with Maria.

She knew she should just cut off all ties with her, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so. She still held out hope that Maria would see the error of her ways. Maria has always been the one that she could confide in and trust. She had never confided her secret because of Maria’s father but she had hoped one day she could tell her and break down that one wall between them.

Lately her Maria hadn’t been the same Maria, she had grown more and more
bitter and Liz didn’t have any idea why. Liz was finishing putting on her mascara when Tess and Isabel came bounding into her room.

“I am so in need of a chick flick tonight,” said Tess, flopping back first onto Liz’s bed.

Liz put her make-up back into the bag and turned towards her friends, “The Valenti’s not into getting in touch with their feminine side?”

Isabel giggled and Tess rolled her eyes, “That is the understatement of the century. If I have to sit through one more cop movie or sporting event I think I’m going to explode. I already know far too much about the ‘fine mechanics’ of football than I ever had a desire too.”

“Yeah, but you know you love it.” Joked Liz.

“I guess I do, it is nice to have Jim and Kyle there, and know they aren’t ever going to change. I definitely enjoy the stability.”

“Alex and I rotate. We watch a guy movie then we watch a girl movie,” said Isabel. “I’m sure he’ll never admit for fear of his manliness, but I think that he really does like the chick flicks.”

“Yeah, remember when I first moved here and he was trying to push Notting Hill on us?” Asked Tess.

Liz told them how he was upstairs trying to get her and Maria to watch it also as she grabbed her jacket.

She only felt a slight pang thinking back to when her and Maria used to share these moments together. She pushed the thought away and then spoke up, “You guys want to stop downstairs for a bite to eat?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve been craving an alien blast all day.” Said Tess.

“With extra sugar!” Added Isabel. The girls were giggling as they went down the stairs, when they met Maria in the break room.

“Hi Maria,” Said Isabel politely. Maria greeted her back, avoiding eye contact with Liz while she did so.

“You’re here kind of late.” Observed Tess.

“Yeah, I had some extra cleaning to do. Bye.” Then Maria was out the back door.

“That was a little weird.” Said Isabel.

“Yeah, we kind of got into it earlier but I really don’t want to talk about.”

“Fair enough,” answered Tess already making her way into the dining room and sliding into a booth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maria put her key into the ignition of the Jetta but didn’t start the car. She let her head rest against the steering wheel instead. She didn’t let it show to Liz, but the murder of the mutant hit her hard. She knew when her mom talked her into joining a hate group with her that it wouldn’t really be a good thing, but she never imagined that her best friend would think she could commit a murder.

She had always been wary of mutants. Her mom did her best to fuel her discomforts into more violent emotions. She had never really gotten over her father’s murder. According to her mom he was an amazing person and they were very in love. He was murdered by a mutant, and that was awful. But now a hate group in Roswell had killed an innocent person, how was that any better?

She had her doubts before joining the group, mostly because of the Pod Squad. They had taught her that just because a person is different, doesn’t make them bad. But she couldn’t exactly tell her mom that she knew a bunch of aliens and that had altered her emotions towards mutants. She put on a big show of everything because she wanted to be supportive of her mother. She loved her mom more than anyone in the world and wanted to try and make her happy, even if that meant hating mutants.

All they talked about at the meeting were all the awful things that mutants had done. reports of robberies and murders committed by mutants. She had to admit that it fuelled her fires a little. Sometimes she forgot to be objective. That was why she had asked Liz to join with her, to help keep her grounded. She hadn't expected Liz to react so fiercly to her request, but then again she couldn't blaim her. Liz is the last person that would ever join a group centered around hate.

Now Maria was wondering what she had gotten herself into. She had lost Michael because of her feeling towards mutants, which he took personally. Now she was losing her best friend too. Was making her mom happy really worth becoming estranged from all her friends?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Liz stopped by her parent’s room to say good night when she got home. She entered her room and closed the door behind her before making her way out her window.

She looked around to make sure she was alone before she used her powers to jiggle out a brick towards the top of the wall. Liz had kept a journal of all her mutant journeys since she first discovered she was one.

When Michael had broken in and found her everyday journal she realized that she needed to keep this one hidden away also. She had attached metal to both the brick and to the journal.

She used her powers to slip the brick back in before picking up her matches and lighting the candles around her balcony. She closed off her mental connections to ensure privacy. No one would be alarmed when they felt her slight presence leave; she often did so when she was writing in one of her journals.

She settled into her chair and was about to begin writing when she heard a rustling from the alley. She reopened her connections and felt a familiar presence.

“Hey Max, you wanna come up?” She heard movement up the ladder and then she saw the familiar dark head and brown eyes. A hint of a blush tinged his cheeks.

“How did you know it was me?” He asked as he sat in a chair next to her.

“You’re the only one that hangs around in the alley waiting to talk to me.” She didn’t ask why he was there. It wasn’t unusual for him to stop by to talk. Sometimes she would find herself at his bedroom window when she wanted to talk. Even though they weren’t dating they still shared a connection. It was probably the aftermath from his healing her.

“I just didn’t want to be alone. I heard about that mutant murder and it kind of hit home.” Liz nodded her head in understanding.

“If they could do that to a mutant, who is essentially a human, I hate to wonder what they could do to an alien. Well I kind of know, but that was government, not everyday people.”

“The murder hit home for me also, I kind of accused Maria of being a murderer.” Saying it out loud now, it sounded silly. It was Maria she was talking about.

“Liz…” He began.

“I know,” she cut him off, knowing what he was going to say, “but I saw the news before work and my anger was fresh. Then Maria was in a good mood and I took it out on her.”

She looked over at Max, who was listening but not judging in typical Max fashion. That was why she loved to talk to him.

“For all Maria’s faults, I don’t think she would ever be able to murder someone. I know she lost her father before she ever had a chance to know him, and I think it is easier to direct her grief and loss at an entire group. I think hating mutants is easier for her to do than to face that it was one person who was responsible. That person got away and it left
the whole issue unresolved, the only lead they had was that it was a mutant.”

He ran his hands through his hair, “I don’t think I’m explaining this very well. I’m not condoning her belonging to a group like that, but I don’t think she could ever take part in something as horrendous as murder.”

“I know, I should probably apologize but I just can’t do it.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t,” offered Max, and Liz shot him a surprised glance, “I’m just thinking that having her best friend categorize her with a bunch of murderers will put things into perspective for her.”

Liz smiled at him, “Maybe, but that could just be wishful thinking.”

“Let’s hope not,” he said.

They chatted for another half an hour about lighter subjects before Max stood to go.

“Thanks for the talk, I’ll let you get back to your journal.” She said good-bye as he hopped over the ledge to scale down the ladder. She picked up her pen and began to write.

Sometimes terrible things happen and I jump to conclusions. It’s good to have a friend that will help me put everything into perspective again.

Thank you for all the great feedback:

orphyfets

Pandas2001- All your questions should be answered in future chapters...
you just have to keep reading!

Jamy21-Logan arrives in this chapter!

alizalevan

forever dreamer- I'm glad that you don't want to kill Max!

Jezebel Jinx

haveapancake- I'm glad your enjoying my fic!

Christina2984- They are in their senior year, January and Liz is 18.

XoXoDreamerXoXo

tigerr100- Wow, thanks for the kind feed back!

Hotaru- Thank-you! I wanted to try and write a fic where all the main characters pretty much got along. Of course there will have to be some tension...

And of course a special thanks to my beta, Montee916


Chapter 4

Liz sat thinking about the mutant that was going to be sent to protect her instead of taking History notes. He was supposed to arrive today, but Liz had no idea what time. She hoped she would have a chance to get to know him before he spent the night in her house. What did her mom say his name was… Logan, that’s right. She wondered what he looked like, and wondered even more what his power was. Liz had never gotten to meet another mutant and even though she despised being babysat, she was intrigued to learn about him. She thought it was weird that he would be staying with them. She was so used to it just being her parents at home with her - she didn’t know how she would deal with another presence in the house. She knew it was probably just only child syndrome but she wasn’t sure she could share her space with another person. Her mom was probably at home washing the curtains and pulling out the nice floral bedding for the guest room. God, what if he was annoying or a jerk and she would have to see him every day, and morning, and night.

The bell screeching over her head pulled her out of her thoughts, but she still didn’t make any move to get up. She liked to wait until the students filed out before she got up to leave. She started to gather her things when a shadow fell over her desk.

“Hey Max.”

“You seemed a little out of it. You missed hearing all the important details of the life of Julius Caesar.”

“Yeah, I guess I did. Do you think I could get a copy of your notes?” Max glanced behind him, making sure the teacher was occupied with something else before setting his hand on her notebook. It glowed briefly then he pulled it off and gave her a goofy smile.

“Show off.” She hit him on the shoulder as she hoisted her book bag onto her back, and they made their way down the row of desks and out the door.

“Are you still thinking about your problems with Maria?” He asked as they walked towards the quad for lunch.

“Hm? Oh, yeah, I was.” Said Liz, looking up at him as they walked along.

“Maybe you should just talk to her, see if there is any way to clear the air between the two of you.”

“I don’t know Max; maybe I should just leave it alone.”

“Don’t you dare, Liz. If there's anything I know about you, it's that you don’t give up on your friends, even when they do stupid things.” Liz looked up at him and he glanced away, and she could guess he was thinking of their rocky past. As much as it annoyed her, she knew he was right. Her and Maria went back a really long time, and had stuck with each other through some really traumatic incidents. She would make it a point to talk to her during gym later in the day.

“I won’t give up, Max. I'll try and talk to her later, but I can’t make any promises." She sat at the table and pulled out her lunch, and decided to glance over the notes that Max had given her.

She flipped open her notebook and couldn’t help but laugh at what she saw. Max had copied the notes for her, right on top of her last set of notes. She tossed the notebook to him to fix and giggled harder at the blush that filled his cheeks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liz walked to her gym locker to get her clothes out and peeked into Maria’s locker next to hers. As she had suspected Maria’s regular clothes were already in there. She must have hurried in and changed before Liz arrived to avoid talking to her.
That's great, she thought. Liz was hoping she would be open to conversation but apparently she wasn’t. She went about changing into her gym clothes before rushing out before roll was called. Maria was sitting across the gym with Jayna and Michelle, and Liz sighed as she plopped down in the front of the room with Tess and Isabel. The teacher took roll and then directed them outside. It was a Monday so it was a bit of a free-day. They were supposed to run laps and work on their track and field skills, but Liz usually ended up sitting down to ‘stretch’ for about forty minutes instead. Maria usually joined her, but when they got outside she had already started to run around the track. Liz knew Maria despised running and working up a sweat just about as much as she did. She was really making her work for this. She sprinted up and caught Maria by the sleeve, who gave her an awkward glance, obviously afraid of what Liz was going to say.

“I’m sorry I exploded at you. Look, can we please go stretch and talk about this?” There, Liz had made her offer. She was relieved when Maria slowed her run to a slow jog.

“Thank God, I really didn’t want to run the whole hour.” The two out of breath girls collapsed in the grass next to the track.

“Wusses.” Isabel said, as she and Tess jogged by them. Liz just mock glared at them and then started picking at the grass with her fingernails. She had never been shy around Maria before, but she just couldn’t find the words to talk to her at this moment. She looked over at Maria who was intent on fixing a loose string from her gym shirt. Obviously she wasn’t going to start the conversation.

“I already said it, but I’m sorry for snapping at you yesterday. It’s just that I had just seen the news and the anger was still fresh in my mind at the time.”

“It’s okay. I hadn’t heard about it until you told me. To tell you the truth, I felt sick about it too.” Maria admitted, still not taking her eyes from the hem of her shirt.

“I know we have been around this before, but if you felt so sick why are you hanging around with the people who potentially did this?”

Maria sighed loudly. “To tell you the truth, I don’t even know anymore. Sure, I'm fearful of mutants because of what happened to my father, and when my mom approached me about joining I knew I couldn’t say no. She was so adamant about it, we would join to honor my father’s memory.” Liz nodded for her to continue. This was the first time Maria had really opened up to her about why she was in a hate group.

“The problem is, I don’t have any memory of my father. My mom has always told me what a great guy he was and how much he would have loved me, and sure I would have liked to know him and meet him, but I never did. All I've ever known is my mother, and her love for me. I didn’t want to let her down. So I started going to the meetings and the gatherings, and of course they do nothing but show anti-mutant propaganda, and talk about how dangerous they are and the crimes they've committed. I got the bug. I was being fed nothing but the negative and it fueled any fear or distrust I had towards them. It really took that murder to snap me out of it. If they go around killing mutants, it really doesn’t make them any better than the mutants they talk about. I don’t know if that makes sense.”

“It makes perfect sense Maria, that is what I have been trying to explain to you, but I just never said it right. Honestly Maria, you don’t belong in a group that is centered around hate. It isn’t you, I know you better than that. You've been my best friend for years, and I really miss my best friend.” Maria looked at her with hope in her eyes at her last comment
.
“Even after how awful I’ve been? God Liz, someone was murdered, and even though I know it couldn’t have been the group I was in, a group similar to it did this monstrous thing.”

“But you didn’t. Maria, you shouldn’t stay in it just to please your mother. That is her life, and her thing. Not yours.”

“You're right Liz, but she has been there for me through everything. I don’t want her to think I’m betraying her or that I don’t support her.”

“I know, but you have to do what you feel is right.”

“I’ll talk to her tonight, hopefully she'll understand.”

Liz was about to open her mouth when a shrill whistle broke her thoughts.
“Ladies, why don’t you get up and try something a little more physical that running your mouths!”

“Yes Ms. Long.” The girls said in unison. They stood up and hugged briefly as they made their way to the shot-put pit. They would only be able to throw them an inch, but it beat running. They talked about lighter things as they pitifully flung the heavy metal balls into the sand. Liz was tempted to use her powers as opposed to her muscles but knew her reunion with Maria wouldn’t be able to handle it. She was glad they had broken the ice, but they had a long way to go before Liz could tell her the truth about herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The final bell had rung for the day and Liz was walking with Maria, Isabel and Tess towards the front of the school. She didn’t have to work tonight and she was looking forward to a little time off. They walked out the doors and saw Max and Kyle waiting for them. They started to make their way over when a loud engine got their attention. Liz recognized the sound of a really loud motorcycle and had to fight off her annoyance. Whenever one of those roared by it always made her jump. It pulled up to the school and everyone was staring at it with curiosity. As far as Liz knew none of the students rode one. The man sitting on it was smoking a cigar and looking around, and they were about to pass by when Liz heard her name.

“Liz?” She gave a nod in the affirmative. “I’m Logan. Get on.” Okay, so this guy was rude. Liz walked up to him and couldn’t help but notice that he was also incredibly good looking. Well built and striking features, although he could use a shave.

“You know, this is a tobacco free campus, you're not supposed to smoke here.”

“Then climb on, and we'll get off campus. Problem solved.” Liz rolled her eyes and clumsily climbed onto the back of it anyway.

“Not the most graceful, are you?” He asked, handing her a helmet.

“Not the most tactful, are you?” Liz shot back. His response was to fire up the motorcycle and take off. Liz just about fell off the back but caught onto his leather jacket just in time. He definitely won’t go with mom’s dainty guest room.

Thanks everyone for all your patience!!! I really appreciate it! I have decided I am going to focus solely on this fic and my one on the CC board for awhile now, at leat until I have a good build of chapters so if I can hopefully post on more regular basis.

Anyways...
Thank you for the feedback:

Sagi Becca
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orphyfets
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All your responses make me so happy!!! Thank you for taking the time to read!

And of course a special thanks to Montee316 for betaing this for me!!!






Chapter 5



Logan roared to a stop in front of the Crashdown and Liz hopped off his bike. Luckily for her, she did so with a little more grace than she got on with. She tossed the helmet back to him and fixed him with a sickeningly sweet smile.

“You know, I was on my way here anyways, you didn’t have to go out of your way to pick me up.”

“Whatever. I didn’t want to wait around for you, I know how you girls get with your little friends.”

Liz clenched her fists at her sides and tried to control the anger boiling just under the surface. This guy had a lot of nerve, calling her a little girl. She was more powerful than the majority of the people on the planet and he was talking down to her like she was nothing.

She looked up at his face and took in the amused smirk he was wearing, and that only made her more angry.

Liz took a deep breath. “Interesting.”

“How so?”

“Well, you don’t want to wait around for me. Must I remind you that I go to school, I work almost full time and I have a very close knit circle of friends that I spend a LOT of time with. You moved here to train me, but as far as I know you don’t have another job. You have nothing to do but wait around for me so you can train me at my convenience. Just so you know, I’m having my friends over tonight, so we have to wrap up this little session by eight, then you can go to your room and practice waiting around for me, because you're going to have to get used to it. Kay?” With that Liz flashed him a toothy grin and flounced into the restaurant.

She couldn’t see his face, but he hadn’t made a move to follow her. She spotted her dad at the counter and practically skipped up to it.

“Hi, dad!” She said and leaned in to give him a peck on the cheek.

He gave her a smile. ”You sure are chipper aren’t you? Did you meet Logan?” Liz looked up to the front of the diner where he had just thrown the door open, and then proceeded to stalk over to a booth.

Liz looked at her dad and giggled, “Yeah, but he needs a bit of an attitude adjustment, don’t you think?”

“Lizzie,” her father scolded, “what did you say to him?”

She fixed her dad with her innocent eyes, “Nothing daddy, I just filled him in on my schedule is all.”

“Liz, don’t be to hard on the guy. He moved here to help you train so you can protect yourself. This is a favor to us. Do you think he particularly likes relocating to live with a teenage girl and her family? Just, go make nice with him, please.”

Liz let out a dramatic sigh, but she knew her dad was right. She looked over at Logan.

He was sitting in a booth with his arms across his chest; it almost looked as if he was pouting. Liz wasn’t sure, but she couldn’t help but to notice a resemblance between him and Michael at that moment.

She took in his features; everything about him just looked…strong. He could stand to bathe, but other than that he was pretty hunky. Maybe spending a lot of time with him wouldn’t be so bad; at least he was easy on the eyes.

She gave her dad a smile and picked up the two Cokes he had placed in front of her and made her way to the booth.

Liz gave him a genuine smile as she slid into the seat in front of him, sliding one of the sodas in his direction.

“Look, we may have gotten off on the wrong foot and I’m sorry about that. I just don’t like to be told what to do and I’m definitely not hot on the idea of being babysat. I’m mostly doing this for my parents, to help put their minds at ease.” Logan’s body relaxed a little as she talked and he reached out and took the soda.

“Well, I’m not happy about being a babysitter, so I guess we have something in common. I’m doing this for Chuck. I kind of owe him one and he feels that you’re important.”

“And I really don’t need to be babysat, I’m eighteen and have already been through a lot so, I’m not as young as I seem.”

Logan stared at her and looked like he was about to say something when she held up a hand.

“No, I’m not going to share what I’ve been through, and no, it isn’t just normal teenage angst, it’s just none of your business.” She looked down for a moment and didn’t say anything.

“You don’t serve beer here, do you?” Asked Logan, giving his Coke a distasteful glare.

Liz smiled, glad that he didn’t pry.

“Um, not down here, I think my dad may have a few in the fridge upstairs if you want me to go get one.”

“No, its okay.”

Liz had run out of things to say so her and Logan ended up sitting in a slightly awkward silence. Liz cleared her throat and decided to shift subjects.

“So, what exactly are we supposed to do? I mean, I feel comfortable with my powers. I’m pretty sure I could adequately defend myself if the need arose.”

“That’s great, but the point is to teach you to defend yourself without using your powers so you don’t unnecessarily expose yourself.”

“Oh, that makes sense. How are we supposed to go about it?”

“Well, we should start training in hand-to-hand combat. We'll begin with your powers and see what can be used discreetly in a conflict. We should probably start tonight.”

“Okay, but I do have plans with my friends that I don’t want to cancel.”

“Yeah, yeah. The ever so important lives of high school girls. You wouldn’t want to miss out on any prom votes; it’s only your life we’re talking about.” Logan bit out.

Liz had to take a deep breath to keep herself from becoming angry. This guy really knew how to push her buttons and they just met.

“Bitter much? One, I’m not popular and I’m not running for anything prom related. I’m eighteen and you would not believe some of the trials I’ve been through. I’ve seen more pain and struggle than a lot of adults. But through it all I’ve formed a group of friends who have become like a family to me. My priority is to remain in hiding and if I start skipping out on plans with them and spending all my free time with a stranger then that will definitely send up warning flags. They'll start poking around and my secret won’t be a secret for long.”

“Okay fine, but I have a question.”

Liz motioned with her hands for him to answer.

“If your friends are like your family, then why don’t they know your secret?”

Liz hesitated a moment before answering. “It’s complicated. A few of my friends, Alex and Kyle, know but the rest of them don’t. My friend, Maria, her father was killed by a mutant shortly before she was born.”

“Oh?”

“That’s not the worst of it, her mom is very anti-mutant and actually belongs to a hate group. She actually talked Maria into joining one with her. To say the least, that caused a bit of a rift in our friendship. We talked today and she admitted she joined because of the pressure from her mother and that she really doesn’t think it is the thing for her. She just doesn’t have the hate in her that her mother does. She never met her father and she doesn’t feel like she can hate all mutants when only one was responsible, similar to a regular human murder situation. The whole mutant murder thing put it all in perspective for her.: Liz paused for a moment, “Anyway… like I said, its complicated.”

“Great friends you have.” Logan commented. Yet again, he knew exactly what to say to piss her off.

“You know, Maria was my friend long before any of this mutant stuff happened to me. She has been there for me practically all my life. I’m trying to make things work out with her.”

“Okay, sorry. What about your friends that know? How did they find out?”

Liz told him about Alex and Kyle and all they had helped her through and witnessed. She also explained that she had come close to telling the others but was never able to do it. They already had a lot of stress in their lives and she couldn’t risk Maria’s mother finding out.

“Okay, I understand. Let’s talk about your powers, what can you do?” Liz took a look around the crowded diner and noticed that Isabel, Tess, Kyle, and Max had just slid into a booth and were watching her curiously.

“Not here, let’s go upstairs and I’ll show you.” Liz waved at her friends before heading him the back. She exchanged a quick hello with Michael and Maria who had just arrived to start the evening shift before heading up the stairs.

Liz stopped when she got to the living room.

“What, I don’t get to see your bedroom?” Logan asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“Yeah, right.” Liz answered but couldn’t help the heat she felt rising into her cheeks.

He was flirting with her!

She knew she should be disgusted by the thought, but oddly enough she wasn’t. She actually felt a shiver of excitement at his little comment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did I just make a comment about seeing her bedroom? He looked at the beautiful brunette’s flushed face, yep, I did.

God I could kick myself for that. Sure she's gorgeous, but she is just in high school. I shouldn’t have those kinds of thoughts about her.

She looked up at him, her dark eyes meeting his, a small smile gracing her lips, and felt his heart skip a beat.

Shit, I’m in trouble.

Logan cleared his throat, breaking himself out of his silent reverie, “Uh, what can you do?” He asked.

That’s it, just focus on the job at hand.

*I can do this.*

Logan jumped a little at the intrusion in his mind.

*Great, a freaking psychic.*

*I heard that*

*I know*

Logan answered her in his mind while fixing her with a smirk. She sighed and broke off the link between them.

“Is that all you can do? What, are you going to do, mind talk your opponents to death?”

“That isn’t all. I have never wanted to try, but I think I might be able to plant suggestions in people’s minds if I wanted to.”

“Okay. That it?” He was a little unimpressed, he had expected more from her.

“No, that is only my mental ability, not my physical one.”

What? This chick has mental and physical abilities, no wonder Xavier thought she was important.

He watched as Liz held out her hand and a small metal figurine flew from the mantelpiece into her hand.

“Okay, so you also have telekinetic abilities?”

“Not exactly.” Liz melted the figurine into three smaller balls that began dancing around the room. “I can control metal.”

She drew the balls back to her and reformed the figurine before floating it back onto the mantel.

Logan had to resist the urge to scream. No wonder Xavier wouldn’t fill him in on her specifics before he came.

This was great, just freaking great. He threw his arms up in frustration and then rested his elbows against the mantle and set his head between them.

Her physical power was exactly the same as Magneto’s. This wasn’t going to turn out well for him. This girl could control him, make him do anything she wanted.

She was going to love this, maybe he could avoid telling her what he could do.

“What can you do?” He heard her ask quietly from behind him.

Or maybe not.

He reluctantly turned around, she was going to exploit this, he just knew it.

He gritted his teeth and let the blades slide out from between his knuckles, he looked up to see an awe struck look on Liz’s face.

“That’s awesome.” She said and looked up at him amazed eyes.

“Yeah, and it hurts like hell.”

“May I?” She asked, and he gave her a nod with is head. He held up his hand and she gently ran her finger along one of the blades towards his hand. She stroked the tops of his knuckles before pulling back.

“They're kind of beautiful.” She said still staring at them. Logan couldn’t help but feel a stirring in his gut; no one had ever really reacted to him that way. Mostly he was met with fear, but not from her.

“Yeah, well,” He cleared his throat and retracted the blades back into his body, “my whole body is made of the stuff, it makes me virtually indestructible.”

“That’s kind of…amazing.” Responded Liz, still looking at the place in his hands where the blades had disappeared.

Logan had to admit that he was a little surprised that she hadn’t taken advantage of him, maybe he underestimated her. She took her eyes off his hands and met his gaze with a shy smile.

“Sorry, you’re the first mutant, besides myself, that I have ever met. I’m kind of new with the whole experience.” She gave a small shrug and made her way into the kitchen.

“Would you like that beer now?” She called from the other room.

“Yeah, sure.” Logan responded then took a seat on the couch. She reappeared a moment later and tossed him the cold can than took a seat next to him, cracking open a bottle of water.

“So, are we going to start the combat training tomorrow?” Asked Liz as she folded her legs beneath her.

“Yeah, your father reserved a training room at the gym for us.”

“Okay, well I have to work after school, but I will be off by eight, maybe we can go after I get off?”

“Yeah, that would be fine.” He responded, looking down at the can in his hand. “Can I ask you a question?” He raised his eyes to take in her face.

“Sure.”

“You know you can control me right? Because I’m made of metal.”

“Um, yeah, I did think of that.” Liz admitted, picking at the label on the bottle.

“Well then, why didn’t you?” He asked, he immediately looked down again, in case his question made her angry. He seemed to be pretty good at that, but right now that wasn’t what he was trying to accomplish.

“Just because I have the power to do something doesn’t make it right for me to do so. I don’t like to be told what to do, that infuriates me beyond belief. And you really don’t seem like the kind of person who would enjoy losing your free will like that. It would be hipocritical for me try and control you like that."

Logan looked at her face again, he saw the honesty shining in her eyes and he knew she meant it. Her powers may resemble those of Magneto, but her personality was nothing like his.

“I’m sorry I asked. There’s another mutant I have come into contact with that has similar powers, and he has had no problem with using them against me, I guess it’s just bad associations.”

Logan surprised himself with that statement. He wasn’t the type to open up to people like that. In fact the only person he came close to having that type of connection with his Jean, and that was turning out so well for him.

With Liz it just seemed natural, she seemed like the kind of person he could talk to, and he had only met her an hour ago.

Oh yeah, he was in deep, deep trouble.

Okay, finally I'm back!!! Thanks for waiting so long, and I promise never to delay so much before an update again... cross my heart!!

Thanks for all the great feed back and without further ado....





Chapter Six

“So, who was that hunky guy with you yesterday?” Asked Tess, as she and Isabel took a seat next to Liz at lunch.

“Oh, lets not talk about him, he’s not important.” Liz said with a flick of her wrist. She could tell from the look they exchanged they weren’t going to let it rest forever, but at least for the moment they seemed to be dropping it.

“Whatever. Anyways, Kyle is taking me on an actual date tonight. I can’t wait!”

“What? You mean you’re not just going to spend the evening watching sports with him and Jim?” Questioned Maria, as she sat down with her tray.

“Yeah, rubbing their sweating feet after a long day of football practice and work?” Added Isabel.

“And picking up the cheese poof crumbles that land on their shirts?” Teased Liz.

“You guys suck, and may I saw ‘ew’ to the foot rubbing.” Laughed Tess, tossing a carrot at Isabel.

“I have to agree with that, boy feet are gross.” Said Maria, wrinkling her nose while munching on a french fry.

“Anyways, what are you guys going to do?” Asked Liz.

“Chick flick and ice cream!”

“What, did Kyle lose a bet against you or something?” Isabel asked, placing a hand on her chest and feigning a shocked expression.

“Well kind of. He bet me that I couldn’t put my ankles behind my head… and well, I can.”

“T.M.I.” Said Isabel, tossing the carrot back at her.

“God, I’m sure he loved that!” Giggled Liz.

“Loved what?” Liz turned and saw the guys joining the table.

“Nothing, just a certain bet you lost.” Said Maria, pointing at Kyle with her pizza.

“Oh, that.” Said Kyle, his cheeks turning pink. That only served to get him teased more until he left he table in a huff.

“Ut-oh, I better go on damage control. Maybe I’ll show him my little trick again.” Said Tess with a wink as she got up from the table and skipped after him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liz fell on her ass again and let out a frustrated grunt. She was hot, and sweaty, and sore, and Logan just kept knocking her down. She was getting fed up, and Logan was looking smug and that wasn’t helping.

She fixed him with a glare and began to stand up again, just when she did he took his annoying Q-Tip looking thing and knocked her down again.

“Your not focusing!”

“And your not letting me freaking stand up! Don’t make me use my powers on you, I don’t want to have to do it, but if you’re not going to at least let me get on my feet, then I will be left with no choice!” Threatened Liz fixing him with her meanest glare.

“Okay, okay!” Chuckled Logan holding his hands up and backing away.

Liz stood up, and picked up her own Q-Tip bat and fixed her stance the way he had shown her. He started circling her again and she matched his moves with her own. He took a swipe at her and she blocked it. He backed off a little and circled for a bit before advancing on her again. This time he took two quick jabs, she managed to jump out of the way and whack him on the side with her own weapon in the process.

“Good job, your learning pretty fast.”

“Good, then can we stop for the night? I still have homework I want to get done before bed.” She enjoyed the praise, but she didn’t know how much more she could take.
Logan seemed to think on it for a bit.

“Okay, but on one condition. We train for a bit in the morning before school.” Liz sighed, she didn’t like the idea of waking up early, but she really didn’t want to keep doing this tonight.

“Fine, it’s a deal.” Said Liz walking off the mats and towards her gym bag. She picked up a bottle of water and began to drink from it while looking for the towel she knew she put in her bag.

She glanced over at Logan who was wiping the sweat from his own forehead. She could clearly make out his defined muscles under his T-shirt and she had to admit he looked really good sweaty.

“Can I help you with something?” Liz jumped a little at his voice, she felt her cheeks redden a little and was thankful she had been working out and her face was already red.

“Uh, no.” She said with a little cough and picked up her bag.

“I’m ready for a shower, let’s go home, please.” She said and he nodded his approval as they headed for the door.

The gym wasn’t located to far from Liz’s house so they had walked there. She stepped outside and immediately relished in the slight breeze that met her still damp skin. She let out a sigh and stretched her sore arms before heading in the direction of the diner.

“Hm, it’s beautiful out tonight. The perfect night to open the windows while sleeping.”

“It was hot out today, and it’s going to be hot out tomorrow.” Grumbled Logan.

“Well, duh! This is the desert. Miserable during the day, but wonderful at night.” She retorted taking another deep breath of the night air. She looked over and Logan who also taking a deep breath.

“Yeah, I guess it’s nice.”

Liz fixed him with a thoughtful gaze, “You have a hard time enjoying the small things in life don’t you?”

He seemed a little taken aback by her statement, instead of snapping at her he just gave a nod of his head.

“Yeah, I guess I do. I tend to focus on the big picture and all the bad out there that I never really take the time to enjoy things.” He admitted.

“Well we’ll have to work on that.” Said Liz, giving him a small smile. She didn’t know what was happening, but she thought there was something more there between them than just the trainer to trainee relationship. He didn’t seem like he ever opened up to anyone, yet he opened up to her. Somehow she liked that idea, a lot.

“How do you find so much enjoyment in life? I mean, I know your young but you claim to have gone through a lot of hard trials. And I know you’re aware of the danger out there, I mean you could be murdered just for existing.” He said, fixing her with a serious glance.

“Yeah, I know. But if I didn’t take the time to enjoy the small things. Like the night air, or just enjoying time with my family and friends, I would probably go crazy. I would let all the anger and fear engulf me and that isn’t a way I want to live my life.” Said Liz, as they came to a stop at the back door of the diner.

“I admire that about you. You’re a strong person Liz, don’t let anyone take that away from you.” He said, gazing down at her.

She smiled up at him and held his gaze for a moment. She didn’t know what to say, but his compliment really meant a lot to her. She realized how much she wanted his approval.

Suddenly Logan cleared his throat and opened the back door.

“You really need a shower.” He stated giving her a wink, while holding the door open for her. Liz snorted out a bit of laughter. Surprisingly, she that didn’t make her mad.

“Yeah, like you don’t?” She gave him a playful thump in the stomach while she passed him and made her way to the stairs.

Once they reached the apartment they were greeted by Liz’s parents.

“How did the training go?” Asked Liz’s dad, muting the TV and standing to greet them.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us, but she shows potential.” Said Logan walking to the fridge in the kitchen and pulling out a beer.

“Yeah, well this potential needs a shower and then to do homework.” Liz was about to walk out of the room then looked down at how sweaty she was and got an idea. She turned around and launched herself into her dad’s arms giving him the biggest hug she could.

“Aw, Geez! Come on Liz!” He shrieked holding his arms to the side to minimize contact.

Liz just giggled and wiggled around a little for affect.

“Love you daddy! Night Mom!” Liz gave him a kiss on the cheek and then flounced out of the room. She heard her dad complaining in the background about his needing a shower and laughed to herself as she shut her bedroom door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liz was just finishing up her homework when she heard a tap on her window. She looked up from her book and saw Max standing there. She gave him a smile and went to open the window.

“Hey Max! What’s up?” She asked as she climbed out to meet him.

“Nothing. Just thought I’d stop by… and I brought you a present.” He said with a sly grin.

“Oooh! A present? For me? What is it? I want it!” Liz teased holding out her hand.

Max motioned to the little table she had out there and there was ice cream.

“Ice Cream? Great. How on earth did you manage to get up the ladder with that?”

“Alien voodoo, what can I say?” Liz laughed and sat down in a chair picking up her ice cream. She ate a big spoonful and relaxed for a talk with her friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Logan had his shower he had spent the evening watching TV with Jeff and Nancy, enjoying a few beers and relaxing.

At first he really wasn’t looking forward to living in a house with a normal family, well not quite normal, but close enough. He was surprised how easily he could talk with the adults and not feel uncomfortable. At least this whole experience wouldn’t be as awful as he thought.

And spending time with Liz wasn’t a bad perk either. He wasn’t sure but he thought something was going on there. He was seconds away from kissing her outside the diner before stopped himself.

Looking back, he was a little sorry he broke the moment. Sure she was still in high school, but she was eighteen and was a lot more adult than meets the eyes. She just has a spark about her that he can’t ignore. He still couldn’t believe that with all she was facing she could still appear to be carefree.

And unlike most people her age, she seemed to have a really well adjusted relationship with her parents. They got along really well and that wasn’t something he was used to dealing with. At the school, most of the children had strained relationships with their parents, and that was the best scenario. Most of the parents shunned their children for being different, although that wasn’t anything any of them could help.

Liz’s parents embraced her differences, and almost seemed to love her more because of her gifts. That was rare and he really respected them for that.

He walked into his room and stripped out of his clothes. He was about to climb into bed when he remembered what Liz said about the night breeze in the desert.

He turned to the window and opened it, taking in a deep breath.

He was about to turn away when he heard a voice talking softly.

He could tell it was Liz but couldn’t make out what she was saying. Ah well, probably just on the phone with a friend. He was about to turn away when he heard her laugh and smiled at the sound.

The smile quickly faded when he heard a distinctly male voice join into the laughter. Then he heard the guy talk followed by more laughter.

Logan shut the window and turned to get into bed. Maybe there wasn’t anything between them after all.

Apparently Liz already had a boyfriend.

Finally a new chapter!! Yay for me!! Not many can say this, but my new job has really helped me get some work done on this story. Whenever we die down in the evening I can sit in my little cubicle and write my heart out.
So anyway, here is this chapter. Thanks so much for all the wonderful feedback and the bumps, if it weren't for you guys I probably would have given up!

I also have the next two chapters done, if anyone would be willing to beta them for me I could appreciate it, also, this chapter is un-betad so if there are any errors then I'm sorry!

Enjoy!!!




Chapter Seven

Liz was sweating profusely, gulping in air as best she could. It felt like the oxygen wasn’t getting into her blood stream, her heart couldn’t pump it out as fast as she needed it to keep her going.

Were her arms going limp at her sides? Yes, they were, she couldn’t hardly lift them at all. Same thing with her legs. They were oxygen deprived!

She had to breath, she bent over her thighs and sucked in a deep breath, followed by another. Okay, she was feeling better now, just keep breathing…

“LIZ!!!!!” She jerked her head toward the annoying shriek and immediately wished she had an aluminum bat, just a little thonk on the head. Just to make her feel better, not like it would really hurt him anyw….

“If you stop running one more time I swear I will make you run laps until lunch.” His annoying voice had broken her out of her thoughts once again. She looked up to see him jogging in place ten feet ahead of her. He wasn’t even sweating.

“Show off…” She mumbled under her breath.

Apparently she got the wrong idea last night. There wasn’t anything between them. He was just a big jerk like she originally thought. He approached her with a completely different attitude today than he did yesterday. He was short with her, not encouraging at all. It seemed like whatever connection Liz must have imaged there was between them, was gone.

“We’re almost back to the diner, I want you to pace me the entire way. And stop gulping in air like that, don’t even think that I will carry you back if you pass out, you can just stay there.” He turned around and started running down the street.

Liz let out a huff of air and crossed her arms over her chest. She really was willing to train, just not run. Jog at most, training and running were not the same at all, and she planned to let Logan know so.

She started walking, quickly but walking just the same, back toward the diner. She just closed her eyes and took in a deep breath of the morning air. Hmm, maybe she could get used to running after all. It was really nice outside at this time of day. The birds were chirping, people wearing suits were driving by sipping their coffee on the way to work. A construction crew was just arriving on site to do some road work. Mornings were great.

“LIIIIIZZZZZ!!!!!” Yup, mornings were just downright special. “What do you think your doing? You think I’m out this early for myself? No, I’m here for you, to make you better and stronger. You sure have a nice way of showing thanks….” Liz held up her hand to cut him off there.

“Thanks…. Give you thanks? For what? Torturing me to death. I agreed to train, not to run. No one said anything about running. Training is using the Q-tip thingy and learning to punch and kick….not agonize myself and ruin my body by running. That is why there are cars buddy. I’m not going to sprint or run. Sorry.” Liz turned and started to walk back.

“God, you are the most frustrating woman alive,” Logan snarled as he ran past her.

“And don’t you forget it.” Liz called out after him with a smile on her face. Well, if he wanted to be rude to her then she sure wasn’t going to go out of her way to listen to his orders.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Thanks for meeting me here guys,” Said Liz as she took a seat under the bleachers next to Kyle and Alex. Liz had asked them to meet her here for lunch today, she wasn’t in the mood to be around everybody.

“No problemo, but why are you being all incognito?” Asked Kyle as he took his sandwich out of his bag.

“I’m mostly just worn out from dodging questions about a certain burly stranger that just walked into my life.”

“Aw yes, how is your training coming along?” Alex quirked an eyebrow towards as he took a bite of his apple.

“It was fine until he made me run.” Liz sighed as she nibbled on a chip.

Kyle and Alex shared a look and then started laughing.

“Danger, danger. Someone try and make THE Liz Parker run?” Kyle teased, holding his hand in front of his mouth feigning shock.

“Yes, someone better give the poor guy some advice before you hurt him.” Joked Alex.

“Funny, funny.” Said Liz rolling her eyes, “I just think running is kind of…obsolete.” Stated Liz with a nod.

“No, its not, you’re just too lazy to train yourself to do it.” Said Kyle giving her a pointed look.

*Don’t look at me like that or I will put a dent in your car and refuse to fix it.*

*Hey, not fair.* Whined Kyle back at Liz as Alex started to snicker out loud.

Liz turned and looked at him. *Watch yourself buddy, I bet you don’t want me singing ‘it’s a small world’ in your head all night now would you?*/

Alex gave Liz a horrified look that made both her and Kyle burst out into laughter.

“Hey, that’s not funny. My parents were ready to have me condemned that night. I kept yelling at thin air to shut up and go to sleep already.” His angry stare made Liz and Kyle bust out into another round of giggles.

“Then I guess you shouldn’t have told Tim Long I was in love with him and wouldn’t want anything in the world….other than a surprise kiss from him. EW, I don’t think he EVER brushed his teeth!” Retorted Liz, referring to her first boy and girl party in the seventh grade.

“Yeah, but I only did that to get back at you for telling Katie Jones I had a crush on her.” Alex shot back. Kyle was watching the exchange with a grin on his face, he had heard this story before, but it was always amusing to watch these two get into it.

“Well at least that was true, and she was pretty, AND she let you take her to the Spring Dance!”

“So, it wasn’t your place. I got revenge on you and you in turn got revenge on me for my revenge on you, that is not allowed.” Kyle and Liz exchanged a glance and then started laughing.

“I don’t think that made any sense. Nothing changes the fact that what you did to me was WAY worse!”

“Yeah, until you decided to put yourself on repeat in my head with a song that I think has strong satanic undertones.” Said Alex with a shudder.

“Well, I couldn’t sleep because every time I closed my eyes I convinced myself I could smell Tim’s breath. If I wasn’t sleeping then you definitely weren’t sleeping!”

They bantered back and forth for a few minutes until the conversation turned back to Liz’s training.

“Seriously Liz, the guy is only trying to make you better, so that you can stay safe. That, to me, is pretty important.” Said Alex.

“Yeah, if you don’t feel comfortable running yet, just tell him. Ask if maybe you can start off jogging for shorter distances and then try to work your way up to running what he wants you to.” Added Kyle.

“Do I hafta?” Asked Liz, knowing that they were just trying to reason with her.

“Yes, and I’ll jog with you sometimes. Help you keep pace and keep your mind off the work.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll try that, I guess. I’ll talk to Logan after school.”

Just then the bell rang signaling the end of lunch.

“Oh, I better go, I have to meet Isabelle at her locker and walk her to class since we didn’t have lunch together.”

“Aw, isn’t that sweet.” Kyle said in a sugary voice.

“Yeah, go ahead and laugh, but I bet you’re on your way to meet Tess.” Said Liz.

“Fine, you caught me, I’m just as whipped as Whitman.” Said Kyle smacking him in the shoulder.

“Haha. Oh, and Liz, maybe Kyle and I can come up with something to tell the group to get them off your back.” Said Alex heading towards the hallway.

“Yeah, we’ll let you know when we figure it out,” Said Kyle as he headed a different direction.

“Okay, thanks guys, I’ll talk to you later!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Logan rubbed some of the tension out of his neck on the walk back from the gym. Liz had improved since just last night, she was prepared for his attacks and knocked him on his ass more times than he would like to admit.

He gave her a sideways glance, her hair was slightly matted to her forward and her cheeks were still glistening from the workout. Logan thought she was beautiful, so natural, and she seemed to have a glow about her.

But, she had a boyfriend. He had been trying to distance himself from her a little today. He didn’t want to get caught up into another love triangle. He never seemed to be the right choice and he didn’t want to be rejected again.

Liz cleared her throat breaking him from his reverie.

“Um, so I was thinking. I don’t like running, mostly because I have never had to do it and my body isn’t accustomed to the strain. So maybe I could start off by jogging shorter distances until I build up my stamina.” She gave him a hopeful look and he knew he would agree. He probably wouldn’t have worked her so hard that morning if he hadn’t been taking out his frustrations on her.

“I guess so.” He grunted out then kept his gaze strait ahead cutting off the conversation. They were almost to the diner alley and then this night would be over. They could go their separate ways.

He heard Liz sigh dramatically then put her arms over her chest. He felt the familiar anger begin to boil under his skin, she knew how to push his buttons.

“What are you complaining for, I agreed to do it your way.” God, you do something nice for someone and they complain, typical woman.

“Well, you could have been more encouraging. You’re so frustrating! I have a perfectly great idea and you act like its nothing.” She turned and stalked into the alley.

“I’m letting you do less work. Congratulations on performing below par.” He clapped his hands in mock enthusiasm and knew it was probably a mistake. She whirled around and fixed him with a glare that would freeze a fire.

“What did you just say to me?” She asked her eyes alight with anger, her bottom lip pulled in between her teeth and she kept her gaze unflinchingly on him.

She looked indescribable. Boyfriend be damned. Logan took a step closer to her, returning her gaze unflinchingly.

“You are the most frustrating woman ever.” Liz threw her arms up and was about to start a riot when Logan took one last step towards her and grabbed her by the hips and hushing her lips with his mouth.

Her arms stayed where they were for a moment until the shock wore off and they found their way around his neck, the pressure crushing their lips together harder. He pulled her to him until she was flush against him and then twirled her around so her back was against the wall. He could feel himself kissing her more urgently, probing her mouth with his tongue trying to taste her kisses. He could feel her fingers threading through the hair at the base of his neck. The feel of her skin against his made his vision go cloudy.

He ended the kiss just as quickly as he started it. He let her go and took a step back and stared down at her for a moment. Her brown eyes looked back up at him and she was panting from the kisses. Her lips looked perfect, he just wanted to take her swollen bottom lip between his teeth…

“It’s late, you should probably get some sleep.” He shook the urge to kiss her and instead motioned for her to continue down the ally towards the diner. He shouldn’t have done that, no matter how great it felt. He was here to train her, not get in her pants.

When they got to the door she paused for moment and looked like she was going to say something, instead she just said a quick good night and hurried into the diner

Here's the next chapter! It's un-betad so any any mistakes are entirely my own!!

Thanks for all the great feedback!

Enjoy!!



Chapter 8


“Okay, so what’s all this about? Some of us actually have things to do on a Friday night,” Said Kyle as he and Tess walked into the door. He directed his question to Max who was the one who usually called these emergency meetings disrupting everyone’s lives.

Max put his hands in front of him in mock defense, “Don’t look at me, this is Michael’s baby, not mine.”

“Yeah, and what have you got to do that’s so important? Watch the loop on ESPN just incase they add something new?” Asked Alex as he walked in the door and gave Kyle a pat on the back before taking a seat next to Isabelle. Kyle made a face at him but didn’t say anything, mostly because he was right.

“I called this meeting because I think we may have a problem.” Said Michael standing up and taking control of the room.

“Okay fine, but shouldn’t we wait until everyone gets here?” Asked Maria as she plopped down on the floor in front of the coffee table.

“Everyone is here,” was his gruff reply.

“Um no, Liz isn’t here yet.” Said Isabel.

“She is part of the problem and I don’t want to confront her just yet.” Said Micheal and was met by blank stares from everyone.

“How is Liz a part of a problem?” Asked Alex, already knowing that Michael wanted to talk about Logan.

“Well, there is all of a sudden a new stranger in town, where have we seen that before? This guy is close to Liz and what if he is here to try and get to us through her. I won’t let a friend get hurt because of who we are.”

Alex and Kyle exchanged a quick look and suddenly wished they could reach Liz right now, but she wasn’t open to conversation because she was training.

“Oh yeah, I’m pretty sure that is just her uncle visiting from out of town.” Covered Alex, satisfied with the answer he had come up with.

“There you go, case closed.” Said Kyle standing up.

“Oh good Lord I hope not,” said Michael with a disgusted look.

Kyle immediately sat down again.

“Michael, what on earth is your problem? What’s it matter if Liz’s uncle is visiting?” Asked Isabel.

“Yeah, especially one as hott as he is.” Said Tess with a grin.

“Hey!” exclaimed Kyle in mock hurt.

“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll always be my number one.” Said Tess placing her hand on his thigh and snuggling closer to him. He put his arm around her and pulled her even closer to his side and placed a kiss on top of her head, “I better be.”

“Okay enough you two, the problem is that now I’m thinking that Liz has some serious problems.”

Kyle and Alex exchanged another glance but didn’t say anything.

“Okay…details…” Said Maria motioning with her hands.

“I’m just saying that Liz shouldn’t be kissing her uncle the way I saw her kissing him last night is all.”

“What?” asked Max with a flabbergasted look on his face.

“Woah, so your saying Liz is kissing her uncle?” Asked Tess with a slight wrinkle in her nose.

“No, no, no. I’ve known Liz for my whole life and she doesn’t have an uncle. She has an aunt in Florida, but no uncle.”

“I was just taking the trash out last night when I saw them kissing behind the diner, they were so wrapped up in each other that they didn’t even notice me, but I certainly noticed them. We need to figure out what is going on and I think that two people in this room know a lot more than they are letting on,” Said Michael pointing a finger in Kyle and Alex’s direction.

Kyle opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Max, who had remained relatively quiet throughout the meeting. “Enough Michael, mind your business. Liz will tell us who he is when she is ready. She has never done anything but help us, risked her life to be a good friend to us, let her have her personal life.”

Michael was about to say something when Isabel cut in, “Yeah, and here you are, behind her back making accusations.”

“Hold up, it isn’t like that. I’m not accusing Liz of anything, I just don’t want her to get caught up in anything that could get her hurt just because of who we are.”

“This is Liz’s thing. That is all I can tell you, just trust her, she would never get involved in anything that could harm any of us, she is smart Michael, just trust her.” Said Alex.

Michael stayed quiet because he knew they were right, he just felt like it was his job to try and protect everyone, he couldn’t help it, it was a part of who he is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Maria returned to her mother’s house pretty late. She was hoping to catch her at home so she could talk to her about quitting the mutant hate group.

The more Maria thought about it, the more she became convinced that she could talk her mom into quitting with her. Let them both close that chapter of their lives and move on.

Sure it was painful thinking about the father she would never know, but he was murdered and unfortunately that murderer was never caught, that didn’t mean that they could keep living in the past. Maria just hoped that her mom wasn’t too lost in all of this to turn around. But she was confident that her mom loved her and would accept her decision no matter what.

There was a note on the fridge stating that she was at the UFO center and would be home pretty late. She had gotten a ride there earlier in the evening. Maria knew there was an event going on there tomorrow and Brody never minded if her mom stayed there late to set up her stand as long as she made sure everything was locked down before she left.

Maria picked a soda out of the fridge and walked into the living room. She sat back on the couch and began to idly flip through channels. There was nothing on and it was going on 11:45 already.

Maria got up and decided to go to the UFO center. Maybe she could help her mom finish setting up and then give her a ride home, it would give her the perfect opportunity to talk to her.

Maria drove and parked in front of the center and then descended the stairs. She saw her mom over to the side setting up her stand with t-shirts and other alien gadgets.

“Getting everything ready to go?” Asked Maria as she approached her mom, causing her to jump and place her hand over her heart in fear.

“God Maria, you scared me, I thought you were one of them.” She said and turned to go back to her work. Maria sighed inwardly, maybe this wouldn’t go as well as she thought.
She walked over to a box and took out a package of alien key chains and began hanging them on their display tree.

“Look mom, I wanted to talk to you about something.” Said Maria, fiddling with the key chain in her hand and looking at her mom uncertainly. For the first time she wasn’t sure how her mom would take her news, but her mom had to understand that Maria had to take her own path in life.

“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you too. I noticed that you missed the last meeting, but that’s okay. I think this group is a little too wishy washy too, I found a new group for us to join…”

“Mom, I don’t want to join another hate group.”

“Oh, okay, well if you want to stay with the same one, that’s fine.”

“No mom, it’s not that. I don’t want to be a part of any group of that kind at all, it’s just not me, I don’t hate anyone.” Added Maria, trying to plead her case.

Amy was quiet for a minute and kept on with her work, not saying anything. Maria waited through the silence hoping that her mom would be reasonable. She looked up and fixed Maria with a gaze that she couldn’t describe.

Her eyes had taken a hard, cold sparkle to them that Maria had never seen before and her mouth was twisted into a sneer.

“You ungrateful little brat. I’ve raised you a certain way, instilled my values into you and your saying you reject those? Your father was murdered by a thing and all those things deserve what they get.”

Maria was shocked into silence, she couldn’t think of anything to say and she felt as if she was frozen into place. She had to of heard her mom wrong, there isn’t any other explanation.

“You won’t stand by your father’s memory, he was such a great man, and I bet he would be utterly disappointed to see how you turned out. Won’t even stand up and defend his honor. Ugh, I can’t even look at you, get out of my site.”

Maria placed her hand on her heart, which was breaking and tried to fight the tears that were stinging her eyes. She took a shaking breath and fled the building as quickly as she could. She couldn’t believe she had never noticed how consumed with hate her mother was, so much that she would hurt her own daughter so badly.

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Liz and Logan had been training for hours, they got a late start because Liz had to work and it was already pushing midnight. Even for a Friday night the streets around her home were deserted at this time.

Everyone was either at home or a house party somewhere. Liz enjoyed the quiet of the evening, no one out, she felt like the town belonged to her. Liz’s parents had decided to go out of town to a small business owners convention in Santa Fe, they said they felt like they could leave Liz and not worry so much since Logan was there to help watch over her.

They hadn’t talked about the kiss they shared the night before and Liz didn’t really want to bring it up. She wondered if it meant anything to him, or if it was just about getting caught up in the moment.

He didn’t show her any interest that he let her see, but she did notice the way he looked at her when he didn’t think she was paying attention, but she was.

Liz was distracted from her internal reverie by a streak of blonde hair across the street. She saw Maria run and jump into the Jetta.

All of a sudden Liz was struck with a sense of foreboding, something wasn’t right. She ran a few steps forward and faintly heard herself calling out Maria’s name, but it was too late.

She threw the car into reverse and screeched back. Logan grabbed her arm and she turned her attention to him, “What’s wrong?”

He had a genuinely concerned look on his face. “I’m not sure,” Liz replied and then turned her worried eyes back to Maria’s car.

She jerked forward and floored it and then quickly lost control of the car. Liz watched aghast as Maria’s car pummeled strait into a light pole.

Both her and Logan were in action before they realized it, they got almost to the car and Liz could clearly see a dazed Maria staring out the window, she looked too shocked to move, but okay nontheless.

That’s when Liz heard the pole groan and begin to topple threateningly in the direction of the car, Liz knew that she wouldn’t be able to get out in time.

Maria looked up at the pole that was about to fall on her and sat there frozen. Liz didn’t think twice, she threw her arms up and pushed all her energy into holding the pole in place. It inched back up little bit and held in place.

There was no time for Liz to think about what she was doing, no time to think about the possible consequences of her actions, she just reacted to the situation. She never had to control something so large and she could feel sweat breaking out on her forehead.

Maria cast a confused glance at the pole then looked back at Liz, then back at the pole. Liz knew she was caught, but she didn’t care.

Logan was at the car and was pulling Maria out, who seemed to have gotten over her moment of shock and was hustling now.

As soon as they were a safe distance away Liz let the pole fall and then fell to the ground exhausted. It landed on Maria’s car with a sickening crash.

A moment later she felt Logan’s arms pulling her to her feet and he held her protectively at his side. “Are you okay?” Liz gave him a nod to affirm that she was. Logan pulled away from her for a moment and reached into her gym bag and pulled out her cell phone.

She turned her gaze to the car, where the pole had fallen and lodged itself in the roof. It looked like the whole top half of the car had wrapped itself around the pole like
aluminum foil, the windows and the windshield were all busted out.

Liz looked at Maria who was staring horrified at her car, the pole resting where she had been only moments before. This was the moment that Liz was scared about, this could go either way, now Maria held her fate in her hands.

Thanks for all the feedback guys! It means a lot. Here is the next chapter for your enjoyment….

Chapter 9

Maria turned to Liz, fresh tears shining in her eyes, “You saved me, I don’t even know what to say. After all the horrible things I’ve said about mutants, after even belonging to a group like that, you still saved me. Oh, I must have hurt you so badly, I’m so sorry. Your secret is safe with me, I won’t tell anyone, I swear.” Maria began to cry again and Liz left Logan’s side and pulled her into her arms. Maria was trembling, but she gratefully hugged her friend back.

“What can I say, I love you Ria, even if you have made mistakes.”

“Thank you Liz, thank you.”

Liz held onto her friend gratefully and hugged her back. She had wanted Maria to know but she was so frightened about how she would respond, she had wanted to tell her but thought Maria would turn her back on her. She was so grateful to see that this wasn’t the case, she had always hoped she would react this way. Then again, Liz never wanted to tell her in the aftermath of a potentially deadly accident, but you can’t choose the balls life is going to throw at you.

Logan hung up the phone and approached him. “The police are on their way, I’m assuming I don’t have to tell you what to leave out of your story.”

“Yeah, duh. You got me out of the car a split second before the pole fell, geez, who does he think I am? Unbelievable.” Maria was reverting to her old self again and Liz couldn’t help but to giggle.

When the sheriff arrived they explained what happened…pretty much anyways. Liz still didn’t know why Maria was so upset, but she knew she would find out after all the excitement wore off.

Liz stepped in, wiping the remains of tears from her face but smiling at the volatile combination of Maria and Logan’s personalities. “Maria, this is Logan, he’s here to train me, in lieu of the recent murder.”

“Oh, I understand,” Maria gave him a good once over. “Not bad, so you’re the guy that was making out with my best friend last night?” She asked while sticking her hand out in his direction.

Logan seemed a little too shocked to respond, all he could do was stick out his hand. Liz on the other hand was not too shocked to speak. “How in the world do you know about that?”

“Oh yeah, I guess you two aren’t too stealthy, Michael saw you and held a meeting about it, you know how he is, thinking a spy was trying to infiltrate our group.” Maria looked at Liz and saw the look she was giving her, “Yeah, you know how he is with all those conspiracy theories, just like Mel Gibson from that one movie… what’s it called again?” Maria covered.

“Um, conspiracy theory?” Asked Logan with a puzzled look on his face.

“Yeah, Conspiracy Theory, that’s it.” Said Maria then turned away from them.

Liz was going to be sure to remember that Michael had a meeting about her personal life, but she didn’t want to sell out Maria for telling her. Liz walked away on her own to have a little private conversation with Alex and Kyle, partly to ask them about the meeting, but mostly to fill them in on everything that had happened.

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For the second time in two days, someone witnessed something regarding Liz’s life she would prefer no one knew about. Only this time it wasn’t a good friend with only her well being in mind.

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Liz woke up a little later than usual, she looked over at the clock and let out a groan, she had to open the diner in about an hour. After the police had come and cleaned up the mess her and Maria went came to her house. Liz reached over and pulled the pillow out from under Maria’s head, “Time to get up, we have to work in an hour.”

Maria moaned and pulled the blankets over her face before mumbling something about Liz waking her when she was finished in the bathroom. Liz rolled her eyes and started to get ready.

After she finished her shower she pushed a still asleep Maria into the bathroom with a clean towel and wished her luck.

She began picking up her room from the night before. There were empty popcorn bags, ice cream containers with a melted goo in them and tissues.

Her and Maria had spent most of the night talking. Liz told her about her powers and about how she discovered them, and how the small circle of people around her were all brought into the group.

Maria told Liz about her mom, and how she feared she was already so wrapped up in her negative feelings Maria was afraid she had lost her forever. They had cried together over the harsh words Maria had received from her mom, and they cried over Liz’s fear and all the hurt she felt from the negativity towards mutants from the general public.

They also laughed. They laughed at Liz’s magnet reaction and the look on Logan’s face when Maria called him out.

Maria confided in Liz about her feelings for Michael and how she was scared she had pushed him too far from her already.

Liz told Maria all about Logan and the confusing situation they had found themselves in. They talked about how they had lost things in their life, but how at least they finally had their friendship where it needed to be. Liz walked to the kitchen and was surprised to see Logan already up for the day.

“Good morning,” She said as she threw the trash away.

“You shouldn’t have done what you did last night, you know that right?”

She whirled around to face him and fixed him with her best glare, “I. Don’t. Care. You think I would let anyone die if there was something I could do to stop it?” She took a step closer to him and poked him in the chest with her finger, “Not to mention a friend, I don’t care what it means for me, if I have this amazing gift and don’t use it to help others then what a terrible waste that would be.” Liz backed off him a little, “besides, it turned out alright, Maria was the only one who saw and she isn’t telling anyone.”

“This time it worked out, it may not always work out for you like that, I know your going to help people no matter what, and that’s making me fall for you, but you have to be careful Liz. What good will your gift be if you aren’t alive to help others.” Liz blinked, had he just said what she thought he said.

“Do you mean it?” She asked.

“Mean what, that I want you to live? Of course.” Liz just nodded her head and didn’t say anything else. She just gave him a small smile and then excused herself to go to work.

Liz peeked into the kitchen as she passed by but she saw that Maria and Michael were talking and she decided not to interrupt. Instead she headed toward the dining room to start opening and to ponder what Logan had said about falling for her.