“So, you’re blaming everything that ever went wrong on a dead woman?” Zack said as he glared at Maria who simply nodded as both were trying to comprehend history and for Maria it was staring at a ghost almost in how Zack had similarities to yes, a dead woman, and someone who had truly hurt them and betrayed their group “Someone who can’t even defend herself. Wow, that’s low…” Zack whistled. “Amelia, your mother is some women…”
“Watch it,” Amelia glared
“You don’t have to defend me honey,” Maria sighed as she turned to her daughter as she loved how her daughter was a fighter, and was willing to go the mat for anyone, and especially their little family It made her proud “Why don’t you go in and see Olivia?” she asked but Amelia was not going to move, and only returned her patented Guerin wariness Which made her truly Michael’s daughter “Sweetheart, go please, and let me handle this. Olivia was asking for you before I came out, and that is why I came out, to find you”
Amelia nodded turned back at Zack and glared at him one last time, before she went back into the hospital. Which left an exhausted Maria with a very confused teenager. “Look, I know you’re confused, and you don’t deserve my vengeance, but I can’t help it because that time was hell to get through and a lot of it was because of Tess Harding and I will never have fond memories of her…” she sighed. “Honestly, you can’t expect that of me or anyone?”
“And you do have fond memories of a mass murderer, and abuser of woman?” Zack asked. “Who even assaulted you. Isn’t that a double standard you are enacting here?”
“Yes, and I admit to it” Maria asked. “I know what Max has done. I don’t condone what he did to Olivia’s mother, or before to me, but there are factors you can’t even begin to comprehend that are a part of it and therefore I am more lenient towards him because of that” she sighed. “And I am telling you the truth about the other matter…” she sighed. “I know what she was to you, and I am sorry about that because you don’t deserve that burden. I would love to say she was a woman to admire, but she was not, because even if you took out the pain she gave to your father and his later wife. She caused a lot of destruction, and I can’t wipe that away, and I won’t even try because she did take Alex Whitman from us…”
“So, you’re telling me that she was a killer?” Zack muttered.
“Yes,” Maria sighed. “I wish I didn’t have to tell you that but it’s the truth, because she did take a lot from us, and it wasn’t just Alex.”
“Why would she have killed your friend?” Maria asked.
“Because she was pressuring him to do something that fit her agenda and when he started to say no more, she killed him” Maria sighed. “All he wanted was to help out, and she took that willingness to help, and used it to hurt us, by ultimately taking him from us.”
“Why would she have killed everyone at that army base?” Zack muttered.
“Because she felt that was the easier way out than being captured by them” Maria muttered as she knew part of it was her need to protect the baby that would end up being Zack. “So, yes, she took the easy way out. She only thought of herself, and not any of us, and not even you. Going out the way she did, knowing the government would come after us, tells us all we need to know. She was not doing to help us. She was only thinking of herself. The government were our enemies, and she had a right to go after them, but she did in such a way, that it caused chaos, and it led to a lot of sacrifice.”
“She did it on purpose?” Zack asked.
“She committed the crimes on purpose. Whether she truly did not see the unintended consequences, because she never looked on the consequences. She only wanted to act and think later.” Maria muttered. “She created chaos for us, and therefore your father was protecting you by giving you to your parents who he knew could love you. If you had stayed than you would have been down in the mud with the rest of us, and that is no life for you or anyone of the kids. I would not have wished it for Olivia or my own kids, but unfortunately that was the fate that came upon us… Because yes. your father would still have done what he ultimately did to save the rest of us, and you would be living Olivia’s life with her, and I will never recommend that kind of life…”
“So, my father was protecting me?” Zack asked. “That is what you’re really saying?”
“In the end, yes” Maria sighed. “You do not have to admire the man Zack, because he has done his share of rotten things. We all have, as that is part of growing up and having dealt with what we have had to deal with” she asked. “You will never know what it was like to live that kind of life and I wouldn’t recommended it. It has not been easy for Olivia to live down the memory of the sacrifice her father made nor was it for your father to do what he did”
“All I want is answers,” Zack muttered. “You don’t know what it’s like to grow up and find out what I did when I went looking” he sighed. “I am not saying I didn’t have a good life because I did and I do thank him for allowing the parents who raise me but still there is a part of my history I was denied, and when I went searching, I came up with this…”
“I get that,” Maria admitted as she though of her goddaughter “You will find that Olivia is facing those same struggles as it’s never easy to be the next generation and having to live in the shadow of events you had no control of” she sighed. “And we do unfortunately cause a giant shadow…”
“Yeah,” Zack sighed as he started to walk away, as he wanted to get away from the hospital as fast as he could as Maria couldn’t help but watch as the teenager walked away and she made plans to go back into the hospital as she simply nodded as she made plans to go back into the hospital when she spotted as it looked like green energy was starting to come off Zack. Shit she asked herself. I could not have seen what I had seen she asked herself.
But she had, as she saw a white glow come off Zack as he picked up a bird that was on the sidewalk, and moments later, it flew away. Fuck she muttered to herself as she turned and spotted her daughter who had noticed the same thing.
“I thought he was supposed to be human?” Amelia commented as she watched the guy that was so infuriating and yet so attractive What are the chances that he would be like me? she mused to herself. But the wisdom was that he was supposed to be totally human?
“Me too,” Maria muttered. “Let’s go inside” she sighed as she knew she had something else to consider in the coming hours, and days. So, Tess lied yet again. Why should it shock me? It does not she admitted to herself. Oh great, Max allowed a boy with powers to be raised by strangers and away from any source of help.
Max would not like that one.
*
“Do you want a drive home?” Maria asked a few minutes later as walked into the hospital and saw that a very tired looking Liz was coming down the hallway from the hospital room that had been assigned to Olivia. “You look exhausted. I have been informed that visiting hours just ended… although Amelia is still in there…”
Sighing, Liz nodded but shook her head. “I have my car,” Liz admitted as she looked back down the hall towards her daughter’s room for the night. It would be one of very few times that they had been separated for other than a sleepover or a grandparent visit, and now she would be going home while her daughter stayed in the hospital. “You disappeared there for a minute or two” she asked as she had seen Amelia come in, but Olivia had fallen asleep, and so she had gone back out, only to return with her mother, looking tense.
“I needed some fresh air…” Maria allowed because she did not know whether she should be telling her friend what she had learned about Max’s son.
“Yeah,” Liz sighed as she nodded as she acknowledged that her best friend wasn’t telling her something, and it probably had to do with Max’s son, and she was just fine with it “I need to get home myself and pour myself a stiff drink” she muttered to herself. “Maybe more than one…”
“The baby?” Maria asked as she knew it was subject neither of them really wanted to discuss but it was going to be there for them to deal with “Is she any closer to a decision?”
“The baby is healthy,” Liz admitted. “No issues, and it only seems that stress is what befell by daughter today,” she sighed as she remembered a time when she was petrified and only a few years older than where Olivia was now. “Seeing it on the ultrasound, it made me remember when I was pregnant with her and how it was not the situation I wanted to be under, and yet I was married. Albeit not with my husband next to me or at home waiting. But I also wasn’t sixteen.”
“So, you think she going to be keeping it?” Maria asked.
“Or at least going forth with it. I saw her how she was looking at the monitor. I think it surprised her, with how she was feeling as it’s becoming more real to her, and by delaying it, she was going to have to come to this decision, and she’s facing what the future might be like. You do know that she and Alex are taking a break?”
“Yeah,” Maria murmured. “While I am relieved that they are toning it down, still…”
“I know,” Liz murmured. “It’s not the life we want for our kids,” she sighed. “I think it would be easier to make the decision if she didn’t have to worry about being who she is,” she sighed. “The tapping into the unknown…”
“I feel ya” Maria sighed as it weighed on her that Tess might have lied about her son. It could be that she really did not know but still, with those genes at work, how could the baby not have powers and now she was facing it with her own grandchild. “Do you want to go to Cow Patties and talk, and we call see if Isabel and Kyle want to join?” she asked. “I think we all need to talk?”
“I don’t know,” Liz sighed.
“Olivia’s going to be here tonight, and it’s lonely at home and you’re a mass of confusion and so why not tie one on?” Maria asked.
“Sure, I guess” Liz sighed as she knew she needed to figure things out. “Why don’t I go and say good night to my daughter.”
Maria nodded as she sighed as she went and found her own daughter and told her to take the bus home, and that she was to tell her father than she would be home late, or to meet them at the bar. “You’re going drinking?” Amelia asked surprised.
“Don’t take that as a message for you…” Maria warned. “I have enough on my plate with your brother…”
“Gotcha,” Amelia nodded with a smirk. “I was headed home anyways” as she figured that she had seen enough drama for one night.
*
Across town Alex was needing to let out some frustration. He knew Olivia was right that they needed time out, and to take a break and step back and assessed their lives. Neither were ready for what was coming. He wished he could unwind with friends, but he could not because Olivia was on his mind. He knew if it was not for being who they were than the choice might be easier for Olivia because she was going places, and none of them were being stuck in their small town with a family before they were ready.
Yet he knew his girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend was a mass of confusion and it was not just the baby. But it was because she was sixteen and confronting the father she did not know about. Sure, they had heard the stories, but he sensed they were pretty dressed up to be fairy tales and not the truth. He had long known he and Amelia had been lucky to have the parents they did. Because one only had to look at Olivia and her mother to know that life could be a lot more difficult. And now his maybe ex was in the hospital confronting the future because of the arrival of her mystery half brother that no one had seen in many years, and particularly none of the newest generation. Why did he come so suddenly? Alex muttered to himself and even out loud. Why couldn’t he have stayed away? He asked himself. It’s not even like his father is here to ask those questions he wants answered. It made him wary of the guy and made him stalk out of the hospital when Olivia needed space and knew neither her nor Liz would want there for the ultrasound. He knew chances are the baby would be born. He didn’t feel like a father, but knew he would be one, and it made him feel like taking some responsibility and checking up on this mystery brother, so he used his trusty powers, and let himself into a room that he should be avoiding if he was thinking rationally.
But he was not… thinking or rational for that matter.
Taking an assessing look around. “So, what are you hiding?” Alex muttered as he glanced around and started to do some searching, as the door flung open and he groaned as he focused on the door. “What are you doing here?”
“Shouldn’t I be asking that of you?” Michael asked. “This is not the answer son…” he murmured as his wife had called him when Alex vanished from the hospital and so he eventually found where Zack was staying and knew his son had done the same thing.
“Wouldn’t you want to do this?” Alex asked. “Which makes me why don’t you? He just shows up in this town. I want to know what he’s hiding because he’s hiding something” he muttered as he opened up a drawer but found nothing.
“He could just be someone who wants to know about his father, and his origins?” Michael muttered as he remembered how years ago before everything exploded and nightmares came out of the pandora box that was Liz’s shooting and all he wanted was to know more about himself, and to get off this planet, and he ended up finding a lot more than he had bargain for, or anyone had bargain for, and it made sense for Zack to have that same yearning “That was years ago, me”
“Which is fine,” Alex sighed because he and Amelia have been told of their father’s yearning to know more, and how it had only led to events that they had not anticipated at the time. “But worming his way into Olivia’s life and Amelia noticed him around town like he’s been following us, so I want to know if he has ulterior motives” he muttered as he was obviously annoyed about recent events.
“Are you sure this isn’t about Olivia? I know that you two are taking a break” Michael sighed and like Maria, well, there was some relief and yet given what the two had already done, significant changes were already coming to his son’s life. “Needing to put aggression into something?”
“No,” Alex sighed. “Olivia is right. We both need time,” he sighed. “But everything about this Zack is fishy, so I’m curious…” she sighed as she opened a closet and seemed surprised. “Dad, look at this?”
“What is it?” Michael muttered as he didn’t want to know what his son had discovered, “Son, to Zack, Olivia is his half sister, and it’s only natural to want to know more” he thought as he would have given anything to have found family, and how special it was that Max had Isabel, if there had been someone out there here on Earth like them, he would have wanted to know. So, Michael could only shake his head and muse that it was probably something explainable because they were dealing with a teenage boy after all but not all teenage boys have parts of themselves they want to keep hidden because that had been his life as well as Max’s once upon a time.
What he did not expect was to see a safe in the closet. Damn it
“What is the guy doing with a transportable safe that you don’t just find in one of these motel rooms?” Alex asked. “It’s like one you take with you…”
“I don’t know,” Michael murmured. “But let me look, okay, because I am one who is the adult, and the one who has the license even if we don’t have cause to be in this room except to come rescue my mischievous teenage son from doing something dangerous and down right stupid.
Which had been his motto once upon a time and Michael knew it.
Alex stepped back and watched as his father used his powers to get into the safe, and had opened and found file folders, and loose papers and pictures. Michael picked up one and spotted that it was of Max. Of Liz. Of Olivia, basically everyone in their circle including him and his wife, and kids. Shit but then shouldn’t this to be expected if he is Tess’s son? Wouldn’t he be interested in his birth father’s family, and friends?
Michael did not want to know the answer to that to be honest but knew they would have to be found because he held a UPS drive that had the words, “Message from Mom”
“What’s going on here?” came a voice and they turned around and found a furious Zack storming into his room. “What are you doing in my room?”
“What are you doing with this?” Michael asked as he showed the pictures, and the UPS drove. “Who gave you this message?”
“None of your business,” Zack said. “Get out or I call the police.”
“The Sheriff is family, so he’s going to want answers too” Michael said. “Who is this Mom?”
“None of your business,” Zack stammered. “Get out”
“Nope,” Michael muttered. “You have pictures of my family, and a lot more than that don’t you?” he asked as she looked down at the papers. “You have been studying us. Laying in wait as my daughter would say, and probably did say, didn’t she?” he asked his son and Alex nodded.
“I am entitled to privacy,” Zack battled.
“Not when you hold material that relates to my wife, myself and our kids” Michael sighed. “So, what gives?” he asked. “Who is the recording from?”
Are these people in the mob or something? he mused to himself before uttering “Fine,” Zack muttered, “While it’s none of your business but it’s from my birth mother… Tess Harding” he sighed. “It was her dying message to me?”
Fuck Michael muttered. Tess was still messing things up, even from her grave He mused but all he said, was “PLAY IT!”
*
“Keep them coming,” Liz advised the waitress as she and Maria sat at the bar and waited for Isabel and Kyle to join them. The plan was to drop the kids off at Jim and Amy’s place, and come and join them at Cow Patties as she took a shot glass and slugged it down. “What did we do to deserve this?”
“Well we did have children,” Maria laughed as she took a large swig of the beer that sat in front of her. “They were bound to repeat our greatest hits?”
“But go to the lengths that they did?” Liz muttered as she thought of her daughter in her hospital room.
“Well you almost went there with Max, and if I hadn’t busted you that day” Maria laughed. “Can you tell me you would have stopped yourself?” she asked as Liz glared at Maria who only laughed. “I thought so.”
“I don’t know what I would have done,” Liz muttered as she felt the flash of desire that came as she touched a shirtless Max, and the glow and the passion that had erupted and she knew Maria is right. Could she have stopped that if her friend had not come into the apartment?
She did not know. But somehow, she doubted it. Because they had been swept away.
“So much could have been prevented if we had gone there,” Liz muttered, and Maria laughed. “If only…”
“Yeah, if only is a fun game” Maria sighed. “But I do grant you that if only you had, then maybe Tess might not have happened.”
“And then I go and change the future, and let her reign?” Liz muttered.
“Olivia’s gotten in your head, hasn’t she?” Maria asked. “She’s questioning everyone’s motives?”
“Yeah.” Liz muttered as she watched as the bartender filled her glass and handed her a vodka and beer. “My daughter is not the greatest fan of the future version of Max”
“She has good taste,” Maria muttered. “You’re not to blame you know. You couldn’t have known what going against his word would set off” she sighed as she thought of the possibility of what would have happened if she hadn’t gone down the road, she had. The thought she would have lost Michael or Isabel. She knew Liz had made the right decision. And one she might have made herself, and yet it could not be denied that Tess got a lot out of the deal She got Max. She took his first time from Liz. She got his first born. and then went out in a blaze of fire, which brought them down, and forever changed Max and Liz.
“Alex is dead. Max and Tess, you know what I mean, and to top it off, he’s in prison” Liz muttered as she took a large sip of the beer she was now enjoying.
“You and Max did make it work,” Maria sighed.
“For like a minute,” Liz muttered. “Which is our history. We get something good come our way and then something comes to rain on our parade and this time, it was prison. Max, seeing him, it felt like I was fifteen again”
“Oh dear,” Maria sighed as she thought of herself at that age and how Michael had gotten under her skin. The one thing she would love to do was travel back to that time and experience that again, but then come back because she didn’t want to experience the drama and the angst that came once they came into each other’s lives. “It was that good, huh?”
“Yeah,” Liz nodded. “We’re vastly different people now, nearly seventeen years later, but Maria, looking at him I saw the man I loved. The man I committed unspeakable acts for, and it was like I could do it all again” she sighed. “What am I going to do?”
“You tell me?”
“I love him. He’s my husband, and I love him” Liz asked as she looked down at her wedding ring, and her “Superman” diamond engagement ring. “He’s the only love I have ever had, and I want him to come home to me and Olivia…”
“Then how are you doing to do that?” Maria murmured.
“Hell, if I know,” Liz muttered as she sighed.
“I hope the two of you used an Uber?” came a laugh from behind and they twisted and saw Kyle and Isabel come join them. “We came to join you guys in the land of misery…”
“Good, more the welcome” Liz sighed as they all found themselves at a table. “We need all the company we can get”
