Til We Meet Again (CC, Mature) - Chapter 84 - Completed - 09/01/2022

This is the place to post all your General Roswell fanfiction. Any Canon fics, which pick up directly from any episode of the show and that focus on Max/Liz, Michael/Maria, Isabel/Alex or Isabel/Jesse, Kyle/Tess, or all the couples together! Rule of Thumb: If Max healed Liz in the Crashdown in September 1999, then your fic belongs here. If it picks up from the show in any way, it belongs here.

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Parker1947
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Til We Meet Again - Chapter 33 - 04/04/2022

Post by Parker1947 »

Mariah was released. The school was not willing to press charges. They knew the real culprit was Roxy and her crew, but Mariah was not going to be without her own punishment, as she would be serving a suspension from its premises for two weeks which would go against her permanent record, and then she would be on probation for the rest of the school year once she did go back to classes.

Although she was already given a warning by school officials and her mother that she would be under a lot more supervision, and that people would know if she did not show up at school. Because her name was flagged to be on the search for any absences, and it would have been to be phoned in by her mother to be allowed to take place.

Mariah did not care, because she was able to head home. It had been a long couple of hours in lock up she thought. As she and her mother sat in the silence in the car, neither wanting to talk. About the elephant in the room.

Max…

Or what Mariah had done in the name of underage rebellion. Which Liz knew she could rage against given her own past. But her past was because of a larger cause, protection of Max and his safety, and knowledge of his heritage, and also solving a whodunnit she thought. It was not breaking into the school because I can, or on the orders of a rebellious gang of girls and their groupies, she thought. It was for me, to know more for Max’s sake, and to make sure Alex did not have his death linked to a cause that was not true. Liz now thought as finally, the car pulled into the driveway of their home, and Mariah was quickly out of the car and into the house before Liz could say anything.

But she did not have much to say because she did not know what to say. She had just gotten her daughter out of jail, where charges could have been easily assessed against her, and her daughter’s birthday was the following day, which meant she was getting older. Brady, I wish you were here she though and she felt guilty.

Because she remembered how it had been to walk in and see Max trying to get through to their daughter, and passion in his voice and the feeling of guilt she felt she heard in the tone about just what she had to go through in those days once she opened her eyes and looked in Max’s eyes and started to learn a whole unbelievable life.

Mariah had also seen it, and Liz knew it. Which is why it was hard to lecture her daughter. But she knew she had to be firm because she knew she could not let her daughter go down a route that did not have any winners at the end. As she opened the door and walked in with Mariah sitting by Lex on the couch.

“Sorry, we were gone long. Were you able to get something to eat?” Liz asked of her son because she knew her father had to get back to the restaurant and Maria had been busy, and therefore her daughter had to hang out at the house, alone. Which made think how different her children were from the life she had, over the Crashdown.

“Ordered pizza. Leftovers in the kitchen,” Lex said. “Used the money in the stash in the kitchen” he murmured because it was old practice from their life in Chicago to the early months of their stay in Roswell, and it made Liz remember how lucky it was for her to grow up in the walls of the Crashdown and when she was off, and parents were working. She did not really cook, but she just got one of the fry cooks to give her some food.

Which often worked.

“Good, that works for tonight,” Liz said distracted by what was going on. “Honey,” she said to her daughter and son. “But you might want to get used to going over to your grandparent’s restaurant, because tomorrow, I am going to see about you Mariah getting a job as a waitress,” she said and Mariah jaw dropped and Liz could almost smile because it made an impact, “It’s time you kept yourself busy so that we do not have a repeat of today’s events,” she murmured. “And you can make some money, and it can be whatever university will admit you with a suspension and probation on your record.”

“I do not want to go to university,” Mariah murmured, and Liz knew it was a lie. And partly it was, because Mariah had always talked about going to university, most notably Northwestern because that had been her parent’s school.

Although truthfully, Mariah did not know what she wanted to do or even who she wanted to be. Maybe yeah, I do not want to go to university? she asked of herself. “I want to travel.”

“Well, we will see what happens down the road, and you cannot travel without money,” Liz said softly. “Which I will not be giving you so you might as well earn some yourself because I was working from the time, I was a young teenager at your grandparent’s restaurant, and it gave me a lot of responsibility, and so maybe it’s time you took up the tradition. And Lex, when I am at work, you do not have to be at the house all the time, because you can be at the restaurant.”

“I cannot get upstairs,” Lex asked.

“If you can do it here, you can do it, but I figure you and your friends will be spoiling your dinner most of the time,” Liz said with a laugh. “Your grandparents will love it, and I know you two will be safe and sound because there will be no more repeats of today’s events do you hear me, Mariah?” Liz asked, and Mariah groaned, but did not fight back. “I know you hate me, and maybe you have some reason too, but I love you, and I want you to be safe and happy. You turn sixteen tomorrow, and that automatically makes you closer to being adult, and as you age, you will face consequences. Today could be worse off if we did not have the town Sheriff as a family friend. But I refuse to put any more pressure on him to give us special treatment because I know how much of a raw deal he got back when I was a teenager, and he got lucky in the end to be able to be back in his job. So, I will not be showing up anymore to bail you out of jail, do you hear me?”

“Yes, I hear you.” Mariah nodded.

“Good,” Liz said. “I am going upstairs to the office, to deal with some work as I am not in the mood for pizza, but you are stuck here tonight, okay?” she asked pointedly of her daughter. “No more going out.”

“Yes Mom,” Mariah murmured as Liz walked upstairs.

Leaving sister and brother to talk. To really talk because Alexander “Lex” Anthony was tired of being left out. Because he suspected that there was a lot, he did not know about my own family he thought. I might be younger, but it’s not like I am a baby he muttered to himself. And now he had his sister bailed out of jail, basically, although he had been told that Mariah had been released without having to go through actual bail procedures.

“Why do you hate Mom so much?” Lex asked as he saw his sister with pain behind her eyes, and knew it was something more than simply grief over their father.

“It is not really that important,” Mariah muttered as she turned around and walked back in the kitchen and opened the fridge and got out the leftover pizza. “Perfect,” she said as she turned to her brother, who had used crutches, with quite the power to come after her, into the kitchen. “You picked the perfect toppings this time.”

“I know you like it spicy,” Lex murmured. Way more than I do he thought which was odd in so many ways, because none of their family liked it as spicy and sometimes sweets as his sister did.

“Yes, I do” Mariah said taking the pizza over to the counter, and heat it up, and went back to the fridge for some tabasco sauce and laughed when she saw Lex’s response, because she knew there was much Lex does not know about me, she thought. Because she had not wanted to speak to it, and she barely could. Usually, her mother had to drag it out of her, or if someone else wanted to unload on her like what happened today, over at the Sheriff department.

“I am not a baby you know,” Lex muttered. “I am thirteen now, and I know a lot and experienced my fair share…”

“I know you have,” Mariah murmured because she knew because of the accident. Lex had gone through a lot of pain in those days, and most of it was unseen from both herself and their mother because he kept it behind the smiles, he would give to them when they would visit. And now he was home and was able to hide it and concentrate on other aspects of life.

“I am also not going to keel over,” Lex muttered. “I am not Dad, and I am not some fragile thing that you need to protect,” he said softly as he also had gotten a clean bill of health from the hospital right after the holidays he thought. He showed no signs at this time of the heart condition that his father, Brady had…

He might look like Brady.

But health wise, he was healthy. Although Liz was fearful that maybe one day the heart condition could make itself known, but there were no signs present that made Alex a candidate for the heart condition.

Brady had been the only one in their family from the looks of it now...

But Mariah now knew why she had gotten a clean bill of health. Because Dad is not my dad he thought. I am not a blood Anthony.

At least Lex is healthy, and it was not why she was not telling her little brother why things were tense in their family. She knew that her brother was too smart and knew something was off. Because it was not just grief that she was feeling, it more intense.

“I do not think you are fragile, far from it” Mariah muttered. “I do not know how I would have handled what you did after Dad’s accident.”

“It was nothing, because at least I had the chance to get better” Lex murmured. “I only wished Dad had gotten the chance…”

“Me too,” Mariah thought. Although she did not wish on what her father would have known after what happened in the wake of his death. The secrets that have come out…

“So, we have accepted the fact that I am not fragile or that I am not going to keel over, so, why not just tell me why not. Why do you ask like you do with Mom?” Lex asked as he was no stupid. He knew the looks between her mother and sister, and how tense it was in the house. Especially now that he was home from the hospital. “Tell me what is going on?”

“You are better off not knowing,” Mariah thought. As she wished she was still in the dark.

“I doubt I am,” Lex murmured. “It’s like you and Mom share this big secret and you will not tell me about it?” she muttered. “And I wish you will tell me otherwise I cannot help you if you will not talk to me, and I am sure it is not the end of the world, is it?”

“In some ways it is,” Mariah muttered. It is the end of the very life I had known until now.

“You are being overly melodramatic,” Lex muttered.

“You would not think that if you knew,” Mariah sighed.

“Then why will you not tell me?” Lex asked. “If it some deep dark family secret, are I not family, and should I not know?” he wondered.

“Fine,” Mariah muttered.

“Thank you,” Lex said. “All I want is for you and Mom to be happy because that is what Dad would have wanted for us, and I miss him too you know. You do not have the corner on the grief that we feel over losing Dad, because I feel it too, and I hate that he is not here, when he should be there for us…”

“Yes, he should be” Maria muttered. “But I am almost glad he is not than he would not have found out…”

“Why would you say that?” Lex asked. “What do you mean by those words?”

“Because Dad was not my biological father,” Mariah said softly, almost too softly and Lex could not almost hear those words, but they were heard, and his jaw dropped. I know, she moaned. “Dad was not my father. Mom was with someone else…”

“That is crazy,” Lex whispered. “Of course, you are Dad’s daughter,” he said. “Why would you think you were not,” he asked because he was aware of how close their father was with his sister, which made her grief natural, even if he wished she could move on, so the idea of Mariah not being his father’s father was stupid yeah stupid he thought as her words were sinking in. “Are you saying Mom had an affair?”

“No,” Mariah said softly. “I am not saying that” because she might have the best of relationships with her mother, but she knew for sure that her mother would not have cheated on their father, or my other Dad she thought.

“Then what are you saying?” Lex whispered. “Because it is craziness. Grandma and Grandpa Anthony says you looked like Dad when he was a baby. Even though everyone says how you look like Mom,” he asked and certainly since being home. He had seen baby pictures of his mother and could see the resemblance of his sister and mother from miles away.

“Then they might be crazy,” Marah thought. “Or they want to believe it because truly I am not Alex. Because my blood type makes it impossible. I cannot be related to Dad,” she said softly. “Apparently I have an extremely rare blood type, that links me to someone else.”

“God,” Lex muttered as if he could not comprehend it, and it seem crazy and farfetched. It cannot possibly be true…

“Yeah,” Mariah muttered. “Well, it is,” she sighed as she thought of her new lot in life. And it was something she was going to have to get used to, because she was running out of her chances to screw up her life and use it as an excuse because it was obvious to her that her mother was already there. “I did not learn this little tidbit until after Dad died, so I have no idea how he would react to Mom’s past,” she thought. “Because Mom did not have an affair….”

“Because Mom and Dad loved each other,” Lex asked. Because that was something even at twelve when his father died that he had been certain of.

“I had the same impression,” Mariah sighed. “And I believe it,” she sighed. “It was someone Mom was with before she was with Dad, and before she left this town. Back when she was in high school. They were even engaged to be married…”

“Holy Crap,” Lex murmured.

As the older sister Mariah knew it was her role to clamp down on her brother’s language, but she had seen him use worse words, and she just could not muster up the energy to express it now, “Things happen, and they ended. And Mom and Dad met, and everyone went on their way into their new lives, and Mom was none the wiser and did not question it when she got pregnant with me, and married Dad, and I was born…”

“Whoa,” Lex whispered. Like his sister, he knew how to count and knew from when their parent’s anniversary was, and when his sister was born, well, there was a reason why their parents were quick to get married. Mariah, he thought.

He did not come until a few years later…

“How are you handling it?” Lex asked, as if he did not know. She is falling apart.

“Obviously, I am barely holding on,” Mariah muttered. “I do not hate Mom. She might not believe me, but I believe she loved Dad, and she says she had no reason to question who my father was, and I believe her on that, because I do not think she would have strung on Dad if things were different than they were, but they were not, and she met Dad and they fell in love and wanted to be together. I was just unanticipated,” she thought. “Not that it makes it any easier to know that” she thought. “It just hurts to know Dad was not my father.”

“Dad was your father, whether it reads that way on your health records or not” Lex murmured. “Dad loved you, and there should be no questioning of that fact,” he said as leaned in to give his sister a hug, and it was a hug that she found that she needed.

More than she thought she would.

“I love you sis,” Lex murmured. You will always be my sister.


*

“Are you okay son?” Phillip was asking as they drove back to the family house. His car was not working well, and because of how quick his need to get to the station. Phillip had taken a taxi, and now his son was driving his father home from the police station as thanks for the help his father gave in making sure that Mariah was able to get out of the situation without any true issues.

Although Phillip had not really been needed. But you never knew when you are dealing with the police. Even if they had Jim as a family friend. Phillip’s mind was back in the cell. As Max had found out it. It is never easy to have to bail out one child’s out of a prison cell. As Phillip had too much of a personal experience with that, and it was not as easy or tidy that today’s experience. No, that had way too close for comfort.

“Better than I could have been,” was all Max was going to be say. “It’s not a very easy situation to be honest with you,” he thought. “I wish it could be a snap of my fingers that I give Mariah the opportunity to move on, and to come to terms with her life.”

“At least you are trying to be there for her,” Phillip said softly. “It is never easy.”

“I feel like I am being a hypocrite because for so long I was so out of it, and not present and here I am trying to get through her and make her seem like life is not a lost cause,” Max asked. “I know how I treated the bulk of River’s childhood?”

“At least you see it, and as you said, you are trying” Phillip said. “It’s never too late.”

“No, it is not,” Max said softly as he pulled out into the driveway of his childhood home. A home that had many memories. Both good and some bad ones but on this day, at least he could treasure that it was not all bad as he watched as his father got out of the car, and saw the front door opening up, and his mother walking out.

And Max knew how much his parents had given him.


*

River did not feel like going home with his father. Even though he knew he could have had the diversion in the car of his grandfather until they dropped him off at his grandparent’s home. Still, he was not in the mood to be sitting in the car and been in the hot seat and the whim of whatever mood his father was in. Even though he knew he had a pass this once with his father regarding being in jail. And having had his father having to come and get him released. Any repeat offenses are unlikely going to have the same leniency he thought and had been told as much by his father before their parting.

But still he had not been in the mood to be in the car. And so, he decided to go for a walk before finding his own way home. And plus, he knew once his father dropped off his grandfather. Well, his father would need space.

Most of the time these days father and son had found it was better to give them each space and seemed to be better and figuring out when it was too much for either one of them. It was better for their relationship, although any peace was still tentative and capable of erupting, as evidence in their fight in the wake of New Years, so yes, Max needed to take a drive, and River since he was already in town, went for a walk because he did feel like driving the car he had taken into town.

So, now he was walking. And thinking of how unbelievable bizarre his life was. And that was something given he was raised in the family he was, with all its unique branches, and now there was a new branch.

So, he was looking for something to take his mind of what his family was capable of. Sierra, he thought. Someone refreshing normal. Someone who took in his quirks, and he knew he had a few although like his father’s generation. He knew how to blend in, because it had been drilled into him, Mac, and Jessica that they should not be doing anything to make waves. Which is why he had to take the blame for his half-sister in the first place, because he could not have suspicion in the community, and then today in the fight with Roxy and her crew of misfits. After all, he had experience with Roxy and he knew how she worked, for someone who is normal he thought, she could be destructive if she had an ounce of the power he had, or from the way it turned out.

Mariah did.

Which is why he had needed to find her, and worried she was up for anything because she was down the dumps on numerous counts. Which led to the park and led to the jail cell and his father coming to bail him out.

Even though he had gotten out on his good reputation and their family association with the town Sheriff. He knew that he did not have that card to use as often as Mac did because the town Sheriff was Mac’s grandfather, but he knew Mac would not have that card as often as it had been used in his father’s day.

Because those days were why they had to be careful.

And knew Mariah would not have the same restraint because she was a newbie to all this. Still, he needed a distraction from thinking of how weird his family, and how dysfunctional it was… so, he was going to seek out Sierra.

River was not that familiar with Sierra’s home life. Only that she had relocated to their school after starting the year at neighboring Goddard High a school often forgotten by its citizens he thought.

And even in their association or relationship, whatever you chose to call it and he knew they did not have a definition for it, because that is how we want it he mused. Still, he had not dealt with Sierra’s mother, and especially not her father.

Who did not live in the family house because they had long been divorced? Sierra never talked about her father.

But then for so long he never talked about his father, even though he lived in the same house. His mother was a whole other story he thought. But I am not thinking of her as he changed directions and headed towards Sierra’s house.

He did not have to walk far, and unsure of what to get from Sierra’s mother. River knew Sierra had taken over the basement. So, he walked into the back, and walked down the stairs because Sierra had her own walkout, which made River wish he had the same thing because it would have prevented so much pain between his father and him over the years he thought. Yeah, it would have been better, but his father was looking to give his son a way out when he designed the house when his son was a baby and too young to have a say in how he wanted the house to be constructed.

So, River walked down the few stairs, preparing to knock on the door that led to Sierra’s room. A room that they had made use of when her mother was at work. And she did not have to see her father, which was almost always… Daddy issues he thought. I am one to talk which is why he did talk about them because there was so little, he could say that did not also include him…

“Hey Sie…” River said as he knocked on the door as he knocked on the door, but located on the door, was a window and he could not help this once looking in, and he was shocked by what he saw… Holy hell he thought as he did not know what to think.

But his attempted first knock had been heard, and Sierra looked around in shock…

Sierra with flashing glowy powers as she was fixing a broken lamp was not what he was expecting to see…

Holy Shit he murmured.
RoswellFan68
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Re: Til We Meet Again (CC, Mature) - Chapter 33 - 04/04/2022

Post by RoswellFan68 »

Maybe Mariah's talk with Lex will help her. Holy cow! I didn't think Sienna was an alien. Hopefully she is not related to River. One potential girlfriend ended up as a half sister. He doesn't need a sister or cousin (not Tess, Lonnie or NY Zan's daughter).
keepsmiling7
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Re: Til We Meet Again (CC, Mature) - Chapter 33 - 04/04/2022

Post by keepsmiling7 »

Surprise.......Serena......Now things are going to get very interesting.
Mariah is still confused and probably will be for days to come.
Hurry back!
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Parker1947
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Til We Meet Again - Chapter 34 - 04/06/2022

Post by Parker1947 »

A short time earlier,

Sierra was pacing around her bedroom. Once she and her mother moved into this place, she was given the basement, and had full control of it as there a television upstairs where her mother often sat when she was at home. Not that Sierra quibbled about that because she was fine that her mother had a social life.

It was not like her mother was crying over her father. Sierra did not cry over him either, as she had long gotten over how dysfunctional her relationship was with her father. It made whatever was going on with River and his father easy going in comparison she told herself. She and her mother did not talk about her father.

Which was fine with her because she would rather not deal with him.

Although there was a flimsy custody order in place that told her that she did have to see her father when he called. It was rarely enforced, and so she had mainly allowed her life to go uninterrupted. She called her father unreliable, which was true because even though he had a custody order in place for visitation.

He rarely enforced it.

But knew that his call would be coming because her mother would probably have to inform him of her time in a jail cell. Not that her father did not have his own share of incarcerations, so he would have some kind of pride over it.

Her mother was different. “You were dragged into the Sheriff’s Department Sierra for goodness’s sake,” as she could barely control her anger at the fact her daughter got picked up because she was spending time with River Evans. “It’s that boy is it not?”

Kate Cruise did not approve of the relationship. But Sierra did not care. “Mom, give me a break. River was looking out for someone and playing hero. He is not the reason I was arrested. I am, I am the one who protected myself, and slugged a creep for trying to be too fresh with me. River was trying to protect me,” she murmured.

“It’s this town,” Kate muttered as she slammed the lamp down on the floor before storming off without another word on the matter. And Sierra could hear the slamming of the door as she started the car not long after. So, now she did not her own thing and her mother lived with it, because she knew how much her daughter could make things difficult if she chose too.

All due to her no good of an ex-husband.

But she loved her daughter. And wanted her to have a good life, and to make something of herself so that she did not have to worry about her daughter turning out to be her father.

Not that Sierra did not have the same fears, because she did.

Which is why she was the one who chose to take her mother’s name after the divorce, and especially once they moved to Roswell, and she moved over to West Roswell High from Goddard High at the turn of the year, because she wanted to be far from who her father was

…not that she hated him for who he was.

She just hated how he expressed who he was…

So, after a nasty fight which started with her mother wanting her to lay off River. Sierra said no, and really River was a nice guy despite his issues with his father. All River wanted to do was be loved, and to help, and Sierra admired that.

Anyways, a lamp got tossed, and now Sierra was cleaning up the pieces, while her mother took some time out of the house to calm down, and so Sierra was inside herself as she did not hear the presence of feet outside the door, when she was usually a good judge of how to react.

Hence the scene at the park.

So, she heard the knock and turned around and saw that River was there, and how much he had seen.


Shit Sierra thought as she came back to reality, and present time. And saw River with his deer light glaze, and turning around and leaving, and she elected to leave the mess on the floor and rushed off after River.

“River, wait…” Sierra called. As she raced after the one guy who was just like who she was…


*


Yes, once he had dropped his father off. Max was indeed in a mood. And so he went for a drive, and finally he stopped because the driving was getting him nowhere. All it did was get him thinking of leaving this town. Figuring that those in his life were better without him in it because obviously Mariah did not want to lose the life she had once upon a time. But then common sense prevailed, and he really did not want to leave. For one. he had too many responsibilities. And he had to be the adult in the situation. Why leave? and plus, Liz is here he thought, and he would never want to leave the love of his life.

Even though she no longer loved him and loved someone else. Even though that someone else was now dead.

But he knew that even if Liz never returned to him, at least his heart was taken because there was no one else, and there would never be someone else. And they would forever have a link. Max just prayed one day Mariah could look at him and want to know more.

And to allow him to love her as another father figure.

Because there was no changing what Brady had given his daughter.

Support.

It was too late to go back and be something that was too late in coming, and so he decided to stop off at the park. And take a walk. And found himself in the same place as the life changing events of a few months ago, but this was now March. And the damage had been fixed. And the boys were still paying it.

Max did not want to know how his son was getting the money to pay off the town for the repairs. All he knew was that his son was working and had a secret job which was something he would not tell Max where it was, or what it was.

But Max knew the payments were still on-going because they were going into his account because he had paid off the debt to the town in lieu of anymore messiness that could come from it. So, he knew money was regularly coming from his son’s bank account. Where the money was coming from is something he had no idea of and for the sake of his relationship with his son which was still very fragile. Max was not in the mood to enquire. But he was well aware of the fact that his son would be eighteen in just a few months. But he figured that his son was too law abiding to truly worry about where the money was coming. Mac is another story but those are Michael and Maria’s worries and not mine he thought.

Time was flying, and especially now that it was the cusp of his daughter’s birthday.

Sixteen.

And he had missed it all, and she still had a hard time accepting him. And to tell the truth, it was hard for Max to accept too because it meant coming to terms with how much he missed out on. At least she was still young, and not about to be out of the house in just over a year.

“It is Max Evans, is it not?” came a voice. Yes, a voice that belonged to someone he did not know well, but only had met for the first time that day because they had to bail out their kids out of jail because some fight they had gotten into on behalf of Mariah, and because of how fresh one of the teenagers had gotten with Sierra.

His son’s girlfriend.

A relationship he had not known about because he and son still had a slight communication problem okay a big one, he told himself, but it was still better than the previous seventeen years. Still, Max did not know of the relationship. So, he could not have an opinion on it although to his knowledge his son had not showed any interest in dating.

Until recent weeks, all he had showed was a desire in getting out of this town.

Which he still believed was one of his priorities.

And yet he could tell River was interested in Sierra. Max remembered when it he was interested in that kind of thing. Liz, he thought. Life before, and yes after was kind of barren.

Because it was always going to be Liz for him.

And now he was forced to glance at Sierra’s mother. They did not know each other well, and yes, they had only met at the Sheriff’s department for the first time in the short time their children had been acquainted.

“Yes, it is” Max said softly after a long silence. “Sorry, if you felt I was ignoring you because I was off in my own world. I assumed you would want to be home with your daughter after you know what happened.”

“My daughter and I need some space,” Kate murmured of the fight she had just had with her daughter, and the unwise for that lamp to be thrown. Kate knew she was stronger than this, but she could not help it when she was face and face with her daughter, she is so different from me these days she muttered to herself of her daughter, and one more curse towards her daughter. Figuring her daughter would somehow figure out how to mend the lamp. It is rare that I actually have to replace my furniture, because of my daughter she muttered.

She still had not come to terms with that ability of her daughter.

All because of my ex-husband she muttered.

“Oh,” Max murmured. That is a feeling I know too well he thought but would not say it because it did not nothing if were to showcase how fragile his relationship was with his son. Too many people were already aware of that fact.

“We have always had a delicate relationship, and things like today does not help matters” Kate muttered as she had come for a simple walk. Because she needed to get out of the house so that she did say something she regret because too often her daughter, that she had raised on her own since she was a baby, well, she was so much like her father that it was unnerving.

Even if I do not know the full extent of it.

“No, they do not” Max said with a nod. “I am sorry your daughter was dragged into the mess at the park.”

Kate nodded. “Although my daughter did have to fight back,” she allowed a little hesitantly.

“Mrs. Cruise,” Max said.

“Ms” Kate said. “Sierra and I both go by my maiden name.” she said softly. “My husband and I are no longer together…”

“Oh,” Max nodded. “I think I heard something about that at the station,” he asked. “I know something about raising a child on your own.”

“River’s mother is not in the picture?” Kate asked. As she was newcomer to this town, she did not know all the warts that existed in Max’s life story. And Max found it refreshing that someone in this town did not know but unfortunately Tess was a fact of life, and there were days he did have to think of Tess, because nothing can change that Tess is River’s mother he thought.

As much as he wished it all could have been a mind control that his former fling was known for. But River was very much his son. So, he could not even blame Kyle or someone other mystery father and Tess trying to masquerade the father as him. Because it was plain to see how much River was just like him, down to his abilities.

Sierra’s mother would not know it.

“No, she died when River was only a few months old” Max said softly. “And my son came to live with me.”

“Oh, I am sorry” Kate said even though she wished her ex-dead, still it was a different thing to have your child’s mother dead.

“You should not be,” Max said. “My ex and I have a complicated relationship,” he allowed. “And unfortunately, our son has had to live with that knowledge even though he does not remember or know everything that resulted within our life together, because he was too young to truly remember her before her untimely death.”

“My ex is like that too,” Kate murmured. “He is a rat bastard, but he did help create our daughter,” she allowed. “I just wished sometimes she was not so like him in some of her mannerisms.”

“Fortunately for my son, all he reminds me of his mother is that they look alike because they share the same color hair, but so far everything about our son is night and day from his mother, which is fortunate for me,” Max said as he wondered whether he should be having a pity contest with Sierra’s mother over their choice of a parent for their child. Of course, Max did not have a choice when it came to creating his son, although it was not by force, he muttered to himself. I am to blame for going there with Tess.

To the detriment of my life with Liz.

“Sierra is very different from Randall,” Kate murmured. “Fortunately, Rath is no longer in our lives, although he is does come around more than I would like,” she sighed of her former husband and unaware that she had given a clue that maybe she should not have…

“Rath?” Max said softly as if something pinged in his brain. “A name he had not heard in nearly two decades. A very short association, but a memorable one, too memorable he muttered. Lonnie and Rath, boy those who were two very unique people. So different than their other counterparts, he thought.

“Randall’s nickname,” Kate murmured. “A name he picked up on the streets,” she muttered.

“Whoa,” Max murmured. “Rath, I have not heard that name in nearly two decades,” Max muttered. “I guess it’s been over eighteen years now.”

“You mean you know him?” Kate asked. “That is impossible. We did not live here…”

“Where did you live before you moved here?” Max asked. Unsure of what he was getting into, because Lonnie and Rath had disappeared back after the botched Summit in New York. Ava had stayed around for a little bit before she disappeared too, but she had gone on their way. But she had befriended Liz.

But Liz had been repulsed by Rath. Michael’s doppelganger Max thought.

Their other side of the coin. Each other apparently had a spare. In case something went wrong, well Max’s version met an untimely end. Each set were sent to a different location, or that was how it come when it was time to hatch. He, Isabel, and Michael had come to life here in Roswell. And the others were dispatched to New York and grew up in that climate and they had taken forms of their names from a former life. Lonnie and Rath had lived but disappeared, fortunately, but no one knew where they had really disappeared off too…

“New York,” Kate replied. “We moved to this town last summer. Sierra went to Goddard High before transferring to West Roswell at Christmas…”

Oh, shit Max said as his eyes went wide, and Kate caught. “Do not tell me?”

“I only have been there once in my life, but it was because of an association with someone named Rath,” Max admitted. “Whether he was your husband I have no idea, but there were not too many people named Rath…”

“No, there are not” Kate murmured. “All I know is my ex-husband was raised on his own. His parents died when he was a kid or something, and foster care did not work out, and so he wondered around on his own and got into a lot of trouble.”

Max nodded.

“As much as I love my daughter, and I do but my ex was the last choice I should have made. But I was slightly rebellious at the time, and I liked the attraction of the bad boy, but I did not know what I was signing up for, even though Randall tried,” Kate sighed. “Randall is the name he gave himself once he grew up.”

Max nodded.

“I just wish she was sometimes not so much like my ex,” Kate sighed.

Fortunately, I do not have that problem with River Max thought and then the thought dawned on, and it rocked him, oh shit he thought. If Rath is the Rath, I think he, is he mused to himself. If Sierra is his daughter, what does that make her?”

“Sierra is his daughter, Rath?” Max asked.

“Yes,” Kate mused. “Despite changing her name when she was young. With age, too many similarities are coming out,” she thought.

“That means…” Max asked without really saying the words.


*


“Wait,” was the words in the air as they were called after River as he got out of dodge and kept running until he could not stand it anymore, and unfortunately for him or fortunately in the case that he had a girl racing after him, what a concept he told himself. Still, Sierra was not far from him flight on foot.

And now they were back in the park, but not close to where their parents were having their own discussion.

“Wait, what?” River muttered as he stopped and turned around and found himself staring at someone, he thought he knew and now he was finding that was all an illusion. “Wait to be told that I have been lied to all these months?” he asked and wondered if he and his newfound half-sister in common. Being lied too, or in the very least, not being told the truth he thought. “You have known who I was, and what I am, and you did not tell me about yourself?”

“Why would I?” Sierra said stopping and trying to get back her breath after racing after River. “You were not exactly honest with me either, well, none of you are” Sierra muttered. “Which is what I thought you liked about me. That you did not have to be yourself around me. Still, your family has more than a few secrets, that you have not been honest about with anyone so why should I have told you about myself when you are operating in a state of secrets yourself.”

“Because you presented yourself as someone different…” River muttered.

“And you have not?” Sierra muttered.

“No,” River said. “I have always been upfront about how weird my family has been, and that we are different from the average family.”

“With some details left out,” Sierra muttered.

“So, what” River said. “Every family has their secrets, But I never let it be known that I was someone normal…”

“Which would be what pisses you off, the fact I am not normal?” Sierra asked.

“Yes, damn it” River muttered. “On an easy day my life is complicated. Even if you leave it at a father, I barely like most of the time, and a dead mother who is a pariah in our circle because she led my father astray from the life he should have been living, and he was left with me as a consequence to her trapping him and making him out to be a fool” he sighed of the label he held within his family, a family who still loved him warts and all, and who he loved, most of the time. “The last thing I need is to complicate that by finding someone who is just like me.”

“Why,” Sierra asked. “Seems like your life would be better if you had someone you can talk too?”

“I can talk to my family, I am not lacking for people to talk to about my lot in life so the last thing I wanted was for you to be as complicated as my family,” River muttered. “For once, I wanted someone to like me for my other side, a side that did not have to be about the angst, it could all be so simple.”

“You think I like being who I am, or the fact it comes from someone I hate. Who is probably worse than your biological mother?” Sierra asked. “You probably can see that it does come from my father, and he is a lousy human being, and I hate that I am who I am because of him, because the last thing he wants it for me to be his daughter.” she muttered. “Unfortunately, because she got mixed up with my father. My mother wishes I were not like my father, and that I was normal. Sometimes I wish that too. The side of Mariah’s misery about her life. But at the end of the day. Am fine with it even if somedays I would leave this life if I could, because as you know, it can be complicate, and just like you. I cannot talk about it to anyone. I run through schools like they are going out of fashion because eventually I wear out my welcome. West Roswell is different because I quickly found someone who was like me…”

“How are you like me?” River muttered. How can you be like me?

“My father…” Sierra sighed.

“Which is impossible. The only people who you could have been sired by is my little group, and there is no way you come from anyone of them. After all my father just got a sprung a secret child on him, and it would be immoral for me to be crushing and kissing yet another sibling of mine…” he sighed Not that I ever kissed Mariah.

“Your father is not mine,” Sierra assured River.

“Then it’s my aunt, and you said it’s your father. Which leaves Mac’s father, and he’s the one that comes from Michael Guerin, even though Mac probably would be better off if he had sibling so he did not have to be the only one in the house.”

“Michael Guerin is not my father,” Sierra said. “Although you can say I probably could be related, if you believe in that sort of thing.”

“What are you talking about?” River asked.

“My father’s name is Randall Smith,” Sierra murmured. “Dear old Dad changed his name once he was of age, but he kept it pretty simple so that people could not trace his lineage. Since there are so many Smith’s out there in the world, and it would be hell to track him down which is why Mom has such a difficult time getting child support on average month from him because he’s all around the world, forsaking being a good father.”

“Well, we have something in common I guess,” River muttered.

“Your father stayed, mine did not” Sierra muttered. “Anyways, once upon a time my father called himself Rath.”

“Holy hell,” River said as he clearly responded to the name. There was a tremendous amount he did not know still he knew enough to know there was a another set out there, and one of them was called Rath he thought. The elders of his circle did not speak of them, but he was told it was a quick association that was quickly ended thanks to something his biological mother did. “That cannot be possible, can it?”

“Anything is possible in this world of ours,” Sierra muttered. “I wish he was not my father, but he is, and unfortunately, I am who I am because of him and not because of my mother,” she sighed. “At least Mom accepts me as much as one can…” she sighed. “Most of the time…” she sighed of days like this where her mother’s true colors did come out, but she did know that her mother did love her.

River was speechless.

“Look it is a life I cannot possibility understand, which is why I was relieved to know that there was someone like me when I found you, and your friends. Still, it was obvious you were not willing to speak of it, which was fine by me because I also lead a blend in type of life and I am not one to want to explain anything about myself so if you were not willing to tell me about yourself, why should I have told you?”

“I really wish…” River sighed of his quandary. While he could respect that so much of their life needed to stay a secret, for obvious reasons he thought. Still, it was too much to know that she was just like him.

Different.

Sierra could see the conflict on his face. “You wished I was some blonde who could live with your secrets and not question them,” Sierra asked, as if that was not what she had been doing.

“You should not say that” River muttered. And it’s not like she has questioned my ways he thought probably because she knew too much he was thinking now that he was knowing more of the way she was.

“Is it not the truth?” Sierra asked.

“Okay, maybe, it is” River allowed.

“Then you are idiot,” Sierra said with a smile. “You do not know how much I was relieved to know there was someone else like me, out there in this world when I came to this town and found you and your friends, and you should want that yourself. It does not help to be solo in this world.”

“I like not complicating things for people,” River said. “Because there is so much, I cannot say, so it is better if they do not know…”

“Well, I know that feeling,” Sierra said with a smile. “But I know, so you do not have to keep everything from me.”

“Yeah,” River asked.

“Assuming you still want to see me since I have disappointed you by being just as abnormal as you are,” Sierra said with smirk and River smiled, and felt a sense of relief that he did not have to be different with Sierra. That someone did know what it is like although still my branch of the tree is still pretty unique, he thought.

And no other family can probably match us he thought.

He should not revel in that…

But that was how his life was currently, and which is why for so long he had wanted out of this town so that he did have to live in the muck that was his family legacy. Going to a new town with no one knowing the sordid details of his life. And yet Sierra was enticing. Someone who knew him.

Or thinks she knows me he thought.

“I think that…” River murmured.

“What?” Sierra asked as she came closer. She should be miffed that River chose to run instead of simply staying and talking to her, but still there was something about River that was freeing, and she could not quit it, even if her mother would love for her to move on and find someone else. Someone who was not like her she wondered.

Her mother was too normal, the person that River envisioned finding for himself and because of that Sierra knew, normal was overrated.

She liked the life she was leading.

And she liked River… as she approached him, and leaned in and the kissed, and soon it became heated as them both begun to open themselves to new possibilities.


*

“It probably will not work if you try to get in the way of your daughter and my son,” Max said softly as he and Kate were continuing to talk. Not realizing their kids were nearby or were as they soon were off in River’s car, as Max and Kate had detoured their way from talk of whatever kind of status Sierra might be because that was such an unexplored nature. And he had no idea if Rath was even alive. And he wanted to ignore it so much more, but Kate then segued way into talking about their kids. And how she disapproved of how serious their kids were with each other. “Trust me that you will get more trouble than it’s worth if you try to get in the way.”

“The last thing Sierra should be dealing with is a relationship,” Kate muttered. “I am sure your son is a fine boy.”

“Yes, he is and most of the credit for that goes to the fact he had to raised himself, and not to me, and because of guy he is today, River should be someone you approve of. Not that I have an opinion because I do not know how they are together, but I know what happens when you get in a middle of a relationship. And nothing River and Sierra have done to this point warrants a walk back…”

“They ended up in jail today,” Kate muttered.

“For reasons that had nothing to do with their relationship. Because they were trying to protect someone else, and because your daughter decided to fight back. Which is commendable and an appropriate reaction,” Max said. And something they should be using their abilities for as opposed to other mischief he mused.

He knew from experience.

“I guess,” Kate murmured.

“Trust me,” Max said softly. “I sense they are not very serious and if they are, who knows what the future is because anything can happen and I know for a fact my son has plans to go off and leave this town when he graduates, and he is not looking for attachments,” he sighed. “I know what happens when you try to interfere, because then you will have two rebellious teenagers on your hands, and that is not very good.”

“You and River’s mother?” Kate asked.

“No,” was all Max said I wish someone had stepped in and told us to stop, he thought Well Liz did, he thought. Liz did tell me to wake up he thought. I did, but only once it was too late. “Someone else I was involved with,” he thought. “Her parents were concerned about our relationship, and they probably were right to be at the time,” he allowed because he knew how complicated it was to be with Liz at that time, “But it did not feel like that at the time. It felt like they were trying to get in the way, and we then rebelled. You do not want that for your daughter and for River because something tells me if they will rebel, then we will not like the results.”

“Maybe you are right,” Kate said. “I was rebellious once upon a time. And I found Sierra’s father.”

“River is a good kid. Truly, I promise you can trust him”

Kate nodded as they heard footsteps, and they stopped talking, and they found an amused friend walking their way.

“What do we have here?” Maria Deluca Guerin asked as she was walking home and was taking a detour through the park and did not anticipate walking in on Max with some woman he did not know.

“It’s not what you think,” Max muttered.

“Why do not tell me what it is, and I’ll be a judge,” Maria said with a smile…

And Max did not care for how amusing Maria was finding this.
keepsmiling7
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Re: Til We Meet Again (CC, Mature) - Chapter 34 - 04/06/2022

Post by keepsmiling7 »

It's a small world afterall.........never expected to hear the name RATH again, ever.
Now what???
RoswellFan68
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Re: Til We Meet Again (CC, Mature) - Chapter 34 - 04/06/2022

Post by RoswellFan68 »

Glad Sienna is Rath's daughter. River didn't need another half bio sister.
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Parker1947
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Til We Meet Again - Chapter 35 - 04/08/2022

Post by Parker1947 »

Maria had a long week. And it only got longer on the way back from a business trip when the car gave out because of overdo maintenance which was something she and Michael had been bad at keeping track of because they still were owners of only one car for the family, as they were still on the hunt for a new car but were waiting until they could trust their son. Who would be sixteen in a few months, and once his suspension was over, would be getting his driver’s license and then they would need a new car, but until then, it was only the odd business trip that Maria would need the car because of the nature of her business…?

Because she and her mother ran an antique shop. Or it mostly hers because her mother had all but officially retired from the day to day, so it was Maria’s duty just like this buying trip she had been on for the last few days so the last thing she knew was what was going on with her best friend, or the latest craziness in their lives.

After all, it did not have to do with Mac, so far…

And now because the car gave out, and because she had herself and the car towed to the shop, and then she had to deal with the arrangements to getting it fixed, and knowing it was their burden to pay for it because they should have had it serviced months ago, but that little accident had left them with only one car, and they did not trust their son not to use it.

So, if they only had one car. Mac’s ambition to stray the line could be moved onto other temptations and pursuits, not that his mother was not anxious for it. But Mac had been on a better behavior streak. Probably because he has been kept busy, she thought. With the volunteering at the station and paying off the damage here in the park.

Not that it was her son’s fault Thankfully she knew that now, but he took the hit so that Mariah did not get tagged with it, because of her use of her abilities, and did not want to cause a red flag to anyone.

And Maria knew that her best friend had yet to really deal with that factor, because she and her daughter were at a war with each other.

Over secrets from the past that have a knack in coming back to haunt us.

Although she believed her friend that she had been none the wiser of it, probably because her brain was protecting her, and blocking it out.

She did not want to question it because then it would put all her hard work at walking in peril Maria thought as she looked at Max with some woman she did not know. Which was a rarity that she was seeing in Max in town, and with someone other than his sister.

Ever since Liz, Max kept himself off the market, and as far away from this park as possible. So, it made Maria curious and even protective of her best friend, and even maybe her old friend in Max. Even though they would not have called each other friends, over time because Maria had not liked how Max had dealt with his life, and therefore she had mostly kept Max as a Michael issue and not mine to deal with…

Now she was in the same park and spotting her old friend. “Max, are you going to introduce me?” Maria asked.

“It’s Kate Cruise,” Max said softly. “We ran into each other here at the park. She’s Sierra’s mother…” she sighed “Kate, this is an old friend of mine. Maria Deluca Guerin.”

Kate nodded. She had heard of the little group, but I do not know them… Although my daughter is forcing the issue.

“Sierra?” Maria enquired. Because she did not know every teenager in this town, even though it was small enough that you probably could have claimed to have seen them all at one time or another if you passed through the gossip pit that was the Crashdown.

A personal favorite destination of hers.

“River’s girlfriend,” Max said softly.

Ah Maria told herself. That puts a different lens on it she thought to herself. After all, she knew that River was “seeing” Sierra, although she did not know the girl. And all she did know was that the blonde had shown up at Christmas, quite suddenly according to Mac.

But a lot had gone down at the time, so Maria had not thought anything of it, but she knew River was actually dating someone, which was odd in its own right because she had known the boy to be determined on his one mission in life.

To get out of this town.

“A lot went down today, so we could not help but talk…” Max said.

“What went down?” Maria asked, out of the loop.

“You have not talked to anyone, or at least Liz?” Max asked surprised because he knew that since Liz’s return that Maria and Liz were back to being best buddies and calling each other every day.

“Buying trip out of town, just got back” Maria said. “Do not tell me something happened with the kids, or especially Mac and Michael did not tell me?” she muttered because she knew that her husband had a habit of not filling her in when she was out of town until she got back, because there was little, she could do until she got back.

“Mac had nothing to do with it, this time” Max said softly. “It was River, Jessica, Sierra and Mariah”

“Oh god,” Maria whispered as she could only imagine. And what she was imagining, was quite imaginative. What is it with these teenagers? “What happened?”

“I’ll leave you to talk. Thank you for the advice. Maybe I will take it,” Kate thought. “But thank you for the talk.”

“Say hello Sierra for me,” Max said softly.

Kate Cruise nodded and walked away.

“Well…” Maria asked.

“Not now Maria,” Max sighed. “I have had enough today with the kids, and I do not need you getting on my case,” he sighed because he could only imagine what Maria was thinking. And after hearing her opinions over these many years, he was not happy to have to deal with it on top of the drama that had transpired at the station, and his daughter in the wake of it.

“I am not doing anything of the sort,” Maria said softly. “As I said I have been out of the loop. Either Michael does not know, or he did not tell me if he does know,” she said. “So, I am curious?” she said with a smile. “It is as simple as that.”

“River, Sierra and Jessica got picked up by the department for a fight with some kids here in the park, and then Mariah got herself picked up for breaking into the school at the direction of Roxy Turner and her friends.”

“Oh god,” Maria muttered. Because she like most of the parents in this town, she had heard about Roxy. And her antics. Thankfully her son had kept his foolishness on a level she could mostly control compared with what she had heard Roxy was up to most days.

“I know,” Max said. “So, we had to bail the lot out of jail. Although Jim mostly left them with a warning, so a slap on the wrist, all, except for Mariah who is on suspension and probation with the school,” he allowed as he thought of mess his daughter was in, and the fact he was not allowed to go anywhere near her until she wanted him too. “I am allowing Liz to deal with it for the moment. Although I have no choice actually. Hopefully it has scared her into calming down, and I just happened to run into Sierra’s mother after the time at the station.”

Maria nodded.

“And it is easy to say that she is not happy with her daughter’s relationship with my son,” Max muttered as he was not used to be on the other side of having a kid not meeting someone’s approval. It is usually me, who does not meet that approval.

“Why?” Maria asked as she was surprised. Truly. “River is one of the good ones. It’s my son she has to worry about with his love them and leave them attitude to life these days. I do not know who he gets it from because it definitely was not Michael or me,” she muttered. “Definitely not either of us.”

Even though she knew it was partially a lie.

“I know,” Max sighed as he could not help but smile. Because they both knew Mac strayed the lines because he had so many qualities of his father at one time in him. As he thought of one of those rare memories from high school that was actually warm “The one reliable quality about Michael was that he was so into you,” he said with a smile.

“Even when I was not that into him,” Maria said with a laugh that did lighten the mood. Because they both knew those early years were quite harrowing to get through, and there were never that easy to get through but fortunately for Michael and Maria, they had been able to get through them to form a life together.

Max had not been so lucky.

“So, that was Sierra’s mother?” Maria asked as she brought it back to the situation at hand. Someone new in their ranks. As she thought of Sierra who had suddenly come into the drama at the beginning of the year. Although she had been able to confirm through the parent gossip vine at the high school that Sierra had indeed come from Goddard High, and while she was a great student. She had run through many schools before settling down in Roswell. She did not know the teenager well, but she had seen the girl around.

“Yeah, and talking to Kate, it brings some concerns” Max said softly. Needing to unburden himself, but unsure of how to say the words. Because for Maria this was information that he knew was something both Michael and Maria would be needing to hear because so much of Michael’s existence was rooted in how he did not have family and why he had taken on Laurie Depree for a time. Laurie had since moved on, but their very heritage and where their human DNA came from had once upon a time been a big part of their life. And while they still gotten answers for Michael. They had yet to get any answers for himself or for Isabel. But it was a reminder that there was someone out there who would be genetically linked to Michael because after all the dupes were their “duplicate”, they just were raised in a different atmosphere, and their children would still be considered link to the original crew, no matter who they were…

“What it is?” Maria asked even though she was fearful of the answer.


*


Mariah during this time was barricaded within her room. She did not want to talk to anyone, including her brother. Lex figured the best way for his sister to cope was to not be pushed for there was worry what she might do with her already fragile mind, so he left her alone and currently was concentrating on his own pursuits and managed to maneuver upstairs to his own bedroom and was passing the office that they had made the fourth bedroom in the home. With another one downstairs, since both adults in the house were working scientists and often worked at home. Especially Brady when it was his time to care for the kids. She worked a lot of night shifts so that she could be there for the kids once they were school age, which always scheduling her work time consuming, but because they were a two-parent household. Having Brady had been a godsent, and now Liz was seeing the challenges of being a single mother. Even if both of her kids were now much older than they once were, and they did not always need her. But at the moment they did. Whether they thought they did or not. So, Liz had been doing a lot of work given everything exploding in her personal life remotely at home. Out of the office here at the house, so she took over the room upstairs.

And that was where she was currently. Trying to use work to get her mind off her daughter and other matters she thought. For so many years, she could be able to get away from the stresses of home life by working in the lab and trying to come up with the breakthroughs she had been helpful in, as getting away from the house often helped. But now a single mother, she was tethered to the walls of this place. And she could not get into the bliss zone but still she had a job to concentrate on, and she was now in the beginning stages of the one oof the newest project to come out of Roswell Memorial.

Thankfully it was only the early stages. Which meant at this point, it was mainly only the grant work, and funding requests that were taking her time, so it was something she could easily do at home. But eventually there would be a time, where the actual work would have to start. And she prayed her daughter’s issues would clear themselves when the true work came to start, sometime over the summer. Assuming the paperwork cleared. But Liz did not think it should not.

So, she was putting her mind into the work, and actually finding her immerse into the world of the science and answers she was seeking, and she did not see her son hobble by the door and stop. “Mom,” came the thirteen-year-old.

“Oh,” Liz said after a minute as she came out of her work-related trance. As she saw her son. Such a spitting image of his father.

Thankfully on this day, he was healthy except for the remnants of the accident that had shattered their world and changed the very fabric of it, but she was grateful that she still had the opportunity to have her children because she did not know what kind of life she would be living if something had happened to them.

Does Mariah not see that? Liz asked herself. No, because she is a teenager, and only thinking of herself and how she was forced to live a life that was a façade even though it was a good life she was given, but she was kept from the truth. Only because I did not know it Liz thought. Or I did not want to question it? she muttered to herself.

She knew Kyle and Maria believed she did not want to question it, and there was probably some plausible credibility in that theory. I wanted to leave and have a clean break she thought. Because I could not stay here, she muttered.

Not at that time of my life. She might think she could have told Max. But she did not know what it would have meant for him to know. And could she handle having him part of her daughter’s life and stay with Brady. Or would she had tried to return.

I have no idea.

And so, she had deprived her daughter of knowing something fundamental about her life. Even if Liz had wanted her daughter to have a normal life. Be happy and adjusted, still if Max was here father, therefore her daughter had abilities that no mere human could understand.

But I do she thought.

I am sorry she thought. So much had been missed out on.

Even if one day Mariah might be glad for the chance at a normal life. But she cannot see that right now she muttered.

So, Liz wanted to get this part of life over with…

So, she focused on her son. Someone who was happy. Someone who was taking the unjust injuries he had received and was trying to be positive about the whole thing even though it had derailed his promising sport career. He is only thirteen, he has time.

“Yes, honey” Liz asked as she stopped looking at the funding proposal and glanced up at her son.

“Is it true that Dad is not Mariah’s real father?” Lex asked, ever so quietly and it jolted his mother because while she assumed it would come known eventually, but still it had resided only in the need-to-know realm since it all had come to the head, and Liz had not felt that her son needed to know when he had so much to deal with.

“Honey, how did you hear that?” Liz wondered. Even though she knew only one person could have told her son, and it was part of the whole situation. Mariah, she thought.

“Mariah,” Lex said. “If you think she should have told me, then I guess I can say that I dragged it out of her…”

“It is not that I did not want you to know…” Liz said softly. It is just I am still not ready to discuss it.

“So, it’s true.” Lex asked.


*


Liz did not know how to answer that question to her impressionable son. She wished this was not happening to her. It was already enough she was back in her hometown. And having to deal with crafting a new life here. One that was so foreign from the one they led in Chicago. But now she was dealing with this attack on her family. While at the same time Maria that dealing with that same feeling as she was still with Max. And she could tell that her friend had something to tell her, and it was something she would not be happy to hear. Which is about right for this clan she thought. I can handle whatever it is “You might as well just blurt it out Max, if it involved the family, and especially my family?”

Max nodded. Both knew that Mariah and Max had not been getting along especially well since high school for a whole host of reasons, but mostly it was because of Liz. It had not done their friendship any good. As Maria had indicated. She allowed Max to be her husband’s problem. And rarely had to deal with him because it did help that Max had hidden himself out of town once he was able to move out of his parents’ home and out in the wilderness by the chambers. Michael and Isabel only had to deal with him. And that is how I liked to keep it.

She focused on herself. While also concentrating on building a life with Michael once Mac had shocked them by coming early in their newly committed relationship that had come out of the mess that was senior year. Amazingly.

A lot of it was fly by the seat of their pants type of drama, and she was amazed that they had come out of it frankly, because it could have gone the other way, she could help but think. She was glad it had not, even she had not been ready to be a mother and wife so early, but they had made it work through a lot of hard work.

“Max,” Maria asked again. As she waited for the bomb to fall. Because she knew there was something, otherwise Max would not be stalling.

“Fine, but you are not going to like it…”

“Chances of that is probably a yes,” Maria allowed. “But I cannot react until you know whatever you think is life altering and is afraid to tell me.”

“You and Michael do need to know, which is why I think it is right thing to tell you” Max allowed.

“That is big of you?” Maria muttered.

“Maria, please…” Max said.

“Sorry, that comment was a tad habit forming these last years” Maria muttered of her annoyance at her old friend. She had gotten into many of those habits over that time, and she knew not all of it was justified but then she was being a friend to her best friend who had decided to leave them because Max had chosen to screw up so royally.

Of course, her friend would argue that she had allowed much of the circumstance with the ludicrous agreement to work with some time travelling version of Max. A man who had claimed to be from the future, imagine that and Maria could not.

Even when eventually told what happened. Still a lot went down.

Too much for the time Maria thought even though the only skin she had in the game was her love for her own maddening alien.

“It would seem you know Kate’s daughter…” Max said. “The woman I was just speaking too?”

“As I have said, I do not know the woman or the daughter” Maria murmured. “I heard the names, but I cannot say I know of the woman personally…” she sighed because thankfully she had other matters to be dealing with.

“Neither do I,” Max said softly. “Even though Sierra is dating my son.”

“Well…” Maria said unsure of what to say. Because it was hard to comment on the state of Max’s relationship with his son.

“I know,” Max said softly. And stopped with those words. Because so much had been trended down before. “But it would seem that Sierra Cruise might be linked to Michael…” he managed to utter, and he felt the area of where they were in the park shift.

And Maria’s jaw dropped as those words started to sink in.

And her first instinct of course was to display anger at Max.

“Hell no,” came a disgusted Maria. Seriously Max “How can you say that?” she thundered. “My Space boy is not you, and you are not going to take him down with you, okay” she muttered with her blood boiling. “Just because you screwed up when we were in high school and got Tess pregnant, and then on top of it, you then went and got Liz knocked up before she finally walked away from you, and therefore you lost yourself a daughter. If you think you are going to take Michael down to your level?” she thundered.

Silence took over their section of the park. Words said. Words that could not be unsaid Like I have not experienced that before Max thought because with those words, Max knew there was a point you could not go back from within their group as if I did not know that already he muttered to himself.

But he could not help but learn just what Maria thought of me, and how much of the ground that he and Maria had built back in high school, that was now lost…

“Michael is not Sierra’s father…” Maria echoed in her demand.
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Parker1947
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Til We Meet Again - Chapter 36 - 04/10/2022

Post by Parker1947 »

“I never said Michael was Sierra’s father,” Max said although he knew the way he had framed his words, that it would have given anyone listening to him that conclusion. Hard not to draw that conclusion. Still the weight of her words still hung on him, and he was stung all over again. “I am sorry if that is how I made it sound, but that is not what I meant,” Max would mutter. “Although I wish you would drop what I did all those years ago,” he muttered even though it was ridiculous for him to even utter those words in his defense.

“Have you?” Maria asked pointedly as she was not prepared to give her former friends words any weight; you have existed to dwell in those years she thought. Max’s inability to move on spoke to the fact Max was unable to get over what he had down. “When you stop living in the past than we can talk about how I see things, but at this point in time, you are not going to take Michael down with you,” she said stubbornly as she refused to allow her husband be taken down for something he had no role in

“You do not have to remind of what I did back then. Because yes, I know I have done things in my life that do not look good, but I would never say something like this unless I have evidence, on any of it, although I admit, what I have is one woman’s word on it,” Max sighed because it was something that was hard to even say, or make sense of then what does not make a lot of sense in our lives,“ he mused. Everything he muttered as he came back to Maria. “When I say that Michael is linked to Sierra, well, it probably is the truth, but it does not make him her father…”

At least in the form you would think it would…

“How in the hell would he not be if you say they are linked?” Maria asked.

“There are all kinds of links in this world,” Max muttered. “Although any DNA test might have something different to say about it, but at least at this time in our lives, I am not saying Michael cheated on you Maria. Because we both know your husband. And I know Michael a lot longer than you do, and I know personally how much Michael was in love with you and was out of sorts when you two ended for a time during senior year. And as you so kindly reminded me. Which was unlike what happened with me. But I know for a fact that Michael stayed in whatever his funk was until the two of you saw reason and started to patch things up, so I am not trying to say that Sierra is Michael’s daughter.”

“Then what are you trying to say?” Maria asked clearly confused.

“Although now I kind of know what you think of me, don’t I?” Max said softly as he still felt attacked. “You know that I was not asking for any of what happened to have happened. If I could travel back to those days and change events from happening, I would, but I cannot because it would change too much, and we cannot live in the past. Yes, I know that is some kind of bullshit that I am saying because all I have been doing is living in the past. Much the detriment of my relationship with my son. But I wish I could go back and change things, but I cannot even if it means being with Liz and our daughter. Because whatever happened was meant to happen, whether I like it or not.” Which I do not.

Chastened at least a little, Maria squirmed. “I am sorry, those words, they slipped out and I did not really mean them. Because it is not really what I think of you,” Maria conceded as she knew she had unjustifiably reacted to Max in the worst way. “Seriously,” she said as Max was warily at her, and she knew she deserved it. You exploded for a minute there Maria “Look, we might not have had much interaction these past years, and that is on the both of us. But I am the first one to say that you did get a raw deal. You did not ask for a lot of it, even if some of it was stuff you did willingly but still at the end of the day, we all have to live with what we did, in our youth, and well, you did go there knowingly there with Tess.”

“Yes, I did, and I will forever live with the regret of what happened” Max said softly. “But my son is here, and I chose to keep him because of what it might mean if Tess was lying or just misinformed about our son’s abilities. And I lost Liz and our daughter because of that decision. And I will rue the missed time. Although I am glad Liz and Mariah got a chance to have a happy life, and to be loved because I know I cannot know what it would have been like for him to be involved in my life, back then.”

“I suspect your life would have been very different,” Maria muttered as anyone could have seen what kind of life Max could have had if only certain paths were taken.

“Not if Liz had chosen her husband instead of me,” Max said pointedly. “If she had chosen to stay with Brady, to raise Mariah and I would have had to see them together to be able to know my daughter, I do not know if that was any better of life to be honest.”

It does suck Maria thought. She knew how Mariah missed out on so much not knowing her biological father, and for Max and River to not know the girl that was their daughter, and their half-sister. It was so unfair.

“Therefore, I am not saying Michael is Sierra’s father, because I am being honest here. Michael was only tempted by one person during this tale of ours, and we know who that was, and it was not Sierra’s mother” Max said softly, and Maria sighed as she thought back to that time Courtney, she muttered to herself. Relatively tame compared to what Max and Liz were facing. “I would never claim something when it was not true. I know Michael loved you more than anything in life, and you gave him a chance to have to be a better person and to have a happy life, and he would never go and screw that up.”

“I know,” Maria said with a nod. Michael was many things, but he did love me.

“And what we think is moot because it was not like Sierra’s mother fingered Michael, because she named someone else and it was not Michael’s name she named, but it is a name that we do know, although not all too well.”

“What do you mean?” Maria asked. Because this was all so confusing.

“It’s someone we knew as Rath but grew up to take on a different name,” spoke Max confusing Maria who did not believe she had heard right.

That is crazy she thought.

But what is not crazy about our life she thought. And I live it.

And I would not want it any other way she thought. It was a bargain I made with myself by loving my alien. And getting the chances that were not affronted to everyone.

No matter how much love they had for the one they ultimately could not have.

Rath? Maria said eyes opened. Someone she had not met in any great detail. As he was someone who had come for a short run before disappearing, and luring Max to New York for a situation that ultimately needed her best friend to clean up. A first clue as to how Liz was changing, she thought now.

Little did they know that at the time. Only later would it become more pronounced and unmistakable.

“Yes,” Max said softly.

“Was he not dead?” Maria asked.

“We never knew what had happened to Lonnie and Rath,” Max muttered. “After the events of what went down in New York. They just vanished into thin air, and Tess was equally unsure of what happened to them so it was easy to think they might have died.”

“Tess who was never the trustful type,” Maria said softly.

“That was before everything happened,” Max said equally as softly or more so because he knew how raw it was for everyone in their group, and to know what ultimately had happened with Tess, and what damage had been done to them as a group. “Yet still, it all happened but no, we never knew what happened with Rath and Lonnie.”

“Which was good,” Maria said. “Too much was going down at the time.”

“I know,” Max said.

“So, you are saying that Rath is around these days, and is Sierra’s father, and he was Michael’s duplicate?” Maria wondered.

“Yes,” Max murmured. “And I mean I am not up on the DNA similarities and all that because we all are supposed to be our individualistic selves. No one had a twin unless we do of course, and none of us can claim that” he said softly. “But those duplicates?” he thought. “They wanted a backup, and someone to be just the same as Isabel, Michael and me, but we all were raised in different circumstances.”

“And thank god for that,” Maria murmured with the understanding that Michael’s own life was not so golden as his duplicate… but he had someone to keep him on the right road.

Max nodded.

“Why tell me all this?” Maria asked.

“It’s just if Sierra could be considered in some level of a link to Max and maybe even Mac. She’s in town, and she’s new to this. I did not talk to Kate much about it, so I do not know how much they are in the know, but it’s something to be on the lookout for…”

“And her father, Rath?” Maria asked.

“Not in the picture I am told, but who knows if that will last?” Max muttered. “It could only be a matter of time.”

“Right,” Maria sight. “I guess you have told my husband all this?”

“No,” Max said. “As I have said, I just learned this information and it would seem that you had the misfortune in many ways of being the first to hear.”

“My happy day,” Maria muttered.

“Seriously, this does not change anything except that it changes whatever bond River and Sierra share…” Max murmured.

“How would you think that?” Maria asked.

“It was one thing if she was normal. But another alien human hybrid, that raises whatever they have together, and it going to be a tough bond to walk away from” Max said softly. “I unfortunately know from experience.”

“Thankfully Sierra does not appear to be in the mode of Tess…” Maria offered although she did not know much about the girl. It was all only assumptions at this point.

Max nodded as he began to walk Maria home. Both needing to get out of the park.

“About before,” Maria murmured. “I did not mean it you know.”

“Yes, you did but I will not hold it against you” Max said softly.

Maria nodded.

Although both know the words had been said. It was hard to take them back.

As they both would know from their personal experience.


*


As back at the house within the Forrest development. All the while Max was dealing with Maria in the park. Liz was coming to terms with the changing dynamics at the house. And she did not like how her thirteen-year-old son was looking at her with new eyes, as if she was showing him a new facet of herself.

One he was not used too.

Which would be what had happened. No child wants to know their mother, or any parent has a past. And especially not when it comes back to haunt them. “Honey,” Liz said of her son.

“It is okay Mom,” Lex murmured as he could tell that like for his sister. All this was earthshaking for her mother. He might be only thirteen, but he knew his mother did not take change well and like to be bound by the laws of the expected, and not have change hoisted on her, and the last three/four months have been all about change. And he did not want to give his mother any shocks Mariah is giving Mom enough of them “It is just a shock that is all.”

“Yes, it is” Liz agreed. “I know it has to be confusing to you. But all you need to know is I love both you and your sister. What happened in my life before Mariah’s birth does not change the fact, she is your sister, and the two of you love each other. And your father and I both love the both of you, and that does not change because any combination of DNA.”

“Mariah thinks Dad would not have loved her if he knew the truth,” Lex asked.

“I know, but that is crazy. I know for a fact your father loved your sister, and biology did not have anything to do with the love he had for your sister,” Liz murmured, or I hope so she thought because she did not know what would have happened had she known she thought. Could I have stayed with Brady?

And would Brady still have wanted her she muttered to herself. She knew how quickly Mariah came along in their new relationship. And how Brady never wavered. But that was because he believed he was Mariah’s father.

Right? she thought. I hope so.

She was going through a lot of reflection and yet so much could have been different had she had made different choices, but she knew the girl she had been at eighteen could not have stayed in Roswell and seen Max and seen the baby that would be River grow up and know if only things were different, but then if she had waited, she might have known about Mariah. And been able to tell Max.

And have everything be different.

“I know,” Lex said simply. As he could tell his mother was in some kind of trance, but she snapped back to focus on him. “I know that Dad and Mariah had some kind of bond,” he said of the relationship he knew that his sister had with their father. He and his father were all about playing sports together and doing other guy stuff, but his father and Mariah had some kind of understanding, as they got each other, as suddenly a memory came back of a conversation he had overheard back in Chicago. Before they came to Roswell.

“They did, and that does not vanish even though your father would not have known the truth before his death.”

“I know Mariah says she only just found out, and so did you” Lex said simply. “But I think Dad suspected something was up?” he asked of that conversation he had heard…

“How so?” Liz said softly. Unsure of what her son had to say. Because it was something shocking to contemplate.

“A conversation I overheard Dad having with Aunt Priscilla,” Lex asked.

Ah, Priscilla Renee Anthony Henderson Parks Williams Liz thought of her late husband’s half-sister. Priscilla was a result of Mitchell’s first marriage. She was also now onto her third marriage. And was on a around the world cruise to celebrate husband number three and unable to come back for the funeral, since it was so sudden. The wedding had been in October, and while brother and sister were close, still Priscilla did not get along well with her stepmother even though Mitchell and Christina had been married well over forty years by this point. And so, Priscilla was not around much throughout the years as for her childhood she had lived with her mother in Los Angeles, but she had the wedding at the family house in Chicago this time around, and this time Liz had the feeling the marriage might work.

But it was early. Everything looks good in the beginning.

“What did you hear them say?” Liz asked.

Are you kidding me Brady came the voices in Lex’s head? “Why would you take your family back there?” came his aunt’s voice at her incredulous at the fact that her brother was even thinking of moving to New Mexico after spending his life in Illinois in some fashion or another.

“The job is intriguing. And it’s a hell of a lot better than the lab I am working at now.”

“Then go ahead and find another here or go elsewhere, do not go to New Mexico.”

“Why not?” came Brady. “The kids are getting older. Some place smaller might be good for both Mariah and Lex because I am not liking how close my daughter is getting with Josh,” he thought as the offer was new, and he still had to interview for it. And he knew his wife was not anxious to go back to her home state.

“You know what taking them back there might mean,” Priscilla asked. “Because you told me yourself that your wife has an intense past within her hometown. And there was someone she left behind, so why take her back and cause trouble for yourself, and your marriage.”

“My marriage is rock solid,” Brady murmured.

“I am glad you and Liz are solid,” Priscilla murmured. “Someone in this family needs to be happy,” she said as she had hopes that her upcoming wedding would finally give her the happiness she sought.

“Mom and Dad are happy,” Brady muttered as he knew his half-sister had baggage a mile long, and a lot of it was due to their father’s first marriage. And how it all ended, but he and his mother had lasted this long.

“Dream on,” Priscilla thought. “But that is not for today’s discussion. I have to ask. Why do it to yourself?”

“Simple. It does no good to live in the past,” Brady thought. “We should not stay away from a place because of what the past was, or what might still live on there.”

“Even though you told me yourself what Dad did, and what was discovered” Priscilla asked of their mutual father, someone she had a long-held love hate relationship with, and it was totally their father ammo to do what he did…

“I do not care, and I did not care at the time either” Brady murmured as he turned and saw Lex staring at them “Son, what are you doing?”

“Mom told me to find you” Lex said and the discussion between Brady and Priscilla ended, and Brady walked off with his son.


Now back in the present. And Liz did not understand what his son was trying to say. None of this makes sense she thought.

But then what did of her life she muttered to herself. Is Lex trying to say Brady had suspicions or her father-in-law did, and yet it did not bother her husband?

Brady tended to let things roll of his back, and he was very different than Mitchell. Which made her love him all the more? The fact despite them staying close to the family. Still, they did not let the Anthony money define their relationship and their marriage. So, she suspected her son did not know what he had stumbled on.

And Lex said as much, “I wish I could explain it, but it was something I heard Dad and Aunt Priscilla talking about…”

“It does not really matter,” Liz said softly. Brady is not here anymore. “We will figure it all out one of these days. We just need to give Mariah a little more time to come to terms with the news.”

“Even if she keeps getting busted by the cops?” Lex asked.

“I suspect she knows she is not going to get any more free passes on that front,” Liz said. “Which is why I think spending time at your grandparents place might do you both some good because I know how much you feel isolated here at the house.”

“I am fine Mom,” Lex assured his mother. “I just wish I could have gone back to school?”

“Unfortunately, that is not to be because there is not much time left for you, but you will be able to go back to school in September, and you can start fresh.”

Lex nodded. “I will leave you to your work,” he said as he used his crutches and left the room, and even though she should be concentrating on the grant proposal. All Liz was left with, was her thoughts, and wondered was going on.

Picking up her phone, and texted Priscilla, because even though her sister-in-law was on a cruise, she knew the woman had the wealth to have cell service anywhere. She understood why her sister-in-law could not come back for the funeral. It was so sudden, and Priscilla had wanted too, but Liz told her to stay.

We need to talk about Brady, contact me when you have a chance she wrote onto her phone, and put it down, and went back to working.

As the music erupting from Mariah’s room had quieted, and she checked the clock and saw that it was getting later so she got up from the chair. And she walked to Mariah’s bedroom, and unlocked the door, and saw that her daughter had fallen asleep.

Sighing that her daughter was turning sixteen the following day. Where did the time go? She wondered, and closed the door, and checked in on Lex who was battling some empire on a computer game, and she smiled and closed the door, and she went downstairs and found herself munching on cold Chinese food from the fridge.

Not wanting to heat it up, when there was a knock on the door. Answering, she smiled. “You are back?” she asked of her best friend.

“I am gone a few days, and all hell breaks out?” Maria Deluca Guerin exclaimed. “What is with our lives?”

“When has this not been our lives,” Liz could not help but remark as she invited her best friend into her house. That was feeling too quiet, and silent even though both of her kids were in it… “Once we fell for who we did…”


*


While Liz sought comfort from her best friend. Max only wanted to find his bed. He wanted isolation. So much of his life was out in the open these days and that was not something he was used to as he drove back out of town and towards his home. Seeing at the same as the darkness come over the night, and fully immerse it.

His refuge he thought of the home he had made with his two hands.

Something that he could stay in and away from the world. Away from the judgment about choices he had made once upon a time that had gone completely wrong, and the life he had to build because he had not gotten the life he had wanted, and he could not help wonder what to make of the brand-new information.

That Rath had lived after New York and procreated. And therefore, there was another member to add their complex clan. And if he met someone, maybe the others did too… minus Zan of course he thought since he is dead. But it made Max worry, and question whether Rath could come back into their lives.

Not that Roswell was ever home to him but if his daughter is here?

That meant so much could happen, and now that he knew that his son’s girlfriend was one of them. One of the newer generations. That posed its own issues not that he ever really worried with his son, or even Mac and Jessica because he had tuned it out.

To the detriment of his relationship with his son.

He had chosen the road he had gone down. But he was now awaking to what he had wrought. And he knew he was not prepared for the carnage. But it was not like he had not lived through carnage before, unfortunately. As his car swung into the driveway, and it took him a moment to see that his son’s car was at home.

Good Max thought. But hopefully he is in bed because it’s past time.

Parking the car, he got out and stretched his legs, and hoped that life would start to make sense. But that was apparently not going to be as he did not think to check for any signs that he might be intruding on anything Not like that ever happened before he muttered to himself as River tended to take his activities whatever they were elsewhere.

So, he was not prepared to walk in on anything.

Shit Max said as he opened the door and the sounds of scurrying and sitting up on the couch. “Am I intruding by coming into my own home,” Max said softly as he walked in on his son and his girlfriend definitely in a compromising position.

“Dad?” River muttered. “What are you doing here?”

“Coming home, so, what are you doing?” Max said as if he did not already know. “Okay, so, do not answer that question because something tells me I do not want to know what the two of you were doing…”
keepsmiling7
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Re: Til We Meet Again (CC, Mature) - Chapter 36 - 04/10/2022

Post by keepsmiling7 »

The past never stays in the past!
This new entanglement is going to be interesting to watch.
Looking forward to more!
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Parker1947
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Til We Meet Again - Chapter 37 - 04/12/2022

Post by Parker1947 »

River had not expected it to have come to this, but he should have. Because he knew his father’s car was not back yet, and therefore his father was out there, somewhere, and would be back sometime. But things with Sierra had progressed because they had driven out here, because Sierra had not wanted to go back to her place, even though she had all that private space and her mother tended to stay away unless they had dinner together. So, instead of going to her home, or anywhere else suitable. They decided to take a drive. A simple drive yeah right, he muttered, and as a result they had ended up back in his empty house.

Because simple never worked out well.

And now he was facing a situation he had not faced before. And his father was slightly amused by the nature of this situation. Which is why River had not usually wanted to date because he did not want to deal with his father, or this place. So, he did not know why they had ended up back here, when there was a high chance of his father interrupting things.

Although with Roswell and its surrounding premises being a small town. There were only so many places you could take a girl and not be interrupted.

Until now. His home had been off limits. After all, until recent events had turned his father back to a more social human being. His father had not left this place. So, why bother he would tell himself. And yet on this day. He had decided to take the risk. And really, had been nice to be at home with Sierra. Allowing her into his space. Which he had never braved on those occasions that he had dated. But of course, now, he knew was no ordinary girl and knew more than the average girl.

And so now here they were, and his father had decided to come home and was taking great delight in his uncomfortableness Probably fair game because I have given that same attitude to him. “Dad,” River wanted to say but was too silent.

So, Sierra was the first one to speak. “This is not what it looks like Mr. Evans,” came the girl almost shyly, and Sierra would never be considered shy. As she got up from the couch as River put his shirt on, and Max shook his head.

“I can see what it was,” Max said as he knew how embarrassing it was for the teenagers. “Sorry for interrupting,” he allowed given I have been on the other side of an interruption like this, although it was never a parent for Liz and me so yeah, I am one to speak, he thought to himself. It was someone who was a lot more shrinking about it, Maria he thought now as the flashes replayed almost instantaneously. It was almost amusing, almost as he now knew so much could have been prevented if only had Maria not come to Michael’s apartment that day Max muttered to himself.

Of course, I do not know if we would have gone all the way Max thought now. But they had been caught up in the emotion, and the passion he thought. We wanted answers.

Only we did not know that when we got them, we would have wished that we could have turned it all around. If only we had not, who knows what could have been prevented Max told himself. Although in the end, we did end up with something special he thought. Not that I have been able to share in raising that link.

Forced back to the reality of today. And seeing the two teenagers, on the edge of adulthood. He should be telling them to be careful, and not to take the changes but it was not like he was not some hypocrite if he did because of his own past. “See the young lady home,” was all Max said to his son as he walked past without much more comment and went to his bedroom and slammed the door.

As both teenagers looked at the pathway that Max walked past them. Both amazed that it was so easy. “I am amazed it was not worse,” Sierra commented as River could not help but nod at the sentiment as they did not know what to say since they were no longer alone in the house, and it was not like she could stay and for them to do anything, so River knew he had to see her home, so he grabbed his car keys, and they walked out of the house. “Sorry…”

“I should be sorry,” River said as he knew he had been playing with fire because he knew his father had to be home sometime. He never stays gone he thought and said as much. “I should have been better than this because he was going to come home, but I guess I got carried away,” he said with a smirk.

“I noticed,” Sierra smiled as they got into the car. “And so, did I” she said as they drove off as River drove Sierra back to town.

As back in the house. In the heart of Max’s bedroom as flashes were coming of that time in his life. Where everything seemed so simple. To love a girl that was his goal. And it was that kind of day when so much was possible, and if only they had not gotten interrupted. Who knows might have happened, so much was possible he thought of that time? So much could be prevented.

So much. As he knew this was hopeless. To dream of a simpler time gets me nowhere, so he went for a shower, and ended up having a cold one…


*



While back at Liz’s home. Both Max and Liz were wishing things could be of the easier variety. As they sat in the living room, with a glass of wine in front of them. As Maria had given herself a detour after Max walked her home. And after a quick turnaround at the house. Which showed that she did not need to be home because she walked in and found her husband enjoying a basketball game, in the den. As it was getting late into the season. And the games were starting to mean something. So, she heard plenty of shouts and swearing at the television when she walked in. And because she did not want the swearing to come towards her when she had to tell her husband the discovery about Sierra, she decided that news could be delayed because much to her relief, she had also found her son watching television with his father, and both were getting into the game.

So, Maria knew she did was not needed so she had come to see what was up with her best friend’s life. Which was becoming dramatic by the day. Truthfully, when has it not been she thought. Okay, maybe while she was in Chicago, but setting foot back into town limits had turned everything on its head, and even with it being three months later, it still has settled down. “Unbelievable, that girl.”

“She’s grieving, and she’s also feeling lost” Liz said softly as wished life could make sense, and for it to calm down and to give her something to believe in, so that she could get through the days without worry. So far that has not happened. “I cannot blame her, but I wish she was going about it in a different way.”

“I guess it’s better than trying some kind of substance or another to numb her,” Maria suggested.

“Don’t give her any idea’s” Liz said softly. “I wish it could be so much easier. I was looking forward to her turning sixteen, and now that it is here…”

“You were, you were looking forward to turning your daughter loose on the roads?” Maria asked with a laugh, as they went for the ice cream. Both having the munchies from the stress of their lives. Although her life was pretty tame, in comparison Maria commented to herself. “I guess you fooled me because I remember all that venting?”

“All I meant is that I wish it could be different, because the girl my daughter was, is not the girl she is today.”

“Which is natural given she is still so young,” Maria asked as she thought of all the kids. “All of them are so young,” she thought of the newest generation. Even the ones of the normal variety like Lex and Jaime. But those with abilities were different than the generation before, when their parents had to face so many perils so that they could lead a safer life. “We were that way once. Especially you were,” she said softly as she thought of her friend back in the beginning was there ever a beginning. “The girl you were was different once the shooting happened. For Mariah. It is a not a bullet, but discovery, and finding out there is a layer of history she did not know.”

“I know,” Liz sighed because she remembered herself at fifteen. Before the shooting changed her life. When things were so easy. She was going to school. Working at the Crashdown. Even having a carefree simple romance with Kyle that she knew did not set her heart afire, but she was fifteen and they were in high school. Sure, she had Maria saying that Max was looking at her, there were warnings, but she had not seen them or believed in the warnings. Then that day in the Crashdown happened, and when she woke up, and got to her feet. She was entering a different world.

Whether she was ready for it or not.

And largely, she was not. But she had to get through the days.

Especially those days that would shock her, and surprise her with every discovery. She had brought Maria along for the ride, but it was she who were transformed by those events. And nothing was ever the same again. And even once she got out of town when she was older and burnt out by just how confusing and time consuming everything had become with time and age. Still, she knew she could never be the girl she was before she fell in love with Max.

Not even going to Chicago, and meeting Brady. And falling into something that made sense with him and having children with him.

So, she could understand a bit of what it was for her daughter. Because Mariah’s struggles were so different from hers, but it was all about coming into a world she did not know she was a part of…

“Are you okay?” Maria asked as she could see her best friend in a trance of thinking.

“I am fine,” Liz sighed. “I was just thinking of the past. How everything changed for me…”

“You made it through, and so will Mariah” Maria assured her friend although she knew most of the challenges her best friend was different than ones she had faced and were not for the faint of heart. They were lucky they had lived because not everyone did.

Liz knew this too and she worried because she knew how many hazards there were there, and there were traps to fall into if you were not careful “I hope so,” Liz muttered. “There are so many more dangers out there today than when we were the kids ages.”

“At least Mariah is able to protect herself,” Maria said softly as she knew full well how different this age was from the late 90’s, and the early years of the changing millennium. Everything was more high stakes, and social media had made everything tense for growing kids, and especially for teenage girls.

“But because of me, she does know all she should about those abilities” Liz muttered.

“You cannot blame yourself. You did not know. You credibly believed it was Brady, and if you had questions than you would have not thought Max could have been her father…”

“I know, because of my wild past,” Liz muttered. “It is why I worry for my daughter.”

“I know it does not look like it right now, but Mariah has a good head on her shoulders. She might be blurring the lines right now because she is trying to grab onto something that makes sense in her world. But one day very soon she is going to come around to be a version of that girl you knew,” Maria said with encouragement. “She might be morphed into something different than she was just a few months ago. But you were different than you once were. And that really goes for anyone. Everyone turns out to be different from they were at one time. You do not have to worry.”

“I hope you are right,” Liz said softly.

“You can tell me the same thing one day soon when Mac screws up once again,” Maria said. “That is the teenager we should be worried about,” she said with a smile and Liz could not help but give it back to her friend.

As both women wanted to believe in their children.

And that one would come back to her mother and believe in her again as Maria finally looked at the clock and knew she needed to get home. Giving her friend a hug, Liz showed her friend to the door, and watched as Maria got into the car and drive off.

Turning around to the silent house. She locked the door, and cleaned up the dishes and went upstairs, and found her son’s room quiet, and she checked and saw him passed out on his bed, and she smiled.

And turned in herself, hoping for the next day to be better than it had been today.


*


Next morning,



Liz was tossing and turning because her dreams had given her fits. The past and present day were colliding and therefore her mind kept turning and so, she was very tired by the time she rolled out of bed and walked downstairs. Feeling resentful of the sunshine coming through the window as she walked down the stairs. Because she was better than this display, she was giving. Especially since she knew was later than it should be for her to wake up, especially for a weekday but today was supposed to be a special day.

She had taken it off because it was special.

And now she did not know what to expect. Especially given recent events. She did not even know if the kids were up because she had not seen their doors open, but still she was surprised to see both children in the kitchen sitting down at the table. “Good morning,” she said in greeting of her children.

Both were at the table, and eyes on their glasses of orange juice that they had poured themselves. Mariah did not answer. But Lex did, “Good morning, Mom.”

“Happy Birthday Mariah,” Liz said softly with a smile my baby is sixteen, where did the time go? she whispered to herself as Mariah looked up and Liz did not know what her now sixteen-year-old was thinking although she thanked the lord for the fact that her daughter had not shown up to the breakfast table with the god awful make up, she had on the day before. Instead, she was more refreshing, and more like the Mariah of old please let that stay. “Do you want anything special for breakfast?”

“No,” Mariah said. “Just the usual.”

“Okay I guess,” Liz said unsure of how to take her daughter’s quiet nature. “Lex…”

“Whatever Mariah is going to have for breakfast is fine with me,” Lex said as he and his sister had not spoken since they both arrived in the kitchen not long before their mother showed up. And neither had started to make breakfast and Lex knew as was with tradition on their birthdays that they often got a special breakfast made by their mother or father depending on whose schedule was least hectic on the day. Lex already had a birthday without his father after his most recent one in January. Now it his sister’s turn, and while his was not the easiest of days. He could not imagine being his sister today.

“I guess scrambled eggs it is,” Liz said softly. “She got out the selection of fruit from the fridge. “Want strawberries with your eggs?” she asked of both her children. It was something easy to do, to be able to celebrate with her daughter. With prayers for easy day. She had scheduled the day off but knew her daughter probably had other plans.

“Sure,” both Mariah and Lex as Liz got to preparing breakfast for herself and the kids.

Once done, and they were sitting down at the table. “You still want to go to your grandparents for a special dinner tonight?” Liz was asking of her daughter.

Mariah had not spoken much as they ate. Liz knew her daughter had got to be feeling a lot of different emotions. “I am sure they will want to see you. They do not often get to see you on your big day,” she asked as she was trying to make small talk because she knew how awkward it was given recent disclosures, and how they changed their family.

“I guess,” Mariah said softly as there was a ring of the doorbell. And she sprung up, “I will get it,” she murmured wanting to get out of the kitchen and used the diversion of the doorbell. She knew it was awkward with her mother, and she did not know how to stop it.

Only for her daughter to return to the kitchen a few minutes later, holding a bouquet of red and white roses. “Who was it honey?” Liz asked. “Oh,” she said when she saw the flowers. “Who are they for, are they for me?”

“Me,” Mariah said shocked. She had never been sent flowers, much less two dozen red and white roses which she knew cost a fortune because Talia worked in a flower shop back in Chicago.

“Wow,” Liz said with a smile as she got up from the table. “Who are they from?” she asked as she went over to look over at the huge bouquets of flowers.

“I do not know,” Mariah said.

“It looks like there is a card?” Lex suggested as he saw the little card in the midst of the flowers. He had a gut feeling who it was from, but he was not about to say. As his sister went towards the card, and her face dipped through many expressions. “Oh,” she said and dropped the card on the counter. And Liz picked it up, and she smiled when she saw that it was from Max. The card said, “Something beautiful for someone who is beautiful. I am around if you want to see me, but regardless. Happy 16th Birthday Mariah,”

Oh, Max she thought with inner smile. He’s trying.

“Max,” Liz said softly.

“Who is Max?” Lex asked as he was the only one in the room out of the loop. Because while he had been let in, still, he did not know everything as Liz got two vases out of the cabinet and put some waters and helped her daughter put them in the vases. “If you want to take them to your room?” she asked of her daughter.

“No, they are just fine here” Mariah said. Unsure of how to respond to the gesture. And her mother could understand it.

“Who is Max?” Lex asked slightly annoyed he was not getting an answer.

“The one,” was all Mariah was able to say as she left the kitchen and the flowers behind. Which left Lex only with his mother.

The one Lex asked himself Oh, the one he said as the pieces came together as he saw how his mother was looking at the flowers, like she was in awe. Interesting he thought. “Mom,” he was saying to try to draw his mother back to reality.

“Lex,” Liz said softly as it did not take much to come back when it was her son’s voice drawing her back. “I am sorry.”

“It’s nothing,” Lex murmured. “Roses,” he asked of his mother.

“Yes, apparently” Liz said softly. “Are you okay?” she asked of her son, referring to his trusty crutches.

“Sure,” Lex said softly as Liz nodded and picked up her cellphone from her pocket and walked off dialing as she went. As it was clear that things were still going to be different today than they were yesterday.

As Lex was left to be a spectator to the drama in his own home.

As he suspected he needed to do some research on this Max he thought. He still did not know a last name but suspected that he could get some help in his quest as he hobbled off with his crutches, to get ready for his study date with Jaime.


*



Jamie Valenti did not know anything about all this. All she was doing was celebrating the fact she was on Spring Break. And even though she was helping Lex with his studies. She had been able to have a lot of freedom. One of the perks of being older, and her father trusting her. Today she was sharing breakfast with her sister and Mac Guerin, before they had to report to the Sheriff Department. Mac would be back later for his shift at the Crashdown but on this morning. He had to deal with the boredom at the Sheriff because one the craziness of the crash back in December died down. The days were not usually one of excitement, but because he stepped into it. He had to deal with his punishment for a while later. At least Jessica was working there, but now she was getting paid, but he was not.

So, he had company but for now he did not have to be there, as Jessica had been on the phone and now was getting off. “What’s the fuss?” Mac asked because Jessica’s phone had been blowing all morning.

“You did not hear?” Jessica asked as she dug into her pancakes.

“Now what?” Mac asked, a little wearily because it could be almost anything because Jessica was into the social scene at school. And he was anything but. He heard the gossip, but usually from other sources or once it exploded in his family.

“You have not even talked to River?” Jessica asked as she was no better in that she had not spilled about what went down.

“Have you?” Mac batted back. “Of course, not otherwise I would have heard whatever you know. Because where else would I be these days. I was home last night, watching the game with my father but I do know something must have happened because Mom did disappear after returning from her business trip to head over to Mariah’s house.”

I might have gotten detained in the beginning, but I was with Alan yesterday, because it was my free day, so we went to Las Cruces for the evening. We did not get home until late,” Jessica said simply.

“Oh,” Mac said quickly because he was not in the mood to hear about Jessica and Alan’s relationship and Jaime could not help but smirk as she was an observer. Because she was picking up the tension in Mac’s voice over Alan and her sister. You do not need to be gifted with supernatural powers to put two and two together she thought. But her sister was oblivious to it.

Jaime did not know how she could be. Come on Jessica.

Jessica was not seeing it. Mac instead was moving onto the topic. “So, what is the gossip?” he asked of whatever it, Jessica needed to tell him.

“River and Sierra got arrested yesterday,” was all Jessica could say, ever so simply. “I guess you can say I also got nabbed,” she muttered as she was playing down her role in the drama as Jaime murmured right, you did as she remembered how their parents currently still did not know whether to be upset or proud when they got back from the station. They had begun with proud, and it did not detour Jessica ability to be able to go out with Alan and as a result, she had been gone for the rest of the evening. You are nabbed by the Sheriff department, and you are still allowed to go out on the town with your boyfriend Jaime murmured, I am going to have to use that one when it is my time although she knew enough to think the parental units might be treating me differently than they treat Jessica she mused, because I am me, and Jessica is not. But still her stepsister had lucked out.

“Are you kidding me” came a shocked Mac as he knew none of this as he brought up his phone and checked his phone to see if he had gotten a call from River. Nothing he thought. Come on you could have filled me in he muttered of his best friend to leave me in the dark? “What in the hell happened?” he asked as he was surprised this news was only now being brought up. “You could have told me before now you know, why not spill?”

Ignoring his dismay, Jessica simply moved on and ignored it “It was a fight in the park, with Roxy and her crew” she said simply.

Silence befell the table. Because for once. Mac did not know how to respond because this once the trouble to come to their clan was not about him. It was not me, he thought. Wow. And this once he liked that it was not him who was getting the disapproving looks.

Maybe he should be taking that as a lesson, come on, really but he was not seeing it yet. Nope.

“That is crazy?” Mac said as he focused back on the topic. “That is crazy,” he thought. “River knows what Roxy is like” he could not help but think. Anyone in school knows who Roxy is… and that you do not want to rub her the wrong way “You do too.”

“I know,” Jessica allowed. “But she is using Mariah to do her dirty work,” Jessica said simply. “In the case, given recent events. River was playing hero. We figured it was just about breaking up a party but unfortunately, Mariah was off breaking into the school to try to steal back Roxy’s cellphone that you know got pinched by Ms. Sullivan before break.”

“Holy,” Mac said softly as he remembered the shouts of hatred spewed by Roxy when that happened because you did not even have to be in the same class to know how she took having her phone taken away from her, especially right before break, and Ms. Sullivan’s policy was not to give it back until the following class. Which was not possible, right before their week break and of course he knew Mariah had been cruising towards some collision, which ultimately had taken place it would seem “Why would she have done that?” he asked even though he knew why she was doing it. Because she was feeling out of sorts, I know the feeling he thought. But there were lines he would never do, and that was breaking into the school because it was too risky. In this age, there is way too much security.

“When it was obvious what happened, River made some threats that Roxy laughed at, and then Sierra went and got into it with one of Roxy’s goons, and as a result, a commotion was started, and therefore, we got arrested. You know, taken into the station and had to wait until the parents arrived.”

“Whoa, and you are saying that you were in this mix?” Mac asked.

“Yes,” Jessica said. “I even spent time in a jail cell,” she said with a smile. “Although you probably should not be sounding so pleased by that notion,” she said as she saw the twinkle in the eye of Mac as if he approved of the mayhem they had unleashed. “It was mostly River and Sierra. But we all got nabbed.”

“Cool,” Mac muttered.

“Dad and Isabel did not seem to think so,” Jaime said with a murmur because even though her sister may have been given the green light to head out with Alan. Still, she knew how concerned the parents were, and then she also knew she was not the only one who worried. “Lex is concerned about his sister.”

“Hopefully this wakes her up?” Jessica said softly. “I am just surprised that River did not tell you of all the intrigue?” she asked.

“I am not,” as the door the Crashdown opened and the three saw River come in holding hands with Sierra. The three knew that River had been tight with Sierra for weeks, and it appeared they had grown even tighter in the ensuing hours…

“Hello, you two,” came Jessica asked River and Sierra approached their table. “I was filling in Mac on the developments of last night.”

“I am sure you were,” River said, and you do not even know half of it.

“And you did not think to fill me in?” Mac asked. “Given I am one who is looking for the thrills in this clan of ours, spending time in a jail is something I would want to talk about…”

“It’s not my story to tell,” River said softly. I was not the one who was being threatened with time in there, because I was always going to get out once Dad showed his face “It was only a momentarily stop in time,” he said. “Anyways, I was busy last night.”

“Yeah, right” Mac smiled. As he was not getting the vibes that were coming off both River and Sierra, but Jessica was, and she could only smile because she wanted her cousin to be happy. As Mac only wanted to hear of the mayhem. Screw romance “So, are you going to tell us about it?”

And that was too much for the only fourteen-year-old in the room “Well, I am out” Jaime muttered as she did not want to stay to hear all the details. Because even though she was starting to wean from her crush on River, still, there was certain things you did not want to hear, and this was one of them I have other things to do she thought “I have to get over to Lex’s place because it might be Spring Break for, but it is not for him, so I will see you see you later Jessica,” she said as she got up from the table. As she was not that interested in hearing any tales of the love lives of River.

Because thankfully her crush was starting to fade. And Jessica was grateful for it as she only smiled as she was curious about the vibes she was getting from Sierra. It was not the romantic ones that were all over both Sierra and her cousin, and she could not believe Mac could be so oblivious to it but that is Mac because anyone could see that things had progressed between the two.

Jessica was happy for her cousin. Because River deserved to be happy.

She was all about family. She wanted it to be a big happy family, and it had not been one in recent years. And yet Sierra was radiating something else, a different kind of vibe. One that she had not picked up on before. And it made her curious.


*


Speaking of someone who was finding how different she was. Someone who at the moment did not feel like celebrating her big day because Mariah might have turned sixteen on this day. But she was not feeling very glorious and happy. She was filled with mixed emotions. Of course, it was still, it was better than what she was doing the day before, and maybe she should be taking this day as a way of starting over.

A fresh started. Leaving who she had been at fifteen and focusing on trying to figure out who she was now, today, and in the future.

She wished she could.

But so much was different, and she could not just begin a new life.

And yet she was thinking for the flowers in the kitchen. Ever since she received them. She did not know what to think about the fact her biological father was trying. She did not feel repulse anymore. If she had received them yesterday, she might have thrown them in the garbage. But today, it was different but there were still so many emotions going through herself because she missed her father. The Dad she knew. The one who loved her every minute of his life until his unfortunate death, and he was not here, and could not be here.

But she did have someone who helped create her, and who wanted to know her. Another father. Not a dad, but a father.

But he was a man she did not know.

I know, I could have a chance to know him she thought. He obviously wants to try and if only I could get over the anger that I am feeling she thought. Anger does not do anything in the end, just makes you feel depressed and sad.

Yet it was coursing through her…

“Honey,” came the knock on the door. And Mariah knew it was her mother. She recognized the footsteps and how they had stopped right outside her door.

“Come in,” Mariah muttered Not like I can keep her out she thought. Now that she knew her mother was just as different as she was but did not define herself because of what might have happened in the past.

“I know you have a lot on your mind, but I have to go,” Liz said as she entered the bedroom of her daughter and could see the weight on her daughter’s shoulders. Even in her godawful wardrobe she muttered. Where is my little girl? “I have some errands to do. I will be home later, and we can head over to the Crashdown for dinner, okay?”

“Okay,” Mariah said softly.

Unsure of what to say.

“If you do not feel like doing anything. You can stay around here. Jaime should be here any minute for the session with your brother,” Liz said softly although she did not need a babysitter for her son because she trusted her son and Jaime. “You could always keep an eye on them?”

“Maybe,” Mariah said softly as she looked at her desk and she saw the study material for the driver’s test she had scheduled for Monday. For months she had studied it religiously but in recent months she had ignored it because it was the last thing she wanted to deal with, but it was a reminder of the girl she was…

“Anyways, I love you and Happy Birthday” Liz said softly as she had witnessed how her daughter had been looking at the manual, but she did not say anything more as she turned around and left the room. Because it had been enough that she had been allowed inside the room. Which is something that had not always been allowed in these long three months.

“Thank you, Mom,” Mariah said softly as she watched as her mother walked out of the room and heard the slamming of the door a few months later. Where is she going? she thought. She had one name in mind, and she did not want to be thinking that name, so she tried to back within herself and forget her new reality.

Glancing at the mirror and feeling repulsed by the image she was seeing. Probably something like what Mom sees when she looks at me, she thought as she had known she fallen down the rabbit hole these months, and even more so lately. She did not know how to stop herself.

And did she want too?

She did.

Going into her bathroom, she washed off the makeup she had on, and washed out the dye out of her hair, and she instantly she felt almost normal she thought. Almost.

But I am not all the way there she thought as she got out of the shower and was changing back into a sweatshirt that she wore before everything went south. She heard the doorbell ring. Sighing and knowing her brother would be slow to the door. She chose to exit the bedroom, and head downstairs, and to be the one to open the door.

And yes, she made it before her brother. “Jaime,” Mariah said as she opened door to a bubbly young teenager. Someone who had no worries in her life, or so Mariah was led to believe, and Mariah could not help but long to be that girl once more, but I cannot because I am no longer that girl “Lex is looking forward to the session?”

“I was also looking forward to it, hello Lex” Jaime said with a smile as she entered the house and saw Lex waiting as he leaned against his crutches as they both smiled.

All the while Lex could not help but stare in shock at how normal his big sister was looking all of sudden. She is looking different from breakfast he thought. Whoa. But he knew his sister would not want to talk about it. So, he elected to keep quiet. “Thank you for coming. I know you are off on vacation this week?”

“It is no problem,” Jaime smiled. “It gets me out of the house.”

Lex nodded as he was leaning against his crutches as they walked into the kitchen and immediately the flowers stood out. Jaime saw the flowers, and she could not help but comment on it. “Wow, those are some flowers. Are they for your mother?” she asked of Lex and Mariah. A dozen red and a dozen white roses, wow.

“No, me.” Mariah said softly as she was not in the mood to stick around as she once again looked at the flowers sent to her by her biological father. She needed space. She needed to get out of this house. She knew her mother had wished she had stayed around the house to keep an eye on her brother now that Jaime was here, but she could not I need out of these walls “I need some fresh air. Can you handle being here at the house alone?” she asked of her brother because she did not want to feel trapped in the house.

“Sure,” Lex murmured. “It is not like I am not used to it,” he said of their old life in Chicago. “Although Mom wanted you to stay home?” he asked of his older sister.

“It’s my birthday, and I need some fresh air” Mariah said as she felt herself morphing into a new version of herself and she did not know how she could handle whatever transformation she was going through as she grabbed her coat and left the house through the backdoor. Before Lex could say anything, as he looked at the flowers. “That was quick.”

“It’s her birthday?” Jaime asked.

“Yes,” Lex nodded. It was some birthday, he muttered. And his was not much better because he had been in the hospital he thought, dealing with even less movement than he had now, that was some day he thought. “The flowers are apparently from her biological father?” he murmured and frowned when it became clear that Jaime was not shocked about such a bombshell. Why am I even confessing this, but he counted Jaime as a friend, and he now wondered if she felt the same “You knew?”

The fourteen-year-old did not have a poker face, and the face was present on hers, “How did you find out?” Jaime could not help but ask.

“Mariah told me, yesterday, after she got herself arrested, so I was indeed last to know?” Lex asked a little hurt. Why was that he asked himself. Why was I not told something so critical, something that involved my family?

“I am sure they are plenty of people out there who do not know,” Jaime said softly as she understood why Lex felt hurt. No one wants to be the last to know she thought. Especially about something so fundamental.

So, yeah it is hell to be out of the loop. Not that Jaime knew because she was very much in the loop on all clan related issues. Even though she was normal. Which made her one of the rare ones. Although she knew that it was because she was within the family, so it was not like she could be out of the loop in that case.

If you are living in the same house.

“I meant in my world,” Lex muttered. “Something earthshattering like this and I am the last one to know,” he said. “I do not even know who the guy is, just some name, Max” he allowed. “How can no one not tell me?”

“Probably because they are dealing with it,” Jaime said softly. “Your sister has not wanted to know more, because it is so massive. No one is having an easy time of it, I am told.”

“Well, I wish I knew more,” Lex muttered. “Why cannot I know more?” he wondered. “I feel like there is so much going on in this house that I not a party too,” he confessed of the feeling he had been getting since coming home from rehab. Everything was different.

No one was the same. Mom was walking on eggshells. And Mariah is completely different person. Whether she has washed out that dye out of her hair, but she was not the sister he knew, and now there was so much he did not know. “It does not matter to me if she has some other guy for a biological father, because I know our father loved her. And I love her, but I wish I knew the guy, you know.

Jaime felt for her friend. But still it was not her place to be saying any of this to Lex because she was not part of his family. Outside of these walls, she could know so much, but it was private, and it was a hell of a story. Still, there was something she could add and leave it at that… “You need to ask your mother or even your sister for more, but I can tell you that his name is Max Evans.

“Max Evans” Lex asked. “Who is he?”
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