Happenstance ~M/L C/C~ Pt. 45 added 4/21

vecastone · Post by **vecastone** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 3:49 pm

******bow bow bow !!!!! ********* a roller coaster ??? this is worst than that <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"> <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... s/wink.gif ALT=";)"> what happen with M&L ???? what what ??? oh! and I feel sorry for Zan , poor guy.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 8:03 am

Thank god Max is making a move on Liz! It's about time too!But why did you have to stop there? Sigh now I'll have to wait...and gotta love Michael's reaction when he heard Maria!<img src=http://www.gamers-forums.com/smilies/cwm/cwm/spit.gif ALT=":spit"> Hilarious! So it seems like the CC is coming together. Okay now Zan for some odd reason scares me. I don't like him. <img src="http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... 55ad1f.jpg" style="border:0;"/>

Post by **Angel13** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 7:06 pm

Part 22 “Max, what are you doing?” Isabel’s voice freezes him right in front of Liz, like a bucket of cold water being dumped over his head. He looks over at her before looking back at Liz’s wide eyes and he realizes what he was about to do. Horrified, he backs away and takes a deep breath, and then he turns and follows Isabel into the living room. Isabel just gives him a weird look and says, “What’s Michael doing? Is he coming out?” “I don’t know.” His voice is terse. When they walk into the living room, he sees Alex and Maria sitting on the couch with glasses of wine. He picks up a glass of soda off the counter and walks around the counter, taking a seat on a barstool. What the hell was he doing back there? It’s like he took complete leave of his senses and was aware of nothing else besides what he wanted that very moment…which was to grab Liz and make love to her on the bathroom floor. This isn’t going very well. He swallows and notices the hand holding his glass is shaking so he turns to set it on the counter and sees Liz. She looks up at him briefly – her face a mask of control – before pulling the wine bottle toward her and pouring some into a glass. Her hand is shaking so badly, betraying the calm she’s trying to portray, and he can hear the clinking of glass on glass. She picks it up without looking at him and walks into the living room scanning for a place to sit. “Hey, there she is.” Alex says, moving over to give Liz room to sit between him and Maria. She smiles weakly at him as Isabel takes a seat next to Max. “So what’s this about Max?” Isabel asks, all eyes on him. He’s just about ready to say he should go get Michael when he hears Michael’s bedroom door open. He walks into the living room and sits in a chair opposite the couch and scowls at Max. Mumbling something no one can hear, he shifts uncomfortably in his chair, avoiding eye contact with any of the humans. Liz glances from Michael to Maria and tries to stifle a grin as Alex nudges her in the side. Now that everyone is silent, Liz hears a faint whining sound and she looks around, trying to tell where it’s coming from. She hears it again just when Max starts to talk and she says, “What’s that noise?” “What noise?” Isabel asks her, looking around the living room. Liz hears it again, along with a scratching sound. “That.” She looks at Alex to make sure she’s not hearing things and can tell he’s hearing it, too. “Oh, that’s Bailey. He’s in my room.” Isabel says dismissively. She put Bailey in there before everyone arrived so he wouldn’t jump all over them. Isabel sees the three humans looking at her in confusion and her eyes widen. “Oh! Bailey’s a dog…Max’s dog, actually. The one that I had to walk this morning.” She looks pointedly at Max to make sure he knows of her favor. Liz looks at Max and smiles. “Oh.” A dog? It seems so…normal in the middle of all this weirdness. “You don’t have to keep him locked up because of us.” “He’s wild when people are over…he’ll just jump all over the place. He’s fine.” Isabel tells her dismissively just before they all hear a high-pitched, pathetic howling from her bedroom. Isabel rolls her eyes and says, “You’d think we keep the poor thing locked up in there all day by the way he sounds.” “Really, Isabel. Go let him out. It’s ok.” Liz tells her, giving her an encouraging look. After a glance at Max for permission, Isabel gets up and goes back to her room. Within seconds they hear the loud sound of claws scraping on the floor. Max stands up just as they see a blur of brown fur run into the room and slide across the floor as he tries to make the turn. Alex laughs and says, “It’s like watching Scooby Doo…you know, when their legs start running but they don’t move.” Maria immediately says, “Awwww…he’s so cute!” And she drops to the floor as the dog hurls himself at her in a flurry of fur, legs, and tongue. Bailey quickly leaves Maria behind as he runs over to Michael and jumps on his lap, then quickly off. Max is chasing him around the room and clearly Bailey thinks it’s fun as he runs around the room, stopping quickly to say hello to everyone with a quick lick or jump…staying just out of Max’s reach. “And to think, Max is supposed to be the superior species here.” Alex jokes as Liz and Maria laugh while Bailey makes a quick detour over all three of their laps. The fun stops when Michael claps his hand on his leg and says loudly, “Bailey, come here.” The dog quickly does as he’s told and jumps up in Michael’s lap, sitting…looking around at all his company with his tongue happily hanging out the side of his mouth. “Well, I guess that settles who wears the pants in this family.” Maria laughs as Max rolls his eyes and sits down at the counter. Isabel sits back down and smiles apologetically. “I warned you.” Max glances at Liz and notices her head tilted to the side, her brow furrowed in study. When he follows her gaze, he sees she’s staring at Bailey. Maybe she doesn’t like dogs. His thoughts are interrupted when he hears her whisper, “Bailey.” Bailey immediately flies off of Michael’s lap and over to Liz’s as Isabel gets up again in an attempt to pull him away from Liz. Liz turns to Isabel and says, “No, it’s ok.” Amazingly, Bailey lays right down in her lap…uncharacteristically calm. She runs her hand over his silky coat and looks up to see everyone looking at her. “I…I know him.” She looks down at him with a smile before looking up at Max. “I guess he recognizes me, too.” “What are you talking about?” Maria asks. Liz hasn’t looked away from Max and he asks, “One of the visions?” She nods at him before looking away. “I um…I guess we should talk about why we’re here.” Liz looks at Isabel and suddenly Isabel understands. Liz turns to Maria and says, “I know this is gonna sound…strange. But, have you…been seeing things…like memory flashes…visions?” Maria’s face turns pale and Liz instantly knows that she has. “What? No…what do you mean?” She laughs nervously but Liz is far from fooled. Especially by the quick glance Maria throws in Michael’s direction. “Maria. We’ve all been seeing things. For over three years now, ever since…you know…since we were in Roswell.” Liz tries to get Maria to look at her. Maria studies her for a minute before her gaze sweeps over everyone else. “Like…what kind of things? You never told me about this.” “Well…” Liz looks around, hoping inspiration will strike. “Memories maybe…or they seem like memories. But you know they never happened.” She sees Maria fidgeting and glancing around nervously, unable to make eye contact. “Maybe…” Maria says in a small voice. “I…it’s just…you know, stress. When I’m on the road I don’t get a lot of sleep.” “No, Maria…it’s ok. That’s why we’re here. Max, Alex and I thought we should get together and talk about it. We just found out today that we’ve all been getting them.” Liz tries to reassure her that she’s not the only one. Maybe if she tells her about one of her visions, Maria will realize that it’s ok. Looking at Bailey, Liz says, “Ok…Bailey.” She looks up at Maria as Bailey raises his head back to Liz when he hears his name. “I’ve seen him…had visions of him. Like one, in the park…you know, on the path by the pond I really like?” Maria nods, remembering Liz taking her there. “I’ve seen visions where I’m there with Bailey, and Max…and we’re playing. And when I saw it…it was so real in my mind. Like I was remembering something that had actually happened.” “Wow.” Isabel says. “What else have you seen?” She’s curious to hear about everyone else’s visions. Liz looks at Alex and Max and says, “Well, um…we were talking earlier and…um. Something happened…we found out something.” She gets a nod of encouragement from Alex and she says, “It’s probably not a good idea if we get too into what our visions have been about. But it might be helpful to stick more to who’s in them and stay more general…with the sharing.” Isabel looks between Liz, Max and Alex and asks, “Why…what happened?” “Ok…I’m missing something here.” Maria finally speaks up. “So, we’re all getting these visions. So what? What do they mean?” “We think they’re glimpses. Of another timeline…a timeline that should have happened instead of the one we’re living now.” Max says. “Why would there be another timeline?” Maria is completely confused. At first, she thought the stress of working and being on the road was causing her to hallucinate. But now…of course it has to be some alien related thing. “Would someone just spit it out and tell me what this is all about?” All eyes turn to Isabel and she clears her throat. “Well, I guess it started when we were in high school…” It takes Isabel about fifteen minutes to get through her story about Max visiting her from the future. Alex, Liz and Maria listen in fascination and Liz’s heart skips a beat when she hears about all the people who end up dead. Her parent…her parents knew about the aliens. And they ended up dead. “So…you think these visions, or whatever they are, are from this other timeline…or the other one, the original one?” Maria asks once Isabel finishes. Isabel nods and says, “That’s the only explanation we’ve come up with so far.” “But you kept them, your enemies, from getting that Granolith thing. Right? So we don’t need to worry about Earth being taken over anymore.” Maria voices the thought that everyone else is wondering. “We don’t know. We don’t even know what, or where, the Granolith is. There’s no way to know.” Max says and sees an odd look cross Liz’s face. “Then how do we even know that anything’s different? Seventeen years from when we were 16…that would be next year, right? A lot can happen in one year.” Maria wonders. “We know at least one thing that’s different. In that other timeline, I died when I was 17.” Alex tells her. Maria gasps and puts her hand to her mouth, immediately turning to Alex. “What?! How do you know that? Did he tell Isabel that?” She looks at Isabel and sees the truth. “Max and Kyle saw it, too.” Liz says this as Isabel and Michael snap their eyes to her. “Kyle?” Isabel looks from Liz to Max in question. Max holds his hand up to stop the assault he can see coming and says, “Alex had an idea that if we were all getting these visions, then it might mean that the people in them…the ones who knew about us before…that they might be getting them, too. So Liz called Kyle this morning.” He sees the look of fear on his sister’s face and he quickly adds, “She didn’t tell him anything. Nothing about us. She got him to say something about seeing a vision of Alex…dying in a car accident at 17.” “Well, that too. He also mentioned something about Liz and you having sleepovers and pillow fights.” Alex jokes with a half grin. “So who knows what’s going on in that guy’s head.” “The point is…” Liz smiles at Alex, grabbing his hand. She knows he’s trying to lighten the mood and the situation. “That this is affecting other people…and enough is different to know that the future has been changed.” Maria sits back on the couch with a heavy sigh. She puts her hand up to her forehead and realizes it’s shaking. “I um…I need a minute here.” She looks around and stands up, heading for a glass door that looks like it might lead outside. “Mind if I…” She looks back at Max, motioning toward the door that leads to the balcony. Max shakes his head and she smiles in thanks as she slips outside and takes a deep breath of the cool air. It’s late afternoon and she looks out over the street in front of her…at the random people walking down the sidewalk…and she wishes she were them. Happily going about their day with no idea that aliens exist. She reaches a shaking hand to her pocket and fumbles with her pack of cigarettes trying to get one out and into her mouth. She curses when she can’t get the lighter to light, repeatedly thumbing the metal gears in frustration. The door to the balcony opens and Michael steps out onto the balcony with her, seeing her struggle. “God dammit.” She spits out around the cigarette hanging in her mouth as she tries the lighter once more. Suddenly, Michael’s hand is in front of her, a flame flickering from the tip of his thumb and she looks up at him in shock, then gratitude as she leans in and lights her cigarette. Leaning back and inhaling deeply, she says, “Thanks.” He steps back and says, “Didn’t know you smoked.” She shrugs and asks, “Why would you?” They stand in silence for several minutes, each wrapped up in their own thoughts. After Maria went outside, everyone got up for a much-needed break and he decided to come out and join her…maybe test the waters a little. “So, how’ve you been?” She takes a drag of her cigarette and studies him for a moment. Did the others send him out here to check on her? No, why would they do that? He looks good…her stomach doing that fluttering thing it did the last time she saw him in the Roswell airport. God, she’s acting like a fucking teenager. “Good. I hear you paint…Liz said you were pretty talented.” Michael looks surprised when she says this. Then he shrugs and looks down onto the street. “Not really.” “So uh…what do you think about all this vision stuff?” She asks hesitantly, wanting to hear what he has to say. “It’s fucked up.” He says. She lets out a loud burst of laughter at that and says, “Yah…you can definitely say that much.” He smiles and laughs with her, feeling a little more relaxed for the first time since they got there. “So what are you doing in New York?” “Getting ready to go on tour. And I was worried about Liz. She told me about the little mix up last night.” Maria takes a drag of her cigarette and Michael watches as she exhales a stream of smoke…watches it drift out into the air away from the balcony. He nods, not wanting to get into his part in Liz being upset last night. “You’re a good friend.” Of course, it doesn’t hurt that she has the money to just jump on a plane whenever she wants. She smiles, pleased with what he said and quietly says, “Thank you.” She drops her cigarette on the floor and crushes it with her shoe as she takes out a breath strip and puts it on her tongue. Scrunching up her face in disgust, she says, “Ugh…these things taste awful.” He looks at her in amusement and says, “You suck on that cigarette like it’s candy, and don’t like the taste of a breath mint. That’s some crazy logic you have going on there, Deluca.” He opens the door for her and waits for her to walk inside before following her. ~~~~~~~~~~ “This has to be because of the Granolith. We have no idea what it is or what kind of power it has. Maybe when we were all together in Roswell it set off a trigger of some sort.” Isabel tries to think about this rationally and looks to Max for any insight he might have. He rubs his hand down over his mouth and says, “Maybe. What I’m concerned about are the ramifications of the visions we’re getting. If they are a result of changing time, then is everyone seeing things? Why would it just be us…and those who knew about us before? Our futures wouldn’t have been the only ones changed. You would think that if hundreds of people suddenly started seeing things, we would hear about it in the news.” “Well, we don’t know that everyone who knew about you before is having visions. Just Kyle.” Liz offers. “I guess there’s no way to really know, though. Considering we never told each other until today. They could all be thinking the same thing we were…that they’re the only one.” Max opens a drawer in the desk next to him and grabs a notepad and pen. “I think we should start with everyone we’ve ever seen in our visions. Then move on to where they take place and try to work out a tentative timeframe.” He looks to Liz and sees that she agrees. Maria and Michael walk back in then and Maria takes her seat next to Liz. “You ok?” Liz asks her friend, glad to see some color back on her face. “Yah, thanks.” Maria smiles at her as Max fills them in on what they’re doing. “We’ll just go one at time for now, and I’ll make separate notes for each person.” Max says. “Who wants to start?” He looks around and sees Michael avoiding his gaze before Isabel speaks up. “I’ll start.” She takes a deep breath and wipes her hands on her slacks. “Ok, we don’t need details, just people…keep it general.” Max says, encouraging her. “People…ok, I’ve seen us, all of us here. As far as who I’m sure knew about us, I saw our parents. But…I don’t think they knew until we were older. I was married, at least I think so, when they found out. The Sheriff and Kyle…I’m sure they always knew. They’ve been in a lot of my visions. Tess, or Ava…could be both since I can’t really tell the difference. Tess, I think…I think she was with us early on. I’ve seen her at school with us.” Isabel watches Max quickly write all the names down with notes next to some of them. “And other people…people I don’t recognize. Maybe when you guys go through yours, something will come to me.” Max writes a few more things down before flipping the page and looking up. “Ok, who’s next?” “I’ll go.” Alex says, not exactly sure, but wanting to get it over with. Max writes Alex’s name at the top of the page and waits for him to start talking. “Ok, um…I’ve seen everyone here. Ava…I’ve seen her. Tess is her double, right? Could have been her I guess if she was in school with us like Isabel said. The Sheriff and Kyle. I uh…I never saw Isabel married.” He looks at the floor nervously before looking back up. “I um…I saw her and I together…with uh…kids. My parents, they knew I’m pretty sure. Not until we were older, though.” Max writes, nodding his head. “Ok, this could be a sign of the two different timelines.” He looks up and notices Isabel’s confused expression. “We know that in one timeline, Alex died when he was 17. Maybe in the other one he didn’t.” “That makes sense.” Liz says. “I wonder if the rest of us are getting visions from both timelines, and Alex is only getting them from one.” “We’ll start seeing patterns once we move on to places and time, I’m sure.” Max says, and then looks at Alex. “Anyone else?” Alex shakes his head. “No…that’s all that’s been clear.” He’s kind of glad they won’t be getting into specifics because some of the things he’s seen…there’s no way he could make sense of them. He glances up and catches Isabel watching him but she quickly looks away. Max flips the page and looks at Michael. “Michael? How about you?” Michael gives him an angry look as his gaze flickers over to Maria and back. “Just uh…all of us. And the Valentis.” Max looks at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue. “That’s it?” He wonders what Michael’s not telling them. Michael glares at him and says, “Tess…and some old Indian guy. Can we move on now?” “Ooookay.” Max makes a note on Michael’s page and writes to the side, may be more, before flipping the page. “Liz? Maria?” He looks at the two of them. Liz looks up and says, “I’ve seen all of us and the Valentis. And Bailey, of course.” She smiles and looks down at Bailey as she scratches his ears. “Um…Tess, or Ava…I’m not sure which. And I saw this guy…he has red hair…I saw him with Max a lot.” She sees that Max doesn’t seem surprised to hear that and guesses that he saw that, too. “Your parents…I think they knew. I saw them with you…and a baby. I’m pretty sure it was yours.” Max stops writing and looks at her in confusion. “Mine? Was it…” He wants to know if the baby was hers, too…but she said it was just his. Liz shakes her head and says, “No…just yours. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t…you know, mine.” He scratches behind his ear in confusion wondering who else he would have a baby with and continues to write. “I’ve also seen some strange ones with you, Max. Almost like there were two of you at one time…I saw you, but older. And I was young…still in high school…still living at home.” Isabel speaks up when she hears this. “Max…he told me that the first time he went back in time, he went to you, Liz. A year after the shooting. I bet that’s what you’re seeing.” Liz nods and says, “Yah…that makes sense.” She’s quiet for a minute, thinking about what else she’s seen. “I think I’ve seen the Granolith, too. I’m not sure…I just have a feeling that that’s what it was.” Max looks up in surprise, then makes a note to ask more about that later. “Ok, Maria?” Maria looks to Liz for support, then says, “I’ve seen everyone the rest of you have…all of us, Tess and/or Ava, the Valentis. The guy with the red hair…his name is Brody. He owns the UFO Museum. I used to bring him lunch from the Crashdown every day.” Liz’s eyes go wide and she says, “Oh my God! I totally didn’t realize. Now I remember who he is.” She looks at Maria and they both smile, and say at the same time, “Galaxy sub with extra pepper jack cheese.” Maria smiles and continues. “Um…that’s about it.” Max flips the page and start writing without saying anything. After a few minutes he looks up and says, “I really haven’t seen anyone different than who you’ve all mentioned. Why don’t we move on to places the visions took place in.” He looks up at Isabel and waits for her to start. “The Crashdown…we definitely spent a lot of time there, I think.” She looks at Max and says, “That place we were taken to in the desert. Those rocks…I’ve seen them.” Max nods, knowing he’s seen them also. He rips out a blank piece of paper and makes a quick drawing of the rock formation Isabel is talking about and holds it up for everyone else to see. “Does everyone else recognize this from any of your visions?” He sees everyone nod in surprise and he puts it down before making a note about it and looking at Isabel to continue. “Of course, home and school. I’ve also seen something that looks like a large camp…there was fighting going on, a battle or war…something like that.” She looks at the floor, trying to remember more about where it might be. “How old were you…could you guess at the time period?” Max asks her, curious. She looks up and nods, “Older…we were definitely older. We looked tired, dirty…beaten.” “Who did you see there?” Liz asks her. “Myself, Kyle, Max and Maria. Alex was there.” She glances nervously at Max, then Alex, not sure how detailed to get. Max gives her a look that says to go on. “He was…hurt I think. We were kneeling in the dirt around Alex and Max was trying to heal him or something. I’m not sure what was going on…the whole thing was kind of chaotic. There was a lot of other activity going on around us.” As Max writes, a silence descends on the room as everyone thinks about what Isabel’s vision could mean. “Jesus, I can’t seem to stay alive in any timeline.” Alex jokes with a small smile. Liz wants to laugh and cry at the same time as she wraps her arms around his neck. They’re both chuckling softly and Liz says, “Maybe we should just lock you up now in a padded room.” “Ok, since we know that I went back in time twice…Isabel, can you remember what I looked like. Scars, hair, anything that stands out?” Max asks, getting an idea on how they can distinguish between the two timelines. “Um, you looked…tired. Like you’d been fighting for a long time. You reminded me of videos I’d seen of soldiers in war. You were dirty and your clothes were torn. Your hair was short.” She shrugs and says, “I don’t know…you just looked…old. I mean, I was sixteen…so of course you’d look old to me then.” Liz realizes what he’s doing and she speaks up. “When I saw you, you had long hair. So now we know we’re seeing two different timelines.” “Maybe.” Max says. “Isabel, what did I look like in that vision you were just telling us about?” “You had long hair.” She’s nodding and looking at Liz, knowing that they’ve seen the same Max from the same time period. “You were wearing leather…we all were. But your hair, it was long. You looked worse when I saw you in my room…thinner.” “Ok, so maybe when I went back the first time, no one had really died yet. He told Isabel that he was the only one left when he went to her. I wish we could know more about why I went to Liz that first time.” He’s tapping his pen on the counter in thought. “Let’s just move on for now.” He looks at Isabel again. “What else?” “That place in the desert, I’ve seen us there. Kyle was with us, but Alex wasn’t. But the area looked different, like the rock formation had exploded or something.” “I’ve seen that, too.” Max says, thinking back to the day that he, Isabel and Liz were there and he saw the vision of all of them walking down the rocks…dust and debris all around them. “And I’ve seen us all in an old van. Kyle was there, too, and Alex wasn’t. It looked like we were living out of it or something.” Alex looks at Max and says, “Sounds like maybe those happened in the second timeline since I wasn’t there.” Isabel continues, “There are other places that I don’t recognize. A house, or apartment…I think I lived there.” “Ok, anything else you can think of?” Max asks as he writes. “No…not really.” Isabel says. Flipping the page, Max looks at Alex. “The Crashdown, but I was always there as a kid so that doesn’t surprise me. The UFO Museum. There was also one where we were all in some lounge…looked like a casino or something. Maria was singing on stage. We were all there with Kyle and Ava or Tess. You weren’t there, though. And another time…there was an old bar. I saw myself, Isabel, Michael, Maria…and you and Liz.” Alex glances at Liz and takes a sip of his wine. “How old were we? Could you tell what was going on?” Max asks. “Young. In both of those we were really young. I don’t know, the first one where Maria was singing…we were all dancing. Except Liz, she was sitting by herself. I didn’t get that anything major was going on besides Maria singing. The other one, we were all happy…celebrating. You and Liz…uh…looked like you just got married.” He sees Liz jerk her head toward him in surprise and Max looks up…his gaze flicking briefly toward Liz before he looks back at Alex. “Like I said, we were pretty young…I’d say late teens, early twenties at the most. We were younger when we were in the lounge at the casino.” Max makes more notes before motioning for Alex to continue. “Ok, um…I’ve seen a house, a backyard. I was there with Isabel and two little kids. I think we lived there but the house didn’t seem familiar to me. I’ve also seen the school, my house, Liz’s house…just normal places around Roswell.” Alex looks at Liz and sees her give him a knowing look, then says, “There’ve been other places, places I don’t know how to describe. In my dreams…they’re more disjointed, like I’m seeing things that happened to other people, not myself. I saw death…lots of death.” He shakes his head of the memory and says, “I’m not really sure I should go into it.” Liz grabs his hand, remembering how he would wake up from nightmares and listening to what he’d been dreaming about. It all just seemed so awful. “Was it us? Were we the ones who were dead?” Michael asks. Alex looks up at him and says, “Everybody…everyone was dying. Not just us…everyone.” ~TBC~

Post by **roswellkitkat** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 8:02 am

I don't know how you do it Angel, but this is awesome! I am so glad the group is working together to get to the bottom of the visions! <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"> <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"> <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"> <div style="text-align:center">Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.</div> <div style="text-align:center">Rudyard Kipling, English author</div> <

vecastone · Post by **vecastone** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 5:06 pm

ITA with Roswellkitkat !! "They are stronger together" <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)">

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Thu Sep 25, 2003 6:30 am

<img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"> <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"> <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"> <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"> <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"> <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"> <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"> <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"> <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"> <img src="http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... 55ad1f.jpg" style="border:0;"/>

Post by **Angel13** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 11:01 am

Thanks for reading everyone! Check out the new banner on the first page. <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/Grin_anim.gif ALT=":grin"> Whadaya think? Part 23 Alex drains his glass as everyone’s eyes remain on him. “So, that’s it for me.” He gets up and walks into the kitchen to pour himself another glass. He glances over and Liz offers him a small smile and he knows everyone is still stuck on what he just told them. He can empathize with their shock…he’s had a lot of time to think about the things he saw. Max thinks about what Alex said and wonders again at the wisdom of knowing these things. He knows that they have to, they need to figure out where they go wrong. They need to understand what decisions they made before and where they made the wrong ones. Or all the sacrifices made to change the future will have been made for nothing. He thinks back to what Liz said to him earlier about not knowing if or when she’ll die and he realizes that she knew. She knew what Alex had been dreaming about. He glances at Liz and wonders for the hundredth time why he would have been so determined that they not be together. Both times he went back…out of all the things he could have wanted to change, keeping himself away from Liz was at the top. Why? Because she dies? That can’t be it…why not give some kind of clue about how it happens so he can prevent it instead of insisting they never be together? And why didn’t Cal tell him about the bond? Why make them think that that Liz’s bond was gone when all he did was put up a temporary barrier? He had to have known that if he and Liz ever got back together that the barrier would be broken. He’s still not even quite sure how the bond developed in the first place. He has so many questions and so few answers. When they’re done here, he’s calling Cal to get some. He shakes his head and looks at Michael. “Michael? You next.” Michael looks up, startled, and says, “Yah, um…the Crashdown. I’m pretty sure I worked there. I also saw a crappy apartment…I think I lived there while we were still in school. I’ve also seen the Valenti’s house. And a cave…I’ve seen it in a couple of different visions. I don’t know where it’s at, though.” He shifts uncomfortably in his chair and his gaze darts around nervously. “And a house…don’t know where it was either.” Max nods and asks, “Who was with you at the cave and the house?” “At the cave, all of us plus Kyle and Ava. Alex wasn’t there. It seemed pretty intense, whatever was going on. Everyone was pissed at Ava and you told everyone to leave. Another time at the cave, it was just me and Kyle…we were older. A lot older than when we were all there together. We had guns and we both looked hurt…I don’t know, we had blood all over but it was hard to tell if it was ours.” Michael scratches at his eyebrow and looks up, hoping Max will forget about the house he mentioned. “Ok. What about the house?” Max asks and Michael rolls his eyes. Michael shrugs and says, “Just me…and uh…Maria.” He says the last word as fast as he can, mumbling as he turns his head away. “You and who?” Max looks up, confused. He didn’t hear the last part. Michael glares at him and says, “Maria.” Max raises his eyebrows and tries to hold back his smile as he leans down and writes. Maria feels all eyes on her and she cries, “What? Why are you looking at me? It wasn’t my vision.” Max looks over at Liz then and says, “Ok, your turn.” as he flips to the next page. “The Crashdown. I’ve had a couple of visions from there with all of us. Those rocks out in the desert, too. But each one was different with different people. I never saw Alex there, though.” She smiles a small smile to herself and says, “My old balcony. That’s where I saw the older you with long hair. And you, the younger you, were um…singing to me from below.” Max meets her gaze and can’t help the smile that comes to his face. “Singing?” Liz nods and notices the way his ears turn slightly red. “With a mariachi band in tow.” “That is just about the sappiest thing I’ve ever heard.” Maria chuckles as Max looks more embarrassed by the second. “But very sweet.” “I’ve had other visions from my balcony. Mostly just Max and I were there, though.” Liz continues, wanting to move on. “So what were you guys doing in the other visions?” Maria wonders what other romantic ideas Max has up his sleeve. Liz ducks her head slightly and says, “Oh, um…that’s private. It’s nothing really…important.” She watches Max as he writes and scratches behind his ear. And her heart skips a beat when she sees his lips curve into a small smile. “Can we move on?” Michael says impatiently. “Yah, um…a cave. I think that’s where the Granolith is, or was. I’m not sure, but it’s just a feeling I get. I don’t know exactly where the cave is, but there was a separate chamber that had a black cone-shaped object in the center. I sensed that it had a lot of power.” Liz looks at Michael and asks, “I think I saw the same thing you did, at least it sounds like the same people were there.” Michael nods and says, “Yah. Now that you mention it, I did see that black thing. I was just paying more attention to what was going on around it.” “I’ve seen your parent’s house, too.” Liz says to Max. “And an apartment I didn’t recognize. We were all young when I saw us there. I’ve also seen visions that take place outside but I can’t be sure where they are. Except the one by that pond in Central Park. There are other places, but I don’t recognize them. Could be the same places everyone else has mentioned. Oh, and the prom. I saw us all at the prom.” She shrugs her shoulders and says, “But I’ve never seen anything that looks like we’re fighting, or at war.” A thought suddenly occurs to her and she says, “Wait, that’s not entirely true. I saw Max and I running, and stopping on a bridge. It looked like we were running from something or someone and then we just jumped.” “How old were we?” Max asks. “Young…really young.” Liz says, her brow furrowing at the thought of living such a dangerous life at such a young age. “Have you seen any where we’re older?” Isabel asks, wondering why Liz only sees visions from when they were young and thinking that can only mean she wasn’t around. Liz is silent for a moment as she thinks and she can feel Max looking at her. “Well, there are the ones with Bailey. How old is he?” “Almost three.” Max answers with relief. “There you go. See, I at least made it long enough to meet Bailey, right?” Liz offers a shaky smile to Max, knowing he’s thinking about how she dies. “Ok, so…Maria? You’re next.” Max says, pushing thoughts of Liz dying out of his head for now. Maria shrugs and says, “I haven’t really seen anything you guys haven’t.” Her gaze darts to Michael for a second before she looks away. “Um…I’ve also seen one where we’re running, but I don’t know what from. We were in the desert and um…” She looks at Liz nervously, suddenly thinking she might know what was going on in her vision. Liz smiles encouragingly at her and says, “It’s ok, Maria. Who was there?” “Me, Michael, Kyle and um…Max.” Maria bites her bottom lip. “Do you know what we were running from?” Max asks her. She looks up at him and says, “No. We were struggling, though. Kyle was carrying me and I was screaming and hitting him, like I wanted him to put me down. And Michael was dragging you. You were struggling with him, trying to get him to let you go. We were all upset…crying.” She says the last part so softly, Max has a hard time hearing her. “What did Max look like, Maria?” Isabel asks, wondering if they can figure out which timeline this took place in. “Could you tell how old you were?” “I’m not sure how old we were but Max had short hair. We definitely weren’t wearing leather, more like cargo type clothes.” “Maybe this is the second timeline, then.” Isabel offers, wondering what was going on in Maria’s vision. Why were they upset? Did someone just die? Could have been her or Liz since neither one of them was there. Judging by the fact that Maria was so upset in the vision, she’s guessing Liz. Only the tapping of Max’s pen interrupts the silence as he stares down at what he’s written. Is Maria seeing the aftermath of Liz’s death? How did he end up alone? He can’t imagine everyone around him dying…everyone he loves. What would his goal be in going back to Isabel? Was it just to get them out of Roswell? To keep the Granolith from their enemies? To keep he and Liz apart? Why didn’t he tell Isabel more specific details? They could be doomed to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again if they don’t figure this out. His thoughts are interrupted when he feels Bailey licking his hand. Looking down, Max scratches Bailey’s ear and says, “Hey buddy.” Looking back at Maria, he asks, “So, the other visions you’ve had…which ones are the same? And if you could add anything, that’d be great.” Maria was afraid he’d ask her that. “I’ve seen all of us at the Crashdown. There was an apartment, I think Michael lived there…I’ve seen it a few times.” She looks down and before Max can ask, she mutter, “Just Michael and I were there.” Liz grins and looks at Maria. “And what were you and Michael doing in these visions?” She watches her friend squirm and feels a little bad for her. She knows how she feels…she was in the hot seat just a few minutes ago. “Nothing.” Maria says quickly. “Nothing any of you need to hear about, anyway.” Isabel eyes Michael, noting his discomfort and says, “Interesting.” Michael glares at her and she shoots him a brilliant smile before saying, “Anything else, Maria?” Maria shakes her head and says, “No.” Max flips the page on the notepad and says, “That leaves me. I’ve also seen us in the Crashdown. And Alex…I was with him in a car, or a van. I think…I was trying to heal him but he was um…I think he was dead.” He looks at Alex in apology and Alex just shrugs and says, “Hey man…thanks for trying.” Max shakes his head at the absurdity of this conversation and continues. “Yah, um…the rocks. I’ve seen us all there. Not Alex, but I think Kyle was there. I didn’t recognize him at first, but now that I think about it, it had to be him. I’ve also seen…” He glances at Maria for confirmation. “Brody?” When she nods, he says, “I’m pretty sure I worked at the UFO museum with him. I saw fighting…it looked like we were older. I was there, and Liz, Alex, and Michael. I had some sort of…shield coming out of my hand and Michael was blasting at someone or something out of my sight.” “A shield?” Isabel knows she’s never seen Max put up any kind of shield. He turns to her and Michael and says, “After I saw that, I tried to do it myself.” He shrugs. “I couldn’t. We must have had a lot more practice with our powers before.” Isabel makes a distressed sound and puts her head into her hands. “God! This is all my fault. Look at how much I changed…I mean, we don’t even have control over our powers. Liz has more control than we do, and she’s a human.” “Isabel…” Max puts his hand on her shoulder, trying to tell her it’s not her fault. “No…it is. What was I thinking? I took everything you told me in complete faith and just blindly did what you asked. I should have made him tell me more before I agreed to help him.” She runs her fingers angrily through her hair. Liz gets up and sits on the coffee table in front of Isabel, putting her hands on her knees to get her attention. “Isabel, you were sixteen years old. And he was your brother…of course you would do what he asked. Especially since he told you that everyone would die if you didn’t. You can’t blame yourself. Look at it this way, obviously I didn’t do it right the first time either…hence the need for Max to go back a second time.” Isabel glances up and sees the smile on Liz’s face and she feels her own lips involuntarily curl up themselves. “Yah, there is that.” Isabel says as the two girls laugh at themselves. “If we want to start taking blame, I think I get to claim the grand prize. If no one died in the first timeline…except for Mr. Gets-himself-killed-in-any-timeline Whitman…then I managed to kill everyone off but Max in the second timeline with whatever decisions I made.” Liz turns to wink at Alex before looking back up at Isabel. “So, the fact that we’re all here and alive right now…I’d say you’ve got a pretty good track record so far.” Isabel puts her hand over Liz’s and says, “But you were almost killed…” Liz rolls her eyes. “Almost schmalmost. I wasn’t. I’m still here, right?” Nodding her head, Isabel looks at Liz gratefully and says, “Yah.” She squeezes Liz’s hand and says, “I’m really glad you are.” Liz smiles up at Isabel and says to the group, “I think that maybe we’ve got enough to think about right now. Why don’t we break for the night and go over what we have so far and try to come up with some kind of tangible timeline?” She looks to Max for his input and stands up. “I think we should call Cal.” Michael offers. Max nods and says, “I was going to anyway. There are other…things I need to talk to him about.” He sees Liz turn toward him and he says to her, “We can go up to the loft and call him from there.” “Wait. Why can’t we all be there…put him on speakerphone.” Michael protests as he stands up. Max feels everyone’s questioning gaze and doesn’t exactly want to share he and Liz’s problem with them yet. “Liz and I need to talk to him…privately.” His tone tells Isabel and Michael that it’s not up for discussion. Liz glances over at Alex and Maria and gives them a look that says she’ll tell them later. “You guys take your time. We can just have something to eat.” Isabel looks toward the windows and notices the fading daylight. “Maybe we should order some Chinese or something. I didn’t realize it’d gotten so late.” She looks over at the meager food offerings sitting on the counter, realizing that it’s not enough food for a meal. “That sounds great. You have a menu?” Alex stands up wanting to put Isabel at ease. ~~~~~~~~~~ Liz looks around the loft once they climb the stairs. Their place is just huge…she can’t imagine having this much space in New York. “Wow…you guys really have a great place. I’m jealous.” She looks over the large wooden desk, a lamp and computer monitor sitting on top of it. There are two comfy leather chairs sitting nearby and the walls are lined with bookshelves. “Thanks. It’s ok.” He says, pulling out the desk chair for her. She sits down as he takes a seat in one of the leather chairs next to the desk and pulls the phone on the desk closer to him. He grabs a leather Franklin planner and flips through the addresses, looking for Cal’s number and Liz absently wonders if her name is in there. He looks up at her and says, “So…that was a lot of information. More than I expected.” Liz thinks he sounds nervous and wonders if it has anything to do with what happened in the hallway earlier. She’s confused about what exactly did happen…or didn’t. “Yah.” She nods, studying his face…his eyes. In the soft lamplight, the color looks almost translucent and she’s sure she’s never quite seen eyes like his. As her eyes travel down to his lips, she sees his adam’s apple jerk reflexively as he swallows and she looks away quickly. “Part of me wants to know what happened in the past two timelines. I mean, it’s so fascinating that we’ve lived these completely different lives. But the other part thinks it’s just really wrong to know anything about them.” Max nods, agreeing. “I just wish we knew more about the ultimate goal I had in mind to travel back in time. I wish I would have given more details about what exactly we should be looking out for.” He looks at the phone and takes a deep breath, not exactly looking forward to calling Cal. He told Cal that he would only contact him in an emergency…but he would qualify this as an emergency. Sort of. Giving a last reassuring look to Liz…or is it to get one from her…he pushes the speakerphone button and dials the cell phone number Cal gave him. They listen to the quiet ring one, two, three times…both of their stomachs twisting in anticipation. After the third ring, they hear Cal’s voice. “Call me back in five minutes.” His tone is abrupt and before Max can say anything, the line goes dead. Liz flinches and says, “And I thought everyone in Los Angeles was supposed to be laid back and friendly.” The corner of her mouth quirks up as she looks over at Max. Max glances at his watch, noting the time and says, “Sorry. He probably won’t be…friendly.” “You don’t have to apologize for him, Max.” Liz says, leaning back in the comfortable leather desk chair and crossing her legs. She swings the chair back and forth as she studies the books lining the wall next to her. There’s quite a variety…everything from business and marketing textbooks to travel books to romance novels. She plucks a Danielle Steel book from the shelf and turns to Max with her eyebrows raised. “Isabel’s.” He says. “Although I caught Michael up here reading one once. He’ll deny it if you ask him, though.” He chuckles softly and the sound causes the hair on the back of Liz’s neck to stand up. She tucks the book back in its spot and says, “I don’t even know what you do. You know, for a living.” She glances over all the books again and guesses he went to school for business. She knows that Michael’s in school and paints. And Isabel works in fashion…at least she did three years ago. “I’m a mergers and acquisitions consultant.” He sees the confusion on her face and smiles. “Basically I help companies take over other companies. It pays the bills.” He shrugs, thinking her job is probably much more exciting than his. She looks at him curiously. “Sounds like you don’t like it much.” “Someone around here needs to make money. Besides, who really likes their job anyway?” He looks away, thinking of all the fights the three of them had in the beginning about money. Michael always wanted to just change dollar bills into higher denominations. Isabel wouldn’t settle for anything but fashion and it doesn’t exactly pay a lot. So it was always up to Max to keep their heads above water financially. It’s not like he hates his job. In the beginning, it was exciting…challenging. But now he has a senior level position, an office with a view and a department of 35 under him. Sometimes the monotony gets to him, though. His mentor and boss, Bill, often comes to his office at night after everyone goes home and they sit and look out over the skyline while Bill smokes a cigar and drinks whiskey. Bill’s the one who gave him a chance out of college and he’s watched Max’s career with a keen eye. During their late night chats, they talk about work, their families, and their lives…well, Bill talks and Max listens. Max doesn’t contribute much, sometimes throwing in a generic story here and there so as not to make himself seem too mysterious. Hell, they don’t even know his real last name. They know Max Campbell. And Max Campbell has a carefully crafted background, family and education…all of it completely false. No, he can’t exactly enjoy his job because he can’t ever really be himself. He’s lied to everyone he works with for the last ten years and it’s just become second nature. Max Campbell likes his job. Max Campbell has many business friends and acquaintances. Max Campbell is dedicated, outgoing, and ruthless when it comes to business. But Max Evans…he’s a completely different person. “I don’t really like talking about work…it’s extremely unexciting. I’d rather hear about what you do.” He changes the subject, really wanting to know about what she does…what kind of research she’s doing. Liz smiles, knowing he wants to talk about something else, and says, “I’m part one out of ten different research studies in the Cancer Institute at NYU. I work on the stem cell team.” “Stem cells.” Max has heard about stem cell research but doesn’t really know anything about it. “So…you’ll have to humor me because I’m not really sure what that is.” He smiles, embarrassed and thinking he should probably know more about it. “Well, right now I’m trying to prove that adult stem cells can be totipotent.” She sees the blank look on his face and smiles. “Totipotent stem cells are capable of developing into any kind of cell…liver, pancreas, brain. Typically, scientists think that the only place you can find totipotent stem cells is from a human embryo. For a long time, adult stem cells have been thought of as only multipotent…meaning they’re only capable of developing into a limited number of tissue types. I’m trying to prove that theory wrong.” “So…what would that mean if you could prove it?” “It would mean that instead of using embryonic stem cells in research and clinical trials, we could use adult stem cells. It would put an end to the debate about the ethics of using unborn embryos for scientific research. We wouldn’t have to anymore.” She shrugs and nervously tugs on the end of her ponytail as it hangs over her shoulder. “Wow. That’s…what you’re doing is so…important.” He’s blown away. He always knew she was intelligent, but he had no idea. She laughs a little and says, “Well, I’m not the only one doing this research…but hopefully I’ll be the first to prove it.” “I just…wow. Your parents must be really proud.” Max smiles at her and sees her smile fade as she looks away. He can’t imagine why they wouldn’t be, or why she suddenly has a sad look on her face. “Yah. Um…” Liz looks at her watch and says, “I think it’s been five minutes. We should probably call him back.” Max nods and dials Cal’s number again, still wondering what’s going through Liz’s mind. Is she sad because she doesn’t see her parents very often? Or maybe something happened to one of her parents. No, Kyle’s wife specifically said that her parents wanted to see her. While he’s still contemplating the workings of Liz’s head, he hears Cal pick up. “Max.” He says simply…already knowing who it is. “Cal. I hope I’m not interrupting anything important.” Max says. “What do you need?” Cal doesn’t answer Max, wanting to get to the point of this phone call as quickly as possible. Max takes a deep breath and asks, “Do you know anything about the Granolith being used to go back in time?” They can hear the tinkling of ice against a glass before Cal says, “You’ve seen the visions…and you’re just calling me with questions now?” “You know?” Max feels a small thread of anger twist through him. “Why didn’t you let us know?” “What for? Time’s been changed…twice. Nothing you can do about it now. Unless you wanted to take another stab at it. What is it you think I can tell you?” Cal’s voice sounds annoyed. “We…we didn’t know until today. Isabel told us…” “She shouldn’t have. That’s kind of the whole point of changing the future…no one should know about it.” Cal says. “But the visions. We’re all getting them. We’ve been trying to piece together what happened in both timelines…but…” “Why would you do that?!” Cal almost yells. “Look, you don’t need to know anything about those timelines. They have no relevance to the here and now…it’ll just misguide you. Don’t worry about the visions…the Granolith can fix that.” “The Granolith. We think it’s the reason we’re getting the visions…because we were close to it in Roswell.” Max tells him. “Probably. That combined with the fact that it was the first time you’ve been close to the Granolith since you matured into adults, it messed with your memories. If you were close to it all the time, it would have adjusted eventually to your alien biorhythms. The three of you need to get to the Granolith and let it adjust to your presence…then the visions should eventually go away.” Max looks at Liz, and sees the confusion on her face that probably matches his own. “But…everyone’s getting them. Not just me, Isabel and Michael. Liz, Maria, Alex and at least one other…human we know of are having them also.” Silence. For a moment, Max thinks Cal must have hung up on them. Finally he speaks. “That’s…uh…Jesus. Liz, I understand. You changed her when you healed her. How many people have you been going around healing?” “No one. Just her. Well…and my dog. He had an infection when I got him…” “I don’t wanna hear about your fucking dog, Max.” Cal sounds angry now…and frustrated. They hear him take a deep breath and he says, “You must have healed these people in another timeline. It’s the only explanation. It would have had to be a life or death healing situation for them to change that much.” Max runs his hand through his hair and says, “We saw them all. We’ve all seen fighting…war…death. That’s why I went back in time. What we need to know now is if it worked this time. If we’ve avoided that future I wanted to change.” “I can’t tell you that, Max. I’d say that you all just need to do what your future self told Isabel and trust that he knew what he was talking about. You’ve done ok so far…staying out of sight and keeping yourselves anonymous. Besides that incident a few years ago…” Cal starts thinking and asks, “What exactly did your future self tell Isabel?” “He uh…told her that the three of us had to get out of Roswell immediately and never go back. He told her to keep the Granolith away from our enemies and he uh…” Max glances at Liz and she nods to him, telling him to tell Cal everything. “He told her that she needed to keep me away from Liz. He actually said that that was his goal the first time he went back also…to keep Liz and I apart.” “Sounds like he had all the bases covered. It was Liz that led your enemies to you three years ago. That could have ended disastrously. You’re lucky. Like I said, do what he told Isabel and you should be ok. You have to trust that he knew what he was doing.” More ice against glass, then, “You got out of Roswell and avoided whatever shit would have gone down there. You still have control of the Granolith. Liz is your problem…I hope you’re staying away from her.” Max has been watching Liz’s face, watching the crease on her forehead get deeper and deeper as Cal spoke. He knows exactly what she’s thinking…and feeling. Guilt and fear being the predominant emotions at the moment. He grabs her hand in his and makes her look at him as he shakes his head, telling her that it’s not her fault. The silence is obviously too much for Cal and he asks, “You have me on speakerphone, don’t you?” They hear him slam his glass down. “Shit. She’s sitting right there, isn’t she?” “Yes, I’m here.” Liz says, her voice sounding steadier than she feels. “Hey, nothing personal sweetheart.” Cal’s voice sounds suddenly softer, sincere. “I wanted her here because we have something else to discuss with you.” Max keeps Liz’s hand in his when she makes a move to pull it away. “What would that be?” Cal asks carefully, thinking he knows what Max wants to discuss. “The bond.” Max says, knowing perfectly well Cal knows what they want to ask him. “You lied.” “For your own good, Max. And for Liz’s. When I saw that the bond couldn’t be broken…it took everything out of me to just get the block up on her end. It was for your safety…and hers.” “But why couldn’t you break it. You said you could if we hadn’t uh…consummated it.” Liz says. “And we didn’t.” “I couldn’t. Your bond is strong…probably started years ago, maybe when Max healed you. I don’t know what happened to cause the awakening…usually that occurs during intercourse between a bonded king and his chosen queen. Obviously that’s why the others assumed you were with child…when the bond is initially consummated, an heir will be conceived to continue and protect the royal line. The block I placed is for your protection. As long as it remains, no one will know who you are.” “So there’s no way to get rid of it and keep me from sending out signals to every alien on earth?” Liz can’t believe there’s nothing they can do. “No, I’m sorry. Technically, you are Max’s chosen queen. There’s no way to undo that. Once we choose our mates…it’s for life. There’s no breaking that bond. As much as it sucks…there it is. I’ve done all I can do to protect you.” Max rubs his forehead with the tips of his fingers. “There has to be something that can be done.” “There’s only one thing that will break your bond.” Max and Liz sit up straight when they hear this. “Death. If one of you dies, the bond will be permanently broken.” Liz rolls her eyes and her shoulders sag. That wasn’t exactly what she was hoping to hear. “Look, I don’t think you understand how strong this thing is. For an awakening to occur without consummation…that bond is deep. It had to have been long before. Liz, I’ve given you a normal life by putting that block up. Take it and go. You’re human for the most part as well as Max. And I know neither one of you realizes what will happen if this bond were fully connected. Think about what it was like before…if you actually consummate this thing…you won’t be two people anymore. You’ll never be free.” It’s the same argument Max had earlier when Liz wanted to throw caution to the wind. But to hear it confirmed…she just doesn’t know how she can just go and cut Max out of her life forever. “What about the others?” Max asks quietly. “Is it the same for them?” “In a way, yes. They’ll only be able to bond once, so they better be sure about their choices. But it’s not quite the same…their mates won’t be in danger because of it. Liz is special because she’s marked as the queen and that comes with its own boatload of baggage.” Cal explains, feeling a tinge of regret that they never learned these things when they were supposed to. “What if we did…you know, consummate the bond and break the block? What if we decided to do that?” Liz asks, seeing the shocked look on Max’s face. She knows he’d never agree…she just wants all the facts while she can get them. Cal laughs and says, “Besides attracting every alien on this planet…and off…to you? I guess you’d have some mind-blowing sex before you die. Sugar, you can’t possibly be considering this…it’d be suicide. We aren’t equipped to protect you on this planet. I’m it, your only line of defense. At home…you’d be surrounded by guards 24/7. Look at what happened last time. You made it what…a few hours? Not only would you be putting yourself in danger, you’d be a liability to Max. They’d use you…just like they did before.” “But they’re dead. Aren’t we somewhat safer now?” Liz asks. “Those weren’t your only enemies. Not only are there still skins out there…but others can come here at any time. Earth isn’t exactly ready to deal with intergalactic travelers.” Cal says sarcastically. “You have to protect me, though…right?” She asks carefully. And just as carefully, Cal says, “Yes.” “Because I’m your queen?” “Yes.” “Does that mean you have to do what I tell you?” The corner of Liz’s mouth turns up, knowing she’s making Cal nervous. She hears Cal quietly tell her yes and she says cheerily, “Just checking. I won’t ask you to do anything you don’t want to do…don’t sound so worried.” She chuckles softly when she hears his sigh of relief. “Ok, just one more question about this and I’ll stop bugging you.” “Just one?” Cal asks, amused. “Or two. What if you put up like, multiple blocks…or maybe a block on Max’s side, too? Is there any way to make the barrier so strong that it can’t be broken?” She blushes, thinking it sounds so obvious that she just wants to find a way to have sex with Max. “Good question. I don’t know. But there’d be no way to ever know…what if I put up a hundred blocks and they still broke? There’s no way of knowing what would happen…the risk of finding out would be too huge.” The tone of Cal’s voice is firm and he tries to convey the seriousness of what Liz is talking about. Liz sits back in defeat and says, “Thank you…for answering my questions.” Her voice is soft…sad. Not wanting to deal with the fact that he and Liz can never be together, Max thinks about the other problem at hand…the visions. “You said we had to go to the Granolith…that it would help us with the visions.” “Yah, if you can connect with the Granolith…it will adjust and repair the damage that’s been done…adjust itself…so you won’t get visions of other timelines anymore. The Granolith is like a living thing. It’s aware. And without you there, close by, it probably picked up on your biorhythms like I said and it got confused. You’re going to have to bring everyone who’s having visions…anyone who was healed by you in another timeline will be getting visions too. If I had known what had been done sooner, I would have told you that when we were all still in Roswell.” Call tells him. “You should go as soon as possible.” “But we don’t even know where the Granolith is.” Max says. “I don’t either. Browan hid the Granolith from me after the crash.” Cal says in defeat. “I think I know where it’s at.” Liz says quietly as she looks at Max. Max looks at her a moment, thinking. “Do you have to be there, Cal? Will we need your help to get it to work?” “Maybe. I can be there if you want me. Just let me know when you plan on going and I’ll meet you.” “What about people who don’t know anything about Max, Isabel and Michael in this timeline? We can’t risk letting them know now.” Liz wonders how they’d get Kyle there without him knowing what’s going on. “Don’t worry about that. They probably don’t even know what it is they’re seeing.” Cal says. “Call me when you make the arrangements, Max, and you can tell me where to meet you.” “Ok. Thank you…and I’m sorry for having to call you again.” “Right. Remember what I said, Liz. Take the chance I’ve given you and move on with your life. I’ll see you all later.” The line goes dead then and Liz closes her eyes thinking that it’s a lot easier said than done. Just move on with her life? If it were only that simple. ~TBC~

Post by **roswellkitkat** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 12:51 pm

That is some messed up stuff there. But an excellent update, as always! Now how are you going to fix all this? And the banner totally rocks! <img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... humpup.gif ALT=":thumbsup"> <div style="text-align:center">Knowing you'll be haunting me to the end of time? It's a dream come true...</div> <div style="text-align:center">Angel to Spike</div>

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 7:36 am

Angel I have no idea how you are going to fix this massive problem between liz and max but I have faith in you! I know this is gonna pan out well (though I have no idea how). It is so obvious that they want to jump wach other (<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... s/wink.gif ALT=";)"> ) so let's hope that they can do that really soon!<img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/lol.gif ALT=":lol"> And the banner is amazing!<img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... humpup.gif ALT=":thumbsup"> <img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... humpup.gif ALT=":thumbsup"> <div style="text-align:center"><img src="http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... f8323d.jpg" style="border:0;"/></div>

vecastone · Post by **vecastone** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 1:49 pm

Wow !!! Awesome as usual. What a great update. This is getting better and better. I tottally enjoy Liz´s questions, and Dam* Cal he alredy knew about Future Max visits. How , how !! ??? I´ll be here biting my nails ( sort of speak ) <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"> <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... tongue.gif ALT=":b"> <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/love.gif ALT=":love"> <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/wavey.gif ALT=":wave">

Post by **majiklmoon** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 10:14 pm

Oh wow....Angel...i've been so bad about reading lately, but i'm finally getting caught up. This is so so good! <center>It all started with a boy, a girl, and a silver handprint.</center><center><a href=http://pub84.ezboard.com/bmajiklmoonsrealm><img src=http://members.aol.com/majiklmoon/image ... a></center>

vecastone · Post by **vecastone** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 12:49 pm

I forgot to mention how beautiful banner you have <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"> !! I love when stories have banners because sometimes I printed them and took them home. <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/wavey.gif ALT=":wave">

Post by **Angel13** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 12:44 pm

Thanks for the great feedback everyone! Part 24 “Ok, how about some egg rolls. Gotta have egg rolls.” Alex says as he and Isabel both lean over the Chinese delivery menu laying on the kitchen counter. Isabel adds egg rolls to their ever-expanding list and says, “Alright. We’ve got Garlic Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork, Vegetable Lo Mein, Moo Shu Beef, Beef with Sugar Snap Peas, and Egg Rolls. We’ll also get some fried rice and egg drop soup with that. Does that sound like enough?” “Sounds like more than enough.” Alex smiles. “You guys will be eating Chinese leftovers for days.” Isabel smiles back and picks up the phone to make the order. Considering the seriousness of the situation they’re in, she can’t help the contented feeling she has. There’s just something that seems so right about the three humans being here. That, or she’s just really sick of being with just Max and Michael all the time. It’s nice…no, more than nice…to have other people around that she feels like she can be herself with. While Isabel orders their dinner delivery, Alex goes back into the living room to rescue Maria. He can see how uncomfortable she is around Michael. But when he gets there, he doesn’t see her. At Alex’s confused look, Michael says, “She’s outside. Smoking.” He rolls his eyes slightly and continues flipping through the channels on the TV. “When did she start that?” Alex sits down, taken aback by Michael’s question. It’s not like Michael would know if she ever smoked or not, they basically only spent a couple of days together three years ago. “Um…a few years ago, I guess. We’ve tried to get her to quit, but…” He shrugs, knowing that Maria won’t quit until she decides she wants to. “Yah, well, I guess she’s got enough money to keep her in the habit.” Not many people Michael knows smoke. It’s just too expensive. Packs of cigarettes cost almost ten dollars and they’re usually hard to come by. Ever since all those lawsuits in the late 90s, smoking has pretty much nose-dived among the middle and lower classes. No one can afford to be addicted to nicotine anymore. Alex doesn’t know what to say to that so he chooses to say nothing. Instead, he turns his attention to the rapid changing of channels going on and thinks about Michael’s comment on Maria’s money. Sure, she’s loaded…but she works hard for it. And she’s made sacrifices to get where she is. He certainly doesn’t envy the life Maria leads. Michael glances toward the balcony door and itches to go outside with her again. But he guesses that she probably went out there because she wants to be alone, and he can’t blame her. Thankfully, he didn’t have to reveal the fact that most of his visions have had Maria in them. It was bad enough telling them that he thought they lived together. But he can’t help but wonder if her visions had him in them…and what she saw. He looks up toward the loft and wonders how Max’s conversation with Cal is going. “Food should be here in about thirty minutes.” Isabel says as she enters the room and sits on the arm of Michael’s chair. She can sense tension in the air and sees that both Michael and Alex are staring at the TV as Michael absently flips from channel to channel. “Where’s Maria?” She suddenly notices they’re missing someone. “Outside smoking a cancer stick.” Michael grumbles. Isabel looks at Michael with a strange look and gets up to join Maria outside. As she steps through the door, she sees Maria leaning against the railing. “Hey. Mind if I join you?” Maria looks back, startled, and says, “No.” She sees Isabel eyeing the pack of cigarettes she’s holding and says, “Did you…?” She holds them toward Isabel. Isabel shakes her head and says, “No…thanks. Just thought I’d come out and see how you’re doing.” Maria puts the pack in her pocket and shrugs. “I’m fine…a little weirded out right now, but fine.” “So, you’re getting ready to go on tour?” Isabel sees Maria nod her head. “What’s it like? Being on the road all that time?” “It’s not so bad. I get to go to a lot of places I probably would never see otherwise. I enjoy meeting new people. But yah, sometimes it gets to me not having a place that really feels like home.” “Don’t you have a house in L.A.? I remember seeing an article about it in InStyle once.” Isabel remembers the pictures of Maria’s house, and thinking that it looked so different than what she expected in a place Maria would live. Maria snorts in laughter. “Oh…that? They had decorators and designers in there for days to make it look like that. It’s a place to sleep for a few weeks out of the year. My agent insisted I buy it for appearances.” She shrugs. Isabel studies Maria and asks, “Sounds lonely. Isn’t there anyone…you know, that you spend time with? I’m sure you hate that Liz and Alex are on the other side of the country.” She sees Maria stiffen and hastily adds, “I’m sorry…that’s probably a little personal.” “That’s ok. I do miss Liz and Alex…a lot. I just don’t have a lot of time for a personal life. It’s not easy…anyone I date has to put up with being in the spotlight. And most people can’t handle that. I get out here as often as I can, though, even if it’s just for a day.” Isabel thinks about how lonely she’d be without Max or Michael around. As she looks at Maria, she can sense a sadness about her…something she would never guess by seeing the way she appears in public. Isabel has somewhat followed Maria in the press, seen pictures of her at various events…always on the arm of a different guy. She always appears so happy…confidant. But looking at her here, Isabel can see now that it’s all a show for the public. She can’t help but feel sorry for her. Maria sees the way Isabel is looking at her and she smiles. “You don’t need to feel sorry for me. I’ve got everything anyone could ever want. I’m famous, wealthy, and I get to do what I love…it’s a lot more than most people get.” She turns away then, not wanting Isabel’s pity. Wanting to change the subject, she turns back to Isabel. “So, you…I bet you see all kinds of crazy stuff in the fashion world.” Isabel rolls her eyes, knowing Maria wants to talk about something other than herself. “Oh God, you have no idea. You have no idea how often I feel like zapping people. It’s amazing the egos some people have. And models…ugh!” Maria laughs with her, wondering how she’s managed not to fry the models she undoubtedly works with over the years. Maria’s met enough models in her career and she knows if she had Isabel’s powers, she’d be tempted to use them. “But I really like the design process. I’d love to have my own label, but you know…it’d be a little too high profile.” Isabel says, thinking about Maria’s high profile job. Sounds like it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. “It wouldn’t have to be high profile. You could have a front…use someone else while you stay in the background and keep control. If that’s what you want, I’m sure you could find a way to do it.” Maria tells her. “Yah, I probably could. It’s just not practical.” Isabel shrugs. “We never know when we might need to pick up and leave. ‘Can’t have attachments’, to quote Michael.” “Right. I never thought…” Maria’s voice fades, realizing that she has no idea about what their lives have been like. “How many times have you had to do that since you left Roswell in high school…pick up and leave?” Isabel laughs and says, “I lost count. We moved around a lot when we were younger. It was easier then…Max and I were trying to go to school. We ended up having to stay in Pennsylvania for two years so we could actually graduate with degrees. We’ve been in New York ever since we graduated, although we’ve lived all over Manhattan. But yah, we’ve lived in so many places…I can’t even remember them all.” “Sounds lonely.” Maria gives Isabel a knowing look. Isabel gives a small smile and says, “Yah…I guess it does.” ~~~~~~~~~~ When Liz leans back and closes her eyes, Max feels her sadness. “Liz…I’m sorry.” Sorry seems to be such an inept word for what he really feels, but it’s all he can say. She opens her eyes and looks at Max, seeing the defeat on his face. “I hate to sound childish, but it’s just not fair.” She gives him a small smile. “I didn’t realize how much hope I was pinning on a solution from him. It’s just…too much to think about right now.” Leaning forward in her chair, her knees touch his and she places her hands over his. Looking at them, she studies the difference…her hands seem so small compared to his. She can almost feel his hands running through her hair, down her back…caressing her and she sighs. Biting back a moan as he feels her desire wash over him, he pulls his hands out from under hers and reaches forward…brushing his fingers along her cheekbones. Her skin is so soft. He shouldn’t be touching her, but he can’t help it. Reluctantly, he pulls back and takes a deep breath…getting ready to say something. Liz sees he’s ready to speak and says, “Max, you don’t have to say anything. I know. We can’t get…involved. I just don’t think I’m willing to completely cut you out of my life. I mean, do you think maybe we could at least try to be…” “Friends?” Max finishes for her. He fully admits to himself that he’d rather cut off his right arm right now than let Liz walk out of his life forever. But friends? Could he do that? Could he be around her and not want more? It’s not exactly fair to her considering his bond. He would never turn down the opportunity to be around Liz. He fell in love with her as a child. He can remember sitting in the Crashdown everyday waiting for glimpses of her. And when her dad finally allowed her to start working, you couldn’t drag him out of there. Just the small bits of contact when she would come to his table and take his order…it was more than he could hope for. Looking at her now, he’s more than aware that she’s a different person now. Older, wiser…she’s lived a lifetime away from his constant childhood vigilance. Just the idea that he’d get a chance to know her now…to learn more about her life…it makes his heart thunder in his chest. That childhood love still glows inside of him. And obviously there’s enough sexual desire between the two of them to set a room on fire. But all they can offer each other is friendship. Is it enough for her? Is it enough for him? Knowing it can’t ever be more? He’d never be able to feel her lips on his…feel the soft skin of her back or run his hands through her hair as she… “I know what you’re thinking, Max.” Liz says after a few moments of silence. He chokes and looks up at her. “You do?” His voice cracks and he wonders if she’s suddenly developed the ability to read his mind. “You’re thinking that you’ll just put me in danger by being around me. You’re wondering how we could be friends when it’s obvious that what I really want is to throw you on the floor and have my way with you.” She misses the shocked look on his face and continues. “But I’d really like to try…to be friends, that is. We don’t have to cut ourselves completely out of each other’s lives. I mean, we do have a few things in common. And it would be nice to have someone around that I could talk to about my powers.” She looks up then and sees the rattled expression on his face and freezes. Oh God. How selfish could she be? He still has a bond to her and here she is babbling on about trying to be friends. That would be entirely unfair to him. “I…I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I didn’t think that it might be hard to be around me…because of the bond.” She’s mentally slapping herself as she continues to look at the dazed look on Max’s face. “Max? Really, it’s ok. I’m sorry…it was a bad idea. Max? Are you ok?” He shakes his head when he realizes she’s still talking to him and expecting some kind of response. “Um, yah. No. I mean, I would like that…you know, being friends.” Honestly, he’s still hung up on her saying she wants to throw him on the floor and have her way with him. “And yes, it might be difficult to be around you…for a while. I guess I’ll just have to get used to it. Because I’m not quite ready to cut you out of my life, either.” She smiles then and he thinks it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. “Oh. Ok…good.” She lets out a deep breath, glad to have some kind of definition attached to her relationship with Max. As crazy as that sounds. She just wasn’t ready to walk away from him completely. “So, um…should we go tell everyone what Cal said?” Standing up and reaching for her hand, Max says, “I’m sure they’ll be so excited when they find out we’re going back to Roswell.” She laughs with him at the sarcastic tone of his voice and clasps his hand as they head down the stairs. ~~~~~~~~~~ The tentative group of friends sit around the living room passing around Chinese food containers a half an hour later. The sun has long since set and the room is aglow with candles and lamps. Maria, Isabel and Max sit on the floor around the coffee table with Liz and Alex on the couch and Michael alone on his big chair. “Did you tell Max about Zan?” Maria asks Liz before biting into her egg roll. “What about Zan?” Michael looks over at Liz in surprise. Max looks over at Maria, then Liz. “Yes, she told me.” He clenches his jaw at the thought of what Zan has been doing. “He’s been stalking Liz.” Maria says while chewing her egg roll. “What?!” Isabel cries out. “Are you serious? What’s he been doing? Why didn’t you tell us?” Liz waves her hand and finishes chewing her Lo Mein. “It’s not a big deal.” She shoots Max a look, telling him not to over react. “He’s just been asking me out, that’s all.” She looks at Maria and says, “He’s not stalking me.” “Sounds like it to me. He shows up out of the blue…at all the places you hang out at. Liz, it’s been going on for three years now. Usually you tell a guy no and they don’t keep hounding you for three years.” “What the hell does he want?” Michael asks, looking over at Max. He doesn’t like the sound of this. “I’ll take care of it.” Max says, hoping Liz doesn’t give Michael the same answer she gave him at her apartment when he asked her that very question. Liz looks ready to respond to that, but is interrupted when there’s a knock on the door. Isabel stands up and says, “I wonder who that is.” Surprised when she opens the door to find Amy, she turns back toward the group then back to Amy. “Amy! What are you doing here?” Amy smiles and says, “Well hello to you too, Isabel. I’m fine. How are you?” She rolls her eyes as Isabel laughs and stands back to let her in. “Sorry. I’m just surprised to see you here.” Isabel apologizes and closes the door. Amy sees the group of people in the living room as Max stands up and walks toward her. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” She looks around self-consciously. “I just came by to see how you were…you know, after last night.” She says to Max. Last night. God, so much has happened that it’s hard to believe that it was just last night that he went to the party with her. “Oh, yah. No, I’m fine. You didn’t have to worry about me.” He smiles at her. Isabel is cringing inside with Amy here. She’s been trying to fix her and Max up for years and now here she is. And Liz is in the other room. Hopefully this doesn’t get awkward. “Come on in…let me introduce you.” Isabel grabs her arm and leads her into the living room…Max following close behind. “Everyone, this is Amy…a friend from work. Amy, you know Michael.” Isabel points to Michael, then over to the others. “That’s Alex, Liz and Maria. They’re um…old friends from high school.” They all smile and say hi as Amy looks at Liz. “Yah, Liz and I met last night.” She doesn’t know if she and Max worked anything out over the phone last night, but she hopes so…for Max’s sake. She looks at Maria and widens her eyes in recognition. “Wow…I’m a big fan. Isabel didn’t tell me she was friends with you.” Maria smiles and looks at Isabel, seeing her redden in embarrassment, then says to Amy, “Thanks.” “So uh…sorry I interrupted your dinner. It was nice to meet you all…and it was nice to see you again, Liz.” She smiles at the brunette before turning toward Max. “I’ll uh…just head out. I was just curious about how…you know…” She glances back toward Liz and leans in to Max and says in a lower voice, “your phone call went.” Max looks over at Liz and sees her looking down, hiding a smile. “It went fine. You don’t have to go, though. We’ve got plenty if you want to stay.” Isabel grabs her arm and says, “Yah. Come on…you came all the way over here. You could at least eat with us.” Amy looks at them, unsure. “Are you sure?” “Yes. Come on.” Isabel goes into the kitchen and grabs a plate and fork, bringing it out into the living room where Max has led Amy. As Amy fills her plate, Alex tries to include the new addition in a conversation. “So, you work with Isabel?” Amy nods and says, “Yup. Going on…six years now?” She looks over at Isabel for confirmation. “Seven almost.” Isabel says. “I can’t believe we’ve known each other that long.” “What’s it like working in the fashion industry?” Liz asks her, hoping she’ll forget about the scene she made last night at the party and the phone call last night. “It’s crazy…but I love it. Although sometimes I wish the hours weren’t so long. I’m sure Isabel’s told you all about the craziness of the shows.” Amy can feel the tension in the air, and tries to look at the people around her and figure out what the story is. “So how did the auction go, Michael?” Michael looks up, startled, and says, “Fine.” Amy grins at his answer…she’s used to the taciturn Michael. “And how exactly did you get out of Isabel setting you up with Jennifer as your date last night?” “I know how to tell Isabel ‘no’. Unlike some people I know.” Michael smirks in Max’s direction. Amy smiles at Max and says, “Aw, Michael…you’re just jealous that Max had first dibs on me.” Isabel looks over to see a dark look cross over Liz’s face as she looks down at her plate of food. At the same time, she hears Michael laugh and say, “I don’t think Max had a chance to dib anything of yours, if you know what I mean.” Amy sees the glint in his eyes and smiles back at him. “Ok. How about we change the subject before you embarrass yourself, Michael.” “Whatever. You started it.” Michael grins, knowing she doesn’t want to bring up the fact that she’s a lesbian in front of Isabel. “Yes, please. I don’t think any of us want to hear about any of Max’s ‘dibbing’.” Maria says disgustedly as she sneaks a glance at Liz. She’s not sure what’s going on, but obviously this is the woman that Liz was telling her about last night on the phone. She glares at Max when she catches his eye before she takes another bite of her egg roll. Liz looks down at her plate of food, suddenly not very hungry. Max told her last night that he and Amy were just friends. But there’s obviously a history there. Did they have a relationship before? Did they sleep together? She can’t help the sudden jealousy that surges through her at the thought. Then she cringes, thinking how stupid it is. Of course he’d have had relationships over the years. They’re in their 30s for crying out loud…what does she expect? Max notices Liz’s reaction as well and hopes that she remembers him telling her that he and Amy are just friends. He looks at her, hoping she’ll look up at him…but her eyes remain steadily fixed on her plate. Frowning, he tries to change the subject. “You got any new stories about Greg?” He nudges Amy’s foot with his own to get her attention. Amy grimaces and rolls her eyes. “Who’s Greg?” Alex asks, jumping on the subject changing bandwagon. “My roommate.” Amy says disgustingly. “He’s a pig.” Isabel looks toward the three humans and says, “Let’s just say Greg is the epitome of the stereotypical male.” “Get this.” Amy turns toward Max and Isabel. “I get home last night to disgusting-discovery-number-one…two used condoms laying on the floor by the couch.” “Ahhhh…gross!” Isabel cries out along with a chorus of ewws and icks all around. “No wait, it gets better. I could deal with just that…it’s not like it’s the first time. So, disgusting-discovery-number-two…I hear him in the bathroom – because the door is wide open – with his chick of the night, in the middle of using condom number three, apparently.” “Oh. My. God.” Maria exclaims. “And you live with this guy…why?” “He’s a friend of my brother’s and we moved in together to save on rent.” Amy says. “Anyway, I left to go down to the corner store and when I get back he’s sitting on the couch in his boxers, scratching himself and watching Sports Center and drinking beer. Yes girls, that man is a keeper. I know you’ll all wanna stand in line to snatch him up!” Amy laughs. Maria laughs with her and says, “Doesn’t sound as bad as some of the guys I’ve gone out with.” Alex groans and says, “Please don’t regale us with tales of The Jimmy.” “Jimmy, huh? Man Isabel, you lucked out having two civilized men to live with.” Amy says. Isabel grins and says, “That’s just because I’ve got them trained the way I like.” “I guess their wives will have a lot to thank you for someday.” Amy jokes innocently, noticing the strained looks that get passed around after her comment. “Hey…I turned out ok, if I do say so myself.” Alex says, wanting to end the tension. “Well yah…look at your roommate.” Maria smiles and nudges Liz to let her know she’s joking. Liz lifts her chin in mock indignity and says, “I’ll have you know that Alex was perfectly fine from the first day we lived together.” She pats Alex’s knee in support of her friend. “Thank you, Liz.” Alex shoots Maria a wounded look. Maria laughs and says, “Oh….right. I haven’t forgotten all the calls when you two first moved in together and Liz was horrified when Alex left his underwear and socks lying around. And when he would leave dirty dishes in the sink. And when he would drink milk out of the carton. And…” “Ok, ok. I think everyone gets the idea, Maria. Geesh.” Alex interrupts her. “You know, I had to get used to all that girly stuff lying around, too. It wasn’t easy for me either. Every time I went in the bathroom, it was like avoiding land mines…I never knew what I’d find.” “I feel your pain, man.” Michael says with a nod as he continues to eat and avoid Isabel’s death glare. “At least I didn’t have to grow up in the same house with her.” Isabel glares at Max and he throws his hands up, laughing. “What?! Michael said it, not me!” “I’m pretty sure you two don’t want me telling stories about you in front of our guests, would you?” Isabel says, looking toward Liz and Maria. “I was just kidding, Isabel. No need to extend the claws.” Michael grins at her. “No really, Isabel, do tell.” Maria says with a gleam in her eye. “Well…” Isabel taps her finger on her chin in thought and smiles at Max and Michael. She sees the fear in their eyes and says, “Nah. There’s nothing really to tell.” “Well that’s no fun.” Maria grumbles and smiles. “So you guys all went to high school together? In Roswell, right?” Amy asks. “Yah…um, not really. I mean, we moved during our sophomore year.” Isabel says quickly. Amy nods and eats some of her chicken. “What were these guys like when you were growing up?” She looks toward Alex, Liz and Maria. “Oh, um…well, we didn’t really…” Liz starts but feels a nudge from Maria and sees Isabel’s eyes pleading with her. “Um, yah…they were pretty much the same as they are now.” Liz shrugs and looks away, wondering if she said something she shouldn’t have. Amy blinks, hiding a frown and says, “Oh.” There’s something more going on here and she gets the feeling that she interrupted something important here tonight. She senses that most of the people in this room are very uncomfortable…not what she would expect from old friends reuniting. A phone suddenly ringing makes her jump just when she realizes it’s her cell phone. She looks at the caller ID and apologizes to everyone as she stands up to take the call. After a few moments in the kitchen, she walks back in and says, “Sorry guys, that was my um…friend, Shelly. She needs my help with something, so I better go.” “I bet she does.” Michael says sarcastically as Amy narrows her eyes at him in feigned anger. “Thanks for the food…and it was really nice to meet you guys.” She looks over toward Alex and Maria. “Sorry to eat and run.” “That’s ok. Hold on, I’ll walk you out.” Max gets up and follows her to the door as everyone calls out their goodbye. He walks out with her into the hallway and says, “Thanks for stopping by.” She turns to Max and says, “So…I’m anxious to hear how it went last night.” She smiles at him expectantly. “But…you need to get back inside. Let’s meet for lunch this week and you can give me the scoop.” At his agreement, she says, “Just tell me, she’s not married…right? And she’s still madly in love with you?” Max fidgets, scratching behind his ear. “No, she’s not married. And…it’s complicated.” Amy nods. “Complicated…right. It seems I’ve heard that word before from you. We’ll talk later.” She winks at him and heads toward the stairs. He smiles and watches her go before walking back inside. He groans internally as soon as he does, though, hearing an argument already in progress. “…just sound weird that you were here if you told her you didn’t even know us!” Isabel says. “Well how are we supposed to know what Max has or hasn’t told his girlfriends?” The anger in Maria’s voice is evident. “Maria.” Liz says calmly, laying her hand on her friend’s arm. “Isabel, you’re right…I wasn’t thinking.” Isabel lets out a deep breath and says, “It’s not your fault, Liz.” “It’s bad enough we had to sit here and hear about Max’s sex life.” Maria huffs and sends Liz an apologetic look. Liz rolls her eyes and leans forward to set her plate on the coffee table. “She’s not my girlfriend. She’s never been my girlfriend.” Max says as he walks in and sits back down. “That’s an understatement.” Michael says with a snort of laughter. Isabel looks at Michael in irritation at his tone. “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Come on, Is. You’ve known the girl for seven years and you haven’t figured it out yet?” He says, raising his eyebrows. At her blank look, he says with satisfaction, “She bats for the other team.” “The what? What are you…” Isabel sees his look and says, “Oh! You mean…” Sudden realization dawns on her and she sits back. “Oh my God…she never said…and all this time I’ve been trying to…” She looks over at Max in shock and he just shrugs and smiles at her apologetically. “She didn’t want anyone from work to know.” He explains to her. “How long have you known?” She asks Max. “Since the first time you tried to set us up.” He tells her sheepishly. Isabel cringes and says, “So all these years that I’ve been trying to get you two together…you’ve both been humoring me?” Max shrugs and says, “It got you off our backs in the matchmaking department.” Maria smiles and says, “So let me get this straight. Isabel has been trying to fix you up with a lesbian? Oh man…that’s good.” She laughs as Michael and Alex reluctantly join in. Liz can see how embarrassed Isabel is and says, biting back her own laughter, “Maria, it’s not funny.” “Yes it is!” Michael laughs and Isabel throws her egg roll at him as she laughs with him. “Shut up!” Isabel sits back and calms down. “I can’t believe I didn’t know. I can’t believe she never told me.” Amid all the joking and laughing at Isabel, Liz looks down at her watch and sees how late it’s gotten. At her first opportunity, she stands up and brings her plate into the kitchen. “Liz, don’t. I’ll get it later.” Isabel says immediately. Liz sets the plate in the sink before Isabel can get up and she walks back into the living room. “It’s ok. I just noticed the time and I really have to get to the lab.” She can sense Max staring at her as she says to Maria and Alex, “You guys should stay…help figure all this stuff out. I just really need to check on my cultures.” “Are you sure? You want me to go with you?” Alex says worriedly, looking at the darkness outside the windows. Liz raises her eyebrows at him. “You know I can take care of myself, Alex. Don’t worry…I’ll see you and Maria later tonight.” She turns to Isabel. “Thank you so much for everything…the food, the wine. You really didn’t have to go to so much trouble for us.” Isabel stands up and waves her hand dismissively. “Please. I was happy to. It was…it was really good to see you again.” Isabel smiles warmly at Liz. “Yah, it was.” Liz smiles back before finally looking toward Max. He’s standing now behind Isabel with no less than a full panic attack broiling within him. What if he doesn’t see her again? No, that’s stupid. Of course he will. She has to go to Roswell to the Granolith. Why is he getting so freaked that she’s leaving? “You want me to call you when we make plans for Roswell?” She looks at him strangely as well as everyone else in the room. He and Liz hadn’t told them about Roswell yet. “Roswell?” Michael asks. Liz shakes her head at Max and smiles. She knows what he’s thinking. “I’ll see you tomorrow, if that’s ok. So I can get caught up with what you come up with tonight.” Relief sweeps over Max and he smiles shakily back. “Oh, ok. Yah, that sounds good.” He glances outside as well and says, “Someone should go with you. It’s dark.” She shakes her head and says, “I’ll be fine. I’ve got pepper spray, and a little something extra.” She wiggles her fingers at him with a grin. “What about Roswell?” Michael asks again, irritated that Max and Liz are getting all googly eyed and not answering him. “Bye Michael.” Liz smiles sweetly at him before going to the door. She can feel Max watching her and as she opens the door, she glances back at him over her shoulder and their gazes lock one last time. She feels heat racing up her neck and into her face and she steps outside before looking away and letting the door shut. God, this is gonna be hard. Maybe over time this feeling will fade and they can actually have a friendship that’s not complicated by all this…desire. As she steps out into the cool night air, she closes her eyes and lets the breeze wrap itself around her. She could get on the subway to get to her lab, but she feels like walking tonight. The air is chilly, but not too cold, and she can smell fall in the air as she walks. Her mind turns from thoughts of Max to the cultures she needs to check on. She really should have gone earlier in the day, but there was just too much going on. She can hardly believe it was just this morning that she found Max sleeping outside her door. Smiling at the thought of him curled up on the floor of her hallway, she’s startled when she looks up. “Zan. Wha…what are you doing here?” ~TBC~

Post by **roswellkitkat** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 10:02 am

What? <img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... m/eek2.gif ALT=":jawdrop"> Zan is there and you are just going to leave it like that? And I bet you are grinning to yourself the whole time.... Friends, huh? Yeah,let's see how well that works! Great update! I am really in love with this story! <div style="text-align:center">Knowing you'll be haunting me to the end of time? Mmmm...It's a dream come true...</div>  <div style="text-align:center">Angel to Spike</div>

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 11:48 am

*Sigh* don't they get it? Max and Liz can never be 'just friends'! How delusion..or desperate are they...okay, okay soI admit I'm eagerly waiting to see all that charged atmosphere in the room while they try toplatonic but still...freinds?<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... s/roll.gif ALT=":rollin"> And Angel, I agree with Melisa, i'll bet you're damn pleased of yourself leaving us like that! Zan is there and you'd better get back here quick to tell us why! Can I hope that it won't be something bad?? <div style="text-align:center"><img src="http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... f8323d.jpg" style="border:0;"/></div>

vecastone · Post by **vecastone** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 12:48 pm

Well !! finally that Amy issue has been cleared up. I can´t avoid smiling when Liz told Max , about throwing him on the floor , and he went deaf jejejeje Tipical behave of our S1 Max ******sigh******* So innocent and sweet <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/love.gif ALT=":love"> Anyway, what is Zan doing there ?? Will they (Zan and Ava) have to go to Roswell too ?? I feel sorry for him. I don´t want him to be lonely and we all know Ava is not his soulmate. <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /frown.gif ALT=":("> Poor Zan. Should I have to say that I can´t wait for the next part ?? ******post it sooner ***** <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"> I´m begging here :P

Post by **Angel13** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 12:51 pm

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Don't hate me too much with this next part...it'll all get better soon, have faith in me. <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/Grin_anim.gif ALT=":grin"> Part 25 “Are you gonna answer me?” Michael is really starting to get angry now. Max looks over at him and says, “We all have to go to Roswell. Cal said the Granolith will be able to get rid of the visions we’ve been having.” “So we all have to go?” Maria asks, not relishing the idea of going back to Roswell. “Yes. Apparently, anyone who’s getting visions of other timelines is either an alien or has been healed by me at some point in time.” Max explains. “We all know you healed Liz, but Alex and I? You’ve never healed us.” Maria says, confused. “Not in this timeline, no. But we know that Alex died twice…and I know I tried to heal him at least once. There’s no way to know, but I obviously healed you somewhere in another timeline…as well as Kyle.” Max runs his hand through his hair as he sits back down. “Oh.” Maria says softly, looking down at the floor in thought. “But we don’t even know where the Granolith is.” Michael says. “Does Cal?” “No, Liz thinks she knows.” Max says. “So when do we go?” Alex asks. “How long do we need to plan on being gone?” “I’d like to sort through the visions first, make sure we have all the details we can get. I also need to call Ava and Zan.” Max says, making a mental to-do list. “We need to all talk about this, because I’m not completely sure I trust anything Cal says.” Maria nods and says, “You’re gonna set Zan straight on his stalkerish behavior in the meantime, right?” Max nods, still thinking. It’s been a long day and he has too much to think about and try to get straight right now. He feels like he’s on information overload and on top of everything he’s got a serious case of Liz On The Brain. He doesn’t want to rush to Roswell without knowing everything they can first. Cal isn’t exactly on the top of his list of people to trust. There has to be someone else who knows more about the bond that he and Liz has…maybe Ava. About an hour into their work, Max feels a strange sensation at the back of his head. He closes his eyes, thinking that he’s been looking at these notes too closely. He feels a headache coming on. Probably from all the information swirling around in there. A vague thought comes to him that something’s wrong, but he shakes it off…thinking that the last two days are catching up with him. The five of them spend the next two hours going over the notes that Max took and adding things they remember. They try to get everything categorized by age, date, and timeline as best they can. Max still can’t shake the strange feeling he has and he briefly thinks about calling Liz. “I think we’re losing her.” Alex says from the floor when he glances over at Maria and sees her head resting back against the front of the couch at an uncomfortable angle and her eyes closed. Isabel looks over and grimaces at the position Maria’s head is in. She’s gonna have a sore neck if she doesn’t wake up soon. “I’m sure she’s exhausted…didn’t she fly all night to get here?” “Yah. She’s used to weird sleep schedules, but I should get her back to our place.” Alex pulls out his cell phone and dials the number for Maria’s driver, telling him to come get them. “He’ll be here in a few minutes.” Max stands up and stretches as he looks down at the note covered coffee table. “We got a lot done today, it’ll help to get Liz’s input on this.” “She was always the little scientist.” Michael says as he too stands up. Alex leans over and gently nudges Maria. “Maria…wake up.” When she doesn’t move, he nudges her harder. “I’m up.” She mumbles, still asleep. “Maria.” Alex sings and pulls her arm. “Come on, get up. I’m not carrying you home.” She moans and says, “My tacos are cold.” Isabel, Max and Alex laugh at her comment as they hear a car horn outside. Max walks over, intending to pick her up off the floor to carry her out, but Michael beats him there. He bends over and gently lifts her up and says, “Let’s go.” as he walks toward the door. Alex follows him and says, “Thanks for dinner and everything. I’m sure we’ll see you tomorrow.” “No problem…see you later, Alex.” Isabel says as she and Max follow them to the door. When Alex and Michael walk out, they look at each other and trade grins. “Well…that was interesting…Michael and Maria?” Isabel says to Max after they’re gone. “Almost as interesting as the revelations about you and Alex.” He says with a smile and walks away, avoiding a slap on the arm. When Michael walks back in, he sees Isabel looking at him with a knowing smirk on her face. “What?” “Nothing.” She says, innocently. “Help me clean up.” He rolls his eyes at her as he walks into the kitchen. ~~~~~~~~~~ 3 hours earlier… Liz stares in shock at Zan when she looks up to see him standing in front of her. He hasn’t answered her question as to what he’s doing there and she feels a shiver of fear run down her spine at the way he’s looking at her. “Zan, what are you doing here?” She asks again as she takes a slow step back. He shrugs and says, “Just out for a walk.” For some reason, she can’t believe him. It’s too much of a coincidence that he’s shown up here…on a route that she’s never really taken before. “Well, I have to go…Alex is waiting for me.” She lies to him, not wanting him to know that no one is expecting her. “Really?” He asks with a note of disbelief. He knows that she just left Alex and Maria at Max’s apartment…because he’s been watching them for the last few hours. He takes a step toward her and grabs her arm. “Come with me. I got somethin’ to show ya.” She looks down at where he’s grabbed her and she tries to shake his hand loose. “Let go of me.” She starts to panic when he doesn’t. “I have to go…let me go.” “I ain’t playin’ with ya anymore. Come on.” He yanks her arm forward and drags her with him as he turns and walks down the street. She struggles and he grips her arm harder to keep her in line. Liz feels a flash of pain as he drags her with him and she tries to plant her feet on the ground to keep him from pulling her. She whimpers slightly when she feels his grip tighten and she cries out, “Stop it! Let me go!” He doesn’t say anything as he forces her to walk with him quickly down the dark street. The farther they walk, the faster his pace gets until she has to almost jog to keep up with him. She looks around wildly, trying to see where he’s taking her but the pain from his grip is so fierce that she can’t see through the tears in her eyes. Suddenly, he turns and drags her into a side alley and throws her ahead of him and she stumbles into a stack of boxes. “Zan, what are you doing?!” She cries out, feeling the energy in her build up. She tries to gather and strengthen it as she struggles to stand up. She doesn’t have the blasting power she used to have, but she might be able to disable him for a few seconds…long enough to get away. “I know you’ve been with him.” He growls at her as he advances. “You fuckin’ whore.” Her eyes go wide and she says, “What are you talking about?” As he steps closer to her, she raises her hand intending to blast him if she can. But he grabs her arm and yanks her up, throwing her against the brick wall behind her…pinning her arms above her. “You’re mine.” He growls again, pressing himself against her. He feels a primitive need to take her, to stake his claim. He hasn’t understood what’s been happening to him, but all day he’s been filled with an all-consuming need to find her and make her his. “No!” She cries out and struggles against him. “Leave me alone!” She waits until one of legs is between his and prepares to jerk her knee up into his groin. But he anticipates her move and blocks her, kicking her legs apart and planting himself in between them. He’s pissed at her attempt to knee him and brings his fist up, flying against the left side of her face. He grinds against her, pushing her more firmly against the wall and reaches down to grab her breast. Bending his head down, he brutally crashes his lips to hers and runs his tongue along them before bringing his other hand up to force her mouth open. Plunging his tongue into her mouth, his hand grips her jaw tightly, keeping her from biting down on him. Tears are streaming down Liz’s face as he assaults her and she cries out at the feel of his tongue in her mouth…his hardness grinding roughly between her legs…her arms held above her head and scraping against the brick. Why is he doing this? She feels helpless and she stops struggling, hoping he’ll ease up. She can taste blood in her mouth when he painfully bites down on her lip. “That’s it, baby.” He whispers when he feels her calm down. He moves his mouth to her neck to suck and bite it. “I want you so bad.” Keeping her arms pinned above her with one hand, he moves his other down her hip and leg, pulling her skirt up and reaching between her legs. A sob escapes her throat when she feels him groping her and she starts struggling again. But it just makes him angrier and he reaches up under her sweater, ripping it down the center and ripping the buttons apart on the shirt underneath. He grabs her breast again so hard that she cries out, begging him to stop but it only makes him bite into her shoulder and shove her so hard against the bricks that her head slams violently back into them. He’s driven and feels no control over his actions. He can’t explain it, doesn’t even know how to as one thought consumes him…telling him to make her his. His blinding need suddenly falls away when he notices that she’s not struggling anymore and he looks up to see her head hanging to the side and her eyes closed. As if waking from a dream, he freezes when he sees what he’s done. There’s blood running down her face, from her eye and from her lip. Her eye is also starting to swell and he looks down to see bite marks on her neck and shoulder…blood slowly leaking from them all. He lets go of her arms in a panic and takes a quick step back, watching as her body slumps to the ground and the panic swells when he sees her ripped sweater and shirt and bleeding scrape marks on her hands and wrists. “Shit!” He cries as he kneels down in front of her and feels around her head. He feels the back of her head…feels that it’s wet and when he brings his hands back, he sees them covered in blood. “Fuck!” What has he done? His head is suddenly clear…clearer than it’s been for a very long time…and he remembers the need for her that’s been crawling through him…gaining intensity until he snapped when he saw her and drug her here. What in the hell is going on with him? Trying to think, he moves toward her intending to heal the damage he’s done when he sees a flash of light from the street pointed in his direction. “Hey! What are you doing?!” He hears a voice yelling at him and he looks over to see two cops pointing their flashlights in his direction. “Shit!” He jumps up and runs down the alley in the opposite direction. He can hear their feet hitting the pavement behind him…and knows that one of them has stopped at Liz and the other is chasing him. He ducks around a corner and runs as fast as he can…he knows these streets like the back of his hand. Then again, that cop probably does, too. As he feels himself get farther and farther ahead of the cop, he makes another turn and skids to a stop…prying a manhole cover up and jumping down into the sewers. He takes off, splashing his way through familiar territory and he looks back to see a flashlight shining down through the hole he jumped down. Not stopping, he follows the familiar tunnels for over an hour until he’s sure he’s not being followed anymore. Finally, he stops and leans against a wall, doubled over with his hands on his knees and breathing hard with exertion. He’s screwed…he fucked up royally this time. He didn’t mean to hurt her…he didn’t want to. There’s something seriously wrong with him…like he’s slowly been taken over by someone else over the last three years. And now it’s like a switch was just turned off and it’s gone away. All he knows is that his need for have Liz Parker has been escalating out of control and now he thinks he probably killed her. Standing up, he starts toward home. He needs to call Max. Hopefully it’s not too late and Max can heal her. He’ll probably kill him first, but the first priority right now is Liz. ~~~~~~~~~~ Alex opens the door to his apartment and leads the driver inside to carry Maria back to Liz’s bedroom. “Thanks a lot, Austin.” He says to the man when he comes back out into the living room. “No problem. See you later.” The driver lets himself out and Alex looks around, his brow furrowed at the fact that Liz isn’t home yet. She couldn’t possibly still be at the lab, could she? He picks up the phone and dials her lab, listening as the phone rings until the machine there picks up. Confused, he puts the phone down and walks into the kitchen to see if she left a note. Not seeing one, his eyes return to the phone and answering machine and he sees the light blinking. Feeling a pang of worry, he walks over and presses the play button, listening to their greeting call out to him. “Hi, you’ve reached Liz and Alex. We can’t take your call right now. Leave a message and we’ll get back to you.” A short beep sounds before he hears a male voice start talking. “This is Officer March, NYPD. I’m calling about an Elizabeth Parker. We brought her in to NYU Medical Center this evening. Please call me at 555-4748.” Another beep and the machine turns off. “Oh my God.” Alex whispers and frantically snatches the phone back up, dialing the number the officer left for him. When he answers, Alex says, “This is Alex Whitman. I live with Elizabeth Parker…you called earlier? What happened?” His thoughts are racing as to what could have possibly happened to Liz. Why’s she in the hospital? Why didn’t she call? He feels nauseous at the thought of something terrible happening. “Mr. Whitman. Yes, I’m Officer March. Are you Miss Parker’s emergency contact?” “Yes…what’s going on?” Alex says frantically. “You need to come down here to the hospital. We brought her here after checking her ID and saw that she’s an employee here at NYU…my partner and I found her after an assault in an alley near 105th and Columbus.” “Oh my God. Is she ok?” Alex runs his hand through his hair in agitation. “I think you should just come on down here.” The officer says calmly. “Ok. Ok. I’m on my way.” Alex hangs up the phone and runs into the bedroom. “Maria, get up.” He says loudly as he turns the light on. He walks over to her and shakes her. “Maria…something happened to Liz. Get up.” Maria sits up groggily and asks, “What?” “Liz is in the hospital. Come on, we have to go.” He tells her and turns to leave the room “What?! What happened?” She scrambles from the bed and follows him as they quickly walk out the door. “I’m not sure. She was attacked…I don’t know.” He’s relieved to see that Austin is still outside, talking on his cell phone, and he says, “Hey…sorry, man. Can we get a ride to the NYU Medical Center?” Austin nods and gets in the car quickly as Alex and Maria climb in the backseat. On the way there, Alex tries to stay calm and not think the worst. He should have never let her leave by herself. What if she’s seriously hurt…or worse? No, he can’t think that. But why wouldn’t that officer tell him anything? That has to be bad, right? They don’t just tell people over the phone that a loved one is dead, do they? “Oh my God, Alex. What’s going on?” Maria asks him frantically. “There was a message from the police when we got home. He wouldn’t tell me anything over the phone.” Alex tells her. “No, no, no…that’s not good. Why wouldn’t he tell you? Liz would have called if she could have. Oh God, you don’t think she’s…I mean, she’s not…” Maria buries her face in her hands and starts crying. “We don’t know anything, Maria. He just told me to get to the hospital.” Alex puts his arm around her and watches the streets fly by out the window. They’re both out of the car as soon as it pulls to a stop in front of the emergency room and they race up to the check-in desk. “Liz Parker…we’re here for Elizabeth Parker. Officer March called me.” Alex says. The woman behind the counter types into her computer and nods as she looks up. “Officer March is right down that hall…you can go on back.” She points toward a set of double doors behind her, eyeing Maria closely in recognition. Alex grabs Maria’s hand and they quickly make their way through the doors and down the hallway. Toward the end, they see three policemen standing in the middle of the hall talking to a doctor. One of them looks up when they get closer and he steps away from the group. “Alex Whitman?” He asks. “Yes, I’m Alex. Where’s Liz? What happened?” He asks him, looking around to see if he can see her. “She’s in the trauma unit now…the doctors are working on her.” He looks back toward the doctor he was talking to earlier and says, “Doc, can you come over here? They’re here about the Parker woman.” The doctor walks up and asks, “Are you family?” “No, I’m her roommate…we’re her friends. Her family is in New Mexico.” Alex says. The doctor nods and says, “I’m Dr. Franklin…I was here when she was brought in. We’re trying to get her stabilized right now.” “Stabilized?” Maria says, her eyes wide. The doctor pauses when he sees Maria, then mentally shakes his head and continues. “She’s in critical condition right now. She has massive trauma to the head, which right now is what we need to concentrate on. We’ve stopped the bleeding and we’re getting an MRI as soon as possible to see if there’s any kind of subdermal hematoma activity going on.” “Wait, what?” Maria is trying to process the words ‘massive trauma to the head’. “Bleeding on the brain. That’s our number one concern at this time. When she came in, she was in the middle of cardiac arrest due to the head trauma. We were successful with attempts at resuscitation, though, and…” “Resuscitation? You mean her heart stopped?” Maria’s eyes are wide and spilling over with tears. “Briefly, yes. But like I said, resuscitation was successful and right now we’re concentrating on her head injury.” “Is she gonna be ok? Is she in a coma?” Alex asks. This has to be some kind of nightmare. What happened to her? Was she hit by a car? “It’s too early to tell. I’ll be honest with you, she is in critical condition. We’ll do everything we can for her, and right now we just don’t know. But I’ll keep you updated as I find out anything.” A nurse walks toward him, saying that they need him and he looks at Alex and Maria. “I have to get back there. I’ll come out when I have more news.” He quickly walks away, following the nurse down the hallway. Alex pulls Maria closer to him and asks Officer March, “What happened?” “My partner and I interrupted an attacker leaning over your friend in an alley. He chased him, but lost him several blocks away. Looked like he roughed her up…maybe hitting the back of her head against the ground or brick wall. Hard to tell. She was unconscious when we found her.” He tells them before he flips open his notebook and looks up at Alex. “I know this isn’t the best time, but I’m gonna need some information.” Alex nods numbly and says, “Yah, of course.” “Let’s step over here. There’s a waiting room where you can sit.” Officer March leads them to a small waiting room down the hall. He looks at Maria and asks, “You’re Maria Deluca, right?” She turns to him and nods, knowing what’s coming. Officer March nods and says, “I’ll arrange for security when we’re done here.” She smiles gratefully at him before sitting down. It won’t take long for the press to figure out she’s here and the last thing she wants to deal with is reporters and photographers. As they sit down, Alex stays standing and says, “Maria…can you? I should call them, you know…” The overriding thought in his head right now is to call Max. He can heal Liz. There has to be a way. Maria looks up at Alex blankly and says, “Um…sure.” She wipes the tears from her face and looks around the waiting room for a box of Kleenex. Alex nods and walks back into the hallway and toward the bank of phones he saw earlier. ~~~~~~~~~~ Isabel is cleaning up the last of the dishes as she looks into the living room and sees Max and Michael sitting on the couch watching a movie. They conveniently snuck away, leaving her to clean everything. She shoots them an irritated look when she hears the phone start ringing. When neither one of them moves to answer it, she rolls her eyes and says, “No, don’t get up.” She picks the phone up and says, “Hello? Alex? What’s…” She freezes as she listens and sees Max and Michael turn toward her. “Oh my God…is she…” Her eyes widen and she looks at Max. “Yah, ok. Of course…we’ll be right there.” She brings a hand up to cover her mouth as she clicks the phone off. “What?” Max gets up, fear thrumming through his body. Isabel looks up at Max, tears in her eyes, and she says, “It’s Liz. She was attacked…they’re at the hospital. It’s…Alex said she’s in critical condition and they…they don’t know if she’s gonna make it.” Michael stands up, too, and asks, “What the hell happened?” But before Isabel can say anything, the phone rings again. “Alex?” Isabel answers it before the first ring even stops. “Max…Max needs to get to the hospital.” She hears a man’s voice…out of breath. Sounds like he’s calling from a payphone. “Who is this?” She asks. “Liz is…she’s hurt. Max needs to help her.” Isabel’s eyes open wide when she recognizes her brother’s voice on the other end. “Zan?” “I’m sorry.” He whispers into the phone and she barely hears him before the line goes dead. She puts the phone down and looks at Max. “That was Zan. He said that you have to heal Liz…and he said he was sorry.” A look of confusion crosses her face as Michael and Max stare at her. The blood drains from Max’s face and he can’t move. Liz. He knew something was wrong. He knew it, and didn’t do anything about it. He needs to go to her…he can heal her. That thought gets his feet moving and he runs back to his room to put some shoes on. Isabel and Michael do the same and grab their jackets just as Max comes back out and they quickly leave the apartment. The only thought running through his head right now is that he can heal Liz…he needs to get to Liz. Practically sprinting down the sidewalk toward the subway station, Isabel keeps her eye out for a taxi. No one says anything as Michael and Isabel follow Max as he flies down into the subway. “NYU. We need to get to NYU.” Isabel pants when they reach the station. When they get to the right platform, Max paces back and forth impatiently until the train comes. Thankfully it’s not that far and the three of them stand near the door as the train barrels closer to the hospital. Isabel stares out the window, hoping they can get there in time. She glances over at Max and watches as he shakily runs a hand over his face. Liz can’t die…they’ll make it. Max can heal her and everything will be all right. She thinks about the weird phone call from Zan and wonders what he has to do with it. As soon as the doors open at the stop for NYU, Max runs out and up the stairs…Isabel and Michael close behind. They find the emergency room quickly and Max tells the woman at the desk that they’re there for Liz Parker. She nods and says, “They’re in the waiting room down that hall.” She points them in the same direction toward the double doors. Max races down the hall until he gets to the waiting room and sees Alex and Maria. Alex has his arm around Maria, who’s leaning over with her face in her hands crying. His heart pounds wildly, thinking that he’s too late. No, no, no, no. Alex looks up and says, “Max…” He stands up and meets Max in the middle of the room and he sees Isabel and Michael run around the corner and into the waiting room. “They’re working on her right now…we don’t know anything.” Before Max can ask Alex anything, Officer March walks back in the room carrying three cups of coffee and stops short when he sees the new people here. Damn, celebrity stalkers already. Obviously the security he asked for hasn’t made it yet. Maria looks up at Max hopefully, and Isabel sees that her eyes are puffy and red…tear marks running down her face. She walks over and sits next to Maria, grabbing her hand. “I need to see her. Where is she?” Max asks Alex. Officer March looks at Max and asks, “And you are…” Max looks toward Alex, then Maria. He needs to get in to see Liz and he knows they won’t let anyone but family in. “I’m…” “He’s her fiancé.” Isabel says quickly, thinking that’ll give him the best chance of seeing her. “I see.” Officer March says. “Have they filled you in yet?” He nods his head toward Alex. “I just got here.” Max shakes his head. “Well, you can’t see her yet. The doctors are in with her right now, but they’ll come out when they have any news.” The policeman looks at Max with sympathy and brings the coffee cups he’s holding over to a small table for Maria and Alex. “What happened to her?” Max asks anxiously. “She was being assaulted in an alley when my partner and I came across her. He roughed her up pretty bad.” Max’s heart is thundering wildly in his chest. “Did he…was she…?” He shakes his head, not able to form the words to his question. “We don’t believe she was raped, but they’re processing a rape kit just to be sure.” The officer informs him before he turns back toward Alex and says, “I think I have all I need here.” Alex nods and says, “Thank you. You’ll let us know if you find him, right?” “Of course. I’m heading out to the scene right now…I’ll call you if we find anything.” Officer March nods his head in farewell and turns toward the hallway to leave. Alex takes a deep breath and drops into the nearest chair. “They found Liz…someone was attacking her in an alley about halfway between your place and here. The guy…he ran off and they lost him. She was unconscious when they brought her in…massive head trauma…” He stares at the carpet as he recites the same thing the doctor told him. “I guess…she had a heart attack or something on the way here…her heart stopped…but now they’re worried that she’s bleeding from her brain.” Maria sobs hearing this all again and Isabel squeezes her hand in support. She looks up at Max and sees the horror on his face as he listens to Alex’s monotone. “You can heal her, can’t you?” Maria cries and she looks over at Isabel. “He’ll heal her, right?” Isabel looks up at Max before looking over at Maria. “He has to get in first. We need to wait until she’s alone.” “But what if she doesn’t make it? They said…they said they didn’t know if she would make it!” Fresh tears run down Maria’s face and Max sits down next Alex. “Do you know where she’s at right now?” Max asks him, icy fingers of fear are gripping his heart. “They’re doing an MRI. The doctor said he’d come out and tell us what they find.” Alex looks at Max and asks, “Can you? Do you think you can heal her?” Max nods and says, “I’ll try…but I need to see her first.” “There’s a doctor coming. I’m gonna go see if I can find out where she’s at.” Michael says before taking off down the hall. Dr. Franklin walks into the waiting room and glances around at the new faces. “How is she?” Alex stands up when he sees the doctor. “There’s definitely some bleeding going on. But it’s not as serious as I thought. We’re going to keep her in ICU and see if it clots itself in the next few hours. Hopefully, she’ll stop bleeding on her own and we don’t have to go in. We’ll do another MRI in the morning…but for now, she’s as stable as she’s going to get. She’s been drifting in and out of consciousness, so that’s a good sign.” “Can I see her?” Max asks anxiously. “Are you family?” The doctor asks him. “Yes.” Max says quickly, then sees that the man is waiting for more clarification. “I’m her fiancé.” He glances toward Isabel, hoping her lie will be enough to get him in. Maybe he should have told him he’s her brother. Brother ranks above fiancé, right? Crap. Dr. Franklin can see how worried the man is and he looks over to see all the concerned faces around him. “Alright. Five minutes.” He nods his head at Max for him to follow as he turns. Max doesn’t hesitate as he follows the doctor down the hall toward the main ICU area. He sees several rooms surrounding a large square desk area…all the rooms have glass walls so the patients inside can be seen from the desk. Dr. Franklin stops at the desk and says, “She’s in room 5.” Before Max can walk away, though, he grabs his arm and says, “She doesn’t look good. She’s been in and out…so try to keep it short.” Max nods and makes his way around the desk to the room with a 5 above it. It’s dark inside and from where he stands, he can see the glow of monitors surrounding her bed. He walks inside and chokes back a sob when he sees her. He can’t believe this is actually Liz. Pushing back everything he’s feeling, he makes his way to her side knowing he doesn’t have much time. She has a large white bandage circling her head, as well as another one on the side of her face. Her left eye is swollen and purple and he can see stitches in her lip. “Liz.” He whispers painfully. His gaze moves down her arms and he sees an IV sticking out of the top of her left hand. Her wrists are bruised and scraped as well as her hands. Taking a deep breath he glances out at the nurses station and sees two nurses hunched over computers, not paying him any attention. Gently, he places his hand on the top of her head and hopes he can get her to open her eyes. If not, this is gonna be hard to do. “Liz.” He leans down and whispers in her ear. “Liz…I need you to look at me.” He runs his other hand over her cheek, then down her arm to wrap his hand around hers. “Liz. Please wake up.” He watches as her eyes move behind her lids and hopes they open just a fraction of an inch. That’s all he needs. Instead of her eyes opening, though, he sees her working her mouth as if she wants to say something. He leans in closer and says, “Liz, please…open your eyes.” He waits…ready for the first sign of her eyes opening…and freezes when she whispers one word. “Zan.” His eyes search her face, wondering why she thinks he’s Zan. And then it hits him…Zan…Zan stalking her…showing up out of nowhere over the last three years. Zan’s phone call earlier. He did this. He feels white-hot rage take hold as he looks over Liz’s injuries again. He’ll kill him. “Max.” His gaze snaps back up to her eyes and sees that she’s looking at him and he refocuses all of his energy back on her. He gets the connection he needs and quickly searches for the damage to her head. Assaulted by sudden flashes from her, he impatiently pushes them away for now so he can heal her. He stops the bleeding and searches for any other injuries to her head that tests might have missed. Seeing nothing, he moves his hand down to her chest to check her heart. It’s damaged slightly, weaker from the heart attack and he uses his power to regenerate the muscle…making it strong and healthy. He resists the urge to heal her other injuries…knowing they have to remain to avoid suspicion and he pulls back out of the connection. He sees her looking at him with droopy eyes and he knows that they have her drugged. “You’re ok now.” He whispers to her as his head drops to the bed in exhaustion…his breathing ragged. He lifts his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face and when he looks back up, he sees that she’s fallen back asleep. But now he knows that she’ll wake back up. She’ll be ok now. He runs his hand over her cheek again and he looks up at the monitors, watching the steady beat of her heart. “Sir. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to leave now.” He turns around to see a nurse standing in the doorway. “She needs to rest.” He nods before turning back around and placing a light kiss to Liz’s forehead. He walks out of the room on shaky legs and the nurse watches him go in sympathy. Dr. Franklin told her the young man was the girl’s fiancé. On his way back to the waiting room, Max bumps into Michael. “Did you get in?” He asks Max. “Yah, she’s ok now.” Max says, looking around to make sure no one can hear him. He looks at Michael and says, “Zan did it.” Michael’s eyes widen in shock. “She tell you that?” He remembers the phone call Zan made to them earlier and wonders why he would call and tell them what he did. Max nods and says, “I…I saw it, too. When I was…connected to her.” He swallows the bile that’s fighting its way up from his stomach as he remembers. He felt everything she felt. “He…he tried to…” He can’t get the words out before he rushes across the hall into the bathroom and makes it to a toilet in time to vomit. Kneeling on the floor, Max wipes his mouth and face with toilet paper and leans his forehead against the metal wall. While he was healing Liz, he had to push everything back so he could use all of his concentration to heal her quickly. But now it’s all flashing through his head and he can still feel traces of the terror she felt while she was attacked. “Maxwell.” Michael walks into the bathroom and can see Max sitting on the floor under the walls of the first stall. “I have water.” A nurse down the hall, ‘Julie’ is what her nametag said, brought him some when she saw Max rush into the bathroom. Julie could see when she told the man he had to leave his fiancé’s room that he didn’t look well. He was probably understandably shaken by the condition of his fiancé and when she saw him race into the bathroom, she met his friend with a cold cup of water. Max struggles to stand up and he walks out to the sink to splash cold water on his face. He needs to get himself under control before he goes out to face Alex and Maria. He gratefully accepts the cup of water from Michael, rinsing his mouth with half and drinking the other. “Thanks.” He says, throwing the plastic cup in the trash. “She that bad?” Michael asks, seeing Max’s pale face. “Yah, but she’ll be ok now.” Max nods and takes a deep breath before opening the door and walking back to the waiting room to tell everyone else. He sees three expectant faces snap up when he walks in and they all rush toward him. “She’s ok.” Max tells them immediately. “She’ll be fine now.” Maria sobs as Alex pulls her close into a hug, closing his own eyes in relief. But Maria quickly pulls away from him and launches herself at Max, squeezing him tightly. “Thank you.” She whispers. Isabel looks her brother over, noticing his ashen face and wet hair. Did healing Liz take that much out of him? When Maria pulls away from Max, Alex grabs his hand between both of his and with a voice full of emotion says, “Thanks, man…really.” Max just nods and looks at the floor. “Is she awake? Did she talk to you?” Maria asks. “Just for a few seconds. She um…didn’t say much.” They don’t need to know right now that he’s pretty sure Zan did this to her. They’re frazzled enough worrying about Liz. He’s going to take Michael and take care of Zan himself. “What did you have to heal? Did you just have to stop the bleeding on her brain?” Alex asks, wanting to make sure she’s really ok. Max nods and says, “And I repaired the damage to her heart. I didn’t see any other internal injuries, but I had to leave the external ones…I’ll get those when she goes home.” Alex stares for a few beats at the way Max shifts his gaze to the floor and the way his lips press together in a thin line. “Is it bad?” He asks softly, not wanting Maria to hear. Understanding, Max glances at Maria as she talks quietly with Isabel before giving Alex a quick nod. Bad isn’t even the right word…he can’t even think of a word to describe it. He turns to Michael and says, “You guys can go if you want…I’m gonna stay here tonight.” Michael gives him an odd look before glancing at Isabel. Should they stay? Before he can contemplate it anymore, Isabel speaks up. “We’re staying, Max. We should stay and make sure she’s ok in the morning.” She turns toward Maria and asks, “Maybe we should go down and get some coffee or tea…get away from here for a little while.” Maria looks down the hall toward the ICU and nods. They won’t let her go back there and see her yet anyway. Maybe this is one of those times where she could use her fame to get her what she wants. When they realize who she is, they’ll let her see Liz…right? Maybe. But she can’t see Liz right now…she’d break down and if Liz wakes up, she doesn’t want her to see her like this. “Yah…I could use some tea. And a smoke.” Isabel smiles and looks toward Alex in question. He nods and starts to follow them into the hall before turning around to Max and Michael. “You guys wanna come?” Max shakes his head and Michael sits down in answer. “You want us to bring you anything?” “Coffee would be good.” Max says with a shrug. “Thanks.” When they’re gone, Max sits next to Michael and stares at the dark blue wall in front of him. There’s a painting on it – some kind of beach scene – and it’s crooked. His eyes move down to a small table…kid sized…that has two small chairs on either side of it. Sitting on top are a stack of children’s books and he recognizes the spine for Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham. On the floor are various toys, one of which is one of those wood and wire things with the balls that slide all over the place. Isabel bought one of those once for some baby shower she went to and it sat on the kitchen counter for a week. Sometimes when he was on the phone he would find himself playing with it…sliding the colorful wooden balls along the thick wires from one end to the other. He absently thinks that he’s never really sat in a hospital waiting room before…or even a doctor’s office. He and Michael are the only ones there right now and the only noise he can here is an occasional distant call on the overhead speaker system. He wonders how many people have been in here…just waiting…not knowing if someone they loved was going to live or die. A nurse suddenly appears, the same one he saw earlier outside of Liz’s room, and she walks toward them with a clipboard. “I have some paperwork here that I need filled out. Insurance…medical history…” She holds the clipboard toward him. He absently reaches for it, looking at it questioningly. “Um…ok.” He’ll give it to Alex when they get back. “Take your time…just bring it back over when you’re done.” She smiles at him kindly and turns to walk back toward her desk. He looks down at the forms in front of him and sees her name typed across the top. Elizabeth Parker. He glances over all the blanks that need filling in and wonders if he should start filling in her address and other personal information. They must all think he’s really her fiancé. If only that were true. Why did he just let her leave by herself like that? When she said she could take care of herself, he knew that was true…she could take care of herself against any random human. But Zan? No, not Zan. Zan could easily over-power her. He should have called her a cab. He should have walked her to the lab if she wanted to walk. Why did he let her leave by herself? ~TBC~

Post by **roswellkitkat** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 1:53 pm

<img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/eek.gif ALT=":eek"> Dang Angell...you know how to give someone a heart attack! Ok..so if we ask again, can you give us another fast update? <img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/Grin_anim.gif ALT=":grin"> Pleaaasseeeee... <div style="text-align:center">Knowing you'll be haunting me to the end of time? Mmmm...It's a dream come true...</div>  <div style="text-align:center">Angel to Spike</div>

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 7:04 am

Angel, remember when I asked you to come back quick and tell us why Zan was there? Well I take that back!<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... ns/mad.gif ALT=":mad"> I just want to see that b*stard get some serious a$s kicking! How could he do that to Liz? If the cops hadn't come in time who knows what he would have done!!! (okay so we know but it's too distressing to think about it!<img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/eek.gif ALT=":eek"> ) And then he had the nerve to call up Max and ask him to heal Liz! That just made me super mad!<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... ns/mad.gif ALT=":mad"> <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... ns/mad.gif ALT=":mad"> Now when you come back quickly with a new update, I hope it has a good ass kicking scene, Max vs Zan...with Max winning of curse and the more pain Zan is in the better! I hope Liz gets well soon! (I liked the thought of Max as her fiance<img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/love.gif ALT=":love"> Too bad that's not true...I have faith in you though...I know you're going to fix this!)<img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/Grin_anim.gif ALT=":grin"> <div style="text-align:center"><img src="http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... f8323d.jpg" style="border:0;"/></div>

Post by **Angel13** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 11:00 am

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>If the cops hadn't come in time who knows what he would have done!!!<hr></blockquote> Ok, just wanted to address this. Zan was getting ready to heal Liz after he realized what he'd done. But the cops showed up and he had to take off. That's also why he called to tell Isabel...because he couldn't get to Liz, he knew that Max could.

Fan Fic and More

Happenstance ~M/L C/C~ Pt. 45 added 4/21

Re: Happenstance ~M/L C/C~ Pt. 21

Re: Happenstance ~M/L C/C~ Pt. 21

Re: Happenstance ~M/L C/C~ Pt. 21

Re: Happenstance ~M/L C/C~ Pt. 21

Re: Happenstance ~M/L C/C~ Pt. 21

Re: Happenstance ~M/L C/C~ Pt. 21

Re: Happenstance ~M/L C/C~ Pt. 21

Re: Happenstance ~M/L C/C~ Pt. 21

Re: Happenstance ~M/L C/C~ Pt. 21

Part 23

Re: Part 23

Banner

Re: Banner

Re: Banner

Re: Banner

Part 24

Re: Part 24

Re: Part 24

Re: Happenstance ~M/L C/C~ Pt. 25 added 10/17

Re: Happenstance ~M/L C/C~ Pt. 25 added 10/17