Always With You 3:3A
Always With You Part Three by Watcher Tara
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Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Roswell.
Summary: Max and Kyle have to team up to save Liz from an unexpected threat. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang returns to Marathon, Texas looking for answers and finds more than they anticipated.
Category: Max/Liz
Rating: PG
Chapter Three
After leaving the Parker’s, Max went straight home. His parents were just finishing their dinner and they gently teased him about having eaten with Liz’s family. His dad started to reminisce about the first time he’d ever eaten at a girlfriend’s house. He said he could laugh now, but it had taken him years to get over the embarrassment.
Diane Evans said, “Oh really? What happened?”
“I started out ok. Remembered to bring flowers and all, but that was the only thing that went my way.” He chuckled and shook his head. “Between dropping both my fork and drink on the carpet and being so nervous that I was shaking the table with my foot, not realizing it until the gravy sloshed out of the bowl onto the tablecloth…” he moved his hands expressively. “On top of all that, I was stuttering so badly I’m sure they couldn’t understand a word I was saying. I must have sounded like an idiot.”
He laughed in recollection. “After that fiasco, it was a long time before I ever joined any of my other girlfriends for dinner.”
“So is that why you never came over for dinner with my parents?” Diane looped her arms around her husband’s neck.
“You bet.”
Max watched his parents for a moment. He enjoyed watching them interact with each other. He knew that he was very lucky to have parents that obviously cared a great deal about one another as well as him. After a minute, he said, “Well, tonight wasn’t that bad. Liz was real tired, though.” Max went on to fill his parents in on her trip to the hospital.
“Is she all right?” his mom asked when he finished.
“Yeah. Just tired, like I said.”
“Well, thank goodness.” Diane walked over and gave him a hug. “I sure do like her, honey.”
His dad added, “Her parents seem real nice. Down to earth people.”
“Yeah. Her dad is great.”
“I remember meeting him at the campout. He was quite a poker shark. Didn’t he beat you?” Max nodded. “Must be why he likes you.”
“What about her mom?” Diane asked.
“She’s ok. She’s just… I don’t know how to say it. She’s kinda guarded, I guess.”
“Oh. Well, I wouldn’t worry about that too much. It’s different sometimes with mothers and daughters. Every time one of Isabel’s dates come to the door, I feel, I don’t know, super protective, I guess.” She patted Max’s arm. “I’m sure it’s not you, honey.”
“I guess.”
Mr. Evans said to his wife, “Remember when we were waiting for them at the CrashDown the day they disappeared? She was pretty upset. It was her idea that the two of them not see each other for a while. Maybe she just hasn’t gotten over her scare yet. Max,” he continued, “I know a little about women, and I’m going to give you some advice.” Both men ignored Diane who was rolling her eyes at that remark. “What you need to do is maybe spend more time with Liz’s family. I mean you see Liz all of the time, just let her parents get to know you a little.”
“Yeah, I see what you mean.”
Phillip slapped his son on the back, “Good. Then my duty here is done.”
“Thanks, dad,” Max said with only mild sarcasm. Then he remembered what he’d been thinking about parents at the hospital today, and he said in all seriousness, “Mom, dad…” They both looked at him at his sudden change in tone. “I know we don’t talk about it much, but I wanted to tell you both how happy Isabel and I are that you brought us here and, you know, took us in. I guess I just wanted to say, thank you. You know, for everything.”
“Oh honey,” Diane came over to her son, “We love you and Isabel. You don’t have to thank us for anything. We should be thanking you for staying with us. We love you.”
“What brought this on, Max?” Phillip asked.
“Just seeing Liz’s parents at the hospital today, and how worried they were about her. It kinda made me think about how much we take things for granted.”
His mother enveloped him in a big hug, while his dad stood nearby. “Not a day goes by that we don’t thank God for bringing the two of you into our lives, Max.”
“Us, too,” he replied.
When the hug ended, the three of them stood looking at one another, then Phillip broke the silence with, “So, who’s up for a game of Monopoly?”
A few hours later, Max was laying in his bed, dreaming about Liz. In his dreams, he could allow himself to dare for a future with her. He liked to think of how he would propose to her. Would it be right after graduation, he wondered, or would he wait until they were almost done with college. He considered various scenarios: In the park, or while on a drive. Or on her balcony where they’d shared their first kiss. That was the one he kept coming back to. Roses would be a must, he knew. The red kind. He could envision the look in her eyes as he popped the question. He could practically see the stars shining in them now. She would say ‘yes,’ of course…
He drifted off to sleep with a smile on his lips.
Across town, Professor Harrison had staked out the CrashDown Café. The information his brother had given to him stated that one of the aliens lived above the restaurant. The three other men in the van with him were all dressed in black with ski masks pulled over their faces. They were a part of his hand-selected team who were willing to go to any lengths to support his theories. He got out and walked around to the door of the van and slid it open.
The men exited silently. The team leader nodded as if to say, “Let’s do it.” They walked over to the glass-paneled door. Taking a glasscutter from his pocket, one of the men efficiently cut a hole into the panel large enough to slip his hand through, and within seconds they were silently entering the building.
Thomas stayed with the van. The engine was running, and he sat behind the wheel with the radio playing. He could scarcely believe that it was happening. That he was on the brink of becoming a world-renowned scientist, just like he’d always dreamed.
While he waited, he reminisced about what had happened when he arrived at the Dean’s office:
“Dean Whittier,” he said by way of greeting. “Come with me. I have something you’ll want to see.”
“Well, Harrison, this had better be good.” As always, the Dean had no patience for this particular member of his staff.
“It is, sir, it is.” They’d moved into a conference room that contained a TV and VCR, and Tom inserted the tape. Turning on the TV, he hit the play button.
After a couple of seconds, the screen went from static to an image of a couple on a sofa making out. After a moment of this, the Dean asked, “Is this what you came over here to show me? So help me, Harrison…”
“No, no sir, just watch. It’s all coming up, I promise.”
The image was in black and white, but the lighting was good. The couple looked to be fairly young. The sound was coming in very clearly, and the two men watching could hear the couple’s breathing, and clothes rustling as they shifted positions. A door off camera opened, and a group of people entered. The couple on the sofa seemed oblivious to their presence.
“This is it.” Professor Harrison said.
“This is what?” The Dean was not amused. “If you brought me in here to show me that your newest hobby is homemade porn, I swear…”
“Shh. Just watch, ok?” He turned up the volume on the set.
The man in the tape whispered, “Maria. Maria,” as he moved his lips from her lips to her neck and back again.
The woman, Maria apparently, responded by arching her throat and said, “Michael. Oh, Michael.” Her eyes opened, and she spotted the newcomers in the living room. “Max.”
The man drew back and stared at her before grating out, “What?”
She nodded toward the crowd that was watching them. “Look.”
Looking over his shoulder, he pulled away from her with a great deal of speed and asked, “What the hell are you guys doing here?”
A cute, dark haired girl answered cryptically, “Topolsky.”
Another girl clarified, “She's back.” She was blonde and well groomed.
The two people on the sofa both had expressions of dismay on their faces.
The first girl stated, “She practically just attacked us in the car at Buckley Point.”
Maria frowned at that piece of information and said accusingly, “I thought you went to the movies.”
“It had bad reviews.”
The tall dark haired guy standing next to her said, “She said we were in danger...all of us. And to just act normal until she contacts us again.”
Despite himself, Dean Whittier was being drawn into the drama being played out before him. From off camera, there was a sound like a chain lock being secured on a door. Whoever it was making that sound asked, “Would that be, you know, ‘alien’ normal, or just plain we're-the-subjects-of-an-FBI-manhunt normal?” A tall gangly kid walked into view of the camera as he spoke.
The guy on the sofa said with obvious tension in his voice, “This sounds wrong, like some sort of trap.”
The dark haired girl spoke again, “No, Michael. She was really scared.” The girl sounded scared herself. “I believed her,” she added.
Michael said with heavy irony, scratching his forehead, “Yeah. Let me remind you, Liz, that you believed her the first time, too.”
The gangly kid took a step forward. His back was to the camera so they couldn’t see what he looked like, and now he was blocking the others who were standing there from the view as well. He said angrily, “Hey, you want to know what? Where would you be if Liz and I didn't stick our necks out to expose her?”
The blonde girl became the mediator of the group, saying, “Ok. Just calm down, all right?”
“Do you really think she's here to warn us?” the kid asked the first girl, Liz.
“She wasn't the same person she was before. You know, and the way that she was talking, she seemed like she was just as scared for herself as she is for us.”
As he walked away to stand next to the blonde girl, they could clearly see the Liz’s features as she was directly facing the camera. From his new position, the guy leaned on one knee and said, “Then I say we listen.”
From the sofa, Michael aggressively said, “I say we don't! All right, it's just a new tactic. She scares us, makes us think we need help, and all we're really doing is admitting who we are. All right? I don't trust her, and none of us should.”
The dark haired guy standing next to Liz said in a tone of authority, “Whether we trust her or not, it doesn't hurt to take her advice.” He looked at each person in the group as he continued, “We're normal teenage kids. No one says the word ‘alien’ or talks about this in public. Anybody could be watching.” An object about the size and shape of a small Nerf football materialized in his hand. He held it out to Michael, saying, “And I think we should keep this here. It's the safest place we've got right now.”
Michael took the thing, and looked at it. Sitting next to him, Maria, sounded very unhappy as she said, “I can't believe she's back.” Michael put an arm around her shoulder. “I thought this was all over with,” she finished. She looked deeply worried as her boyfriend planted a kiss in her forehead.
Liz and the dark haired kid who seemed to be in charge also embraced. The tension in that room was clearly recorded by the camera. After a few minutes, the group broke up and dispersed, leaving only Michael to sit on his sofa looking at the silver thing the other guy had given to him. After a minute, he got up, turned out the lights and went to bed.
Professor Harrison turned off the VCR and ejected the tape.