The latest adventure from the pod squad was over, but not completely forgotten. The skins were still a threat, Khivar was there as well and Rath and Lonnie had been able to escape the attack from Tess, who had suffered a great deal when the dupes kidnapped her to kill Max. Isabel was trying to come to grasp with everything going on around her and Michael was ready to slip into the role he had been born into, even though he wasn´t exactly sure how he should manage that. His powers were still slightly out of control and more than just a little dangerous for innocent bystanders.
Liz was after - the Max caught me with my ex boyfriend in bed - fiasco more than reluctant to participate in the - I know an alien - meetings usually held at Michael´s place. Although she had been the one saving Max in New York via her freaky connection with him it was still strained between them. So she was the only one not willing to be present when the Pod Squad called a gathering.
Alex and Isabel were already seated on the old smelly couch, clearly not in the least pleased to have cut their date short for this get together when Max and Maria came through the door, making the group complete, seeing as Jim was working, Tess and Kyle said something about training, which was probably just an excuse to make out somewhere else.
Maria slumped on the ground, visibly showing that she would rather elsewhere than here at this place of so many bad memories. Crossing her arms over her chest she glared at Michael, she almost burnt him with her eyes. " Okay, can we start? I´ve got better things to do".
" Feel free to leave if you want. Nobody asked you to come", Michael was fed up with her mood swings. This morning everything was fine, they had been heavy into a make out session in the eraser room and then bam she got pissed at him. The worst was, he didn´t know why and she wouldn´t tell him.
Maria was in the process to stand up when Isabel grasped her arm and pushed her down. She was so sick of seeing them fight because of little things every time they were together. It was slowly driving everyone crazy and it wouldn´t take long before someone snapped. " Could you both stop that. We don´t have time for your weird bickering fetish".
Max, like usual the peace maker, stepped in between before his friend could open his big fat mouth and make the situation worse. " We can´t start. We have to wait for Courtney, she´s the one calling the meeting".
" And that´s my cue to leave. Excuse me when I don´t trust her like the rest of you", Maria took her purse and jumped to her feet, this time not letting herself get held up from her intention. She didn´t want to be in the same room with the girl that was the reason for her bad mood. As much as it pained her to admit, she didn´t feel comfortable with someone that would take away her spaceboy without any problems.
Alex instantly put himself in her path, knowing that his friend had issues with Courtney hitting on her boyfriend repeatedly. But he had a feeling that she had to be here to hear what the alien girl had to say. " Don´t go. I know you don´t like Courtney, but she´s not our enemy".
Maria was two seconds away from saying that she was maybe not their enemy, but she wasn´t a friend either. Thankfully she bit her tongue before that could escape, she didn´t want to appear like a jealous girlfriend, which she was of course, but wouldn´t admit that openly, especially with everyone present. " I don´t care about that. I don´t want to be in close proximity with that girl, alright. I´ll visit Liz and keep her company".
" Let her go if she doesn´t want to be here. We don´t need her", Michael didn´t understand the aversion between the two girls, and hell if he wanted to find that out. But Courtney had answers he was seeking, she could help him figure a lot of things out. On the other hand he didn´t want to hurt Maria with choosing his needs over hers.
Maria glared at him, covering up how deeply that sentence had cut into her. Clenching her teeth she reminded herself that she had promised herself never to cry in front of him. Ignoring her other friends she stormed past everyone else without saying goodbye and slammed the door shut on her way out.
Alex whirled around angrily, having finally reached his compassion limit with the bad tempered alien boy. He didn´t care that he was just human and that he didn´t have any muscles that could help him, but he wouldn´t hesitate to slug Michael again. " Could you be more of an asshole? I don´t know why she puts up with you over and over again. You´re obviously not worth it".
" Alex! How can you say that?", Isabel quickly jumped to her almost brother´s defense, knowing how much he was caring for Maria but couldn´t express it. She had spent a not so great summer with him and the only body contact they had with each other was the patting of a shoulder and not more. The guy was so far gone for the human girl that he didn´t even notice it himself.
Michael pushed himself away from his spot at the doorframe and went to the lanky teen to give him a piece of his mind. He wasn´t as bad as the other boy wanted him to be, he was just different than Max or any other male on this planet. " Yeah Whitman, come on let everything out. I want to hear what you still have to say about me".
Alex swallowed visibly, knowing that was a bad sign to piss the alien boy off when he just had a fight with Maria. But he had seen the tears glistening in his friends eyes and he hadn´t though before opening his mouth. Now he regretted that the anger seemed to be directed at him at this moment. " I was just saying that you should keep yourself back a little. Maria is like a sister for me and I don´t want to see her getting crushed under you. She´s worth more than that".
" Guys stop it. I don´t want to hear anything from you today. I have a headache that´s almost killing me and I can´t stand to have this tension among us", Isabel didn´t know why there was this pounding in her head, because they never got sick. But this pain was slowly driving her crazy and she was afraid to take some pain killer in case she would react strangely.
Alex instantly shut up and went to her to massage the back of her neck, trying to make it better for her. And he showed that bad tempered alien boy that he was the mature one of them. At least to the point where he had to prevent himself from sticking his tongue out at the other boy. " So what are we waiting for anyway? Is there a new crisis?".
Max glanced at Michael, knowing that his friend was more in the known than anyone in this room. Nobody was sure why there were here in the first place and if it was as serious as it had sounded. " Yeah, I want to know that as well?".
" I don´t know more than you. I just got a call from Courtney. She told me to get everyone together because she had something serious to talk about, that´s all", Michael shrugged his shoulders, wondering why everyone assumed that he would know more than them. He was just as in the dark about this meeting and curious as hell.
Max nodded while he decided to get something to drink from the fridge while they were waiting for the skin to arrive. Rummaging around he found some Snapple and some strange salad, which meant that Maria had been over not long ago. He hoped that she wasn´t too hurt from Michael´s gruff nature. She should be used to him by now and not taking everything too serious. Feeling someone behind him he immediately sensed who it was. " Do you think we´ll get better someday?".
Michael was stunned about the question, not in the least sure what his friend was yakking about. There were so many things he wanted to be better, one of those things was to be whatever Maria wanted him to be and not make her sad all the time. But he was sure that wasn´t even the question at all. " Better at what?".
" Relationships and to never fuck them up".
Michael almost swallowed his own tongue at hearing his best friend swearing like that. The guy never took such bad words in his mouth. The hit from Liz with cheating on him must have been deeper than anyone thought. " With our luck we make the same mistakes over and over again".
Max turned around, giving his friend a snapple as well and shaking his head. He didn´t want to live in this constant struggle with his alien nature and his human life. He just wanted to be normal. Even though Liz had hurt him really bad, he still wished that she would find her way back to him in the end. " That´s a sad thought".
" That´s the truth my friend", Michael patted his friends shoulder, knowing that they would never figure out how a women´s mind worked, especially those from human girls. Maria was even worse than any women on this planet. She was unpredictable and stubborn and loved to drive him insane.
Max didn´t want to believe that, he hoped that one day they would find a way to be the one for their beloved ones. Someday Liz would realize that she still loved him and that he could forgive her small mistake. " I hope not".
Michael had pity with his friend. If he would have found Maria with another boy in her bed, he would have destroyed Roswell. Well after he would have ripped the guy having dared to put his hands on his girl into pieces, slowly and painfully. But thankfully she was just difficult and not unfaithful. " Maybe we´ll be dead before we find that out".
" Ha ha", Max wondered why Michael was such a pessimist in some things. Granted the guy didn´t have the best childhood and nobody had ever really cared about his future, but Max thought that it had changed when Maria came into his life and made him realize that they were still people caring for him.
Michael took a big gulp from the bottle while he made an attempt to avoid any further confession of their feelings. He didn´t want to share his "emotions" with another man, that was just plain wrong. Sensing someone in front of his apartment he was relieved to have an excuse to leave. Hurrying past the others he opened his door before their host was able to knock. " Finally. What took you so long".
Courtney was slightly taken aback from his rude behavior, realizing the reason why Maria always complained to her best friend about him. He wasn´t someone that had managed to adapt to the human manners at all, which was funny because Rath had been like that on Antar as well. " Hello to you, too. Can I come in or do I have to use some codeword to get permission to enter".
" Get in, we´re already waiting for you", Michael didn´t waste any time with pleasantries, especially when he had reason to not to trust someone. Even though she had taken a lot of risk to help them, there was still some feeling that she had a hidden agenda and he would keep an eye on her.
Courtney rolled her eyes, for once having a spark of sympathy with the human girl always putting up with his moods. It was like Russian roulette with him, every day could be the day he would blow up. " Nice to see that your social skilled are still seriously challenged", walking towards the other people in the room she instantly saw that there were a lot of them missing. She didn´t like that fact. " Where are the others of your club?".
Michael took his stance at the kitchen counter again, the best place to keep an eye on her in case she tried something and it was still near enough her to stop her. He was confused why he was thinking like that, but he didn´t question it either. " Sheriff Valenti has to work, Tess and Kyle probably make out somewhere, Liz isn´t exactly comfortable with someone who should not be named and so she´s skipping all meetings and Maria is keeping her friend company".
" Are you mentally deranged? You´re enemies are close and you leave those humans without protection? What are you thinking?", Courtney couldn´t understand how that guy could be so clueless about these things. He had been one of the greatest and most feared leaders on their planet. He had never left his family or his charges without someone to guard them.
Max finally got to his feet after hearing that. He didn´t want anything to happen the others, especially when he could avoid it. " What do you mean? Do you think they´re in danger?".
Courtney refrained herself from groaning at the guy, knowing that he was just a stupid teenage boy barely tapping in his powers. But at some point he had been a good king, not the smartest but he had been good to his people. " Hello! Where have you been the last few months? Of course they´re in danger. Don´t you think Khivar won´t use them against you. He´s not stupid and he will use every advantage he can get".
" Then we have to get them. Immediately", Michael was already in gear and ready to blast anyone standing in his way to get to the Crash Down. The thought that someone could use Maria to hurt him wasn´t exactly sitting well with him. He didn´t want to know what he would do should something happen to her, he just knew it wouldn´t be pretty for anyone present.
Max was already pulling out his cellphone, dialing the familiar number from the Crash Down. A few seconds it was ringing while everyone was standing around him and waited for the voice of Liz or Maria to appear. Unfortunately the voice they heard was not the one they expected.
" Valenti".
Max´s heart was lurching and he was feeling the first sign of a panic attack coming on. A terrible treat was spreading in his guts and he hated to feel like that. Something had been going horrible wrong or else Jim Valenti wouldn´t be the one on the phone right now. " Sheriff, it´s Max. What happened?".
A slight shuffling was heard, making it apparent that the older man tried to find a place he could talk freely, without his staff listening to the strange things he would be talking about in the next few minutes.
" An alien attack. I can´t tell you more on the phone. You should get here as fast as possible. I will explain everything then".
Michael was instantly on his way out the door when he heard the word alien attack. Isabel and Alex immediately followed after him while Max and Courtney were still in some kinda shock about everything. The only thing they managed was to shut the cell phone and then to trail after their friends.
Three red traffic lights, some honking and an almost collision with another car the friends all arrived at the crime scene. The whole main street was filled with people, parked cars and emergency vehicles. Everyone fought his way through all the spectators to see the damage for themselves. Stopping shocked at the barrier the police had wrapped around the Crash Down they had to blink for a moment to make sure they were seeing right. The front window from the restaurant was smashed and just barely there anymore, the chairs and tables were either lying on the floor or broken to a lot of pieces. Even from afar they could see the blood smeared at a few places and still clinging to some glass splinters on the ground. But the worst was the black body bag that two men were carrying outside.
The friends held their breath, wondering who was in there, to which one of their small family they had to say goodbye forever.
TBC