He Called Her Tessa
by
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Roswell and all associations do not belong to me!
Author's Note: This is my first try at Roswell fanfic, so if you criticize, please be polite. All feedback can be sent to teneljade@netzero.net, and thank you!
Also, this is my own little twisted story, so even though it is otherwise up to date, Valenti is still the sheriff.
Rating: PG-13 for now, but this one might make an R.
Chapter One
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A small noise, so light that he would have missed it when he was awake, brought Kyle Valenti out of a sound sleep. He flipped over on the couch, (not an easy feat), and wondered briefly why a sound so small had woken him. Then he pulled the covers up to his chin, and started to go back to sleep.
Another noise came. Again, soft, and would have been easily obscured by even a low volume from the television set. But Kyle's ears picked it up expertly, and he again opened his eyes.
Okay. He reassured himself. You're just not used to sleeping on the couch, in the living room, and everything sounds different. That's all. He told himself. But as he tried to sleep once more, something was still nagging him.
Suddenly Kyle realized that he didn't know what the noises were, and that was what was bugging him. He sat up abruptly and banged himself on the head with his fist. "I am so stupid!" He muttered under his breath.
He rose sleepily, wearing nothing but his boxers, and headed in the direction of Tess's room, where he thought the sounds had originated. He knocked softly, but received no answer. Pushing on the door, he hoped not to see something that he'd regret--Tess wasn't horribly into the concept of modesty.
But when the door swung open, the last sight that he expected greeted his bewildered eyes. Tess was curled up in the bed, her knees tucked almost to her chin, and she was crying. Soft sobs, punctuated with the occasional loud breath, which, Kyle surmised, were what he had heard from the couch.
Unsure about what to do, Kyle took a hesitant step into what used to be his room. "Tess?" He asked.
Tess's head jerked up, and she rubbed at her eyes, trying to dry the tears. "Hey, Kyle." She said.
"Are you...are you okay?" Kyle asked, stumbling a little with the words.
She nodded. "Yeah. Go back to sleep. I'm sorry if I woke you up." Her voice sounded dull, and indeed, it was free of any inflection, devoid of any emotion at all.
Kyle walked over, and crouched beside the bed. "I'm not leaving you while you're this upset," he said. "What's wrong?"
Tess gave a bitter laugh. "Everything. Nothing. That you would understand, anyway."
Kyle shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. But you'd have told somebody, gotten the weight off your shoulders. It might help, even if I don't understand," he offered.
Tess considered his statement, and then looked away. "Okay," she said.
Kyle pulled up a pillow that he'd been unconsciously clutching since he'd entered the room, and sat on it cross-legged, facing Tess, who still lay in bed.
"Kyle...I have never had a normal day. Since the day I was 'hatched', I've known who and what I was. I never had an innocent childhood, like Max and Isabel and Michael. I knew I didn't belong from day one. But it never made anything easier."
She paused, still refusing to meet Kyle's gaze. "I was always a loner. I looked down upon humans a little I guess, and I felt uncomfortable making friends, knowing I would always have the weight of this big secret on my shoulders, no matter how close we got. I lived for the day I would meet Max and Isabel Evans. Michael, I could have done without, but that's another story." She laughed weakly.
"And then I met them. And for five seconds it seemed like my life had been worth living. My purpose had finally reared it's not-so-ugly head, and I had what I thought were built-in friends, and a fiance. Only problem was, my fiance didn't know we were destined, and didn't particularly like the idea, on top of that." She was shaking now, tears rolling down her cheeks. Kyle silently handed her a tissue, and she nodded in thanks.
"And you know what the worst part was, Kyle?" She asked, not expecting an answer. She wasn't disappointed. He sat there silently, looking at her with the stare of his that she was sure could pierce metal every bit as easily as her powers, and shook his head.
"That would have been when I realized that not only did Max not love me...but I didn't love him. That, after chasing his away from Liz Parker and probably his true destiny, after ruining everything for everybody, I didn't want my consolation prize. Something just didn't feel right." She was sobbing quietly now, but her voice was still surprisingly steady.
"Luckily, Max Evans is one incredibly stubborn alien, and he still didn't want me, so, problem solved. But...I feel incredibly guilty, Kyle! I didn't used to be a bad person, honest! I just thought...that this was the way things were meant to be!"
She had sat up in her bed in her anguish, and Kyle had joined her, sitting on top of the covers. He wrapped his arms around her, and cradled her head of silky golden curls to his bare chest. She didn't seem to notice, and simply sobbed, saying over and over again, "I thought I was doing the right thing!"
*****
After fifteen minutes, Tess had ceased sobbing and calmed down, but Kyle still held her close, feeling her body shake as it tried to cry more. But it found it had exhausted its reserve of tears, and was forced to stop. She continued to shake silently for several minutes, and then Kyle realized that her breathing had evened, and he looked down to find she had fallen asleep.
Smiling softly, because she was cute when she slept, Kyle laid her back on the bed, pulling the covers up to her chin and tucking them softly around her slight frame. She murmured something, and he stilled, trying not to wake her. When he was content that she was settled in, he started to head back to the couch.
"Kyle?"
The door had squeaked. Kyle swore softly, and turned back to Tess. "Sorry."
"Don't be. I didn't mean to fall asleep, anyway."
Kyle stood there awkwardly for a moment, then made a rough gesture with his hand. "I'm just gonna go back to the couch...and try to catch some z's."
Tess's voice was meeker than he thought he'd ever heard it before. "Kyle?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't go."
He was taken by surprise, but adapted quickly. "Sure. Let me get my other pillow and my blanket, and I'll be right back." He started to leave the room again.
"You can sleep in the bed."
Kyle froze, sure that he'd heard incorrectly, that his 17-year old hormones combined with his imagination were playing a cruel joke on him. "What?" He asked.
"You can sleep in the bed with me." Tess confirmed. "It's your bed, after all, I shouldn't ask you to sleep on the floor after you so kindly gave it to me in the first place."
"It's really okay. The floor can't be much worse than the couch," Kyle offered, then immediately regretted it. Concern flooded Tess's face.
"Is the couch really uncomfortable? I'm sorry. I didn't know."
Kyle shook his head. "It's fine. I'm just spoiled."
Tess's voice took on a new, pleading tone. "Stay here with me? Please?" She asked once again.
Kyle nodded nervously. "Sure. He walked uncertainly toward the bed, and Tess scooted away from the front, holding up the covers for him. He slid slowly underneath, and she pulled them around both of their forms.
Kyle stayed turned out of the bed, back to back with Tess, trying to calm himself. It wasn't every day that the new alien in town, whom he had a sort of crush on, but thought was really annoying, too, invited him to sleep in her bed.
"Kyle?"
"Yeah?" This little exchange was getting too familiar, Kyle decided. They'd have to change it out for something more original, soon.
"Can you hold me?" She asked.
Kyle swallowed hard, and nodded his head against the pillow. "Sure." He slowly pulled himself over until he was on his other side, facing her back. He uncertainly slid his arms around her waist from behind, put his head down on the curls splayed all around her head on the pillow. "That okay?" He queried.
Tess's voice sounded sleepy already. "Perfect," she mumbled. "'Night, Kyle."
"'Night, Tessa."
*****
Kyle moaned lazily, and tried to turn over in his bed. Belatedly, he registered that he had something in his arms. Something warm, and soft, and...female.
Kyle's eyes opened with a start, and his shock awoke the blond beauty in his arms. She rolled over, his arms flopping bonelessly off her in his shock, and looked at him sleepily. "'Morning, Kyle," she said.
Kyle was in shock, but he pulled himself together enough to respond as the night before came flooding back to him. Relaxing a little, he pulled Tess back to him, and she snuggled against his bare chest. "'Morning, Tessa."
Tess looked up at him, her body still pressed against his. "Why do you call me that?" She asked.
"What, Tessa?"
She nodded.
"You don't like it?" Kyle queried.
She shook her head. "I like it. It's just that no one has ever called me that."
Kyle shrugged. "I kind of like it. When I heard your name, it just sort of came out." He paused. "But I can stop. If you want me to, I mean."
Tess shook her head, more vigorously this time. "No! I like it. When you say it, at least."
Kyle grinned. "Okay, Tessa." She smiled back at him, then took a glance at the clock.
"You'd better get ready for school," she told him.
Kyle nodded, but made no move other than to pull her closer to him. She happily pushed herself against him like a child, burying his chest in her long golden locks. "We can miss first period. For now, I just want to hold you."
Tess nodded a little, but didn't look up. Her face was muffled against his body. "Okay. Wake me up when I need to get ready."
Kyle smiled softly. "I will."
*****
Kyle was still lying in bed, watching Tess sleep, when a knock on the door startled him. It opened before he had a chance to say anything, and the Sheriff wandered in. He stopped abruptly, embarrassed, and turned to leave. "Sorry, Kyle. I thought you'd left for school by now."
Kyle put a finger to his lips, and made a motion as if shooing his father out of the room. "I'll be out in just a second," He whispered. The Sheriff nodded, and backed quickly out of the room.
Kyle carefully extricated himself from Tess, who was clinging to him like a small child clings to a safety blanket. "Kyle?" she murmured, still mostly asleep.
"Shh," he soothed. "Go back to sleep." She rolled over and curled up into a fetal position without opening her eyes.
"Okay." She murmured. Kyle pulled himself off the bed, and left the room, closing the door carefully, so that it wouldn't squeak. He didn't bother to wear any more than his boxers, this was his father, after all.
"Hey, dad." He tossed at his father as he wandered into the kitchen to find the milk. With two men in the household, much of the milk was gone before it ever left the carton, and Kyle was planning on making today no exception. As he was going to raise it to his lips, though, his father's voice stopped him.
"Kyle."
Something was wrong. His father never used that tone of voice. That was his 'dad' voice. He lowered the carton. "Yeah?"
"Son, I don't know much about your sex life...and I don't want to--"
Kyle cut him off mid-lecture. So that was what this was about, he thought. "Dad, is this about this morning? Me and Tess?"
His father nodded. "Yeah."
"Well, then, you don't have to worry. She woke me up in the middle of the night, she was upset, and then she didn't want me to leave. We didn't even kiss. She just held onto me all night."
The Sheriff coughed, obviously uncomfortable. "All right, Kyle. I trust you. But you know you can come to me, we can talk about anything, right?"
Kyle nodded. "Yeah. I know, Dad." He glanced at his watch before the conversation grew too heavy. "I'd better get Tessa up, she didn't want to miss too much of school."
Jim Valenti frowned, having never heard Tess called that, but he chose not to comment on it, and instead, just nodded. "Yeah. I guess you better." Then he proceeded to the refrigerator to drink the milk exactly the way Kyle had planned to.
*****
When he entered what used to be his room, he could see that Tess was still asleep, he angelic-looking golden-yellow hair spilled all over the pillow. She looked so sweet...he didn't want to wake her. But he forced himself to walk over to the bed, and rest a hand on her shoulder. "Tessa." He spoke in a soft voice.
Nothing.
"Tessa!" A little louder. She mumbled and groaned, but didn't open her eyes.
"Tess!" In a speaking voice this time. She rolled over so that she was facing him, and slowly opened her eyes. "Yeah, Kyle?"
"You'd better get up, or we'll miss second period."
She nodded slowly, and stretched, causing her short nightshirt to ride up her belly, exposing smooth, tight stomach skin. Kyle swallowed hard. Now was no time for those annoying crush-type feelings to start cropping up.
"I'll wait for you in the car," he said. Tess nodded, and clambered out of bed. Kyle had to swallow again, she looked so beautiful. She wore simple nightclothes, loose pants and a regular shirt, but on her, they looked simply magnificent. He nodded once, to her back, and left the room as she started to pull the shirt over her head. She still didn't have any qualms about modesty, he reflected a little breathlessly. Or lack thereof, as the case may be, he decided.
*****
This odd little sleeping pattern of theirs went on, day after day after day. The Sheriff watched, and listened, but gave up after a couple of days of nothing, and made no further comment either way about their rather unusual arrangement. Tess seemed to take no notice that what they were doing was odd, and treated it like it was completely natural. Kyle, for his part...well, Kyle was having a harder time of it.
Tess did things to him, to his body, that he couldn't control. He spent a lot of time thinking about baseball and Grandma while nestled in her arms. But he'd been successful so far, and she hadn't guessed at the effect she was having on him, or his body. Yet.
The night that Kyle was about to disclose his feelings for her, they received a rather odd invite from Max Evans. The six of his 'gang' were having a sleepover, and they wondered if Tess and Kyle would join them. Tess agreed eagerly, dragging a rather reluctant Kyle into it with her.
"C'mon, it'll be fun!" She pleaded. "Please, Kyle?"
He couldn't take it anymore. She'd been begging for close to half an hour now, and he was wearing down fast. He heaved a huge sigh, and nodded. "All right."
"Yes!" Tess jumped up, and he could almost see her as a little child, clapping her hands together in delight. "Thank you, Kyle!"
Kyle groaned a little under his breath, and cursed his inability to refuse Tess Harding anything that she wanted. This was going to be a long night.
*****
Hours later, Tess was happily integrated into the giggling gaggle of girls, sitting in the corner with Isabel, Maria and Liz, and helping Isabel change the nail polish different colors for the four of them to play with. Maria occasionally sent a dagger look in her direction, as if remembering for a second that she was supposed to hate her, but for the most part, they looked pretty tight. Just four girls, having a good time.
The guys, on the other hand, were camped out in front of the TV, watching some action movie that they didn't know the name of, and eating pizza by the tons. Max and Liz exchanged some soulful glances, but they, too, for the most part looked as if they were having fun.
"Hey, Kyle," It was Alex who called. He and Isabel appeared to be the most civil of the recently broken up couples, and they also appeared the most comfortable of the eight people scattered around the Evans' living room. I wonder what those two have to do with each other, Kyle wondered wryly.
"Yeah?" He answered.
"Want to pick the next movie?" Alex asked, thrusting a pile of mostly bloody-gory action and sci-fi movies into Kyle's hands. "The girls haven't come back yet, so we can watch more guy stuff."
Kyle grinned at Alex. Not one of his best friends, because Kyle normally hung with the jock crowd, but Alex seemed nice enough. Not to mention the only other male human in the room. Besides, even if they were human, Kyle didn't think he'd hang out extensively with Max or Michael.
Michael was just plain obnoxious. He had a smart mouth, and not a lot of consideration for other people's feelings. But he was also loyal as hell, and Kyle could see where that paid off when you were choosing the second in command for a group of royal aliens.
Max...Max was harder to figure out. Mostly, Kyle would have categorized him as quiet, serious. He seldom cracked a smile, and had far more people skills than Michael, but rather than Michael's upfront blind hatred, he was distant, aloof. One of those people you could never really feel like you knew, Kyle supposed.
Dragging himself back to the present, he took the stack of videos from Alex's hands. "Well, what have we got here?" He wondered aloud. Flipping though the choices, he found the Matrix, James Bond, Terminators' one and two, and a couple of movies whose names he didn't recognize.
Choosing quickly, he put most of the movies on the end table beside him, and tossed Terminator in Alex's direction. Alex caught it, and shoved it in the VCR slot. Just as the preview were ending, the girls gravitated in the direction of the TV.
"What are you guys watching?" Maria asked, bouncing as Maria usually did, Kyle reflected with a small smile. She plopped down on the couch between Max and Kyle, carefully leaving her best friend a seat that wasn't next to Max. Liz shot her a grateful smile and chose the spot between Kyle and Michael. Isabel sat seemingly comfortably between Michael and Alex. Tess looked around, and found that they'd exhausted the capabilities of the Evans' living room furniture, and was about to take a seat on the floor in front of the couch when Isabel noticed and jumped up.
"Oh! Tess, I'm sorry. I'll go get another seat, and you can have mine," She offered. Tess shook her head.
"It's okay, really."
Isabel was about to protest when Kyle put an end to the argument. "You can sit with me, Tessa." Tess smiled, nodded, and plopped herself down on Kyle's lap, either not realizing or not caring that she had attracted stares from all the other occupants of the room. She laid her head on his shoulder and pulled her bare feet up onto the couch, managing to squeeze them into the space between Kyle and Liz, who was sitting next to him.
Isabel settled slowly back on the chair she had previously occupied next to Alex, and he slipped an arm over her shoulders. Not a boyfriendly arm, but just a reassurance from a friend. She smiled at him.
After staring at Kyle and Tess for a moment, and somebody was sure to have caught onto his use of his pet name for her, 'Tessa', he knew, they slowly, one by one, turned back to the movie.
When Terminator was over, Maria quickly piped up, running to get a case from another, separate pile of movies. "Now, we watch a good movie." She said, turning to show them the case. As all the girls clapped, the boys groaned in unison.
"Notting Hill?" Michael asked. "Couldn't you have picked something at least a little less likely to put us to sleep?"
Maria put her hands on her hips. "Notting Hill is a perfectly good movie, Spaceboy. In fact, it's more than perfectly good, it's wonderful. And since you just watched two bloody, pointless, generally awful guy movies in a row, I think it's our turn."
Max and Michael sighed. Alex heaved himself dramatically backwards, ending up in a position Kyle had previously thought no one but Olympic gymnasts could get into. "Ow!" He exclaimed, as he slid back down the chair and into the seat, rubbing his lower back.
Isabel reached over and slid her hand over his back. Alex relaxed almost instantly, and in three or four seconds, Isabel's healing powers had asserted themselves, and Alex was as good as new. "Thanks," He said softly, not wanting to interrupt the movie, which was just starting up.
Isabel smiled her thousand-watt smile at him briefly, and nodded. "You're welcome." Alex replaced his arm over her shoulder, and she snuggled into it a little. But somehow, it didn't look intimate, the way they did it, it just looked...friendly. Because that's what they were. Good friends.